Blackbird.

Chapter Four.

"Olivia, are you okay?"

I squint to be able to see through the blinding stage lights. I can barely breathe; everybody has their face pressed closely to mine. I blink a few times and am greeted by the lens of a big, clunky camera.

"Oh, God," I groan and sheild my eyes from the light of the camera, with the back of my arm. I sit up, making everybody take a step back.

"She's alright!" Marshall shouts and throws a fist in the air. I hear people in the audience applauding as I hide my face in embarrassment.

I look up to see Leslie standing near the back of the crowd, away from everyone. She gives me a worried smile. And, beside her is John. He has his oh-so-famous smirk on his lips. I can't help but to glare at him while Logan and Dax put their shoulders under my arms to lift me up.

"Do you need to sit down?" Dax asks me, keeping me upright.

"No, I'm fine," I try to assure him, with a wave of my hand, but he raises an eyebrow at me, "Really, I'm fantastic," I insist, wriggling free from his and Logan's arm.

The reluctantly let go of me, but other people take the opportunity to try and catch me, before I fall again.

"Guys, I'm fine," I sing out, and start doing a small dance, that resembles something like an Irish jig. If I wasn't fine, could I do this?

People from the audience start laughing, and I jump, forgetting that there are still 35 other people out in the seats, watching. Now, it's my fellow contestants' turn to double over in laughter.

"Okay, we get it," Tracy pulls me by my arm, before I just dig myself a deeper hole.

Awesome, Olivia. You're just the coolest cat in this town... Why am I so weird?

Kurt Sheider takes center stage, to address the contestants in the audience.

"Congratulations on the few that made it. But, to the rest of you, please, keep singing. Come back next year and try again! You are all very talented people," He smiles politely at them, "The limos out front will take you back to get your things, and they will take you to the airport," He adds, speaking as softly as possible.

The cameras rush down, into the audience, to capture comments and reactions to the rejection. I hear quite a bit of sniffles and I see many hugs being shared.

My chest feels heavy with guilt as I watch people, people that are so talented, leaving. And, here I am, up on the stage. Do I really belong up here? Do I have that 'Star Quality' that this show is searching for?

We wait for the rejected contestants to make their way out of the building. Then, once the cameras have returned back up to the stage, Rashinda is the one to address us. I can't help but to shift in my stance. Rashinda makes me so nervous. What's that saying? I'm more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room of rocking chairs? Sounds about right...

"As you know, 'America's Most Talented' isn't just a singing competition, it's an all around fame competition. We will be putting you in weekly singing challenges, along with other challenges, to see how well you can handle being in the limelight. There will be interviews, and publicity opportunities to those who earn them." Rashinda goes off to explain the main point of the show.

"As you know, there are many talented people, but as soon as fame starts getting to their head, they crumble and destroy themselves. We want to be sure, before we send a perfectly talented person out into the harsh world of showbiz, that they don't ruin all of that talent," Jackson adds, with a slight smile on his lips.

A few of the contestants let out small laughs, but I just stare wide-eyed at the judges. I'm not going to last one minute if they are judging on the interviews and what the cameras catch on tape. They're going to classify me as a nutcase, and send me packing.