Downhill

Superstar

The next day my mother and Anne went for a nosey look round the nearby town, they left at half 11 and returned mid afternoon. Which left the men to cook lunch.

“No no no” I heard my dad sigh, “I can’t see how this works” Anne had left them a simple pasta recipe with a creamy sauce. “It won’t turn on!” he was trying to work the electric whisk.

“Let me have a look” Robin huffed, walking over to him and picking up the whisk, he began pushing buttons and flipping levers. “I see what you mean now mate” he said, placing the whisk on the counter. My dad sighed again.

“Takeaway it is then” he said, sounding happier than before. I got up out of my seat next to Harry in the lounge and strolled into the kitchen.

“With the only two women who can actually speak German not here? I don’t think so dad.” I said grabbing the whisk and pressing the power button, it didn’t work so I immediately looked to the plug. The two middle aged men that stood behind me couldn’t even recognise that the reason it wasn’t working was because the plug was switched off. “For God’s sake” I breathed, flicking on the switch, I turned the whisk on and gave it to my dad. Who stood staring at me, utterly baffled. 

...

After we ate the mess that was lunch, our moms returned. 

“Oh my gosh, you’ll never guess what we’ve signed you up for!” Anne said squishing herself between Harry and me on the sofa. 

“What?” Harry grumbled, clearly not amused by his mothers excited tone.

“Well when we were walking down this really pretty little street called… Erm what was it called?” she sat tapping her leg. 

“Skip to the point” Harry ordered, she nudged him then continued.

“Well basically we’ve signed you both up for a singing contest!” she exclaimed, sounding extremely happy with her work

“What!?” Harry and I both said, I sounded a little more excited than him though. 

“I know! Isn’t it exciting!?” She squealed. Harry let out a massive sigh and pressed his hand into his forehead.

“Harry I didn’t know you sing!” I said, giving him a quizzical look. I had never heard Harry sing. Was he really that good that Anne thought he could compete in a singing contest? He pushed his curls off his forehead.

“I don’t.” He replied.

“Harry! You do, you’ll enjoy it! I promise” she said, elbowing him playfully. “We put your name on the list too Bex” she turned to face me as I felt my face drop.

“Me?” I asked. I didn’t feel confident enough to sing on stage in front of Harry, or anyone. Well I could but I hadn’t done any shows for a long time, and I wasn’t prepared.

“Yeah, I haven’t heard that angelic voice of yours for ages. If you’ve got it, flaunt it. That’s what I always think, and you’ve definitely got it Bex! You never know, you might win! Either of you might!” she explained. My heart started beating faster, I really wasn’t prepared.

“When is it?” Harry asked the question I really needed to know the answer too, I was hoping it would be next week or at least a couple of days away so I could at least prepare myself, that is if I couldn’t get out of it somehow.

“Tonight!” Anne said. “Its at eight so you better go and start warming up!” why did she sound so excited? The clock on the mantle piece said ‘4;03 PM’ I already felt sick to my stomach and it was four hours away. Anne got up off the sofa and walked into the kitchen, leaving Harry and I alone, with the sound of the German Jeremy Kyle on the TV. 

“There is no way I am singing to anyone, let alone an audience of German people” he said. He picked the remote up off the arm of the beige sofa and silenced the an angry woman. 

“Same” I agreed, I couldn’t do it. I hadn’t performed in over a year and I didn’t want to start again then.

“At least you can sing well” He said, finally removing his palm from his head.

“Not really” I sighed, he gave me a semi-disgusted look, “anyway your mom seems to think you’re good” I changed the subject really quickly to avoid the awkwardness of me not being able to accept compliments. 

“Well I do like to sing, but I can’t do it like you can or anything, like I’m no where near as good” His voice sounded anxious.

“Can I hear you sing?” I asked, ignoring his niceness.

“Only if you sing with me” he said, he knew I really didn’t want to. But on the other hand I really did want to hear him sing.

“Okay” I said, standing up and walking out of the room.

“Where are you going?” he asked. I poked my head through the doorway and told him I didn’t want to sing if everyone could hear. 

“Oh, yeah” he agreed, following me up the stairs to my bedroom. We plonked ourselves onto my bed, both slightly out of breath from the two flights of stairs. 

“What are you singing?” I asked him

“We” he corrected. I thought I could get away with it but obviously not. I rolled my eyes. “And, I don’t know” he said answering my question.

“Well I’ll shuffle my IPod and see what comes up first” I said, grabbing my scratched IPod from the side table and tapping shuffle. “Tell me when you like one” About four songs from musicals came on before Rockstar by Nickelback came up. I went to press next because, even though I knew every line to it, I didn’t think Harry would like it and it really didn’t suit my voice.

“Stop.” He said. “I like this one, do you know it?” he asked.

“Yeah” I admitted. I really just wanted to hear Harry sing. “You ready?” I asked.

“Yup” he replied, not looking ready at all. I tapped play and we began to sing, of course we both missed the quick start but once we got into it, we were fine. Harry’s voice was beautiful, because it was the first time I’d ever heard him sing I didn’t know what to expect, he could have been awful. But he wasn’t, his voice fit the song perfectly, his slightly raspy tone sounding delicious. I tried to stop singing just before the chorus so I could just listen, but he stopped too so I continued. His face was so cute, he was blushing slightly but he seemed to really get into the song, his lips forming the words like they meant something. Even though the song isn’t really that meaningful. He looked and sounded like he’d been singing his whole life, he gave the song something special, made it his own by adding different harmonies to the tune and singing little riffs at the end of the lines that sounded amazing. 

At the end of the song I tapped pause and he bowed his head. 

“Wow” was all that I could say, it was amazing “You’re so… Wow.” I shut up then because I had no idea how to express how I felt!

“Is that good?” he asked, still blushing.

“Oh my lord yes. Your voice is like… just so amazing!” I blurted. He smiled at my sudden loss for words.

“You sounded better” he commented. No. No I didn’t.

“Just shut up. You absolutely have to perform later” I told him, crossing my legs and sitting directly opposite him.

“I… Well, I’ll do it if you do it, people need to hear your talent Bex” he said.

“No, Harry. People need to hear your talent” I said poking him in the chest. He smiled and exhaled. “But yeah, okay I’ll do it if you do it” I gave in, people seriously did need to hear his voice, I kept thinking that he could be a superstar if he tried.