A Different Beat

After traveling all over Australia to get the contestants, Angelina had decided she wasn’t very fond of the country and its heat. If it wasn’t the overbearing heat, it was the traffic that barely moved – and people actually enjoyed living like this! Angelina didn’t understand and just assumed it must be something in the water.

Angelina was currently in Brighton, a coastal suburb in Adelaide. Everything was going good so far; the weather wasn’t too bad (compared to what she’s experienced with the others), there was barely any traffic and her hair was perfectly styled, nothing out of place. She decided she would only learn minimal information about this contestant, not wanting to read anything that’d ruin her mood just yet. She knew her name was Jasey Sampson and she was seventeen years old. She didn’t think it’d be another case of a family member being famous, like with Maya Parker, because the name Sampson didn’t ring a bell. “Are we almost there?” she asked Steve, eyeing the houses they passed. They were thin and tall, each other them placed closely together with no room for a driveway. It was cluttered but the houses looked nice enough.

“Didn’t read up on this one either?” Steve guessed, searching for the house matching the address he’d memorized.

“I’m having a good day and a great feeling about this girl,” she answered.

“We should be there soon, she lives on this road,” he replied. “We’re looking for house number 120.”

“Up there!” she screeched, clearly pleased with herself. “It’s the dark wooden one.”

As Steve attempted to parallel park between two cars, Angelina examined the house. It was made up of dark polished wood and was three stories, the wooden front door leading to the second floor. She could make out a pathway to the most bottom floor, even though it was mostly hidden by tall plants, and the second and third floor each had a nice balcony, the top one stretching around to the side of the house as well. Overall, it looked well kept – especially the well taken care of black Range Rover parked in front. “Alright,” Steve said, parking the Jeep. “You might want to take off your heels. This is a pretty steep hill and I don’t think I’ll be able to get you if you start rollin’.”

Angelina scoffed. “I won’t start rolling,” she insisted. “Who chooses to live on a hill like this anyway?” she mumbled, getting out of the Jeep.

Steve rolled his eyes, grabbing the camera equipment before following Angelina up the concrete steps to the house. “You might want to-“ He began to warn Angelina to watch her step but she hit her shin on the small statue sitting on their steps. “- watch where you go,” he finished uselessly.

“Dammit!” she cursed. “Who the hell has a small statue of an elephant?!” She walked up the last few steps, ringing the doorbell.

Steve got his camera ready. “Still got that good feeling?” he quietly asked her.

“Just turn the camera on,” she growled and he obliged.

When the door opened, Angelina knew why she had a good feeling. This girl looked a bit older than seventeen – which she saw as a good thing – and had long, wavy blonde hair, tanned skin and pretty blue eyes. She could tell what drew the producers to her. “No thank you, we don’t want the billion dollar check,” the girl joked as she eyed the camera, her voice confident and strong.

Angelina smiled. She also seemed to work well in front of a camera. Angelina knew they had a natural on their hands. “Hello, I’m Angelina Myers and this is Steve, my camera man-“ Steve rolled his eyes at the ‘my’ part. “- we’re here from Golden Tone!. Are-”

The girl’s eyes widened and she grinned widely, showing off her perfectly white teeth. “Oh my god, Jasey made it?!” she interrupted excitedly.

Angelina’s smile fell. “You aren’t Jasey Sampson?” she pondered, confused.

“Oh, no. I’m Kailey, her brother’s girlfriend,” she informed the two. “Come on in,” she invited, moving aside to let the two in. They walked through a small foyer – passing a room that looked to be full of instruments, a drum set and a few guitars catching Angelina’s eye – and into a living room, where three boys were sitting – an older man, a young adult and a younger boy, all three yelling at the television. “Sorry about them,” she apologized before raising her voice, “Guys, we’ve got company!”

Angelina cringed, watching as all three of them paused, turning to look at Kailey. The one who looked to be in his young twenties spoke first. “Finally agreeing to that sex tape, eh?” he asked her cheekily.

Angelina scowled, analyzing this boy. His brown hair cut shorter at the sides and left falling to the right at the top. She also noted that his skin was far too pale for the Australian weather. “Shut up, Oliver,” Kailey shot. “They’re with Golden Tone – Jasey made it!”

“Well, she only made it to the blind auditions, so technically she didn’t make i-“ The older man cut her off this time.

“Holy shit, she actually got through?” he asked incredulously.

Angelina gave him a disbelieving look. They were all speaking like this on camera? “And you’re the father, I assume?” she asked. He didn’t look old enough to have two grown kids, with his dark brown hair not showing any gray and his scruffy face not having one wrinkle.

He stood up and walked over to her, holding out his hand. “Eric Sampson, Jasey’s father and divorced,” he explained with a smirk.

She forced a smile, shaking his hand cautiously. “Angelina Myers,” she introduced. “Is Jasey here?”

“Oh, yeah,” he responded, sounding like he forgot she was the reason they were there. He turned to the youngest kid, who was playing a handheld game system. “DJ! Go get your sister,” he ordered.

“I’m about to beat this game!” DJ whined and Angelina was reminded why kids never sounded like a good idea.

“I don’t give a damn, go get her,” he told him. He groaned but stomped but them and up the white carpeted stairs. He turned back to Angelina with a grin. “Kids,” he sighed jokingly. She only nodded. “So, can I get you anything to drink? Soda? Beer?”

“I’ll get whatever soda you’ve got, thanks mate,” Steve intervened.

“I’m fine,” Angelina waved off, her good feeling suddenly vanished. As Eric walked off to the kitchen, she turned to Steve. “What the hell is going on here?”

He let out a throaty laugh. “I was wondering why you had a good feeling about her,” he whispered before lowering his voice even more. “Wait ‘til you see this one.”

Angelina went to ask what he meant but was cut off before she could. “DJ! Give me that back!” A girl’s voice yelled out from upstairs. Quickly DJ came running down the stairs, a girl – assumed to be Jasey – following in his heels.

“Dad said you had company!” he cried out, tossing the white iPhone behind him.

Jasey barely caught it, glaring in her younger brother’s direction before looking toward the guests, where Angelina was already scrutinizing her. She had thick and long dark brown hair – same as everyone else in her family – but hers was cut all at one length, making it look bulky. She was thin and fairly short, maybe about 5’1” or 5’2”. She had tan skin and pretty dark brown eyes flecked with gold, but unfortunately they were hidden behind big, black-rimmed glasses, held together in the middle with pink tape. Her eyes then trailed down to her outfit, where she was wearing a white tank top and loose denim overalls, two colorful mismatched socks on her feet.

Angelina fought the urge to gag, instead settling on a fake smile. “Hi, I’m Angelina. We’re from Golden Tone! and we’re here to tell you to pack your bags because you’ve made it to the blind auditions portion of the show,” she explained for what seemed like the millionth time in the past few weeks.

“I what?” Jasey asked, her eyes widening. If she had understood right, that meant she made it onto the show and that meant that she’d have to perform in front of an arena of people but also- “You mean I’ll have to perform in front of all of Australia?!” Jasey screeched.

Angelina blinked, cringing at the sound. “Yes, Jasey,” she answered as if she were talking to a small child. “That’s what I mean.”

“I’m not going,” she concluded, walking away from the two and into the kitchen, searching through the fridge. Angelina gave Steve a confused look, who only shrugged. Angelina scoffed. Steve’s never helpful, she deicded.

“What do you mean you’re not going?” Oliver asked, voicing everybody’s thoughts. He walked into the kitchen, everybody trailing closely behind him, including Angelina and Steve.

“I mean I’m not going,” Jasey repeated, setting a jug of orange juice on the counter. “I auditioned because you dared me to, Oli. I wasn’t expecting to get it and I’m certainly not just going to pack up and go to Sydney.”

“You’ve been chosen out of thousands of submissions to be on this show,” Angelina reminded her – though she had no clue why this girl was chosen. “It’s the chance of a lifetime.”

“What she said,” Eric added. Jasey rolled her eyes and Angelina couldn’t believe this man was actually a father when it seemed the only thing mature about him is his appearance.

“Come on, what could it hurt anyway?” Oliver asked, his tone growing taunting. “You aren’t afraid, are you?”

Jasey scoffed. “Of course I’m not afraid,” she said, saying the last word with disgust. “It’s just-“

“Then do it,” he interrupted, knowing this was the best method to get her there. Jasey wasn’t a quitter so it wasn’t like she’d bail after she arrived – the problem was getting her there. “Unless you’re too scared, of course, then I get it.”

Jasey couldn’t believe her brother! First he makes her go and try out for the stupid producers and now he’s doing this? There was no way she’d be able to survive being on a singing TV show. Sure, she knows her voice is good enough but what is it compared to all the other contestants? Not only that, she’d never sang in front of a crowd bigger than four; her brothers, dad and Kailey were the only ones she’d ever sang in front of.

She opened her mouth to decline once again but she stopped herself. If she put all of her effort, she may be able to actually get far enough to show everybody that looks don’t matter. She could show everybody who’d made fun of the way she looked since primary school, that you didn’t need to be drop dead gorgeous to be successful. She could make them eat their words.

“How long do I have to pack?” she asked, already making her way toward her room to pack her bags.

She was going to do this.