Chapter Text
"You take the time to make yourself more appealing-"
It's night and day, the difference. Even if I can tell I'm on tune, something's just- It's not-
It's not... Bad to hear, but it's just so different.
I turn my head and scream my frustration into my pillows.
...Ow, my throat's sore. I've been singing for hours, and it's late. I really should just head to sleep for the night. I have school tomorrow.
Feels like I'm forgetting something, though?
Ah well, if I forgot, it can't be that important!
-
I'm screwed-
I forgot to do my homework. Again. Like, again again- It's the end of the last period too, so I can't even rush it to turn it-
I look at the untouched worksheets in my bag, before turning around the room to see everyone else handing in their assignments. Why did this happennnn?!? It's not my fault I wanted to spend all of my weekend sleeping and listening to music!
O-Okay maybe it is my fault but still!
I'm forgetful!! I can't help it!
The boy behind me smacks the stack of collected worksheets on the back of my chair lightly. W-what is it? Does he know I didn't finish my work yet? Or even do any work?
Can he see into my bag from that far..? Maybe I need a new bag...
"Hey. Hey Nyalex. Pass it on." He nags me.
Ack... I'm fine- He just wants me to collect the sheets and pass them to the teacher..?
..!
Wait, this is fine! If I pass the entire big stack, the teacher won't know that I didn't do it yet! I can get another day to do my homework, and I won't have to do detention or anything!
Yay!! Thanks, friendly boy! What was your name again? I don't remember it-
I'm snapped out of my thoughts by the boy smacking me on the head with the papers.
Owie...
The papers fall onto my chair as he drops them, before he begins packing up at his desk casually. I guess I took too long, so he got bored... I gather everything before getting up and walking over to the teacher's desk.
"H-here!" I pass the papers to her, and she places them into a stack with the rest of the class's worksheets, before starting to look through them.
I'll need to remember to do my work when I get back home...
I start packing up my bags as fast as I can and rush towards the door. Hurry-! Leave before teacher can notice I didn't hand my worksheets-
"Nyalex. Get back here."
Nooo-!
I consider making a break for it, but she'll only be more mad if I do.
Maybe it's not about the worksheets-? Hopefully? I pray to every god I know of that it's the case.
"Where's your homework?" Ms Lyre asks.
The gods have forsaken meee... How is she always so fast at checking these things..?
"U-uhm..." I stutter.
I need a believable excuse! Uhm!!!
"My friend's frog ate it?" I reply!
She glares at me, "Your friend's frog?"
"Y-yeah!" I nod vigorously. M-Maybe she'll believe me if I tell her more about Ashlyrith!
She frowns, before shaking her head. "I guess if your friend's frog is so hungry that it's constantly eating your homework, I have to give you triple the amount from now on for the rest of the year."
"I'M SORRY PLEASE I FORGOT TO DO MY WORK I'LL HAND IT IN TOMORROW-"
"You've already made this excuse before Nyalex. I'm giving you detention. If you don't want this to continue, make sure you hand it in tomorrow."
"Okay..." I look down apologetically.
I trudge to the door of the detention office. I wanna go homeee... Unlike some schools I heard about, our school makes us do chores during detention instead of sitting still. At least I could sleep if I just had to sit at a desk for an hour...
Walking into the room, the man in charge looks at me sternly. His usually kinda ruggedly cool and casual look is gone. It's almost scary, since he's usually really nice during his normal classes, but he looks terrifying when he's upset. It's like when your friend's cool dad is mad at you.
Probably because he is a cool friend's dad! Kinda!
He's actually her uncle, but she's lived with him since I met her and her sister, at least. I never really asked why...
"Name and Class?" He asks me, but he already knows my name...
"Nyalex Aimew Meowmere. 1-E." I still give him my reply.
He begins writing in a form or something, and after he finishes, he asks me, "Why're you here this time?"
"I forgot my homework... Again..."
He lets out a bit of a sigh, "Well... Try harder to remember next time then."
"I-I will." I kick the ground a little anxiously.
"You're in high school now. You've to start taking your responsibilities seriously." He goes on, It's the same kinda rant all my classmates always complain about getting from their parents and our teachers.
I just nod along and agree. At least I know he isn't actually mad at me-
After saying his piece, he lightens up a bit, going from scary teacher to nice uncle again, before leaning back at the desk and giving me a bit of a smile. "You in any clubs yet?"
"N...No?" I reply.
"Huh." He pauses, "Thought you would've joined band or choir, at least. I remember the girls constantly telling me how much you talked about wanting to be a singer. You performed in that show when you were young with your friends, no?"
He scratches his chin, "Your folks have a recording of it, no? I’d love to see it again."
Mom and Dad probably lost that recording when we moved…
"...T-That was a long time ago." I mutter, "I'm not good enough to join, a-and I get nervous singing in front of people now... I'll just get made fun of again."
He kinda taps on his desk a little, before muttering, "You need to have a little more confidence in yourself, kid."
I turn down to look at the floor. "O-okay..."
C-confidence isn't my strong suit. I know so many people are so much better than I am...
As I'm thinking, I hear him shuffling at his desk, before he clears his throat and speaks,
"Anyways. You still have detention. There's a Clubroom on the 3rd floor that cancelled meetings for today. They don't have many members, but go clean it up."
He hands me a key, "Go up the stairs from the main hall, take a left, and walk straight till you get to the second last room of the hallway. You can't miss it."
I nod, "Left from the hall and straight to the second last room-?"
"Left up the stairs from the hall, but yes." He affirms.
"Which club even is this..?" I look at the key, "It doesn't say anything on it..."
"It's the Talent Development Club."
Talent Development,,? I haven’t heard of it…
Uhh... It's this room, right?
It's on the third floor, left from the stairs from the hall and straight to the second last room.
That sounds right!
I slide the key into the lock and open the door.
"Woah.."
What kind of clubroom is this..?
The first thing I see is a computer sitting right on top of a bunch of desks clumped together, with 3 monitors and an actual hecking gaming chair dead center of it all. It doesn't look anything like the computers in the school's lab, it's covered with all sorts of stickers of video games and other stuff.
Also, it's really messy! Like, almost as messy as my room or desk! There's cans of energy drinks and candy wrappers and snack packets and cups and jars and all kinds of other random things scattered everywhere around the table. The only clean place seems to be the mousepad.
"...Nobody told me there was a gaming club... I want in." I pout and mutter to myself, before I investigate the other part of the room.
A corner of it's partitioned off. Looking into it, I'm instantly awestruck.
Another computer, connected to a microphone, with soundproofing covering the walls. A bunch of other complicated looking equipment is placed on a desk beside the computer too. Though, compared to the one outside, this place is super dusty. Almost like it's nearly unused.
Looking around more, I see a pair of headphones hanging off a hook on the desk. Curiously, I pick it up and put it on, before speaking into the microphone.
"Hello..?"
"Hello..?"
That's wild... I can hear myself super clearly.
I can hear everything super clearly actually. This is crazyyy.
Ah-! Wait, I'm not supposed to be playing around... I need to clean up so I can go home-!
But…
It’s just so tempting…
Maybe after I finish cleaning..?
Yeah! After I finish cleaning! There’ll be nobody else around… I can try it, j-just a little! N-Nobody will know! Or get mad! Or yell at me!
This feeling is just like when I was a kid, when Mom and Dad told me I could go outside and play after doing chores… Ehehe~