The Last Rose

Chapter 5: Unbelievable

“Welcome to our music room.”

Seravina gaped at the view. Unlike other classes she had seen in her new school, this room looked different. Its floor was comfortably carpeted in light beige. Complete musical instruments were there—from an electronic drum set to several guitars, an electone and a keyboard, several different-coloured bass guitars and many more. There was also a set of sound boxes and speakers, which explained why the walls were fully coated, soundproof.

“This is my kingdom,” Theo placed his two hands on Seravina’s shoulders. One side of the wall had the writing ROCKIN’ THE CITY on it, and on another side, she could see photos of her friends in some kind of competition. Theo continued, “Well, not only mine. Here, Rachel, Rodd, Destiny, Abram and some of the other guys there… We free and express ourselves. We…”

“Run away from the mundanity of everyday life,” Seravina sighed. Theo nodded as he saw the impressed looks of his friends as they walked inside. "This kid can be really deep.”

“But why did you bring me here? I’m not a part of you guys.”

“Hey—this is high school! You won’t have this much time when you’re in college,” the next thing she knew, Destiny was grinning at her enthusiastically. Seravina stepped back, knowing that this was not the kind of girl who could deal with rejection. “Why don’t you give this place a try?”

“W-what? No… I’m a shower singer,” Seravina mumbled.

“We are, all of us,” Rachel pleaded. “Come on, we have this big competition coming, and it would be great to recruit new members! We only ranked in third place last year.”

“You seem like a really soft-hearted girl, Rachel would tooootally love to let you sing some classic, lame hymns in Latin,” Rodd joked. Rachel smacked his thin arm.

“I really don’t feel…”

“Okay, why don’t you sit back there and watch us rehearse,” Destiny lost her patience. “Look, the other guys are here. Looking good, guys!”

“I-I forget my drum sticks. My little brother broke it yesterday,” a curly-haired guy entered, giving them a high-five.

“No problem Dean, we’re just gonna decide our set list for the big gig,” Destiny dragged a white board and took a marker. “Listen up!”

Yep, Seravina would never want to mess with a girl like that. She made talking to a group of freshmen sitting on the floor seem very serious. But the looks on their faces also showed that. Seravina started playing Subway Surf on her phone while listening to Destiny.

“So as you guys know, by one and a half months we will face the big gig,” Destiny said sternly. “Now I don’t wanna come in third again this year, and be a laughing stock of those Alvarez Academy jerks.”

Alvarez... that name was familiar. Maybe they’re a school as big, or even bigger, than St. Salvatore.

“So for our set list. Any suggestions?” Destiny wrote down some numbers on the board.

“Endless Love! Lionel Richie!”

“That’s from my great uncle’s playlist, Oldie. Why don’t we go modern this time? Come On by Ke$ha!”

“That’s not even music! Let’s do A Whole New World!”

“We’re not singing to a bunch of romance-blinded Disney lovers. Anything else?”

After a long debate, the chosen song was Unbelievable by Craig David.

“So if we let Theo sing it solo, won’t it be like an exact cover of the original song?” Rodd blurted while strumming his guitar. Seravina frowned. Rodd’s words seemed… scripted.