Conbellia

Chapter 10

We swore we would be done with the performance by the end of the week.
Sitting in the studio through the nights, training for hours every day, teaching each other to play various instruments.
We'd been practicing till an hour before now. Right now Taylor is putting my hair up in a very complicated way. "Ah finally" she says with a smile. If I had any hopes of getting out of the dressing room after this I can as well forget them. Ines comes over with a make up set. We sit down next to each other and start applying mascara, violet shadows, pink lipstick and  the tiniest layer of powder so we don't shine in the stage lights. Taylor just finishes Elizes hair.
"And now Ladies - your dresses!"
She opens the wardrobe in the corner and takes out a silver package. She turns it around to read the name tag. "Jeanine, dear" she hands it to me. I take it. Slowly I unzip the package. I'll be singing today. I have a small part on the guitar but then I'll be the main singer. Inside the package isn't a dress. It's much better. There's a pair of tight black ripped pants and a dark purple top. I take off the robe I'd been wearing for make up and put my costume on. The top is cut in a way that doesn't go all the way down to the pants. It's just the kind I love so much. Then I see the black leather jacket still wrapped in the package. I put it on as Taylor hands me a box with shoes. Black high heels. They cover my whole foot and end just underneath my ankle. Oh, and they're at least 10 cm high. I turn to Taylor.
"Tay, this is awesome! I love you! Thank you!"
She smiles "I'm so proud to be the teacher of such a wonderful group" she replies. I can see the tears of happiness in the corners of her eyes. Then I turn around to look at the others. I literally stop breathing for a moment. They all wear black dresses that have a very tight waist and then flow out in the bottom. The neckline is glittering in yellow on Ines, in green on Elize, in blue on Ingrid and in orange on Elena.
"Oh my god Jane I love that!" Elena exclaims.
"I love yours!" I almost shout.
"OK we're gonna slay this!" Ingrid holds her hand out into the middle. We all join in.
"The Fighter Stars with their song "Fire life" will be up next in two minutes!" The voice of the commentator announces our performance. We leave our dressing room and line up at the entrance to the stage.
"Good luck" Taylor whispers before rushing into the hall and disappearing in the audience.
I take my guitar and go out on stage. The curtain is still closed. Slowly it begins to open. A single white light circle falls on me. I strum the first chords of our remix. I start singing quietly, flowing, to give everyone the impression that out performance will be the most boring thing ever.

"Baby let us live our lifes
Let's enjoy the running time
Let it be as it comes
Let us just be fine..."

Elena comes on stage with her violin. She plays a few notes slowly then a really short and fast part and then our backing track starts.
Ines, Ingrid and Elize run on stage dancing hip hop. It starts rather short and then the drums kick in. I throw the guitar over to Ines. She catches it and starts playing.
I grab the mic from it's stand. I walk to the front of the stage.

"Cause Darling!
We're in the middle of a huge,
Hilarious, flowing,
Beautiful, wonderful, glowing
Fire storm!"

I start dancing with all Ingrid. Elize and Ines are now standing at the two mics in the back. Both playing a guitar. Elize an electric one and Ines the acoustic guitar. They also sing the backing vocals.

"Oh baby
Oh oh
A fire storm
Fire fire fire
Storm"

I continue with the next verses.

"He tore my heart apart
A few months ago
The time was so hard
I thought I'd drown

I didn't know an escape
There was no way out
All of it came over me, all the hate
I was taking all the fault"

Ingrid and Ines swap their positions while Elize twirls around. Then Ingrid and Elize sing the backing vocals:

"I take all the fault
All the fault
There's nothing there for me
There's nowhere to be"

I sing the second chorus:

"It's a storm all around us!
This is our life now
There's no if just a must!
Cause we're living a fire life!
In a huge, hilarious, flowing,
Beautiful, wonderful, glowing
Fire Storm!"

A big recorded instrumental part follows. We all dance in the middle of the stage. I do a somersault at the end of the dance to crown the performance.
Then we all grab a microphone.

"A fire life
It's where we ended up
Let's live it up high
In a fire storm...
We're the fire
We're the flame
You're mine
The sparks fly."

"And we got caught up in a huge,
Hilarious, flowing,
Beautiful, wonderful, glowing
Fire storm
Fire Fire Fire
Storm!"

We form a pyramid during the last chorus. And just as the last noted sound I sing "storm" standing on top other girls. Ines and Ingrid are standing on their knees with one leg turned to the side. That's where I stand on. One foot on Ines, the other on Ingrid. Elize threw herself down on the floor at the very end and is now lying in front of our little pyramid.

The cheers are so loud I can't hear anything else.
"YASSS" Ines screams almost crying from happiness.
"OH. MY. GOD." Elena gets out.
"WE MADE IT" Ingrid and I scream in unison.
The judges just called us put as winners. I can't believe it.
I see Jeremiah standing up in the first row next to Taylor. The whole audience rises and applauds as we lift the "best young musical group" award.
I feel the tears streaming down my face. My eyes meet Jeremiah's and my smile grows even wider than it was before. I form a heart with my hands for the audience. At least, I point it at the audience. Naturally, it is meant to be directed at just one person.
Someone I thought I'd never be able to like. Someone the whole country is almost afraid of. The person who is now my best friend.
Jeremiah Damer