"Let's go." Yang Haerim clapped twice. Someone with a headset and a clipboard told her that she had two minutes.

 

Ahn Soomi, the pianist, paced back and forth. Her fingers twitched in the air as if she was playing.

 

"You're wrong." Kim Jinri smirked, running her fingers up and down the strings of her bass.

 

"You can't hear it, Jinny." Soomi pouted but kept going. "Only I can."

 

"Behave." Haerim warned them. The bassist just shrugged.

 

The drummer sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed and a drum stick in either hand.

 

"Hwang Heijung why are you like this?" Haerim stood over her.

 

"Why are you like this, leader?" She answered. "Why is any one person the way they are?"

 

Haerim rolled her eyes. She looked around, counting her members.

 

"Where is Oh Minkyung?"

 

"Late." Jinri spat.

 

"Was I asking you?" Haerim snapped back.

 

Heijung inhaled and exhaled. "She's coming in three, two, one.."

 

"I'm late, I know. I'm sorry!" The group's second guitarist blew into the room like a gust of wind.

 

Haerim just raised her eyebrows at her and grabbed her guitar, tuning it. Minkyung busied herself doing the same, making sure it matched the leader's.

 

Someone appeared in the door and made a gesture. Haerim nodded.

 

"Let's go ladies!"

 

Jinri shoved past, followed by a very nervous Soomi, and Heijung meandered through. Minkyung adjusted her guitar's strap on her shoulder.

 

"You ready, punk?" Haerim's lips curved into a sly smile.

 

"Hell yeah I am." Minkyung grinned back and the two followed their band out onto the stage.

 

A voice boomed over the loud speaker. "Everyone give a warm welcome to our girls, CherriBomb!"

 

The crowd erupted into applause and screams. Haerim looked around at each of her members before nodding a signal to Heijung. The drummer threw her arms up in the air and counted out the beat on her sticks. One the count of three, the girls began to play.

 

Haerim's fingers flew over the strings during the intro. Once she started to sing, she and Minkyung alternated tricky fretwork in rounds. Jinri's heavy bass line thrummed across the audience as Soomi's airy synthesizer matched her beat. All while Heijung kept perfect time.

 

Haerim scanned the audience for a reaction. They were mouthing the words and jumping or bobbing their heads.

 

All except one.

 

One tall boy wearing a beanie stared directly at her. He was the only calm in the crazed sea of bodies around him. Haerim tried not to concern herself but she couldn't figure out why a single person was staring at her like that.

 

Until the lights and the sound went off.

 

"Police!"

 

Haerim swore under her breath and the stranger in the audience smirked. Her eyes narrowed as he backed away.

 

"Everybody out!" She yelled into the microphone and the crowd turned into a panicked mess. CherriBomb looked around, not knowing where to go.

 

"This way!" Another tall boy pulled a curtain away from the back wall, revealing a narrow passageway. Soomi looked at Haerim for approval before proceeding, followed by Minkyung, Jinri, and then Heijung.

 

"Thank you." She mouthed and dashed after the others as the curtain dropped behind her.

 

"What happened?" Minkyung asked once they were all outside.

 

"Some rat called the cops on us." Haerim shook her head.

 

"My drums!" Heijung shrieked, disdainfully as they all climbed into their van.

 

"I'll get them back for you." Haerim promised. The drummer hung her head and drove the girls away.

 

"Who was he?" Soomi asked. "They one who helped us."

 

"He was cute." Jinri chimed in, however unenthusiastically.

 

"No one." Haerim looked out the window. They dropped off Minkyung and Jinri, who lived next door to each other.

 

"You both better be in school tomorrow." She said, mostly to Jinri. The bassist saluted lazily as Minkyung scurried into her house.

 

"Rimmie I don't want to go home." Soomi said quietly.

 

"Your parents." It wasn't really a question.

 

"I'd be in less trouble if I just said that I was studying with you and lost track of time." She nodded.

 

Heijung let them both out in front of Haerim's apartment building.

 

"Go home and get some sleep." She said to her, knocking on the side of the van.

 

"Gladly." Heijung said exasperatedly before pulling away.

 

The two girls scrambled up the stairs.

 

"Do we really have to go to school tomorrow?" Soomi asked, pulling her hair up into a messy bun.

 

"Unfortunately." Haerim sighed, preparing for bed. "If we want to play then we have to keep our grades up."

 

Soomi sighed and snuggled down to sleep with Haerim rewatching their short concert behind her eyelids.