"So we’re all in agreement? Y’all like my idea?" Jamie asked in excitement as he looked around the practice room.

"Yeah, mate. Sounds good to me."

"Yes!" Jamie pumped his fist in excitement.

They had been discussing the details of the song they were going to perform at the finals and had finally nailed down the nitty-gritty that would bring it all together.

Thankfully, after listening to the five sample songs that he and Ari had created, everyone had surprisingly agreed on one song, the same song that Jamie originally wanted to perform, which made his life so much easier.

He would spend the evening tweaking a few things and separating each part of the track into something simpler that could be recreated on stage, but that was much easier than actually making a song from scratch.

"Then, since we’re in agreement on that end, shall we start practicing the new choreography for the new songs?" Ari asked as he stood up.

"Do we have a choice?"

"Nope. So gather around."

With a groan, each person scooted closer and began watching the tablet as Ari played the choreography videos they had been given.

It was time to start working.

*****************************

And after several hours of suffering, ahem, dance practice, as everyone lay on the ground drenched in sweat, Ari, the only put-together person due to his Otterly Adorable Tracksuit, began cleaning up and removing the memory card from the room cameras

"I highly recommend each person use today to get a full night’s sleep. Because we might not be able to get it for the next two weeks. I’m going to go give the PD this, and I’ll see you guys later."

"Rahhh."

Slowly, the practice room cleared out, and, as promised, Ari went to find PD Emily to hand her the memory card.

Unfortunately, on his way to her office, he encountered two people arguing in the hallway.

It was Carlos and William.

For a second, Ari considered making a U-turn and coming back later, but then decided to see what was going on because Carlos wasn’t the type to actually argue at all, even with somebody like William, who was always picking fights.

As he walked closer, he could hear the two of them whispering.

"We need to tell the PD." Carlos insisted quietly.

"I said, I’ll handle it! He does this all the time. He’s just acting like a child because he’s not getting his way. Just stay out of it and let the team leader handle it." William hissed.

Should you, of all people, be saying that?

"Who’s acting like a child because he’s not getting his way? William?" Ari asked as he walked closer, and both heads whipped towards him.

"We’re having a-"

"None of your business, fishboy! So butt out."

Ari looked between Carlos, who wore a worried expression, and the angry William before switching to Spanish to speak to Carlos.

"¿Qué sucede?" (What’s the matter?)

"Alguien está ausente." (Someone is missing.) Carlos said with a tired sigh as his eyes quickly flashed over to Williams confused yet angry face.

"¿Quién? (who?)

"El niño rubio."

The blonde guy?

Ari quickly ran through the members of William’s team before landing on the only current blonde on the team.

Levi was missing? Again?

Did he run off or what?

Ari glanced over at William before asking Carlos.

"¿Luchar?"(A fight?)

"Si."

Yeesh.

Makes sense, but yeesh.

I support you fighting with William, but don’t run afterward!

"What are you two talking about? Are you talking about me? This is America. Speak in English." William asked suspiciously as he stared at both of them in turn.

"Why would I be talking about you. You think the world revolves around you?" Ari replied with a snort.

"Then why did you switch languages?"

"To talk to my friend privately and leave you out of the conversation, obviously. Can’t you read a room?"

"This is America, speak English."

"Over 60% of the world is multilingual; learn another language." Ari shot back.

"You-"

"Me what? Did you forget that you owe me another 6 days of well-behaved dog-like behavior? You thought I forgot?"

As Ari brought up the bet they had made in Korea, William’s entire face turned red before he sputtered.

"That doesn’t count."

"Of course it does. It’s on tape."

"Not anymore, it’s not. It accidentally got deleted."

....of course it did.

"I thought it might, so I asked the PD to send me a copy first. You want me to leak it to the public?" Ari asked, causing William’s face to turn pale again before he shook his head.

"....you can’t trick me. I know it was deleted. I actually don’t have anything to say to you. Just prepare to lose at the finals, fish boy!" William smirked before turning back to Carlos, "You better not say anything to him. Or else."

"Say anything about what?" Ari asked

"Obviously, I’m being vague intentionally because you’re not on my team. Don’t you know how to read a room?" William shot back with a smug smile.

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

You think you’re funny?

You’re lucky I have better things to do than mess around with you right now.

Turning back to Carlos, Ari told him in Spanish. "Tell her no matter what that one says. I’ll message him on my side."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

After waving to Carlos while pretending that William simply didn’t exist, Ari went back to the room he shared with Jamie.

"What took you so long?"

"Chatting with Carlos. Apparently, Levi’s missing," Ari replied quietly before turning on his phone and texting Levi.

No response.

He called him as well.

Still no response.

After leaving him a message, Ari tossed his phone away and began helping Jamie with the song modifications.

He went to bed, woke up the next morning, and joined his team for all-day practice after a brief meeting with Jelissa.

After speaking with Carlos, he found out that Levi hadn’t shown up today either and wasn’t responding to anyone’s messages.

3 more days passed, with everyone appearing more and more haggard with each passing day.

And yet, there was still no sign of Levi.

Finally, on the day before the midterm evaluation with the judges, just as Ari was preparing to go grab a quick snack while practicing by himself in a practice room, the door of his practice room was slammed open, and 6 people barged in and stood there, blocking the doorway.

Ari’s eyes flitted from William, who was sulking between Jerome and In-su, to Mathew, Carlos, and Rex, who looked tired and annoyed.

They all just stared at him in silence until Ari spoke first.

"What?"

Why did you all come in here if you were going to act as statues?

What do you want?

5 pairs of eyes turned to look at William, so Ari stared at him as well.

After several seconds of hesitation, William spoke in a barely audible voice

"ʸᵒᵘ ⁿᵉᵉᵈ ᵗᵒ ʰᵉˡᵖ ᵘˢ."

[Eh?]

[Did he suddenly become an ant?]

[And is he trying to ask for help?]

I think he is.

"Huh? What was that? I can’t hear you." Ari replied with a smirk.

"I said you need to help us!" William yelled even louder.

"Is that how you ask for a favor? Try again. Politely. And add a bark at the end."

With a completely red face that matched his hair color, William glanced at his teammates for help, but seeing that all of them were glaring at him, he pushed down his pride and forced polite words out through gritted teeth.

"I need you to help us, please! ʷᵒᵒᶠ ʷᵒᵒᶠ"

"Puahahahahahahaha."

Hearing the tiny bark and seeing William’s embarrassment, Ari burst out laughing.

In fact, he laughed so hard that he fell to the ground and then rolled around for a bit before wiping tears from his eyes.

"Are you done?"

"Almost. Give me a second hahaha."

When he was finally done laughing, Ari let out a happy sigh before getting serious.

"Okay. What’s wrong?"

"Levi is missing," William announced as if it were something profound.

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

"...obviously?"

You had to be blinder than a bat without echolocation not to notice that a team that should have had 7 members had only 6 for a whole week.

"Help us find him," William ordered.

"....huh? Do I look like a private investigator or a GPS system? Go tell the PD and have them contact his parents. Or look for him yourself." Ari shot back.

"We did! William said he would handle it, but it’s been almost a week, and he hasn’t come back!"

"....okay? So where did you check?"

"His car is still here, and so are his clothes, so we’ve searched everywhere in the two buildings and told the PD. She said that technically, practice is not mandatory, so there’s really nothing she can do, and we’re not allowed to kick him from the team. Carlos even drove to his house, but he couldn’t get in. He’s nowhere to be found, he’s ignoring everyone’s messages, and it’s really inconvenient because now we have to do double work since we have to practice two versions in case he comes back or doesn’t!" Rex explained in frustration.

He thought that Levi had fixed his crashout ways, but clearly not.

While it was valid for Levi to be angry at William, his behavior was especially harmful because it was inconsiderate to everyone.

The rest of the team had to suffer because of one person, and at this point, he disliked Levi even more than William, because at least William was trying and showing up to practice every day.

With Levi airing everyone and creating even more work for them, the resentment was growing day by day.

Fights were happening daily, and even Carlos couldn’t keep the atmosphere peaceful.

This was the last resort, and if Levi truly didn’t show up by the midterm evaluation tomorrow, all of them would petition to have him removed from the team performance.

"Okay. So you haven’t heard from Levi. I get that. You’re all coming to me because...what?"

"When he went missing the last time, apparently you were the one who found him, so please find him again!"

"Please!"

"Seriously, bro, we need you."

"Yes. Please find Levi. ʷᵒᵒᶠ"

Seeing all of them bow their heads while asking politely to find their teammate, including William, who looked unwilling yet still barked, Ari scratched his head.

Do you seriously think I have a Levi GPS system on me?

After staring at the pleading expressions for a bit, Ari sighed.

"Fine. I’ll look as well, I guess?"

"Thank you!"

"Oh my gosh, thank you!"

"You’re the best!"

"Phew! I knew we should have asked you first!"

"When you find him, please drag him to our practice room!"

"Okay, bye!"

After thanking him as if their lives depended on it, all of William’s teammates ran out the door.

"...there’s no guarantee that I’ll find him?"

Unfortunately, Ari was speaking to an empty room.

With another sigh, he decided to check the one spot that he knew Levi liked to go to.