A Different Beat

“So, are we all on the same page here?” Duncan asked, pushing his glasses a bit farther up on his nose before combing back his hair with his hand. He watched as Calum looked at the others before he spoke.

“Can you just go over the whole thing one more time? Ashton, Michael, and Luke all groaned, falling back dramatically in their chairs as Calum rolled his eyes. “Whine all you want, I want to make sure I know what I’m doing.”

“Cal, we’ve been over this eleven times.” Michael grumbled.

“And when I kick your asses eleven times over in the finale, you’ll know why.” Cal smirked. He then turned back to the young producer, smiling. “So, just one more time.” Duncan sighed, leaning back and slipping off his glasses before cleaning them with his shirt.

“We have open auditions all over the country for people, they come, they sing, they go home. We pick the best fifty and go to their homes, tell them they made it to the blind auditions.” His eyes snapped up, “That’s where you four come in.” He looked at his glasses, wiping them one more time before setting them back in place. “You each get a team of five singers, so the original fifty gets whittled down to twenty. Then-”

“Can you explain the auditions again? The ones with us?” Calum interjected. Duncan just looked at him blankly, pressing his lips together.

“They sing while your back is turned to them, you won’t be able to see them at all, you just go off of their voice. If you want that singer on your team, you hit the button and it turns your chair around so you can see them.”

“This sounds a lot like that Yankee show The Voice.” Luke said, eyeing Duncan. The young producer fidgeted nervously.

“Well, once you pick your teams it gets a lot different.” Duncan assured. “You all stay in the same house, a mansion that was generously donated by one of our CEOs. Each team had their own separate wing with bedrooms and practice space and such, but things like the living room and the kitchen you all share.”

“So what’s with the slutty sleeping arrangements then if we have all this space?” Ashton pressed, cocking an eyebrow at the young producer. Duncan smiled.

“For ratings. But having your whole team, except you four of course, sleep in the same room, juicy bits like sex and cat fights are all going to be caught.” He explained.

“Because you’re filming it.” Michael clarified.

“That’s correct.” He then smiled again. “And once we get to the last half-”

“Go through how we get there again.” Luke said, smirking. “For Cal’s sake.”

“Buggar off ya bastard.” Cal smiled, wrapping his arm around Luke’s neck and messing up the younger boy’s hair.

“Each week, every singer will sing one piece that you rehearsed with them. Whoever is the worst, you send home. We do this every week until the last week. Then your two remaining singers sing one song each along with a duet. Whoever you choose to stay becomes your partner for the final half.”

“So, back to the slutty rooming arrangements for the last half.” Ashton chuckled. Duncan sighed, wondering who had picked these boys for him to deal with.

“You and your remaining teammate will sleep in the same room for the remainder of the competition. You have one month to train with your singer for the last half of the show. How you train them in that time is completely up to you.” Duncan said, looking over the four of them. “Then you all come back for the last half of the show.”

“Which is basically the first half again.” Michael noted, smiling. Duncan ignored him.

“Each week you and your singer will perform a duet and Australia votes for their favorite. Whoever has the least votes is eliminated. We do this until we have two teams left, then we go into the finale.”

“Who are we getting for the finale?” Luke asked, leaning forward.

“Nothing’s confirmed yet, but we’re hoping for Iggy Azalea, One Direction, Maroon Five, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga.” Luke nodded, leaning back.

“Solid line up.” Ashton said. Duncan tried his hardest not to beam.

“Well like I said, nothing’s confirmed.” Duncan insisted. “Anyway, for the finale, all the teams perform one last duet, the other two basically as filler, all the lovely people I just mentioned preform while Australia is voting, and at the end of the night, we crown our winner.” His eyes then flicked back to Calum. “That good?”

“Perfect.” Calum said, smiling. Duncan smiled, nodding.

“Good.”

“Oh wait.” Cal said, jumping forward again. Duncan swore that if he asked him to go over everything again, he would kill him. “Who’s hosting?”

“Angelia Meyers.”

“Who?” Michael asked.

“She’s a model, you’ll like her.” Duncan insisted. “Now if that’s all the questions, I just need you to sign the paperwork.” He slid a contract towards the four boys, smiling. Luke eyed the fat stack of papers nervously.

“Do we get to read it?” He asked. Duncan shrugged.

“You could but, I don’t know, The Wanted are really pushing to-” The name of their best mate’s rivals was enough for Ashton as he shot forward, signing everywhere Duncan pointed. The rest of the boys quickly followed suit. As soon as Luke dotted his last ‘i’ in Hemmings, Duncan snatched the paper. “Perfect, that’ll be all boys.”

As soon as they were all outside, Michael turned to Luke. “Bet you pick a girl just so you two can do the naughty for a whole month.” Luke flushed.

“Please, I bet Ashton is going to scare his team away because the first time they meet him he’ll be up in a tree or something.”

“Hey!” Ashton chuckled. As they walked back towards the car waiting for them out front, there was one thing none of the boys could deny.

This show was going to be one wild ride.