Clown Enjoyer?

December 10 has arrived, the day of the Battle of The Bands at St. Peter's Elementary. As the students of both the elementary school and the nearby high school gathered together, all the students watched all the different bands, solo artists, duos and more. Some were good, some were bad, some were in between but the girls were ready to head onstage.

The Star Covers stood by, wearing their new outfits they developed at Veenas place a few weeks ago, sparking in shades of purple, pink and blue, stars covering them. They sat by, watching two high school boys being a rap duo. As they waited, Katherine plucked a few chords on her bass, Tanya tapped her drumsticks to their song against her knee and Cassie stared intensely into her notebook, concentrating on the notes she wrote. Veena meanwhile stared at the set list on the table nearby

"God were doomed." She muttered annoyed

"Why? Whats wrong?" Tanya asked, still tapping away

"Zoe is up next and we're the closing act! This is ridiculous!" She exclaimed, slamming her head into the paper. Katherine stared at her horrified by the realization

"Why does that concern you so much?" Tanya questioned

"Because if we screw this over, we'll be the laughing stock! Were the last group theyre gonna see tonight! We gotta be perfect!" Katherine almost shouted.

"Well that won't be a problem for me." Zoe snickered, prancing up the stairs to join them

"Oh great speak of the devil." Veena muttered annoyed, trying to avoid eye contact.

Zoe was sporting a periwinkle top with matching sparkly white pants and boots, and black jeans, a periwinkle sparkly shirt underneath the bright white fabrics. She did shined bright like a diva, a massive air of confidence poured out of her as she stepped by them, sneering at them and their similar outfits

"I see you're also a bunch of copycats as well. Nice to know." She replied annoyed

"It's nice to know how you found out what colour is." Katherine retorted

"Oh come on, you four look like a bunch of neon blobs onstage. If anything, you'll lose points for being tacky onstage"

"Wait there's a point system?" Cassie asked confused, swiftly scanning the flier of the rules for the contest. "Cause I don't know if costumes are involved in-"

"I was joking about the costume points you idiot. I get that you're not that smart but can you at least try a bit harder to tell a joke". She snapped annoyed. Cassie immediately felt uneasy, Tanya put a hand over her shoulder and puts her behind her to protect her. Veena glared at her and stomped closer to her

"Zoe save the ego on for on stage. If you wanna keep insulting my bestie, the next thing that will come out of your mouth is teeth. I know karate." Veena threatened, holding her fist up close to her mouth. Zoe stepped backwards, confused and slightly nervous by Veenas aggression, Katherine immediately grabbed her wrist and pulled her away.

"Just do your best out there Zoe." Katherine muttered annoyed. The two boys walked off the stage, arguing with each other as they walked off

"Can't believe you messed that part up man! We did it over a thousand times!" One of them shouted

"Hey you were the one that tripped us up!" The other one retorted.

"Oh didn't realized it was my turn. Thanks for delaying me." Zoe argued, strutting up onstage. Veena growled as she does, staring daggers at her. Katherine simply sighed in discontent before turning towards Cassie

"Cassie we're really sorry about that." She apologized sincerely

"No it's ok guys. We should probably ditch these and put on something else." She murmured defeated

"Oh heck no! We're not gonna let some wannabe Whitney Houston bring us down!" Veena laughed. "But if you want, I can tackle her!" She retorted, making Cassie laugh a little, Tanya smiled at her friends comment. Meanwhile Katherine focused on Zoe, who was just beginning her performance

Surprisingly, Zoe sounded so confident and powerful, her voice was full of great control and emotion. She sang her heart out and it genuinely shocked her as she listened in. Goosebumps covered her arms for a second

"Kath? You good?" Veena asked, tapping her shoulder

"Oh yeah. I'm just surprised she could sing that well. And it's I Wanna Dance With Somebody, one of my favourites." She replied

"Well Vee, you did just say she was a Whitney Houston wannabe." Tanya retorted, smirking as her friend stared on in disbelief

"Look it was a joke!!" She almost shouted.

Then came her original song. Zoe's song was poppy and upbeat, her vocals continued to soar and she even managed to get the crowd clapping along tl the beat, surprising the girls even further. After she put her microphone back on the stand, the crowd cheered for her as she walked off, smirking at the girls

"Good luck. You're gonna need it." Zoe remarked smugly. The girls only stood in disbelief, they actually had a big competition against her

"Oh my god, we're so screwed." Cassie panicked

"We're more than screwed we're fu-" Veena added, getting interrupted by Katherine

"Look we remember the notes and the words right?" She asked, all of them nodding in response. "Then we'll be fine. We just gotta get up and wing it."

"Katherine we can't. Not after that." Tanya lamented.

"Look. Zoe just wants to get under our skin. Shes not gonna stop us. No one can stop us. We know what we're doing and no one should be able to take us down. Now let's go out and play." She encouraged. The girls stood by, contemplating their thoughts before nodding back

"Ok Kath. I trust you on this." Veena agreed, Cassie and Tanya followed suit.

The four of them got up and onto the stage. Tanya sat down on her drum stool, her sticks shaking with fear in her hands. Cassie stood in front of the keyboards and Veena grabbed her guitar, feeling nervous over it until Katherine put a hand on her shoulder, comforting over her

"Now tell us your names and what you're performing today." One of the judges stated. Katherine got up to the nearest microphone stand and looked at the crowd with fear rising

"Um... I'm Katherine Peterson and I play Bass, this is Veena Rogers who play rock guitar, Tanya Roberts on drums and Cassie Andrews on keyboards. We're gonna play Turn on The Night by Kiss and our original song we made called Cosmic." She replied, her hands slowly grasping her bass guitar neck nervously

"Very well then. Good luck." He answered. Katherine noticed a sneer on his face and a hint of annoyance in his voice over the mere mention of their music. But Katherine took a deep breath and turned to Tanya who immediately clapped her drumsticks together to start the tempo

Turn on The Night started to fill the room, Cassie and Veenas guitars and keyboards almost harmonizing as they played in time with Tanya's drums and Katherine's bass grooved along with them. She kept her eyes on the guitar hoping that she wasn't messing it up, as she took her turns singing along with the rest. Her fears heightened as she kept her focus on the guitar before sensing Veena sliding towards her.

They both stared at each other, Veena giving her a look, one that didn't say "suck it up and carry on", but one that felt warm and comforting, one that told her it will be ok and that they are doing well, encouraging Katherine even more. Taking a deep breath, she nodded and continued, seeing Veenas face light up in excitement as they ended the song. In response, the whole gym erupted in cheers, the judges simply stating down at their papers as they scribbled on their sheets, one of the male judges holding a small smile on his face

As Katherine started to tune up the guitar for their next song, Veena walked over and placed her hand on her shoulder

"It's ok. We're almost through the set. Just one more." She encouraged

"I know. I just don't want to mess it up."

"You won't. I know you won't. We got this."

Cassie begin, lightly pressing down on the keys, filling the room with a celestial sounding chord, Veena immediately started to strum her guitar, letting the rock sound accompany the keyboards, in perfect unison, gaining suprised but excited expressions from the audience members. After such a grand opening, Tanya started to smack her drums hard, the upbeat tempo soon getting people tapping their feet and bopping their heads as Katherine stepped towards the microphone, plucking her strings, Veena joining her later

Living in a new world

Don't know where I'm going

Can't help feeling lost

My whole worlds moving slowly

Couldnt tell out one side

What they'd whisper and say

Maybe I'm not meant

To put my art on display

They both turned, nodding as their guitars shredded, letting the energy radiate the room as they sung in harmony, Veena taking the lower ones and Katherine taking higher ones, with Tanya and Cassie singing backing vocals in perfect unison

Nothing shakes the feeling inside

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide (Ooh)

But we'll go on, so what are we waiting for!

Shine in the starlight, Dance in the moonlight

The planets circling nightly

All the world covered in magic

The power that we have is cosmic

Were the Aurora, radiate aura

Well watch the stars glow brightly

Always colourfully mystic

The power we create is cosmic

No one can stop this melody

No one can stop our harmony

All the world covered in magic

The music we have made is cosmic

Katherine stared out to the audience, seeing her parents and uncle beaming at her. As she did, she turned over to Cassie, laser focused on her keys before she nodded to Tanya, their confidence slowly growing as they started to sing, in a similar pattern as Katherine and Tanya earlier

Writing down these lyrics

No one cared to engage

Just leave all your thoughts

Kept secret in a page

Hiding all emotions

Couldn't run from danger

There's no room for flaws

Unless you want anger

The world tries to warp and break us

But we know where the road will take us (ooh)

So we'll go on, like nothing we've seen before

They repeated the chorus, the judges scribbling on their pages and the rest of the students in the contest stood by, amazed by their chemistry and their music in perfect harmony. The teachers attending were also impressed, they noticed

Aw they were about to hit the bridge of the song, Katherine glanced out and spotted a strange man in the audience, leaning against the white walls of the gymnasium with an air of confidence and coolness, locking his eyes on the group. For a moment, she felt like he should be important, with his mature but stylish suit. Tanya and Veena started off the bridge with Cassie singing a simple harmony underneath before Katherine wrapped it up

You know inside of me

(The power that we have is cosmic)

Will shine on endlessly

(The power we create is cosmic)

Somethings shifting in our hearts

Coming alive from the start

Our bright hues will light the way

They replayed the chorus and this time, they saw some people bopping their heads, some even singing along as best as they could, filling up their hearts with joy and excitement thar their music has resonated with them. Smiling hard at each other, they got to the final section together

Oh-oh-oh-

Oh-oh-oh

The power that we have is cosmic

Oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh

The power we create is cosmic

The crowd erupted in laughter as they finished, the judges finishing their notes and comparing them, the girls smiled hard as they put their instruments down, smiling hard as they watched their families give a standing ovation. The head judge got up and held up the notes.

"Alright, we have finished the last group of artists for the night and know we are ready to crown the winners of the competition. In third place, we have William, Ryder and Sean from Year 8 class 3, Triple Threat." The three boys cheered as they came over to collect their trophy. The girls started to hold each other hands in hopes of their victory.

"Even if we don't win, we still had fun." Katherine reassured them.

"In second place, we have Zoe Wilson from year 5 class 4 in her solo act." They cheer and Zoe walked out and collected her trophy and stared at the girls and smirked

"Well it's better than nothing. At least you destroyed their eardrums." She mocked

"And now, for the first place spot ans the winner of the competition is... Katherine Peterson, Tanya Roberts, Veena Rogers and Cassie Andrews from year 5 class 4, The Star Covers!" The whole room erupted in cheers as they collected their trophy, the girls smiles hard and hugged tightly, surprised by their victory

"We did it bys!! We're the best!!" Tanya cheered on happily. Katherine felt a huge sense of accomplishment as they hugged more, soaking in the moment, embracing each other tightly as they held their trophy together

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The girls sat at the nearest Boston Pizza, eating all of the pizza and pasta and breadsticks they could get, their families sitting at another table nearby, celebrating their victory together.

"Haha!! I told you we got this!" Veena spoke proudly, raising up her drink up high

"I dare say that was the best time we played both of those songs!" Tanya added. "Did you see the way the audience started to sing along?"

"Why we heard you play that all night last week, your dad and I got it memorized already!" Tanya's mom remarked, filling up Tanya's water cup and kissing her daughter on the forehead. "You girls did fantastic today!"

"Thanks a ton Paula! And keep the breadsticks coming!" Cassie joked. Paula rolled her eyes jokingly as she returns to talking to Cassie's mom.

"Man Katherine, we did amazing!" Tanya replied.

"I know! I was worried for a second that the judges were gonna hate us for a second there."

"Speaking of the judges, I took a peak and we were only 2 points above Zoe!" Cassie revealed

"Oh boy she never gonna live that down won't she." Veena groaned. "Shes gonna bother us for weeks."

"Hey it's alright! We still won! If she's gonna keep being a jerk to us, that's her problem, she only wants to bring us down to her level but we are already unstoppable!" Katherine encouraged.

"You are correct, I like your spirit." A voice replied, they took a look behind them to see a middle aged man standing behind them

"And you are?" Veena asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Oh right, Youre just a bunch of kids, my name is Alan Robinson, music producer and sound engineer from Casablanca Records. I saw you four perform just then and you girls are fierce, your harmonies, your chemistry, you stood out from the rest." He spoke. The girls families took a notice of the man and came over to see him

"And you worked in Casablanca records? Like, Kiss Casablanca Records?!” Cassie asked excitedly

“You got that right. Man you girls got good taste.” He remarked

“They do but why exactly are you here?” Wanda asked.

“Like I said, the girls here have something really special and I believe that they can be quite the sensation. That’s why I was hoping to get these girls signed in for a record contract.” He answered, leaving their parents to be quite confused.

“Well, the record deal could be fun but these girls are young. I mean, they have school and other curricular activities.” Mitchell pondered

“Oh don’t worry. I’ll make sure they will be able to attend classes and continue their other activities but this could be a big opportunity for these ladies. I saw something magical with them, cosmic if you will.” He said. The girls smiled a bit at him and looked back at their parents who were still contemplating on Alan’s offer

“Well… we’ll think about it. We want the girls to be happy but we also want them to be safe. And the music industry can be cruel sometimes.” Allison responded, seeing the girls faces light up and Alan smirk widen

“Wonderful! I’ll give you some time. You may have this to contact when you make up your mind.” He informed, handing each of them his business card, his number scribbled on it. “I’ll see you all around, I hope to hear from you all soon.”

The girls watched him leave the restaurant, leaving them with a deep conflicting feeling as they glanced back at each other

“You know, it could be cool to be able to make records.” Tanya started

“Yeah but won’t we be busy all the time if we ever do this. Cause there’s a lot of stuff we wanna do.” Cassie added

“Perhaps. But don’t knock it until you try it!” Veena spoke, making Katherine more confused, the parents looked over the cards and begin to have a long discussion as Katherine continued to stare mindlessly at the door that he exited from.

“I hope it can work.”

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