without further ado

i. my heart will go on

dedicated to leigh_ 'cause even though i don't know her she seems like a pretty cool person....and also a fabulous writer :))

where to, miss?

to the stars.

-titanic

♫

chapter one

"name?"

"susan keller, ma'am."

"age?"

"seventeen in two months."

"you mean sixteen, right?"

"yes, ma'am, i am sixteen."

"m-hm."

the lady placed her pen down onto the table and started studying her next victim.

scruffy clothes, unkempt look, and was that a ketchup stain on her jacket? she internally rolled her eyes, who did she think she was? she was thinking.

another person, sitting next to this slightly snobbish lady, had stared rather curiously at the girl. the other auditionists had been dressed up to their full potential, make-up, dresses, suits, the whole shebang. but this girl. this girl was something different, he could tell.

on the other side of the near empty gymnasium stood an awkward girl, aged sixteen and ten months with limp, brown hair tied back, grubby, dishevelled clothes, and instrument-less.

"so, what will you be singing for us today?"

"well, i'm actually going to be playing..."

both the judges seemed to be confused, the messily-dressed girl was not holding any instrument, nor did she request a piano when asked. what was she going to play? they were asking themselves.

"what will ya be playin' then, darlin’?" the man inquired.

in response, the girl hesitantly reached into her jacket's pocket and brought back out what people would call a tin whistle.

"i'm going to be playing the tin whistle."

"i see. what song?"

"my heart will go on, celine dion."

"well then, you can start whenever you're ready."

the girl felt as if she were in an examination, but once she thought about it auditioning was pretty much the same as examining. should she start now… or now?

silently, she brought the mouth of the whistle to her lips. she placed a few of her fingers over the whistle’s holes and rolled her lips around the top. then, with her eyes closed, she gently blew a hesitant D, letting the note hang in the air. the girl’s now opened eyes seemed to glance nervously at the two judges. the silence that followed after the shaky sounding D seemed to make the girl more nervous.

with a deep breath she played the note, D, again, an E followed, then a longer played F#. the high pitched noise seemed to revibrate around the empty gymnasium and come back to the girl, echoing. the girl's eyes once again closed.

E, D, E, A.

the girl had rehearsed this song with many ornamentations, trills, slides, rolls, vibrato, in an attempt to impress the judges. but with those first few notes, all her rehearsing flew out the window.

now it was just her and her little tin whistle.

the girl swayed slightly with the slow music, pausing slightly for a breath. G, F#, D, B, A. the notes seemed to make the three people's hearts vibrate, even with the lack of ornamentation on every note. the girl was, once again, caught up in the euphoria that her simple pair of lungs, and this simple stick of tin could give her.

the lady judge had her eyes slightly closed but had caught herself before anyone noticed. though she let herself sway with the lone notes. the man had known from the very beginning that this girl would not scream out some non-sense words and call it singing, nor would she of stiffly played a complicated piece on the piano. no, she was in the zone, the zone all true musicians wanted to be in, the zone where true musicians always were.

after the girl had finished the thirty or so seconds of euphoria her eyes remained closed, savouring the last few moments of her high. then, she placed the flute back into her pocket and looked up at the two judges.

the lady had her eyes narrowed onto the dull looking girl with a beautiful way with music.

the man had a slight smirk placed on his face and was nodding his head slightly in compliment.

the man continued nodding in agreement, "good job, darling'."

"you're in."

and with that our heroine, miss susan keller of age seventeen in two months, was standing on pure elation.

"thank you."

she nodded at the both of them, shoved both hands into her jacket's pockets and walked out of the near empty gymnasium.

"wow, just wow."

"i knew she'd be a keeper."

the judges shuffled their papers around before shouting out, next please!

the girls wide grin easily told her gathered family and friends about her small win. she achieved many pats on the back, smiles and thumbs up.

“good job, sue!”

“i knew you could do it!”

she was now no longer a auditionist, but a contestant.

her music teacher had almost forced her to sign up yet when the girl saw ms. jones' delighted, beaming face she couldn't stop thinking that, she should have done this earlier, should have shared her joys in music with others.

“i’m proud of you, sue, I really am proud.”