Belle peaked anxiously around the curtain almost immediately drawing her head back. Not only did she not want to be seen by someone's wandering eyes, but the room was packed. They'd only ever done rehearsals on the main stage, there wasn't an audience presence and all the extra people simply made her nerves intensify. She'd seen the audience trickling during her warm up, the low murmur of so many voices completely disconcerting, but now they were all silent and ready to put all their undivided attention on her, or as much undivided attention as a room full of a couple hundred people could put.
This was the moment, the moment she'd been dreaming of since she was that bright eyed ten year old girl. She knew her parents were somewhere in the audience, they'd become more grudgingly supportive about her singing as the years had passed and they'd realized she was serious about pursuing a career in music. Now she was waiting to perform live for not only the audience and the American public, but the judges and coaches she'd idolized since childhood. And one of those coaches would choose her to be on their team, to teach her their wisdom.
In the ten years she'd been following the show, she'd only become more sure of Robert Gold's prowess as a vocal coach. More years than not, his contestant walked away with the title at the end and age had only heightened his good looks. Belle was thankful to be here at all, she'd slipped in during the wild card round, so she knew she'd be happy with David or Emma, but her heart of hearts wanted Robert Gold.
The butterflies in her stomach increased tenfold as a smattering of applause signaled the end of Ruby's performance. The woman herself popped through the curtain, sweaty but smiling.
"Wow! That was like nothing I've ever done, and I got picked by Gold!" She squealed, bouncing slightly on her gigantic heels. "Good luck, Belle! You'll do great!"
Belle paled slightly, Ruby's status in the competition having just been raised. She also had to swallow down the lump of jealousy forming in her throat. Each coach only got to pick three people to work with and Ruby was Gold's second pick. She'd had to be flawless to even hope of drawing his attention.
Ruby turned from the doorway to the dressing rooms, as if sensing Belle's change in demeanor. "Seriously, Belle, chin up. Go sing your heart out. I don't care what anyone says, you deserve to be here."
Belle smiled weakly. If she ended up on Gold's team at least she'd have a friend throughout the competition. She peaked towards the curtain again, waiting for the crew member to give her the signal to move.
"Good luck, French." Gaston Le'Fou leered from behind her. The hulking brute was a Broadway reject who thought he'd try his hands at the pop charts. Belle wasn't one to dislike people immediately, but ten minutes in Gaston's presence had solidified her decision that he was someone to stay away from. He was singing after her and had been unhelpfully commenting on every little thing she did.
"Thank you, Gaston." Belle gritted out. Nerves or not, a star couldn't afford not to always be polite. She glanced back down as the crew member nodded to her. It was time.
Moving through the curtain felt like stepping into another world. Not only was the entire room stuffed with people, but the full blast of the noise and lights unleashed a torrent of heat over her body. She was glad she knew the judges table was directly to the right side of the stage, the coaches were seated off to the left because the glare from the lights left her practically blind.
She made it to center stage without tripping, thank goodness, and stood nervously in front of the mic. She smiled slightly towards the audience, or towards the direction of the audience. Eventually she'd play to them more to try and win votes, but for now, she simply wanted to make it through her song without being sick on stage.
Belle had sung in front of plenty of audiences throughout her life but nothing could have prepared her for hearing the intro notes of her song and knowing she had to sing for literally millions of people.
The introduction wound down, her entrance quickly approaching. She spared one more glance in the direction of Coaches Corner praying something she did would attract Robert Gold and then Belle opened her mouth, and sang.