Rising From Betrayal Reborn As The Family Outcast (Alicia Delaney) novel Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Maxwell couldn’t get an answer out of Alicia.

He had no choice but to discuss it with Nicolas, and they randomly picked a song together.

Alicia turned to the trainees in her group and asked, “Which one do you guys want to do?”

The performance was mainly to showcase the trainees’ skills, so she figured they should be the ones to decide.

Plus, this would give them more screen time and help them stand out.

As for Darren, he was completely fine with whatever Alicia chose.

The trainees in Team 4 didn’t expect Alicia to actually ask for their input.

They could feel her respect, and it warmed something in their chests.

After all, the other three groups of celebrity mentors had just voted without bothering to ask the trainees what they thought.

None of them played coy about it. One by one, they shared their opinions, and in the end, the group settled on a song that wouldn’t be too hard to arrange or choreograph.

[Guys, the four celebrity groups just voted for four different songs.]

[They’re gonna leave us with whatever’s left, and you know it’s gonna be the hardest one to adapt.]

[So, should we just vote for that last song then?]

[Damn, you’re evil lol.]

[That last one’s folk music. It’s not just the hardest to sing but probably the hardest to choreograph too.]

[Are you guys really gonna go that hard?]

[Vote it! Go big or go home.]

[Yes! I’m down. Let’s vote for the hardest one.]

Aside from a few fans who actually cared about their favorites’ well-being, most of the audience loved the chaos and weren’t about to miss this opportunity.

So the folk music song that none of the four celebrity groups had chosen suddenly shot to first place like a rocket.

Nicole was staring at her phone, watching the votes come in, and a shadow crossed her eyes.

This was the last song she wanted.

She knew Alicia had trained in classical instruments, while she’d only ever learned modern ones.

Alicia had been doing ballet since she was a kid and had incredible flexibility. Still, Nicole hadn’t started dancing or learning performance skills until high school.

She couldn’t help but regret opening her big mouth.

Why did I have to suggest that the mentors should get to vote too?’ she thought bitterly.

The other celebrity mentors saw the song’s votes skyrocket and were just as stunned.

Simon looked utterly defeated and asked, “Seriously? This song?”

He turned to the live stream screen and added, “You guys are brutal.”

Hannah joked to the camera, “Come on, guys, you’re treating us like your worst enemies here.”

This was the last song they wanted to pick.

Nicolas and Maxwell both wore the same reluctant expressions.

Maxwell said, “I’ve never sung folk music before.”

He preferred listening to and singing modern, upbeat songs with lots of energy.

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Darren chimed in from the other side, “Not only am I not flexible, but I’m also kind of stiff, so if you want me to dance to folk music, please save me.”

He’d be fine with high-energy dancing, but he couldn’t handle folk music choreography. With his tall frame and rigid limbs, just thinking about it was terrifying.

When Maxwell heard that, he couldn’t help but picture the dances he’d seen before.

His face filled with doubt, and he said, “Oh my god, we actually have to dance to folk music? I want to call for help too.”

He hadn’t just sung folk music before; he had no idea how to dance to it either.

Everyone burst out laughing at that.

The screen flooded with comments: [LMAO.]

Nicolas didn’t usually listen to folk music either, and he’d definitely never danced to it.

He looked completely helpless and said, “I want to call for help too.”

Then he turned to the screen and made a cute pleading face. “Please, can you guys stop and pick a different song?”

The comments rolled in. [Nope, we won’t.]

(Even if you beg us, we’re still picking this one.]

[Yeah, that’s right. Not happening.]

The more the guests looked like they wanted to die and begged for mercy, the more enthusiastically fans and viewers voted for that song

Alicia saw Darren’s “I want to run away right now” expression and couldn’t help but laugh.

These people didn’t usually deal with folk music dance, so their first reaction was to picture the traditional folk dancing they remembered.

But folk music could actually blend with modern choreography and be adapted into something really exciting and watchable.

Their group also had Spencer Young, the guy Alicia had praised earlier for his great dancing. He would handle most of the choreography work.

Once they had a clear direction, it was easy to get started.

Sean gathered the team members in a circle, and they began brainstorming ways to improve the performance.

Whenever they weren’t sure about something, they’d ask Alicia for input.

Every time, Alicia gave them solid advice, but she only offered suggestions and didn’t interfere with the trainees’ creative process, giving them plenty of room to work.

She made sure to interact regularly with each trainee so everyone could get some screen time on the livestream.

This group worked the most efficiently and had the best overall atmosphere from the start.

Team 2, with Simon and Hannah, also had a great vibe going.

Even though the two weren’t good at song arrangements, they called up some friends for help, then relayed the feedback to the trainees and let them run with it.

Team 3, Nicolas and Maxwell’s group, was by far the most laid-back.

Since neither of them knew how to arrange music, they basically became hands-off supervisors.

They left everything to the trainees and kept egging them on from the sidelines, telling them to make it as hype as possible.

They even tried to get the trainees to play some video games to “relax.”

Of course, the atmosphere was definitely there, and this group’s livestream had the highest viewership and buzz.

Team I was the complete opposite.

While Team 3 was completely hands-off, Team 1 had both female mentors trying to control everything.

The two women even got into a disagreement about how things should be done.

This time, Felicity didn’t back down, and Nicole dropped her usual peacemaker act, too.

She came out swinging, insisting they had to try the changes her way.

Neither of them could convince the other, and things escalated fast.

They each grabbed four trainees and split off to work on separate versions of the song.

The plan was simple-whoever’s arrangement turned out better would be the one they’d use.

The trainees hadn’t even started their performance “battle” yet, but these two were already at war with each other.

Hashtags like “NicolelsProfessional” and “NicolelsResponsible’ shot straight to the trending topics, one right after the other.

This time, it wasn’t just the regular viewers who were getting annoyed. Even casual bystanders were fed up.

Two trending topics for this?’ they thought. And wait, wasn’t Felicity the one who kept bragging about being so professional before? How did it suddenly become Nicole’s thing now?’