Chapter 21...For The Win
Tonight was a monumental night for Eli, the night before everyone in America who had paid attention to the competition had voted for the winner and tonight he could be the one who walks and frankly that scared Eli after he had done so well. For the past week Eli has been staying in New York because the final round, the tenth round, was hosted live to see if they cracked under pressure and Eli was pretty sure he had done fine, just ended up sweating a little too much due to the huge spotlights that shone on him for performance.
The finally round included one song from the genres of pop, rock, punk, hardcore, country, and a few other genres. This was to expose to the viewers any faults in the singer's voice and to see where they sung the best and had where their low points occurred. Eli knew his country talent was very limited and he blew the stage away with the rock, punk, and hardcore songs he picked.
The Songs from last night included:
Stay the Night by Zedd
Summer of 69' by Bryan Adams
1 Trillion Dollars by Anti-Flag
Right Back At It Again by A Day To Remember
Drunk On You by Luke Bryan
Not Afraid by Eminem
The Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key
The two final contestants led the last round off with a duet of the national anthem. The thing that Eli liked about this competition was that it actually had them on a real stage and not in some studio making it look as real as possible. People didn't sit in seats they stood as if it was a real concert and Eli just pretended that it was a concert in the backyard for his friends and classmates. Eli and Chester who was the other semi-finalist were sitting backstage hanging out. Since they were together for the partner rounds three and four they had resolved their conflict and realized they were more alike than they had originally thought.
A couple of record companies were sitting in the crowd tonight deciding if they wanted either one at their company. They had about fifteen minutes before they were supposed to do their final performances before the winner was announced as it was already locked in place. Eli had picked his favorite song to sing that night as tonight was all or nothing. As the minutes dwindled down Eli got anxious and he started to move his left up and down repeatedly and it would not stop unless Eli thought to stop it.
"Anxious much?"
"You don't know the half of it." He said with a slight chuckle to cover up the nervousness that surrounded him like an invisible cloak.
"Hey no matter what happens I was thinking maybe that we should try to reform Anthem Falls."
"I mean we could try it would be fun and I never meant to kick you out when you were sick way back when."
"It's alright and I can see why they did."
And leaving Eli with that Chester walked to the front of the stage as the hosts Dany and JoBell welcomed him to the stage.
Eli gave him a pep talk because sooner than later they called his name and it was now his turn to give it all and hope for the best.
"And for the second semi-finalist Eli Carter, who is here tonight to sing his favorite song."
With that he began to strum the guitar he had his left hand wrapped around on the intro chord and the pick in the right moving up and down the strings over the pick-up. He played the chords and stepped up the microphone and smiled at the crowd.
"The fields where nothing grew, I found a flower at my feet..."
The beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as he focused on playing the guitar first hitting the notes and then focused on the lyrics matching up to where he was playing. The King family stood front row cheering for Eli as he got lost in the song and before he knew it he was into the last chorus which was his favorite.
"All because of you. I believe in angels not the kinds with wings; no not the kind with halos. The kind that bring you home; when home becomes a strange place. I'll follow your voice. All you have to do is shout it out."
Placing his finger on the high E String, fourth fret, he picked the single note singing shout it out as the song ended. He didn't look at the crowd right after he focused on the guitar in his hand and the feeling he felt whenever he played the song as tonight he played the song for the first time in front of a crowd.
The crowd gave Eli a standing ovation and yelled cheering wishing he would be singing and playing more, but the two hosts shushed everyone by making the lights swing from high to low and then turning off leaving the stage black. People could heard the hosts voices as the big reveal took place.
"The moment everyone's been waiting for and this came down to literally one vote apart showcasing the immense talent the two guys have and have been working for this moment, but unfortunately only one will receive the grand prize, but both have made a name for themselves in the music industry and both while they were eighteen years old. My husband and I wish both the boys tremendous luck as they chose their ow futures hopefully in the music industry, but now everyone of you made this decision and frankly if someone threatened me to pick one, I don't think I could."
Danny took the microphone from his wife and laughed, "Sorry, she likes to ramble on. I have one thing to say before I announce the winner, we put this together because we wanted to help someone who might never have been able to get a career in music build a name for themselves and we never guaranteed anyone anything but the grand prize, our contest isn't like The Voice of American Idol. Now everyone just one more than half voted for him, he was a last minute entry into the competition and frankly he needs the money he earned tonight and over the past months as he battled his way up the latter to become the king. Eli Carter I am amazed at your personal strength and the amount of talent you have and we are happy to announce you are the first winner of a contest my wife and I hope to continue in the future years."
A spotlight shone on Eli and he grabbed Chester pulling him into it as well as he got handed the microphone expecting to say something now as a thank you.
"Thank you JoBell and Danny this truly means a lot to me, but without his man's help in the partner rounds I might have never made it to day on the contest. So everyone doesn't look at me like the sole winner, in many ways Chester won this contest too."
Eli paused to let people cheer.
"I know many of you were skeptical of me as I mentioned my father, Luke was in the hospital and thought I was trying to get sympathy and likes through that, but the reason I joined the competition last minute was that I saw the grand prize was almost enough money to pay for his surgery as I'm just a kid with a high school diploma and he would be out of work for months and there was no way we would have enough to pay for it. Thank you for voting for me and this has truly been a one in a lifetime opportunity I want to let Chester say something."
Handing the microphone to Chester clapping which the crowd mimicked he spoke not as long as anyone else, but everyone was speechless.
"Not many of you actually know this, but Eli kicked me out of my band over a year ago." And he chuckled to himself, "and I know why now. The guy who replaced me had so much talent over such a wide range. There is nothing bad I could say about Eli and his ability. I couldn't thank him enough for everything he's done for me even if he doesn't directly know what he's done. We talked backstage and we were thinking about getting the band back together now that the competition was over. Eli my man, you deserve this and I can't even be jealous of you."
Eli and Chester did the man hug that boys do when they see their friends and Danny began talking to the crowd and thanked them for following the competition and they would be updating their website on when the next one would begin. Eli waved to the crowd and jumped off the front of the stage and walked over to the King family who enveloped him in a massive group hug. Mr. and Mrs. King were so pleased to see that Eli a kid who didn't have the most stable teenage years grew out of the person he used to be. The person on that stage tonight looked almost like a stranger to the four of them. He was focused, determined, and having the time of his life. He belonged along the strums of his guitar and in the lyrics that flowed from his heart as he gave it everything every time he had to play or sing. The determination to be the best he could be blowing people's minds.
He seemed like he knew what his place was in the world, when he really was trying to find his place in the world. Deputy Bentley came up from the crowd and hugged his girlfriend kissing her cheek and Isabelle giggled blushing. Eli smiled and shook his hand as the deputy congratulated him on the win. Deputy Bentley offered to drive Isabelle to the restaurant that the Kings were taking Eli to as a surprise, but he did it discreetly by offering her a ride home and Eli piled into the backseat next to Jeremy of the King's sports car.
A tired Eli leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes as the world began to be tuned out by the music that played in his head. They drove through the wintery New York weather and they all missed the Florida weather. The glass that Eli's head rested upon was cold to the touch and a few minutes later the car pulled into the parking lot and Mrs. King got out of the car to see if their table was ready so that Eli could sleep for as long as possible. Iz and Bentley were also waiting until they saw them walking into the restaurant, so Bentley kissed his girlfriend after not seeing her in a while due to her usually being at college while he was working alongside Officer Declan. They had to wait half an hour before they could sit at the restaurant made a mistake and thought the King's reservation was for the next hour and not the one now. Eli slept until someone shook him awake telling him they were heading inside the restaurant to eat. Half-awake he pulled his face away from the glass slowly and headed inside with the others.
Having friends whose parents are relatively famous helped when they got the restaurant to themselves at the clock hit the next hour which was when it was supposed to close, but tonight in celebration of Eli's win they were staying open for the party of six. Eli felt a little awkward tonight due to not being used to having the attention focused on him, which was different than performance for a huge crowd. While waiting for the food everyone ordered the restaurant's door opened, a man who looked pretty familiar to Eli walked in resulting in Mrs. King standing up to hug him and Mr. King shaking his hand.
"Man it's been a long time since we've seen you Jeff."
"Oh Mrs. King it's only been like eighteen years."
The adults at the table laughed and they invited him to pull up a chair and join them in their celebration.
"Thank you for the offer, but I'm here for Eli tonight. If you wouldn't mind talking to me for a few minutes in private."
Eli looked up and Mr. King gave him an encouraging smile so Eli agreed to talk to him outside the restaurant for a couple of minutes. Eli had no clue who this man was and what he wanted with Eli, but the King's trusted him even after eighteen years so he did see any trouble in a conversation with the man.
Looking the familiar stranger in the eye he noticed he looked like an older version of himself, but said nothing and waited for the man to speak.
"I'm Jeff from Gold's Records. I called you a while back offering you a record deal during the competition you finished tonight and here I am in person personally asking you if you want a record deal and if you say yes tonight I will email you setting up an appointment with my studio back in Florida and we will continue the conversation once you head back to Florida, so what do you say, keep in mind you can back out later if you don't want to nothing is permanent at the moment."
Eli smiled and looked at the man, that's why he looked and sounded familiar he knew the man, but couldn't place him.
"For now, I'll say yes, but I was planning to get back together with my old band so that would be taken into account when we meet up in Florida please."
The two shook heads and he handed the kid a business card before allowing Eli to escape the brutal cold winds of New York winter. He kept his coat on as he sat down noticing food had arrived. Everyone at the table knew exactly what the two were going outside to talk about so no one questioned Eli and he actually got disappointed as no one bothered him with question, but the disappointment faded quickly as everyone enjoyed themselves and talked to one another about random topics to specific life avenues.
Getting back to the hotel that Danny and JoBell booked for Eli, he collapsed on the bed letting his head hit the pillow and the night fade away. Dreams for the night were light and by the next morning Eli did not recall having a single dream as he slept through the night for the first time in a while. Not looking forward to seeing Luke return home once Eli's mini-vacation ended he put those dreading thoughts aside and was ready to tour the Big Apple. Eli and the King's had about a four-hour drive to the city and booked a hotel for the night so they would be able to make the most of the time they had in the city before they had to leave from JFK National Airport the next day.
Hearing about accidents that happened in the New York winters from the internet gave Eli something to worry about as the winter slush on the ground wasn't the easiest to drive on compared to driving on the streets of Florida during the winter seasons. Eli recalled an early memory from his childhood with his mom and they had made a trip to see her parents back when they were alive and sighed as the car sped along the highways.
The four hours in New York travelling seemed to pass by much slower as everything was dull, grey, and white with the green of some trees invading the almost colorless scheme of the nature unlike the bright, sunny, and colorful scenery that he was used to staring out at on trips to places far away. He missed Florida as the New York weather turned him away from the possibility of ever living there in the future, although he did not know what it looked like during the spring or summer even the fall.
Crossing the bridge into the city amazed Eli, but he also wasn't a big fan of cities. He never wanted to live in any place like this; however, it didn't mean he wouldn't ever want to visit them one day. What amazed Eli was the design of the city and how everything seemed to fit together like pieces of a puzzle as everything was tightly packed together, yet conveyed the bright minds of the architect, civil engineer, and others behind their master blueprint for the city. Eli spent the rest of the day playing tourist around the city and he met up with the Kings around eight at night to eat room service from their hotel rooms and enjoy a night in for once. Some people had approached Eli asking to take a picture with him and after that he bought a hat and sunglasses to wear so he would be less recognizable to other pedestrians on the streets of New York City.
Eli smiled to himself as he looked around the hotel room at the family he had made for himself excluding the boyfriend of his best friend. He didn't not like Iz's boyfriend he just didn't consider him apart of his second family as the King's thought of Eli as their adoptive son. They played games long into the night until everyone disappeared to their own rooms leaving the parents alone for the night.
"Hey congrats again."
"Thanks for the support."
They hugged and she went to see her boyfriend against her parent's rule and he returned to his room for the night and spent the rest of the night up listening to new music on YouTube looking for most songs to add to his infinitely growing collection. He had at least three hundred songs on his phone and found out some bands released new albums and downloaded them onto his laptop he brought with him on the trip and he login into the airlines website and sent an email to his phone so he would have his boarding pass for the flight later today since it was already close to two am.
Staying up the whole night on YouTube Eli's face reflected his exhaustion. They ran to the airport in hopes of catching the flight before a major snow storm moved in as some airlines were canceling later flights in preparation for the snow. Something that they never had to worry about in Florida was the snow and Eli's mood became better as he watched from the window seat of his plane as they took off watching the snow covered ground move away from him while in reality he was moving away from it. In about three hours in was home in this house and collapsed onto his bed falling asleep only to be awoke a couple of hours later to hearing someone else in the house, two people actually since Luke was supposed to have a nurse with him or the first couple of weeks to make sure everything from the transition home went smoothly and that Luke didn't relapse immediately as he had been off alcohol for a couple of months. Eli didn't want to go downstairs and he chose to pretend to be asleep, so it remained that Luke thought Eli wasn't home yet and Eli was fine with that.
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