03

Piolo tapped my back that made me turn my head around to look at him. He wrapped his arms around my neck and got our bodies closer. I was taken aback by what happened and was frozen for a second. My two other friends, Gwynette and Reinier, called for a group hug.

"How does it feel?" Gwynette looked at me with inquisitive eyes.

I exhaled deeply, "Honestly, it felt like I finally got out of the cage which I thought was impossible to happen as we stayed in that cage for longer than I could remember. It felt great."

My friends smiled at me. I could see that they were happy for me.

Reinier faked a cough thus our gaze was turned to him.

"Should we eat now?" We guffawed together as we dig into our foods.

---

Axel, a guitarist on our batch's band, ran towards me. "I need you." My friends were shocked that it made their eyes bigger and opened their mouths wider.

I threw him a confused look. "Shit, that sounded so wrong, ain't it?" I nodded slowly and chuckled.

He scrunched his nose, "What I mean is - I need you on our band."

I tilted my head as a sign of confusion, ".....Why do you need me on your band?"

I felt like he glitched because he just stood there, frozen, and didn't move at least an inch. I snapped my fingers in front of him and he threw me a deadly glare that was instantly changed into a soft gaze. "Our band will perform tonight for the guests. We practiced a week ago and we were ready to rock the stage later and bring them the greatest experience, however, our vocalist, Thompson, had an emergency today and he told us that he couldn't attend. In short, I needed you to be our band's vocalist." He was talking too fast that he finished talking within a minute.

I was about to talk when he cut me off, "I know, I know. Others could sing, too. Except they're not as good as you are. Please? Just for one night." I stared at him as he acted cute in front of me just for my approval. I played with my tongue inside my mouth, fighting the urge to smile. Reinier snapped his fingers to get my attention.

"One second," I told Axel and turned myself around to face my friends. Playful smiles and stares were plastered on their faces. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, "Stop teasing me."

I offered my hand and he took it cheerfully, smiling from ear to ear. "Shall we practice for our performance later?" He nodded. He wasted no time and pulled me and we ran towards their practice room. I had no time to bid goodbye to my friends, not that it matters though, lol.

---

I was startled when Axel jumped to hug me tight. "Sorry," He bowed his head down, getting embarrassed for what he did. I pulled him closer and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I'd probably go back to my friends since we're already done here." I tapped his back and left to greet my friends. He shouted, "Thank you for tonight!"

"My pleasure!"

I was looking around, hoping to see my friends already as people were staring at me and the whole situation was making me feel uncomfortable.

I tipped my toe, scanning the ocean of people, hoping to see anyone I'm close to, at this moment, just to save myself from being agitated around these unfamiliar people that caused me to sweat a lot and felt a bit nauseous.

Loud music shocked my system, so was everyone in this room. I sighed as a sign of relief. That deafening sound just saved my ass. Whilst everybody was busy checking whoever is on the stage right now, I grabbed this chance to look quietly for my friends that I still couldn't find.

The people behind me moved forward that I got stuck. I exhaled deeply, finally giving up. Whatever, I'll surely survive this night without them - I thought. The people screamed so loud that I couldn't hear the ear-splitting sound anymore. I took a glance at the dancers on the stage and the world suddenly slowed down as I stared at her whilst she was dancing fiercely.

What the heck did just happened?