You Make Me Feel

1. you make me feel

FELIX

The last bell for the day goes off, and everyone eagerly picks up their books and belongings to leave the class.

"Aren't you going home yet?" The frizzy short-haired boy sitting beside me asks curiously.

I turn my head from the open page on my desk towards my best friend, watching him stuff his things into his backpack. "Not yet. We still have to rehearse at the school gym."

He pauses for a moment to face me with a look as cutting as his tongue. "You want to rehearse on the first day of school?!"

"Yeah, and what's wrong with that?"

"Seriously...?" He grunts, pinching the bridge of his nose against the frame of his glasses. "Your father specifically told you to come home early today, didn't he?"

"Well, I'm busy. Obviously."

He rolls his eyes. "Okay. I will go home without you then, and if you know who asks me, I'll tell him you're a musician now."

"Xian, you wouldn't dare."

He scoffs. "Try me."

He sure is capable of following through with his warnings, but that doesn't change anything. "I can't come with you anyway. I'm busy. Simple as that."

"Do whatever you want, I'm heading out first." He joins the rest of our classmates through the door with his backpack over his shoulder.

I call out to him, "I'm sorry, Xian, but you know we have a concert to prepare for, don't you?"

His silence keeps me guessing what curses he's saying under his breath. I'm indeed thankful to have somebody like Xian who looks out for me every now and then, but today, there are more important things to do.

First, there's this music concert, more or less a competition for school boy bands, organized to welcome the recently admitted students to St. Patrick Secondary School. It's supposed to be a warm gesture from the school, but winning the award thrice in a row is highly important to me and my reputation and I can't mess it up.

Besides, I know he'll understand me; he always does.

"Hey mate, it is time," a familiar voice says over my shoulders.

"Yeah sure, I know." I respond absentmindedly before turning my back to find my band mates already standing with their backpacks. Markus, Wesley and Bryan have eyes shuffling between me and the door.

"That nerdy friend of yours, I think you're close to him, aren't you?" Wesley asks.

Nerdy friend of mine? I choose to bottle up my ferocity for a neutral answer, lest I'll overreact. "Hm, why?"

"You should invite him to join the band," Mark suggests.

"Yeah, we need another member for our band. Since the former bass guitarist left, nobody has filled in for him," Bryan adds.

For some weird reason, that offer kindles a not so kind feedback. "Are we going to rehearse or what?" I blurt out carelessly. "We can continue without a second bass guitarist for God's sake."

Now seriously, they should've realized by now that joining the school band is not his forte? Or did they just asked me that to mess with me? I know I joke around with virtually anything, but not Xian, and that ridiculous question on a first day of school is not what I bargained for.

"Chill, mate. It was just a suggestion, don't take it too seriously," Mark explains.

Realizing how pointless it is getting offended, I let the anger ease off. Perhaps, it's because I'm not so super excited to go home like everybody else. Well, whatever it is, we absolutely cannot rehearse on a first day with emotional baggage like this.