Valerie Tyler.
Upon hearing her name, many would instantly think of glamour and stardom, not hardships and sorrow. However, Valerie has had, in the opinion of many, far more than her share of hardships and sorrow in her ascent to the acclaimed pres...
'Don't say I didn't warn you, I live for the moment'
"Excuse me, but why don't we do this without the microphone then?" I yell, receiving a round of hoots in acknowledgement.
Somehow, Jessica must have managed to mess with the audio system or something's wrong with the one microphone set in front of me for it refuses to relay audio properly. Either way, I'm set on performing just how I was going to. I probably should be a lot louder though. Fortunately, the sound of my violin is still being relayed so that's good because I can't do anything to magnify its output otherwise like I can with my voice. I sing as loud as I can while retaining the notes I intended to hit and the audience is extra supportive too, remaining uber silent until I finish, when they burst into thunderous applause.
The judges give me mostly positive feedback before I exit the stage, two faces catching my attention. Miss Generica dons an expression of pure disbelief, rage and disappointment, only, this time around, the disappointment doesn't evoke any sort of reaction from me. Josh is happy beyond belief and satisfaction is writ large on his face going by the smirk playing on his lips as he stares at her. Well, she picked the wrong people to play with, I guess, in the wrong place and at the wrong time. This battle has never been in her favour so she doesn't stand a whole lot of chance to win it.
Before any snide remarks are tossed about, all the contestants are called to the stage to receive further instructions. All of us file onto stage, Josh linking his arm in mine gingerly, probably trying not to hurt either of us. I look at him, a smile passing between us, joy being an electrifying feeling now. At the sound of a judge beginning to talk, we reluctantly turn forward, arms still linked. While it is true that we haven't spent a whole lot of time with each other, just being in his company makes me feel so much better and it even manages to distract me from all the other not-so-pleasant things going on. Perhaps I should extend some sort of gesture to develop our friendship further.
"Contestants, let me repeat this. Today evening, all of you are going to perform in pairs of two so pair up soon and get practising! You can sing whatever you want to, provided it isn't too vulgar since we air this on television, and remember that there will be a vote at the end, following which two people from the two pairs with least votes will be eliminated based on the discretion of the judges," Lexo's voice jolts me out of my dreamy state.
"Well, since you're standing still, I wouldn't be wrong if I assumed you wouldn't mind performing with me now, would I, Erie? I mean, do you- should we- would--"
I cut off his bumbling by blurting out, "Well, if you want to, I would love it!"
"Let's get to it then!" he enthusiastically pulls me with him to the person we're supposed to report to to be given further instructions after pairing up.
We're informed that we are going to be performing in about five hours and order of performance will be given to us about half an hour before get go. We could just start practising right now but both of us look ready to drop any moment now. I'm about to ask Josh what he thinks we ought to do when several pairs of hands embrace me from behind me.
After chatting up for a couple of minutes and introducing everyone to Josh properly, Stacie suggests we all head out to lunch, the suggestion making everyone's face light up like a switch being flicked on, especially those of Josh, Van and Vi, as Josh feels, "I know a really good place around here for Italian, what do you guys think of that?"
The younger girls clap in delight but Stacie and I exchange a look. We sure don't feel good about keeping the girls from what they want but we can't afford them getting all that they want all the time if we are to focus on getting their needs prioritized first and foremost. Money is getting pretty tight now and I haven't yet been able to find a job because no one wants to hire a twelve-year-old even with my degree and filled in resume. Before we can react too much though, Tracie, Van and Violet run off towards the exit, Ros, Nat and Lau on their heels.
"It isn't too costly if that's what you're thinking about," Josh tells Stacie as we follow Thia outside.
"That isn't the primary cause of my concern right now, but I can put this aside until later. For now, at least," she adds.
"Stacie, are you still on about yesterday?"
"Today morning, and yes, Val, very much so. Look, I'm supposed to be here taking care of you and if you won't even let me know what happened, how can I do what I'm supposed to do?" she tells me in a low tone.
"Wait, you didn't tell them?"
"What does it look like, Joshua?!" I retort irritably, suddenly picking up speed so I'm walking with Cynthia instead.
While she's confused, she quickly starts conversation about how and why she recently dyed her hair red. I gladly engage in conversation with her to keep my mind off how I basically obliterated any chance I ever had of enhancing my friendship with Josh. Cynthia does look so cute with the burgundy red hair that brings out her striking brown eyes and the shade she's chosen complements her dark mahogany-coloured complexion well. She slowly but skillfully steers the conversation towards what happened last night and I grumble, only wanting to eat and sleep right now.
Josh and Stacie overtake us and head to the forward of the group to lead us to the place he spoke of, my groaning eliciting a questioning look from Cynthia and I answer, "Thia, I ruined any chance of our friendship developing further, I'm super tired, I'm so hungry I could eat you but I won't because I don't promote cannibalism and I like you too much to kill you myself and this stupid wound is basically screaming for attention right now!"
- - - - - - -
I got you a new chapter! I can't wait for the next eight to ten chapters to be done because I really want to get to there (I love the story from there!). Anyways, I'll stop blabbering now and get to writing the next chapter as fast as I can since you clearly don't know what's coming and I need to stop bumbling before I blurt out the rest of the plot- NØ! (Boy, do I love that song!)
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