"Ms Blakeson!" The colourful old lady twirls around, her arms open, awaiting a hug.
"You think I would miss something like this?" I squeeze her tightly, grateful.
"You should have told us. We could have saved you a good seat somewhere." Mia wined.
"Already taken care of. You girls aren't the only ones here I know." She looked over at Paige, who was sitting doing her makeup.
Faith growled at her sister.
"But don't you all look beautiful!" Taking a second to look at the rest of the girls, I do a mental happy dance.
We look amazing.
Faith is in a flowy dress, with a transparent section in the middle. The dress hung loose off her body, exactly how she liked it. Her hair, she left naturally wavy, with a couple of small plaits scattered around the place, and a section on the side pinned back to keep it off her face.
Mia's dress was more tight fitting then anyone else's. It had small sleeves, and hugged her body, becoming a bit looser towards the bottom, just above her knees. Her hair was as it always is, straight, with layers curled back, but today it looked more tame, and structured.
She looked stunning.
And lastly Coral. Her lacy black dress had a high collar, and 3 quarter sleeves, which where sheer lace. The remainder of the dress was the same lace, but had a backing. The top half was tight, whilst the bottom half flowed more, letting the dress comfortably swish as she moved. Her hair was waved, and she had somehow scrunched the top half up into a small messy bun just below the crown of her head.
"I know you all need to keep on getting ready, and I want to go and get settled in my seat, so I'll let you go. But good luck girls. You deserve every second of this."
Ms Blakeson walks out of the room, leaving us all smiling.
There's nothing that lady can't fix.
Sitting back in my seat, a quickly touch up my makeup, passing my eyeliner to Coral to do it for me. No way was I going to mess it up.
Once that was done, we started doing our vocal warm ups. Gently warming up, like we had done hundreds of times before. I watched Paige block the dance once more, before Ms Mayer came down, and told us that the concert was starting, and that Paige and I needed to go and wait in the wings, and the rest of the girls should go out to the audience.
It felt like the end of year concert all over again. But this time, everything was real.
"I'm sorry if I stuff up Dani." Paige whispers into my ear, as we watch the performer before her finish her monologue.
"Paige, you can't stuff up. You can't let me down. You know that right?" I look down at her, in her black leotard and shorts, her pony tail smoothed back perfectly. I give her a hug, as we can hear the audience from the wings start to applaud.
"Just agreeing to do my dance was enough for me. You are the best dancer I know. So go out there, and dance like I know you can."
Paige's smile grows, joy filling her eyes.
"Please welcome to the stage, Paige Olson, dancing a piece titled, 'The Broken Road', Choreographed by Danielle Norm." Paige slowly walks onto stage, looking out to the audience, and starts to dance to the music.
She jumps, falls, spins, perfectly. Her movements precise, and methodical. Ms Mayer comes up beside me.
"You wish you could be out there?" She whispers, being careful not to be too loud.
I contemplate her question. Do I wish I could be out there? Yes. I love dance. It has always been part of my dream.
But I didn't miss it as much as I thought I would.
Maybe it wasn't part of my dream anymore.
"I don't think so Ms. Is it weird to say that maybe my dreams have changed?"
"Not at all Dani. Not at all." tearing my eyes away from Paige's final movements, I look Ms Malton, gratefully. She smiles, applauding Paige.
"Thanks Ms."
"No Problem Dani. And a beautiful dance." Winking, she walks off towards the group of drama students preparing to go on stage. Paige comes off, beaming.
"How did I do?" I smile, giving her a massive hug.
"Better than I could ever imagine. Beautiful." I pull her away from the slowly crowding side stage, towards our dressing room, where Paige quickly rushed to get changed, so she could get into the audience and watch the acts. Mia, was putting the finishing touches on her outfit, with some earrings and a bracelet.
"You okay Mia?" I sit beside her, leaning back in the chair.
"I think so. Just trying to remember that at least this performance is the same as normal." The nerves were clearly etched in her face.
"You'll be great. You always are bub." Patting her on the shoulder, I stand up, preparing to walk around to where we can sit and watch the rest of the performances at the back of the hall.
"Kill it Mia." We both exit the room, parting ways, to our desired destinations.
And 'Kill it' she did. Mia sung a rendition of "Not Today" by Alessia Cara. We all were on our feet, screaming at the top of our lungs, being overly obnoxious for our best friend.
Soon it was Faiths turn. I don't think anyone in the audience could have been louder than Paige, who sat with Ms Blakeson a couple of rows from the front. Ms Olson and also sat with them, was shedding a tear. Faith sung 'Crazy' by Daniela Andrade, one of her favourite songs.
There was a couple of acts between Faith and Coral, so I took it as a chance to go and find Joel. Spotting him on the end of a row, I try and silently slip to his side, not being aided by my heels.
"Have you heard from Mum and Dad?" I whisper into his ear. His shoulders sag, as he lets out a heavy breath.
"They couldn't make it Dan." My heart sinks. I thought that maybe they would at least try and come to see Taylors artworks or something. I didn't even have hopes that they would make it to see my performance.
Lost cause obviously.
They had made this night a night to remember, and yet, they couldn't come.
"That's okay, I guess." Disappointment seeps into my voice. Joel nudges my shoulder, giving me a gentle smile, then pointing to the stage, where Coral was taking her place. She was singing 'Turning Tables' by Adele. Ms Mayer had actually suggested for her to sing it, after she caught her singing it in class. Coral was skeptical, but practiced it anyway, and it sounded amazing. Coral put her own, unique spin on it, and it captivated the audience.
But as soon as she finished, I realised that I needed to head round. It was my time to perform.
Walking around the back, discarding my jumper in the dressing room, and fixing the stray hairs, I could feel my stomach start to twist. But it was manageable. I walked up the stairs, in a daze, relaying the lyrics in my head, praying that nothing went wrong. One of the stage crew passed me a microphone, which I gripped tightly.
"Please welcome, Danielle Norm, singing 'Not too late', by Ricki-lee." The audience applauded, as I walk on stage. I walk up to the middle of the stage, in the dark. The only thing you could hear was the clacking of my heels.
My stomach hurts, just like any performance, but as soon as the beginning chords start to play, I instantly put everything into my voice. Into my diction, and my emotion. Letting my voice break in the chorus, and trying to build the intensity throughout.
Thinking of my parents, and their empty promises, and Taylor, and our lost friendship, my eyes start to drip.
As I finish, the audience is silent. Stray tears are rolling down my face, and I look to the dark silhouettes in front of me. Suddenly, everyone starts clapping. I can hear Coral, Mia and Faith shouting, and Joel screaming "that's my sister!". As I turn to walk off stage, Connors eyes catch mine. He sat with Lucy and Melissa, all of which were clapping wildly. My smile faltered slightly under his gaze.
Exiting the stage, I give a massive grin to Ms Mayer, who is still clapping, along with everyone else, and then rush downstairs.
Quickly assessing the damage of my emotions in the mirror before the girls came rushing in, I brush on a touch of extra foundation and powder, covering up the tear streaks.
When they do come rushing in, we all start wildly silent squealing in joy.
"You did great!"
"So did you!"
"You were amazing!"
"Speechless!"
It took a couple of minutes for us to fully calm down. Once we did, reality took over. Mia quickly rushed over to her bag, pulling out a couple of little boxes.
"I got us a little something for tonight. It's not big, but yeah..." She passed out three of the boxes, keeping one for herself.
Opening them, inside was a ring. It was so simple and delicate.
"A four strand braid." She says, slipping her gold ring onto her left, middle finger.
Taking mine out, I inspect the ring closer, to see in the inside, four little letter marked into one strand each.
"Mia, these are beautiful." I give her the biggest hug, slipping the ring into my own finger. Coral and Faith also slip theirs on, giving Mia a hug.
"Girls?" Ms Mayer peeks her head out from around the door, "Your next." She walks back up, as we all are suddenly sick to the stomach.
I feel all the blood rush from my face.
Coral takes a massive breath.
"Let's head up then guys. We will rock this." But her words were not filled with the exact amount of conviction that was needed. We walk up the stairs, Coral leading. Everyone in the back area, mostly music students, gave us pats on the back, wishing us luck. We flashed them collective smiles, but stayed quiet.
The final drama act was finishing. It was a group of girls, all doing a hilarious skit about female reproductive organs. It was odd, and goofy, but fantastic.
Ms Mayer handed us out microphones. All black, with different coloured tapes on the bottom, which correspond to different buttons on the control panel, to show if they were on. My blue tape was slightly peeling, causing me to scratch at it more. Mia was off to the side, deeply breathing, with her eyes closed, Coral was staring at the ceiling, giving herself a mental pep talk, and Faith was standing right next to me, staring blankly onto the stage, where the girls were taking their final bows. As soon as we hear the clapping, we all regroup, grasping onto each other's hands.
The drama kids exit the stage, and Ms Mayer walks into stage.
"To finish the night, we have a really special performance. Four of our girls, Danielle, Mia, Faith and Coral, are in a band, called Neon. You guys can go and look them up if you like their performance tonight. But as a special treat, we asked for them to perform tonight. Please welcome them to the stage, performing an original song, titled Little Me."
I give my hands a squeeze, and then let go. Ms Mayer exits the stage.
Looking at each other, we smile.
"Let's do this." Faith mutters, and walks on stage.
As I follow, my heart is in my mouth. My hands are shaking slightly, and my wrist is throbbing. I keep my head down slightly, making sure not to trip. We all stand, at the front of the stage, centered towards the middle. Faith, me, Mia, and Coral.
The piano that I had recorded starts to play. Faith brings her microphone up to her mouth, and starts to sing.
'She lives in the shadow of a lonely girl
Voice so quiet you don't hear a word
Always talking but she can't be heard'
We all bring our microphones up, Mia taking the lyrics, whilst we sang harmonised chords behind her.
Coral and I harmonise, keeping our gazes on the audience, not letting our attention sway from the delicate song.
Then we all sang together the chorus.
This song meant so much to us. It was the first song we ever wrote together.
I finished off the phrase.
'Little me'
We played along like that, each of us taking a couple of lines solo, or with someone else, trying to express our emotions through song, letting the nerves dissolve. The whole time, we tried to stay focus at the people in front of us. That was what we had practiced. But as we got towards the end of the song, and the beat got a little more ingrained, I couldn't help tap my foot slightly, pushing it into the beat, letting my hand trail my microphone as I sung, and the others did as well. On the parts where we just built on a chord, we all turned slightly into each other, helping steady the note.
The final line, I sung, "you could be beautiful, wonderful, anything you want to be", and we all had somehow moved closer together, so for the final notes, as we harmonised, we all lent together, smiling, savouring the moment.
"Little me"
Instantly, the audience gave us a standing ovation. We all griped each others hands tightly, letting massive smiles erupt across our faces. Looking at Coral, she had a couple of tears streaked down her face. Mia was trying to hold it together, but knowing her, as soon as we stepped off stage she would start crying. Faith looked as if she was in a sort of shock.
I was in pure bliss. This was my dream. This is exactly what I wanted to do. This is exactly what I needed to do. Looking at Joel, I could see the pride, and then I quickly glanced at Connor, who had his phone up to his face, looking as though he was taking a photo. But as soon as it lowered, I saw a massive smile on his face.
Nothing could have beat Ms Blakeson's face. She was in hysterics, holding a bunch of tissues up to her eyes. She looked over joyed, and full of pride, but also she looked satisfied, like she was happy with what she had created.
Looking at the girls again, we all nodded, walking off stage.
But the applause still continued. Ms Mayer in the wings had a big smile, giving us all a hug as we got through the wings.
Walking quickly through the backstage, down to the dressing room, Mia breaks into sobs as expected. We just pull her down to the dressing room, in an effort to get some privacy from everyone around us giving us pats on the shoulders and congratulating us.
As soon as the door to the dressing room closes, we all start sobbing as well.
We did it.
And it was amazing.