When I was backstage, I didn't think of how half the internet wants my ass to pay for stealing Andre. I also didn't think of Emmett.
It's not like they had a chance in the first place. I also don't think about the fact that family is in the audience while wanting me to drop out.
But I don't fill my head with those things. I slowly mark the intricate choreography Cody simplified for me for 'Pretty Like'. At least I was in something comfortable. I was wearing white cargo pants scrunched up over white ankle boots, as well as a revealing crop top. My hair was slightly wavelike in a honey-blonde wig. Lennon insisted I wear it to give myself a more mature look.
This was my first concert. Lennon said it would test our stage presence and our ability to interact with a crowd, which was essential to any artist. This was the first time I would be interacting with people close up, and not behind a big stage.
I just hoped everyone liked it. Voting opened today. They never let us see the polls until the day of the results. So now, all I would have to do is wait and be anxious. Even if I wasn't voted for by the fans, the judges could vote for me, like they did with Dorian.
I cleared the thoughts from my head. All I had to do was put on a good show and hope people would get distracted by the next scandal if Fairouz and her PR team were on the matter.
Ray was in the middle of her set, and she had the crowd under her command. I hoped I could have a fraction of her stage presence. She was on the second last song, singing her music from the musicals week, which brought up a flash of memories.
"Ezra, are you ready?" Lennon asked from behind me.
"Yeah," I repeated.
"Good," she said. "Because this is when the fans will notice you."
I wondered if the people who saved me from elimination hated me.
I heard her from backstage finishing up that song before talking to the crowd a little. She sounded like such a natural out there. Deep down inside, she had a lot of things I lacked.
The next song started off with the slow strum of a guitar, and I hadn't heard it before, so it must've been an original. It seemed off-brand to Ray. I would expect something more like 'Pretty Like'.
I never knew that I had to choose
Between saving my sanity or me and you