GETTING OUR ACT TOGETHER

3 MARCH, WEDNESDAY, CONTINUED

"Let's wait for Pete to get back and watch the videos." Henry said.

The rest of us nodded. I felt my tummy rumble and raised up my hand, "I'm hungry!"

"What the hell, Sam!" Henry groaned. Marcus coughed, "What else is new?"

"Someone fetch food." Henry ordered one of the guards, and the guard immediately bowed and left the room.

"I want coke, please!" I yelled after the guard and joined my friends to sit at the sofas in front of the TV.

"That was intense." Harvey said when we were all seated.

"Mou, Big Brother Beta, I never thought I was going to die so much in my life!" EJ complained.

Surely he was joking! Didn't EJ survive the Warlock lands with me? And before that, wasn't he like the youngest surviving fightdog that we saved?

"Please don't ever invite our Scary Luna to our rehearsals ever again." Fluffy smiled.

"That was like Rock Band Master Class." Marcus said sinking into the pillow.

"Yeah." Harvey nodded, "I learned a lot."

"We learned a lot from you too." I told Harvey. The other guys nodded.

Harvey shook his head, "In comparison with what Luna Bell did, it wasn't anything at all."

"That's not true." I told Harvey, "If you hadn't helped us shape up first, I don't think Bell could've done anything with us."

"But I get why the Rebel Force always won now." Marcus shook his head.

Yeah, if he could turn us into a decent act, imagine what he could do with musicians who could actually play properly.

"I learned a lot." Harvey said in reflection. I could see his beta gears turning inside his head. I guess he was about to apply some of these tricks to his band.

Beta Pete got back around the same time the food was served. It was the usual kind of stuff that you'd expect when visiting the Alpha's office - a tiered tray of sandwiches and pastries, cut fruit, and some cake on the side. There was also a bowl of round chocolate balls on the side. The only thing different was that instead of tea or coffee, we had canned sodas.

"Okay, here's the plan." Henry told us as Beta Pete connected his phone to the TV screen, "We watch the videos and take notes. Then go home and practice, practice, practice. Sam, memorize the lyrics!"

"I can't get any free passes during school hours tomorrow." Henry continued, "And the contest rehearsal and set up will be after school in the hall. So I need all of you to be ready to perform by then."

Harvey raised his hand, "Pardon, alpha. I might be mistaken, but usually these rehearsals won't need you to perform for real. It's just set up and sound checks, and if your band wants, maybe just a quick practice test."

"Oh." Said Marcus, "I guess it wouldn't make sense for all the contestants to perform everything before the competition."

"Even if you do, I would suggest you not show all your cards." Harvey suggested, "You might choose to just play a verse and chorus as a practice test."

"And Pretty Alpha shouldn't sing." Fluffy beamed.

"Yeah!" EJ caught on immediately, "I'll sing at the rehearsal. We'll use Pretty Alpha as our secret weapon!"

"What?" Marcus asked, and then he laughed.

"Alright. That's the plan then." Henry nodded, "But Sam, you better learn the words!"

Sigh... Henry could be such a nag sometimes.

Janice raised her hand, "Sorry, guys, I need to go home soon."

"Yeah, okay." Marcus nodded, "I'll send you home after we watch the videos."

How? You can't even drive, Marcus!

"Okay, but you guys still need to practice everything till you've mastered your parts." Henry said, "The rehearsal will take all afternoon, and Sam has to officiate an inter-pack event tomorrow evening."

I did?

But Henry was still speaking, "Our last practice would be on Friday morning - Coach Williams gave us permission to practice during his gym class."

He did? Now that was totally surprising.

"That'll be our final practice - just to warm up and tighten our act." Henry said, "The Talent Time Competition will be held after lunch."

"I thought it was going to be at night?" I asked... but only because I missed the memo - again.

"Apologies, Alpha." Harvey apologized (even though I was the one who muddled), "Your school had rescheduled it to school hours for security reasons."

I guess with vampire hunters around the neighborhood, Madam Principal wouldn't want to dismiss her entire school out into the streets of Winderhill after dark.

Janice raised her hand again, "I think we need some kind of costume..."

"Arughh..." Henry smacked his forehead, "I forgot to ask Ki."

"Let's just go with our uniforms." I suggested. Mostly because I didn't feel like having to change on Friday.

"I was thinking a torn jeans kind of thing." Marcus suggested.

"I don't have torn jeans." Janice said.

"I don't have jeans." Fluffy said. He wasn't lying, but he sure enjoyed making things difficult.

"Let's all go topless." Fluffy suggested.

"What's wrong with your head?" Henry growled.

"All of us?" EJ used his arms to cover the front of his completely clothed body.

"Ex-fightdogs." Marcus chuffed.

"Nobody is going topless." Henry decided.

"Why? It won't be your first time undressing on stage." I grinned. I couldn't help it.

Henry seethed in a hot mixture of irritation and embaressment, "Can you guys be serious for five minutes?"

"Maybe a color code." I offered, "Like blue and white." (So I could just stay in my school uniform.)

"Like our school uniform, Pretty Alpha?" Fluffy asked in all innocence.

"No! We are not wearing our school uniform!" Henry growled.

Foiled again.

"What do you think, Janice?" Marcus asked.

"Ah...well... Actually there was this dress I was hoping to wear. I bought it the other day..." Janice said.

"Okay, what color is your dress?" I asked.

"Black." Janice answered.

"How about we just all wear something black?" I decided.

"That isn't shorts." Henry said pointedly to EJ.

"Don't worry alpha, I don't have anything boring like black shorts." EJ boasted.

Henry bit back a growl.

"Black and/or denim then?" Marcus asked, because I think he still wanted to wear those torn jeans.

"Yeah, whatever." Henry shrugged.

"Big Brother Beta, do you have boring clothes we can borrow?" EJ asked guilessly, "Like what you usually wear to school."

"Yes, can I borrow a pair of denim pants, big brother beta?" Fluffy asked, "Preferably ones that are already torn. It'll be troublesome to have to tear them myself."

Harvey's face! Hahahaha.

"Forget it!" Henry snapped now, "We'll go shopping after the rehearsals tomorrow. Bring your shopping money or I'll lend it to you with interest!"

"Stingy." EJ pouted.

"I don't have time for this!" Henry shook off the insult, "Just watch the video already!"

So we did. Marcus had the bright idea of watching the earlier videos too - just to see our progress.

We started with the video from before Harvey worked with us, then the one after Harvey's input, followed by the last one before Bell left.

It was like watching a worm turn into a butterfly. And I do mean worm. We weren't even a caterpillar to begin with.

"Wow." Marcus concluded after watching the three videos, "That was epic."

"Most epic transformation!" EJ cheered, "Woohoo!"

I didn't have the words for it at the time. It was still embaressing to see myself on TV - I know, it wasn't the first time I was on camera, I really should be used to it by now. But it was one thing to have a swarm of devices pointing at you, and it was quite another to see yourself appear on screen and analyse it. It was just weird.

My hair looked amazing from the first video. I wondered if it were a blade wolf thing - did the entire pack of extinct blade wolves all have great hair like a Rapunzel movie?

EJ laughed at the first video till he fell off the sofa. He thought he was such a hoot clowning behind Henry's back. I think Henry would've been mad, except he was too busy being embarrassed. We all were - we sounded so bad, I would feel bad for that band, except that WE were that band.

The second video, in which I had thought we got much better turned out hard to watch too. This was the round where we were showing Bell what we could do for the first time, with all of Harvey's input in play. The round where no one played anything wrong.

We did get better - like you could actually recognize the song we were playing now, but it was also obviously a very bad rendition of it. It's not that Fluffy or EJ sang badly either, but the music as a whole felt like it was struggling to stay afloat. Plus we all performed rather stiffly. I guess I wasn't the only one who didn't want to mess up with Bell watching.

So the third video was a shock. For one thing, I was the lead singer now. For another, I didn't know I sounded like that when I sang. It wasn't a bad sound but I sounded quite different in my head.

Also, might I point out that Henry actually sounded like he could play the bass. And Fluffy on the violin was electric. I watched as EJ and Fluffy performed - Ms Pitera did ask if they had professional training during music class when they sang, but now that I was watching them on the screen, I could attest that they were different from the rest of us.

For one, they actually interacted with each other and moved around in their space while performing.

They had to be the most interesting duo to watch in our band.

Like Fluffy had winked at EJ - I guess it's the signal for EJ to step up the beatboxing, and when EJ wanted to pass the lead back to the violin, he play-punched Fluffy in the shoulder, and then fake-kicked Fluffy from behind when Fluffy's violin squealed into the song.

I mean, the rest of us just stood there concentrating on getting the song right.

And on the side note, suddenly all the times I breathed wrong felt jarring throughout the video. Who knew breathing needed to be practiced?

Overall, it was still far from perfect. Even professionally-trained-performer-Fluffy who had grown up practicing the classical violin four hours a day tripped up a couple of times. Ironically enough, EJ was the only one with a perfect run - then again, it's not like I would know if any of his sound effects were off.

But the point was, we had a good shot at winning Winderhill's Talent Time now. We actually sounded like a real band now.