Page 52 of The Inn on Bluebell Lane
“Come on, Jess,” Sophie said, her voice lifting with determined enthusiasm. “Let’s do this. What do you say?”
Jess glanced at the girls again; not one of them was paying her any attention and if they ever did, she knew it would only be to tease or mock, their lips curling as they rolled their eyes. She didn’t even want to be friends with girls like that—the Emilys of Abergavenny—and she definitely didn’t want to live under their shadow.
“Okay,” she said as her stomach swirled with nerves and her heart leapt. “I’ll do it.”
All morning, Jess felt as if she’d swallowed a swarm of butterflies as she watched the clock tick steadily toward lunch. She struggled to pay attention to any of her lessons, her mind racing as she thought of the audition, opening her mouth and singing, actually singing, in front of who knew how many people.
When the bell rang for the final lesson before lunch, Sophie met her in the music block, her face flushed with excitement. She didn’t seem nervous at all, while Jess was jelly-legged with fear.
“Ready?” Sophie asked, and Jess barely managed to nod.
She had never, ever done anything like this before. She and Chloe had always been happy to stay in the background; the only time she’d been on a stage was in the third-grade class play, and then she’d been a tree, for heaven’s sake. She hadn’t had a single spoken line. She was afraid if she opened her mouth now, she might croak instead of sing. Her heart was pounding like a drum and her palms were slick with sweat.
Just as she’d feared, the audition room was full of people—two other teachers she didn’t recognize, and all the other students who were planning to audition, plus friends who had come to support them, and a few other hangers-on besides, who just wanted to see the acts, and probably laugh at them.
“I can’t sing in front of all these people!” Jess hissed to Sophie, who shrugged her words aside, although admittedly she was looking a little more nervous than she had before.
“It’ll be fine.”
It wouldn’t be fine, Jess was sure of it. She’d make a complete fool of herself, and she’d never live the embarrassment down. It had been hard enough starting a new school, but with a big embarrassing episode to her credit, as well? She couldn’t bear to think of it, how people might tease her in the hall, start singing when she walked into a classroom… it would be awful.
“And next we have Sophie and Jess,” Mrs. Farris looked up from the sign-up sheet she was holding. “Ready, girls?”
Sophie started forward confidently while Jess hung back.
“Come on,” Sophie whispered, and a ripple of sound ran through the crowd, of amusement or derision, Jess didn’t know. Already it was starting—the teasing, the mockery. Her stomach cramped.
“Sophie…”
“Jess.” Sophie turned around to give her a fierce, commanding look, dark eyebrows drawn together. Jess read the look in her eyes as if she’d said the words out loud—it’s too late to back out. It will be worse if you do.
Except, it wouldn’t feel worse. It wouldn’t feel as bad as walking onto that stage with trembling legs and a hollow feeling in her stomach. And yet she was doing it—walking forward one dread-filled step at a time, until Sophie was seated at the keyboard, and Jess was standing in front of the microphone, trying hard to keep her legs from shaking visibly.
“When you’re ready,” Mrs. Farris told them with a smile, and Sophie played the opening bars of the pop song they’d been practicing for the last few weeks.
Jess opened her mouth to sing—and nothing came out. Not a sound, not a breath. It was as if she was the Little Mermaid, and her voice had been stolen. This was going to be every bit as bad as she’d feared.
Sophie threw her a panicked look and then played the opening bars again. Jess saw at least two dozen kids all staring at her in varying degrees of boredom, indifference, pity, or glee—and then she saw Mrs. Farris give her a sympathetic, encouraging smile, a little nod. She could do this. She had to.
She took a quick breath, opened her mouth again, and then began to sing. The first note was wobbly, and she saw how everyone noticed, but then the second was better, and then she remembered her voice and the rhythm and by the time the chorus came round, she was belting it out and, with a tremor of delight, she saw that several kids were nodding along, swaying to the music, enjoying it. She was doing it, she was actually doing it!
As the last note faded away, Mrs. Farris applauded, along with a few others.
“Well done, girls, very well done, indeed! I’ll have the list of successful acts up on the noticeboard by the end of the day.”
“You were amazing, Jess!” Sophie exclaimed as they left the room, and Jess let out a shuddery breath.
“I’m just glad it’s over,” she admitted. And yet… she had enjoyed herself, in the end. It was surprising, how much.
“But if we make the list,” Sophie reminded her with a grin, “we’ll have to do it again, and in front of the whole school!”
Jess didn’t know if she could bear to think about that, but… she suddenly realized she did actually hope they were chosen. She wanted a chance to do it again, and even better this time, without the nervousness, that first wobbly note.
The rest of the afternoon seemed to creep by as Jess waited for the final bell to ring, so she and Sophie could check out the noticeboard in the music block. Once again, Jess found she couldn’t concentrate on any of her lessons, but for an entirely different reason. She wasn’t nervous about singing; she was nervous about not being able to.
Finally—finally—the bell rang, and she raced out of the classroom, meeting Sophie in the corridor. They exchanged nervous smiles as they walked toward the music block, faltering a bit before they strode forward, to the bulletin board.
“There it is!” Sophie exclaimed as they both caught sight of the printed list of successful acts that had been pinned up that afternoon.