A few days had passed since the TV show incident, but Ella had fully recovered from her electric shock. It was Christmas Eve as well as the day of the Talent Show and everyone was excited for it. That evening while Ella was working on a new topiary for the holiday season in the Kyle's backyard, Mrs. Kyle came up.
"Hi, honey." She said.
Ella turned around from her work and she smiled at the woman.
"Are you okay?" Mrs. Kyle asked.
She nodded.
"Are you ready to go to the show?"
"The show?" Ella asked.
"The Christmas Talent Show, it's tonight. Did you forget?"
She nodded her head and looked at Mrs. Kyle with a shameful look.
"Oh, don't worry about it, dear. It's no big deal if you did forget."
"Where's Ian?"
"He went ahead to meet up with a few friends. Maybe you should get yourself ready to go. The rest of us will leave in about ten minutes. Do you need some help?"
"Yes."
After a few minutes, Ella and the Kyle family were finally ready. When the family made it to the town square, there was an enormous stage beautifully decorated for Christmas; garlands of red, white, and green as well as sparkling lights were strung above and below the stage while ornaments of all shapes and sizes were hanging beside the curtains and a large evergreen decorated with tinsel, garlands, lights, and ornaments and a large golden star was the center piece of the square. Ella couldn't believe her eyes; she had never seen a sight more beautiful… that was until Ian came into view. He was wearing a white shirt and pants with a silvery gray vest, a black necktie, and black dress shoes.
"Hey, guys." He said as he made his way towards his family.
"Hey, son." Mr. Kyle said.
"Dear, you look so handsome." Mrs. Kyle beamed.
"Nice outfit, twinkle toes." Megs humored.
"Ha, ha; very funny, Megsy." Ian sarcastically said before looking at Ella.
The boy's eyes widened the moment he turned his attention to her; Ella was wearing a beautiful royal blue dress with a silver trim and long flowing sleeves, there was a string of shimmering white beads around her neck, and her long black and blue hair was carefully brushed and it was all put up into an elegant ponytail and tied together with a ribbon.
"Wow, Ella. You look… a-amazing." Ian commented, his eyes transfixed on her face.
"Thank you." Ella muttered, blushing and smiling.
"Enough with the warm mushy stuff, you guys. The show is about to begin." Megs urged her family to follow her to their seats.
The moment everyone sat down, the Christmas lights slowly dimmed and the mayor himself walked out onto the stage and cleared his throat. A spotlight was shining on him and everyone in the audience directed their attention to him.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as mayor of Suburbia, I'm very happy to welcome to you all to this year's Christmas Talent Showcase." He happily announced. "In all my years, trust me when I say that I have never seen so much talent in one place."
The mayor saw Ella sitting in the audience and he smiled.
"And I see we have a very familiar face in the audience." He said, pointing a finger at the girl. "Well, well, well; if it isn't our own little celebrity, Miss Ella Scissorhands! C'mon, say hello to everyone, Ellie sweetie!"
The audience clapped their hands and cheered in applause as a spotlight shined onto Ella. She slowly stood up from her seat and smiled as she shyly waved to the people in the crowds.
"Um, hello." She said before sitting back down.
"Okay, now who's ready for a load of talent this Christmas?" The mayor asked the audience who cheered in response.
"That's great! And I see you noticed that there aren't any judges at the front, because this year is gonna be different." He explained. "This year, the winner is gonna be chosen by all of you! That's right, you people in the audience are gonna choose the winner. And the contestant with the most applause is the winner. Are you ready?"
"Yeah!" Everyone in the audience cried excitedly.
"Okay, then! First up, we have Marty Robinson and his little friend, Mr. Pickles!"
The first contestant was a ten year old boy holding a wooden ventriloquist dummy that he called Mr. Pickles and he began to tell cheesy knock-knock jokes and he performed silly tricks to try and make the audience laugh; Ella was frightened when she saw the dummy and heard it talking in a rather creepy sounding voice.
There were lots of talented people in the show; there was a juggler, a few acrobats, a group of hip-hop dancers, a dancing and singing clown (which Ella found terrifying), an animal trainer, and there was even a choir of children (which Ella thought was beautiful). Everyone thought of them as amazing… and then came the final act of the night.
"That was really beautiful, kids. Thanks very much." The mayor said. "Okay, like all good things, the show unfortunately has to come to an end. And now for the final act of the night; please welcome, singing her favorite song 'Sweet Transvestite', Amanda Dylan!"
"Amanda?" Ella whispered to Mrs. Kyle.
"Um… Don't worry, dear. I'm sure she won't do anything crazy." Nicole said.
Amanda soon made her way into the stage with lots of makeup on her face and she was wearing some kind of dark cloak, then she started singing. As soon as she did, she took off her cloak to reveal her to be wearing a black corset, high-heeled shoes, and fishnets on her arms and legs.
"Oh… I stand corrected." Mrs. Kyle muttered.
As Amanda danced and sang, Ella could only stare at her in shock and fear. Ian put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, but that had no effect; by now, Ella was too scared to do anything else. By the time the song had come to a close, the audience applauded… all except for Ella. She only gave Amanda a terrified look which made Amanda's smile twist into a wicked smirk as their eyes met; she shook her head disapprovingly at Ella and snatched the microphone from the mayor's hand.
"See that, Ella? What did you think of my performance? Oh right, no one cares what you think." She shouted into the microphone. "You wouldn't know talent if it came up and cut you in the face. Pun intended."
When she heard the girl's words, Ella almost felt like crying as a tiny blush started to form on her scarred cheeks. She was so embarrassed that she stood up from her chair and hurriedly walked off behind the stage. The moment she was gone, Ian gave Amanda a disapproving glare while Amanda just gave him a distasteful look.
