Total Drama Highschool

chapter 2: wants vrs needs

tyler

my dad has taught me a lot of things in my sixteen years on earth. some for better, and some for worse. but one of them has sorta stuck with me.

he taught me about the differences between wants and needs when i asked him about signing up for the wawanakwa theatre cluin my fist year of middle school. i still remember it to this day. almost word for word! 

"tyler, you aren't listening to me. you need to understand. doing your little...childish hobbies are just something you want to do. it isn't something you need to do. you'll only be wasting your time that should be spent on something else."

"...what should i spend my time on?" i remember asking.

he had shoved a football in my arms. "sports. it's a traditional male honor. a perfect chance to show off your strength and masculinity. all the girls will be fawning all over you, and you would make a lot of friends and be a great role model for other kids. mechanics are a good choice as well, but you need to learn that anyway since you're gonna be the man of your future house, eh? that's what you need to be. if the girls see you singing a lame song on a little platform, then what will they think of you? it isn't as impressive, son."

i didn't say anything back. i just took the football he gave me and pathetically kicked it around (i didn't know the rules back then).

but deep down inside, i knew, that inside all the words he had thrown at me, there was a little bit of truth in there. there is a difference between wanting something and needing something. i didn't need to do theater, it wouldn't find me a girl. it wouldn't help my grades or a good chance at college. but i enjoyed it enough to want to go back. and so i waited for my chance.

then my dad signed me up for a buncha sports i apparently needed to do, and i didn't have any time for theater.

but, thankfully, i convinced him that i preferred soccer over football and he switched me. which, thankfully, had a more negotiable schedule. and, thankfully, i pretended to enjoy soccer, which satisfied my dad. 

but it didn't satisfy me. 

and that's the exact reason why i need to get to the audition for the high school musical tonight. 

my friend dj saw a poster in the hallway and took a picture, showing it to me at lunch. i didn't care that it was only the second day of school, i didn't want to focus on anything else. they're putting on the little mermaid. saying this to dad would probably make his head explode, but i was (and still am) so excited! i knew that i wanted the part of prince eric, mostly because i just really love his song, her voice. oh, and one step closer! it's so hard to pick between the two. 

dj had gathered all the information for me, so i didn't have to store it in my own backpack. auditions for the show were surprisingly simple. we just had to learn one of the songs from the show (they didn't mess around with songs that weren't in the little mermaid, i guess) and sing the section they had chosen. since i had already memorized every single song, i knew all i had to do was practice. 

the only issue was how. dad would kill me if he heard me singing in the house, but dj—geez, dj is such an angel—saved my behind again by telling me i could come over to his house anytime i wanted to practice. so i just told dad i would be at dj's house practicing soccer...and dj is on the soccer team, so it makes sense. our plan worked perfectly, and best of all, dj was there to give me advice! 

we practiced all week, and, as the fateful day of auditioning came, i walked from my last period with my hopes through the roof.

this was it.