The Open Door - Sean and Kaycee

8. Soul Snatchers

Kaycee

I'm confused by why Sean's friends were acting so weirdly around me. Was it something that I said? Something that I didn't say? I mean, I know that I'm a strange person, but usually people don't act like I'm that crazy when they've just met me. At least Sean himself seemed to be pretty normal. I realize that I'm involuntarily blushing just thinking about him. Keep it together, Kaycee.

Anyway, no time to think about it now. Janelle's calling us all back into the studio.

"Okay, so after a bit of deliberation, here are our finalists. Please step forward if your name is called," Janelle instructs us.

Will starts reading out a list of names. "Josh Beauchamp, Taylor Hatala, Gabe DeGuzman, Tati McQuay, Julian DeGuzman, Lexee Smith, Josh Price, Tahani Anderson, Bailey Sok, Kenneth San Jose, Sean Lew, Kaycee Rice..."

The list goes on, but I've stopped listening. I made it to the final round. Is it possible that this could finally be an open door? After so many doors have shut me out?

No. It can't be. This is the universe's punishment, remember?

"Okay, everyone else whose name wasn't called, thank you so much for ImmaBeast. We hope to see you again next year," Will says, interrupting my thoughts.

The rest of the dancers scurry out of the studio, and now it's just the twenty of us.

"As for you all, congratulations for making it to the final round! We'll give you a minute to review your solos, and then we're going to get going."

I've decided to do a solo to "Scars to your Beautiful" by Alessia Cara. It's a song that I can really relate to, speaking to the deep-seated insecurities that bar us from doing what we love and being who we truly are.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sean looking over at me. We make eye contact for 0.00001 seconds before he looks down at his phone again. I'm confused by why people think that Sean and I are an item. To be honest, I'm not even confident that we're friends yet. There's no such thing as love at first sight, or even friendship at first sight -- the world just simply isn't that straightforward. Relationships always take time.

Right?

"Okay, is everyone ready?" Will yells. "Let's start with... Kaycee Rice."

Why is it always me?

"YES KAYCEE, YOU GOT THIS GIRL!" I hear three voices calling out from the crowd. My insides warm up upon hearing the voices of my newfound friends.

It was like one of those slo-mo scenes in the movies. I'm about to start my solo. Will is literally seconds away from starting my music. And that's when I see the man carrying a camera.

"WAIT!" I yell, louder than I intended. Everyone looks at me, startled. Lowering my voice a bit, I say, "um... are you f-filming this?"

Will and Janelle exchange worried looks. "Yes, we always film the last stage of our company auditions, to post on our Youtube channel."

Oh shit, this is bad. This is really really bad.

"Er... is it okay if you... um... don't film my solo?" I ask tentatively. Please let me continue with the audition. Please, please, please.

Will pauses for a moment and frowns. "Any particular reason why? It's kind of important for us, especially for publicity purposes."

Say anything, Kaycee. Well, anything but the truth. "I'm... I'm afraid the camera will snatch my soul away," I blurt out.