11. We Met Again!

*Rebel POV*

As soon as the ferry dropped us at our location, Ryan and his friends ran off to the venue, leaving me behind.

Ungrateful little monsters. They had gotten what they wanted, so they didn’t need me anymore. To be honest, I would have liked to go back to my room and sleep for days. I hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep for almost a week. Every time I closed my eyes, shadows of nightmares came crawling back to torment me.

This time, they were more intense than ever, yet none of them made any sense. All vague images, like pieces of broken glass impossible to reassemble. However, it wasn’t just the little girl this time but also a little boy with her. His face was blurry, so I couldn’t tell if I even recognized him, but I felt as if I had some kind of connection to them. On a deeper level.

It frustrated me not to remember the connection.

My head throbbed, and my eyes begged to shut. A music contest was the last place I wanted to be.

But Ryan seemed happy.

Swallowing my complaints, I followed after Ryan and the gang. The bodyguard Angelina had forced to tag along came in handy to prevent a group of teenagers from running around like sheep.

I made a mental reminder to thank her later.

The crowd was wild; it spoke volumes about how passionate these youngsters were about music. The sun was right above our heads, showing no mercy. I didn’t miss the weather here. I preferred New York anytime.

There was so much work to do in New York, and I was stuck here.

I sighed. Angelina had forbidden me to go back. She wanted me to focus on my studies and live a normal life while I still could.

Not that she told me all this, but I could guess the reason behind her strict actions. She and I didn’t have the kind of bond I had with Evan, or Ryan and others, but we weren’t on bad terms either.

On the contrary, we were more alike than we cared to accept. Stubborn and hard-headed. We had to be to keep safe with what we had. I understood her.

The train of my thoughts halted when I noticed something wrong as I watched Ryan and his friends.

On asking, I found out that one of their friends who was supposed to meet them here still hadn’t arrived, and his phone was off. They couldn’t perform without him.

“Sid wouldn’t ditch us like this. He’ll be here any moment,” said Kiba, Ryan’s friend and the guitarist in their band. “We’d better get ready to perform until he arrives. There’s not much time left. They’re going to start soon.”

Ryan seemed to regain his spirit, thanks to Kiba’s encouragement.

I smiled and sat back, letting them do their preparations. There wasn’t much time left before the auditions started.

The crowd went wild when the auditions commenced, and the gates opened to allow participants to enter the building. Sid was still nowhere to be seen, nor was he answering his phone.

I had never met him, but seeing how he ditched his band members at the last moment, I could only assume what kind of brat he was.

While others entered the venue, Ryan and his friends were still waiting for the last of their band members.

I felt bad for him, but I couldn’t help even if I wanted to. I knew nothing about music, not even how to hold an instrument.

I was about to ask them if they wanted to wait a little more or leave when a commotion caught our attention. A group of people seemed to be watching something.

A bunch of teenagers were bullying someone.

I shook my head. What was wrong with people nowadays? Why couldn’t they mind their own business and let others mind theirs?

Getting into something this lame was the last thing I wanted to add to my day.

Before I could decide whether to help or ignore it, Ryan made the decision for me.

“Oh, Ryan!” I groaned in frustration. This boy never learned. If Angelina found out about this, she would never let us both step out of the mansion ever again.

Ryan went to help the boy while nobody from the crowd stood up against the bullies.

I might never admit it to my stupid brother, but I was proud of him. He had a good heart. That’s why I wanted him to stay away from trouble.

The bullies, being bullies, didn’t take Ryan’s interference kindly and circled him.

The bodyguard Angelina had sent moved to protect Ryan, but I stopped him. “Leave this to me; you can call the ambulance if you want.” He looked at me as if I was crazy. Of course, other than Mr. Karim and Angelina, nobody knew what I did.

Ignoring him, I stepped in and grabbed the fist flying toward my brother as he was protecting the other guy.

“Woah, not so fast,” I mocked the one who looked like the boss of the bully group.

And I threw my favorite combo of punch and kick.

He fell on the floor, screaming like a puppy. I might or might not have broken a bone or two. The mix of shock, fear, and pain on his face was comical. He didn’t understand what hit him.

Well, that’s why it was my favorite.

He looked at his friends for help. “Get her!” he barked.

His friends stayed glued to their spots. Not one of them wanted to try. Too bad; I was starting to feel good.

“What are you waiting for? Cowards!” he shouted, furious.

Ignoring him, I turned to check on Ryan. “Are you alright—”

Words died in my mouth when I saw the guy Ryan had jumped in to save.

Now that he had removed the hat and mask covering his face, I recognized him. He was the same guy I’d saved from Lisa and her gang’s bullying a few days ago in college.

I didn’t remember his name, though.

“Thanks for saving me… again!” he said, looking at me with his doe-like brown eyes.

I blinked, realizing I’d been staring at him a bit too long.

“Again? Do you know him, Reb?” I looked at Ryan, who was looking curiously at the boy, then me.

I rolled my eyes. “Not really.”

A look of sadness crossed the boy’s eyes, but he masked it with a quick smile as he said, “I’m Drake. I told you my name earlier, but I doubt you remember that. Well, that’s fine. It’s nice to meet you again; I’d prefer if the circumstances were different, but I’m still grateful for your help.”

Was it just me, or did Drake talk too much?

“Ah, sorry about that. I talk too much when I get nervous.” Good that he knew.

“No problem,” I said coldly. I didn’t see a need to get cozy.

I turned to Ryan. “You’re not hurt?” He nodded.

“I’m not a kid anymore, Reb; I can take a punch or two and even throw one, you know.” He grinned proudly.

“Yeah, look at you, big boy,” I scoffed. He would never do violence. I knew it well. He hated it.

“Hey, guys? We have bigger problems at hand,” Kiba said, diverting all attention to him. “It’s almost time for our performance, but we still have no drummer.”

In all the drama with Drake and the fight, we’d almost forgotten about Sid.

“Shoot, we can’t perform,” Ryan said, looking down, disappointed.

That’s when we heard someone say, “You guys need a drummer? I can do it!”

Drake offered.

“You’re a drummer!? Wow, bro.” Ryan’s face brightened up instantly. He looked at Drake as if he were heaven-sent.

This kid was hopeless.

“Yes, those people bullying me were in a band I’d recently joined to perform here, but the person I was replacing returned, so they kicked me out,” Drake

explained. “Can I perform with you guys?” He asked, looking at all of us with hopeful eyes.

“Without a doubt, bro.” Ryan hooked his arm around Drake's shoulder, gladly accepting him into his band.

When the performance came, the boys performed quite well and scored well.

After the performance, I took everyone to the nearest cafe, and we celebrated before making the journey home.

Ryan insisted Drake ride with us.

They seemed to form a good bond in such a short period of time. Ryan was good at making friends while I struggled greatly.

I'm just not nice and fun like Ryan.

However, that wasn't the point here. I couldn't help but find today's incidents to be a mere coincidence; something was wrong with Drake. I couldn't pinpoint what, though my intuitions were never wrong.

I stared at the front mirror of the car, watching carefully at Ryan and Drake, who were sitting in the back seat.

He might have sensed my gaze and met my eyes in the mirror. He smiled gently before going back to talking to Ryan about some video games and other boy stuff.

I better watch this Drake.