You and Me (Plus Everyone In Between Us)

The Great STAN Caper

I was back in the studio again. I couldn't believe there were half of us left, starting from the original competition.

I still couldn't believe I was here. Saturday replayed over and over again like a shoddy tape that kept rewinding.

Halle entered the room, flanked by her personal set of cameras.

"Welcome acts!" Halle announced. "I hope that all of you guys are doing well after the round and have been resting!"

"We have," we somehow all replied at the same time. That seemed to be a pattern every week.

"That's amazing," she replied. "This week is very important, as it is the semi-finals and will determine who will be in the top 5. Half of you will not survive this week, so it's important everyone brings the top of the game."

That reinstated my anxiety. I couldn't believe I had made it this far. Me in the semi-finals. That was rich.

"For this week the theme will be," Halle said, smiling in anticipation. "80s Pop!"

Everyone oohs and ahs at it. To be honest, 80s pop wasn't my thing, and that wasn't because I was a teenager, but it felt overly nostalgic and commodified. Some random-ass adults would always point to this as the greatest generation because they had overly big shoulder pads.

But it was the point in the competition when everything mattered, so it looked like 80s pop music had to become my favourite music genre.

"Not only will you be singing in that genre," Halle announced. "You guys will be collaborating together with another act."

My eyes widened in both fear and anticipation. I liked everyone in here (minus someone), but it would be amazing to sing with Grace and Janelle. They had such amazing performances, and I've always wanted to join them. But knowing the show, I probably wouldn't get to sing with them.

"Since Ray was our winner last night," Halle began. "As part of your prize, you will get to choose the person you go with."

"Thank you!" she exclaimed from next to me. "Do I choose now?"

"Yes!" Halle exclaimed.

"Alright," Ray said, peering around the room.

Suddenly it was class again, people ducking away from the teacher's vision as they looked for people to call on. Except the teacher was Ray, and she was choosing us to potential doom.

"I choose," she began, lingering on her words as her gaze scanned the room. I looked away from her. "Ezra!"

I felt burdened with a sigh. I looked up at her and forced a smile to stay on my face as we came up to one another and awkwardly hugged for the cameras.

This was a... choice. Why would Ray choose me? I thought my existence was a hindrance to her and everything that she wanted to do. Something here was fishy.

After it all, everyone retreated to their own practice rooms, since there were only ten acts left in the rounds. When we arrived alongside some producers, we sat down on the floor.

"What song should we choose?" Ray asked.

"Why did you choose me?" I asked over her, raising an eyebrow.

Ray huffed. "Because you're one of the best singers in this competition and you've won before. Since we're both popular, we have a good chance of winning this round again."

"Oh," I replied.

That didn't seem to cut it.

"We have to decide what to sing," she said, turning away from me. "We need something well-known, but vocally challenging too."

"'Running Up That Hill?'" I suggested.

"It's too slow," Ray rejected. "We need to do something more hype and energetic."

I grimaced. "Do we though? I think as long as we have something popular enough, it should be enough to get people's attention."

"Says the girl who almost got eliminated," Ray jeered, causing me to flinch. "The judges said that you were too predictable and said you needed to take a risk. This is the chance for you to take a risk."

I opened my mouth to argue but then shut it promptly. She wasn't... wrong. I should try something new if I want to stay in this competition. But somehow I didn't want to do that with Ray.

"What about something like "Video Killed the Radio Star", something that's well known, but also really energetic?"

It wasn't a bad choice. It just wasn't a choice I wanted Ray to make for us.

"Sure," I agreed. "We can do it."

"Okay," she agreed. "Let's find Lennon first."

Lennon. She was probably still mad about the song change fiasco. She was completely furious last night, even if her eyebrows didn't show it yet.

Luckily Lennon approved the song once we asked. She avoided looking at me directly in the eye and talked to Ray only.

It wasn't hard to distribute the lyrics. It was a very back-and-forth song with two clear parts. At least that was something we would agree on.

The vocal practice wasn't horrible either. I was upset we didn't sound terrible together. In fact, our vocal tones gasp... complimented each other. Despite what I thought of Ray, she was talented as hell. She had a very R&B, honey-toned kind of voice.

I told all of this to Grace and Janelle, as I dug through the pasta that was on the menu today. Ray wasn't there, so I didn't worry about her hearing.

"I'm actually so mad because we actually sound good together," I explained. "But I cannot, for the life of me, convince myself she chose me so that we can win. She didn't even like me before this week."

"Maybe she does want to win," Janelle suggested. "You are a pretty popular contestant. I would've done the same honestly."

"Yeah, but you're not actively wishing for my downfall," I huffed.

I debated telling them about STAN. Something about telling them sounded like it wouldn't end well for them. But how would they know if I hadn't told anyone?

Who here would have access to me? It could be one of Andre's staff? No, they were probably sworn to secrecy. Another Dilemma member? But why would they sabotage their own band?

Andre was in the house that night. He came backstage to talk to me last rehearsal. We did talk pretty openly.

What if it was someone I knew? Someone who wanted me out of this competition so badly they would send STAN on my trail.

Someone who would've taken that photo of us at the party.

Wait? I snapped my head around.

I think I knew who was behind this.

It had to be Ray.

Who else would've still had her foot in the entertainment industry to have all these secrets? Who else would've preyed upon my downfall for no reason? Who else was at the party and could've taken that photo?

Oh, my gosh. Now I realized why she hated me. Ray wanted me out so she could win.

"Earth to Ezra?" Grace wondered, waving a hand in front of my face.

I snapped out of my investigative trance and refocused on the world in front of me.

"Are you well?" they asked. "You kind of spaced out?"

I looked around the room ferociously. Ray wasn't there.

"I'm fine," I reiterated.

"Ezra!" a producer called me from down the hallway.