※Rewritten※

It was the next day. It was the day that everyone in the music category would perform for the large crowd that sat just outside the tent. Outside there were our peers waiting to either be amazed or revolted by my singing, not so much everyone else, they sound good. But just behind them were the gods, our parents, siting in the amphitheater seats conversing amongst themselves on whatever gossip they heard. And behind them were the judges. Three people deciding if we are good or not, I don't even know who they are, if they're gods, nymphs, satyrs, demigods. What If one of them is Mrs. O'Leary? I wouldn't even know.

I peaked my head out from the tent next to the stage, hoping to get a glimpse of our judges before we start. They looked to be a mixture of people, a naiad from the lake I think, a roman demigod who I don't know, and Aphrodite. Oh I hope that doesn't cause trouble with equal judging, I know Aphrodite likes me a bit.

"Ok guys, you ready?" A bright blond son of Apollo, Braxton Hulme, asked us when he walked into the tent. A nice dress shirt and shiny Oxford shoes donned the overly preppy guy. "I'm going to walk you guys out onto the stage, introduce them to you, then the first person will stay on stage to perform. Any questions?"

"Whose performing first?" Annabeth asked. Her blonde curls had been meticulously taken care of the night before, pulled back into a half-up do with small owl berets. Piper had obviously taken her to her cabin, as well as Reyna and Hazel, to get them dressed up. While Hazel and Piper chose to wear clothes that had a bit more flare, Reyna and Annabeth decided to wear blouses with their denim shorts.

Braxton looked at the clipboard in his hand. It looked like he had an entire textbook on the small piece of wood, but he just casually lifted up about half of the stack and read the name. "Reyna."

Reyna nodded her head and sighed, "Okay, okay, I'm ready."

"Good, because here is the order you will be walking out on stage in," He stood right in front of the exit flaps of the tent and pointed to the step below him. "Reyna you're first, then Piper is next, Jason behind her and Nico behind him." Nico grumbled and lifted himself off the couch, he glared at Jason who turned around happily, "Aw, Nico! You're behind me!"

"Get off," He tried to push Jason away from him but couldn't, the son of Jupiter had already locked him in a big bear hug.

"Okay, after Nico is Hazel, after Hazel is Annabeth, Frank behind her, Percy behind him, and then at the very end is Nathalie and Alfred," Braxton smiled and opened the flap. "Now I'm going to go out there, start the show, and when I say, Reyna you'll lead the line out, got it? Good." With those final words, he disappeared into the blinding spotlight and begun.

Everyone, I could tell, looked terrified. But not the 'oh my gods I'm gonna die' terrified, the kind of terrified you get when you have to present in front of your class terrified. And, to be honest, I was too. There's a different feeling you get when you're first or last. People remember the beginning and end more than the middle and I wished I was behind Jason so that the weight of performing was less, but something told me that the people behind me were going to drop out last minute leaving me being the last person to perform. I do not like that.

Putting my paranoia aside, I felt bad for Reyna. Yeah she's a praetor and she's used to being in front of large crowds, but singing is different than speaking. When you're singing anything could go wrong, a wrong note, a voice crack. You could be singing faster than the track or the opposite where you're too slow for the music. Speaking is easy because if you mess up you can just apologize and continue from where you left off.

"Now, introducing the contestants of today's contest," Braxton called out and Reyna began walking up the steps. "Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, Praetor of New Rome, Daughter of Bellona!"

"Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite!"

"Jason Grace, former praetor of New Rome, son of Jupiter!"

"Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades!"

"Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto!"

"Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena!"

"Frank Zhang, Praetor of New Rome, son of Mars!"

"Percy Jackson, former praetor of New Rome, son of Poseidon!"

"And last but not least our duet, Alfred Jones, son of Hermes, and Natalia Braginski, daughter of Nike!" Braxton called out the last two but they didn't leave the tent, instead I saw them walk out from the other side of the tent, trying to blend in with the crowd. They bailed leaving me last...great. "I guess they're not performing, anyway, these eight demigods are going to sing for all of you tonight!" Cheers were belted out from the crowd and for the first time I was able to see the judges clearly, they were who I thought they were, a naiad, a demigod, and Aphrodite. "Before we begin, I want to thank Camp Half-Blood, on behalf of everyone here, for putting together the stage, the seats, and everything in between."

Another round of claps were heard from the crowd. "And now, performing the song Royals by Lorde, here is Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano!"

We walked back to the tent and waited in the lounge area, watching Reyna from the tv Leo set up. She walked from her place in the line to center stage, mic in her hand and a mic stand patiently waiting for the last piece. The moment she stepped in front of it the music began. "I've never seen a diamond in the flesh."

"I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies," Reyna closed her eyes, not wanting to look out to the crowd before her. "And I'm no proud of my address, in the torn up town no post code envy."

Then, it was like a switch was flicked inside her because the moment the bridge began her eyes shot open. A confidence seen like none other as she gripped the microphone, and sang the chorus. Cheers rang up in the crowd, excited and amazed by the usually stern praetor of the neighboring camp. "We crave a different kind of buzz."

I dragged Jason and Leo, who was there to hang out, behind the stage curtains, a devious little plan was cooking up in my brain. So as quickly as I could, I told them what we were going to do, "the moment that Reyna sings 'I'll rule' you know how there's the backup singers the repeat?"

"We're gonna be the back up singers?" Leo smiled following my lead.

"Yup." I said and waited for Reyna to sing those words.

"And baby I'll rule," Leo's head popped out from the edge of the curtain at the first echo, my head on the second, and Jason's last before we quickly ducked back behind the sheet. "Let me live that fantasy."

We stayed behind the curtain for the rest of the song for two reasons, one, we didn't want to distract people from Reyna while she performed, and two, we wanted to do the echoes for the rest of the song. The good thing is that Reyna didn't notice us. The other good thing is that, even though I couldn't see her, I know she did good. Her voice carried through the area, she held herself as if she was a royal, performing with poise and grace. And it wasn't like the crowd didn't notice it, they loved it, they loved her.

When she finished, Reyna gave a little bow and walked off the stage, Braxton reappearing on the other side, "Thank you Reyna for that lovely performance, give her one last round of applause!" Claps and whistles her blown her way and a shy smile etched it way on her lips. "Judges, place your votes and get ready for the next performer!"

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