Some tension eased out of my shoulders.“Good.I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
Davies’ eyes narrowed.“Well, I can’t go on your word alone in these kinds of things.”
My smile felt cold.“Of course.I understand.”
His sigh was long and a little dramatic.Maybe his niece’s influence.“Break a leg.”He turned toward his niece when someone called her to line up.
“Not literally,” he added over his shoulder.“I don’t have time for hospital paperwork.”
I laughed, the sound shaky as I watched him walk away.
I kept cycling through warmups, hands trembling as I held the neck of my guitar.Students filtered in and out behind the curtain, some buzzing from their performances, others pale from nerves, a few humming scales like they were trying to hypnotize themselves into calmness.
Mrs.Odera’s voice drifted over.“Next up: Cadence Wiles.”
My stomach flipped.
It was suddenly too warm backstage, like the air had thickened with everyone else’s breath.I squeezed my guitar strap with sweaty hands and turned toward the cluster of the people who had quietly gathered near the wall.
I pulled in a long inhale.My hands steadied just enough.Beyond the curtain, I heard the applause fade from the student who’d gone before me.Chairs shifted.A cough.The soft creak of the auditorium settling.
My turn.
The stagehand pulled the curtain back, giving me just enough space to slip through.Light poured in, warm and bright—intimidating if you weren’t ready for it.I’d been on stage hundreds of times, but my hands still trembled as if this were my first performance.
I stepped out on stage.
The lights washed over me, hot and blinding for a second as the audience came into view.All the seats were filled with teachers, students, friends, strangers, and right in front, my dad, already leaning forward like he was ready to catch me if I somehow managed to fall off the stage.
Rows of familiar faces except for one.Paxon.There was still no sign of him.I swallowed hard, rolled my shoulders back, and moved to the mic stand.
My fingers found the first chord as naturally as breathing.
Even with the ache in my chest, something steadied inside me.It was the same thing that always happened when I held my guitar and played it.Music didn’t care about fractured friendships or heartbreak or fear.It just was.A place I could exist without everything else falling apart.
I lifted my eyes to the crowd, spotting my three guys in the audience—Seth, Justin, and Bryan.They were as hyper-focused on me as I was with them.
“Hi,” I said, my voice clear through the mic, giving nothing away about my nerves.“I’m Cadence Wiles.”
A few cheers scattered the room.I smiled.
“This song is for my Music Analysis class.I hope you like it.”I didn’t want to dive into what this song meant for me.I didn’t have that energy and it didn’t matter here.All that mattered was the music I shared.
My thumbs brushed the strings.The auditorium fell silent.Then I began to play, starting with a soft fingerpicked pattern.It was gentle, steady, something that felt like a heartbeat.My breath steadied with it.
The crowd blurred into shapes.The lights softened around the edges.All that existed was the guitar vibrating against my ribs and the words rising in my throat.
I leaned slightly forward to make sure the microphone picked up my voice.
“I lost myself in all the breaking,
In all the shadows I fell through.
I stitched my heart with borrowed courage,
Hoping someday it’d feel true.
But every sunrise feels different now,
