Page 49 of The Spotlight Effect

“I bought lyric printouts of your song for everyone,” Emerson says, pulling out a stack of my song. She hands me one of the music sheets.

“First we must figure out the music composition,” Cooper says, and Kenan walks over the piano.

“Could you play the chords for us?” Kenan asks.

“Can I borrow a guitar?” I ask, since I originally played the song on a guitar, I figured this would be the easiest.

Grayson stands up and brings over the one that was beside him. “Are you sure you want me to”

“Just take it,” he says. I take it, and our fingers lightly skim each other. I once again feel flutters as we touch but I dismiss the feeling.

“Here, take a seat,” I hear Charlie speak up and look over to see him standing beside a black stool. I walk over to the stool feeling a bit awkward and sitting down.

“I’m ready when you are,” Kenan says. I begin to play the chords of the song. Everyone becomes silent as I play. I try to avoid looking at anyone because I am scared of what everyone will think. Kenan comes in on the piano matching my chords I play on the guitar then soon the bass comes in so Raven must have gotten up.

Our music begins to mesh in a harmonious way, creating the song I envisioned. I come to the end of the song, and Kenan finishes off.

“I think we can make that on the board,” Cooper says.

“It’s a phenomenal song,” Scarlett says, patting my shoulder.

“Thank you.”

“Okay, let’s hear the song in the booth,” Stacy says.

“Yeah, go, bestie, go!” Charlie shouts. This causes me to laugh a little as I stand up and Grayson comes over for me to give him the guitar.

“Okay, Alexia, just pretend we aren’t here,” Ryker tells me.

“I know it’s harder than we say,” Emerson says.

“You’re telling me,” I whisper to myself.

I make my way over to the recording booth. “Okay, so you’re going to put the headset on, and we will give you a thumbs up when we are ready,” Stacy says.

“Just be yourself,” Cooper says as I enter the booth. Inside there are three mics and stools so I just choose the one in the middle.

I put on the headset; it fits snugly around my ears. I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to right now. “Ready when you are,” Stacy says through the mic. A beep sounds through the room and a green light shows up above the window. Cooper gives a thumbs up and my voice begins to radiate through the mic.

The lyrics come naturally to me as I’ve sung this song so many times throughout the last couple of months. It’s honestly more than a song to me; it’s everything I’ve felt with the trauma I’ve endured throughout the last few years regarding the incident that happened when I was thirteen.

Everyone thought I was overreacting, not handling it well, or should just move on and this is how I coped. Writing this song and getting through the time that was hard.

This song is a coping mechanism that got me through all the bad thoughts that drove me to try to take my life several times.

I entermy bedroom and drop my bags to the floor. I go straight to the bathroom to shower. I feel slightly exhausted already, so I just want to take a long shower. Never mind, I'm taking a bath. I’m just happy to be home.

I turn on the hot water and pour some lavender soap in, along with one of the bath bombs left out. I let the bath run while I brush my teeth and get undressed. I go into the main part of my room and grab my phone before getting in the tub of bubbles.

Time to relax.

The thing I love about this bathroom is there is a TV on the wall so I can watchGrey’s Anatomywhile I relax. I’m going to rewatch one of my favorite Slexie episodes. As I scroll through my socials with the episode playing in the background, finally catching up on everything.

My phone vibrates as in a message is delivered to me and I check it and see it’s from Faith; it’s a link to a YouTube video. I click it and the video opens to

Spotlight Weekly.

“Hi, I’m Michelle and welcome back to Weekly Catch-Up, where I catchyouup on everything that happened this week in Hollywood. This week’s topic is this girl here,” Michelle says and the photo that comes up is me. Me! I’m the topic of the week. I sit up straighter and begin to actually pay attention.

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