Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Isabella's pov;

In Mr Martinez's house,

I let out a yawn while entering the house. When I took a look around, there wasn't anyone in the hall. I think Big brother and others left home already. My stomach growled as I walked into the living room so I headed to the kitchen to find something to eat since I felt hungry after practising for a long time. While I was rummaging through the kitchen, I saw fish tacos covered with plastic wrap. Did Kirk prepare this for me? Awww! He's so sweet. Thank you, Kirk.

I opened the plastic wrap over the plate and took a bite of the fish tacos. The fish melted in my mouth as I took another bite one after another. The tacos were crispy and the fish tasted good with other veggies. I wonder how veggies taste good when it comes to Kirk's cooking.

After finishing eating fish tacos, I walked out of the kitchen and saw Mr Martinez holding his coffee cup in his hands and was walking towards the kitchen.

He looked surprised to see me and asked, "When did you come?"

"Five minutes ago."

"Okay. Did you eat?"

"Yes, I just ate fish tacos which Kirk prepared for me."

He nodded and placed the cup near the sink.

I sat on the couch and asked him, "Hey, what's the song name you picked?"

"My happy ending."

"I never heard about it. When did it come?"

"2004. That's what the internet said."

"Was it a fingerpicking song?"

He shook his head and sat on the couch beside me.

"Then why did you choose it? It'll take days to learn if the song has many cords."

"Haven't you heard about the song before?"

"I'm not a musician. Even musicians don't need to know every song in the world. Wait, why did you pick it even after I asked to pick a song under easy fingerpicking songs?"

"I liked the lyrics when I listened to the song."

"Oh, really? Then, I should listen to it too."

I took the phone out of my pocket and searched the song online and found the result. Woah! The song won the songwriter award. Why didn't I know about this song before?

"Got the song. Let's listen to the lyrics." After the song started playing, I said, "The musical notes are high in the beginning itself. Let's listen to it." Halfway through the song I asked him, "Did you pick this on purpose?"

He shrugged his shoulders and said, "No, I liked the lyrics. Moreover, it was recommended by one of my employees."

I stared at him in his eyes and asked, "Are you telling the truth?"

He looked nervous while saying, "Y-Yes."

I listened to the whole song and said, "Okay, I'll teach you how to play it but before that I have to play once to know how the cords work here. So let's begin from tomorrow."

He gave a nod and stood to leave.

"Wait, i didn't finish talking. Where are you leaving?"

He turned and looked at me and asked, "What is it?"

"Why did you pick this song?"

"Like I said earlier, I liked the lyrics."

"The song lyrics look like you spent a lot of time on the internet."

"It was a recommended song."

"Who recommended it to you?"

"Why are you asking me so many questions? Are you my wife?" Raised his eyebrows and made a smirk at me.

I stood up from the couch and said, "I'm going to sleep."

I took my bag and guitar to my room. I walked to my room and laid on my bed, turning off the lights. Before falling asleep, I thought of the new musical notes I added to the song so I took out the music sheet and tried to improvise it a little bit better than the previous one.

On the competition day,

Big brother said, "All the best." while I was leaving for college.

"Thank you, Big Brother."

I rushed out of the house to get to the car.

In the college,

"Why are you late?" Jose asked me when I entered the class.

"I slept in. Why are we even here when we're supposed to be backstage?"

Maria said, "We're going to practice the song one more time before going to the venue where the competition is held so take your seat and take out your guitar."

"Okay."

I walked among the group members and took my place and got ready with my guitar.

"Ready everyone?" Maria asked us.

I said, "All strapped in."

Freddie whispered, "Give your best."

I whispered back, "Thank you. Same to you."

He gave a nod and turned his guitar.

When Lance started to hit the sticks on the drums, Jose started to play his bass guitar and Maria started to sing. Freddie and I joined them and started playing the guitar along with them.

The song ends.

Danielle, "Hey, Bella! That last part was better than the last time. Did you improvise it?"

"Yeah, was it good or bad?"

Freddie tapped on my shoulder and said, "That's damn good!"

"Thank you so much."

Jose gave outfits to everyone and when he tried to give them to me, he said, "Since we already gave orders, it came like we ordered." And gave me a shirt and pants.

"Is there something wrong with this?"

"Yes, it's boy's clothing. The person who fell sick was a guy, we gave an order for our outfits when he was playing in the group so it came out like that."

"Hey! It's fine. Until you say it, i didn't even recognise what was the mistake in the outfit you gave me. I'm okay with the outfit so don't get worried."

He gave a nod and left.

I changed into the outfit which Jose gave me and looked at myself in the mirror. Not bad. I did a ponytail and put a belt around my waist since it was a loose shirt. I looked at my image and removed some buttons near the collar. Good.

I walked out and saw others in their outfits. Everyone looked cool. Guys were handsome and the girls were hot.

Danielle asked me, "Hey! The outfit looks good on you."

"Thank you."

Rose smiled at me and said, "You changed it pretty well." And patted my head.

"Did the event start?"

"Let's go and find out."

We came out of the juniors building and walked to the place where the event was being held. In no time, we came to the venue. There were so many groups participating in the competition. I let out a sigh after seeing them. Are we going to compete with these many members?

I poked Freddie and asked, "What is the first price?"

"A trip to los Angeles."

"Not something solid?"

"What did you expect?"

"Like eatables, cash prizes, something like that."

He smiled and said, "It's not a school competition." And walked away while laughing.

I said to myself, "Cash prices and eatables sound good to me though."

Jose tapped on my shoulder and asked, "Are you ready? We're going to perform in a few minutes."

I nodded and said, "I'm not scared of people but I'm nervous."

"Nervous about what?"

"You believed in me and made me join the team but can I do it properly? What if I made a mistake and dragged everyone in the team down?"

He patted my head and said, "You have practised well. Think only about the musical notes. Don't let your thoughts flow away. And, like I already told you, even if you made mistakes, we'll take care of that so don't be nervous and play from your heart." And made a smile at me.

Tracy called Jose so he left to talk with her.

I held on to my guitar and said to the guitar, "This is my first time to play in competition. I don't know how it's going to end, so cheer for me." And kissed the guitar.

Danielle smiled and said, "All the best."

After a while, they announced our group name to be on the stage. We climbed the stairs and stepped on the stage. As we practised, we aligned ourselves in our positions with our musical instruments.

After sharing a hug with my group members, I strapped the guitar around my neck and looked at the unknown faces in front of me. Among them, I spotted Tracy since she was in the front row. She gave a thumbs up and clapped her hands for us.

I let out a sigh and said to myself, "Let's do it!"

Once we heard the bell rang, we started playing our song. I enjoyed strumming against the strings. I concentrated on the guitar more than the people in front of us. Once the song came to an end, I walked to the front and stood along with Maria who was singing the song and played the end part which I improvised in the song.

Once we finished, we heard a crowd cheering for us. We thanked them together and came backstage.

While I was standing backstage, my detention room friends came and gave me a group hug and congratulated me.

Carlos, "Why didn't you say you're joining the competition?"

"What would you do if I did?"

"I would have gathered people from my faculty to cheer for you."

"Oohhh! Thank you."

Julian, "The last part that you did on the stage, you rocked it!"

"Hahaha. Thank you."

Gia, "Since everyone congratulated you through words, let me give you a big hug." She opened her arms wide for the hug. I hugged her and thanked her, "Thank you so much Gia."

Freddie asked, "You're friends with seniors?"

Julian asked, "What's wrong with being friends with seniors?"

Freddie shrugged his shoulders and said, "Calm down. I was talking to her."

"She's one of us. if anyone mocks or even teases her…"

I said to Julian, "Hey, Maria and Danielle left this place already."

He looked around and asked, "Did they? They were standing here some minutes ago."

I hit Freddie on his shoulder and said, "He was using me to flirt with them. Don't mind him."

He smiled and said, "You did good on your part. I liked it."

"Thank you."

Jose, "Hey, they're going to announce the results. Why are you still here? Come, let's go to the stage."

I turned to Freddie and said, "Let's go."

Jose, Tracy, Maria, Danielle, Lance, Freddie, Carlos, Julian, Gia and myself stood in front of the stage to hear the results.

They announced three groups which passed to the second round. Our group wasn't one of them.

I said to my group, "I'm sorry, guys. It's because of me we didn't get selected for the next round. I didn't have experience in performing with a band so i…"

The announcer said, "And the group which is directly selected for the final round is Jose's band!"

I couldn't believe my own ears. What did they just say? Did they say we got selected? Not just for the second round but for the final round?? That's awesome! I jumped in the air after hearing it.

Everyone in the band gave me a group hug. Jose, "Thank you for performing for us."

I hit him and said, "Hey, don't sound like we're strangers. We're friends."

He gave me a hug and broke it when the announcer asked us to come up on the stage.

Jose, Lance, Freddie, Maria and Danielle and myself lined up on the stage and looked at the unknown faces in front of us. Among them, my friends were standing down. They burst some blasters which gave out the confetti fly in the air.

The confetti flew in the air and landed on everyone's hair. While I was brushing it away from my hair, I saw some familiar figure in the crowd. I couldn't find who it was since they were already leaving.

I gave my guitar to Jose and sneaked out of the stage and walked among the crowd to find that person. After getting out of the crowd, I found the figure walking away from the venue.

I shouted, "Mr Martinez!" And started running towards him. After calling out his name many times, he turned and looked at me.

As soon as I stood in front of him, he asked, "How did you find me?"

I pointed at him and said, "Who wears suits to college?" And laughed at him.

He looked like he's regretting it.

I asked him, "When did you come?"

"While your band was performing."

"Did you see me playing on the stage?"

"I only saw you."

I smiled and said, "Okay. Come with me. Let's go and meet my friends."

"What?"

"Come on. My high school friends know you. It's time to meet my college friends."

I saw Tracy who was standing near the stand so I took Mr Martinez to her.

Tracy looked confused when she saw Mr Martinez.

I said, "Tracy, this is Mr… Alexander. You know who."

She gave a mischievous smile, "Okay… Hi, I'm Tracy, classmate and friend of Bella. Nice to meet you. We talked a lot about you during… "

I closed her mouth and asked, "Where's Jose?" And whispered to her, "Don't let him know about that. He'll tease me later."

She understood the assignment and said, "He said he's going to bring his guitar. Oh! He's here."

Jose gave me back my guitar and looked at Mr Martinez and shook hands with him.

Mr Martinez asked Jose, "Your band performed well today."

He said, "Thank you. Did you come to cheer for Bella?"

I looked at Mr Martinez for his answer but he didn't say anything except a smile.

I held Mr Martinez's arm and said, "Come on, I'll show you around the campus."

Carlos jumped in front of me and asked, "Aren't you going to introduce me?"

I let go of Mr Martinez's hand when I saw Carlos.

Mr Martinez asked, "Who's he?"

Carlos introduced himself and asked, "What's with the suit, dude?"

Mr Martinez said, "I came directly from the meeting."

"Meeting with whom?"

I interrupted and asked Mr Martinez, "Didn't you say you have somewhere else to go?"

Carlos asked, "Wait, you didn't meet the others."

Carlos called Julian and Gia. I got more nervous. What if he comes to know that they're my detention room friends and knows that I'm going detention often. After the second year started, i didn't go to the detention room but what if he comes to know that i used to be in the detention room a lot more than my classrooms.

Mr Martinez took the guitar from me and asked, "I'm feeling thirsty. Can you get me a bottle of water?"

I nodded and looked at them and walked away from them and to buy a water bottle in a nearby stand.

When I came back, I saw them talking casually. Seems like Mr Martinez didn't know yet. I let out a sigh of relief.

After they left, I asked for the guitar Mr Martinez was carrying on his back but he denied it and said, "I'll carry it."

"No, it'll be heavy for you."

"It's not."

Freddie, "Bella! We're going out for a meal. Are you coming with us?"

Mr Martinez said, "You can go with them. I'll get home."

It's been weeks since I hung out with Mr Martinez so I turned to Freddie and asked, "Who's coming?"

"Our band members, Jose's girlfriend and you if you are willing."

"Can I bring a person with me too?"

"Ofcourse, you can." He pointed to Mr Martinez and asked, "Is it him?"

I nodded hurriedly and said, "Yes."

"Okay. After the announcement is over, come to the college entrance. We'll go from there."

"Okay." Said with a bright smile.

He came closer and whispered in my ears, "Boyfriend?"

I whispered back to him, "He doesn't know it yet."

He nodded with a smile and left.

After he left, Mr Martinez asked, "I said I'm going home."

I stared at him and asked, "Don't you want to hang out with me?"

"But there are others too."

"Why do you care about others? Hey, look at that stall, let's go and grab some ice cream." I took Mr Martinez to the ice cream stall.

After a while, Mr Martinez and I came to the college entrance. While we're waiting, he asked me, "You changed your outfit?"

"Do you want me to be in that outfit all night? Do you know how the belt was tight? It almost crushed my ribs."

"Then how did you manage it?"

"Did you forget who you're talking to? I can handle anything."

He let out a sigh and asked, "Don't you feel tired from singing?"

"I did until Freddie asked me for dinner."

"Freddie?"

"Ah! The guy who asked us out."

"The drummer?"

"Yeah, he's the one."

Since I was wearing one layer of clothes, it felt cold.

Mr Martinez covered me with his coat and said, "You can wear this."

"Does this go with my outfit? How do I look?"

He smiled at me and came closer to me.

I pushed him away and asked, "What are you doing? Did you forget we're standing in front of the college?"

He looked around and said, "I don't see anyone here." And came closer to me.

I closed my eyes when he moved closer to me.

Mr Martinez adjusted the collar and said, "It's perfect now."

Sh*t! What did you just think? Stop having lewd thoughts, Bella!!

He asked me while I was dying out of embarrassment, "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Did you think I was going to kiss you?"

I looked at him, surprised.

My friends started to come one by one. After we gathered in front of the college entrance gate, Tracy asked, "Where are we going now?"

Danielle showed her phone and said, "I heard it's good. Shall we go there?"

Lance, "Yeah, the food's good there. I went with my friends."

I said, "Then, let's go. What are we waiting for?"

Jose asked, "Guys, how do we get there? Shall I call cabs for us?"

I looked at everyone. There were eight of us.

I said, "Guys, let's take the bus so we can get there at the same time. Don't have to wait for other cabs to arrive."

Jose, "That sounds good. Let's take the bus as Bella said."

While we're waiting in the bus terminal, Tracy asked, "Hey, does the coat belong to him?"

"Why are you asking me if you already know it?"

We giggled at each other.

Maria asked, "When will the bus arrive?"

I looked at my phone and said, "In two minutes."

"Do you travel by bus a lot?"

"Yes, I like it."

The bus came to the bus terminal. We all got in.

After getting inside, I looked at everyone. Jose is with Tracy. Lance with Freddie. Maria with Danielle. Which left me no other choice than to take the seat beside Mr Martinez.

I say beside him.

He stood from his place and said, "You can get inside. I'll sit here." He gave me the window seat and stood beside me.

I walked in and took the seat. Mr Martinez sat beside me holding on to the guitar.

While I was looking outside, he whispered, "You look hot."

I was surprised and looked at him.

He continued, "When it is windy, your hair strands dangle in the air and fall on my face, when I brush it away, I get to see you enjoy the wind which is a beautiful view for me."

"Why are you saying it out loud? What if someone hears us?"

"You said don't mind others."

I looked at him and asked, "Did you come all the way here just to watch my song?"

He nodded and said, "I have to be sure of my teacher, right?"

I laughed and said, "Don't worry, I'll teach you well."

He gave a smile at me and we stared into each other's eyes.

Mr Martinez tried to hold my hand but the restaurant came before that. When he let out a sigh, it looked funny and cute which made smile at him.

Inside the restaurant,

After we seated, everyone ordered the food that they wanted.

Mr Martinez asked me while I was looking at the menu, "Did you get anything?"

I shook my head and said, "Order for me too."

He nodded and ordered on my behalf.

Tracy, who was on my other side, whispered, "Why are you being so cute when your boyfriend is around?"

I whispered back at her, "I should be the one to ask you that. Nosey."

After the food arrived, we started digging into the food.

While I was eating, my hand felt warm. Mr Martinez held my hand under the table and continued eating his food. I smiled at him and continued eating my food.

Mr Martinez removed the skin of the shrimp and placed it on my plate.

Tracy, "I think I'm going to get a toothache."

Jose asked, "What happened?"

Tracy looked at me and answered, "Because the air is so sweet here."

I hit her on the shoulder and said, "Not more than you."

"Isabella!" Mr Martinez called me.

I looked at him and asked, "What is it?"

Freddie leaned in and said, "Hey, I told him to call your name."

"For what?"

"To know how fast you answer him."

Everyone laughed together.

I asked, "Why are you guys like this? When did you team up to tease me?"

Freddie said, "Probably when you were lovey-dovey on the bus."

"You saw?"

Danielle said, "We all saw." And smiled at me.

I pouted and looked at Mr Martinez.

Mr Martinez caressed my hair and said, "Don't mind others. Keep eating."

Lance asked, "I've seen you on the television before. Are you an actor?"

Tracy said, "He's not an actor but he's a CEO of Skyland corporation, a well known company in the industrial world."

I mumbled, "He acts well too."

Lance, "Yeah, that one! I couldn't believe we met. It's nice to meet you. Can you eat in a diner like this? Aren't you afraid of the paparazzi?"

Mr Martinez answered, "I'm not doing anything illegal so why do i have to be aware of them?"

Danielle asked, "Lots of girls must be after you, right?"

He said, "Yes." And pointed at me and continued, "But not this one."

I ignored it and continued eating.

Danielle, "What does he mean by that?"

Mr Martinez said, "She didn't accept me when I asked her out."

Maria, "You rejected him??"

I asked, "What about Him? Do I have to accept since he's a CEO and rich?"

"He looks like a nice guy too. Why did you reject him?"

"It's a long story."

"But you don't look like you hate him though."

Mr Martinez said, "It's fine. Thank you for speaking for me but I'll take care of it on my own."

Everyone continued with eating their food.

Mr Martinez asked me, "Do you want more shrimps?"

I nodded and he peeled more shrimp for me.

After we finished eating,

We stood in front of the restaurant and parted on our ways after bidding goodbyes to each other.

I asked, "Mr Martinez, give me the guitar."

"It's fine. I'll carry it."

"I'm not going to carry it either. Just lend me some time."

He gave me the guitar.

I strapped the guitar around my neck and played the initial cords of the song which Mr Martinez asked me to teach him.

"Is that it?"

"Yeah, it goes like this."

I nodded and played the song while singing it.

Mr Martinez said, "When did you have time for practicing it?"

"While I was waiting backstage, I tried the song."

"You practiced the song I asked while you're waiting to perform on the stage?"

"Mm." And continued playing.

I finished the song and gave the guitar back to him and walked beside him to the bus terminal.

Mr Martinez held my hand and intertwined our hands. When I looked at him, he was walking while facing the front. I leaned on him as I was walking along with him.

"Why do you want to learn this song, Mr Martinez?"

"I want to play it for you."

"For me? Why?"

"I'm going to ask you out again by playing this song for you."

"Do you think it'll turn out good or bad?"

"If you don't accept, I'll try hard and ask you out again with a different method. There's so many ways to ask a girl out. Do you know that?"

"What if I don't accept?"

"I'll be waiting for you then."

"Will you give up if I don't accept you?"

He stopped walking further and looked at me and said, "I won't. Promise" While holding my cheeks together.