Page 24 of I'll Be the One

He glances down at me again, his cheeks turning beet red. And I have to admit it. It feels nice to not be the only one blushing, for once.

“I’m fine,” Henry says. “Don’t worry about it.”

At that moment, the stage manager ushers us onto the stage. We’re barely situated when the opening notes of “Idol” start blaring from the speakers.

I immediately fall into a half crouch, sliding my feet back and forth across the floor in time to the music. Even after hours of practice, “Idol” still remains my favorite BTS song, if only because of how loud and bombastically Korean it is. The unapologetic confidence and swag in the dance moves electrifies me, so much that by the time we reach the chorus, I feel like I’m flying.

I’m in the middle of a spinning jump when I hear Henry yell, “Ow! Watch it.”

There’s a loud crash, and I manage to follow through with my momentum enough to land safely back on the ground.

The music stops. I glance back to see both Doug and Henry sprawled on the stage. From the looks of it—and from where we were in the choreo—my guess is that Doug must have accidentally spun into Henry during the jump, causing both of them to come crashing down.

“Oh my God, are you guys okay?” I say. I’m all out of breath—something I didn’t even realize when I was dancing but is so apparent now as I gasp for air.

Imani’s also panting as she stares wide-eyed at the two boys, and the confusion on her face tells me she has no idea what just happened either.

“Doug Barton, you are officially eliminated from the competition,” Bora says. “Please go pack your things.”

Doug, looking dazed, slowly gets up and leaves without another word.

During all this, Henry remains still, and I find myself caringa bit more than I should about his well-being.Get up, I can’t help but plead in my thoughts.Please be okay.

“Hey, Henry,” says Gary, sounding concerned. “Are you all right, man?”

At the sound of his name, Henry slowly sits up, his arms wrapped around his abdomen.

“Yeah,” he says. “He missed my ribs, thankfully, but he knocked the breath out of me.”

At that moment, the backstage door bursts open, and Henry’s team comes rushing onstage.

“Stop the cameras,” the bodyguard says. “Stop them right now or there will be consequences.”

The manager kneels beside Henry, who looks just as embarrassed as he did before the performance.

“I’m fine,” he quietly says to her. “It’ll probably bruise, that’s all. I’m not doing any shirtless shoots anytime soon, so we should be okay.”

I suppress an urge to snort.Of coursehis ability to be shirtless in front of a camera would be a major concern to Henry right now.

“If Mr. Cho is okay,” says Mr. Park in a loud, authoritative voice, “I would like to recommence shooting. We still have to give evaluations to the group and can’t afford a delay in an already tight schedule.”

Henry’s manager whispers something, and Henry says again, “I’m okay. Really. I’ll let you know if it still hurts later. Thanks, though.”

His team leaves the stage, and Mr. Park has the remaining three of us line up onstage.

“Aside from Mr. Barton, this group has proven to be exceptional,” Mr. Park says once the cameras are rolling. “It was not revealed to you until now, but this group was put together because the members demonstrated the most energetic dance performances out of all the auditions. You could say Mr. Barton, too, had lots of energy, even though he unfortunately didn’t know how to harness it. The other three of you showed not only a tremendous amount of energy, but also a great ability to perfectly control it. Well done. All of you have my vote.”

“Imani Stevens and Henry Cho,” says Bora, “congratulations, the judges have unanimously voted to advance you to the next round. You may leave the stage.”

Both Imani and Henry shoot me concerned looks as they leave.

Oh great, I think as the cameras focus on me.It’s just me now.

As I wait for the judges to continue, I try to wrap my head around what might have happened. I’m pretty sure I had the choreography down to a tee. What went wrong?

“Skye,” Gary starts. He shoots Bora a wary glance that I don’t miss. “You’re fantastic. You took that BTS choreography and made it your own. I admit, I’m more of a rapper than I am a dancer, but I do know talent when I see it. And I love, love,loveyour style.”

“Thank you,” I say.

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