The final concert of Senior year should be a moment of celebration. For Alexis, it felt like one last humiliation in the shadow of Courtney. Alexis’s devastation about the situation was apparent, but no one expected her to take action.
Courtney was the golden child in the eyes of their choir director, Ms. Bates. Ms. Bates saw a lot of herself in Courtney and believed she could reach a mythical level of superstardom in the choir world. For every concert that year, Courtney had received the only solo.
If given a vote, her peers believed Alexis deserved the solos. Her voice was just as good as Courtney’s and had more variety. However, the choir director ruled all.
Alexis hoped she might get a solo for the last concert, since the final song featured two solos. However, in a surprising move, Ms. Bates gave both solos to Courtney. Ms. Bates did give Alexis one job—to move the microphone stand for the solo.
As Ms. Bates was talking about the choir—mainly Courtney—Alexis went backstage and grabbed the stand. She put it near the front of the stage, in front of the piano and realized something. With blinding lights flooding the singers’ faces, no one could see the mic stand.
Ms. Bates commented on how well Alexis moved microphone stands, which prompted bemused applause from the audience. The microphone moving ridicule was the final straw. Alexis stepped in front of the stand, waved to the crowd with one hand, and placed the mic behind her back with the other.
The final song began. It was a jazzy showstopper, and the choir started swaying and clapping. Astute observers could have seen that Alexis seemed to be clapping with one hand. After the first verse and chorus, Courtney stepped up to the mic stand, only to realize the microphone wasn’t there. Courtney looked back, confused, but the music didn’t stop, and Ms. Bates didn’t notice.
The solo began, and Alexis stepped forward with the mic. She sang her heart out, and the show went on, despite the steam coming out of Ms. Bates’s ears. Ms. Bates kept directing, Alexis kept singing, and slowly walked towards Courtney, who stood nearby looking awkward and embarrassed. Alexis smiled as she neared the end of the first solo and handed the microphone to Courtney.
The audience was none the wiser as Courtney sang the second solo, which was not quite as good as the one Alexis had sung. Alexis walked backstage and out of choir forever.