When Rebels Meet Racers

Chapter 3

"Who was that woman?" Jade turned to her friend.

"Her? She's Althea Guevarra; she's in a band with Batchi, the one wearing glasses. I've listened to one of their.." Sally talked about the two strangers they just met, but all Jade heard was "Althea."

Althea

Althea

Althea

The name echoed in her mind, leaving a sweet aftertaste each time she repeated the woman's name. It was odd, really; she practically didn't know who the woman was, but at the same time, she felt as if she knew her deeply. As terrifying as that sounds, all she craves is to know more about the woman the way a child would want a candy bar at a candy store.

Althea

Althea

Althea

Jade feels partially guilty for tuning out Sally's gushing over Rebels' new album or how cute Batchi was, whoever she is. But there was an overwhelming sense of wanting to know more about her brunette savior.

"Jade, are you even listening?" Sally raised her brow at Jade.

"Huh? Yeah, of course, of course," Jade took a deep breath, and upon looking down, she saw something triangular gleaming on the floor. She picked it up and examined the object, it was a pick that was black with the initials 'A. G.' pressed in deep red. She placed it in her pocket with a smile slowly creeping in her face.

"Althea, huh." Jade exhaled.

-x-

"Because if you're not really here, then I don't want to be either, I want to be next to you, black and gold, black and gold, black and gold..."

The crowd was wild. People were jumping and dancing to the beat of the song. Being in a spot where there is so much collective energy, happiness, and adrenaline is such an exhilarating feeling not only for Rebels, but also the audience. They were playing their third set in their track list, but the crowd was still as crazy, if not even more so, as they were in their first song.

As they finished with the song, Althea grabbed her water bottle and took swig. She studied the crowd as she took another sip, she saw one of the fans on the front clearing her throat. Althea figured that it must be due to the screaming that fan had been doing for the past three songs. She approached the part of the stage nearest to that fan and sat down on the edge of the stage.

"Are you alright?" Althea asked the woman. The crowd immediately started shouting, particularly the girl's friends that are beside her.

"I-'m fine, my throat is just a bit s-scratchy from all the screaming." The girl forced out a hoarse laugh.

"Would you like a sip?" Althea offered her water to the fan, and the people started to cheer louder. Althea tossed the water bottle to the girl, and the girl miraculously caught the bottle despite her shaking.

"You can just wipe the top with -oh okay." The crowd chuckled with Althea. She was supposed to tell the girl to wipe the sipping hole of the bottle before drinking from it if she likes, but apparently, the girl took a big gulp on the bottle, cutting Althea off.

She didn't notice the woman in red, standing near the tent, watching everything happen.
-x-

After their gig, Althea immediately hit the showers. She said to herself that she was just cleaning up herself from all of the jumping she had been doing on the stage, but a small voice at the back of her mind says she's doing it for a certain person she just met.