Chapter 374: Good Boys Gone Bad (3)
"This is literally the best day of my life. Nothing can top this." Rachel whispered as she watched the performances without blinking.
While she was an advocate for fairness and equal parts distribution among the contestants, she had never realized what a difference it made to have the actually good contestants all on the same team, performing the song, and supporting those who might be slightly weaker in certain areas.
While others might hate that those who were good didn’t get more parts, she thought it reflected even better on them when those who were good helped others achieve a well-rounded performance.
It’s what made her dislike someone like William, who might as well be a soloist, but made her like Ari, who always tried to make sure his teammates stood out and got credit for their work.
And it’s why she was so thankful, just this once, to the terrible production team, because even though the kids who were in the top ranks had a lot of parts in the two group songs, everyone still got a chance to shine, which was so important in the final days of the competition, where only 7 boys would make it.
Even as other teams began performing their songs, Rachel cheered along like a good fan who wanted everyone to do well (she just wanted her pick to do better than them)
After all, this sense of togetherness and happiness, this lack of competition, this was what watching performances was all ab-
"Yeah, that’s right! Come on, Vishal! Show them that your team is better than all the other ones! Prove to them that the French one should have chosen you for their team instead of leaving you out!"
Hearing a slanderous shout that broke her train of thought, Rachel craned her head to glare at a group of girls who were screaming obnoxiously as a group of boys got on stage.
"What did you say?" Rachel asked, getting riled up.
"You heard me!" A girl with red stripes in her hair shot back.
"Why can you people never just praise your group and pick in peace? Why do you always have to compare them to Ari?" Rachel retorted.
Truly, she was sick and tired of people always needing to bring Ari down or mention him in some way to praise a contestant.
Just praise your pick without mentioning my pick!
"It’s my opinion. Can’t I have an opinion anymore? And for someone you all like to claim is so popular, I don’t see many of his fans here. Heh. He must have paid for fake votes because he’s a nepo baby cosplaying being poor." The girl shot back.
"Ari’s fans aren’t here because they were at his graduation, so you just wait. They’re coming!"
"Sure, sure, that’s why your pick is running away right now. It’s cause he’s scared to perform!"
The girl pointed to the fence, and as Rachel turned to look, she saw Benjamin, Jamie, and a couple of others running away, with Ari on Levi’s shoulder in a fireman’s carry.
- ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Someone screamed, and the audience began to panic as people caught sight of the 6 of them running away.
- Wait, what’s going on?"
- Apparently, Ari and the rest of the graduation crew ran out through the back?
- No, they’re to the side, and Ari was being carried.
- Are they okay? Did he get injured again?
- I don’t know. I’m a bit worried. You know how untrustworthy the production team is. They probably told them to run to the hospital instead of calling an ambulance, ughhh
- Are they going to come back?
- Wait, I want to see.
As the crowd grew rowdy, people forced their way to the side, trying to push through and get to the fence to see what was going on.
Then, to make matters worse, the fans who had attended Ari’s graduation and had just arrived began pushing through, making the already crowded fenced-in venue even more crowded.
It got so bad with the pushing and shouting that those performing on stage were distracted, and the MC had to step in to settle things with a statement while security moved about to calm everything down.
"Once again, I’d like to reassure you that the contestants that you saw leaving are not injured. They are perfectly fine and went to get ready for their performance. They will be back soon. Let’s all please stand safely, without pushing, so we can have a safe performance today. And let’s please be respectful to the teams performing on the stage and to those standing beside and around us. Once again, we’ll ask Rex, Vishal, Justin, Jerome, Insu, and Rei to come and perform the song Bite Me." Ryan Leary said calmly as he looked over the crowd.
He really couldn’t believe there was almost a stampede, simply because the audience thought someone was injured and leaving. His heart really couldn’t take the responsibility for this, and once again, he found himself missing PD Emily.
When she was around, things always ran smoothly, and she knew how to deal with anything that cropped up.
As he walked past the contestants on the stage dressed like modern, gothic vampires and patted them on the back in reassurance, Ryan Leary wished she would get here soon.
After all, how could a simple graduation be more important than a performance showcase?
And now that the graduate was here, why wasn’t the PD here?
Wait...how did Ariel make it in time?
It’s you and me in this world,
So, girl, come over and tie me
The only two in the world,
So come kiss me and bite me~
As the instrumental of the song started again, and the boys on stage began performing, Ryan Leary took his hidden seat beside the stage and sipped some water while waiting for his cue.
"Yo!"
"Ah!"
A nonchalant voice broke his concentration, causing him to send the water bottle flying.
When he turned to look at the owner, it was PD Emily, her windblown hair looking crazy, but her eyes were brighter than he’d ever seen them.
"You- where have you been?!" Ryan Leary asked as he tried to wipe the water from his body.
"Driving through traffic like you wouldn’t believe! Where’s the French gremlin? He hasn’t performed yet, right?" PD Emily asked nonchalantly.
"No. They just left with microphones and said they’ll be back. They’re up next, so I don’t understand why they left in the first place?" the MC asked with a face of confusion.
Truly, nobody had communicated anything to him other than the order to announce the teams, how to announce the votes, and then the total at the end, so he was just making it up on the fly.
"Don’t worry about it and just do your job and announce them properly. The crew knows what they need to do. I’m going to go recheck the camera angles."
PD Emily patted the MC on the shoulder before walking away briskly.
"....okay?"
Seeing that he wouldn’t be getting a proper answer, Ryan Leary just decided to stand and wait for the performance to be over.
When they were done, he climbed back on stage and began the introduction, even though the contestants who were supposed to be performing were nowhere to be found.
"And the next team that will be performing is Team Bad Boys with Ariel, Benjamin, Carlos, Jamie, Levi, and Mathew. Please give them a warm welcome as they drop in and give us a performance of a lifetime."
As the audience clapped and cheered in excitement, and MC Ryan Leary jumped off the stage, the cheers slowly turned into murmurs of confusion as the stage stayed empty.
- Is something wrong?
- What’s going on?
- Where are they?
As the audience looked around in confusion, suddenly the speakers began playing high-speed electronic guitar riffs.
Then-
Chop chop chop chop-
A helicopter flew by.
As the guitar riffs continued playing while people stood on their tiptoes to see the stage, the helicopter flew by once more, causing people to look up in annoyance.
- Why does it keep flying here?
- What kind of bad luck is this? Is there a criminal on the loose or something?
- Oh my gosh, what if there is and they snuck in here? You know, like six criminals broke out in Louisiana? What if they made it here?
- What if they jump the fence? This is why I hate it when performances are outside! They should have gotten a building.
- Is that why people were rowdy earlier? Cause the criminals came in?
As the murmurs got louder-
Chop chop chop chop-
The helicopter flew by once more and then began circling.
- No.
- No way!
- There’s a criminal?
-Is it the police?
Chop chop chop chop-
As the helicopter circled once more, its blades sounding louder than ever, suddenly its spotlight switched on, traveling over the audience before focusing on the stage.
Then, as if in response, the stage lights were turned to focus on the helicopter.
The electronic guitar sound got louder and louder, competing with the helicopters blades, and then, just as a black dot appeared to dangle from the helicopter.
A familiar voice sang out.
Whoa-whoa, whoa-whoa~