Butterfly

Chapter Thirteen (Music)

(P.O.V: Leo)

Time passed and adoption day came. We had one once a month. New kids would come and others would go. Liliana and Stephany were adopted by this nice couple that had been wanting kids for a while but couldn't have them. It hurt when they left, but I found comfort in knowing that the moon I look at every night is the same moon that Liliana and Stephany are looking at. In a way, I guess you could say, they're still with me. I never got adopted. I was too short and often confused for a girl. Adults assumed I was gay or just too fragile. I chose not to pay attention to it and to focus on my studies. When there is nothing for me, I choose to be optimistic and focus on other things. I have always been a studious student. Thanks to my hard work, I was able to get into Fredrickson Academy. I moved to New York and am currently staying with a foster family. They're nice enough to not make fun of my appearance and they have five-year-old twin girls that like it when I cook for them. Maybe I am a cold person. Is it bad that I don't care about what happened to my family? I never bothered to search for answers. It didn't matter to me whether they just didn't want me or couldn't provide for me. As long as I can take care of the people who are in my life now. I'll be happy...

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(Present Day)

"Of course you could hit those notes." Hugo joked around. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?! I'M ON TO YOU D'CAPRIO! SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN TONIGHT YOU HEAR ME!" Leo yells. I laugh. So this is what having friends is like. I like this. "Are you guys sure you want to help me?" I ask. "Why not, what's the worst that could happen?" Hugo says. "Why do I feel like you just jinxed the whole thing," Leo complains. "Well, just so you know I'm not forcing you guys to do this with me," I say as I get up from the floor. "I'm gonna go tell Mrs. Milly to register me into the music program," I say. "Wait for us!" Leo and Hugo get up from the floor and we make our way to Mrs. Milly's desk. "So, what's it gonna be?" Mrs. Milly asks us. "The Music Program," I say shyly. Mrs. Milly pauses for a moment and takes off her glasses. "Look, the Music Program isn't something you guys should mess around with. When the brochure said that this is by far the most competitive program they weren't messing around. Kids will kill for the top spot. I've seen it all. Cheating, fighting, bribery, every sort of foul play you could possibly think of. If you three think you can get to the top by just singing any old song...THINK AGAIN! Are you sure this is what you guys want to do?" Hugo, Leo, and I look at each other and I begin to doubt myself, but then Hugo slams his hand on the teacher's desk. "We are well aware of the challenges we will face and we're willing to do whatever it takes to be the best," Hugo says without breaking eye contact with the teacher. The teacher leans back in her chair and then lets out a sigh. "Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you." She puts her glasses back on and begins to type away. Leo, Hugo, and I go back to our seats and begin to discuss our next move. "D-do you think it's seriously gonna be that hard." Leo begins to worry. "Hey, there's no turning back now," Hugo says. "Besides, how hard could it be? All we have to do is learn how to harmonize and use the best of our individual talents." Hugo chuckles. "I doubt it's gonna be that easy. We will probably have to come up with some crazy choreographies for any song we choose to sing. I'm not familiar with the song Trinity sang for orientation, but did you see how crazy hard their choreography was. May I remind you I am but a small boy with short legs." Leo starts complaining. I pull out my phone and look up the music program on the school's website. "Check it out!" I say looking at my phone. "It says here that every year they put a special twist to the rules of the competition. Last year was all about dancing. You had to have almost perfect choreographies." I show Leo and Hugo my phone so they could look at the website too. "Hmm, What do you think this year's special twist will be?" Leo asks. "I just hope it has nothing to do with costumes. I refuse to do any sort of cosplay." Hugo says while crossing his arms. "You're clowning me right?" Gabriel, Miles, and Gilbert come up to us laughing. "You guys seriously joined the music program? I would've expected little lepricon over here to join Culinary arts." Gabriel laughs. "HEY!" Leo pouts. "If you guys think you can survive this program your dead wrong." Miles smirks. "You don't know what you got yourselves into." Gilbert begins. "If you think that all you have to do is go on stage and sing a little song with cutesy dances...hahaha, your in for a rude awakening," Miles says leaning into Hugo's face. "Do you even know who is judging this year's competition, Felix?" Gilbert says looking at me with his devilish gaze. "A little birdie told me that a so-called, Johnathan Enderson will be one of the judges. You wouldn't want to humiliate yourself in front of Daddy now, would you?" Gabriel and Miles freeze and look at Gilbert and then at me. "Just think of what could happen. He'll see you as a bigger disappointment than you already are." Gilbert chuckles. "I'm just here to warn you, Felix. This isn't gonna be easy." Gilbert says smirking. He then turns around and walks away with Miles and Gabriel. "Bro, are you okay?" Hugo says putting his hand on my shoulder. "I'm fine. It's not like I'm not used to it." I say. "You know Gilbert? As in know, know him." Hugo exclaims. "We went to the same middle school. When he moved I thought it would be the last I saw of him, but life's a bitch." I chuckle. Just then the school bell chimes. "Okay, you may now head downstairs for your lunch period. Class dismissed." Mrs. Milly announces. Leo, Hugo, and I grab our bags and run out of the class. I step on something and nearly fall. "WE GOTTA GET THERE FIRST!" Hugo says dashing down the hallway. "Why?" I say running behind them. "All the good seats will be taken by then!" Hugo screams. "Wait, where's Leo?" I exclaim. Hugo and I slow down and look behind us. Leo was face first on the floor and his bag was open and all of his books were scattered on the floor. Hugo and I rush over to help him. "What happened!" I ask. Leo got up and clenched his teeth. He looked up at Hugo and glared at him. He suddenly swings his leg at Hugo's ankle and Hugo yelps from pain. "OW, WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" Hugo exclaims! "THAT'S FOR MAKING ME FALL! YOU ZOOMED RIGHT BY ME AND THREW OFF MY BALANCE!" Leo then turns to me and slaps me with the back of his hand. I wince. I didn't expect him to be this strong. "WHY'D YOU HIT ME?" I screech. "AND THAT'S FOR DRAGGING MY BAG WITH YOUR FOOT!" So that was what I stepped on. Leo picks up all of his books and shoves them in his bag. We all make our way down the stairs and find the cafeteria. Hugo groans, "Great, now all of the good seats are taken." The cafeteria was packed. Kids were sitting at tables and chatter filled the room. "Well, I'm starving! I'm going to get food." Leo says. Hugo and I follow him. There was a Menu at the top of the place where you are supposed to order your food. "Woah! This is school lunch?" I say as my jaw drops. "What's Parmesean Risotto with roasted shrimp?" Hugo asks. "Dude, my mouth is watering! This stuff looks freaking good." I have never had anything like this before! "Hmm, I'll take the C-lunch and the F-Salad." Leo says as he tells the chef inside the booth. "Yes, sir." The chef nods and goes to the back and gives him a silver tray with his food. "I'll take the same thing!" Hugo exclaimed. "Me too!" I smile. The chef hands us both our trays and we look for a place to sit. "You've got to be shitting me! THERE ARE NO MORE SEATS!" Hugo complains. "You know...we could try to see if we could sneak into a class and eat there." Leo suggests. "Sounds good to me." I agree with Leo. Hugo shrugs and we look for an open class. We walk down the hallway and we notice a room called "Dance 7". "This one is open." I point out. The three of us waltz into the room. "Cool." Leo says. The floor was polished wood and there were mirrors at the front of the room. We stare at our reflections. "So this must be where kids practice their dancing." I say looking around. There were two speakers at the front of the room and a storage closet in the back. We sit down by the wall and start to eat. I stare at my food for a while and then take a huge bite of the main dish. HOLY SHIT! That was the best food I've ever had! Parmesan Risotto with roasted shrimp is now my favorite dish. I quickly scarf down everything. "Best, lunch, ever!" The three of us exclaim in unison. "I didn't think I'd ever like school food!" Leo chuckles. "Same." Hugo laughs. Just then we hear voices coming towards the room. "CRAP! WE GOTTA HIDE!" Leo stumbles up. He picks up the trays and hides them behind some shelves and the three of us run into the storage closet and hide. We barely fit inside the closet but we made it in before they saw us. "I'm so disgusted right now! All of the commoners acted like they haven't eaten in years." It was Nancy. "I know right." June and Crystal walk in behind her. June and Nancy were talking for a while. "You're stepping on my foot." Leo whispers to Hugo. "No shit sherlock. It's crowded in here in here, so man up and deal with it." Hugo whispers back. "Shut up before we get heard." I whirl around and scold them. Leo and Hugo pretend to zip their lips and we all peek through the crack in the door to see what the girls were up to. Nancy goes to the corner of the room and types in a code on the speaker. Music begins to fill the room and Nancy starts to dance. "Wow, she's good." Hugo whispers. Nancy nods her head to the beat of the music and her dance moves match the rythym. Just then, June and Crystal join Nancy. "C-Crystal can dance!" Hugo exclaims. The three of them twirl in unison and shake their hips to the beat. June starts to sing with Nancy supporting her with back up vocals. Leo, Hugo, and I were in shock! "Wow!" I say. Just then Crystal kicks the air and Nancy and June twirl back into positions and Crystal starts rapping. "What...the...fuck." Hugo eyes widen and I can see him blushing. He covers his mouth with his hand as Crystal does a dance solo and kills with her rap solo. Nancy and June get back in front and finish singing. Nancy stops the music angrily. "I thought you said Crystal can keep up!" Nancy shouts at June. "Crystal, what the hell!" June yells at Crystal. "I-I'm sorry June, I-" Crystal begins "You know what, forget it. We need to find another girl to join this group. Crystal can't handle the solo by herself. She needs a back up rapper. Besides, we need stronger back up vocals as well. We need someone who can sing and rap." June crosses her arms. "We're screwed for auditions if we don't find a fourth person to join the group." Nancy falls to the ground. Wait...That was bad? Then what the hell is good? "I don't think the three of us can win this competition." I whisper. "What are you implying?" Hugo asks. "We need more people." Leo takes the words right out of my mouth. The three of us sigh. Oh no, I'm losing my balance. "AHH!" The door wooshes wide open and I fall on my face and Leo and Hugo fall on top of me. "SPIES!" Nancy yells. "YOU CHEATERS!" June yelps. "It's not what it looks like." Hugo gets up. "Hugo?" Crystal says in shock. "H-Hey Crystal. I didn't know you could rap. You're dancing was amazing." Hugo chuckles. "Thank you..." Crystal blushes. "Ha, if you thought that was good dancing then you guys are blind." June giggles. "STATE YOUR BUISSNESS." Nancy yells at us. "We just wanted a place to come eat our lunch. WE SWEAR! We aren't cheating and we aren't spies!" I say as I stumble to my feet. "Yea, what he said." Leo says jumping up. Nancy looks at the three of us for a moment and then bursts out in laughter. "My apologies, I didn't mean to yell. I was expecting someone who looked like they would be in the music program. Of course you wouldn't join the music program, I mean look at you." Nancy giggles. "Ouch." Hugo whispered. "But now that you're here, I wouldn't mind getting an outsiders opinion. What did you think of our performance?" Nancy asks putting her hands on her hips. "We thought it was great!" Leo says clapping. "Yea, you did really good." Hugo says while shyly looking at Crystal. "Yea, It was by far one of the best performances I've ever seen." I chuckle. Nancy's smile turns into a frown. "June, we are so screwed. We need to find that fourth girl immediately." June and Nancy walk out of the room. Crystal follows them and waves and mouths the word 'bye' at Hugo. He waves back and the girls are out of our sight. Leo runs up to Hugo and wiggles his eyebrows up and down. "What are you doing?" Hugo asks Leo. "Is she the lucky lady? I must say you chose pretty well. Crystal seems smart and looks like a nice girl." Leo smirks at Hugo. "W-what do you mean hahaha, I don't like crystal...I just..." Hugo starts blushing. "You just what?" I chuckle. "Er, look at the time! Lunch is gonna end soon! We should head back to the cafeteria so we can listen for instruction." Hugo grabs his bag and speed walks out of the dance room. Leo and I laugh and we follow him. "ALL STUDENTS REPORT TO YOUR LAST CLASS! ALL STUDENTS REPORT TO YOUR LAST CLASS!" A woman on the P.A. announces. "I guess that means we should head for the music room." I say. Leo, Hugo, and I wander around the first floor...nothing. We go to the second floor...nothing, the third...nothing, the fourth...nothing. "I THINK WE'RE LOST!" Leo says panting. "My legs hurt... Mucho stairs..." Leo and Hugo look tired. "Look there is one more floor. Let's check it out okay?" I say. "Fine, but if there is no music room up there I am jumping out the nearest window and I'm ending it. My legs have gone through too much." Leo complains. I roll my eyes and we go up the stairs. There is a sign that says Music at the end of the staircase. "Woah, this whole floor is for the music program. What class letter are we again?" I ask Hugo. "Class C" Hugo says. Leo dashes up the rest of the staircase and looks for the class at the end of the hallway. "HALLELUJAH! It's here." Leo exclaims exahustedly. We make our way towards Leo and walk in the classroom. Crystal, June, Nancy, Gabriel, Miles, Peter, Gilbert and Amber were all in there. The class room was ENORMOUS. It had a booth for music production, a dance floor with mirrors on the walls, huge speakers on the cieling, and a section with desks and a white board. "Wait, what. Almost the whole class chose the Music Program." Hugo says. "WELCOME!" Mr. Stephen ran up to us and greeted us all. "Hey, I know you. I took you to your Orientation seat with your little sister. Johnathan's kid right?" Mr. Stephen asked me. I nod awkwardly. "So you're a singer then. I must say I am looking forward to teachhing you." Mr. Stephen says shaking my hand. "Hugo D'Caprio I pressume. You look like you have potential. I'm sure we could get you into big places man." Mr.Stephen pats Hugo on the shoulder and chuckles. "Yes sir." Hugo says smiling. "and you must be Leonardo McLiam. You have fire in your eyes and I bet if we work hard we can get you into tip top shape. UP HIGH." Mr. Stephen puts his hand up in the air and Leo high fives him. "Okay go take a seat. Class will begin soon." Mr. Stephen points at the desk and then walks into the music booth. Leo, Hugo and I walk to the front of the class and sit down. "There aren't that many students in here." Leo says. "I wouldn't be so sure. Remember this whole floor is deticated to the music program. I bet the other classes are also filled with kids." I tell Leo. "Oh right." Leo exclaims.

DING! DING! DING!

The bell chimes three times and all the other kids sit down. " Welcome to Class C of the Music program. Just an F.Y.I letters don't mean anything so we aren't in a low ranking class. My name is Mr. Stephen, some of you already know me others may not. I've been teaching since this school was first established so I know how things work around here. Don't even think about giving me some B.S. understood? Moving forward, I'm sure you guys are curious about how things are gonna work here. First and foremost, just because you are in this class doesn't mean you qualify to compete. To do so, you have to audition for the competition, pass the audition, and you will be entered into this year's music competition. If you aren't interested in competing then this class will just be book work and learning about music history. On the contrary, if you joined this class to compete...hahaha...then there is a long road ahead of you." Mr. Stephen smirked and crossed his arms. "Don't think that this competition is your typical elementary talent show. This is war. You will compete against each other and other classes. If you have no confidence. If you let fear take the wheel. If you choose to doubt yourself. Then you've already lost. This class will be about exploding the idol inside of you. You will sing, dance, rap, and have mini battles in this class. I'm not gonna sugar coat it. These kids will do whatever it takes to win. So you must learn to stand up for yourself and not take crap from anyone. If you think you've got what it takes. THEN SHOW ME! I will see you at auditions next week." Mr. Stephen chuckles. "So now that we've covered that. If you are here to compete...please stand." I take a deep breath and remind myself why I'm doing this. For Terri, for my mom, and...for me. I stand up and Hugo and Leo get up as well. Gilbert stands up, then Gabriel, then Peter and Miles, Amber, June, Crystal, and Nancy. Mr.Stephen looks at his students. "I see...so I have some winners to train then. Let me see what you kids are made of. Gabriel and Gilbert please step onto the dance floor and pick up a microphone please." Mr. Stephen says slyly. Gilbert and Gabriel looked at each other and hesitate for a while, but then followed Mr.Stephen's instructions. "So, please tell me. What are your strong suits?" Mr. Stephen asks as he walks over to a control panel. "Rap and dance, sir," Gabriel speaks up. "Rap and production," Gilbert says. Mr. Stephen nods and inputs a code into the panel. "Really? Then prove it." Mr. Stephen pushes a button and a beat drops through the speakers. All the students look at each other wide-eyed. "OH SHIT! IT'S A BATTLE!" Miles says hyped. "B-battle?" Leo says shocked. Hugo stands speechless. I look straight ahead of me. Gilbert and Gabriel look at each other. "I hope you're ready Gilbert...'cause this is gonna hurt." Gabriel chuckles. Gilbert smiles. "Sure, whatever you need to tell yourself." Gabriel brings the microphone up to his mouth and takes a deep breath...

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(End of Chapter Thirteen)