The Last Blue Rose// Reggie Mantle (1)

Chapter Fouteen

The Variety Show. It was Riverdale's annual talent show. Anyone could try out, but few made it in.

Caia was trying out. However, she could barely keep the nerves down. It wasn't that she had stage fright. Once she was actually on the stage, she was fine. But the moments before were harrowing.

Her stomach would twist into knots. It felt like she couldn't breathe right. She hated this feeling, and she always got it when she was nervous.

However, Archie seemed to be a lot more nervous than she was. From her view in the wings, it looked like the boy was about to pass out.

"Archie Andrews," Kevin called, breaking Archie out of his stupor. "And what will you be auditioning with?"

Archie was silent for a moment. It seemed like he was very out of it. "Uh, an original song that I wrote called try hard," he replied, grabbing the microphone.

"Try harder!" A voice yelled from the audience. Reggie. "Maybe try not sucking so much." Caia wrinkled her nose. She hated when Reggie got like that. She knew he only did it to impress his friends. If she was with him, she would have pinched him and told him to shut up. But alas, Caia was no where near the jock.

She could see Archie start to freak out. She knew he saw something that wasn't there. He was psyching himself out. Archie squeezed his eyes shut and blinked rapidly. Caia figured this would draw him out of his fright. It seemed to do something, but Archie's fingers were shaking as he pressed them near the strings.

"C'mon Archie," she muttered.

Kevin seemed to sense Archie's nerves as well. Though he was more focused on time constraints. "Take you time Archie, though we do have people waiting," he explained.

Archie lifted his hand to the microphone and he was still shaking. Caia felt so bad that she forgot about her own nerves. "Archie, clocks ticking." Archie looked up at Kevin's words.

Archie decided he couldn't take it. "Excuse me. Sorry, I gotta go," he stated, hurrying off the stage. As he left he bumped into Caia. She called after him and followed him for a few steps before realizing that he was probably very embarrassed and wanted to be left alone. Plus, she was auditioning next.

Caia was dissapointed as she heard laughs and mean comments from the crowd. Namely, Reggie's group.

"Well, that was something," Kevin commented. "Anyway, next up, Caia Sinclair."

Caia walked onstage, ukulele in hand. She could feel the nerves coming back again, but she tried to dispel them the best she could.

"Yeah baby!" Reggie yelled from the audience. Caia felt her face grow hot. She loved Reggie, but his way of showing affection was a bit too much for her.

She got to the microphone and smiled at Kevin. "Before we get started, you are actually going to try out, right?" Kevin questioned, referring to Archie's incident. Caia nodded. "Okay, what will you be singing?"

Caia cleared her throat. "Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder," She announced.

Kevin nodded. "Go ahead."

Taking a deep breath, Caia strummed the beginning chords and began to sing.

"Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful? Isn't she prescious? Less than a minute old.

I never thought through love we'd be, making one as lovely as she. But isn't she lovely, made from love?

Isn't she pretty? Truly the angels best. Boy I'm so happy. We have been heaven blessed.