The Voice

It wasn’t hard to find Chris in the audience, and I waved happily at him before looking down at my feet on my spot on stage. All eight of us had to go out there and smile at the cameras, let everyone see who all was left, but first, there had to be the dramatic coach beginning.

Well, actually, Carson got to talk first.

“Hello, everyone, and thanks for tuning into this episode of the Voice!” he exclaimed. “We have an awesome night in store for you. First, let’s introduce you to the judges. We have Mr. Blake Shelton.”

Blake did his usual cute country boy smile as he waved to the audience and cameras, and after a second, that smile turned into a sideways smirk. Typical Blake.

“Miss Christina Aguilera,” Carson continued, and also like usual, Christina waved with a flirty smile on her lips while dressed in something really slutty. “Mr. Niall Horan, who looks a hundred times better than when I saw him last.”

Niall actually laughed while waving to the audience, who squealed in delight. We discovered the other day that most of the tickets were sold to Directioners hoping to meet Niall or the other guys when they were there. So, it made sense why there were so many squeals of delight.

Carson smiled. “And, of course, Mr. Adam Levine.”

Adam waved at the girls, who were screaming like they did with Niall. It wasn’t quite as loud, but it was still pretty loud.

“They each have two contestants that remain in the semi-finals tonight,” Carson told everyone who might not have been watching before. “For Team Blake, we have Jesse Hunters and Nathan Sanders!”

The two boys waved, and of course, the girls squealed. Two cute guys? Yeah. Teenage girls are going to scream for them whether they like their voice or not. Not saying they didn’t, but the screaming teenage girls was a no brainer.

“For Team Christina, we have Mary Wilson and Ryan Dunn,” Carson said, and there were pretty loud cheers. There wasn’t so much squealing, so it was kind of nice. Actual cheering. “For Team Niall, we have Everit Eberly and Brinley Pearson.”

It was hard to determine who it was they were cheering so loudly for, but nonetheless, we were both smiling while the cameras were on us. Well, I smiled, but then I made a goofy face at the camera, knowing Noah would be watching.

Long story short, he dared me to do it a while back, but I never did. So, he would see it now, and he would owe me twenty bucks.

Since I was the first to perform last week, I was next to last this week. Actually, it had nothing to do with being first last week. Just the luck of the draw, really. Either way, I was the seventh performance, so I had some time to sit back and relax.

Brinley was first, and her performance of Love Bites surprised everyone. Niall looked a little scared, and Adam just stared at her with wide eyes.

Blake summed it up perfectly. “Brinley, you have talent. Loads of it. That was just way too much. You tried way too hard to be sexy, and it just looked awkward and weird.”

“It had serious potential, but you took it too far,” Christina agreed.

It was all I could do not to literally fall in the floor laughing, but instead, Jesse and I shared a quiet high five and did a tiny little party dance.

Honestly, it was a huge relief. She finally did bad, though I really hoped I didn’t do the same.

This was going out on a limb for me, and honestly, Directioners could kill me, but the guys all loved it and told me it was awesome. So . . . hopefully others will agree.

After Brinley was Jesse. He sang a song that I hadn’t heard in ages, but I loved it. It was Monsters by Matchbook Romance, and he was incredible.

Niall’s response pretty much summed it all up. “You know, I don’t regret my decision in the Battle Round. I think the best thing for you was to end up on Blake’s team, and you’ve succeeded. I see you being in the finals next week. I really do.”

From there, people did well. Mary—the girl on Christina’s team—wasn’t that impressive to me, so I figured it was another one of Christina’s pets she could do what she wanted with. And she definitely could. The girl dressed just like Christina and performed like her too.

Before I knew it, it was my turn. There were commercials before me, however, so I was standing on the stage awkwardly for a few minutes while the crowd talked amongst themselves. Adam and Niall were talking to each other, and I overheard Niall tell him, “She’s singing Love Alone by this band I’d never heard of before. I looked it up and downloaded their entire discography after that. Thriving Ivory? Yeah. They’re insane.”

“That’ll be interesting,” Adam murmured, and his eyebrows furrowed.

He had heard me singing Rock Me on stage Saturday, though I was just singing it to myself while everyone left the stage room. No one ever saw me perform it.

I smiled at the crowd, and some cheered for me. I could see Chris making faces at me, and behind him sat those four goofy British guys. They were making faces as well, of course, so I was laughing and very relaxed.

And then, they started the countdown. Everyone in the audience cheered, as usual, and Carson smiled for the camera.

“Welcome back to the Voice!” he announced. “Our next performer has broken some of the records here on the Voice. She’s surprised a lot of people. Here’s Everit Eberly!”

I took a deep breath and smiled at the audience, who was cheering before he even said my name. Then, instead of what everyone was expecting, I started stomping my foot. Stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. The band was doing it with me after the first time, so it was much louder.

Niall looked utterly confused.

Then, the guitarist came in with a little guitar entrance I used to build up to the part where I came in. Now, Niall just gawked at me while Adam let out a cheer of excitement. I gave it a slight rock edge, but it was still more pop than anything. More than that, it was sped up to be more my style, so it was a lot of fun. No longer a slightly gloomy song.

“Do you remember summer ’09?
Wanna go back there every night
Just can’t lie, was the best time of my life.

Lying on the beach as the sun blew out
Playing this guitar by the fire too loud
Oh, my, my, they could never shut us down

I used to think that I was better alone
Why did I ever wanna let you go?
Under the moonlight as we stare to the sea
The words you whispered I will always believe.”

This was where all the fun began. The verses were, of course, fun, and I was moving around some, but I actually got to dance to this song. It was a pop rock song, so it had a dance part.

The chorus especially . . . grinding my hips and moving the rest of my body to the beat was more fun than I imagined it would be.

“I want you to rock me, rock me, rock me, yeah.
I want you to rock me, rock me, rock me, yeah
I want you to hit the pedal, heavy metal, show me you care!
I want you to rock me, rock me, rock me, yeah.

Yeah, we were together summer ‘09
Wanna roll back like pressing rewind
You were mine, and we never said goodbye, aye, aye, aye, aye

I used to think that I was better alone
Better alone
Why did I ever wanna let you go?
Under the moonlight as we stare to the sea
The words you whispered, I will always believe

I want you to rock me, rock me, rock me, yeah.
I want you to rock me, rock me, rock me, yeah
I want you to hit the pedal, heavy metal, show me you care!
I want you to rock me, rock me, rock me, yeah.

R-O-C-K me again,
R-O-C-K me again,
R-O-C-K me again, yeah
I want you to R-O-C-K me again,
R-O-C-K me again,
R-O-C-K me again, yeah

I want you to rock me, rock me, rock me, yeah
I want you to rock me, rock me, rock me, yeah
I want you to hit the pedal, heavy metal, show me you care
I want you to rock me, rock me, rock me, yeah

I want you to rock me, rock me, rock me, yeah
I want you to rock me, rock me, rock me, yeah
I want you to hit the pedal, heavy metal, show me you care
I want you to rock me, rock me, rock me, yeah.”

The crowd went absolutely crazy, and I felt tears coming to my face when I saw the judges on their feet yet again.

I had taken a risk and succeeded.

Blake looked over at Niall before he said anything. “Can you explain that to me? What does that even mean? Hit the pedal, heavy metal? I don’t get it.”

Niall laughed, but I could see his cheeks turning a little pink. “Uh . . . it means drive faster . . . and . . . turn up the music.”

Adam started laughing so hard beside him that he almost fell out of his chair, and I had to bite back a giggle myself.

Oh Niall.

Christina smiled, but I could see in her eyes she knew better. “Everit, that was very incredible. You went out on a limb. I was expecting another great performance, and that was amazing. You did something different, so I’m starting to think that you might be an artist who could do anything. That’s something that makes you special. You’re beautiful and incredible. Fantastic job.”

The audience was cheering while I smiled at her. “Thank you.”

Adam, though still laughing, looked right at me. “That was interesting. The entire time, I was thinking that you created a Paramore-One Direction fusion that was just insane and awesome.”

My eyes widened while the audience screamed all over again. “Really?”

“Yes!” he exclaimed, and his laughter turned into a bright smile. “You really did take a risk, but it was worth it, I think. Whether you go hard rock, pop rock, or probably even pop . . . whatever you do, you’ll succeed in. It was a great job, Everit, and I’m interested to see how tomorrow goes.”

Niall had a smile on his face. “I was told you were doing something completely different, though I understand why. I probably wouldn’t have liked hearing you were doing that, but I’m glad you did. I don’t know how I’m ever gonna perform that song again. Thanks for that. But . . . it was amazing. You made it your own and made it very Everit-like. He compared you to Paramore, and I guess I see where he’s coming from. But I disagree with him. You’re nothing like Hayley Williams. You’re everything like Everit Eberly. You’re not really like anyone else, and I think the fact that you’re special, that you’re one-of-a-kind, is why I’ve never given up on you, why you’ll always succeed. Incredible job, Everit. Probably one of my favorites.”

I had tears in my eyes because . . . throughout his opinion of the performance, I kept getting lost. I tried to understand and figure out if he meant my singing or my personality. It was hard to say, but I walked off that stage with a huge smile, gave Emma a hug, and wished her the best of luck with tears blurring my vision.

I may have just pulled off what I thought was impossible.

I may have set myself up to go to the finals.

Notes

The lyrics are from The Impossible by Mariah Carey. :P Never heard it before, but...yeah. x3

Sorry! I tried to upload it before, but it wouldn't let me. T.T Either way, it's up now! I'll try and post the next chapter tomorrow. Let me know what you think, though. :)

Enjoy!