Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Isabella's pov;

"Have you picked up any song to learn, Mr Martinez?" I asked Mr Martinez who was eating breakfast opposite to me on the dining table.

"Not yet. There's so many songs out there. Why is it so difficult to choose one among them?"

I smiled at him and said, "There will be some songs under easy fingerpicking songs. Choose one among them and tell me the name of the song you like to learn. I'll teach you how to play it. And, I'll be late today since I got to do practice with others."

He nodded and continued eating his breakfast.

Big brother sat at the dining table and asked, "Why does the atmosphere seem so quiet today?"

I gave a stare at him.

He asked, "What? You fight with him almost every morning so it's weird when you're silent like this."

I asked Mr Martinez, "Do I?"

He shook his head and said with one of his eyes shrinking, "A little."

Big brother asked, "Did you prepare for the quiz today?"

"Yes, I studied for a long time last night. Wait, how did you know that I have a quiz today?"

"I have my sources."

I whined to Mr Martinez, "Mr Martinez, tell Big Brother not to do this. It feels like someone's watching me all the time."

Big brother said, "He's worse than me."

"What?" I asked Mr Martinez, "What does he mean by that?"

Mr Martinez said, "You have a quiz, right? Aren't you leaving for college?"

"Yes, I have to. But we're not done here. I'll ask you next time."

I stood up from my chair and started to head out the door, grabbing my bag and phone as I did so.

"Bella," said a deep voice that came behind me and stopped me in my tracks, causing me to jump a little bit before turning around. Rose called out my name and gave me my guitar saying, "You forgot your guitar."

I received the guitar and thanked her before leaving the house, "Ahhh! Thank you so much, Rose."

In the college,

After the quiz, it's Ms Greta's class. Jose had smiles on his face whenever he took a look at me. I know what that smile means. I didn't accept because you asked me, it's only because Mr Davis asked me to.

I asked Mike, "Hey, how did you do your test today? You have the paper faster than the others."

He shushed me and told me to listen to the class.

I let out a sigh and leaned back on my seat and took my phone out of my bag. After listening to Ms Greta's lecture for some time, I thought, What will Mr Martinez be doing right now? Let's ask him.

I messaged Mr Martinez, "Hi."

While I was waiting for him to come online, I got a message from Tracy. I opened her chat box and saw, "Who are you texting with?"

I replied to her, "Waiting for a message from my boyfriend." And smiled at the message I sent to her and asked her in the text message, "How was the test?"

She sent, "Not bad. Hey, I heard that you're participating in the music diva. Is that true?"

"Yes, did Jose tell you?"

"Yes, and he also said you play guitar well. Why didn't you say you know how to play it?"

When I was about to reply to Tracy, I got a message from Mr Martinez.

I opened Mr Martinez's chat box and saw his message.

"Where are you?"

I replied, "What does that mean? Of Course I'm in my class right now. What about the song? Did you get anything from the internet?"

"Yes."

"What is the name of the song?"

"I'll tell you in person."

"Why not now?"

"I'm in the middle of the meeting right now. Tell you when you come home."

"Oops! You should have told me about that in the beginning. Okay. Stop messaging and get back to your meeting."

He sent me a red heart emoticon as his reply and went offline. Cute.

While I was smiling at the heart emoji sent by Mr Martinez, someone called out my name.

I stood in my place being surprised thinking it's Mr Davis but he didn't. Everyone laughed at me. Did I make a fool out of myself again?

Mr Davis said, "Why are you standing, Ms Garcia?"

"I thought you called out my name."

"I didn't, so please be seated."

I sat in my place and thought I definitely heard someone calling out my name. If it wasn't Mr Davis then who might be it.

Jose waved his hand and signalled me to look at the phone. I took my phone and saw a message from him.

When I opened his chatbox, "I called you."

I put my phone back into the bag and slept on it.

In the cafeteria,

Jose, "Hey, did you bring your guitar? I called you to ask about that but you didn't see me. Instead you stood in your place and made fun of yourself." He laughed when he saw me and asked, "What about the guitar?"

"I did." And continued eating my chicken burger.

Tracy, "Who taught you to play guitar?"

"I learnt it on my own."

"How did you get interested in guitar?"

"Not a big story. I saw one of my seniors in my school playing it so happily. I liked it so I tried to learn it."

"How well do you play guitar?"

"There's still a lot to learn in guitar. You can say I'm on level three or four."

"I never heard you playing guitar. Can you play something for me?"

"Now? No, if you want to see me playing, come to the music club and cheer for me."

Jose, "I'll take you with me, cream bun."

"Okay, honeybun."

I looked at them and said, "Don't you have any other name to call each other?"

Jose, "Why? It's cute already." Saying while hugging Tracy inside his arms.

Tracy, "Yes."

I let out a sigh and continued eating my burger.

After classes got over,

I came to the music club along with my guitar. It was after hours, so nobody else was around, but that’s fine I guess. The only problem is there aren’t any seats. There are no tables or chairs. I’m sitting on the floor playing my guitar with the musical notes I practiced yesterday.

After a while, I saw Maria entering the music club.

Maria, "Hi! Sorry I had something to finish."

"It's fine."

She took her phone out and was typing something in it while saying, "Where is everyone? They're supposed to be here by now."

After 10 minutes, one by one came to the music club.

Maria introduced the group, "This is Lance. You met him yesterday. He's the drummer of this group. And, this Freddie, he's the lead guitarist, you'll be teaming up with him. And this is Danielle, she's taking care of the vocals. And Jose is the bass guitarist."

"What about you?"

"I'm a part of vocals too."

"Cool!"

While we're talking, Jose came along with Tracy inside the music club.

Jose, "Lance, have you given the music sheet to Bella?"

I poked him and asked, "Why don't you ask me that? I'm standing right in front of you."

Jose, "As a team leader, I should ask my fellow members. It's my duty. Did you get it?"

I gave an eye roll and said, "Yes, team leader."

I asked Freddie, "Hey, give me your number."

He nodded and gave me his phone to save my number in his phone. While I was saving my number, Maria asked, "What about us?"

I smiled and said, "I was about to ask you next."

She smirked at me and said, "Sweet talker."

Jose, "No, don't conclude quickly. She's got a sharp tongue."

After I got every member's phone numbers in the group, I asked Freddie, "I have some doubt in some cords, can you help me with it?"

He nodded and started teaching me the chords which I didn't understand in the song they planned for the competition.

Jose, "Hey, I'm a guitarist too. Why did you leave me out?"

I said, "Because you were so busy with your girlfriend." I turned to Freddie and asked him, "Do you have a girlfriend too?"

He shook his head and said, "no."

I patted his shoulder and said, "That's great."

Jose said to Freddie, "She asks whatever comes to her mind. Don't mind her."

Freddie smiled and said, "It's a good personality."

Jose, "Okay, let's start practising."

After practising for some time individually, we tried to play the song for the competition.

Tracy said, "All the best guys!" And stood in front of us as an audience.

Lance as a drummer, Freddie, Jose and myself as a guitarist, and Maria, Danielle as vocals. We started playing the song. I moved my head according to the beats of the drums as Lance started playing. Wow. He plays well.

Freddie poked me and whispered, "It's your turn now."

"Okay."

I started blending in with them. Since it's been years, I forget how it felt to play music. Even though it's difficult to play with a group, it makes me happy. It took me a while to notice, but once I did, I couldn't get out. Everytime i strum the strings with the pick, it brings back memories of my mother and my trip with high school friends. I remembered how excited I was when I first belted out the notes on the guitar. Only the happy moments. Why did I stop playing guitar? I was dumb. I should have done this earlier.

When I looked at the other members, they had happy faces while playing their instruments.

There was joy in the air when we were playing together and looked relaxed and having fun with their instruments. The atmosphere felt so good as the sun flickered in the room from time to time. When I finally got it right, it was quite beautiful. I continued playing with my guitar as it felt good.

"Oops! I forgot to stop."

Maria asked, "What was that?"

Jose said, "That was good. Where did you learn that?"

"I had gotten really into the rhythm so I played the notes with a flow accidentally."

Freddie said to Jose, "Hey! We should add that note. It was good for a final touch."

Danielle said, "Yeah, it sounded cool."

While I was being confused, Jose said, "Bella! Include it in your music sheet. Because we're doing it in the end."

"Was that good to be used in the competition?"

Lance said, "Hey! It was really good."

I nodded to them.

I continued practising the song again with everyone.

We all clapped once the song ended and the lights began to come up, the last of us remaining in the room. I stood, watching as my friends gathered their things and made their way out of the room one by one, chatting amongst themselves as they did so.

Jose, "Hey, aren't you leaving?"

"After finishing this."

"Okay."

Once everyone was gone, I just sat at my desk adding the musical notes on my music sheet as Jose asked me to.