Swara took a deep breath. This was it, what she’d been waiting for for the past month. Finally, it was her time to shine. It was her time to finally climb out of under that rock she’d been hiding under for her entire life. She sighed, she was making much too big of a deal out of this. Yes, it was a big step for her, but it was only Talent Show and she’d only be singing on stage in front of everyone from school. She was beginning to feel sick, she took a deep breath and wondered how she’d even gotten into the talent show. She was supposed to audition and she’d gotten in. She wasn’t that good, at least she believe so.
Sanskar had always said that she was amazing, better than her favorite artist; Taylor Swift.
Sanskar! she sighed, thinking about him made her feel better. His messy black hair that made him look too cute. His light bule eyes that reminded her of the sky when it’s clear, and how they got all stormy when he was mad. She loved it when he hugged her, crashing her to his hard chest where she just always wanted to melt.
He was her best friend, and had been ever since she could remember. Actually, they had been best friends since before they were even born. She remembered how they used to play on the swing set in his back yard, and the tree house in hers. And then she remembered how she was there through his mother’s departure. How he’d stayed behind to stay with her, how sad he was for the year to follow.
Then she wondered, what happened to the boy that stayed with his father when they gave him the choice. Why was he now ditching her to be with Kavita?
Kavita might have been his girlfriend whom he was persistent to believe was not cheating on him with his guy best friend.
She growled mentally. What did he even see in the little sl*tty cheerleader of a girlfriend he had anyway?
“Shona,” Ragini, her female best friend said from next to her. What was she doing back stage?
“Yeah?” Swara replied.
“Don’t worry, you’ll do great.” Ragini said, with a smile.
“Oh, crap,” Swara said jumping up. “I forgot I was next.”
Ragini laughed. “Sorry for reminding you, but I also wanted to tell you what happened today, it’ll brighten up your mood,” she insisted.
“Alright.” Swara said, a little unsure.
“Sanskar found out that in fact Kavita was cheating on him.” Ragini blurted out.
“How does that make me feel better?” Swara asked trying to seem the same, though inside, she actually did a short happy dance.
“I know why you picked the song You Belong With Me Shona, unlike Sanskar, I’m not unaware of my surrounding. He’s in the crowd here to watch you sing, and I know how much you relate to this song, so I want you to sing it with all your heart, okay?”
Swara nodded.
Ragini continued, “If you don’t, I’ll kick your a**, because, even if he doesn’t know it, it’s true, he really belong with you.” And with that she turned and left back stage to go to her seat.
Swara took another deep breath as they told her to get on stage.
“And last, but not least is out very own Swara Gadodia,” the principal announced once she was on stage. “She will be singing Taylor Swift’s You Belong With Me.”
Everyone in the crowd cheered as the principal handed her the microphone. As soon as the principal was backstage they started the music.
Swara took a deep breath and began to sing.
“You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, She’s upset
She’s going off about something that you said
She doesn’t get your humour like I do.
I’m in the room, it’s a typical Tuesday night
I’m listening to the kind of music she doesn’t like
And she’ll never know your story like I do
But she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts
She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers
Dreaming ’bout the day when you’ll wake up and find
That what you’re lookin’ for has been here the whole time
If you could see that I’m the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can’t you see?
You belong with me, You belong with me
Walkin’ the streets with you in your worn out jeans
I can’t help thinking this is how it ought to be
Laughing on the park be nch thinkin’ to myself, Hey isn’t this easy?
And you’ve got a smile that could light up this whole town
I haven’t seen it in awhile, since she brought you down
You say you find I know you better than that
Hey, Whatcha doing with a girl like that?
She wears high heels, I wear sneakers
She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers
Dreaming ’bout the day when you’ll wake up and find
That what you’re looking for has been here the whole time
If you could see that I’m the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can’t you see?
You belong with me
Standin’ by, waiting at your back door
All this time how could you not know that?
You belong with me, You belong with me
Oh I remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night
I’m the one who makes you laugh when you know you’re about to cry
I know your favourite songs and you tell me about your dreams
I think I know where you belong. I think I know it’s with me.
Can’t you see that I’m the one who understand you?
Been here all along so why can’t you see?
You belong with me
Standing by or waiting at your back door
All this time how could you not know that
You belong with me, You belong with me
Have you ever thought just maybe
You belong with me, You belong with me, ”
By the end of the song, Swara was walking around the stage feeling confident. As soon as it ended everyone cheered. She smiled, and handed the microphone to the principal once she was on stage. The principal thanked her. Everyone else who had performed walked onto the stage and stood in a line in front of everyone.
The judges sat up front, but she’d totally forgotten about them. She didn’t even care whether or not she won. The principal was handed a piece of paper from one of the judges and said, “Before telling who the winner is I’d like to thank everyone who preformed tonight. Everyone on this stage right now is very talented and will receive a Certificate of participation. But only the winner will get a trophy. And speaking of which the winner is,” she looked down at the paper and raised an eyebrow. She looked like she disapproved. “Kavita Khurrana, for her amazing dance moves.”
Kavita squealed and came forward taking the trophy from the judge that had given the paper to the principal and “inconspicuously” winked at him.
No one cheered as she took the microphone and gave her phony thank you speech.
Swara rolled her eyes, she might have had a trophy, but she didn’t have a boyfriend anymore. And with her new found confidence Swara planed on taking advantage of that.
Soon Swara walked from back stage and to Ragini who waited for her by the door.
“Shona! You did great!” Ragini hugged her. “I’m sorry you didn’t win though.”
They let go of each other and Swara sighed. “I’m fine, Kavita bribed the judges anyway, or at least one of them. Where’s Sanskar?”
Ragini looked around and stammered a little. “I don’t know he was here a second ago. Come on, let’s get something to eat, I’m starving.”
Swara looked at her suspiciously.
“Alright,” She didn’t bother to ask where they were going but soon regretted it. Ragini pulled into the park and parked. She looked at her, and sighed, she motioned for Swarra to get out so she did, even though she had a pretty bad feeling Ragini was going to drive away. Sure enough she did.
Swara sighed and turned around to find a bench. Instead she found Sanskar; he walked up to her and looked down on her perfect features. Big brown eyes and dark brown hair that looked black in the lighting. A small nose and perfectly shaped lips. No one had to be a genius to figure out why she’d chosen that song. Plus he wasn’t as oblivious as he seemed.
“Shona,” he began, unsure of what to say. She watched him, waiting.
“You remember when we were 14 and had that little message book in your tree house, and how you yelled at me when I tore a page out?”
She nodded.
“Well…” he took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her, “here it is.”
She carefully unfolded it and read what was quickly scribbled on the page:
I LOVE YOU.
The end.
Author’s note – Hey guys, I’m Jasmine. My pen name, of course. Well, I’m new here and this is the first time I’m writing an one shot, so please ignore the typos and grammatical errors. This is based on song by Taylor Swift, not music video.
Thank you for reading! ♥