Team Adam

Part 1

"Merry Christmas!" I hear a voice yell, disrupting my rather pleasant dream about Brad Pitt and me.

My eyes flutter open. My 15 year old brother Austin stands at the end of my bed.

"Huh?" I rub my eyes and yawn.

"Come on Cheyenne, it's already 7! It's Christmas!" Austin groaned. "I saw my guitar wrapped up already...lets go!"

I groaned one last time and hopped out of bed. I slid my bare feet into my favorite slippers and followed Austin down the stairs.

As we turned the corner and reached the bottom of the stairs I saw Holden's guitar, pitifully wrapped to hide what it contains, leaned up against the window. I heard my parents shuffle in the kitchen. "Mom? Dad?" I yelled.

"Coming!" I heard my mom respond.

All the sudden something caught my eye. A bright, red envelope resting on the edge of one of the pine tree branches. On the front was my name written in bold sliver letters.

I walked slowly towards the tree... never losing sight of the red envelope.

All the sudden my parents appeared in the doorway, my mom videoing on her phone and my dad trying to hide a grin. So this was planned.

"Go ahead, open it." My mom smiled.

I reached out and grabbed the envelope. "It's money isn't it." I laughed.

My dad shook his head and said, "Better."

My eyebrow raised. I always get excited to get just money because I love going after Christmas shopping with it and buy a whole new wardrobe every year. What could be better than $300 worth of clothes!?

My fingernails broke the seal on the envelope and I slid out a hard piece of paper. At the top was the words "The Voice."

My mouth dropped.

As my eyes trailed down the paper I started to tremble. It read, "Greetings, Cheynne Martin! We received your audition video and we are excited to tell you that you have been approved to compete in the Blind Auditions on January 3! We hope to see you there, and we wish you good luck in your singing career! Sincerely, the Voice team."

I dropped the letter on the floor. "Mom? Dad!" I smiled from ear to ear. "How did you do this!?"

"Your dad and I sent in the video of you singing in the talent competition at school a couple months ago." My mom said smiling. "Congrats!"

We all gathered in a group hug. "That's just a couple of weeks though!" Austin said.

"Yeah?" My dad said.

"But - what about school and us? Who's gonna drive me to school?" My brother was obviously sad. We did everything together. I drove him to and from school and everywhere else he needed to go.

I looked at my mom and dad and grinned. I turned to Austin and said "Hey bud, I'm not leaving or anything. Don't be sad. This is a good thing."

He hesitated to say something back. "I know...but-"

"No more 'buts', Austin. Stop this. This is very good thing for Cheyenne and you need to support her." My mom said sternly.

Austin was embarrassd for how he reacted and decided to sit down on the sofa and wait for everything to be opened that layed under the tree. He was obviously less excited though.

I turned back to my parents. My mom left to fix a cup of coffee, so I asked my dad, "So, what do I do about school exactly?"

This was the last semester of my junior year. I will be a senior soon. Hopefully The Voice doesn't ruin my chances of getting into a good college and affecting my grades.

"Because there are alot of teens on the show, they have people who help you keep up with school work. Of course it puts you a somewhat of a disadvantage, dealing with schoolwork and all, but I am sure you will be able to handle it just fine."

I nodded. "Yeah, that is if I get past the blind auditions."

"Oh please," my dad laughed, "without a doubt!"

I smiled at what my dad said. He's always had the most faith in me. My other family has almost always came to my shows at the downtown karaoke places, bars, and school competitions or musicals...but my dads level of support exceeds any other persons.

January 3rd...I just have about 2 weeks to prepare for the single most important 90 seconds of my life.