March 12th, 2014

Kinsky, California, USA

Sadja

The freshman felt a tightening in her chest. From the chair in which she sat, the world felt so much larger than usual. She looked down at her feet, compulsively hitting her toes together as a way to try and manage her heart racing.

“This your first time at an audition?”

The voice the girl heard was unfamiliar to her. She looked up to see another student, around her age, with beautiful sea-blue eyes and golden blonde hair wrapped around into a ponytail.

“Oh, uhh… no,” the freshman let out in response. “I did a little bit of choir in middle school, but… i-it wasn’t really as formal as this.”

The blonde girl let out a comforting smile. “It’s not that bad. I have some friends on the roster, they say it’s mostly for show.”

The comment left the girl with a little unease. She was the only one auditioning who wasn’t from the same school district. She didn’t have any connections.

The other girl must have caught on that she said something wrong, as she quickly switched topics. “My name’s Kat – Kat Wilkins. What’s yours?”

“It’s, um… Sadja.”

“Sandra?”

“No, Sadja. It’s-”

The door behind them opened. Another freshman girl came out, her face etched with some concern over her performance. Sadja watched her leave with anxiety.

“Oh! Is it like… Sajj-ah?” Kat repeated, this time letting out partially correct phonetics.

“Yeah. Like that.”

“Well, Sajj-ah…” Kat looked up to a flyer board across from where the two were seated. “A long time ago, I was always kicking myself, thinking I wasn’t good enough for the things I wanted to do. To be honest, I still think that way sometimes. But along the way I met people who were there to cheer me on, to make me feel like I could do stuff I never dreamed of doing. And it made me better.”

Kat turned back towards Sadja.

“… so if you need someone to cheer you on, how about we cheer on each other?”

Sadja couldn’t help but smile at the girl’s attempt at a pep talk. She also couldn’t help but believe there was some truth to what she was saying.

“Alright, let’s do it!” Sadja suddenly let out with a burst of whispered enthusiasm. The change of character made Kat let out a short giggle.

Sadja looked back down at her feet and noticed they no longer banged against each other. A few moments later the door once again opened.

“Sadja Ayoub?” a young woman with curly black hair let out from the door’s entrance. Sadja, feeling one last wave of nervousness hit her, stood up.

From behind, she felt a force softly hit her hand. She turned to see Kat looking back up at her.

“I’ll see you at rehearsal,” Kat winked.

Sadja winked back, and followed the woman out the door down to the stage.