Christina pulls my hair tightly, causing me to wince. I'm wiping my face free of makeup as she is battling my hairspray filled hair. Looking up in the mirror, I realise my unmade face is anything but attractive. There are dark bags under my eyes, and my face is blotchy and red from all the makeup. The exhaustion is starting to settle in whilst I'm sitting down, but I know the full effects of the last 24 hours will not set in until the night is fully over.
"You should take off the tape, it looks really tight." Nodding, I following her instructions, I put the makeup remover wipes in the bin next to my chair and start to remove the tape. It is a painful job, the skin pulling upwards relenting my tug of the tape.
"Once I finish this braid, I'm going to find Sam and get him to help you take that off. Why don't you get changed while I find him?" Her motherly tone somehow puts me on edge. It was strange to hear that from her, but I find myself following her instructions and getting changed into a colourful floral dress, which had structured top and spaghetti straps. Just as I finish, Sam walks in, followed by Christina and Coral.
Christina gets back to work silently, starting to cover my face in a soft layer of makeup, whilst Sam kneels down and takes a look at my hand.
"I know you know it's going to hurt, so just tell me when you're ready." Sam looks me in the eyes, waiting for me to give the go ahead signal.
There are still performances going on on stage, so we have to stay pretty quiet to make sure no one can hear us.
Coral comes up beside me and squeezes my other hand. I hiss as Sam starts to pull the tape off, the pain worsening.
"You know, you really stole the show tonight Dani." Coral says, trying to distract me from the pain.
"Thank you Coral, but we all did."
"No. I mean, your solo was captivating, no one could keep their eyes off you, all the dances you choreographed and kids you accompanied where beyond amazing, and let's be honest... We killed it out there." I look at her, a smile spreading across my face. We continue to talk softly whilst both adults finish the jobs. Sam tightly bandages it back up, not letting me see the bruised wrist I know is present under there, and Christina brushed the finishing touches into my look.
"Guys, it's the last performance, we need to watch!" Faith whisper/yells through the doorway, a huge smile ever present on her face.
Christina walks out of the room with a hug and a goodbye, and Sam hold hands with Coral and follows me to the front of the wings beside stage next to Faith and Mia. We stand there watching the last performance, crammed together, admiring what we have achieved. As soon as the combined music group finished a deafening applause echoed around the hall.
The kids moved off stage to join us all in the wings as two of the older boys moved the podium onto the edge of the stage on the opposite side to us. An old lady walks out and speaks into the microphone.
"Now, before we rap tonight up, I would like to say a few words. Can Danielle, Faith, Mia and Coral please step out onto the stage?" We all exchange nervous looks and step out, into the bright lights of the stage, and form a straight line in the middle. This wasn't unexpected to be honest, yet we all hoped she would forget. Ms Blakeson continued to talk after making eye contact with each of us.
"As most of you will know, for the last couple of months I have been very sick making me unable to run the studio to my full capacity. These four girls have stepped up the challenge of taking care everything for tonight. They are the oldest girls at the school, here from the beginning when I opened the school. I remember that one of the first things we did was form groups for performances, and these four girls instantly bonded and have stayed together ever since. When all the other girls left from their age group, they stayed in our music program, forming the amazing band you all saw perform at the start of the 2nd half. Sadly, it is their last concert with us as they are all going on to start bigger and better things and complete their final year at school. I know they will all go far, hopefully sticking together in their band, and always stay as kind and grounded when they become famous." An angelic smile is thrown our way, but it didn't cover up the tears welling up in her eyes. "Now can Paige and Grace please come up and say a few words." Ms Blakeson stepped back from the podium and Paige and Grace stepped onto stage. A loud squeak sounded through the hall as the two 13 year olds pulled up the podium microphone so they could speak into it. Paige started their little speech.
YOU ARE READING
In Your Company
Teen Fiction--Re-written-- When I was 8 we were playing hide and seek in the little park surrounded by bush down the street from my house. It was a large group of us. It was always fun down at the park, since our parents never really came and checked on us. Bei...
