It Started With a Song [editing]

Chapter 5 - Officially a Performer

CHAPTER 5

As I walked onto the stage I was temporarily blinded by the lights and deafened by the screams of hundreds of girls, fans of One Direction.  It was enough to cause me to temporarily rethink this decision to open for the world’s most famous boyband, but I couldn’t go back now. 

As soon as I stepped up to the mic stand and slung my guitar around my shoulder, the majority of the cheering stopped.  “Hello, Miami, how are ya’ll doing tonight?”  The crowd cheered again in response.  Remembering the stage name Niall had helped me come up with, I started out by saying, “Awesome.  Well, I’m Lyla Rose, and I’ll be playing a few songs here tonight before the boys come out.  Sound okay to you?”  Again they cheered, and before I began to play my first song, I looked into the front row where my friends were sitting.  Casey was standing there, smiling up at me, while Diana, Scott, and Olivia looked shocked, looking up at me with their mouths wide open.  Scott even mouthed, “What are you doing up there?” to me, and I smiled in response.

I began to play the opening chords of Sara Bareilles’ Brave.  “Y'all should recognize this song.”  This was one of the easier songs I was playing tonight, and I finished in in no time.  One down, seven more to go, I thought to myself. 

“Before I sing this next song, let me tell you a little bit about myself,” I continued.  “I’m sixteen and live in Palm Shores, a suburb of Miami.  Anyone know where that is?”  I asked, knowing some girls from my school would be here tonight, and sure enough my question was answered my several cheers.  “I guess you all are wondering how I ever got to be opening for One Direction.  Actually, I’m wondering that myself!”  The audience laughed a little at that.  “I guess it doesn’t really matter how I got to be up here, it just matters that I’m a normal girl with big dreams like all of you.  Which brings me to my next song, Dreamer.  It’s a song I wrote myself.”  This was probably my favorite song that I had written.  I followed Dreamer with Taylor Swift's Our Song and then the upbeat Best Day of My Life, then introduced another one of my own songs, Side By Side.  So far, the crowd seemed to like my music, which was a good thing, I guess. 

“I wrote this song when my older sister got married three years ago, and it’s another one of my favorites.  It was inspired by my sister and brother-in-law’s wedding vows, and how they would stick by each other’s side no matter what.”  I strummed the opening chords, remembering that day three years ago.  “Whenever you feel alone, when you’re scared in your heart, when you can’t take it no more, when the world’s falling apart, just think of me, I’ll be by your side.  And we’ll face this together, side by side.” I sang, suddenly feeling very emotional.  I don’t know why, but this song always made me feel like crying.  You know that feeling, when you hear a really sweet, romantic song?  That’s what I was feeling up on stage.

Looking into the wings, I was surprised to see all five of the boys standing there with Grace, smiling at me.  Catching my glance, Niall nodded at me, smiling even wider, and Liam gave me a thumbs-up sign.  I smiled back at them, then continued to finish my song set.  Finishing 5SOS's Disconnected and Tomorrow, another of my own songs, I finally reached my ending song, Stars.  It was my newest song that I had written, and this was the first time that I had ever performed it.  I hoped the audience liked it.

“My last song is called Stars,” I told the audience.  “I wrote it after I spent the majority of one night looking up at the stars.  That made me think of our significance in the world, and how we’re so small compared to the universe.  I hope you like it.”  With that, I started playing the intro to the song, looking into the front row again as I did so.  All three of my friends were cheering and clapping along with the crowd, and when Olivia saw me looking at them she cheered especially loudly.