Bet On Love

14. A Song For You

Today, P'Dear arranged for practice to start in the afternoon. Wayo felt very grateful for this because he was feeling very tired. They had practiced all day yesterday and by the time 7pm hit, he was hungry and could barely keep his eyes open. They went through choreography for hours and hours, then worked on the order of events and determined which faculties would walk out and introduce themselves first.

Today, practice was only going to last for a few hours, then the pageant coordinator and grounds keeper was going to take them all on a tour of the campus so they could become familiar with the buildings; and ultimately become more familiar with the building they were going to be performing in.

The entire dance rehearsal, Yo couldn't stop himself from looking for Phana and he was surprised at himself for feeling disappointed that he had not shown up today.

"Pay attention, Ai'Yo!" Ming hissed at him as he stumbled into him. Yo looked around and saw that everybody had turned while doing a particular dance move and Yo was lagging behind. He immediately jumped back into position. Nate looked over her shoulder at him with a questioning look on her face.

"I know who you're looking for and he's not coming today." Ming whispered to him.

"How do you know he's not coming?" Yo asked more eagerly than the wanted to.

"So you were looking for him, then." Ming mocked him. "I knew you still had feelings for him!"

"Shut your mouth!" Yo whispered back to him. "And how do you know he's not coming?" He asked again.

"I spoke with P'Kit. He told me they had to study today."

"No talking!" P'Dear called out to them. Ming took a few steps away from Yo so he wouldn't get in trouble again.

Yo couldn't help but think of Phana. He was being so confusing lately! One moment he was insulting him like he always had since high school, and the next he was being nice, like buying him pink milk or offering encouragement. Yo didn't know what to make of it. But he couldn't be too upset that Phana wasn't there. Although he was a jerk, he had always been super smart. He graduated as one of the top students in their school, and even though they didn't act like it, P'Beam and P'Kit were among the top twenty students as well.

For the next hour, Yo was simply going through the motions. He wasn't talking and laughing with people like he did the previous day and he didn't feel very hungry when they took a break for water and a snack.

"What's wrong with Ai'Yo?" Nate and Ming were standing against the wall as Yo went to go refill his water bottle. Yo wasn't a huge talker or anything, but she noticed that he seemed different today.

Ming shrugged his shoulders. "He's in love." He said flatly. Nate raised her eyebrows in surprise then looked back at Yo.

"Love should make you happy. He doesn't seem very cheerful."

"He will be. Don't you worry your pretty little head." Ming said giving her nose a light tap. She smiled as she swatted his hand away.

"Okay everyone, please take only ten more minutes of rest. Dance rehearsal is finished for today but we will be going on a campus tour. Rest up and begin lining up to head out by 5pm." P'Dear announced.

Yo walked back over to Nate and Ming. Nate put her hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright, Ai'Yo? You seem different today."

Yo nodded his head. "I just have a lot of things on my mind, that's all."

Nate looked at Ming who gave her a dreamy expression behind Yo's back and mouthed the word "looovvee" to her. She smiled then turned back to Yo.

"Su su, na. I'm sure you'll win their heart!"

Yo looked at her in shock as she then walked away to talk to some of the other Stars.

"Wh – what does she mean?" He turned to face Ming who looked very guilty. "What did you say to her??"

"Nothing! I just told her that you were in love and that's why you're acting so sad today."

Yo punched him in the arm.

"Ow! I didn't say who you were in love with."

"I'm not in love!" Yo screamed at him. But he wasn't sure that was entirely true. He had been so taken with Phana when he was a freshman, and those same feelings still lingered during his sophomore year. But after that, he just couldn't take Phana's coldness and bullying anymore so he did everything he could to stop thinking about him. But that was pretty hard when Phana always found a way to pick on him. And now that Phana was showing these moments of sweetness to him, it all just made him feel very confused indeed.

~~~

As the group of them came to the final building of their campus tour, P'Dear clapped her hands to get everyone to quiet down and stop chattering.

"I need everyone's attention please, this is very important."

Everyone stopped talking and all eyes were on P'Dear.

"I have an important announcement to make. During the competition, each of you will have to perform a special talent. It can be anything you want it to be. Each of you will be given the allotted time of 3 minutes. Please think of what it is you want to do and let me know by the end of rehearsal tomorrow evening so that I can get all the props you might need ready for you. Does everyone understand?"

Everyone nodded their heads as nervous murmuring spread among them.

"Ai'Ming." Yo whispered to him in a panic. "This is what I was worried about. I have no talent!"

"Don't be silly, of course you do."

"Do you have any idea what you want to do?"

Ming thought for a moment then held up his fists. "I was thinking about my muy Thai kick boxing!" He said while giving a couple punches to the air. Yo took a couple steps back so he would be out of Ming's reach.

"I forgot you knew how to do that..." Yo mumbled under his breath.

"I still think you should sing or play the piano. Or why not both?"

"My voice-"

"There is nothing wrong with your voice." Ming cut him off.

"Remember that song you used to always play a few years back? What was it called...Fly? Soar?..."

"Bird. It was called Bird." Yo said quietly.

"Right! Sing that one. You always sounded so sweet when you sang that one."

"I don't think I can sing that one..." Yo trailed off.

The truth was, that song made him think of Phana. When he realized that Phana absolutely hated him, he played the song over and over again. It was about being yourself and letting things go if you really and truly loved them. It captured how he felt so well that he couldn't stop playing it or singing it. He knew that it was a common saying that if you loved something, let it go, and if it was meant to be then it will come back to you. Well, Phana never came back to him. Not in the way he had hoped anyway, with them attending the same university and the teasing still happening.

Ming looked at his friend and could see that he was deep in thought. "You have until tomorrow to think of something. Don't stress, okay?"

Yo nodded his head as Ming walked away.

Maybe he would go ahead and sing the song. He would need a lot of practice because he hadn't used his voice for singing in close to a year. He began to think that maybe if he sang the song with Phana in the audience, he could finally get it off his chest how he felt about him and be free from the whole thing. Once you get things off your mind you feel better right? And singing the song would be much better than confessing to Phana face to face. So what if he wouldn't know the song was dedicated to him, right?