The Voice that changed their Life (Good Charlotte Fan Fiction)

Chapter 2

It took three days before the chosen kids had to go back to 'The Voice' to get more in touch with their coaches. Now everyone of Team Madden was sitting in a room put together only for the coaching stuff. There were microphones in here and even a piano. A guitar was standing in a corner and headphones and music stands were everywhere. But on one side of the room there was a big couch and all the kids were sitting on this couch. There were seven boys and five girls leaning back against the thick cushions of the furniture. Megan was by far the youngest person in the room. She was wearing a red t-shirt and black leggings. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail she did by herself. Some strands already got loose and the hair tie wasn't as tight as it should be. But she was only five years old after all and there was nobody who would do her hair for today. Mrs. Maleficent was off to some meeting and Tim, the guy who drove her here and was supposed to pick her up later, had no clue how to do a ponytail. So she just did it by herself.
Pulling her legs close to her body she rested her head on her knees and looked at the Madden brothers in front of her. Joel and Benji Madden were sitting on chairs on the opposite side of the couch, facing the children. Joel was talking to them, explaining what there was to come. Megan liked the sound of his voice. It made her relax and she felt more save here in this room than back home during the last three days.
Home. It wasn't really a home for her. Since her parents had died and there was no relative to be found, she was living in an orphanage at the edge of the city. It was a tiny orphanage, containing twenty girls and boys in the ages from 3 to 10. She had been living there for about two years now. Her parents had died during a car accident and she had been in her daycare at that time. She barely remembered any of these events anymore and the pictures she had of her parents in her head were getting more and more blurry every day. She had been too small to decide what things of her parents to keep and so the orphanage had sold most of the stuff to have enough money to take care of her.
Money. That was what it was all about. All the time. It was the blood that kept everything flowing.
Mrs. Maleficent was the head of the orphanage. Her job was to keep everything going and she needed money for that. So the reason why Megan even was on 'The Voice' was that the orphanage needed more money again. The food rations were already cut short as part of the economy measures that had taken place.
Megan felt her stomach rumbling and hugged her legs closer to her body. She hoped that they would get something to eat as soon as their 'lesson' was over.
Joel kept on talking and the other kids were glued to his lips, Megan not so much. She'd studied his appearance and as much of his tattoos as she could see and then she turned her gaze to Benji. As much as she already grew to like Joel, Benji was a totally different number. He just filled her heart and she couldn't understand what this was about. She hadn't felt like this for a long time, maybe never before.
"Megan, isn't that right?", Joel suddenly said and Megan turned her head towards him as she heard her name.
He was looking at her and expected an answer, but Megan had no clue what he had said. She simply nodded and sat up straight again, letting her legs hang off the edge of the couch, placing her small hands on her knees.
Joel then divided them into smaller groups of three people and handed them a piece of paper.
"These are the songs we want you to sing.", he explained and Megan looked at the paper blankly. "We want you to memorize your song as fast as you can so we can start working on it."
Adding more advises he went farther away from her and turned to some kids on the other side of the room.
Janine, a nine year old girl and Sam, an eleven year old boy were in her group and Megan looked at them, hoping to get some help. But they were already deep into memorizing the song. The little girl bit her lip again and hugged herself, lightly crushing the paper in the process.
"What's wrong?", a now familiar voice asked next to her and as she turned towards it, she saw Benji crouching next to her.
She let go of herself and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tight. He chuckled lightly and held her back.
"What is it, Meggy?", he mumbled and she smiled on account of the nickname he had given her.
She put her mouth next to his ear and said very quietly: "I don't know how to read."
Benji got petrified for just a second and then he shook his head slowly.
"I can read it out for you.", he whispered back into her ear.
Why hadn't they thought of this before? Of course she couldn't read. She was too young for that. She probably had just started learning some of the letters by now.