"Guys, the competition will start tomorrow. Let's do one more before we head out." It was already late; the school gate was supposed to close long ago but the band got special permission to stay in late to practice for their performance. They strike the final notes and their last practice if done. Sweat dripped down their body but the smiles on most of their faces were full of excitement and relief.
"Okay guys, if you are done cleaning up you can go home." Aron clapped his hand once signaling everyone's permission to leave.
"JB, Maria, Drake. Are you sure you can handle the instruments by yourselves?" Aron asked the three.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. We can handle just about that." Maria reassured Aron, even almost pushing him out.
"Okay, I'll go then. Be careful." He waved them goodbye.
"Carry all those to the truck," Maria ordered JB and Drake as soon as Aron left. JB and Drake mumbled something under their breath as they carried the drum set, keyboard, and all the other things they needed. Maria smiled on the side, doing nothing and just watching them.
"Hurry up!" She laughed watching them struggle. Drake glared at her and whispered something to JB. After finishing tying up the equipment they hopped in the truck and dashed out of the school leaving Maria to lock up the school by herself.
"Assholes! Come back!" She ran after the two, but they were too far ahead.
"Mother fuckers" she said under her breath, huffing from exhaustion.
"Fine! I'll do it myself!" Maria locked the school door. She started to walk towards the gate of the school and give it to the school guard.
"Here you go- "As she handed the guard the keys it started to rain heavily.
"Great; goddamn, I don't even have my umbrella; all my things are in the truck. Those assholes!" She said to herself hurrying home.
"JB, Drake, where are the instruments? And most especially, where is Maria?" Aron asked them, feeling a little worried.
"Maria was supposed to drive the truck here; we parked it in her dorm" Answered Jake.
"Aron! Maria's sick!" Olivia came running towards Aron waving her phone in the air with a panicked voice.
JB and Drake looked at each other full of guilt.
"Apparently she caught a cold yesterday." Olivia continued. Aron pinched the space between his eyebrows, everyone felt panicked as they lost one of their vocals.
"Oh no! Aron, we can't compete like this!" Alexandra squatted down pulling on her hair
"How did this even happen?" Aron looked at Drake and JB. They looked away, dripping with guilt, until Drake finally sighed and looked at Aron.
"It was my fault; I suggested we leave Maria because she was not helping us. I didn't expect it to rain, when we went back for her, she was already gone." He explained
"How could you do something so- just the day before our performance" Aron tried his best not to say anything hurtful to them. I took deep breaths to try and calm himself down.
"So, what are we gonna do, Aron?" Elixir asked him. While everything felt down, Helios was busy playing with his bass since he insisted on taking it home and bringing it by himself yesterday.
"Okay, JB, Drake. Go take the instruments from Maria's dorm, urgh... How are we gonna replace Maria; Who will replace Maria?!" As Aron spiraled down to despair, a memory popped up in his mind. Something like this happened when he was in his lower years. He smiled as an idea formed in his head; he ran to Helios who was peacefully sitting down in the corner. He grabbed Helios' shoulder warming up Helios' face a bit. While Elixir frowned at the sight of Aron's hand squeezing Helios while kneeling.
"Helios, sing for me!"
"What!?" Helios and Elixir said in unison. Everyone looked at Elixir confused, even Aron; Aron looked back at Helios and smiled.
"You can sing, Helios, and you're the one who wrote this song. No one knows it better than you" Helios looked away and sighed.
"I don't know..."
"You were able to do it before, remember? We were first years then. You substituted for our absent band member. You were able to do it before, can you do it for me? For our group?" They both looked deeply at each other
"Fine..." Helios agreed. Aron smiled and stood up,
"Alright, now all we need to do is wait for JB and Drake to come back then we can get ready"
JB and Drake ran back, pathing, "It's... here," Drake said between breaths. The rest of the band rushed to help them. With their remaining time, they made sure all of their instruments were ready while they did a little warm-up, and Helios and Aron practiced singing together.
Alex sat down beside Drake who was wiping up his bass. "How was Maria?" She asked him. Drake stayed quiet for a moment before speaking up.
"Not good. I feel like shit; she practiced for months just for me to ruin it all for her. I know she looked forward to this..." Drake clenched his fist
"Hey, it's not like you've wanted this to happen. You didn't mean to, you went back for her, didn't you?" Alex pulled her legs towards herself and hugged them for comfort.
"Now let's hear it for group number five; Cadence!" They all looked at each other, a mixture of excitement, fear, and determination flying within them
"Let's just do our best, yeah?" Alexandra patted Drake's shoulder. They all headed to the stage to set up their instruments and equipment.
"You can do this." Aron looked at Helios and smiled before looking at their audience.
"YOU READY!!!?" Aron smiled as the crowd cheered. Elixir's drum was just on beat. After his signal everyone started to play until Helios began to sing, his hands shaking as he adjusted the mic before him.
"A fragile glow in the midnight haze, drifting slow through a crooked maze~" The crowd went silent for a while, not expecting a new voice before continuing to scream happily.
"Threads unravel where the whispers weave, The weight of silence, a hidden reprieve~" Helios smiled, the sweat on his palm didn't bother him one bit at that moment. They all felt the rush of adrenaline, the moment they'd been waiting for was finally here, Helios looked at Aron as they came near the chorus once again.
"Colors bloom, but they're out of place, hidden in folds I can't embrace~" They sang together, Helios felt warm fully embracing the crowd below. Elixir gripped the drumstick tightly as he hit the drums harder than usual. He was in a sour mood for absolutely no reason, he let out all his frustrations in his performance and everyone noticed it. Olivia looked at him as they played and raised her eyebrow in approval at him.
The music started to soften. "One day, I'll land where the sky turns gold, where hearts are free, and hands can hold. Until then, I'll drift, I'll blaze, A paper lantern in endless waves~" Aron sang, and with a final string, the song was done. Everyone caught their breath, their faces full of smiles, except Elixir. The crowd applauded them, "Thank you" Helios managed to let out.
Alexandra cheered, she ran to JB and jumped to his back. JB almost fell but managed to balance himself and started jumping and running to the back. Drake laughed at them, and so did the other members. Elixir started to clear up his things from the stage to make way for the next performers. Aron wrapped his arm around Helios as they both walked out of the stage. Olivia stood on the stage longer, she tiptoed as if she were looking for someone. After a while, Aron called for her, and she had no choice but to get off the stage. "What took you so long?" Aron asked, letting go of Helios and instead walking towards Olivia.
"No... My emotions just got all around the place and I wasn't sure what to do with it and I just ended up there, standing and..." Olivia continued rambling and, pushing and stringing her guitar. Aron patted her shoulder before giving her a smile "You good? Relax." Olivia took a deep breath and sat down. It was the first time Aron saw her act like that after performing and they've been performing together for a long time now. He looked at her with a worried expression not really sure how to deal with it or just let her be for a while.
They all stayed there till the show was over. It ended just a couple of hours after lunch, Alexandra's stomach started to grumble, and she started to groan. "When will we eat?!" she asked a thousand times, kicking pebbles that her feet bumped into. The other band members were also starting to feel the weight of exhaustion since the early morning. "Don't worry, a diner is just around the corner from here. Let's go eat there" Drake suggested. JB's body was just hanging on to Drake's, forcing him to pull JB as he walked towards their destination. "I Think I'm gonna die" JB acted like he had just been fasting for a year; not even being able to move any of his limbs, burying his face between Drake's shoulder and neck.
Helios on the other hand, has been having a feeling that there is something wrong, or rather, something missing. He is usually the guy walking behind everyone in the friend group, but looking ahead of him, there is actually someone missing; well, aside from Maria. He stopped in his tracks and looked around in a panic. He looked beside him, and he let out a sigh of relief when he saw Elixir.
He slowed down his phase matching Elixir's who was looking down not even noticing him. "I thought you were left behind." Elixir looked up when he heard a voice. His eyes widened as he looked at Helios. "Senior, why are you here?" He asked him, a smile subconsciously creeping onto his face. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? I'm the one who's usually here" A soft laugh escaped from Elixir's lips as he looked at Helios and at the others walking in front of them, before looking back at his senior. "Maybe I should visit this place more often. Seems nice, don't you think, senior?" Helios frowned at this making Elixir laugh again. "I'd prefer if you won't" Elixir did not respond to him and just kept smiling as they walked together, just together while he looked at Helios from time to time, like an urge of addiction.
The people walking in front of them stopped walking and happily entered the diner they were talking about just earlier, Helios followed them in, and Elixir's smile dropped from disappointment. Elixir was the last to enter, and the seat that he got was beside Alexandra. He looked at Helios who was sitting beside Aron. Elixir hesitantly sat down beside Alexandra; his eyes still glued on Helios. Watching how he interacted with Aron, how he seemed gentler and more open towards him.
"Hey, you're awfully quiet today." Alexandra started a conversation between stuffing her mouth with her food making it hard for Elixir to understand her. "Just not my day, I guess. I don't really know why either" He kept poking his food without eating any; he kept looking at Helios and Aron before clicking his tongue. "Can you stop that? It's so annoying. Making me lose my appetite when I've been starving" Alexandra hit Elixir's shoulder before continuing to eat. "Just eat your food so we can leave." she blurted out after another gulp.
Elixir started to eat his food quietly. Everyone finished eating and left after eating. They all said their goodbyes after that, but Alexandra and Elixir decided to just walk together. "I think I'm mad at senior Helios. He didn't do anything and was good, but I kept glaring at him for some reason. Why do you think so?" Elixir looked down at his feet as he walked feeling the guilt build up from his unusual feelings. "I think because you're an idiot," Alexandra said chewing her gum and even offering some to Elixir. "You want some?" she asked. He did not answer- she let out a heavy sigh and looked up straight "Listen, you're probably just exhausted and projecting your frustrations on senior, okay?"
"Really? You don't think that I'm jealous because he was in the spotlight today?" His eyes brightened up a little from Alexandra's answer.
"Well, are you?" she asked
"No, don't think so."
"Then you are not." Elixir was more at ease now that he let that out of him, but there was still just something stuck in his throat as they walked.