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He tries to smile at me, but his eyes are still so sad, even with his lopsided grin. This makes me cry more.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to just sue all of them?” Henry asks. “Because this is thinly veiled discrimination. There was this guy in auditions who literally called Mr. Park an ‘old man’ and hestillgot in. Our family lawyer would have a field day with their ‘professionalism’ argument.”

I cringe, thinking about how my mom would react if this turned into an entire lawsuit. She’d probably never speak to me again. And it’s not like I want to ruin the entire competition, either, not when it’s such an important opportunity for so many people. Besides, at the end of the day, I’m still in this competition through the singing category.

I still have a chance to win on my own terms.

I explain my reasoning to Henry, and he grimly replies with, “Fair.”

“I appreciate it, though. Really.”

He sighs. “Okay, then, what now?”

“Let’s go to In-N-Out,” I say. “What happened with Bora sucks, but I can’t let her stop me from eating good food and living my life. I’ll worry about everything else tomorrow, but for now, I need a break.”

“Okay,” replies Henry. “Animal-style fries today, competition tomorrow. You’re going to knock everyone out of the vocals competition. I’m totally Team Skye, by the way.”

I snort, but my insides feel all warm and fuzzy.

I only then realize how close Henry is to me now. Our noses almost touch, and his body heat again feels so good against my skin.

I’m about to kiss Henry when Steve clears his throat loudly from the front and says, “Excuse me. So, which In-N-Out are we going to?”

It’s the first time I’ve heard Steve talk, but his voice isn’t much of a surprise. He evensoundslike the Rock.

Henry and I fall back against the back seat and laugh.

Chapter Twenty-Six

AT VOCAL PRACTICE THE FOLLOWING SATURDAY,our group is much smaller. Including me, ten people were eliminated from both vocals and dance, leaving the top ten for each category. Tiffany was eliminated from the dance category after me, so my only consolation is the fact that Imani and Lana made it to the next round while Bobby and Cassie did not.

The next challenge turns out to be a “versus battle,” where each person will be mentored by one of the judges and then be pitted against another contestant in the next elimination round.

I expect Gary to “adopt” me, but he backs out, saying there’s nothing he’d be able to teach me that I don’t already know. Mr. Park chooses me without hesitation and makes me practice with a vengeance, pushing me into singing songs in styles I’ve never sung before, having me improvise and switch keys, and assigning me set practice times to follow at home.

“This is how hard you’ll have to work once you become atrainee,” he tells me and the rest of his mentees. “If you can’t handle this now, this path is not for you.”

He seems to be training meextrahard, though, and by the end of the first week, I’m close to losing my voice. I’m wondering if he’s trying to get me to drop out of the competition when I realize he’s doing the opposite. As he pushes me, his expression isn’t malicious at all, but determined and benevolent. It’s like he’s trying to get me to be the best vocalist I can be to make up for the fact that he eliminated me from the dance part of the competition.

Besides nearly losing my voice, everything is now admittedly a lot easier. Without having to worry about the dance part of the competition, I have more time to do homework and hang out with my friends from school. Although I stopped watchingYou’re My Shining Starafter that first episode, Clarissa and Rebecca give me the play-by-play every Saturday night. And I have to admit, even though all the antics on the show are things I’ve witnessed myself in real life, it’s ten times more hilarious to see my friends react to them during our weekly FaceTime sessions like my life is some dramatic sitcom.

“OMG, I almost died during that moment between Melinda and Henry!” Clarissa exclaims. “That tension!”

“Skye!” Rebecca yells. “You didnotjust pick one of Lee Hi’s songs for your first song. That ambition, though!”

“You and Henry are totally going to date,” Clarissa says with a resigned sigh. “I can already see it. He only had eyes foryou during the auditions!”

I don’t respond to that last one. Even though Henry and I don’t really have an excuse to interact with each other anymore, we’ve been FaceTiming almost every day since the second elimination round, switching to text when my voice can’t handle it. Neither of us have tried to DTR, but I like the way things are now.

Or at least, I think I do, until Henry stops replying to my texts again and I’m left with nothing but questions. In the end, though, I just assume that work caught up to him. After all, it’s not like we’re dating. He’s not obligated to always answer my texts.

In what seems like almost no time at all, it’s Halloween. Rather than doing something scary for the holiday, though, Tiffany has a better idea. She texts Lana and me in our group chat.

TIFFANY LEE:Hey Skye, with the third elimination round coming up next week, Lana’s been pretty stressed and anxious. And I know you probably are too. Wanna come to the Korean spa with us?

Lana jumps in.

LANA MIN:OMG YAS! Let’s get rid of all that toxic stress and treat ourselves to a spa day!!!