Ghost Of You *SLOW UPDATES*

Chapter 16

I sit in the front row of the auditorium along with the four other finalists. There's Adam who is a vocalist, Sarah who is a drummer, Tyler who is a bassist and another guitarist named Austin. Mr Giles is talking to us about our performances two nights ago, whilst we await the arrival of our guest judges and Miss Ustamu who is going to be explaining what our last challenge will be.

Our heads jolt to the slammed door behind us as Ustamu walks in with Candy who is busily scribbling things down on her notepad whilst mumbling things to the three people who walk by her. I immediately recognise all three guests for their immense popularity and somewhat stylish music tastes and grow excited when the approach and line up before us, Ustamu taking the lead

"Finalists. Please meet your guest judges Halsey, Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran." Ustamu says by way of greeting. We remain silent in the face of entertainment royalty as they all smile at us a wave slightly before Harry steps forward and says, "It's going to be a pleasure judging you five and I think we all can't wait to get started on your final stage in this competition."

We all mumble in agreement as Ustamu steps forward once more and says, "I should probably tell you all what you to do for this final round. You are to perform a song that has been written for you, by another competitor. You will all have one week in which to write the lyrics for the song, before you must hand the lyrics over and allow the person to come up with their own composition for it. You will all be performing these song at a live performance in front of our guest judges, on the last day of school."

I sit there in exasperation, my mouth agape slightly as I process the challenge. I'm going to have no emotional attachment to some song that someone is going to write for me. The shock that comes from this is that even if a song is not completely finished by the author, I'm still going to have to perform it their way and not add any personal flourishes lyrically.

Clearly, the other finalist had similar ideas because their voices fill the large space as they shout their words of rebuttal and show how upset they are because of the shocking news. Ustamu stands there quietly, waiting for the students to quieten down so Giles steps in quickly and lets out a shrilling whistle causing us to cover our ears in disgust as he chuckles.

"Students, this is the competition and it is set in stone. You may receive mentoring from your respective sources when composing the musical element behind the lyrics. But when you are writing the lyrics, you must do it by yourself without assistance from any other source supplied by this schooling institution," Ustamu says with a huff as she begins to walk away from the gathered group. "And three of you will be going home. I hope you understand that so please, put some effort into this final will you? Your assigned writers are posted in each of your rooms. Other than this co-op project, you will be performing any song you feel is important enough to you, that you have written this year. That is all."

She then slinks her way down the side of the auditorium, Candy closely following behind her like an obedient dog, towards the back doors before walking out and slamming the doors behind her. We immediately begin to cry in protest once more as the three guest judges begin to talk amongst one another and turn away from our desperate arguing. I however, stand up from my seat and storm my way towards my music room.

I huff in frustration as I slam my door closed and look at my mixer station where a white envelope waits patiently. I shuffle over there, my head cocked to the side in curiosity as I open the paper slip and find a piece of paper with a name inside it.

Adam Prentter. (Pop Vocalist)

I sigh and immediately retreat to my guitar where I pick up guitar from its place on the stand and sit down on my stool in the middle of the room. I pick up my notebook from off of the music stand and open it up to a fresh page before I begin pondering over ideas on what to write about.