Chapter 221: High-Energy Sets and Midnight Dances

After five songs concluding with "All Kind of Love" the track Eric wrote, Emma stepped to the front of the stage. Eric could clearly see that Emma, Ruby, Jade, and Tania were breathing heavily and completely exhausted, but bright, sweeping smiles lit up their faces, making them look far more alive than before.

"Thank you so much for watching our performance! Now it’s time to pass the stage over to The Empress... see you all around... bye-bye!" Emma cheered warmly, waving to the crowd.

"Bye everyone!" Ruby, Jade, and Tania waved to the partygoers with radiant expressions.

The crowd broke into thunderous applause. The four girls on stage bowed gracefully and turned to walk toward the wings. As she walked off, Emma stole a glance at Eric and offered him a cheerful wink and a smile. Eric raised a thumbs-up back at her, flashing a warm grin. Once the four girls slipped backstage,

"Alright... phase one complete. Time for phase two," Eric said.

"Yep... alright bro, I’m gonna head out," Mike replied.

"Wait... what? You mean you’re going home?" Eric asked, turning to face Mike.

"Yeah... I’m gonna go hang out with Jade for a bit and drop Tania off while I’m at it. They don’t wanna stick around long, so since their set is done, they wanna bounce," Mike answered.

"Actually, that’s a no-go. According to the contract, members of The Empress and Nobelia aren’t allowed to leave until the whole event wraps up. Don’t forget... they paid us," Katie chimed in, offering a gentle reminder.

"Wait... seriously?" Mike asked.

"Yep... dead serious," Katie confirmed.

"Hmm... fine then, scratch that idea. We’ll just wait till the event wraps up. Guess I’m not going backstage after all," Mike grumbled politely.

"Wait, so that means I’m stuck here until they finish too?" Eric asked Katie.

"Yep... you’ve gotta stay put right here," Katie answered with a grin.

"Ugh... I really should’ve read that contract yesterday instead of just blindly signing it... total rookie move," Eric muttered in his head.

"Serves you right! Don’t go saying I didn’t send you the draft, I emailed it to you directly and you didn’t read it, even with the deadline staring us in the face," Katie pointed out, wagging a finger at Eric’s face.

"Okay... okay... my bad," Eric surrendered weakly.

The energy inside the hall surged once again as the members of The Empress stepped onto the stage and took their positions. Monica stood front and center wearing a sleeveless black vest over a sleeveless tee paired with distressed ripped jeans. Chloe, Priya, Heidi, and Laura sported matching outfits, standing ready at their instruments. Monica leaned into her microphone,

"Hey everyone! Since you all know who we are, we’re gonna skip the small talk and dive right in... alright, we’re kicking things off with Cher’s 1998 classic, ’Believe’!" Monica announced.

A hushed silence fell over the crowd. Heidi kicked off the intro on the keyboard with a modified, slightly faster tempo beat, interspersed with Laura tapping the cymbals with a smooth, steady rhythm.

Monica, Priya, and Chloe harmonized on the background vocals over the soft cymbal rhythm before Monica stepped up, bringing her mouth right to the mic, delivering the opening lines with intense emotion and a vocal presence so close to the original that the students on the floor instantly started swaying and dancing along. As the song built into its iconic chorus, the dance floor packed out completely once again. The disco ball overhead spun rapidly, scattering vibrant, swirling rays of light all across the hall.

Eric, Katie, and Mike were grooving along at the edge of the floor until Katie grabbed both of them by the arms and dragged them right into the center. The three broke into an energetic, delightfully chaotic dance that was completely unscripted yet somehow totally in sync. Eric glanced up toward the stage, catching Monica, Chloe, Priya, Heidi, and Laura watching him. He smiled and held up a solid thumbs-up, giving all five girls a huge surge of joy and energy.

From there, they transitioned into their own signature cover version with a faster, house-inspired beat, keeping the lyrics pumping and driving the crowd into an absolute frenzy. The music flowed seamlessly into the next track without stopping. By the time they hit their third song, Eric, Katie, and Mike backed away toward the edge of the floor, slightly out of breath and glistening with sweat, though genuine smiles covered their faces.

"Fun, right?" Katie asked Eric, catching her breath.

"Yeah... super fun, hahaha," Eric laughed.

"Reminds me of my own prom back in the day. Too bad Jade didn’t wanna go last year, so I skipped mine to keep her company," Mike shared.

"Oh... you already knew Jade back then?" Eric asked, curious.

"Yeah, I’ve known her for three years now. We’ve actually been dating for two years, though the first year was long-distance... that’s why the second she graduated, she moved straight out to this city to be with me," Mike answered.

"Ah, I see... so you’re the guy she met at church and kept bumping into on that dating app, huh?" Eric asked.

"Yep... that’s me," Mike chuckled.

Suddenly, "tap... tap," someone tapped Eric’s shoulder from behind. He turned around to find Emma, Ruby, Jade, and Tania standing right behind him.

"Oh hey, what are you guys doing out here?" Eric asked.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do? Our set is finished, but we’re not allowed to leave, so... we came out here. Right, Emma?" Ruby said.

"Yeah... apparently there’s an award presentation for us and The Empress later... so... we just have to wait it out," Emma answered.

"I don’t even go to school here, yet I have to stand around and accept an award... give me a break," Tania complained with a groan.

"Oh, hush! Go find a guy to dance with over there," Jade teased, grabbing Tania’s shoulders and spinning her around toward a group of male students dancing together or standing solo.

"Ugh... cut it out! I already told you I’m not interested," Tania huffed, glaring as a few guys on the dance floor began turning their heads toward her.

"Want me to keep you company?" Ruby offered Tania gently.

"Nope... still not interested!" Tania called out in response.

As the three of them dissolved into friendly bickering, Emma wrapped her arm through Eric’s and pulled him out toward the center of the dance floor. The surrounding students recognized them and politely cleared a space, leaving the two of them to slow-dance together right under the colorful beams of the spinning disco ball.

Meanwhile, up on stage, Monica, Chloe, Priya, Heidi, and Laura grew even more pumped up watching Eric and Emma dance together. They belted out three additional bonus songs for free, even as Katie tried signaling them frantically from the sidelines to wind it down.

On top of that, they watched as Ruby paraded Tania around, introducing her to classmates hanging out along the edge of the dance floor sipping drinks. Meanwhile, Mike and Jade joined Eric and Emma in the middle of the floor, slow-dancing side by side.

Once The Empress finished their set of hard-hitting yet melodious beats alongside their original tracks, Monica stepped up to the front and grabbed her mic,

"Alright... now that we’ve hyped everyone up, it’s time to bring things down with a smooth, quiet song. But... for this one, I’d like to invite our special guest on stage... Eric Reed!"

Monica pointed her mic straight at Eric in the middle of the floor. The main spotlight instantly swung over, pinning Eric in its bright beam. Eric flinched in shock, reflexively turning his head toward Katie, who shook her head before giving a helpless shrug as if saying, it’s up to you. Meanwhile, "thump," Emma nudged Eric’s back, pushing him toward the stage.

"Hurry up, get up there!" Emma urged.

"Yeah... get up there!" Jade added from nearby.

"Don’t overthink it, bro, just go!" Mike chimed in.

"Sigh... fine, whatever," Eric muttered.

Nudged along by the crowd, Eric stepped onto the stage to a thunderous round of applause from the entire room. The moment he set foot on stage, Monica, Chloe, Priya, Heidi, and Laura set their instruments down and walked over with mischievous smirks plastered across their faces.

"You guys are unbelievable," Eric chuckled.

"Hehehe... get up to the mic!"

The five of them dragged Eric over and positioned him right in front of the center mic before stepping back. Eric looked down at the dance floor, taking in the sea of students, event staff, and supervising teachers waiting expectantly for him. "Sigh." Eric let out a heavy breath into the mic, his sigh echoing through the speakers. On the sly, he quickly browsed through the system database displayed on his floating holographic screen, looking for a slow 90s rock ballad. He pulled up Aerosmith’s 1998 classic, "I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing."

Eric turned toward the girls and motioned for them to stay put. He then walked over to the keyboard, stepping behind it and gently nudging Heidi aside.

"Alright, I’ll be singing Aerosmith’s ’I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.’ To the members of The Empress... I expect a slow dance right in front of me," Eric announced with a wide grin.

"Wait, what?!" Monica, Chloe, Priya, Heidi, and Laura’s faces turned pale all at once.

Before they could even protest, Eric hit the keys, launching straight into the song’s iconic piano introduction. Seeing him start without hesitation, the girls clenched their jaws and quickly fell into position on stage.

Taking a breath, Eric delivered the opening verses with a rich, slightly raspy vocal tone that resonated beautifully through the hall, leaving everyone in the room completely spellbound:

"I could stay awake just to hear you breathing..."

(Note: Aerosmith’s 1998 hit "I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing" is a romantic rock ballad about treasuring every fleeting moment with a loved one and never wanting to miss a single breath or smile. You can find the full, official lyrics by searching for the song on Google.)

On the floor below, the partygoers began slow-dancing with their partners. Mike and Jade swayed together in the center, while Katie ended up dancing with a guy who happened to ask her out. Tania and Ruby stepped onto the floor with brand-new dance partners they had just met, though Tania looked like she was undergoing absolute torture.

Meanwhile, Emma stepped up onto the stage to slow-dance with Chloe, while Monica paired with Priya, and Heidi danced with Laura right in front of Eric as he played.