The Talent Show

"You nervous?" I asked Juno while at the backstage.

"A little. I haven't done this for so long"

"Man, that was a surprise. I never knew you played violin"

"Well, I used to. Actually, I was quite serious about it too and even considered going to a middle school for music"

Ouch, so he did fail because of Mina.

But I decided to pretend I didn't know anything.

"Then what happened?"

"I missed my turn to perform in the finals, haha. Pretty stupid right?"

I reached out and ruffled his hair with my hand.

"Yeah, you are pretty stupid"

Then we just sat there for a bit and Juno was going over the music score sheet.

"Tell me, how did you end up missing your turn to perform?"

"Well, something happened. This four-eyed girl in the practice room suddenly collapsed and nobody was helping, so I helped her to go out and get some fresh air. She got better but I missed my turn. Oh well"

I didn't know Mina used to wear glasses. She would have looked quite cute.

"Was it worth it?"

"What else could I do?"

It was clear that Juno did not realize that girl was Mina, and how much of an impression he left on her on that day.

"Yeah, you are pretty stupid. Good luck today"

With that, I left him alone and patiently waited until it was Mina's turn. She was to perform before Juno so I walked over to her.

"Ready?"

"Yeah"

"Good luck!"

"Thank you"

She seemed calm and collected today. I was sure she will do well.

Mina and her band were greeted with the loudest cheer in the gym. She was also a bit of a star in our year, not just in my class, and the other girls of the band seemed to have their own friends and fans too. She stood in the center of the stage confident and composed, but not overbearing.

She looked at her band mates and they all gave her a nod.

"This song is for my special someone"

That caught everybody off guard and the whole gym erupted in a loud cheer. Drum fills started the song and it was followed by emotively cascading chords of the piano, which was then picked up by a gentle arpeggio of a guitar as Mina started off the verse.

She really took my breath away, and I don't think it was just me who felt that way. The whole crowd went very quiet and listened, and listened, and listened. I never knew I could be so sappy but at one point I felt like I was almost tearing up.

The gym erupted with thunderous applause once the song was over and they received a standing ovation.

"Oh boy, that will be hard to top"

I don't know since when he was standing there but Juno spoke to me as their performance was over.

"Yeah…"

I was lost for words and really didn't know what to say or how to react to this.

So this was her singing that she wanted Juno to hear… how could a boy not fall in love with her after this?

"Watch me"

Huh?

Juno tapped me on the shoulder as he said this and made his way to the stage, walking past Mina that was coming back now. I saw that they saw each other and gave each other a nod of respect, Mina was blushing.

"Was it ok?"

Mina ran up to me after Juno's gone on to the stage and asked me like a child looking for her mom's approval.

"It was beautiful"

"Heh, thank you"

As I was gonna pat her head Tasha stormed into backstage and ran straight towards Mina, with Mara catching up not so far behind.

"Mina!! That was INCREDIBLE!"

Tasha gave Mina a massive bear hug which Mina answered back with a big smile of her own. My hand just kinda hang in the air for a bit and I pulled it back. Mina told them she will meet them after all this is over and sent them away to their seats in the audience area. I felt somewhat privileged to be able to stay here backstage with her.

"Here it comes now"

I spoke as I looked over to Mina. She had her eyes fixed on Juno and looked on nervously. It almost felt like she confessed with her music and now she was waiting to hear the response from his violin. I knew it was probably best for me to just shut up and watch the show.

Juno didn't look too nervous on the stage for a boy that hasn't performed for a few years. After the crowd's applause died out he took a deep breath and put the bow on the strings of his violin.

What followed then was something nobody could have imagined.

I didn't know anything about violin or classical music but it was completely obvious Juno was just out of this world. The audience that was still enjoying the afterglow of Mina's singing was now gripped by the scruff of their neck and was taken to another dimension.

It took me a while to pull myself together but when I looked over to Mina standing next to me I saw that she had tears rolling down, biting her lips tightly to stop them from becoming full-blown crying. I tried to put my arm around her but she brushed it off, turned around, and walked away, leaving the gym altogether before Juno even finished