When she went to school the next day, she looked over, and she saw Oliver’s face first. He looked stressed. Clearly, it was always at that point in the school year. We had this one art teacher that was always overly perky, which made everyone highly uncomfortable except for Luna. It was that time of the year where we would figure out what middle schools we were all going to. We went across the room and said which middle school everyone was going to. Luna kind of knew what middle school she was going to, but she kept forgetting the name.
“I’m going to Lincoln Middle School.” That’s the name of her middle school. She looked up to see who else was going to her middle school. There he was, Oliver Price, going to the same school as her. She was overjoyed that she was going to have her best friend with her for the next three years. She felt more than overjoyed, she just felt her heart melting… knowing that she was falling for Oliver everyday wasn’t something she was proud of.
As the day was going by, she was trying to figure out what song she should sing for her audition. It was getting harder and harder as the days were passing. It was at that moment that she ended up singing all the songs she had in mind out loud and seeing which one improved her sound.
“Girlie, you’re going to have no voice by the time the audition comes around. Calm down with your singing.”
“I can’t calm down. I still don’t know what I am going to sing.”
“Then let me help you. Let’s choose a song for you, girlie.”
“Fine, but I doubt we will figure it out.”
“You underestimate my awesomeness.” Yeah, at that moment she was questioning her decision to let him help her choose a song. Like… What person says they are awesome? He was awesome for helping her choose a song instead of her climbing up the walls trying to figure out what song to sing.
“Okay, well the songs I have in mind are: No One by Alicia Keys, Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, and Fall for You by Secondhand Serenade… I am leaning more toward Fall for You because it feels like my voice a bit more than the other two, but then again I don’t want to be told to sing a song by a girl. You know what I mean?” Which wasn’t wrong, because when it was the beginning of the school year, the music teacher asked if anyone in our class already knew some stuff about music. Luna raised her hand and ended up singing the scales and having to sing a song. When she started singing Bohemian Rhapsody, her teacher stopped her and asked her to sing a song by a girl. She couldn’t do it at that moment because she wasn’t focused on the gender of the artist, she was focused on the song lyrics. After years of humiliation for not knowing the lyrics to songs, it made things harder when her teacher wanted her to choose a specific person. Luna sang Take a Bow by Rihanna because she felt like she sounded like Rihanna.
When she got home, she was still struggling to figure out what song to sing.
“Hey mom, can I ask you for some help?” She knew she didn’t want to ask for help from her, but she was desperate.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“So, as you know… I am auditioning for the talent show.”
“Yeah, and?”
“Well… I can’t figure out what song to sing. I am stuck choosing between 3 songs… Can you help me?”
“What are the 3 songs?”
“No One by Alicia Keys, Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, and Fall for You by Secondhand Serenade, but my thing is that the music teacher most likely wants me to sing the song that was written by a female.”
“Why? It’s your choice to sing whatever song you want.” Her mom wasn’t wrong, but if she didn’t follow through with that theory, then she wouldn’t be able to sing at the talent show. She wanted to prove that she could sing.
“Last time, I sang a song that wasn’t from a female singer. I got stopped mid-word and told to sing a song from a female singer. So I don’t want to take that risk and not get chosen to sing on stage. Can you please help me choose?”
“Do you want me to be honest with you?” Usually when she told Luna that, it meant that she was going to complain and criticize her for everything Luna is doing wrong or should do instead of the thing that she wanted to do.
“Sure?”
“You should be focused on getting better with your reading rather than focusing on this talent show. Also, if you want to sing shows you need to first get better at reading.” Wow, thanks mom… only needed her but no. Who needs advice on singing when she has a mom that is belittling her into thinking that she shouldn’t be auditioning for the talent show.
“Thanks for the help. I will figure it out on my own.” Her mom could tell that she pushed Luna’s button right there, because Luna was showing her annoyance over her face and tone. Luna just walked back to her room and tried to figure everything out for herself as usual. Kennedy came over to Luna’s bed, which was one thing she couldn’t stand because she wanted to breathe before saying something wrong to her little sister. Believe it or not, she cared what Kennedy thought of her, but she didn’t want her to know until she was older.
“What that?” Luna constantly forgot that Kennedy was still learning the basic words, but she knew she had to answer her or she’d be dealing with her mother all over again for not including her sister in anything.
“It’s for the talent show at school.” Yeah, Kennedy and Luna went to the same school since Kennedy was old enough for school, but it also meant that they didn’t have to go to the daycare. She would rather have Kennedy with her in the rec center after school than be at a horrible daycare.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to sing a song.”
“Ohhh, what song?” Good question kid, she still did not know and her mom was no help in this situation.
“I’m singing Fall For You, the song that we are constantly singing.” Well, Luna decided, and all she had to do was talk to her little sister. Now all she had to do was practice singing it to where they couldn’t say no to her. The thing is, she was stressed because the auditions were only a few days away.
“Cool, can you sing it?”
“The best thing ‘bout tonight’s that we’re not fighting/Could it be that we have been this way before?/I know you don’t think that I am trying/I know you’re wearing thin down to the core”
Singing this to Kennedy made her feel like she knew all along that this was going to be her song for this big moment. She wanted to make her sister proud; she didn’t care about what her parents thought or how they would respond, no; she wanted to show Kennedy that anything is possible if you can believe in yourself first.
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