From the Top - Chapter 40

Wednesday night was the night of the big show. Kat drove down to be with me as soon as her last class got out, even though it meant she’d have to get up early the next morning to make it to her eleven AM class. We’d picked up Cole an hour and a half ago from the Asheville airport and hustled back to Wellsville for the big event.

I’d been absolutely floored when we got to the school. Even though we’d arrived with over an hour to go until showtime, the parking lot and all the side streets were already packed with cars, and people were still flowing in. It was a good thing we hadn’t tried to do this at the Blue Ridge, because this was an insane amount of people.

Chef hadn’t missed out entirely, since he apparently had the bright idea to set up a tent near the front gate where he was selling what looked like sandwiches and easy-to-carry food. Since the small concession stand was closed, I couldn’t help but think this was the mayor or Mr. Moore’s doing, and wondered how much of a cut they’d convinced Chef to give them. No matter what, I’d gotten the strong impression that, to them, this was a money-making scheme, and knowing Kat’s father, he’d figure out every way he could to profit off it.

We’d only seen him once, as we escaped down to the field, where we’d stand and wave until they called on me and Cole to perform. He’d been near the stage talking to some people, and turned and walked quickly away from us the moment he’d noticed Kat. I knew they’d spoken a few times, mostly about getting his check for tuition and the other obligations he’d agreed to when they’d made their deal. I also knew Mrs. Phillips was on those calls to make sure nothing untoward happened, but neither talked to me about it.

That was fine. I knew if she needed me, I’d let Kat know, but otherwise, she had Mrs. Phillips and Dr. Rothstein helping her deal with those contacts. Although from her father’s reactions, he was clearly taking a bigger beating from those than she was. He’d looked terrified to see her.

Cole was flabbergasted by the whole event. When I’d described the town, I’d given the basic small mountain town spiel where everyone knew everyone else. I’m sure he had pictures in his mind, and it didn’t match the fairly new school and its sports facilities, which was fair. Most small towns don’t have a major benefactor overly invested in the school sports programs willing to bankroll large parts of those facilities. The football and swimming facilities, in particular, were larger and in better shape than they had any right to be.

We stood off on the sideline, shivering in the cold night air, and just passed the time as the place filled up. Most of that time passing was Kat and Cole talking. The two had gotten on like gangbusters since we’d picked him up, which I was glad to see.

“I’m serious,” Kat said, gesturing broadly with one gloved hand at the quickly filling stand of people across from us. “I don’t think our football team has ever drawn a crowd this big for a game before. And this is just a fundraiser concert!”

“It’s… a lot more than I expected. Charlie, when you invited me to play a set in front of your small-town crowd, this is not what I had in mind.”

“You’ve been on national TV three weeks in a row, and this is what you’re worried about?”

“That’s not the same, and you know it.”

I shrugged, since he had a point, and said, “Don’t worry, they’ll love you. They’re here to watch the show, so they know who you are. This isn’t some random stage.”

“I’m not sure that’ll work in my favor,” Cole said.

I waved him off. He’d be fine. Cole might have struggled against the other people in the competition, but he’d also beaten out thousands of people to even get that far. He was having a whole forest for the trees problem.

I was saved from having to debate him on this topic when Mayor Mullins bounded up onto the stage and the crowd erupted into cheers as he grabbed the microphone. He was popular enough to be reelected a bunch of times, but I think most of the people were happy to have a reason to come out and have fun.

Wellsville was primarily a blue-collar town of farmers and factory workers, and we didn’t have all of those quaint festivals and things that seemed to be in every TV show featuring small towns, so I think everyone was happy for the novelty of it.

“Welcome, welcome, folks!” His voice boomed through the speakers. “We are so thrilled you could make it tonight for this wonderful event!”

More cheers and applause.

“As y’all know, we’re here to support our very own Charlie Nelson, who’s been making quite the name for himself lately! Now, I tried to get Charlie to tell me how he did in tonight’s competition but, being the honest guy we all know, he said he couldn’t talk about it until after the show. Even with that, I’ll tell all of you a little secret. I’m downright positive Charlie’s going to get through tonight and head back to the finals and put our little town on the map.”

Considering I’d only ever talked to the man one time, I thought he was laying it on a bit thick, acting like he and I were somehow buddies. I got that this was what politicians did, but like he said, we were a little town and I don’t think anyone had illusions that I was off hobnobbing with the Mayor.

I looked over at Cole and he looked a little green around the gills.

“You okay, man?” I asked.

“Did you see the news cameras set up?”

I followed his eye line to a bunch of cameras set up near the bleachers at the fifty-yard line. I’d noticed them, but just figured they were local media or whatever.

“I know the mayor made a big push about this and a lot of people were coming up from Asheville and even some from Nashville, so it makes sense the local stations would send cameras. They need stuff to cover and tying our area into something on national TV would be a big deal,” I said. “Also, my manager notified the show about this thing and I think they sent down a crew to get some footage, or whatever.”

“It’s not just local news and affiliates, I’m pretty sure those are national outlets.”

I squinted, trying to make out some of the logos on the cameras. There were a few branded with some of the national networks, but I just thought that meant they were an affiliate or whatever. I didn’t watch a lot of TV, so I didn’t really know how this all worked.

“How do you know so much about all the TV stuff?”

“I spent some time chatting up the PAs on set, picking their brains about the industry. Just in case this show opens any doors for me.”

“That’s really smart, man.”

“Thanks, but you’re not worried about this going out to thousands of people?”

“Not really,” I said. “The show has millions of viewers. Someone told me last week’s episode had like seven and a half million, and these are people watching for the performances. The news has, what, twenty seconds to cover our story before they move on to a warehouse fire or something? They’re not going to have time to show any performances and the people watching aren’t really there for that anyway. So you get your name on screen and maybe a two-second clip of your face, making more people know who you are, but nothing else, so there’s no reason to be nervous about how good or bad you are. Hell, it’s the perfect scenario.”

“Oh… I didn’t think about that,” he said, looking back at the cameras, considering.

In the background, Mayor Mullins was still talking, eating up time until the show started. He was very aware of the cameras and spent most of the time talking about all the charities this show was going to help support and how the money could be used to help the town. He, of course, didn’t mention that some of the money going to charities had been my idea or that he’d been partially against it, of course.

“It looks like it’s just about time. Let’s get this party started,” he said as the screen jumped to life and the show’s theme song started over the stadium PA system.

It occurred to me that if there were people who didn’t come to this living nearby, this whole night was going to be hell on them.

The crowd erupted into cheers as the show started. A few performances went by and then Cole was up. While he looked nervous as hell the whole time he was on screen, that changed to shock as the crowd erupted into cheers when he finished. He’d been beating himself up ever since that night, especially knowing it was what sent him home, but this is what I’d been trying to tell him. Everyone on the show, especially by the third round, were good performers and people weren’t going to be as discerning of the nuances as the judges on the show would be.

Marissa got a great reaction and people seemed to love her bluesy rendition of the song she got. She’d been so good throughout the competition, even if she didn’t win, she had a big career ahead of her.

Then it was my turn. Like the other performances, they intercut shots of me on stage with stuff from the movie, which worked out for me. The scene really was impactful and this was such a well-known movie, that everyone already had a connection to it.

Unlike the earlier performances, the crowd was eerily silent the whole time, which I wasn’t exactly sure how to interpret. I got my answer a moment later as the last notes rang out and the crowd exploded with enthusiasm, everyone jumping to their feet applauding. I knew how it had been taken on the day, but I hadn’t realized how much getting the approval of my hometown audience meant for me, and I felt an overwhelming surge of gratitude and relief in my chest.

The screen went off as the show ended and Mayor Mullins walked back on stage, waving both hands to call for quiet. Gradually the audience settled back into their seats.

“Wasn’t that something?” the Mayor proclaimed enthusiastically into the mic. “I think Charlie may have a real shot at winning this whole competition, what do you say?”

More cheers and clapping ensued, the mayor waiting patiently for it to die down.

“Now Charlie’s going to come say a few words to properly welcome another special guest he brought all the way from Oklahoma. Charlie?” the Mayor turned, beckoning me forward.

I walked up on stage and gave everyone a wave, Mayor Mullins patting me on the back as I changed places with him at the mic. I stood there for a minute, the applause washing over me, just waiting and enjoying the moment.

“Wow. I’m honestly blown away right now. When we started planning this event, I had no idea it would turn out like this,” I said, skipping over the fact that I wasn’t involved in the planning. “Just, thank you all so much for coming out tonight. It means the world to me to have the support of my community. I know you’d all love for me to tell you how this ends, but there are some cameras down here recording everything, and I don’t think the producers would appreciate me spoiling the episode for them. That means you’re all going to have to watch tomorrow night. Instead, since you guys sat through the cold and were such a great audience, we’re going to put on a show for you all, to say thank you for your support.”

I took a beat, waiting for another wave of applause to die down.

“As Mayor Mullins said, I brought a special guest with me tonight. I’d like you all to join me in giving a big welcome to my good friend, Cole Lawson, who was with me on the show and who you all just saw up on screen tonight. He’s a serious talent and you’re all in for a treat,” I said and then pointed off to where Cole was standing just at the edge of the stage. “Cole Lawson!”

The audience cheered as I stepped away from the mic and Cole came on stage. As he passed, I gave him a thumbs up.

Standing off to the side of the stage as he got set up and started his set, I couldn’t help but smile. This was going to be a hard night to top.

***

After the show, Cole and I started helping pack up Seth’s drums when Mr. Moore came over.

There was an uncomfortable glance between him and Kat before he said, “There are some news crews that would like for you to do a short interview.”

“What do you think? You game?” I said, looking at Cole.

“Sure,” he said, although he looked pretty nervous.

Before I could even tell him we were okay with it, he was hustling away, back to the cameras on the sideline, with Kat glaring at him the whole time.

“You okay?” I asked her.

“Yeah,” she said, although she clearly wasn’t. “Go, do your thing. We can talk later.”

I thought about telling her to come with us, but her father was over there, so it didn’t seem like the best idea.

“Stick with Lyla and Tabitha. I’ll meet up with you after,” I said, leaning over to give her a kiss.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got her back,” Lyla said. “Anyone gets near her, I’ll kick their ass.”

“You?” Tabitha said, laughing. “Whose ass are you going to...”

I left them to their squabble. Kat liked both of them and I knew all kidding aside, they’d make sure nothing happened with her father around.

“Something my manager told me when I started doing the contests. Whenever they ask you anything about your performance, and it’s something that’s going on video or will be out for public consumption, never make declarative statements, always go with the ‘aw shucks I’m just trying to do my best,’ and never ever talk bad about another performer. If you give them something juicy they can take out of context, they one-hundred percent will.”

“So like a quarterback at their press conferences saying ‘I gave a hundred and ten percent and I owe it all to God,’ or whatever, right?”

“Yep. Humble. Short sentences. Positive,” I said as we got to the reporters. “You guys had some questions for us?”

The reporter from NBS stepped forward, her microphone already extended towards me.

“Charlie, that was an electrifying performance tonight. Do you think you’ve done enough to make it through to the finals of the competition?”

“I mean, I think I did my best. As for if I made it to the finals, I guess you’ll just have to watch the results show tomorrow.”

She rolled her eyes, I guess hoping I’d tell her who made it through to the semi-finals, and asked, “If you do make it through to the live rounds, do you think you can win the whole thing?”

“Well, you know, it’s all about giving it your all, right? There are some great performers and with fifteen going on to the semi-finals, that leaves a lot of competitors for me to face. All I can do is try my best, which is what I do every time I get up on stage.”

The reporter turned to Cole, who had been standing quietly beside me. “Cole, while you were great tonight, you seemed to really struggle on the episode that aired tonight. Do you feel like you let yourself down, and why do you think you had a harder time on the show than you did in a live performance like this?”

Cole gave me a sideways glance, I guess thinking over the advice I’d given him, and said, “I think there are some things I could have done better on the show, but it’s a tough environment to perform in, and I know I tried my best. I think the audience here will agree that I do my best work in front of people just out to have a good time, and it’s that energy I feed off of. It’s always about connecting with the people, sharing a part of myself through my songs. The competition was an amazing experience, but tonight, feeling the energy of this crowd, that’s what matters most to me.”

“Charlie,” the reporter said, her voice getting more serious. “It must have been difficult watching your friend Cole struggle so much on the show when you were excelling. Was there ever any jealousy or competition between you two?”

I shook my head. “Not at all. Cole and I bonded from the start. We’re in this thing together but at the end of the day, we’re all just trying to share our music. I’m always happy to see him do well. In fact, seeing Cole on stage tonight was one of the highlights for me. He’s insanely talented and I’m lucky to call him a friend.”

The reporter narrowed her eyes, clearly unsatisfied with my answer.

“Cole, do you think the show accurately portrayed your abilities? It seemed like Charlie got a lot more screen time and positive editing. Did you feel slighted at all?”

Cole laughed and threw his arm around my shoulder. “Are you kidding? I’m thrilled for all the attention Charlie got—he totally deserves it. This guy is the real deal. Sure, I wish I had come across better, but I’ve got no complaints. I made mistakes and they’re up there on the screen. Seeing them is how I’ll become a better artist. And Charlie has been a big part of that. He’s been incredibly supportive, giving me advice and pep talks since day one. If I make it anywhere in this industry, it’ll be thanks to him.”

The reporter pressed her mouth into a tight smile, realizing we weren’t going to take the bait and stir up drama. I might not have believed Warren as much before I started watching how they edited the show, but I was a believer now. These people just wanted entertainment, and they’d burn anyone they needed to get it. She plastered a fake smile back on.

“Well, you two sure seem to have a great friendship. We’ll see if it holds up as the competition continues. Back to you, Jim!”

She gave a cheesy wave to the camera and dropped her mic, grumbling something about “boring nice guys” as she walked off. Cole and I exchanged amused looks. It had been a great night, and neither of us was going to let this interview tarnish that.