Dream of A Summer Song

[Joonbong]

Verse 1: Rising Star

Being typical and being strange. About this, I never really thought I was different up until I started high school. After I graduated from that horrible journey full of other teens like myself, I found out that the world ‘normal’ never existed. No one is normal. Just what whoever thinks is normal is normal to them. It doesn’t mean it’s normal to the rest of the world.

Does whoever is reading this think the word ‘normal’ looks weird? I probably typed it too many times. But anyway, I found out I was different the first day of my beloved basketball tryouts in high school. It took place before school itself actually started, but I still consider that part of my high school life.

I found basketball to be fun, a sport to be very entertaining. I could even say that I’m obsessed with it. The bouncing and dribbling of the basketball are like music to my ears. The squeaking of the other players’ shoes rung a bell in my head that made me motivated. I was so addicted to this sport that maybe, just maybe, I played it more than I would’ve liked to. However, I wonder if that’s possible.

I’m nearsighted, but of course, I could see the orange ball from the other side of the court. So, using my common sense, I didn’t wear my glasses to the tryouts. First of all, I didn’t really need them. Second, it would probably break. I definitely didn’t want my glasses to break. I don’t want to spend more money on that. I should save up for college or something that was necessary in the future.

I stole the ball away from the other players in that basketball game more than I would have preferred. That means they probably weren’t on the same level as me. Playing a game with a bunch of losers on your team is pretty depressing, don’t you agree?

I didn’t really understand why, but they were amazed by my way of playing the game. But without my glasses, no one recognized me, not even my closest friend, Kelp. I figured this out as I ran past the audience, dribbling the ball, and heard loud chattering and whispering about my identity. Damn, I mean seriously, I have the same straight brown hair and bangs as I did in middle school. Is there that much of a difference?

Once the tryout was over, which was about half an hour later, all of my great basketball buddies (not really, I just met them) departed towards the locker room with me trailing behind them.

I don’t really want to describe the process of my changing clothes, but once I finished and put my glasses on, all of the other players were gone. I didn’t feel like heading into the loud gym again, where a large crowd had assembled to cheer for us, so I just left using the door that was the exit from the locker room to the outdoors.

The night sky was dazzling, with stars scattered across the whole way. There was a cloud, blocking the moon, but I didn’t really care enough to wait for the wind to blow it away so I could catch a glimpse. I just took a deep breath of the night air and walked on. I observed the school as I did that.

Under the moonlight, the sports building of the school looked melancholic and mysterious. It was almost like a scene from a movie. Actually, it become even more like that when I heard singing from above. What was this? The modern Rapunzel?

If you haven’t heard that fairy tale, I shall summarize it for you. The story started out with a man and a pregnant woman. The woman wanted to eat rapunzel out of the neighbor’s garden and her condition seemed to get worse as she didn’t eat it (Why? It’s just food, woman!) So the man, her husband, snuck into the neighbor’s garden daily to steal some rapunzel, since they were poor and didn’t have enough money to buy it. One day though, the neighbor caught him red-handed. She was a witch. She demanded payment, and since they had no money, she asked for the baby. So the couple reluctantly gave up the baby. The witch named it Rapunzel, and then stuck it in a tower to protect it (How stupid.). Rapunzel never cut her hair up there. And she sang a lot. The witch would visit her by climbing up her hair. A prince once heard Rapunzel’s singing and climbed up her hair and blah, blah, blah… That’s all you need to know for now.

The girl on the roof, singing, had long hair indeed, but absolutely not as long as Rapunzel’s. It grew down to her waist and blew gracefully around in the night wind. I’d say she was at least a year older than me and she was quite easy on the eyes… what am I saying? Anyway, I have no particular taste in older women, so I tried to ignore her song about autumn, even though it was still summer. Long, blonde hair and large, blue eyes were all I caught on her features as she disappeared from the corner of my eye.

“Hey you!” she shouted. It was the same sweet voice she had used to sing in shouting form. I don’t know what her expression or her pose was when she said that, since I was facing the other direction, but I was guessing it was something demanding. I turned around to confirm my guess and found I was right.

“What do you want?” I asked her, maybe more coldly than it should’ve been. But surprisingly, she didn’t back down.

“You didn’t hear me sing,” she demanded. “Don’t tell anyone. If you do, I’ll go to your house and dissect your brain.”

“It doesn’t matter to me so… I won’t tell,” I said. I actually like where my brain is right now, and I don’t want her to alter its condition either. “And besides,” I added, “if you don’t want anyone to hear you, shouldn’t you not sing in such an open area? Haven’t you ever thought of that? It’s kind of obvious. Even a stupid person like me knows how to take that precaution.”

She cursed at me a few times as I walked away. I thought I would return to my boring, repetitive life after that, but suddenly a woman in her early twenties stopped me. Her hair was a dark red, maybe auburn, and her eyes were sapphire blue. She was in a business suit like those of managers. Apparently… she was what she looked like.

Oh, please. Why?

“I’m the manager of Natilie Meadowcraft,” she introduced herself, like I needed to know it. Hey, I’m a normal student coming home from basketball tryouts. Why is this lady talking to me? And who is Natilie Meadowcraft? Maybe I took the wrong route. “Natilie Meadowcraft is a rising singer,” the woman continued.

So… she’s the girl on the roof? And what am I supposed to do about this, lady? Am I being scolded for talking to impolitely to this ‘rising star’?

“I like how you handled her behavior,” the woman with the red hair added. “Please help me out and become assistant manager.”

Huh? You know what? I think I should clean my ears.

She probably saw the expression on my face because she said, “You probably didn’t hear me right. I said, please become assistant manager. It’s a job I’m offering. You will get paid.”

I think I have a hearing problem. Thanks for informing me about that, lady.

I also found out something else. I don’t think I like older women very much. Yes, even if they are easy on the eyes.

Poo. What am I saying again?  

[Joonbong]

Verse 2: Nerd Boy

After a moment of silence, I sighed and said, “Yeah, sure, why not? I want the money.” I grinned at the girl on the roof, who frowned. She was sure that I was going to make her life one living hell. And you know what? Maybe I will.

The manager lady handed me a piece of paper to sign, and I struggled to read it because the wind kept trying to rip it out of my hands. I did actually get through reading it to make sure I didn’t agree to anything weird. I signed under the place where it said, “Sign here if you agree to everything on this sheet.”

I, being a top-level expert at signatures, signed the paper so that my handwriting wasn’t even legible. Why I did that, I don’t know. I just felt like it okay? Buzz off if you have a problem with it.

The manager frowned at the paper once I handed it back to her. “What’s your name boy?” she asked skeptically. But that mood changed when she added, “I think it’s charming and brave of you to admit that you’re doing it for the money. You’ll be a very wise and honest manager.” She smiled a little a bit. “Tell me your name.”

“You can just call me nerd boy,” I said sarcastically.

Surprisingly, she was satisfied with that and started to walk off. “I’ll find you when I need you to do work. Until then, expect no pay…” She paused and turned around. “…nerd boy,” she finished off and smirked like it was supposed to annoy me.

I stood there and sighed. If I saw her again, it would be troublesome.

Song Break

An alarm suddenly rang and I snapped my eyes open. What was that? A dream? Wow, that was a pretty straightforward dream. I sat up and scratched my itchy back.

Ugh… it’s really hot today. Isn’t it supposed to be autumn? I was sweating so much. Almost soaked.

“It’s time for school!” my mother shouted up the stairs. “Get up, honey bum, your first day as a big boy is here!”

I sighed and tripped down the stairs.

Don’t laugh. Someone always leaves a toy of some sort in front of the stairs. The reason why I myself don’t take note of that remains an unsolved mystery. Come on, you understand, right? I’m out of it in the morning.

Well, after the normal morning routine, I ran out the door and waited for the slow bus. There was only me at that bus stop so there was no one to talk to during the wait. The bus finally came after a while and I boarded it. The ride to school was a quiet one.

“Hey, buddy!” Kelp shouted and waved. “I’ve been waiting for a long time, buddy! Hurry up! School starts in two minutes.”

I glanced around, wondering if anyone heard that strangely childish greeting, and walked towards him. “I’m tired…” I stated and took off my backpack. “Hold this for me.” I held it out towards him.

He backed off and said, “No way, man. I know what your mother puts in there. I might’ve forgotten stuff over the summer, but I’ll never forget how your backpack weighed me down so much that the floor cracked.”

I sighed. “That’s because you’ve barely done anything athletic in your life.”

“And you, the opposite. That why we’re buddies right?”

“Stop using that word. You make us sound like elementary kids.”

“Isn’t that exactly why I say that?”

“I don’t know what crazy little things run around in your mind.”

“Ah, there’s the bell!” he exclaimed and looked at the chunk of metal ringing. Seriously, I have no idea why that always gives us the cue. Listening to a chunk of metal’s orders is almost the same thing as talking to a rock. We could be mindless robots for all we know.

“Let’s go in then,” I stated.

Once we got to the entrance, a teacher shouted at us, “Hey, you two, freshmen enter at the other side of the school.”

“What kind of messed up building has that rule?” I asked Kelp quietly.

He grinned and shrugged.

Song Break

Lunchtime arrived. Yes, it has arrived. It had driven a car here.

Skip that. I don’t even understand my own metaphors anymore. That’s simply just too sad.

“I heard there are a teacher and a specific senior who’s really popular with the freshman girls,” Kelp told me, shoving a whole hamburger into his huge mouth. “They’re stealing all the girls!” He paused and chugged down his milk carton. “But you know who’s keeping some girls on the freshman side? The star freshman zooming across the court with his basketball! He has brown hair like you!”

That’s because it is me, I wanted to say. But instead, I decided I should let him go on about his fantasies. I didn’t believe simply basketball and other sports can charm the girls. It’s not like I care anyway.

“Are girls really that simple?” I asked.

“Most of them,” he replied, flinging a French fry at the passing teacher, who looked around, trying to find out where it came from.

I decided to continue eating my first high school lunch that ninth of September in peace.

But that didn’t exactly happen. Once I stood up, I bumped into a short Asian girl scurrying by. “Sorry!” I shouted loudly, waving the one arm that wasn’t holding the lunch tray dramatically.

“Y- you’re welcome!” she stuttered and ran towards the vending machine.

I watched her with a confused expression until Kelp spoke into my ear, “Excuse her, she’s in the process of learning English. She’s a foreign exchange student.”

That made sense.

“Her name is Chuujitsu,” Kelp added. “Say it.”

“Sorry, but I can’t exactly make complicated Asian sounds like you,” I said, with a hint of flattery.

He stuck out his tongue at me.

“You geek,” I teased.

The reply was to be pelted by greasy French fries.  

[Joonbong]

Verse 3: Manager Lady

Suddenly, I felt someone pull my ear and turned to face sapphire blue eyes and red hair. It was the face of a tall woman, the face of a lady wearing business clothes, the face of someone I forgot.

“Who are you?” I asked loudly and rudely. “Why are you pulling my ear? I don’t even know you.”

“You know me,” she growled. “Now, Natilie is up on the roof. She won’t come down. Go persuade her to come down. You’ll get a bonus if you succeed. If you fail, you’ll be the one to pay us.”

I realized who she was. “Manager…” I said, shocked and speechless. No, she wasn’t supposed to be real. She was a dream… she was a dream!

“Call me Jess,” she stated and let go of my ear. “Now go!” She pushed me towards the stairs that led to the roof.

I had no choice. I walked up there, and opened the door.

Natilie was sitting there, staring up at the clouds and other tall buildings. Her back was faced towards me and her hair was blowing in the wind.

“Natilie,” I called calmly.

She turned around with a shocked and happy expression with tears streaming down her cheeks. When she saw me, her eyebrows furrowed and she turned around angrily. I didn’t know if she was surprised, glad, depressed, or angry to see me. But I decided to cut her some slack and pretended not to notice her tears.

“Natilie,” I restarted, “everyone’s waiting for you down there.”

“I know,” she said, sounding like she was pouting. She buried her face into her arms. “But I can’t let everyone see me like this.” She paused and sniffed. “Why did I have to show this face to you of all people? Why did your voices have to sound the same? I’m so embarrassed!” Her voice was muffled since she was hiding her face away from me.

I tried to smile comfortingly, but it came out awkward. “I’m sorry,” I said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Seriously.

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and found a tall senior with dark hair standing behind me. He nodded at me and said, “I’ll take care of this.”

Well, I’m glad you’re here. I’m not good at this stuff. And with that, I nodded at him.

He walked towards Natilie and bent down so that he was at the same altitude. “I know what happened here,” he told her. He sighed and paused.

“Life is hard,” he stated. He wasn’t like a normal senior. Somehow, he didn’t seem so intimidating. Something spoke in his eyes. “Life is hard,” he repeated.

What is this? A soap opera? I’m very confused.

And with that, he stopped. What a weirdo.

Was that it?

He put a hand on her head and messed up her perfect hair. He laughed and said, “Cheer up little girl. We’re going to move on towards the future. The past isn’t as important as that.”

“Time goes on,” I muttered. “It doesn’t stop.”

He turned around and looked at me with a funny expression. “Did you say something?” he asked me, grinning.

“No,” I lied. ”It’s nothing.”

He stood back up and walked past me, but when he passed me, he whispered into my ear, “I heard what you said. It’s completely true.” And he left using the door and only Natilie and I remained.

Yeah, he sure did take care of this, like he said. Whatever. I’m not even going to try to fool myself. He barely did anything. I thought he was going to be a professional or something at this, but he definitely wasn’t.

Okay, now I shall try being nice to Natilie.

“Natilie, would you like me to escort you downstairs?” I asked politely.

She said, “I… had a friend that I always met here. We met everyday at lunchtime.”

Oh boy, now she’s going to try explaining the whole past incident to me. I should listen though. It might prove useful.

Actually, to tell the truth, I want to comfort her. I don’t like seeing… people in this kind of mood. No, what am I saying? Did I suddenly become nice or something? No, not possible. I’m a cruel person. Maybe...

Ah, what am I saying again?!

“His voice sounds exactly like yours…” she stated. “He was very precious to me…”

She told me the rest in detail. I found out that the senior from before really did help. He somehow made her more open to me.

Natilie and her friend met everyday at lunchtime. But one day, it was thundering. He was told that she went up there to meet him like usual. So he was deciding whether or not to go up there. The lightning abruptly started. He ran up there in panic that she will get hurt by it. But she wasn’t there. She was running to his classroom to see if he was there and to tell him not to go to the roof.

But then, he was struck by lightning.

Whoever told him that she was up there was unknown. In short, the culprit is still unknown.

Sorry, I can’t explain these emotional things very well.

If this were a fiction story, I would’ve found it funny. I would be picturing one of those cartoons. But this was a serious matter and it was nowhere near silly. I frowned and pitied her. No, never mind that, I just frowned and pretended to pity her. “I’m sorry,” I said.

Kelp suddenly barged in through the door and gasped when he saw Natilie and me. “You!” he shouted. “You didn’t invite me! I’ve been missing out on some good stuff! Why?!” This was normal coming from girl-crazy Kelp.

“Shut up Kelp,” I said, my eyebrow twitching in annoyance. “Can’t you see we’re in a very tragic moment right now? It’s supposed to be quiet and dramatic. You totally ruined the mood.”

“You’re discussing personal dramatic issues with each other?” he asked. “No!!!! That’s even worse!!!” He clutched at his head like he was in immeasurable pain.

I sighed. Seriously, when did I ever become ‘buddies’ with this crazy person? And why did I? I probably was forced to. My life is horrid.

I probably have a ton of stuff to complain about, but I do really like life the way it is.

Natilie wiped her tears away with her sleeves and took a deep breath. “I think I’m done,” she said and stood up. “Sorry for troubling you.” She walked away silently.

Maybe she could end up to be a nice girl after all. Maybe my first impression of her was wrong.  

[Joonbong]

Verse 4: Senior Boy

I started my walk home from the bus stop. I stopped by the park that was on the way and sat down on a bench. It was an awkwardly warm bench, and it was strangely wet, so I stood back up.

Haha, look at us humans! We’re sitting on chunks of wood. Have we somehow made everything our slaves? Everything on this planet serves us in a way. Wow, that sounds evil.

I’m sorry for my disrespectfulness, but I guess insulting the things around me has become a bad habit. I’m also sorry that I sometimes use my sarcasm in an offending way. It’s just that… sometimes life is boring and being nice becomes tiresome. I don’t know why. Some people never get tired of being kind though. I consider them amazing. The only problems is that whoever that is, it’s not me.

I glanced around and saw that dark-haired senior boy sitting nearby. He seemed like one of those nice people I just mentioned.

Surprisingly, he caught my stare and smiled back. “I know what you’re thinking,” he stated. “You’re thinking you’re not a very kind person.” He said it in a careless cheesy way.

Can he somehow be supernatural?! He knows what I’m thinking!

“I can tell by your face,” he said cheerfully. “At times, it has this self loathing expression on it. You’re so easy to read.” He chuckled which made just me frown more.

Then his expression abruptly turned serious. “But the people that try but fail to be cruel at the truly kind people,” he said. Then he smiled again. “You would be one of them.”

His cheerfulness creeps me out. I would have preferred if he maintained that serious expression.

“Sure, whatever,” I replied and leaned back to stare at the white clouds above.

He pulled out a pencil from behind his ear and spun it. He responded, “Think what you want to think.” He started writing, drawing, or doing whatever with the pencil. “My name is Vivi. I like apple pie.”

That was random. “Okay,” I said.

He grinned and stated, “I see you have no intention of telling me your name. But no worries. I already know it.”

“Sure,” I said lazily.

“I shall start talking how I normally do now,” he said. “I’m getting tired of these long sentences.”

“So…” I started.

“Nothing.”

“And…”

“What?”

“Um…”

“Spit it.”

“You don’t seem like yourself.”

“Oh.”

“Explain please.”

“Talking waste breath.”

That was almost an incomprehensible sentence. But I understood once I thought about it. “How long have you been sitting there?” I asked. He was probably sitting there while I was at basketball practice.

“A long time.” Proves me right. The strangest thing about this conversation was that we weren’t ever looking at each other as we spoke. And if it weren’t for the benches and we were closer, we would’ve been back to back. Thinking about that is a crazy thought though. Back to back? Hah, we’re not in some kind of action packed battle like in those movies. We weren’t tied together either. I wouldn’t like any of those.

“Why don’t you go home?”

A silence followed that. I don’t know if he was forming his sentence in his mind at a slow rate before he said it or if he were just hesitating, deciding whether or not to tell me. Then he took a deep breath and finally replied, “I don’t exactly want to go home.”

A complete sentence. Finally. I guess they’re pretty rare once he starts talking like he normally does. But really, I don’t know about that. Like with Kelp, I don’t know what crazy little things run about in his mind.

I would’ve asked further, but I felt like I was already intruding into his personal life. No further questions came from my mouth. It probably is better for his reason to remain a mystery. The answer could be tragic or simple. I didn’t really care. I was satisfied with this much conversation.

I picked up my backpack and announced, “Kelp would be mad if I were late, so I’ll be leaving now.”

“Wait,” he said urgently.

I turned around, expressionless, and muttered, “What do you want?” That sounded a bit rude. Sorry.

“Use disguise for basketball,” he stated. “If they find out, fan girls will trample you over. I know they annoy you.”

I walked away. There was no need to reply. That guy probably already knows that I wouldn’t like too many people around me. The fact that people didn’t recognize me in the basketball court is already beyond amazing. And also, this could pull me out my boredom.

Wait just a moment. How does this strange Vivi guy actually recognize me and know that I’m that freshman basketball player? Is he actually a normal person?

No. Probably not. I’ll go crazy if I start thinking that. He is beyond normal. He is plain strange. Maybe he’s an alien.

Speaking about aliens, humans think they’re going to attack us. I, on the other hand, think it’s going to be the other way around. Humans will be invading the aliens instead.

Nah, I think too negatively about humans. I could possibly be an alien myself, here to observe the human world.

Wow, when did I become so imaginative? Kelp’s imagination is probably rubbing off on me.

I rang the doorbell to his house and Kelp violently pulled the door open. Good thing the door didn’t open outwards or else I probably would’ve died from a concussion right then.

“Where were you?!” he asked. “You’re late!” He seemed very worked up. “We were waiting so long for you!”

“Who's ‘we’?” I asked. “Why were you waiting?”

“I got this new game and I wanted to start it with you,” he said. “I’ll even show it to Natilie and Chuujitsu. And Vivi should be coming over right now. I just called him.

“Wait!” I exclaimed. “We’ve just met these people today! Why are you acting like we’ve known them for a few years?”

He grinned and nudged me mischievously. “The more the merrier,” he said, smiling so largely that he was showing his teeth. I never realized they were so clean and white until now. Compare it to his black hair and we’ll have a freakishly huge difference. It didn’t help that he had really pale blue eyes on top of that.

I sighed again. I don’t know how many times I sighed today. It’s just the first day of high school and I’ve lost count. I sure started out my life as a ‘big boy’ roughly. You hear me, mom?  

[Crystalbow]

Please! Write more! gonk I loved this, and I'm excited to read the rest!  

[Joonbong]

Thanks for reading. biggrin

Verse 5: My Friend

Vivi was holding his phone when Kelp opened the door. He looked worried. He glanced at Kelp, then at his phone, then back at Kelp. “How?” he asked, with an expression of utter shock.

It my life was animated, a question mark bubble would have appeared over Natilie’s head, Chuujitsu’s head, and my head. We wondered what Vivi was asking about. Kelp was the only one who got a light bulb.

“I have my ways,” Kelp replied mischievously. From that, I assumed that Vivi was asking something like, “How did you know my phone number?” I have to say…

Kelp has the skills to become a great stalker. I’m truly amazed. I congratulate him with all of my heart.

I coughed like a responsible man, like that’s possible. Now, enough of the Kelp stuff. Let’s move onto a different subject.

I was only supposed to cough in my head, but somehow it made it to my throat. That successfully caught the attention of Kelp, Vivi, Natilie, and Chuujitsu.

“Do you have a cold?” Vivi asked nervously.

“I’ll get some cough drops,” Kelp said.

“No, I’m fine,” I stated. “I was uh… clearing my throat.” Yes, as you can tell, I’m an amazing excuse maker.

Not.

Kelp jumped excitedly. “Let’s play my awesome, new, rated M game!” he exclaimed.

When did three freshmen hang out with a junior and a senior? This is when.

Song Break

I tripped down the stairs next morning also. And I had another silent bus ride. Kelp changed his greeting, like he did everyday. It’s amazing how he comes up with so many ideas, but…

This time he tried to strangle me.

I know you’re (not) worried about me, but no fear! I escaped from the evil clutches of Kelp! The hero is still alive! Yes! I know you might be secretly telling me to shut up here. I’m telling myself that too.

I walked inside the door and confronted a tall woman with red hair in a business outfit. Ugh… you know who that is, right? “Nerd boy!” she shouted. Wow, everyone has their own nickname for me. Mom calls me ‘honey bum’. Kelp calls me ‘buddy’. And she calls me ‘nerd boy’. Is my name a censored word?

No, it wouldn’t be censored. I don’t censor my swear words here, so it wouldn’t be. But if it was, then my name would be even worse than a swear word. I would gasp out loud right now if it fit the situation. But it didn’t. I would probably be considered a weirdo if I gasped out of nowhere now. They don’t know what crazy little things run about in my mind.

“Nerd boy!” she shouted. “Snap out it! Stop spacing out. Gosh, you’re like my father!” She rolled up the document she was holding and whacked my head. That worked. “Today we have a concert. You must hurry.”

“Do I have to listen to you?” I asked, rubbing my throbbing head.

She pulled out the sheet of paper and showed it to me. “It says ‘Sign here if you agree to everything on this sheet’,” she started. “But you know what?” She smirked and flipped the paper. “Look here. It has a back to it. It says ‘Rule Number Twelve: Listen to EVERYTHING your lead manager says.’ And me, I’m the lead manager.” She smiled menacingly.

My eyes could’ve popped out in shock if I didn’t have eyelids and stuff to keep them in. I grabbed the paper and stared at the sentence with utter surprise. I was speechless. Why didn’t I read the back? I could’ve seen this! I started to inspect the paper more carefully to find more secret, hidden rules, but she grabbed it away from me.

“Now come,” she said. “We have to prepare for the concert at noon. Quickly, little nerd boy.” I don’t know what’s up with her and ear-pulling, but she did that. She dragged me into an expensive-looking limousine and we drove. I had to sit in the back with Natilie.

“I’m two years younger than you, but I somehow managed to become your assistant manager,” I said. “I should’ve never agreed.” My head rested on my right hand as I stared out the window.

“Sorry, I can’t help you there,” she said. “But it’ll be better if you get the job done quickly without any complaints. That’s my advice.”

“Why?” I asked. “Will the lead manager kill me if I don’t?”

“She might seem like that kind of person,” Natilie replied, “but she isn’t. She’s compassionate on the inside.”

I sighed and closed my eyes in annoyance. This was troublesome. “Everyone is so complicated,” I said. “I can never understand you all.”

“You don’t want to understand,” she said. “You’ll end up like Vivi. You don’t want to be like that. But I guess you don’t understand why you don’t want to end up like him. I’ll say it simply, it’s painful. Vivi might not seem pained, but he is.”

I started this whole manager business by hearing a song in the summer. I thought it was all a dream, but it was real. Now here I am, setting my own record for complaining.

“I can’t use my sarcasm when you guys are so complicated,” I said. “I’m a simple-minded fool, as people say.”

“We’re here,” Natilie said. For a moment, I didn’t understand why she said that, but when I realized the car stopped, I comprehended. We were at the place where she would perform. The park where I learned Vivi’s name. The park that I enjoyed during my childhood.

Oh crap. Are these people slowly changing my mood? I don’t seem as sarcastic. I kind of want to go back to the year before, when I didn’t meet complicated people and life was the simplest thing ever.

I saw the stage they set up near the swings and the bleachers. There were lights that would’ve been amazing if the sun was setting right now. Yes, the lights would be amazing and blinding if it were dark. My eyes would probably burn out after this concert.

I watched the dressers and the make-up artists discuss and fuss over what kind of design they should make the dress and how they would do the make-up. Gosh, they even fussed over exactly how pointy the shoes should be. It was all girly stuff that didn’t matter to a guy like me.

I was left with the job of painting the background of the stage, which was completely overwhelming. Wasn’t that a big deal? Why should they leave it up to an amateur like me? If I mess up, wouldn’t the whole concert be ruined? And even harder, the theme was “Broken Memories”. That’s going to be really hard for me to do. How should I portray that? I’m not an artist or anything.

Strangely enough, there was even a short blonde girl watching me. That made me nervous, so I started painting the whole thing blue. Was that girl Natilie’s sister or something?