Author's Note: Hey peeps! One thing I've changed, the story is in present tense. Sorry for the confusion, thanks for the review!
Fairytale Dreamer
The sky is growing dark this glorious summer night, and people are beginning to crowd around the giant town square in the heart of Beaufort County. Tables are being set up, and food is laid out, just as the local band strikes up with hit summer songs.
Always on time, Adrienne and Tacey make their way to a picnic table, and Adrienne is recording everything on her portable video camera.
"I need something specific to film this summer Tacey; it can't just be some random shots run together like last year!" Adrienne sighs as she fixes her lens.
Tacey begins to sweat and grips her saxophone tighter, "Are there gonna be more people than this? I don't think I can even handle half of this!"
Adrienne narrows her eyes at the frightened girl, and finds an answer to the problem, "Is it a boy?"
Tacey turns and stares at her, shocked, "What do you mean 'is it a boy'? I don't have a crush on anyone! I don't like boys; at least, none in this town!"
Adrienne begins to laugh and agrees, "Yeah, who'd wanna date any of these losers?"
But just as Adrienne finishes, a fairly low voice comes from behind them, "I know; they're all so immature and have no idea what's going on around them!"
The two girls turn and find a somewhat tall teenaged boy standing behind them, smiling big. Neither of them says a word, utterly shy. He is a confident boy, if that isn't already obvious; who had has long curly dark brown hair and piercing amber eyes. He bows at the two, still silent, and then walks away as if nothing had ever happened.
"Who was that?" Adrienne asks Tacey, disgustedly.
Tacey keeps a smile to herself and replies shyly, "I don't know."
On the other side of the square, Kylar walks along the grass, almost yelling on her cell phone, "I can't believe you guys bailed on me! That's so low! No, I'm not going to listen to you anymore! Have fun on your lame-ass road trip without me!"
Hanging up, Kylar walks over to the tables and gathers some food, and begins looking for a place to sit down. But, she realizes that she doesn't recognize anyone she is actually talking to. So, she finds a place on one of the benches and eats, ignoring the stares from many who question her Goth look this evening.
Over at one of the gazeboes, Jamie laughs as she sits in the lap of Ben, one of her many guy friends. Other guys are also there talking with her, but none of the girls were there, they don't like Jamie's flirtation. As for Kirsten, she sits in the corner, feeling uncomfortable with the whole situation. She holds her cross necklace in her hand and closes her eyes, thinking of them all.
"Don't worry everybody; the life of the party is here!" Joshua bellows throughout the party. Lydia walks along with him, laughing at his hilarious energy. All of his friends come up and begin to talk to him, mainly about the talent show that night. Joshua is going to sing and play his guitar, and everybody is buzzing about it. However, Lydia isn't performing at all.
"This is incredible!" Sally mutters out, reading the book old man K gave her earlier that day. She sits in a bench swing facing the docks on the edge of the square, out of reach from the rest of the town.
She wonders why she always feels depressed at parties; it has been this way as long as she can remember. But still, Sally tries to make the best of it, intensely reading the pages. Faintly, Sally hears the sound of footsteps and slides the book into her green and maroon bag.
Jumping in front of her, full of energy is Kirsten. She smiles big and asks, "Why are you wearing a frown Sally-Wally?"
Sally doesn't smile, and replies, "Because I'm deep in thought, or at least I was. Why are you smiling?"
"Because," the goofy girl explains, "I've got the urge to sing and dance!" Kirsten begins to dance ridiculously and sings one of her favorite songs, 'I Wanna Be Like You', from the Disney version of The Jungle Book.
Right as Kirsten began to sing, Sally bursts out laughing; that crazy girl always manages to cheer her up. Her song ends, and she takes Sally by the hands and pulls her up saying, "Come on, the talent show is starting any minute!"
Sally picks up her heavy bag and runs over to the rows of chairs with Kirsten leading the way. They look around for an open seat by Jamie, but there isn't one. All the boys are surrounding her. Jamie looks at them sadly, but then smiles because she's having a sleep over at Sally's that night.
They search along, and finally find one near the middle. The two girls go and sit down right next to Kylar. Sally smiles at her and says to Kirsten, "Hey, I want you to meet this awesome girl from my chem.. class! Kirsten, this is Kylar, Kylar, Kirsten!"
"It's nice to meet you Kylar! Hey, I like you name, it's so cool!" Kirsten says crazily.
Kylar smiles and takes the compliment more than the others know, "Thanks. It's nice to meet you too."
Just at the very moment, the talent show starts. The first few people up aren't very good, but the crowd struggles through it. The next act that comes up of course is Joshua's. Lydia winks to him from the audience, and he winks back. All of the boys in the audience stand up and begin cheering for him. Joshua sets up his stool and mike and signals them to sit back down.
He taps the mike and clears his throat, "Hey, how's everyone doin' tonight?"
The crowd cheers; Joshua is a very sociable boy, and nearly everyone in the town adores him, except a handful.
"Alright! Well, here's a song that I didn't write, but, it inspired me to sing tonight. This one goes out to my muse!" Joshua smiles at Lydia, and she feels as though she could die happy now.
Joshua strums the chords to the song, and soon the audience recognizes the tune. It is the song 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls, "And I'd give up forever to touch you, cause I know that you'd feel me somehow. You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be…"
As Joshua plays, Sally's heart grows faint. That song, why did he have to chose that song? Nobody in that audience knows what that song means to her; listening to it now, Sally might think of suicide. Her pain had always been at her side. Ever since…
"I just want you to know who I am!" Joshua sings his last verse just as his entire friends stand up hollering for him. Others clap as well.
In the front row, Adrienne leans over to Tacey and whispers, "I think he's stretching what he believes is his voice range, don't you?"
Tacey laughs to herself, feeling the same way about the arrogant boy. Joshua smiles and gets offstage to join his beloved Lydia.
The stage was clear for only a moment. Tacey is the first to see the curly haired boy from earlier that night come out and move the microphone away. He is dressed in a funny outfit, like something out of the renaissance period. With his bare hands, he holds them out in front of them, beginning to project his voice out.
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou are more lovely and more temperate: rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and summer's lease hath all too short a date…" He begins to speak. Everyone in the audience is immediately drawn to his talent, for he has a great deal. He uses the entire stage for the sonnet he had memorized by Shakespeare; as the sonnet comes close to the end, he walks down the stairs of the stage.
Still speaking the words, he walks towards Tacey, who awkwardly tries to look somewhere else. But she soon realizes that he is locked to her pale blue eyes. Finally, she looks up at him nervously. Smiling, the boy magically reveals a light yellow rose and finishes the monologue, "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this, and gives life to thee,"
The boy kneels at Tacey's feet, the whole time Adrienne filming. With his last word, he presents the rose to her, and she takes it smiling bigger than she ever had in her life. Everyone around them applauds and cheers. The boy graciously moves away from Tacey and took a quick bow in front of the crowd and goes off behind the stage.
Adrienne ends the filming and looks to Tacey in awe, "That was amazing! He was so good!"
Still holding the flower in her hand, Tacey dreamily sighs, "He was wonderful."
More people go on and off the stage, and soon the show comes to its last performer.
"Tacey Rosette!" the announcer calls out her name, and Tacey begins to feel faint.
Adrienne takes Tacey's rose and pushes her up to the stage. She smiles reassuringly, but Tacey is still unconvinced. She goes up to the microphone and holds her sax tight.
Nervously, she smiles and puts the mouth to the piece. The lights beam brightly onto her face, and she sweats profusely. Her heart races faster and faster as people anxiously wait for her to begin.
Finally, Tacey blows her first note, coming out horribly. It screeches the mike and the audience moans in agony. Not taking the pressure any longer, Tacey stops playing and begins to feel dizzy. Suddenly, right there on the stage in front of the whole town, Tacey Rosette pukes. The audience gasps and some even yell out in disgust. Frightened, Tacey runs offstage with her sax, not stopping for anyone.
Sally's head falls to the ground, sad for her humiliated friend. As does Kirsten and Jamie, who also know her. The same with Lydia, who had her as one of the two only real friends in the town. Finally, Adrienne quietly turns her camera off and gets up, going out to find Tacey if she can.
Even the boy who gave her the rose feels horrible about the whole ordeal. If only he could do something.
Once the mess was clean, the town chooses the boy as the winner of the talent show. However, he doesn't feel as though he deserved it.
Trying to forget the matter, the crowd shuffles home, along with our trio, Jamie, Kirsten, and Sally. When they are together, nothing can stop their reign. Cheering them up, Kirsten lead they down the road dancing as they sang the song, 'I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts'. In their happiness, it seems as though nothing will reach them.
Stopping for a moment, Sally realized she still had the book. She smiles brightly as she looks up at the stars; she would tell her two friends that very night about her plan. Soon, it would begin.