The Literary Misadventures of Juniper Rosewood

23- The Mellowed Sounds

It was half-past eleven, and I was watching some local band finish up their set with Circe and my parents. The mayor had already found me and thanked me for filling in on such short notice, which I said hadn't been a problem. It had, but he didn't need to know that. I had seen a few people from school milling about the marquee, but nobody I recognized was there yet, aside from Circe. The butterflies in my stomach had multiplied tenfold since earlier that morning, and I could feel the thump of my heart in my ears. Circe had hold of my hand though, and so for the most part, I was okay.

The band finished playing, and a smattering of polite applause echoed about the marquee. As soon as their equipment was trundled off the stage, a piano was rolled on. It was an old, glossy, black Bösendorfer, although not as old as mine, and it seemed to be telling me that I wasn't good enough to play it. It had probably been tuned at some point in the past fifty years too, unlike mine, and was therefore intimidatingly superior. Circe smiled at me encouragingly, and I smiled back, on the verge of complete panic.

"I'm not prepared," I said, my voice shaking.

"Neither were they," Circe said, gesturing at the band who were now huddled around a table sipping their drinks. "Lucky for you, nobody is really paying attention." I smiled. Circe knew exactly how to comfort me. It might have sounded mean coming from anybody else, but it was exactly what I needed to hear.

"Nobody is paying attention," I repeated, breathing deeply.

By quarter to twelve, my grandparents and all of my friends had found their way into the marquee. Martin and Ana sat with Sadie on a table close to the stage, eating some sort of fried rice dish from one of the food trucks. I waved at them and they all waved back at me. I couldn't see Dalton, but if anything that was a comfort. He would only make me more nervous. Each of my friends sat with their parents, and Ingrid and Rashid's parents sat at the same table, which made me smile. Etta had dragged J.B to watch too, which was funny because he looked as though he would rather be anywhere else. It struck me that perhaps Etta ought to break up with him.

Five minutes until the performance, and Dalton still wasn't there. Circe had a hold of my hand still, keeping it from trembling. People had bundled inside the marquee since it was lunchtime and it was drizzling outside, and so my audience was much bigger than I had anticipated. Even Stella was there, on her phone at the back. Ingrid had her notebook flipped open and her pen poised, and Emma was setting up her camera, and I felt as though I was about to throw up.

The mayor got up on stage to introduce me, as he had done with all of the previous acts and would do with all the ones to come after me.

"It never fails to amaze me how many talented people live in our lovely little town. This is a wonderful environment to foster a diverse range of talents in our young people. In that spirit, I am pleased to introduce Lochry High's very own Juniper Rosewood!" Hearing my name made my feet turn to blocks of cement, and I stumbled towards the stage with my blood pounding in my ears. There was a light round of applause and Circe wolf-whistled. Her whistle managed to snap me out of it a little bit, and my breathing steadied as I approached the stage.

"Thank you," I said to the mayor as I waited for him at the bottom of the stage.

"You'll be brilliant," He said, shaking my hand.

"I hope so."

Three steps led up to the stage, but it felt in my head as though there were a hundred. The eyes of the entire town were boring into me like daggers, and I gulped as I reached the top of the stairs. I looked out over the crowd and caught Circe's eye for a moment. She smiled, and I felt my heart lighten a little. Then I noticed a familiar blond head standing by the entrance. He waved and gave me a goofy grin. I smiled and walked over to the piano, feeling even calmer. It felt as though my boots thumping on the stage were echoing all around the marquee. I sucked in another deep breath and pulled out the stool with a jarring scrape.