A Life Changing $3 Festival

Oceana rushed down the street, gliding past the booths without even glancing at them...okay maybe she peeked at the doughnut shop but not even the sweet glazed goods could stop her. Gasping for breath as she manoeuvred her way through the street, surprisingly, she kept her balance and avoided bumping into people (maybe the adrenaline was finally making her legs work) and soon through the colourful banners she saw the stage. It was not much, there were no high-level props or fantastic lighting, just some instruments; not even customized ones as they were just basic equipment for the small bands to use. But this was her first-ever concert and Oceana stood in awe in the crowd, watching the joy on the performers' faces as they gave their all to entertain their audience, bewitching them to dance, to sing, to let loose of all their worries and to Oceana it was magical. 

Oceana was entranced and she did not even know who was playing. They were a band she had never seen or heard of, actually, all the performers that night were foreign to Oceana. But that did not matter. As soon as she heard the music when she entered the fair she immediately ran in the direction of the sound.  Then her body without permission started moving, her foot tapping to the beat, her shoulders moving and before long she had swiftly joined in the excitement, laughing in delight, singing the catchy lyrics and jumping away. 

The teenager enjoyed every song that played, no matter the genre. She shook her curly black hair around, weirdly dancing to the beat, her blue eyes had a slight purple glow as they shone with happiness. Music acted like a drug to her as she entered a state of euphoria and for the next 3 hours, she stayed in that state. Not caring for the stares or her exhaustion, she let the music take over her and for a moment her whole world was just the beat and melodies enveloping her. 

When the final act guitarist strung the last note and yelled in excitement, Oceana collapsed to the ground; her stamina was way past its tipping point. The crowd around her glanced at her strangely, noticing it was the weird dancer girl from before. Some boys were whispering and staring but Oceana ignored the stares as she lay down on the grass sweating profusely and breathing heavily with a silly smile on her pretty face. 

'Best day ever' she thought, 'As expected, a live stage is way better than watching it on a screen.'

'I wonder if I can be up there one day…'

...…

Later Oceana is sitting at a cafe eating delicious doughnuts, enjoying life. She hums to some of the songs she had just heard while looking at the jovial fair. Human watching was always a favourite pastime of hers, they are just so interesting. Like the little boys running around their gossiping mothers, she could not hear the drama from her seat but just spying the surprised looks on their faces made her know it was juicy. Or the uncles not too far away playing poker, that game took her hours in the library to understand, but it was worth it when she won against the grandpas in her neighbourhood, seeing these jolly drunkards reminded her of good memories. 

As Oceana secretly glanced around her surroundings, she unexpectedly missed someone glancing at her. It was an elegantly dressed woman; who seemed out of place in the fair, she had bright pink damaged hair which was probably dyed many other vibrant colours to get to that state, was curiously wearing high heels despite being on a pasture, and wore big pink sunglasses that covered the eyes that were spying on Oceana. 

Just fifteen minutes earlier she was grumbling while walking around this third-rate fair babysitting her niece. It was hot, there were too many people, and cheap oily fair food was everywhere, not to mention she was ruining her heels from Chronicle's new line. Suffice it to say she was not in a good mood, and of course, on top of that, the little brat wanted to eat every sweet good she saw. 

'Sure waste all of my money on festival food who cares?' the lady rolled her eyes as she paid the cashier and in the corner of her eye saw the most stunning girl she had ever met. And that meant a lot as seeing beautiful faces was an everyday occurrence to her in her line of work. She quickly bought another set of doughnuts for her niece rubbing her head with a smile, 'Buy all you want kiddo, you just found me my missing piece!'

After they received their order the lady brought her niece to the girl's table.  She tapped the girl's shoulder with her manicured hand, ''Hi sweetie may we sit here?' '

Oceana, startled, quickly turned to see a tall fashionable lady with a pink curly bob haircut talking to her, ''Oh um…sure'' she said looking at the aunt and niece pair in confusion, sure there was space at her table but also everywhere else in the makeshift cafe. 

''Aw you are such a darl, thank you, ah what is your name cutie? Might as well get to know each other, since we are sitting together.'' The lady sauntered across the table took her seat smoothly and pulled a chair for the kid who had not stopped eating her bundle of doughnuts.

Oceana was annoyed by the lady who was obviously here for something, but her curiosity got the best of her. 

''Who are you?'' she asked straight away, ignoring the lady's question. She learnt ages ago that if you want to know what someone is hiding bring it to the light.

''Oh, should I introduce myself first?'' The lady gave up beating around the bush and went straight to the point, '' I'm Rebecca Sterling, a producer at Memento Entertainment Media Group, but you probably know it as M.E.M Group,'' She smiled as she reached into her designer bag and brought out a business card, ''Here's my card.'' 

Ocean stared at the card placed in front of her, ''Um..why are you giving this to me?'', as she took a bite from her snack, none of what the lady said made sense to her.

''I'm recruiting you, darling. Our company is hosting a competition to find the next biggest girl group and I want you in it! I could hear the talent in your voice just from your humming and knew that you're the missing piece we need.'' Seeing the girl's reluctance Rebecca used the most flattering voice she had to appeal to her so the girl would accept her card, she needed this girl to be in the program. The program needed one more piece and this girl was a perfect fit. 

She was obviously not aware of the media world as she did not even react to M.E.M's name. A fresh newbie like her would add some flare to the program, as most of the other contestants will be trained by their companies to always keep their composure destroying any chance of amusing reactions. But this girl showed all of her thoughts on that pretty face of hers, and seeing her bluntness Rebecca found it hard to not get this girl into the competition. 

Plus with her beauty it would not be a problem for her to last a while even without much talent, evidently having a nice humming voice is not the same as being a singer, but it should be enough to stay for a few episodes. 

''A girl group?'' Suddenly the girl's attitude did a 180. Her blue eyes started glowing and no longer avoiding her gaze. ''What do I need to do to join? Do I have to do an audition? When?'' 

She talked so animatedly that Rebecca was shocked, how a girl so interested in being a star not know of M.E.M Group? Well, that does not matter, what matters is that she got the girl hooked,'' Don't worry darling, all you have to do is show up at the building when we start shooting next week, no audition needed! After all, I am one of the main producers of the show.''

''Wow, really?'' Oceana was delighted, but soon she calmed down, ''Wait, where is the building? Is it near Dawnbury?'' 

'Dawnbury? That little coast village? Is that where this little girl lives?' Rebecca wondered, evaluating the girl's outfit. It does seem a little shabby, plus old fashioned, nothing a city dweller would wear but even with such clothes, she stood out. Maybe when she's eliminated they could hire her as a model. Rebecca put on a fake smile and sweetly said, ''Hun, why would we be in a small town like Dawnbury? The company is situated in Aurore City.''

Aurore City…

Oceana's jaw dropped, that's the city where anyone who wanted to be anyone goes to make a name for themself. The city of lights where stars are born, and the biggest entertainment city in Ascaria. 

She always wanted to visit but never had the opportunity. Plus she wanted to stay and learn more about humans in Dawnbury, she has not even finished her reading list. Should she go? What if she acted weird and messed up? On a TV program broadcasted around the world too.

The glowing eyes of the girl clouded and she started avoiding eye contact again. 'Seriously? You are still unwilling?' Rebecca wanted to roll her eyes, ''Hun you don't need to worry, the company will give you a dorm with the other girls and take care of the living expenses, you have a beautiful place to practice your skills, it's a paradise for budding stars there is no reason to hesitant. Is it because of your parents? You seem young so you may want their permission, but you won't have to worry about that. No one would pass this up for their lovely daughter!'' Rebecca thought maybe this girl had strict parents who did not want to be separated from their daughter, 'wait that can't be right, there's no one around this girl right now-'

''Oh I don't have any parents, I'm an orphan,'' Oceana replied straightforwardly. 

'No parents? This girl is a goldmine! Beautiful and a sad backstory! With the editing crew, I could create a nice sob story to raise her popularity with sympathy,' while pondering this the lady had a regretful face as she said, ''Oh darling, I'm sorry for your loss, but if not for your parents why do you not want to go?''

''It's just…I'm scared….I don't think I'm not ready yet, I dreamed of being a professional singer ever since I could remember but now it is here I don't know if I could do it..'' Oceana focused on her half-eaten doughnut as she mumbled off quietly.

Ah, this was the problem, ''There's no need to be worrying about this sweetie,'' Rebecca waved her hand as if swatting away a bug, ''If you're not cut out for it then you'll just be eliminated, no biggie. It's not like you are debuting right off the bat, the program is a learning one and you'll soon see if you deserve to become a star or not!'' 

Oceana looked up, seeing the confident smile on the lady's face she felt comforted. 'Yeah, she's right, I could always be eliminated. Plus there would be other competitions and programs, this could be a good time to get experience and better my skills. And if push comes to shove I could always start over again! Yeah, there's no need to worry at all. And while I am at it I will do best, even if I don't debut I should at least try to do something.'

The more she thought of it, the more convinced Oceana became, her contemplating blue eyes became clearer and more focused. ''Okay, I'll do it!'' she declared pumping her fist. 

Oceana finally took the card from the table and pocketed it in her dress, ''Nice to meet you, Ms. Sterling, my name is Oceana Delmare, I will not forget this opportunity, thank you!''

Rebecca was relieved seeing the girl recover so quickly,'' Oh Hun just call me Becca, we will be seeing each other lots at the competition, oh wait that reminded me!'' 

''Huh? Of what?'' Oceana was alarmed as Becca slapped her hand across her head, and even without seeing her eyes she could tell Becca was apologetic about something,

''You may not have to do an audition, but you will still need to prepare a stage for the first episode for class ranking.''

''A stage?'' 

Rebecca glanced up from wincing, she just got the fish to bite with much difficulty and now it's lost again, who would agree to join with only one week left to prepare?

But far from her expectation, the girl, no Oceana's face was flushed with joy. Now that she has made her decision to join this program, all doubts have gone away, and for this siren who has been singing all her life, one week is more than enough for her to blow the humans away!