Chapter 8~Unknown Talent

 

- - - - -Robyn- - - - -

 

            “…So when I wanted some cotton candy, I was looking for my money to pay for it. And Morgan, you would not believe what Frankie did,” I started to describe my night to Morgan as we walked to the New York Theater.

            “Enlighten me,” Morgan sighed.

            “He grabbed my cotton candy and made me run after him for it. When I finally got the cotton candy, he kissed me! AHHH! He was so adorable,” I replied with a huge grin.

            “So wait…you two are going out now?” Morgan asked surprised. She sounded disappointed.

            “I don’t know, but I’m hoping he’s going to ask me out soon. Why? What’s the matter?” I replied with a puzzled expression.

            “I haven’t even met him!” Morgan shouted, “I mean he sounds sweet and all, but he has to pass through me before I can judge that. You gotta let me meet your prince charming!”

            “You will…eventually,” I said eyeing Morgan.

            “So are you ready to see Julia suck?” Morgan questioned hysterically to change the subject.

            “How could I not be?!” I responded with excitement.

That day was the day of the singing contest. The winner of the singing contest got $1,000,000, a record deal, and a chance to sing at the Pokemon 2 movie premiere. I was supposed to be one of the contestants for the singing contest, but Julia took the last slot. Julia wasn’t even in the school chorus. I was excited to see Julia stink at singing that day. I was almost positive she’d lose.

Morgan and I took our seats at the theater in the front row. There was a long table of 5 judges in front of us. Morgan asked one of the judges politely for a program. When she got a hold of the program, the cover of the program read, “Singing Talent 2000”.

“I wonder who else is trying out,” Morgan laughed as she sat back in her chair.

“Yeah. Me too,” I simply replied, “Oh shhh! The try-outs are starting!”

I eagerly sat in my chair, wondering if these people had real talent. Next to me, Morgan was flipping loudly through the program. She was mocking all of the names of the groups/people trying out.

“Hey, Robyn! Check this out! There’s some girl who calls herself ‘Precious’! Hah!” Morgan chortled loudly.

“Quiet Morgan!” I whispered while getting annoyed.

“No wait, hold on. This is the best one. These are 5 guys who call themselves ‘Dream Street’! Hahahahahaha!” Morgan burst out into laughter. I started to laugh, too. What kind of boy group calls themselves, “Dream Street”?

One of the angry judges turned around and gave us an evil eye. My eyes widened and I shut my mouth immediately. Fortunately, Morgan did the same. I thought she’d never shut up.

Act after act after act came by and it was finally Julia’s turn to sing. The program said she was singing, “I Will Survive.” I was up for some huge laughter. Morgan and I planned that when the judges announced Julia’s name, we would “boo” at her.

“Our next act is Julia Hoogan from The Bronx, New York!” The announcer announced.

“BOOOOO!!!!!” Morgan and I started to laugh with our thumbs pointing down. Julia was on the stage, glaring at the two of us. The song started up.

“At first I was afraid, I was petrified…” Julia started in a small voice. By then, I was laughing in my seat. Her voice was already cracky and squeeky. Julia started to shake her hips along to the song, but she was offensively offbeat.

“Oh my gosh! Robyn! Look at that! That’s not dancing!” Morgan whispered.

“I know! I THOUGHT she couldn’t dance and now I KNOW she can’t dance!” I started to laugh.

“She can’t sing either,” Morgan replied with a grin on her face.

“I will survive! Ohhhhhhh! Yeah!” Julia continued to screech through the microphone. I covered my ears, not wanting to listen. She was horrible! Just as Julia was about to sing the rest of the chorus, one of the judges came up to the stage.

“And that was Julia Hoogan from The Bronx, New York,” the announcer stated as he dragged Julia off the stage.

“No, wait! I haven’t finished my song!” Julia wailed out to the audience.

“Stop! Put me down!” she started to scream at the announcer that was carrying her off stage.

Morgan and I burst out with laughter! That was the best moment of my life! And I swear I would pay big money to see that happen again.

“Lets go, Morgan. I can’t take these horrible singers anymore,” I whispered.

“No, wait. Those Dream Street people are coming on next,” Morgan pulled on my shirt so I would stay.  The lights turned back down and the voice of the announcer echoed through the room.

“And here is a group of guys who call themselves Dream Street. They come from all over New York,” the announcer stated while clapping his hands.

The music started playing. Surprisingly, the music was actually flowing nicely. Each of the guys came out one by one in the dark, singing a different part. Then I heard a familiar voice sing, “Let me take you by the hand and walk you down the milky way.” My eyes widened. The lights came up and I saw Greg, Chris, Matt, Jesse, and Frankie dancing under the bright lights. My mouth dropped.

“Robyn! That guy looks like Frankie!” Morgan panted at me. I just sat there in silence.

Frankie turned around in one of his dance moves and saw me gazing at him. He smiled and pointed at me while singing.

“Oh my gosh! Robyn! He pointed to you!” Morgan screamed.

“Morgan…that IS Frankie!” I screamed back at her. The judges turned around in their seats and gave us the evil eye again.

I got their message quickly and sunk in my chair. I stared at Frankie in amazement. He was such a good dancer. Chris, Greg, Jesse, and Matt were almost as amazing as Frankie. Who would have known that Frankie and his “best friends” were a boy group? I wondered if Frankie was hiding this talent away from me that whole time. I thought I knew everything about Frankie, but that moment proved myself wrong. I watched in awe as Frankie started to sing, as if he was JC from NSYNC. The gently flowing song ended when Jesse sang, “Oh baby down on Dream Street.” His eyes were fixed on the judges.

The judges conversed between each other before announcing the official winner of the contest. All the contestants were eagerly waiting in a line on the stage. I noticed that Julia wasn’t on that line. After about 5 minutes, the main judge came up on the stage. He gave a little prep speech in front of the whole audience and contestants.

“All of our contestants today have a lot of talent. It was an extremely hard decision to decide who the winner will be. As you all should know, the winner will receive $1,000,000, a record deal, and a chance to sing at the Pokemon 2 movie premiere. All of the contestants today will receive a ‘Singing Talent 2000’ t-shirt. Thank you all for coming! And now…the winner of ‘Singing Talent 2000’ is…(drum roll)…Dream Street! Congratulations!”

“Alright!” Greg jumped up in excitement.

“I can’t believe this,” Matt screamed as he gave Jesse a high-five.

“Frankie! We made it! We finally made it! After all those damn rehearsals, we made it!” Chris screeched while realizing Frankie was gone, “Frankie? Where’d you go man?”

Frankie leaped off stage and ran wildly towards me.

“We made it, Robyn! We did it! Can you believe it?” Frankie picked me up by my hips and swirled me around.

“I can’t believe that you’re in a boy band! You hid this from me the whole time?” I cried with laughter. I gave Frankie a huge hug. I became extremely excited for him.

“Nobody knew I was in a group. I didn’t think it was a big deal. We’re not even famous,” Frankie said.

“You will be soon,” I smiled in content.

“God! I just can’t believe it. Did I really win a million bucks? Did I really get assigned to a record deal? Am I really going to California to sing for the Pokemon 2 premiere? I mean…I know that it’s Pokemon, but hey…at least we get to be famous. Can you believe it?” Frankie asked in amazement.

“Wait, hold on….what?” I asked with a blank face, “You’re going to California?” My smile slowly turned upside down. I let go of Frankie’s hands. I wondered if Frankie would have to spend a long time in California. I wondered if he did, would he forget me?

            “Yeah…for the movie premiere,” Frankie stated again.

            “For how long?” I squinted my eyes.

            “I don’t know…I guess as long as it takes to do the movie premiere,” Frankie replied slowly, “What’s wrong?”

            “Are you going to be gone for long?”

            “I don’t know,” Frankie replied simply.

            “Frankie! My man! Those rehearsals finally paid off,” Matt laughed while approaching Frankie with a high five. The rest of the group stood around Frankie and me.

            “Is this the famous Frankie I’ve been hearing about?” Morgan joined the group as she eyed Frankie.

            I slowly blinked and looked at Morgan. “Yeah,” I responded with a gloom voice, “Frankie, Morgan. Morgan, Frankie.” I looked at Frankie the whole time in unhappiness.

            “Robyn, is something wrong?” Greg asked in concern.

            “No, Greg. Nothing is wrong. Everything is completely fine. It’s just that one of the most important people in my life right now is about to leave me for a long time to go to California. He’s probably going to forget me by then, and when he walks by me on the street in 2 years, he’s not going to remember who I am. So the answer to your question is no. Nothing in this world could be so damn wrong,” I replied sarcastically, staring at Greg. I heard my voice already starting to crack.

            I looked from Greg to Frankie while nodding my head from side to side. I angrily stomped out of the auditorium.

            “Robyn!” was the last thing I heard Frankie scream after me.