The Voice

The only thing worth mentioning that happened between Saturday and Monday night was the hate-filled and completely stressful tension between Demi and me. She hated me, and now she had no reason to try and hide it. I hated her, and I had no reason either. It was maddening, but it didn’t help that she sided and teamed up with Brinley to attack me.

She’s supposedly a nice and loving person who doesn’t bully people, but honestly, that’s what you could say she was doing to me. In a weird and twisted way.

So I ignored her and planned to do the best I could with what I chose. Winning with it would only prove, in my opinion, that she didn’t need to be here, didn’t need to be mentoring.

All she does is take people’s originality away.

I knew what I was wearing, but even when I pictured myself on stage dressed like I planned to be, it didn’t feel right. There wasn’t anything different about it. It was almost perfect, but it was missing something.

I had thought about it before, earlier in the week, but I had written the idea off as stupid. Yet I found myself doing it. For the first time in the longest time, I brought my wings out. They weren’t too big, and I was capable of making them smaller. There was no purpose in shrinking them, or so Prepot thought, because I couldn’t fly if they were any smaller.

But I could perform with them. The dress came right above where they came from my back, so I zipped the dress up all the way to the wings, brought it around them, and then used a few safety pins to securely hold it up so that it looked like the wings were coming out of the dress.

In order to make them look fake—trust me, they look completely real considering that they are—I sprayed them down with lots of hair spray and covered them in glitter. It made pulling them back in a lot more challenging and sticky, but I wanted that to be a surprise for everyone.

The dress was black, mostly. It was a corset dress with an uneven skirt. It was beautiful, but the skirt was what made it different to give my performance a little . . . edge.

The shoes I chose to wear . . . they made me so happy inside. The way they were designed, they looked like just a thin metal sole of a shoe with a stiletto heel. To keep my foot on the shoe, there was barbed wire—actual barbed wire—that wrapped around the middle of the foot and heel, and then wrapped all the way up to the middle of my calf. Sometimes the barbed wire crossed, or sometimes it wrapped parallel. Either way, they were awesome shoes that I absolutely adored.

I did my own nails. It was a nail polish I loved using. It had a black base with mostly purple sparkles mixed in, but it also had pink, blue, green, and red. Then there were the tiny fingerless gloves I was wearing with a silver zipper and silver spikes along the edge.

My earrings were little daggers that actually went through the bottom earring hole. I had, of course, my diamond studs all the way to the top, which had an arrow going through the top couple of holes, but it looked so awesome.

Just like my nails, I did my own hair and makeup. My hair was wild and tousled. It didn’t look bad, but the usually pretty ringlets were tousled into a more sexy and wild look. The makeup was dark purple, and I had little stick on rhinestone things that I put along my eyelid.

Of course I had mascara, and I even used some dark lipstick . . . or dark compared to the typically bright stuff I used. It was a deeper red than usual, but it wasn’t so dark that it looked scary.

More than all of that, though, I made my face look a little dirty. I made anywhere skin was exposed look a little dirty, really. It wasn’t a lot so that you would really even notice it, but I did it anyways because it added a visual effect that I wanted.

I was super excited, but I was more excited for the part no one would see until it actually happened. I would definitely get yelled at, but there really wasn’t anything to be worried about.
Audry McMevin wouldn’t be so stupid as to use her wings on live television like that.

The barbed wire actually cut my legs, which is why the shoe came with a warning label. It said this would happen if pants weren’t worn with them, and I knew that. An added visual effect would be the blood on my legs.

Niall was already at the stage, so I wasn’t worried about him seeing me yet. What I was worried about, however, was that I was the first performance of the night.

Goody.

Like usual, we arrived secretly and went through the backstage entrance. That’s why Niall wasn’t here—because the judges had to arrive through the front to greet the fans on the red carpet as they came inside.

It made me more nervous to realize that Chris was out in the audience to cheer me on. Like we had figured, rumors started spreading about us dating, but he took care of it very simply.

Via Twitter: @EvieEbbs is probably the coolest and most down to earth person I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. She’s also almost half my age and just a friend. Nothing more.

So, that got cleared up . . . sort of. Either way, I was nervous and excited that he was here.

The makeup people immediately rushed to begin their work on me while the microphone people handed me my earpiece and my backup microphone I had to wear just in case the stage microphone went out, or something. Either way, by the time the show started, the makeup artists had made my version of stage makeup ultra stage makeup, and I was miked
up.

When the director said rolling, Carson began. “Hello, everyone! Welcome to Round Two, Day One of the Voice! I’m your host Carson Daly, and let me start this show by introducing our wonderful judges. With his team performing tomorrow, we have a very relaxed Blake Shelton.”

Blake waved at the cheering crowd with a smile while Christina just smiled her usual strange smile at him.

“Ms. Christina Agulera!” he continued on after Blake had a few moments. “Then there’s the very nervous, very Irish Niall Horan.”

Niall laughed about that, but anyone could see that he was, in fact, a little nervous.

“I’m nervous too,” Blake informed him. “Some of the people performing tonight scare me.”

Adam laughed over at him. “‘Cause mine and Niall’s teams kick ass!”

“And Mr. Adam Levine,” Carson laughed. “Alright. Thank you for tuning in. Last week, we had three crazy packed episodes with lots of excitement and lots of drama. This week, it’s a lot more relaxed. We can slow things down, and I can have my fun.”

That was my cue to begin walking onto the performance stage, which the TV audience wasn’t seeing right now. They saw Carson on another stage so that I could get set up.

Niall was watching me with wide eyes as he took in my appearance, and even Adam’s eyebrows were raised high. Christina looked excited, and Blake stared at my shoes strangely.

“To start the night off, we have the very young and beautiful Everit Eberly singing No Differentby Tonight Alive. To Everit . . . .”

The lights were dim, but I had the wings out and pulled back. While the music began, the intro with a few more words, I began preparing the look I had practiced—wild, a bit crazy, and devious.

I took my microphone with my signature performance smile after letting the wings come out, something that everyone began cheering about.

“Yeah, we’ve all made mistakes.
We’re no different, oh, only by name.
With our own risk to take,
We can trust that we’ve all felt the same.”

Unlike what Demi wanted me to do, I wasn’t dancing with backup dancers. I had backup singers, like I wanted, and I moved around more than I typically would have.

“But I deserve this, you don’t
Please don’t blame yourself
I can’t say that I won’t.
And don’t you bring this all down on your head.
Give it to me instead.”

For the chorus, as the red and white lights flashed behind me, I grabbed the microphone stand and put my microphone onto it so I could sing into it passionately.

“I was looking for something to drown out the pain.
But with all the wrong answers it started again.
I learned on that very day,
I just cannot keep running away from myself.
Under a spell dragged myself to hell.”

I took it back off and let the music move me. I wasn’t really sure what I was doing, but I bent over for a second to belt out a few words.

“I’m not trying to bring you down.
I’m just talking to myself out loud.
It’s not like me to be so down.
Slow down.

I was looking for something to drown out the pain.
But with all the wrong answers it started again.
I learned on that very day,
I just cannot keep running away from myself.
Under a spell dragged myself to hell.”

The way the audience cheered, even in the middle of the song, told me that staying true to myself was the best decision I could’ve made. I stayed true to myself while moving more, getting more into it. At the last couple of lines, I actually got down on my knees in front of where the judges were sitting and sang that part to the absolute best of my ability.

“I was someone else
Someone I do not know and
I hated myself
But it’s behind me now.”

I stood back up here, very quickly I might add. It couldn’t look awkward, so I just jumped right up while also keeping a wild and devious look in my eyes.

“I was looking for something to drown out the pain.
But with all the wrong answers, it started again.
I learned on that very day,
I just cannot keep running away from myself.
Under a spell dragged myself to hell.”

And everyone went wild. Once again, I looked to find all four judges on their feet. Niall had the biggest grin on his face, and Adam clapped excitedly. I had to take a minute to calm myself down so that I could breathe right, but I did when Christina began to talk.

“Everit!” she exclaimed, her eyes wide. “Where has that been? You know, just when I think you can’t get any better, you come and give that performance! It was sexy. It was wild. Damn, girl! It just makes me wonder what you’d be like in bed.”

My eyes were wide while Niall covered his mouth with his hands and Adam began laughing maniacally.

Blake, however, frowned at her. “What does that have to do with that incredible performance? By the way, slightly unrelated, is that barbed wire around your legs?”

I smiled sheepishly and nodded. “The shoes actually came this way. I thought they were awesome.”

“Awesome indeed, but I think they made you bleed,” he laughed.

I shrugged and looked over to Adam, who was preparing to give his opinion on my performance.

“Everit!” he exclaimed, holding his hands out in a way that looked like he might choke me. “Where the heck has that been? This just makes me so mad! You’ve been killing it, and then you bring that out, which just completely blows up and desecrates even everything you’ve done. That, I mean, uhh! I hate Niall. So much. I hate him. I hate you. We’re not friends either, Everit.”

I pouted. “Aww. Way to break my heart, Adam.”

Niall playfully hit his arm. “Look. You’ve made her sad. Anyways, Everit, that hasn’t even been something I’ve seen in rehearsals. You just literally pulled that out of nowhere, but it was absolutely incredible. You were performing more. Getting into the music more. At the beginning of this competition, you let your emotions get the better of you, but now, you controlled your emotions to be the emotion of the song, and that’s what I think made it so powerful. It was hot. It was freaky as crap. At one point, I was scared of you, which was awesome. And those wings are like . . . the costume in its whole added to the entire effect of everything. It was incredible. Starting out the show like that just . . . it’s gonna be hard for everyone performing after you to live up to that.”

My eyes widened a little, but I was smiling brightly as Carson came and put his arm around my shoulder, looking out towards the cameras. Which is what I had to do with a sheepish smile.

“To vote for Everit, after the show, don’t forget to purchase her performance on iTunes or call or text the numbers down below on the screen. 1-866-U-LOVE-01. You can vote online at NBC.com or using the NBC live app. Many ways to vote. Do it. Just look at this face.”
I knew my cheeks were burning as he took his arm off of me, and I very quickly made my way off the stage and backstage, where multiple people began throwing their arms around me.

“Ev!” Kiley gasped. “That was even better than rehearsals after you got to do your thing! The wings are sexy! I want a pair.”

I laughed nervously and shrugged. “Don’t remember where I got them. They were an old Halloween costume. I’m gonna go take them off real quick, though. Be right back.”

She nodded and released me, and I carefully wiggled past Noah and Madi. When I opened the stage doors, it was all I could do not to let out a loud squeal of excitement.

I did it. I proved her wrong. I stayed true to myself and did my best performance to date.

Notes

The lyrics are from the song Everit sang. :P Which, have I mentioned I love Tonight Alive? Cause I do. <3

Lemme know what you guys think! :) Obviously, there's more to come. So just let me know. :D

Oh, Everit's outfit? Check it out here. Well, it's sort of her outfit. I couldn't find the shoes or the exact gloves, but they're close enough. :)