Chapter 23: A Voice

"Rain’s Treat! Rain’s Treat!" repeatedly chanted by Tyrone as if he was a little kid. He was skipping as he walked to the cars they had parked outside. Colleen laughed heartily with her arm anchored to me. She's skipping like Tyrone too. It’s nice to see them getting along.

As always, we rode at Rain’s car. He drove the car towards the restaurant he mentioned. The others followed him because only he knows where it is.

I never once looked at his direction in the whole ride. If Colleen wasn’t talking to me, my eyes are probably just focused outside the window opposite to his direction.

We have arrived at the restaurant he said. It's really beautiful in here. The interior is nice and the food looks delicious too. The staff lead us to our table. We sat at the far end where there were many more seats because there were so many of us. We were given the menu and they started ordering. Colleen and I are sitting beside each other with her being next to Rain on the other side. I was at one end so I had no one next to me on the other side. I faced Nathan, silent as usual. It would creep the hell out of me if he suddenly got loud like Tyrone who I think has a few loose screws in his head.

I checked the time, it's eight o'clock in the evening and it's just in time for our dinner. While waiting for our food to be served, they decided to talk about the upcoming competition of the battle of the bands in the cultural festival. Apparently, this is the band's first time joining in the said event. But even if they’re first timers, our group was already well known throughout the university. The members were already famous individually, and that includes me too. Although my name was well known, it’s not exactly the good kind of fame.

They are already admired by most of the departments and they are also known as close friends since first year. And yes, they have good looks so getting supporters wasn’t that much of a challenge to them. I wonder why I don't know them at all before this band thing even when they're this famous? Am I that unaware to those around me before? Or perhaps I just never cared.

I'm the only girl member obviously. I don't know if that's good or not. So far, I haven't heard any bad rumors about me yet. Maybe they're scared. They should be.

"So, guys," Rain said as he was trying to grab our attention. We all stared at him. "I can see our improvement when playing. Based on our performance while practicing I can say we have big shot on winning the competition.”

Tyrone and Chris went for a high-five. I just smiled as I watched and listened to them.

"How can you say so, Rain? From what I've heard, your opponents had a lot of experience because they’ve been joining the battle of bands since first year and you’re all just rookies," Colleen said which I agreed on.

"Well, yes you are right. But I investigated a bit about the other bands." We were all curious about what he found out so all of our attention is now focused on Rain.

" Even though they have been participating for a long time, individually, they lack talents. And not to brag but in our band, each of us are great. That's our advantage. And when we play, we have this weird chemistry. We're all in sync. Another advantage of ours."

At the same time, we nodded at what he said. He's right. That was what I was saying earlier. And I'm glad that I'm actually keeping up with them.

"See? Even with the nod, you’re all are in sync.” he added while smiling. Everyone laughed because of that.

"And Colleen?" Rain’s response to Colleen.

"Yeah?" I noticed that she was a little nervous because she suddenly sat up straight. I know her too well to know when she's nervous.

"We appreciate all your efforts. Thank you for being our instant manager, You’re the best."

"Yeah, that’s right!" Tyrone added which made them all hype. We were all thankful for Colleen’s efforts. Although we did not ask for it, she took care of us willingly. She is the one who buys our food so that we can have something to eat every time we take a break from practice. She was also the one who filled up our form and passed at the committee.

I noticed that Colleen was a little shaken by what Rain said but it wasn't obvious. I'm the only one who really notices everything. I just ignored it.

Our orders arrived so we started eating.

They continued to chatter while eating. I'm just listening. Sometimes what they talk about is all filled with nonsense but they don't stop laughing. We're even attracting the other customer’s attention because of their noise. Sometimes, I don't even know why I'm with them again.

I was about to take a bite again when I was suddenly shocked by a voice.

"Where the hell are you?"

I rolled my eyes around. I don't see anything strange. I thought it was nothing and I was just imagining it. I would have gone back to eating but I heard something again.

"Ven, where the hell are you?!"

I let go of the spoon I was holding so the food spread on the table. They all looked at me.

"Hey, are you okay?" Colleen asked. Worry is clearly visible in her eyes. She thought maybe I’m seeing the scenarios again like before.

"I'm okay," I just said and smiled at her. The other members returned to chatting. I picked up the spoon I dropped earlier as if nothing had happened and pretended to be eating again.

I swear, the voice came from my head. And the voice is familiar.

"Why aren't you answering me? It's Vylant!"

"Vyl?!"