Number 19 *discontinued*

Introduction

The Stage Doesn't Always Wait for You

An Introduction.

        Oh, hello there. My name's Sage Briar. It's kind of a stupid name, I know, being named after two plants. But at least it's not as stupid as one of my best friends' names, Blake O'Kane. Get it? It sounds like "blay cocaine."

        You've never heard of me before? Well, I'll tell you who I am, and what brought us to this point, my story.

        I'm a singer, and I absolutely love choir. It's my passion. Ever since I was little, I had known that I wanted to be on American Idol. Too bad the show is getting canceled. Nowadays, I'm known around Lakewood High as "one of the top singers in the school." I don't really believe them. After all, I've never participated in any big choir events. I've had solos at concerts back in middle school, but nothing too huge.

        Now we go to the real prologue of this story, last year, my freshman year of high school. I was in love. Well, at least I thought I was. His name was Troy Hillson. We dated for seven months, that is until we broke up. It turned out he was gay, and he had used me as a cover. We remained friends afterwards for a little less than a year.

        That was the worst mistake of my life.

        I tell people about how I was abused. No one ever believed me because there was no physical evidence. But it wasn't physical abuse, it was emotional abuse.

        He would keep me up all night. He would explain how he would commit suicide, and his plan to do so either his senior year or after graduation. Sometimes he would threaten to kill himself if I didn't do something he told me to do. I decided to never fall in love again.

        And so life moved on. It was the first time I truly understood how even when you're sad, the world doesn't stop to look at you, to try to look forward with you. I tried to move on. It was too hard.

        I've been used to disappointment in my life. After all, I had moved at least four different times until finally living in one final house for high school. The only place where everything turned out right was choir. It was my safe place, it was calming and secure.

        And so we go to the past, the first day of my sophomore year. Arguably the best, yet worst year of my entire life.