I wish I had told you

The Surprise

It was D-Day.

Jessica got up very early in the morning, probably before anyone else in the city and started preparing herself mentally. For her that was more important than the vocal practice because the crowd was huge - five times the crowd in "Harmony" finale and she just didn't want to screw up.

Jessica and her team poured their hearts into their performance and practised as much as they could in the available time. The fact that their performance was just before the Coldplay's performance added to the pressure but they had practised enough to put out their best. It was a set of five songs. Apart from their viral song, they had planned to sing two up-tempo rock songs and two slow Ballard. Jessica decided to open the show with a raunchy, garage rock song called "Kiwi". She decided to go out of her comfort zone to enthral the audience and she wanted their performance to leave a mark amidst those huge artists. Also, she wanted to unleash the rock star in her because it's now or never.

Jessica and her team reached the venue in the morning itself for their 6:30 pm show. They had already practised enough on that stage and had their last practise a day before the concert. Each time Jessica went to that stage, even with nobody in the stadium, just the mere sight of the enormous stadium would freak her out. Just to give her some time to relax and make sure she was all set, Zach decided to play an extended guitar intro before she could start singing. They had also decided that the other vocalist will immediately take over if she had a panic attack in between the performance until she was alright.

It was 5:30 pm and they all were almost ready. Jessica decided to go for a classic rock star look with a shiny, gold tank top paired with black skinny jeans and high on make-up with kohled eyes. Their predecessor's performance was to get over at 6:00 and they had around half-an-hour to set the stage. The performance was over and the stage was being set.

Everyone left for the stage. 'Jess, let's go!' said Zach as he urged everyone to go to the stage.

Jessica cast one last look at her reflection in the mirror, took a deep breath.

'You'll rock!' assured Anusha placing her hands on Jessica's shoulders. Jessica and nodded and smiled. 'Leave now, everyone's already gone,' she said.

Jessica charged towards the door with confidence like never before. She was nervous but had a gut feeling that it's gonna be great.

As she stepped out, she could hear the crowd singing the lines of a song that was being played. It was louder than anything she had experienced her whole life. Anyway, she kept walking to the stage. All of her team was on stage already and with few minutes left, she increased her pace. Just a few meters behind the stage, she tripped badly on the wire set of the sound system. She fell flat on her face. She quickly got up and untangled the wires circling her legs, with an eye on the stage. Her heart started racing. She got her out of the wires but her look was spoiled. Her gold tank top was torn and her jeans covering the right thigh region got ripped. Above all this, her clothes got dirty with patches of mud all over. There was no time to get it changed and she couldn't go like that on such a huge platform.

She was suddenly experiencing tachypnea, that percussive heartbeat grew faster and felt dizzy. As she became increasingly flustered, she immediately sat down with her knees to the chest. The one thing she dreaded, happened - Panic attack. She closed her eyes and kept taking deep breaths. Meanwhile, their name was announced and the stage lit up.

She opened her eyes. Her heart was still racing but somehow mustered the courage and got up. She walked towards the stage and reached the side wings as Zach started playing the intro part. The vocalists and her mates on the stage, seemed relieved as she finally showed up but were wondering about her worn out and dirty clothes. She noticed it in their faces but she didn't give a damn, performing up there mattered the most to her.

One of her mates handed her the microphone while she was waiting to enter.

"She worked her way through a cheap pack of cigarettes..." 

 She sang the opening line as she walked into the stage. In spite of the chaos in her body and mind, she came out with a bang. The crowd went berserk. Zach noticed her torn and muddy clothes but chose to ignore it. Her eyes were seeing the huge, mad crowd but her mind wasn't. She was completely into the song. She had practised her opening song so much that it just flowed out of her, automatically.

As she sang the chorus, "I'm having your baby, it's none of your business", the crowd lost it. 

She seemed like a rock legend. Though she went off-key in the second verse due to breathlessness, no one seemed to care. Everyone around her was admiring her and Anusha was just awestruck. 

As she completed the song, she sat down on the stage out of exhaustion. The crowd gave thunderous applause and Anusha was in tears. Jessica didn't exactly know if she did well but there she was, on stage, in front of thousands of people, performing - and that's what mattered.