Chapter 1: Rising Conflict
*six days ago*
When I woke up, I felt Nat shaking me. I opened my eyes, looking at his giant smile. "Rosalina! Rosalina!" I heard Alex calling. I groaned, sitting up on the couch. Alex sad sitting in the egg shaped chair, his eyes glued on the television. "Look at the tv, Rosie," Nat said, sitting down on the ground.
"But I'm tired," I whined. They both shushed me, so I turned my head to look at the tv. On the screen was us! Like Nat, Alex, David, Qaasim, Thomas, and me. It was from yesterday (that's seven days ago) when we were playing I Don't Want to Go to School. The video was nicely edited, and it sounded really good. "Late last night, this video was posted on YouTube and it currently has nearly 53.2 billion views." a female in a tight pink dress said. "The original was taken down but luckily the video was reposted by many other pages, including my own. These kids are good, and let's hope they plan on continuing their musical journey, cause I want to hear more from them."
"Rosalina that's us!" Alex exclaimed. "We were on tv!"
Today, Tuesday, we were all waiting in the very colorful room that was lined with fluffy couches all along the walls. It was even a circle! Nat's other friend, Cooper, was there, telling us something, but he had to take a quick phone call. I was sitting and talking with Alex and Nat and his friends were having a burp contest. "Those boys are so impolite," Alex said. "I can't believe they would do that."
"You could go join them if you want," I said. "You don't have to sit with me."
"I hate burp contests with those guys," he said. "Thomas always has soda before and he cheats. They know I can't drink soda."
"It's not our fault you got addicted!" Nat called before letting out a loud burp, causing his friends to laugh.
"Shut up Nat!" Alex exclaimed. He turned to me, shaking his head. "They all drink soda, correction. Soda is like alcohol to them. But they can control it."
"What about you?" I asked.
Nat turned around fully this time, looking at me. "He got really addicted to soda and passed out once so now he's not allowed to drink it. That's particularly why I only give out juice." He let out a mother burp, then smiled shyly. "Excuse me."
"Woah, you get Nat a girl he actually likes and he starts using manners," Qaasim said, making the guys laugh.
"Just cause I've got manners doesn't mean I'm gonna—" he let out a loud burp, getting even bigger laughs. He blushed slightly, looking at me. I couldn't even help but giggle slightly.
Cooper came back in, running a hand through his extremely short hair. He looked at us, then smiled. He clapped his hands together, saying, "Alright guys, do you all know why I've called you here?"
"Nope," I said.
"No idea," the guys replied, before David let out a loud burp. The guys snickered, and Thomas patted him on the back.
"Gross," Cooper whispered. "Okay, so I'm pretty you all saw you guys on all press tv shows a few days ago."
"I was looking hella fine," David said.
"We all looked awful David," Nat said.
"Well that boosts my confidence so much," I said sarcastically.
"Man up," Qaasim said. "Unless your unworthy to be one of us."
"And why would I want to be one of you?" I asked. "And plus, I could be even better at being you guys then you'd think."
"You can't even—*burp*—belch," Thomas said.
I stand up, patting my chest twice before releasing a loud, absolute disgusting, burp. First they all looked astonished, then impressed. "You win, especially since you didn't use soda," David said.
"Rosalina, I think you are an honorary dude," Qaasim said.
"I am so honored," I said sarcastically.
"Hello!" Cooper exclaimed. "We have an issue."
"There's no issue," Nat said. "People liked the song."
"The DJ for the dance on Friday canceled and the school wanted you guys to preform." Cooper said. "Yes or no."
"Sure," the guys said.
"No!" Nat exclaimed. "We aren't a band! We're all just friends. Well, me and the guys are friends. Rosie is my girlfriend, but still. We just so happened to all know that one song. That's it."
"What's the harm Nat?" I asked. "You wrote a whole bunch of songs and it's just a middle school party."
"I wrote a whole bunch of songs for you," he corrected. "I can't play those in front of my whole school. The eighth graders will be calling me dorky and mushy and a sissy boy."
"So your embarrassed?" I asked. "Because you wrote songs for me? Or is it because they're about a girl and you don't want people to know you have feelings?"
"Rosalina—"
"It's okay Nat. Every time you say my name like that I know you're going to give me some lame excuse that I honestly don't care about." I said. "Cooper, I'll play if they're okay with waiting for Nat to write new songs he's not embarrassed about."
"Hey Rosalina, how about I get you some water and we can go watch some Disney channel?" Alex asked. "Would that make you feel a little better?"
I nodded slowly, getting up snd lolling Alex out of the room. I sat down on the couch with my arms folded, my eyes glued to the High School Musical marathon on screen. After a few minutes, Alex came back with a glass of water and a glass of milk. He sat next to me, handing me the water. "Nat's really stupid, isn't he?" Alex whispered, and I nodded.