DIAMOND KEYS

THIRTY-SEVEN

The red-letter day had finally arrived. It was the day of the competition! There was so much buzz and fuss in the school’s auditorium. The MC had done all he could but the audience could not just be silenced. We were backstage and were up next after Drake the magician. The audience seemed to be really fascinated by his act because I could hear a lot of “oohs” and “aahs” from them. I wondered how large the audience was. I had never in my life performed in front of an audience talk-less of one as big as this.

I took a deep breath, how many people could possibly be there? One thousand or two? Well even if they were a million, nothing could possibly go wrong. The least that could happen was that we would get booed and cups would be thrown at us; but that couldn’t happen, we were good – at least so many people said so. 
    
Just like the guys had advised, I’d look at the people I knew; mum, dad, Charlotte, Valerie, Justin, Natasha, Beauty, my friends’ parents and even Dennis was going to be there. I’d get my confidence from them if I look at them and not the other people in the audience.
    
I heard the thunderous round of applause and I guessed Drake was done with his performance.

“Michele!” Marc called and I ran to meet them.

“Take a deep breath girl.” I obeyed and did it.

“How do you feel?” Logan asked.

“Better”
    
Marc held Clay’s and Logan’s hands and I did so too forming a circle.

“Remember we are a group so, no one is alone, and we are in this together. Don’t get discouraged by the crowd or any other thing, nothing should make you stop singing, okay? We have so many people behind us and we cannot let them down. I love you guys so much so let’s go out there and show them what we’ve got!”
    
I closed my eyes to let Marc’s words sink inside. I took a deep breath once more and opened my eyes. I was ready.

“Hands in everyone, Debonair, after the count of three” Marc called.

“One… two …three”.

“Debonair!!!”
   
Clay hugged me first and whispered in my ear “You can do this Michele.”

“You too Clay boy”, I whispered back. I hugged Marc and he gave me a kiss on my forehead “Let’s win this girl”, he said looking into my eyes.

“Yeah we’ll do just that” I said and he smiled. Logan gave me a kiss first before hugging me “No more stage fright?” he asked.

“No more stage fright.” I responded.

“Group hug!” Clay exclaimed and group hug we did.

“…our next act, an a cappella group, Debonair!” I heard the MC call.

"Let's do this guys!"

We walked on to the stage and when I looked at the audience I almost stopped. They were much more than I expected. It was like the auditorium grew larger now that it was filled with people. But that wasn’t going to bother me. I was not going to disappoint my friends, my family, Debonair fans and most importantly, I was not going to disappoint Claire. We took our seats on the four stools arranged on the stage; Clay and Logan at the edge while Marc and I sat in the middle. Our ear microphones were securely placed and we were ready to begin.
    
The audience was noisy and only a few people even realized we were about to start. I saw mum’s smiling face with Maxwell in her arms and I felt my courage renew.

“Let’s do this guys” I repeated in my mind.

We were starting with White Winter Hymnal.

Marc began, “I was following the” I joined him, “I was following the”, then Clay, then Logan. We repeated it eight times before we began the song and the beats.

“I was following the pack. All swallowed in their coats…”
    
The crowd became silent as if just noticing that we were on stage. A smile appeared on my face as I clapped my hands with Logan’s and Marc’s, “Oooh oooh ooh oh.  .  .”

The audience began to roar and clap and I saw Dennis’ face, he looked so happy and he winked at me. I saw Charlotte and she gave me a thumbs-up. Dad waved at me. I kept on singing as I scanned the crowd for the people I knew.

Then, I saw Elise. She held her phone up and I felt sick in the stomach. If she knew she didn’t want to watch us, she could have left rather than pressing her phone. That was rude! Then I realized so many people were bringing out their phones to video us. Elise too!!!
    
Why would she be videoing us? She hated us so much and she was always against us, so what was she doing now? This Elise was sure full of surprises.
    
Then it hit me Elise- Queen E or was it Miss E? Could she be the one? I let the thought out of my head as we were about to end the song.
“And turn the white snow red as strawberries
In the summer time…”
    
We got a massive applause and standing ovation from the audience and I felt so proud. Marc let the applause die down before he spoke

“This next song, Lay Me Down is dedicated to our best friend Claire Taylor; Rest in perfect peace dear one, we love you.” A round of applause followed and Marc started singing,

“Yes, I do, I believe
That one day I will be where I was right there
Right next to you…”
   
It was my turn to take a solo

“And it’s hard
The days just seem so dark
The moon and the stars
Are nothing without you”
    
Again, the crowd became so silent you could hear a pin drop. It was Logan’s turn to sing.

“Your touch, your skin
Where do I begin?
No words can explain the way I’m missing you”
    
People were bringing out tissues to wipe their faces. Claire was really loved. Clay took his own solo.

“Deny this emptiness
This hole that I’m inside
These tears
They tell their own story.”
    
I tried to hold my tears back so that my singing would not be affected. It was time for the four of us to sing together and the harmonies to be heard.

“Told me not to cry when you were gone
But the feeling’s overwhelming, it’s much too strong.”
    
Time for the chorus and it was like I could hear the sobs of everyone in that room.

“Can I lay by your side?
Next to you, you…
And make sure you’re alright
I’ll take care of you
I don’t want to be here if I can’t be with you tonight.”
    
We stood up from the stools and walked a little bit further then stopped. Marc sang and I backed up while Clay and Logan began the beats. It got sweeter!

“I’m reaching out to you
Can you hear my call?
This hurt that I’ve been through
I’m missing you, missing you like crazy…”
    
We sang the chorus again together again and I could feel goose bumps on my skin, maybe Claire was here, maybe she was hearing us. Finally, we ended the song together.

“Lay me down tonight
Lay me by your side
Lay me down tonight
Lay me by your side
Can I lay by your side?
Next to you, you…”
    
The place was silent for one more second before every single person in the audience got up and clapped for us. Then, I allowed my tears to drop down my eyes.

I recommend Sam Smith's Lay Me Down for this chapter. It would be so easy to imagine Debonair performing with it.

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Love,
Prisca.