Page 80 of I'll Be the One

The crowd goes wild when they see me, and I hear chants of “Queen Skye! Queen Skye!”

“Hey! You can’t go out there!”

There’s some commotion behind me, but Henry blocks the stagehands so Lana and Tiffany can stumble out onstage to join me. The audience gasps in confusion. But it’s too late for anyone to do anything because at that moment, the trumpet players blast out the opening of my song. It worked!

Lana and Tiffany immediately jump into action, dancing in sync behind me as I move across the stage. I don’t have toglance back to know how awesome they look. We’ve been dancing together almost every day of this week in Henry’s practice room.

I start singing, and people gasp at the sheer power of my voice. All the worries and anxieties of the past few weeks drop from my shoulders as I dance along with Lana and Tiffany, all while never singing a wrong note.

The live band gets really into it, and I break away from Tiffany and Lana to groove with them. The entire time, I’m smiling at the camera and also at the judges, who stare at me with obvious shock in their eyes.

Bora looks visibly pissed. She’s angrily whispering in the ear of one of the staff members, but he only shakes his head.

Good, I think. I hope he told her that she can’t stop me.

Meanwhile, the crowd is going wild. They even sing along with the oohs and aahs in the chorus as I belt out the notes, and everyone’s bobbing up and down to the music. When it’s time for the instrumental solo, Lana, Tiffany, and I dance in formation. And the crowd only gets louder.

I break away from my friends again to go back-to-back with one of the trumpet players. I match each of his soaring notes with notes of my own.

The song is essentially a breakup song, but it’s also about showing the world that you don’t need anyone and don’t care about what haters do or think. And that’s exactly what I’m going for. Looking directly at Bora, I puncture through my last high note, letting my vibrato take over my voice.

The auditorium practically shakes with all of the noise the audience is making. Bora and Mr. Park try to calm everyone down, but they’re relentless, screaming and chanting, “Queen Skye! Queen Skye!” over and over again.

Davey comes out onto the stage and waves his hands at the crowd. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Settle down, everyone. It’s time to hear the judges’ comments!”

Even then, it takes a few more minutes for everyone to be quiet.

“Well,” Mr. Park says with a cough when we can finally make out what he’s saying. “You certainly know how to throw a surprise, Miss Shin.”

“Tell me about it,” says Gary. “What an awesome turn of events.”

“On the contrary,” Bora cuts in. “I would not say it’s ‘awesome.’ Not in the slightest. Miss Shin, you just broke the rules. You selfishly gave yourself an unfair advantage over everyone else. You deserve to be disqualified.”

Several people boo, although I’m not sure if they’re booing at me or at Bora.

“What, like the way I was disqualified from the dance portion for some rule that didn’t even exist?” I snap back at her. “First, I wasn’t ‘professional’ enough for you. Now you have to make up another rule to disqualify me here, too?”

There are some oohs from the audience, and this time, it’s clear whose side everyone is on. Bora’s lips curl.

“You can disqualify me again, Bora,” I continue. “But I justwant everyone to know that there are no official rules saying contestants aren’t allowed to refute judges when they make unfair, discriminatory comments. And there aren’t any rules saying that contestants can’t bring in backup dancers or dance while singing during their performances. I checked. Thereare, however, rules against bullying.”

Bora narrows her eyes. “What are you implying?”

“Man, she got you good,” Gary says with a laugh. “Come on, Bora. Look at them!” He gestures at not just me, but also at Tiffany and Lana, who are still trying to catch their breath. “This probably took them a whole lot of extra work. And that level of dedication is amazing.”

Mr. Park, who’s been silently watching us the entire time, finally speaks up again. “So, tell me, Miss Shin. What made you decide to step up the game like this? Was there any special reason? You must have had one, because this could not have been easy. You weren’t even officially given the time to practice the dance. And my records indicate that this isn’t the song you originally said you would perform.”

I smile at the camera as I respond. “I just wanted to make my last performance here in LA a memorable one.”

I’m careful not to say last performance, period, since I’m not ruling out the chance that I’ll be able to perform in Korea.

“I see. Well, congratulations. You definitely succeeded in making it memorable.”

Davey jumps in. “If Skye is your favorite to win, let us know on social media with the hashtag ‘QueenSkye’! And if youhaven’t already, please remember to vote, vote, vote for your favorite member of the final five before polls close at the end of the last performance. Give it up for Skye Shin!”

The crowd roars again, and Lana, Tiffany, and I all rush off the stage with large, beaming smiles on our faces.

Backstage, I run right into Henry’s arms.

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