Chapter 26

"Are you ready?" Valdo looked at me at smirk.

"Are you ready?" I repeated his question. Tonight was Karaoke Friday and to make it even more fun we decided to invite more people. Instead of having it at his Apartment, we kept it at the shelter. That way, the single mothers in the community can also join. Hannah hired a few nannies to watch the babies in the nursery while we have fun in one of the classrooms. She also arranged the classroom to look like a karaoke bar. The lights were dimmed, and there was a platform for the stage—tables with many varieties of food to choose from. Everyone carried something.

Only Hannah could pull off something so beautiful in such a short space of time.

"Who is ready to have some fun?" Kevin yelled over the microphone.

"Me!" Hannah cheered, and everyone laughed at how her voice sound.

"We know that nobody likes to be placed on the spot first and so we've decided to make things 100% fair, everyone gets to choose their number. You'll see that in my beautiful wife's hand, there is a bag. This bag contains fourteen numbers since there are fourteen of us here this evening. Everyone will have the opportunity to choose a number. Hannah is going to go around with that bag, and everyone will blindly pick a number out. The number you get is the order you'll sing." Because of Kevin's charming personality, Valdo and I decided that he was the perfect person to be Masters of the ceremony.

"Please, Lord, I beg you. Don't let me get number one." Zuria cried out. I laughed and uttered "same." I don't think they would enjoy the Karaoke night if I started.

"Let's, Rumbo." Hannah shook the bag in her hands with all her might; then she walked up to her husband. She opened the bag, and he placed his hands in.

He picked up a number then brought it up to his face. He sighed when he saw the number that was written on the paper. He smiled at his wife and turned to everyone. He lifted the microphone and spoke, "I'm happy to announce that I am not the first one to perform tonight."

I chuckled then crossed my fingers. "If you worry about getting number 1, you just might get it." I felt Valdo hot breath on my shoulders.

"I'm not worried." I denied it.

"So why are you crossing your fingers?"

I quickly uncrossed my fingers then turn to look at him. "I'll be the winner of our lil competition."

"You remember that?"

"Of course I do, that's the whole point of the Karaoke, don't tell me you forgot?"

"No, I haven't forgotten. I know that I'm going to win."

Christina turned and looked at us, "Are you guys coming for the best singer?"

I laughed, "Nope."

"We're competing for the worst singer spot." Valdo finished.

She looked at the two of us and shook her head, "You guys are something else."

Valdo and I looked at each other and smile.

"Oh my god." My eyes went over to the voice. It was a new member of the DFSM Foundation. Her name is Ashley. She has a four-month-old baby and recently ran away from her abusive boyfriend. She has curly red-hair and beautiful green eyes. Even though her boyfriend abused her, she always kept a smile on her face even when it was obvious she's sad.

She lifted her head and smile, "I got number two."

I closed my eyes; I was hoping she got Number one.

Valdo chuckles beside me, "You shouldn't worry about your number, you know you'll lose even if you go first."

I ignored his statement and continued to watch Hannah as she went from one person to the next. She was also close to our table, and I could feel the sweat running down my forehead.

"I'm unofficially the most unlucky woman on the planet." I looked at Emily as she spoke. She lifted her hands, "You guys can calm down now. I'm going first. My last name is Allen, so I used to get picked first on a lot of things while in school. I hated it so much."

I let out a sigh of relief. Thank god it's not me, but I felt a little sorry for Emily. But I guess she'll be fine, she naturally confident.

I saw Hannah heading towards Valdo and I. I looked at him, "It's time. May the worst singer wins."

"That would be me."

"He's going to win," Hannah said. "I love him with all my life, but I'm telling you. Do you know how a rooster sounds when it's crowing?" I nod my head. "Well imagine that on a grater."

I laughed, "He can't be that bad."

Hannah shrugged, "You'll see." she looked between the two of us, "Go ahead. Choose your numbers."

I dipped my hand in the bag and took up my number. I lifted it to eyes and looked at it. "It got eight." I looked at Valdo, "Your turn."

Valdo dipped his hands in the bag and took out his number. He laughed when he saw it. He turned it towards me than his mother.

"Talk about saving the worst for last," Hannah muttered. She smiled at me, then walked towards the last table.

"Do you want me to get you something before we start?"

I looked up and him and smiled, "Sure. Thank you."

When Valdo was gone, Christina turned to me, "He's crazy about you."

I blushed at her words, "No. He isn't." I hadn't told anyone about Valdo and I's relationship, primarily because I didn't want people thinking that I was only using him for his money.

She smirk, "I know I'm young, but I can tell when a man is in love."

"How can you tell?" I asked.

"I've been reading romance novels since I was 11, why do you think this happened to me," she said, pointing down at her tummy. "I thought Calum loved me; he told me so many times that I believed him. Never trust a guy who tells you he loves you on the first date and never trust a guy that's older than you."

"Valdo is older than me," I muttered.

"That's different. He's different. He would never do that, especially knowing what his mom went through with him."

I placed my palm over her hand, "Calum is a jerk. He doesn't deserve you. One day you're going to find your Mr Darcy."

"You've read Pride and Prejudice." she looked at me amazed.

"About a hundred times," I admitted.

She smirked at me, "I think you might be my new best friend."

I touched my chest hurt, "I wasn't before."

She hesitated, "We only met a few weeks ago."

I laughed, "I'm messing with you. I'd love to be your new best friend. Come to think of it; I've never even had a best friend."

She raised her brows at me, "Really?"

I nod, "I was always hanging out with my ex-boyfriend's friends that I forgot to make my own."

"That's kinda sad."

"What's sad?" Valdo asked as he came back with both hands full.

Christina shrugged, "Oh, nothing. We're justing talking about girl things."

Valdo placed the slices of cake on the table. "Would you like one Christina?"

She looked down at the table, "But there is only two."

He lifted one of the plates off the table and handed it to her, "Here, have mine. I'll go back for one slice." Before Christina could respond, he was already across the room.

"Can I have him?"

I laughed. "He's way older than you."

"Age is just a number." she beamed.

"And prison is just a cell."

"Touche." she lifted the fork and took a bite of her cake. "This is really good."

"It is?" I asked eagerly.

She nodded between a moan.

"I made it," I confessed.

She froze and looked at me, "No way."

I nod with a smile on my face. She knew that when I just arrived, I had no idea bake." Who helped you?" she looked at me suspiciously.

I lifted my hands, "I swear I did it by myself. I've had a lot of free time lately, so I watch videos on YouTube, and I try them out."

"Nothing, I've tried based on a Youtube video ever turns out good. You want proof, look at my makeup." I looked at her face, and I saw nothing wrong, but then again, I knew nothing about makeup.

"You look beautiful to me."

She smiled, "Thanks. You're a nice person."

I smiled, "You're not so bad yourself."

When Valdo returned, Christina turned around to give us some privacy, which we didn't need since Emily stood from her seat and made her way up to the stage. All our attention was now on her and the performance that she would be doing.

Kevin handed her the mic; then, he started asking her some questions. When he received the answer, he was looking for he walked over to his MacBook and in seconds the musicals to "Dancing Queen" by Abba started playing.

Emily looked at the projected lyrics then started, "You can dance, you can jive..having the time of your life..oh.." You could tell she was really into the song she started rocking her body to the music. She even stopped looking at the lyrics and was looking at us. Her voice wasn't bad, either. After a few minutes she was finished, she looked at her audience who were all smiling at her and laugh. "Okay, I have to admit that it wasn't bad."

We clapped and cheered for her as she exits the stage.

Kevin continued to call the numbers, and the person would choose their song. They weren't bad for the most part; they looked they were having fun and nothing else in the world matter than them being in the spotlight.

Everyone was happy, you could tell by how bright their smiles were. I was also laughing and enjoying myself.

At least until Kevin called my number.