Piano Keys

|| snap out of it ||

"I wanna grab both your shoulders and shake,
baby, snap out of it,"
|| Snap Out of It, Arctic Monkeys ||

a || k

"THANK YOU, APRIL. Next," the pink-haired judge spoke in a monotone.

April bowed slightly and sat down on a seat, her fingers still trembling and cold. Her A Thousand Years piece didn't seem to amuse the judges. Whenever she sang or played in front of a large crowd, her nervousness got in the way.

The next audition was by a girl named Audrey Skies, who had much more bling on her than talent. (And she did have talent, but way too much bling.)

April thought, she looks like a blonde supermodel. Or, she really is a blonde supermodel.

She did a Britney Spears song, which was quite fitting, and had background dancers and everything.

The judges seemed okay with the performance.

A few performances later, a boy with tousled brown hair in dark shades entered, plugging his electric guitar into the amplifier.

"Kaiden Richards," he said, "this is Charlie Brown by Coldplay."

He played perfectly, while a drummer set the beat behind him. The boy sang and played like a pro. The judges seemed particularly pleased with him.

"Thank you, Kaiden. Do you play any other instruments?" one judge asked.

He took off his sunglasses, showing his handsome features. He had warm brown eyes, a strong jaw, and fair skin.

Snap out of it, April! she yelled in her head, feeling some sort of amazement towards the boy's performance and appearance.

As she thought that line, a rock song entered her mind. "I wanna grab both your shoulders and shake, baby, snap out of it. Snap out of it."

In a moment she escaped her little fangirling moment (over the song, which she loved so much) and dove back into reality.

"Yeah. The violin, bass guitar, and the drums," he said nonchalantly.

"Well done," a female judge said, "you did good. You are certain to enter the program."

Kaiden thanked them and walked off the stage and encased his guitar. The reincarnation of Britney Spears came over to him and started flirting.

She handed him a piece of paper, which was obviously her number, and Kaiden threw it away once she was gone.

He left, April's eyes trained on him. Audrey tapped her shoulder from behind and she threw April a Miss Universe smile.

"Excuse me, girl," she said, letting her eyes wander over to April's not-so-fashionable slacks and blouse. "Hi. That's my boyfriend over there. Kaiden, yeah. So hey! I'm Audrey Skies. You are?"

"April Spitz," she introduced, reaching into her pocket for a wad of gum.

"Nice to meet you, April."

"You too, Audrey."

April first imagined Audrey with a flirty, annoying attitude, but for a second, after reading her face, her thoughts on that faded away.

Audrey's cell beeped and she excused herself to text back. Some of the teens who auditioned left abruptly, but others chose to watch the rest. April waited for another piano performance to compare it with hers.

A girl with long, jet black hair and narrow eyes walked on stage and played smoothly on the piano.

Her fingers flew above the keys, pressing the necessary ones. She hit all the perfect notes of a song from the play Les Miserables.