Work Text:
It was early afternoon, sun was beaming, bees were buzzing, and Peg was walking down the street, wearing her most hip and sparkly clothing. Behind her were four of her friends: Tessa, Aki, Juliet, and Cleopatra. They were part of a girl group called The Pentagirls. They had fans from all over the world, and from all walks of life! The group was walking to their concert hall; it was particularly hot outside, and Peg's thick, restrictive jacket surely wasn't helping her stay cool. The five of them just wished to be at their studio, and to relax in the nicely conditioned air.
"Are you sure we're on the right street?" Juliet asked Peg.
"..I think so?"
"What do you mean you 'think so'? Did you not bring a map?" Cleopatra inquired.
"Oh, the map!" Peg then pulled the map out of her pocket. "This should be it!"
Peg followed the directions on the map, the other girls following behind her. The map showed a diagonal road, which then split into five smaller lanes. At the end of each lane was a house, but no recording studio. Peg would have noticed this by now, but whoever made the map did not label the locations, for some reason. She honestly doesn't even remember where she got the map, but she hopes it's the right one.
"Why didn't we just like, drive?" Tessa asked.
"We're too young to drive!" Peg and Aki said.
"Cleo?"
"We don't have cars in ancient Egypt."
"Juliet?"
"Me neither, we mustn't keep up this talk. Alas, we'll still have to walk."
The Pentagirls trudged along the road, wiping sweat off their foreheads. After some walking, they approached the part of the road where the street split in five.
"So… which road do we go down?"
"The middle one!" Peg answered.
"Middle?"
"'Middle' means something that's in between other things, like that road!"
"But there's three in the middle!"
"The middlest middle! Come on guys, follow me!" The rest then did as she said. Eventually they were met with a large, flat-roofed house.
"This doesn't look like a concert hall.."
"Don't judge a book by it's cover! Or in this case, don't judge a building by it's exterior!"
Cleopatra stepped in front of them to knock on the door. To her and the others' surprise, it was unlocked. Who would keep a building of such importance unlocked?! Then suddenly, two children who looked to be about Peg's age came rushing to the door. "Who are you?" One of the children asked.
"I am Cleopatra, queen of Egy-" Cleopatra was then cut off by the other child noticing Peg. "Peg? Is that you!?" "Whoa! It is Peg, in a cool outfit!"
"Amir? Yasmina?" Peg glanced at the kids.
"PEG!" The three of them hugged each other.
"Do you know these kids?"
"Yeah! I tell them about my adventures with Cat and you guys all the time!"
"Oh, that's sweet!" Juliet stated.
"Is the concert hall in here?" Aki questioned.
"The what hall?" Amir responded.
"A hall where you play music for a lot of people. Is that in there?" Aki restated.
A woman who appeared to be the kids' mother saw them at the door, and walked over towards them. "I told you two, don't answer the door for strangers! I also heard you didn't lock the door, Amir."
"Yes I did!" Amir said.
"No you didn't!" Yasmina said back.
"Did to!"
"Did not!"
"Children, children, settle down! Wait, is that Peg?" The mother cleaned her glasses and squinted.
Peg smiled and waved.
"Assalamualaikum Peg! Oh how I missed seeing your beautiful face!" Mother embraced Peg in a tight hug. "Heh, thanks...! Please let me go now.."
"I'm sorry dear, did I hug too tight?"
"Kinda.. It's okay though! Is the concert hall here? Because that's what we're here for."
"I'm sorry, but this is just an ordinary home. No fancy studios to speak of- but I can help you get to where you're looking for! Let's see, is that a map you're holding?"
"Yeah, but it's not labeled."
"I see! This is a map of our neighborhood, no wonder you came to us. You used it when you came to our house for Eid al-Adha, remember?"
"Oooooh." Peg said.
"But please, can you help us get to where we're supposed to go?" Juliet asked.
"Yes, I can!" She pulled out her phone, which had a GPS app. This caused all the girls to look at Tessa, the only other one who had a phone.
"Why didn't you just use the GPS app on your phone, Tessa?"
"Um, hello? I was literally baking under the sun, I had no time to think about my phone."
"Wow, a teenager not thinking about their phone, now that's something you don't see everyday."
"Cat!? Where did you come from?"
"This family has some good food."
"How did he- never mind." Peg thought to herself.
"Uhh, do you mind if we come with you?" Yasmina softly said, looking at the ground.
The Pentagirls thought for a moment. "Sure, you can come! Just try not to disrupt anything."
Amir and especially Yasmina's faces lit up. She's been waiting for this moment for a long time, she was secretly a big fan of The Pentagirls, and so was her brother. Yasmina always had a talent in music, she's been playing guitar since she was 3 years old. Maybe this would be her chance, to finally be acknowledged by her favorite musicians, and maybe even play guitar for them! A girl can only dream.
"I can drive you all there if you wish, so you don't have to walk out in this heat!" The mother said.
"Thank you ma'am, that would be so much better!"
She went to go get the car, and invited everybody to climb inside. Since there was eight people who needed to squeeze in, plus a cat, it was a pretty uncomfortable fit, but they all knew it would be worth it in the end.
-----
After what seemed like forever, they finally arrived at the correct destination. The group got out of the car, the mom waved bye to her children, and drove off. Peg noticed Yasmina looking very nervous, maybe even a little bit sad.
"Hey Yasmina, are you okay?"
Yasmina didn't know if she wanted to respond. She was worried, worried that she wasn't good enough for The Pentagirls. But Peg was her friend! But friends often let each other down, that is what she knew.
"Yas?" Although she didn't want to do it, she ignored her and slowly walked into the building.
"Peg? What's taking so long?" Cleopatra said from the inside, tapping her foot.
"I'm coming, sorry!" Peg yelled. "I really hope Yasmina's okay…." She thought.
As they came inside the building, Amir and Yasmina gazed in awe. So many pretty lights, pictures, sculptures, plants, this is literally so cool! However, this still couldn't shake the feeling that Yasmina wasn't enough. Amir ran after the girls, utterly infatuated with the interior design.
"Hey sis, you coming?"
"Yeah just.. give me a second." She sat in one of the chairs, head resting on her hands. How did they even let her in? Usually she's not this doubtful of her skills, but the pressure of having to be the best person you can be in front of people you adore, as well as getting bullied for just about everything she does, was really getting to her. She was carrying her guitar in a case on her back, hoping that she can maybe play for them. She looked up, and saw how all the people she came with were gone, and with a sick feeling in her stomach, got up and walked towards the backstage.
"Yas! We've been waiting on you!" Amir playfully remarked.
"Hi..!" Yasmina said, shyly.
"O-M-G, is that like, a guitar?" Tessa asked, curious.
"Yeah.. I was, um, hoping maybe I could play for you guys…"
"Of course you can play!" Peg gleefully said.
"Pentagirls songs would really benefit from a great guitar solo." Cat stated.
"Uh…. thanks guys! I just thought.. I wouldn't be good enough."
"Are you kidding? Your guitar skills are suh-weet!" Said Cat.
"Totally!! Remember that time you rocked so hard with Amir, I thought I was gonna go craaazyyy?"
"Oh, yeah, I guess so!"
Yasmina's sadness eased a little, seeing how everybody smiled at her, and acknowledged her talents.
"I, Queen Cleopatra, command you to play us a song on that instrument of yours."
"Okay…!" She got out her guitar, while Cat flipped the light switch off. Colorful lights filled the room, with a special spotlight on Yasmina. She didn't have a specific song in mind, she just played what her heart felt like playing. Admittedly, she was still nervous, with all this attention on her- everyone was looking at her. She wasn't used to this, at least not yet. She strummed, the strumming then turning into straight up rocking. She made it look so effortless. She ended her solo with passion, and with something unlike anything the others had ever seen before.
"Wooooo!" They all cheered.
"That. was. AMAZING!"
"Thank you, thank you so much!!"
"Oh my goodness…. you are- that was spectacular! I hereby declare that Yasmina will play for The Pentagirls." Cleopatra declared.
"Huh- really??" Yasmina wondered.
"Yes!" Juliet beamed.
"I command the designers to make Yasmina some new clothes that she will wear when she preforms with us! In fact, I declare that she will become a member of The Pentagirls!"
The rest of them gasped inquisitively, while Yasmina stimmed with excitement. She could not believe it at all, not even in the slightest.
"Wait, if Yasmina becomes part of The Pentagirls, we'll have six people, but pentagons only have five sides!" Peg realised.
"We need a shape that has six sides!" Said Aki.
"But what shape has six sides? I don't know!!- We've got a big problem!" The map of Amir and Yasmina's neighborhood fell out of Peg's pocket as she was freaking out, and Cat started to play with it.
"That's it you genius cat!" The map had five houses on it, one of which was shaped like a hexagon, a shape that has six sides. "Look how many sides this house has! One, two, three, four, five, and six! But what is this shape called…"
"I know! A hexagon!" Amir said cheerfully.
"I'm learning about shape perimeters in school, but I don't think we've gotten to hexagons yet. Amir has though!" Yasmina said politely.
"Yes!! We can be called The Hexagirls!"
"Ooh, The Hexagirls, I approve!" Said Juliet.
They all smiled at each other, and just as they were about to start talking, they were interrupted by a voice calling Cleopatra's name.
"Queen Cleo! I've got the clothes ready!"
"That was quick."
The clothing consisted of a flowy pink sparkly shirt, dark blue leopard print pants that were equally as flowy as the shirt, a black belt with a yellow hexagon emblem, a light teal hijab with a hexagon print, and sparkly yellow sandals.
"It's perfect!!" Her eyes gleamed. She went to the bathroom to go get changed, and when she came out, she looked awesome!
"Let's go rock the stage, girl!"
_____
Yasmina peeked through the curtains, she saw what appeared to be hundreds of people sitting and waiting for their favorite band to come on stage. Her anxiety made her feel nervous once again, but Peg and the other Hexagirls reassured her it would be okay. She took a deep breath and followed the girls onto stage. Amir ran out of the room and sat in the front row of the crowd. "You got this, Yas!" He shouted and raised his hands up.
"Get ready for the first song from The Penta- I mean, The Hexagirls! They will be preforming their debut song! " Cat said through the microphone. The crowd was confused, they're supposed to be watching The Pentagirls, not whoever 'The Hexagirls' are. Guess they just had to wait and see.
"Ahem, one two three four, hit it!"
"If there were three of us, we'd be The Triangirls!" "No, no no no!"
"If there were four of us, we'd be The Rectangirls!" "No, no no no!"
"If there were five of us, we'd be The Pentagirls!" "No, no no no!"
This caused the crowd to gasp.
"But there aren't three or four, we've got more!"
"And we know what you've been waiting for!"
"We're The Hexagirls, yeah! And we'll rock your world!" The five then pointed at Yasmina, all the audience's eyes fell on her. The heavy stage lights danced around before falling onto her.
"Um, what am I supposed to do?" Yasmina whispered.
"Take out your guitar and rock everybody's world!"
Yasmina did as she was told, and played to a beat that bounced off the cool electronic backing music. The crowd was shocked, how come they never knew about this extremely talented player until now? She played and played, before falling onto her knees, tense yet exhilarating air filling the room. It felt like something was taking over her body, somehow she was playing perfectly, despite not even knowing what song she was playing. The audience went wild!
"We're The Hexagirls!"
"We're The Hexagirls, yeah! And we'll rock your world!"
"We're six alive, we jump and jive, we're The Hexagirls, yeah!" The five sang as Yasmina was jamming out. They then entered a hexagon formation, where Yasmina was on the top, playing her guitar as intensely as ever.
The music came to a halt, and the crowd applauded with great enthusiasm. The six of them were breathing heavily, looking out and around the filled auditorium.
"YES!!! I knew you could do it!" Amir yelled and clapped faster than anybody in the room.
The girls got out of their formation to take a bow, and thank the audience. They gently pushed Yasmina to the front of the stage, everyone was waving to her, and asking who she was.
"I did it… I really did it!!" Thought Yasmina. She teared up a little.
"Everybody say, 'Thank you Yasmina!' This wouldn't have been as epic as it was without her!"
The crowd shouted in unison while the cheering continued, "Thank you Yasmina!"
"Now for our next song, Hexagirl Pride!"
Yasmina smiled, she felt so energized and ready to take on the next song- She really did have it in her, she's finally getting the acknowledgement she deserves.