Because they all didn’t want to be outdone by a high school student, they didn’t talk about it. They were naturally happy to see someone giving Alarieka a hard time, so they didn’t say anything. They secretly watched Alarieka, hoping to see Alarieka’s embarrassed and angry look.

But things weren’t like they thought. Alarieka looked calm: “I was a human to begin with. No matter what I wore, I was still human. But some people were different. They had to wear fancy clothes to look like a person. Some people were even more different. No matter how expensive their clothes were, they still couldn’t become human.”

Marlene’s face changed. This Alarieka was throwing shade at her, saying she wasn’t human. What an Alarieka. Marlene sneered and said, “So sharp-tongued and smart, how come you’re still in last place? Let me tell you as someone who’s been through this, some things are better done by yourself. If you get into the next round by cheating, you won’t feel at ease even if you get the spot.”

Alarieka’s eyes narrowed a bit. Marlene was talking about someone online reporting that she got in through connections. She couldn’t help but want to laugh. Did Marlene really think she’d be influenced by public opinion, or that a few words from others would affect her mood? That was really funny. Alarieka pulled up the corners of her mouth: “Whether I can hold it steady or not, you’ll know in a bit. If I say it now and get slapped in the face later, that’ll hurt my feelings too.”

“Alarieka.”

“Alarieka, don’t say that.”

Two completely different voices sounded at the same time. One was deep and mellow, and even in broad daylight, it could send chills down your spine. The other was soft and charming, with a hint of urgency, making people feel sorry for her. Alarieka glanced toward the source of the sound. Kieran’s eyes were dark, and Roschelle pressed her lips together, looking really anxious. Roschelle whispered, “Alarieka, don’t you recognize Mrs. Argent? She’s Kier’s mom. I think you should be polite to elders.”

“No need,” Marlene said coldly. “If she could listen, she wouldn’t be Alarieka.”

Alarieka gave a sarcastic smile. The broadcast urged her again, telling her to hurry up and get on stage. Alarieka didn’t argue with them anymore and walked into the performance room.

The performance room was still the same one as the preliminaries, only the judges were sitting below the stage, no one in the audience seats, really different from the day of the preliminaries. On the day of the preliminary round, all the contestants except her were already sitting in the contestant seats, and the piano was broken too. This time, it was quiet in the audience, no strange looks or talking, and the piano had already been fixed. Alarieka stood on the stage, bowed to the judges, and sat down on the piano bench.

Alarieka thought and thought, and only came up with one way to keep herself in the middle. She picked a relatively easy piece. It was a classic, and everyone who learned piano had to know it. It was really easy to learn, but to play it well, to play it perfectly, was super hard. All these years, not many pianists got a few words of praise from the composer. Alarieka was so familiar with this piece that even Lindsey, who always had her nose in the air and was stingy with praise, kept complimenting her.

“Alarieka, you were really something else. Not many people could play this piece like you did. You actually nailed every single great part.”

Thinking of Lindsey, Alarieka spaced out for a second. She heard Paloma’s voice: “Alarieka, start.”

Alaricka snapped back to reality and stared at the piano in front of her. She decided to play this piece and bring out half of its charm, so it wouldn’t be too perfect or too mediocre. Like this, it should count as being average, not enough to get a high score, but not low either. Alarieka’s hands were on the piano keys, and her fingers pressed down gently. Soon, a smooth piano melody appeared, winding and gentle.

Paloma listened, a bit of surprise in her eyes. She really didn’t expect that Alarieka would actually play this piece. Her eyebrows frowned. This piece was easy to learn, but it was really, really hard to show off how great it was perfectly. Even she herself only fully learned it after studying piano for over ten years. Alarieka was young, just a high school student. At that age, unless you were a genius, there was no way you could play this piece well. Obviously, from Alarieka’s performance in the preliminaries, Paloma already knew Alarieka was definitely not a piano genius and there was absolutely no way she could play this piece outstandingly.