One More Time

I’ve heard the talks. I’ve heard the rumors. But, during the time I’ve spent with Ken and Marie, it really only felt like they were one of the many students on campus. Sure, they both were very good-looking people, though a bit eccentric, but it felt like their reputation was a bit overblown by some of their admirers.

It wasn’t until the finals neared that I realized how popular they actually are.

For the few weeks before the exams, students started busying themselves, not just by hitting the books, but also plotting out their plans for the summer break. That last bit was so they could get their minds off their studies for a moment and, at the same time, give themselves extra motivation to do well in the tests.

Or, at least, the outgoing ones and their friends did.

The term is about to end, yet I haven’t made more friends so my only plan for the break so far is to return to my hometown.

Although Naomi, who is more social than me, naturally developed better relationships with more people in our class over the course of the semester and was a part of those conversations. I thought that it was only her that was going with her other friends, but, apparently, she negotiated for me to join in at the first time of asking so I may still have other plans for the summer.

Nobody has told me about it, however. Oh, but I wasn’t being ostracized because the others were unwelcoming of me coming along. Rather, they thought that Naomi, who was the one who wanted to bring me along, was filling me in so they didn’t think it was necessary for them to approach me about the topic. Obviously, she hadn't done it. There were at least four groups planning their own individual trips that she was a part of and she had volunteered me for. She hadn’t told me about at least one of them.

Anyway, the time went by without me knowing I had been invited to the outings so I wasn’t able to talk about it to anyone until they looped me in the week before the finals.

Actually, they also weren’t aware that I wasn’t aware so it came as a surprise to me when they asked that I invite Ken and Marie to a summer retreat that I didn’t know I was going to. Apparently, I’ve become known in my class as a friend of that famous couple, which isn’t really something to be prideful about, but I was sort of enjoying the attention. In fact, all four groups tried asking me, albeit to my confusion.

It was only then that Naomi thought it was a good time to tell me about all those planned trips.

“Of course, you’re going, right?” she asked as if me going to all four trips was the most obvious thing.

Her absolute confidence in me going to all those trips was probably why she didn’t bother informing me until this late.

“Of course, I can’t! Never mind the tight schedule, I don’t even have the budget to go to all of them!”

I half expected her to offer to pay for me, but I think she’s grown accustomed to me always declining them that she didn’t ask this time. Instead, to my relief, she just told me to pick the group the two of us will join.

That didn’t absolve me of fulfilling the requests to ask Ken and Marie to join all four groups, however. They were pretty adamant that I invite the pair in their stead regardless if I join them or not.

So, I asked them.

The pair were flattered by the invitations, but, like me, they weren’t keen on the idea of going on multiple trips. The two also had already been invited to various summer retreats by different people, but they had declined them. The reason being that they already have plans with their own friends, plus the obvious time and budget constraints.

However, they were willing to go on the trip that I wanted to go to. They also wanted to spend time playing with some underclassmen, so they said.

When I relayed their answer to the four groups, each of them started a debate on whose destination was the best. They even started coaxing me into picking them. But, in the end, they decided to join together for one big outing. Not so they could spare me the trouble of choosing, but so the rest of them don’t miss out on spending the summer with that famous couple.

Basically, rather than cliques having their own little trips, it became a big excursion for the entire class. All because of Ken and Marie.

So, we now head onto the present.

The finals are over and everyone is ironing out their summer plans.

As for the big class excursion, we could not agree on a destination whether it's the beach or the mountains so a meetup was organized to settle the debate once and for all. The venue is a karaoke place. All those who have confirmed on going to the trip were invited. Ken and Marie included, to everyone’s excitement. Most have shown up, which counts to at least two dozen heads, but that means a single room could not fit everyone.

There was no choice but to split up into two rooms. However, there was much ado about it with people arguing on which room they should be in. Or, more specifically, they want to be where the beloved upperclassmen couple will be.

The aforementioned couple managed to quickly control the crowd, though, by saying everyone should pick a room one by one, but they will be picking last. Then, as if they've been in similar situations before, they tack on a condition that they will not go on the trip if at least one person switches room assignments after making their choice. They explicitly banned trading, too.

It was surprisingly effective as everyone behaved after that. All of us entered our rooms of choice without incident. Each of us waited with bated breath as to which room Ken and Marie will choose to join in.

I didn’t particularly care, for the record. I was just caught up in the moment.

They chose the room Naomi and I were in to the delight of the other occupants and the dissatisfaction of those in the neighboring room. We could hear wailing from the other side as if there was a wake.

But, more importantly, the meeting can finally begin. Or, at least, I assumed it would.

Marie picked up the microphone and loudly declared "Let’s get this party started!"

Everyone cheered excitedly except for me who was confused.

Then, an upbeat tune started playing. Ken seemed to have input a song for Marie without anyone noticing, which she started singing along to.

Meanwhile, I was still confused.

"I thought we were gonna talk about the trip?" I asked Naomi, who was sitting beside me, as loud a voice as I could.

“Starting off with a bit of fun shouldn’t hurt”, she replied.

The answer didn’t make sense to me, but I went with the flow anyway.

Marie was livening up the room with her song. Not only was she a good singer, she was also doing small dance moves and making it look like a performance so everyone seemed to enjoy watching her up front.

She finished her song and was met with a round of applause. She seemed more interested in the score that’s about to appear on the screen, however.

A high score of 96 appeared, which she found pleasing.

The next song started playing. It sounds like another upbeat song.

Ken went up front to take Marie’s place so the song seems to be his.

He started singing, but, unlike Marie, his body was a bit static. He was a good singer, too, though, so the others, especially the girls, were still paying attention to him.

His song ended, which is met with another round of applause. But, like Marie before him, he seemed more interested in the screen.

Again, it displayed a score of 96. He had the same score as Marie, but his reaction was lukewarm.

I started wondering if they were competing over the scores based on their behavior, but there was no next song. I half expected Marie to take another turn immediately after seeing their scores tied.

Relative silence followed. Or, at least, there was no music hovering over the mix of conversations from everyone in the room.

I couldn’t help but overhear some of them.

“Go on, take a turn to sing now.”

“Are you crazy? You go sing!”

“You’re a good singer, right? You go sing.”

“That’s impossible! It’s kind of hard to follow after those two!”

It seems like everyone else has been intimidated by the star couple to continue with the fun. Some even took the opportunity to order food to avoid getting coerced into singing next.

I thought the lull was the perfect opportunity for Ken and Marie to start singing again, knowing that the two tend to march to their own beat. So, it was rather unexpected that Marie was trying to hand me the microphone.

“It’s your turn now”, she said to me.

“Huh? What? Why?”

“Quickly, the song’s starting”, she commanded as she pulled me from my seat.

I don’t remember selecting a song, but I suddenly found myself up front. It happened so quickly, I didn’t have time to think. Music started playing with a tune that I’m vaguely familiar with and my instincts told me to try and sing along to it.

“Barney is a dino- WAIT A MINUTE!”

“What’s wrong?” Marie shouted over the music so I could hear her.

“Why did you choose this song for me?” I asked over the microphone.

She started explaining, but I couldn’t make out everything she said over the music playing in the background. I did get the last part she said, though.

“Don’t you like it?”

“It’s not a matter of me liking it, it’s an embarrassing song to sing!”

She seemed disappointed by my reaction, but she stopped the song.

Meanwhile, the rest of the room seemed amused by the exchange that the tense air from before was lifted.

“Then, how about this?” Marie said before another tune played on the karaoke.

This time, it was a proper pop song instead of a theme music from an old children’s show. I sang it to completion this time, although I wasn’t sure if I did it properly.

The machine was certain to tell me, though. It gave me a 72, which put a dent on my confidence.

However, that somehow gave the others confidence to step up and sing.

After everyone else had a turn, Marie went up front again. This time, she was singing a ballad with high notes and hit them perfectly.

The karaoke machine gave her a score of 97 for it, to everyone’s amazement.

Ken went next after her again. He also had a similar song choice, a ballad, which reignited my suspicion that the pair were competing. But, besides that, his song wasn’t as heavy on high notes, though he still managed to sing it well.

Some people, including me, felt he wouldn’t beat Marie’s score, but, to the surprise of everyone, he also was given a score of 97.

You kinda have to wonder what the machine’s scoring criteria is after that, however.

There was less hesitation to follow up on the two after that as a few others sang. At least, for some of the people in the room so it wasn't long until Marie came up again. This time, it was a fast melodic rock song, again with high notes, which she perfectly hit once more.

However, the machine only gave her a 95 for that performance, which she was visibly annoyed with.

Ken came up after her for the third time in a row. There was no doubt in my mind right now that the two are competing so I did not find it surprising that his song choice this round is also a rock song. His song did not contain high notes like Marie's, but there was some aggressive singing, which he performed well without sounding off-key.

He also scored a 95, but it seemed a fair one so he accepted it without fanfare.

Seriously, what’s going on with the machine when the two have tied three times in a row?

Afterwards, it was the same pattern again. A few other people - including me as I was goaded into it by Naomi before she took a turn as well - sang a song before Marie and Ken came up for the fourth time.

For this round, the genre seems to be hip-hop rap. It was weirdly fresh watching Marie throw down some expletives as her image is so far from someone who would use bad words.

However, while her performance hyped up the room, she flubbed a few lines here and there as she ran out of breath at parts, showing that she wasn’t used to rapping. The score reflected that as she got her lowest so far today with an 88, much to her dismay.

She probably felt that the contest was lost by then.

Ken then came up and started rapping as well. Unlike Marie, he had good flow. He delivered the rhymes cleanly as if breathing the words through his mouth. It was a perfect performance.

But, much to the surprise of everyone in the room, he also got an 88 for it despite how good he was.

Ken stood and stared at the screen in disbelief. He probably thought he had the contest in this round, especially after Marie’s substandard performance, but the karaoke machine says otherwise.

Marie also seemed relieved.

Afterwards, Naomi pulled me up front again. This time, she wanted us to sing a duet. The song was her choice, but I was familiar with it so I managed to go through the set without much trouble.

Then, apparently, there was another pair of lovers in the room apart from Ken and Marie. My duet with Naomi encouraged them to sing as a pair so they performed after us.

Somehow, these sequence of events have lit a fire in Ken and Marie, especially since Naomi and I, and that couple I don’t really know the names of despite being my classmates, have scored 98 and 99 respectively.

I really have to wonder how the machine scores the songs, though. But, to be fair to Naomi, she sang very well and it felt like she carried me in that.

Anyway, seeing two duets scoring higher than either of Ken and Marie individually have made them want to rise to the challenge as a pair - even though no one’s really posed it to them - so the two of them came up next for a duet of their own.

They sang a popular slow romantic duet song, which they scored a 99.

No disrespect to the pair, but, considering this is the first time both of them have hit that high a score despite seemingly perfect singing, I can’t help but wonder if the machine just favors duets after three high scores. To be fair, though, they were both good singers.

They were also getting rave reviews from the room, especially from starry-eyed girls who were touched at how romantic the performance was - their words. I could hear a few saying they were envious about the relationship of the pair.

However, the said pair wasn’t interested in the reaction of the room. When they were done, they only glanced smugly at the directions of Naomi and me, and that other couple - Marie to the former, Ken to the latter.

I wasn’t sure if they were just celebrating the high score against their perceived opposition or they were taunting us. That other couple seemed to have read it as the former and applauded them, but Naomi interpreted it as the latter as she pulled me up from my seat.

“You’re on”, she said, sounding like she’s looking forward to the challenge.

So, I found myself up front again with Naomi singing another duet. Well, actually, it was a song by a five-piece girl band so there should be multiple switching of singers, but both of us sang it in its entirety anyway.

Somehow, we improved by one point as we tied the score of 99 by the Ken and Marie pair.

Naomi returned the previous provocation as she looked at the aforementioned couple smugly.

I wish she didn’t because, obviously, the two would gladly rise to the challenge. It came as no surprise to me that they went up to sing as a duet once more after us.

They picked a hip-hop R&B song where the verse is in rap while the chorus is sung. Ken did the verses while Marie had the chorus and sometimes sang in the background when the song called for it.

I think the karaoke machine just hates rap because they scored an 85 for their performance. Both were in shock as they stared at the screen feeling like they deserved more points.

Meanwhile, Naomi looked like a cat who had spotted prey, ready to pounce for a kill.

“Let’s go for 100”, she told me.

I never realized she also had this competitive spirit in her.

However, her hunt was stopped short by the intercom ringing. The person closest to it answered and announced that we were running out of time.

It didn’t feel like it, but we had been in that room for almost two hours now. Time flies when you’re having fun, as they say, and it rings true for everyone present.

Everyone then decided it was time to finally pick the destination for our trip. After all the fun, it was easy to forget that is why we were there in the first place.

Hearing this, Ken and Marie gave up on the idea of beating Naomi and me, not to mention their own contest.

Naomi also backed down.

Though, for some reason unbeknownst to me, she and Marie felt the need to shake hands.

As for the trip, the room had decided on the beach. Very quickly, in fact, that I wondered why it was needed to hold a two-hour meeting for it.

But, the other room picked the mountains, much to everyone’s annoyance.