‘This is it.’ Ella said to herself as she took a peek from behind the curtain.

She can see all the lights focus to the stage, a full pack auditorium, and all eyes upon that single stage. She took a deep breath while closing her eyes, in a few moments it will be her turn to take that spotlight.

A hand on her shoulder suddenly startled her. She quickly opened her eyes and looked up to see Jiro with anxious face.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Ella could not say anything and just nodded.

“To tell you the truth E, I’m nervous, very nervous.” Jiro said while letting go of her shoulder.

“I know. I’m also nervous Jiro.” She said while rubbing her palms together.

Well, how could she not be nervous? This will be her first comeback stage after her long absence. She is sure hell nervous. Furthermore, this time it is a talent show where she has to perform using musical instruments, in which she has not done in a long time, much longer than not acting on stage which makes her even more nervous. And doing it with Jiro makes it even more difficult. Not that it was difficult to be working together with him. It was the fact that if she makes mistakes he will also suffer the blow that really puts pressure on her.

“Ello Chen, Jiro Wang, places! You’re live in 1 minute.” One of the stage crew informed them.

“Okay!” they shouted together.

Backstage is as hectic as ever. People are running around, shouting, screaming, and arranging stuff. Wires, cables, make up, props, costumes, everything is all gathered up together. She kind of misses this. All the speed, rush, adrenaline all huddle up together. It might be weird to say, but backstage is probably the liveliest place she has ever been in her entire life. She just loves watching everyone putting all their effort into a single production.

Yes it is weird, but hey, have you ever wonder why backstage passes cause even more expensive than the ticket itself? Well, part of it is of course to meet the stars, but another big part of it is the fact that sometimes watching the process of how a production is made is even more interesting than the production itself. Fascinating, isn’t it?  

“I’ll go now.” Jiro said. They have both agreed to enter separately. Ella is using the right entrance, while Jiro using the left. And since it is almost their time to perform, he has to go to his place on the opposite of where he is right now.
“Okay.” She replied.

“Good luck!” he shouted while forming a fist with his right arm.

“You too!” she shouted back. And before she knew it, he was gone.

Ella stared at the pair of drumstick in her left hand. It was the special drumstick GuiGui gave her for her birthday during the first birthday in Farmosa University. She held the drumsticks tightly in her hands and slowly put it in front of her chest and closed her eyes, silently praying that she will not let GuiGui down with her performance, and moreover let herself down.

The shout from one of the crew alert her back to reality. Mentally she did a last minute check. This is her comeback stage, nothing can go wrong.

She touched her legs and can feel two sticks sticking. ‘Spare. Check’ she mentally said.

As a performer she knows best that everything needs to have a spare, and drumsticks included. She then checked her back. ‘Another spare. Check’ she said again.

After finished checking her clothes, her hair, her hand movement, and most importantly the wireless radio attached to her ear, she finally breathed in a deep breath to calm herself down.

As soon as she exhaled, one of the crew quickly escorted her to the stage and immediately helped her to get into position. As soon as she sat down behind the drum set, she immediately pulled out the drumsticks that attached to her leg and put it somewhere within arm’s reach.

The performer before her was still playing when she finally settled in her position. It was a girl playing a violin. She claimed herself to be the next Vanessa Mae, and by the sound of it she might be right. Ella tried to calm herself in the darkness. Because drum set is not really mobile, the staff has put it in the very back of the stage, thus while the front of the stage got some light for the performance, Ella is currently hiding in the darkness because the light cannot reach it.

As soon as the violist gave her final bow to the audience, all the lights immediately went off. Ella slowly closed her eyes trying to compose herself. She can hear the girl running quickly towards the backstage; she can hear whisper here and there from the crowd wondering what will happen next.

‘This is it.’ She mentally said to herself.

She placed her left leg on the pedal that connected to the hi-hat and then placed her other leg on one of the pedal that connected to the bass drum. She griped both drumsticks in her hands and started counting.

DUM!

The sound of the bass drum suddenly silenced the crowd. All eyes are upon the dark stage.

She let out a satisfactory smirk for a second and then went back to her original performer’s mask, all serious without any emotion. As an actress she knows very well that the flow of a performance is not only determined by the talent of the performer, but also how the performer is able to carry his/her stage presence.

DUM… DUM… DUM…

She continued to slowly press the pedal and soon the sound of the steady beat from the bass drum continues to echo inside the full packed auditorium.

Slowly the lights begin to lite up one by one, moving from the back of the auditorium towards the stage. With each light that lite up, she increases the speed by one beat.  And before the light managed to get to the stage she already beat the snare drum, followed by the hi-hat.

The flow of the beat from her drum was so synchronized with the lighting that when the light finally got to her, she was in perfect timing to hit all the drums. The moment she hit that ride cymbal, the crowds gasped as they finally realized the woman (or man as they see her) behind the drum. The audience was at uproar but Ella was not finished yet. No, she is just getting started.

Soon enough she was banging all the drums with her drumsticks. From left to right and then the other way. Just as her arms kept moving, so do her feet. She continuously stepped the pedal for the bass drum and the hi-hat. With the rising beat, she enchanted the whole crowd with her performance.

Around three minutes into the performance, Ella was still beating the drums like crazy. She quickly moved her left feet from the hi-hat pedal to the double pedal for the bass drum and stepped on it furiously. Soon enough, she was beating the drums like crazy. From left to right and back again, her feet do not stop moving. All the beats from the drum was so crazily fast that it felt very uncoordinated, and yet it was so miraculously amazing to hear. Weird, isn’t it? The closest term to describe her performance would probably it was so uncoordinated that when all the beats jumbled up, it worked harmoniously together in a strange way that people somehow like it. Yeah, it is a strange concept to understand, but no other words can better describe it.

Just right before she reach the of her drum solo, a shriek of guitar sound was suddenly heard. The audience was trying to see where the guitar sound was coming from, when suddenly, out of nowhere, Jiro appeared on the stage, playing his red electric guitar with so much suave that melts all girls’ heart.

Ella smiled when she saw Jiro jumped from the trap door near her. It was her idea to make his entrance that grand. It was hard, especially he has to jump from below while still playing his guitar, but he managed. Jiro was opposed to the idea at first, mainly he was not that confident, but she kept assuring him and with few practices he finally agreed with confidence. It was quite a rush in practicing that entrance because actually she had not even think about that until the dry rehearsal.

At first she was going to go the normal way, Jiro just walk into the stage in the middle of the song, but then after seeing the magic show before the violin performance, she finally made up her mind that Jiro need to use that trap door. It was just such a waste if that trap door was only used once in the whole talent show. And besides, since Jiro’s solo started in the middle of the song, it would not make a great impact if he just walked in.

And judging from the cheers from the crowd, the act did not disappoint. Jiro quickly added a new feeling to Ella’s drum solo. While Ella went with the more urban rock feel, Jiro added more metal and Goth layer to the mix. As the song progresses Ella slowly tone down her beat to let Jiro get all the shine. She already had hers halfway through the song, so it is his time now.

Around four minutes since Jiro started, Ella begins to beat her drums again, lightly at first, but then going harder and faster by the second. The combination of Jiro’s guitar solo and her drum solo was so amazingly match that even people who initially did not like rock/metal/Goth music can enjoy it.

And before they knew it, they finally reached the of their performance. With Ella furiously banging the cymbals and stepping on the double pedal for the bass drum, and Jiro continuously picked his guitar strings with so much energy that it might break soon. They were on fire, literally. Just as Jiro finally jumped while picking the last note and Ella beat one of the cymbals, fireworks/torches that are attached to the stage lite up and confetti burst out towards the audience.

The two were exhausted. They keep their heads down, panting furiously. Sweat started dripping down their backs and foreheads. Whoever thought such a short performance would get these two so worked up over it? Waiting for the audience’s response was even more nerve wreaking. What has been a second seems like an hour.

But all their hard work finally paid off when the crowd went wild with cheers. Both Jiro and Ella slowly look up and they can see almost half the audience giving them standing ovation. Smiles slowly crept up from their exhausted faces. There is no correct word to describe the feeling. It was so amazing that they have a hard time believing it. And because of this, they had no idea on what else to do beside smiling and nodding to each other, silently giving gratitude and praise towards the other.

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It has been three weeks since the talent show, but the excitement has not died down. Mainly because the talent show were soon followed up by other events that did not disappoint anyone who participate and watch.

Chun and Aaron have been constantly saying how bad they feel when the result came out. Jiro and Ella did not win, but they did not take it to the heart.

“I got bigger fish to fry.” she said when the others tried to cheer her up.

GuiGui who was also among those crowd just smiled in relieve. Chun kept on a straight face the whole time. He was glad that Ella was not sad about the loss, but he was not that happy either about the play/musical. She is basically going to expose her identity. Doesn’t she care about that at all?

Chun just sighed every time he thought about that. What has been done is done and there is no turning back. And besides, he finally understood that one particular side of the girl he loves. That stubborn side when it comes to her dream. And no matter how many amount of yelling or shouting can ever waver her. That is what he had to learn the hard way.

He sighed again. He had just come back from a late night run. He really needs that lately. It is mostly because those dreams regarding his certain roommate kept coming back to him like a plague. He did not want to sound like a ert, but no one can control his hormones. So it is best for him to let it all out with some exercise rather than getting caught red handed with traces of by Ella. Yikes! That would be embarrassing!

As he opened the door, he was greeted by the sleeping Ella. He did not want to wake her so he quietly tip toe into the bathroom. She needed all the rest she could get. She has been practicing like crazy, especially since the play/musical is just a week away. He hardly ever talks to her now and usually when they do talk it is just brief because she sometimes ended up dozing off due to exhaustion. And what is worse, it is making him missing her even more and making his hormones go crazy whenever he got a chance to take a glance at her.

Yeah, a nice cold shower would be good right now to ease all his . He had never felt this way before to any other girl, so everything that happens was quite a shock to him. But being the athlete that he is he immediately turns the knop to the left, making the water hot instead of cold. He would end up cramping all day if he poured cold water on his fully exercised muscles. Even though it does not help as much as cold water will on his ‘condition’ but at least it helps clear his mind.

He sighed once more. “Ella Chen, you’ll be the death of me.” He said.

It did not take long for him to finish his shower and get out from the bathroom. He quickly proceeded to his bed across Ella’s while rubbing his head with a towel. He would not want to catch a cold because of sleeping with damp hair. He was about to rest his head on his pillow when suddenly Ella shouted and fell to the ground.

“Ouch…” Ella groaned while rubbing her back. Even though the floor is carpeted and the distance from her bed to the floor is not that high, it still hurts to fall like that.

“Are you okay?” Chun asked while helping her get back on her feet.

“Yeah, don’t worry. Sorry to wake you up though.” Ella said while continuously rubbing her back, hopefully it won’t bruise.

“Nah, it’s okay. I was not asleep yet. So, what happened?” Chun said while sitting her down on her bed. He then walked towards his bed and just sat there watching her, waiting for her to reply his question.

“Just bad dreams.” She answered.

“You want to talk about it?” He asked.

“It’s nothing really.” She stopped and looked at Chun who looked not that satisfied with her answer. “I dreamt that I messed up the play. My voice crack and I tripped on my outfit. The next thing I knew all my clothes were gone and I ended up running in front of the audience with the cast and crew shaking their heads on me. And then I tripped and fell from the stage.” She finished with a sigh.

“You’re just being overly stressed from your nervousness.”

“Yeah, I guess so too. It’s just; it has been a while since I have this kind of dream.” She said again.

“Well, you haven’t been in a play in such a long time, it is understandable.” He said.

Ella just nodded and sighed. “We should go back to sleep. Sorry to disturb you.”

“Do you want to sleep with me?” Chun suddenly asked.

Ella’s eyes went wide because of the shock. Is she hearing things now? Did he just offer her to be in the same bed as him? No, she must be mistaken.

“What? What did you just say?” she asked back.

Chun mentally slapped himself when he realized what he just said. It just slipped out. He can just say he was joking or something along the line, yeah, that would be convincing.

“I mean just in case you get another bad dream. At least if you sleep with me, you won’t fall off. And besides, it’s highly unlikely to have bad dreams when you sleep with someone.” He said instead.

Is he crazy? Who in the right mind would allow a girl and a boy with no relationship whatsoever sleep in the same bed together? Wait, correction, even a boy and a boy will never do that. Aish! Chun is making her crazy!

“Are you sure?” she asked instead. What is wrong with her?

Chun did not reply, instead he got up and walked over to her bed, picked up her pillow, and placed it on his bed, next to his pillow.

“Come on, jump in.” he said.

Seeing that Chun is determined to make her sleep with him, Ella finally walked over and positioned herself against the wall. Chun quickly followed and lie beside her, barricading her so that she does not fall off.

“Good night.” She said as soon as the blanket covered her.

“Good night.” He replied.

They soon closed their eyes and drifted off. And what Chun said before was right because for the rest of the night she did not have a single bad dream. Instead she had a smile across her face throughout the night.

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“I’m back.” She said in her mind as she watched her reflection in the mirror.

All the make-up artists that were in charge of transforming her into a girl had all left the room. She is now currently dressed in her costume, wearing a simple high school outfit for girls. The weird part is, because she is supposed to portray a girl disguising as a guy, she still has to maintain her guy like posture in front of everyone else and then when her character changes into a guy, she goes back to her normal attire. Weird, isn’t it? A girl disguises as a boy but has to dress up as a girl disguises as a boy. Yes, that logic is a bit confusing, but let just let that one pass for the time being.

Ella got up from her seat and went to the full length mirror across the room. She examined herself from head to toe. The make-up artist did a damn good job on transforming her back to a girl. She slowly touched her face, careful not to smudge her make-up. It has been a while since she had anyone prepped her like this. Even in Shanghai she did not get to be in the hands of a make-up artist that often unless she is the main lead of a very important play. Although moments like that do happen, most of the time she has to be able to do all the fitting, hair, and make-up herself.

Being a performing arts student she is not only expected to be able to sing, act, or dance, but also need to be able to prepare herself physically, both in fitness or appearance. Being in this business is no joke and if she cannot even passed their school standards then it will be better to just select a different carrier choice.

She was lucky that she always has Selina and Hebe on her side. Being the girly girls that they are, they are always the one that helped her on hair and make-up for her performance. The fitting, well luckily she can do that by herself. And of course, over the course of time, with helped from Selina, Hebe, a few make-up artists, hair dressers, and a whole bunch of make-up tutorials from YouTube, she has now finally able to do all the necessary touch up if she is needed to.

Though she was pretty sure that she could never manage to put on this look if it wasn’t for the make-up artists and hair dressers. As she traced the long hair that frames her face perfectly, she slowly shook her head.

‘Yeah, I can never do this look by myself.’ She said to herself.

She did not know how the hair dresser managed to do it, but she had given Ella a long hair. A natural long hair if she may add. She still could not believe it. It really looks like it is her natural hair. Before when she is needed to have long hair, she only used a wig and of course no matter how hard she or any help tried, a wig will still look like a wig. But this one is just WOW.

Her moment of admiring her long locks was suddenly interrupted by the knocking from the door.

“Come in.” she said.

The door suddenly sprung open, revealing one of her junior who is in the sound and lighting department.

“Xue Zhang (Senior), are you ready? We need to do some last minute sound check and fitting for your earphone.” He said.

“Okay, I’ll be out in a minute. Thanks, Youjia.” She replied.

She kind of missed having friends back stage, but she cannot do anything about that now. Teacher Mei had sternly ordered everyone that is involved in the production that no one, and he means NO ONE, that has nothing to do with the play/musical can step foot behind the stage. And even though GuiGui had begged her a thousand times, she has to reluctantly say no. She was even more surprised when GuiGui exclaimed to her that Aaron did not let her backstage too. Apparently the two had been spending playing piano together. It all started when GuiGui begged to watch Ella’s practice session and she had to decline it. Aaron was nice enough to invite her to watch him practice his piece for the musical, in which she immediately agreed. And from then on, Aaron has somehow teaching her a few chords here and there. What are the odds?

Ella let out a little smile. She is already thrown back to the hectic backstage she knows and loves. A sudden tap on her shoulder suddenly surprised her.

“Wow Elle! No offense, but you look BEAUTIFUL!” Vic said to her.

Oh yes, she is still a boy, she reminded herself. Beautiful will be an insult to a boy.

“Is that an insult or a compliment?” she asked while staring at him. When he did not reply, she just shrugged and thanked him reluctantly.

“Nervous?” he suddenly asked as he watched her took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

“Kinda. It’s been a while since I face such a large audience.” She said.

“Don’t be.” He said with a smile.

Ella could not say anything more and just smiled back at him. Hopefully her first comeback performance goes well without a glitch. She let out a small sigh before briefly checking everything in place. Her wireless earphone is already intact, her hair extension is still beautifully draped down her back, and her outfit is still in perfect shape.

She saw Vic giving her a smile and two thumbs up right before she went on stage, to which she replied with a determine face and a thumb up for him. As she went to center stage and took her position, she let out another deep breath.

‘FOCUS!’ she told herself.

She is not going to screw this up. Everything has to be flawless. She has been working her off these past few weeks to make sure this play/musical is no less than perfection. She looked around the closed stage. The curtain was still down. She can see some of her co-stars getting ready for their part. She looked around once more and was amazed at what the art students can do.

The background behind her really looks like a photograph, while in reality it was just a painting. The background sky was flawless. The first scene she has to do is her being a girl fantasizing about becoming a singer. The setting was in a park on a sunny day. She had already seated herself on a park bench in the center of the stage. Next to her is a fake tree. She will need to dance and sing around it somehow.

Just as she finished looking around and begin to recite her lines and the lyrics to the songs she has to sing soon, she heard one of the crew calling her.

“Ello, are you ready?” he asked.

“Yup, I’m all set.” She answered.

“Lights. Sound. Background. Orchestra.” He checked with all the others using walkie-talkie. “Okay, curtains in 5… 4… 3… 2…”

As he swung his hand up, the curtains went up. Ella can see Aaron sitting behind the piano just right in front of the stage along with the orchestra. As the curtains slowly went up, she managed to see the full pack audience. She let out a satisfactory smile. And soon, the curtains were fully up and all the lights are upon her. The melody from the piano started to chime around the auditorium followed by the rest of the orchestra. As the lights began to move and concentrate into a single spotlight just for her, she finally faced the audience and smiled. It is her time to shine.

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A/N: Well hello people!!!
I have finally able to finish this chapter. What a relieve!!
It's not as long as I thought it would be though, but hopefully you will like it either way. It is a bit short for me because it only takes up 7 pages while usually I can write up to more than 10 in MS word. Ah well, I can't do anything about that, can I?
I am still struggling with romantic scenes so I can only put up one scene for Chun and Ella together. And also because this chapter is really originally dedicated to Ella's showmanship and performances.
Well, I know it is not that long and memorable to make up for my lack of update, but please don't hate me...
Hopefully there are still people out there who read my fanfics. Hehehehe
Happy Reading!!!