"The School Festival-1"

"Mother?!" Matt was very surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited by the Principal. He said that you will perform," she uttered as she fanned herself as hard as she could, "My god, it's so hot in here!"

"You should have stayed back there, mother. I will have them record a video of our performance and send it to you, or live stream it-"

"No, my son, I want to watch it personally."

Matt chuckled, "I am surprised they permitted you to go here."

"Your father was reluctant at first, but I insisted. Anyway, I'm here, so let us not talk about it," Matt's mother glanced at the students behind him, "Why don't you introduce me to your friends?"

"Ah, yes, mother!" Matt led his mother to where his bandmates were. "This is Lenoir, the Music Club President."

"Hello, ma'am welcome to Kasumi International Highschool," Lenoir said with a bright smile.

Matt continued, "This is Olivet, our band leader."

"Good morning, ma'am," she said politely.

"And this is… the girl I like. Her name is Sydney McKee."

Matt's mother looked at her from head to toe. She was very curious how a plain-looking girl managed to catch her son's attention. "Hi, Miss McKee. I finally got to meet you. My son had told me a few things about you."

Sydney wondered what Matt had been telling his mother about her. She glanced at him for a few seconds, then faced his mother and scribbled her reply, [Nice to meet you, madam!]

The rich lady raised her brow. "Hmm? Why aren't you speaking?"

"About that, mother… She has an illness that affected her throat and vocal cords. She can't speak right now, but once she finds a good surgeon, she can have it back."

Matt's mother was disappointed about this. It was only once in a blue moon that his son would express his feelings for a girl, but she couldn't accept that the girl was actually ill.

She looked at her with disdain before turning her back on her. "I shall walk around and look for souvenirs." And she left, together with her six bodyguards.

"You don't look like your mother, Matt," Lenoir commented, "You're blonde, and she has brown hair. Your eyes and nose too, they don't match with her."

Matt laughed, "Yes, because… I look so much like my father. Because of this face too, that my stepmother almost killed- Geez, nevermind. Let's prepare for our performance!"

Even though the four of them started walking towards the backstage, Sydney couldn't forget how Matt's mother glared at her. She already knew what that kind of look was: disgust. It's the same as her classmates' gazes when they heard that she messed up the inter-school concert.

She was saddened by this. When she saw Matt's mother, she was expecting her to be as kind and jolly as him, but she was wrong. She shook her head and tried to get rid of the thought.

Lenoir saw how Sydney's expressions changed. So without saying anything, he patted her head and gave her a smile.

Sydney felt comforted by his senior's gesture. Lenoir had always been like this; he always knew how to cheer her up.

An hour later, it was their turn on stage. They would be the third band to perform out of the ten.

Wearing their very own school uniform, the four of them stepped up. Olivet went behind the electronic keyboard, Matt sat behind the drum set, and Sydney wore the guitar strap onto her. After making sure that all instruments, plus the mic, had been plugged into the amplifiers, a soundcheck was made.

Lenoir held the microphone near him and faced the audience, "Are you ready, everyone? We're the Popcorn band, and we prepared three pop songs for you! The first song is… Symphony, by Clean Bandit!"

The crowd cheered, and Matt started hitting his sticks together four times.

"I've been hearing symphonies

Before all I heard was silence

A rhapsody for you and me

And every melody is timeless…"

...

After the first song, Lenoir told them, "Now, for our second song… Same Old Love! By Selena Gomez!"

And Matt started hitting his sticks together again.

…

After the second song, Lenoir again greeted the audience with a bright smile. He sipped some water, then said, "Our last song is a song about our youth… I personally chose this song because I'll be graduating soon... Everyone, it's 'Fifteen' by Taylor Swift!"

"... 'Cause when you're fifteen,

Somebody tells you they love you

You're gonna believe them

And when you're fifteen

Feeling like there's nothing to figure out

Count to ten

Take it in

This is life before you know who you're gonna be

At fifteen…"

…

Lenoir glances at Sydney, who was concentrating on her guitar chords. He was dedicating the song to her, even though she didn't realize it. She never once looked back at him.

Soon after, the song ended and Lenoir said his goodbye to the crowd. The four of them then stood in front and bowed. And that ended their performance for the first day of the school festival.

As soon as they got down from the stage, they proceeded to the backstage, "Good job everyone!" Miss Elle exclaimed, "I am so proud of you!"

"Thank you Miss Elle!" Olivet replied, "Thank you for supporting us!"

After speaking to Miss Elle and the organizers, the four of them headed to the Music Room to get their valuables. They all sat on the floor as they felt their knees shaking; the adrenaline rush was already gone.

"I'm so tired!" Matt said as he laid down the cold, tiled floor, "The floor feels so nice!"

Sydney scribbled, [Are you a cat? Don't lie on the floor!]

Matt properly sat down, "Haha! Sorry, Syd!"

She pouted, then wrote, [You shirt will get dirty!]

A smile formed on Matt's lips, "You really care for me, don't you, Sydney?" He tried to meet her eyes, "You actually like me, right?"

Sydney's cheeks turned red. She stood up from the floor, and wrote on her magnetic board, [I will go to the comfort room!] then she ran out of the Music Room because of embarrassment.

In the comfort room, she did not expect to see Matt's mother, who was retouching her make-up in front of the big mirror. Sydney bowed to her as a courtesy and proceeded to the faucet to wash her face.

Matt's mother looked at Sydney disdainfully, saying, "I want to tell you something important."

She wiped her face with the handkerchief that she brought, then faced her.

She narrowed her eyes on her, "I want you to stay away from my son. I do not want an ill person to enter our family."