Show Stoppin (on hold)

Chapter 2- Time to wait

Five hours went by. The sun found its place  in the high cloudless sky, the crowd and line grew to the point you couldn’t see where it ended and Sydney had started to freak out. Again.

“Breathe, you have to breathe” Ava said, watching as Sydney stared at the countdown clock that was a part of the show’s app. People had started sending in pictures to it and the realization of how many people where there and the slim chance of Sydney even getting past first rounds was hitting hard.

Ava reached out, taking the phone from her friend’s hand “but, what if I’m not good enough? What if everyone just lied to me and said I can sing?” Sydney stared at the phone like it was a lifeline. “What then? I’ll be like one of those people who we always laugh at every year for thinking they could sing and then making a big deal out of it once the judges say they can’t” she said, reaching for the phone as she tried to get it back.

“No, this is mine till you get that little slip of a star that says you passed. And I wouldn’t let you audition if you couldn’t sing” Ava said, slipping the phone into her small grey book bag.  “You practiced for this like a bajillion times, and I have waited far too long in the sun for you to back out now. If you don’t pass then you will at least know you tried and at that point you will exit like you’re the rock star they missed. You got that?” Sydney nodded her head numbly, staring at the bag now sitting in Ava’s lap.

“Besides I am the one that’ll end up being the person we normally laugh at” Ava said, trying not to think of her impending embarrassment. She closed her eyes, picturing herself back in her room while Sydney decided to randomly test out her vocals in line.

In her mind she replayed the scene when she got roped into trying out.  A commercial for the show came on and Sydney had started to jump on her bed “that’s it! That’s the show I’m auditioning for” she said, screeching as she flopped back down to sitting.

“Yes I know Sid, we watch it every year. And every year you complain about how they never come to town” Ava had said, watching with amusement as her friend picked up a hair brush and started singing into it.

““I’m gonna be a show stopper, yea- yeah show stopper I’m gonna be the one that you won’t want to miss” Ava shook her head, trying to focus back on the essay she had been trying to write. “Stop in your tracks cause your staring at me, your gonna be so spell bound that you just can’t speak” Sydney said, hopping back onto the ruffled bed and dancing to the rest of the show’s theme song as it played throughout the commercial.

“She continued singing once it got towards the end “listen very close now as I’m about to sing like none of the rest.  P-p-putting that star to the test” she jumped off the bed like you’d jump of a stage, doing a bow and everything.  It was then that she turned to Ava with a plotting glint in her eyes.

Ava looked up “no” she said, knowing what her friend was about to ask. “But we could be the dynamic duo! And perform in front of crowds that have thousands of people” she sighed dreamily, pulling the brush to her heart. “How can you say no to that?” Said Sydney pointing to Ava’s TV as the star on the commercial flickered out to a commercial neither of them cared about.

“Easy, I can’t sing.” Ava said, moving her lap top so that it was on her lap. “You could sing when we were in elementary school though” Ava raised her eyes above the computers screen “things change”. Sydney pouted “but you used to say we would be on the show together, all of us. And Trevor can't. Remember? So now you have to.”

“Like I said, I can’t sing and you can’t make me go on the show so can we just drop it? I have a test I need to study for after I finish this” she said, gesturing towards the computer with a screen full of words. A few minutes passed by then and Ava had been able to finish her essay in peace.