Ugh, homework. Probably my least favorite thing in the whole world. I say it’s an injustice, but of course, I don’t really mean it. Not like my parents or my friends believe it anyways. But still, why do homework when you could be drawing, playing with the cat, reading an awesome book, or best yet, singing? At least I am nearly done with this math homework. I’m in ninth grade, but I’m only fourteen.
As I finished up my math homework, the door to the garage slammed shut and my mom called upstairs.
“Winter! I’m home!”
“Hi Mom!”
Mom is awesome, and Dad is, too, but he’s awesome in the sense that he likes to make me laugh. Mom is way less crazy, but she still has her spurts of craziness. When I was eight, my birth parents died. I had a sister, and I still miss her sometimes, but Mom and Dad adopted me we moved. I don’t remember much of my birth parents, but I remember my sister. I have a picture of us together when we were five. It’s on my dresser, in a sweet frame that says Sisters Forever with a bunch of hearts. If I saw her in a crowd, I’d be able to pick her out easily, even with ten look-alikes!
I finished up my homework and went downstairs. It was time for us to leave to go to my voice lesson. I did choir in school, but it wasn’t the same. With my voice coach, I got one-on-one time, instead of a big group and I got to choose what I sang.
On the ride to my lesson, Mom and I chatted.
“So, how was school today?” she asked me.
“Pretty good, how was work?”
“Tiring, but okay.”
“Well, at least it was okay.”
“Yeah, but I want to take a nap when I get home.” I laughed.
“You know, you’re the best mom ever,” I said. The car stopped. We were here.
“Thank you, you’re the best Winter ever,” she replied. I smiled
“Bye, mom,” I said as I shut the door.
My voice teacher doesn’t watch that much TV, but, she’s told me many times, that she “just loves, loves, loves the show The Next Star. It’s a talent show. I love it too. When I walked in, she was on her phone.
“Everything okay?” I asked. She was never on her phone before a lesson.
“Hm? Oh, yes, everything is fine. Hello, dear.”
“What are you looking at?” I asked, as indifferent as I could manage.
“Oh, nothing,” she said, and put her phone down. At the end of the lesson, she said I sang beautifully, then turned her phone back on again. She looked at it and hit a few buttons. She took a breath.
“Winter?” she asked.
“Yes?”
“You watch the show The Next Star, right?”
“Yes,” I said slowly, slightly confused.
“I think you should audition for it,” she said. I was speechless.
“Me?” I said a moment later, still in shock. She looked around the room.
“I don’t see any other Winter’s in here,” she replied, smiling.
“I’ll have to talk to my parents about it…”
“Yes, of course. Well, it was just a thought, you can go now. Sorry to keep you.”
“It’s alright,” I replied as I walked out the door. When I got in the car, I told Mom about what my voice coach had said.
“What do you think about it?”
“Well, your father and I were thinking the same thing, actually,” she said. My face lit up.
“Really? Wow. You really think I’m good enough to be on there?”
“Of course!”
“Okay, I’ll send them an audition video,” I said.
“Sounds like a plan. How about tonight?” she asked. She was just as thrilled as I was.
“Okay!” I was so excited.

When I told Jasper and Cristina about my plan to audition for The Next Star, they were excited for me. They told me they would call the social worker and tell her. They said they would ask for a permit paper.
“But, also, we need to know all of the information about where to reach you, where you are staying, and things like that,” said Jasper.
“I can give you that in about a day,” I said. “I have to figure it out with Ms. Divilia. Oh, and one of you probably have to come with me.”
“I’ll go,” offered Jasper. “I know this Ms. Divilia better than Cristina, since I’m the one she talks to about your dancing, and I drop you off and pick you up from dance.”
“Is that okay with you, Cristina? It will be for a while, but we can video call each other each night, if that works for you,” I asked. I didn’t want her to be completely out of help from Jasper and out of the loop of what was going on.
“Yeah! Of course that’s fine with me! I’ll make sure to watch it when it’s on this season,” she replied.
“Okay! I’ll just work out the logistics of when we get there with Ms. Divilia. I don’t even have an acceptance letter yet.”
“Sounds good, and we know you will be accepted. You’re a wonderful dancer,” said Cristina.
“Thanks, Cristina. That really means a lot to me.”
“You’re welcome.”

I was so excited when I got the letter. I’m usually not so excited. I took it to my room, flopped down on the bed, and ripped it open. It said:
Ms. Felicity Everborn:
Congratulations! You have been chosen to compete for one million dollars on The Next Star this season. Best of wishes.
The Audition Staff at The Next Star
I squealed with joy. I’d never felt so important and excited in my whole life. I was going to compete for one million dollars! With that sort of money, I could travel the world, searching for my sister. I called Ms. Divilia and told her the good news.
“Now we just need to figure out where we’re staying. Oh, and Cristina has to come with us, since I’m her foster child, and they can’t just hand me off to you.”
“Makes perfect sense,” she said. “Now, let’s figure out where we’re staying.”

I did an audition video, with Mom and Dad’s help, and a couple of weeks later, I got the letter. I read it out loud:
Ms. Winter Cordova:
Congratulations! You have been chosen to compete for one million dollars on The Next Star this season. Best of wishes.
The Audition Staff at The Next Star
I was so excited. I jumped up and down and squealed. We made travel plans and about a week later, we headed off.

We drove there, since it only takes about two hours to get there. We were staying at the Royal Hotel, right across the street from where I would be performing. As we walked in, I passed a girl in the lobby who looked like me. It was a startling resemblance. But, Mom and Dad didn’t say anything, so I didn’t either.
While Mom and Dad were checking in, they had me sit down. The girl who looked like me was sitting down, too. I was kind of shy, but I decided to go meet her instead of creepily staring at her.
“Hello,” I said. “My name is Winter, what’s yours?”
“My name is Felicity. It’s nice to meet you. Where are you from?” she asked me.
“I’m from Bakersfield, I’m here to perform on The Next Star.”
“Really? Me too!” she said, pleasantly surprised.
“Cool! What’s your act?”
“I’m dancing, what about you?”
“I’m singing.”
“Winter? Honey, we have to go put our stuff in our room. Come on. You can talk to your friend later, I promise,” Mom said.
“Aw, I have to go Felicity, but it was nice meeting you!”
“You too,” she said, giving a faint smile. I followed Mom and Dad to the elevators.
“So, who’s your new friend?” Dad asked.
“Her name’s Felicity. She’s really shy,” I said.
“That’s a really pretty name,” Mom said. Suddenly, I remembered something. I knew I had a sister, but I couldn’t remember her name for the life of me right then. Oh come on, I know I know her name, what is it? Why did Felicity’s name trigger something? Wait, that’s it! “Mom!” I cried, surprised and eager to tell her.
“What, what? Is everything okay?” she asked, clearly worried about me.
“Yes, everything is fine. That girl – Felicity, her name made me remember something!”
“What did you remember?”
“My sisters name was Felicity, too!”
“Oh, yes it was, that’s cool,” Mom said.
“Wow, that’s really interesting, Winter,” Dad said.
“Yeah, it is!” I replied. We look like each other too, I thought. That’s weird, but cool. Could she be Felicity, my sister, my best friend in the whole world? It sounded too good to be true, so I didn’t think about it anymore. I soon forgot about Felicity, because once we put everything in our room, we went swimming. But there was still that lingering feeling that there was something familiar about her.

When we got to the hotel, Jasper and Ms. Divilia checked into their rooms. Ms. Divilia was right down the hall from us. I met a girl named Winter. She had Mom’s chestnut hair and Dad’s startlingly blue eyes. She looked like an older version of my sister in my picture. I dug it out and stared at it. Winter really looked like my sister. My sister’s name was Winter, too. I was convinced it was her, but I didn’t say anything.
We got to our room, Jasper and I, and put the suitcases out of the way. Then, Jasper said he wanted to go swimming. I wanted to veg and watch TV. So we watched TV for about an hour, got dinner, watched a half hour more of TV, went swimming, then went to bed.
The next night was the first night of auditions for The Next Star. When it got to be my turn, I was terrified. There were four judges. Chelsea, Davion, Savannah, and Kyson.
“Hello! What is your name, miss?” asked Davion.
“Felicity Everborn”
“You are very pretty,” he said with a smile.
“Thank you”
“How old are you?”
“Fifteen,” I replied.
“What are you going to be doing for us today?”
“Dancing”
“Well, the stage is yours.” I smiled, and as the lights dimmed, I got ready. They started the music and I danced my heart out. When I was done, everyone gave me a standing ovation. I was smiling and crying at the same time.
“That was beautiful! Thank you!” said Savannah as the applause quieted a bit. “That was just beautiful! That was a wonderful dance, and I must say, it surprised me a lot. I think you’re a sensation, and so…” she hit the golden buzzer. “You are going straight to the live shows! Congratulations!” I was shocked. I started crying and Jasper and Ms. Divilia ran out from the side and stood around me. They gave me huge hugs. They were crying too. The audience was applauding, and then, the best part of the night, Savannah ran up and gave me a hug, too.
The live shows! Oh my gosh! I was so thrilled, scared, and happy at the same time. That was one of the best nights in my life. That night, I dug out the picture I had of my sister and I. I remembered the girl in the lobby. The resemblance between us and between her and my sister in the picture was too great to ignore. She was my sister.

“Hello,” said Chelsea. “What is your name?”
“Winter Cordova”
“Where are you from?”
“Bakersfield, California”
“How old are you?”
“Fourteen”
“Wow, fourteen years old! What is your dream?”
“I actually have two. My biggest dream is to find my sister, who I separated from when I was eight and our parents died. I remember her better than I remember them, and I miss her a lot. My second dream is to win The Next Star.” I grinned.
“I’m very sorry to hear about your parents and your sister, Winter. I hope you are able to find her.”
“Thank you”
“So, are you going to be singing for us?”
“Yes”
“Well then, go ahead.”
I sang “Clarity” by Zedd. I sang like I’d never sang before. When I was done, there was a standing ovation. I think Kyson was most surprised.
“Oh my gosh!” he said. “That was probably the best I’ve heard since I’ve been on this show. You are amazing! And just to show you how amazing you really are…” he hit the golden buzzer. I cried, but I was so happy.
“And as a little surprise for you, I know a girl about your age who has a similar story, who is also trying to find her sister, and she looks like you so much. Felicity, would you please come out here?” I stared in shock. It was the girl from the hotel, Felicity. She had a picture in her hand. She was crying, too.
“Oh my gosh!” I exclaimed. “It really is you! You’re my sister!” I was bawling by then. “I remember you, I have the picture, too!” We hugged and cried, and the show was over for the night. That was the best night of my life.

The next morning, Ms. Divilia, Jasper, and I went to Winter’s room. I knocked and she opened. Her mom and dad were up, too.
“Come on in,” her mom said. Everyone was introduced, and then her mom and dad, Allison and Parker, told me that they talked to Winter, and they decided that they wanted to adopt me. I started bawling.
“The one thing I’ve wanted since Mom and Dad died was a family, someone to really love me and take care of me. But my biggest fear has always been that if I found a family, that they would be taken away from me, just like what happened with Mom and Dad and Winter. I don’t want that to happen again.”
We all hugged and cried, and a couple of weeks later, after Winter had won The Next Star and I had come in close second, and I had spent a couple weeks with Winter and her family with Jasper, I was moving. No longer was I the sad, scared girl in foster care. Now I had a real family, a forever home. That was the best day of my life.