Chapter 39
I stood behind the stage, biting my nails and watching the current performing band.
They were playing Harder to Breathe by Maroon 5. The lead singer was interacting with the crowd as he sang. They responded enthusiastically.
Liam had his arms crossed and a worried expression on his face, but was tapping his foot along with the music. Zach was looking in frustration at Ron who was standing in the audience and cheering.
"I can't do this." I didn't even realize that I said it until it came out of my mouth.
"Yes, you can." Scarlett didn't even look at me while saying this. She seemed quite confident.
When the performance was over, Kayla's band walked onto the stage. They introduced themselves and I heard Raoul's voice screaming excitedly.
I shuddered and waited for her to start singing.
They had chosen Toxic by Britney Spears and tried to put a new spin on it. It was quite gutsy to try to change an iconic song and play it as a band.
"There's no escape, I can't wait, I need a hit. Baby, give me it. You're dangerous, I'm lovin' it." There was a secretive smile on her face as she sang. "Too high, can't come down. Losing my head, spinning around and around. Do you feel me now?"
I craned my neck, following her gaze to Raoul. He was enthralled, oblivious to the fact that she was leading him on, just like she was doing to numerous other boys who couldn't take their eyes off her.
The performance itself was mediocre and nothing like the one preceeding it, but the way people reacted after it was over was daunting. The judges were the only ones who didn't react. In fact, they looked a little bored.
I nearly avoided being stepped on by Kayla as she descended. The smug look on her face made it clear that she didn't expect anyone to perform better than her.
The host called out the name of the next band. It wasn't us. The band after them wasn't us either.
"Why is this taking so long?" I whined.
"I think we're the last performance." Jasper said in an off-hand way.
"We're the closing act?" My voice jumped an octave higher.
"Looks like it."
It turned out that he was right. Five more bands were called out to perform before us. Laterns that were suspended above the visitors were turned on as the sun started to sink and darkness spread around us.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I hope you're ready to welcome the last act for this evening, Play it Again!" The host announced.
"This is it." Liam croaked. We crowded around him and hugged him for a few seconds, then started to trudge up the stairs.
The first thing I saw was the sheer amount of people who had shown up. I felt Scarlett tense up and looked at the direction she was gazing in. Her grandmother stood there, looking proud.
We shuffled to our respective positions, trying not to panic about the attention trained on us.
"Thank you for sticking around to watch us." I spoke into the microphone. "We'll be playing a song by Jack's Mannequin for you today."
The band started to play their instruments, while I closed my eyes and joined in.
"I have, I have you breathing down my neck, breathing down my neck. I don't, don't know what you could possibly expect under this condition. So I'll wait, I'll wait for the ambulance to come, ambulance to come. Pick us up off the floor, what did you possibly expect under this condition?"
