Chapter 87: A Glimpse of the Past: That is Me

Elizabella tightened her bow before adding some rosin to the fine horse hairs on the bow. When she finished, she placed her violin under her armpit like a ukulele as she strummed the strings to tune her violin. Hearing the notes sounding right, she put the violin under her chin with her left arm as she swung her bow around while in thought.

She understood that Walliams had put her in an awkward position as he revealed himself to the strangers here. Elizabella was stressing on how to get them not to ask questions about what they had seen.

"Paganini never fails to stun people," thought Elizabella as she elegantly moved her bow on top of her violin. "Let us hope that they have never heard of him before."

Elizabella began playing as her CD vibrated. She had programmed her CD to recognize her solo playing so she could have an accompaniment. After a few moments, her CD began to play along with her as the music kept in tempo with her playing. Her audience remained captive as she played, and the quiet room filled with music.

Some have heard of this piece as others noticed that she only played all the notes, including the high notes on one string. Her hand would shift up and down as she played on her G string. The notes sounded dreamy during the first half of the piece and then turned jovial as she played staccato, short and quick. She ended the short piece with a few quick slides and the final notes.

After her ending, she gave a bow. Waking everyone who was mesmerized by her playing as they clapped. Odette clapped slowly as she seemed to ponder what she heard. Once the applause died down, Odette voiced her opinion.

"What was that piece you played?" she asked as Elizabella noted that her scowl had disappeared and was replaced with an inquisitive gaze.

"It was a shorter Paganini piece called Moses Fantasy for G string. Legend has it that the great Niccolò Paganini broke all his strings during a concert, except for the lowest string. In memory of that concert, he composed this piece to be played on one string, the G string. It is perhaps one of his easier works. I could play the more difficult ones, but they are longer. I assumed you only wanted to hear something quick to finish assessing me," said Elizabella with a cocky smile on her face making Odette's face freeze.

"You know, if you were to point and pick anyone in this room, they would all do the same things you did. What makes you unique from the rest of us?" asked Odette as Leo tried to intervene. "What? Everyone here has already shown themselves to be a vital member of our group. Bella here is new. We should make sure that she can shine when she on stage. Otherwise, she would be my shadow."

Hearing Odette speak, everyone seemed a bit convinced as they would prefer someone that would help them win the competition. Everyone there could do something similar that the new girl did. They wanted an act that would blow the judges' minds once they saw them on stage.

Elizabella noticed that the minds of the members seemed to be swayed. She clenched her fists as she looked at Odette.

"I should not have thought that I could change her mind so easily. It is apparent that Odette still is against me. No matter what I do, she will always not like me. It seems that I will have to pull my ultimate weapon," Elizabella took a deep breath as she took her CD and began to look through it, making Odette smirk, thinking that she was going to call someone to pick her up.

"Are you calling daddy? What, are you going to tell him that I am mean to you?" asked Odette as she continued to cross her arms and looked down on Elizabella. "Figures. A spoiled princess like you would not be able to take constructive criticism. Know this; your daddy will not be able to change our minds if you cannot provide a fresh idea for us to use."

The others had conflicting looks as they believed that Odette was taking things too far. However, they all wanted to win the talent competition. It would change their lives if they won. They were banking their futures on this competition as it would help them do what they liked to do and get paid. In the end, no one contradicted Odette as Elizabella looked up from her CD with a brow raised.

"Why would I call 'daddy' for something so insignificant?" said Elizabella as she gave Odette a confused look, but it looked, and sounded mocking to the rest, making them feel offended.

"You think we are insignificant?" asked Odette as her tone seemed to drop to a dangerous level, making Walliams go on high alert again.

"No, not you. I meant about what you said. You want a fresh idea, and I was looking in my CD for something I recently did. I was going to ask for your opinions to see if maybe we could do something similar again," said Elizabella as she did not seem to understand that the hostile looks that they had given her before were back while she focused on looking through her CD. "Found it; I had directed and performed an advertisement for a jewelry store. It was a big hit, so I thought you might like it too."

Elizabella worked on her CD as a hologram appeared with the store's name, Silver Raven, flashing in glitter. She expanded the hologram as it became a human-size projection against an empty wall. The group decided to sit on the free chairs that they pulled closer to the wall with the holograph projection. Once Elizabella pressed her CD, the glittered words exploded, looking like crystal stars expanding out of the dedicated area for the projection.

The screen turned black when a well-lighted city appeared as the backdrop. In front of the backdrop were five girls holding violins with their backs facing the front. The girl in the middle started to play as she swayed her body in the tempo of her violin. She turned to face the camera with a smile as she continued to play. The other girls began to play, one by one, different parts that made the whole piece. The scenes would change quickly, giving each girl a short time to appear in different settings while playing their violins.

Each girl had a different personality as their scenes matched their outfits.

The first girl was a mature working lady in a black pantsuit sitting on an office chair. Her make-up was the most daring with her vibrant red lips and fierce gaze. She had short hair as the camera focused a closeup on her face, exposing the gems on her necklace and bracelets on her moving wrists as she played her violin. She moved her body elegantly as the scene switched to the next girl.

The second girl was a socialite who was used to being in front of the flashing lights. Her scene was her sitting in a posh sitting room as there were flashing lights while she posed with her violin. The camera focused on a closeup of her face. She wore crystal shades while her long hair flowed down her back. Her rings on her fingers twinkled under the light as she played her violin.

The third girl was an athletic girl dressed in a cute casual tennis outfit as she would gracefully jump from side to side on her feet while she played her violin on a tennis court. A closeup of her face, and one would notice the studs on her ears twinkling vibrantly under the sun.

The fourth girl was decorating for a birthday party. She sat on a step ladder in her baby blue party dress while she had a gem-encrusted diadem on her head. She played her violin as there was a closeup shot showing her dangling earrings that matched the diadem on her head.

The last girl was in a library sitting on a desk as she played her violin. She was dressed in a demure dress with three-quarter sleeves, showing her dainty bracelet on her wrist with a matching necklace.

The brief introduction of the girls was over in an instant as they appeared standing together while they played their violins together. Suddenly, they began to dance in sync while on their violins. The scenes would quickly change to each girls' backdrop moving their bodies in one singular motion as they continued to play their instruments.

The advertisement was a minute long, so it ended with a frame of each girl dancing with her violin side by side. The scene focused on the words that appeared on screen with fuzzy silhouettes of the girls in the back. The words were quickly scripted as they read, "Wearing Jewels is Your Wordless Expression- the Candy Collection."

The scene turns black again as the original logo forms back from the explosion. The group continued to keep quiet even after the video ended. They silently analyzed what they saw and tried to think of ways to add any of it to their acts.

Elizabella put her CD away as she looked up at the group, all in deep thought. She suddenly felt nervous as she wondered what they thought as they had yet to say anything about the clip they saw. She tried to maintain a calm demeanor as she swallowed before speaking.

"This video helped bring in revenue to Silver Raven of about a thirty-three percent increase. A survey was conducted where seventy percent of the females liked the clip and wanted to buy from the collection itself or something else from the store. Forty percent of the males wanted to buy for their loved ones from this collection in the survey. All in all, from the data that was collected, this campaign was a success," said Elizabella as she now understood what it felt like to report to others instead of having others report to her.

The group heard her speaking but was still in quiet contemplation. Finally, Leo sighed and sat back in his seat.

"The whole thing looked great—the dancing, the costumes, the product, etc. It would be great if we could add this sort of level of performance to our group," said Leo as Elizabella beamed with joy.

"Thank you! I am glad that you think so," said Elizabella as she sighed with relief when she heard Leo sigh again.

"Too bad we cannot have the girls join our group. It would be cool to have them dance along with us. I can see us dancing in sync with them as they play their violins," said Leo as Elizabella felt frozen when she heard him; she even forgot to breathe properly.

"It would be great to have them on our team. They are very talented at dancing in sync while on their violins," said Bash as he rubbed his chin with his forefinger.

"That is the level of talent that I would not mind having to join our group," said Odette as she turned to look at Elizabella with a frown. "Why are you standing there like that?"

The group all turned to see that Elizabella had her mouth and eyes wide open at them, making them curious about why she was looking at them this way.

"Uh- I do not know how to say this, but…" began Elizabella as her cheeks flushed a vibrant shade of pink before putting her head down. "The girls in the advertisement are one person, and I played them. That was me dancing with my violin."

"HUH!!??"