America Sings

America Sings- Chapter 15

“Tune in tonight for the first ever viewing of this seasons America Sings!” the announcer for America Sings, Terry Calado, tells us from the corner of the screen.

I bounce up and down and James puts his arm around me. “Calm down! You know what happens anyways,” James says amused.

“So. Every year we watch the Killer Round in my living room with licorice and popcorn. Now we are in an amazing hotel suite in California, but we don’t have any popcorn or licorice!” I exclaim and throw my hands up, which was hard to do with James’ arm around my shoulders.

“Zane will be here any minute with the licorice,” James assures me.

“But it’s tradition,” I mumble and lean against James. Just then Lia rushes in with a big bag.

“I got the licorice!” she announces proudly.

“And are you going to tell them where you got it from?” Zane asks, coming in from behind her. He rubs his head as if it had recently been hit.

Lia smirks but doesn’t reply. I narrow my eyes at them. Was something going on between them?

“I’ll finish popping the popcorn,” James says and gets up.

Just then the door to the room opens and Mom comes in. “Has it started yet?” she asks. Jane follows her in.

“It should start in any minute,” I tell her.

Soon we are all situated around the giant flat screen TV propped up on the dresser. Lia and I had pulled off all of the covers on the bed and asked for extra pillows, creating a bed on the floor. James was spread out on his stomach on my bed and was staring at the TV and Zane was popped up against the headboard on Lia’s bed. Mom and Jane sat on the chairs by the doors leading to the patio.

“And we are back!” Terry Calado announces once all of the sponsor commercials are over. “We have 200 contestants participating in the Killer Round this year. This breaks down into 40 groups. Some groups were outstanding,” Terry stops talking and a clip of our group comes on. It shows me holding out the last note to our song before it switches back. “While others just plain bombed it.” It shows somebody tripping as they go on stage, then somebody forgetting their lyrics, and it ends in an… interesting routine of Play That Funky Music.

“The judges responses weren’t always the most constructive,” Terry tells us and points to the screen besides him. The camera zooms in and we watch as Jake degrades performance after performance. Jessica tries to make them feel better but it doesn’t really help. Terry’s voice comes on telling us about all of the tears spilt. It shows girls crying in the hallway, in the bathroom, and all over the place. Then it shows the groups hugging together on stage while some cry.

“But not everybody got negative responses,” Terry tells us happily and directs his gaze to the TV again. It zooms in on some shots of people in the practice rooms getting ready for show time. I was surprised at how the camera crew was able to catch the anxiety that was going on backstage as they get some close shots on the people waiting their turn to perform.

I listen and watch as Jake congratulates a couple of groups and Jaycee smiles making me melt a little bit more every time.

“Sh, we’re coming soon!” Lia says excitedly.

After we had left the stage the cameramen had approached us and got us celebrating some more and interviewed us.

“It was so stressful to watch them perform,” Lia tells the camera.

“It was stressful to perform too,” Ashlic beams.

“This is the moment where you can make it or break it,” I tell the camera seriously.