One+Contest

Tori Adams 3/4B One Contest The lights were so blinding I couldn't tell who was screaming in the chaotic crowd, or what they were saying. Were they cheering? Was someone hurt? Was it my mother? My head was spinning with nerves and questions while my song's introduction played. I shielded my eyes with my hand, straining to see. I was thinking the worst even though I'm sure I was overreacting. But was I? Now it was too late, I had to start singing. My name is Sara Whitley and I am 13 years old, and somehow, I got caught in the middle of Oxford Maylo middle school's talent competition. And ironically enough, so did my personal corner of a nightmare, Veronica Sheldon. She is the meanest, rudest, most unbearable person I have ever met in my life! And she is, I hate to admit it, a talented singer. When I was little, I used to sing all the time. My mother tells me stories of how I would stand on the table with a hairbrush as a microphone and lip sync the songs that were playing on American Idol. That was until my dad was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctors hadn't caught it in time. I was 7 years old when that happened. I hadn't sung much at all since then until the beginning of this year. I had put a YouTube video up of me singing. All of my friends and even some people I didn't know had asked me about it. One of those people was Veronica Sheldon. She had challenged me to a contest. I hadn't officially accepted when at lunch, it was the main topic of conversation. Veronica had told almost everyone we were competing against each other at our school's talent competition in the spring. 36 days to be exact. How was I supposed to do this with 36 days to recover 6 years of not singing? I waited backstage more nervous than I thought was physically possible. I looked at Veronica who seemed so calm and collected she might as well have done this a million times. I started listening for my mother Kendra's shrill, high-pitched cheer. I couldn't tell if the one I heard was her. But I pretended it was and thought of what she would be telling me if she was there at that moment. As the lights dimmed, my heart started pounding and I immediately started to feel self conscious about everything I had rehearsed during the last 36 days. My knees started shaking. My hands and feet were sweating. I looked straight forward at the ever-changing colorful stage and it hit me that I can only do what I am capable of. I can only do my best, and no better than that. I know my mother told me that over and over but I didn’t fully understand how true it was until now. I tried to smile as I walked onstage without realizing it. The terrifying screaming and yelling continued. I started out the song slowly, trying to hide my nervous shaking. After I got to the first chorus, it started to just be fun. Something clicked between me and that stage that helped us cooperate together. It felt like I was meant to do this. It felt right. After, I bowed to the eruption of applause and cheers. No matter how big I could smile, it didn't reflect the feeling I had inside my stomach. The happiest moment of my life. For those three minutes and 2l seconds, I forgot all about who I was, my past and everything going on around me. I skipped off stage to see a not so confident Veronica Sheldon, pretending she didn't realize her competition was fierce. I didn't pay much attention to Veronica's performance except for at the beginning when I heard a few "boo's" from my best friends. I just sat there trying to relive every second of being on stage and wishing I had cherished it more and made it last. When Veronica was finished, there was a five minute break so the judges could decide the winner. The suspense was getting to all of us. Then out of nowhere a judge appeared on stage with a white envelope. "I would like to sincerely congratulate our two extremely talented contestants Veronica Sheldon and Sara Whitley. But sadly there can only be one winner. And that  is,” in the two and a half seconds that he paused before announcing the winner, I doubted  my entire performance. I had a sort of premonition that I would lose.  "Please put your hands together for... ... .... VERONICA SHELDON!" The  crowd fell silent for a moment before they roared with applause. I was horribly  disappointed and humiliated. I could feel the envious, angry tears preparing to spill over like a dam giving way to an entire ocean as she walked onstage with a big, show off-y smile and wave. All I could think of to do was run. So I did. Tears and all, I raced to escape the disappointment. I actually thought I had a chance at this! This would have been the first big step towards my dream! My mother caught me as I was running. She was obviously feeling quite similar because all she could think to do was hug me, as tight as she could. Then out of the corner of my eye I could see the audience starting to exit the theater. And I saw a stiff looking man in a suit walking towards me and my mom. "Mom, who is that?" “I don't know, sweetie," she replied, confused. She straightened up and I wiped the tears away and tried to stop crying. He walked the last few steps. Trying to hide a smile as if he knew something me and my mother didn't.  "Hello, I am Marc Kaplin from Feldstein management. I think you might be the most talented young singer I have ever met that isn't already on iTunes..." He paused so I could fill in my name and to laugh at his own joke.  “Sara. My name is Sara Whitley," I said as I smiled with pride. Out of the comer of my eye I could see Veronica smirking at me and trying to hide the curious look in her eyes. "Well Sara, I think you have incredible potential at a career. And if you are interested, I will give you my card. Give me a call if you think this might be something  you want to do" and with that, Marc Kaplin turned with a smile and glided away. I turned to my mom and laughed, screeched and jumped up and down while squeezing her hands. Veronica walked over to rub her victory in my face. But before she could say anything... “Look Veronica, you may have won, but you know what? So did I,” I held up the card and waved it back and forth. I couldn’t believe I had just said that! “ Oh nice job Sara. Now you have a manager that no one even knows about. The entire school saw you lose, and they saw me win. “Who cares who won or lost. It was the judges that said you win. Not the kids. It was people we don’t even know. So even if you got the title of the winner, no offense or anything, but the kids still like me better.” I was so insanely proud of myself for standing up to her and getting a manager, I could barely contain myself! The next day at school, no one was talking about Veronica's victory, but about the girl who finally stood up to her. The one who spoke for all of them. Me. Marc Kaplin Helped Sara to build her fan base and make her first album which sold amazingly well. Veronica? She got jealous and realized her mistake. She tried to suck up to her soon-to-be famous classmate. Of course Sara gave her what she deserved by ignoring her. So in the end, good always wins. And it all came from one contest.