HIM

CHAPTER 48

The amphitheater was filled to capacity. They all sat on the small red desks, their eyes onstage. Murmurs could be heard in the building.
The judges were a different lane from the rest of the audience, and there they sat smiling.
Somehow it felt as if they had all been waiting for this grand day.
I must admit I was scared, not a little but a whole bunch of it maybe.

Boldly, the screen projected a '
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE? '

That'd be the talk of the day, as all 25 of us would rely on it to outsmart the other. This was the National level, and everything about it just felt so highly standardized.
The other contestants had confident looks, something I didn't have, even a bit.
And they even had the strength to smile.
I just hoped I had enough strength to get through this day successfully.

The murmurs subsided as a lady made her way on stage, gracefully.
She was attractive, in her early thirties maybe, and had an infectious smile.
Everyone was really smiling today, wow!

"Hello world," she started.
"This is the grand finale, tell me you haven't been waiting for it..."
Exuberance bubbled up through her words.
"... Dear Contestants, the rules are very simple; you will all go backstage. We will be calling you one by one. Don't tense, you'll be fine."
She was on her closing remarks. She was a charismatic speaker, that I must admit.
Then we all walked out through the velvet curtain.

I took out my notepad, trying a final mastery of my ideas.
I was sure I wouldn't be the first onstage.
At least that's what I thought.

"Hey," a voice startled me from behind.
I snapped when I saw Bill standing there.
"Do you always have to show up everywhere?"
"I am sorry, I mean well this time I promise."
"For your information, I don't want to hear anything from you. And second if you didn't notice, it's only contestants this side."
"Sorry I didn't inform you that my father is the security guy right on that door. Just had to convince him am here to send my best wishes to my friend."

And true, I saw the man standing in the doorway, he bore an extreme resemblance to the guy standing in front of me.
"Oh, a nice way of saying you get your way with everything. Bill, what do you want from me? Is it not enough that you destroyed my friendship with May? Or you'd wish to go onstage and announce it to the world now?" I was disgusted.

"OK, look here Linn, I didn't intend for anything like that to happen. Besides, am sure you know I didn't tell her anything. Can I talk to you a bit privately, please?" He asked, looking around.
There were a few curious glances towards us.
"How can I be sure you won't pin me to a wall and force me to say yes to you?"
"As sure as I can promise you this will be the last time I'm ever stopping you along your walks."

Wasn't convincing, but enough.
We walked along the hallway, a bit further from the crowd.

"Make it quick please, am not sure when I'll be next onstage."

"OK, first I'm really sorry about everything between you and May. I never thought it'd end up like that."

"Your apology doesn't help much."

"I know. To be honest, I really did like you and I still do. But I won't talk about it now, I respect your decision. I didn't want to hurt May. I liked her when all of this started. But I always felt like something was missing..."

Goddamn confession time. I don't even know why he was telling me all this.

"... It was like I wasn't free to be me around her, I wasn't as happy as I thought I should be, there was a spark I wanted."
" Maybe you were overworking yourself thinking about it so you missed it," I stated.
"If I was overthinking it, why did I find so much joy in seeing you? Why was there a lot of peace when I was around you? Damn it Linn! If it's not for the promise I made earlier, I'd be pinning you on this wall right now. There's just something about you that keeps drawing me to you, I can't explain it," he was pacing around the floor irritably to be honest.