From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 154: The Three Buske-teers (2)

"It is, but if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s your choice, innit? Just...communication is better, yeah? We’re all trying to achieve something here, and seeing someone slacking off or getting preferential treatment builds resentment. Either way, thanks for putting in the work. We can definitely get this done and get Prince Willie off our backs. You know he’s been harassing Ari."

"Harassing you? Why?" Carlos turned to look at Ari in shock, and Ari shot the British boy a bitter look.

"We don’t like each other, so it’s not a big deal. Let’s just finish this up."

"That’s part of it, but also because he’s defending you when you’re not here, and you’re delaying our work. Oi, you green little gremlin, don’t glare at me like that! I’m telling the truth!" Benjamin easily avoided Ari’s elbow by sliding away.

"If your protein powder goes missing tomorrow, you’ll know why. Prepare to lose all those gains you brag about."

"If your mask and that brown tracksuit of yours go missing tomorrow, you’ll know why as well. I know you put it in the dryer when you take a shower."

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Benjamin: ಠ_ಠ

"Truce?"

"Yeah, truce."

Somewhat touched, Carlos looked at Ari with teary eyes, touched that he would defend him without giving up his circumstances.

With a determined expression, he looked at Benjamin.

"Actually...it’s not that big of a secret....."

Sitting carefully on the practice room floor, Carlos began explaining the situation to Benjamin, who nodded slowly as if he had guessed the situation.

"Brudda." Benjamin started with a stern expression, with no smile to be found. His thick brows were furrowed, and he tapped the floor slowly, as if trying to figure out what to say.

"What?"

"I can’t lie and with all due respect, eff your parents. Those are not your kids; they’re your siblings, and that’s not your business to run; you’re a worker, a volunteer, even since they don’t pay you half the time. It’s not your responsibility to keep both things running smoothly; that’s your parents’ job."

"I can’t do that, they’re my family." Carlos immediately replied.

Although Ari secretly agreed with Benjamin, he kept his mouth shut as he couldn’t really say anything, especially when he didn’t have a family anymore, and even when he did, he was an only child who didn’t have to work or provide for anyone.

"Listen, my dad’s side is Nigerian/Jamaican, and my mum’s side is South African. We’re very big on family, with the elders taking care of the youngers, and everybody chipping in for the family, so I deep it. But...if you’re sacrificing your dream for your family, it’s you who’ll be sad later on, innit? You have this amazing opportunity, you auditioned because you clearly wanted it, and you’re doing well. Why would you self-sabotage like this? And you have to think, when will it end? What happens if you make the debut team, will you run back at every beck and call of your family when there’s a concert, when there’s a show, if you have an interview?"

"It will be different then."

"How will it be different?" Ari asked quietly.

".....it just will"

"Is it a money ting?" Benjamin asked bluntly.

"...partly. My parents can’t afford baby sitters, and my dad often needs help in the shop to fulfill orders."

"You know, if you make the debut team, we won’t earn any money for the first couple of years. What’s the plan then?"

".....I don’t know. Maybe take a loan? Or get an advance? I mean, there’s no guarantee that I’ll make the debut team anyway. They didn’t even want me to try out for this." Carlos muttered quietly.

"Well, you certainly won’t make it if you half ass it. This is something you have to commit to fully, and even though you’re talented, there’s a chance you won’t make it. I’m speaking from personal experience." Benjamin replied bluntly.

"....."

Even though he thought that Benjamin made some points, Carlos couldn’t bring himself to agree with his words to abandon his family.

His little siblings needed someone to watch them, and helping out at his dad’s shop was necessary to make ends meet during some months.

Although he really, truly wanted to make it and debut through the show, he couldn’t throw away his family bonds for something that was not guaranteed.

He had to continue trying to juggle both.

Seeing that words would no longer get through to Carlos, Benjamin glanced over at Ari, who shrugged before sighing.

"Sigh. Okay. Well, think about what I said. You’re clearly quite talented, and even the production team doesn’t want to lose you since they made an exception for you, and to be honest, neither do I. Your voice is literally a golden cheat code. Let’s wrap this up and get at least a couple of hours of sleep. Ari, Vishal, and I can meet up at 5 am to teach you the choreography so you’re caught up."

"Why am I included in this?"

"Because you’re going to be up at 5 am practicing anyway? So is Vishal. Might as well group up. Again, sorry for chatting behind your back. I’ll try to do better in the future."

"It’s fine.....Wait? You were talking behind my back?" Carlos finally asked, as if only now registering Benjamin’s words.

"Brudda, you skipped practice and had a terrible performance last time. Of course, I talked behind your back. But I fessed up and decided to sacrifice mine and Ari’s free time to help you practice the choreography. Aren’t I nice? And if you give me your schedule, I’ll naturally help you cover up with the team when you have to dip." Benjamin replied with a cheeky smile, his serious expression gone.

"Again, why am I in it?"

"Because your singing is good, but your dancing is questionable until you decide to mutter strange things to yourself and do amazing every once in a while."

Seeing that Benjamin had noticed when he used the JukeBox skill, Ari resolved to be more subtle about it.

"Unless you want me to come grab you at 4 am to work out with Jamie and me first? You’re in your growth phase after all, so you should try to put on some muscle. All that running and situps that you do is not enough. You need to lift weights properly, yeah? 4 am? Weightlifting with the mandem at the gym?"

"...I’ll see you at 5 am."

"Haha, that’s what I thought. Let’s edit some lyrics, boys."

Shaking the notebook that Carlos had brought, Benjamin whipped out a pencil from who knows where and began playing the song.

****

"So, arrangement-wise, we were thinking of speeding this part up and extending this portion for the dance break to about 12 seconds. We also want to remove the buzzing sound effect. Is that okay?" Ari calmly explained what their group wanted for their song arrangement with Jelissa at the small but fancy record studio that he, Benjamin, and Carlos had been taken to since they were in charge of their team’s arrangement.

"Hmmm, that’s fine with me. Are you guys planning on recording a back track or just these changes?" Jelissa responded with a gentle smile as she clicked around on her laptop.

"Do you think we need one?"

Since the song had a pretty different vibe from songs they had performed before, Ari wasn’t sure if the ideas he had for it would sound good, primarily because each time he brought up an idea to try, William had shot it down, and Carlos and Benjamin didn’t really see his vision.

"No, I think it sounds good as is. I’m just wondering since you were quite nitpicky about the Swan arrangement, especially when you added vocal layers to complement each person’s voice, so I was wondering if you came up with anything this time around. I am at your service after all, and we are in a recording booth, so we can do the version you first requested and make a separate version with the changes you want. You never know, it could be amazing, and I know you have quite a good musical ear." At Jelissa’s encouraging smile, Ari glanced over at Benjamin and Carlos, who shrugged indifferently.

Seeing that they didn’t care, he brought out the pile of sticky notes that he always carried around.

"Then, for these parts, I think it would sound good if Carlos and I recorded extra vocal layers replacing the one on the instrumental, and then, Benjamin could add extra ad-libs here, here, and here. And I’m not sure what this effect is called, but some kind of zooming or warping sounds added here would be nice, especially in the beginning for the intro. And...."

As Ari began listing the things he wanted, excitedly pointing them out in the sticky notes, Jelissa made eye contact with the cameraman to move in closer to capture the current process.

It would be good for his image if even a few seconds of it appeared on the edited show.

And after they were done, they went back to continue practicing for their performance while prepping for the busking side quest on the side.

And just like that, several days passed until it was finally busking day.

After an early breakfast, the remaining 80 contestants were split among two large buses for the 5-hour drive to Las Vegas.

And for some reason, Ari ended up sitting next to a green-faced William, who apparently had motion sickness and had to be cared for by someone on his team.

"Ugh...please, somebody, kill me now. I don’t want to live.." William groaned as he vomited once more into the paper bag held in his lap.

Please don’t tempt me!

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