The Hetalians' New Groove

Chapter 4: The Debut

"So, is everyone clear on the plan?" Honda double-checked at 11 AM 4 days later. 

"Yep! We've rehearsed the choreography for today until we were absolutely certain it was kick-ass, bro!" Alfred answered enthusiastically. 

"And our voices are warm!" Added Feliciano. He then sang a high note as a demonstration, to which all the others joined in. 

"And Jenny, are you sure you're okay and ready? You don't need to be the lead singer for this song if you don't want." Wang offered kindly in worry for the new member. 

"Oh, no I'm fine, thanks for asking. I'm a little nervous but I think I'll be okay!" 

The song they were going to do in an hour was meant to be the debut concert in order to formally welcome Jenny into the group, and this one was going to be an accapella song, as the Hetalians occasionally did accapella concerts as well as rock music. Because this concert was meant to be Jenny's debut, Alfred and the rest of the band had decided to let her be the lead vocalist for it. 

"And is everybody looking at their most fabulous?" Francis asked with a swish of his wavy blonde hair, causing the girls to giggle slightly. 

"Yes! Check it out, can I possibly look any more awesome than I do right now? The girls at the concert will be tripping at this!" Gilbert exclaimed triumphantly, motioning at himself and swishing his hair similarly to how Francis did. He currently had his pet bird, which had been revealed to be named 'Gilbird', riding on his head, and the small yellow bird let out a lively chirp at his owner. 

"Well, no change there." Ludwig commented a his brother's egotistical statement. "Anyway, we should probably get going if we want to be there in time to get ready and set up microphones and similar things."

"Then let's go, my comrades!" Arthur declared, and he lead the way while his 11 bandmates followed him out the door, with Gilbird still riding on his master's head. 

The time was then 11:58 AM, when the group had arrived beforehand at the college's concert stadium where the frequently performed. A large majority of the members had, by now, put on those small microphones you can get where you put them on your face and it looks like you're wearing a spy earpiece. The ones who hadn't yet were currently having them put on with help from the others, all of them having the microphones' power packs tucked into their back pockets. 

"We're on in 2 minutes, dudes and dudettes! Is everybody ready?" Said Alfred. 

"Almost." Answered Eleanor, who was right now having assistance from Ivan with her own microphone. 

"And does everybody remember the song lyrics as well?" Said Francis. 

There were answers of 'yeah' or 'yes' coming from everyone. 

"Then it's time to kick ass!" Alfred encouraged. "Hetalian style!" 

All the others cheered. 

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's that time again! That time for... the Hetalians!" The loud, echoing voice of the announcer was heard, followed by screams and shouts and welcoming applause from the other side of the backstage curtain. 

"That's us. Let's go!" Said Ludwig, drawing back the curtain for his fellow band members politely, to which they all thanked him while they walked out and into the sunlit stage. 

"That's her! It's the new member!" A few yells from the audience like this one were heard upon seeing Jenny appear. 

"Wassup ma homies!" Alfred shouted out through his microphone to the audience. "Alfred Jones here! As you know, we have a new member in our crew! Her name's Jenny, and you guys remember to treat her with respect, okay? I've decided to give my role as lead singer to her specially for this concert, so let's do this gig!" 

A hush descended upon the entire arena like an invisible curtain, and all was completely silent for a few seconds. Jenny was starting to get a tingling feeling in her feet and her breath was caught in her throats from how many people she was going to be performing in front of, but she soon took a deep breath and calmed herself, and mostly got over it. 

Then some of the male members dropped down an accapella beat, and when the moment was right, she opened her mouth and began to sing Timber, forgetting about her surroundings and letting herself metaphorically take flight with the music. 

"It's goin' down, I'm yellin' timber, you better move, you better dance. Let's make a night, you won't remember, I'll be the one, you won't forget."

Alfred: "The bigger they are, the harder they fall, this biggity boy's a diggity dog."

Arthur: "I have 'em like Miley Cyrus, clothes off, twerkin' in their bras and thongs. Timber!" 

Francis: "Face down, booty up, timber! That's the way we like the what, timber!" 

Gilbert: "I'm slicker than an oil spill, she says she won't, but I bet she will. Timber!" Gilbird was still perched on top of his head, as Gilbert liked to have him around and was used to his pet riding around on his head or shoulders while performing. 

Honda: "Swing your partner, round and round, end of the night it's going down. One more shot, another round, end of the night it's going down." 

Feliciano: "Swing your partner, round and round, end of the night it's going down. One more shot, another round, end of the night it's going down." And during this part, the members all linked arms with the one closest to them and swung round and round each other for a moment as rehearsed. 

And the rest of the song continued like that, with Jenny singing the main vocal parts and the others joining in, either dropping the background beats or doing the backup vocal parts. Eventually, the end of the song finally came, and all was quiet for a split second before there was loud applause everywhere and all around, and some whooping and cheering and even some whistling. 

"Thank you everyone so much, and have a great afternoon!" Jenny shouted with a wave as she and the others then turned around and walked back off stage. 

"That was a great job, once again! Well done, team!" Arthur grinned, with Alfred and Ivan sharing a high-five a couple of feet away and the 3 girls chatting amongst themselves in equal relief that the moment of nervousness was over and happiness at how great they sounded during the song. "Now, it's Saturday, so it means those of us still in college have the day off classes." He added while everyone began to take their microphones off. A couple of the members, like Wang and Francis, were in their late 20s and had therefore graduated from college a few years beforehand. "So let's go back to the house and have a marvellous afternoon!" 

"Yes, let's. Maybe I'll make some pirozhki for lunch!" Said Ivan. 

Meanwhile, as Sandra, Jenny and Eleanor walked together with the others as they left, Sandra couldn't help but just stare momentarily at Arthur. God, he's charming... she said silently to herself inside her head. She and Alfred had a thing going on a while ago, when they were in the late years of high school (she was a year older than him), but she dumped him after a couple of years or so because of his loud attitude, and had been developing feelings for Arthur which she'd told no one about. They met 2 years ago when she first joined the Hetalians upon starting college like Jenny had a few days ago. But she decided now was the time. She couldn't keep her feelings for him a secret any longer. 

"Hey, Arthur? I kinda have something I wanna tell you..." Sandra began to say whilst her face turned red from blushing as she broke away from the other 2 girls and walked over to him.