I smiled and sighed.  I love Bailey Starr’s beautiful voice.  She is only a teen yet she is so famous.  The song floats through me everyday playing back in my head. 

“Stop watching that singer on Youtube!  That stuff will just ruin your brain,” my mom said, interrupting my nice moment.  “You can’t watch or listen to anything until you’ve finished your work.” 
I groaned.  By work she didn’t just mean homework, she also meant practice piano and take my shower.  I always imagine myself as a professional singer.  I want to walk the red carpet and inspire others just as Bailey Starr does to me.  I want to be famous and sing at concerts, but for now, I am stuck being a regular middle schooler.  Little did I know, that theory would change at my relative’s wedding. 

“Do we have to go?” I complained, for the tenth time.
“Yes!  They are family and we need to support them,” my mom said, irritated.  “Now quickly get dressed or else we are going to be late to the wedding.” 
I groaned and dragged myself to my room.  I slipped on the dress my mom had picked out for me.  It was a shimmery blue with flowers embroidered on the top half with a ribbon separating the top and bottom.  I put on my white cardigan and slid on my white high heels.  Then I went into the bathroom and curled by brown hair into bouncy curls.  I looked at myself in the mirror.  I look pretty, just like a singer.  But the thought of being a regular middle schooler bombarded that nice thought and I felt sad.
“Are you guys ready?” my mom yelled to me, my brother, and my dad.  We finally got into the car and headed to the wedding. 

It was held at a fancy country club.  After the wedding was over, we went into the snack room and saw it was carefully decorated.  There were pink and blue streamers and balloons everywhere.  There were lots of delicious snacks too.  There were macarons, donuts, cupcakes and more.  We took our snacks and went outside to find a table on the beautiful patio.  My mom told me and my dad to sit at the table while she and my brother went to get water.  I didn’t want to eat my food since I didn’t want to get thirsty and not have water so I started humming Bailey Starr’s song.  The guy sitting at the table next to me must have overheard me because he told me I had a beautiful voice and asked if I liked Bailey Starr.  I told him thank you and yes, I love her. 
“I have an opportunity that will blow you out of your mind,” he said, enthusiastically.  “You can have a chance to sing in front of Bailey Starr and she will pick someone to sing a duet with her at her next concert!”
I was filled with joy.  I had a chance to meet and sing with Bailey Starr!
“Really?” 
He nodded.
“Wow!  Thanks for telling me about it.  Mom!  This man told me about this wonderful opportunity…”  I went on about how I would be able to meet and sing with Bailey Starr! 
“No!  You know how I feel about the arts, Emma.  I don’t like it.  I want you to become an engineer or doctor.  Singing is useless.  How will you make a living?  What will you do then?”  she told me sternly. 
“But this is a great chan..” 
“Enough!  I don’t want to hear it!”  she said, with her brown eyes giving me her “enough!” look. 
I felt tears springing to my eyes but I fought them back.  I felt defeated and like my dream had popped.  I know my parents don’t support the arts but couldn’t they see how important this was to me?  I was so mad!  The guy who told me about the audition told me he was going to talk to my parents to see if they would change their mind.  Just like I imagined, they didn’t budge. 
“I’m sorry.  I’ll still give you the info in case they change their mind.  I added my phone number so you can call me in case you get the part.  I believe in you,” he said with a smile. 
And with that, he left.  That was all I needed to hear “I believe in you”.  I knew I had a huge obstacle in front of me but I couldn’t let this opportunity pass me by.

   After the whole wedding was over, we went home.  I went to bed and thought about my plan to go to the audition.  The next morning, I went to my computer and searched up some songs.  I didn’t want to do one of her songs because she might be more critical about it.  I searched for a nice song and printed it out.  I went to the piano and started playing the notes and getting the rhythm.  I had my plan.  I wanted to show my parents how well I could sing.  I would make them take me to the audition, I would do the best, and get chosen for the duet.  My parents would be so proud and let me do the arts in the future.  I knew it was a long shot but I didn’t have any other ideas so I just had to go with it. 

After I had practiced the song many times, I was ready to perform for my parents.  My mom and dad thought I was just practicing a choir song. 
“Mom, Dad, can you come here and listen to me sing this song and tell me what you think of it?”  I sang it.  I could tell Mom and Dad were impressed because they smiled and clapped.  But what they said next broke my heart.
“I’m sorry sweetie.  But we still don’t want to take you.  We want you to realize that the arts isn’t good for you,” Mom said. 
I was so angry.  “Don’t you guys know how much this means to me?  I’ve worked really hard on this song and all of my singing yet all you guys do is bring me down everytime!  All you guys think is engineers and doctors are the only jobs that get you money!  But there are artists and singers who are very successful!  Why can’t you guys understand?” 
I yelled at them, letting all my feelings out.  I left them hanging with my words in the air and stomped to my room.

Ten minutes later, my mom knocked softly on my bedroom door and came in. 
“Are you okay Emma?”  she said, trying to comfort me.  I laid on my bed and turned to face the wall. 
“We are very sorry.  We didn’t know this meant that much to you.”  She paused.  She took a big sigh and said, “We’ve decided to let you audition and give us a chance to see what this singing is all about.” 
I was thrilled!  I couldn’t believe I had my chance to prove to my parents what I could do!  I sat up to hug my mom.
“Thank you,” I whispered. 
Although she may not support the arts, she is a great mom. 

The next day was the audition day.   I spent a lot of time practicing and making sure I was perfect.  I had to make sure I won the audition or else I may not be able to sing anymore.  We drove to the site of the audition and were surprised to see so many cars. We went inside the building to find lots of bustling children and their parents.  We signed in and waited. 
“Thanks again for bringing me here Mom and Dad,” I told them. 
After we waited for an hour, it was finally my turn.  I couldn’t believe this was happening.  We followed the lady who called my name down a hallway into another room where I saw Bailey Starr and 2 other judges sitting behind a table.  Bailey Starr had a beautiful turquoise dress on with matching turquoise high heels.  The judge on the left of her was a man in a black suit with a turquoise tie.  The judge on her right was a lady with a black dress and turquoise belt and scarf.  I guess they decided turquoise was the color.  There were 2 chairs set up for parents.  My parents took a seat.  I walked up to the front of the room to faced the judges and started singing.  Okay, calm down and show them what you can do!  I was nervous but as I continued to sing, I got more confident.  Soon I was singing so well at the end, the judges gave me a standing ovation.  I had a huge smile on my face.  I hoped my parents could see this was something I loved from the bottom of my heart. 
“Great job sweetie!  That was amazing,” they said. 

When I went out of my audition I waited for 30 more minutes for everybody to finish.  During that time, my mom and dad bought me ice cream as a treat for doing so well.  I was so happy with how I did but I didn’t know if I was good enough.  What if I don’t make the part?  Would Mom and Dad still let me do the arts?  After everyone was done, Bailey Starr would announce the winner.  I was so anxious.  I hugged my Mom and Dad as she came out. 
“You all did a wonderful job.  I am very proud of you all.  But you all know there can be only one winner,”  Bailey Starr exclaimed.  “All three of us have decided to pick this girl because she sang with joy and confidence.  She loved what she was doing.  The girl is..”
As usual there was a big pause.   I could feel everybody getting anxious. 
“Emma Hope!”  I  started walking up to the stage to accept my certificate.  Oh my gosh!  I can’t believe I just won!  Now I got the chance to show Mom and Dad I could do it!  I smiled wide and proudly and thanked the judges.  After everybody had left, my parents and I met with Bailey Starr and we arranged a time to work on the duet.  When we got home, I remembered to call the guy and tell him the great news.  He was so happy for me and told me he would come to the concert I would be singing at.  I told him I would ask Bailey if I could get him VIP tickets.  From that day on, my parents have been accepting of my musical love and I will never forget the day they did.