Breaking Out // Gahmi

Thirty-Four

Handong PoV

I waited in the music room to tell the other members of Rolling Quartz the good news. Surprisingly my deal with Sua went a lot more smoothly than expected. I really thought she would be more suspicious, but lucky for me she took the deal easily. And honestly, giving up my position on the council was the least I could do. It was probably overdue anyway. Though, so far I haven't heard a word from my mother and I'm sure she has some opinions on that. But for now I was happy I didn't have to hear them.

Once the members entered, ready for their next practice session, I beamed at them.

"What's going on?" Jayoung asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "You seem smileyer than usual."

"I have good news! Great news in fact!" I jumped up from my chair, going over to hug everyone individually. I pressed a kiss to Yeongeun's cheek, who smiled proudly at me. Of course she already knew the news. I had barely kept it in until I had talked to Sua. Soof course Yeongeun had been the first person I told, immediately after I shook on it.

"What is it?" Arem grimaced at me while pulling her bass out of its suitcase and slinging it over her shoulder.

"Ugh, the suspense." Iree whined, though her characteristic smile never left her lips.

"We'll be playing at the school festival." I finally said, smiling from ear to ear. The other members started to squeal and immediately came up with a bunch of songs they wanted to play desperately. It was their first time playing for the whole school, so they wanted to leave a lasting impression.

"We definitely should play 'Good Night'." Hyunjung suggested. "I don't know why, but it sort of has a Kpopy feel to it. I bet the students would love it, since Kpop is totally a trend right now."

"Or we could play 'Delight'. That song is so much fun."

"What about 'Fearless'?"

"Should we even play rock?" I marveled. It wasn't really a popular genre around here and I really wanted the school to see their talent by not just one stage. If we played what the other students normally listen too, I was sure we could get more opportunities to play.

"Of course we play rock!" Jayoung said, cutting through all the song suggestions still flying through the room.

"I don't know. Maybe we should play something a bit more appealing to the common taste around here?" I wrenched my fingers. I was still a new member, so I wasn't sure if my concerns were valid.

Yeongeun hugged me from the side. "Hmm. Good point. But I think we should play what we enjoy and not what the audience might enjoy."

Iree nodded furiously. "We should stay true to ourselves. If they don't like what we play then they don't like it. We have no control over that. But that way at least we know that we had fun and that's the most important anyway."

"Alright." I gave in.

"How about we write an original song?" Hyunjung suddenly prompted. "Like, you know, sing our own song instead of just covering songs?"

"That's a great idea. It would certainly grab the audience's attention!" Iree cheered.

"Who of us can write a song though?" Jayoung asked, as skeptical as ever.

"I could try." I heard myself say.

Wait, what? I have never written anything before, let alone a song. I'm just not creative like that. Never was.

Everyone was looking at me, shocked, but also a little bit hopeful. Yeoungeun was smiling funnily at me. It was clear she was amused and stunned at the same time.