Mountain

3.19

me and kate went together to register the next step. we both walked to a desk. "hello." kate said to the woman there. "we are here to register."

"your name?" she asked us.

"the next step." she looked down at her paper and searched for our name.

"are you sure you're in the right place?" she asked us.

"yes." we said with a small laugh.

"your team is not listed." she said.

"i think you should check again." kate said.

"no it's not there."

"please check again." we both said stressfully.

she looked again. "no it's not. sorry."

me and kate looked at each other worried.

this can't be happening.

Kate walked aside and called Phoebe who was back at the studio.

"are you sure we're not here?" i asked her. "check under the table maybe." she pulled out an application and i saw our name on it. "this is us." i said happily.

"this is incomplete list."

"what do you mean?" i asked.

"because you need twelve signatures you only have eleven."

"who is missing?" i asked as i looked at the paper. "oh no, no, no, no." i said.

JAMES' NAME IS NOT ON HERE!!' WHAT HAVE I DONE WRONG??

"if we give it to you today? is that alright?"

"yeah. you have time until the end of the day."

"okay perfect. thank you."

i walked to kate. "miss kate." she looked at me. "we're missing James' signature."

"James didn't sign?"

"no."

kate put her phone back on. "Phoebe listen. i need you to focus here. james didn't sign his form. we have an extra copy in the filing cabinet. so i need you to scan that and email it to me ASAP. good."

she hung up the phone and we waited about ten minutes until Phoebe sent us the copy.

"okay. here we go." kate said and we walked back to the desk.

kate showed the woman the form on her phone.

"we need an original." the woman said.

"no, you see, it's an original Bettis scan, so..."

"doesn't matter. it doesn't work that way. sorry."

we took a few step back. "okay, izzy, where is james?" kate asked me.

"umm, he Eldon and West went out to take a tour in the swamp.

"try him."

i called him. and again and again. and tried Eldon and West as well. and they all going straight to the answering machine.

"anyone answered?" kate asked me.

"no. no one is answering."

i'm starting to panic. if i don't get James here by the end of the day, we'll all be disqualified.

"they drive me crazy!" kate said. "why would they go to Everglades?"

"because they're boys!" i groaned.

I'm not worried if James got eaten by an alligator or if he's lost at sea. i'm worried for his life when he sees me.

James still hasn't arrived and the registration desk is about to close.

the woman from the desk came up to us. "excuse me. we are closing." she said. "sorry."

we're gonna be disqualified. and that means all this hard work that we've done was for nothing.

"now what?" i asked kate.

"i guess we go home."

suddenly i saw the three boys running. "guys! james!" i screamed towards them. "oh my god!" me and kate both exclaimed.

"you. now." kate said to james and he jumped back to the desk. "right there. sign the form!"

he sighed the form and then screamed excitedly and i pushed him back as hard as i could. "are we in?" kate asked the woman.

"yes." she said.

i hugged kate and took out a deep breath i was holding in all day.

"okay, now that we are officially registered it looks like the male soloists are first." kate said to us and we looked at Eldon. "are you ready Eldon?"

"well, thanks to these guys, i got my lucky coin." he took the coin out of his pocket but then he looked at it. "wait. this is the wrong coin."

i exchanged looks with James and we all sighed.