Keith smiled as he grabbed his guitar and rushed up to the curtain before signaling that he was ready. The shy eight-year-old had such a passion for music that it overcame his shyness when on stage. Once the curtains opened, he did his signature tipping of his cowboy hat over his eyes and took a few steps forward. His fans cheered, as Keith began to sing and play his song I Want to Fly, moving in time to the music. He finished with a flourish, tipping his hat again as he left the stage. "We love you Little Tex!" His fans cheered, among various other things.
"Little Tex" was Keith's stage name which came from his dad's stage name "Big Tex", and his mom had been "Mama Tex" this was done to keep their identities a secret from the public. Keith's little brother Kip was also a singer and went by the name of "Baby Tex" because he wanted to go along with the family theme. His other brother and his sisters had other interests that they preferred over singing. Not that Keith planned on making this be his career, Keith just had more of a passion for it than the others.
Heading back stage, Little Tex exchanged a high-five with his best friend, Matt, as they switched places. Matt's stage name was "Howling Star" so his costume was that of a wolf with stars scattered throughout the fur. Keith's meanwhile was based off a cowboy, leaving out the lasso and gun, having a vest and a toy knife instead. It was a big day for them as they had made the top sixteen grade school country singers and now, they had made it halfway through, after these last few songs, they would find out if they had made the top eight
This round had been a silent judging, where they got no feedback after their performance. This made some of the other competitors, including Kip, nervous. Looking over at him, Keith could tell that he didn't think he would move on. "Hey, you did great. From what I could tell, you are firmly in the top eight who will move on." Keith told him as he walked over to him wanting to cheer his little brother up.
"But what if you're wrong, what if you just think that because we're brothers?" Kip asked leaning into Keith.
"That doesn't matter, it doesn't change the fact that you have talent, don't let the silence get to you." With that they hugged and Kip quietly chirped his thanks, hoping that no one noticed him talking that way. Now the two brothers watched as the last singers preformed before the judges made their decision. After a few tense moments, the announcer stepped up. "The judges have come to a conclusion." He told them in a loud booming voice. "The singers moving on are: Little Tex going up against Silver Spur, Tumbleweed, against Baby Tex." Keith and Kip exchanged grins at that.
The announcer continued. "Chip Cook against Howling Star, and last but not least, Tay Wilder against Summer Parker." The crowd went wild at that as Summer was not only the underdog being the youngest, but her dad just happened to be one of the most popular singers. Keith wasn't surprised that she had made the cut because she had a very good ear when it came to music and he couldn't remember a time before she was learning how to sing. The only problem was that he didn't know if he could beat her.
Heading to their shared break room while a band entertained the audience for the entirety of the break, the two brothers chatted excitedly about what had just happened. Unfortunately, before they could make it there, a reporter stopped them to ask a few questions. "Hi, I'm Amanda Flores and I would like to ask you a few questions. How does it feel to be in the top eight and competing for the top four?" She asked not giving them to say no to the interview. Keith just froze, not liking the situation but not knowing how to get out of it.
"I'm so sorry, but we have something we have to do before we have to backstage again and we don't have time to waist." Kip told the nosey reporter before grabbing his big brother's hand, leading him away.
"What is it you have to do that is so important?" She asked questionably, stepping in front of them. Keith barely repressed a whimper, starting to become anxious.
"That's none of your business, get out of our way!" Kip retorted raising his voice.
"For your information young man, I have a full reporter's pass, which means I can interview anyone at this event that I please, at any time." By now, Kip could tell that Keith was on the verge of crying and needed to get out of there stat.
"Hey there, I'm Tumbleweed and I would gladly talk to you about the competition!" Their friend Pat butted in, sliding in front of them giving them a chance to flee. Both boys were relieved to be able to get away and finally get some rest. To Keith, it felt like the reporter had been sticking her nose into their business forever and burst through the door for a hug from his dad. Noticing how stressed Keith was, Kai picked him up and carried him over to a couch and sitting next to him.
Kip soon joined them along with the rest of Keith's siblings, all wanting to comfort him. Keith soon calmed down and Kip told everyone what had happened. "I've run into her before and know from watching it happen to others, that she'll pry harder than she was before. I refused to answer her at all and stared that snoop down until she backed off." Kai told them, just imagining how much Pat was going to overwhelm her with mostly useless things. This got them to smile, knowing that there were few people who could beat their dad at a stare down, one of them being their mom.
"Tell us more about Mama. Please Daddy, we know so little and want to know what she's like." Kayla begged. Keith grinned when their dad agreed to, loving it whenever they got to hear stories about their mom. He longed for the day when she would come home, longing to be in her arms again. Keith could very vaguely remember her scent, voice, face and the feeling of being in her arms. He had tried to use this to draw a picture of her, but he could never get it right. Keith was sure that he was missing something, he just didn't know what it was. If only his dad would let him look at her pictures, but for some reason that he couldn't explain until they were older.
It just didn't make sense though, why all the secrecy? How could keeping the pictures hidden protect her? Pushing his questions aside, Keith listened to the stories losing track of the time. Before any of them knew it, they were calling the contestants backstage. Keith was surprised when he learned that he would be going first and that there were going to be no music this round. Luckily, Keith had just finished composing a song like this and was eager to try it out. Stepping out on stage, Keith remembered why he had written the song in the first place. He wanted his mom to be proud of him when she came back home and that was what the song was about.
As he sang, Keith completely forgot the crowd, imagining that he was playing for his mom. In that moment, Keith was able to picture her the clearest that he ever had. It was almost like she was actually there, listening to him sing. Little did he know, this was thanks to Blue, who was allowing Krolia hear her Little Wonder sing the song that he had written for her. And to see his face while he saw hers as a gift for what they were having to go through to protect her.
When the song ended, Keith remembered where he was and was surprised at all the praises he was getting. All he had been doing was singing his heart out, he didn't think that he had done any better this time than the others. Keith was disappointed though, that the picture of his mom's face wasn't as clear as it had been during that song, but it was still more than before and that was enough. Coming backstage, Keith was startled by Kip rushing over to him, giving his big brother a big hug. "You have no idea how much I needed to hear that song. I want to make her proud too, and now I'm going to follow your lead and sing my heart out." He told him choking over his words.
"I didn't realize how much an impact my song would have on you." Keith replied, wondering what his dad thought of the song.
"It's not just me, look around, you've touched a lot of hearts with this one song." Sure enough, Keith saw a number of people were wiping tears from their eyes. Keith hadn't realized how much he could impact people by expressing his emotions about things like that through his music. Maybe there was something to what his auntie kept saying about expressing how you feel through music. He would have to do it more often and see if it would help as much as she said it would.
0o0o0o
Keith's mouth dropped open. Had he heard that right? Was he really receiving a special reward for the most emotional song? Walking forward, he wondered why they would be handing it out now. There were still two more rounds to go, how could they be certain that someone might out do him? When one of the judges put the medal around his neck, it hit Keith that they didn't think that anyone would come anywhere near his performance, because they had not expected him or anyone their age to do it.
Speechless, Keith signed "thank you" before heading back to the others. Kip hugged him and everyone was crowding around and congratulating him. Normally, this would have overwhelmed Keith, but for that moment he was too happy about this and soaking up the attention. Keith couldn't help purring and no one seemed to notice because of all the excitement. The only one who wasn't celebrating with him was Silver Spur, who thought that he should have received the reward and was willing to cheat to do it. "Okay folks, it's time to announce who will be moving on." The announcer called out to get everyone's attention. "First off, we have a brother vs. brother match between Little Tex and Baby Tex!" Keith and Kip exchanged a look of regret, not wanting to knock the other out of the competition.
"And next will be Howling Star vs. Summer Parker! What a round we had and this next one is going to be a banger!" Leaving the stage to rest, Keith took his brother's hand and didn't let go until they arrived at the breakroom. It hurt him to think about being the reason that his little brother didn't move on. But he knew that Kip felt the same and wouldn't want him to lose on purpose, neither did he want Kip to do it for him. Matt and Summer on the other hand, would be duking it out to prove that they were the better cousin at singing and they would never hear the end of it. "I'm so proud of you two! You've made it to the semifinals. And Keith, that last song was amazing, that's the best I've ever heard you sing!" Kai told them as they entered and he brought them into a hug.
"It wasn't that good. Was it?" Keith asked a little unsure of himself but beginning to think that he might be more capable than he had thought.
"Of course it was, why would I say it was if it would be setting you up for disappointment?" Kai replied ruffling his hair.
"But now we have to compete against each other. I never wanted this; I thought I would be knocked out before it came to this." Kip spoke up wishing that they could switch opponents.
"Just go out there and have fun. No matter what happens one of you is going to move on and whichever of you loses will be happy for the winner. Don't think of it as something serious, pretend that you're at home competing just because you can." Kai told his sons knowing that it was on both of their minds. The boys looked at each other and smiled, feeling better. "Thanks Dad." They chorused.
Standing on stage, Keith remembered what his dad had told him. If he did beat Kip, he would make it worth it and win the whole thing. He would feel too guilty if he didn't. While Keith sang and played, he imagined that he was singing with his brother and it was as if he could hear him singing with him. Halfway through, Keith realized that Kip was actually singing along quietly backstage. Feeling compelled to do it, he waved his brother on stage and they finished together. Even though they knew that it could get them disqualified, the brothers felt much better singing along side each other than waiting for their turn to compete.
To Keith and Kip's amazement the judges to do the rest of the round like that as it leveled the playing field a little and would help them decide who should really move on. Neither of them knew how much of a comfort it would be in the future, nor that it would change how the semifinals were done from that point on. In the end, the winners of the round ended up being Keith and Matt by a narrow margin. Now normally Keith would have had a similar trouble going up against his best friend, but they were both competitive and had been having a bit of a squabble over who would make it further.
Which meant that they were getting all riled up for the next round. Keith calmed down though, when he was surrounded by his family in a hug. To make the wait easier, Kai told them stories from his childhood and a couple stories that Krolia had told him about her childhood. This calmed the five kits down and caused Keith to realize how tired he was. But as soon as he was called to the stage, Keith completely forgot about it. For the last round, the boys gave it all they had and blew everyone away.
So, when the decision was made no one was sure who had won. "And the winner is…" The announcer paused for dramatic effect only to have someone in the crowd throw a ball of yarn at him. Dogging the projectile he continued. "The winner is Little Tex!" Motioning towards Keith. This surprised Keith, he had though that Matt would win for sure and couldn't think of anything to say for the rest of the ceremony. When Keith joined his family, Kai scoped up Keith in his arms. "I'm so proud of you Buddy! And Kip too, when your mom gets home, she'll be so proud of you." He then paused and turned to the rest of his kids. "She'll be proud of all of you." It was then that Keith realized that, he hadn't needed to do something to make his mom proud. She would be proud of him, no matter how small he thought the things he did were.