"Are you kidding me? Why the hell am I the leader?"
"Why? Is there a problem?"
"Wait, wait, wait" I quickly cut her off before she could finalize anything.
This was bad. Really bad.
Being the leader meant responsibility. And I already had too much on my plate. I only joined to try things out. If I became the leader, I'd be stuck with this group for good.
That was a hard no.
*Sigh.*
You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.
Let me rewind a bit.
After a whole day of deliberation, I finally agreed to follow Ma'am Louise's suggestion and join the group. It took her two whole days to gather all the members.
During those two days, I actually enjoyed life spending time with my family, playing with my uncles at the TODA, just being a normal kid.
And now…
It's Friday.
And she just dropped this bomb on me.
"I can't be the leader. I already have responsibilities at home," I said calmly, rejecting her outright.
"Brier, you were the first one in this group. Everyone else is a newbie, so as the senior, you should lead."
She's trying to use seniority on me?
Seriously?
"No. Not happening. Someone else can take it. I'm sure others want to be the center and leader anyway."
She sighed.
"…Fine. Then we'll postpone the leader selection for now."
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Everyone, you five are officially selected for this group. Your group name and positions will be decided later. I've also hired a coach for you. I expect you to listen and learn properly."
A young man walked toward us. When Ma'am Louise saw him, she nodded as if satisfied.
"Speaking of, this is your coach. Treat him with respect, okay?"
He looked to be in his early twenties.
"Hello, I'm Lukas," he introduced himself.
"I've joined multiple dance competitions and worked as a singer."
So he's legit. He is younger than I expected. Also, he is a male. I expected a female coach or a gay one for this. Well, that sounds a little sexist, so I'll take it back.
As he introduced himself, listing his achievements and qualifications, my other groupmates started talking among themselves.
I don't remember who they are. In my past life, I simply didn't have any interest in other people, so I didn't know them. Maybe they also existed back then and I just took someone's slot in this group. Well, if they didn't make it, that only means they didn't have the ability.
"I heard from one of my friends that this coach has a bad temper," said Raven. We had a mini introduction a while back.
Raven has the sharpest look in our group. He wore glasses but still looked good. Well, in terms of looks, he is 2nd place.
Of course, 1st place was already taken by me. No contest.
"Eh? Who told you?" Joseph asked. The fattest member of our group. I even doubt he can dance. Maybe he has a beautiful voice to qualify.
"My sister. They hired him for choreography. Well-known later," Raven replied as he smiled at Lukas, pretending to listen.
Lukas was engrossed in his introduction and plans, so he didn't notice them talking. After he finished, we all clapped for him.
He deserves it.
"I'll leave them to you," Ma'am Louise said before walking away.
"Alright, guys," Lukas clapped his hands.
"Alright, guys. Ma'am Louise and I talked about your arrangement. She said "I'll turn you into a singing and dancing group or more commonly known as an idol group."
Everyone just nodded since they already knew this. Seeing us nodding and listening, he asked a question.
"So, the first question is: what is the most important thing we should focus on in your practice?"
Everyone just looked at each other, not knowing the answer.
Joseph raised his hand.
"Voice? We are singers, after all."
That was also my answer. My voice can be trained breathing, timing, and all that. Dancing is also a must, so I didn't answer just to be safe.
Everyone agreed with Joseph.
However, Lukas just shook his head.
"The most important thing is your endurance. Performing requires a lot of energy. You have to be able to last for a long time."
He looked at our reactions.
He made sense. Some performers go on stage for half an hour non-stop. If your endurance is low, you'll collapse from exhaustion.
"Well, I'm not saying we should neglect vocals. But for now, we focus on dancing. Remember this dancing will drain you. If we add singing? I don't think you guys can last even five minutes."
Everyone nodded their heads. I don't know if they believe in it. Seeing that everyone is in agreement.
Clap!
Clap!
Clap!
Hyping us up, Lukas clapped his hands, turning up the energy of the group.
"Let's do some simple warm-ups first"
Lukas then arranged for us. I was placed on the left side, opposite Raven on the right. Joseph was at the back, and Carlo was placed at the front.
Carlo is the most energetic member of our group during warm-ups. I think Lukas noticed that, so he put him in front.
Then there's Kyle, the most reserved member. He just quietly follows everything.
We are put in the shape of a star. 1 front, 2 sides and 2 at the back.
Time flew.
A few hours later.
We are enjoying ourselves as we practice and didn't notice it was already late after noon.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Good work today," Lukas said. "You guys are great at following instructions, so I think we can get along well. But you're dancing? That needs a lot of improvement. Practice every day."
*Sigh.* I need most of those improvements. I was wrong. Even Joseph is better at dancing than me. If we rank ourselves, I'd be last in this group.
We also started getting along well. They're easy to be with, and since we'll be seeing each other often, we don't really have a choice.
"Let's practice on stage tomorrow!" Carlo suggested.
I shook my head. "I can't. I already have plans."
Just to make it look like I still cared
"However, we can continue practicing now. It's still early, after all."
Everyone nodded. Lukas left us since he had other things to do. We watched him leave, then returned to formation.
As time passed, we started gaining attention.
This school has a shifting schedule. First and second years attend in the morning, while seniors attend in the afternoon. Our seniors are on their break time at this hour and they started to gather up below the stage.
The seniors watched us with curiosity as we practiced. This however is not good news. Everyone started to tense up and get more tired. Multiple mistakes started to shows up
"Brier, I feel their stares. It's starting to hurt. Let's just wrap it up," Carlo said as he stood there, drenched in sweat.
Joseph had it worse; his shirt looked like someone poured a bucket of water on him. His breathing was unstable.
Endurance.
Coach Lukas was right. We need to improve our endurance to perform in front of a crowd.
I nodded in agreement with Carlo. Practicing now would only cause more harm than good. It's better to rest. We immediately walked out of the court.
However, as we reached the end of the stairs
"Hey, kid. Wait."
Just let us leave will ya.