Previously:

Monique reveals her pageant talent: singing and dancing. She turns out being a great dancer, but her singing leaves much to be desired. Although everyone else says that her act is great, Allena can't stand the idea of seeing Monique humiliated, so she tells her the ugly truth... that her singing sucks. Unfortunately Monique doesn't take the criticism well, putting Allena in a very akward situation. She challenges Allena to go on the stage and prove that she could sing better!

*_*---------------

My heart was beating so fast; I could barely hold on to the microphone with my sweaty hands. I'm a bathroom singer, and I've never sung in front of other people in my life. I'm comfortable being the background, working behind the scenes. Standing on that stage was like being naked.

I think I would've been a lot less nervous if the audience was full of people I didn't know. Within the radiance of the lights, I could make out Yvette's sarcastic smirk. Deena's lips bent into a worried grimace, and Techie...Well, all his emotions look the same.

Anyways, Monique knelt down on stage next to the music player. "Tell me when you're ready."

"I'm ready."

"Tomorrow" started to play. I love this song, but after this episode, I'll probably hate it for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, there's no going back now. All I could do was sing it like I knew how.

I didn't have a cool dance to do during the interlude like Monique, but I did do my best, which I feared wasn't any better than Monique's attempt. In my mind, I butchered it.

As I breathed out the last note though, there was an outbreak of shouting and clapping, like everyone actually thought it was awesome. Monique was like, "Allena, that was so hot!" and even normally impassive Techie had a look of shock times ten.

"I'm firing Yvette," said Monique, as I handed the microphone back to her. "I want you to be my new talent trainer."

"Okay," I said deliriously. So crazy.

As I walked off stage, I wasn't sure if I was going forwards or backwards. I couldn't believe it. Was I really that great?

When I sat back down in my seat, Deena gave my arm a congratulations squeeze and whispered, "You did really good. Wish I could stay longer, but I gotta go."

She handed me a narrow strip of notebook paper.

"Here's my phone number. Call me when you get time today, okay?"

"Alright."

She and Techie left the auditorium. Monique returned to the stage, and she said, "Allena, I'm expecting you to get my singing in shape!"

Despite having Monique's never-ending list of demands on my shoulders, I was happy as I slipped Deena's phone number into a pocket of my jeans. Three years after meeting Monique, I finally made a new friend.