IT WAS PAIGE

As Paige entered the room, two of the girls turned to stare at her and began to laugh.

Candy was the one who laughed the loudest; she folded her arms and said, "Aww, her eyes are puffy. Has the crybaby been crying tonight?"

"You were the one who sabotaged my dress, weren't you?" Paige asked Candy.

Candy shook her head and retorted, "Wait, you're not satisfied with being a failure; now you're going to embarrass yourself here by accusing me of things I know nothing about?"

The other girls in the room joined in laughing, and one even said to Candy, "Come on, why are you entertaining her? Don't bother with her, Candy; she's beneath us. From the very start, she wasn't supposed to be among us. We worked hard to get to this stage, and only God knows who she slept with in order to sneak in. But she has learned her place, so you shouldn't waste your breath on her."

Paige stared at all of them without saying another word, holding her clothes tightly to herself. She remembered what Zachary had said and walked toward the toilet wanting to rehearse since she had less than twenty minutes.

As she got to the door, Candy noticed the dress she was holding and said, "Hey, where are you going with that dress? What are you planning to do?"

She walked over to where Paige was and wanted to take the dress from her, but Paige pushed her away, "Respect yourself, Candy. You and I have nothing to do with each other. Do not speak to me, do you understand? I'm sure English isn't so difficult for you to understand."

After that, Paige walked into the toilet and closed the door, while Candy scoffed, "Did you all see that? She's finally got some nerves. I can't believe this."

"Just forget about her; she's just a pathetic loser," one of the girls who was Candy's friend said.

Paige once again blocked out the noise from the room and began to focus on the song she was going to sing. She recalled one of the songs she had in mind—she had written it years ago after her mom died.

It was titled, 'I MISS YOU.' She wanted to sing it, as it was an emotional song that reminded her of her Mom. After rehearsing the song over and over again, Paige quickly put on the dress and stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Indeed, crying earlier had made her eyes puffy but there was nothing she could do about it. Her long and soft, wavy hair cascaded down her back making her look more beautiful. She convinced herself that she wasn't looking too bad and when she saw that it was five minutes to time, she came out of the room, and all the girls began staring at her.

Candy couldn't contain her jealousy anymore and walked up to her, "Why are you so beautifully dressed? What are you up to, Paige? Hope you're not trying to make a fool of yourself once again?"

While Candy was still speaking, they heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Candy said.

The door was pushed open, and a young lady peered into the room as she said, "Can Miss Paige step out, please?"

Paige nodded and replied, "Yes."

She walked gracefully out of the room without giving the girls another look. When she came out, she saw Luke standing beside the door. He said to the lady, "Thank you very much," and turned to face Paige, "It's time for you to perform. Come on, you'll be called any moment from now."

As she stood closer to the stage, Paige tried to control the rapid breathing of her heart. She was feeling very nervous, especially because of what had happened the first time she came on stage.

While she waited to be called, she took in deep breaths until eventually, she became calm. She closed her eyes and opened them when she heard the MC say that they wanted to listen to a sensational singer whose performance will bring the show to a close.

Some in the audience who had already heard about who was going to be singing were expecting to see Barbie, as she had a lot of people who liked her. So when Paige was the one who came out, they were all shocked.

Candy came out of the room a few minutes after Paige did and ran outside but she couldn't find her. She did not expect Paige to be called on stage so she did not bother going in that direction.

At this point, Zach had already made his way to the same spot at the back, where he had earlier been. He sat there staring at her as she walked out, trying her best to look as graceful as possible.

Paige's father and stepmom had watched how she was humiliated on stage earlier and couldn't stop themselves from laughing. On the contrary, they were so proud of Candy and could not stop singing her praises and how beautiful she looked while she sang.

As they waited for the show to come to an end, they also expected to see Barbie close the show. They stared at their TV in shock when Paige turned out to be the last singer.

Paige stared at the crowd before her and some began to boo at her again. She wondered if there were maybe Candy's friends or people who just naturally hated her, but she blocked out the noise.

She looked at the crowd to see if she could find Mr. Zachary, but she did not see him. She concluded that perhaps he was in his car watching her performance, maybe he didn't want her to embarrass him a second time.

She placed her hands around the mic, closed her eyes, and began to sing. As she sang, she recalled her moments with her mom when she was much younger, and tears began to slip from her eyes.

Her voice was so angelic that when she sang, her melodious tone enchanted those listening, leaving them captivated by the sheer beauty and purity of her vocal talent. Her voice carried a unique blend of innocence and maturity, evoking a wide range of emotions in her audience.

Everyone watched her in silence and it seemed as though time stood as her voice was the only thing that could be heard.

Paige looked perfect; the gown she wore was a black sequin gown with glistening stones. Although it wasn't really her size, it was still able to accentuate her curves, making her look like a beautiful work of art.

As Zach stared at her, he knew there was no denying it: he had fallen for Paige. However, in his books, a girl like Paige was off-limits. She was just eighteen.

"How could I have fallen for an eighteen years old girl?" He asked himself. He could not look away from her, even for a second. Like so many in the audience, he was held spellbound and his heart welled up with pride as though Paige belonged to him.

When the song came to an end, it felt as though everyone came out of a trance, and the crowd erupted in applause as the audience began to cheer and clap for her.

Paige, whose eyes were now opened, stared at the crowd in shock, not believing what had happened.

"Did I really do this?" She wondered.

As she heard some in the crowd scream, "I love you..."

Paige realized that her dreams were really coming true.

Back in the dressing room, Candy and the other girls who watched Paige's performance could not believe it. After searching unsuccessfully for her, Candy had concluded that Paige had left the venue.

It was only when she went back to the room that she realized that Paige was performing the last song.

"What went wrong? Why is she the one performing?" Candy was the most upset about this because she knew that their performance, all put together, was nothing close to what Paige had done.

"No, this cannot be happening," Candy cried and ran out of the room.

Meanwhile, Barbie also watched Paige's performance and was shocked because even she couldn't have been able to perform so perfectly. It was a new song, yet everyone had been moved by it; she was really impressed by Paige.

After Paige's performance, Zach left the hall and went to his car. He asked his driver to leave and waited for her.

The moment she left the stage, Zach's assistant led Paige to the car where Zach was waiting. He had already sent his driver home, so he was the only one in the car.

At this point, the judge who had earlier spoken to Zach now understood why Zach had said he shouldn't give Paige preferential treatment. Even though Zach had not said anything, nothing would have stopped him from choosing Paige as the winner; it couldn't be more obvious that she was born to be a star.

While Zach was waiting in the car, the judge, who couldn't contain his excitement, called him and said, "Your candidate is the winner, she's the best, one of the best spark girls we've ever had."

Zach was so happy, "Wow! That's good news."

"I'll follow protocol just as you've said and break the news to her in two days." The judge said.

"That's fine," Zach replied.

The moment the call ended, Luke opened the door of the car and Paige got in. She wanted to sit at the back, but when she realized that Zach was the one driving, she went to the passenger seat beside him.

She looked at Zach and tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Why are you crying again? Zach asked. "Didn't you cry enough while on stage?"

Paige chuckled, "It is different, sir. These are tears of joy."

"You're such a crybaby." He replied. "But you did well. Keep it up, Paige, and I promise that you'll soar beyond the sky. You should prepare thoroughly because very soon, you'll be contacted to learn of the results."

Unknown to Barbie that Paige would leave immediately after performing, she ran out of the room and searched around for her, but she couldn't find her.

She cursed under her breath, "I should have searched for her earlier."

She had come to realize that Paige was someone close to Zach since he was able to go to such lengths to ensure that Paige performed. If she wanted to make it to the top, she needed to make Paige her friend; this was why she ran out, but she couldn't find Paige anywhere and gave up for the time being.

Candy searched for Paige. She needed to know how she was able to make it to such a position, but she still couldn't find her.

As he drove back home, Zach said to Paige, "Because you impressed me, in a few days, I will give you a gift."

"Thank you very much, sir," Paige beamed.

That night, she felt as though she would die from happiness. She could barely sleep; she kept turning around the bed, recalling the moment she had sung. She wished she could see her performance, but she didn't have her phone with her, so she promised herself that she'd go back home and get it the next day.

No matter what her parents did, the phone was hers; she bought it with her hard-earned money, and everything else that belonged to her, she was going to take.

As she woke up the next morning, she decided to do some chores.

Zach had told her to focus on practicing her songs; she knew that she was initially brought to be a maid, so she still wanted to help around.

She went to the kitchen to help the chef, but she bumped into the housekeeper, Susan on her way.

Susan stared condescendingly at her and said, "A cheap wanna be trying to climb the ladder by all means. You should stop having big dreams and focus on your job as a servant."

Shocked, Paige was about to tell her that it was unkind for her to say such things, but the chef; Matilda, came behind and said to Susan, "Stop being so rude to her, what's wrong with you? You're just jealous. Come with me Paige, you have no idea how proud we are of you; I'm so happy for you. I watched your performance, it was spectacular."

"Really? You thought it was amazing?" Paige asked Matilda excitedly.

"Oh, my God, it was beyond amazing. I wished I was there." Matilda replied.

Paige was so happy; she instantly took a liking to Matilda and could see themselves being best of friends in no time.

This thought had barely left her mind when Zach's voice thundered, calling for all the servants to gather.

Paige was surprised as she had not heard him speak that way before. She, along with every other domestic staff ran to the formal living room, where Zach was seething with rage.

As they all gathered, he asked, "Who went into my bedroom and stole my jade necklace? Thieves in my house?"

"No! Not me! not me," everyone denied.

"Listen to me, everyone, I've already called the police and they are on their way here. Stealing will not be condoned in my house, especially when it involves something that is so important to me.

You had better come out and speak the truth now if you know you did it because if the police officers get here, I will make sure you are punished thoroughly."

Susan stepped forward, and Zach thought she wanted to confess that she was the one who did it. However, she pointed at Paige and said, "It was Paige. She was the one who stole it."

"What?" Zach was shocked.

Everyone turned their attention to Paige. Paige shook her head and said, "No, I did not. I could never do that."

"You were the one who stole it," Susan insisted. "I saw you last night, snooping around Mr. Zach's door. Did you, or did you not go to Mr. Zach's room last night?"

Paige took a step backward and said, "I, sir, I...."

She lowered her head while Zach stared at her in surprise, as he asked, "Paige, you stole from me?"