The Music We Made

Tuning||Prologue

The loud voices of her classmates suddenly filled the four corners, overtaking the loud clank of the old air conditioner. Sela quickly stood up to see what's happening at the back of the classroom. It's not that she doesn't care about what's happening rather, everything that happens in the room is just the same thing every single day.

"So, what's happening here?" She asked Ecka

"Yun, nasapak nanaman ni Sheki si Alice." Ecka answered, bursting into a fit of giggles. Sela laughed along. She turned on her phone and took a picture of Alice sitting on the floor, her arms crossed, while Sheki is still laughing. Alice saw the clear flash of Sela's phone and looked at her.

"Hoy! Wag mo ipopost yan sa sa insta!" Alice shouted, steadily jumping back on her feet. Sela laughs as she run to the other side of the room, trying to find a signal near the window. Finally getting a data signal, the picture finally made its way to insta, Sela sticks out her tongue while Alice acts like she's offended. Sheki made her way to Alice's side and whispered something to Alice. They both looked at each other and laughed, confirming Sela's suspicion that Alice is just pretending to be annoyed at both of them. Or maybe Sheki and Alice are just planning something? Maybe they're planning for-

A loud knock interrupted the flow of her thoughts. The pastel blue door opened, a tall student from a lower batch asked, "Can you guys keep quiet? May klase sa kabilang room. Sino ang president niyo?"

Everyone looked at Alice, "Sorry, wala yung teacher namin ngayon." 

She went in front of the room and fixed her wrinkled uniform. "Guys, lower down your voice para di magambala yung kabilang room."

While everyone is annoyed at the interruption, they really can't go against Alice, the class president. They made their way to their respective group. Sela went to Ecka who immediately questioned her as soon as she took a seat beside her.

"Alam mo na ba yung ano?" Ecka's smile widen, acting like she's sharing the biggest secret of the year. In turn, Sela went closer, intrigue with whatever Ecka's gossip is supposed to be.

"Yung ano?" Sela asked.

"Yung ano nga kasi" Ecka insisted.

"Anong ano?" Sela's confusion only grew with each passing moment.

"Basta yung ano, alam mo ba yun?" Ecka continuously insisted, her eyes rolled as Sela's face continuously reflects her annoyance.

"Di ko nga alam kung anong ano yan" She replied. Ecka can't hide her laugh anymore as Sela looks somewhere in between annoyed and confused. Seeing this, Sela rolled her eyes and sarcastically laughs, "ha ha ha, old joke na yan."

"Ay ito naman, di maloko oh." Sela just laughed at her friend's antics. Being friends with Ecka means surviving her 'magic tricks' although she shudders to think about the day that she'll be stuck in an elevator with both Ecka and Faith.

Ella looked at both of them, "di ko gets."

The bell rings and Sela grabbed her bag and waved goodbye to her friends. She walked around in the campus, moving to the old music club of the grade school building. The dusty old keyboard and bass still triggers her memory of the past, how the members protested against the closing of music club and how each one left, either joining a real band or getting a scholarship in another continent. Making her way to the bass stand, she dusted off the grays from the red and wore the strap again. She didn't bother tuning as the bass' strings are too old anyway. 

In the old room, it all floods back. Pastel blue wall filled with posters and school performance that are now hidden in the bodega, collecting dust and probably home to spiders nowadays. The melodious notes in the keyboard by a member whose name is forever stuck in her throat, the guitarist who went away to pursue her studies, and the drummer who joined another band, she can still hear the echoing laughs. The vibration of her phone suddenly pulled her out of growing nostalgia.