The debut

Life

I really thought spending three years away from home would make it easier. I haven't seen my mom or dad in a while. I think the last time I saw them was on a FaceTime call last week.

I'm currently in L.A., training to audition for a new group. I lay in bed thinking, What am I going to do with my life? "Ari Tang," my roommate called out, "you are late for practice." I opened my eyes. Sigh. Another day. "Alright," I mumbled, "be down in ten." I got ready and headed down.

My teammates were huddled in a circle. Curious, I joined them. "Hey, what's going on?" I asked. "Oh, hey, Ari, you're finally awake!" my friend Abigail said. "Did you hear the news?" "What news?" I asked. "The company is ready to select members for the group!" I've been training for three years. This was the news everyone wanted to hear.

We had fifteen girls in the running for the group, and I was one of them. I found out about this three years ago when I was doomscrolling and went past an audition form. I was like, you know what, this might be fun. Short form, it wasn't. Either way, now that the company was selecting members, I had to give it my all. I am NOT going home empty-handed. My parents spent a lot getting me here. I am not letting them down.

"How many people did they say?" I asked. "We don't know. All that was posted was that the selection will be in eight months," said Madi. "I am going to play hard!"

"Alright, girls, chop chop, get into the groups you were assigned to last week," called our instructor. Every few weeks, we were placed in different groups so they knew who was compatible working together. So far, I had been working quite well with most of the girls. "Alright, what is our schedule for today?" asked my groupmate Luci. She scanned the paper. "Hmm, not bad. Vocal training, dance practice, lunch. Ooo, we're finally going to record a demo! And finally, a meeting with the CEO." "Yes, I've been waiting!" I exclaimed. Recording a demo was big. It was our first time in the studio. Usually, we did vocal training in a room with standing mics.

We went to vocal practice. "Room 324," said Luci. "Here we are." We entered the room. "Luci, Ari, Izzie, Tiffany, and Ritika. You are late," our vocal teacher called out. "Sorry, Ms. Pat. We heard about the selection and got excited," said Ritika. "It's fine. When I heard, I got excited myself. You girls worked so hard to get here," replied Ms. Pat. "Alright, since you are late, we'd better not dawdle." "Yes, ma'am," we replied.

After vocal, we went to dance practice. We learned a new choreography. After the dance, we went to lunch. Lunch was the usual. We sat together and talked. "Can you believe the CEO is ready to select members?" asked my groupmate Mally. "We still have eight months before we know if we are in the group," I said. "We can't slack off now. I really want all of us to do well in this period." "Ari is right," said Abigail.

After lunch, we went to the studio to record the demo. We stepped into the studio, and boy, was it exciting. We had been in here before, but never to record a song. We met our studio teacher, Mr. Kan. He was the type of teacher who made everyone laugh. He was so unserious. We were recording a song—well, not really. It was more of a "somebody made the song, but we sang the lyrics" kind of thing. Overall, it was fun. Studio would be added to our schedule twice a week.

Note to Ari

Studio on Friday.