BY LAWRENCE XU
Staff Writer
“Do you want to perform at school?” My teacher asked me all of a sudden as I was tuning my guitar.
I first picked up the guitar after being inspired by a group of upperclassmen performing at a talent show. It has been my dream ever since to be able to perform in front of people. I became excited and said yes immediately.
“Cool, I’ll try to arrange a band for you.” I was not really sure about collaborating with others, but thought this might be a good chance to share experiences with other people.  
I met the other members, Rick, Fenny and Vincent later. They all seemed to be cool and really fun to talk with.  Over the course of the next two months, we met up at our teacher’s place and practiced for the New Year’s talent show. Within a short time we developed an almost unbreakable friendship. We would find every possible chance to bond together. I had the best time of life with these goofs.
Rick and I were best friends and the two guitarists in the band. I was also the singer, and he was the leading guitarist. The two of us often debated about how we should perform.
“I really want to try this out and perform in this way.” Rick is extremely passionate about guitar. He loves trying out new techniques and wants to apply it to the performances. I will often disagree with it, but more or so compromise.
The rehearsals were fun, and the performance ended well. Even though the band was formed for the talent show only, we continued to stick together for any future performances. Instead starting rehearsals a month before, we would start practicing and hopefully produce music videos.
Despite the plans that we had with the teacher, I’ve never received any reminders about rehearsing for the new song we’re playing. As the leader of the band, I would often try arrange time for rehearsals over the weekend but none of it happened. Rick has to be present in order to have a complete rehearsal. He would turn down my proposal and claimed to be busy.
I soon found out Rick’s self-aggrandizing ambition. We didn’t have any rehearsals two weeks after we received the new song to play, or that was what I thought. I confronted my teacher about the issue, and he seemed to be confused and surprised.
“I don’t know what you are talking about; we had rehearsals other day.” He seems a bit dissatisfied, “Rick told me you always made up excuses not to come. I had to make some rearrangements so that they’ll be able to film.”
I could not hold my anger in. I left the studio at the instance and tried calling Rick. He never picked up the phone. I also tried calling Fenny and Vincent, although they answered the phone, it was only some perfunctory responses.
“I see how it is.”
That was how I thought about Rick and the other members for the rest of the year. I quit the band soon after finding out the truth, giving Rick the power to do anything he wants. Every bonding, every adventure we had together, were gone forever.