A few hours ago, Janice had brought Debbie into the practice room to ask the company's best music teacher to guide her in her singing practice.
Debbie was very talented, and she had already received praise and favours from the music teachers. Janice, who had been watching from the side, also felt quite satisfied.
As she was practising, a young woman came into the practice room, followed by three more young and fashionable girls.
Janice let the music teacher rest for a while before calling Debbie and the four girls to come over.
"Debbie, these four girls are the other members of the group. Let me introduce you," Janice said as she smiled at her, "This is Melissa Kennedy."
A girl with earrings smiled at Debbie. However, there was a trace of ridicule and disdain in her smile.
Janice then introduced two more girls, who were called Katie Jackson and Olivia Taylor. They acted the same as Melissa, only smiling hastily. Their gazes held a trace of scorn toward Debbie.
"This is Rita Lopez," Janice introduced the last girl. Rita was the girl who had walked in alone. Like Janice, she had short hair, a casual posture, and wore a faint smile on her face.
Perhaps it was because she was younger than Janice, but she looked even more beautiful and energetic.
"Hello, nice to meet you," Rita said as she stretched out her hand and smiled at Debbie.
"Hello," Debbie said as she shook hands with Rita, feeling a little closer to her.
Janice let Debbie introduce herself again.
"Janice, is it okay if I ask my best friend to come to the company tomorrow for training?" Melissa asked with a shrewd expression.
Her group wanted to recruit new members. The day before yesterday, she had asked her best friend to come in to try out. Afterwards, she was quite happy with Janice's expression and told her best friend to go back and wait for news.
"Tell your friend not to come," Janice said casually, "Now that Debbie has joined, we're no longer going to recruit her. We'll let you five girls form the company's new group. The group's name is also decided. Let's call you the Dream Chasers. You have to work hard. When the time is right, the company will put you all in front of an audience."
When Melissa heard that her best friend was out, her heart turned cold. She couldn't help but turn her gaze toward Debbie. She felt that Debbie had snatched away from her best friend's chance at happiness. Her disgusted expression became even more obvious.
"All right, you guys don't have much time left. Hurry up and practice!" Janice clapped her hands and called for the music teacher to continue.
"Let's all practice the song 'Freedom Like a Dream.' This is a song that you will sing a lot at the beginning." After the music teacher finished speaking, he led Debbie and the others to sing with the score. The five of them sang together in a low voice.
"Let's sing separately. I'll correct each of you. Olivia, you go first," the music teacher said to her.
When Olivia was singing alone, Melissa was very pleased with herself. Her singing skills were excellent, and she sang the best, so she wanted to let Debbie see how strong she was. She wanted Debbie to feel inferior and leave the group to chase after other dreams.
After the first three girls finished singing, the music teacher gave each of the advice to practice improving their flaws.
When it was Melissa's turn, she cleared her throat and started to sing.
Her voice was good, explosive, and she controlled it well. After all, she had been singing for more than a decade, since elementary school, and she had always enjoyed it.
After she finished, everyone applauded her. Janice nodded in satisfaction.
"That's right, we should do it in a smoother tone. There shouldn't be any big problems," the old music teacher said as he smiled at Melissa.
Melissa was also exceptionally proud of herself. When she backed away, she glanced at Debbie smugly and gave an indistinct snort.
The reason why Melissa and the other two girls looked down on Debbie was that she wore ordinary clothes and came from a small town. They felt that she was unfit to form a group with them. Because she had taken her best friend's position, they did not have a good impression of her at all.
Seeing Debbie standing in the middle of the stage, Melissa clasped her hands and waited to see how she would sing. In her opinion, her outstanding singing most likely had already crushed Debbie.
Debbie held the microphone nervously. She glanced at the lyrics and slowly closed her eyes.
"Do you still miss me?
"My dearest friend
"When I decided to drop all
"To walk on the road to freedom."
The melody floated out from Debbie's mouth. Instead of a hoarse voice, it was like a stream flowing out of a glacier. The song reached deep into a person's heart.
Everyone unconsciously revealed a smile, and the music teacher even looked surprised, as he thought, This song can still be sung this way?
Even Melissa couldn't help but be taken aback when she heard Debbie sing.
"When I said goodbye to you yesterday
"On the road to the future
"I want to be free as a dream
"On the hard road of exile
"Light of life."
Even at the climax of the song, Debbie did not sing with a hoarse voice. She was still performing the song as she understood it.
Debbie's singing entered a new realm. She slowly opened her eyes and took a look at the lyrics. Her gaze was filled with a faint watery glow, making her eyes seem as bright as the stars.
Janice's gaze lit up. From Debbie's gaze, she seemed to be able to see the sea of stars.
"I want to be free as a dream
"Tolerance like the earth
"On the hard road of exile
"Lighting up the light of life."
After the song ended, everyone was still immersed in feelings brought on by Debbie's singing.
At this moment, Melissa was staring at Debbie in a daze. She never expected her to sing so well. Of course, Debbie had never received any professional training before, so, if it came down to it, Melissa's singing skills were much better than Debbie's.
However, this shocked Melissa even more. With her more than ten years of learning music basics, of course, she could hear it. Debbie had never received any training before, and her singing was still very rough, but she was completely able to translate the song according to her understanding of it.
The ability to move the audience was the most difficult and important thing for a singer. It was so important that it almost became the key difference between a top singer and an outstanding singer. Debbie had been born with this ability.
Besides being shocked, Melissa was also jealous of Debbie. She knew that she had lots of talent.
"You're too good at singing. Your singing style and tone are all very strong. This is a sharp weapon that stands out among many singers. In the future, you'll be even better if you practice more," the music teacher said to Debbie with a smile. He had a premonition that this new student would become a future star.
"You two should continue practicing with the teacher. Debbie, come here for a bit," Janice said with a smile as she pulled her aside.
This was yet another blow to Melissa's heart. Looking at the beaming smiles on Janice and Debbie's faces, Janice seemed to be very satisfied with her new student!
Melissa had always wanted to be the lead singer of the Dream Chasers. All this time, she had always felt that she was safe to get the lead position, but now she had a strong sense of urgency. She felt that Debbie was a strong competitor.
Janice indeed felt that Debbie had potential. Thinking about the importance of nurturing her to become the leader of the girl group, she focused her chat with Debbie on helping motivate her to redouble her efforts and strive to reach the company's requirements as soon as possible. That way, she could put the Dream Chasers in front of the audience sooner.
After talking for a while, Janice let Debbie go practice.
Janice sat on the sidelines and watched the five girls practice. Most of her time was spent watching Debbie, which made Melissa very unhappy. She felt that Debbie had stolen away from her chance to stand in the spotlight.
"You girls go practice on your own. I'm going out," Janice said as she answered a phone call and hurried out the door.
Seeing that she had left, Melissa knew that she wouldn't be coming back that day. Janice had other celebrities to manage, so she was busy communicating with them all.
Not long after Janice had gone, the music teacher also left to see the other artists. In the practice room, only Debbie and the others remained.
Debbie was still holding the music scorebook and diligently practising according to the music teacher's instructions. She was determined to walk down her path as an entertainer.
Melissa, Olivia, and Katie were on good terms with each other and gathered near Debbie. All of them looked down on Debbie as they were filled with jealousy and dissatisfaction toward her outstanding performance that day.
"I didn't expect her to sing so well. I thought she was just pretty," Katie whispered as she stared at Debbie.
"Pretty, where is she pretty? Why can't I see it?" Melissa said angrily. Amongst the three of them, Melissa's family background was the best, so the other two followed her lead.
"That's right, she's not as pretty as the three of us. She's only a bit better than the average girl," Olivia quickly said. "Melissa, watching Janice's attitude toward Debbie, she seems to value her a lot. Janice wouldn't want her to be the leader instead, would she?"
"Her? You wish!" Melissa hatefully said. "Didn't she try to win Janice's favor? Acting cool in front of us? She's only just arrived, but she's already so out of control. If we don't show her who's in charge, she might really think that she's a member of our group."
With that, Melissa stood up, and the three of them walked over while staring fixedly at Debbie.
"Janice found her, so I advise you to not act recklessly," said Rita when she passed by. Rita lightly tapped her guitar, acting like she didn't care as she reminded them.
"There's no need for you to worry about my own matters," Melissa said in an unflustered manner as she walked over to Debbie with Katie and the rest of them.