''Blue?''

''...Hn...''

''BLUE!''

I opened my eyes. My mom was standing next to my bed and had been screaming into my ear for the past few minutes.

''You might want to get up, sweetie. Your friends are waiting downstairs and you're going to be late for school.''

''EEP!'' I quickly jumped out of my bed and pulled on the first t-shirt and skirt I could find. After that I grabbed my shoes and clumsily tried to put them on while running out of my room, causing me to jump up and down on one leg.

''Be careful, honey! you might hurt yourself!''

That reminded me, last evening I came up with a plan to deal with my stage fright: I'd just fall down the stairs or break a leg on my way to school.
...Though now that I was awake enough to look it over, it didn't seem like such a good idea.

When I had put my shoes on, I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen.

''Good morning, sunshine.'' My dad said. ''Hi, dad.''

''Hey there, Blue!'' Red said in a cheerful voice.

''About time..'' said Green, obviously.

''I'm sorry we left without telling you yesterday, Blue! We didn't want to wake you because we thought you would need the sleep for today.'' Yellow told me.

''That's true, today's the big day, isn't it?'' ''Yes, dad. Blue's going to compete in the talent show today!''
I was surprised at that voice, I didn't hear Silver entering the room. ''Gold and Crystal are here, so I'm off.''

I smiled at that. After my parents had adopted him, Silver had had a hard time making friends, the doctor's said he might be traumatized because of the kidnapping, like I had developed a fear of birds. Probably because of the fact that I thought the helicopter the Mask of Ice kidnapped me was a gigantic bird at first.

''Have a nice day, Silver!'' ''See you later, Dad, Blue, Red, Yellow.'' Silver glared at Green for a second and said: ''...Green.''

Silver and Green didn't like each other much. I had never fully understood why, but it might have something to do with the fact that Green was dating Platina, and Silver was my protective little brother. Plus, he knew I liked Green.

My mom entered the kitchen. ''Blue, sweetie. Shouldn't you and your friends go to school now?''

''Yes, mom! You're right, Bye!'' We all stood up from the kitchen table we'd been sitting on, grabbed our bags and walked out of the door.

''Well, Blue? Did you write a song for today?'' Red asked me after I slammed the front door shut, .

''...Um, yeah... But I only had 2 hours to write it, so it sucks pretty badly.''

''Blue, could you please let us hear it? We could help you make it better if you'd appreciate that.'' I smiled at her, after a year of hanging out with us, she still talked formal like that.

''Ok then.'' I sang the song had written, and was actually pretty proud of how it sounded. Not only was the song quite good, I didn't sing it very bad either!

All of my friends were quiet for a moment, until Red patted me on the back with quite much force, causing me to cough.

''Well done, Blue! You are SO going to win that contest, I'm sure of it! The competition should better start pitying themselves!''

''...cough!...Gee...cough!...Than-...Thank you, Red!''

''Blue, are you ok?!'' Said Yellow's worried voice.

''No, I'm ok...''
''Ah, I'm sorry. Did I pat you too hard?''

''Does it LOOK like you pat her too hard?'' That was Green, sighing at his friend's stupid comment.

''Blue, that was amazing! Red is right, you're going to blow away the crowd!'' Yellow was jumping up and down happily. I glanced at Green for a second. He was actually grinning! ''...Yes, i'm going to win!'' I nearly shouted.

''I'm so NOT going to win.'' I was sitting on one of the chairs, backstage of the big school talent show.

''The competition is too good, I'll never win with a crappy voice and song like mine!''

''Blue, don't be silly! You're way better than those guys.'' Yellow tried to encourage me.

''Man, you're shivering all over!'' Red noticed. ''...Stage fright, remember?'' Green told him.

''Wait, Blue. I'll get you a glass of water.'' Yellow told me, and she hurried to the bathroom.
After a few minutes I heard a familiar voice.

''Green, it's Platina's turn. Shouldn't you be with her right now?'' A blonde boy passed us. It was Pearl, one of Platina's friends if I wasn't mistaken. A nice guy, but he got pissed off very easily.

''Yeah, I'll be there in a minute.'' After a few more minutes Yellow still wasn't back.

''I Think I'll go check on her.'' Red said.

''Yeah, nice idea.'' I said with an awfully trembling voice. Red walked off, and now Green and I were alone in the mass of people who were walking from and to every direction. I sighed very deeply, trying to calm down and telling myself I could win this, that I wouldn't mess up and that I was the best candidate of them all.

''Calm down, it'll be ok.'' I looked at Green. ''Just that the competition is good, doesn't mean they're better than you.''

''That's what I'm trying to tell myself.''
He was silent for a moment and then asked ''Why would you even enter a contest if you got damn' stage fright?''

Now it was my turn to be silent for a few seconds.. Then I said ''I-I'm not telling you.''

''...Pesky girl.''

''...Maybe.''

Minutes passed, and I was just going to start another conversation with Green, when Pearl passed us again, this time in the opposite direction from the one he'd just come from.

''Green, are you coming to cheer on Platina or not?''

''I think I won't.''

''...But you're her boyfriend.''

''She's got her fans, hasn't she?''

''No excuse.''

''Look, Blue here has got stage fright. I'm not going as long as there's no one else to stay with her.''
Pearl looked from Green, to me, to the direction where Platina probably was, sulking about how her boyfriend had left her all alone, only accompanied by her money, staff, fans and friends.

''Ok.'' He finally said, and walked to the direction Platina was. I wondered if we could hear her scream from our position.

Not very long after that Red and Yellow returned. Red was busy talking to her.

''...-ay it again, why would you tell her you're getting her a glass of water if you don't have a freaking idea where the toilets are?''

''I'm sorry, Red!''

''Come on, don't be like that. It's ok...''

''I failed Blue, at such an important occasion!''

''Come on, you couldn't know...'' Red said. It was funny how he didn't know how to act around embarrassed girls.

''Hey there, you guys. I'm sorry we were gone for such a long time.''

''Ah, It was just 1 hour, 2 minutes and 43 seconds. But hey, who's counting.'' Green said with a serious face, and we all laughed.
Our laughter was disturbed by a voice screaming: ''Blue's turn! Please come to the stage, Blue!''
In one second my stage fright had returned. I slowly tried to stand.
I couldn't even move my legs, they felt too heavy for the rest of my body.

''Come on, Blue! You can do it!'' I heard the encouraging voices of my friends.

Slowly, I started walking to the stage.
I heard the presenter announce me, and walked into the light.
I could now feel I was trembling all over my body.
It felt like it became heavier with every step I took, but despite that I still steadily walked into the direction of the microphone and the chair with the guitar which was probably put there for my act.
I had almost reached it, kept reaching out to the object.
I looked at the crowd, it was very big and everywhere I looked were people.
I started shivering even harder now, and felt my heart pounding.
It seemed like the microphone was moving further away from me with every step I took.
The sounds from the crowd seemed to become louder.
My body became heavier.
Further, louder, heavier...
Further, louder, heavier...
Further, louder, heavier...
...Until suddenly, the voices of the crowd started to fade, and everything went black.

''...I can't believe I fainted.''

''...It'll be ok.''

''I hear that a lot lately.''

''Ok, It'll not be ok.''

''Not helping...''

''Then what am I supposed to do?''
Green and I were walking, passing several shops. We were supposed to meet Red and Yellow in one of the snack bars here, but we had both forgotten the name of the one where our friends were waiting for us, so now we were just walking around, talking and waiting until one of them turned their phone on. Right now I was acting like I wasn't talking because I was too grumpy from what had happened yesterday, but the truth is that I was enjoying every moment. It was the first time in ages that we'd been together for fun. The first time since he had started dating Platina Berlitz. Even though I was happy for him... I couldn't help but thinking this was how it's supposed to be. The two of us with Red and Yellow, and without Platina.

''You know what, I think Platina's pretty lucky you couldn't compete.''

''What do you mean?''

''Your song was better, and you're a way better singer.''

''...Thanks...'' Why was he saying this?!

...Beep-Beep-Beep...

...Beep-Beep-Beep...

''Looks like Red turned on his phone.'' Green said while searching his bag for his phone.
It was a good think his phone rang, now that his attention was on his and Red's conversation he probably wouldn't notice my red cheeks.

After I'd hidden my face by putting my hood on, Green ended his conversation with a ''Yeah, we're on the way.''
He looked a bit surprised when he looked at me again, but luckily all he said was ''Were you cold?''

''...Um... Yeah, I was.'' I answered.

''Guess you're lucky, then. Red and Yellow are in the snack bar on the corner of the street.'' He pointed his finger to a big, yellow building with a big plastic bag of fries with the words 'Eat, you know you want to' on top of it.
I looked at it in disgust, I could almost see the filthy vapour coming out of the windows. I turned my head towards Green, and saw he was looking at it with the same expression.

He looked at me, and said ''What about telling them we couldn't find it and just go and eat there?''

He now pointed his finger at a building at the opposite side of the street. It looked much better.
It looked like some kind of Chinese take away restaurant.

''Yeah, let's do that.'' I answered him, and sighed in relief.