"Calm down, you look about ready to explode," Mark laughs softly as he grabs a hold of my shoulders, effectively stopping me from pacing like I had been the past few minutes.

I was the only one back stage and I could feel the nerves start getting to me as I waited for the rest of my group to show up. I had hoped that by the time the students began arriving, they would have been here by now but they were still a no show.

"Relax," Mark says softly as he places a hand on my arm and squeezes gently, "They'll be here, alright? Just wait a little bit longer."

I nod; that's all I can manage without the nauseas feeling filling me up from head to toe.

My hands and limbs were becoming shaky messes and I had to breathe in and out several times before I could even so much as just allow myself to scenarioize the possible outcomes of this little plan of ours.

I was thinking both positively and negatively.

It was hard to keep up with my own mind and often Mark would hush me and my hair like when we were little which calmed me just long enough for two of the boys to arrive: Jackson and Jungkook.

"Sorry, Jams, our dance teacher took forever with his lecture, but we're here now," Jungkook says as he approaches and kisses the top of my forehead.

The action has me freezing in place because the last time I checked, this wasn't normal. I know Jungkook realizes this too when his entire body turns rigid on the spot, hand still lightly touching the back of my head while the other was left at his side.

I could feel the way his hand moved stiffly from its position before he awkwardly took a step back.

I look at him and he looks at me and once again, we're having one of our moments but of course, like always, our moment doesn't last as Jackson wedges his way between us with an icy frown and a hard glare as he scowls.

"We need to hurry up, the principle is about to come on."

I heave a sigh as I step back and nod because he's right. We don't have time to stand around and do absolutely nothing but stare at each other; we haven't even set up yet and we were on in five minutes.

Five minutes.

Oh crap!

"GUYS, GUYS, GUYS-" I start to yell but an arm snakes around my waist and a hand clamps my mouth shut.

I try to peak up, but my neck can't stretch that far back so instead I settle for sniffing the person's hand which instantly makes them let go of me as a familiar ew is exclaimed.

"Did she your hand?" Jackson asks with a tilt of his head.

"No, she sniffed it!" Seokjin exclaims in outrage but the rest of the boys shrug as they couldn't care less and it's Namjoon (who came to cheer us on along with Yoongi and Taehyung) who assures him that sniffing was better than .

In the end, Seokjin couldn't argue. He knew as well as the rest of us did that it was true.

"Not to alarm any of you, but you have ten seconds and have yet to take your positions," Mark's voice chimes into our pointless conversation and within moments, we're pushing past each other, stumbling and tripping until finally, I was at the microphone along with Seokjin while Jackson was seated at the drums, Hoseok at the piano and Jungkook with the guitar.

We all took heavy breaths before the curtain drew open.

All eyes were on us now because it was rare that the curtains ever opened; heck, I really believed that there was nothing but wall behind here; I honestly had no clue that there was a backstage until Seokjin told us to meet here.

When the principle notices that he's lost majority of their attention, he turns to see what exactly it is he has lost it to.

His eyes go wide and he's just as shocked (maybe even more) at the sight of our group.

I look to Seokjin who gives thumbs up to which I breathe heavily into the microphone, turn to look at the crowd and speak, my voice actually echoing so that everyone can hear me.

"This is a shout out to all of you guys; our dreams matter. Science and mathematics and things like that; they're not the only things in the world!"

I flinch as the microphone screeches and I expect a terrible silence but I don't get it.

We hear applause.

Applause before we start.

***

The curtains close and once again, I'm a shaking mess as I take in deep breaths; the adrenaline was fuelled as we performed and you could still hear the roaring of the crowd which the principle furiously tried to stop (not that he was doing a very good job at this).

Instead of dwelling on it, we're all cheering behind the curtains. We know we would be in major trouble soon enough, but we couldn't care less.

We did something we could be remembered for.

Jungkook walks over to me and grins as he picks me up and swings me around before hugging me tightly as he whispers something I can't quite hear over the multiple screams but couldn't care much about as I was actually being picked up and hugged by him.

"That was amazing, Jams!" he exclaims as he sets me down gently and I have to shake my head as I look at him because if we're being honest, it wasn't me alone out there.

"Couldn't have done it without any of you," I reply.

"And you know it," Jungkook replies with a cheeky grin and a left-eyed wink before he disappears with Taehyung as he tries to get the elder to buy him something as a congratulations.

Their bickering echo through the corridors and soon, Jimin's voice is audible as well.

Unable to suppress a laugh, I shake my head and look to Seokjin and Namjoon who walk off side by side after greeting me softly; assuring me I would see them later during the day.

I wave to them before feeling a tap on my shoulder and I turn to face Jackson who smiles slightly.

"Jampop, that was amazing," he tells me and I thank him before complimenting his playing as well; I never knew he played until today and I could still hear the faint playing in my head as I looked at him with a small smile. It was obvious that he wanted to ask me something, but I knew how he could be. I just needed to be patient and wait until he came out and said it.

If I urged him on, nothing would happen. He would back out and disappear.

"Jacky?"

He clears his throat and his smile widens as he asks, "In celebration for our acts, would you like to attend a party I'll be having?"

Well then, that was unexpected.

I can feel Mark's gaze piercing into me after he overheard the question but I push the feeling off of me as I stare back at Jackson before a small smile graces my lips and I do the one thing I would later regret for the rest of my life.

I nod and accept the invitation.