When I got back to the dorm Lexi was up and cooking pancakes for breakfast.

"Smells delicious Lex!" I said closing the front door. She flashed her 'I know' smile, proud of her culinary skills.

"Have a good workout?" She asked licking some batter off her fingers.

"It was... interesting." I tried to keep my face as unaffected as I could.

"Interesting? How so?"

"I sort of ran into Mason. We worked out together." I blurted out the last part and tried to rush off the my room. Lexi dropped the wooden spoon into the bowl and turned around like she was frozen from the waist up. Mouth agape upturned slightly at the corners.

"You 'worked out' hey?" squinting through highly suspiciously eyes. I paused in the doorway.

"Not like THAT!" I squealed throwing the paper from the side table at her. She ducked and rose just enough so I could see her eyes over the bench.

"You like him. You wanna kiss him. You wanna love him. You wanna bang him..." She continued her little song.

"Great, now it's stuck in my head!" I laugh, groaning as i slumped down to the floor.

"Maybe you can sing it for an audition song for work. I'm your muse. You're welcome."

"Oh man I can't believe I forgot! I better go start ringing around. Thanks for reminding me." I scurried over to the living room to get my laptop and started cold calling everyone on the pages I'd saved.

Lexi left not too long after breakfast, excited to see Zach again. Meanwhile I spent the better half of the morning calling as many people as I could. I was down to my last few pages and my hopes were dwindling. I'd called over 30 businesses in town and had been turned down by every one at that point.

"Sorry, no vacancies at this point in time."

"You're still in college? We need someone with more experience."

"Will you work for no pay?"

I had the speech memorised by the 15th time going through the whole spiel. Now I was scraping the bottom of the barrel with my back up plan to perform music locally to the public.

Female vocalist wanted

Performing twice a week at nights

Over 21's only

Call Nick

I stared at the phone number ready to cry, feeling the tears welling up.

No, I refuse to fail. I'm going to call this guy and I'm not going to take no for an answer. I need this job.

I picked up the phone in my hands and dialled the number on the screen. It rang 3 times and man with a low but pleasant voice answered.

"Good morning, Nicholas speaking."

"Hi my name's Quinn. I saw your add on the seek website about requiring a female vocalist. Is the position still available?" I tried to keep my voice as mature as possible to show how serious I was, hoping my insecurities didn't seep into my tone of voice.

"Sure doll. But I have to ask, are you over 21?" he asked.

"Yes, I turned 22 last year." I answered a matter of factly.

"Wonderful! Can you come in for an audition today sometime?"

"Sure!" I tried to contain my excitement, mouthing a silent yes to myself.

"What time suits you best?" I asked.

"How about 1:30pm on the dot?" He offered with a lightness in his voice.

"It'd be my pleasure. What's the address?" After sorting out the details we said out goodbyes and hung up. I stood in the living room doing one of those happy dances where you squint your eyes tightly shut, wear a ridiculous toothy smile and punch the air with alternating fists while swivelling your feet with each punch.

I had so many songs under my belt I didn't know what to do with them. I felt prepared and excited that something in my plan was finally coming into fruition. I dressed myself respectfully as you would for any job interview and stood in front of the mirror. If only my parents could see me now.

They'd be proud. Wouldn't they?

I checked the time once more before leaving andwalked to the front door juggling my resume, bag and keys. I looked down tolock the door and saw that I'd forgotten to cover up my hands.

Ooh, gloves! You can't un-do first impressions.

Pulling my gloves on I feel a certain shame. A reminder of howI failed back home. I shake my head to rid myself of negative thoughts, lockthe door and start walking to the venue.