Make A Wish

Chapter 22

Jason's pov

Mom gets to the house to babysit the twins while we go to the ACM awards. "I thought you weren't a fan of the awards." She says, setting down her purse. "I like the ACMs, not the CMAs. They're rigged." I say hugging her. "Have fun guys." We head to the place. Usually it's in Las Vegas but it's the fiftieth anniversary and they're doing it here in Nashville.  "Hey Luke!" He had headphones in and didn't hear me. What's he listening to? I tap his shoulder. He turns around and pulls a headphone out. "What ya listenin' to?" I ask, putting my hands in my pockets. "This new artist Mitchy Patterson. She's up for best new artist tonight." Cool! "She's one of my labelmates." I say. "She's got a great voice." "Have you ever met her in person?" He shakes his head. "Well.. I met her when she was a teenager. She was a make a wish girl." "Whoa! Really! That must be why she's in a wheelchair." I smile. "I'm glad she didn't let that wheelchair keep her from pursuing music." Me and Sierra get to our seats.

*a few hours later*

I was hanging out backstage when I saw a familiar smiling face. I walk over. "Hey girl!" "Hey Jason." "Congrats on the new artist nomination." "I've only been in the business a year and a half. I'm pretty surprised they've noticed me already." "You've got a great voice. That's why they noticed you." I sit on a folding chair beside her. "You don't think it's cause I'm different?" She says shrugging. "I think it's cause of your voice. You sounded great. Don't doubt yourself too much Michelle." She smiles. "You're definitely good at keeping my doubts at bay." I smile and pat her hand. "You're gonna go far, kid." Blake walks backstage. "Hey Jase, any chance you can announce new artist. Reba, who was gonna announce it, isn't feeling well." "Oh sure." "Great!"

Sierra's pov

Jason walks back to our seats. "I'm announcing new artist. I hope like heck it's Michelle." He says, holding my hand. I smile. "I'm so glad that girl didn't die." He hugs me. "You okay?" I nod. "You sure, Si?" "Yeah I'm okay." I say smiling. I get a text. From Jason's mom.

JM: Did you tell Theo he could stay up passed his bedtime to watch a ninja turtle movie.

Oh I completely forgot about that!

M: Yeah. Sorry forgot about it.

JM: OK just making sure. How's the awards going?

M: Great.

"Who're you texting?" Jason asks. "Your mom. Asking about Theo's movie he wanted to watch." "Oh." A guy I don't know comes over to talk to Jason about something. I wasn't paying much attention. "I gotta go babe." He says kissing me.

Jason's pov

I wave to Michelle as I walk to the stage. Man I hope she wins tonight. She deserves it. I walk up to the mic. "Everyone in this category have very unique sounds in country music. I'm lucky to know a couple of them and be very close friends with them. So up for new artist of the year is Thomas Rhett, Tucker Beathard, Mitchy Patterson, Kane Brown, and Luke Combs." I open the envelope and smile seeing the name. "And the winner, a very special, very deserving girl, Mitchy Patterson!" I clap for her as someone helps her onstage. She wheels herself over to center stage. "Thank you all so much! This means so much to me. I never thought I'd make it this far. I wanna thank Broken Bow for taking a chance on me, my mom and dad who told me never to give up countless times. In fact I wanna thank a lot of the musicians in the audience today. You guys kept me going cause I listened to all a y'all and thinkin' I wanna do this too! To the fans, you are my heart and soul. The reason I can live this dream. It's true, the saying goes. If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life. It feels a lot more like play. Thank you and God bless." She waves to the crowd. I hug her. "You deserve this honey." "Thanks for believing in me." "Always sweetheart."