Episode 9: It's Still Fine

Scene: Early April, the third day of school.

Setting: Choir room.

Characters:

Behami- Ninth grader, new to the choir. Played in band in seventh and eighth grade, but recently quit.

Asuka- Ninth grader. Was in choir since seventh grade. Gets misunderstood easily because of her haughty appearance.

Suika- Eighth grader. Has only been in choir since the seventh grade. People think she’s creepy and generally avoids her.

Josephine “Jopi”- Seventh grader. Also new to choir. Everyone already thinks she’s adorable, but Jopi is annoyed by them.

It was the third day of school, and the choir teacher Mr. Iguchi wasted no time putting the treble choir girls into groups. More specifically in groups of four, since there were so many sopranos.

Not even right after he said “Go pair up!” did all the girls in the room begin to scramble to find their friends to group up with.

Unsurprisingly, a bunch of girls gathered around Jopi and asked if she wanted to be a part of their group (I say a bunch but it was more like half of the class.)

The poor girl heaved a sigh with her head down and her face arose again, she put on her sweetest face and voice. “No, thank you! I’d rather be with, um…” Her eyes darted around and found Behami, an alto, who was sitting across the room from her.

Their eyes met, and Behami got up from her seat and walked over to her.

“Um, if you excuse me,” Behami said in an overly polite voice. “Jopi-chan will be in my group if that’s alright.”

Jopi nodded and looked up at the girl, nodding overtly. “Yup, I’ll be with her!”

And with that, the girls walked back over to Behami’s seat. Jopi grabbed an empty chair and sat next to her.

“Um, thank you so much for that,” Jopi said, her voice suddenly shy.

“Yeah, no prob! I saw you struggling over there.” Behami’s mouth then screwed up to one side. Jopi noted that she was very animated. “Now we need two-second sopranos… Ooh, I know! Why not Suika Sakura? She’s all by herself over there!” Behami waved a hand in the air, trying to get the girl’s attention.

Suika, Jopi noted, was a bit of an odd case. She was the lone wolf of the choir class and she always gave off an intimidating aura.

She can’t be all that bad though.

Suika noticed Behami’s waving hand (I mean, who wouldn’t?) and hesitantly made her way over, likely confused as to why someone was signaling her over to their group, of all people.

“Great! Now we only need another soprano!” Behami said excitedly, and right as she said that, a girl who was nearby overheard her.

“You need one more soprano?” she said.

The girl in question was Asuka Kawasaki, a girl known in the choir for being the strict one in the class, and just a little too overbearing, even more so than their teacher.

Behami gulped and nodded, as she pulled another empty chair to her right and patted it.

Asuka nodded, already looking very serious. “Okay then. I’ll go get the sheet music, so stay here.”

And so, before Jopi even knew it, her close friend group was formed. A group of girls that Jopi would never, ever abandon and would always lean on for help.

★

It was now late January, and predictably, the only thing that was on any girls’ was the fact that the Winter Dance was happening that upcoming Friday. That included Asuka and Jopi, but not Behami or Suika.

“I’m thinking of going to the Winter Dance,” Jopi began one day in the choir room, the week of the event. “Everyone else is going to it, and I was thinking, ‘Why not’?”

Behami groaned, pulling at her hair in an over-dramatic fashion. “Aughhhhh that is sooo not my thing. I’m not going!”

Jopi chortled at her nonconformist (well, in a way) friend and continued talking. “Innyway, I was thinking of asking this boy out to the dance, but I’m not sure that he likes me back.”

“Ah, girl problems,” Asuka said, sighing romantically. “What’s his name? Do I know him?”

Jopi puffed her cheeks out. She won’t know! He’s a first-year student! Well, it’s worth a shot, anyway.

“His name is Wataru Wakabayashi,” she said quietly, looking down at the floor.

“‘Wataru?’” Asuka repeated. “Hm, can’t say I’ve heard of him.”

“Ah. Thought so,” Jopi said, sighing.

Suika inched a bit closer to her kohai. “I ship you two already, and I’ve never even seen him.” Her face was stoic but there was a sense of intensity in it that creeped Jopi out.

“Ah ha ha, g-good for you?” Jopi stammered. “A-anyways, I’m thinking of asking him out today to get it over with, at the bus stop. Think that’s a good place to do it?”

Asuka nodded, smiling in a way that Jopi knew meant that she was happy for her. “I think it’s a great idea!”

The other girls made noises of agreement and with that, Jopi had a strong feeling that she was set.

Now let’s hope that I’m confident enough in myself…

★

Jopi was at the bus stop. Now was her chance to confess to him and ask him out at the same time. She had spotted him as well, but wait—

Who is this girl next to him?

She couldn’t help it. Her heart started to beat faster, and suddenly she had the courage to go up to the girl and—

No, I can’t do that! What if the girl is just his friend, and is talking to him about something that isn’t the dance?

But if she is asking him to the dance?

Yup. Both seemed plausible enough.

“But I’m still going up there,” she muttered while standing behind one of the pillars in front of the entrance to the school.

As Jopi inched closer and closer to the pair of students (I guess she wasn’t that confident after all, huh?) She soon found that only to find out that the girl he was talking to was none other than Hori Komichi, one of the most popular girls in the seventh grade.

Of course! Why hadn’t I noticed that before?!

Hey, listen, Jopi-chan!

And so Jopi listened to herself… She was going to listen to the conversation, about a few feet away, behind a trash can.

“Should I wear this dress or this dress?” Hori simpered, shoving her phone in Wataru’s face.

Jopi could tell that Wataru couldn’t care less about the topic of dresses, but he tried to mask it by smiling and nodding at her. “The red one looks nice,” he said in a tone that was devoid of interest.

Quickly, Hori pulled her phone away and put it in her purse. “Thanks for saying yes!” she said, promptly bowing and running away.

Them blondes, Jopi thought, one of her eyes twitching. But yet again, Wataru is a blonde too… well, it’s dyed, but still!

Exhaling deeply, Jopi decided to march right over and confront Wes, before they got on the bus that was supposed to come at any minute.

Too bad I can’t sit next to him she thought, pouting. If there’s one thing I can’t mess with, it’s his clique at the back of the bus.

To clarify, she sat near the front, as her stop was always first.

“Wataru-kun!” she called as she ran up to him.

Wataru flinched. Jopi sympathized with him a bit, as he was just standing there on his phone.

“Oh, hey,” he responded, waving.

“I-I noticed that Hori ran away from you… d-did she happen to ask you out, by any chance?”

Wataru shrugged. “Yeah, she did. But do I really wanna go to the dance with her? Nah, not really. She’s not my type.”

Jopi blushed. Now’s my time! Go go GO!

“Um, would you rather go with me instead? I mean, if you had a choice. I know that Hori’s all intense and the Queen Bee and stuff…”

Wataru’s eyes widened. “Yeah, I’d rather go out with you. I know that you’re both popular for your looks, but at least you have a personality.”

That comment made Jopi’s face flush greatly. “Ehhh, really? Do you mean it!”

“Uh, yeah. Sure, let’s go and get tickets tomorrow.”

Jopi squealed and jumped up and down. “Thank you so, so much!!”

Luckily Wataru didn’t hear that last part because the bus made its vroom vroom sound and thus he had to depart and so did Jopi, albeit on the same bus, just in different seats.

★

As Jopi was riding home, listening to some calming indie music, she realized something that should’ve been obvious from the start.

She could use magic to get the ending that she wanted—even if it meant losing her powers in the process.

It felt strange to think about.

Her new club friends told her that that was never the way to go, that Kasumi lost her powers because of an incident at the cultural festival—but the idea of getting her way was too tempting to ignore.

Over the loud roar of the bus and the chattering of the kids, an evil idea was growing in Jopi’s head. All she had to do was make Wes think that Holly wasn’t going to the dance!

All I have to do is get Behami to disguise herself as Wataru and tell Hori that he’s not interested in going to the dance with her.

After all, Wataru never told Hori outright that he wasn’t interested… So why not save him from the suffering of doing so?

Ba-bump!

Obviously, in case you couldn’t tell, the bus had stopped and it was Jopi’s turn to get off.

As she walked to her house, Jopi told her friend about the brilliant plan.

So I’ve got a plan on how to stop Hori from bugging Wataru about the dance thing.

It didn’t take long for Behami to respond.

O yea? (She didn’t put much thought into her typing, probably from long, arduous hours of gaming with her friends online.)

Jopi told her friend all about her plan in getting rid of Hori once and for all.

There was silence on her end for a bit, but Jopi knew that Behami was going to take some with her response because the circles on her phone screen were bouncing up and down, as they themselves were awaiting her reply.

Bloop!

The response was here.

Sure y not? i want u to b happy but don’t come crying 2 me if u lose ur powers liek the grls warned us

Jopi smirked. That has to be one of the most passive-aggressive texts I’ve ever gotten, and my mom is the queen of those.

★

The day of the thing. (Not the dance, but the plan-thingy-ma-bobber.)

The two middle school girls were waiting for Hori to arrive at the place that she usually arrived at: The seat that was in the lobby, wherein she sat by herself on her phone for a while before the bell rang.

Behami was already in Wataru’s form, which made Jopi feel all weird inside because, well, she was her crush.

But her plan had to get into action.

So there the girls were, in their hiding spot (which was an area hidden by a staircase and a ramp, and also it was a bit underground).

Right as Jopi saw Hori stride up to her usual spot and take a seat, her heart skipped a beat.

She turned her head to Behami.

“Now. GO.” she whispered between gritted teeth.

Beha-taru nodded and walked up to Hori. Jopi readied her ears.

As if she knew the exact sound of his footsteps, Hori looked up at Beha-taru, her eyes wide with excitement.

“Oh, hey Wataru-kun! What’s up?”

“Ah, Hori-san. I’m sorry to say this, but… I’m not interested in going to the dance with you. Every time you blab to me about what dress you want to wear and stuff, it just gets on my nerves. Besides… I’d rather go with Jopi-chan.” Beha-taru said all like that it was pre-planned, and it sort of was.

Hori was silent for a bit and then scoffed.

“Okaaay then, f*cker! Get out of my face, you d*ck!”

Jopi giggled, then covered her mouth.

After that confrontation, Beh-taru left Hori there on her seat, looking miserable, which was much deserved.

When Jopi saw Beha-taru dash down into the girls’ hiding spot, the two high-fived, although Jopi did notice that her friend’s reaction was a bit subdued.

“That was priceless!” Jopi, making sure to mind her volume.

Behami nodded, slightly amused as she changed back into her actual form. “Yup. I hope you enjoy the dance, and I hope you don’t get bit in the ass because of this.”

Jopi giggled. “Same!” Under her happy demeanor, however, a feeling was growing in her gut that wasn’t good.

I sure hope not.

★

“You got revenge…” Tomo moaned, hand on her cheek.

“Yup, and now it’s party time!” Jopi cheered, clapping her hands together in a celebratory manner. “I got a ticket for myself just a few minutes ago, and I saw Wataru in line as well!”

Behami chortled. “I tried to warn her, but I’m not her so I guess she’ll learn this lesson all on her own.”

Asuka shook her head, clearly not pleased. “I don’t think this was a smart idea at all. You know what they say: ‘What goes around, comes around.’”

“Oooh, I love that song!” Mimori had to pipe in.

Jopi bit her lip and messed with her bangs. “I know, I know you guys. I know it was a bit pushy of me to do that, but…” She put a big smile on her face. I’m still good over here!”

The girls in the room all made noises of various agreement and continued on with what they were doing. As expected. I didn’t think they would all take it very well—except for Mimori and Kasumi.

Jopi felt so happy that she felt like bursting out into song like it was a musical or something.

“What should I wear, huh?” she said in a sing-song voice. That particular question was directed at Kasumi, who looked up from her phone and at her friend.

“Hmm…” The girl pursed her lips together. “I think pink suits you pretty well. If you do pick out a pink dress then make sure to send it to me, I’m not going.”

“Why not!?” cried Mimori, basically out of nowhere. Jopi wasn’t even aware that she was listening.

Kasumi narrowed her eyes and looked at her friend. “I already told you, Peter and I decided not to go! We’re watching movies at my house instead!” She then sighed romantically, doing the perfect Tsundere 180. “The perfect date night~!”

Jopi giggled and made a note on her phone to look for a pink dress. Why didn’t I think of this sooner though? Why am I doing this so last minute? (She did consider conjuring a dress but decided that using magic to solve every one of her problems was probably not wise.)

“Weird. Is anyone going to the dance here besides Jopi?” questioned Erica, finger to her chin.

“I wish,” snarked Mimori.

“That doesn’t count.”

The room was filled with an extra awkward silence.

Erica sighed. “I guess not. Well, it is more of an underclassmen thing anyway, from what I’ve heard.”

Asuka raised a hand and Jopi jerked her head to it. “Heeey, wait a second, Asuka-chan! I thought you were going to be there though!”

Asuka put her hand down. “Well, I am going to be there, but I’ll be there manning the punch booth, which in my opinion doesn’t count as going there to dance.”

Ah. She is the student council vice president, after all. Makes sense.

After spending about ten minutes searching for stores near her house that carried dresses for semi-formal events, Jopi (and the other girls as well) called it a day when the final bell rang and went back to their personal lives.

★

It was now the night of the dance. Dun-dun-DUN!

Yes, “duns” were needed. As much as Jopi was looking forward to it, she was still dreading the event a bit in her heart.

It’s only three hours, no worries. It’s not like it takes place all day.

Jopi walked into the gymnasium cautiously. She was wearing a frilly pale yellow dress that reached down to her knees with gold-lined sandals with heels and (almost) matching gold earrings. Her hair was curled up in a way that it laid on her shoulders, and her makeup was light and refreshing.

She felt, admittedly, like a princess.

It didn’t take long at all to find Wataru, who was hanging out near the front of the gym with his football friends.

“Hey Wataru,” she shouted as she walked up to him. The music that was playing in the background seemed like it was more in the foreground.

“Hey,” Wataru said casually, giving a quick wave.

Jopi’s face lit up. If there was any moment in her life where she could say she was truly happy, it was probably this one.

As if on cue, the music went from some awful song about watching someone do something to a slower-paced song that Jopi recognized as being in a car commercial.

“Um, would you like to dance first or get something to drink first?” she asked, playing with her fingers.

Wataru gestured to his friends (who were acting pretty obnoxious, but that’s just football players for you) and went beside Jopi.

“Let’s dance. I like this song.”

At that cue, Wataru took Jopi’s hand and raced to the dancefloor.

Ohmigod. It’s finally happening! It’s happening!

Jopi was experiencing so much euphoria that she felt like had reached peak enlightenment. Everything was perfect… Okay, almost. If she had to nitpick anything it would be the song choice and oh yeah, the fact that they were at school.

She wished they were in a castle instead.

After the song was over, it faded into one with a blaring techno noise and sub-bass that shook the bleachers.

Any louder and we might just have an earthquake, she snarked.

“I’m gonna go say hi to a few other friends,” Wes yelled at her as he let go of her hand and started walking to the punch table.

“Okay!” Jopi responded, hands cupped around her mouth. “Meet me by the bleachers, okay?!”

After he left, Jopi started pacing back and forth, unsure of what to do. “That sure didn’t last long,” she muttered.

But that’s okay, right? He’ll be back… right?

Jopi looked around at her surroundings and saw a bunch of people dancing, chatting in clusters, and lined up at the refreshment table.

Oh, yeah. Asuka’s working there.

Jopi ran up to the punch table, avoiding the line and instead making a beeline for her friend, who was behind the table. (That’s okay, right? She was friends with her, after all!)

“Hi, Asuka!” Jopi said, faking a bit of cheerfulness. She looked her friend up and down to see what she was wearing.

Her friend was wearing a dark blue dress with a v-neck and puffy sleeves. Oddly fitting for her.

Asuka rolled her eyes. “Hi. How’s your date that you totally didn’t do anything suspicious for going?”

Jopi’s smile rang even more hollow. “Ah, it’s all—”

“—By the way. Hori’s here, and she’s talking to Wataru right now. Just letting you know.”

Jopi’s heart ran cold. Why did I not think of this happening?! Of course, Hori was going to go even though she was still pissed off!

It was all going downhill from here.

The next thing Jopi knew, she was storming up to her date and the girl she was admittedly mean to.

Hori whipped her head at Jopi as if she were possessed. “What’s your deal?” she snorted. “Why are you at the dance with Wataru-kun? Why did he choose you instead of me?!”

Jopi looked at Wataru and saw that he was completely confused… as he should have been.

“Because face it, you’re annoying!” Jopi backfired.

Hori sneered. “How so? Wataru didn’t seem to have a problem with me talking to him about the dance until just a few days ago!”

“What are you talking about?” Wataru shouted, still confused. “I was never into your blabbing to me about the dance! I was just pretending!”

“Pretending?! Wow, what a fucking dick!” Hori screamed. She stamped her foot and shrieked something else unintelligible.

And with that, she stormed out of the gymnasium. Predictably, a lot of people stared at her.

Wes sighed, drinking the last drop of the fruit punch in his cup. “That was something,” he noted.

Oh, God…

Jopi began to feel sick.

“I’m gonna go to the restroom,” she said quickly.

As she ran to the bathroom (which was outside out of the gymnasium to the left), another song came out that she didn’t particularly care about. Another one with an extremely powerful, booming bass.

Slam!

Luckily, the bathroom at that moment was empty. Unluckily, the bass’s echoing was so loud that the reverberating sounds made Jopi feel like she was going to barf even more.

That was when everything went silent.

W-what just happened?

Jopi slid her back against the wall and sat down on the floor, breathing heavily like she just ran a marathon.

If this isn’t a panic attack then I don’t know what is.

After a few minutes of trying to calm her fast-beating heart, a thought occurred to her.

… This is my power, isn’t it?

She had unconsciously conjured silence for her ears.

Sure enough, Jopi opened her eyes and looked around her general area and sure enough, a glow of yellow surrounded her body.

Jopi sighed a huge sigh of relief.

I haven’t lost my power.

“Ha. Ha ha ha!” She began to laugh out loud.

It was all so relieving to her.

Closing her eyes, Jopi thought of erasing the yellow light and reopened her eyes to see it was gone.

Out with the light and in with the bass.

Sighing once more, Jopi walked into a stall and grabbed a few squares of toilet paper to wipe her tears on.

Yes, she was crying. It was a joyous moment.

After flushing the toilet with a press of the lever with her foot, it was time for Jopi to think about what to do next.

Do I really wanna stay and dance with Wataru-kun?

As much as she liked that idea, she suddenly wasn’t in the mood to dance with him. That and she didn’t want to attract any kind of wrong attention… If she got any, that was.

Hope my classmates think she’s a bitch as well.

I mean, how could you not?

With that Jopi walked out of the bathroom and back onto the dancefloor where she had an admittedly uneventful talk with Wataru wherein she said didn’t feel comfortable at the dance anymore. Thankfully her crush showed her some pity. Jopi also didn’t forget to say goodbye to Asuka, who smirked and shook her head at her.

And with that Jopi texted her dad to come pick her up, during which time she watched on as the kids danced to some annoying rap songs that were obviously censored and some pop songs that had hooks that made her want to slam her head into the wall.

Once her dad got there she hopped into the car and released another heavy sigh (she’s been really sighing today, hasn’t she?)

“You wanna head home already?” her dad asked. “Was it not fun?”

Jopi had a good, sadistic chuckle. “It was alright. I just don’t know how long I can stand those kids in there.”

Her dad chuckled in that dad-like way. “Okay then. I thought I was the adult here, not you.”

As the two were on their way home, Jopi decided to text Kasumi because she wanted to tell her about her close shave with losing her superpowers. (A picture was sent earlier of her dance attire, to which Kasumi simply replied, “Nice.”)

Sorry to disturb you, Jopi texted like she was actually conversing with her in real life.

It didn’t take long for Kasumi to respond, which didn’t surprise Jopi.

It’s fine! Peter and I just finished an episode of Gotham. What up?

Jopi giggled at that last bit. Nothing really. I danced with Wataru-kun once. I got into an argument with bitchy Hori and thought I lost my powers but I didn’t. You know, the usual.

Ah, nice catch! ♥

What was this, baseball?!

Just then, Jopi’s dad’s car pulled up into their driveway so she said goodbye to Kasumi and turned her phone off (but not actually off, ya know?).

As she slid into the passenger seat of the car, she yawned.

“Are you sure you had an alright time at the dance?” her father said as they closed the car doors at the same time. “You seem kinda down.”

“It was fine,” she said nonchalantly.

“Are you sure?”

“It’s still fine—I mean, I’m still fine.”

Jopi’s dad looked at her, eyebrows creased, but then shrugged it off. “Ah, whatever. It’s probably just hormones or something with you.”

Total silence from Jopi as she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Josephine?”

Jopi jerked up. Ah, shit. He used my full name!

“Ah, Dad. Don’t worry about me. I just had an exhausting night, okay?” she smiled a genuine, big smile for the second time that night.

Jopi’s dad chuckled as she dashed into the house to take her shoes off, which were killing her. After that, she texted Behami to check up on her, even though she was probably fine as well.

Do you still have your superpower?

Uh yea why? Dont tell me!!!

Nope, I’ve still got them. Just wanted to make sure you were the same.

Behami sent several sighing emojis. Oh, thank god. I didnt think you did much to deserve a comeuppance tbh

Jopi smiled and sent a simple response. Same. I think we both dodged a bullet there.

And that was how Jopi spent the rest of her night—chatting with Behami.