The Truth in the Stars

Part 10: An Escape

It was May seventeenth, the day of the talent show. I woke up early that morning, because I couldn't sleep. The excitement was building in me. I had spent weeks practicing the song, though practicing singing it was much harder. There were one-hundred participants signed up for the competition, meaning it would take the whole school day to get through everyone.

I spent the entire morning practicing the guitar and mumbling over the lyrics. It would only take one mistake to ruin my entire performance! If my voice cracked or I messed up the strum pattern, I would be finished. I knew walking into it that there was no way I'd win.

I threw my guitar in my black guitar bag. The biggest problem would be getting the guitar out of the house without my parents questioning it. They would definitely be awake by now. I thought about this as I threw on jeans and my green t-shirt. I knew I'd have to pull something. Preferably not a muscle.

I decided to get them to move to the living room, so they wouldn't be able to see me. I set my guitar on the steps and walked down into the kitchen. Our house was two floors, and the only rooms on the first floor were the kitchen, bathroom, and living room. The kitchen was to the right of the stairs, and you could see the door in front of the stairs from there. The living room was set a little further back, but had a wall to separate it from the rest of the house. The bathroom was situated under the stairs.

"Good morning, Mark," my mom addressed my entry without turning around from eating breakfast.

"Your dad has work off today, so he's still sleeping."

"Oh, well tell him I say goodbye when he wakes up."

This would make my plan easier, now that I only had to get my mom in the living room. How I was going to do that I would find out later. That's when I noticed that the news was on. My mom always had to know what the weather was going to be. I would just wait until the daily forecast came on. When it did I made my move. I guess, I made her move.

"Hey, mom the weather is on," I announced.

"Thanks, sweetie," she said as she walked into the living room.

I took my chance to grab my guitar and leave. After my guitar was out of view and on the other side of the door, I stuck my head in and yelled, "Goodbye."

I heard a mumble behind me as I shut front door. I had successfully got my guitar out of the house. The walk to school didn't feel to long this morning. I had texted Eddie this morning and told him I was going to school early. We still had half an hour until school started. I decided to step into the auditorium before the talent show. 

Our school auditorium had gray, brick walls. The seats had red cushions that were actually quite comfortable. I would sit on them for most of the day until I had to go back stage.

I walked up onto the wooden stage and found my guidance counselor.

"Hello. Mark, right?" he greeted.

"Yeah. Do you need help setting up?" I asked. I figured I should since I'm early anyway.

"Sure. Could you bring that stack of chairs on the other side of the auditorium over," he responded, pointing to the back corner at the stack of chairs.

As I walked over I began to feel nervous. I realized the last time I sang in front of an audience was in church. I grabbed some chairs. I wasn't ready for this. I stopped that thinking as soon as I could. I had practiced for weeks and I knew I came a long way. I had spent too much time to give up now.

"Are you nervous, Mark," the counselor asked.

"A little, but I know I'm ready."

"Good. I wish you luck. Just finish bringing those chairs over and we'll be ready."

I finished moving the last of the chairs, and waited for the bell to ring. I met up with Eddie and he wished me luck. I just hoped I wouldn't need it.