tape three 

 talent

________________________________________

►Once the bell rings, I'm already downstairs in the auditorium, standing around awkwardly as the crew set up mics and stereos to the sound system. Mr. Jeo had gotten me released from last period early so I could come down and help but I had to be honest, I wasn't doing much. In fact, I wasn't doing anything at all.

"Kyungmi!" There was something that I found horribly irritating about my name being called. I think it's only because people call my name only when they need something. I turn around and a familiar face greet me with a cheesy grin. "Kyungmi-ah!"

"Oh. Seungcheol." I give him a stiff nod and a meek smile as the dismissing bell rings. I half wonder how Seungcheol got out of class early too but decided not to ask once I remembered how much the teachers loved him. My mind wanders over to Daeun's list and I shake my head, telling myself not to think about that. Seungcheol, popular or not (and believe me, he is), was still one of my friends. Just because there was a slight (very slight) chance of him liking me, that didn't change anything (I hoped). "You're auditioning for the Arts Fest?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

He scoffs. "No way. My talent is on the field," he says, grinning at me. I my head to the side and stare at him. Sure, I guess it was but he had an idol image. Maybe it was just me. "Anyways, I heard you're assisting Mr. Jeo with it so I came by to ask you about the rumor going around." I make a face and he looks confused. "Didn't you hear? There was a rumor going around that there would be a talent scout at the Arts Fest."

Speaking of idols..."Talent scout?" I repeat, frowning. Mr. Jeo hadn't told me anything about that. "Where did you hear that from?"

"Sanghee told me," he explains, shrugging.

My frown deepened and I shrugged my shoulders too. "Sorry, I don't know anything about that."

"Darn. Well, not that I care but..." His voice trails off and his eyebrows furrow in disappointment. "Never mind. I've got to go. There's practice tomorrow morning. Remember that," he calls as he waves, leaving the stuffy auditorium as people began making their way in for auditions.

"Alright," Mr. Jeo starts, clapping his hands to get the attention of the fifty or so students standing in the auditorium. "Thank you all for coming to the Arts Fest audition today. I'll be brief. Wait for your name to be called, audition and then leave. Or stay, it's really up to you." Mr. Jeo shrugs before continuing. "As you all know, the school play, hosted by Ms. Lee, will already be an addition to the show and so, the number of acts will be cut short. Best of luck to all participants and have fun!" He ends his speech with a enthusiastic grin and thumbs up before sitting down in a huff.

"Some speech," I whispered and he shrugs. Mr. Jeo calls out a name, Lee Jihoon, and a short, dark haired boy quickly scurries onto the stage. I'm surprised considering he's one of the quiet types. I know this because he was running for student council last year and runners had to appear in classes to talk about their ideas and thoughts on how to change the school. And although Jihoon had mumbled 50% of his presentation, he still managed to win the election as vice president.

Jihoon clears his throat nervously, tapping into the mic stand. "Uh, anneyeong hasyeo. I'm going to be playing I'll Never Let You Go by Justin Bieber."

Justin Bieber. I knew about him. Some Canadian singer, I think. A few students in my Biology class were talking about him a few days ago but I wasn't a huge fan. My train of thought crashes when Jihoon sits down on the seat of the large black piano that our school had set up on the stage; I'm amazed. He's phenomenal, his fingers dancing over the keys effortlessly. Immediately, I already know he's going to make it through. He thanks us for his time before quickly walking off stage again. Next, Mr. Jeo calls out a name that makes me take a double take.

"Kwon Soonyoung?"

The same tall figure quietly walks onto stage with a bright smile and grins out at the crowd. "Anneyeong hasyeo!" He waves excitedly before continuing. "I'm going to be singing Love Light by CN Blue."

T he music starts to play and I stifle back a yawn, growing tired from the school day. I, for one, just wanted to go home and get a nap before cracking open that Physic text book. I'll be honest - I wasn't expecting much. Maybe a casual, average singer with regular vocals but when his mouth opens and a string of lyrics follows, I'm clearly proved wrong. It's hard to explain; it's like he pours his whole soul into the song, putting his thought into ever word that flows from his lips. I was sure I wasn't the only one in awe either because the whole auditorium is dead quiet, watching in silence as he sings, only the audio playing as he sang along. He sings with his angelic voice and when he finishes, it takes me a moment before I can process the fact that I'm supposed to clap.

"Wow, he was amazing," Mr. Jeo mutters to himself and I can't help but nod in agreement.

---

The auditions go till 5:15, and at that point, Mr. Jeo says it's alright for me to go home. I leap from my seat and follow the last few people who were also leaving after auditions and took out my phone to call home and try and ask for a lift home from my parents. I'm left hanging as the phone continues ringing without anyone picking up so I sigh, closing the phone call just as someone brushes past, making the cell phone fly from my hands and (sadly) go crashing of the group.

I let out a desperate yell as I quickly reach forward for the phone, whimpering as I studied the large crack on the back. My dad was going to kill me. "Mianhe, oh my god, I'm so sorry!" I sigh, tracing the crack before turning to the apologetic voice and surprisingly, come face to face with Soonyoung. I was bumping into him way too often. "Mianhe, mianhe!" He exclaims again, bowing furiously.

I give him a weak smile and shrug. "It's alright, I guess. It's not like you did it on purpose." I shove the broken phone into my back pocket before adjusting my bag. "Soonyoung, right?"

"Ne!" He bops his head up and down and smiles at me thankfully. "And you're Kyungmi." He pauses, cocking his head to the side as he stared at my pocket. "I still feel bad about your phone. How can I make it up to you?"

I shake my head. "It's alright. Don't worry too much." At that time, someone taps on my shoulder and I turn around from Soonyoung to face the young curly haired boy in charge of the AV club. "Hansol?"

"Ah, Kyungmi." He gives me a small bow before handing over a mixtape. "You forgot this in the room this morning. I didn't know how important it was and I heard you were helping with the Arts Fest so I waited for you to finish before giving it to you."

"Oh." I take the mixtape from him and study it. With everything going on, I had forgotten about the mixtape commotion. "Thanks, Hansol." He nods before walking past Soonyoung and I, waving goodbye as he pushed the school door open and making his way home. I turn back to Soonyoung who glances at the mixtape, a curious expression on his face as I shoved the mixtape in my bag. "Um, it's a mixtape," I explain as I push the door open myself, stepping out onto the cement.

"Oh," and that's all he says.

At least he wasn't nosy.

"Say, are you walking home?" I asked, nudging at his side. He looks over and shakes his head. "Great! Mind if I walk home with you?  I think we go the same way."

He shrugs, beaming at me. "If you want!"

I smile, shifting my bag on my shoulders before following him off the school property. "You know, it's weird. I've seen you around school but we never really talked. I guess that's reasonable considering you're a senior and all but we're here now." I look over to him again and study him for a moment as he walks, eyes glued to the ground. His dark hair brushes over his eyes and he pouts his lip slightly, puffing out his cheeks. Cute. "Hey, have you ever liked someone?"

He looks over, bewildered. "What?"

"You know, a crush. Did you ever have one?" I ask, suddenly curious. "What's it like? When a guy likes a girl, I mean. I always read books about a girl liking a boy and I know the feelings myself, but what's it like for a guy? I always ask Hyunwoo but he never tells me because he claims he never liked a girl before. " I scoff, blowing a strand of hair out of my eyes. What a liar.

"Oh. Maybe," he replies, shrugging, eyes still on the ground.

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe," I mocked. "There's no such thing as a maybe to my question, Soonyoung." I paused staring at him for a moment more before throwing my head back at letting out a laugh. "Right. We barely talk. I wouldn't tell someone I just met either. I'm being nosy. Sorry."

"No, no, it's not that," Soonyoung exclaims, waving his hands. "It's just that...it's embarrassing."

I sighed, kicking a rock on the sidewalk. "Why are you boys always so shy about your crushes?"

"Well, it's not exactly like you girls confess to your crush first either," he points out and I look over to him, giving him a sarcastic look. I decide to drop the subject. No point of arguing with someone who wasn't going to give up. "So, what are you doing helping with the Arts Fest?"

"Ah, Mr. Jeon asked me to assist him. I couldn't say no," I replied, sighing.

"What, do you have a crush on him too? Just like the many other girls at our school?" He asks, raising his eyebrows as he nudged my side.

"No," I say, swatting at his arm as he laughed. "I'm being a good student. Mr. Jeon's nice and all but he's a little too old for me."

"He's like, what, twenty five?"

"Twenty two," I corrected. He rolls his eyes, shaking his head. "Maybe you have a crush on him since you're so willing to impress him" I joked, sticking my tongue out.

He makes a face. "Are you calling me gay?"

I shrug. "Your words, not mine."

He gives me a look and I laughed, skipping ahead of him. "I'm only trying to impress Mr. Jeo to get a part in the show. I heard talent scouts were coming," he explains as I cocked my head to the side and watched Soonyoung for a moment as he studied his  shoes, kicking a pebble on the ground. He didn't seem much like someone who was interested in the fame and galore. I didn't know him all that well - or at all, really - so I guess I couldn't judge. "I'm nervous for the results of the audition," he says, letting out a breath and stretching his arms out.

"You did great. I'm sure you'll get a spot." I nod to assure him and he looks at me before giving me a meek smile.

"I messed up a bit in the beginning and I was too stiff."

"Really? I didn't notice," I replied, shrugging. And I really didn't. Such small flaws were almost invisible to me. "Soonyoung, I'm telling you. You did absolutely great."

He groans. "Sure, to you. I have to be perfect."

I frowned. "Are you saying I have low standards then?"

He blinks, his eyes wide. "No, no, not at all. I'm just saying…maybe to you it's…but…" He pauses, his cheeks flushing. "Aish, for a junior, you sure know how to make someone nervous."

I laughed softly, stopping in front of my driveway. "This is my home. I've got to go and get cracking on my homework. Or do you want me to walk you home, little boy?" I joked, poking his stomach which he playfully swatted away.

"I'll be fine, thank you. Besides, I'm older than you. Don't forget that," he points out, hitting my head lightly, brushing my bangs in front of my face. "Do you need me to walk you up the driveway, little girl?"

"Alright, alright. Just go on home. I don't have time for your childish antics."

He laughs, waving as he continued down the street. Once he was out of my sight, I wondered why and how I never interacted with him before and why I had decided to start now.

--

That night, I crawled back downstairs and replayed the tape from today on the stereo, paying close attention to the voice. Why did it sound so familiar yet so vague? I pulled open the drawer that held the first tape and played with it while thinking. Maybe Daeun was right. Maybe this wasn't a prank after all. (Although, if it was, I'll never let myself live it down). But something in the tape stood out and that was sincerity.

I decide to lug the stereo up to my room since it was such a bother to constantly run up and downstairs just to listen to a thirty second tape. My father gave me a look and asked me what I was doing, suddenly reusing the stereo when I had a MP3 player (he even said he'd take it if it was no longer good use to me), but I waved him off, saying it was for a school project. Luckily, he let it go.

I closed my bed room behind me, placing the heavy stereo on my bedtable before laying down in bed, tired. Daeun didn't believe in the string theory but I did. I believed that somewhere on this world, there is someone just for you. It was weird. The way liking someone works, I mean. It's so complicated how suddenly, you grow attach to someone and you notice every small thing they do or have. Whether it's a small freckle on the top of her nose or the way he tugs on his ear when he's nervous. You notice everything.

I yawn, rubbing my eyes. So many things had happened in the past days. Too much for lil ol' me to handle.

I guess it's true when they say life is full of surprises.

________________________________________

a/n:  im so so sorry for the long hiatus but school has started sadly and ive been super busy ((hey fun fact my bio teacher is korean)) but i wanted to post a chapter! sorry for the long wait! comments arent needed but they'd make me super happy :~)