Kyra was bouncing up and down on her sparkly silver stiletto heels. Sonia put a hand on her shoulder.
"Calm down," she said.
"I can't," said Kyra. Sonia peeked around the corner. People were filing in and talking contentedly. They were all eating popcorn and snacks from the candy counter, they had to order extra there were so many people or they were reading the brochure. Sonia spotted Meagan, Maddie and London sitting at the judges table chatting along side Mr. Mosbey and his other employees. Kyra pulled out a pocket mirror and re-glossed her lips.
"You've done that like a million times," said Sonia.
"It's a habit when I get keyed up" said Kyra. There was a long, full length mirror back stage and Sonia checked how she looked. Her dark hair hung in lose ringlets around her shoulders where her spaghetti strapped dress started. It was bright pink and covered with sequins, very contemporary vibrant. Kyra stood beside her and looked at herself. Her dress was a silver sequin halter neck. Her blonde hair flipped out around the ends, very retro chic. She smiled;
"We look hot," she said. Sonia laughed;
"We do look good," she said. The lights went out, Sonia gave Kyra a hug, that was their cue. They walked onto the stage, it was even bigger than it appeared. It was at some places different levels and very long and wide. The spotlights came onto them, everyone clapped and cheered. It was like being at a concert.
"Hi everyone, welcome to the Tipton Talent Tournament," said Sonia holing a microphone. Everyone cheered.
"Here we'll show you who has got what it takes to come out on top," said Kyra.
"So please let us introduce our judges; we have Mr. Moseby, hotel manager, Mr. Wendell, assistant manager, Jodie Halloway, social director, London Tipton, daughter of the hotel owner, Meagan, guest at the Tipton and Maddie, hotel employee," said Sonia. The audience clapped again.
"And we're your hosts, I'm Kyra,"
"And I'm Sonia. Please welcome to the stage our first act; Alex, he will be performing some stand-up comedy,"
"Have fun," said Kyra and they walked off the stage. When they stood on the side they both had wide grins spread across their faces.
"This is great," said Sonia.
"I know, there's so going to be a masquerade ball now," said Kyra.
"And there better be an after party for us," added Sonia. Kyra nodded.
"Yeah, no more lack of funds-"
"For the next ten years!" said Sonia. They slapped each other a high five.
"Oh, we're so good!" said Kyra. They listened to the audience roar with laughter at Alex's hilarious stories. When he finished Sonia and Kyra went back on stage.
"Thank you, Alex!" said Sonia.
"Now please say hey to our next performer, Nancy Oppal who will be performing a ballet routine for us," said Kyra.
The show went on, an hour and a half had passed. They had watched Alex the comedian, Nancy the ballet dancer, Rikko the snake charmer, Elly the circus juggler, Stewart the magician, Chelsea the singer, Dan with a monologue, True with a dramatic play re-enactment, Arthur with his karate demonstration, several more singers, dancers and a little bit of everything. But the audience was still positively loving it.
"Now we have Lola," said Sonia.
"She will be singing the extremely famous 'My Heart Will Go On'," said Kyra. They were walking off the stage as Lola passed, she tossed back her hair dramatically and smiled. They stood on the side again as they watched.
"I can't say I know her, but I don't think I like her very much," said Kyra. Sonia nodded in agreement.
"Me neither," Lola carried out her last note strongly as the audience cheered.
"Thank you Lola," said Sonia.
"For our last performance we have Jackson," said Kyra.
"He will be performing a song that he wrote called 'I Wish'," said Sonia and they walked off the stage. They watched Jackson's performance, he was amazing.
"That boy is fine," said Kyra and she bit her lip.
"Oh yeah," said Sonia. He finished and came off, leaving the audience cheering.
"Thank you Jackson," said Sonia. "Now we will give our judges time to discuss who will be the top three performers,"
"So you have time for a twenty minute intermission," said Kyra. "Grab some snacks or just hang out," Most of the audience shuffled out of their seats, chatting contentedly about the show. Sonia and Kyra went backstage to see all of the performers. There was a medium sized room where they were all sitting. There were about thirty contestants, some had nervous expressions on their faces, a few looked nauseous even, some looked excited, but no one looked quite as comfortably smug as Lola.
"You guys were fantastic!" said Sonia. Many of them smiled, Lola just rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, awesome job," added Kyra.
"Are the judges about finished yet?" asked Lola. "Some of us have stuff to do,"
"What's the rush, don't you like this?" asked Jackson, he had been sitting next to her showing no signs of affection, even if she did have her head against his chest. She yawned loudly.
"Whatever," she said. Meagan came backstage holding an envelope. She handed it to Sonia and smiled.
"You guys were awesome!" she said and gave each of them a hug before she left. Sonia tilted her head towards the door as though motioning for them to leave. Kyra followed her on stage. The curtains were down, still five minutes of intermission left. They could hear people scrambling to return to their seats. Soon a silence fell and the curtains opened.
"We have the results of the show," said Kyra.
"In third place for the three hundred dollar prize, Alex the comedian!" said Sonia. Alex walked on stage grinning.
"Thanks," he said as Kyra handed him an envelope.
"In second place we have the very talented Jackson!" said Kyra. He smiled shyly as he walked on stage and accepted the five hundred dollar prize.
"And in first, winning one thousand dollars, Lola," said Sonia. The audience cheered loudly. Lola came out on stage, smiling. Kyra handed her her money envelope.
"Congrats," she said. Lola said nothing but took the mic from Kyra's grasp. She began an encore performance. Kyra gave Sonia a who-does-she-think-she-is kind of look. Lola finished her song and walked off stage. Perhaps 'walk' wasn't the right word, it was something more of a strut.
"Well, that's our show," said Sonia.
"Thank you so much for coming," said Kyra.
"Without you the ball that is to take place on New Year's eve would not be possible, so really, thanks," The audience cheered and gave the group a standing ovation as the judges and contestants joined the hostesses on stage. The curtains closed and the contestants walked away, some looking pleased, some looking disappointed. The judges with Sonia and Kyra walked backstage into the room where the contestants had been seated previously.
"Well?" said Kyra.
"Well girls, there will definitely be a ball," said Mr. Moseby. "And it will probably be the best ball Boston's ever seen. It was a truly brilliant idea and you ladies did a wonderful job of setting all of it up. Two thousand people came paying ten dollars per ticket. We sold 20,000$ worth of tickets and 5000$ worth of snacks. Subtract the cost of renovating expenses, advertising and prizes, we are left with 15,000$," The girls cheered excitedly. "And Maddie, I am giving you the day off work tomorrow so that you girls can each go buy a costume for the ball with the 200$ spending money I am awarding to you all." The girls each hugged Mr. Moseby.
"So is my daddy done being sued?" asked London. The other girls looked at each other curiously.
"Yes London," said Mr. Moseby. He turned to the other perplexed looking girls. "The hotel's business nearly went down the drain when we got a false complaint about cockroaches,"
"Oh," said the other girls.
"Well, that's it, I guess," said Mr. Moseby. "Have fun tomorrow," he left with the other judges. The girls were left grinning at each other. They knew they had done great.
"Well, ladies," said London. "We did it," the girls all cheered and hugged. They
couldn't wait for New Year's eve.
-
And that's my chapter. Watch for the next chapter, all events that have built up to the ball will make sense. The secret admirer, who Kyra likes, if Cody will get Sonia, why the elevator broke, why the twins are being accused of doing stuff they claim they hadn't, and basically the reason for my story. It should be interesting! Please, please, PLEASE review. Thanks to the reviewers of my last chapter; Girlrule, ARK, and Jedimasterbob! Glad you guys are reviewing, especially over and over. That rocks! You guys rock! Suite Life rocks! 'Nuff said.
xoxo Dreamer