Chapter 10

The next few days were filled with loneliness, the constant ignore of my band, and the sudden popularity with almost everyone in the school. And now here I am now, finding ways of how to get back together with them. I'm now walking my way to our hangout where everyone is most likely is now.

It's been hard on me, believe me. I'd been chasing Russell, Lin, Steven, and Daniel almost every chance I get when I see them. Escaping from people is harder than I thought. I've thought that I only have to get away from my fans but now it's hard doing something like this.

I wonder how they would react to me. But everyone can tell that they'll be furious at me. I can't even imagine them more furious at me than that time before Jason appeared at my school.

After a while of going back and forth on my plans, I finally reached the abandoned warehouse. Even though I'm standing just outside, I could feel the menacing hatred they have for me. The saliva in my mouth even went dry.

'How did I even get into this mess?' Is what I'd like to say but the whole reason is when I started to be distant from them and left them. Even though I mentally blame it all on the mafia, I know that I'm actually the one at fault for all of this.

I went in front of the old warehouse doors and stood there. Is this even the right thing to do? I could leave and speak to them another time but there might not be a next time to do that. But please just be there. I don't know what I'd do when they're not actually there and elsewhere avoiding me full time.

I opened the doors, creaking as it did so, and there I could see all of them. I was happy for a moment when they looked up from whatever they were doing with shocked expressions but that all went away when they looked back down to resume whatever they were all doing. For that brief moment of staring at me, I could already feel their hate for me.

The room was so tense that I could feel like choking but I fight back the urge to do so and entered the warehouse. I closed the warehouse door and started walking up to them. I walked up to the closest person I saw, Lin.

She didn't look up from her phone and kept on listening to music through her earphones, ignoring my presence. I caught a glimpse of what she was listening to and saw the title ' Band Practice' and seeing the date it was created it was only taken a few hours ago. I could tell that Lin hated how the music sound by how her face scrutinized the music.

I passed by her and went to Steven and Daniel next. They were both holding a piece of paper and a calculator was placed between them. Steven was pissed off by something and I saw the paper they were holding was full of numbers. Probably calculating how much money they have left from their last concert but I heard through gossips that Night Raid wasn't the same since I left. They must be having it hard.

I went ahead and walked to Russell who was sitting on a wooden box fiddling with his phone. I stopped in front of him right on time to see him deleting a photo of us celebrating his birthday months ago. He didn't hesitate to delete the photo and started to scavenge more pictures of us on his phone and started deleting it too. I could feel my stomach churn with guilt.

The last time he was this upset was when we were young and his parents grounded him because he was sneaking out of the house to play with me. He didn't eat or talk to anyone until I showed up in his house and we started playing like nothing was wrong. This was probably the same because Russell was looking thin.

"Russell..." I started with a low voice.

He didn't look at me but he did reply. "What the heck are you doing here?" he said with a harsh tone. "If you haven't heard, you're not in the band anymore."

The way he talked left me feeling guiltier than I was before but I had to endure it for the sake of our friendship and for the band. "I'm here to talk to all of you."

"If it's another one of your stupid excuses, we've had enough of it."

"Like it or not I will tell you the truth." I was desperate. I couldn't stand it anymore of them ignoring me. "Believe it or not, I won't stand all of your attitudes!"

In a flash, Russell stood up from the crate and punched me. His punch was so strong that I was sent flying to the ground a few feet away from him. I feel like he might have broken something. Nearby I could hear the others gasping in shock.

After I recovered a bit from the punch I tried to sit up and lifted my hand to my left cheek. I could feel it swelling already. It hurts when I touched it, I could feel my face go numb, but it was a good thing my wig didn't come off.

I looked up from where I was sitting and I could see Russell's knuckles turn into a reddish color and the crate behind him toppled over. I could see all the rage he was storing up in his eyes.

"I could care less to what happens to you!" He yelled at me. "Do you have any idea how much we've been trying to get a hold of you? I'm guessing you don't since you've only been trying to avoid us. We're tired of chasing you everywhere you go without so much as an explanation why you avoid us. So if you'd rather be beaten up to a pulp by me, you'd better explain now!"

I knew I would have to explain to them but no words would come out of me. I looked away from him and cast my eyes to the ground. All of my braveness disappeared just like that from one punch, how pathetic. I tensed up when Russell started walking up to me. The more he went closer the more I would feel tense.

He stopped in front of me. I could see his sneakers from where I was looking down at him. It felt like hours we were like that but it has only been a few minutes until Russell reached his hand out to me. I hesitantly looked up and saw that he was holding a hand out to me. I could still see the rage he has in his eyes but he was holding it back. Hesitantly I took his hand and he pulled me up to my feet.

We looked at each other, one part of our body aching as we did so. "...Even though I hate you enough to want to punch you all over again until you're bleeding, I can't bring myself to end our friendship," Russell said. "You should be lucky that I'm giving you a third chance." I was gawking at him, unable to say anything. Is this a prank, because if it is, I'm not laughing? He looked at me curiously. "Well, what are you going to say?"

I snapped back to focus back at him. Is this really not a prank? But either if it is or not I've finally realized that this was the wrong time to space out. "I don't even have words to say how relieved I am to hear that." I said in a whisper "But this time I'll really change."

"You better stick to your word." He said as he walked out of the warehouse, his right hand still red.

Lin, Steven, and Daniel started forward to me after, checking for injuries other than the one on my face. It took a few minutes of convincing them until they backed up. I took a sit on a nearby crate and lifted my hands to my sore cheek. It hurts but it feels good that I've finally reasoned with them. I bent my face down so no one could see the pain on my face. I pair of converse shoes stopped in front of me and I looked up to see Lin holding a first aid kit. She reached for a crate and sat on it so she would look at me on the same level.

"Show me your face," Lin said and when I didn't show her my face she hit me with the first aid kit. "Are you going to show your face or do you prefer another hit on the head?" I did as she said afraid of being hit again. Is this how you should treat an injured person?

Lin started to take out some sanitizing medicine and started treating my wound. To finish the patching up process she even gave me a messed up bandage on my cheek. She stood up from the crate and started walking away when she looked back at me again with a small smile on her face. "Welcome back," she said softly and started walking away again.

I was left alone in my own little space and while I had nothing else to do I tried to fix my mess of a bandage Lin made on my face. Russell came back. Taking a sit on the crate Lin was just sitting on then started to fix the bandage on my face. "Really, Lin can really do such crappy work but that's her for you," he said to me trying to create a conversation between us but it was hard to do so because both of us are uncertain on how to keep the conversation going.

Out of nowhere, he started chuckling. I was confused and he caught the uncertainty I had plastered on my face. "Hey Richard, doesn't it bring back old memories of our childhood?" He raised his injured fist up which was covered in a bandage poorly wrapped.

I thought for a moment then remembered. "You mean that time when we were kids?"

"What time could I possibly mean other than the time I saved you countless times in middle school."

"Don't you mean the times you beat up by bullies and you got hurt because of that? We would always go home back then with injuries and your parents would scold you."

"My parents were just worried but then again what would you expect when my father is a police. Of course, my parents were overprotective while your mother would always cuddle you, it made me jealous a few times but that's life for you. And just look at us now, many things have changed since then."

It was funny how he could still remember all of that but I couldn't help but remember my mother when she was alive. I would always miss her when someone would bring up the past but I pushed that memory away and focused myself on the present instead of dawdling myself in the past. "I can see that you've been trying hard to cheer me up Russell but it's not enough to forget for the things I've done. If there's anything you want from me, just say it."

"There are just two things we want from you." I turned and saw Steven, Daniel, and Lin standing there.

"If you've already seen our budget, you have to stay in the band," Daniel said

"And if you want to avoid being a complete outcast at school, you should hang out with us," Lin said

"Now that that's settled, let's practice. While the two of you were talking I booked us a performance at a local club, so let's hurry up." Steven said as he walked back to get his guitar which was laid on top of a crate.

Like before and always, we looked at our estranged leader back as he joyfully hummed a tune. I mean really, having to book a concert when everything was settled and having such a short time left to practice is impressive but crazy but that's how it is in Night Raid. It's what makes us who we are. We all grabbed our instruments and went to the center of the warehouse where we always practiced and where sunlight was shining right under us.