Perfect Chemistry: A Dylan O'Brien fanfic

Talent Show

Chapter 22

(Y/n) POV
The long-awaited, annual Talent Show had finally arrived. Dylan and I had spent hours practicing after school each day, well, except the days with Lacrosse training. I can tell you that Dylan is an excellent guitarist and singer. He's literally Mr Perfect. I'm seriously in love with him.

I could only hope that we were prepared for this. I wasn't. Hopefully Dylan was. He would nail this.

I peered out from the backstage, my head popping out from the huge red curtains that hung over the eight-meter wall. A huge crowd of people sat in the auditorium and a panel of judges at the front who were the teachers. The audience was buzzing around, chatting among their own cliques when suddenly, the lights dimmed and a single light was focused on the emcee, who strode towards the center of the stage with gusto.

"Welcome everyone! To The Show of Arts! This year, it is very special as the school will be celebrating its 10th Talent show in a row!" He announced proudly, even wearing a formal tuxedo for the event.

The conversations among the audience stopped abruptly, immediately to be replaced by hushed silence. All eyes were focused on the stage. Then, everyone broke into a loud applause that echoed through the spacious auditorium, followed by whoops and cheers.

"Haha okay! I'm glad to see you guys all hyped up! Now, let's introduce our judges..." The emcee continued.

I ignored the rest of his announcements, pacing back and forth the tiny backstage, my heart rate increasing with each step I took, there were butterflies in my stomach. I wasn't ready for this.

"(Y/n), you okay?" Dylan whispered, suddenly, his arms wrapped around me.

"Yeah...I'm fine...just...nervous. I feel really pressured to be performing with you. Like, you're so good and I'm...just...ugh... "

"Hey, hey. Don't be! It's okay! You're the best! No one can ever beat you in this! You're the most talented person I've ever known okay? It'll be alright! I will be with you no matter what happens!" Dylan comforted me in his deep, steady voice.

I grinned from ear to ear, the anxiety in me alleviated.

"First up on stage! Lydia and Teresa! They will be performing a self choreographed dance remix of Lovely by Billie Eillish!"

I turned to see Lydia and Teresa taking quick steps towards the stage. I gave them a smile of encouragement, then shot them a thumbs up. Both of them returned the smile before proceeding to make their entrance.

I held my breath as their dance started, it was like there was a mirror between them, thus they were mirroring each other. I had my eyes on them, enjoying their little dance. It was amazing how their movements were so fluent yet sharp, making the dance expressive and mesmerising. I could hear the audience loudly gasping and cheering when Lydia did a split and Teresa did consecutive somersaults from one end of the stage to the other. The best part was that they were dancing so in sync yet it feels so different. By the end of their performance, loud cheers came from the audience. Even the judges had a satisfied smile plastered on their faces, nodding their heads in approval as they scribbled the scores on their paper, from what I saw from the monitor at backstage. They clearly enjoyed the performance very much. So did I.

"Okay! Thank you Lydia and Teresa! What a lovely performance! Am I right?" The emcee's voice boomed across the room.

He paused for a moment to look at his cue cards. "Next up! The Beacon Hills high school drama club consisting of Charlotte, Thomas, Scott, Malia, Tyler, Cassie and Ashley! They'll be performing a romantic play!"