"Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!" It takes maybe a few more roaring stops through the headset before Amber pauses in the midst of passionately blaring out her soul. "Hey, you know when the director says stop, you should probably stop!"

Amber's face morphs into one of contempt. "Hey," she mimics, an ugly sneer on, "when the trumpet player is playing, she probably can't hear anything else other than her trumpet!"

Through the plexiglass the blonde sees Henry rub his right temple with an inaudible sigh until he clicks on his microphone once more. "Jesus, what are you, like, 12?"

"12 if I'm visiting that buffet two streets away from here, 11 if I'm going to the restaurant Victoria's parents own." Amber clicks her tongue at him while shooting a finger gun.

"Are you kidding me?" is all the young man can say in return, incredulous.

"Child discounts are no joke, pal."

The violinist lets out a sound of anguish that's an unattractive mix between an elephant seal and some strange species of bird, and he covers his face with both hands. "Okay. Okay, uh, you know what? Let's just... take a lunch break... and then we can finish up a few more lines, alright?"

Amber beams. That was fine by her. She gently sets down her trumpet on the maroon chair behind her, whisking the headphones off to set on the music stand as well before exiting the sound room. "Did you get my nuggets?"

Henry sanitizes his hands with a disposable wet cloth before answering, chucking a clean one at her. "I got the family meal; we both got chicken nuggets and whatever comes with the bag." They sit down and start eating on the couches in silence. A few minutes pass before Amber bends closer, a curious look and crumbs on her face.

"Hey, you should sing some of the song right now. The one we're working on."

Henry gives her a weird look. "What, now?"

"Yeah! I haven't heard you sing yet! Come on, I won't record you or anything." She ushers him on with a nugget lodged in between her fingers, and he sighs.

"Just this once. Can't give you a free show before I become famous, you know." Amber snorts, but nonetheless watches him attentively as she dunks her food in barbecue sauce and bites a chunk out of it.

Henry glances at her before clearing his throat. "All the worries of tonight, do it tomorrow or the day after," he vocalizes, and Amber's brows raise in surprise, because why is he only in the orchestra faction and nothing else? "Empty your head, so you can’t think of anything. Put your hands up, jump up and down." He trails off, shoving fries into his mouth shortly thereafter. "How was it?" he mumbles.

"Henry Lau," she begins with a wide grin, "if I didn't know you any better, I'd say you're feeling shy right now!" She chortles, yelping when he tosses fries at her with the message "shut up!" attached. "It was great, if you really wanted to know. Why didn't you join the vocal faction too?"

The young man shrugs, finishing up his meal and wallowing the trash up together. "I don't know, I mean... there's a bunch of good people in there, you know? And I mean, I can't stay orchestra leader if I'm in a different faction, too -- there's too many responsibilities involved that'd be too complicated to deal with all at once."

"It seems that you've thought it through a bunch," Amber responds, tucking her legs in so Henry can squeeze past and discard the empty boxes.

He shrugs in response, as if to say, "whatever," and the blonde's face scrunches up. He ruined a great bonding moment by keeping up that cool guy act. "Let's keep recording?"

"Sure." The young woman makes her way into the sound room once more as Henry takes his place at the controls, and in the next hour and a half, neither of them notice a phone wildly buzzing on the coffee table.

—

There's a knocking on the glass, and Henry flashes a thumbs up when the trumpet player turns her head. "That's good enough for today!" he says into the microphone. "Come on out; you can leave your trumpet in there for tomorrow."

Amber locks away her trumpet and sets it in a far corner, theft the least of her worries. Though all the rooms are for public use, any musician knows not to touch the private instruments of another, and doing so only increases the risk of damaging it and paying out of pocket to repair. It's also impossible to take anything from the studios; there are security cameras at the end of every hall and a detector at every exit to ensure that nothing is stolen. The founder's paranoia led to some good security control.

"I didn't think that it'd be this much work," she admits sheepishly when she exits, shutting off the lights as she goes. "I mean, I knew it would be a bunch of work, but all those retakes and mixing and... well, yeah."

Henry hums in agreement, checking over the recorded tracks on the screen before saving the files and ejecting his flash drive. "Yeah, the producer has a lot of work to go through, and we retake multiple times, in case a single track doesn't sound right with the vocals or whatever."

She shoves him playfully as he bends to pick up his bag. "That sounds like a back-handed insult. You saying my trumpet won't go well with your singing, Mr. Lau?"

"A possibility and risk I can't take, Ms. Liu," he speedily replies, fingers drilling themselves into her side for revenge.

The several breathy gasps of "stop!" she emits isn't enough to cease the tickling attack, but the patrolling security guard knocking on the door asking them to stop killing each other does. They spend a few minutes sprawled across the carpet for Amber to catch her breath and Henry to return her sneers tenfold.

By the time Amber finishes and parts ways with the violinist, the sun is slowly starting to set, and she's leisurely strolling through campus to get back to the dorm. She managed to grab all her belongings with her -- thank god she remembered, because she's left her phone in odd places several times in the past -- and feels pretty content with the progress they were making.

After all, it isn't everyday she's given a chance to record a track to send in to different labels. The young woman didn't really think she could pull off being in any nationally recognized tropes out there for brass players, but hey, this is a first step to somewhere.

This school is supposed to be the gateway to fame, after all. It's easier for the dancers, performers, and vocalists to distinguish where they want to go; the strings and winds need to decide where their talents would lie best, and there's less of a chance for them to succeed anywhere compared to the other factions. Just as there are many tales of fresh faces making it into stardom, there are also tales of washed-up grads that show no talent in any other fields other than the one that won't accept them. These students really don't have anywhere to turn if they graduate without a solid career offer after dedicating all their time to their field of talent, and going to college doesn't solve that issue, either.

Amber knows she's not the best in any of her core classes, isn't that interested in science or language to make a career out of it, so this is really a hit-and-miss in her case. With Henry's help, she could, hopefully, make something with her talent and not leave the school empty-handed. Brass in instrumentals and various pop songs have gotten increasingly popular these days, so maybe she could feature in several if she gets the other boy to pull all the right strings-

The young woman stops in her tracks, contemplatingly the strap of her bag. Henry. He's not that bad of a kid. She's heard horror stories from fellow band members, and there are some things that float around campus that sound partially true, but after spending some time with the guy, it turns out that there's no need to be apprehensive around him. He's a little kooky, and he's from a different faction, but he also has major talent and a passion for music, and that makes him okay in her book.

There's not much she knows about him, though. Does he have any siblings? What does he do in his spare time? When did he become such a prodigy? How'd he get his connections? She's never really seen him hang out with any other students, either, even if she's seen him walking around campus. It's not really a surprise that he's dubbed as quiet and mysterious by the other students, then, despite her having experienced just how noisy he can be first-hand. The conjured memory of him screaming "stop" into the outside microphone on repeat has her snorting into her palm.

She pulls her phone out from her back pocket, tapping on the Kakao messenger right after unlocking her screen.

[ambrobro] [05:42 PM] hey henry

[Henry Lau] [05:42 PM] you miss me that much that you text ten minutes after we leave?

[ambrobro] [05:42 PM] HAHAHAHAHAHA

[ambrobro] [05:42 PM] do u hear that frm where ur standin

[ambrobro] [05:42 PM] its me lauhging at u because ur daydreams r so unrealistic

[Henry Lau] [05:43 PM] yeah sure if you want to deny anything LOL

[Henry Lau] [05:43 PM] anyway what's up?

Amber stops walking. Why did she text him? Was there really a reason for her to do so? Her hand just moved automatically for her phone, and...

[ambrobro] [05:43 PM] uh idk

[ambrobro] [05:44 PM] just wanted to thank u i guess for everytihng

[Henry Lau] [05:44 PM] ew, are you being THANKFUL?

[ambrobro] [05:44 PM] fak u

[Henry Lau] [05:44 PM] LOL i'm kidding amber. yeah no problem. didn't think you would thank me so early though. we're not even done with anything.

[Henry Lau] [05:44 PM] wait until we're completely finished, and then you can shower your praises on me, got it?

[ambrobro] [05:44 PM] sorry its ten bucks per praise i gave u a freebie

[Henry Lau] [05:44 PM] and my violin and the favor? how much are they worth?

[ambrobro] [05:45 PM] .... . .. .. . u got me ill give u watever praise u want ur majesty

[Henry Lau] [05:45 PM] that's more like it. see you tomorrow.

[Henry Lau] [05:45 PM] this time, actually eat your lunch before i come get you. :P

There's an odd buzz that catches her attention just as she opens up her mass collection of stickers to spam-reply, and she taps on the Kakao notification that pops up to be redirected.

[hyo hyo] [03:21 PM] amber

[hyo hyo] [03:21 PM] amber we need to talk abt the favor henry did for u

[hyo hyo] [03:21 PM] us band ppl r grateful for it n everything but i got some p bad news

[hyo hyo] [03:21 PM] i spoke to some ppl n i think that good time slot u got belonged to the vocalists

[hyo hyo] [03:22 PM] talk it over w amy ok before she gets news that u pulled strings for us

[hyo hyo] [03:22 PM] wait no talk it over w eric for sure he's gonna get so mad oh geez

[hyo hyo] [03:22 PM] just a warning for u amb

[hyo hyo] [05:45 PM] yea too late they found out sunyoung's textin me rip

With an ominous feeling in the pit of her stomach, Amber switches chatrooms. She gnaws at her lower lip as she does so, fingers lightly shaking.

[amy th goldfishie] [05:44 PM] amber.

[amy th goldfishie] [05:44 PM] we need to talk as soon as you get back to the dorm.

[amy th goldfishie] [05:44 PM] i just spoke with eric on the phone about the showcase.

The foreboding feeling in the pit of Amber's stomach grows big enough in size to be labeled as a mini black hole.

—

a/n: HAHHHHHHHHHHHAHHHHHHHHHAH IM ALIVE ALSO HERES SOME POORLY INSERTED DRAMA

also i started a new story!!! first chapter should be up soon stay strong

ALSO comments are the best gives little nudges everywhere hhhahahh

im still renovating my house but im almost done almsot a ls mot