When she came out of the toilet, Mindy grinned at her.
"This way," she said, leading Stacey and the boys down the corridor into a large room with a wooden floor. "Here is one of the practice rooms. We're using it as an audition room for now. It's a bit bigger than what we had in CC and it'll be used as one of your classrooms. This is Landen," Mindy sat beside a tall man with ragged sideburns. "He's one of the producers on the program and he's in charge of the interview and auditioning process. You probably haven't done an interview on camera before," Mindy explained while someone led Stacey to a mark on the floor. She said some things in a low voice into Landen's ear and he nodded.
Who knew what Mindy told him. Probably a warning about how difficult she would be.
"Alright. Let's get started. I recognise you boys. You've already done all this, so just sit quiet in that corner," Landen said, pointing.
Ken and Endo quietly sat on the floor in an out of the way corner.
"All you have to do is introduce yourself and then do your best," Mindy told Stacey. "Don't stress. You can do this. I believe in you. Introduce yourself. Name, age and where you're from. Oh. That's right. Just your name then."
"Good-good morning," Stacey's voice broke for a moment and she had to repeat herself. "My name's Stacey Wright."
"Hi, Stacey," Landen smiled. "Have you prepared anything to show us today?"
"N-no," Stacey tried not to stammer but failed. "I didn't know I had to prepare anything. I didn't know what to prepare."
"Hmm," Landen stroked his sideburns. "Do you know any songs? Anything will do. I just want to hear you sing for us."
Stacey scrabbled through her brain for a song she knew the lyrics to. The first thing - the only thing that came to mind was a lullaby her parents used to sing for her.
"I can only think of one song," Stacey twisted the bottom of her shirt in her hands, trying not to look at the camera or all the people staring at her.
"Then go ahead," Landen smiled. "It doesn't matter if it's simple. When you're ready."
Stacey opened her mouth but a strangled sound came out, making her face blush completely red.
"Sorry," she squeezed out.
"Go Stace. You got this," Endo yelled.
"You can do this," Ken pumped a fist and smiled at her.
"It's ok. You're nervous," Landen soothed. "If it helps, close your eyes and try again."
Stacey cleared her throat a few times and hummed a few low notes, just like how she remembered her father used to before he began singing. The memory made her smile a bit and helped her throat loosen up. She closed her eyes to concentrate on the memory.
"In the spring you came with the scent of growing grass and the field was filled with budding blossoms," she sang.
As she sang, Stacey's wobbly voice grew firmer and she held fast to the memory of her father's singing in order to remember the lyrics and melody. It was strange that this song was the one that came to mind after all these years.
The song reminded her of home. They must have missed her by now. Everyone must be worried sick. Her stomach twisted. Stacey wanted to go home – if only she knew where she was and how to get there.
Had her parents called the police? Had they listed her as a missing person now?
A wave of homesickness washed through her, but Stacey swallowed it down. She'd already had days of being lost and homesick. This was her only chance to survive at the moment. She had to make the best of it.
She let the last note of the lullabye fade away. Taking a deep breath, Stacey opened her eyes and tried to surreptitiously wipe her eyes with her sleeve without ruining her makeup. A make-up assistant hurried over to help her dab her eyes.
"Good job," the make-up assistant whispered. "You made us all cry."
"Huh?"
Looking up and around, Stacey was shocked to find almost all of the people in the room wiping their eyes. Although Landen's eyes were dry, they were a little redder than before. Why were they crying too? There was nothing for them to cry about. She'd even accidentally sung a few notes off tune.
Landen's eyes were bright with excitement, while Mindy couldn't even sit down. She was hitting Landen on the shoulder with both fists, looking like she was about to burst but didn't have the words to say to let out her excitement.
"Very good," Landen smiled. "We'll still need to test your vocal range, but this is a very good start. You will definitely do well with more training. Perhaps you're a natural vocalist. You had excellent emotion and pulled your audience in. Do you know how to play a musical instrument?"
Stacey's eyes followed his gaze to the musical instruments and a piano in the corner of the room. A piano. She hadn't touched one since - almost ten, eleven years ago.
Stacey ran her fingers over the keyboard and wondered if she still knew how to play it. She'd pushed the piano completely out of her memory.
She took a deep breath and sat down.
A scale emerged from beneath her fingers and Stacey felt amazed at how smoothly they moved, purely following muscle memory. Glancing over at the watching people, Stacey saw their nods of encouragement and winced inwardly. Did she dare play that recital piece now?
Years ago, her piano teacher had told her parents that she was a budding concert pianist and had pushed her into competition after competition. Stacey had felt the weight of all those competitions stack up on her one by one instead.
They had squashed much of the joy of music out of her instead, culminating in that final disastrous day when in the middle of her performance, she had suffered a sudden mind blank. And so, Stacey had melded the classical piece into a popular pop song at the time.
A weight had lifted off her shoulders that day. She had decided. Decided to quit the piano.
Backstage, her teacher had scolded her harshly. The words that might have once left her in tears slid off her like water off a duck's back. All through the scolding, she hadn't been able to keep a smile off her face, which had made her teacher scold her even harder.
In the end, she had cut the old lady short with just one phrase.
"I quit."
And then she walked away and never touched a piano again. Now, she felt again the thrill of music coming alive beneath her fingers, being shaped by her emotions and released into the air. Years of pent up feelings gushed out.