"Do you think Dora will pass him? It doesn't look like she's in his favour." Bob whispered, taking note of everything so far.
Not only Bob but everyone around him could feel like even a nice presentation like Gary's might not be impressive enough for these judges, which only increased the tension and nervousness many were feeling.
"If you're judging her thoughts by the expression on her face, then you're very wrong. Dora's expression is always the same whether she's in a good or bad mood. That's why she's the perfect judge for this show. I'm sure she likes Gary's presentation even though she is not showing it." Alex explained.
"Ah ah, see me getting worried about someone's performance when I'm yet to perform mine." Bob placed his hands at the back of head while chuckling nervously. "Perhaps it was because my role was switched to this number. I wonder how I would be feeling right now if I were in Gary's position."
"I guess it's luck that brought you here after all." Alex stated.
"It sure is."
The next judge had decided to speak up after Dora was done saying her bit.
"I don't have much to say so I'll go straight to the point." Jenny started, "Your demonstrations during the presentation were good and the way you keep on swirling your hands were impressive as well. I could feel the emotion of the song from your body movements alone. So I'll give you a pass."
A smile appeared on Gary's face as he heard this, but he couldn't rejoice yet as the main results wasn't out yet. This was just a 1/3 rating. He was hoping Dora will pass him or maybe the annoying big guy.
Dora was done writing whatever she was writing and had handed it out to Jenny who also wrote down a few things in the paper. Afterwards, the three judges started discussing amongst each other, nodding here and there, until finally, the paper was passed over to Thomas.
Clearing his throat, Thomas turned to look at Gary who seemed to be getting nervous as the long awaited results were about to be announced.
"The judges have decided." There was a slight pause before Thomas continued. "Your vocals are impressive, and your demonstrations were good as well. You have a good way of composing songs which is pretty awesome. If we hadn't known the song waves we would have thought yours was an original."
An idea suddenly came to Thomas as he remembered a specific person who is yet to release his album to the public, if he could get Gary to sign with him, then maybe he could used his composing skill in a way.
Smiling, he continued with his speech. "Congratulations Gary, you have just made it to Rank Five."
A great sound of applause echoed through the whole arena at the news of this, they couldn't believe it. They thought such a nice song as this was going to get criticised because the beat wasn't original. This gave some people confidence that they could do their best. The cheering continued but it soon died when participant number two was called to perform on stage.
The next participant was a young teenage boy who was from head to toe, in a black outfit and also had a black trainers on. As he got on stage, he introduced himself and also stated what he'll be performing on stage which happened to be dancing.
Just like Gary, he had also chosen the same beat. Only this time it wasn't just the beat, instead it was the main song; waves by Jaja.
He got into position as soon as the music started, and as it proceeds, the fellow ensured he didn't alter any steps. Though his movement weren't as skilful as many dance experts, yet in the eyes of someone who has no idea about dances, it would seem great to them.
The performance ended pretty quick and the judges were quick to make their judgements; passing him to rank four due to his sloppy movements.
The third participant had also got on stage, however, the fellow turned out to be a lady, probably in her early twenties.
Although the young lady performed well by singing an original song she composed herself, her voice cracked at some point causing her to retake the whole song all over again, earning her a Rank Two.
Other participants were called after that. And while some had bad voice, some sang well and got promoted to Rank threes, fours and fives.
While there are others who forgot the lyrics of their song or couldn't sing well due to distractions or something else. There were those who had stage fright, earning them 0 rank and were instantly eliminated from the contest.
The contest kept on running until the last participant, number 199 got passed into Rank three. The judges were so tired, so they concluded on taking a little break.
"Alright, we'll be going on a short break of thirty minutes. Then we'll continue from where we stopped." With that said, the judges left the arena.
Though participants were allowed to leave their seats to buy stuffs outside, there were some who had chosen to stay in the hall and maybe practice a bit more before the break ends. After seeing the majority of people getting eliminated from making one mistakes or the other, something had clicked in their heads as they didn't want to face with such humiliation.
...
In one of the dinning rooms created specially for special guests and judges, a group of four individuals could be seen eating a few snacks.
"Alright Guys, we'll be starting with the VIPs first. Make sure all of them are placed in rank five. Afterwards, don't put anyone else in rank five or four." Thomas ordered.
"Are you serious? What about those with special talents? Those who are worth being placed in rank five and four, are we just going to place them in lower ranks?" Despite how expressionless Dora was, she was still the type to voice out when she was meant to.
"Are you going to do as you're told or you want to be replaced. I'm sure you won't want to choose the latter since you already know what's at stake for you." Thomas said with a smirk.
Hearing those words, Dora's expressionless face turned into a deep frown as she glared directly into Thomas' eyes. The others couldn't do anything since they too are in one way or the other affected by Thomas.
It was only after a couple of seconds that she shifted her gaze to the food in front of her. The more she look at his face, the more she felt like punching him right there and then. But no matter how much she pictured it in her mind, she couldn't take the action. Not when she knew what's at stake for her.
'I swear I'm going to kill you if you dare lay a finger on her!' She grinned internally to herself, not able to shout and yell at him. 'How I wish he was here. All of this wouldn't be happening if Alex was still alive.'