Contestants

Dead flowers

Flair

Sometimes I just wish the noise would stop. But as soon as it does I fill the silence with more noise. Because in the silence is when my mind starts yelling at me.
It screams at me in the voices of my parents, my teachers, and worst of all myself. My dad tells me I'm worthless, my teachers that I'm wasting my life, and my voice joins in it says I will never be loved and I should just give up on life already.
So I surround myself with noise. Music, my friends chatter, even my hearing my dad is better than the silence.
The current noise filling my mind is my friends talking about the upcoming competition. Everyone is talking about it and even I am excited about it. This year the competition officials will be coming to my school to choose competitors. If I get chosen my life will change and maybe I can be happy.
"What kind of tests do you think there will be this year?" Mika asks, her voice brimming with excitement.
"I hope they will be mostly mental tests.." says Farrah nervously.
"Ya right, we all know they choose the strongest and prettiest every year." Azalea says "So that means it will be either me or Flair."
We all laugh at her suggestion, because we always joke that she is the strongest and I am the prettiest.
I do know that I'm pretty, I have dark red hair that seems perfect all the time. My eyes are bright green and my lips pink without lipstick. Quite a few girls at school are jealous of how I look, they are also jealous that I always have a handsome boyfriend. But my endurance and other physical skills aren't as strong as most of the girls.
Mika keeps trying to guess what the tests will be and Farrah gets more nervous with each new suggestion. Azalea looks at me and rolls her eyes and I grin. After a bit Mika gets bored and starts talking about the outfits she's trying on. We decided if we wanted to get chosen we better have new clothes and used that as an excuse to go shopping.
My friends and I technically live in the slums of Emor but our families are more well off then most of the people at school, so we have money to buy new outfits.
I am looking at a green outfit that matches my eyes and hair when Farrah asks "Do you girls have dates tonight?"
"Not me," says Azalea "I want to be well rested for tomorrow."
"Same." I say.
I could have had one if I'd wanted but this competition matters more than any of the boys at school.
"Well I'm going out," says Farrah "I couldn't sleep with this much excitement anyways."
Mika scowls and I know it's because she would have wanted a date.

I get home after supper and go up to my bedroom as quietly as possible. I'd rather not meet up with my dad. He's probably not home, he almost never is, but I don't want to chance it.
My mom died last year but nothing has really changed. She was never home either.
Once I'm in bed I try to sleep but my mind won't settle down and let me rest. I put on my headphones and eventually fall asleep.
The next morning I get dressed in the outfit I bought yesterday and walk to school. I grab breakfast on the way and make it in time to beat the rush.
There will be no classes today so I don't bother going to my locker. Instead I wait in the assembly hall for the tests to begin. After an hour a man in a black and yellow suit appears on stage. He starts with a few announcements explains the rules and then divides us into groups.
Each group is given a judge and we are told to find our judge. The room suddenly becomes mayhem as everyone tries to get with their group.
Thirty minutes later everyone has their group and we are led to different class rooms. My group has twenty people in it and I don't really know any of them. I recognize a few faces but none of my friends are here. I guess that's probably a good thing, I have a feeling my friendships aren't strong enough to prevail over the possibility of fame.
The judge makes us all sit at a desk and we are told to sign a few papers. Reading the paper I realize that I'm signing my life away. I hesitate just a moment before deciding that my life is not really worth it anyway. As I'm signing the paper the door to the class room opens and a boy walks in. I've seen him before somewhere but can't quite place him... oh right, his name is Grey, I think he's a year older than me. He hasn't been to school in awhile. Why do I remember him? Oh ya, he tried to steal my wallet once. I ended up stealing it back from him but it took awhile before I noticed. When I got it back I found that nothing was missing from it. He's also one of the only boys who's never asked me out.
He looks over the room and sees me, I see recognition in his eyes and then he smiles a little and winks. I shake my head and look back at my paper but still notice that Grey sits down at the desk beside me.
Once we've all finished the judge gives us some sheets with problems to solve. Farrah will like this part. I struggle a little bit with some of the problems but over all it's not that hard. I glance over at some of the other students, a few of them look very flustered and I can't help but smile.
After twenty minutes the judge stops us and checks over everyone's papers.
She calls out five names and sends them out of the room. She brings the rest of us to the gym which has obstacles and other tests added to it.

Later that night I collapse into bed exhausted. I'm not sure if I did well enough. I made it to the top six along with Grey who seemed to go through everything with ease. He probably got in. I guess I will find out tomorrow.