"Holy shit, they want you!"
Odessa paused her ice-cream eating when she heard her sister's ecstatic squeal from the living room. Alarmed, she rushed to find her, bringing her tub of ice cream. There sat Juliet, bouncing up and down on the couch with her laptop on her knees.
"What happened?" Asked Odessa urgently, taking her spoonful of chocolate chip cookie dough out of her mouth.
"They want you for Vocalon!" Juliet screeched in reply as she pointed at the computer screen.
"What?!" Odessa exclaimed in disbelief, yanking the laptop out of her sister's hands. Her email account was open to her inbox where at the top; an email was titled 'Vocalon Acceptance Letter'.
Odessa hastily clicked on the email and read it with much interest:
Congratulations, Odessa!
You are now one of the five androids who have been selected to perform in Vocalon 2015! You will be performing a song of your selection at the concert in front of hundreds of other androids and a panel of famous Vocaloids from the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan. Email us the song you plan to sing and wear formal Vocaloid attire at your performance. The concert will be at the following address one week from now. Congratulations once again!
Odessa didn't even bother to look at the date before almost dropping the laptop on the floor in her shock. She quickly set it down on the coffee table and plopped next to her sister on the couch.
"Isn't this great?" Juliet marveled, stealing some ice cream out of the tub. "You're gonna be a Vocaloid!"
Odessa could only nod in agreement, too surprised to speak. About a month ago, Yamaha was holding auditions for androids to perform at Vocalon, the biggest vocaloid concert in the world. They had them every four years, in different locations. The most famous vocaloids performed there and watched the new Vocaloids do their first concerts. Odessa still couldn't believe it. She was going to be one of the new vocaloids.
"I didn't think they'd actually pick me." Odessa breathed, not even bothered that Juliet had flat-out stolen her entire ice cream tub.
Odessa waited among the other androids, her stomach twisting and turning with anxiety. The girl in front of her had just sung her song and had been quickly shooed away by some representatives of Yamaha. The girl scurried backstage, her long pink hair flying behind her. She winked at Odessa.
"I think you're next." She whispered. "Break a leg!"
Odessa nodded at the encouragement. Frankly, the compliment sounded like another worst case scenario that could have happened while she was auditioning. She had already crossed off stuttering uncontrollably and throwing up as possibilities for failure.
"Odessa, you're up next!" Called one of the representatives, a bored tone in his voice.
Odessa gulped and shakily stepped out onto the stage, the bright lights blinding her for a moment. When she had regained her vision, she saw the three 'judges' in front of her. She exhaled shakily at their bored and stern expressions.
"Alright, sing your song, kid." One of them sighed, glancing at his watch.
Odessa took a deep breath and let out the first few notes.
She didn't notice how the judges' faces perked up when she made her way through the first verse, her voice slowly building up strength and power as she got to the chorus of one of her favorite songs.
"Stop right there!"
Odessa abruptly stopped her song, a mortified blush creeping up her pale cheeks. As soon as she looked at the judge who had stopped her, she held back a gasp. She could have sworn she had seen him smiling before he had returned to his poker faced expression. Maybe her wishful thinking was making her imagine things. She shook her head, mentally slapping herself.
"You can go, Odessa." Another judge said quickly.
She nodded and ran offstage, her self-consciousness creeping into her brain. She stopped for no one as she made her way out of the building, her face still burning.
She heard a car horn and saw Juliet waving at her from her Mercedes. Odessa ran to her and hopped in the car.
"So how'd it go?" Juliet asked anxiously as Odessa slammed the door closed.
"Just drive." She replied as she laid her head on the dashboard as her self-doubt took over. Well, she had just done it for fun anyway. At least it was over.
And there she was, a month later. She was plain old Odessa sitting on the couch with her sister in her hum-drum apartment. And in a week, she would be a rising star in the vocaloid world.
Boy, that escalated quickly.