4 "Deal or No Deal?"

"WHAT?!" Sydney shouted, very shocked about the news. "But… I replaced the broken guitar string…"

"Hey, you broke it? Ah… no, that's not the reason," Ms. Elle was a bit distracted because she didn't know that the string was broken.

"Then why? You know how important the club is… and the benefits I get from it…"

Sydney joined the Music Club because of the following reasons:

1. She loves music very much.

2. The music room can only be used by Music Club members. They can use the room anytime.

3. It's the only place in school where Olivet can play the piano and she loved it when they played together.

4. She studies the other musical instruments when she's free.

5. She often sleeps there during break time.

"Well, Sydney… It was Matt Duncan's request, so we all had to comply-"

"MATT?!" she exclaimed, sounding very annoyed. "That brat! I'm going to find him right now!"

"Wait, Sydney-"

Before Ms. Elle stops her, Sydney swiftly stormed out of the teacher's room, and the other teachers turned their heads as she passed by with worried looks on their faces.

Olivet, who was leaning against the wall, was startled when Sydney ran out of the room.

"Sydney! Wait!" Olivet called, and she ran after her.

"I'm going to kill that guy. How dare he mess with my life," Sydney looked really scary in her angry orc mode aura, "I'll make sure he brings me back to the club!"

With heavy steps and long strides, Sydney ran, and she knew where she could find Matt.

And she was right.

He's in the classroom, and he was about to leave.

"Hmm? Oh, It's just you, Sydney," Matt said, grinning at her, "I forgot my bag, so I returned here… But why do you look like that? You… look more like an orc at this moment than earlier in class-"

"You! I don't know what I did to you, but if you want a fight, I'll give you one! Let me smack down that annoying face of yours!" Sydney put on a strong front, even though her eyes were already watery.

Olivet tapped Sydney's shoulder and said, "Calm down…"

"How can I? He's messing with me! You know how I love music-" she stopped talking when her tears started flowing. Something inside of her triggered her to cry.

It's rare to see Sydney cry. Olivet had only seen Sydney cry two times.

The first one was when they were in the fifth grade, when she missed the audition for the school choir because she got a sore throat and fever.

The second one was when they were in eigth grade, when her composition music sheets were stolen and it contained all the songs that she made. It was then found in the trash can beside their classroom, and the culprit was never caught.

Both of these were related to music.

Negative thoughts entered her. Sydney couldn't handle her sadness anymore, "VIP Guy… Please bring me back to the Music Club…" so she pleaded.

Matt didn't expect Sydney to cry. Looks like he overdid it, he thought. He stepped forward to approach her. He took out his handkerchief and wiped Sydney's tears. He then bent over, her face near her ears, and whispered,

"Let's be friends, Sydney."

----

The next day, the sleepless Sydney arrived in the classroom.

"Sydney, good morning-" Olivet was worried over her friend's eyebags and gloomy aura, "What… What happened to you?"

"You can guess, and I'm sure you knew… You were there yesterday," Sydney replied.

Olivet didn't even have to think for so long.

After Matt wiped her best friend's tears and whispered to her, she stopped crying, then he said, 'Think about it very carefully.' After that, he walked out of the room.

When Olivet checked Sydney's face, she was surprised to see her legendary angry orc face! Her emotions turned from sad to angry for a very short while!

Sydney opened it up to her when they went to the ice cream store. She had always disliked spoiled brats and annoying people. She grumpily ranted about her anger at Matt, and Olivet felt that the fire in Sydney's eyes could melt the ice cream!

Back to that morning, Olivet patted Sydney's head, "Be a good girl now and calm down," she said, smiling at her.

"Good morning!" the class president, Juana Hatcheller, greeted everyone in the room. "I have to announce something! Settle down!" and she fixed her round eyeglasses.

Everyone behaved and kept quiet, showing respect to the leader of the class.

Juana cleared her throat, "Our new classmate, Matt Duncan, has donated air conditioning units to all the classrooms and club rooms!"

Everyone clapped, aside from Sydney. Seeing that her friend Olivet clapped her hands too, she pinched her side and pouted.

"What? Aircon is a necessity in our warm province, Syd," Olivet jokingly said, and she chuckled.

Just in time, Matt entered the classroom, and as soon as he did, the applause he received from his classmates got louder. He gave a friendly smile at them, and then sat on his seat.

Class president Juana had a crush on Matt since he transferred the other day. She felt as if Cupid had hit her heart with an arrow and that she fell in love with him at first sight!

Soon after, all of them returned to their seats, seeing the clock's short arm strike to eight. They were waiting for the teacher to come.

Matt handed over a small piece of paper to Sydney. His message said, 'Have you thought about my offer?'

Upon reading this, she crumpled the paper and threw it on Matt's head!

Juana, who had been staring at Matt, saw what her orc lady classmate did to her beloved Matt. She stood up and approached Sydney, and she exclaimed, "What do you think you're doing to our VIP! Didn't you hear about it? We are to respect him and follow his orders! We should-"

"Yeah, yeah, Juana. I knew about it," Sydney said, looking uninterested in her words.

Suddenly, as if bestowed courage by an orc demon, Sydney stood up, grabbed Matt's collar, pulling it upward, and making him stand up!

Matt smirked at Sydney's actions. He told her, "So what's your answer? You should-"

"No! I will never be your friend... even if you kick me out of this school!"