Sharon was pacing up and down as the talent show progressed, she felt sick with nerves. She looked over at Michael while he played the piano for the twins. Steph was stood behind him, and Sharon almost hoped she'd distract him. She chastised herself for being so mean-spirited, besides the twins song was so sickly sweet the only way they'd win would be if the pink ladies messed up.
'We've got this in the bag,' Rhonda said gleefully. 'The twins have sent have the audience to sleep!'
Sharon bit her lip nervously. 'But what if we mess up?' Their act was certainly more ambitious but the potential for mistakes was greater too.
'Even if we mess up we'll still be better than them, they sound like a couple of cats,' Rhonda laughed. 'Come on the t birds are up in a minute, don't you want to watch.'
Sharon let herself be dragged to the side of the stage where the t birds were getting ready to perform. 'What's with the pink jackets?' she asked Louis frowning. She'd assumed they'd wear their t bird jackets.
'You don't like our costumes?' Goose snickered adjusting his collar.
Sharon glanced at Rhonda wondering what was so funny. 'I thought pink was more our colour,' she finally said, something was definitely not right. However, before she could probe any further Johnny called the guys together.
'If we don't win those albums after all of this,' Goose moaned, and Sharon silently agreed with him.
'We will,' Johnny said, giving his hair a final comb before Mrs McGee called them onto the stage to begin their act.
Sharon stood at the side watching nervously, she hoped Louis wouldn't mess up. She couldn't believe it when the t birds act was almost flawless, she only said almost cos she hated the song. It would be typical if after all her hard work they won and the girls lost.
~~~
'Thank god that's over with,' Louis said to Sharon as he came off the stage. He wasn't sure how they'd pulled it off but eliminating the main competition had to have helped. Sharon nodded, giving him a tight smile.
'Relax, it'll soon be over,' he said trying to reassure her. She was so wound up, and he was sure she was worse cos her mom was watching. She put Sharon under a stupid amount of pressure.
'I just hope I don't make any mistakes,' she said chewing her lip. He gave her shoulder a squeeze before she went to round the girls up. He glanced over at Johnny who was slapping hands with Goose but he didn't feel like joining in with the premature celebrations so he wandered over to Michael.
'How's it going?' he asked. They were all supposed to be friends now but they hadn't really hung out.
'Yeah good,' Michael said looking towards Stephanie who was testing that the lights worked on her Christmas tree costume. 'Actually maybe not so good.'
'What's up?'
'I don't know what to do with the rest of my life,' Michael admitted.
Louis frowned. 'That's deep. Why worry now?'
'Cos I've got to decide whether or not to extend my visa. I've looked into it and I think I can if I go to college here but I don't know if I want to.' Michael glanced at Steph again, and sighed.
Louis's frown deepened. 'So is it college you're not sure of, or staying here?'
'Both, but I can't tell Stephanie that. As far as she's concerned if I can extend my visa I'm staying.'
Louis nodded, that was a problem. 'Best keep quiet until you decide then.'
'What would you do?' Michael asked surprising him.
Louis laughed. 'You're asking me? I've completely messed things up with Sharon, I'm not the person to give advice.'
'I thought you'd sorted it all out,' Michael said.
Louis shook his head. 'I guess we have but I think I've ruined things, Sharon doesn't seem to be the same with me anymore.' Something had changed and he couldn't put his finger on it.
'Well, why don't you talk it through with her?' Michael suggested. 'I guess I'm gonna have to with Steph.'
'Yeah I know,' Louis said brooding. 'But I don't want to start a conversation that might lead to us splitting up.'
'But if you ignore it won't that happen anyway?'
Louis sighed, he and Sharon wanted different things from their relationship. He was willing to go at her pace if the alternative was losing her but he feared the damage had already been done.
~~~~
'Congratulations,' Mrs McGee said as she joined the pink ladies on stage and announced they'd won the girls division of the talent contest. She then called the t birds up as joint winners.
'Smile Stephanie we've won the whole talent show,' Paulette gasped beaming at her.
'The girls' division Paulette,' Sharon corrected and Paulette glared at her.
'Even in victory, you're a pain, Sharon!'
Steph smiled weakly at the joke but she did not feel joyful. She kept looking over at Michael sat by the piano, and she couldn't believe that just as they'd found each other she was going to lose him. She'd been such a fool to spend months ignoring him, in a way she knew it would serve her right if he did go back to England.
'Come on Steph,' Paulette said breaking her out of her reverie. They were all exiting the stage while she was staring into space.
She went over to Michael, almost dragging her heels.
'Hey congratulations,' he said hugging her.
'I forgot a couple of my lines, I'm surprised Sharon hasn't lynched me.' It was her own fault for not concentrating during rehearsals.
'I don't think anyone noticed,' Michael assured her.
She shook her head. 'Well, you obviously did.'
'Only because I was paying extra attention to you.'
She took his hand and they went to have a look at their prize which Mrs McGee was dividing between the two groups.
~~~
'I can't believe we won half the records and we got all the classicals,' Louis moaned looking through the records.
'Really?' Sharon tried not to smile as she looked through the pink ladies stack.
Goose looked dismayed. 'No Roy Orbison's?' He quickly shuffled through the t birds records, his face falling.
'No we've got them,' Rhonda said gleefully, holding an album aloft.
'I still can't believe we won,' Sharon exclaimed to no one in particular. Not only would it get her mom off her back for a while, they'd got the better prize!
'I told you, you would,' Louis said putting his arm around her. 'Listen can we talk later?'
She looked up puzzled. 'Is something wrong?' She moved back to look at him properly.
'No, of course not,' he said quickly.
'Right well why do we have to talk later, we're talking now aren't we?' There was something about his tone she didn't like and it put her on the defensive.
'Yeah but I wanted to talk to you alone,' he said keeping his voice down.
'Why what's wrong?'
'Nothing's wrong, I just wanted to talk to you by yourself. But it's ok, it doesn't matter.' He shrugged, and she couldn't read the expression on his face.
'Well, something must be wrong. You wouldn't have asked to talk to me if it didn't matter,' she persisted.
'Sharon it's nothing, we'll talk later.' He put his arm back around her. 'Come on, we're supposed to be going to the celebrations.'
A dance was being held after the talent contest and they were all going. Sharon let him drag her away but she felt distinctly uneasy, she couldn't get the thought that he was about to dump her out of her head.
~~~~~
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