I can't say I do without you

Saving the club

Miss Angela had already assigned us homework for our youth. Prince Augustus was in his private room at the moment, so I jumped at the opportunity to go to the locker. I took the box that Marco had given me that contained his artwork. "I made my promise, Marco, but you may keep your vow by returning."

"Gemma!" Tal exclaimed as he dashed towards me. As he neared me, Tal was practically out of breath.

"Tal, why are you running? If a teacher sees you, you will undoubtedly be punished."

"T-that's not important," Tal said, gasping for air. "It's more important that we go," he dragged me along with him as we hurried toward the old building.

When we arrived at the music room, Felipe and the others looked like withered flowers, which sparked my curiosity even more. "What exactly is going on?" I asked, puzzled.

"You should explain what happened to Gemma. I have to return to my class." Miss Janna said.

We waited for Miss Janna to go before asking me to sit close to them and explain everything.

"Guys, you're all making me nervous."

"How should I begin, um... Remember when we told you that the music club only has six members, Gemma?" Tal paused. "The Borstal president advised Miss Janna that we have to find a maximum of 60 members by the end of this month or else..."

"What?" I asked, perplexed.

"They will close the music club if we have fewer than 60 members," Janus added.

"Wait, what? Are they serious? How could they do this to us?" In shock, I stood up from the chair.

"What's worse, it's just two weeks till the end of the month," Salis said sadly.

"They can't take away our club because, regardless of which school you look at, the music club is everyone's main priority," Felipe said in a treble voice.

"We just have six people; we still need fifty-four," Tal said in hushed tones.

"It's impossible," I said.

"Yes, but we must try." Janus continued. "There is still hope for us. If the elites refuse to join our club, we will persuade the scholars."

We shifted our attention to Tal.

"No way, guys. I'm not sure about that; you're all aware of the fight between elites and scholars."

"But, Tal, you are our only way to enter the scholar's building," I explained.

"Figure out a way to get us inside the building, and then you're done with your job. It's okay if you don't help us convince them to join." Felipe said.

"Argh! This is driving me nuts. What if they discover that I'm one of you?" Tal said as he walked back and forth.

"We swear, Tal; they won't find out." Jonah extended his hand to Tal, making a pinky promise.

"Alright, okay." Tal nodded, although he was already shivering with fear.

"Let's come up with a strategy," Elias said.

My body, as well as my thoughts, were unsettled the entire evening as I did nothing but wonder if our idea would succeed. However, if I close my eyes, I will soon open them again. I'm unsure how to convince scholars, and given what Felipe stated about scholars, I wanted to back off. Scholars and elites used to share a building; the elites liked to harass scholars because of their status. Also, elites did not want scholars to rule them. According to Felipe's story, a scholar rebelled against the school. The elite student whom the scholar thrashed nearly died. What's worse, the elite students they assaulted had nothing to do with harassment; they assaulted the wrong student, who, like the other scholar, was innocent. After that, everyone agreed to keep the elite and scholars separated from the building. That's when the never-ending feud began.

Yeah, that is the story, so I have reason to be afraid, but I have no reason to back off. I will do this for the music club to save the members and the school itself. Hopefully, our plan will work.

As soon as I noticed Lincoln, I drew him to one side. I begin by flashing Lincoln a broad smile. "Hey," I said, smiling and showing him my teeth.

He put his hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh. "Don't make that face."

"Lincoln, uh... I know it's too embarrassing to ask you this again, but for the last time," I cast a downward gaze. "Can you keep an eye on Prince Augustus?"

I had just heard him scowl before Lincoln abruptly grabbed my chin and lifted my head. "You don't have to be embarrassed; I can watch the prince whenever you want."

"I really appreciate it!"

"You do your thing, and I'll look after the prince." Lincoln patted me on the side of the head.