Beyond the Beats

Chapter 22. Preferences

"Yukta, are you alright?"

I rushed towards Yukta as she lay flat on the floor, clutching her right ankle tightly. She winced as Falguni and I helped her to sit up, while Manoj and Gaurav checked on Omkar and Michael.

"Does your ankle hurt a lot?" Falguni asked Yukta.

Yukta shook her head. "No, I am okay," she snapped her eyes at the wall clock, "TJ will be here soon. We should focus on practice, or he will be disappointed again. There are only a few days left."

I glanced at Omkar and Michael, and they also told us that their hands were okay. Even though their sunken faces and red eyes told me that they were tired, both guys still tried to convince us that they weren't hurt while trying to catch Yukta.

This is what I was afraid of. I knew TJ was at a level very high above us, and he wanted the best out of us, but our current team was not able to keep up the energy till the end. We were practicing non-stop, and even if the girls left early, the boys stayed behind for extra hours.

Slowly, the results of exhaustion were showing up, and I knew no one was going to accept that the choreography was way too hard for us. In the beginning, we took on the challenge, but the reality had started hitting us.

Falguni applied some pain relief ointment on Yukta's ankle.

"I wish this performance will get over soon. I just want to rest," Yukta said. "I wish I could take a break, man."

"Me too," Falguni sighed.

The guys joined us. Falguni winced at the wounds on Michael's hands when he boasted about them. Similarly, Gaurav and Omkar also had swelling on their wrists, while Manoj and I were the only ones who weren't harmed.

I looked at my teammates. "Guys, why don't we talk to TJ? If we tell him about our difficulties, then he will surely listen."

Omkar rolled his eyes. "Our difficulties? Bhoomi, you have got the easiest part. The only ones suffering are us."

Yukta slapped Omkar on the shoulder. "Stop talking nonsense, idiot."

"Do you really think I have the easiest part?" I asked Omkar.

"Sorry, Bhoomi, I didn't want to say that," Omkar apologized.

"No, I also think so, but that's why I am telling you to talk to our team leader if you think your moves are difficult."

Omkar began talking but stopped. I heard footsteps behind me and realised that Tejas had arrived. Like every day, he placed his bag in a corner and told us to give an update on our practice.

He was busy smiling at his phone, his thumbs dancing on the keypad. He snapped his eyes at us when he didn't get any reply from his team.

"Why are all of you on the floor?" TJ asked, his eyes roaming over us, but the moment his gaze was about to land on me, he moved his head in another direction.

"We were just practicing now, TJ," Michael said.

Tejas nodded as he advanced towards us. He narrowed his eyes at Yukta's ankle, which was shining bright red.

"Did you get hurt, Yukta?" TJ asked.

Yukta shook her head, but Tejas bent down and held her right foot in his hands. As expected, Yukta turned red, and Falguni and I exchanged glances. We wanted to laugh at Yukta but controlled ourselves - the girl was about to die from excitement.

"Doesn't look much serious," Tejas said, "I have a warm wrap in my bag. It will help a lot."

Yukta nodded and started fanning her face after Tejas left to get the warm bandages.