Chapter 21: Who Reviews?

Yuna's POV

My weekend had been an absolute nightmare.

First, there was the never-ending picnic, which, in theory, sounded nice—fresh air, food, peaceful nature.

But in reality? It was chaos. I had fallen into a rice field (again), nearly gotten cursed by a frog (again), was chased by an assassin chicken with a personal vendetta against me, and ended up running in circles like a lunatic before face-planting into a lake.

And to top it all off, Lily made sure to tell the entire family about my 'adventure', so now even my older cousin Ben knew about my tragic existence.

By Sunday night, my body was aching, my dignity was in shambles, and my soul was just about ready to leave my body. I had planned to sleep for a hundred years, wake up, and pretend none of it had ever happened.

And then Monday came.

I dragged myself to school, looking and feeling like a ghost, and somehow made it to the band club, where I could finally breathe. No frogs. No assassin chickens.

No judgmental rice fields. Just me, my bandmates, and the illusion that my life was still somewhat under control.

For a while, we were all just chilling in the clubroom. Leo was lying across three chairs like he had given up on life, Noah was furiously scribbling what I assumed were lyrics but were probably just terrible, Ethan was checking the keyboard for no reason, and I was sitting there, staring at my notebook, half-doodling, half-spacing out.

It was one of those rare peaceful moments where nobody was arguing, breaking something, or making me question my life choices.

And then Erika, sitting calmly across from me, decided to destroy that peace with a single sentence.

"You do know exams start this week, right?"

I paused, my pen hovering over my doodle.

"…What exams?"

Silence.

Everyone slowly turned to Erika, as if she had just announced the world was ending.

Leo sat up so fast he nearly fell off the chairs. "Wait. Exams are this week?"

Ethan, who had been aimlessly plucking at his guitar, froze mid-chord. "No way. That's a joke, right?"

Noah's pen, which had been scratching across his notebook in what I assumed was another set of terrible lyrics, came to a dead stop.

Erika, completely unfazed by our collective panic, just blinked at us. "Uh… yeah? Didn't you all check the schedule?"

I squinted at her. "There was a schedule?"

Erika let out a deep sigh, like she was suddenly carrying the weight of five dumb bandmates. She pulled out her phone, tapped a few times, and turned the screen toward us. There, clear as day, was the school announcement.

Midterm Exams: This Tuesday.

I felt my soul leave my body.

Leo groaned and fell back onto the chairs. "Oh no, we're doomed."

Ethan stared at the screen like it had personally betrayed him. "How did this happen? I swear we just started the semester."

Noah, in typical Noah fashion, just muttered, "I knew I was forgetting something important."

I was still stuck on the fact that I had been so busy with the band that I had completely, completely forgotten about exams.

"This is bad," I whispered, gripping my notebook like it could somehow protect me from the reality of my situation.

"This is really bad."

Erika shrugged. "I mean, it's not that bad. You guys studied, right?"

Silence.

Then, in perfect unison, Leo, Ethan, Noah, and I all turned to look at her.

"…Who reviews?"

Just as the weight of our impending doom settled in, the door swung open, and in walked Lena and Milo, looking way too relaxed for people about to face academic destruction.

Lena raised an eyebrow at our collective misery. "Uh… why do you guys look like you just saw a ghost?"

Milo, completely unfazed, strolled in like he had all the time in the world. "Did something happen?"

Erika, still exasperated, crossed her arms. "These geniuses just realized that exams start this week."

Lena blinked. "Wait, this week?"

Milo nodded, grabbing a chair and sitting down like we had all the time in the world.

"Oh. Cool."

Leo groaned loudly, grabbing his head like he was about to faint. "Oh no, this is bad. This is really, really bad."

Ethan was still staring at Erika's phone, as if willing the announcement to change. "Are you sure this isn't a typo?"

Noah simply muttered, "Guess I should stop writing and start preparing my funeral."

Meanwhile, I just sat there, completely drained, trying to process how my weekend of suffering had led straight into another round of misery.

The universe clearly had a personal vendetta against me.I swear.

And then, of course, Kai walked in.

Because life wasn't done mocking me yet.

He entered the room carrying a book—an actual textbook—because of course he did.

The room instantly filled with groans, dramatic sighs, and the unmistakable sound of Leo whisper-screaming into his hands.

"Oh god, we're doomed," Ethan muttered, slumping over the table.

"This is the end," Noah declared, staring blankly at the ceiling like he was in a tragic movie scene.

"I lived a good life. Not a productive one, but a good one."

Leo, on the other hand, was spiraling at an impressive speed. "I CAN'T FAIL AGAIN. My mom said if I fail one more subject, she'll make me delete all my playlists and replace them with self-improvement podcasts!"

"Oh no," Erika deadpanned. "Not learning."

Kai let out the deepest sigh known to mankind and rubbed his temples. "Why do I even bother?"

Lena plopped down onto a chair, completely unfazed. "I mean… how bad could it be?"

Leo shot up. "HOW BAD? Lena, I don't even know what subjects we're being tested on!"

Ethan groaned into his hands. "Same."

Noah nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I stopped checking the syllabus after the first week. Figured if I ignored it long enough, it would disappear."

Kai, visibly losing hope in humanity, pinched the bridge of his nose. "You guys are unbelievable."

Milo, who had been casually scrolling on his phone this entire time, finally spoke up. "I mean… we could just wing it."

Leo turned to him, horrified. "Milo. My future is on the line here."

Milo shrugged. "Eh."

Yuna, who had remained silent through most of the chaos, finally spoke, her voice flat. "So, to summarize, none of us have studied, we don't know what's on the test, and Leo is on the verge of a full-blown crisis."

Everyone nodded.

There was a long, painful silence as the reality of their situation sank in.

Then Leo dramatically flopped onto the floor. "I'm not gonna make it."

Kai, the only one in the room who had actually kept up with his studies—not that he'd ever admit it—let out another exasperated sigh.

"You guys seriously didn't study at all?"

I narrowed her eyes at him. "Wait… did you?"

The room fell into a suspicious silence.

Kai hesitated for half a second before responding, "…No."

Lena squinted at him. "That was the most unconvincing 'no' I've ever heard."

Milo, still scrolling on his phone, chimed in. "Yeah, he's totally lying."

Leo sat up from the floor like a zombie resurrecting. "WAIT. Kai, you're secretly smart, aren't you?"

Kai frowned. "I am not—"

"Oh my god." Ethan pointed at him, eyes wide with betrayal.

"You are one of those people who pretend to slack off but secretly ace every test."

Kai crossed his arms. "I do not pretend to slack off."

"Then why do you always get the highest scores?" Noah asked, unimpressed.

Kai opened his mouth to argue but immediately shut it, realizing there was no way out of this one.

Leo lunged forward, gripping Kai's shoulders. "TEACH ME YOUR WAYS."

Kai recoiled. "Get off me."

"No, listen," Leo pleaded, shaking him.

"If I fail again, my mom's gonna make me read books with no pictures."

Kai, now visibly regretting every life decision that had led him to this moment, groaned.

"You guys are impossible."

The moment we all fully accepted our impending academic doom, the room fell into a deep, painful silence.

The kind of silence that settles in when a group of hopelessly unprepared students collectively realizes they have exactly zero time left to fix their mistakes.

Leo, still gripping Kai's shoulders in a state of pure panic, was the first to break. "Okay. We need a plan."

Kai, who had clearly reached his limit, peeled Leo off him with a sigh. "You should've had a plan weeks ago."

Erika, the only one who actually kept track of deadlines—because, as the band's manager, it was her job—pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I told you guys to study. I literally made a schedule."

Lena frowned. "Cramming isn't effective, you know."

"We don't need effective; we need miraculous," Leo shot back, throwing his hands in the air.

Noah leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. "Alright, so what's the plan? Are we just throwing ourselves at our textbooks and hoping for the best?"

"Pretty much," Ethan admitted, flipping through his untouched notes like they were written in ancient hieroglyphs.

Erika exhaled sharply. "No. We're forming a study group. We stay here, go through all the subjects together, and help each other out. No excuses."

Kai, the only other responsible one, gave her a nod of approval. "That's probably the only chance they have."

"Hey," Noah said, frowning. "Rude."

"Accurate," I added.

Leo looked around the room. "Okay, but who's actually capable of helping?"

Erika and Kai exchanged a look—because, of course, it was up to them to save everyone.

And of course. I mean who didn't know right?.

This was never going to be a normal study session.

Erika had tried. She really had. She stood at the front of the room, gripping a whiteboard marker like it was her last shred of sanity.

"Alright, listen up. If we actually want to pass, we need to focus."

Noah, leaned back in his chair.

"Or," he said dramatically,

"we turn this into something memorable. We all remember lyrics better than facts, right?"

Leo snapped his fingers. "That's actually true."

Ethan, who had been half-asleep, suddenly perked up and spun toward the keyboard.

"Say no more." He powered it on and played a dramatic opening chord like we were about to enter a battle sequence.

Erika's eye twitched. "No. Absolutely not."

Too late.

Kai, looking way too entertained by all of this, picked up his guitar and strummed a slow, moody chord.

"The French Revolution… it was kinda wild—"

Leo immediately jumped in, tapping out a beat on the nearest desk with his drumsticks.

"Oh, we're doing this. We're actually doing this."

Noah flipped through his textbook like he was searching for inspiration. "We need a chorus. Something about, like, overthrowing the monarchy."

I just sat back and watched the chaos unfold. I wasn't going to contribute, but I wasn't going to stop them either.

Milo, who had somehow gone unnoticed this entire time, was completely passed out on his notes, his bass sitting untouched beside him.

Lena, was leaning back in her chair, scrolling through her phone like this wasn't her problem. Which, to be fair, it wasn't.

Meanwhile, Kai was still strumming, a slight smirk tugging at his lips as he played along with whatever disaster Leo and Noah were creating.

At some point, while everyone else was caught up in the ridiculousness of it all, I caught him glancing at me.

It was quick—barely a second—but I noticed. He didn't say anything, didn't even pause in playing, just looked, like he was checking if I was actually enjoying this mess.

And maybe I was.

I didn't react, just shifted slightly and pretended I hadn't noticed.

Erika, who had finally had enough, slammed her hand down on the desk. "Enough! We are studying!"

Leo, completely unfazed, grabbed a makeshift mic.

"The French Revolution—"

Erika lunged.

I leaned back in my seat, watching as Leo narrowly avoided getting tackled. Yeah, we were all definitely failing.

To be continued.