The next evening, my group and I arrived at the Musical Tavern to practice our songs, with effects and technology. That was our big advantage. Not only that, we didn't need tracks more the music, because all our music was coming from our own instruments. We had effects and technology and they didn't. With Dimitri's skill with technology, and Primrose's art skills, animations for all the numbers would be playing on the two screens behind us, to either side. Even for the new songs, that included real life music videos. And with my magic, we had all sorts of effects on stage. That wasn't are only advantage though. Since we (my family and Barry specifically) had an hour to familiarize ourselves with the stage, we could figure out how to move around on it. That was good especially for the numbers with dancing. We also rearranged our numbers and who was singing them, when we found out the songs and the quantity that the other team had prepared, so that we could properly compete.
The news station had already started setting up their cameras, and the poll was getting set up as well. We had advertised the challenge all over the city by now. Since I was already locally popular for my songs in Central City, tons of people were already lining up, desperate to get in, like it was a Taylor Swift concert. We all wore costumes for each of our numbers. Because I was in almost all of our numbers, I had a lot of quick changes. But, I was pretty used to have quick changes on stage by now.
Finally, the cast of Between The Lines showed up, just a few minutes before 6:00pm.
"Are you ready to lose this challenge?" Hillary asked.
"I should ask the same of you," I crossed my arms.
"Well, no, because you see all those people outside? They're all here for me. Not you."
I scoffed. "Are you dumb, deaf, or both? People started booing when you entered. Booing means they don't like you. You realize, some of those people have been here since 6:00? Because my team and I were here first, at 6:00, rehearsing. Get ready to be beaten. We're only wait on one person. . ."
"Ha! A person in your team isn't here, what a disadvantage!" Jake laughed.
"Oh, no, he's not singing unless we need a tiebreaker," I said. "He's really just coming to make sure that you don't leave until the very end, when the humiliation starts to hurt."
"Excuse me! Excuse me, pardon me, I need to get through, I'm part of Isabella's crew!" Lucifer's voice echoed through the line. Then he stepped through. "Ah! There you are, Isabella. I'm ready to help!"
Jake jumped in fear, behind Hillary. "That's the guy who threw me into the driveway, and threatened to throw me into oncoming traffic!"
Hillary scoffed. "This short and scrawny shrimp? Pathetic." Lucifer's head snapped to face Hillary. And in a deep demonic voice he said, "Who are you calling short and scrawny?"
Hillary squeaked. "Okay, okay!"
We all got in our places for the challenge, backstage, as people in the line started flowing in, and sitting down and ordering. The news cameras started recording as the Between The Lines director and my manager here at the Musical Tavern came onto stage.
"Hello, and welcome to the Musical Tavern, for a special challenge!" My manager said. "Who's ready to see some singing tonight?"
The audience cheered.
"As some of you may know, there has been some events that have been happening in the last few weeks regarding Isabella and the rest of Between The Lines cast." The director said. "But tonight, Isabella will be competing to gain back her role as Delilah McPhee in Between The Lines, to prove who's on top! The way this will work is you guys will have a poll on your phone, for who does better in each round. And the scores will be kept on the TVs on the sides of the stage after each round. Now let's meet our teams! On team Hillary, we of course have the leader, Hillary Fisher, who played Allie McAndrews and Princess Seraphina, initially, but took on the role of Delilah McPhee after Isabella's three-week long absence from rehearsals and Central City, the reason for her absence, we still don't know why."
"Actually, we do know why she was absent for that long, Jane," My manager here said, as Hillary's picture appeared on the TVs. "She was absent after the cheating of her boyfriend on her, who is now her ex, with Hillary. Then Isabella got word that her father had woken up from an eleven-year coma, and went to be with him. If you do the math, her father went into the coma when Isabella was two, so this would've been the first time she got to really connect with him. If you ask me, that seems like a pretty good reason to be absent for so long. I think maybe she should've taken a bit longer off. In fact, her father is here tonight, to compete on her team, after a miraculous recovery, who you will see soon."
"Well, we don't know if Isabella will get her role back, Anthony," Director Jane said, as Hillary's picture disappeared, and Jake's replaced it. "Up next is Jake David Smith, who currently has the role of Prince Oliver. Jake here has gained quite the bad reputation, since he was the main offender of the scandal that caused Isabella to almost successfully commit suicide. Will he get redeemed in this competition? That's for you, the audience to decide."
As each person was introduced their profile pictures appeared on the screens.
"Up next is Vicki Lewis, playing Ms. Winx, Jessamyn, Jacobs, Mrs. Brown and Kyrie. She is quite the multi-tasker, considering she juggles five different roles," Director Jane said. "Up next is Will Burton, playing Frump and Ryan. He seems to be one of the cast members who is torn between the two sides, but because he is part of the Between the Lines cast, he was forced to join team Hillary. Up next we have Jerusha Cavazos. . ."
She kept going over the rest of team Hillary's members, John Rapson, Wren Rivera, Sean Stack, and Julia Murney. They also included Jeremy, who was Jake's understudy, who didn't even want to be there.
"Now, let me introduce team Isabella, which much bigger than team Hillary, and having more people just means there's more skills to be put to use." Manager Anthony said. "I'm just gonna do this in chronological order of births, from youngest, to oldest, for the siblings, then I'll ad the additions. First up, is Ricky, who is a whopping five years old, yet he is performing here tonight, a more difficult song, which is quite impressive. He has gained the nickname, 'Invincible Ricky', because of the way he uses anything he can find, to turn into some kind of defense weapon, and is small and fast. He is very interested in building, and creates lego builds in seconds. So Team Hillary better watch out for this firecracker. Next up, is Evan, who has a heart condition where his heart could stop from fear. Yet, he is also performing here tonight. He is six years old, which is unfortunate for him to have heart condition so young. Like all of Isabella's younger siblings, he was adopted. Nobody wanted to adopt him because of his condition, but the Gomez-Jeanne family gladly took him in. Evan has a particular interest in plants, and even has a pet Venus fly trap, that he actually takes care of. He is sensitive, touchy, and jumpy. Up next is Theadosia, the only dark-skinned sibling in the family. She is seven, but also a bigger firecracker. She is sassy, refined, very hygienic, and has an interest in cooking. Earlier, we found her snooping around the kitchen! Up next, is Eponine. She is a skater, at nine years old. She is extremely balanced, and can skate both on roller skates and ice skates. She's fast, flexible, and very well trained in balance and dancing on ice and roller skates. She gossips, she's sassy, and can be manipulative towards the people she does like. She can skate and sing. Up next, is Aida, ten years old. She is very interested with makeup and hair styling. All of the hair and makeup you will see on Team Isabella, was done by Ms. Aida. She is also the only redhead in the siblings, kind, also very gossipy. She will also be performing tonight. Above her, is Ms. Delilah, that's right, her actual name is Delilah, and she is eleven. She is the most experienced dancer, she is agile, flexible, confident, and acts like the queen. She is also one of the only two blonde people of the siblings. Above her, is Catherine, twelve, the gymnast and acrobat. She has done incredible stunts, with fire even. She's strong, agile, confident, and exotic. She also doesn't mind gossip. Eponine, Aida, Delilah and Catherine are a combination of Heathers and Mean Girls into one. Eponine is Heather M, Aida, is Gretchen, Delilah is a combination of Regina and Heather Chandler, and Catherine is a combination of Veronica and Cady. After Catherine, is Isabella, our beloved. She is the leader of the group, at thirteen, confident, striking, a bit traumatized, and looking for revenge from Hillary and Jake. Her eyes are filled with it. Above her, are the third set of triplets, the artsy trio, Primrose, Lydia, and Elizabeth, seventeen years old. Primrose is a painter and artist, she has created many works of beautiful art, and the art from a lot of the animations you will see for Team Isabella's numbers are her work. She has a very Southern attitude, is competitive, but calm and composed. She is the other blonde sibling. Lydia is the performer, she looks a lot like Isabella, just older. She acts a lot like Isabella, just less traumatized. She's kind, but acts like the most fabulous thing in the room. Elizabeth, or Eliza as they call her, is the fashion and costume designer. All of the costumes and outfits you will see on stage from Team Isabella are Eliza's work. She's patient, colorful, and vibrant. After them, is the second set of triplets, the boy band, the trouble trio, eighteen years old, Orpheus, Dimitri and Usnavi. They're handsome, and have all the girls fawning. Orpheus, the leader of their boy band, has the most talented voice, can go high, but also be angelic. He's compassionate, protective, and caring. He's especially protective of Isabella, especially because when he first met her, after ten years, she was getting trampled at his concert, because of how small she was. And he kicked out the people who trampled her, and sent her backstage to make sure she was okay after the show. Dimitri is the smart one. He is secretly a great engineer. He's muscular, and knows machines like the back of his hands. He created a glitter bomb for package thieves, that could record their reaction, and spray fart spray. We'll show some of the reactions from the thieves on the screen."
For several seconds videos started playing with captions. The audience was entertained and laughing.
"Well, that's all for Dimitri, other than the fact that the effects you will see from Team Isabella, and the technology behind it, he is responsible for. It's time to move on to Usnavi," Manager Anthony said, "who is a literal Tarzan, jungle man. He is the animal expert, and has some animal voodoo or something. Is there something wrong with an animal. He knows instantly. He knows tons of facts about them too. He is also a bit crazy and exotic. He's a jokester. He has a pet snake, a cobra, named Noodles. Speaking of Noodle, that's a nickname Orpheus has for Isabella, just so you know. Onto the next triplets, the first triplets, the Enriched trio, meaning they have jobs that could potentially make them rich. They are Christine, Matilda and Anastasia, nineteen years old. Christine, is a writer, and she's been writing novels. She hasn't gotten to a bestseller yet, but I'm sure she will with how she writes. She wrote the scripts for the music videos you're going to see coming from Isabella's team. She's quite shy, and reserved, but when it comes to her family, she's strong and not afraid to stand up for what's right, including when a role is taken from her little sister for no valid reason. So she will be performing tonight, with that secretly powerful voice of hers. Up next is Matilda. She is currently thriving on a career in medicine, and is currently interning to take the medical exam. Considering how experienced she is with human anatomy, I'm sure she will become a very successful doctor. She's caring, gentle, and is very much like a mother towards a lot of the siblings, because she knows how to make all their wounds go away whenever they get hurt. She's smart, and quick-witted. She knows what to do in any situation. Then there is Anastasia, or as the siblings call her, Anya. She, like her sisters, Isabella and Lydia, is an actress. But lately, she has been expanding her acting horizons into shows and movies, with on-screen acting and voice-acting, which could get her far. She's confident, and is an inspiration to all her sisters. She has an incredible range, and in a way, is her own leader for the siblings, for she is the oldest woman in the siblings. Now time to move on to the two oldest siblings, starting off with Jack, who is twenty years old, and is a police officer in training, more of a rookie. He's an officer and detective, and he is also the handler of one of the K-9's of the station. In fact, he is the handler of the only Rottweiler of the team, named Hercules. Jack is protective of his family, and you may see that in his performance tonight. He's observant, notices things others may not notice. Then there's the oldest of the siblings, Alexander, at a whopping twenty-two years old. He is a lawyer, with a massive winning case streak. Like his younger brother, he is very observant, and can be quite an astonishing sight in the court room. He is experienced with debate, and works in family law, as well as entertainment law, and every so often, a bit of criminal law. His language is very eloquent, and isn't one to use slang very often. He is defensive over his siblings, and stands up for them whenever he can. When Isabella needed to be taken out of custody of her old foster parents, for them to be arrested, he was her lawyer. Outside of the courtroom, he's understanding, forgiving, and was the provider when his father was in the coma. But be careful not to set off his fuse, for when his fuse is lit, there is no escaping for you. If you haven't already guessed, all the older siblings, including Isabella are prodigies, and wow, there is a lot of potential you can see within the family. Even the younger siblings have a level of experience and confidence that rivals anyone. Now, moving onto the adults. Meet Louis, the father. As you can tell, a lot of the siblings did not gain his looks, except Primrose. But they all have those blonde highlights just like their dad. Most of them gained his personality, rather than his looks, and they look mostly like their mother, who is unfortunately passed. His wife had a dream to have the biggest family ever, to even adopt if necessary, so that they could influence as many generations as possible, and he was in on this dream, and they have done quite a great job of that. He has passions for all of their passions. He's protective, and doesn't like seeing anyone hurt or being unjust towards his kids. He has Alexander with his wife a year after they were married, at nineteen. He had Jack at twenty-two. He had Anastasia, Matilda, and Christine at twenty-three. He had Usnavi, Dimitri and Orpheus at twenty-four. He had Eliza, Lydia and Primrose at twenty-five. At twenty-nine, he had Isabella. At thirty, he adopted Catherine, and at thirty-one he adopted Delilah. The rest were adopted while he was in the coma, for eleven years. Chronologically, he is forty two, though his body is still physically thirty-one. Next up is the estranged uncle, who has been estranged until now. I don't know what sicko gave him his name, but he has learned to live with the name Lucifer. In many ways, he is like the devil, Lucifer, in the aspect that he is not afraid to become violent. But he's socially awkward, and has frequent mood swings. He could be depressed, we are not sure. He has not allowed us to use his age. He is not here to sing, but only to watch, to make sure the other team doesn't leave if they feel humiliated. He will not sing unless a tiebreaker is needed. The last member of Team Isabella, is Central City's very own, Barry Allen, forensic scientist, at CCPD, who took in Isabella while she was in Central City, and has become like a big brother to her, and will be performing tonight with her."
"Now that we've got our teams over with," Director Jane said. "Let's move on to the competition, shall we? Each team will be performing a variety of songs to compete with the other' team's songs. Some are repeats so we can compare. You guys will get to vote who does better in each round, and the numbers will prove who does better, and who's on top! The first number is 'Another Chapter' for both teams. Hillary will be going up first."
She sang the song, coming up on stage. I put ear plugs in my ears, it was all wrong. She was boring to watch on stage, there was barely any passion to it. She had the wrong dynamics, and it was like it was all in your face at once. Nobody even laughed when she said, "and those tights really flaunt his thighs." The timing was off too. And the falling part, my favorite part of the song, the most vulnerable part of the song, was too in your face. It was supposed to get soft.
After she was finished singing, it was my turn. I was wearing the microphone, like a true professional. I had connected myself to the harness, and was in the Delilah costume, with glasses. My hair was up. I sang my song the way it was intended to be sung. I was passionate about it, and moving around the stage so it wasn't boring. I hit all the right notes, and dynamics, and during the falling part, the harness lifted me up into the air, and I went int a falling position, as it slowly lowered me to the floor, and after it was over, I took off the harness easily, as I continued singing. I even put in some choreography in there.
The votes came in. I got the most votes, obviously, so that gave me a point. I was already in the lead from the beginning. Of course, Hillary was pouting about it.
"It's not fair! You got time to practice here!" Hillary complained.
"Stop being a Karen, and do something good for once, and get up on stage, we still have a competition to do, it's only the first round," I said.
The next round happened to be entirely Sister Act. Their song was "Take Me To Heaven", and Vicki, Jerusha, and Wren were the people on stage. To be honest, they were actually better than Hillary. They could actually win this round. They were really good. I was thoroughly enjoying myself and impressed.
When it was my team's turn, Delilah, Eponine, and Catherine walked on stage, and began singing "Fabulous Baby" with Delilah as Deloris, and Catherine and Eponine as Michelle and Tina. They were just rocking it up there, as much as the other team had. It was awesome seeing Delilah show off that side of her. She was dressed in fabulous clothes.
While they were on, I changed for round three, into the formal-casual Zoe clothes of "Only Us" while Evan changed into his Evan Hansen costume. It was gonna be cute.
When I came back out, the voting was going on. My team and Hillary's team had nearly tied up, but my team won the round only by a few votes! So that was two votes for my team.
The next round was on, and Jake and Hillary got on the stage to sing "Between The Lines" and I felt myself getting a bit jealous. Jake and I had never been able to master that one, yet he had mastered it with Hillary. And that made me jealous.
Evan and I went on afterward, and when little Evan came out, a bunch of the crowd went "Awww..."
Cuteness points. This was good. Alexander started playing the piano backstage, and Orpheus the acoustic guitar. I started off the song, singing to Evan. When he came into the song, he was naturally very nervous, and messed up a bit, until I comforted him, and joined him on the harmony, and he gained more confidence. I held his hands, and picked him up, as Dimitri cued the stars effect, and he reached for them, when I sang, "We can just watch the whole world disappear". I tapped Evan's nose several times throughout it. I ran around the stage with Evan on my back, spreading out his arms.
The votes were in. Our teams nearly tied, like last round, except for one thing. This time, Team Hillary won the round by a few votes. A few of the audience members were in outrage that they had won, when ours was much cuter. Well, I wasn't too worried about it. It was because it was only the beginning of the competition, and we still had the lead. We had two points and they had one. We still had the advantages.
The whole rest of the cast of Between The Lines came onto the stage, and sang "Happily Ever After Hour" and it was a very fun number to watch. Especially because Hillary wasn't the star of it.
After that, my team came out, and we sang "Find Your Voice", and Primrose was the main leader of it. She went up to the microphone and introduced the song, "So this song is called 'Find Your Voice' and it is from a musical Isabella and Orpheus wrote called My Heart Says Go. You will hear a few numbers from it tonight, but the basic plot of this song is that the main character, Indigo, has just run away from home, after getting into an argument with his dad, and he wants to become a singer, rather than a cardiologist like his dad wants. In this song, Indigo is on a train for L.A, as well as other arising artists of all kinds, and I'm the train conductor, who has seen many arising figures on her train fail, so she decides to give advice to this new generation of artists. Orpheus will be demonstrating Indigo. So, enjoy."
We grooved out through the entire thing. We were a machine, a train, operating with each other, like a body. We were the train.
The votes were in. Hillary's team on this one, and we were at 2-2. I guessed it was because their song was a little more relatable.
"Ha! We're tied with you!" Hillary scoffed. "Get ready to lose!"
I rolled my eyes. "Don't celebrate too early. This is only the beginning. There is still an even chance. It's your turn."
Then Hillary went out on stage and introduced "Talkin' To Oliver", by saying, "So, I'm sure you know, this song was written by Isabella, which I have no choice, but it was inspired by her feelings for my Jakey, so I will be singing it instead."
That's when Barry got fed up, and came out from backstage, stealing the microphone from her. "It's not your song to claim it was inspired by. It's Isa's. And she wrote 'Talkin' To Oliver' before even meeting Jake. How do I know? I was there when out was written! It was not inspired by her feelings for Jake, but for the person who saved her life over summer, and his name was Percy. It was her reaction to getting letters from him. Eventually, Isa felt like Percy was out of her league, so she shot lower, and tried it with Jake. And you know how that worked out. Honestly, I think Isa wouldn't have tried to kill herself if she hadn't shot so low."
"Ay yo!" I ran on stage. "Barry, that's enough, we don't need everyone knowing that I had feelings for someone else, or that I'm having feelings for him again!"
Hillary laughed. "I bet he was ugly, and those letters are figments of your imagination."
My neck snapped to turn to her. I grabbed the remote for the TVs from Dimitri, and I put on a picture of me and Percy on the screen, at Camp, on the night Fourth of July. In the picture, I had my head leaned against his shoulder, trying to comfort myself from my phonophobia from the fireworks.
Hillary's jaw dropped.
I showed another picture of us hanging upside down from a tree branch. Then my favorite picture of me and him, the one of us at Hogwarts, at the pond, with him failing to balance on skates, with me giggling.
"He's better looking than your Jakey," I laughed. "And he's my age, believe it or not. And I have all the letters to prove it. He's my best friend. Suffer. Come on, Barry, let's let her perform her below average version of my song."
We went back backstage, as I gave Dimitri back the remote to change it back.
As expected, that started Hillary off on a less confident note, and it dwindled her votes. The fact that she tried to lie as well made her votes dwindle.
When I came out again, I was in the best Cady costume ever, and I started singing "Stupid With Love" from Mean Girls, and the video playing behind me was a slideshow of pictures of me and Percy. I put on my best smitten act, while thinking about Percy. I moved around and was getting excited over it. I was definitely more quirky in the sense. The audience was enjoying it just as much as I was performing it. My moves were a physical expression of how I felt. It was a crazy and chaotic feeling. I moved all around.
Naturally, my excitement and enthusiasm outshined Hillary entirely, and I got a point up. It was 2-3, me at three points Hillary at two. The next round was on, and Vicki sang Mr. Darcy and Me, and she really pulled it off, as she was supposed to. I was actually looking forward to getting to read Pride and Prejudice.
When I came back out, I introduced my song, as the music video and lyric video were ready to play on either side.
"This song is called 'Goodbye Percy' and as you can probably tell, this song was written when I first thought he was out of my league," I said. "I also wrote it when I was going into a suicidal spiral, which luckily, I wasn't able to hurt myself then. So, I hope you'll enjoy this one."
I immediately switched up my act, to a more longing act. It was drastically different. Like Uncle Luci's mood swings.
The votes added up, and people were very sympathetic with me, so I got the most votes and another point, 2-4. We were winning again. I wasn't going to admit that my feelings for Percy were past the roof now.
The next round was on, and Hillary, Jerusha, Sean, Vicki, and Will were now on stage, singing "Inner Thoughts." It made many people laugh. But because a lot of our audience wasn't in high school, it wasn't as relatable. I could just smell another win for my team.
When Alexander, Eliza, Orpheus and I came out, we were back in My Heart Says Go Attire.
Orpheus came to the microphone, "So, this is another song from My Heart Says Go. This song gives a little more perspective into the parents side of things. There will be another song where Isabella comes out, explaining how her character parallels with Indigo. Her mother kicked her out, and now she's trying to make a living trying to be a designer. In this song, it gives more perspective on both sides, on the parents' internal conflict happening inside. It's called 'Foot Down.' Isabella plays the designer, with Eliza playing the mother of her, me playing Indigo, and Alexander playing Indigo's father. I hope all you parents can relate to this."
As soon as we started performing the song, I saw people tearing up, for they were parents and went through this all the time.
When we finished singing, the votes tallied in. My team had won the round once more. It was now 2-5. Hillary was absolutely fuming that she was losing. I couldn't help but laugh. My plan was working, and I could feel the sense that I was growing more and more popular by the minute.
The next round was more lullabies. Julia went out and was singing as Delilah McPhee's mother, in "Start Again Tommorow." She was very good as a parental figure, despite her having an attraction to my Uncle Raphael. It felt a strange comfort in the song too.
Alexander went up on stage, and introduced "Goodnight Indigo" and said, "This song was written as Indigo's father finally reconciles with Indigo, by bringing up his mother. Primrose will be joining in briefly as his mother."
I felt myself tearing up as it was performed. Dad hugged onto me, running his fingers through my hair, and kissing my head.
"You did a great job with this one," he told me. "I know you'll make a great parent one day. I'm so proud."
I nuzzled my face into my father's chest, which felt unreal.
I saw Barry tearing up a bit too.
"Barry, don't you dare cry," I said, going over to him and hugging him. Barry wiped his eyes and chuckled. "It's very sentimental. I never knew you could write such beautiful pieces."
"Well, now you know," I said. "You thinking about your parents?"
Barry nodded. "Yeah, but this is really helping come to terms with it."
The votes were put in, apparently, we tied completely. Since we still had a long way to go, we were both given points, so it was 3-6. They were half way to us.
The next round was on, and once again, I was jealous, because Jake and I had never mastered "In My Perfect World" because we had been too busy laughing at how funny it was, yet Hillary and Jake didn't make a single snicker. That seemed crazy.
I just knew we had to win this one. I had to overcome the feeling of jealousy because we were better than them. Christine and Jack were up singing 'It's Enough For Me' and Jack was even playing guitar on stage.
In the meantime, I thought I saw somebody trying to sabotage the effects we had on, so I went after them, but luckily it was only Manager Anthony.
Surprisingly, we didn't get most of the votes. It went to Team Hillary. Like Beetlejuice when he firsts makes his entrance in the musical, I began aggressively crumpling a piece of paper. The jealousy was still in. It was now 4-6. We couldn't let them catch up.
The next round was in, and Hillary was singing as Allie in "Crazy Chemistry.' She had apparently gotten her mojo back, and this was why I thought she was better as Allie. She could actually rise better as Allie, than as Delilah. I had a sympathetic feeling for this. If she just had stayed in her role, maybe she wouldn't have had to go through this. But I wasn't gonna let her stealing Jake slide. I was gonna win no matter what.
Too bad Anya and I had a trick up our sleeves, in the form of "Whatever It Takes," one of our new songs. It was one of our secret weapons. We had to do it, because they were starting to catch up again.
"So this is one of our four new songs," I introduced it. "It's called 'Whatever It Takes', and it's about what I would've been willing to do for Jake, had he not cheated on me. On Anya's side of it, it's about her wanting to protect us."
My magic put in the wind effects, to blow in my hair, and we sang our hearts out. I put real emotion into my part, unlike Hillary.
I was amazed by the feedback we were getting from the votes. We got the most votes once more, and it was now 4-7. Keep this up, and we could continue proving Hillary and Jake wrong.
That's when, the song was posted on all the music streaming apps, and that we announced as we got off stage.
Backstage, Jake came up to me. "Hey, um, that was really great out there. I didn't realize that's how you were feeling. Maybe, we could try again after this."
Dad quickly shot up, "Hey, hey, hey, you don't get to just win back my daughter like that. Get away, you swine! Back off!"
My entire family got in front of me to protect me from the toxicity that was Jake.
"You need to back off, because that's not the only song she wrote about you, because she wrote two more, and they're not so nice," Orpheus said. "I'm gonna be duetting her in one of them." "And I'm going to be duetting her in the other," Dimitri said. "And there's versions of us singing it on our own, and together, so don't try anything."
Next up what John Rapson, who was singing "Butterflies" a short and happy, go-lucky tune. Luckily, I had a trick up my sleeve for this one too. I got dressed in my mermaid costume, and was ready to go, as John sang his song.
When it was my turn, I came out and introduced my song with Eponine, "For The First Time", by saying, "This song I wrote when I was finally out of my old foster parents' clutches, when I ran away. Tonight, I will be duetting it with Eponine. So enjoy 'For The First Time'."
Backstage, bongos started playing, and we started singing in a curious and enthusiastic tone.
The votes came in. We had won again, so now it was 4-8. Once again, Hillary was infuriated. She didn't understand why she wasn't winning. But I was sure as hell glad she wasn't winning. It somehow made me happy to see her getting frustrated over this. That was until I saw them plotting something. Something that wasn't good. I could feel it in my bones, my soul, my veins, and in my spider sense.
I was starting to think about the consequences of this deal by now. If she won, that would mean they would need to find a new casting for Allie McAndrews and Princess Seraphina, who were both played by Hillary, because she would take over the role of Delilah McPhee. If I won, the understudy for Jake would obviously take his role, but then we would need a new understudy, and a new person to play Hillary's roles.
The next number came on, and it was "I'm Not Through" with Hillary and Julia. I honestly thought they would win this one, because what we had planned for this round was more talking than singing.
Then, Orpheus and Alexander went up on stage, in their My Heart Says Go costumes, and Orpheus introduced the song, "I know we're going a little out of order with the My Heart Says Go songs and not doing all of them, because 'Find Your Voice' is the fifth song in the track, 'Foot Down' is the eleventh song, and 'Goodnight Indigo' is the fifteenth song. The track is available on all music streaming apps though. Now we're going to do 'Father Vs. Son' the third number on the track. This is the number where Indigo and his father have their argument, which ends up in Indigo leaving and running to L.A."
They began the song and it was obvious, this song wasn't gonna win, from the beginning as they started.
The votes came in. As I expected, Team Hillary won that one by a landslide. The points were now 5-8. And I knew there was still a lot of time left to go.
Hillary went out on stage again, and she had obviously learned her lesson from "Talkin' To Oliver", and didn't say anything about "A Whole New Story" other than that was the song she was singing. As she was singing it, I started to get nervous, because she was definitely strategizing now, and she was actually making herself sound good while singing the song.
I was incredibly nervous as I went out on the stage with Ricky after this, and he obviously noticed this.
"We're gonna do fine," Ricky said.
I went up to the microphone and introduced the song. "So, this is the first time you're hearing of this musical. I'm working to get it on your music streaming apps, but this musical is one I wrote, based off the adventures my first true friends, after I ran away from my foster parents, but with a Greek mythological twist to it, like we're Greek demigod heroes, you know, and the Greek god parents are based off the characters' personalities. Tonight, we will be singing three of the songs from the musical for you, this one being one of them. There are four main characters including myself in the musical, me, Annabeth, Grover, and Percy, who I'm sure you've already heard of, since his name has been mentioned, when Hillary did her whole lie about where 'Talkin To Oliver' was inspired from, and we exposed her, unless you weren't listening. Myself was assigned to Gaea, because I have power in the sense, and I can be unpredictable, or very calming. Grover wasn't assigned a Greek God, he was given the role of satyr, because he is big on vegetarianism, and can be skittish. Annabeth is the wise one, quick thinker, and very smart, by the books mostly, so for her it was Athena. And Percy was assigned Poseidon, because he can also be unpredictable, powerful, but also calm, but he's also like a storm. Tonight, we will be doing the main songs of Annabeth and Percy, and this one is Percy's called 'Good Kid.' So here's the context. Percy, when I met him, he was considered to be a troubled kid on the outside, but on the inside he was not. He was just slower to process and learn things in school, and has dyslexia and ADHD, so you can't really blame him. He was always blamed for stuff he didn't do, causing him to get kicked out of many schools, six schools in six years. He was always blamed for this, because he has this brooding bad boy look and act about him, as you saw in the pictures. The look came from his father, who we actually met on the quest, and it's appropriate that he's Poseidon because everything that he is, is sea-themed. The act though, came from trauma he faced. After Percy's father left the picture, to protect him, Percy's mother married a guy named Gabe Ugliano, to keep them on their feet and stable. The issue was that Gabe was abusive, and had horrible hygiene, which nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. In fact, I met him briefly, and he smelled like if you combined alcohol, skunk, farts, armpit smell, feet stink, trash smell, and sewer smell all in one. It was disgusting. Smelly Gabe mistreated Percy's mother and Percy. When Percy was little, Smelly Gabe would lock him in kitchen cabinets to get him out of his hair until Percy's mother came home, which caused Percy to become very quiet in public, so you can't blame him for that. His mother was the only person in his life who understood and truly loved him. When he came to the summer camp I was at, he didn't have any friends except Grover. That was until he met me. When he first came to camp, his mother had just gone missing, and it mentions it in the song. When he met me, everything changed for him. He found me as someone who would understand, a motherly-like figure, and someone who would listen. When around me, he was a goofy golden retriever, a hyperactive dolphin, even. He became extremely attached to me. I'm who he refers to at the end of the song, the one who he's good enough for. The story does end happy though, after his mother was found. She kicked Gabe out, and made a sculpture which got her a lot of money, which gave them new opportunities, and she started writing a book. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the song. I will be duetting it with Ricky."
So we started singing.
The votes came in. It was another tie, so both teams got points, making the score 6-9. Audience members began arguing over which one of us should've actually won, Hillary because of the passion, or our team because of the context and story of the song, and because I was the one who wrote "A Whole New Story". The manager and the director had to settle them down. Nothing had happened during "Good Kid", though, but I had a feeling the bad thing was coming.
The next round was on, and team Hillary was doing their group number, "Best Day Ever". They were actually implementing choreography. They even did a quick-change! They were stealing our advantages! But I had a feeling that wasn't the worst thing they were gonna do. We hadn't even done quick-changes. Hillary was a bit off-key for some parts though. But still, my group changed into our costumes. Most of them were dressed as animals, some as mushrooms, while I was in a purple dress, like a human, because it gave Disney vibes.
When they were done, we came out to sing "I'm A Star."
I went up to the microphone and introduced it, "This song is about the equality of nature, and how everyone is equal, and it has a very Disney vibe to it. It says about that all of creation are stars, how we're all equal in the universe. So, enjoy 'I'm A Star'."
So we began singing it.
But unfortunately, what I sensed, came true. I spotted from the corner of my eye, someone cutting the rope which held up the effects light, which was giving us the starry sky effect.
I quickly, trying to improvise with the choreography to save the equipment from being destroyed and landing on Theadosia, by running over to where it was falling, and catching it, and dancing to keep the flow going. I gave it to Dimitri who had to control it now manually, from backstage, and I continued the number. Almost everyone in the audience saw that someone had tried to sabotage the equipment and gasped.
The votes came in, and Team Hillary won that one, but it was close, making the score 7-9. Everyone who had voted my team were in outrage. The people who voted team Hillary argued that our equipment must've been faulty, so it was our fault that it fell, and the song sounded too much like a kid's song. The ones who voted our team argued that the whole team, except Dimitri was on stage, and they saw someone backstage cut the rope which held up the effects lights, and it wasn't Dimitri, and that it would've hit Theadosia, and they argued that 'Best Day Ever' also sounded very much like a kid's song, and if they thought it was too Disney-like, they shouldn't be in the Musical Tavern, because a lot of musicals are based off kid animated movies and books. Once again, Director Jane and Manager Anthony had to settle them down to get the next round started.
The Manager, after Lydia, Anya, Primrose and I got dressed for the next round, while Wren, Jerusha, Vicki, and Hillary were on stage for "Do It For You" were checking the cameras from backstage to see who sabotaged our technology. I bet the other team didn't know there were cameras.
We found that Jake, out of spite, had cut the rope, because he had not been allowed to get close to me. We were going to use this against him and the other team at the right moment. And Uncle Luci was the key. He would spread the information to physical audience members, and secretly put a message on the poll that Jake sabotaged it.
It was our turn now. I was in my Eurydice worker outfit, and Primrose, Lydia, and Anya in their Fates costumes, from Hadestown. They even had their lanterns. We had props, another advantage of ours. Alexander was even there in his Hades costume, and Jack in his Hermes costume, because like me, they would only be on there briefly.
The votes came in again, and surprisingly the other team won, making the points 8-9. They were catching up. We couldn't let them catch up. And now, it would be Orpheus against Jake. Now would be the time to do the plan to ruin Jake. I sent Lucifer out into the audience to spread the information, as Orpheus was already ready in his Peter Pan costume. The animation music video was ready to play on the screens when it was our turn. And Jake was now singing "Something To Hold On To" and I hated the thought of him singing it. Not only that, he was singing it wrong. There was no longing in it, the way it was supposed to be, because in the scene this is the last time Prince Oliver will ever get to be with Delilah McPhee, and he knows it. And Jake was barely hitting any of the notes. Not only that, the choreography he was doing with Hillary wasn't that astounding. It was just a box step. The dance during the scene should've been magical, lifting her up in the air and spinning her around on the ground. We couldn't risk the people voting him though.
Finally, Orpheus went out, and the music video played on one screen, while the lyrics played on the other. I came out with him, in a blue hoodie, gray shorts, and socks, with a ponytail to replicate the music video. I also had a red flower in my hair was well. We used the harness to fly and perform dangerous stunts. I looked around, and curled up on stage when the music video showed the girl getting sent back to the real world, until Orpheus reappeared, to bring me back to happiness.
But during the performance, I got the familiar feeling that something bad was going to happen soon, like I had before. I didn't show it. I just continued to perform it with Orpheus. We had a mental understanding, that we both had that feeling.
Lucifer came backstage, "Mission complete. Everyone in the physical audience is spreading it."
"How about you Dimitri?" I asked. "Is the information on the poll?"
"Yup! It's there!" Dimitri leaned back in his chair. "I also fixed the effects light. So we have effects again."
The votes came in. Only a few, out of the millions of people watching from tv and here at the Tavern, voted for Jake. The plan had worked. The score was now 8-10. But we still had a while to go before we could know the final score for sure.
The next round was on, and Julia was singing "Leaps and Bounds" on stage, and our song was finally going to be "More Than Anything" with Dad. I was so excited for this. I was finally going to perform a duet with my father, which was what I had always wanted. We were in the costumes for the music video. We let Dimitri know what Orpheus and I were feeling, and now he was on high alert. Dad was too.
Dad and I went out on stage. Dad had fake wings that he could sprout on his costume as well. Mine didn't. It was so the audience didn't suspect anything. This number was a little more complex than the others, so I'll provide the lyrics, and when each movement happened.
"This song is called 'More Than Anything' and it's the first song I've gotten to write with my dad," I said. "I have loved every moment I've had with him, and getting to know him and this one might be a tear jerker for all of you with daddy issues. It's also one of the four songs I wrote with my family for this event. The first one was 'Whatever It Takes', here is the second one. Dad, do you wanna say anything?"
"Despite being in the unfortunate position of being absent for most of her life, I see myself so much in my daughter here," Dad said. He was even tearing up a bit. "Her passion for music of all genres and acting, her kindness, and her protective nature and willingness to help others especially. And every moment I've gotten to spend with her has been a blessing."
"We are very fortunate to have two music videos for you, one animated, the other live-action, and you can watch whichever one you prefer on the sides. Now, enjoy 'More Than Anything' performed by us!" I said. The audience clapped.
[Dad]
You didn't know that when I tried this all before
My dreams were too hard to defend
And in the end I won't lose it all again
Now you're the only thing worth fighting for
More than anything
More than anything
I'll shelter and adore you more than anything
He held me, sheltering me from the projection spears, as I separated from him.
[Me]
Dad, I don't need you to protect me from this
[Dad]
I just don't want you to be crushed by them like
Like I was
[Me]
Dad. . .
I separated from him, and looked away as if having flashbacks of the past.
When I was young, I didn't really know you at all
I always felt so small
But I heard your stories and I was enthralled
The tales about your lofty dreams, I listened breathlessly
Imagining it could be me
I looked back at Dad, and at the audience, and back at him.
So in the end, it's the view I had of you
That showed me dreams can be worth fighting for
More than anything
More than anything
I need to save my people more than anything
Dad teared up, and opened his arms out, wide as he sang his next line, wiping his tears.
[Dad]
I've been dying to find out who you are
I walked over to him, opening my arms up to him.
[Me]
I've been waiting, wanting the same thing
[Dad]
Looks like the apple doesn't fall far
[Me (Dad)]
Took you a while (I've missed that smile)
The portal effect came in, and Dad sprouted his fake wings, as he picked me up and we flew into it, doing the same dance we did the the live action music video, just in the air.
[Both]
All that I'm hopin', now that my eyes are open
Is that we can start again
Not be pulled apart again
Dad put me on top of his back, as I clung onto his neck.
'Cause in the end, you are part of who I am
[Dad (me)]
I'll support your dream whatever lies in store
(And who could ask for more?)
The golden water effect appeared below us, as the portal effect disappeared and we flew low, as I used one hand to run my hand through the water, as if it was real.
More than anything (more than anything)
We flew up, as Dad threw me up in the air, and that's when something shot our harnesses, cutting them, so that we were falling. But in the nick of time, Dad sprouted his real and much more beautiful wings, when he caught himself, breaking his fake wings, flying to me, and catching me by the waist so that we were facing each other. I felt relieved and truly safe for the first time, in his loving embrace.
I'm grateful you're my daughter (I'm grateful you're my father)
Our foreheads touched, and we hugged each other close, with Dad tearing up again, him hugging me by the waist, and me hugging him by the neck.
More than anything
More than anything
Then we finally landed back on the floor.
When the music finished, the claps were louder than ever. And so were the tears. If everyone hadn't been crying through the last three numbers, they were definitely crying now. The whole Tavern was in tears. They were also all in shock because many had seen that the lines had broken, yet Dad still flew. They knew what he was, or at least they knew he had abilities.
Dad kissed my forehead, as his wings retracted back into his back, as I hugged him.
The votes came in. It was clear, our song made everyone the most emotional, seen in the votes. We won the round. 8-11.
The next round came in, and Will came in singing "Out of Character" and in the meantime, I was still getting very emotional. Because I was putting on my Camp Half-Blood Shirt again. It had been such a long time since I'd worn it.
It turned out, Hillary had shot down the harnesses. That wasn't good at all. Since the harnesses were fabric and wiring, both Dimitri and Eliza had to pitch in to fix them on the spot. But we would use this information against Hillary at the right time.
Then it was our turn, and Lydia came out with me. I had made her a Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt too.
"So this song is the second song from the musical that I wrote where 'Good Kid' is from," I said into the microphone. "This song is called 'My Grand Plan.' Annabeth, was the type of person to always plan ahead. In her past, she had been treated like a gift, but when her dad married her step mother, Annabeth became more of a nuisance to them. No one paid any attention to her, so she ran away from home at just seven years old, and hasn't been back since. She actually went back for the school year, and has been telling me how it's been going. But this song is in tribute to her. Enjoy."
(The performance is a combination from the original musical and the Annapantsu cover below)
We paced around the stage, and put our tough stances on. On the screens, pictures of me and Annabeth, and just her transitioned. I even had a prop dagger, like hers, and a Yankee cap.
The votes came in. We had won again, making the score 8-12.
The next round came on. This round, there was no Between The Lines songs. Instead, John Rapson came out on stage singing "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin The Musical. That was one of the musicals I hoped to perform in the future. Their team had some incredible choreography.
In the meantime, my brother Orpheus changed into his Orpheus costume from Hadestown. Jack was in his Hermes costume, and Primrose, Lydia and Anya were in their Fates costumes. Six of my other siblings, Eliza, Usnavi, Dimitri, Matilda, Catherine, and Delilah were in the worker costumes. I would be singing from backstage when it was our time to go on.
After he went one, my team went on. We hung up six lit lanterns on the ceiling, which would be pushed for that effect in the show, which Eliza, Usnavi, Dimitri, Matilda, Catherine, and Delilah would be doing with their choreography. Orpheus had the flower I had been wearing during "I'll Save You", because it was the right type of flower and the right color.
(The performance is a combination of the three videos below.)
(The fates part in the video above, and the ending as well.)
(The evident girl's voice in the video above, and Orpheus's voice and this was the animation used on the screen.)
(The ending and the riff from the video above.)
The performance was beautiful. Everything was right on cue. I could only imagine what the lanterns looked like swinging towards the audience, from their perspective.
The votes came in. It was very close, but we had won again, making the score 8-13.
Hillary was fuming.
I laughed. "You should've prepared 'Prince Ali' and maybe you would've gotten that one."
The next round cued and the other team was doing "Allie McAndrews" as was my team. Wren and Hillary for their team, and Catherine and me for ours. I knew it was gonna be close because it was the same song. It all depended if Hillary portrayed more of an Allie or a Delilah McPhee. And surprisingly, she portrayed more of a Delilah McPhee, and though Catherine and I tried our best, I didn't think we could compete as well.
The votes came in. As I expected, we did not win the round, making the score 9-13. It didn't matter much at the moment, because my team was still winning, and intermission was coming, so we could relax for ten minutes soon.
The next round cued, and Vicki went out to sing "Can't Get Em' Out". I thought for sure that my team would win this round. It wasn't the greatest and most memorable song. It was like the song that everyone hates in every musical, and skips in the soundtrack. Like "Sentimental Man" from Wicked and "To Break In A Glove" from Dear Evan Hansen. Vicki was dressed like your typical librarian, and looked quite boring. In comparison, Dimitri was dressed in a black Among Us costume, like the game, which looked hilarious. I saw several people yawning in the audience, and getting bored during the number.
Finally, Dimitri went out on stage to perform his number, introducing the song, and then singing it. The animation played on the screens. I found it very funny. There were obvious gasps at the plot twist at the end of the animation, where the black crewmate warning against the imposter, was actually the imposter.
The votes came in. I was a little peeved though. The votes were close, but somehow, Team Hillary won that one, making the score 10-13. I was starting to get nervous again. We still had time, that was a given. But I wanted to prove that the people enjoyed me more. This was not good for that point. I knew we should soon use the information about Hillary snapping the harnesses during "More Than Anything" soon.
The next round cued. Hillary and Jake sang "Between The Lines (Reprise)." I was feeling jealous again. I just knew Jack and I had to beat them this round.
Finally, Jack and I went out on stage. I was back in my costume from "I'm A Star", and Jack was in a yellow glowy costume, like a star. It even glowed.
The audience was definitely more entertained. And guess what? Tears were back. Certain people's eyes got watery, which was a good sign.
Jack and I danced, and we used the harnesses once more. We danced in the air, spinning around, with joyful smiles and bright eyes. Luckily, nobody tried to sabotage our performance this time. Jack even went upside-down at some point. The animation was beautiful too.
The votes came in. We were victorious, making the scored 10-14. I was feeling a bit better now. We were still winning. And the next round was the last round before intermission. And after intermission, the other team was doing the last song in Between The Lines, so there were other musicals and songs to choose from for them.
The next round cued, and Hillary, Jake and the rest of the cast got on stage to sing "Say It In Other Words". I knew we had to nail our song because I couldn't let them win a song I took part in again. Not again. They were actually pretty good, but I knew I could do it better.
Finally, it was our turn, and we were gonna go off to intermission with a bang. We were doing "Non-Stop" from Hamilton, which was gonna be awesome. Usnavi was changed into the Hamilton costume, with the green coat. His thick head of hair was gelled back. Jack was in the Aaron Burr costume. Dad was in the George Washington costume. My sister, Eliza, was helping me get into the Eliza Hamilton costume gown, and Christine was helping Anya get into the Angelica costume gown. And some of the rest were in the ensemble costumes.
As we started singing, Usnavi put on the green coat. During the jury part of it, the ensemble characters were around. Usnavi, was incredibly accurate to the show. He was really funny when he raised his voice to a higher pitch when saying "I was chosen for the Constitutional Convention". The ensemble was really funny during the Constitutional Convention part. During the "Wait For It" reprise part, Jack sang it beautifully. Anya came out right on cue, and put on her best longing act as she came out with Usnavi, and separated from him. I put on the same longing act when I came in as Eliza Hamilton, bringing in the "That Would Be Enough" motif. Then when Jack said the part of "the plan was to write a total of twenty-five essays, divided evenly among the three men" he made the most confused face ever, as if calculating, which made the ent audience laugh. Then Usnavi was funny when he told Dad as George Washington "let's go", after continuously asking "Treasury or State?" I called for Usnavi as Hamilton, bringing in the "Helpless" motif, and Anya came in with the "Satisfied" motif, and Dad brought in the "History Has Its Eyes On You" motif, and Jack led the rest of my siblings in the "Why do you assume you're the smartest in the room" motif, making a beautiful harmony, tying it all together beautifully, with the choreography. Dad was on the harness again, and floated above all the action. I saw Hillary huffing in frustration at how much better we were doing. Jake had his jaw dropped. Wren was vibing and smiling brightly. She looked like she wanted to join us. At the end of the song, Usnavi brought in the "My Shot" motif and the "Alexander Hamilton" motif. Our performance of the song did as exactly as it was intended in the show, a banger for before the intermission, and tying in all the motifs from previously in the show.
The votes came in. We were victorious, and the score was 10-15. We were still in the lead. And we had time to relax before intermission ended.