Chapter Text
Highschool, the pinnacle of the transition to adulthood, the exposition to your entrance to the workforce.
What happens then will shape your life forever, so each and every decision you make has to be perfectly planned.
4 years, 208 weeks, 1,456 days, your body running day after day, routine after routine, page after page, analysis after analysis, mark after mark, something after anything, and in all that exhaustion…
Where in that lies your passion, if your passion is not good enough for the world? Where in it lies the real you, not the one that the world wants you to be?
To which I answer, all you need is just a little push, or even a nudge, in the right direction. A hand, or three, that’ll take you step by step. Not too fast or you might fall, simply taking you along at your own pace.
You’ll find people like that, one by one. Following the beat that you roll to, sorting out your melodies so you become a symphony.
You might even be able to say that you’d be…
“By The Beat”.
______________________________
“Are you sure about this band idea, Kaelix?”
Freo leaned in to see the notebook that Kaelix was showing him. It was filled with chords and rhythm squiggly lines and little lyrics floating together over a span of 3 pages.
They all popped up in his head today, during classes, lunch, and walking in the halls. Little doodles lined the bubbles of whimsical thoughts, adding to his childish excitement.
All lined up in one row at the top were: A person holding a messily drawn guitar, a person on the drums, one on the mic with another guitar, and one on a keyboard. All of them had a colour on their instrument, some sort of colour coding?
“Well, duh! Why would you think I wasn’t? Isn’t it a good idea? Don’t you want to be a part of something, make your mark before your days in high school are over?”
He talked about it during break, but his eyes had a certain sparkle to them that Freo didn’t realize before. Had something happened in the time he wasn’t with him?
“Well, in order to do that, don’t you think we need a little more than two members? And that’s only if I follow through with you. You know how seriously I take my studies.”
Freo said, taking the notebook Kaelix held into his hands, analyzing each and every tidbit scribbled onto the lined page. To this, Kaelix’s eyebrows lowered a smidge, his smile creaking down, millimeter by millimeter.
“I don’t doubt your incredible skill in everything music. I just worry that the commitment to this will be more than you can handle, given we’re entering our hardest year.”
Kaelix’s smile faltered for a second, before inhaling really, really deep. He shot up, and with full conviction and a sure smile, he announced, “For me, the only thing that matters is the now, and now is the time to get my life rolling to how I want it to. And you should too! The feeling is very, very liberating.”
Freo looked at his best friend and the steadiness in his azure eyes.
He really meant what he said.
And if he’s set on this, then who was he to turn him down?
If they were to dive head first into unknown territory, at least they were in it together. That’s how it always was since they were kids.
Kaelix took his friend’s hand into his own, looking at him with pleading eyes, almost like a dog waiting to be given a treat, ruling out refusal because he knew Freo wouldn’t.
“... Fine. But we should be quick about an application for a club room before the slots are taken up, nevermind fighting other possible groups for the limited instruments.”
He stopped, almost as if second-second guessing himself. But as it turns out, he also had some spark in him. “I’ll tell you if I find anyone suitable and try to suggest your idea to them. There’s no guarantee that they’ll be up for it, but I’ll go through this with you to the best of my abilities.” He told him, returning the notebook, returning the strong gaze he was held in.
“Oh you’re so nice to me, what would I ever do without a friend like you?!” He pulled him into a tight hug, almost putting the smaller man into a chokehold. “That’s more than enough, so thank you so much!”
Struggling sounds came out from Freo’s mouth, gripping the arms of his captor with desperation. Suddenly, out of the corner of Kaelix’s eyes, he saw someone passing by the doorway, coming out to the exit. He eased his hold on Freo, looking out at the person that exited the school.
“What?” Freo coughed out, pounding his chest with his fist. As he opened his eyes, he saw Kaelix making intense eye contact before the guy broke away.
“Do you know him?”
“No, but… something about him… You know how I get random hunches? That guy just activated a hunch of mine. Something just clicked in my brain, I got a weird thump in my chest when I saw him.”
“W-what does that even mean-”
“That means that he’s a potential member! I know it might seem like I’m saying that just because I saw him lugging around that guitar case, but there’s some kind of tingling in me that makes me think that I… recognize him, somewhat.”
He pushed up his glasses, face crinkled up in an attempt to look like he’s thinking, or trying to, at least. “Was it from… no, I’m pretty sure that kid looked different than him.”
The guy he was talking about was tall, quite wide, and lazy looking, his posture a bit off, and the way he dressed was like he threw on his uniform and never looked at it again.
Freo eyed the living daylights out of that guy, over his dyed black hair, black long sleeve underneath, black accessories, silver and black piercings…
“... An emo delinquent musician?” Freo thought, already getting worried at his judgement. You never know about these people in high school, you can always find those types, no matter what country you go to.
Even when he was younger and saw the guys in high school back where he came from, the ones that shouldn’t be messed with always looked like him. He sighed once again, and got up from the shade of the tree, brushing off any dust that might’ve gotten on him while they sat.
“In any case, we should head home now, too. Maybe if you spot him in the hallways again, you can ask him whether he’s interested.” For now, they should just focus on getting ready for the first day.
Freo shrugged on his backpack, offering a hand to the one still sitting. Kaelix’s eyes were filled with anticipation as he took Freo’s hand. He hadn’t seen his friend this adamant on an idea so much since forever.
Sure, he has his times of typical enthusiasm, but this time, it was almost as if a fire had ignited in him. In a way, Freo could also say that he had a hunch. If they could kickstart something like this, then maybe…
____________________________
“We will get this group together.”
Kaelix whispered under his breath outside the teacher’s room, assuring himself with the confidence to ask. He knocked the door before a phone ringing sound and clamour came from behind.
“Come in!” A voice yelled from behind. Kaelix summoned all the confidence to open the door before putting his hand on the handle and twisting.
Mr. Vanta was in a shared office, crowded with three other people all busy working or caught up in a call with another teacher. “I’m sorry, I’ll get back to you soon, Mrs. Ginjoka, but rest assured, your son will do just fine here.” A pause, “Yes, of course, we–”
“Hey, ack- ugh, Vanta, your coffee is spilling, urk-!” Claude exclaimed beside him, choking on his protein shake as his hands flew up to his chest from the gymnasium authorization-of-use forms or whatever.
“Wha-huh? Oh, awh shit- I mean, oh shizzle sticks! Shizzle sticks, yes, I said that, not anything else. Pardon me, Mrs. Ginjoka, but if you need any more details just email me or ask your son, I have more work to finish so yeah, it was a pleasure to meet you and your son, bye bye–”
Mr. Vanta hung up without even waiting for a reply to his outburst, swearing underneath his breath as he picked up his coffee-stained documents. He pulled a dark handkerchief from his pocket, quickly patting away at the dark stain spread across forms and other documents that looked important.
“Gosh, well, while he handles that, what brings you here, Kaelix?” Mr. Zali said as he adjusted his glasses, leaning on the desk Mr. Vanta was hustling to clean up. The medical bay’s door was connected to their office, so he could easily go in and out from the two when he wanted to. “Just a club form, Mr. Zali.”
“Ah, so you’ve finally decided you want to oversee a club? Very good, just make sure you find a teacher to validate it in time, my coworkers have been very passionately hunted down for some of these.”
His eyes sifted the file folder placed to the side of his computer, dexterous fingers running over each section of flimsy plastic.
“I’m sure he already knows about that. Look at him, the former student council president now taking up a club, huh?” Mr. Wilson grinned, eyes focused on his screen, sparing only a second to look at Kaelix. “So, enlighten us, what’re you interested in doing this year?”
“I would like to make my own light music club!” His hands went up excitedly into their places, positioned as if he was holding his guitar, hand vigorously strumming it.
“I figured that I would want to end off my high school run with a bang, so what better to do than perform the best performance this school has ever seen?”
They all nodded, Mr. Vanta even spared a moment to clap his hands in pride that the kid he pushed to show off his talents had finally gathered the courage to do just that.
Mr. Zali found the paper and candidly handed it to him, a big smile on his face.
“Good luck on this club of yours, Kaelix. I’m sure that a lot of people will join given that, well, it’s you.”
“Kaelix? Are you here?”
Freo poked his head into the room, eyes quickly scanning the room until he spotted his tall friend. In one hand was a large guitar case, as well as a face beside him that Kaelix had never seen.
“I knew it. You went off on your own sneakily to our teachers, leaving me with the duty of looking after your guitar.”
“Wow, Kae-chan, how rude!” The unknown boy said, wagging his finger with a pout on his face.
“Well I couldn’t just drag you here, and plus, you got out of your class late, so how was I supposed to know where you were to even drag you here?” Kaelix quickly ran over to his friend, eyes finally taking in who Freo was accompanied with.
He had eyes that made it seem like he always had a smile on his face, two distinct moles underneath the right. His hair was cut as if someone took inspiration from an upside-down bowl, pink and blue highlights sprinkled in between light brown strands.
He looked distinctly younger than him, too. Was he a grade lower than him?
“And who’s this? How do you already have a nickname for me— wait, pause, how do you even know my name?” He tilted his head to the side with his chin in his hand, eyebrows raised.
“Hello, I am Seible Seible!”
“Why’d you say your name two times?”
“Because that’s his… actual name.”
“You’re joking.”
“Why would I? Introductions are to be taken seriously.”
“He is right! And yes, that is my name. And you wanna guess what it is in full?” Giggles came from behind smiling lips, his already smiling eyes filled with more amusement as he awaited an answer.
“Alright, alright, you guys can continue this outside our office, we got work to finish and whatever you’re doing is not helping!” Mr. Wilson barked out while intensely glaring at a google doc, angry fingers hitting the keys. A flurry of consonants and vowels closely leading before a plethora of backspaces.
The two students at the door took it as an opportunity to slip out hurriedly. Kaelix hung a little longer, eyeing Mr. Vanta. He looked down at the blank form, giving extra attention to the empty “teacher” section.
“I was actually going to ask Mr. Vanta here to oversee it, but since you mentioned that a lot of people were going around, I have a feeling you were already scouted.” He scratched the back of his head, clutching the paper.
The man in question’s head jolted up while pointing to himself in disbelief, a shocked expression on his face. “This guy?” Mr. Claude pointed a thumb towards his coworker.
“It might be a little hard to do that, Kaelix. He’s quite popular this year.” Mr. Zali added. At the sound of this, the person in question stood up extra tall. Kaelix almost thought he was hallucinating, his nose growing just an inch upwards on top of his smug face.
“Yeah, it be like that. They just can’t help how amazing I am at managing clubs. Last year, I coached and oversaw the boxing club, and last last year, I helped establish the still-running video game club and helped fund it and supply the consoles. I also sometimes popped in to fill in for Ms. Aia for DnD, of course. I just can’t help myself from all my potential greatness.”
“There was also the weightlifting club with me.” Mr. Claude nudged an elbow at the man beside him, nodding his head.
Kaelix couldn’t help but let his hopes slip just a little, but it’s not like he was his last option. It would just be a lot harder to connect with another, given the fact that some of the ones he was close to had left.
From the day that he came to the academy, Mr. Vanta had been there. He was the hype man of everything, one of the student’s favourite teachers, a perfect balance of funny and capable. To sum it all up, he was incredibly reliable.
Kaelix sighed internally.
Was there any way to get Mr. Vanta to fully be on board with his idea?
A way to prove they were the ones he wanted to support… To make themselves stand out from the rest…
“Ah!” His fist hit his palm in realization. He grabbed a sticky note and a pen from the pad on Mr. Wilson’s desk, a brisk “Hey!” coming from the occupant. To everyone else, it looked like he was simply passing a note to his teacher, but to Kaelix, this was an opportunity.
“Come here, and you’ll see something that’ll surely make you want to support us! There would be no other option but us, I’m sure of it!” Kaelix’s eyes shone, and just as quickly as he came, he exited in a flurry.
“I’ll be awaiting your answer!” The door was closed behind him, but they could still hear his voice yell out to his friends in that cheerful tone of his, wanting to catch up.
Mr. Zali let out a little laugh as he walked up to the photocopier, patting Mr. Vanta’s shoulder.
“It must be nice to be so young. But besides that, where’d he want you to go?” He peeked over his shoulder, trying to discern what the location Kaelix gave was.
“2434 Niji Drive… a livehouse… Ah! They’re already performing? How’d they manage to snag a venue? Especially as highschoolers?!”
Mr. Wilson stealthily made his way over as he too, was nosy about the note, loudly announcing his presence.
“Damn, he didn’t even need to do allat…” Mr. Vanta scratched the back of his neck, his brows creased as he smiled.
“Huh?”
“The others cancelled on me, remember? One of the members quit on ‘em, so they didn’t meet the required count for club validity. If he hadn’t whizzed out, then I would’ve been able to remember that tiny, tiny detail.”
“Oh, gosh.”
____________________________
Unfortunately, the next day was the weekend.
Kaelix had been trapped in his house with the suspense of getting an answer from his teacher, sentenced to aimlessly stare at the club form in front of him.
The poor white monkey plushy was strangled in his arms, receiving the brunt of his stress, its face getting stretched and compressed and contorted into whichever direction it could.
No matter if he had the guts to invite him to the venue in two week's time, there are multiple factors that were extremely important: He didn’t have the venue, he only knew who owned it; He didn’t have the two other members required for the limited amount.
He could put up posters, but that too had its own problems. He would have to design them, print many copies of them, while also advertising them. And even if he does all that, would they be able to play in two weeks time?
In those two weeks, he had to find two people, as well as test their capabilities in music so they’d qualify as a club as well as being able to prove themselves as a band. This along with his studies was enough for him to start balding.
“You looked stressed. Something up?” His youngest sister came up to him from behind, offering his favourite tea and a slice of cake at the doorway.
‘Wasn’t she downstairs helping mom and dad with something? Why was she in my room?’ He thought, but the moment he saw the precious cargo she possessed, he dismissed all thoughts.
“Oh my gosh, thank you so much!” He carefully accepted the food and drink, carefully setting it down to the side of his notebooks and keyboard. He daintily set the plates down on his notebook, admiring the beauty of the dessert, the fragrance of the tea.
“It’s nothing important, I’m just impatient, that’s all.” He laughed, waving his hand in the air as if to dismiss the topic. Kaelix picked up the cup, the warmth of the cup melting the stiffness in his hands that were sore from the writing he’s been torturing himself with. English homework is enough to give anyone carpal tunnel.
She stood at the doorway, lightly tapping her finger against the painted wooden trim. It wasn’t usual to see her brother like this.
‘He said something about a music club the last time we talked with him and his after-school involuntary debriefing during lunch, that’s for sure… music… ah. That might help.’
“You could always go out and get a breath of fresh air. I’ve noticed that there are a lot more street performers with your uniform further out downtown in the older parts, it might be worth checking. Y’know, with the whole band thing you’ve wanted to start up. Anyways, I needa go help mom.” She silently left, leaving Kaelix wide-eyed and fired up.
Quickly, he slid on his yellow sweater and changed out of his pajamas into his beige cargo shorts. One quick glance into the mirror, grabbed his phone, and he was out of the house without a moment's hesitation.
He jogged down mainstreet with lazily tied shoelaces, watching as the cars zoomed past, restricting Kaelix from seeing the person on the other side of the street, also heading downtown.
‘Wait, wasn’t that… the guy from when Freo and I were hanging outside of the school?’ He squinted, his glasses a little smudged, the glare in the windows from the setting sun hitting his eyes perfectly.
But if he was correct, that was the same emo kid, lugging the same guitar case with the many stickers.
He could try and yell from across four busy lanes, but he highly doubted that it would reach the guy over all the car noise, and that’d definitely hurt his throat, so he opted for another way.
The only other (legal) way was to meet him at the intersection, the one that he coincidentally missed at the very last second, the red hand’s solid light glaring at him as soon as he reached the curb. He saw the guy walk away, turning right towards the street with the busy, old plaza.
He entered an alcove amongst many that lead into all sorts of stores of music or food, and Kaelix’s heart began to beat harder. If his intuition was right and he managed to rope him into the group along with one more, then the group would be complete, and it would be eligible for approval.
The crosslight displayed a walking person, and he speedwalked across the painted white lines, determined to meet him. As soon as his foot hit the curb and off the crosswalk, he sprinted towards the store with the faded sign, its display completely illegible.
Walking in, the walls and more were lined with records, CDs, cassette tapes, all of both big and small artists: indie, popular, old, new, Lady Gaga. You name it, it was there. Simply put, a treasure trove of musical items.
He also realized that no one greeted him as he walked in, the store empty as far as he could tell. A fan whirred above, a singular lamp at the counter lighting up the whole joint.
Had he mistakenly walked into the wrong one? This place, no offense, looked a little dated, even dilapidated. Then again, what does it matter looks-wise if it’s full of everything you could ever want?
He went down the cramped isles, stepping over the stacks sporadically placed beneath him with cat-like grace.
“Hello?” He called out, but no one answered. He laughed at himself awkwardly before calling out again, the ending “o” elongated.
This time a response came back from who knows where.
“Hey, pipe down, yeah? No need to make such a fuss.”
A guy appeared from behind him, the door he came from hidden behind one of the more thicker shelving units. He looked even more emo up close, from the smudged eyeliner to the way he dressed. The style was the same, but this time, he wore a green and black flannel with a matching black tank top.
But what got Kaelix wasn’t his whole intimidating aura, it was the sleeping baby in bright pastels and white polka dots in one arm, a bottle in the other. A hand flew up to his mouth, shutting himself up. He nodded, eyes meeting the other boy’s. They were decidedly purple.
“So, you getting something checked out or rented?”
“Oh um, no, I-”
“Then I’ll see myself out. Tell me if you found anything and I’ll ring you up.” He retreated into the side room, the soft coos of a waking baby audible.
Kaelix could only watch as the sliver of pale yellow light from the doorway grew thinner and thinner. He couldn’t just let him go, not after he came all this way for him.
The boy was just about to close it when a hand popped up from between, holding it open.
“What the-”
“Sorry, but I just wanted to ask, do you perhaps go to the academy not that far from here?” He spoke in a half whisper, eyes forcing themselves to look away from the adorable baby below his slightly annoyed face.
“What’s it to you?” His eyes flipped up and down, looking Kaelix up through the small crack as he internally decided whether or not to give that kind of information to him.
This prep walking up to him, asking these questions could only mean he was getting roped into some loser shit. And disturbing him while he was taking care of his younger sister only pissed him off even more. THe amount of time it for her to stop crying was…
“Ah, so I wanted to ask whether you wanted to join our light music club-soon-to-be-band?” Kaelix asked, a pleading look on his face.
To the boy, he just looked plain stupid.
And thus, in response to that, a solid…
“No.”
He briskly brushed off his hand from the door, closing it right in his face.
Was that it? Was that his attempt at recruiting him?
Oh, absolutely not.
He didn’t deny that he went to their school, so there’s still a chance. He looked down at his hand that got brushed off the door. The guy’s a little rough on the edges, but Kaelix was sure it was just because of the unfamiliarity. And… ‘He’s got some crazy calluses on his finger tips…’
“Nice to meet you too!” He whisper-yelled to the small window in the door, before navigating his way out. In the mess, he couldn’t take a good look at what was here.
Maybe, on another day, he could go here with Freo and look over more thoroughly what they have. But for now, he should probably just stop by the cheesecake place and go home.
At least in that way, the trip wasn’t for nothing!
Walking home, he wondered if he’d see the guy on Monday, but the chances were low. Even if it was a small school, what are the chances that he and Kaelix ever meet again?
He thought that, but…
Kaelix didn’t think it would be so easy.
This guy… just who is he?!