From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 60: First Vocal Lesson (1)

Breakfast was toast, scrambled eggs, sausages, and fruit, with the only special drink being flavored milk yet again.

Ari made himself some coffee, loaded his plate up with a little bit of everything, and joined Jamie at a table.

Vishal and Carlos came to sit with them as well.

Compared to other tables, it was completely silent on their side as all four of them quietly shoveled food into their mouths at different speeds and different eating styles.

Carlos and Vishal drowned their eggs in hot sauce before eating them.

Jamie piled everything possible on top of his toast, and Ari just shoveled things in turn while secretly missing the breakfast made by Granny Choi and Grandpa Choi.

"Wagwan? How it going, mates?" A friendly British accent could be heard as a mixed boy with very short curly hair in a nice haircut slid into the empty seat at their table.

It was Benjamin Moore, the contestant who had a solo rap performance during the second round.

He was wearing a B-class red and black shirt like Jamie, athletic pants with red trim, a simple gold necklace, and white sneakers to round it off. Pinned to the left side of his shirt were two badges, one that said ’Rap: A’ and the other that said ’Dance: C’

Tall with lean muscles, he had golden skin, light brown eyes, long dark lashes, thick well shaped brows with slits in them, and dimples that showed up when he smiled.

In other words, he was very handsome, and Ari could hear a female staff member audibly sigh as she walked past him.

Ari checked his stats again, remembering how ridiculous it had looked the first time he saw it.

[Benjamin Moore]

[Age: 20]

[Vocals: C (A)]

[Dance: C+ (S)]

[Visual: B+ (S+)]

[Rap: A- (S+)]

[Charm: A- (S+)]

[Acting: C+ (A)]

[Beatboxing: B- (A+)]

It looked as crazy impressive as ever.

Benjamin looked them over with a smile on his face before speaking, "We haven’t had much time together, but I’m Benjamin from South London. You can call me Benjamin, Ben, Big Ben, whatever you fancy, as long as it’s not rude innit. I know you’re Ari. I heard a lot about you from the mandem and Big Man Jamie here, but I don’t know the rest of you. Fancy introducing yourselves, or should I just muck off?"

At the barrage of words, the table blinked at Benjamin in confusion before Ari spoke up and pointed at the two people the boy didn’t know.

"No need to muck off. He’s Carlos, and he’s Vishal." Ari pointed to the two of them, who looked slightly confused at Benjamin’s words, "You said people are talking about me? Who?"

"Well, Willy thinks you’re a rude prick, and Rei thinks you’re an annoying sucker. A few other lads complained about you waking them up rudely, and of course, your mask and makeup make you the talk of the group, innit? So I came to see what it was about. You look calm to me, though. Good vibes and all that."

"Well, thanks for verifying it for yourself. I appreciate it." Ari replied honestly.

It was refreshing to meet someone new without it being antagonistic.

"Rah. Jamie, see you in dance class later? And hit the gym after yeah?"

"Yeah, bro!" Jamie smiled brightly while fist bumping Benjamin before he continued eating.

"Right on. Lovely meeting you. See the rest of you lads around. Good luck in the vocal classes."

"And you too in rap," Carlos replied as he also tapped Benjamin’s fist.

Vishal did the same as well, and then Benjamin got up and left, going to chat with another contestant who was walking by.

"He’s such a social butterfly. I’m jealous." Vishal muttered, and Carlos nodded in agreement.

Breakfast passed quickly, and the four of them split up to head to their respective vocal classes.

Carlos, Jamie, and Ari were headed to class with Jelissa, who was holding a combined class for the A and B vocal grade students, while Vishal was with Larry Jackson, who was in charge of those with vocal grades of C, D, and F.

Mentally wishing the boy good luck, Ari stepped into a large studio room.

Inside, Jelissa was playing calming R & B music as she chatted with the cameramen in the room while some staff members set up an electronic keyboard.

At the door, a staff member was handing out lyric sheets to the contestants as they walked in.

Ari took his and headed straight to the back of the room while Jamie and Carlos stood near the front.

Firstly, since he was wearing his green snail mask to gain more visual stat points during his every waking moment, he didn’t want to stand out more than he already did, especially after Jaywalk’s angry reaction to the mask yesterday.

And secondly, he wanted to stay as far as possible from William Forbes, who had planted himself front and center, right in front of Jelissa.

Habitually, Ari tried to check his stats, but nothing happened, and even when he prodded NOVA, the only response he got back was...

[Zzzzzzzzzzzz.]

[Come back later.]

Pushing down his anger, he focused on avoiding eye contact with William Forbes in the mirror and hoped he didn’t try to talk to him again.

Otherwise, with the way Ari was feeling, especially after his roommates and what Benjamin had told him, he might actually punch the guy in front of these cameras.

Once everybody had arrived, Jelissa clapped her hands in excitement.

Today, she was wearing bright pink overalls with a white shirt. Her hair was still in two afro puffs, but pink ribbons were tied around it, and matching pink glasses were on her face.

"Good morning, everybody!"

"Good morning!"

"Morning."

A variety of responses came back, and Jelissa smiled mischievously before asking, "How was dance practice yesterday?"

"Hard."

"地獄 (hell)."

"My body has never known soreness on this level."

"지금 나를 죽여(kill me now) Jelissa sunbaenim! Please!"

Listening to the complaints in a variety of languages that filled the room, Jelissa laughed for a minute before wiping away her tears.

"Awww, well, you guys need to continue to work hard. Your performances will be in six days so do your best, okay?"

"Yesssss"

"Okay."

"Good, now, judging from how hard you said practice was yesterday, I’m sure that you heard the song a lot. So first, I’ll lead you through some vocal warm-ups. And then we’ll get started with the first verse. Are we ready?"

As the contestants verbally agreed, Jelissa sat on the stool by the keyboard and began instructing them as she pressed a key on the piano.

"Everybody, please stand up straight, head aligned with your spine, chest open, shoulders relaxed. And we’ll begin. La la la la la la la la. Your turn."

La la la la la la la la

The contestants inside the room followed along with the different scale warm-ups to prepare their vocal cords for singing.

Once they were done, Jelissa stepped away from the camera, picking up the SungSam tablet and tapping on it.

As the instrumental version of Warrior began playing, Jelissa pointed to the class as a whole.

"Start singing when the first verse begins, and I’ll start my corrections from there."