The Last Rose

Chapter 17: Vidia

“Five days,” Destiny looked at the calendar hung in the music room wall and sighed. “We have five days, guys.”

“We got this, Des, believe in us!” Abram took Destiny’s hand and held it strongly. Destiny smiled weakly. “I believe in you—in every one of you. I just don’t believe myself enough that I can bring you guys—“

“What the hell was that? That’s not something Destiny Hills would say,” Rachel crossed her arms on her hips. “You people—you’re acting all dramatic and depressed, all because of a single performance by Vidia and her Alvarez robots.”

“You’re up to something,” Destiny knew Rachel would not act so fiery if she had no point of arguing. Rachel smiled proudly and turned to Rodd, who stepped forward and shrugged as if they were sure to win. When Abram started coughing when he saw Rodd and Rachel standing together, Rodd stayed serious, for once.

“It’s easy, actually,” Rodd took Destiny’s attention. “Why don’t you try watching one of Alvarez’s performances on YouTube, with eyes closed? I bet it won’t feel as great.”

“You have a point,” Destiny nodded.

“Of course I do! While you guys were torn and hopeless, I actually urged Rachel to listen to what I have to say. Vidia is nothing but a singer who relies on props, backup dancers, awesome lighting and DJs to make her performance sound good. Aside from that—she’s nothing,” Rodd caught his breath in the middle of his triumphant speech.

“Yeah, but we can’t change their setlist into something that shows their weakness,” Dean complained.

“We can’t—but we can change our setlist into something that shows our strength. Our music. Vidia and her gang don’t have that,” Rachel replied in excitement.

“You love birds are genius!” Destiny pulled both of them into her arms and shook them. She sounded as if a brand new spirit had just been injected into her. “We don’t have to make big changes, you know, just a little improvisation to highlight the musicians we have. Tell the rest to gather up here for an emergency meeting after school.”

Before her friends could make a move, Destiny already reached her phone to broadcast the club members, who were in different classes. “I hope they’ll all make it,” Destiny bit her lip excitedly as her eyes burnt in confidence.

-

“Crap, I can’t get all these formulae out of my head,” Theo muttered to himself as he stared at his dirty arm. He rubbed it to erase some black writings he had written before to accommodate him in his Physics retest. Screw bullies and judgemental teachers. If they had not existed, Newton would not be isolated and come up with his insane theories all by himself. Most of Physics, he was sure, would not exist as well.

Theo wondered where the rest of his friends were. His retest took almost one hour after school. Now, the school was nearly empty. He could hear some noise from the outdoor basketball field, but besides that, there was no one. Where was Seravina? How could she go home without him?

“Theo! Hi!” Theo used his hand to block the dazzling sun and found the source of that voice. A pretty red Fiat was parked in the nearly empty parking lot, and inside, a prettier girl was sitting.

Vidia.

“Vidia? What are you doing here?” Theo ran to her. She smiled. “Actually, I just wanted to give you a surprise visit.”

“Wow—thanks,” Theo stared at her, not realizing the you she was referring to was just him, not his music club. “But actually, my friends are nowhere now. I flunked Physics so I took a retest, and when I went out there was nobody.”