One-Shot Competition Results + Winning Entry

Angela and I have read 79 entries, which is incredible. We've decided to have two more honorable mentions. They were all a joy to read and some of the entries were definitely unique. Enough with my rambling though, because I'm sure you're only reading this because you want to know who the winner is. 

In fifth place, the Beckett Award goes to Samsam_Maynard with Holding On. I really loved the quotes at the beginning of your piece, and the scene with Luke was hilarious. Your idea was cliché, but you executed it phenomenally. Your emotions were great and the beginning of it reminded me of my own writing style. Thank you. 

In fourth place, the Alec Award goes to Veronica_Herondale with One Shot: TLVS. This was one of the most poetic one-shots out there. I'm usually not a huge fan of repetition, but you used it nicely in your piece. Thank you. 

In third place, the Ian Award goes to belle-rose with The Last Virgin Standing ~ Alternative Ending. This was probably the most hilarious one-shot I've ever read. Your characterization (especially Mr. Summers with his obsession with Alec) was great. This was a joy to read. Thank you.  

In second place, the Luke Award goes to Keller376 with Letting Go. Your writing style is very poetic and your sentences flowed smoothly. This scene was extremely realistic to the story yet still made our feelings go out of whack (the feels, man). I really enjoyed your flashbacks and found Charlotte's characterization to be spot-on. Thank you. 

In first place, the Tyler Award goes to The_Fallen_Rose with The Last Virgin Standing One-Shot. You had a perfect score from the judges, and after we read your piece, we knew that you were probably going to win first place. It was so emotional and beautifully written (I teared up). It had both humorous elements, but it really showed Charlotte's emotions in such a beautiful manner. This is literally perfection. I could go on and on about how this made me feel, but I won't. Thank you.  

Without furthur ado, the winning one-shot. (Be sure to listen to the song if you can.) I recommend reading this on her account (in the external link) because this may have typing errors (I'm terrible at spotting mistakes) and because there are more songs to listen to.  

.01 - Calling 

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And the Crappiest Funeral Speech Award goes to none other than the sucktastic Charlotte Summers!  

For someone who was his best friend, I had an awfully small amount to say.  

One after another people went up to say their speeches about Luke. They were all the same. The adults either talked about how funny he was or how he was such a kind boy. The students either talked about how good of a friend he was or how amazing the sex was. Okay, so maybe they didn't talk about that last one but some of his other female friends looked pretty darn close to doing so. 

During Laurel's speech, she happened to glance over and give me a small smile, her eyes shining with grief and pity. Honestly, I wanted to rip that smile off her face and shove it down her throat. Were my urges to do such violent actions justified? Probably - I just lost my best friend! Was I overreacting? Definitely. Laurel was too sweet to anything mocking. Especially during a time like this.  

I tried conjuring tears as I threw in my share of dirt on top of Luke's casket but I couldn't. My body, my mind, were too numb to process anything. My best friend was honestly gone. Tomorrow, I wouldn't wake up to my daily walks with Luke and Tinkerbell. I wouldn't watch 50 First Dates with him one last time. I wouldn't be able to spit Italian brownies in his face. My best friend was really gone. His dead body in the casket was proof for that.  

Out of common courtesy, people stuck around, still providing their condolences and while rummaging through my purse, out of the corner of my eye I saw Emma and two members of the Top Four walking towards me.  

"Kitten," said Ian. 

"Charlotte," said Alec. 

"Char..." said Emma. 

I jumped, phone in hand, tittering nervously. Emma's cheeks were streaked with her mascara tear trails and Alec looked like a pretty big wreck himself. Only Ian looked indifferent. He reached out to pull me into a hug but I stepped back, getting questioning looks from the three of them.  

I needed to get away.  

"I-I'm so sorry," I whispered before bolting. Emma shouted my name but she didn't come after me. None of them did. 

Overhead, the sky was a dull grey with a few splotches of black here and there. The clouds weren't much of a consolation. Far beyond the horizon they could barely be seen; a suck shade of white, they traveled in a pack, rumbling and shaking and lighting up for a moment before blending back in with the backdrop.  

The sky had become ugly; just like my life had these last couple of days. Staying in this cemetery was driving me crazy but oddly enough, it was comforting. The dead bodies that constantly encircled me were bothersome but Luke was not part of them. This was where I could meet my best friend. We wouldn't laugh or talk. I would just sit next to him as he peacefully slept and count the days until he might finally wake up. Though I had accepted that he was gone, in a way, I hadn't. 

I still tried to convince myself that this was all a horrible nightmare and that I would wake up suddenly, sweat trickling down my forehead. Luke would be there. He would let me put my head on his lap and he would lull me to sleep. We would wake up together in the morning, me snoring and him drooling and we would eat eggs and bacon and everything would be okay. 

In a parallel universe that would happen. Not in this one. 

Unconsciously, I dialed a phone number.  

"Hey there!" the voicemail started off. I stopped dead in my tracks, my heart racing, my legs turning to jelly. I braced myself on a tombstone, pressing the phone closer to my ear until it almost hurt. His voice was so beautiful. And foreign. 

"This is Luke Chandler. Sorry I wasn't there to take your call. Tell you what: how about you leave your name and your message. Maybe if you're lucky enough, I'll get back to you." 

 
Leave it to Luke to sound condescending even on a recorded voice message.  

There was a beep and on impulse, I started speaking. 

.02 - Voicemail 

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Hey Luke, this is Charlotte. This is all a little weird for me because I'm leaving a voicemail for someone who's dead. Not only is it a little weird, it's crazy. But at the same time, it's so right. With every word i say to you I feel like I'm getting lighter. I see the sky getting brighter, I hear my heart beating faster and it feels like after being dead for the last week, I've finally woke up. No, Tyler Bradshaw's kiss didn't wake me up. Seeing you lying in your coffin did.You looked peaceful, happy even. Heaven must be treating you real well. Either that or you find bliss in my lack of presence. It better not be the second one, you jerk.  

When we first met, we were both in kindergarten. I thought were an odd ball, you know that? The boys in school rarely talked to me yet there you were, helping me put my bow back in my hair and saying you liked the cupcakes on my jammies. You were creepy and at first, I didn't really like you. I only hung out with you because your shoes were so cool. You were a loser. Just kidding! Sort of. You freaked me out a lot. But then we started to get older and you started becoming normal. Somewhat. 

I don't really know when it happened. I guess it was over the span of several years because one year you were just my best friend and then the next year, I woke up with the notion that I loved you. Maybe it was the kiss...But you were oblivious to it and I was okay with it. I was okay with playing this game called love even though only one of us was participating. I knew that if I just waited long enough you would come around one day and we would sit and play this game together. We would fall in love and we would date and everything would be perfect. We would marry and have kids and grow old together. I believed that, Luke, I really did. Then you started taking people's  virginities and piece by piece, you started taking my heart from me.  

At first I thought you were going to keep it and take good care of it, like you did my bow way back when but then I started to feel pains in my chest. Was I having a heart attack? Hell no, I was too young for that. Heartburn? I don't think so. Do you want to know what was happening Luke? I don't care whether or not you want to know - you can't even tell me - so I'm just going to tell you. You didn't know it but you were destroying my heart. You were burning it and ripping it and cutting it and you didn't even know. Almost every day when i got back from school, I would see the remains of the piece of my heart that you choose to ruin that day. And Luke? You were too blind to see what you were doing to me. 

I still loved you because I was - sorry, am - stupid like that. I ignored all the pain and I hung out with you because you were my best friend and that's what best friends do but you were an idiot. You didn't understand how much it hurt to hear about the girls' virginities you took. I wanted you to take mine! I wanted you to be my first and I wanted to be yours! Obviously that's not how it worked out. 

Then one day you decided to tell me that you loved me. That was the final straw. I knew you were being sincere; you weren't someone to play with someone's feelings like that but over the years that I had known you, I realized I didn't know a thing about you. The need to get the title, Virginator, had taken over your life and sometime during that possession, our friendship became a frail thing that was held together by nothing but a thinning thread. You scared me, Luke. I was blinded and I couldn't tell what was genuine and what was fake. I thought you were manipulating my feelings and I'm so sorry for that. I am so, so sorry. 

For a while, after I forgave you, things went really well for us. And then you had to mess things up by screwing Emma. You said it was the alcohol, you said you missed me. Excuses. I think you were really good at coming up with those things. I hated you and at that point, I wished I never knew you. I wished you would just walk out of my life and never come back. That's why they say to be careful about what you wish for. I made that wish, Luke. I killed you. I don't care what people tell me. I'm a murderer. I got you killed. 

The minute you stopped talking, breathing, living, replays in my head. I can't get it out because the memory is a dictator. It's frightened all our happier memories into a corner and it takes control of my mind. It's strong enough to terrify me. Do you want to know what's really terrifying, Luke? You probably don't; you're probably sick and tired of me already but again, I don't care. What's terrifying is when you can't breathe and you don't know why. It's not because you're having an asthma attack or all the trees around you just decided to stop producing oxygen. It's the realization that you love someone so much that you can't breathe when they're not there. You feel empty and completely, utterly lonely. The realization is a kick to the heart. It punctures your lungs and all the air leave you and you're just there, clutching your chest and the whole time you're thinking, 'What the hell is happening to me?' 

I collapsed when I realized you were gone, really gone, and I think Dad nearly had me hospitalized. Poor guy. I didn't know the strength of my love for you until I had lost you. I didn't know that I loved you so much that I would ditch Tyler in  a heartbeat. I didn't know that I would give up my life for you. I didn't know that you meant the world to me and without you it would go black. I was navigating my way through something called life without you - my flashlight.  

Is this thing still recording? I doubt it is. It probably turned off a while ago and I never noticed but whatever. I need to get this off my chest. I need you to know even if you never will know. 

I love you. I've only ever loved you. I fooled myself into believing I actually loved Tyler but the whole time I was pining for you. You're the ying to my yang, the peanut butter to my jelly, the chocolate to my strawberry. It doesn't matter how cheesy that sounds because it's true. I miss you and I wish I could take back time. I wish I told you how much I loved you and I wish I had never gotten into that car. Maybe then you'd be alive today. Maybe then we'd be together or maybe we wouldn't. I can't tell you that but I will tell you this. 

You're my everything, Lucas Chandler. You're my everything. 

0.3 Not Dead Yet 

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I realized something today, Luke.  

Your phone is all I have left of you, buddy. Of all the things that could survive the car accident, it was your stupid phone.  

I listen to you talk every day, on replay sometimes, and I leave a message every time you ask me too. I take care of your phone like you took care of my bow. Because for now, I can still hear your words ringing in my ears. One day your phone will stop working and you will be a thing of the past; a figment of my imagination. A forgotten soul. One day, I won't be able to remember what your voice sounds like. I dread that day. I don't want it to come but it will.  

Right now, you're still very much alive. Your voice is proof of that. 

But the day I no longer hear it on the other end of the phone is the day you're really gone. It's going to be the day Lucas Chandler really dies. 

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Winners, I will contact you within a week to sort out prize stuff. 

I want to thank all you who have entered. I never expected this many people to enter this competition (or read the book for that matter...) I cannot thank you guys enough (even if it is from the bottom of my heart).