Chapter 9: Sometimes we should listen to mom.

Of all the days to get a cold it had to be the day of the big event. Percy cursed a few swear words he had learned from the Stoll brothers in his head as he coughed.

"Perhaps we should tell Sir O that you can't make it," Sally said to him as he sat in bed pouting.

Percy shook his head furiously, wincing at the pain of his headache. "No mom, I'm going. Just give me some of the medicine okay?"

Sally sighed and put a thermometer in his mouth, after waiting a minute she took it out. "You're temperature is 101, you have a fever. I really don't think you should go," Sally said worriedly.

Percy scowled and pushed his blankets off of him and stumbled to his feet. He felt a rush of blood go to his head and would've fell had his mother not caught him.

"Percy! You're going to hurt yourself if you do that," Sally said steering him back to his bed. Percy resisted though and remained standing much to his mother's protests.

He held on to the bed posts, trying to keep himself from falling. His body felt cold from the chills and his head felt like someone was beating it. "I have to go mom don't you understand?" Percy said shakily, his throat felt like it was burning with each word.

Tears started welling up in his eyes, he couldn't let all of that work be for nothing. He just couldn't. He didn't want to grow up wasting his life, with his only success being at failing. Percy knew he didn't have the best life, but that didn't mean he had to just accept his terrible fate so easily.

"Please mom. I really need to do this," Percy begged her. He knew his mother would have the final say in the matter, especially since he didn't even know where the event was being held or how to get there.

His mother sighed and sat on the bed and grabbed him in her arms. "Okay Percy, you can go," She whispered before kissing his sweaty forehead.

His mother helped him bathe and put on his golden choir robes. He ate warm chicken noodle soup, delighted in the feeling of it soothing his raw throat.

Finally it was time for them to head over to the rest of the choir. Smelly Gabe was still asleep luckily, so they didn't have to worry about him making them late.

They drove to Carnegie Hall where the event would be held. Percy saw the choir waiting outside of the building amongst a crowd of people as his mother drove up.

"Bye mom," Percy said giving her a kiss after he unbuckled himself from his seat.

"Have fun Percy, break a leg and if you feel too bad tell me. It's not the end of the world if you can't sing," Sally said to him. Percy nodded, but knew no matter what he was going to sing on that stage today.

The choir all cheered when he got out of the car. He realized he was the last one to arrive again. A few of the guys gave him a pat on the back which made him wince in pain. He ignored it though, he didn't want them to think he couldn't sing.

"Hey guys," he said nasally. His nose was a bit congested. Luckily they didn't seem to notice and they entered the hall, following after Cleepy and Sir O.

Percy walked in the back as they reached their practice room. Before Percy was about to step in he felt a hand grab him on his arm.

"You're sick," Sir O told him.

Percy guessed he wouldn't be able to lie to him. "It's just a little cold. I can still sing fine. It's just a little snot," Percy said hoping Sir O wouldn't tell him he couldn't sing.

"Back when I was a child there came a day when I had a performance scheduled. My father and a few relatives were also going to come and watch, however I practiced too hard and neglected my health. I became sick. Everyone told me not to sing, but I wanted to impress my father. However my mother wouldn't argue with me and made me stay in bed," Sir O said in a dreamy tone.

"How is that supposed to inspire me?" Percy asked.

"Well you're here which means your mother must think you're okay to sing, so it's fine by me!" Sir O said and he pushed Percy into the room with the others.

Percy took a seat on the edge of a couch as the others sat in dressing chairs in front of large mirrors.

"Sir O is Clinique a good company?" Travis asked as he stared at some bottle.

"I don't know, why?" Sir O asked.

"Because we're wondering if our mom will like this makeup," Connor said laughing as he stuffed some more makeup in his robe pockets.

Sir O struggled to get all the stolen items from Connor and Travis before addressing all of them.

"As everyone knows this will be our last day together as a group," everyone got quiet at the realization, "That being said I want everyone to enjoy this day. I also want to stress that winning is important."

"My mom says winning isn't everything," John said.

"It isn't but it's still important," Sir O explained, "Anyways, everyone go out there and prove yourselves. About what we talked about the other day, I want you guys to have this memory forever. Well maybe not forever, or even that long."

A few kids looked questioningly at him.

"Well, I want you all for the time we are here to know that you all accomplished something magnificent. As cheesy as it may sound, you boys are all winners in my heart," Sir O said dramatically as he dabbed at the tears that were not in his eyes.

"That was cheesy," Connor said laughing. Everyone joined in. Percy was glad everyone wasn't nervous or tense and even though he felt like crap and it hurt for him to make a sound he laughed too.

Sir O explained to them the order of songs they were going to sing in. There would be three rounds during the competition. 32 countries had made it to the first round. After that round the judges would chose only 16 countries to compete in the next round. Then the final round would be between 4 countries.

When it was time for their choir to perform in the first round Percy was nervous and feeling nauseas. He had to hold on to Pollux and Castor as they walked on the stage.

"Just hold on to us if you feel wobbly," Castor whispered as they stood on the stage.

Percy looked out into the massive audience and tried to spot his mom. He could see her sitting in the front row. He wanted to wave but knew Sir O would have his head if he tried because it looked unprofessional.

Then they began to sing. The first song was in Latin. Percy didn't know Latin at all and some of the words were hard for him to pronounce but he was decent enough at it.

The pain in his throat increased with every sound but he kept singing, he held back the pain and knew it would be over soon. Finally his pain ended after they sang the last note. He thought he would faint on the spot but he held onto Castor and Pollux for support.

They walked of the stage and Percy could only vaguely make out the cheering.

"You look like crap Percy," Michael said to him after they returned to their practice room.

"I feel like crap," Percy whispered to him as he lay sprawled on the couch, not caring if he was taking up all the space.

"Sir O, should Percy still be singing?" Michael asked Sir O after he entered the room.

Percy quickly sat up, and cursed at not realizing it was going to hurt him if he kept doing that. "I'm fine Sir O, really," Percy said trying to reassure the man.

Sir O sighed but nodded, and Percy lay back down and drifted off to sleep while the others talked about the performance.

Percy woke up to the cheering of the others. "We made it! We made it!" A few of them were shouting. Percy wanted to tell them all to shut up and let him sleep before he actually took in the news.

Michael noticed he was awake and smiled at him, "We're going to the next round. We have to perform in 10 minutes, will you be okay?"

Percy nodded and sat up. Everyone was really enthusiastic about the news. The Stoll brothers were dancing as they forced a few others to dance with them. Aaron was doing weird karate moves, Castor and Pollux were making a toast with their grape juice boxes. Percy smiled at their happiness but he wished he wasn't so sick so that he could enjoy it.

After the ten minutes passed Percy was once again holding on to Castor and Pollux for support as they walked on the stage. Percy had thought he had felt bad earlier, now he felt like he had just finished running a trillion miles only to have someone beat him up.

Percy struggled as they sang their next song. He swayed a bit but luckily caught himself before falling. Luckily their second song was short and mostly called for Percy to just say "Ahhhh" the whole time.

After their song was over Percy was singing praises in his head as he was able to go back to the couch. He drifted off to sleep as soon as he lay down.

He was once again awoken to the cheers of the choir members. He weakly smiled at the news they had made it to the final round. It was just England, Brazil and Japan in the final round along with them.

Percy looked at Sir O who was laughing and smiling at the cheerful choir. Then Sir O caught Percy's eyes and walked over to him.

"You're solo is next Percy," Sir O said to him, "Are you sure you can sing?"

Percy nodded as he lay on the couch, he was too weak to move into a sitting position. "I can do it Sir O, trust me," He said quietly.

Sir O looked skeptical but didn't argue with him. "Is everyone ready for the next round?" Sir O asked the choir.

"Yes!" Everyone shouted. Percy groaned and tried to cover his ears.

After Sir O looked over each one of them again they walked onto the stage. Percy, Michael, and Aaron entered the stage last because they all had solos in this song.

Percy didn't know how he managed to walk onto the stage without falling because of his lack of support but he was proud of himself that he didn't.

The song began and luckily Percy's solo was at the very end. Percy concentrated on remaining upright through most of it. He saw his mother looking worried in the audience and gave her a small smile, he didn't want her to worry. About halfway through the song Percy noticed a few unicorns waving at him in the audience, he caught himself before he waved back and just smiled at them.

Finally it was his turn to sing:

As secret as a dream you call,

As silent as the night for all you cry,

You whisper in my silent sleep,

You answer to my call when lost I cry,

Percy reached the last measure of the song. He had to hold the note at the end and he could feel himself losing it. He was starting to see black and the audience was swirling.

"Lacrymosaaaa," Percy sung out with all his might. As soon as Sir O motioned for him to stop he felt his body give out and gave into the darkness.