Grammo felt his heart beating through his chest when he went on the stage. Despite having hundreds of spectators watching the whole event, the whole stage was deathly quiet. He felt as if the crowd was just waiting to have a reason to boo him. It was very nerve wracking, to say the least.
The three judges in front of him even looked like they didn’t want to hear Grammo’s music. They looked bored. After a whole afternoon of hearing either really bad singing or really mediocre music, they have started to hate their jobs. It didn’t help that most people chose a really boring song that everybody else chose before them. Imagine hearing the same song fifteen times in an hour.
“Start whenever you feel like it.” The judges spoke through the stereo.
Grammo found Patty among the crowd and saw that one of his hands was keeping his mouth shut and his other hand was just playing the air guitar. This was it. The results of this competition would either make or break his future–either he stayed in school to graduate or end up being expelled and futureless. He can’t mess up now.
With his fingers slightly trembling, Grammo strummed the first chord of his original song. In his opinion, this song worked best with the lyrics he came up with, but it was made painfully obvious that his singing would only cause pain to those who had the unlucky misfortune of hearing him.
What came out of his guitar was a very pleasant and clear tone that was the exact opposite of his voice. It was loud but serene. The audience who were busy talking to each other and not listening to Grammo was taken aback with just this one chord. He got their attention. All their eyes were on him. It now depends on his next move whether they keep their interest in him or not.
TRINGGGG
What followed after that was a series of chords that had a beat and melody that was very easy to groove into. It didn’t take long for a small number of people to bob their heads up and down as they heard his song.
Then, Grammo added in some very technical musical techniques that involved very flexible finger movements that only a veteran guitar player could pull off. This satisfied some of the crowd who wanted to see some real talent that they could appreciate. They too, started moving their body to the beat.
Soon enough, the very bored crowd turned into a small party with people letting go of their worries and moving their bodies to whatever the music told them to do. It was quite amazing to see. With just a guitar, Grammo turned this apathetic crowd into a club-dancing rave that actually enjoyed what was being played by the contestant.
The Fiend incident actually helped to make this happen. Even though Dione ‘lifted’ the worries of everyone, it didn’t make them forget what happened. It only got rid of their fear that it could happen again. And it just so happened that Grammo’s music made them temporarily forget what happened, all because the beat was so good.
Patty was surprised to see this. He thought that the guitar thing would work, but he didn’t think it would work this well. They might actually have a chance at winning this music competition after all. How surprising was that?!
But no one was more surprised than Grammo himself. He could see the joy on their faces as their bodies writhed and shook to the beat of his guitar. Everytime he strummed his guitar, the crowd would change up their dance moves, and he could literally see this happen propagating like a wave starting from the very front to the very back.
He never knew the kind of impact he could create with just his guitar skills. He started to enjoy playing the guitar, which made him perform even better, which made the crowd even rowdier. It made a positive feedback loop which ultimately lead to the whole performance leaving a lasting impression on the crowd and the judges themselves.
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But there was just one thing bugging in the back of his head. If he was this good at playing the guitar, then imagine how much his performance would enhance if he could just sing alongside it. Of course, he knew that he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t. No. I shouldn’t. It would only ruin the performance. No, I shouldn’t, right?
Not everyone was enjoying Grammo’s performance. For example, the three people who heard him practicing his song backstage were flabbergasted to see the positive reaction the crowd had on him? Why are they enjoying this? They couldn’t believe that Grammo, the guy who was so bad at singing that their ears almost burst, was getting praise and adoration from everyone.
“He might win at this point.”
“That can’t happen. He’s a phony! He can’t sing!”
“They wouldn’t be enjoying this if they knew that his voice was repulsive.”
They were also contestants in this competition, but the crowd didn’t even notice that they performed. They practiced so hard for their song, and they even chose a song that was extremely popular, but they barely got any reaction from the judges. So, seeing Grammo have such rave reactions from both the judges and the crowd left them absolutely speechless. They felt it was unfair.
“This is injustice! What can we do about this? It turns out you can perform even without singing!”
“Well then, we just have to make him sing then,”
All three of them looked at each other and nodded. They knew what they had to do.
—------------------
“This is your lucky day. What is your name, young man?”
Patty felt a tap on his shoulder. He didn’t know who it was. But the man looked very serious and had an air of arrogance and superiority about him. He was quite old, and he was wearing a black suit and tie, which was very out of place since everyone was just wearing a casual shirt and jeans or just wearing their school uniform.
“Huh?”
“You, young man, are given the very lucky opportunity of being recruited into the prestigious company called Atlas Incorporated.”
The old man expected Patty to exhibit surprise, disbelief, or a combination of both. Instead, Patty just looked like he was just told that it was going to rain tomorrow; his face had no emotion whatsoever. And the very worst of all, he just turned around without even giving him the dignity of replying.
“You must have not heard me. You are hereby recruited personally, by someone who must not be named, to be part of the main company of the up and coming Atlas Incorporated with a full contract.”
Patty’s face still looked as bored as ever. He didn’t have any sort of interest in the offer at all. But how was that possible? This was Atlas Inc., he was talking about, not some backwoods company. The company was poised to become a global-level company in just a few years. Who would not want to jump into that wagon and ride its coattails into supremacy?
“Sorry, not interested.”
“Ah. Make no mistake, this is not a scam. I am here on official business with an official contract from the managers themselves. You can check the emblem on this paper.”
He shoved the contract paper on Patty’s face to make sure that he saw the official emblem of Atlas Inc. which was projecting a moving image at the top of the paper. This was very hard to imitate, which could only mean that this paper was as official as could be. This time, Patty would surely believe it now, right?
“No thanks. I don’t want to be employed.”
The man was speechless. Does Patty not care about his future at all? Joining the company was a one-way ticket to becoming five steps closer to achieving your dreams. Everyone who was lucky enough to join would be miles ahead of those who were not employed by Atlas. Refusing this opportunity was tantamount to rejecting his dreams.
“How could you not want to be with Atlas Inc? Do you have another company recruiting you?”
“No. I just don’t want to.”
“But…but…the company will let you nurture your skills. It will help you grow you Teqx powers using all the knowledge they have accrued from people who was already strong. You will have riches you can’t even dream of. You will be famous beyond your belief. We will help you reach your dreams!”
“And what do I have to do when I join?”
“Easy. you just have to work hard–”
“EH. No, thanks.”
At this point, Patty tried his hardest to block out the annoying old man. But then, he suddenly heard someone shout from the crowd;
“Sing!”
It was just one person who yelled it, but somehow, it spread like wildfire. Everyone who was enjoying themselves caught on to the fever and started yelling out to Grammo for him to sing. They believed that if he could play the guitar well, then it was only reasonable that he could sing well too.
No, Patty thought. He had to stop this.
“Excuse me, I’m not done talking to you.” But the old man blocked his way. He couldn’t stop the guy from shouting and manipulating the crowd to chant ‘sing’.
The worst part was when he looked over at Grammo…