Wish Upon A Star

Part One

There is hate nothing I hate more than being late. It is my biggest annoyance. I always make sure to be at least 20 minutes ahead of my schedule. But my best friend Sophie is nothing like that. She couldn't care less if she is late or not. She is late 90% of the time. As longs as she looked great and felt great than she is okay.

After we got our license, Sophie and I create a driving schedule that decided who would drive to school a specific da. Today was my day to drive us to school and Sophie was running late. Again. After 10 minutes and 15 texts later Sophie came busting through her front door.

"I am so sorry. " She said as she buckled in.

"I hate being late. " I reminded her. Sophie also easily forgot things.

"I know, I know and I'm sorry. I woke up later than usual and I only had 30 minutes to do my usual makeup and facial routine. "Sophie complained.

"Shouldn't that have been enough time?" I asked rolling my eyes.

"As if! Beauty is a process that takes time. It doesn't happen in 30 minutes. Lucky for me I was able to do it in 40 minutes. "

I just rolled my eyes again and hoped that there wouldn't be any traffic. Lucky for me there wasn't any which meant that we would be able to make it school 5 five minutes before the first period bell rang. It wasn't what I was used to but it was better than being late.

"So Mel, have you thought about auditioning for the school talent show? " Sophie suddenly asked.

For some reason Sophie has been pestering me about auditioning for the talent show for weeks. She knows that I have terrible stage fright so it was a surprise when she first talked to me about it. The audition process ended last Friday and the final results would be posted today so it didn't make sense that she still bothering me about it.

"I've given you my answer the other hundred times you have asked. " I replied.

I have been singing since I was 6. My mom and I would make a song out of everything. We would sing songs about watching TV, about going to the mall, and even songs about going to school. It was our thing.

But one day when I was ten she left me with my grandparents so that she could go grocery shopping. She kissed my forehead and promised to be back in less than an hour so that we could have time to watch our favorite musical together before I would have to go bed.

But she was late, she didn't come back in less than an hour. She didn't come back at all. She was hit on her way back home by a drunk driver and died on impact.

Ever since then I couldn't bring myself to sing in front large crowd or even small crowd for that matter. The only people I sing in front of were my grandparents, Sophie and my little sister Harmony. Singing had always been something I have shared with mother and now that she is gone I couldn't bring myself to sing without her.

We arrived five minutes before the bell rang. Lucky for Sophie and me, our 1st period class wasn't very far.

"Congrats Melody, you deserved it. "A girl from our class said our class said when we entered the classroom.

"I'm sorry? " I asked.

The girl, Jenna opened her mouth to say something but bell rang cutting off. Sophie pulled me to our seats.

"Do you know what that was all about? " I whispered to Sophie as were doing pledge of allegiance.

Sophie quickly shook her head and turned away. There was an unreadable expression on her face which was weird. Sophie was big on her showing emotions. When she was happy, you could tell by the grin that took up her face. When she was upset, her whole body entered to be upset. When she was angry she could snap it at anyone at any time.

1st period went by quickly and thankfully I had a chance to catch Jenna before she walked out of the classroom.

"What did you mean by the congratulations? " I asked her.

"You made it into the talent show. It's not hard to imagine why, you are a really good singer. "Jenna smiled.

"B-But I didn't audition for the talent show. " I said. I remembered perfectly that I had been at the movies with Harmony the Friday of the auditions.

"Sophie played a video of you a video of you singing since you had to babysit. Everyone loved it. "Jenna told me.

"Sophie played...I have to go. Thanks Jenna. "

That Friday I asked Sophie if she wanted to go to the movie and me and Harmony but she turned me down saying that she had to "babysit." Why would my best friends play a video of me singing at the talent show auditions? She knows about my stage fright.

"I know it seems bad but I have a perfectly good reason for doing what I did. " Sophie said when I confronted her about it in front of her locker.

"Humor me. " I said crossing her arms.

"Tucker Anderson. "

"Tucker Anderson? You recorded me singing without my knowledge, lied to me, and played a video of me at the talent show auditions because of a boy who recently learned you are name even though we've known him since pre-school? "I asked.

"Ok, when you say it like that it sounds bad. But he's in charge of the talent show and he was so afraid that no one with actual talent would audition so I told him that you are an amazing singer I showed him the video on my phone and he begged me to get you to audition. "Sophie explained, nervously twisting her hair.

"You have a video of me singing on your phone? " I cried.

"Yeah. You sound great in the video by the way. "She smiled shyly.

"How many people were at the auditions. " I asked. Maybe it wasn't that many, maybe this wasn't too bad.

"Um well including the three judges I would say about 200..."Sophie answered nervously.

"200?! 200 people saw that video of me. "I cried. All of a sudden it became hard to stand. Knots formed in my stomach.

"Everyone loved it. " Sophie added softly.

"No, no. I'm dropping out. I can't believe that you would do this to me. Over a boy. He's been calling you Shelly since pre-school. "I cried.

"You know that I would never done this if I didn't think that it would benefit you too. I would never do something to openly embarrass you. "Sophie whispered.

"How could this benefit me? " I asked my voice dripped with doubt.

"You have an amazing voice Mel, it sucks that you're letting stage fright stop you from achieving big things. "

As much as it pained me to admit it, she was right. I was allowing stage fright to stop me from doing things. I hated that she had to teach me the lesson like this.

"Ok, maybe you have a point. " I mumbled.

Her face lit up. "So you'll do it? You won't drop the talent show?"

I took a deep breath in. "You owe me big time. "