Tangled In The Red String; Stay In The Red Zone

In the Music Club room is a place where my dream will become a reality. For me, the most precious thing that may exist is no other than music. Music is a language that everyone can understand, even in another language. It has no limits. I firmly believe so. I shifted my attention to the stage, where my other club mates are busy practicing. For a reason, we have another gig in a small single engagement. Since Valentine's Day is coming, sure, students will go crazy again this upcoming week because of it. One of the students here pays us to sing for his date. My club mates agreed. Because after all, why not? We can do what we want, and then we will even earn from it. One of the best things music can do for us. "Hey! Divionna!" I paused watching my club mates when I heard that familiar tone of voice. I turned around in confusion to see who called me, and the smile on my face started to fade. In front of me is Madison Alle Gomez with her allies, who are Yuri Gonzaga and Vickie Santos. The trio is known to be the good artists here in the music room—at least that's what they're calling themselves—and also the popular girls in the whole university. And unfortunately, they're not in my circle of friends. "You're here! Good to see you! By the way, I was thinking earlier you already left," Yuri said with a chuckle. A girl with pink hair and black mascara. Height? A bit taller than me because of those high heels she's wearing, like right now. Beside her and in the center of them is where Madison is. In her perfect uniform, neat and perfectly styled princess braided hair, looking so gorgeously good in her heavy makeup. No wonder why some guys in school spend their time trying to win her over. And on the right is Vickie, who's just minding her own business, learning how to play guitar. Maybe she's practicing our last lesson of how to play, the A major and the D major — we are already done with that lesson, but….it was….really good to see her practicing. "Hi," I force a smile. "What can I help you with?" Yuri's smile widened and more, and I immediately felt that I shouldn't have said that. "That's what I like about you, Divionna. You are always asking us what you can do to help us. It really makes me feel good every time. I'm glad to be one of your friends." Madison is the one who spoke, calm and too friendly. My eyes shifted back to her; I could feel my hands starting to sweat, so I hid them behind my back and tried to keep my smile steady, even though I just wanted the floor to swallow me.Then Madison's eyes sharpened; her eyes landed on my hands that were behind my back. I gulped. Seeing my reaction, she let out a secret sigh and just shook her head. "Oh, don't worry, sweetie. We are not going to do anything to harm you—if we were, we already should've done it before, right?" She looked at both of her friends. Yuri immediately nodded, while Vickie just glanced at me and went back to her business. "What... what do you need...?" I asked. My voice is quiet and weak. And I hate myself for sounding like that. I've never been really good at socializing with people like them. Because I don't know how—I didn't even really know their personalities; all I know is that they're not the kind of people I am comfortable being with. Madison rolled her eyes at me secretly before she finally tapped Vickie's shoulder, who stopped trying to fix the guitar strings that she had just wrongly adjusted. "Here." My eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion when I saw a file of paperwork, a textbook, and questionnaire papers that they just handed to me. My hands automatically caught it before it could even fall to the ground. I winced. It's heavy. Really? What is this? With asking eyes, I looked at them, but the three of them just smiled at me sweetly. "You're asking about what you can do to help, right? That is our assignment. Since you're doing great with your academics, help us finish ours. Got it?" Madison uttered with a smile lingering on her face. My lips parted as I looked at that smile. What does that smile really mean? "Please? Would you do it for us? We are friends, after all. And you said friends help each other, right?" Right. Slowly, I nodded. "Okay..." For the god of love, save me. Inside my room is where I keep my precious things, including my violet guitar that I received as a gift from my Tita Narrah when I turned seventeen last year. And it is still my most treasured thing. Mainly because it cost like one thousand and up; I already forgot the specific price of it. And right now, my study table is full of paperwork. The light's off; the only thing that is giving me light for my work is my study lamp, making it really visible to see how messy my study table is. I shouldn't be sitting in my chair. I shouldn't be doing this work that isn't mine. I did all my worksheets so that I could have free time to practice our song that we will sing at the upcoming gig next week. But then, instead of actually doing it, I am stuck with this paperwork that isn't even mine. A deep, exhausted sigh escaped from me as I leaned against my chair tiredly. My head has started to ache from solving and answering half of the paperwork since I came home. It's a good thing I'm not staying in the mansion anymore. Because if Ate Windy sees this, my older sister. I'm sure she'll already be in the dean's office at my university. I don't like chaos. And if that ever happened, I have a feeling that….Madison and her friends might get even harder on me. The sound of a notification made me sit up properly in my chair. My forehead creased. Who was messaging me at this hour? I reached out to get my phone from my desk and opened it to check who it was, and a smile quickly appeared on my lips when I saw it was a message from my Ate Windy. "Helloooo, baby vionnnna! Come here tomorrow; we'll have a gathering, sing here with your members!" A gathering tomorrow? I bit my lower lip a little, deciding whether to come or not, but then I remembered I had nothing to do and no schedule assigned for tomorrow after school. I surely could come, especially since I'd been missing them too. It has been almost two months since I got my own apartment. I didn't pay for it with my own money; my Ate Windy's boyfriend and fiancé gave it to me as a gift when I turned seventeen last year. They just gave me permission now to live on my own—a small step in my plan to live independently—and they were giving me the freedom and help to actually achieve it. Before I could even reply, another message was sent. "And don't you dare not come. I already texted your Tita Narrah; she is expecting to see you. You know she'll surely be happy if you show up, and since it's not just a gathering, it's for our new company's product launch." I raised an eyebrow, intrigued. A new product?