Dismissal. The three of us went towards the covered gym but I ended up getting pushed away by the coach and the other members and told me to rest.
I complained at first but realize that I still need to practice my harp so I took the opportunity, I thanked the coach for excusing me for todays practice and walk back to our building to have my dinner, alone.
I feel so lonely, I haven't even saw Loraine or Annie around so I ate alone. After that I walk back to my room to take a quick bath and changed into my pajamas before leaving the room.
I zip my jacket as I jogged towards the music room, it was still open so I walked it and turn the lights on to let the guards know that there's still someone inside the room and won't lock the door.
I remove my jacket and set it on the chair with my phone, I also pulled another chair near the harp and started my practice.
I kept plucking and plucking my fingers through the strings and didn't stop, I ignored the pain until I feel it getting numb but I played all over again until I finally performed the whole song without any mistakes.
I breathed deeply before reaching for my phone to check the time, my lips automatically twitched when the tip of my fingers made contact with the screen of my phone, it d*amn hurts!
I pressed the on button and my lockscreen glowed, it's already 9, one more practice should do, just to get my fingers familiar with the strings.
"Ouch" I groaned when I saw a few cuts on my fingers- still no blood were flowing out, I should just put some bandage or band aid on this later.
I played the harp once more and end up finishing the song in no time, I hurriedly wore my jacket again and shove my phone into its pocket before walking out the music room, just in time when I saw the guard turning to the hallway.
"Good evening sir" I greeted.
"Good evening, late pratice perhaps?" He asked and I nodded before excusing myself.
"Argh this would take me days to recover my precious hand back" I dramatically said.
When I got into my room Annie was already asleep because the lights were off, she's not doing her homework? Nevermind, I need to sleep early so I need to do my homework now.
But because of the state of my fingers, I ended up finishing my homework at exactly 12 midnight, I frowned before turning the lights on my desk and throw myself onto my bed, I really hate him.
~
"Hey what happened to your fingers?" Sam asked as soon as she saw me.
Earlier this morning I wrapped some tape-like bandages on my fingers after applying some ointment on it, of course it's painful that's why I covered it up to prevent the cuts from getting deeper.
"Nothing, I just practice the harp too much" I chuckled while shaking my hand softly.
"B*tch! We told you to rest" Sam smacked my head.
"Gah!" I exclaimed and almost got tripped over my heels when Annie held my arm.
"Come on, I'm not gonna fail this performance task" I told them, Liz sighed.
"Just listen to us" she held my shoulder and I sighed before nodding.
"Come on, I'm starving" I smiled at them and they nodded.
"Oh, I'm having breakfast with Pierce on the grand hall" Annie suddenly pulled away from Sam's hold.
"You've been hanging out with him lately" I teased.
"No, our parents wants him to watch over me as much as possible" she simply answered.
"You think we'll believe that?" Sam smirked.
"He flirts girls even if I'm in front of him, he sometimes makes out with them, does he really care about me? No" she rolled her eyes and we look at her in silence.
"You know what, I'm eating with you girls" she constantly changed her mind and she was the one who dragged us towards the cafeteria.
"Won't he get mad?" I asked while we line up to get our meals.
"Don't care, I'll just have to avoid him for the rest of the day I guess" Annie gave us a ressuring smile.
Well maybe we'll just help her out later when the problem arouse, we sat on our usual seat when I saw Lorained entered the cafeteria looking terrified as she sprinted towards our table.
"Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh" I heard her mumbled then she slam her hand on the table making us flinch.
"The heck Loraine?" Sam stood up to confront her.
"You, you! You're fiancé is outside" She pointed at the door.
Annie faked a laughed while rolling her eyes in the proccess and instead of leaving, she continued to eat her breakfast and act like nothing happened.
"You're not going? He's threathening me, it's giving me goosebumps" Loraine complained and dropped herself to the seat next to me.
"He's not gonna do that, he'll have to face me first" she said being unbothered.
"Wow, how are you so brave when it comes to him now?" Liz asked, Annie froze from bringing the spoon to her mouth and closed her mouth.
I watched as she blinked twice before settling the spoon down and swallowed a lump on her throat.
"It's not that, I know that he knows that my parents can sue him if ever he did something to me and to you guys" she casually said.
"Certainly hoping that nothing happeneds" Liz crossed her fingers and I shook my head disapprovingly.
"You did the right thing, don't let him hurt you Annie" I told her and she smiled in comfort.
"She's right, you're already part of the Fab Club and I always make sure that no one gets hurt" Sam grinned and Loraine looked at us in disbelief.
"Hey! I-"
"Shut up Loraine you're just temporary in the group" Sam joked and Lorained faked a cry while wiping her eyes and sniffing making us laugh.
After our breakfast, the five of us were still teasing each other until we got out of our building.
"No! I'm the most beautiful" Liz flipped her hair making Loraine and Sam rolled their eyes at her.
"What's the use of having a long hair if I cut it off?" Sam smiled evily.
"Hmp, you're so childish even tho you're the oldest one among the five of us" Liz grumbled and Sam chuckled.
"Ehem" someone cleared their throat causing us to be silent as we walk pass him.
"Xiena" he called in a stern voice but our group didn't stop from walking.
"You know what? I think I'm the most beautiful one" Annie suddenly grinned.
"That's unfair!" The other three complained making me laugh.
"First one to the main building will be the prettiest!" Liz exclaimed and ran away.
"That is so not fair!" The three said and ran after her while I smiled before jogging to catch up with them.
When we reached the main building, the four of them had their hands on their knees, panting. Drained immediately after the long run I suppose yet it didn't gave them justice since they all reached the entrance at the same time making it a tie.
"So what now?" I asked them.
"Okay, how about let's crown Tine as the visual queen of the group instead?" Loraine asked and the three eyed me up and down.
"Good idea" Annie nodded.
"What? No way!" I rejected.
"Oh yes way" they insisted.
On the way to our classroom, they are still nagging me about being the holder of visual on the group so I had no choice but to accept it because we're getting late to our classes.
After hearing my answer, Loraine and Annie separated from us while we walk towards our classroom.
And after a few moments the bell finally rang indicating that the classes are starting, I sat on my seat and took out my handouts. We have our graded recitation today on history and I'll make sure to get an A+ on my grades this year.
When the teacher set foot on the room, questions were already thrown to us and some of us answered it correctly, I look over Ace's direction and saw him glaring at me, I faked a smile at him before raising my hand and stating the answer.
"The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand happened on June 28, 1914" I answered.
"Correct" the teacher said and wrote something on her record book.
"Why is the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand important?" She asked and before I could raise my hand someone already answered.
"Because his assassination led to a chain of events resulting to the war" he answered.
"Correct" she nodded, I sweatdropped and eventually manage to steal a few more points.
The class ended and my head was ripping apart like literally tearing apart. I really hate history, now I have another problem, it's music class.
We all walked towards the theater room for our performance, miss Tirrae was already there settling up our stage, once she saw me, she smiled and I walked towards her on top of the stage.
Sam did say that she wanted me to perform first right? So here it is, the staffs brought the harp on the center while I took a chair and settled it near the harp.
"You can start anytime ms. Belfour" Miss Tirrae instructed as she walked down the stairs, well everyone is looking, it's making me anxious.
I took a deep breath before running my fingers on the strings. I chose to perform this song because it reminds me of someone, someone whom I met through a letter, I don't really know why but no matter how busy I am everyday, there would always be a time that our conversation through that letter would peek behind my thoughts.
'Beauty and the Beast'
After plucking the first few strings, I immediately caught everyones attention, of course, who would have thought that I can play the harp so easily?
My mom was the one who taught me how to play harp when I was just 4 years old, I only stopped playing the harp when she went back serving on the military after she failed to give birth to my younger sister- Christina, when I was just 9 years old.
My eyes focused on the strings as my fingers ran through it as if they have their own life, it's quite difficult to pluck the string because of my bandaged fingers so I need to pluck it a little harder.
And without me noticing, I eventually finished playing the whole song, I only got my self back together when they applauded. I stood up from the chair and bowed before walking down the stairs.
"You never fail to amaze me with your performance ms. Belfour" miss Tirrae said.
"Thank you miss" I smiled and looked over to my friends.
"Good job!" They mouthed and gave me a thumbs up, I nodded before sitting next to our class president.
"Another hidden talent unleashed" he tapped my back I grinned.
"I'll still get the top rank" I blurted out in a joking matter, he smirked.
"We'll see about that" he said and stood up when miss Tirrae called his name.
My jaw dropped when he walked up the stage carrying an electric guitar, well yeah he beat my piano last year with a drum, I mean, should I expect when you're in a family filled with band members.
"Mr. Juarez, you may start" she said.
"Oh dear, he did not just do that on purpose" I complained but also paid attention to his performance.
It wasn't bad at all in fact everyone hyped up including miss Tirrae while I remained seated, no wonder miss Tirrae had him next to me, she just wanted to have a concert here, just kidding.
Of course audience impact is still part of the task so I suppose he would steal the highest mark from me. I look over to Ace, he's silently looking at the stage, he's playing the piano later, I wonder what song would he play this year.
He's so locked up with his deep thoughts huh? I shifted my gaze towards Sam, she is arguing with Icer again, I chuckled when Icer suddenly dropped his smirked and started to complain to his friends which was all trapped in their deep thoughts making Sam laugh because he got ignored by his friends.
Liz on the other hand is having her breathing practice, what a miracle to see her not sleeping at this moment.
'Who would sleep on such a concert-like performance Tine?' My mind argued, well my bad.
After his performace, he grinned at me, I rolled my eyes my punched his stomach lightly because my fingers still hurt.
"Ouch! You're really a sadist, just admit it, I'm good at music" He said, getting full of his self confidence.
"I worked hard for my performance James" I said trying to sound so mean but he simply laugh at me.
Our classmates performed as well until it reaches Ace's position, he casually stood up and walked up the stage while the piano well pushed in the center by the staffs.
He then sat on the piano bench before playing it, I froze in place when I heard the intro, I can also feel some of our classmates taking a glance on me, the song.
It's the same song I played a while ago.
Is this a coincidence? No, maybe he sneak up to my place every practice hour to see what song would I play? I look to his direction, he doesn't seem to be bothered by the look everyone was giving him.
He simply keep his sight on the piano keys until he finished his performance, miss Tirrae didn't even bother asking him why did he play the same song as me but instead, she approved his performance, maybe she thought that it was indeed a coincidence?
After our music class, all of us headed out for lunch, Sam and Liz also asked me if about what happened earlier but I only answered that I don't really know.
I can't just point out that he copied me, I don't know anything from his side so why should I accuse him for anything?
"Maybe it's just a coincidence" I muttered and they look at me as if they're not contented with my answer.
"Oh yeah I heard that you're going home next week" Sam started and I nodded.
"Yeah, what about it?" I asked her.
"You're going home?" I look over the end of the hallway, there stood Icer with his friends.
"Yes" I answered, gosh they're throwing a lot of question at me today.
"We have a field trip comming up for the collaboration of science and research" Troy said, I raised my eyebrow, oh that's too soon.
"I'll be back immediately, I'll be gone for just 3 days, I'll be back next monday" I told them.
"Are you sure? You're going alone I mean" Liz questioned my plans.
"Yes, now if you're worried about me, don't be, I have my cousins to pick me up" I said.
"I think she can make it on time, the field trip will be 10 days from now" Ace told Icer.
"And you're leaving within 3 days" Sam nodded.
"Be back alive Belfour" Icer said and walked away with his group.
"Of course I will" I retorted.
"I'm expecting that" he caught up with his thumbs up.
"Tsk!" I stomped my feet before walking off to the cafeteria on our building.
"They sure like pissing you off now instead of bullying" Liz nudged my shoulder.
"Oh shut up, I'm not getting on their level, I don't wanna stress myself and look old on the party" I smirked then they chuckled.
Time skip, Ashlyn announced that we won't have any practice today becuase she has a meeting with the coach and other sports representatives so we decided to visit the dance studio where the dance, gymnast and ballet clubs are held.
The gymnast club is located at the 3rd floor so we used the elevator to get there, when it opened we walked towards their practice area and saw an unexpected person there, Pierce, Troy, Zen and Lucas.
"Oh it's ms. Cursetine" Lucas cheered, I smiled and nodded my head.
"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.
"Watching" They all answered, ah I didn't know that they're twins with different features and born on different times, kidding.
"Why don't you guys enter?" Sam asked.
"They said they can't focus when we're watching so we told them that we'll leave instead" Lucas replied.
"Yiie Pierce, watching over Annie huh?" Liz teased and Pierce glare at him.
"Whatever, I'm going in" I snapped before these people could fight again.
I pushed the door open and Annie greeted us, she was wearing a black yoga shorts and a white fitted top, she also has her hair tied up into a knot and she's sweating really hard.
"Hey, glad you made it here" she smiled and wiped off her sweat.
"Don't worry, there's just 6 of us here" she also introduced us to her club members that includes Sofia and Miracle.
Oh so that explains why Troy is here, the three of us sat on the side while watching them practice their routines, I didn't know that Annie is really flexible, she's a boyish type of girl but here she is getting all graceful while doing her routine.
"Looking like a graceful swan" Sam mumbled.
"Sofia is good too" Liz muttered.
"Yeah, all of them are good" I agreed.
"Okay girls breaktime" Sofia announced and Annie dropped the ball she was using seconds ago.
"Ahh the performance is far away yet the pressure is so overwhelming" she sighed and drink some water.
"You guys are doing great" Sam complimented.
"Thanks Sam!" They giggled and Annie clapped her hands catching our attention.
"Maybe we should end the practice now, I still need to do something" she said.
"Sounds great, everyone have a good rest after homeworks and dinner" Sofia said and one by one of them started to leave the room.
"I'll take a shower first" Annie informed us.
"We'll wait for you outside" Liz told her then she smiled and nod before exiting the room.
"Should we tell her that Pierce is watching from outside?" Sam asked while were still looking at the door Annie entered.
"Oh we should" I smirked while they laughed at my evil scheme.