In all the excitement, I forgot to call somebody really important; my mother. As soon as Amanda and I were shepherded away from the stage while What About Tonight did their audition, I pulled out my iPhone, my hands shaking as I dialled that familiar number. Tears welled in my eyes as I pressed the phone up against my ear, my hands still shaking as I waited for my mother to pick up the phone. She had really wanted to be here but commitments with work had prevented that, so she had no idea whether or not I was through.
“MAGGIE! WHAT HAPPENED?!” my mother’s high pitched voice shrieked through the receiver, and I let out a giggle as I wiped tears from my eyes, smiling through them as I walked away from Caitlin and into a quieter area of the venue. “MAGGIE! HURRY UP AND TELL US” I heard the voices of her co-workers and some of my family yell into the receiver and I let out a laugh as I realised that I had been on loud speaker this entire time.
“Mum, Emma, anyone else who needs to know this, I’M THROUGH TO BOOTCAMP!” I announced and the screams that resulted made me pull the phone away from my ear in earnest as they nearly burst my eardrums. I loved how excited they were, it made me feel like I actually had a reason to keep doing this, other than for my own happiness.
“Oh Maggie, my baby, i’m so so so proud of you, darling. Everyone is proud of you, everyone would be proud of you” she stressed and I smiled gratefully even though she couldn’t see me. As I spoke to my mother, a pair of bright eyes caught my own from across the venue, making my smile a little shyer. “Maggie? Are you there? Or did something cute just walk past?”My mother teased and I blushed deeply.
“Mum, stop it!” I whined, “I have to go now, um uh Amanda wants me! Bye now!” I rushed, my cheeks darkening more and more as I could hear her teasing and taunts through the speakers of my phone. Mum had always been particularly skilled at reading me so well, even if she couldn’t see me.
I hung up the phone and turned around, my heart dropping when I saw that my cousin was being chatted to by Luke, of course he would have swooped in to flirt with her as soon as he could, they always did. He had that cute grin on his face and I knew exactly what was going to happen, I had seen it all before; He befriended me, fell in love with her and I was left alone on the sidelines as they fell in love, I didn’t like it but that was how the story always went with Amanda. I begrudgingly began to make my way over to them, painting what I hoped was a believable smile across my face.
“Maggie! There you are! How was Aunty Colly? Did she flip? Did she cry?” Amanda giggled, obviously having been laughing previously at something Luke had said. I nodded with a small smile, avoiding Luke’s eyes as I could feel his gaze burning into the other side of my face, “Luke was just telling me about his band mates and how they got together” she said slowly, her eyes flickering between the two of us in caution. Luke opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a group of boys tacking him to the ground in a heap of skinny jeans.
“How nice of you to join us, now could you losers get up?” Luke’s muffled voice shouted from the bottom of this massive pile of hair and skinny jeans. A chorus of laughter followed as the boys, who I could only assume were his band mates, pulled themselves off of their friend and into more respectable standing positions, and thus turning our group of three into a group of eight. I couldn’t help the tiny grin that made its way onto my face as I watched Luke interact with his friends, their happiness and energy was infectious to be around.
“Boys, this is Maggie Caulfield and her lovely cousin, Amanda, Maggie’s going to boot camp as well” Luke introduced us and I gave a bashful smile and nodded. “Maggie, Amanda, These are my boys; Brock, Mitchel, Tyrone and Christian” he gave a cheeky half grin and I momentarily forgot about the curly haired boy as my eyes were caught by the dark haired boy from before. It was so hard to do though with those bright blue eyes burning through me, and I found myself caring less and less about Luke falling in love with my cousin.
“Howell, are you as stupid as you are ugly? You’d have to be to think that we wouldn’t know who Maggie was!” The boy in the maroon sweater said to Luke, smacking him in the back of his beanie covered head before smiling apologetically at me. “So sorry for my friend’s idiocy, i’m Mitchel by the way and your audition was flawless, absolutely breathtaking!” he complimented me and I felt my cheeks darken as he spoke, I wasn’t used to compliments, and I had no idea how I was supposed to respond to them, I just usually stammered out a reply.
“T-Thank you, it’s nice to meet you ...” I stuttered, cursing my rapidly darkening cheeks as I continued to blush at the undoubtedly attractive boy’s words. Once again, I found myself caught in his piercing blue eyes, rendering me incapable of turning away from him.
“Mitch” Luke interrupted sharply and the boy turned to look at him with a devilish grin on his face, “Back it up a bit, you’ll overwhelm the poor girl with your bullshit” he teased before turning to speak to Amanda and I. “We were going to go and get some food to celebrate, did you girls want to join us?” he offered and we both shared a look before nodding affirmatively. “Great, we’ll meet you outside in a bit then, we have to go find our families” he grinned slyly before turning away from us and leading the group away.
Amanda spun to face me as soon as the boys left and I felt my stomach drop, this couldn’t be good.
