The first line appeared on screen.

"I feel so unsure"

He opened his mouth.

His voice came out.

And Jordan froze.

That wasn’t his voice.

That was someone else’s voice coming through his throat. Smooth. Rich. The kind of tone that made people stop mid-conversation and turn their heads.

What the fuck.

The words kept flowing. His mouth moved on autopilot while his brain scrambled to catch up.

"As I take your hand and lead you to the dance floor"

The room had gone quiet again. Different from before. This wasn’t the stunned silence of watching Chloe perform. This was something else.

Attention.

Complete. Undivided. Laser-focused attention.

Jordan’s eyes flicked to the booth. Kyle’s grin had frozen. Leo’s mouth hung open. Kumiko’s phone was still recording but she’d stopped bouncing. Alexis sat forward, her expression sharpening.

Chloe’s eyes were wide.

The Alluring Whisper trait. Had to be. The System had warned him his voice would bypass conscious resistance but Jordan hadn’t expected it to feel like this.

Like cheating.

Like having a cheat code installed directly into his vocal cords.

"As the music dies, something in your eyes"

His voice dipped lower on that line. Smoky. The microphone picked up every nuance.

"Calls to mind a silver screen and all its sad goodbyes"

Jordan’s confidence kicked in. Not the fake kind. The real thing. The kind that came from realizing he wasn’t about to embarrass himself in front of his girlfriend and her friends.

He moved. Nothing dramatic. Just shifted his weight. Let his body sway slightly with the saxophone line.

The chorus erupted.

"I’m never gonna dance again"

His voice climbed. Not desperately reaching for the note, but claiming it. The power came from somewhere low in his chest, pushed up through lungs that had actual capacity now thanks to his new body, resonated in a throat that wasn’t constantly constricted by anxiety and Red Bull–induced acid reflux.

"Guilty feet have got no rhythm"

The line came out with a bite. A self-awareness that the original song wore like armor. Jordan leaned into that. Let the words mean something.

Kyle had stopped grinning. His expression had morphed into something more focused. More impressed. The kind of look that said he was recalculating his friend’s entire existence in real time.

Leo’s face had gone slack. His mouth hung open in a way that would’ve been funny if Jordan had the spare mental bandwidth to catalog it. He looked like someone had just explained quantum physics using only hand puppets.

Kumiko had abandoned all pretense of casual observation. She was mouthing every word along with him, her phone still recording but now held at a slightly different angle. Professional documentation instead of social media gossip.

Alexis had forgotten to look bored.

That was the thing Jordan noticed most. Alexis Van Der Berg, who’d probably spent eighteen years perfecting her mask of casual superiority, was just... watching. No performance. No calculation. Just raw attention.

And Chloe.

Chloe’s knee had stopped pressing against his empty seat. Her hands were flat on the table. Her lips were parted slightly.

"Though it’s easy to pretend"

Jordan locked eyes with her.

"I know you’re not a fool"

The words felt heavy. Loaded. Like he was saying something else entirely.

"I should have known better than to cheat a friend"

Chloe’s expression flickered. Something passed across her face too fast to name.

"And waste the chance that I’ve been given"

The music swelled. Jordan’s voice rose to meet it.

"So I’m never gonna dance again"

"The way I danced with you"

The saxophone wailed.

Jordan let the note hang in the air. His voice carried it effortlessly. No strain. No crack. Just pure sound.

The second verse started.

"Time can never mend"

His voice dropped again. Quiet. Almost a whisper.

The room leaned in.

"The careless whispers of a good friend"

He enunciated every word. Let them land. Let them breathe.

"To the heart and mind, ignorance is kind"

Jordan’s hand moved. He didn’t plan it. His body just knew what to do. He pressed his free hand to his chest on the word heart.

Kumiko made a sound. High pitched. Strangled.

"There’s no comfort in the truth, pain is all you’ll find"

The chorus came back harder.

"I’m never gonna dance again"

Jordan’s voice powered through. Confident. Sure. Like he’d been doing this his whole life instead of getting kicked out of middle school choir.

"Guilty feet have got no rhythm"

He moved across the small stage area. Three steps. That was all the room he had. But he used them.

"Though it’s easy to pretend"

His eyes found Chloe again.

"I know you’re not a fool"

She was watching him like she’d never seen him before. Like he’d just revealed something she hadn’t known existed.

"I should have known better than to cheat a friend"

The lie he told her yesterday flashed through his mind. The fake inheritance. The three girlfriends.

"And waste the chance that I’ve been given"

His throat tightened.

"So I’m never gonna dance again"

The music built. The saxophone screamed. Jordan’s voice climbed with it.

"The way I danced with you"

He held the note. Longer than necessary. The Alluring Whisper trait made it easy. Made everything easy.

The instrumental break kicked in.

Jordan didn’t sing. Just let the music play. Let the saxophone do its work.

He lowered the microphone slightly. His chest rose and fell. Sweat had started to gather at the base of his neck.

The room was so quiet he could hear someone’s phone buzzing on the table.

Then the final chorus.

"Tonight the music seems so loud"

His voice came back strong. Fuller than before.

"I wish that we could lose this crowd"

Jordan’s eyes swept across the booth. Kyle. Leo. Kumiko. Alexis.

"Maybe it’s better this way"

Back to Chloe.

"We’d hurt each other with the things we’d want to say"

Her expression broke. Just for a second. Something raw and unguarded flashed across her face before she caught it.

"We could have been so good together"

Jordan’s voice softened. Almost apologetic.

"We could have lived this dance forever"

The words hit different now. Felt heavier. Like he was singing about something real instead of just performing a song.

"But now who’s gonna dance with me"

The final line stretched out. Long. Achingly long.

"Please stay"

His voice dropped to barely above a whisper on that last word.

The music faded.

Silence crashed down like a physical weight.

Jordan stood there. Microphone in hand. Heart hammering. Not from nerves. From something else he couldn’t name.

Then Kumiko exploded.

"OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!"

She was on her feet again. Jumping. Actually jumping up and down.

"YOU SAID YOU COULDN’T SING! YOU LIED! YOU’RE A LIAR!"