With Mrs. Petrovski’s grip so tight on her arm, Kaley didn’t have a choice but to follow the teacher out on stage. All the crew of the talent show were taking their bows, standing in front of the audience to receive their thanks and applause.
Kaley looked out at the sea of people, noticing individual faces under the lighting. There were so many of them, all looking at them on stage.
She wanted to run away and throw up at the same time. There were so many of them and nowhere to hide. They could see her and she could see them.
They all bowed together, Kaley a few seconds slower than the others as she caught on to what they were doing. It was like somebody else was standing there in her body as she watched on.
As the audience clapped and cheered for their effort behind the scenes, Kaley’s mind wandered for just a moment. She pictured what it would have been like for Harper, or Harvey, or even Abigail, to receive the same applause for their performance.
She imagined what it would be like for them to cheer for her singing performance. Receiving all that love and appreciation for something she had poured her heart and soul into would have been phenomenal. It would have been like every Christmas and birthday coming together for that one moment.
Just for those few seconds, Kaley wished she did have the courage to perform. She wanted to be one of the others waiting backstage and hoping to hear her name announced as the winner.
It would have been magical.
If only.
She reeled her thoughts in as they left the stage. It was silly anyway. The audience might not have been so enthusiastic after her performance. They might be so quiet that she could hear the crickets chirping from outside.
She would never be able to perform in front of anyone. It was too exposing which would only lead to her humiliation. Her songs and her songbook would have to remain a secret.
The anticipation of the evening came to a crescendo as the school principal, Mr. Lockie, took to the stage to announce the winner.
Everything became whisper quiet. The only sounds were the occasional feet shuffling on the floor as someone got more comfortable in their seat. Everyone was waiting for that one name, the winner of the thousand dollars.
Kaley crossed her fingers and hoped it would be either Harper or Harvey. They both deserved it. A tie between the two of them would have been perfect.
“And the winner of the Sandyridge High School Talent Show is…” Principal Lockie dragged it out for an impossibly long wait. “… Abigail & the Dolls.”
Abigail and her friends rushed to the stage, all smiles and glitter. She accepted the trophy and the check for one thousand dollars, blowing kisses to the audience as she did.
Kaley rolled her eyes. Seeing Abigail win anything made her angry. She expected to win, she wanted everyone to love her. But really, Abigail didn’t deserve it. She was nasty to everyone and people only liked her because they wanted her to like them. Being in that club was exclusively invitation only.
After the applause of the audience died down, Abigail & The Dolls all walked past her to get backstage. Kaley picked up pieces of their conversation and wished she hadn’t.
“It’s a good thing they picked us, otherwise my father was going to complain to the school board,” Abigail said. “And everyone knows what happens when my father speaks to the board.” They all giggled in response.
“Of course they were going to pick us,” Madison said. “I mean, did you see all the other acts? Talk about pathetic.”
“Nobody can beat us,” Macy added.
“Absolutely.”
“Are we going to split the money equally?”
Abigail shook her head. “Of course not. I did all the work, you’re only my background props. I’ll give you both a hundred and I’m keeping the rest.”
For just a moment, Kaley actually felt sorry for her friends. Abigail was hard enough to take when she didn’t notice you, she could only imagine how hard it would be being her friend.
While she was still seething about Abigail winning, Harper found Kaley packing up the sound gear. She wasn’t hurrying, just taking her time to make sure it was put away properly.
“I guess the winner wasn’t a shock, huh?” Harper said.
“Nope. They really should have just had their own show,” Kaley replied.
“They can’t win every year,” Harvey added, joining them while still dressed in his magician’s suit with the top hat. “Mrs. Petrovski said they are going to make the talent show an annual event. It would look suss if Abigail won every year.”
“I’m going to win next time,” Harper said decisively, like there could be no other alternative. “I’ll practice all year and they won’t be able to resist me. I definitely won’t drop my bow again, I’ll tape it to my hand if I need to.”
Kaley gave her a quick hug. “You show them, Harp. Take the crown from Abigail and you will live in Sandyridge High history forever.”
“I will, I’m serious about this.”
Neither Kaley nor Harvey doubted her. When Harper said she was going to do something, she did it. There was no backtracking for her. It was only upwards and forwards – one of the reasons they loved her so much.
They offered to help Kaley but she insisted everything was fine. Harper and Harvey left her alone to finish packing up. Most of the people were gone by that time, making it easier to move around backstage.
Kaley was just winding the last of the cables around the reel when she heard footsteps behind her. She ignored them, hoping it was just Mrs. Petrovski making sure she was finishing up.
When the footsteps stopped right beside her and she could see feet in her peripheral vision, she knew it wasn’t the teacher. This person was wearing sparkling red high heels and Mrs. Petrovski would never be that fanciful.
Her gaze travelled upwards to see Abigail standing over her. Kaley stood quickly, almost knocking over the boxes she had stacked in the process.
“I don’t know your name,” Abigail started, in her usual cranky tone of voice. “But I do know I’m glad you didn’t enter the talent show. I heard you the other day.”
Kaley’s mind reeled as she tried not to panic. There had been someone in the auditorium the other day when she had stupidly sung on the stage.
Nobody was supposed to see or hear that.
She felt her cheeks start to burn with embarrassment. Out of all the people… Why couldn’t it have just been the janitor like she hoped?
Abigail went on, oblivious to her suffering. “You better not get any ideas of performing in any talent show or auditioning for any school plays. There is only room for one diva here and it is me. Otherwise, I will destroy you until you change schools. Got it?”
There were a million things Kaley wanted to say to Abigail. She wanted to tell her that it wasn’t up to her and that Kaley could do whatever she pleased. She wanted to tell her that she was mean and she had no right saying things like that to other people.
Unfortunately, everything died on her tongue. All Kaley could do was stare at her wide eyed and hope she would leave her alone.
Abigail flashed her a sweet, innocent smile before turning and stomping off in her glittery heels. Kaley let out the breath she had been holding and packed up faster. All she wanted to do now was get as far away from the auditorium as possible.
As she placed the last cord into the box, Kaley looked at the stage once more. She had hundreds of songs in her secret songbook, every one of them coming directly from her heart as she wrote them.
Would any of them have won her the talent show? Were they good enough to beat Abigail?
Kaley wanted to find out. But, even more so, she wanted to keep her songbook a secret. The only way to do that was to keep all her songs to herself. The decision made itself up.
The songbook had to remain a secret at all costs.
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Love Songs
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