Week 13: Friday

“Wait, we’re doing what?” Jihyo’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

“You called everyone together, right?”

“Yeah, they’re gonna meet us down at the Conrad’s building, but none of us knew what this was about. You didn’t tell us we were having some stupid Battle of the Bands!”

“I grabbed us some tickets the day after we went shopping for Valentine’s.”

“And you didn’t tell me you’d gotten them?”

“I don’t tell you when I take a dump either, yet it happens all the same.”

“This is why I write the lyrics. Fine. Come on, let’s go.”

“Hang on… have you seen my car keys?”

Jihyo exhaled exasperatedly.

“…Are you kidding me? Are you a goddamn idiot and washed them with your pants?”

Ugh! I let out a frustrated groan.

“Have I ever told you what a pain in the it is having a best friend who knows me so well? Cause it’s a huge one. Come on.”

10 minutes later we’re in my car driving towards the Conrad’s building. When we arrive, I see the others standing by with a few minimal instruments. Luckily, I still had Dahyun’s keyboard in my car from our last practice.

“So what is the actual plan here, Nayeon?” Jihyo asks.

“Easy! We’ve got two tickets already. Each of us grabs one of the others and flashes our two tickets as we go by. Then we’ll hand the tickets off to the next pair behind the takers back.”

They all look at me with hesitation in their eyes.

“…Really? There’s no way that plan will work,” Jihyo says.

“Yeah, this could get us in trouble,” Dahyun adds.

“Oh come on you guys! Have some faith, okay?” I whine. I turn my head to look at Jackson, who seems to be daydreaming about God knows what while puffing a cigarette. “What do you say, Jackson?”

He just shrugs, “Whatever you girls want. Y’know I’m down for anything.”

Jihyo rolls her eyes, while I grin.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I say.

Another few minutes later, and maybe a little finagling in line and all four of us are standing in the main room. Looks like the stage area’s a bit spur of the moment. It’s probably just a normal meeting hall that they added a bit of stage area and some curtains too.

I smile smugly at Jihyo.

“What have we learned?”

“Oh shut up.”

I can’t help but snicker at her. I take a deep breath as I shake my head. Time to get serious, kinda.

“All right, this thing is open-mic, if I remember correctly. I’m gonna go and sign us up. Everybody keep quiet about having done gigs, okay?”

“Are we actually even allowed to compete in this thing?” Jihyo asks.

“Are we, or are we not the best band in this area?”

“Yeah, yeah, fine.”

Fortunately the sign-up sheet is still pretty empty. Looks like there’s not a lot of competition. I think about using a fake name for a few seconds, but all the other bands wrote their proper names. I quickly write TWICE on the sheet. Looks like I was just in time too, just as I finish, some lady picks up the paper and walks off behind the stage.

As I’m on my way to rejoin the others, I see Momo come up to the mic.

Oh-my-ing-gosh. You have gotta be kidding me! I honestly can’t believe my eyes!

“Hey everyone, welcome to tonight’s Battle of the Bands! Hope you’re all totally ready to rock the stage! When we call your name, come backstage, you’ve got five minutes to get setup. Myself and the other judges will let everyone know the winner at the end of the night!” Momo announces.

Well, .

Whatever, I’ll overcome it. We’re still the best band here.

Nothing I hear for the next two hours leads me to believe any differently. When they finally call our name, I send Jihyo up to let them know we’re here while I help Dahyun and Jackson get the equipment in.

Backstage, just before we get on, I’m trying to keep my head low when I hear a familiar vo