You and Me (Plus Everyone In Between Us)

Choose Me

I stood as Martha, the show stylist, walked around me, analyzing me. She had been doing this for the last five minutes and it surprised me she hadn't gone dizzy yet. Lennon sent me here after our studio practices. After two hours of trying not to be fishlike, I was here to be styled for Friday and for my intro video.

We were in some huge warehouse area at the back of the studio. We stood in front of racks of clothes hanging from the ceiling by poles. There was one camera here to watch me.

I was relieved that I had a break from singing, but at least Lennon wasn't here to gaze at me with her watchful eyes. Martha did that all on her own.

Once she's done her round of being a hawk's eye, she whipped out a measuring tape and wrapped it suddenly around my body parts before writing them down on a pad.

"So, I think for your performance we should do a dress," Martha finally said in a thick British accent. "The song you're singing is quite sensual and dark, so I think we need an outfit that goes with that mood. How do you feel about red?"

"Red is nice," I said.

"Okay," she said, writing down on a clipboard. She sent one of her assistants into the huge jungle of clothes. "You are going to shoot an intro video today, too."

Not long after we waited, an assistant emerged with a zipped-up hanger. When she unzipped it, I gasped at the sight of a slinky, silk, crimson dress.

"This matches your measurements," Martha said. "If we need to make any alterations to the dress, then we will."

"Okay," I said.

We went behind a closet, and I slipped on the dress and it spilled out onto my body. The mirror reflected it nicely, outlining my curves while still looking classy. It was kind of revealing, but it wasn't like Janelle's dress.

"It shows a bit more than we'd like of our legs, but we can alter that in no time," Martha said like she was reading my thoughts. "Okay. Let's get this off so we can film your intro video."

"Yeah," I agreed. Lennon told me already, saying it was the short video clip they played of contestants before the performance.

They put me into leather pants, a blazer, and a dark blue shirt, paired with some heels even though I was already kind of tall. They slicked my hair back into a puff over my head and then put me in some bold eyeliner and dark red lipstick. I left to enter a studio in front of a blue neon square, where there were countless cameras.

They asked me to make some poses and move around while smiling. The cameraman consistently told me to move in certain directions and make poses. I'm supposed to loosen up and just be myself, but what if I am just uptight?

Now my mouth hurt because I smiled too much, and I sighed in relief because they finally told me that I was done.

At once, the smile disappeared from my face.

I was waiting to be escorted back to the dressing room, but there seemed to be commotion around the backstage area. I stretched my head to listen.

I heard 'music video', and 'illness' mashed into a hushed whisper. A woman I haven't seen before in this room whispers frantically to whoever is willing to listen.

"You!" she suddenly points to me with a relieved look on her face. "Come here!"

I staggered on my heels for the second time in two days and hoped my ankles would hold through.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Come with me," she said, tugging on my arm. "I have something for you to do."

"What?" I said, quivering an eyebrow.

"You know Dilemma right?" she asked, turning to me frantically.

My eyes widened. Did I know them? They were currently the world's and my sister's biggest obsession, not to mention Priya and the record shop.

Oh, I kind of ran into Andre yesterday. But I don't tell her that.

"Of course," I replied. "Excuse me, what is this for?"

She opened a door outside, still tugging my arm, and we entered outside of the warehouse, before walking behind even more large warehouses close to the studio. We turned a corner after walking for some minutes and then we found it.

It was a larger-than-life movie set filled with cameras, lights, and staff running everywhere in a mix. The entire street had been blocked off, and trailers went beyond it. It was insanely noisy, and the atmosphere buzzed with anticipation. My eyes widened.

"What am I here for?" I reiterated.

"Dilemma's it shooting a music video for 'Choose Me'," she finally revealed. "My name is Paige and I'm the casting director."

"What does this have to do with me?" I wondered.

"The girl that was supposed to come in unexpectedly got mono," she—Paige— said with a frown. "Luckily, you look pretty similar to her. We need someone to be a girl in their music video."

My body pulsed with shock. "But I-I don't act."

"It's really simple, even a fish could do it," Paige assured. "You just have to walk around and smile. Do you want to do it?"

I thought. Being in a Dilemma music video? That was rich. Like filthy rich at this point. I heard the song, and thanks to Maria's listening parties, she forced me to come to gunpoint. It was a generic rock song they tried to be all quirky about. There was no soul.

The D-1s were crazy. Any girl who breathed the same air as the boys, especially Andre, would be dragged through the mud online. Did I want to be subject to mud-dragging? No.

I still had to rehearse, too. But Lennon did say I had a good run for today. And something inside of me wanted to jump into all this chaos.

I was going to say no. I still had to rehearse. But I didn't want to leave.

"I'll do it," I decided.