UGLY HEARTS

CHAPTER TWO

MARCO'S POINT OF VIEW

"I ALREADY SAID NO."

Mariela stomped on her feet like a five-year old kid throwing tantrums. Who would've thought that she's about to go to college with that kind of attitude?

"I promise I'm not going to do anything silly. I'll just stay there and watch you. Please," she pleaded and gave me a puppy-eyes look. I had to admit that it was working a little bit.

"Why are you so stubborn?"

"I just want to see you perform onstage."

I was about to have a gig with my band called BLACK LABEL tonight. We were booked by a bar owned by one of our member's family friend. We've been playing together for almost a year now and we're getting along pretty well. We're college friends and shared the same interest in music. My bandmates were like real brothers to me and I feel so lucky to have them. But they're assholes and I didn't want my younger sister to see us fooling around.

"You're too young to be in a place like that. Wait until you reach eighteen."

"Duh, you're being overprotective again. It's not a club, for heaven's sake! I won't even see anything wild there," she retorted.

"You can never be so sure."

"Please!"

I know I'd be left with no choice but to say yes. She wouldn't stop until she get what she wanted. I wouldn't call her a spoiled brat because she's been a really nice girl eversince. But she can be very persistent. She knew what she wanted and she would never stop until she get it.

"Fine. But you have to promise me that you won't do anything stupid. You're just going to stay in your table and watch our performance quietly."

"I'm not allowed to cheer?"

"Of course you can. But not too much."

"Define too much." She grinned.

"Whatever. Just don't embarass me."

"You're mean." She pouted which made me chuckle. She's really childish.

"Damn, how can you survive college with that attitude?"

"What's wrong with my attitude?"

"Nothing. Let's go, my bandmates are almost here."

We were originally from the province of Almira del Sur. I was sent in Manila to study Business Management in Samaniego University, one of the most prestigious schools in Cebu. I'm now a graduating student and I am tasked to take care of Mariela since she's new here in the city. We lived in a different place since our parents also brought her a condo unit near our university. Meanwhile, I chose a condo unit that's a bit far from the univ for personal reasons.

My bandmates were already there when we went out of the building. They were using Clyde's car, our bassist. He was with Kurt (our amazing and talented drummer) and Chris (who makes wonders whenever he's holding a guitar).

"Woops! Are we going to a children's party?" Clyde teased when he saw Mariela beside me.

"Shut up, jerk!" She just rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, who would go to a bar with that kind of outfit?"

She was wearing a pink above-the-knee dress and a doll shoes. I personally thought it was cute, but yeah, definitely not something you'd wear inside a bar. But I'd rather see her in that dress than a revealing one. Call me overprotective or what, but I didn't want guys to check her out. She was too young for that.

"Just shut it. Let's go," I said nonchalantly and went inside the car's front seat. I made sure that Mariela was safely seated on the backseat with Kurt and Chris

"Is she seriously coming with us?" Clyde asked, still grinning like a fool.

"Yeah."

"Do you have any problem with that?" my sister asked in an annoyed tone.

"Nope."

"Good." She raised her brows and looked at the window with headphones on her ear, completely ignoring everyone in the car.

"Is this going to be our last gig for this year?" asked Kurt.

"Hell, no. We're going to continue accepting gigs every night. This is what we've always wanted, right? To do music," Chris said.

"But summer is almost over. We're going back to school next week, so our schedules would be pretty much hectic again. It would be hard to do gigs then," said Kurt.

"I'm sure we can figure something out," I replied.

"Dude, you know I can't mess up with my studies or my parents would kill me. You know how strict they are. One failed grade and they'd seriously make me quit our band," Clyde said in a worried tone. We've always known how strict his parents were. They have always wanted him to focus on his studies and it took him a long while to convince them to allow him to enter the band.

"Don't worry, I know our priorities. We can continue doing music and still focus on our studies at the same time."

"Booooring," Chris groaned.

***

A FEW MINUTES LATER, we were onstage to perform our first set of songs. The bar wasn't jam-packed since it was a weekday. But there were a couple of customers who were there to chill. It wasn't a problem for me since I liked performing in small crowds. It makes the performance more personal and intimate. It's easier to convey the message of our music when we're in a small venue.

I looked for Mariela in the audience to make sure that she's sitting comfortably and not doing anything stupid. I easily found her seated in a corner with a guy who's wearing a white shirt, black jeans and shoes.

Our eyes met and I saw a different expression in his eyes... like he was about to cry. I didn't know why but my chest tightened as if I felt his own emotions. It felt like we were connected in some ways and I couldn't explain why.

"Good evening everyone!" I greeted the audience who got excited the moment we stepped onstage. I have noticed how the girls went giddy when they saw us. Modesty aside, I've gotten used to the attention we always get among our female audience. My bandmates were good-looking in their own rights and definitely had some charisma that made the female population drawn to them. "I'm Marco and I'm with my band members to give you some good time tonight. We're BLACK LABEL and this is our first song..."

We performed one of the first songs that I've written back when I was still a freshman in college. It was the same song that made us win the Battle of the Bands in our campus. We usuallly perform original songs written by me and almost all of them were alternative rocks. We do covers from time to time depending on thee requests made by our audience, but as much as possible, we try to stick to our own brand of music.

I closed my eyes while singing and imagined the pain behind the song I was singing. I wanted to be natural and authentic to make sure that I deliver a quality performance that would satisfy our audience. When I opened my eyes, I found him still looking at me with a teary eyes. Damn, what's wrong with that weird guy?

"...be still my heart, don't beat so fast, don't fall too hard... 'cause no one's gonna catch you..." I sang with all the emotions I could give despite being distracted by that guy. I couldn't mess up our performance just because someone caught my attention.

"...don't fall for the trap, don't let your guards down, 'cause you're bound to get hurt... so, be still my heart... please, be still..."