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{30}

I popped my eyes open when I heard an alarm go off, nice and loud, waking up the two seniors in their bed as well. They probably set it though…I squeezed my eyes shut and wiped my eyes. I glanced down at the floor and saw that Jessica was still fast asleep, her phone resting beside her. And then it hit me. ! I forgot to call Tiffany last night! I stared at Jessica while I reached down to her phone. A text won’t hurt. I the phone and saw that the other girl had fallen asleep after a conversation with Tiffany. Don’t look at it, respect their privacy. Even if I was immensely curious about what they talked about, I locked the phone once more and set it back down. Today was our performing day; we had to leave at 1 o’ clock so our choir could perform on time at 2. “Check-in’s at 11,” I heard and I hummed in response, rubbing my eyes some more.

“Sica, wake up,” I mumbled without looking down at her and she groaned.

“What time is it?” she asked groggily and I thought back to the image of her phone.

“Eight twenty-four,” I replied and she sat up immediately with her eyes closed. Her messy blonde hair and relaxed expression made me smile. And so early in the morning. I hopped out of bed, grabbed some clothes and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. I saw a dial next to the light switch and turned it, seeing that was how the lights brightened and the fan . Okay, that’s kinda weird. But I quickly took a shower with the shampoo and conditioner I had brought and thought for a moment. My mind wandered to the conversation Jessica and Tiffany might’ve had. What did they talk about? Did they talk about me? Do they even mention me when they’re talking together? I don’t know why but I was so curious. I finished my quick shower and slipped on a quick pair of jeans and a black t-shirt since I needed something under my button up later. I stepped out of the steaming bathroom and brushed my teeth, deciding to let my hair air dry.

“Wanna go to Seohyun’s room? She’s in the orchestra,” Jessica suggested and I raised an eyebrow.

“Seohyun, like, the youngest girl in our grade?” the girl was hella smart, honestly she was a bit on the uptight side, I didn’t expect Jessica to be friends with a girl like her.

“Yeah, she invited us out to breakfast but we gotta go to her room because her roommates are still showering,” Jessica sighed, applying makeup which I suddenly realized she didn’t have. Why makeup? I look perfectly fine without it! I never understood the necessity.

“Sure I’ll go, I’m not sure where my other percussionists are,” I shrugged and sat on the bed.

“Are you guys going out? I have to tell our chaperone what we’re doing before 11,” the girl, Dana, said and I nodded.

“We’ll just be in and out of the hotel,” I told her and she typed the message in her phone.

“Alright, remember, be down there by 11,” Lina reminded and I nodded before watching them leave. Honestly, they weren’t rude or anything, but they did things that were a bit annoying. Like talking all night long about their jobs, I woke up multiple times in the night because of it.

I’ve heard of Seohyun a lot of times, but I’ve never actually met her before. She’s quite young, skipping a year; I think it was supposed to be 8^th grade. Even then she was in a few of my advanced classes and still getting better grades than me! Not just that but she was an exceptional violinist; she could give my brother a run for his money. Once Jessica had finished preparing herself we took a ride on the elevator to the 6^th floor and knocked on the said door. Immediately it was opened by the mature yet innocent looking girl. “Yah! Who’d you invite so early in the morning?!” a loud voice groaned and Seohyun opened up the door, looking back.

“It’s your fault you didn’t get up when our roommates already took showers and left,” Seohyun stated calmly and my mind was suddenly blown. She sounds so calm! A mess of hair and limbs finally jumped out of bed and swept her hair back, revealing Im Yoona who was a saxophonist and was rather one of the ones the percussionists especially couldn’t stand. But to me she was rather entertaining and I didn’t min loud, I had Tiffany.

“Oh! Hey Taeyeon, Jess,” she smiled and raised her hand. When I didn’t respond at that exact moment she took my wrist and made me high five her. I found it kinda weird, so I laughed a bit. I talked to her maybe twice before, we were still strangers in my world. “I’m gonna shower real quick! I’m starving!” Yoona groaned and grabbed some clothes before sprinting into the bathroom. I raised an eyebrow as Seohyun sat upright on Yoona’s bed. Did they choose to be roommates?

“So how was the night?” Jessica asked and sat beside Seohyun while I sat down on the edge of the opposite bed.

“It was alright, but Yoona sleep talks,” Seohyun smiled and I snorted. Of course Yoona would, she talks so much, sleeping can’t be an exception. “It was so weird! She was talking about schizophrenic walls and red ceilings closing in!” the young girl laughed and I thought of Tiffany’s smile.

I missed Tiffany a lot, not to mention I felt guilty for not calling her, but I was so tired the other night, hopefully she understood. Once Yoona finished her five minute shower and took off out of the room with dripping hair (because of the cheap hair dryer which didn’t work in their room) we walked about two blocks to the Denny’s. I thought I’d be the odd one out, but I felt fine when I realized Yoona had quite the sense of humor and an outgoing personality. I wasn’t used to being totally loose with people I’ve never really hung out with, but she made it feel natural. I never realized how much I enjoyed making people smile, rather than just Tiffany. It gave me such a feeling of accomplishment, especially when Jessica smiled. Honestly when we walked back to the hotel I couldn’t even remember what I had eaten or if I did. We had to hurry up and dress in our concert blacks when Jessica and I got back to our room. Since the choir had mandated outfits she just slipped on the dress while I fixed my slacks and button up in the bathroom. I took out my black platform shoes, which not so discreetly added a couple inches, and slipped them on before grabbing my drumsticks. Apparently dinner was provided for us so I left my wallet in my suitcase. “Come on, Sica, we gotta be down there in five minutes,” I said, glancing at my iPod.

“Alright, jeez, that’s plenty of time to get down to the lobby,” the blonde insisted, tying her hair up into a neat bun before I was finally allowed to leave the room.

“That doesn’t mean we can get it down to the last second.” I was nervous. What if we screwed up? What if I screwed up? I punched the button a little harder than I should’ve and Jessica noticed.

“Hey, calm down, don’t worry about it. Our school is known for this festival, we’ll all place 1^st or 2^nd at the least,” she assured, resting her hand on my shoulder and I nodded, trusting the words even if they added some sort of pressure. My nerves jumped a little when the metal doors opened. “I’ll see you at the college.”

“Alright,” I mumbled and watched her make her way over to the other choir kids while it took me about ten seconds to spot someone I recognized, Taecyeon. He was with Wooyoung and Baekhyun so I made my way over to the trio.

“Taeyeon, the Band gets onto the 1^st bus,” Taecyeon gestured to the white vehicle and I nodded. “You brought your own sticks?”

“Yeah, I can’t play with another pair,” I shrugged and he furrowed his eyebrows.

“Aren’t they just some sticks?” he asked.

“Can’t you just play another bari sax?” Wooyoung shot back and the latter opened his mouth.

“I see your point,” he admitted and I curled my toes inside my shoes. Don’t think you’ll mess up and you won’t, simple. Stop stressing yourself out. I twirled my drumsticks between my fingers, a habit I picked up on my early drumming days, and eased my nerves. It just worked, I wasn’t sure how.

“You have to teach me how to do those tricks, holy crap,” Baekhyun pointed and I glanced at my right hand. The more nervous I became, the more elaborate the tricks became.

“They come naturally now, sometimes I’ll just make something up for a moment and I won’t even know how I got it,” I confessed and stared at my quick fingers with the whirling drumsticks. It was a habit people wished they could do so elegantly and frequently, I had mixed feelings about the simple impulse.

Even as a girl, I often carried a lot of the heavier things in the percussion. The other guys were too lazy, and frankly, I think I’m stronger than a lot of them. I didn’t mind either way, people were a bit intimidated when I lifted things twice my size. Once the instruments were unloaded from the truck that had driven over to California we placed them against the wall and everyone grabbed their instruments. That was one thing about percussion; you had other people to worry about your things for you. “Taeyeon, do you want to practice your solo real quick?” Jonghyun called for me and I shook my head.

“If I practice it, I know I’m gonna screw it up on stage,” I insisted and he shrugged.

“Sure thing, but remember, we don’t perform for another hour,” he mentioned and I nodded, seeing the choir make their way to the performing hall. I noticed Jessica gesture with her hand to follow and I stood automatically.

“I’m gonna watch the choir, join me?” I asked, brushing off my pants.

“Oh, I wanna watch,” Baekhyun nodded and set down the box of instruments before running in step with me.

“We’ll be back for rehearsal!” I shouted and the two of us walked into the theater, taking seats where I could clearly see Jessica. Our eyes met and I gave her a reassuring smile, causing her to smile back. You’ll be okay, Sica. Just sing, like you love. I admired Jessica a lot for loving singing, even with the unintentional pain it gave her, and it was something I had in common with her. I loved singing, but of course, it could never be. Besides, watching people with such a passion, was fulfilling enough. The voices of our choir were well matched, they harmonized well. their director knew what she was doing when she assigned parts. I didn’t realize I was focusing on Jessica until Baekhyun nudged me, signaling that we had to go back. I looked up at Jessica and for some reason I wasn’t surprised when I found her staring back at me.

Even if I was given years to practice a single song, I don’t think the nervousness would ever leave me when I’m on a stage. Because I’m a girl percussionist, people expect me to be not as good as the males, it wasn’t common for females to prioritize in that group, and that gave me a lot of pressure to be at least their level or even better. It was like I was being forced to be good and I didn’t like that. Thus, the performance could’ve been better. “Where’s everyone else?” I looked around, not seeing anyone familiar.

“They’re in the bathrooms changing, let’s just go back and watch the other band,” Taecyeon shrugged after putting away his saxophone. I walked in front of the taller male and we went to the front section where some of our other band-mates were seated. Honestly the other bands weren’t as well conditioned as ours was. I don’t want to sound like we’re the best, because we’re not, but sometimes only a certain instrument while sound beautiful but the rest of the band will be struggling to catch up. I wasn’t impressed, except for one band from Oregon State. I was totally zoned into their amazing performance until I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“There’s ing one box of pizza left!” Wooyoung showed me a picture of a sausage pizza that was untouched and my stomach lurched. Oh my God I’m so damn hungry! Everyone from our band in that theater bolted out of there and ran! I even took off my platform shoes just to get a slice! I could barely breathe when I snatched a slice and immediately bit into the cold pizza, marking it as mine. I didn’t even like cold pizza, but I was so desperate for food. I was so nervous today it just ate away my insides.

“Dammit!” Taecyeon groaned, too slow to get food. What the heck, no one even came to tell us and there are still some students who haven’t even eaten anything!

“Yah! Baekhyun you little prick!” Jiyong shouted and I realized that the lone percussionist had slipped out at some time.

“You bastard!” I pointed and threw my leg out, nearly kicking him as he flinched.

“That’s why I sent you the picture! No one was coming and I didn’t know where you were!” he insisted, but I saw that guilty glint in his eyes.

“Taeng, do you want to sneak out and grab some food?” We were back at the hotel, 11 at night, and I was starving. I felt a bit bad for complaining so much to Jessica when our roommates had passed out (on both beds) but most of our band members either had barely anything or nothing. The chaperones didn’t even care, now it was anger and hunger stacked on top of each other! So when Jessica mentioned getting something to eat, it took a while for me to process the pros and cons.

“We can’t, 11 is when we have to go to bed,” I mumbled, careful about not waking up the seniors from their sleep.

“I know you’re hungry and Tiffany says, I will quote, “if you don’t eat dinner today, you can forget about eating anything when you get back home”,” Jessica snorted at the message and I bit my lip. I’m hungry, everyone’s probably asleep, and Tiffany is not threatening me.

“Fine…but we’ll be out for a half hour.”