"What's the issue? Why are you all looking at me Caleb asked while still smiling brightly.
"Where were you? You left us here to deal with the trainer by ourselves and take the heat for your decision? What kind of leader is that? Huh?" Michael marched up to Caleb and began yelling at him.
At the sudden explosion, the rest of the contestants watched with wide eyes although they secretly supported Michael's actions.
Because of Caleb, the usually nice Selena had yelled at all them and they had no choice but to take it.
If they hadn't performed well, then she would have been even angrier.
And now he wanted to come in and pretend that everything was okay?
Heck no!
"I was in the bathroom, and it took a bit longer than usual. I don't get why it's such a big deal. And watch your tone!" Caleb yelled back defensively.
"I'll talk to you with whatever tone I feel like! And a bit longer?? You were there for an hour! One! Whole! Hour! And then you conveniently come back after the trainer is gone. You're a scaredy cat who can't take responsibility for shit! You probably saw Trainer Selena yelling at us through the window in the door, got scared and ran away!"
At Michael's surprisingly accurate guess, Caleb's entire face turned red from embarrassment before turning into anger.
Even if he had avoided being scolded so what?
It wasn't a big deal and if she wanted to find him, she would have said something about it or sent somebody to get him.
Missing one class wasn't the end of the world and Michael wasn't even talented enough to be yelling at him like this.
"You're a coward with terrible skills." Michael continued yelling when he saw that Caleb was speechless.
"I dare you to say that to my face again?!" Caleb yelled back and grabbed Michael by the collar and began shaking him.
"I said you're a dang scaredy cat who's a shit leader and a shit person!" Michael grabbed Caleb's collar in return and began shaking it.
As the two boys looked ready to throw punches, Ari forcibly got in between them as he noticed that the camera man had turned his camera back on to catch the scene.
"Both of you. Enough."
"Get the hell out of the way mask face! Always pretending to be the good guy." Caleb snarled at Ari as he still tried to grab at Michael's shirt.
"That fucking bas-mpghhh" Ari slammed his hand over Michael's mouth, forcibly pushing the other boy back while glancing at Vishal and then Caleb.
He was mentally telling Vishal to hold Caleb back and thankfully the other boy got the hint and went to block Caleb with his body.
"Get out of the way Vishal!"
"Ari move! I'm not done with that pu-mphhh!"
"I said enough. Take a deep breath and stop cursing. Since it's you who will get int trouble. He's a lost cause." Ari whispered.
Michael finally took a deep breath before rearranging his stretched-out collar.
Seeing that he looked calm, Ari uncovered his mouth again.
"You good?"
"I'm fine. You can let go. Thanks."
"Okay. Just chill okay. Let's just practice."
"I refuse. Not until that bas-, not until he apologizes to everyone here and means it We got yelled at for no reason and he wasn't even here. And he grabbed my collar first." Michael glared at Caleb who was glaring back.
"Why should I apologize? I didn't do anything wrong!"
"We got yelled at because of you!" Diego yelled back and it was as if he opened a can of worms.
The rest of the contestants began pouring out their complaints.
"We had to scramble to defend ourselves after being scolded for a decision you made!"
"Ari had to cover your part. Do you know how mad Selena got?"
"Yeah! And we had to work on a formation for the choreography, and you weren't even here so it kept getting messed up."
"You owe all of us an apology!"
"I'm not apologizing because I didn't do anything wrong! It's not a crime to miss a class and isn't it because you all suck at dancing that it was hard. Stop blaming me!"
As Caleb yelled back, the room suddenly became silent for several moments before Michael began laughing in a strange way.
"Since you refuse to apologize, then count me out. I refuse to practice with him!"
Michael stormed out and slowly, after several seconds, the rest of the contestants trickled while glaring at Caleb, out leaving behind only Caleb, Vishal, and Ari.
The camera man also followed the contestants who left, letting the door slam on his way out.
"Good riddance." Caleb muttered under his breath before shoving away Vishal and turning to Ari, "Are you just going to let him talk to the leader like that without defending me?"
Ari was stunned.
'Was this guy really crazy or was he living in a delusional world?'
Ari snorted before replying sarcastically, "Why would I defend you? Your behavior was bad, you didn't act like a leader, and you just insulted the skill of everyone who's been working hard in your absence. You need to apologize to everybody. And I mean every one of the contestants and Trainer Selena as well. She seemed quite upset."
"Who do you think you are trying to boss me around. You're just trying to be the leader. Dang bastard." Caleb muttered under his breath.
"Come again? I didn't quite hear you." Ari walked up to him while ripping off his mask.
Although his voice was calm, he was completely pissed at the supposed leader screwing things up, and he wanted the other boy to see his eyes clearly.
Glancing at the door to make sure the camera man wasn't in sight, Ari walked Caleb down, using his slightly taller height to look down at him as Caleb kept stepping backward until his back touched the mirror.
[Oooooh, my new favorite show is on.]
[Beat him up!]
[Left, right, goodnight!]
As NOVA filled his vision with blue text, Ari swiped it away in irritation, his gaze completely focused on Caleb.
"Instead of whining and cursing at me under your breath, as the leader you claim to be, go and do the right thing. Apologize to everybody and bring them back to practice. Understand? Don't come back until you do so because I'm really pissed off right now because you're f*ck*ng things up unnecessarily. How hard is it to just sing, dance, and practice with no drama? Why can't you just do that without causing an issue? Huh?"
"You-"
"Me what? Speak up so I can hear what you have to say. You think you're the only one who can shout and curse at people? Huh?! You think it's okay to grab people by their collar and shake them around? Does this look like a boxing ring to you? Get a grip." It took every bit of mental energy for Ari to keep his voice level instead of yelling at Caleb.
He didn't know what Caleb saw in his face, but the other boy flinched before clenching his fist at his sides.
His lips wobbled a bit but eventually, he stayed silent.
"Stop messing around and go apologize to every one of our teammates and bring them back. We've already embarrassed ourselves in front of one judge today. We don't need to embarrass ourselves in front of all of them tomorrow."
Since he really didn't want to get into a fight with Caleb, Ari just put his mask back on before walking away from him and grabbing the tablet to turn on the choreography video.
As it began playing, the song blasting from the speakers, Ari began trying to copy the choreography while remembering the formations that Selena had taught them today.
After several moments, Vishal joined him while dancing and Caleb was left alone standing while fuming.
Seeing that the only two people left weren't paying any attention to him, Caleb cursed under his breath before kicking the door on his way out.
Ari simply glanced at him before shaking his head.
[Awww no fight.]
[But group projects amirite?]
[So fun!]
At NOVA's mocking words, Ari let out a sigh before continuing to learn the choreography.
He really, really, really hated group projects.
And until 1 am, when he and Vishal were heading back to their rooms, none of his other teammates showed up.
And when he tried to open the door, it was locked once more.
Completely frustrated, almost to the point of angry tears, Ari just squatted down and buried his face in his knees as he really began questioning if he was cursed.