When the Cat Met the Wolf

47. Of Hypnotists & Future Stars

"Arianne!" Thiago called his friend from the living room "Hurry up!"

They had been invited to a programme called The Challenge, where Nino was starring today. His turn was almost up, and Arianne hadn't left her practice room since she woke up that morning.

Why? Because today was the semifinal of the competition, and she needed to practice in order to win.

After having her confidence crushed by Eloise, she was slowly recovering it with Adrien's help. She was still unsure about playing that day, but she was not gonna quit. Adrien had made her promise that she wouldn't quit, and she wasn't going to.

"Give me a minute!" yelled the girl back, as she stared at the notes of her song.

"I already gave you thirty!" shot back the boy "We're gonna be late. You can practice later!"

"He's right, Arianne" Ayu backed Thiago up "Nino is your friend. He's been to every single one of the rounds of the competition, you need to return the favour" she sighed, 'cause she knew that Ayu was right.

"You're right, you're right" she finally nodded, and went out of the room and into the living room.

"Finally!" stated Thiago "I thought you'll never get out of there. C'mon, let's go"

After some minutes, they finally arrived to the studio, and, thankfully, Nino was still waiting for his turn.

"We're here!" announced Arianne, as they ran towards Nino and Adrien, who was also there, alongside his bodyguard.

"Guys, you made it!" said Nino excited, bumping fists with Thiago.

"We would have been here sooner, but someone insisted on practicing her song for five hours" replied Thiago, talking about Arianne, and he illustrated his point by giving her a scolding look.

"It wasn't that much time" Arianne defended herself with her arms folded, and Thiago gave her a 'seriously?' look "And can you blame me? It needs to be perfect for tonight"

"You'll do fine, Aria" replied Adrien "I know you will" Arianne truly hoped that that was true. She didn't know what to expect of that night, 'cause Eloise would also be there, and she would most probably try to bring her down yet again.

It was finally Nino's turn. Adrien and Thiago gave him encouraging fist bumps, and Arianne smiled at him.

"Good luck. You'll do great!" she said. Nino smiled back at her, before approaching the host of the game.

"So, Nino" the man spoke up, placing his hands on his shoulders as Nino stared at the camera "You're a student and a DJ. That's pretty awesome!"

Arianne had heard a few of Nino's tunes, and they were really good. She had often thought about asking him to do some background music for her songs, but she didn't know if he would be interested. He wasn't much of a violin person.

"So, the challenge I've chosen for you is..." the host took out a paper from an envelope, and the Mayor appeared on screen "To get the mayor of Paris, Andres Bourgeois, to dance!"

"Well, this certainly will be interesting" commented Arianne, looking at her friends. She had never seen the mayor dance before, and she would do anything to be able to. It must be really amusing.

"Thank you for agreeing to play with us, sir. What are Nino's chances tonight?" questioned the host, looking at the mayor.

"Zero. I despise dancing, the last time I set foot on a dance floor, Madonna was in kindergarten"