Singing Soul Sisters

I reached around to the back of the speaker and plugged my microphone in. I checked the volume then walked over to my lead guitarist-Danny (or Danielle). She was putting in her hoop earrings.

“Are you all set?” Danny looked up at me and nodded.

“Should be. The only things that aren’t set up yet are JoJo’s drums and the lights at the end of the stage.” Danny put in her other earring and I looked around.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’ve done this performance a million times before.” I nodded and walked over to LuLu, my bass guitarist/JoJo’s sister.

“I’m all set up. JoJo is starting to set her drums up. The guys are putting the lights in right now. Your microphone is ready and connected to the speakers. Stop worrying.” LuLu put her arms out to me and I gave her a hug. I laughed at how well she knew me to comfort me right away. I let go of her and nodded. I looked around the stage once again, and everything was in order. I walked up to my microphone that was now set in the center of the stage and stood behind it. 

“Lalalalala. Lalalalala. Lalalala. Hey, Gauge? Can you turn up the volume a bit on my mic?” I turned around with one hand still on the mic and looked at Gauge, who was helping JoJo with her drums.

“Yeah, sure.” He walked behind the backstage curtain and I waited until he came back out to test it again.

“Nah nah nah. Nah nah nah. Perfect. Thanks, Gauge!”

“No problem.” Satisfied with how the stage setup was going, I walked backstage and into my dressing room. I went over to my vanity and put my elbows on it. I sighed and closed my eyes. After a minute, I stood back up and smiled in the mirror.

Walking over to my closet, I opened up the doors and went through my clothes, pushing the shirts, dresses, and pants I didn’t want to one side. I finally decided on my black jeans and sparkly-one-sleeve-red top. I quickly changed and then looked at myself in the mirror. It looked nice, but I definitely needed some help choosing my jewelry and shoes. So I texted the only person I could trust to do it for me: my sister.

She was in the audience already, but what felt like two seconds later, she was in my dressing room looking through all of my jewelry.

“You definitely need a choker, something sparkly to match your shirt. Then maybe some black earrings...Maybe a bracelet…” Isabella rummaged through all three of my jewelry boxes, muttering to herself. About five minutes later, Isabella had me all dolled up with a silver choker, black string earrings, and three silver bracelets.

“Thanks, sis. But what about shoes?” Isy’s eyes widened and she ran over to my row of shoes next to the couch. 

“Hmmm….we need something to pop against your pants. Red to match the shirt? Yeah. Red. Uhh...How about these?” Isabella held up a pair of red sandals that had a heel and I smiled.

“Perfect. Thank you so much, Isy. Now you better get back out to the audience or else someone might take your spot. Love you.” I gave her a quick hug and Isy left with an “I love you, too.” As she left, I put the shoes on and looked in the mirror. I only had twenty minutes to perfect my french braid pig-tails.

Brushing through my hair, I sang a couple of the songs I was going to sing. As I started to braid my hair, I continued to sing the songs. I was finishing up my first braid when JoJo came into my dressing room.

“You look nice.” I turned and let go of my braid.

“Thanks, Jo. You look great, too. I like the shirt. Are those new shoes?” Her shirt was our last concert t-shirt with the band name; Singing Soul Sisters. I nodded down to her shoes and JoJo went up on her toes.

“Yup. My boyfriend got them for me for my birthday last week...I heard from both LuLu and Danny that you’re worried again. What’s got you worried this time? Last time I thought you were doing better.” JoJo looked at me with expectant eyes. I was still worried, but I was feeling better because I knew that my bandmates would always have my back.

“You have to keep it a secret, but… there’s an agent out in the audience tonight that might be able to sign us into an even bigger record deal. But you can’t tell anyone. I didn’t want to tell you guys because I didn’t want all of us to be disappointed if we didn’t get the deal.” JoJo suddenly looked just as worried as me, maybe more. 

“Oh, okay. I won’t tell...Uhh...I gotta go help Gauge with the lights.” I nodded and watched as JoJo walked out. I started braiding the other half of my hair and sang another one of the songs. When I was finished, I looked nice and it sounded like the crew was doing the finishing touches on the stage. I took a deep breath and walked out and onto the stage. The curtain was still closed, so that meant that there was still some things to be done.

“Jaylin! Hey, Jaylin!” I whipped my head around and saw Isabella’s boyfriend, Ti, calling me over.

“What’s up?” I went over to him and he looked excited.

“Everything’s all set up, but there’s one thing that we need your opinion on.” He waved his hand at me and I followed him backstage and we stopped in front of two covered...ginormous paintings?

“What are these?” I looked at Ti as another man came over. I wasn’t completely sure who he was, but I was pretty sure that it was Ollie, one of the volunteers.

“Just read it when we pull the tarps off. And it’s your choice if you want to let me do it." Ti walked over to one of the paintings and Ollie went over to the other. Ti nodded and they both pulled the tarps off at the same time. 

“Hey, Isabella. Will you marry me?” I read the paintings and cried as I finished.

“Ti, that’s perfect.” I gave him a hug and I heard him laugh.

“We’re going to move them on either side of you when you start singing your love song. That's okay?” I nodded and wiped the tears from my eyes. 

“One minute until you and the band have to start. Better get set up.” I looked at Ollie and he raised his eyebrows. Laughing, I walked away and onto the stage. I was going to keep it a secret.

“LuLu, JoJo, Danny! Positions. We’re starting in thirty seconds. Let’s make these people’s nights.” I stood behind my microphone with my head down. I heard the 3, 2, 1 countdown in my ear piece and looked up at the crowd as the lights came on.

“Hello, Dallas!”