Always
Bootcamp: Part 1
Kaylie’s POV
Friday, 17th June
“Breathe, little sis.” My eldest brother said, sitting next to me in the driver’s seat. We were just about to arrive at the venue for Bootcamp, which was in Watford. We have driven for about an hour; I was too nervous to drive myself so Michael offered to drive instead since he had a day off work.
I followed his advice and took deep breaths, fiddling with my fingers. It was a bad habit of mine. I played with my fingers when I was anxious, too much that my knuckles would turn white and my fingers would be pink and raw. I was also nervous to see the judges again, especially Harry. My audition had been a great start but I needed to up my game if I was going to get past Bootcamp. I had to beat the success of my audition.
Michael pulled over the car one street away from the venue which was The Grove Hotel. I had to skip school today because of Bootcamp but my principal allowed it, which I was grateful for. Vanessa told me she would get copies of all worksheets in class so I could catch up but my focus was on this stage of the competition. I looked out of my car window and saw people walking in the direction of the hotel, one after the other, and I had a feeling many, if not all of them, were rival contestants.
My brother’s hands rested on top of mine and I looked into his warm brown eyes. He squeezed my fingers and gave me a reassuring smile.
“You can do this.”
“I-I don’t know if I can, Michael…” I choked out.
“Of course you can, Kaylie. You’re amazing and I bet you are better than many of other contestants in the hotel right now.”
I laughed half-heartedly. I wish that was true… But then again, I hadn’t heard any of the other contestants’ voices. They must be great if they got through.
I reached over and gave my big brother a hug. He kissed my cheek and wished me good luck. I slung my handbag over my shoulder, grabbed my gym bag and stepped out of the car, shutting the door behind me as soon as my feet were on the ground. I waved through the window and quickly rushed across the quiet street, looking out for cars. I heard Michael drive off with a beep and I swallowed deeply, walking towards the hotel. When I turned around the corner, I gasped.
The hotel was huge. It looked more like an oversized mansion or a palace. The green grass glowed underneath the beautiful sunlight, puffy white clouds expressing the splendour of Summer. There was a large body of water outside the hotel, not a single ripple present. Contestants walked up into the hotel and I followed suit. We all followed directions from the host where to put our belongings before heading back outside.
Me and the other contestants gathered near the water and my heart began to race. There were so many people, well over 100, probably closer to 200. How am I going to beat these people? Do I really have a chance? To be honest, I really didn’t think I did. A girl’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.
“Hello?”
I looked to my left and my eyes fell upon a very beautiful young woman about 8cm taller than me. She looked around my age, maybe one or two years older, and her hair was curly, the brown strands turning into blonde at the ends in an ombre style. Her eyes were a beautiful blue and her skin was fair like mine.
“Uh, hi.” I said.
“I’m Alicia.” She held out her hand. Wow, she’s so nice! I thought and slid my hand into hers.
“My name’s Kaylie.”
“That’s a beautiful name! It’s good to meet you.” Alicia said. I smiled at her. It looks like I’ve already made a friend. She had the courtesy of coming up to me and introducing herself. I didn’t have that kind of courage.
“It’s good to meet you too.” I grinned at her and turned to look ahead. We were at the front of the large group and a long thick black slab sat on the grass about 20 feet away from us. Dermot stood to the side, talking to a camera. Oh, crap, I’m going to be on television. Just be yourself, Kaylie. You need to make yourself likeable. I told myself.
“You excited?” Alicia asked me.
“Yeah but I’m also really nervous.” I answered.
“Me too.” Alicia nodded in agreement. Cheering made us end our conversation and I looked ahead to see the four judges walking down the path in our direction.
Simon was dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt with sunglasses over his eyes. Mel B had her hair pulled back in a tight bun and her body was clothed in a dark red dress that ended just above her knees, clinging to her body, with matching black heels. Dannii looked absolutely gorgeous in a blue and white skin-tight dress and white heels, her dark hair tied in a side ponytail that fell down her left shoulder. And Harry…just wow. I swore his black jeans were leggings. They were that tight. Black ankle boots were on his feet and his torso was covered in a pink dress shirt with white polka dots, the sleeves rolled up above his forearms, the buttons open to reveal his swallow tattoos. He looked so handsome and I found my heart beating even faster at the sight of him. All four of them stepped up onto the black slab; I realised it was some sort of mini stage, and they all had microphones in their hands as they surveyed all of us with their eyes.
“Hello, everyone.” Simon said. There was a chorus of “hello”s and “hi”s back. I shifted my gaze from Harry to Simon, knowing that if I looked at Harry for a moment longer, my cheeks would be red. Not a good look on camera.
“Welcome to Bootcamp.”
The entire group clapped and cheered. I applauded quietly and returned a smile that Alicia gave me. The cameras were pointed our way but my gaze was fixed on the four judges. Mel B raised the microphone to her lips and spoke after Simon.
“We’re now going to give you your first challenge. We would like you to break up from this huge group into smaller groups of five. And then each group is going to get a list of songs. You’ll all agree on one song and you’ll perform that song to us four judges tomorrow.”
Crap. I wasn’t good at meeting new people. I wasn’t good in working in a group. But I needed to step out of my comfort zone for this to work. I needed to show the judges that I had potential. That I deserved to get to Judges’ Houses and possibly the live shows.
“We will decide right then who will be going through and who will be eliminated.” Mel continued. Us contestants looked at each other nervously. There were those of us who were solo artists and didn’t want to work in a group. But it had to be done. This was a challenge and we all had to complete it. Alicia and I looked at each other and I bit my lip, interlocking my fingers together with anxiety.
“Last year when this challenge was set, we had a mixture of three different categories in each group. This time, it’s going to be different. Each group will be the same category. So all Groups, all Overs etc. So that’s the challenge.” Simon finished off. Alicia and I didn’t move from each other’s side. We already liked each other and it would nice to get to know her more, even if I was competing against her. I want to be in a group with her.
“This is the time when you prove to us if you’re ready for this. Because the music industry is hard and cruel and nothing is ever easy.” Dannii said, loose strands of her hair blowing in the soft breeze.
“We have vocal coaches and choreographers in the hotel who will help you while you rehearse your performance. So give it your all. You have to show us that you’ve got what it takes.” Harry followed. I never got used to the beauty of his voice. The way he talked in that English drawl of his, it was beautiful. I still felt like pinching myself that I was standing only 20 feet away from him. It was a dream come true and maybe another dream of mine would come true along this journey I was about to undertake.
“And choose your groups carefully because if you’ve got someone really useless, that could affect your chances in getting through to the next stage of Bootcamp.” Simon said, gesturing to our large group with a perfectly manicured hand. Some people shuffled nervously and others nodded, never taking our eyes off the judges. Our dreams were in their hands and we had to prove to them what we were capable of. What I was capable of.
“And as Simon always says, it’s about winning. Because someone in front of us here is going to win.” Harry said with a smile and I swore his eyes locked to mine for a brief second. Did he look at me? Uh…why? My mind was all flustered now. Alicia nudged me with her shoulder and grinned but I could only smile back quickly because I was all nervous as a result from Harry looking right at me for a moment. I’m not going to win. I’m not going to beat these people. But maybe during this experience, I would gain some self-confidence.
“Is that clear?” Simon asked. We all shouted “Yes!” and “Yeah” back and the judges all wished us luck before heading back down the path, whispering to each other. I watched Harry talk with Simon, his long curls gently moving around his shoulders, before disappearing to wherever the judges were staying during Bootcamp.
Alicia and I immediately formed together. Now we just had to look for three other girls who were under 25. It was, surprisingly to me, quite easy to find people because Alicia was a people person and was very friendly. So we ended up in a group of me, Alicia, a 20-year old from Doncaster called Skye, an 18-year old from Watford called Kristen and a 21-year old from London called Melody. Skye and Kristen were very sweet but there was something about Melody that turned me off. She was too…confident. Like she didn’t appreciate where she was right now. Even her handshake was too tight; my hand felt a little sore afterwards.
0*0
Once all of the contestants had formed groups, we were all assigned a room a hotel in which to practice. Fortunately, the room where I would staying for the next three nights was just across the hall and I found out that Alicia was my roommate along with two other girls who weren’t in my group but they seemed nice enough.
On the table in the centre of the room was a piece of paper with a list of songs on it, just like Mel B had informed us. Alicia picked up the list and we all crowded around her, looking at the songs we could choose from.
- Chandelier by Sia
- Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) by Beyoncé
- Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen
- Jar Of Hearts by Christina Perri
- Never Be The Same by Jessica Mauboy
- Burn by Ellie Goulding
The songs were obviously catered for the Girls’ category and to be honest, I liked all the songs on the list. How are we going to come to a decision? We probably all had different opinions on the songs and the type of music we liked to sing to. I sat down on the couch as the discussion started.
“Chandelier would be great because it’s a big song and we can show how big our voices are.” Skye smiled.
“I agree with you there.” Alicia nodded.
“What? No, it’s too slow. We must do something upbeat, like Single Ladies.” Melody demanded. We all looked at her and Alicia narrowed her eyes as Melody flipped her short white-blonde hair over her shoulder. I don’t like this girl already.
“There is no “must” here. We’re discussing, not deciding.” Alicia said.
“What’s the difference?” Melody shrugged her shoulders. She was starting to get my nerves and we hadn’t even started to rehearse yet. She was so fucking cocky it made me want to pull on the strands of her perfectly styled hair. But I wasn’t a violent person. I just didn’t like Melody. She had airs about her that I wasn’t fond of.
“What song do you like, Kaylie?” Alicia asked. All the girls looked at me and I swallowed, running my hands over my knees.
“Um, I really like Chandelier or Never Be The Same. I think bringing emotion across is more important than just showing we have great voices.”
Alicia, Skye and Kristen all smiled and agreed with me whereas Melody just stomped off to the bathroom to fix up her make-up. She’s more concerned about her appearance than her performance. What a cow. I’m not one to insult anyone, especially another girl, but Melody wasn’t a nice person and she didn’t understand how lucky she was and the chance that she had to make it big. I had my fingers crossed she would be knocked out in Bootcamp because if she got through further, she would just piss me off even more.
After another ten minutes, we managed to pick what song to sing: Never Be The Same. I was happy. I thought the song was beautiful and there were moments when all of us could have our moment to shine. We were given two vocal coaches to help us and we all got set to work, doing vocal exercises and practicing the lyrics, allowing the coaches to help us find our inner emotions.
But Melody was still a pain in my ass and probably everybody else’s too. I couldn’t stand much more of her attitude. I decided to focus on the song and how to show emotion through the lyrics. I just hoped that Melody wouldn’t let us down tomorrow when we perform the song in front of the judges. I didn’t want Melody to destroy my chances of getting through to the next stage. I wouldn’t let her.
Friday, 17th June
“Breathe, little sis.” My eldest brother said, sitting next to me in the driver’s seat. We were just about to arrive at the venue for Bootcamp, which was in Watford. We have driven for about an hour; I was too nervous to drive myself so Michael offered to drive instead since he had a day off work.
I followed his advice and took deep breaths, fiddling with my fingers. It was a bad habit of mine. I played with my fingers when I was anxious, too much that my knuckles would turn white and my fingers would be pink and raw. I was also nervous to see the judges again, especially Harry. My audition had been a great start but I needed to up my game if I was going to get past Bootcamp. I had to beat the success of my audition.
Michael pulled over the car one street away from the venue which was The Grove Hotel. I had to skip school today because of Bootcamp but my principal allowed it, which I was grateful for. Vanessa told me she would get copies of all worksheets in class so I could catch up but my focus was on this stage of the competition. I looked out of my car window and saw people walking in the direction of the hotel, one after the other, and I had a feeling many, if not all of them, were rival contestants.
My brother’s hands rested on top of mine and I looked into his warm brown eyes. He squeezed my fingers and gave me a reassuring smile.
“You can do this.”
“I-I don’t know if I can, Michael…” I choked out.
“Of course you can, Kaylie. You’re amazing and I bet you are better than many of other contestants in the hotel right now.”
I laughed half-heartedly. I wish that was true… But then again, I hadn’t heard any of the other contestants’ voices. They must be great if they got through.
I reached over and gave my big brother a hug. He kissed my cheek and wished me good luck. I slung my handbag over my shoulder, grabbed my gym bag and stepped out of the car, shutting the door behind me as soon as my feet were on the ground. I waved through the window and quickly rushed across the quiet street, looking out for cars. I heard Michael drive off with a beep and I swallowed deeply, walking towards the hotel. When I turned around the corner, I gasped.
The hotel was huge. It looked more like an oversized mansion or a palace. The green grass glowed underneath the beautiful sunlight, puffy white clouds expressing the splendour of Summer. There was a large body of water outside the hotel, not a single ripple present. Contestants walked up into the hotel and I followed suit. We all followed directions from the host where to put our belongings before heading back outside.
Me and the other contestants gathered near the water and my heart began to race. There were so many people, well over 100, probably closer to 200. How am I going to beat these people? Do I really have a chance? To be honest, I really didn’t think I did. A girl’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.
“Hello?”
I looked to my left and my eyes fell upon a very beautiful young woman about 8cm taller than me. She looked around my age, maybe one or two years older, and her hair was curly, the brown strands turning into blonde at the ends in an ombre style. Her eyes were a beautiful blue and her skin was fair like mine.
“Uh, hi.” I said.
“I’m Alicia.” She held out her hand. Wow, she’s so nice! I thought and slid my hand into hers.
“My name’s Kaylie.”
“That’s a beautiful name! It’s good to meet you.” Alicia said. I smiled at her. It looks like I’ve already made a friend. She had the courtesy of coming up to me and introducing herself. I didn’t have that kind of courage.
“It’s good to meet you too.” I grinned at her and turned to look ahead. We were at the front of the large group and a long thick black slab sat on the grass about 20 feet away from us. Dermot stood to the side, talking to a camera. Oh, crap, I’m going to be on television. Just be yourself, Kaylie. You need to make yourself likeable. I told myself.
“You excited?” Alicia asked me.
“Yeah but I’m also really nervous.” I answered.
“Me too.” Alicia nodded in agreement. Cheering made us end our conversation and I looked ahead to see the four judges walking down the path in our direction.
Simon was dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt with sunglasses over his eyes. Mel B had her hair pulled back in a tight bun and her body was clothed in a dark red dress that ended just above her knees, clinging to her body, with matching black heels. Dannii looked absolutely gorgeous in a blue and white skin-tight dress and white heels, her dark hair tied in a side ponytail that fell down her left shoulder. And Harry…just wow. I swore his black jeans were leggings. They were that tight. Black ankle boots were on his feet and his torso was covered in a pink dress shirt with white polka dots, the sleeves rolled up above his forearms, the buttons open to reveal his swallow tattoos. He looked so handsome and I found my heart beating even faster at the sight of him. All four of them stepped up onto the black slab; I realised it was some sort of mini stage, and they all had microphones in their hands as they surveyed all of us with their eyes.
“Hello, everyone.” Simon said. There was a chorus of “hello”s and “hi”s back. I shifted my gaze from Harry to Simon, knowing that if I looked at Harry for a moment longer, my cheeks would be red. Not a good look on camera.
“Welcome to Bootcamp.”
The entire group clapped and cheered. I applauded quietly and returned a smile that Alicia gave me. The cameras were pointed our way but my gaze was fixed on the four judges. Mel B raised the microphone to her lips and spoke after Simon.
“We’re now going to give you your first challenge. We would like you to break up from this huge group into smaller groups of five. And then each group is going to get a list of songs. You’ll all agree on one song and you’ll perform that song to us four judges tomorrow.”
Crap. I wasn’t good at meeting new people. I wasn’t good in working in a group. But I needed to step out of my comfort zone for this to work. I needed to show the judges that I had potential. That I deserved to get to Judges’ Houses and possibly the live shows.
“We will decide right then who will be going through and who will be eliminated.” Mel continued. Us contestants looked at each other nervously. There were those of us who were solo artists and didn’t want to work in a group. But it had to be done. This was a challenge and we all had to complete it. Alicia and I looked at each other and I bit my lip, interlocking my fingers together with anxiety.
“Last year when this challenge was set, we had a mixture of three different categories in each group. This time, it’s going to be different. Each group will be the same category. So all Groups, all Overs etc. So that’s the challenge.” Simon finished off. Alicia and I didn’t move from each other’s side. We already liked each other and it would nice to get to know her more, even if I was competing against her. I want to be in a group with her.
“This is the time when you prove to us if you’re ready for this. Because the music industry is hard and cruel and nothing is ever easy.” Dannii said, loose strands of her hair blowing in the soft breeze.
“We have vocal coaches and choreographers in the hotel who will help you while you rehearse your performance. So give it your all. You have to show us that you’ve got what it takes.” Harry followed. I never got used to the beauty of his voice. The way he talked in that English drawl of his, it was beautiful. I still felt like pinching myself that I was standing only 20 feet away from him. It was a dream come true and maybe another dream of mine would come true along this journey I was about to undertake.
“And choose your groups carefully because if you’ve got someone really useless, that could affect your chances in getting through to the next stage of Bootcamp.” Simon said, gesturing to our large group with a perfectly manicured hand. Some people shuffled nervously and others nodded, never taking our eyes off the judges. Our dreams were in their hands and we had to prove to them what we were capable of. What I was capable of.
“And as Simon always says, it’s about winning. Because someone in front of us here is going to win.” Harry said with a smile and I swore his eyes locked to mine for a brief second. Did he look at me? Uh…why? My mind was all flustered now. Alicia nudged me with her shoulder and grinned but I could only smile back quickly because I was all nervous as a result from Harry looking right at me for a moment. I’m not going to win. I’m not going to beat these people. But maybe during this experience, I would gain some self-confidence.
“Is that clear?” Simon asked. We all shouted “Yes!” and “Yeah” back and the judges all wished us luck before heading back down the path, whispering to each other. I watched Harry talk with Simon, his long curls gently moving around his shoulders, before disappearing to wherever the judges were staying during Bootcamp.
Alicia and I immediately formed together. Now we just had to look for three other girls who were under 25. It was, surprisingly to me, quite easy to find people because Alicia was a people person and was very friendly. So we ended up in a group of me, Alicia, a 20-year old from Doncaster called Skye, an 18-year old from Watford called Kristen and a 21-year old from London called Melody. Skye and Kristen were very sweet but there was something about Melody that turned me off. She was too…confident. Like she didn’t appreciate where she was right now. Even her handshake was too tight; my hand felt a little sore afterwards.
0*0
Once all of the contestants had formed groups, we were all assigned a room a hotel in which to practice. Fortunately, the room where I would staying for the next three nights was just across the hall and I found out that Alicia was my roommate along with two other girls who weren’t in my group but they seemed nice enough.
On the table in the centre of the room was a piece of paper with a list of songs on it, just like Mel B had informed us. Alicia picked up the list and we all crowded around her, looking at the songs we could choose from.
- Chandelier by Sia
- Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) by Beyoncé
- Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen
- Jar Of Hearts by Christina Perri
- Never Be The Same by Jessica Mauboy
- Burn by Ellie Goulding
The songs were obviously catered for the Girls’ category and to be honest, I liked all the songs on the list. How are we going to come to a decision? We probably all had different opinions on the songs and the type of music we liked to sing to. I sat down on the couch as the discussion started.
“Chandelier would be great because it’s a big song and we can show how big our voices are.” Skye smiled.
“I agree with you there.” Alicia nodded.
“What? No, it’s too slow. We must do something upbeat, like Single Ladies.” Melody demanded. We all looked at her and Alicia narrowed her eyes as Melody flipped her short white-blonde hair over her shoulder. I don’t like this girl already.
“There is no “must” here. We’re discussing, not deciding.” Alicia said.
“What’s the difference?” Melody shrugged her shoulders. She was starting to get my nerves and we hadn’t even started to rehearse yet. She was so fucking cocky it made me want to pull on the strands of her perfectly styled hair. But I wasn’t a violent person. I just didn’t like Melody. She had airs about her that I wasn’t fond of.
“What song do you like, Kaylie?” Alicia asked. All the girls looked at me and I swallowed, running my hands over my knees.
“Um, I really like Chandelier or Never Be The Same. I think bringing emotion across is more important than just showing we have great voices.”
Alicia, Skye and Kristen all smiled and agreed with me whereas Melody just stomped off to the bathroom to fix up her make-up. She’s more concerned about her appearance than her performance. What a cow. I’m not one to insult anyone, especially another girl, but Melody wasn’t a nice person and she didn’t understand how lucky she was and the chance that she had to make it big. I had my fingers crossed she would be knocked out in Bootcamp because if she got through further, she would just piss me off even more.
After another ten minutes, we managed to pick what song to sing: Never Be The Same. I was happy. I thought the song was beautiful and there were moments when all of us could have our moment to shine. We were given two vocal coaches to help us and we all got set to work, doing vocal exercises and practicing the lyrics, allowing the coaches to help us find our inner emotions.
But Melody was still a pain in my ass and probably everybody else’s too. I couldn’t stand much more of her attitude. I decided to focus on the song and how to show emotion through the lyrics. I just hoped that Melody wouldn’t let us down tomorrow when we perform the song in front of the judges. I didn’t want Melody to destroy my chances of getting through to the next stage. I wouldn’t let her.
Notes
So what do you guys think of Melody? Did you enjoy this chapter?
Unfortunately, updates will be slower because my grandfather passed away last Friday and I need time to mourn his loss and help the rest of my family through the grieving process. And on top of that, I’ve also returned to university so that’s just another thing on my plate. And my father is an aggressive alcoholic and bruised my entire left arm and broke my wrist this evening when he attacked me for no reason at all so I'm in physical and emotional pain. But I’m not abandoning this story. Just updates won’t be very frequent. Thanks for all the support, guys, I love you all :)
blankspace1 xx
We’re dying for an update here. I love it. <3
11/19/17