Janet nodded and tossed her bag aside while Emily rolled her eyes and taunted, “I must say, you’re really bold!”
Three minutes later, Emily knocked on the door of the dressing room impatiently and asked, “Janet, are you done?”
As she could not hear anything coming from inside, she was just about to walk into the dressing room when the door swung open. She was greeted by a young girl wearing a green embroidered dress, carrying a lute in her arms as she was leaving the room. She had exquisite makeup on her face with two roses drawn beside her eyes, accentuating her radiant and flawless skin. Emily was awestruck by Janet’s beauty.
“Is it my turn soon?” Janet curled her crimson lips slightly upward into a mysterious smile and it was the first time that Emily had seen her wear that expression.
When Gordon approached the girls, he was immediately blown away by Janet’s dazzling beauty, his eyes glued to her. Exasperated to see how infatuated he was with Janet, Emily deliberately questioned, “Janet, I’m surprised you know how to play a lute. Do you really know how it works?”
“I’m curious too. Why did you decide to perform on the lute?” Gordon asked.
Janet flashed them both a helpless smile. “That’s my only choice because I have no idea how to play the other instruments.”
Emily consoled her right away and said, “It’s fine. Gordon and I have just seized the first place for our class with our performance. So, you don’t have to be nervous; you’re free to perform anything you want.”
“Really? The two of you are amazing!” Janet ignored Emily completely and gave Gordon a nudge instead, as if the two were the best of buddies.
Emily wasn’t too bothered by it because she knew Janet would soon become the laughing stock of the whole school from tonight onward. That thought instantly cheered her up. Her performance was the last from Class A as well as the entire event, so she had a crucial role because everyone would be paying their full attention to her.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming to join us in celebrating Star High School’s anniversary tonight. We guarantee that all performances tonight have not gone through any rehearsal and everything will be done in a fair and square manner so that we will be able to uncover the student who has the most potential in becoming a star in the future!”
The audience responded with a round of warm applause. The much-anticipated last performance of the night was about to begin.
“Now, let us welcome the last performance of tonight. Miss Janet Jackson, a newcomer from Class A of Twelfth Grade! Let’s put our hands together to welcome her dance performance!”
At the same time, whispers broke out among the audience.
“A newcomer? I can’t believe she has the guts to be the last performer at such a grand event. I guarantee she must be someone who loves to be in the limelight!”
“Janet Jackson? Isn’t she the one who beat up the campus belle, Jennifer Lewis, so badly that she had to skip school for ten days?”
“Not only that, she even cheated in exams and she was so slick that not even the principal or the teachers could catch her red-handed!”
“Damn it, is she backed up by some big shot? Let’s see how she’s going to fare in the final exam!”
“I couldn’t give a crap about that because she will forever be my enemy for hurting my idol, Jennifer Lewis.”
“Hey, stop talking and watch her performance.”
At this moment, Janet walked onto the stage. The dress she wore was embellished with green embroidery and it wrapped around her elegant body perfectly, as if it was made exclusively for her. The fair skin of her arms were also on display.
“Oh gosh!”
“She’s so stunning! I think I’m falling in love with her!”
“Is she carrying a lute?”
“No way, does she know how to play it?”
“Isn’t she going to dance?”
Gracefully, Janet sat down and started stroking the lute with her fingers. Curving her fair-skinned fingers into a hooked shape, she started strumming the strings and playing a song named ‘Sorrow’. The song conveyed the bitterness of a woman who was longing for the return of her husband. Toward the end of the song, Janet slowed down the movement of her fingers and ended the song with a single note of longing.
The audience immediately broke into tremendous applause.
“Her performance was breathtaking!”
“She looks so beautiful when she’s playing the lute in that green dress.”
“She’s definitely the best performer tonight!”
“Her performance is even better than Emily’s piano performance.”
“She has to be crowned as the winner tonight!”
Meanwhile backstage, Emily glared at Janet with her teeth gritted as she was surprised that Janet could really play the lute. How could this be? Did villages now come with so many good resources? Emily knew she was surely going to miss out on being the winner this time and she had only herself to blame for that.
On the other hand, Gordon was impressed by Janet’s performance because it was better than many celebrities who performed inn talent shows on television.
Instead of retreating to the backstage right away, Janet put the lute down. Removing the pair of high heels she was wearing, her ankle and calf were revealed as the slit on her dress parted while she walked around the stage. All the guys offstage were smitten by the temptation.
“That’s not the end?”
“Is she going to dance?”
