SAY DON'T GO || A Taylor Swift Story

01.

~T~

09.24.23

"And now, performing our national anthem..." the announcer's voice said, echoing throughout the entire stadium. "Fourteen-year-old Raine Valerie Copeland!"

"Fourteen?" I muttered to Brittany, who was sitting next to me, intensely staring at the vast field below us. "Does she have some relation to one of the players or something?"

Brittany shook her head as the Jumbotron panned to show a girl with light blonde hair that was pulled back into two Dutch braids, with glitter decorating her hair. She was wearing a jacket that looked to be a uniform of some sort, although I couldn't quite pinpoint what sort of group it was for. The one noteworthy thing about her, though, was the sparkling red lanyard that hung around her neck, and attached to it was a silver whistle that looked to be the sort that a referee would wear.

A round of cheers broke me from my thoughts, and I turned to my right, seeing the box next to the one I was in filled with cheering students that looked to be around high school-aged. They were all wearing red polo shirts with black overalls over them, and as I looked closely, I could see racks of jackets in the back of the box room. The kids closest to the window between us were holding instruments of some sort, which caught Brittany's and my attention.

"Oh, that's that school marching band that's supposed to perform at the game today," Brittany commented, following my gaze to look at the band. "Didn't Travis tell you that was going to happen?"

I shook my head. "No... it must have slipped his mind when we were talking about the game," I replied. "Does this normally happen?"

Brittany shook her head. "Nope. It's never happened, at least, not in the time that Patrick has been on the team," she said. "But I think they won some sort of big award that stretches throughout the state, or something like that. Anyway, they were invited to come perform at the game today. And I guess they got a box next to ours."

"It seems that way," I said, turning my attention back to the big screen as the girl began to sing the national anthem. Her voice struck me as surprisingly mature for her age, and there was a clarity in her tone that was unlike anything I'd heard before. Not to mention the key she'd picked was much higher than the average singer. Maybe she couldn't hit the low notes of the song, but a higher key definitely benefited her upper register.

"O'er the land of the free..." she sang, hitting an impressively high note that I would never have been brave enough to sing live. As she held the note for longer, the box full of band members burst into cheers, jumping up and down in an uncharacteristic manner for listening to a performance of the national anthem. A woman who was dressed in a similar red polo and black cargo pants was standing near the window that overlooked the stadium, filming the performance. Maybe the girl is one of the band members?

"And the hoooooome of the braaaave!" the girl sang, finishing off the song by holding out the final note, before she jumped the last note by an octave, causing the entire stadium to burst into cheers. And to think that she's only fourteen?

"Goddamn," I muttered. "Wow."

Brittany nodded in agreement. "You're a performer," she said. "Are kids supposed to be able to sing like that?"

"Kids that are making it big on talent shows or in Hollywood, yes," I said. "Kids that show up in Kansas City from some random high school? I think not."