𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄, damiano david

━━𝟐𝟗.𝐙𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢 𝐞 𝐁𝐮𝐨𝐧𝐢

Of course, Sophia and I had to sit back in our own niche because camera crews kept swinging by in between.

After Italy, there were only a few more appearances, then the waiting time began.

Some artists performed, there were probably ten repetitions of the songs and when I saw myself for the first time sitting on the big screens at the stage, I was surprised, I looked very confident, I almost didn't recognise myself.

The champagne eventually went to my head, but in a good way. I was drunk but not completely wiped out, just in a very good mood and relaxed.
Sophia seemed to be in a similar mood, she had an arm around my shoulders and was swaying her head in time to the music that was playing.

There was a UK flag around my shoulders, some of the others in my delegation were also holding small flags and waving them when the camera pointed at us.

"They better hurry up, I'm going to pee my pants with excitement if we don't get the points right away," Sophia complained at one point and I had to laugh at her words.
"You're impossible, Sophia," I said, nudging her with my shoulder, and she replied, "But it's true!"

When Iceland was shown in a final repeat of all the contestants, Sophia danced along, she moved her arms and it looked so silly that I had to laugh again.
"But the song is great!" Sophia then shouted over the music and I nodded, "Yeah I think so too, but you just look stupid," I said amused and she only moved more aggressively than before.

"Okay okay, take a guess for the placings," Sophia prompted me as the next song was shown.
"First place hopefully Italy, but I think it will be France or Switzerland because they just delivered extremely well vocally. Second then of course either France or Switzerland, depending on who is first. Third place could be Malta."

"So I think you got first place, then Italy and then Switzerland," Sophia grinned, "It's not about sympathy you twat," I said, nudging her shoulder again.

We were pulled out of our conversation when Elle tapped me and then pointed to the stage in front of us, "Here we go, girls," she said nervously, leaning forward on the sofa.
"The jury votes have been checked and verified so you can unfold the excitement. Chantal and Jan, you're good to go," the applause in the hall grew louder and the tension in my body increased again. I was completely electrified.

The first country was Israel. Sophia clasped my hand, our eyes were fixed on the screen at the stage, which showed a young woman.
The scores from one to ten were flashed at the bottom and Sophia squealed when she saw that Israel had given me eight points.

"That's a totally good start!" shouted Elle happily from behind us.
Switzerland got twelve points, Gjon who was sitting very close to us was cheered by his delegation and I also clapped loudly because I was very happy for him.

When Poland gave out the points, I got four, Italy got five and Damiano and I exchanged a tense look.
From San Marino, Italy got 10 points and I clapped loudly, I myself got six.

When Albania gave me twelve points, we all jumped up cheering, Sophie fell around my neck from behind and I cheered into the camera that was broadcasting us on the screens.

The scoring rippled along, Italy got good points from many countries, I myself got a total of five times twelve points from others and I did well otherwise too. When Italy got twelve points from Slovenia, Sophia and I were just as happy as before when I got the highest score.
I saw Damiano's face on the screens, cheering with the others, and had to grin broadly.

After 22 countries, there was a short break and one of the presenters, Nikkie, came to our table to interview me. I was in third place, right behind France and Switzerland.