Chapter Six
Lila (Saturday)
Oh, my God, I can’t do this. Vomit swirled around in my stomach, anxiety pulsed through me, and my palms dripped with sweat. The nerves I’d felt showing my song to Kyle was nothing compared to tonight.
All the relaxation techniques I’d attempted throughout the day to settle myself went flying out of the window. I was scared, utterly petrified, and that’s all there was to it.
But I couldn’t back down, not now. I’d made it this far, I couldn’t turn away. The kids were relying on me, Kyle needed me, and the huge stack of bills at home needed me to at least try.
“You’ll be okay,” Kyle whispered reassuringly, patting me on the back. “It won’t be as bad as you think.”
I nodded rapidly, trying to act like I was holding it all together, but I wasn’t sure the message was coming across properly. The fact that I was shaking all over gave the game away. Even the little black dress that I’d cinched in, trying to make it look a little more expensive, didn’t help. I’d done what I could with my appearance, focusing a lot of my time on that, but it wasn’t helping. Not one bit.
“It’ll only be a few moments, anyway,” he continued to try to comfort me. “We’re only doing the one song. How bad can three minutes be?”
Actually, that did help. He’s right, three minutes. That isn’t exactly life changing, is it? I could surely donate such a short amount of sheer humiliation.
“Okay,” I gasped, finally managing to speak. “Okay, yeah, I can do that.”
I peeked out onto the stage, realizing that I couldn’t actually see the audience, which was good. I was still utterly terriefied, but now that I was at the point of gearing myself up, I wanted it over with as quickly as humanly possible.
“We’re up in a minute,” Kyle warned me. “Are you ready? Do you want me to see if we can change positions?”
“I’m ready,” I told him firmly. “I need to get this done now.”
At least, I thought I was ready. But as I heard the announcer calling out our names, that cold, icy sensation crept up over my body once more.
“And now, Kyle and Lila Monrose singing an original song…”
Kyle walked out, a surprising confidence to his step, so I followed behind him. I couldn’t act like I was feeling anything other than what I was. My feet were practically tiptoeing like it was my first day of school or something. I knew Kyle was anxious, too. He didn’t like big crowds; how could he act like he wasn’t? I watched in amazement as he slid behind the grand piano, looking totally at home.
I sucked in a deep breath and continued shakily over to the microphone. I tried to get the sense that this was where I belonged, but it wasn’t quite happening. I wrapped my fingers around the stand and slid my eyes shut for a moment. Kyle started tapping away on the keys, bringing the song to life, and I opened my mouth…
Something magical happened.
My voice came out strong and powerful. I appeared to find something special deep inside of me. I wasn’t sure where it had come from, how I’d managed to make it happen, but there it was. The song burst free from my chest and it felt incredible.
***
“Oh, my God!” Kyle cried happily the second we raced backstage. “You were amazing. You did even better than at home. Who knew you had such a powerful voice!”
“I know!” I giggled as hysteria consumed me. “I don’t know what happened, it just sort of… Well, I don’t know.”
“That is what you should be doing with your life,” he told me firmly. “You shouldn’t be wasting away in that gross old diner. I know we need the money to keep a roof over our heads, but I actually think you could make a career out of singing.”
“Maybe.” I was riding high, no longer scared about chasing after my newfound dreams. Maybe it was the adrenaline still coursing through me, but in that moment, I felt like I could tackle anything. I thought I was strong enough to take on the whole world. “Yeah, you might be right. We’ll have to go out and mingle in a moment, see what we can find.”
“You guys were amazing,” Jo gushed, wrapping her arms around both of us. “People love your story: two foster kids with such talent, making something of their lives.”
That last part might have been a slight exaggeration, but I was too happy to care.
“A bunch of people handed me cards to give you, and you got a tip, too. Now, I know what you two are like. I know you’ll insist that this money go to the charity, but they donated to us, too. You gave up your time for free, so please, just take this for yourselves.”
My cheeks were glowing with excitement. I felt like I could bounce off the walls. This was just such an incredible bonus. Now we didn’t even need to go and speak to people; they’d reached out to us. That three minutes had been life changing, but in the best way possible.
“Wow, thank you so much.” I peeked into the envelope to see a hundred-dollar-bill sitting there, which made my heart bounce. I could use that to ward off the electric company for a while, and since it was money we weren’t expecting, that was awesome!
“Oh, and here’s Xander again. You must meet him properly.”
I cocked my head in surprise. Jo said meet again, but I didn’t remember his face at all. Maybe she’d introduced him to us before the set – everything that happened before I stepped out onto stage was a blur.
And, I would’ve remembered this guy. He was gorgeous. Way out of my league, of course – in another class entirely – but I could dream. He had light brown hair cropped closely to his head, sparkling green eyes, and a smile I found infectious. I was grinning back at him without even realizing.
“You guys were amazing,” he announced happily, shaking Kyle’s hand. “Sorry I didn’t get to talk to you much before you went on.”
“Oh, that’s okay; it was a bit rushed.” Something about Kyle’s expression looked a bit star struck, which I didn’t understand. I didn’t know this man’s face, at all… But then again, I wasn’t totally up to date on the celebrity scene, though I didn’t think Kyle was, either. “And, thank you for your compliments; that’s great to hear.”
“And, you...” As Xander turned to face me, staring at me dead on, my heart fluttered and butterflies flapped violently in my stomach. He had this way of making me feel like I was the only woman on the planet. I felt scrutinized, but in a great way. “Your voice is wonderful. I’ve never quite heard anything like it.”
“Oh…” Oh God. My whole body was heating up with shame and excitement. I didn’t know how to feel. “Oh, right, thank you.”
“I mean, honestly, I’d love to—”
“Xander,” Jo pulled him away before he managed to finish his sentence. “I need you out on stage for a moment. We want to thank you formally for your donation.”
“Oh, no, that isn’t necessary.” He tried to argue, but Jo was a formidable force of nature. Once she wanted something, it was hard to turn her down. She just wouldn’t take no for an answer. It was impressive, really.
“Do you know who that was?” Kyle hissed excitedly into my ear, sounding more like a child than the grown up he was. “Do you understand who just complimented us?”
“No, please enlighten me.” I was trying to sound sarcastic, like I didn’t care, but I wasn’t sure I was pulling it off right. I was just as excitable as Kyle.
“That was Xander Runner… As in, Runner Records.”
Okay, that made my heart skip a beat. Runner Records I’d heard of. It was more of an independent outlet, but one that had produced a lot of successful artists. The label hadn’t been releasing many show-stopping records recently, but still… They were very well known.
“Are you serious?” I gasped, clutching my chest. “Oh, my God, and he just told me that I had a good voice.” My emotions were darting all over my body. I didn’t know where to even begin with my feelings. “What does that mean?”
“I think we need to stick around,” he told me, dead serious. “I think we should wait to see what he wanted to say to you. What if it was important?”
“You think… No, you don’t think, do you? He can’t….” Oh God, what if he wanted to sign us? That was too much to handle all in one go. I wouldn’t even know how to process that request.
“Look, look, he’s coming back,” Kyle hissed. “Just be cool, wait here and speak to him.”
I turned around to look at him with wide eyes and shock, but it was too late. Kyle was already gone. He’d left me to face this all by myself. I spun back around and smoothed down my dress, the tremors rocking my body once more.
“Oh, you’re still here.” Was it me or did Xander look pleased by that fact? “Good, I wanted to talk to you.”
“You did?”
“I don’t have much time because some of the kids asked me to come back and play more of their games, and you know how cute they are!”
My heart melted at that. A lot of people who came to this sort of event didn’t treat the kids like humans; they acted as if they were zoo animals to be looked at and examined, but not spoken to. It made them feel better about their own lives.
“But I wanted to give you my business card. I’d like to get in touch with you, if that’s all right.”
“You would?” I sounded like a broken record, but I couldn’t seem to stop. Full sentences were beyond me at this point. “Really?”
“I would.” He handed the card over to me, his hand brushing my skin as he did. Electricity prickled all over me, thoughts of where this one meeting could lead.
This could be the first day of the rest of my life. If Kyle and I got signed to some record label, we’d never have to worry about money again. We would finally have some security.
“Thank you,” I panted, no longer able to contain myself. “This is amazing.”
As he walked off, I felt like I was floating on air, like my body was somewhere else entirely. Am I dreaming? Is this actually happening?
“What happened?” Of course, Kyle reappeared now! The hard work was already done. “What did he say to you?”
“He gave me this.” I handed the business card over and watched my brother’s face burst into a big, beaming smile. “He wants me to call him.”
“Oh, wow!” Kyle clapped his hands together excitedly. “This is incredible. This could be it, the big break we’ve always been waiting for.”
Well, the big break he’d always been waiting for, this was something of a new dream for me. Still, it felt awesome to have it coming true.