Broken Guitar Strings

Chapter 45

(ALLIE'S POV)

I scream and cheer as loud as I can as Lay walks onstage, tinily bows at the judges and the audience a few times, and gets into his starting pose.

As the music starts, I gasp in awe. This is the song that was supposed to be Min's solo debut: "Dance Like This." I finally understand now; by hearing the minor chords and sounds in the song, Lay thought of the perfect concept. I watch him move smoothly and charismatically across the stage, resembling...a snake. He's doing a snake concept. Everything about his makeup and costume and shoes and strange arm stretches clicked into place, and I can't take my eyes off of him. His jawline grinds together, and his eyes glint in a deadly, poisonous fashion. He moves his arms and legs all in accord to the beats of the music. I am so proud of him, but Mrs. Zhang must be even prouder. At one point in the dance, he lowers his body to the ground and does a perfect body wave, using only his arms for support. He must have practiced a lot to be able to do something like that. I look at the judges, and just by watching the movement of a few backs of their heads, I can tell that they are nodding professionally in approval. As his routine ends and he strikes his final pose, the crowd goes wild. I cheer and yell, and Mrs. Zhang is...crying. She's crying in joy. She had no idea that her son would do something so unbelievably marvelous like this.

Everyone stands up to applaud even louder as all of the other competitors show up on stage. Lay is smiling up into the crowd, right at us. Thank you, he mouths as he pants. All of the dancers link hands and bow together, and then disperse to go find their coaches, family, friends, or all of the above.

As Lay walks up to us, Mrs. Zhang runs over to him and gives him an enormous hug. Then, all three of us gather in a group hug. His mom pats him on the shoulder, tears streaming down her face. "You were so amazing," she said. "I am so proud of you." I place my hand under his chin and turns his head so he's looking at me. I immediately go in for a kiss, and I come out saying, "You did so awesomely out there. I was not expecting something as creative and original as a snake concept." He smiles sweetly. "It was all due to your support. Thank you so much, Allie. It really made a difference."

Then, Mrs. Zhang forced some pictures out of me and Lay. She got solo shots of Lay, 'couple' shots as she called it of me and him, and we even got someone to take a picture of all three of us.

As we're walking back to the common area, it's already ten thirty. I had no idea how it would already be ten thirty when there were only seventeen competitors. Even with seventeen dancers, the maximum amount of time spent would be fifty minutes, assuming each performance was a few minutes long. I guess the MC really wasted some time with his easy jokes.

"Now we just have to wait," Mrs. Zhang says. "The adults have to perform, and then we have to wait for half an hour at least until awards."

"That'll be fine," Lay says. "However, I'm already hungry. Is there lunch?"