MELODY

MELODY 44

┏ 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝙹𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚍𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 ┐

The day of the festival came. The rush of the weekend, the pain and fear all faded to the back of his mind as his team blew up his phone about the music festival the second he stepped into the campus. Thankfully, he only had one lecture today. At least he had time to prepare himself for the chaos he was going to walk into. Just like he predicted, he had been dragged into the mess that was finalising the stage and the last minute decorations of the hall.

Adam touched his shoulder when he arrived at the lawn located right in front of the stage, a lanyard hanging on his neck.

"Here," his friend said, handing over his own lanyard. "The bands will come by in two hours for a final sound check. Sasha will take care of them. You need to check the registration area and see if Amelia and Raj need any help."

"Where are the security team?" Bryan asked.

They had asked for volunteers from the music club team who would be able to help them out on this festival. Half of them were organised into a security team just to make sure that everyone stayed out of trouble and didn't bring anything forbidden on campus. No alcohol, mainly.

Though knowing the people here, they would sneak that in anyway.

"On the way," Adam said. "Amelia!"

Amelia rushed to them, giving them an awkward smile before she said, "I'm looking for the box of stamps. The one we're using to stamp people's hands with."

Ah, he knew where that was. The last time he had seen it, it was under the computer desk inside a drawer. He was sure Adam had locked it and tossed the key on the table. 

"I know where it is," Bryan said, taking a step back. "I'll go get it."

With a slap on his shoulder by Adam, he rushed to the building where their 'headquarter' was. His heart raced against his chest, adrenaline pumping through his veins. The festival had to go right and it was all on them to make that happen. Finally, all their hard work would be worth it. Reaching one of the office doors, he flung it open and walked inside. Heading to the desk, he moved the papers away until he found the key to his drawers. Grabbing it, he crouched down to unlock one of the top drawers.

There it was, the box of stamps.

Standing up, he pulled the transparent box by its handle, closing the drawer with a nudge of his knee. Raising his head, he froze when Leah stood at the entrance of his office.

What was she doing here?

His throat dried at the look on her face. Her eyebrows were furrowed, her head tilted to the side as if she was examining him.

"Uh," Bryan said, his heart now beating for another reason beyond the buzzing of excitement. "Leah?"

"Sorry," Leah said as she remained standing at the entrance. "Do you have a few minutes to spare?"

Bryan bit his inner cheek, glancing at the box in his hand. "Not really—"

"Five minutes," she said, finally taking a step inside. "Please."

"Is it about Jackson?" Bryan didn't have time to beat around the bush.

"Yes." She sighed. "Can you hear me out?"

Bryan licked his bottom lip, pausing. He didn't want to. But when she made a move to close the distance between them, it was clear he had no other choice. At the end, he let go of his box, nodding. Grabbing his phone from his back pocket, he typed a small message to Adam that he would be late.