Chapter One: The Guitar Battle - Mae

          The music of strings sounded inside the hall. Heat had risen and the passion of the two guitar geniuses was clearly felt by everyone long before they even started. There he was, sitting on a stool chair and tuning his guitar only by ear that looked dazzling with him in spite of its simplicity.

          Pink lips, pearly white skin, shiny hair. You don’t even have to wonder why everything so simple seem to shine around him. He himself is dazzling. Kim Myung-soo, popularly known to many as L. I have no problem with his name, whether it came from his perfectly L shaped nose or because of his tendency to be in his own little world most of the times and still be on top of the class which reminds most of the people L of Death Note. Personally, I prefer him to be called L. It’s cool. It’s perfect. Just like him.

          The emcee took center stage and welcomed every student for the year’s most talked about guitar battle. For once in three consecutive years, someone became brave enough to challenge L and his guitar prowess. His challenger: the transferee Yong Jun-hyung.

          This Jun-hyung guy. I don’t know what’s so special about him that made my friends who used to be solid L-ements become his fans. And with just a week of transferring! His hair, messy. His eyes, too small and gloomy. His lips, ugh! Let me repeat! What is so special with him?

          Soon the emcee signaled the start of the battle. L started by playing a guitar interpretation of a pop song, Fly me to the Moon. His fingers played over the strings with much precision yet with passion that left every girl inside the hall wanting for more.

          L finished and it was Jun-hyung’s turn. The point is, whatever the champion does, the challenger should copy perfectly. One mistake from any side, the other wins. L became popular with his pitch perfect ears. He used them to beat the previous champion three years ago.

          Jun-hyung started with a few strums of the primary chords before he proceeded with his interpretation of the piece. “Show off” I thought, but in fairness, he made my jaw drop. Not a single note misplaced. I looked at L, and judging from his face, he seemed to be impressed with his new opponent.

          It was L’s turn to impress everyone again with his interpretation of Somewhere over the Rainbow. Though fast, his fingers flow smoothly from one chord to another. Close your eyes, and you’ll think there’s two people doing the piece as a guitar duet.

          The new guy didn’t fail in copying what L did. In fact, he did his version faster than L’s, showing his precision. Apparently, L wasn’t so happy that the guy managed to reach third round.

          Third round called for electric guitars, whammy pedals and speakers. Of course, a guitar genius should be good on both acoustic and electric. Third round also meant duet. Meaning, they won’t be copying each other anymore. The champion will play a piece, and challenger should be able to keep up with the changes that the champion does in the sequence.

L started by plucking his guitar strings descending from the highest to the lowest octave. Then he proceeded with the intro of the classic – Pachelbel’s Canon. As soon as L reached the ninth bar, Jun-hyung started playing along.

          It was a heated duet. Every change in L’s speed, Jun-hyung was able to adjust. I’ve heard a lot of rock versions of this composition, but what the two performed is by far the greatest interpretation I have ever heard. “That’s it!” I already made up my mind that time: “I’ll be confessing my love to him after this duel!”

          “Wow, he’s good,” someone spoke beside me just when the duet was about to reach the end.

          “Of course our L oppa is great!” That was my friend, Gette. We were classmates in most of our classes and we easily clicked with each other because of our similarities – food, music, and the fact that both of us wear glasses.

          “Don’t call him oppa, we’re all of the same age,” Gette said. “Besides, I’m starting to doubt that. What I meant was the challenger.”

          “Say what?!”

          “Calm down, I’m just saying,” she wasn’t really an L-ement. I thought she was, since we had the same preference in almost everything. She claimed that she wasn’t, but I used to think that she was just saying that and we just differed in the intensity of liking him. But then she said she never day-dreamed about him like I do, so she proved that she wasn’t.

          The audience clapped their hands as soon as the last note was played. Guitar duels are a big deal to everyone. It has been a long time since a duel happened in the guitar department. Among all departments in our school, the branch that would hold the most number of duels among their students was the piano department.

          “Yah Gette, wish me luck!” I told my friend when I already caught a sight of L after a sea of people went out of the hall. He held out his right hand to Jun-hyung with a smile on his face. The transferee looked at his hand and smirked. For a moment I thought he would reject my oppa, but instead he took it and they shook hands.

          “Luck for what?” my friend said.

          “I’m going to confess to him,” I told her before I moved forward, my eyes were not leaving L, but then suddenly I felt a hand grab my arm. “What! No you can’t!” Gette said.

          “Why?” I told her, “We’ve known each other since we got in this school. Surely he would have noticed me before,” Gette’s hand loosened before dropping to her side.

          “You can’t go,” she said quietly, before smiling broadly and telling me, “Not before I wished you good luck! Fighting!”

          “Yeah! Fighting!” I said. I took a deep breath and started walking towards L. “A-ah...L-sshi?” L looked at me, and I swear my heart stopped. It was a good thing that my determination doesn’t waver when I really have it.

          “Oh, Mae-sshi,” He greeted me with a warm smile.

          “That was a great performance you got back there,” I said.

          “Thanks,” he said. Silence came after that. I haven’t been in a relationship before, so didn’t really know how to start confessing for my feelings. “Is there a problem, Mae-sshi?”

          “Uh! No… I just want to tell you,” I started. He came closer to me, maybe to listen carefully. I like it when he does that. “You know, I’ve been liking you since first year…” L’s eyes widened, but I pushed to continue, “… it has been two years… will you go out with me?”

          L didn’t answer back right away. He stared for a while that felt like a lifetime already passed. Please don’t reject me, please. Suddenly he did an unexpected gesture. L smiled, to the extent that his eyes almost vanished. “It’s my first time to hear a girl asking me out on a date.” My mouth hung wide. “Thank you for liking me, but I don’t think I can entertain anyone right now,” he said.

          “You know, someone already confessed to me a year ago, but I told her that I would like to focus on my studies,” he said. That moment I felt my whole world crashing down upon me. I wasn’t able to move. I stood there, staring at him and the smile that stayed on his face. Then he spoke again.

          “But you know what I told her?” he said. I shook my head to clear up the thoughts. He wasn’t finished yet! I still have a chance! “I also told her to study well. You should too,” and L put his hand over my head, and tapped it gently.

          “I like girls who can play guitar with me. Practice well, and you can duel with me when you think you’re ready. Then maybe we can spend time after graduation. How does that sound?” he said. A felt a huge smile creep on my face when he said that.

          “Daebak!” I said, almost yelled in excitement, which made L chuckle. “I promise! I’ll study hard, so you must wait for me!” I said before running out of the hall. I’m hard working, I have a chance!    “Oh, Gette!”

          “So, how did it go, lover girl?” she said. We continued walking towards our classrooms, since the class bell would ring in a few minutes. Of course, I told her everything that L told me, including all the feelings I had during our short exchange, especially the part when he put his hand over my head.

          “Whoa, you’re lucky, girl. A lot of girls would do anything to touch the tip of L’s finger,” Gette said. “So what’s your plan? Are you planning to shift to the guitar department on our last year? Or you’re going to do an extra study so that you can play guitar with him?” Her question made me realize something.

           I’m from the piano class. And I haven’t learned how to play guitar.