To Give some Confidence

 The Talent Show: one of the few events where anyone could watch students show off their…well talents. About twenty to thirty students participated each year. From what I heard, the participants showed off the same mediocre skills: somewhat-bad stand-up comedy, off-pitch singing, the occasional “jump up and down and move your hands everywhere” dance. I even heard someone read poetry, but they forgot the words halfway through, forcing them to make up the rest.

I never had any reason nor wanted to attend the Talent Show. I mean, the event was three to four hours long with hundreds of people packed into the relatively small music hall. Why would I want to sit next to strangers constantly brushing their legs against mine? I would rather sleep or eat mustard sandwiches. Yes, mustard sandwiches were much better than attending a Talent Show.

So, if you were wondering, why was I here now? Well…Aito was playing the piano. Who cares if it’s a waste of time when your friend’s performing? or, at least, that was what I told myself. Yeah, I’m definitely a hypocrite. Still, even sitting next to Lego and Mona, I wasn’t thrilled about being here. It was more cramped and noisy than I expected. I only managed to stick around because Mona and Lego were constantly distracting me with one topic or another.

The lights dimmed and brightened twice in the music hall, letting the audience know the Talent Show was about to begin. The noise of the audience gradually died down as the lights darkened completely. Then, two spotlights flipped on, pointing towards center stage. A boy and a girl, both dressing in tuxedos, wearing top hats, and holding microphones, were illuminated.

“Ladies, gentlemen, and students, welcome to the 7th Annual Talent Show!” the boy bellowed. “We have a spectacular showing of skill lined up today from passionate singers to comedians.”

“We even have a few tricks that will blow your socks right off!” The girl pulled out a pair of socks and threw them at the boy. The boy caught the socks gracefully, causing me to chuckle. Ok, that was slightly amusing. The boy host continued without missing a beat.

“There’ll be a fifteen minute intermission halfway through the show, so we ask you not to leave unless absolutely necessary to avoid disturbing the performers. Also, please make sure to turn off or silence your cell phones. They’re quite annoying when they ring.”

“And guardians, if you’re gonna film your kids, at least do it such that it doesn’t disturb the people around you.” The audience (not me) gave a muted laugh (I groaned).

“Otherwise…”

“sit back,”’

“relax,”

““and enjoy the show!””

The audience clapped as the two hosts scurried from center stage to the edges. The spotlight slightly dimmed as the red curtains parted, revealing the opening act. The spotlight seemed to be aimed directly into the performer’s eyes. Maybe that’s why they dimmed them.

“First up is Tatianna Morales singing ‘Vast Acoustics’ by Bullet,” the girl host announced. Tatianna stood center stage, holding a microphone and wearing a pure white apron dress. She took a deep breath and brought the microphone up to her mouth. The music began; it seemed to be a slow song. A few seconds later, Tatianna began to sing. She sounded…good? Bad? Average? I wasn’t sure how to describe her singing. It wasn’t an especially powerful voice like Mona’s. It also wasn’t joyful like Lego’s. Other than that though, the main reason was that I had never heard the song before. She might have landed all the words perfectly. She might have nailed the tone. On the other hand, she might have been singing the wrong song. I had no idea.

“Hey Lucas,” Lego whispered into my ear. “Do you know what song this is?” So Lego doesn’t know either.

“Nope,” I whispered back.

We sat there for four minutes listening to…Teagan? Tamia? Taya? I forgot her name at this point. In any case, we listened to ‘T’ girl continue singing. Soon, but not soon enough, she finished her song. I let out a deep groan. Finally, it’s over. ‘T’ girl gave a curtsy before walking off the stage. The audience gave a scattered applause. Lego, Mona, and I were among those who weren’t clapping. I was pretty sure none of us enjoyed the performance. Actually, I think Lego’s asleep. I gave him a quick shake. Lego’s head snapped up. Well, he’s awake now. I heard a few people behind us clapping and cheering loudly for ‘T’ girl, but I suspected it was her family.

“So we have to wait for how long until Aito performs?” Lego yawned, already bored from the first performance.

“She’s the last one before intermission,” Mona responded promptly. She sat with her arms crossed, tapping her foot excessively. Guess she’s getting annoyed too.

“Ergh.” Lego slouched into his chair, dropping his head back. Yeah, that’s how I feel.

A few more performances went by as the three of us grew even more impatient. If the performances were any good, this would be easier to deal with. There were a series of people who sang obscure pop and rap songs. I only recognized one since it played on the radio before. There was also a comedian who was sorta funny but in an absolutely appalling way; his jokes were highly demeaning and stereotypical. A few people in the audience started to throw trash at him. The audience booed as he was pelted off the stage.

Who I didn’t expect to see participate were toned girl and murder man. Still, their acts weren’t that good either. Toned girl performed a magic trick using mental math and a phone number. I knew how to do it because I watched one of the thousands of videos on the internet explaining the solution a few years back. Mona rolled her eyes, quietly muttering to herself. It seemed that she also knew how the trick was done.

Murder man was even more surprising. I expected him to pull off some unnoticeable cheat again like he did during the Video Game Tournament. However, he just tossed a football across the stage and caught it with insane reflexes and speed. I wasn’t sure what part would be appropriate for a talent show, but it was still impressive. I genuinely thought he was physically superhuman for a moment. Mona, on the other hand, was holding her forehead and rubbing it, letting out an annoyed sigh. Murder man seemed to frown when he saw Mona’s expression. Besides from us though, the performance got a semi-positive reception. Lego even gave a standing ovation; his eyes were brimming with excitement.

A little over an hour and a half later, it was finally Aito’s turn. Seriously, I had fallen asleep twice by accident already. Lego, on the other hand, had completely passed out again after murder man’s performance. Mona was the worst off; she had a small migraine. I probably have one too if I stayed awake. However, it was now Aito’s turn. I shook Lego to wake him up and lightly massaged Mona’s temples to help relieve the pain. The boy host began to announce Aito.

“The next performer, Ayano Aito, has not arrived yet. Usually, we would drop her from the Talent Show; however, another performer was willing to switch with her. As such, Ayano will be the first performer after intermission.”

Huuuhhh??? My eyes opened wide; my mouth dropped. I glanced over and saw Mona raise an eyebrow. Lego remained perfectly calm. What do you mean she’s not here? That thought stirred in my head as the next performer came and went. Though, I was slightly relieved that Aito would still be able to perform. Thank you average performer for going ahead of Aito. The lights brightened, signaling the beginning of intermission. I turned towards Mona and Lego.

“Do you have any idea where she is?” I asked.

“She was in class today, and I don’t think she was picked up,” Mona bemused; an undertone of panic hidden in her statement.

“She should still be somewhere in the building then. We should all go look for her,” Lego quickly determined. He seemed to be keeping his emotions in check.

“I’ll take the fourth floor then. You take the third, Mona. Lego, you’re on first. We can check the second as we head to the stairwells.”

““Sounds good.”” Lego and Mona nodded.

We all stood up and ran out of the music hall, each heading off towards a separate stairwell. I was heading to the left stairwell, so I checked rooms 2-3 and 2-2 on the way. Aito wasn’t in either. I skipped over room 2-1; nobody ever wanted to interact with the class 1 students, so she wouldn’t be in there.

I reached the sunset-lit stairwell, running up two steps at a time. Reaching the fourth floor, I continued down the hall, once again skipping over room 4-1. There were two art rooms on the left, so I thought Aito might have lost track of time while drawing. However, both rooms were completely empty. I then reached room 4-2, our homeroom, and opened the door.

The classroom was unusually beautiful, like a scene from a promotional poster for a movie. The light of the sunset streamed in through the windows, brightening the room in a hue of orange, yellow, and purple. All of the chairs were stacked on top of the desks, save for one. Aito sat there, wearing a strapless red dress, staring out the window. As I moved closer, I saw her eyes were slightly unfocused, staring off into empty space. I tapped Aito on the shoulder.

“Hey.” Aito slightly jumped and quickly turned to look at me. When she noticed who I was, she relaxed and nodded in response.

“What’re you doing here? You almost missed your performance time. Well…you did, but it luckily got pushed back.” Aito seemed almost serene, as if it was fine that she nearly missed her performance. However, there was a slight tremble in her hands.

“Time.”

“Time? Like to practice?” Aito shrugged her shoulders slightly in response; her hands were still shaking. Her eyes then looked to the side, seemingly thinking, before focusing on me once again.

“Maybe nervous too.” I grabbed my chin and looked upwards for a second, thinking about how to respond. However, I already knew what I wanted to say. After a few moments, I looked back at her; a playful smile danced across my face.

“Do you want me to give you some confidence then?” Aito’s eyes widened a bit before returning to normal. She gave a soft smile, looking at me intently.

“Sure.”

I reached for her arm. Grabbing it, I pulled her towards me, making her jump out of the chair. We both stared straight into each other's eyes–my head tilted slightly upwards because of her taller stature.

“Then you’ll be fine. After all, you had to deal with Lego for the past few weeks.” Aito slightly chuckled. “If you can’t continue the performance, then I’ll just have to continue it with you.” I knew I had no talent for music. However, it didn’t matter how bad we sounded as long as we enjoyed ourselves. That was just how Aito played the piano. Aito’s hands stopped trembling; she raised them up.

“Promise?” Aito held out her pinkie. I wrapped mine around hers.

“Promise.”

We stood still for a few moments. The color of the classroom became a deep blue.

“Let’s go then,” I prompted, holding out my hand to hers. Aito grabbed my hand. We quickly walked out of the room and down the hallway. Reaching the stairwell, we slowly trotted down the steps to avoid falling. As we reached the third floor, Aito jumped a bit. She quickly looked to her right.

“There you are! Come on, the show is about to start.” Mona had grabbed Aito’s right hand, lightly pulling her down the staircase. Aito was startled but smiling, our hands still linked together. We arrived at the second floor, speeding up a bit as we rushed down the hallway.

“Hey hey, what’s with all the handholding? We’re in a hurry here! I’ll give you a little push.” Lego had shown up behind Aito, putting his hands on her shoulders, flashing a large grin. He started pushing Aito, causing Mona and I to trail behind.

“Slow down! We’re not trying to fall here!” Mona complained while smiling.

“Yeah yeah, come on! Everything’s ready to get going!” Lego flashed a soft grin back. A slight warmth flowed through the air as we all scurried to the music hall. A toothy smile dashed across my face.

We reached the music hall as the lights began to dim and brighten once again. Aito walked over to the backstage door while we quickly made our way to our seats. The spotlight turned on, lighting up the two hosts as we sat down.

“Welcome back everyone! We’ll be continuing from where we left off.”

“Once again, turn off your cell phone ringers and try not to disturb the people next to you.” The two hosts walked to opposite edges of the stage once again. The curtain parted.

“First up is Ayano Aito playing a mash up arrangement on the piano !” A few murmurs went through the crowd. I heard some asking why an artist would play the piano. However, as soon as the spotlight dimmed, the murmurs quickly died down. Aito stood center stage. She gave off a regal aura, commanding everyone’s attention.

Aito made a slight curtsy before walking over to the piano. She sat down on the bench, adjusting it to the correct height. She raised her hands onto the keyboard and took a deep breath.

Then, she began to play.