The Search for Cinderella

Chapter 9

With them in my hand I went to find Jono. Soon I saw him setting up the cameras and the stage was being set up for the first act, which reminded myself that I had to check the order.

He saw me and grinned, "Hey Annie, you look beautiful already."

I smiled at him then asked, "Jono, can I talk to you?"

He nods and leads me to the side.

"Did you hear about yesterday?"

He nods and says, "Yeah I was there when I heard what Hugo said. Don't listen to him Annie."

I smile softly, "I think I've got it sorted but since I ran out I wasn't able to talk about what I wanted for the stage design."

Jono grins, "Tell me what you want and we can give Hugo and all the other girls a big surprise."

I know he mentioned the other girls because he knew that I had heard them laughing at me as I was scolded at and when I ran out. I even had heard Lindsay making fun of me at dinner last night but really, I was the one singing with their idol later on that afternoon.

"Thank you so much, Jono!" and I tell him my idea.

I imagined the stage out in my head and envisioned the smoke machines blowing lots of smoke to make it foggy. In the background on the screens would be a slideshow f nature photos which I had on my USB which I collected from Tumblr. The photos also included some of hippies dancing on a hill and others were just peaceful shots. The last photo though was my favourite. It was taken by Josh a month before my parents were taken away from me. We were lying down on an oval surrounded with dandelions. We were all smiling, the four of us; Mum, dad, Sophia, and I.

This song was for them. It was for Sophia and for me as well.

As well as the slideshow and smoke machines I had found backstage a tray many glass jars and bottles of all different shapes and sizes. Between the time of getting dressed and morning I had put some candles in some and left the others. Some of the glass bottle had been painted previously, some in white, some in purple and others in pale blue and would look really cool. I showed Jono the jars and he said that he would be able to hang them on the special framework which would make them seem to float around the stage.

With it sorted I went backstage and saw many girls smirking at me.

I checked the list and grinned when I saw that I was performing last.

Even better.

Rose found me and gave me a hug. She was wearing her dance outfit; a black leotard, black dance shorts and her white Converse high tops. She was holding an extremely poofy white tutu, which seemed split in half, and after she gave me a hug I saw how it stuck together with Velcro pieces.

"Good luck Annie," I wished her the same as we nervously waited. She was the act before me.

Soon the live countdown began and Elliot with his sly smile made his way on stage and welcomed the show.

"Welcome everyone to The Search for Cinderella. Where these fifteen girls battle it out to win the heart of Xavier Matthews!"

The spotlight found Xavier sitting on the judge panel and he gave a small wave before it went back to Elliot, "Tonight is going to be a fun night watching these girls show off their talents for the whole of America, and the world, to see live!" A round of applause from the audience filled the air as Elliot finished the introductions

A guest star performer came and performed, much to the surprise of everyone, and we were all a bit star struck as we all watched the one and only Katy Perry perform. From backstage!

We weren't able to meet her though during the ad break as she was immediately rushed out to her next interview or something like that. A behind the scenes footage reel was broadcasted of the rehearsals from yesterday and much to my embarrassment there was the one of me stuffing up and getting yelled at. I think Elliot put that in their on purpose as he stood there smirking as he watched it. The voice over even said, "What mistakes will happen tonight?" As if it was teasing me.

Finally the first act was called on and it was Lindsay. And her talent was rapping?

The other girls didn't seem that surprised as me since they had watched it during rehearsals but they mainly just looked amused.

Maybe that's why I thought Lindsay was dressed funny when I saw her backstage as she was wearing white Nike high tops with those baggy denim pants with elastic at the bottom around the ankle and a tight black shirt which showed a little bit of her flat stomach. To top it off she had a black snap back cap on her perfectly straightened blonde hair decorated with pink and purple diamantes.

She had a backing track playing in the background which was a mix of all sorts of raps. A slideshow on the screens in the background showed photos of street art and graffiti. Surprisingly she was actually really good. She started with the rap from Baby by Justin Bieber and then the raps kept getting harder and harder with a part from Look at Me Now by Chris Brown but the ultimatum was Rap God by Eminem which she rapped without any backing tracks.

When she finished she received a massive amount of applauding from the audience. The judges; MR. FREAKING MATTHEWS (which I shall remind you is the owner of the massive record company, Gold Records and is my dream label to be signed to), Paris Hilton (I honestly don't know why), some famous dancer which Rose got excited about and Xavier Matthews himself, just nodded and wrote stuff down without saying anything.

Unlike other talent shows the judges wouldn't say anything except for 'Well done' or 'that was a great performance' which they said to Lindsay who beamed and walked off-stage with a smug smile.

There were many unique acts such as kazoo playing (which was actually pretty good) and bowling?

This girl from Florida managed to get a strike every turn. As each act progressed the more nervous I got but Xavier's advice ran through my head. I felt sick while Rose got up to my act but I went and watched her anyway from the backstage screens. I was the last girl now in this room as once they performed went to the other side of the stage.

I undid my robe and sat back as I watched Rose start her dance. She stood there in first position as a classical song came on. She moved gracefully and perfectly to the music. It was great as she did a series of little pirouettes and leaps to the music but as the piano music reached its high she jumped up and did the splits in the air, tore her tutu off as the bass and beat of a hip hop song came on, and landed back down on her two feet. She then ran through a very complicated hip hop dance routine and made the audience stare, amazed by her talent. She finished by doing a backflip in mid air and then spinning before falling into the splits.

The dancer actually stood up and the audience gave her a standing ovation. The dancer took the mic and beamed at Rose, "That was amazing!"

Rose smiled and I could tell she was bursting with excitement as sweat trickled down her face and her chest moved quickly as she tried to catch her breath.

The ads came on and I slipped my shoes on as Jo rushed in quickly doing my make up. I grabbed my guitar and was ushered to the stage by Hugo himself.

I looked at the audience and gulped trying to put myself together before we went live again.

My guitar was plugged in and mic was working. Jono was going to wait for me to start singing before he started the smoke machine and slideshow and let the bottles float. Soon enough Elliot introduced me by name and what I was going to do. The lights in the arena dimmed and it was all silent as they waited for me to sing.

My throat had tightened again.

I had forgotten my words.

I looked around and found Xavier's piercing gaze.

He nods at me and I closed my eyes.

A/N: Yup, it's a cliff-hanger, and I'm sorry but hey, it was a longer chapter. Please vote, comment and let me know what you think. Are you guys excited for the next one??

Question of the update: What song do you think she'll sing?