Mentally, I was currently kicking myself because after all, I was standing here, moments away from tryouts, in front of real, live, people! I must really have been losing it.
Tara was busy holding out the last note of her song, a lot longer than what it was supposed to be. It sounded horrible, by the way, but I think Tara thought it sounded good. The audience clapped as soon as she finished, and apparently, they thought it was good too.
"Uh, this may be a while. You wanna grab a bite to eat?" Phil asked me. I didn't answer. I was frozen with fear.
Tara finally finished that long note. "Thank you so much," she said. She looked at me, rolled her eyes, and waved at the audience. My stomach churned and my heart was beating abnormally fast.
Tara was now approaching Phil and me. "Oh, Keely, what are you doing here?" I looked down at my shoes. They were the converses that my aunt had gotten me last.
Phil came to my rescue and said, "What do you think she's doing? She's here to sing and sing great. Nothing's coming out of her mouth but sweet music." Tara glared at him.
"Yeah! What he said…" I added.
"Okay, but just to be safe, I'll put on my galoshes." She imitated the gagging sound and laughed at her own joke. "Please." She pushed us out of her way once again. I felt tears sting my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away.
Absentmindedly, I jumped in front of Phil. "Haha! Look at me, I'm Tara! I'm HILARIOUS!" What was I doing? "My dad has a fake tan!" I mocked. I felt a tad bit better after that, but the cold feeling of dread came back when…
"Next up for tryouts, Keely Teslow!" I spun around.
"All right. Deep breaths. Come on, you can do this." Phil told me. I turned to face him again and I tried to take deep breaths. He coached me to do so. I closed my eyes. "Now go get 'em."
"Okay." I opened my eyes. I paused before I went on stage. I decided that I couldn't chicken out now.
I slowly made my way towards the microphone. Totally screwing up again, my shoes got tangled in the wire. I untangled myself, cheeks burning. The audience was giggling. "Scraps…" I muttered under my breath. I grabbed the microphone stand and looked out, seeing all of those people. I seemed to freeze again…
My breathing pattern was getting shaky and I was almost hyperventilating. The first few beats to the song I was supposed to do started playing, yet, I didn't start. God, I felt sick again. I kept on swallowing and glancing at everybody now and then. My eyes were glistening with unshed tears of nervousness.
"Keely, come on, sing!" Phil whispered. I tried to, but failed at my first attempt. "And a one, a two, a one, two, three, go!" Phil waved his arms to signal for me to go. I still didn't. I felt like running home, crawling under my blankets and blocking out the world.
"Y-you're…always there for me…" I sounded horrible. My voice was barely above a whisper and it had to enthusiasm in it. "When I need you most…day and night, by my side…protecting me." I was shaking. A few people were…laughing. At me. A lump rose in my throat…
Meanwhile, Phil pulled out his wizard. "Come on, Keely. Let's pump up the volume." He pressed a few buttons. Soon, a wave of confidence hit me and I started singing like I would never sing again.
"When I feel like crashing down,
You seem to be around
There you are, you're not that far
'Cause whenever, wherever, baby
You'll protect me, no matter what…" I finished the song perfectly.