Chapter 8: She was talented

She could do it all. No matter which challenge she faced, she mastered it flawlessly. When she would go to another country, she would interact in its native language. When she got invited to participate in cultural events, she embraced it with all of her heart. When she attended fashion shows, she easily outshined the models, her style impeccable. Day to day she proved she was talented in every way. Even when the technology failed her at concerts, she would perform splendidly acoustic, playing the guitar herself. There seemed to be no restrictions to her abilities.

The headache was killing her, getting worse with every word the teacher spoke. Languages had never been her forte, neither in school nor now in her job. Nevertheless, she was expected to master them and fast at that. In a few days she would have to perform in her first European concert and, despite not necessarily fluent, people would want her to speak the native language. So additionally to her busy schedule, she now had language classes to refreshen her skills of the languages she would encounter on her upcoming tour. A loud bang brought her back to reality. The teacher had used his pointing stick to bang on the table, effectively bringing her back to reality. “By tomorrow I want you to memorize this list of vocabulary. We will also start practicing Interview answers from tomorrow on.” Her head shot up. Until now there had been no talk of an interview in another language, only some phrases for the concert to bond more effectively with the fans. “Interview? But I don’t know enough to understand the questions.” The teacher gave a strict look for speaking back before answering. “They will give us a list of the questions beforehand. Just learn the answers well.” “But…” “There will be no refusals.”, the teacher turned away, shut his book and left. She was left to panic on her own. What if they changed the questions slightly? What if they added questions? That had happened before. For weeks the company had tried to get rid of videos of her failure. She pushed her hands through her hair in distress. How could they expect her to not only create grammatically correct answers to possibly hard questions, but also learn them by heart and repeat them without failure. She sighed, mentally preparing herself for even less sleep to fit in some additional study hours at home. Maybe someone from the international staff would have time to help her with her pronunciation. She really couldn’t afford to butcher another language and say who knows what. Slowly she collected her notes and books, reluctantly making her way to her next schedule. A glance at the clock told her it was already past 10pm. It made her crave her bed even more. But there was still a singing lesson and two hours of dance training between her and the sleep she badly needed. Plus the study session she had just decided she needed to live up to everyone’s expectations. On her way to the practice room she loudly repeated the words they had discussed during today’s lesson, ignoring the stares of staff passing by. Any free minute was best put to use if she was to be flawless.