Last Chance to Win (Mirstie)

8

Esther's face betrayed the truth when I met up with her later. "Look what they wrote!" She said, quickly sliding a black ballpoint pen behind her ear. "A fast and cheerful song, yet with a blend of calmness and reality with beautiful, heartfelt lyrics." She handed me her packet with the review scribbled on a taped on Post- It. A twinge of confusion darted in my brain. If I remembered correctly, the judges were grading with red pens, not black. Red was more visible and popped up more, I guessed. I quickly shook it off. Swallowing my disappointment of not pleasing the judges like she did, I quickly exchanged my scores with hers, pointing out what the judges didn't like and did like. Suddenly, we heard yelling from behind us.

Esther reached into her backpack. "Well," she said, "I bought some sandwiches from the store at first. Want one?" She seemed strangely calm yet on edge.

I reached for the sandwich. "Thanks." The warm ham and cheese and crunchy bread was comforting. Just then, we heard louder yelling behind us and high heels being stormed on the ground.

Rachel Appling stormed past us, scowling. "All that hard work for nothing!" She was yelling.

"Rachel!" I called. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" Rachel asked, flipping her glossy auburn ponytail, turning around to face us. "My boyfriend sabotaged the entire chorus!"

"What?!" Me and Esther yelled together. "OOMF." I couldn't resist another bite.

"Mitch changed the scores on everybody's songs so that only HE passed and everyone else's failed!" Look at mine!"

Mitch is her boyfriend? I thought, confused. I thought he was in something with Scott!

I read hers. Electric, jazzy, and rhythmic- yet missing the point...

Avi and Kevin were running up to join us. "I'm so mad at the judges!" Kevin yelled. "I stayed up until 4am improving the beatboxing, and they say it's MEDICORE?"

I felt confused. All around the hallway, everyone was frowning at their reviews and talking angrily with each other. Even Kira Vale, one of the best students here was moping around with a hand pressed to her forehead. Scott ran up to us, looking frazzled. "Have you seen Mitch?" He demanded.

"Wait!" I suddenly yelled. Everyone stopped talking to look at me. I glared accusingly at Rachel, who was applying a layer of lip gloss despite the situation. "How do you know that he sabotaged the chorus? It could have been you!"

"Even if I did it, why would I slap a big fat fail on MY paper?" She snapped. "And look, everybody's paper was graded with red. Mitch was walking around with a sparkly red pen he claimed to be expensive!"

I frowned. Such a big deal about a little pen.

"I'm finding him!" Yelled Avi. Tossing his stuff onto a chair, he was off. We decided to follow him. We looked everywhere, and we found him about to cross the street outside.

Looking back, I thought it was always a funny picture- A guy about to cross the street and oblivious to the fact he was being trailed by a group of angry teens.

"MITCH! STOP!" Yelled Rachel. People outside were turning to look.

"Yes?!" Mitch turned around. "I gotta go!" He looked like he was about to cry. "I can't believe the judges failed me!" A tear ran down his cheek.

Everyone froze. "Y-you failed?" Scott asked quietly.

"What more do you guys need to know, my underwear brand?" Mitch swiped at his face, yanking his backpack higher.

"Mitch, show me your packet." Scott ordered. The rest of us waited silently as Scott looked at it. I noticed it was noted with red ink. "That's weird." Scott frowned. "Your review is written with red ink like ours." He turned to address us. "He's been whining to win this for weeks. He wouldn't ever sabotage himself!"

I glanced at Esther helplessly, then saw something that made my mouth fall open. Suddenly, all fell into place. "GUYS!" I yelled. "Mitch is completely innocent!"

"What?" Everyone turned to look at me.

"So are the judges." I continued. "In fact, I know exactly who the culprit is!"

Turning around, I pointed. "Her!"

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Tell me who you think the culprit is in the comments! Vote if you feel bad for Mitch! Love ya'll!❤️

PS: I'm currently looking for someone who can make a beautiful cover for this fic, Im not satisfied with the one I have now. If you're interested, let me know:)