He ignored her. He had to focus. Tonight was about changing things. Changing his own life, and maybe, just maybe, changing Jessica's too. He imagined her face, a small smile playing on her lips as she listened to his song. He pictured himself being interviewed, being famous, helping so many teens. Alex closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and prepared to head out to the café, ready to face the music, in every sense of the word. It was definitely going to be a mad night, one way or the other. He just hoped it would be mad in a good way.
Alex was bricking it. Proper bricking it. His hands were shaking like a leaf, and his voice felt all squeaky and weird, not like his own at all. Getting up on stage, even in this tiny little café, felt like climbing Mount Everest. What if he totally blanked the lyrics? What if he went completely out of tune? Or even worse, what if everyone started cracking up laughing at him, at his songs, even at his ginger hair? Proper panic was setting in. He wanted to bail, just run for it and pretend this whole thing never happened.