Song of the chapter- 'Chained to the Rhythm' by Katy Perry ft. Skip Marley

'Aren't you lonely up there in Utopia,
Where nothing will ever be enough?
Happily numb'

"So just do that then, that'll be perfect," I nod as I tell him his idea would work fine.

"But that's too normal, Erie!" Josh whines.

"Who cares? You still sound amazing!" I attempt to reassure him.

"There's no novelty in just playing my guitar and singing 'Payphone'," he groans.

"Who needs novelty when you have a voice like yours?" I reply.

"That's easy for you to say, you playing your violin and singing is unique enough with the way you play your violin. Me, I'm just a guy playing his guitar. That's too common," he complains.

"Well then, how about you play your guitar upside down? Or you could hang upside down!" I roll my eyes.

"How about you accompany me with your violin?" he asks, seemingly a little hesitant.

"Do they allow that?" I ask him.

"Well, you're just lending instrumentals so I'm guessing they would?" he asks more than tells me as his eyes roam the room. I spot the judges a little distance from the entrance and nudge Josh to look that way, him heading that way when he realizes what I meant.

Minutes later, Josh is told he can have anyone on stage with him, even lending background vocals, provided he's the main performer because it's his performance.

He skips over to me, widely grinning, "Erie, Erie, they say I can even have background vocals so long as I'm the main singer!"

"What are you hinting at, Mister?" I lift my eyebrow at him.

"You know, Payphone is best with harmonies!" he squeals excitedly.

"So you want me to sing background vocals for you, like for real?" I ask him, surprised that he's willing to share his spotlight with someone else when mostly anyone else would jump at the opportunity to be the sole center of attention under such circumstances.

"Yeah, why? Don't you want to?" his smile drops and the excitement overwhelming him earlier now dissipates into thin air.

"No, it's just that this is your chance to be the star of the show and whatnot. I wouldn't want to intrude on that."

"Oh, I really don't care about that, Erie. I think it'd sound even better with you there, that's all matters. Seriously, even if it means having to 'share the spotlight', I really wouldn't mind sharing it with you," his face brightens when he understands what I meant.

"Then I have zero issues with that. Let's get on with practice then, huh?" I pick up my violin and head to one of the rooms set up for us to practice in.

An hour later, we've arrived at the sound he's satisfied with and have managed to practice it a couple of times. I realize that I never really told Stace I'd be practising now. I smack my forehead as he warily asks me what's wrong.

"I just remembered something, sorry, I'll be back in just a bit," I utter before racing out the room.

I spot them when I hear Tracie's voice and follow it. Stacie looks up at me when I near them and smiles.

"I just remembered I didn't even tell you I was-"

"Practising, I know. Take your time, it's Friday night anyway. Besides, we're having fun!" she speaks, pointing at Tracie and Violet playing on the floor.

"Don't tell me you're still arguing about whatever it is that you were arguing about!" I look around for Van.

"Oh we so are! We only took a little break because she wanted to take a walk, that's all. We're gonna continue!" she exclaims.

"Whoa, enjoy!" I blow her a kiss and head back to Josh, apologizing and diving back into practice. A few trials later, we're satiated. Exhausted, we lean against a wall and sit, blankly staring at the wall.

"Wait, I'm so sorry, you probably wanted to practice for your performance as well!" he suddenly tells me.

"Nah, that's okay, I have time to practice at home. Besides, I'm only going to be playing my violin and singing, probably a little tapping, the usual jazz," I say.

"Hey, you could be a violinist tapper!" he exclaims.

"That'd certainly be novel!"

"Plus that would be amazing but if you're short of breath, that might be a little difficult," he says thoughtfully.

"I guess I could manage that. I need to make sure I have the hands-free kind of microphone though."

I am quite getting sold on that idea. I had initially thought of beatboxing a little but that can't account for percussion when I have to sing so I guess that could definitely be done. I need to start slow though, and build up my breathing capacity gradually so it'll be easier.

"We still have some time now so you could practice now, you know? I'm pretty sure we're thorough with the way we're performing 'Payphone'," he adds, a little hesitant in his words.

"The main problem with this is the breathing but I can break it down and use the less taxing techniques I've learnt. Hey, I could confer with my sister. Dance just seems to flow when we do it together," I tell him.

"She's here?" he asks.

"Yup. Say what, I could introduce you to them, what do you say?" I ask him, now being my turn to be hesitant.

"Sure, I'd love to meet the people who are here for you!"

"Hang on for a minute," I tell him and rush to Van. She gets so excited when I tell her what I plan to do and asks me if she can tap with me on stage too.

"Ooh, I'm glad you asked, that opens a lot of possibilities!"

"Aw, I don't have my tapping shoes!" she tells me sadly.

"We'll perfect the routine when we reach home, alright?" I tell her and we head to the room to practice, attempting to drag Stacie and the girls along but she tells us to go have fun without the girls interfering. She won't have any problem waiting, she says.

Thanking her, Van and I rush to the room.

"My elder younger sister, Vanessa," I tell him, laughing at the confusion on his face.

"Oh, Josh, she means I'm the older of her younger sisters," she tells him rather confidently. That's what I love about her- she has absolutely no qualms in greeting people she doesn't even know with zero shyness.

"Oh, that clears a lot," he glares at me.

"What? It's not my fault you're so stupid!" I say, mocking him.

"I'm not stupid. You're just freakishly clever," he takes the bait and we burst into laughter leaving Vanessa extremely confused.

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I love the relation between Valerie and Josh! What do you feel?

Also, the next update is coming #SOON (I just couldn't resist it, don't kill me!), Val can't wait for her violin-tapping debut!

Also, 'Chained to the Rhythm' is such an amazing song! It's neat and catchy so it's already settling in my head and the underlying message is plenty powerful and artfully disguised as a party anthem so kudos to that!

It's almost time for the Grammys so I'm excited! Apparently Katy is set to perform the song plus Pentatonix is performing too, along with Demi, Beyoncé, Adele and some of my favourite artists so I'm eagerly waiting... *tick tock*

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