Free Web NovelChapter 52: Divas’ Rebellion
A few moments later, after the girls had come back upstairs, they were sitting on the floor huddled around the coffee table. Each of them was clutching her smartphone, looking completely frustrated. Eric was lying in bed, enduring his weak body and pounding head, though his fever had luckily broken, as he watched the girls obsess over whatever they were doing.
"Uh... this is all because of those influencers naming us The Empress... according to one of them I reached out to, they said it just flows better that way... damn it," Heidi said, thoroughly annoyed.
"Same here... the one I contacted said the exact same thing... I mean, what’s wrong with Reed’s Empress anyway?" Priya asked, sounding a bit frustrated.
"Yeah, exactly. But what can we even do now? We clearly can’t make them change it, we just have to accept it," Monica said, propping her cheek up on the table with her hands.
"What if we just pay them off? You know, to change our name back," Chloe suggested, raising her hand.
"Ugh... no way. If we’re going to pay people off, we’d have to pay all of them, right? What’s the point of just paying one person," Laura protested.
"Come on, drop it... you guys are seriously losing your minds over a name," Emma said, looking completely relaxed since she wasn’t actually part of the band.
"Easy for you to say, but for us, this is a major deal!" Monica, Chloe, Laura, Heidi, and Priya shouted at Emma all at once.
"Hey... hey... don’t forget, I’m your manager," Emma snapped back.
Watching the girls have such an emotional, chaotic debate where everyone talked over each other just because of a name, Eric smiled, finding them absolutely hilarious. But suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit him.
He stared at the heated, intense faces of Monica, Chloe, Heidi, Laura, and Priya. Combined with the realization of who these five girls in The Empress actually were, he started tapping his fingers rhythmically against the mattress.
He then began to sit up, adjusting the cooling gel patch on his forehead. Stepping off the bed, he walked over to the desk right next to it, sat down, and flipped open his laptop. He reached for a specialized electric keyboard resting beside the desk and placed it down in front of him.
Once the laptop powered on, he opened up his DAW software, the Digital Audio Workstation and immediately got to work. He played the MIDI keyboard, which was connected via a USB cable, and the notes he struck instantly translated into data on the screen.
For some strange reason, the harder his head pounded, the more hyper-focused he became, and his fingers flew across the keys with effortless fluidity. Naturally, hearing the diverse arrangement of sounds echoing from the keyboard, layering drums, bass, guitar, and the keys themselves into a heavy, smooth, and beautiful rhythm.
The girls instantly cut their argument short. They looked over and saw Eric already deep in his zone at the desk. They initially wanted to stop him from pushing himself, but they found themselves frozen in place, completely transfixed.
The melody was gorgeous and pierced straight through to their souls, sending actual shivers down their spines. Every now and then, Eric would pause to type out lyrics in a word processor, humming wordlessly along with the notes as he typed.
Finally, after an hour of intense effort, Eric saved the file and hit enter. Sheet music immediately began printing out, perfectly divided into separate parts for each instrument alongside the vocal tracks containing the lyrics and notation.
After grabbing the stack of papers, Eric immediately slumped his head onto the desk, completely exhausted.
"Eric!"
The girls bolted over to him. But as they approached, "shhh," Eric weakly held up five sheets of paper right in front of them.
"Your next song, haha," Eric said with a smile, squinting as his blurred vision caused him to see double.
Monica snatched the pages and distributed them to Priya, Chloe, Heidi, and Laura. Emma immediately crouched down by the desk, staring at Eric’s worn-out face while gripping the edge of the table.
"Why do you always force yourself like this?" Emma scolded, her voice laced with worry as she felt his forehead and neck.
"I’m fine... the inspiration just hit me out of nowhere," Eric replied weakly.
"That’s enough... come on, back to bed," Emma insisted. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Emma pushed the keyboard aside and shut his laptop. She then carefully supported Eric, helping him stand up and guiding him back to the bed. Meanwhile, Monica, Priya, Chloe, Heidi, and Laura stood completely frozen, staring at the music and lyrics in their hands.
The lyrics perfectly captured their personal stories, their deep friendship, their rebellion against their strict parents, their internal struggles, and their unwritten future that was still theirs to change and mold into a different destiny.
Combined with the powerful rhythm they had just heard him play, the sheer weight of the lyrics gave them goosebumps, striking them straight to the bone.
"Holy crap... this song... it’s literally us," Chloe breathed out.
"Yeah... seriously. Eric is a genius," Laura added.
"Do you think he wrote this because he knows our parents have been coming down incredibly hard on us... telling us to behave just so they can arrange our marriages?" Priya asked quietly.
"Based on the lyrics, it definitely seems like it... it’s so powerful and... it’s honestly making me shake," Heidi answered.
"The title... Divas’ Rebellion... it fits so perfectly... the lyrics capture exactly where we’re at and what we want. It’s so emotional, I don’t even know if I can pull off singing this," Monica said, her eyes locked onto the paper. ƒrēewebnovel.com
All five of them fell dead silent. Instinctively, they turned in unison to look at Eric, who was back in bed, with Emma sitting by his side, gently wiping his body down with a towel and a basin of water. They then looked back down at the sheets of paper in their hands.
"We have to sing this... for Eric’s sake," Monica said, a sudden burst of energy in her voice.
"Absolutely... let’s practice and record it immediately," Priya replied enthusiastically.
"Should we start practicing right now?" Heidi chimed in, her eyes still locked on Eric.
"Um... maybe we should take care of Eric until he’s fully recovered first," Chloe suggested, though she sounded unsure herself.
"Why do you guys always overthink everything? Let’s help Emma out first, and once Eric is better, we practice. Besides, if he doesn’t break this fever soon, we’re going to have to take him to the hospital anyway," Laura point-blank stated.
"Okay... you’re right. Let’s do it," Monica agreed.
They stacked their papers neatly on the desk, then moved over to help Emma look after Eric, who had already closed his eyes to go back to sleep. At this very moment, Eric, Emma, and the members of The Empress had no idea that the song Eric just wrote would soon elevate all of them to heights far beyond anything they could currently imagine.
***
Meanwhile, a few hours later as afternoon bled into evening, Ruby stepped off the train at the city station and headed straight for the exit. Once she made it out front, she spotted Jade waiting for her with a sour expression, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, with Mike standing right next to her. Catching sight of Jade’s face made Ruby choke up for a second, but she braced herself and walked over.
"Sorry, Jade, for just showing up like this. Hey, Mike," Ruby said, apologizing to Jade before greeting Mike.
"Yeah... hey," Mike replied stiffly.
"Fine... I don’t care that you came, but first things first: talk. Why did you decide to come here, and what the hell happened at home?" Jade demanded.
"It’s a long story... bottom line, I’m completely done with Vivian... and Jason... plus, I overheard a secret Jason and Mom were keeping. I’m just totally disgusted by and hate my family," Ruby said, her voice shaking with rage as she stared down at the floor.
Jade just stared at Ruby without saying a word. "Sigh," she let out a breath, completely unsure whether to be angry or happy to see Ruby. It was glaringly obvious she still couldn’t entirely forgive Ruby for playing a part in kicking Eric out of the house, even though Ruby hadn’t been a significant factor in making that final decision. The atmosphere turned quiet and incredibly awkward, but a moment later,
"Come on, let’s just head home first. Let’s not hang around in front of the station like this," Mike said, cutting through the tension.
"Okay... let’s go," Jade agreed.
"Sorry about this, I know I’m being a burden to you guys," Ruby muttered.
"Whatever... it’s fine... let’s just go," Jade replied, though she still sounded a bit annoyed.
They walked over to the parking lot and piled into the car. Mike took the driver’s seat with Jade right next to him, while Ruby and her duffel bag sat in the back. As the car pulled out, Jade glanced back at Ruby, who looked completely disheveled and kept her head down. She began processing Ruby’s exact words about why she had run away.
"Don’t tell me she overheard that Eric is actually her mom’s kid with another man... not with her dad. The only people who know this secret are me, Caleb, Jason, and obviously the culprit herself, Aunt Vanessa. This is completely unexpected," Jade thought to herself, her eyes continually darting back to Ruby, who was now staring blankly out the window.
