She Sang with TeraByte

“Do I have to go?” whined Izzy.

“Yes! C’mon, it’ll be so much fun!” replied Hannah over the phone. Izzy sighed, hung up, and stared around her room. Her white curtains gently fluttered against the breeze from the open windows, like liquid moonlight dancing on the ocean. The soft gray carpet was sprinkled with dresses, denim jackets, high heels, and makeup items, as though a tornado had been rampaging her room just an hour earlier. 

“‘It’ll be fun’, they said. ‘Go to the party’ they said,” Izzy mocked. “Ugh.” She marched over to her closet, and picked out a white short sleeved shirt and a navy skirt that reached her knees. Izzy put them on, complaining to herself the whole time. She then grabbed a leather belt from the closet, and wrapped it around her waist. She sat down at her vanity, and started her makeup. Izzy’s phone began to buzz, and she picked it up.

“What now, Hannah?”

On the other end, talking 300 miles an hour, Hannah burst out, “my-dress-for-the-party-shrank-in-the-washing-machine-can-I-borrow-one-of-yours?”

“Say what now?”

“I’m on my over right now. I have nothing else to wear!”

“Hannah, you have triple the amount of dresses I own, and yet you have nothing else to wear?!”

“Thank you so much Izzy, you’re the best friend ever.” 

“But I--” Hannah had already hung up. Izzy shuffled back over to her closet, and grabbed a bubblegum pink silk dress with a tulle skirt for Hannah to wear.

“Knock knock!” called a voice from outside her door. 

“Hannah? How’d you get here so fast?” Izzy questioned as she walked over to her bedroom door and opened it.

“I--uh, may or may not have been hanging around outside your house...and I may or may not have been going to borrow a dress whether or not you said I could…heh…”

Izzy pinched the bridge of her nose while Hannah changed. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Drive me to the party?” said Hannah with a sugary sweet smile plastered on her face.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s go.” 

The party was at Xavier’s house. His birthday was last week, and he had invited the entire sophomore class to attend his party at his millionaire-style house. There were security guards posted in front of the gate at the start of the driveway. Once they had let Izzy and Hannah past, they slowly drove past gardens decorated with hedge fences and fountains spewing water that looked as though it crystallized in the air, a classy stable that could house fifteen horses, along with a tennis court and pool that would put the YMCA to shame. 

After exiting the car, Izzy and Hannah glided up the steps to the front doors. Before they could ring the doorbell, a butler opened the door for them and escorted them to the ballroom. 

“Still regretting coming, Izzy?” Hannah asked with one eyebrow raised questioningly.

“You bet,” was all Izzy said in reply. 

“Oh my--is that a chocolate fountain?!” squealed Hannah, and she raced off to the all-you-can-eat snack bar. 

“Hannah! You promised to stay with me.” but it was useless. Hannah had already formed a temporary clique. Leave it to Hannah to arrive at a party, and become popular within a matter of seconds.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” an announcer called over a loudspeaker, “it is time for the party to begin!” A DJ, complete with DJ equipment, was rolled out of a back door on a platform.

Hannah’s clique started screaming their heads off, “It’s TeraByte!”

“Who’s TeraByte?” Izzy asked the nearest person.

She gave Izzy a disgusted look, “TeraByte, is, like, the coolest celeb out there. He has, like, so many hits.” With that, she stormed away from Izzy.

“But,” the announcer was back on the loudspeaker, “one of you will be given the opportunity to perform live with TeraByte tonight!” If possible, the crowd started screaming louder.

TeraByte waved at the mob of girls. “Hey hey hey! I’m TeraByte, and I get to choose one lucky person to sing karaoke with me! I’d like to give a shout-out to Xavier, the lucky B-day boy! The star of the show! Why don’t we give him a round of applause?” All of the guests erupted into applause and more screaming. “Now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for!” Miraculously, the crowd went silent. A spotlight started circling the ballroom, shining its light on different party-goers. “Here’s how it works: I’ll count down from five, and whoever the spotlight is shining on after ‘one’ gets to perform with me!”

“I love you TeraByte!” was the crowd’s only reply. 

When TeraByte started counting down, the entire assembly enthusiastically counted with him, “five! Four! Three! Two! One!”

“No no no no no no no no,” Izzy groaned. The spotlight had landed directly on her.

“Go Izzy!” cried Hannah. 

Everyone started chanting, “Izzy, Izzy, Izzy!” until she half-heartedly walked to the platform.

“Tell me a little bit about yourself,” said TeraByte.

“I’m Izzy.”

“Anything else?” TeraByte prompted. 

“Do I have to do this?”

“Absolutely! Why don’t you pick one of your favorite songs of mine to sing?”

“I--uh, well you see, I don’t actually know who you are.”

The whole room gasped, TeraByte included. “Sorry.” Izzy said bashfully, “I could pick a song by a different artist, or better yet, you can pick someone else to perform.”

“N-nonsense,” TeraByte was still shaken by the fact that someone didn’t know who he was. “Pick whatever song you want.

“‘Forever’ by Rosa Rivera.”

“Okay then!” TeraByte hit a few buttons, turned some knobs, and Izzy’s knees began to knock when the music started. It had just dawned on her that she would actually have to sing in front of an entire audience. 

But when she started to sing, instead of laughing at her, the crowd gasped. They thought she was a good singer. Even TeraByte was impressed. Izzy smiled, and sang strong and proud. 

After four encores and dancing for three hours, the party was over. When Izzy and Hannah were leaving, Xavier ran up to them.

“Hi Izzy. I just wanted to give my congrats. I didn’t know you were such a good singer!”

Hannah laughed. “I don’t think she knew either.” 

“Either way, you made my party a hundred times better.”

“Wow, thanks Xavier. That means a lot to me.” And it did. Maybe parties aren’t so bad after all, thought Izzy, with a smile on her face.