Spotlight #the2017Awards

Chapter 12

"I never want you to leave until I take you in. But the truth is..." - No Idea by All Time Low

"HOW DARE YOU!? I trusted you with that and you took it! You've violated my privacy! And... And" He tried to come closer but I pushed him away, tears brimming my eyes with his band mates watching us gaping in silent horror.

They can all go to hell.

~12 hours earlier~

My head hurt

Waking up in my hotel bed I knew it wasn't a hangover but a splitting headache from sheer exhaustion this competition was causing me.

It still sucked.

I also had a headache from the wonderful text messages I had received from Jesses and Iris, comprising of passive aggressive threats and digs at my talents and choices and then them gloating about their preparations for college. I was about to fall back into a restless sleep until I heard knocking from the door joining my room to Ruth's .

"Ugh" I groaned into my pillow but before I could object, Ruth waltzed in. "Marley are you alright?" She didn't wait for a response or invitation as she sat in the end of my bed. Ruth was lovely, really she reminded me of a model with her porcelain skin, sleek black hair ,dark brown eyes and regal demeanour- I envied that.

"Go away" it came out a little bit muffled but the intend was clear: I wanted to be alone. "What's wrong? I hear you crying at night, someone's its soft and other times it's reckless sobbing. I hear you arguing on the phone to someone and you always seem a bit distant, so I'll ask again: what's wrong?" She wasn't giving  up but she was like that even in Treble. She was the only contestant would could rap and she impressed even Al which made her a major threat because Ruth Guthrie stood out. 

"Come on Marley get up...don't make me start singing a song I know you hate" she was bribing me now, maybe if she brought me some m & m cookies then we'd talk. "Alright I'll do it.. OH CECELIA YOUR BREAKING MY HEART!" She began to belt out the Vamps rendition of 'Oh CECELIA' which I hated (nothing against the band however). "UGGH MAKE IT STOP" I clamped the pillow over my ears and tried to whack her with my leg with limited success.

"Get up, let's go. The judges want to meet us now...you'll get to snub Tally if you'd like" yep that'll do it "okay okay" I trudged over to my spilling over duffel bag and pulled a blue tank top on, ripped jeans and my converse shoes , Ruth gave me me a funny look but I wasn't getting pretty today. "Alright I am ready now" I declared after three minutes of brushing my teeth and somehow getting a brush through my birds nest hair.

The Flo seemed to be in full swing, something I felt honoured to see everytime I came down from the hotel. The other contestants were gathered around the lobby's billboard, we hadn't used it yet but obviously now we had. I heard snippets of conversations such as as "how do they expect us to do that..?" Or "oh my god I would freeze" (despite it being summer) but one particularly caught my attention from my favourite person: "eww how common to busk" I rolled my eyes but was intrigued.

Busking?

I caught a glimpse of the paper tacked onto the billboard reading: challenge! Busk in the block surrounding the Flo and see how people appreciate you in raw form (hats and dark sunglasses advised). To add an extra spin: first to make $15 by 1pm gets a personal writing session with two coaches of your choosing.

It was such a clever idea and I was actually really excited about it. The ability to blend into a crowd seamlessly and my voice being my identity instead of being Marley. "So what do you think Marley?" I whipped my head sideways to see Tallulah fiddling with a piece of her curly blonde hair. Although her words were sincere in theory they were laced with her usual challenging gone and always seemed like she was dangling bait for someone to bite. "It's alright, I actually love this idea Tally" she wanted to play so I'll play. "How about this Marley, first one of us to make $15 gets to...take Mason out for a drink" Mason poked his head up at the sound of his name and smiled and waved, causing both Tally and I to wave back.

"Oh it's on Tallulah" I made her name sound as filthy as a possibly could because this bitch was going down.

----

We all spilled into the street all donned in our dark accessories (I had personally chosen dark aviators) and had either cups or guitar cases to fill with our profits. We had exactly 2 hours to achieve this and no one was backing down now.

Alright think Marley think.

I situated myself under a glitzy looking building feeling that would work wonders and Before I could open my mouth and belt out my song, I heard it: Tallulah's voice singing on top of the world by imagine dragons and killing it. Worse yet she was across the street from me and gaining a crowd. I took a deep breath and began to sing Ed Sheerans heartfelt 'One' and began to gain a crowd too, some chucking in quarters and some just simply standing and listening but I kept going. What I was playing for Mason? Or the coaching? I didn't know.

And almost 10 songs and three breaks later I was done, I had made fifteen dollars. Looking across the street I didn't see Tallulah. How like had she been gone? oh my god. I sprinted down the street as fast as possibly could earning few grunts from New Yorkers but who cares!? A lot was at stake!

Mason was at stake...

Bursting into the Flo I earned some strange looks but I didn't care because I was focused on Tallulah's smug smile as she saw my entrance. Spotting Ruth I made a beeline towards her "do you know who won?" I asked her as I slumped down onto the ground

"Mason and his band"

Well shit.

---

Later that night after Mason and the Emeralds had finished there exclusive song writing time with Al Flynn and Anna Patch we had all met in theatre. The judges standing rather proudly as they eating for us all to flow in.

"Everyone I know that you all have been writing, despite it being early in the competition we all expect you as artists to keep creating your art so we'd like to ask the Emeralds to play some of the magnificent work they've presented to us...boys?" Al Flynn and the judges stepped aside as they all stood up but I noticed Mason suddenly looked pale.

"This song is called Outside" they began to play the opening chords as everyone listened intently. "Darling what have we done? We are wasting our time, watching the ships of time sailing pa-st"

"Watching the world from the outside like strangers walking in to a tight knit some kind of wonderful, cant you see them watching us all intently?" As the emeralds kept playing I suddenly felt sick to me stomach because this was my song! My work! I felt. Sick and before they even got to the chorus I ran out of the room hearing the music stop as I did.

I was curled up into a ball in the hallway when I heard the Masons footsteps. "Marley-"
"DON'T! You...you took my song!" I was seething I stood up shaking violently almost collapsing by the sheer amount of shaking. "Look it was good and we were stuck and I'd do anything for my band and you said you weren't using it so.."
"I NEVER SAID THAT!" I roared and in the corner of my eye I saw the band in the distance approaching. "How did you even get it? I put the song in my bag after I showed you" I couldn't understand it at all. "I took a photo of it after you went to the bathroom and you left me your bag-"

"HOW DARE YOU!? I trusted you with that and you took it! You've violated my privacy! And... And" He tried to come closer but I pushed him away, tears brimming my eyes with his band mates watching us gaping in silent horror.

They can all go to hell.

Turning on my heel, I ran.

---

Wow that was eventful and long and just really hard. That was hard chapter to write because it saw Masons opening for him to understand what it is to be a musician, the deepening feud between Tally and Marley and the suggestion of Marley's deepening feelings for Mason.

Yes I wrote the lyrics for Marley's song 'Changes'/'Outside' alone and it is about her and Jesse and mostly about the flashback and her feeling surrounding that time.

I'm going to listen to the script now...

Bye xx love you all!

P.S 100 reads!? Woooo