reason to smile ~ jonathan kent

head above water

Before school, Tilly couldn't help but pace back and forth in her bedroom, distress clear on her features.

It was stupid. It wasn't as if it was life or death. But if she were being honest, it was kind of big for her.

Sarah had messaged her about the music revue going on at school and how she was getting roped into auditioning for it. Tilly didn't have an issue with this, of course. Her best friend had a great singing voice from what she remembered – if anything Tilly was sure it had gotten even better. Tilly would be so proud to watch her best friend go on stage to sing her heart out. She'd be amazing.

But whilst Tilly was fully supportive of her friend, despite Sarah's apprehensions over performing, she wasn't so supportive of Sarah's next suggestion.

Sarah had messaged, telling her that if Tilly auditioned, Sarah would.

What kind of bargain was that? Sarah was the one who actually enjoyed singing. Her voice was beautiful and the girl was like a little song bird whenever the spotlight was on her.

But Tilly? She wasn't as much of a fan. Don't get her wrong, she liked singing but only when she was in the safe confines of her bedroom. At least then, she was free to mess up as much as she wanted with no one to boo her off the stage or tease her incessantly about being off tune.

She sent back a resounding 'no' to her friend, not wanting to be involved in anyway other than in the audience, cheering her friend along. Yet, despite every attempt to deny the offer, Sarah wasn't taking no for an answer.

Letting out a loud groan, Tilly threw her phone onto the bed harshly before reluctantly getting ready for school.

Strutting inside the school alone made Tilly feel slightly weird, usually having Sarah or even Jonathan beside her. But that, of course, didn't allow her confidence to falter. She held her head high and continued on, still questioning why Sarah didn't meet her outside, eventually finding Sarah towards the end of the hallway. As she approached from behind, she could see Sarah gazing at the sign-up sheet for the audition.

So that's why.

"Boo!" Tilly shouted into Sarah's ear, causing the brunette to jump with fright, letting out a loud shriek. Sarah spent a few seconds trying to calm her racing heart by holding her hand to her chest, whilst Tilly just laughed at the reaction.

"Really?" Sarah sighed.

Tilly shrugged, giving her a teasing smirk, "sorry but I had to"

"Yeah, well, for that, I'm gonna sign your name up myself"

"Sarah, come on. You know it's not my thing" Tilly's smirk automatically dropped at her words, as she tried for the millionth time to tell her no – only this time it was in person and not over text.

"Oh, come on! Tils, you have a great voice!" Sarah exclaimed animatedly.

Tilly had to refrain the urge to roll her eyes, "yeah, okay, maybe in front of an audience of zero in the safe confines of my shower, like a normal person!"

"Please Tils! I'll love you forever if you do this with me" Sarah decided to finally resort to begging. She hated it, of course, but Tilly usually couldn't say no whenever she annoyed her enough by going on about whatever she wanted to do.

"First of all, you'll love me forever anyway. I'm just amazing. And second of all, you're not gonna convince me to sing at this stupid audition" Tilly sighed again. She attempted to wrap her arm around Sarah's to pull her away from the signup sheet but Sarah wasn't budging from her spot.

Instead, Sarah grabbed hold of the pen and reached forward to write their names. But before she could write her own first, hesitation clouded over her mind. Was she really about to do this?