"W-w-what...." Lia, who had given up on getting on the stage that night, shouted. Her fallen expression lights up in an instant.
"Miss... I meant Joanna is right," Raymond quickly corrected himself. He moved away from the crowd and stood beside Joanna instead.
"The beats are up to date. It includes all the modifications we have made to our performances. All we need to do is play out our drama just like we have practised and we will be able to deliver a splendid performance," Raymond supported.
Instead of giving him a response the others turned and exchanged puzzled glances.
And Raymond couldn't blame them for acting this way.
From the beginning, their performances were supposed to be live and all their rehearsals were carried out following this.
None expected that things would turn out this way. It was quite understandable that they were sceptical about this since it was a last-minute arrangement.
Roy stepped forward after they had given some thought to Raymond and Joanna's suggestion.
"If the recording is the same with all our previous practices then I see nothing wrong in using it for our performances instead of playing the instruments live on stage... at least this is better than not performing at all tonight," Roy shared his honest opinion about their Leaders' idea.
"We also think that is a fantastic idea..." Lia trailed off as she walked away from the crowd.
Earlier she was obviously the happiest among them but at the moment Joanna could no longer see that excitement in her eyes.
And she couldn't wait to hear what other concerns Lia had to make her look so unhappy when every other person was excited about the recent development.
"Yes, with the recording we will be able to resolve the issue about the stolen drums and ruined musical instruments but what about our stolen costumes?" Lia asked the question which had skipped almost everyone's mind.
When Lia saw everyone's expression turned gloomy once again, she knew they hadn't thought that far about their issue.
"As much as the musical instruments are important for our performances tonight, so also are our costumes. Without them there will be no show even if there is music," Lia added.
Actually, it wasn't Lia's intention to dash her group members' hopes again but this was the reality they must all face and this includes her.
Raymond's eyes darted from one fallen expression to the other. His cold heart broke into pieces when he saw that even Joanna wasn't spared from all the troubles.
"Ray, didn't you give two different companies the contract of making our costumes but only one delivered them on the deadline?" Derrick spoke up amidst the deadly silence.
"Guys, wait here. I will call the second company and have them deliver our costumes to the university..."
"But it will take them some time to get here right and we all know that time is what we lack at the moment..."
"Do what you have to do and I will try to delay your performance time as much as I can" A man's cold voice interrupted Lia before she had the chance to lay out her concerns.
Instantly all of them looked towards where the voice came from and behold, Mr Finley was approaching their direction.
"Mr Finley!" Everyone exclaimed in shock. Despite their astonishment, they didn't forget to accord Mr Fin the respect he deserved.
"I heard what happened and I will do everything within my power to buy you and your group members the needed time to get ready so do what you are supposed to do and leave the rest for us," Mr Fin declared sternly.
"Everyone who knew about the incident has been with us all along. Mr Fin, how on Earth did you get wind of what happened to us?" Raymond asked, his suspicious glares fixed on Mr Fin's face.
Mr Fin stared at their curious eyeballs which were glued on his face.
[Of course, I wouldn't have known what had happened if not that angry...]
"Say something, Mr Fin," Joanna waved her hand at the man whom she noticed was in a trance.
Even she wanted to know who told him about their predicaments when all her group members were together the entire time.
"Right now, isn't the most important thing to sort yourselves out before you are called on stage?" Mr Fin asked. He stylishly tried to manoeuvre his way out of their question he had no intention of answering.
"But..."
"Fix yourselves up while I go back and buy you some more time. Make sure not to take long," Mr Fin instructed. He vanished into the dark before any of them had the opportunity to say anything to him.
Joanna turned to face the others after Mr Fin left.
"Guys, I know we were not supposed to rehearse again but because there are changes in our plans why don't we practice one more time with the recorded beats to avoid mistakes on stage?" Joanna suggested with the hope that her group members would go along with her suggestion.
Joanna rubbed her palms together when it took them a long time to respond to such a simple question she asked.
"It's ok if you...,"
"And why not?" They chorused to her amazement. Their stern expression brightened up as if they had planned to give Joanna a scare from the start.
"We have come a long way to stop. Tonight we will show all those who tried to ruin us that we are not to be easily messed with. Am I right, guys?" Lia shouted and the response she got was very heartwarming.
"That is right," Joanna yelled just to match their excitement.
With how optimistic everyone was Raymond and Joanna had no trouble coordinating their last rehearsal before the real performance.
Just like Mr Fin promised, he was able to buy them an extra twenty minutes and that was enough time for Joanna and her group members to prepare themselves.
When it was time to go on stage, Joanna stepped out of the backstage onto the main big stage.
"Hello everyone, I am Joanna Anderson," Joanna said in her most melodic voice. Although there were over a thousand people in front of her, the nervous lady standing on stage stared into space instead of people's faces.
Another reason she couldn't bring herself to look at any of her audience's faces was that she didn't want to accept the reality that she was the only one among her group members whom no family member was cheering on among the crowd.
"I bring on stage Lit..." Joanna froze when she got a glimpse of the face of the guy sitting on a special seat on the front roll.
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