In The Spotlight

Coiny- Split-Second Decision

I think I sort of knew from the moment I took the personality quiz- no, survey- that this was something more significant than your average game of The Price is Right.

I tried to find comfort in Firey, but I couldn't talk to him. Not with X's observation. Something about their eyes was bleak and dead.

Instead, I silently filled out the questionnaire. It asked me about everything ranging from handedness to whether I wake up early. Occasionally, I glanced to see how far through Firey was, but when I did, X's eyes seemed to sharpen, and I would look back at my own paper.

When I finished, I handed my paper to X and returned to my table.

Or rather, I tried to. The table was gone, all of the tables were. They had been replaced by metal folding chairs, arranged into 3 sections of rows.

We had been moved toward the front of the room, where cameras had been set up. There were laptops at each team's station. Boom mics, wires, and other technology decorated the room. I looked around to see if the other team managers had finished the survey.

As I catch a glimpse of my friend from the other side of the room, my nerves are somewhat calmed. He serves as a reminder that even with all the bright lights and shiny equipment, I am still me. Just Coiny.

I guess I could trick myself into believing nothing was different until it was actually happening. But now it was, and it was happening all at once. Before I could even tell my teammates what X pulled me aside to do, people began filing in. The empty metal chairs started to fill.

"So what'd you even do over there?" Eggy asked me. My team was all women aside from me, which was fine. I got along with them better than dudes most of the time anyway.

"I did this survey thing? About my personality. It was weird." Eggy nodded. Her hair bounced as she did.

An announcement came from a speaker. "5 minutes until we start!" It was X's high pitched voice.

"Thank you, 5," said Flower.

"What does that mean?" Pin asked.

"It's a theatre thing. Doesn't matter." No idea what that was.

"So, I'm excited, what about y'all?" Changing the subject seemed like a good idea when people had been speaking a foreign language.

"So excited!" Pin seemed like she was waiting for someone to ask her that question. "I feel like I could do cartwheels. Or, just jump up and down a lot." I believed her. Her leg was bouncing intensely.

"Yeah, I'm excited. Maybe I'm mostly excited to wear my designs on TV." Flower seemed truly in love with that idea. She had on an elegant blouse, slightly frilly, white with shimmering gold embroidery. She paired that with hoop earrings, sleek black pants, and pink heels. She was already tall, and I'm already short, but with those shoes she was towering over me. I also felt criminally underdressed in her presence.

Eggy went next. "I don't know if I'm excited, but I'm glad that I'm getting to have this experience either way." She closed her eyes for a second. I guess she was thinking about something. She was a little bit strange, but she was kind. And she was wearing normal people clothes, which made me feel better about my fashion choices.

Puffball didn't say anything. "Hey, Puff, you excited?" Eggy asked, nudging her slightly.

"Oh, yeah. I guess my mind is elsewhere." Puffball hadn't spoken much in time I'd known her. But when she did, she had a particularly sing song tone, and yet she sounded a little bit down all of the time.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked her.

"I don't know, I just feel like I'm in over my head, because-" she began to say. She never got to explain why, though, because 4 walked in front of us, one of the production assistants gave a nod, and the host drew in a calm breath.