Iris

Chapter Ten

[A:N: Hey guys. I had the best time writing this chapter. I hope you like it. Please let me know what you think. Sorry for any spelling mistakes etc. On a side note it is State of Origin tonight....Go Queensland! ^_^]

I had the longest fifty minutes of my life watching the talent show. I felt my eyes wander to Blade every so often to see him completely focusing on the stage. I wondered how he could be so calm. Or maybe he just seemed so calm. What if his heart was pounding in his ears too? It was ridiculous that I was getting so worked up about a talk. Yes this talk would answer a lot of my questions but it could also break me. What if there was something more between Alison and Blade than Tristan had said? What if they got back together? I don’t know if I could handle the rejection.

“I would like to thank all of the performers tonight for just an amazing show” Blade smiled as he spoke into the microphone “The judges and I will discuss the results in another room, please help yourself to the snacks and drinks which James and the other staff have prepared” Blade  said as he stepped down from the stage. That’s when he noticed I was staring at him. Blade and I just looked at each other for a few minutes. It wasn’t as if we could talk, he was on the other side of the room. I needed to say something, scream something, anything. The silence was murderous. Blade gave me a small nod and then disappeared along with his parents. A nod was a good thing, right? I mean it means that he knew I was alive and looking at him.

“Iris?” Georgia’s familiar voice whispered. I spun on my heel to see my curly haired friend looking at me with a worried expression. “Are you ok?”

“I think I will be soon” I replied nodding to myself.

“You don’t have to say anything but you know I’m here for you and so are the others” Georgia titled her head in the direction of Raven and Sabrina.

“Thank-you” I smiled as I gave Georgia a hug. She was right. No matter what happened in this talk, I knew that I had friends and family who loved me and would be there for me. I just had to get this talk over and done with. I could do it. I could do it.

I have to admit I had no idea how I occupied myself for the whole time that the judges were choosing who to leave and who to stay. It surprised me to hear people being asked to sit down once again. This time Mr. Deans was the one with the microphone. I really had to focus myself to listen to everything the man said. All I could think about was that time he yelled at me in German. How was I supposed to know German! The man was a lunatic.

“Once again, thank-you to all the young ladies who performed tonight, the show was truly remarkable. Now as judges it was very hard to pick who would stay and who would be leaving us. There will be six groups eliminated from the competition today” Mr. Deans announced. Six groups could be a lot of people. I wondered how many girls in total would be leaving. Mr. Deans read out the names as some girls busted into tears. I counted the number of names on my fingers. 15. 15 girls were going home that night. I felt so sorry for all of them. I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath. I slowly opened my eyes again as I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“You didn’t think you were going anywhere did you?” Georgia whispered to me with a wink. I smiled back and tried not to laugh. I felt that Mr. Deans was glaring at me as he waltzed down the stage steps. Before I knew it, all the girls disbursed in all different directions probably towards their dorm rooms.

“Iris you coming?” Raven called to me. I turned to see Raven and Sabrina heading for the door. I couldn’t get the words out.

“You go on ahead!” Georgia yelled back. Raven and Sabrina nodded and disappeared out of view.

“Georgia” I whispered. Why was I whispering?

“I’m going to be hanging out in the kitchen for a while helping cleaning up…come get me when you are done so I can walk you back to our dorm ok?” Georgia smiled encouragingly at me. Wow, I never noticed how much I loved my friendship with Georgia. It was true that I was close with all of my dorm room friends but I felt as if Georgia and I shared something special. It was a different connection than what I had with Raven or Sabrina. It was this unspoken promise that we had, to always be there for the other.