Dreaming In Stereo

Part 10 -- The Audition

Apart from being awoken by Mikaila's erratic singing every morning, there was also one annoying thing about Jakob's sister. Being almost three years older than he was, she got to experience all the amazing things in life which only happened to you when you were older. She'd had a boyfriend before (a flimsy, casual relationship that ended very quickly, but still), she was in a band called Arms Attraction and had recorded singles and most importantly, Mikaila went to Newtown High School of Performing Arts.

Being one of the most prestigious performing arts high schools in Sydney, Mikaila always boasted about how she got in with 'flying colours' and she constantly talked about how amazing school was compared to the local school Jakob went to.

But today was a big day for Jakob. He was going to audition for NHSPA, in the 'music' category. The song he was going to be singing was a shortened version of She Looks So Perfect by 5 Seconds of Summer. Jakob hummed to himself as he ate breakfast.

"Come on!" Mikaila groaned. "I don't want to be late for school."

"Mikaila?" Mrs Delgado said. "You have time. Twenty minutes of it before you two really need to get going."

Jakob stuck his breadcrumb-infested tongue out at Mikaila, who glared back, and he continued to eat his toast. Jakob grinned, finished up his breakfast, and double-checked that he had everything he would need. His mum would always be coming with him.

They set off, the three of them, for NHSPA. The Delgado family lived very close to it and the walk only took five minutes. They arrived one scene as one of the earliest ones there. Mikaila saw a couple friends who she wandered off to after wishing Jakob good luck, while Jakob walked to the audition desk and signed in nervously.

"Delgado?" The man with the twinkling eyes behind the desk asked as Jakob put a tick besides his name.

Jakob nodded. "Yeah. Jakob."

"You're not Mikaila's little brother, are you?" The man asked.

"Yeah, I am," Jakob replied.

"I'm looking forward to hearing your audition. Very talented, your sister. It's amazing to work with her," The man said. He offered a hand, which Jakob shook. "I'm one of the vocal teachers here at Newtown High. Good luck, Jakob."

"Thank you," Jakob replied. He left and found his mum looking through a glass case stacked with trophies from competitions the school had won.

"Hey, mum," Jakob said as he walked up to her. "Guess what? The audition examiner knows who Mikaila is!"

"That's great!" His mum exclaimed. "What did he say about her?"

"That she's really talented," Jakob replied. "What are you looking at?"

Jakob stood next to his mum and examined the trophies. They were all from inter-district singing competitions. Two of them were etched with the name: 'MIKAILA DELGADO'. Jakob remembered each of these occasions very well, the first one especially.

Thirteen year old Mikaila stood nervously in a soft peach dress, waiting for her turn to go on stage. Everyone else had been really amazing. The current singer ended the song beautifully, smiled and walked off stage.

"And next, we have contestant number 27, Mikaila!" The announcer said.

Mikaila walked onto stage.

"Hi I'm Mikaila, I'm thirteen and I'm going to be singing Jar of Hearts," Mikaila said. She took a deep breath. The music started.

"I know I can't take one more s-s-step towards you," Mikaila sang, shaky and quicker than she was supposed to. The judges wrote something down. Mikaila gulped. "Because all that's waiting is regret."