For You I'll Be Superhuman

Chapter 2

The rustling wind.. the big wild waves.. the treacherous storm.. thunder.. lightning..

The raft.. A raft?

"Aevri!"

"Aevri Save Yourself!"

"Aevri!"

"Stay with me.."

"Stay with me.."

"Aevri?"

"Aevri!"

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"Aevri?..Aev?.. AL? Hellooo?..AL.. Earth to Aevri Lyndon ?", Chris was snapping his fingers in front of me as if waking me up from a trance. I snapped out of it & came back to the real world. I was just dreaming. It was just a dream.

"Sorry bout that. I ahh.. dozed off a little", i apologized. Chris just rolled his eyes and put a smirk on his face the way he always did whenever he caught me not paying attention. I tried to connect the dots to where we were now presently.

We were on the bus to the academy. I was sitting on my exact same seat ever since I started going to DAMA. I always sat on the 4th row seat near the window and Chris sat by the aisle. "Are you still following?" he asked. I searched the back of my head & tried to remember what we were talking about before I fell asleep.

"Like I was saying," he continued, "Have you heard what the academy's been buzzing about?" He seemed really excited but I had no clue what he was talking about so I just shook my head. Chris grunted the way he always did at how oblivious I was about the school's 'trending topics'. Anyway, he went on, "A famous boy band's gonna be attending our school this year. It's all over the news and it's what everyone's talking about." I sighed, "Well of course I wouldn't know, now would i? We don't have television anymore, remember? We only have a crappy router now for lousy internet reception. Are we not done yet with all the mocking me part, Chris? Really?"

Chris face-palmed, "Right.Sorry." I just smirked back at him & asked ,curious,

"So they're these famous stars already? Then why are they being sent back to music school?"

"Well," he began,"they're supposed to be this huge thing now but they flopped ever since critics threw them awful comments & gave them bad publicity a lot after their last tour. They lost a ton of fans along the way. People started saying the boys've gotten a big head and how they started taking their fame for granted. And the boys of the band are said to be having attitude problems that are causing most of their composers and producers to quit on them saying the guys grew too difficult to work with, both personally & professionally."

I still didn't get what the fuss was all about, "Still, Chris.They're celebrities, of course they'll be thrown bad comments at. I mean it's practically what they signed up for. Shouldn't they already get used to it by now? Andwhy kick too far to sending them back to school?"

"Their manager didn't take any of it too lightly. He wants to show the world the guys aren't just for the money or the show. He says that the guys do have talent & he wants the boys to prove themselves as well. People were saying the boy band was fading, that they didn't really know anything about music and were just puppets to the industry. They started falling apart, one wanted to quit and then the other. It's like the 5 of them aren't in it together anymore. I guess their manager just really wants what's best for them. And wants them to find themselves again. Make them hang out more away from the press I suppose," Chris shrugged, "Honestly, it was awful how they were treated out there. Some of the critics & haters forgot the boys were only human too. They probably finally cracked after all they've been through."

I looked at him, he really was sympathetic about the entire thing. "Do they still have fans out there?" i asked. "Gazillions," he answered, "but i bet the people at school won't really mind them. You know how most of the student body dislike boy bands. But then again, the Drama Arts and Music Academy is the home of musicians, artists and real music. That's probably why they were sent there in the first place, to learn from the best. And to learn it all together to get their relationship with one another in the fix."

I smiled at how Chris was really putting his mind into all this. The way he talked about them and how he knew so much. It just made me feel like this was the right time to pick banter with him. Or probably just the attempt to banter. ;)

"You know what, Chris? If i hadn't known any better i'd say you liked these guys a lot," i teased. Chris gave away denial too easily,"What?? Me?? Of course not. Pffft..Boy bands? Pffft..". I laughed at his silly reaction but stopped teasing him anyway. 

DAMA was a campus completely away from the city. I guess they did that on purpose to avoid having other people vandalize their glorious bulletproof fabric glass walls.  DAMA was one of the most prestigious music schools in the entire world and I was in it on scholarship. I didn't even apply for it. Chris, Terrance and my dad did that for me. They took all of my compositions, songs i wrote even when i was just a little kid, and searched the house for home movies that recorded some of my singing performances when I was younger then sent them all to DAMA. They surprised me with the acceptance letter on my 16th birthday. Chris and I were accepted for early admission, meaning the academy wanted us to drop out of high school and join them. I didn't like the idea of it but they were thrilled about it. Dad said this was what I was meant to do and how I shouldn't give up on  my dreams. But by then I was all drained out of dreams after the cruise incident. Going to DAMA was a dream I had with mom, and being reminded of it constantly just tore off my heart. Long story short, Chris and dad made me give in to my only weakness -- Terrance. They made him talk to me and agree to attend DAMA then.

It was almost an hour's drive to the academy from the main city. And usually, kids who get to ride the bus enjoy that spare time to catch up on some homework or get to talk to friends. And as with me, i get to catch up on some sleep.

Chris was silent on his seat now, reading another big thick book. And whenever he's in that state, he never wants to be disturbed. So I took out my iPod (Mom's gift to me when I turned 14), put on my earphones, clicked play and allowed myself to be lost in the music.

Along with the music, I remembered that same night I kept dreaming about again. Seeing the grand cruise sink, getting drowned by the waves, not being able to rescue mom and my sister.. and then those wonderful set of emerald eyes, the ones that belonged to my nameless hero. Ever since that night I couldn't get him out of my head. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be dead. I wonder where he was.. I wonder if he really did exist and I wasn't just imagining things. I wonder if he remembers me.