Take the Stage

You re-enter the party. The drinks haven’t stopped flowing. It’s turned into a full on grind fest, hormones raging like it’s the first high school dance all over again. Maybe not the best environment to interject in. But it’s now or never. You walk over to the DJ and ask him to turn off the music so you can perform the show you’ve just rehearsed for the last hour. He shrugs you off. You look back at Danica’s excited face, eager to perform, and reach into your heart (and wallet) and hand the DJ a $20. He thanks you, and continues DJing. You reach back into your wallet and grab a $100. He goes to grab it, you pull it away. “Music off”. The DJ takes a break. The party stops, and your fellow classmates look confused. You roll in the band gear from the teacher’s lounge, push a few cafeteria tables together to form a makeshift stage, and begin the show. Xavier uses a table lamp as a spotlight. Your classmates pay attention, for a minute or two. As the show goes on, they begin talking amongst themselves. This isn’t going as well as you thought it would. But you still get to kiss Danica at the end, don’t you? Quarterback Mike Johnston might have something else to say about that. He’s now a CEO, and would never want to miss a chance to upstage you. He hunts down the DJ and gives him $400 to turn the music back on. You try to push through, yelling out the lyrics you spent so many hours crafting over a pop song generated by an AI robot. But you can’t compete with technology. The crowd starts giggling, growing quickly into a raucous laugh. Your dreams drown quickly in a sea of embarrassment.

And not a pretty, death, either. Think you can do better?