As always, thanks to bookreader525 for her amazing beta-work! *hugs*

Meena loves to sing. She loves it so much that she forgets everything around her. She just needs to close her eyes and then it doesn't matter if someone is watching her and hearing her. She just sings. And she knows she has a great voice. She has known that for quite a while now, even without her grandpa reminding her on a daily basis that she should make something of her talent. The thing is, she just can't. And she tried. A lot. She tried a choir, she tried a band, and it never worked.

Because while she can forget everything around her when she's singing, there's so much that keeps her from getting there - her nervousness, her shyness, her agoraphobia. And that's too much to deal with.

She just never makes to the part where she actually starts singing. Her nervousness has often kept her from actually entering a stage. She managed to deal with her shyness a bit, though. She was able to ask if she can join the band and the choir, but it seemed her short-lived boldness was used up after that. So her shyness made it impossible for her to actually start singing on the few occasions she made it on the stage. As did her agoraphobia. Whenever she feels all their eyes on her, she freezes, she forgets what she wants to do. She just panics. Even worse, she actually forgets how singing works.

And that's just bad because singing is her life. It comes so easily when she's alone or when she's surrounded by people she's comfortable with. But even then she has to close her eyes to be able to sing. But that's no problem. She closes her eyes often enough when singing anyway.

It happened again today when singing Happy Birthday! to her grandpa. She just started singing, making a mental note to sing with her family and not get carried away. But then she closed her eyes and singing took over, and her voice was doing all these amazing things. And when she opened her eyes again, her grandpa, her grandma, and her mom looked at her, appreciation in their eyes.

Immediately, her ears flapped over her face, hiding herself from their looks as much as she could. That's something she picked up at a young age - hiding behind her ears. It had been easier when she'd been younger, when her ears had been bigger and her face smaller. But she still does it. It gives her a hint of feeling safe, but unfortunately, it's not enough to overcome her fears.

And of course her grandpa had to make a comment on what a superstar he would be if he had Meena's voice. Meena tried to play it down, saying that sure, he would, hoping it didn't show that it hurt her a bit. Because her grandpa is right. He would be a superstar if he had Meena's voice. But Meena won't. She'll never be a superstar. She's too shy for that. Too nervous. She just can't do it. And she hates it.

If only she would be more like her grandpa, if only she'd be more confident, if only… No, she isn't. Period.

She'd never be a superstar. Period.

Later that day, it's time for Meena to carry out her domestic chores. And she does that like she always does it - with her headphones on, listening to her favorite music and humming along. Work is always easier with a little music. That's probably because she loves music so much. Or maybe it's a general thing. Meena doesn't know. And she couldn't care less.

Of course, she starts thinking about her singing problem again - which is more a problem of not singing. Or not being able to sing.

She thinks of ways to overcome her fears. She could try keeping her eyes closed when she enters a stage. But then she remembers that she's already tried this. And she almost fell off the stage back then.

She could ask her grandpa to lead her out on the stage, but no, that would look ridiculous. People might laugh about it and then she wouldn't be able to sing because she'd be too ashamed.

Meena sighs. Why is this so complicated? She loves singing, so why on earth can't she sing when it comes to the point!? She wants to scream!

She doesn't, though, just lets out another sigh.

And then she realizes something else. Maybe that's the problem - that she thinks that she can't sing when it comes to the point, but maybe it doesn't come to the point. Maybe she just isn't supposed to sing in front of an audience. Maybe she's supposed to sing when no one is around. Maybe she's supposed to sing when she's alone.

Meena nods her head in agreement. Yes, maybe that's it.

She waits for her heart to do a little jump, for a pleasant feeling to settle in because she has finally figured it out.

Instead, she has this bitter taste in her mouth.

She sighs again and continues her work.

She's just started watering the flowers, humming to herself like she always does, and as surprising as that is, the longer she was humming or singing silently to herself, the more the bitter taste in her mouth disappeared, and now she's actually in a good mood. And that's great. Yes, that's the good thing about singing. It always cheers her up, no matter what.

Suddenly, she feels a gentle push on her shoulder and looks up. Her mom and her grandpa are standing in front of her, and her grandpa is holding up a yellow publicity flyer while her mom nods approvingly. Meena reads what's written on the flyer, and her eyes widen.

A hundred-thousand dollars for a singing competition? That's a lot of money! Gosh, she could help her family with all that money, she could go to college, oh, she could do so much with that money!

Okay, she still has no idea if she'll be able to sing in front of an audience when she has to, but for that amount of money, it's worth a try!

And maybe that's all she needed - a goal, a real goal. Not just being able to sing on a stage or join a band or a choir - no, something concrete like prize money. Okay, she isn't totally sure about that yet, but heck, she's going to try!