The Voice

“Welcome to the semi-final eliminations!” Carson announced with more enthusiasm than usual. Despite being nervous beyond belief, I was happy, and I was able to smile at his enthusiasm. “This season of the Voice has been an incredible one. We’ve got amazing talent, and though half of the contestants will be going home tonight, I don’t think this is the end for anyone. To start off the night, we have the semi-finalists singing Radioactive by Imagine Dragons.”

While the audience screamed for us, Jesse and I exchanged a grin of excitement. As the music started, Ryan started with the, “Whoa,” part at the beginning that I was glad I didn’t have to do. Everyone tried to see who could do it the best, and I sounded like a retarded dying mule.

Jesse was the first to come in with the actual lyrics. “I’m waking up to ash and dust. I wipe my brow, and I sweat my rust. I’m breathing in the chemicals.” And, of course, he did better than in rehearsals, especially at the part he had to pretend to choke.

I almost missed my turn to come in, but I remembered just in time. “I’m breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus. This is it, the apocalypse. Whoa.”

And we all came in strong, in different octaves and voices, for the chorus. Jesse and I got to do the chorus how it was supposed to sound because that was our strongest range with our voices. Brinley was an octave higher, as were Emma and Mary. Nathan, Ryan, and Seth were all an octave lower.

“I’m waking up
I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m radioactive, radioactive.”

Then, it was Brinley’s turn to start the next verse. “I raise my flags, don my clothes. It’s a revolution, I suppose.”

Seth immediately followed. “We’re painted red to fit right in, whoa.”

Emma followed Seth, and of course, she was really spunky when she chimed in. “I’m breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus.”

“This is it, the apocalypse, whoa,” Ryan sang right behind her.

And, of course, we came in for the chorus together again.

“I’m waking up
I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m radioactive, radioactive.”

Mary was the first to come in at the bridge. “All systems go. The sun hasn’t died.”

Nathan was next. “Deep in my bones, straight from inside.”

Chorus, everyone.

“I’m waking up
I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my systems blow
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Welcome to the new age, to the new age
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m radioactive, radioactive
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I’m radioactive, radioactive.”

The crowd loved it. Hopefully, they loved hearing it as much as we loved performing it. Well . . . as much as Jesse, Emma, and I loved performing it anyways.

Carson was clapping when he joined us on stage. “That was wonderful. You know, it’s kinda sad, but we have to follow up that awesomeness with results that I’m not excited about.”

Emma locked her arm with mine and let out a breath. “You nervous, Ev?”

“Beyond nervous,” I mumbled. “Do or die, right?”

She barely even nodded because she was so choked up with fear. They said this wasn’t the end, but how could they know that? There was absolutely no guarantee that we would be successful if we didn’t win. Really, there was no guarantee we’d be successful even if we did win. So far, none of the Voice contestants really had been. Cassadee Pope has done the most, and she’s just now releasing an album.

Carson took a deep breath. “Well, the way we’re gonna do it this year is simple. We’ve got the order of teams picked out. We’ll announce the top contestant from each team. The order is Team Adam, Team Blake, Team Christina, and then Team Niall.”

I almost groaned out loud. Really? Was this some form of torture they were using on me?

Niall actually smirked when he noticed my disapproval of the order, though I knew he felt the same. This wasn’t just about me being successful or going on tour. This would determine how soon we could be together.

“Emma Nelson and Seth Griffin, please step forward.”

Emma released my arm and walked over beside Carson. On the other side of Carson was where Seth stood, and he stuck his hands in his pockets while nervously looking at Adam.

Adam had his fingers knotted in his hair. “I hate this part.”

Carson grinned at him. “Adam, tell us the percent you’ve given each of your team members,
and explain why.”

“My decision is based solely on who I believe will be the most successful, who I think has done the best throughout the entire season,” Adam said, and he looked in-between them both. “You’re both really talented, and Carson’s right. This isn’t the end, but I felt this was the most appropriate division of my percentage.” And he pushed his button, which revealed on the back screen Emma, seventy percent, and Seth, thirty percent.

Seth nodded and hugged a shocked Emma. It sounded like he said something like, “Good luck, girl. Do me proud,” but it was hard to tell for sure. Either way, she smiled at him and nodded, and the two stayed locked together when Carson revealed the scores from America.

Out of a hundred, Emma got fifty-nine. Seth got forty-one. Added up, it was Emma, one twenty-nine versus Seth’s seventy-one.

When they were finished, we quickly left the stage so the guys could set up for their performance of My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark. Emma and I immediately began hugging.

I was shocked when Brinley pushed me back away from her, but unlike what I was told to do, I wasn’t just gonna ignore it. “What is your problem, lass?”

She rolled her eyes. “You are my problem. She’s competition, not someone to congratulate. You do this all the time, and it’s sick. You’re so two faced! You could care less if the people who are your so called ‘friends’ make it through.”

“Shows how little you know about me,” I snorted. “Yeah, it’s a competition, and yeah, I wanna win. Who doesn’t? Who would be here if they didn’t? That doesn’t mean I can’t be happy for someone for getting to the next level. That doesn’t mean I can’t be friends with someone who I’m competing against. I can have more than one friend. As a matter of fact, I do. I’ve made it a point to not bullshit anything. I hate people with multiple faces. Back off and leave me alone. Whether I’m still in this competition after tonight or not, I’ll be glad to have you out of my life forever. You’re such a fucking bitch, and I’m sick of dealing with all your drama and bullshit and pretending that it’s all okay, pretending that it doesn’t bother me. You’re a selfish, slutty, bitch, and to be honest, I don’t give two shits about what you think or say about me. This is my life, and I’m happy. You’re miserable, so you try to bring me down too. It’s not working, so give up and go away.”

She had no words to say, and even though Emma didn’t know the whole story, she struggled so hard to hold back a loud laugh. With the guys in the middle of their performance, it might not be too good to do that.

Once they wrapped up, it was time for Team Blake’s fate to be announced.

It actually surprised me when Blake gave Jesse sixty percent. It wasn’t that I was shocked that
Jesse was his top choice—admittedly, though, I was a bit shocked because it was rock versus country and he chose rock. What shocked me the most was that Blake didn’t just do fifty-fifty like he did the last time they did percentages.

By the time America’s votes were scored in, Jesse had a hundred and sixteen, and Nathan had eighty-four. He looked sad, but Jesse hugged him and congratulated him on getting that far.
Told him he couldn’t wait for his first album.

It lifted his spirits.

Next was our turn—the girls singing Crazy Kids. I was genuinely excited about it. You know, it really didn’t matter how badly or well I did. Votes were already in. It was just something we were doing for fun, to enjoy each others’ company for possibly the last time.

To my delight, it was sped up a little, so it made it more fun and easier to dance to.

Brinley was excited that she got to start it off. “Hello, wherever you are. Are you dancing on the dance floor, or drinking by the bar? Tonight we do it big, and shine like stars. And we don’t give a, what? ‘Cause that’s just who we are.”

I followed immediately after her, and I picked it up a bit. She kinda drug it down, made it dismal, but I picked it up and brought life back into it. “And we are, we are, we are, we are, we are the crazy kids, them crazy, them crazy kids, and we are, we are, we are, we are, we are the crazy kids. We are the . . .” and I got the whisper down great—nice, creepy, and sexy. “We are the crazy people.”

“I see ya in the club,” Emma began rapping, which I was dancing to. They told us to freestyle it, or just sway if we couldn’t dance. I could, and I wasn’t as scared to do it in front of people anymore . . . to an extent. So I was dancing and enjoying myself while Emma enjoyed rapping. “Showin Ke$ha love. Ain’t trippin on them bim, bims that be hatin, catch a dub. Chuckin duces, y’all hatin’s useless. It’s such a nuisance. Y’all chickens keep your two cents, and keep your dollars, keep your loot.”

What Mary followed up with was strange. It was seductive rapping. Not really rapping at all, but it was more like she was seducing someone with the way she did. Weird as it sounded, it was pretty good.

“I’m fresher than that Gucci. Them boys, they want my coochie. I say no, I’m no hoochie. Your home girl hatin, I say, who she? Ke$ha don’t give two whats. I came to start that ruckus, and ya wanna party with us ‘cause we crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy!”

And back to Brinley with the first half of the chorus, followed by me doing the second half.

We skipped the second verse and went straight to the bridge. Emma started it off with her powerhouse vocals.

“This is all we got, and then it’s gone.”

Mary piped in with her for this line. “You call us the crazy ones.”

Emma was by herself again. “But we gon’ keep on dancin til the dawn.”

And then it was Brinley. “‘Cause you know the party never ends, and tomorrow we’re gonna do it again.”

Finally, my ending to the bridge. “We the ones that play hard, we live hard, we love hard, we light up the dark!”

That note was a struggle, but I nailed it. It made me so happy that I had to take a second after hitting it to do a little happy dance.

Emma started the next chorus. “Hello, wherever you are. Are you dancing on the dance floor or drinking by the bar?”

Mary followed her again. “Tonight we do it big, and shine like stars. And we don’t give a what? ‘Cause that’s just who we are.”

We all came in together for the rest of it.

“And we are, we are, we are, we are, we are
The crazy kids, them crazy, them crazy kids
And we are, we are, we are, we are, we are
The crazy kids, we are the . . .”

And I got to do the creepy whisper by myself again.

“We are the crazy people.”

I was breathless but excited when we left the stage—aside from Mary, who was on Christina’s team. Honestly, what happened there was surprising. Nothing against Ryan, but I thought Mary was better. And America agreed. She got sixty-nine percent of America’s votes whereas he only got thirty-one, but Christina gave him seventy percent and only gave her thirty. Therefore, he literally beat her by two points because of Christina.

I think everyone was in shock about that one, but they moved the show on. Actually, it moved on to Jason Dërulo, who sang The Other Side. My eyes kept drifting to Niall from backstage, and once, we actually locked eyes. Though he didn’t smile like he would’ve if we were alone, he smiled, and there was such powerful love burning in his eyes that I felt comfort. Though we would be together faster if I won and went on tour with them, we would be together, and that was all that really and truly mattered.

The performance was over too quickly for my liking, as were the usually annoying commercials. This time, however, I found them comforting. Sure, we would be together. It didn’t really matter in the end. I still wanted to win for my dad, for Max, for Ella, for Niall, for Chris, for Kiley, for Noah, for Madi, and for myself.

“Last but not least, we come to Team Niall,” Carson said when the commercial break ended.
Like I figured, everyone cheered—teenage girls more than anyone else. “Normally, I’d love to delay it, but I think Everit might just have a stroke or some sort of heart attack if I do.”

Of course, my face started boiling, and to hide it, I nervously looked down to my feet.

Carson laughed. “Anyways, Niall, why don’t you explain your percentages before we show them?”

Niall nodded. “You know, I think both of you are extraordinarily talented. You both can and will go so far, and I think that America will decide which of you stays. I guess it’s my place as well to choose, because I’ve seen every angle, but I decided to leave it up to them.”

And sure enough, fifty-fifty.

Adam grinned up at me, and I bit my lip to hide back my smile. Brinley didn’t look too thrilled about that, but really, she didn’t want him to pick.

I get this strange feeling that she wouldn’t get more of his percent.

Carson nodded. “Very noble of you. Now, let’s see what America decided and see which member of Team Niall is going on to the finals.”

The numbers I saw flash across the screen immediately brought me to tears as I squatted down, holding my hands over my face to try and stifle back some of the noise of my cries.

I had done it. I had beaten her, fought my way to the top of Team Niall. I didn’t just barely scrape by. I won.

Eighty-two to eighteen—one hundred and thirty-two to sixty-eight with Niall’s percentage included.

Notes

The lyrics are from This Is My Time by Raven Symoné. :)

With all the singing in this chapter, chapter fifty is a lot worse. It's gonna take some time to get it where you can read it and understand it. I mean, it is the grand finale, after all. x3

I know I said I would get it all up tonight, but seriously, I'm crashing. x3 So freaking tired. As soon as I post the chapters for both When the Leaves Begin to Fall and His Princess, I'm gonna sleep.

I do promise to upload the rest of it tomorrow, however! :) Unless I fall asleep . . . which is possible with how sick I've been lately . . . but I'll do my best anyways. :)

Let me know what you think! And don't forget to check out His Princess and When the Leaves Begin to Fall to lemme know which you want me to start posting! (If you're even interested in reading another story of mine, that is.)