Chapter 10

Transcript for Chapter 10A

Jade: I'm like Amber now, aren't I? Good TV, but I can't win.

Justice: I think so, yes.

Jade: [censored] that. I'm gonna win.

Justice: Where's this determination coming from all of the sudden?

Jade: Amber can't trust me anymore. Winning this thing is the only way I'm going to save my relationship with her.

Jade: Think you could help me?

Justice: That depends. Can you do what I tell you to do?

Jade: I...I think I have to.

Justice: Then there's a lot we need to go over before everyone else gets here and they start filming the round.

Jade: What are you doing?

Justice: I haven't forgotten what you said to me.

Jade: And that was?

Justice: You said, and I quote, 'I can't dance.'

Justice: Were you being serious? And just tell me straight out; we don't have time to waste playing the modesty game.

Jade: I wasn't being modest, that's for sure.

Justice: Okay, but 'can't dance' can have a lot of meanings. One, I can't dance because I have arthritis in my knees. Two, I can't dance because no one ever taught me, but I wouldn't mind learning.Three, I can't dance because I psyched myself out a long time ago and I'd be too embarrassed to try. Four, I can't dance because I have white-girl clapping syndrome and there's no hope for me. I'm really hoping it's not that last one.

Jade: Listen, I can't dance because I'm morally opposed to objectifying myself for a mostly-male audience, and so I didn't bother wasting the hours in front of my mirror in order to figure out how to dance when I could be drawing instead.

Justice: Gotcha. Number three. I can work with that.

Jade: What? That's not what I-

Justice: Have you watched many of Bouquet's music videos?

Jade: Unfortunately I've seen a couple, but I've never watched one.

Justice: I can't teach you to dance in one day. So instead I'm going to devote some time to getting you comfortable with the idea of dancing at all. If you have that, you'll at least be starting on the same level as most of the other girls.

Transcript for for Chapter 10B

Opens with a shot of the Bouquet girls, on TV, dressed in idol costumes.

Jade: What is this?

Justice: This is the dance-only version of Bouquet's latest music video, the one they filmed right before Nadia and Bobbi left. There are no close-ups and no dramatic scenes. Just a costumed dance performance with no cuts.

Jade: [He means, with nothing to break it up and distract you from how perfect the girls are. They're all completely in-sync.]

Jade: [Like robots. Or more like one great pretty-idol beast.]

Justice: So, what do you think?

Jade: I can't do that.

Justice: Yes, you can. Of the six girls we have now, only two had any formal dance training before they joined. If they can learn, there's no reason you can't. Let's watch the practice version.

Jade: Good. I need to see them screw up a little bit.

Jade: [Give me a break. They're even better in this version than they are in the official one. Everyone's sharp, everyone's adorable, and even though no one's looking around to get their bearings, they still don't run in to each other or fall on their faces. No human who wasn't raised in the circus could do something like this.]

Jade: Yay, it's over.

Justice: Watch it again.

Jade: But-

Jade: Okay, I've watched it three times, and I haven't caught one mistake. If you're trying to make me feel better, it isn't working.

Justice: Sorry, I know it's overwhelming. I'm building up to something here.

Jade: What are you turning on now?

Justice: Katie's solo practice. Her dancing is above average so I definitely won't be expecting you to be better than this.

Jade: Huh.

Justice: What?

Jade: When she's dancing by herself it looks ten times easier.

Transcript for Chapter 10C

Jade: There were like twenty whole seconds where she was just standing there. And look right there. She's not even dancing. She's just walking around.

Justice: You don't see her walking around during the group dance. There are other girls in front of her. We're going to go back and watch the official version again, so keep your eyes on Katie and try to see how her dance fits in to the larger group dance.

Jade: I already don't know which one she is.

Justice: Strawberry blonde.

Jade: [Let's see. Katie. Katie. There she is. He's right; half the time I can't see her because she's behind some other girls. When she's right in the middle she acts like a total diva. But when she moves off to the side, she goes into survivalist dancing or something. It's like she's just trying to keep her dress on and not fall off the stage. But I guess I didn't notice that before because I was watching that other girl dance in the middle.]

Jade: Is this really the official video?” Jade said. “It's terrible.

Justice: You noticed. But it didn't look terrible before, did it?

Jade: Well, no.

Justice: It's all in your perspective. Bouquet is a group, so its dances are designed to take advantage of that group dynamic. Half the performance is in the blocking; they make it hard to keep track of what everyone is doing so it'll still impress you after you've watched it a dozen times. But if you break it apart and study it like we did, you realize that-

Jade: You realize what I've been saying all along. You don't have to be talented to be a flower.

Justice: You realize that you should have no trouble at all keeping up. With the moves, at least. The trick will be teaching you to enjoy yourself.

Jade: I honestly don't know how I'm going to do that.

Justice: You're going to have to trust me. And you're going to have to be willing to humiliate yourself a little bit.

Jade: Like my solo wasn't humiliating enough?

Justice: That wasn't humiliation. That was you giving me the finger. But about dancing: Amber's a freaking genius, so I figure you have to have a genetic predisposition for it. But if you've never done it, it's going to be a while before you don't suck. You have to prepare yourself for failure and determine to have fun with it anyway.

Jade: If you already know I'm going to fail, then why-

Justice: Okay, look. I'm going to give you some inside information. It's probably cheating a little but we're just going to think of it as leveling the playing field. There are three things that Harrison's going to be looking at today.

Jade: Let me guess. None of them is my dancing.

Transcript for Chapter 10D

Justice: Oh, he'll be watching your dancing. But he's not interested in your style so much as how well you listen. Because when you're doing three or four concerts and three music videos a year, you have to pick up stuff fast. He knows that the girls are all coming here with different skill levels at the outset. But the good listeners will surpass the experienced dancers in a few months, no exaggeration. So that's the first thing he'll be looking at: how well you listen.

Jade: Hold on, let me write this down. Okay, next.

Justice: Two, he's going to be checking your rhythm and initiative. He'd much rather see a girl make up some moves as long as she keeps moving and stays on the beat. There's nothing worse than standing there with a confused look on your face.

Justice: No matter what you do, don't stop dancing.

Jade: Okay.

Justice: Last, and more important than anything, he's going to be checking your reactions. How do you look when you forget what you're doing? Do you let yourself smile when you get something right? Do you get visibly angry when you make a mistake? Now, normally there is no "correct" type when it comes to this; he just wants to see what kind of girl you are so he can imagine how you'll fit into the group and try to figure out whether or not the audience will like you. But in your case I'm just going to say it straight out: don't get mad. You're terrifying when you're mad. The audience will get little peeks at it some day, I'm sure, but your number one challenge while working with this company will be controlling your temper.

Jade: And how do I do that?

Justice: We're going to try some exercises this morning. Here's what I want you to focus on: whenever you get mad about anything, or when you feel like you're about to blow up or start cursing people out, I want you to try smiling instead. It's going to feel really unnatural at first, but do it anyway. I can't teach you rhythm or initiative, but I can teach you to listen, and I think I can help you get some control over your expressions.

Jade: I don't get it. Supposedly you scouted me because I'm a "badass," but then you want me to act like a wuss.

Justice: The point is that you're so bad that you're going to have to obscure it a little. Think of it as making the audience look at you through pink lace.

Jade: Gaaaaaaaaag.

Justice: You might like it. It's super useful not be instantly hated. Give me your Sharpie.

Jade: ..?

Jade: You little punk!

Transcript for Chapter 10E (...holy buckets, there's an E?)

Justice: Smile.

Justice: Good try. Now, give me the Sharpie.

Jade: I'm not a dog. You don't have to train me like-

Jade: Frick!

Justice: Obviously, I do. Now, give me the Sharpie.

Justice: Good. Now, smile.

Justice: snort That's very good.

Jade: !

Jade: You...you are such a...such a jerk!

Justice: Ow! Ow, Jade, stop it!

Jade: Let's see how you like it!

Justice: You're gonna mess up my hair!

Jade: Pfft-

Jade: Ha ha ha! This is so ridiculous. We're ridiculous.

Justice: I'm just trying to help you.

Jade: He- -help me what? Be bald?

Justice: Help you smile when you're mad. If there's any hope for you, it's that smile. It is so beautiful.

Jade: Doesn't it bother you that you think it's normal for a girl to become a "pop" star just because of her smile?

Justice: See, you still don't understand. You think because the other girls are always smiling that it means they always want to be smiling. For you, keeping that smile on your face will be harder than any dance routine. If you win this, it'll be because you earned it.

Justice: I think...that you are going to win.

Jade: Would you stop it?

Justice: Can't. Getting my prediction down in writing. There you go. Get your stuff and let's head down to makeup. I want to get you into a decent outfit before the cameras start rolling.

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