Chapter 27: "Forming a Band with Friends!"
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"A band?" Olivet asked Ms. Elle. "Teacher, you want me and Sydney to form a band?"
Ms. Elle nodded and said excitedly, "Yes, it will be perfect. Find a few more members, okay?" She patted Sydney's and Olivet's heads, then waved goodbye at them.
Because of what happened with Juana, the teachers and the principal had decided to let Sydney stay. They had learned that her illness had gone worse due to the class president's selfishness, and they took pity on her. And as long as she didn't give up and her parents supported her wishes, they would let her come to her classes.
When their Music Teacher got out of the Music Club's room, Olivet asked her best friend, "Who should we recruit for our new band? We need a vocalist, a drummer, and a bassist, if possible. I'll do the keyboards, and you'll be in charge of the guitar."
Sydney nodded as she took down notes on a little notebook.
Suddenly, Lenoir and Matt entered the room, and said at the same time, "I'll join!" They looked at each other, and stared angrily as if there were thunder and lightning on them!
[Lenoir, be our vocalist?] Sydney scribbled on her magnetic drawing board.
Lenoir proudly said, "I'll be glad to sing for you, Sydney," and gave a sweet smile.
"Sydney will be playing the guitar, and I'll play the piano… But Matt, if you want to join, what instrument do you want?"
"If Syd will play the guitar, then… I have to choose between drums and bass, right?"
Olivet nodded, "Do you know how to play both?"
"Sort of. But I think it will be better for me to choose drums," he uttered, then walked over to the drum set at the back of the room, which was covered in thin, linen cloth. He took it off, exposing the drum set that the Music Club had been using for more than five years already. "This is a bit old… Should I donate some instruments to the Music Club?"
Sydney wrote, [Why are you acting as if you're the Governor of Kasumi Province?] then looked at Matt suspiciously.
"Hey, I genuinely care for the Music Club," He chuckled, "Anyways, let's think about what to perform in the School Festival."
"A lively blues song is a good choice," Lenoir suggested, and Sydney took the chalk and wrote on the black board at the front.
"Let's do a rock song!" Matt exclaimed as he played with the drum sticks.
Olivet said, "A pop song."
Sydney wrote all of these different ideas, and she stared at the list intensely.
"What do you think, Syd?" asked Matt. "It's up to you."
Sydney thought for a while as she played with the tip of her reddish hair, then encircled one of them.
Sydney wrote fast on the black board: [Let's go for pop. I think with our inexperience, blues and rock will be harder to play. Pop songs are more diverse and easier to rearrange, and we can choose popular songs so that everyone can sing along.]
"Sydney has a point," Olivet said, "Any suggested pop songs?"
"How about..."
Their meeting continued until they listed ten songs, which they would be listening to at home prior to choosing the three songs that they would perform at the school festival.
'I'm so tired,' Sydney thought as she laid down her soft bed. She stared blankly at the bright LED lightbulb of her room, thinking deeply about how she would spend the school festival. Could she really enjoy it, even if she didn't have her voice back, yet?
She closed her eyes and felt her body give in to the softness of the bed. As she felt sleepy, she wondered until when she should suffer due to her condition.
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Their newly-formed band started practicing the next day. They had chosen three songs that were originally sung by female artists and they planned on performing male versions of these songs, then they talked about how they would deliver the song. Olivet was the one who served as the band's leader, coordinating with the event organizers and teachers, while Lenoir and Sydney worked on the technical aspects like arranging the songs and deciding on how they wanted the audience to feel as they heard the songs. Even though Matt was the least involved in music and the most inexperienced, he enjoyed learning about these and he felt challenged.
During their practices, Matt noticed how Lenoir had become more talkative and how he improved in showing his feelings towards their beloved Sydney. Every time the two of them would be alone on a corner, Matt approaches them and pulls them apart, and then he asks anything related to music just to separate the two. Lenoir had noticed this, but he did not back out at all. The two boys would always ask Sydney if they could take her home, but in the end, it was Olivet who she would choose to go with.
And finally, the first day of the School Festival came.
The event would last for five days, and the students put up stalls to build their stores wherein they would sell different items. Some sold food; some sold novelty items. There were animal mascots roaming around, and colorful flags were situated at the school gate. There were so many people, and aside from the students' invited guests, there were people from outside the campus because the whole school was opened to outsiders.
A white, shimmering car stopped in front of the school gate, and a tall man went down from the driver's seat and opened a black umbrella. He then opened the front seat and assisted a lady to get out of the car.
The lady wore an expensive, branded yellow pencil skirt partnered with a white, frilled blouse. She also had a pair of big gold earrings shaped like a lion's head. She took out her rainbow-colored fan and cooled her face because of the warm climate which she wasn't used to.
With six bodyguards surrounding her, she caught the attention of the people around her. She looked around, and when she saw the guy she was looking for, she called for him.
"Matteo!"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone