Chapter Two: The Band

          “Gette, what am I going to do?” I told my friend who was walking beside me. The whole day I had been thinking about that one big variable that can change my status in L’s heart - playing guitar.

          “You know, you can start by finding books about playing guitar,” Gette said. Books? “You know I don’t read much books,” I told her.

          “Right,” Gette said, “Or, if you want to, you can find someone who can teach you–”

          Right! “You’re genius!” I said before giving her a tight hug, “I’m going to find someone to teach me. You can go home alone, right?”

          “Sure,” she said, in a rather unsure tone, “I’ll be somewhere too, so... I’ll see you tomorrow?”

---o0o---

          I wandered inside the school campus in search of a possible guitar teacher who would be willing to teach me. A nice guitar major, preferably someone from our batch, and somebody who is known to have long patience. They’ll need that.

          So I walked through the halls of the school building, partially peeking through door windows to see if I know the people who stayed late to practice. I saw a few familiar faces, but then I’ve never been close to anyone than the people from my own department. Sure, we’ve been classmates to some from the guitar department, but to be so close that I can already tell who’s the one with patience and skill enough to be with the same level as L? Not yet. Oh no, what am I going to do?

          I continued searching throughout the school, until I passed through some band practice rooms. I’ve never been in that part of the school before. Probably because the piano rooms are at the opposite side of the school building, and the only reason you’ll be milling around on that part of the school is if you are interested to be part of a rock band. “Well, I should start widening my horizon’s from now on.”

          Suddenly, a faint sound of music started playing. We have a band? I quickened my pace to the last practice room I haven’t checked. I peeked through the window, and found an interesting sight.

          A drum set, a keyboard, a piano, a bass guitar, a violin, two lead guitars and seven flower boys were inside, and among the seven, L was there, playing his lead guitar. I wandered my eyes among each one of them, to the instruments they played. The sounds were muffled, but I could tell they were playing great. I looked at L. He seemed to enjoy playing with the others.

          I watched the group, until I saw a movement on the opposite door window of the room. I guess I am not alone. So I left my post and quickly went on the other door of the room, situated at the opposite side of the room. “What are you doing here?” I told the other uninvited who was sitting on the floor, her ear pressed on the door. In return, she suddenly jumped on her feet and accidentally hit her head at the door knob in the process. “Mae!” she said.

          “I thought you already went home,” I said.

          “Well,” suddenly the door beside her opened, revealing the small-eyed guy with puffy cheeks, who earlier, if my memory serves me right, was standing beside the microphone and sheet stand. “Yes?” he said. The other uninvited guest and I looked at each other, almost failing to find a reason to tell. “Oh, you’re both from the piano department, right? You’re probably looking for Sung-jong.”

          Who? “S-sung-jong,” the other guest told him, and he returned inside and called on for the Sung-jong he was talking about.

          “Oh, Gette sshi!” the angel-like guy who was called Sung-jong said. “I’m sorry I haven’t finished copying your notes. Can I return it to you tomorrow?”

          “S-sure,” Gette glanced at me, with a small awkward smile on her face. You know this guy? Suddenly a tall, wide-eyed guy appeared beside Sung-jong. “Omo! Annyeong Gette sshi!” he said.

          “Wait Gette sshi!” I heard a familiar voice calling us. Wait. He knows Gette? “Oh, Mae sshi, you’re also here.” We looked back, and L was already walking towards us.

          “Uh, you see, we are actually an official band now. The name of our band is Infinite, and we’re practicing an original song…” he said. Then a purple headed guy showed up behind him and spoke, “Audiences? Great! Now someone can judge our performance objectively.”

          “Would you like to watch us?” L said. I looked at Gette, and she was slightly shaking her head. “Sure! Why not?” I said before pulling her inside.

          Gette and I sat on chairs in front of the group. She was biting her lower lip, clearly she was being so awkward about it. “I’ll ask later, for now, let us help L oppa first, okay?” I quietly told her.

          “Yah, L, since you know them both, why don’t you introduce our band?” the guy with the puffy cheeks said.

          “Sure,” L said. “Annyeong haseyo, I’m Kim Myung-soo from the GD, lead,” then he pointed to the small-eyed, puffy cheeks guy, “this is Kim Sung-gyu from LPD, vocals and composer.” Then he pointed to purple headed guy standing beside him, “This is Jang Dong-woo also from LPD, bassist and rap composer.” Next, he pointed the dark haired guy with deep eyes, “Lee Hoya from Dance Dept., drums and rap.”

          “This guy is Nam Woo-hyun from GD, vocals and lead,” L said after pointing to the guy with pointed nose and cherry like lips, “and you probably know these two, Lee Sung-yeol from TD and Lee Sung-jong from PD, synthesizers and keyboard.”

          “Like what I said earlier, we have a song composed by Sung-gyu hyung and Dong-woo hyung,” L continued. “We made two versions of the song, one with rap, and one without rap. And we need you to judge which one is better.”

          “What is its’ title?” Gette said. I looked at her and from being so awkward, she suddenly became so interested. “Sixty Seconds,” L said. After a few moments, the group started performing. The first one they performed was the one without rap. Shortly after the first one ended, they played the same melody and same start, only differed at the part of the bridge.

          “So how was it?” Sung-gyu asked.

          “Both are nice, but I think I like the second one,” I said, and at that moment, Dong-woo cheered behind Sung-gyu and gave him a tap.

          “How about you Gette sshi?” Woo-hyun said. Gette stayed quiet for a little while, as if deep in thought. “Who composed the one without rap?” she finally said.

          “Dong-woo and I did,” Sung-gyu said. “Also the second one.”

          “Ah,” Gette said. “I think Mae is right, both are beautiful songs, but then you see, because of the rap, the song became a complete story that everyone may understand and relate to. But then that doesn’t mean that you should drop the first one.” Gette stood up and went over Sung-gyu. “Would you mind?” Sung-gyu moved aside and allowed Gette to get the pencil and write something on the music sheets in front of him.

          “Now try playing the bridge again with this revision,” Gette said before returning to the seat beside me. “They’ll rock it,” she told me. Sung-gyu went over to each members and showed them the revision before signaling them to play.

          Their revised performance was even better. “Where did you learn how to do this?” I muttered to my friend who shrugged her shoulder. “I have no idea!” she said. The start of the song stayed the same, but when they reached the bridge, Hoya and Dong-woo sang the rap part simultaneously with Sung-gyu who sung the non-rap part. After the bridge, they sung the second stanza of the last chorus from the non-rap version and the second stanza from the rap version.

          “That was a productive practice,” Hoya said. “Maybe she should start inviting guests always so that we’ll finish something.”

          “Here,” Woo-hyun said while holding out his phone in front of us. “Input your numbers. We’ll call you when we have another band practice.” As soon as Woo-hyun asked us, L also came over and took out his phone. “Save them on mine too,” he said. I quickly took the phones and started punching in my number. “You too, Gette sshi,” L said.

          “Ah… I don’t really give my phone number to –”

          “None sense!” I said. “Well, she limits her contacts to less than twenty, but sure she wouldn’t mind an extra one. Here,” I handed back Woo-hyun’s and L’s phone. “Gette sshi? …yours?” L said.

          “Don’t worry, I already saved her number there,” I told him.

          “Ah, thanks,” L said. “So, we’ll see you around!” After saying goodbyes to the rest of the band, Gette and I started walking to the bus stop.

          “How did they know you?” I said. “And what was my girlfriend doing in the practice room in the first place?”

          “Huh? Nothing,” Gette said.

          “Liar,” I said. “I know you’re secretly spying on someone.”

          “No I’m not!” Gette said.

          “Then why are you there?” Silence. “See?”

          “I was looking for a guitar teacher for you,” I heard her say. “I thought, it shouldn’t be just someone else. If you’ll find a teacher, you must choose someone who already played with L. In that way, he or she will be able to tell you L’s strengths and, most importantly, the techniques you can use to level, if not win against Myung-soo – I mean L.”

          I nodded. “So, did you find someone?”

          “Well, yeah,” Gette said. “But I’m a bit worried…”

          “Who is it?”

          “Nam Woo-hyun?” Gette said.

          “What?!” I said. “Nope, nu-uh...”

          “Yeah, he’s a bit greasy,” Gette said. Suddenly, Gette’s phone chime sounded and I felt my phone vibrate.

Hello beautiful girls!

Nice meeting you.

I hope to see you in the campus tomorrow ;)

The sender? Nam Woo-hyun. “Wow,” was the only thing I and Gette managed to say.

          “There must be someone else,” I said.

          “Yeah, there is.”

          “Who?”

          “Him,” Gette said after averting her eyes to the front. I looked at where she was looking, only to find him. “No way,” I said.