Melodies

13

Aelia's POV
A couple of days later, everything was back to normal. The boys were glad Jihoon had found me. Honestly if he didn't, I would've spent the night at the grave. I hadn't answered anybody's texts or calls that day. I knew if I did, I'd have a mental breakdown.
Jihoon seemed to become worried about me more after that too. It's odd seeing him so concerned but kind of cute.
Wonwoo snaps me out of my thoughts by coming up behind me and hugging me from the shoulders.
"Lia, stop zoning out! We're going to get boba!" He exclaims.
"Come on, Aelia!" Chan grabs my hand and pulls me out of the school.
After ordering our drinks, we walk back to school since it's our lunch still. We only wanted boba so we can get out of school for a while. On the way to our special table, we pass by the bulletin board for the school. Seungkwan gasps and we all look at him. He points to the board, sipping on his drink then drops his jaw.
"Guys! Check this out! 'All theater students received the stomach virus last night. Need actors of any experience to perform the play next week. The show must go on!'"
"That sucks. Miss Kang is probably freaking out." Jeonghan frowns.
"Being in a play sounds fun! I mean she's even looking for people with any experience!" Seungkwan smiles big.
"Boo," I sip my drink, "you know that's not my thing."
"Oh please!" He gets on his knees in front of me.
I just stare at him with a bored expression, sipping my drink. I shake my head and he groans. The rest of lunch, he tries to convince me, saying the pros about it. I list the cons and he just groans even more.
"You're no fun, Aelia." He pouts and sags his shoulders.
Seokmin pats his back, comforting him. The bell rings for the next class and we all say our goodbyes. Jihoon, Vernon, Seungcheol, and I all walk to music theory.
The next day, a boy walks into our class and hands a slip of paper to my math teacher. He nods and walks over to me. I look at him with a questioning gaze before reading the paper:

'Please meet in the theater room directly after school today =)'

What the...? Is this some sort of joke? I look around to see if anyone saw but no one did. I guess I'll go. It's the theater room, there's no way it'll be empty. So if I get kidnapped, it'll be in front of a bunch of people. I fold the paper and put it in my backpack before continuing on with my notes.
Once the bell rings after school, I take my time walking to the theater. I shoulder my backpack then run my hand through my hair. This better be worth my time.
"Oh! Saengseon! Wait up!" I hear Soonyoung's voice from behind me.
I turn around to see a bright and cheery blonde boy running towards me. How cute. He catches up to me and waves happily.
"Hello!" He says cutely.
"Hey, Soon. Where are you headed?"
"The theater. You?"
"Same here. I received a note in class earlier saying to go after school."
"So did I!"
"Oh thank goodness. I thought it was some secret admirer trying to confess to me or something on the stage." I sigh in relief, holding my heart.
"Why would that be so scary? Don't you want someone to like you? You are cute, saengseon~"
"Liar!" I smack his arm before thinking about it, "Well, I'm not sure how I'd react to that kind of situation. I'm just glad I don't have to experience it."
He becomes quiet as we enter the building of the theater. We continue down the hall until we reach the door. As we enter through the side stage, we look around cautiously. He clings onto my arm tightly and has me stand slightly behind him. I look at him in surprise. Is he trying to protect me?
"Aelia!" Mingyu waves to me.
I raise an eyebrow. What's he doing here?
"Oh yay! Aelia is here too!" Joshua smiles.
"Aelia! Do you know what's going on?" Vernon asks.
"No clue. You guys all got the note too?" I hold out the note for them to see when I walk up to them.
They all show me their folded papers, shrugging in confusion.
"This is odd." Seokmin says.
"Do you think the school finally hates us for being loud and annoying?" Jun asks.
"That would be a good reason to be here." Jihoon points out.
Jihoon too? Something doesn't seem right...
"Wait, guys. Have you seen Seungkwan?" Seungcheol asks.
Just then the door opens from backstage. We all turn in the direction of the footsteps to see Miss Kang and Seungkwan walking towards us. Seungkwan gives off a unusual vibe and an almost too bright smile. My eyes meet Minghao's and we shake our heads. This better be good.
"Good evening, everyone. I see there's a good lot of you here." Miss Kang smiles, "Welcome to the first rehearsal of Finding Neverland!" She sings in an opera tone.
"What?!"
"Are you joking?!"
"Boo Seungkwan!"
"You little snake! Why didn't you ask for our permission first?!" Minghao goes off.
"I agree. You should've asked for our permission before you just put us in a random play." Jihoon says.
"It's not a random play! It's a school play! School plays are important, especially if you want to be an actor. Don't any of you want to be an actor?" Miss Kang asks us.
We all look everywhere but her, rubbing our arm or neck. Seungkwan rushes up to us and pouts.
"Guys! Please! I wanted to do this together, the fourteen of us as a group! We're not doing the competition with Aelia so I wanted to do something with her." He smiles at me.
"No way. You know this isn't my kind of thing. I hate being in front of a crowd." I shake my head.
"But you go on stage for your violin. And you just did a performance with Jun for dancing."
"My violin speaks for me. Dancing you don't have to speak or look at the crowd." I defend my position.
"Aelia!" He begs, pulling on my hands.
"Sorry, Kwanie. I can't do something like this." I start to walk away, shaking my head again.
"If you do this, you'll get out of any upcoming test." Miss Kang shouts to me.
I freeze in my spot. I back up a bit and turn around, pointing a finger at her.
"Any upcoming test?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Yup. I'll excuse it from whatever subject you want." She smiles.
"Us too?" Mingyu asks, walking beside me.
"Yes. I'm desperate for the show to go on. Please."
I look at Mingyu then Miss Kang then Seungkwan. He looks like a scared child as he waits for an answer. I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.
"Seungkwan, you better not make me regret this."
"Yay! Thanks, Lia!" He kisses my cheek multiple times.
"I'm being forced to do so many things lately. Save me." I mutter in a groan.
The next day, we come to the theater to rehearse. Thank goodness she lets me be a secondary character. I wouldn't have been able to take it if I was a main. Jun got the main role of the author while Seungkwan got Peter, which I can totally see. Miss Kang was going to put me as the main female lead at first but I had a tantrum so she found someone else to fill the role. My eyes widen when I see who it is.
"Wennie oppa!" Li Mai rushes into the theater.
"Aelia! Help me!" Jun whisper yells with wide eyes.
"Yikes. She's back..." Soonyoung makes a grimace of disgust.
"Oh god... That's gonna be something." Minghao comes up next to me and smirks.
"Don't ever call me oppa again..." he glares at her, "Is she the female lead?!" Jun asks Miss Kang with an angered expression.
"What, oppa? Don't you want me to be in the play with you? I danced with you! It should be no different!" She grabs onto his arm and squeezes it against her cheek.
"Exactly..." he mutters, trying to pry her off.
"I'm so happy you get to be with me again!"
"Why are you back?" Soonyoung glares at her.
"Yeah. Aren't you supposed to be in Japan?" I raise an eyebrow.
Jun finally gets her off and walks closer to me. She eyes me up and down. I think she sees me as a threat now. Good going, Junhui...
"Apparently they said two weeks not two months. So I'm back!" She smiles at Jun, "Didn't you miss me, Wennie?"
"Not at all."
"You're so funny!" She laughs forcefully.
"Aelia, can you help me with my scene really quick?" I hear Jihoon's voice from the other side of the stage.
I nod and quickly walk over.
"What'd you need help with?"
"I don't need help. You looked like you were gonna murder her. I was trying to save you from going to jail."
"You're right." I cross my arms and look at her, "I've only known her for two minutes and I already hate her."
"I've seen her before. I'm not sure where but I'm sure it wasn't a good experience."
"What role did you get?" I look back at him.
His expression becomes dark and he grits his teeth. He mumbles something inaudible and I lean closer.
"What?"
He says something quietly and I scrunch my eyebrows together.
"I can't hear you, Jihoon."
"I got a lost boy!" He face palms.
I cover my mouth to keep myself from laughing, but a snicker comes out and I end up bending over from laughing so hard. He groans loudly.
"Why are we laughing? I want to laugh at him too." Mingyu comes over.
"Rude. I'm older than you." Jihoon glares at him.
Mingyu smiles at him cheekily. I finally get up, holding onto Mingyu to steady myself as I breath normally.
"What part did you get, Mingie?" I ask.
"Oh I got the role of Captain Hook." He smiles cheekily.
"That's even better!" I continue laughing my butt off.
"Why? Who'd Jihoon hyung get?"
"Lost boy." Jihoon groans.
"Oh my god!" Mingyu starts laughing with me.
"Who'd you get, Aelia?" Jihoon ignores our teasing.
"I-I got Wendy." I calm myself down, fanning my eyes since tears were coming out.
"Who's Peter Pan then." His eyes widen.
"Who cares? As long as I don't have to be near miss obsessed over 'Wennie oppa!' Ugh she makes me want to pound my head against the wall multiple times." I snicker, turning to see what the devil is doing.
She catches me staring and smirks. She grabs onto Jun, standing too close for his comfort. He makes an annoyed face and tries to wriggle out of her grasp. I turn back to the two and shake my head.
"Jun's not gonna be happy the rest of the week."
"Wait why is it funny for me to be Captain Hook?" Mingyu finally realizes.
"Oh, Mingie, you're not scary enough." I say it like a mother to a child, patting his cheek before running away to Chan.
"I'm not scary?! Aelia!" Mingyu chases after me, trying to convince me how scary he is.
Two days pass and the play already looks like a mess. Miss Psycho just sticks to Jun like a moth to a light. He barely gets to say his lines with her always up on him. Seungkwan does a good job but he's a little over dramatic with his parts. It's mostly just my friend group in the play (excluding Mai. I'd never want to be that lunatics acquaintance) but there's a few people I've never seen before. Like this boy named Daehwi. I've never seen him before but I think he's a first year. He's really good at acting, which is probably why he got the role of my brother, John Darling. Being Wendy is kind of weird but somewhat fun. I mean I get to be with Soonyoung the whole time, who is Peter Pan. Let me tell you, that boy plays a good Peter Pan.
The others... They just... I don't even want to explain it. Mingyu, being the giant he is, keeps tripping over his feet. Seokmin and Joshua keep forgetting their lines. Chan accidentally destroyed a few props. I don't even know how. I don't get why Miss Kang is letting the play go on. I decide to ask her the next day.
"Um... Miss Kang..." I walk next to her while Seungkwan and Jun are rehearsing a scene together (with Mai, who is not even supposed to be in the scene).
"Yes?" She stares at them in horror as she answers.
"Why do you keep this play on? Everyone is just ruining it. Including me." I admit.
"Yeah... But Junhui and Seungkwan... They're really good actors. I'd like for their talent to be shown." She smiles at me.
I stare at her in surprise. I didn't know they were that good. That's amazing though. They deserve to show off what they can do. I'm proud of them. I look at them on stage and glare at Mai. If only there were some way to get rid of her. She notices me looking at her and smirks. While he's acting she grabs Jun's face and kisses him. My eyes widen and I look at Minghao who's sitting near the front of the stage. His fists turn white from balling them. I run after him and hold him back, Mingyu quickly joining me.
"Let me at her!" He yells.
"Hey don't worry, HaoHao. Look, he's throwing up on her." I point at him.
We watch as Mai starts screaming at the top of her lungs, running around in circles while she freaks out. What an idiot. We all look at each other and start laughing. She sees us in the side and groans.
"I'll kill you, Choi Aelia."
"Try me, brat." I smirk, before running up to Jun with Joshua.
We rush him to the bathroom, attempting to clean him up. I'm not supposed to be in the boys bathroom but they knew I'd be the only one to not make fun of him.
Jun hangs his head, his breathing shallow. I smirk and tilt my head as I look at him. Jun notices my staring and looks up.
"W-what?" He asks.
"Good job. The bitch deserved it." I giggle.
His face reddens and he looks at him lap again.
"Did you really throw up cause you're disgusted with her? Or was it something you ate before and it just came out?"
"No, it was from kissing her. She's completely revolting to me." He shivers, "I'm gonna have to disinfect my mouth a thousand times now."
"Honestly, Mai wouldn't be that bad if she wasn't so clingy and obsessive over you." I giggle.
He's quiet for a while before smiling.
"I like someone else right now. Much better than her."
I'm about to ask who it is when Joshua rushes in.
"I've got a change of clothes and a toothbrush and toothpaste for you. Miss Kang said to take your time. Aelia, she says she's grateful for you. She doesn't like Mai either. She didn't know how much longer she could take her." He whispers the last part to me, smirking slightly.
I smile then watch as Jun goes into a stall to change. Joshua hands me a bag, most likely to put the dirty clothes in. Joshua lets me know he's going to go back to rehearse and I wave to him. Jun walks out the next second in a pair of jeans and a plain T-shirt. I smile at him as he puts the clothes in the bag.
"You look cute." I admit.
His eyes widen and he looks at me quickly.
"Really?"
"Yeah." I pat his head and try to keep myself from laughing, "Junhui, I love you I really do, but please brush your teeth!" I start cracking up, pinching my nose to block the smell.
"Wow! Shut up!" He flicks my forehead before doing as I say.
"That's a good boy." I pat his back, "I'm going outside the door. I'll make sure Ursula isn't out there."
He chuckles and nods. As soon as I walk out, I'm met face to face with her.
"Oh speaking of the devil." I roll my eyes.
"I can't believe you! You little whore!"
"What did I even do?"
"You know what you did! Look at this! It's because of you!"
"Nope. It's because of you." I snicker.
"I'll make you pay, Choi Aelia. You'll see." She pushes me against the wall hard, making my back hit bad.
"Aelia!" Vernon rushes up to me, worry in his eyes, "Are you okay?!"
"Yeah. But wicked witch of the west isn't about to be." I start to throw a punch at her but she runs away.
Vernon holds me back, wrapping his arms around me tightly. I try to get out of his grasp, glaring at the chicken running away.
"I hate her so much." I grit my teeth.
"Calm down, Aelia." He whispers, holding me tighter.
Wonwoo walks in, rushing up to us and we look at him. He had a smile plastered on his face but it quickly fades when he sees us.
"What's going on?"
Jun walks out too and freezes when he sees the three of us.
"Why is there a tense atmosphere...?" He asks.
"Aelia was about to kill Mai. She had that look in her eyes." Vernon slowly let's go of me.
I start to run in the direction she went in again when two people hold me back this time. I curse under my breath and groan.
"I hate her just as much as you do but you shouldn't kill her, Lia." Wonwoo smiles a bit.
"Fine. I'll let her live another day. But if she does something else, I won't hesitate." I pry them off me before walking back to the theater.