The K-Show

Chapter 6 ~ Traning Begins

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Ruby's POV:

We headed to the gym after school, filled with anticipation. Today was the beginning of something real: our first official practice. The entrance performance had to set the bar, and everyone was fired up.

"Okay, guys," I said, standing at the front, trying to channel my inner team leader. "This is where it starts. We have a killer routine in mind, but we need to bring it to life."

Danielle gave me a thumbs-up, and Ethan, who was already stretching, threw me a lazy grin. 

"Let's get this."

We first did the run-through of the basics—that is, setting up the moves, figuring out transitions, and breaking it down step by step. Myra added some wild spins, and Seok-hoon's freestyle was so smooth.

Then came the hardest part: synchronizing.

"Dean, you're a little ahead of the beat," Zahra pointed out, being her usual perfectionist.

"I'm too fast for the time, that's my problem," Dean quipped, doing a little moonwalk backwards. We all broke out into laughter to break up the tension of practice.

As the afternoon moved along, we started falling into a rhythm, moving better and in sync. But, of course, nothing goes perfectly in practice.

In one of the runs, Ethan tripped mid-spin, and fell onto Dean, dramatic flopping to the floor like a domino. No one could hold themselves; we all burst into fits of laughter.

"That was like some slow-motion disaster!" Danielle wheezed

Seok-hoon picked up his phone. "This has to be a TikTok."

Before I knew it, we all huddled together and captured our "bloopers" for the world. In this video, Ethan exaggerated his trip, Dean threw in his over-the-top fall, and the rest of us leaned into chaos. We nailed it on the first take, all laughing.

"Hashtag: FusionFails," Myra said, posting the clip. "Peak performance looks like this."

I watched as the energy of all those present flowed so fluidly into one another. Of course, there were mishaps, but that was part of the journey. Every fall, literally and figuratively, made us stronger.

"Okay, let's get back to work," I called out, still smiling. "We're going to nail this entrance performance, bloopers and all."

After resetting, the mood shifted within that room; the playful laughs were now replaced with strong determination. We gelled mentally and physically to what we had to accomplish for our choreography. Everyone could tell that there's so much work left to get that perfect choreography just yet.

"Let's give that section with the drop again," I said as I assumed my position in the centre. "Ethan, below when you are about to spin so as not to bump into one another.".

"Got it," he said, grinning sheepishly. "No more human bowling."

We started the routine again, and everything clicked. Our movements seemed sharper; our timing was more precise. Myra nailed her jumps; Seok-hoon moved fluidly into Zahra's transition. Julia, whose usual demeanour is quiet, let loose with her flowy contemporary moves and added another dynamic contrast to Peter's bold hip-hop flair.

A few more runs of the routine made it all feel almost even polished. The entrance performance would hit hard. We were just going to keep moving at this level.

"Break time!" I yelled out, wiping sweat off my forehead. "You're killing it, but we cannot burn out."

We all fell on the floor of the gym, panting. Peter took out his phone and scrolled through the comments on the group TikTok. "Yo, our blooper video is blowing up. Look at this!"