7 Seven - The singing audition

When Stacey came out of the toilet, feeling marginally better, Mindy grinned at her.

"This way," Mindy pointed down the corridor and led Stacey and the boys into a large room with a wooden floor. "This is one of our audition rooms. It's a bit bigger than what we had in CC and it'll be one of your classrooms as well. It's where some of the auditions will take place today. This is Landen," Mindy sat in an empty chair beside a tall man with ragged sideburns. "He's one of the producers on the program and he's in charge of the interview and auditioning process. You probably haven't done an interview before," Mindy explained while someone led Stacey to a mark on the floor. "All you have to do is introduce yourself and then do your best. Don't stress. You can do this. I believe in you. Introduce yourself now."

"Good-good morning," Stacey's voice broke for a moment and she had to repeat herself. "My name's Stacey Wright."

Stacey couldn't be bothered saying her whole name since they already had it on their laptops.

"Hi, Stacey," Landen smiled. "Have you prepared anything to show us today?"

"N-no," Stacey tried not to stammer but failed. "I didn't know what to prepare."

She hadn't actually thought that far ahead. She hadn't thought that she would have to present something.

"Hmm," Landen stroked his sideburns in thought. "Do you know any songs? Anything will do. I just want to hear you sing for us."

Stacey scrabbled through her brain for a song she knew the lyrics to. Some song. Any song. No, not 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'. Not the 'ABC' song. How embarrassing would that be? All other potential songs had fled from her momentarily. There was no way she could say she didn't know any songs at all. That wouldn't make sense.

The first reasonable song that came to mind was a song her parents used to sing for her as a lullabye. It was a sort of lover's ballad. For some reason, the song was the only thing that came to mind right now.

"I can only think of one song," said Stacey, twisting the bottom of her shirt in her hands.

"Then go ahead," Landen assented with a smiled. "It doesn't matter if it's simple. When you're ready."

Stacey opened her mouth but a strangled sound came out, making her face blush bright red. Her ears burned.

"Sorry," she squeezed out.

"Go Stace. You got this," Endo called out.

"You can do this," Ken encouraged, making a fist and pulling it down with a fast, downward jerk of the elbow.

"It's ok. You're nervous," Landen soothed. "Take a moment to calm down. If it helps, close your eyes and try again."

Stacey cleared her throat a few times and hummed a few low notes, just like how she remembered her father used to before he began singing. The memory made her smile a bit and helped her throat loosen up. She closed her eyes to concentrate on the memory.

"In the spring you came with the scent of growing grass and the field was filled with budding blossoms," she began.

As she sang, Stacey's wobbly voice grew firmer. She held fast to the memory of her father's singing in order to remember the lyrics and melody. It was strange that it was this song that would come to mind when she hadn't thought of or sung it since she was a very small. The song reminded her of home and her family. They must have missed her by now. Would work have called her parents by now? They were listed as her emergency contact. Deria, her manager must be wondering where she had disappeared to. Once her parents found out, they would be worried sick.

Stacey missed home in that moment with a deep ache that made her voice deepen and almost choke at times. Thankfully, Stacey managed to catch herself in time, thus preventing herself from going too far out of tune. The rhythm was probably messed up but Stacey felt she was doing better than she had expected.

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