Before First Period
DivisiThe following morning, Chorong was all smiles.
“Well, Junmyeon oppa, it looks like I have recruited 2 new members to the choir all on my own in just one day. And how many have you recruited?” Chorong asked him smugly.
The said boy mumbled out, “Zero.”
“That’s right!” She crowed.
“So what’s your point?”
Chorong gleefully clapped her hands. “If that’s how much I can accomplish in a single day, just imagine how many members we’ll have by the end of the month! And especially with you helping! You know, once you actually become motivated to help me.”
“Don’t worry, Chorong. I’m pretty sure you have enough ambition for the both of us. You’ve been doing pretty well so far without me.”
She huffed and crossed her arms. “Well that’s not the spirit at all.”
“I’ll find the spirit eventually.” He patted her head as though she were a child.
She swatted his hand away and they continued to banter back and forth, forgetting the presence of their newly recruited members in the choir room.
The younger siblings of the two squabbling teenagers glanced at each other a bit awkwardly.
"Hi, I'm Namjoo. I'm a freshman here." Namjoo figured that if her brother was going to continue to bicker with Chorong, she and the other choir member might as well get acquainted.
The boy returned her handshake with a grin so wide that she was sorely tempted to count how many of his teeth appeared. "Chanyeol.” He offered his name. “I'm a junior and it's kind of my first day here."
“First day?”
Chorong turned away from Junmyeon and clarified. “Towards the end of Chanyeol’s first year of junior high, he applied for a 4-year advanced music program in Seoul and made it in. He had to move there temporarily until now.”
Needless to say, Junmyeon was impressed. “4-year music program?”
“Yeah, I was in the instruments department. I already knew how to play the drums, but during my time there I expanded into guitar, bass guitar, and the djembe.” Chanyeol explained.
“...the djembe?” Namjoo questioned.
“It’s a kind of African drum, wasn’t that hard to learn compared to actual drums, though.”
“Wow…” Namjoo and Junmyeon were in awe.
Chorong beamed, immensely proud of her brother. “And he can beatbox.”
Junmyeon nudged his sister beside him. “Why can’t you be that versatile?”
She shoved him back. “I’m doing writing and now singing, oppa. What more do you want from me? I’m only a freshman. Sheesh.”
He laughed and messed with her hair again.
Chorong clapped her hands together. “Since we’ve upped our numbers to 4, Namjoo can ask her friends to join and Chanyeol...you can just go ask random students.”
Namjoo nodded. “I left the ad for the choir for my club president. Once he approves of it and gets it printed in with this month’s issue, I’m sure we’ll have fresh faces coming in fast.”
Chanyeol chimed in. “And actually noona, I already have a couple in mind. There are these two guys that attended the same music program with me. They were in the voice department though, so they’ve got some amazing pipes. We got pretty close after we found out that we’d all be attending the same high school once the program ended. I’ll give them a call, I’m sure they’d love to join.”
“That’s perfect Chanyeol!” Chorong pumped a fist in the air with delight. “I can’t wait to see our new members to come running through the door!”
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While the people in the choir room were in high spirits, the atmosphere in the orchestra room was a much different story.
A cluster of students, some standing but most sitting, were stringing at their instruments in accordance to the conductor’s movements. They played with intense concentration, and sweat gathered on many foreheads and brows from the sheer intensity they placed in trying to keep up with the conductor.
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