Catch Me

Winter-Sweating Bullets

First, we have Elimination and then we have Face-Offs. Face-Offs are really important. If two judges are uncertain about ranks, or even who to eliminate, they will have a Face-Off for those 2 contestants that they are uncertain about. For example, let's say they are uncertain about who's 5th or 6th place. If you do better than your opponent, then it is most likely you are safe. But if you do worse... The only problem with Face-Offs is that they (1) never tell you why you're battling, like rank-wise or elimination-wise, and (2) they never tell you the winner. And it is just so suspenseful! And annoying! And since Dance is such an important factor in our auditions, this could make or break your spot in the produce group. In fact, I think the reason we have Face-Offs and Elimination solely for Dance is that it is such a huge part of being in a Produce Group. You don't necessarily have to be amazing at singing/rapping (but you do have to be able to sing and dance), but as long as you can dance and have a good-looking face to make up for it, you should be fine. The only thing is, you just HAVE to know how to dance. You can't make up for it with anything. The industry is just dirty like that.

"Let's start with elimination," the principal announced brightly. Well, aren't you excited to get rid of us.

"Okay, let's start off with Brayanna Jenkins, sorry honey," the principal said. Brayanna just grabbed her backpack and hightailed it out of there.

Lots of people were eliminated, while I just sat there, anxiously playing with my hands. Aisha was eliminated. Sean was eliminated. Stephanie, a less popular elite, was eliminated. Carlie was eliminated. A whole bunch of people were eliminated. By the time they were done, out of the original 300 or so kids, only 100 remained.

"To those who are remaining, you are considered 'safe,'" the principal said as I breathed a sigh of relief, "However, some of you are on the chopping block. If you want to save your own skin, you'll have to do extremely well in your face-off. With that being said, could I have Alexandria Le and Kyla Washington out on the floor?"

The crowd gave a collective gasp. People in the comments typed in disbelief. When I say everybody's jaw dropped, I mean our jaws unhinged and rolled 6 feet away. Out of the 100 people in this gym, those two were the least expected. Alex, I thought was at least in the top 5. And Kyla was outstanding! The way the principal said it sounded like they were both on the verge of elimination. 

As this settled in, I saw several female faces twist into smirks. I soon realized that all those girls had a connection: they absolutely hate Kyla. Why? Not only does Kyla have a reputation of being a "tough girl," she's also a serial dater. I'm pretty sure she's slept with your boyfriend, your boyfriend's cousin, and your boyfriend's cousin's cousin. Her body count is higher than the Eiffel Tower. I really don't know why she sleeps around so much. All she says is that it feels good. And that's where I stopped asking questions. 

And, yes, I did try to be a good friend by telling her to calm her hormones. She told me she'd try. Her "trying," lasted 2 days.

Anyways, my best guess is that these girls probably had their man cheat on them with Kyla (which was a common occurrence) and were hoping Alex would annihilate Kyla. Kyla probably realized this too because her mouth was set in a grim line of determination. Kyla's most prized possession is probably her pride. One mistake would make or break her. 

The cameras found Alex first. Her face was a copy of Kyla's. Not only was her reputation on the line, but she could be facing Elimination too.

Then the cameras found Kyla and unfortunately, me too. I practically dove out of the frame. Auditioning was hard enough. I didn't need any more attention.

Kyla walked towards the center of the gym where her opponent stood. It felt like the entire gym, no, the entire world was shaking in anticipation. 

Oh, I forgot to mention how Face-Offs work. My bad. Face-Offs are basically an improv battle. As in, an improvise battle. The judges play a generally known song and the two competitors have to have try and outshine the other. It's intense and it determines your spot. Since Selena Gomez was a special guest, this time, they played The Heart What It Wants. 

The match started. Kyla held her own, doing her best, but there was nothing she could do to beat Alex. Simply, Alex just blew her out of the water. However, the judges looked satisfied with both of them. At the end of it though, neither of them were eliminated. When Kyla returned to her seat, everyone was quick to reassure her. She seemed pretty shaken and she obviously didn't want attention on her, so she just shoved everyone away. I left her be. 

Face-Offs continued. CeCe and Mia went up against each other. Mia was eliminated. Them Nick and Dean went up against each other. It was crazy. Friends were pitted against each other. I was sweating bullets, praying they wouldn't call my name. Thank goodness they didn't. Now only 50 students were left. These 50 would be called the Top 50 and would appear on the polls tomorrow for fans to vote who were their favorites. Soon, Vocal and Rap auditions would be coming up. That's when you can really tell who's fit for a produce group.

This is where we show what we're made of.