Page 15 of Forever Yours

Chapter 5

Ali

WhenGeorgiaandIarrived at the studio for our first official day as contestants ofSing Battle, cameras were set up in the meeting room.Huh.I hadn’t expected that. In previous seasons, they’d never shown footage from the preliminary meeting. That didn’t mean they hadn’t filmed it, though. For all I knew, they filmed every second of the process, just in case a catfight broke out.Stupid reality television.

We were still being kept separate from the male contestants, which was odd. Another strange factor was there were a dozen female contestants. That surprised me because in previous seasons, they’d started with twelve total. The producers had touted that this season was going to be the biggest and most ambitious yet, and perhaps that hadn’t been empty rhetoric.

It appeared I wasn’t the only one surprised by the cameras. All around me, the other contestants were frantically touching up their makeup. One girl had even broken out a curling iron. Beside me, Georgia pumped a mascara wand into a tube. “What do you think is going on?”

I shook my head. “No clue.” I was the only one not doing touch-ups. I didn’t carry around an arsenal of makeup like the other girls apparently did. So I didn’t stand out while I scoped my fellow competitors, I took my compact out of my purse.

I was surprised to see that Titania had made the cut. She was a rapper, a first for the show. How would her performance compare to everyone else’s? If Georgia’s being country and my being pop was like apples and oranges, then Titania’s performances were more like pizza—a completely different food group.

I recognized about half of the group, and I felt like a mean girl to think it, but I was glad one girl named Anna hadn’t made it. She and I had auditioned with some of the same songs. While I preferred to put my own spin on pieces, she was a master of mimicking the original artist. That wasn’t what the show was supposed to be about, though—it was for finding new voices, not copycats. However, the audience might not see it that way, and half of our votes came from them.

The other half came from judges, and I was confident I would get high marks on technical skill since I was a classically trained vocalist. I worried about the popular vote—audience votes were unpredictable. I’d spent a great deal of time thinking about it and trying to invent a strategy to appeal to the viewers. The best I’d come up with was to stand out, which was a duhstrategy. What wasn’t so obvious was the way to go about it.

While Georgia had slept off her hangover, I’d watched old episodes of the show. Most of the time, the female contestants were made up as if going onstage for a performance, even just for rehearsals. They’d left themselves no room for a crescendo, so to speak. Though we were only supposed to be judged on our performances, many viewers would already pick their favorites based on the preperformance rehearsal footage.

I planned to stand out by being natural and understated. It was a gamble, but it was the only thing I’d come up with.

At least I would be comfortable. While everyone else got up early to curl their hair and strap on uncomfortable shoes, I would be getting extra sleep and wearing joggers and sneakers.

A production assistant came in and handed out folders filled with another stack of paperwork. “More?” Georgia muttered under her breath. “I barely had time to read through what they sent in the email.”

I arched a brow, biting back a snarky retort about her hangover. I’d read the paperwork twice, but I’d always been a stickler for stuff like that. The previous paperwork had been thorough, so I didn’t understand why we needed so much more. Thinking it might be a hard copy of what we’d already received electronically, I flipped through it.

Part of it was indeed a duplicate of what we’d already received, but there was a whole new section. I skimmed through it. “Celebrity duet partner.” I frowned. “What the hell is that?”

Georgia shook her head. “I don’t know, but that term is all over this thing.”

An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. On past seasons, there had sometimes been a theme for an episode or two, like for Halloween, but this seemed to be about more than that.

A few more executive types filed into the room, followed by Evan Wise. Excited murmurs rippled through the contestants like a wave. I might have been one of them if I hadn’t already had a personal encounter with another member of Misdirection.

My belly warmed at the thought, and I had to force myself to stop thinking about Trenton’s touch and how good it felt when he—focus, Ali.I’d been daydreaming way too much about him, and it was not the time to be distracted.

I nearly gasped out loud as a thought occurred to me. Surely Evan knew how to get in touch with Trenton. I could explain the situation and—nope. Bad idea.That was not the impression I wanted to make on the host of the competition I planned to dominate. I just hoped Georgia wouldn’t realize the significance of the Evan-Trenton connection, or she would be all over it.

The main exec introduced himself and the others then congratulated us on making it onto the fifth season ofSing Battle. “This season is going to be bigger and better than ever,” he promised. “We have a bit of a surprise for you. Evan Wise—I’m sure you all know him—will tell you about it.”

Evan stepped forward. “Thanks. Chuck is right. This season is our most ambitious yet. It’s the fifth one, and we couldn’t simply do the same old thing.”

The uneasy feeling in my stomach turned into a ball of lead. I didn’t like surprises. I also didn’t understand their logic.Sing Battlewas already the most popular singing show in the country, so what they were doing worked. There was no need to change the formula, damn it.

“This season’s theme is duets,” Evan continued. “You’ll be working in teams of two because, you know, a duet means two.” The girls chuckled lightly at his lame joke, but my face remained tight. Georgia subtly elbowed me and cast a meaningful glance at the cameras, which had started rolling. I forced my features to relax and donned what I hoped was a pleasant smile. Maybe I should have invested in a few acting classes before signing up to be on national television. Oh well. Too late.

I wondered if that was why we’d been kept separate from the male contestants—because we were going to be teamed up with them instead of competing against them. If that was the case, I didn’t understand the logic of keeping us apart. Then again, nothing about what I’d learned in the last few moments made sense.

A girl put her hand up as if we were in school. Hell, with her baby face, she might still have been in high school. “Who will our partners be?”

Evan’s mouth stretched into a mischievous grin, as though he’d been waiting for someone to ask. “That’s the best part. Our team worked diligently to pair each of you with someone who will complement your own vocal style. Instead of having celebrity mentors who filter in and out of the show, you’ll each have a permanent collaborator to guide you—and sing with you—through the competition. Each performance will be a duet.”

He still hadn’t answered who we’d be paired with, which was annoying. Even more annoying was the duet part. I hadn’t busted my ass to make it onto the show only to have my success hinge on someone else. Just because someone was a celebrity didn’t mean they had talent.

Damn it, damn it, damn it.It wasn’t what I’d signed up for. I didn’t want—or need—a celebrity to sing with me, much less guide me. I’d wanted to succeed on my own, to prove that Icouldsucceed on my own. But apparently that choice was being taken away from me.

Wearily, I eyed everyone else to gauge their reactions. Most of them were either genuinely excited or much better at faking it than I was. Enthusiastic whispers spread through the group.

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