Entry 2: Continued from Above
"It is with great sadness that I announce my departure from Wonderstar," Maira says on camera, to be edited and dispersed throughout the HoloNet. She holds back tears. "Unfortunately, I have an illness that will not allow me to continue performing with this group, with these girls, that I love dearly." She pauses, taking another deep breath.
The manager, sitting behind the camera, clicks his tongue. This was verging on too many tears. The editing team would need to work overtime to tame it up a bit.
"I would like to thank Pan-Galactic Talent for their gracious offer to support me throughout my treatment. It means the galaxy to me."
Zena squeezes her hand, showing her support. Of course, the entirety of Wonderstar was there, offering their well-wishes for Maira in her time of need. Zena focuses intently, holding back her giddy feelings, making sure she didn't ruin the wide shots.
After a few more lines, the girls all came together for a group hug.
"I know that Wonderstar will reach never-before-seen heights," Maira says from the middle. "I look forward to watching their successes."
"Cut!" the manager yells, and the cameras shut off. The hug breaks apart, none of the girls knowing what to say, as Maira drops to her knees, releasing the crying she wasn't allowed to show just before. Wonderstar's manager comes over and ushers the four remaining members out of the room, waving a hand for security to come over and deal with Maira's crumpled frame sobbing on the floor.
It is blasted all over the HoloNet. Maira dropping out of Wonderstar just a few days after the release of a hit single, just a couple weeks before a concert in Coruscant, the first of what would be a long tour throughout the galaxy. Pan-Galactic Talent didn't want to leave so many adoring fans in the dark. An illness striking down one of the hottest upcoming singers before her prime. A tragedy that would boost Wonderstar's sales even further.
Zena sits in her room, reading the press release over and over, a wide smile growing on her face. An illness? Truly a fate worse than death in the world of Pan-Galactic Talent. It's a well-kept secret in the industry. Being supported through an illness means Maira's contract isn't voided, so she can't find another agency. She will be smothered into anonymity, becoming just a memory in only the most devout of Wonderstar fans, until she's too old to start another career. Of course, the gag orders don't end there. Like everyone else, she signed her rights away the moment she joined the agency.
With prison sentences held over her head, it was sure that no one would hear the truth of what actually happened to Maira that fateful day. All for the low cost of paying Maira's salary for a few more years.
A success, as far as Pan-Galactic Talent is concerned. And Zena as well.
A popup appears on her tablet. "Thirty minutes of leisure time complete. Lights out in five minutes." She sighs and tosses the now-locked tablet onto the nightstand beside her bunk.
"A message from your family?" a voice asks from the other side of the nightstand. Zena looks over to the source of the question, Srini, an older girl with black hair who was the leader of another Pan-Galactic Talent group, Whispering Wicked. She had taken it upon herself to be a sort of guide for the younger girl since Zena arrived, despite the fact the groups only got to talk to each other in the bunkrooms. Eight girls in a room, with little rhyme or reason. In total there were about sixty total musicians in the bunks, most of them here, in the girls' bunks. "You were smiling at your tablet, I thought it might be a nice letter."
"Ah, yeah," Zena responds, noncommittal. "I miss them," she says, careful not to devulge too much information. She, of all people, knows what happens if others overhear things they aren't supposed to. Plus, in reality, she couldn't imagine anything more tedious than correspondence with her parents. But she also didn't want to talk about what actually brought her joy.
Srini gets out of her bed, kneeling on the floor between their bottom bunks, and reaches out to put a hand on Zena's shoulder. "Music isn't an easy career path, I know. But you're following your dreams, and I'm sure they understand and are so proud of you."
Zena smiles, saying nothing in return.
A silence lingers between the two for a few seconds before Srini pulls away, turns around, and looks over to the opposite corner of the room. "I hope Maira will be OK," she says aloud to no one in particular.
Zena follows her gaze to the empty top bunk diagonal from hers, now stripped of sheets and laying bare. She offers only a soft grunt of affirmation, desperately wanting to talk about anything else right now.
"Such a shame," Srini continues to herself, turning around once more to Zena. "And I bet Wonderstar is right on the brink of getting your own suite. I think that's when the magic happens, when you truly get to build chemistry and a relationship with your groupmates," she muses, her eyes losing focus in her own fantasy world. "I hope it won't hold you guys back, and I hope I'll be right behind you very soon."
Perfectly on cue, the lights in the bunkroom go dark, leaving only the faint glow of walkway guiding lights from the hall pouring in. It never got perfectly dark in the rooms, something Zena always despised. She faintly sees Srini getting back into her own bed a few feet away, and Zena offers her a goodnight, before once more glancing over to the empty bunk across the room.
In the morning, Zena makes her way to the meager breakfast area, though it's more of a small cafeteria. It's one step removed from the gender-separated dorms, as the boys and girls can hang out together here. There's a buffet, but every option every morning looks unappetizing. Zena picks the best of the available options, her tray a mixture of soupy textures of various unsettling colors. All the nutrients a pop star needs, since the lesser employees can't be trusted to hold themselves to a strict diet. She turns around, spotting two of her groupmates, Witini and Kayse, sitting together at a table, talking with each other in hushed whispers. Neither of them looks up, despite the fact that Zena is one of only a handful of people in here this early in the morning.
Taking a seat at an empty table, she begins picking through the food she grabbed. Try as she might, she can't pick up on what the two girls a few tables over are talking about. Zena gives up, opting to just power through her meal, before getting up and taking her tray to the return area. As she exits the cafeteria, she swings wide toward her groupmates, saying "Practice is in twenty minutes," as she passes. She hears Kayse moan, agreeing that they, too, need to get going.
Zena returns to her dorm and gets ready for practice. She takes out the immaculately ironed work outfit from her wardrobe, built into the wall beside her bunk, and puts it on before putting workout clothes into a bag to take with her to the dance room. It had always been a hassle. Lower rank employees aboard the Transmitter ships weren't allowed to walk the halls in anything except their work attire. Even if it was just a five minute jaunt to the practice room. Of course, rules were rules, and Zena did whatever she needed to in order to make a good impression.
The locker room attached to the practice room is empty she Zena arrives, as it always is. Zena makes a point of being early to practices. She quickly changes into workout clothes, every small movement echoing around the wide room, large enough to suit some of the groups that were pushing twelve members. She quickly changes clothes for the second time in ten minutes, pulling on athletic wear and making her way into the practice room before any other member even arrives at the locker room.
When she enters, she sees that the group manager, Tencoo Charenau, is also there, talking with the choreographers. He turns his head toward Zena as the door slides shut behind her, their eyes meeting for a second before Zena makes her way to the back of the room and stands at attention until practice begins.
Several minutes of quiet later, only broken by the soft business talk of the choreographers and manager as well as the loud talking of the other three girls heard through the adjoining wall of the locker room, the door slides open once more and the three other members join Zena at the back wall with a minute to spare.
The choreographers finish talking with the manager, but let the silent seconds tick by, waiting to start exactly on time. Punctuality is a highly treasured trait in Pan-Galactic Talent.
Practice commences as expected, the four women polishing their dance moves with the new formations now that they were one fewer member. For the other three, it was just like it had been before Zena arrived, but it was a new experience for Zena. However, she kept looking toward Tencoo, sitting on a chair to the side of the room, holding a data tablet and only occasionally looking up to them.
"Eyes forward, Zena," the male choreographer, Maloror, growls at her, noticing her getting distracted.
After run-throughs of three different songs, the girls take a break to get water. At this point, Mr. Charenau stands up from his chair and makes his way over to the front of the room, clearing his throat to get the attention of Wonderstar, though they're already watching him.
"Given that Wonderstar is making waves right now," he begins, making light of the situation surrounding Maira, "I think it's best to strike while the iron is hot. Wonderstar will be debuting a new song at the concert on Coruscant."
The girls all perk up, looking back and forth between each other. It would be the fastest they'd ever needed to learn a new song, but it shows how much faith management has in them.
"It's a tribute to Maira," Tencoo continues. "We'll have a segment in each show, making sure fans know she's still in our thoughts."
Zena shifts uncomfortably, and she can tell she's not the only one. Zena is still the only one who knows exactly what happened to Maira, but it's obvious that no one in the group truly bought into the illness story more than management required, especially considering Maira herself never made any mention of it to them.
However, new songs mean new opportunities, so Zena returns her attention to their manager.
"For the remainder of this practice, Maloror and Ersi will teach you this song exclusively, and you'll have double practices until the Coruscant concert. And, as for the center who will lead this song," Mr. Charenau pauses, smiling, knowing how eager everyone would be to hear the answer.
Zena clenches her fist. She knows she has a leg up on the others because management knows her name. She made sure of that when she visited Mr. Lorcien.
"Witini," Tencoo finally says plainly, completing his previous thought.
Witini squeals with delight, and Kayse quickly runs over to her. Reien joins shortly after, leaving Zena, fists clenched, staring at Tencoo Charenau for several seconds. He meets her eyes again, looking back at her, until Zena finally breaks the connection and goes to congratulate Witini as well.
Once again clearing his throat, Mr. Charenau gets Wonderstar's attention once more. "Now then, I'll play you the new song and leave you to it. It's simply titled, 'Better.'" He presses a button on the wall and a slower, more melodic song begins playing, with temporary vocals that the girls will need to record sometime in the next few practice sessions as well.
Zena listens to the song. It's just as she'd expect a tribute song to be: fairly contrived and uncomplicated. That probably explains why they're being given this on such short notice. Because it's doable.
But a shiver goes down Zena's spine at the end, what should be a glorious, uplifting, melancholic moment at the end of the final chorus. But something about the lyrics, "I need you to get better, I want you to be better," causes her discomfort.
As the song fades, Tencoo starts speaking again. "Second practice will be just before dinner. I'm sure you four can make this happen." He claps his hands together, as if finished speaking, causing the girls to return to drinking their water. "However," he says after a pause, looking at each girl individually as his gaze sweeps over them. Zena swears he lingers on her longer than the others. "I would like to see a bit more cohesion and camaraderie from you all." With that, he turns on his heels and steps back into the hallway, leaving Wonderstar and the choreographers alone again.
'Better' is a much simpler learn than any previous song Zena had to deal with, and she had to learn a lot in quick succession to be caught up on every song that Wonderstar would play live. For the ease, she was thankful. Partially because she can't shake the thought of Tencoo's words as his eyes seemed to pierce right through her even when he was looking elsewhere. Zena stays silent throughout the rest of practice all the way until she's back in the locker room, having just finished showering the sweat from dancing off of herself, when she hears someone talking to her.
"I thought you were going to be the center for sure," Reien says, sidling up next to Zena on the bench in front of the locker Zena always chooses.
"Me too," Zena says quietly. Reien is the closest thing to a friend she has, and it took a couple months for Zena to understand why. Reien was happy where she was, as a member of Wonderstar, singing and dancing. She always has a smile on her face during practices and performances. She is well and truly passionate about music.
But she isn't an obstacle.
Reien is satisfied as long as she's making music. She has no desires to move upward, to become rich and famous. She could never stand in Zena's way to becoming a household name. And for that, Zena silently thanked her. Reien is a ladder she could use to climb higher and higher.
To her surprise, Reien leans over and sits shoulder to shoulder against Zena, before whispering, "I guess it shouldn't be a surprise, though. Witini's family is rich after all," sadly, both to herself and to Zena. "I'm sure her father made another generous donation to PGT."
Zena tenses up. It's the first negative thing she's ever heard Reien say.
Feeling Zena's discomfort, Reien sits back up, separating the two bodies once more, before smiling at Zena once more. "Sorry, you heard Mr. Charenau. We need to be closer," she says with a laugh. "I hope that wasn't too much," she says much quieter. "But I'm glad you're here, Zena, in Wonderstar. I trust you."
"No, I just..." Zena starts, her mind reeling with the new information Reien's given her. "I just..." she tries again, sorting through the best thing to say in the moment. "I just hope we have a chance soon," she finally says. Reien gives her another smile, her eyes clouded with the understanding that they drew the short straws in Pan-Galactic Talent, despite the fact they were both scouted, approached by the company first, rather than applying. Reien reaches out and squeezes Zena's hand before getting up from the bench and approaching Kayse and Witini, once more congratulating the latter on her opportunity before waving goodbye cheerfully and heading out into the hall.
Reien isn't an obstacle. She's a ladder. A tool that Zena can use. So she'll keep her friends close.
And her enemies closer. Zena pulls on her jacket and congratulates Witini once more herself, giving her a hug, feeling every drop of insincerity in the motion, both from herself and from Witini, before heading back to the bunkroom.
When she returns, she's surprised to be greeted by yet another hug, this time from Srini. "I'm going to miss you," her longtime bunk neighbor says, and Zena blinks in surprise. Looking over the other girl's shoulder, she sees her bed, now stripped of its sheets as well, with a note that says "Floor 10, Suite 17: Wonderstar."
"I'm sure you're going to do great things, Zena," Srini whispers.
