Love and All that Jazz

Behind That Song

I was sitting in the office watching ma'am O caressing her chin. It must have hurt, considering the fact that I'm skinny and I have very pointed elbows.

Ma'am O is a chubby yet stout woman. Size doesn't matter or so they say, you can definitely say that about Ma'am Orange. She's the department head of Lloydsons Supermarket fresh section. 'Fresh' is the term used to describe the nature of our department. The fresh section includes us (the poultry section, chicken meat and fresh eggs), the meat section (cow meat and pork), the fruits and vegetables section, and the seafoods section.

I could tell she was upset. Or maybe she's just born with that expression. It was quiet. Somewhat eerie. Then she spoke.

"I want you to do something for me Marice." I cleared my throat.

She's so commanding! It's making me nervous for no reason. Well I guess that's how bosses should act.

"Uhhm, what is it ma'am?"

"I want you to come on morning duty tomorrow. Duty starts at six in the morning but since this is a special case you can come in a little later, around seven."

I was confused. "What will I be doing ma'am? I've never been on morning duty before"

True. I haven't. Partly due to the fact that I can't manage to wake up that early and the fact that deliveries were done in the morning and I wouldn't be able to handle that. Wait. Is this how ma'am O is going to punish me? I just hit her damn chin, 'accidentally' I might add, not that I caused structural damage on her face. She looks fine. Is she gonna make me get all the deliveries? No! *panic* *panic*

"I've heard of something interesting and I want to hear it for myself."

"Hear what ma'am?" My voice sounded broken.

"I heard you were a great singer"

Oh. That. *relieved*

"I'm not that good ma'am I ju--" She cut me of before I could finish my sentence and she said "Here's your pass. Present it to the guards tomorrow when you come for duty. I'll look forward to your song number. I want you to give us a song before I give my opening remarks in the morning"

Before I could say anything she motioned me to get out of her office to which I obliged. As I left the room I thought about what song I should sing. I haven't been signing for a while. Partly because of Rio. It reminds me so much of him. Like the first time I heard him sing during music class.

"We are going to have a very unique project this year" said our Music/P.E teacher "You're going to pair amongst yourselves and form into groups of four or five and you are going to form a "mini band". Each group will choose one filipino song and perform it in front of me and the entire class. I will base your grades on the following criteria here so listen up

30% presentation

30% audience impact and

40% originality/uniqueness

I will not reveal your scores, except for the band with the highest one. Now pick your partners and start working on it. Deadline is next week. Class dismissed" with that being said, the teacher left the classroom and everybody started shouting and screaming at each other. Highschool hell.

The peaceful classroom turned into some sort of mob so suddenly that I somehow found myself partnerless. Almost everyone had already been picked and I was looking at what was left of the mob picking, a set of people which would inevitably become my partners for the project. Darn. Rio had already been chosen by a different group. Now I have to like, train the remaining guys so that I won't actually fail!

There were three people left. They were all guys. I introduced myself since they didn't seem to have plans to talk to me first.

"Uhh, I'm Marice Dela Rosa. I wa--"

"We know who you are, almost everyone does. Now tell us what we're gonna do." said the guy who just interrupted me. He was wearing Justin Bieber shoes (those things they call 'Sufra'. They're these really huge tennis shoes that I can't imagine myself wearing) Spikey hair, black accessories, ball cap worn backwards. He looked like a combo of punk and gangster. He looked silly to me, but highschool is full of awkward shit so I didn't let it get to me.

"What? You mean you guys have no idea what you're suppose to do?"

Their silence just confirmed it. They have absolutely no clue as to what they're gonna do. I let out a sigh. So I let them introduce themselves to me one by one. Punk/gangster dude's name is Haze.

"You're name sounds like a girl." I trailed. Yes, I have a big mouth and sometimes it's not properly connected to my brain so there, Haze glared at me and kept quiet for the rest of the meeting.

The other two guys were Kevin and Jome. Kevin is a well known guy, I was surprised he didn't get chosen already but maybe he declined other peoples offer. He told me he would supply the guitars and the beat boxes for our group.

Jome on the other hand is quite untalented. I had no idea what I was gonna do with him. As for Haze, I see him in school sometimes, carrying a so that must mean he knows how to play. So I asked Jome.

"Hey Jome, what are you gonna do for the group?" I said that in the most gentle way I could. Jome looked kinda breakable. He was so skinny and quite frankly, he looked like he was gay or something. He looked like a gay who didn't want to be gay. His face showed exhaustion and pain. I tried to be as gentle as I could.

"I can sing a little? Could that help?" he said. It's actually the first time anyone has ever heard him speak. His voice had just confirmed it for me. Jome was gay. 'Still inside my shell' kind of gay but still gay.

So this is my winning team. Punk dude Haze, Popular boy Kevin, and Secretly gay Jome. Let the games begin.

***This chapter is kind of a detour and mostly about the protagonist's adventures. The next couple of chapters will say more about her character. Hey, the girl had a life before Rio broke her heart. Read on readers.