THE TALENT SHOW DISASTER
At Ridgewood High, the annual talent show was the event of the year.
It was the perfect stage for glory, embarrassment, or both simultaneously.
For Olivia Chen, it was a nightmare.
Olivia was shy, smart, and had never performed in front of more than her cat, Mr. Whiskers. Yet somehow, she had been volunteered for the talent show duet with none other than Ethan Park—the same Ethan who had survived the cafeteria food fight with Sophie (and, unfortunately for Olivia, was now the school’s semi-famous accidental hero).
“Why me?” she whispered to her best friend, Maya, while clutching her ukulele.
“You’re adorable! It’ll be fine!” Maya said. “Just don’t break the stage or humiliate Ethan. Or yourself. Preferably both.”
Olivia’s eyes widened. “Preferably both?!”
Maya shrugged. “Just kidding… maybe.”
Backstage, Ethan was sweating profusely. He didn’t play any instruments. He couldn’t sing. He had two left feet. And somehow, the school had paired him with Olivia for a romantic duet called “Perfect Together.”
Olivia peeked at him nervously. “Do you… know the song?”
Ethan’s confident grin wavered. “Sure. Totally. Mostly.”
“Mostly?!”
Before Olivia could ask further, the announcer called, “Next up… Olivia Chen and Ethan Park!”
The audience cheered. Lights blazed. A spotlight hit them like a laser.
Olivia’s ukulele squeaked. Ethan swallowed.
The first verse went… okay. Kind of.
Then disaster struck.
Ethan’s pants zipper got stuck halfway, trapping him mid-step. Olivia’s ukulele string snapped—flying across the stage and nearly hitting the principal. The microphone stand fell over, making a loud clang.
The crowd gasped.
Ethan panicked. “Uh… improv!” he shouted.
So he started… dancing.
Not gracefully. Not rhythmically. Not even on beat. He flailed like a fish on land, knocking over the backdrop and sending the fake clouds tumbling into Olivia.
Olivia tried to continue singing, but she was laughing too hard to hit the notes.
From the audience, Sophie and Kara were snickering uncontrollably.
“Is he dying?” Sophie whispered.
“I think he’s creating new dance moves,” Kara said.
Meanwhile, Maya was backstage, covering her face with her hands. “Why do I even have friends?”
Ethan tried to recover by spinning—disastrously. His shoelaces got tangled. He tripped. He accidentally grabbed the ukulele mid-spin and, in a perfect storm of chaos, smashed it against the floor. Strings flew everywhere.
The crowd went silent. Olivia froze, staring at the shattered ukulele in horror.
Ethan’s face was red. “I… I think we… nailed it?”
Somewhere, a janitor fainted.
But then… something magical happened.
Olivia started laughing. Hard. Uncontrollable laughter. Ethan, seeing her smile, laughed too. Soon, the audience joined in—first a few giggles, then full-on applause and cheers.
“Best disaster ever!” someone shouted.
“Most entertaining duet!” yelled another.
By the end of the song, they were both covered in broken ukulele bits, stage confetti, and sheer embarrassment. But they owned it.
The principal shook his head. “I don’t know whether to suspend you or nominate you for Prom King and Queen of Comedy.”
Afterward, backstage, Ethan looked at Olivia, still laughing. “Well… we survived.”
Olivia wiped tears from her eyes. “Barely.”
“I think we make a good team,” Ethan said, trying not to trip over a piece of ukulele string.
Olivia grinned. “Yeah… if by ‘good team’ you mean disaster duo, then definitely.”
Ethan smiled nervously. “So… maybe we can… practice next year? Or, like, hang out?”
Olivia raised an eyebrow. “Hang out. Preferably somewhere with fewer flying instruments.”
Ethan laughed. “Deal.”
And somehow, in the middle of complete chaos, Olivia felt her heart skip a beat.
Maya peeked from behind the curtain. “Did I just witness a romantic disaster?” she whispered to Sophie.
Sophie grinned. “Absolutely. And it’s perfect.”
From that day on, Olivia and Ethan were unofficially dubbed the school’s “Comedy Couple.” Everywhere they went, someone whispered, “Remember the talent show?” And they would smile, knowing that sometimes, the most embarrassing moments made the sweetest memories.
