the brightest star // fcc

O5

The three days passed in a blink of an eye. It was time for the one-time performance in front of a camera. I nervously waited for my turn while I watched intently at how Kun and Ziyi performed. They almost had no mistakes; flawless. I took a deep breath before my turn and stood up shakily. Zhengting and Kun immediately came over and calmed me down.

"Its ok, just relax, do your best and smile!" Kun said, giving his best smile. Zhengting nodded along too.

I licked my lips and rubbed my hands before I walked steadily to the area in front of the camera.

"1, 2, 3... action!" the staff shouted.

"Hello, Mentors and PD. I am Xu Jingxing. Now in grade A. My wish is to not drop and remain in grade A, thank you," I said. Music started playing in my head and the first few lyrics were sang by me. My body moved seamlessly with the music and I was done before I knew it. I bowed and left. The boys instantly went up to me and congratulated me while clapping. I had a big smile on my face.

  After performing, we went for lunch. I sat with Kun and Ziyi while Zhengting went with the Yuehua boys. "Hey!" I said as I placed my plate beside Xukun's. He motioned me to seat beside him and I slipped in. "You did great in front of the camera!" He said and smiled. "Thanks! You and Ziyi were awesome too!" We chatted for a while. I kept feeling that someone was staring at me so I turned around and checked. My eyes darted back and forth until I spotted Chengcheng's vicious eyes staring at us. I shuddered and went back to eating. "What's up?" Kun asked. I shook my head.

Day of the re-ranking

"Jingxing! It's time to go!" Justin said from outside the dorm as I arranged my clothes neatly on bed. "Coming!" I shouted and closed the door behind me. It was the day of the re-ranking. I was quite pleased with my performance that day and had a good feeling.
Once all the trainees had assembled in the big hall according to the ranks. The mentors arrived and everyone stood up to greet them. "Hello everyone, I am Citizen Producer Representative, Zhang Yixing," Zhang PD said and the other mentors followed.

"We have watched your videos and have re-ranked all of you in A, B, C, D and F ranks. Only the trainees in A rank is able to perform as the center in the official performance. Unfortunately, the trainees in the F class are not allowed to perform on stage. Now, let's start the re-ranking," PD said. He started from the B rank. I was so happy when Zheng Ruibin and You Zhangjing went up to A from B. They had amazing singing skills and I was proud of them. In the end, 4 trainees went up to A, 3 trainees remained in B and 11 trainees dropped to C, D and F.

Next, Jackson started to re-rank the trainees in D rank. 6 trainees went up and 6 trainees dropped to F while 5 trainees remained in D. I look down, Fan Chengcheng remained in D, he was frustrated and so anxious that he started to mess up his hair.

Then, Mentor Zhou Jieqiong re-ranked the trainees in C rank. I looked down on my left and saw Lin Yanjun. He was standing nervously. "Personally, I am very disappointed with the trainees in C rank," she said, "27 trainees dropped!" Yanjun looked down and sighed. 2 trainees went up to B and 6 remained in C. When he walked to the D rank, I felt sad for him. He was actually quite a good singer and rapper. I guess he just did not do his best for the performance.

After which, Jackson revealed the re-ranking of the trainees in F rank. He asked the trainees who were originally in F rank to step forward and asked the staff to give the result cards to them. Only Li Quanzhe did not have one. He looked around with furrowed brows and started to worry. After they opened the card, their expressions were unreadable. When a few of them went up to D rank, Quanzhe nervously clamped his hands together. I could almost feel what he was thinking about. Next, some other trainees moved up to C rank. I bit my lip as I saw Quanzhe's increasing emotions. "These are all the F rank trainees that need to change rank, the rest of you stay in F," Jackson said. My heart almost broke as I saw Quanzhe looking up with tear-brimmed eyes. "Can trainee Li Quanzhe please come on stage," Jackson announced. He walked on stage with jelly legs and received his card. Quanzhe took a deep breath before opening it. A slight smile slid on his face as he walked all the way up to the B rank. Everyone cheered for him as Zhengting and Zhou Rui ran to hug him.

Finally, the long awaited re-ranking of A rank. "I can see that you guys really want to stay in A rank through your performance videos, but... it is not enough," PD took over. I nervously shuffled my feet and Kun put an arm around me. "It's ok, you did great, I'm sure you will remain in A rank," he whispered. I flashed him a smile. "And there are still trainees that have not done well enough in their performances that will leave A rank. Now, I will announce the re-ranking of the trainees in A rank," PD said. Ding Zeren and Ziyi both dropped to B rank. I was quite shocked. My heart started beating very fast. Even those trainees like Ziyi who were better than me dropped to B, I might drop to D or F! My nongnong also dropped to C. My legs were shaking by then and almost fell down. Kun asked me to rest on his shoulder and I did. I was scanning the whole hall when I noticed Chengcheng looking at us. His eyes were barely visible through his hair. I was still a bit angry with him so I ignored it. "Next, individual trainee, Cai Xukun and Banana Entertainment, Lin Chaoze, please come down and receive your re-ranking," Zhang PD said with a straight face. Kun beside me said, "What should come has came," I lifted my head off his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I know you have done your very best," and gave him a tight hug. As they prepared to walk down the steps, PD said, "Wait, both of you do not need to come down." Everyone was still apprehensive and wondering what was going on when he continued, "Congratulations on successfully staying in A rank!" Zhang PD announced and the whole hall was filled with a thunderous applause as I ran forward to hug Kun another time. His eyes was red with tears when I kissed his forehead, "Good job Kun!" and I fist bumped him. "Next, there will still be people leaving," PD said. There was only the 3 of us left - Justin, Zhengting and I. "May the 3 of you please come down to receive your re-ranking," Zhang PD said. Kun, Ziyi, Zhangjing and Ruibin hugged me before I walked down the steps with Justin and Zhengting. Kun patted my shoulder. "First, Zhu Zhengting," Yixing said and handed him the card. "Did you see properly?" he asked and Ting-ge nodded. PD asked if he wants to stay in A rank and he replied yes. In the end, he stayed in A rank. I was happy for him but at the same time worried for myself. My lowest standard for myself is C, but what if I dropped into D? F? What if my performance was so bad that they had to disqualify me?! A thousands of what ifs ran through my mind as I saw Zhang PD giving the card to Justin. He dropped to B. My heart skipped a beat when PD said, "Our only female trainee, Xu Jingxing." Jackson winked at me from behind and I calmed down a bit, was that a good sign? "Here's your re-ranking result card," Zhang PD said. I took it over and opened
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N O T E S

Woah, you guys might want to kill me for ending it just like this. This is just a cliffhanger, you'll have to wait to know Jingxing's results! I'm sorry for not posting for such a long time. I was in Cambodia for a school immersion trip from 15/O3 to 2O/O3 and I had no internet access. This is quite a long chapter, I actually considered revealing her rank in this chapter but oh well, I'll just conveniently leave a cliffhanger! See you in my next chapter! Bye!

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