Talking to Beatrice might not have fixed things up between us, or even made them any better, but at least I was starting to get back my motivation for practice, which I was in dire need of with the big day coming up. I went every day to the gym, worked on my routines, then went back home to work on the stuff that actually made me any money. Things were beginning to go back to normal, apart from the obvious empty space left by Bea’s absence.

A few days after that I received a text from Valerie.

@DrummerValSunset:

Hey, Giulia. I’m sorry, but I won’t be back in town for another couple of weeks. Tom (that is, our bassist by the way) got us in a number of gigs for a music festival in the Capital. It’s really dope and we’re all really excited about it. Hope you can understand.

I shrugged at her text. It was probably better that way. I had a lot of catching up to do on both practice and work, and it’d be best if I focused on that at least until the competition was over. That Val was signed up for a festival actually worked out for the both of us. I texted her back.

@GiuliaBelladonna:

Don’t worry about that. I’m drowning in work anyways. Go and kick ass at that festival.

It wasn’t even five minutes before I received her reply.

@DrummerValSunset:

Thank you sweetie! I’ll text you when we’re back, then we can go out together and I’ll tell you all about the festival. Good luck with work.

I thought about sending her a last message, but decided to just leave it at that. A music festival was probably a big deal for them, so I really hoped that it would work out right for them in the end. And to be fair… the thought of Val’s smile as she excitedly told me all the news about her performance actually made my heart flutter a little.

I didn’t hear any more from either Val or Beatrice for several days after that. Five days from the competition, the tickets I had bought online arrived in the mail. Three tickets. Why had I bought three tickets?

Obviously, because that’s what I did every year. Last year, I gave them to Pri, Bea and our friend Richard, and the year before it was Pri and my parents. Even though I never got a single medal, I still wanted them to come to support me. Their presence gave me comfort, and pushed me to try my best so that even if the judges were unimpressed, at least my friends would talk about it and be proud of me afterwards.

This year, though… I had probably expected to give them to Bea and my parents. But my parents were out of town, and Bea no longer wanted to be my friend. So I had no one to invite to my competition next Saturday. The prospect of having no one rooting for me in the crowd left a bitter taste in my mouth. If at least Bea could be there, I’d be happy, but…

I shook my head. It was no use mulling over that now. I was even accepting less jobs and asking for longer deadlines so that I could focus on getting myself into the right mindset for the competition. It would do me no good to feel miserable for myself. All I had to do was walk through those doors and show them the spectacle that I had been planning to from the start. I could do that. Even without Bea, Pri, or the others.

Unsure what to do with the tickets, I just put them away in a drawer, wondering if I should resell them or simply give them away.

The answer to that question came one Thursday afternoon, two days before the big day, when I got a new text from Valerie.

@DrummerValSunset:

Hey, sexy. How are you? I’m just dropping by to tell you that the festival is over, so the guys and I are taking the bus back tonight. I’m free this weekend. What do you say we go out this Saturday?

Saturday won’t do, Val, I thought to myself. Then I began to wonder… If I invited Val to watch me, would she come?

I bet she would, of course.

But then I had an even better idea.

The first thing I had to do… was to find Zack. That was an easy task, of course, since his profile was tagged in all the videos where Val and him showed up together, like their icy-lake swimming challenge. I sent him a message.

@GiuliaBelladonna:

Hey, Zack. It’s Giulia, we met a few weeks ago. You called me Val’s “wild one”, remember? Well… I want to do something for Val, but it has to be a secret, and I need your help. Would you be willing to do it?

Zack was even faster than Val in answering my texts.

@ZAK_EmptyMemories:

I’m in. Tell me what I have to do.

I laughed. Suddenly there was a chance this wild idea could actually turn out right.

I wrote the next message telling him what his task would be, and where he should find me to make sure it worked out. Then I went back into Val’s page, to message her.

@GiuliaBelladonna:

Sorry Val, I kinda have an important appointment this Saturday. I’ll be busy the whole weekend, in fact.

It wasn’t a lie. I had my contest coming Saturday, and then I’d have to spend all Sunday catching up on work. I just wasn’t telling her that I was planning on meeting her anyway.

Five minutes later, her reply.

@DrummerValSunset:

Ah… no biggie, I guess. Wanna meet next week, then?

@GiuliaBelladonna:

Sure. Next week sounds good.

@DrummerValSunset:

It’s a date, then.

My god she was so cute.

I was suddenly reminded of the pleasant night we spent together. Of how much I enjoyed when she stared at me caringly, or when she did something funny and unexpected that made us both laugh. Heck, I even missed hearing her call me “Gigi”, and I don’t think that’s ever happened before.

But enough of that. Now I just had to prepare for the contest, get myself enough sleep, and, of course, carry on with my evil plot to surprise Val.

Friday morning I got on my bike and went to meet up with Zack.

“Wild one!” he called me, when he saw me pulling up next to the large statue that served as our meeting spot.

I took my helmet off. “Hey, Zacky.”

He laughed. “So, what have you got for me?”

I reached into my bag and produced two of the three tickets, then handed them to him. He inspected them for a moment.

“Dude, this is so cool.”

I shrugged, modestly proud. “Just… don’t expect much. I usually get 5th or 6th place, at best.”

“Nah, it’s cool. I’m sure you’ll do great. Did you really not tell Valerie about any of this?”

I shook my head. “Not a word. Think she’ll be surprised?”

He guffawed. “This is gonna be awesome. I have half a mind to record her reaction and post it on the web.”

I grinned, surprised that this whole stupid plan was actually going to happen.

“Hey, Zack…” I called him. “Thanks, dude.”

“Make us proud, wild one.”