Honest Lies | soojin

Part 10: The Challenge

"You guys are up after the emcee's intro, alright?" The Student Council President said when she saw us.

The noise inside the gym was in its bare minimum when we enter. The bleachers from both sides were almost filled, same as the plastic chairs arranged in rows and columns in front of the stage. One of the coordinators of the program led us to a door connected to the backstage.

There was this guy, a graduating student, I think, he's sitting alone reading words from his index cards. He's probably the assigned emcee. He didn't even glanced at us when we enter, maybe he's just as nervous as us. The guests would come any second now and my idol would be present among those guests. I got to bring my A-game or I'll forever regret this day for the rest of my life.

"Which one are we gonna perform first, Soyeon-unnie?" Yuqi was facing Miyeon-unnie when she asked. Unnie was finishing putting make-up on Yuqi, and Shuhua was busy with mine down to the last minute because we weren't able to finish it at the dorm. And yes, Shuhua usually puts make-up on me every time we have an evaluation. She's pretty good at it even though she barely put any on herself.

"We should start the performance with an upbeat song, so the new one that we've been practicing this week would be first." Soyeon answered. She placed a black duffel bag on a table. She's been carrying it since Ms. Kim took us aside once she saw us walking towards the gym and gave it to Soyeon without saying another word.

The same girl that led us backstage a while ago came back looking anxious. "The guests are here! Oppa! You have to come out now!"

The emcee walked to the stage confidently, like the guy that was with us before had transformed into someone completely different. Before we come up on the stage, Soyeon called for a quick huddle, "Guys... I know I rarely ask for a favor, but please let's do well today. Let's have a stage that we wouldn't forget, even if this is the first time we would perform completely as a team." She gave a squeeze on the arms of the nearest people: Shuhua and Yuqi, in turn, Shuhua nodded earnestly and Yuqi flashed a confident smile, "We lack time for practice, yes, but that shouldn't be an excuse for failure, alright?"

Excitement and nervousness coursed through my blood. This is it. I'm gonna perform in front of my idol, my inspiration, and my role model. I can't mess this up for Ms. Hyuna.

"And please give a warm round of applause for our opening act for this afternoon, composed of six students in all year level that comes from three different majors..." The emcee glanced at us at the side of the stage out of the corner of his eye, making sure we are ready, "Please welcome Jeon Soyeon, a third year student from the Rap major, Yontararak Minnie and Cho Miyeon, seniors from the Vocals, Seo Soojin, another third year from the Dance major, and last but not the least, Song Yuqi and Yeh Shuhua, second and first year, respectively!"

Loud cheers and claps welcomed our entrance to the stage, Soyeon and Minnie-unnie are pretty popular here, almost everyone knew them. Those from my major and some of my friends outside the group shouted my name, Yuqi and Shuhua's classmates cheered for them as well. What surprised me though, is that there's a group of people yelling Miyeon-unnie's name, she must have gotten their admiration from her and Minnie-unnie's duet performance. That's good for her.

The lights dimmed on the stage but the ones on the ceiling of the gym remained open. At the long table in front of us, sat people who look elegant and proper: the shareholders. Mixed with them, in random seats, sat some famous people that debuted from the university, idols from different groups, our sunbaes. And at the center, there my eyes focused on my idol. She doesn't know who I am but that doesn't matter, what's important is to make her proud of us.

The first beat of the song drops and Soyeon was the first one to sing, she was in the middle of the formation and walked confidently to the front, swaying her hips here and there while singing. Her voice while singing has a cold feeling to it, but when she raps, it became sassy and full of swag, she's fast but her pronunciation is easy to understand. The crowd went wild!