章節 25: Chapter 25:

Ok ladies and gentlemen, give up for the Party Committee!", the people cheered and applauded as three people came on stage, the girl that had first greeted Ace and two other boys. They smiled and waved at the crowd, and the DJ handed the girl a microphone, "Ok, is everyone having a good time?!", the crowd cheered in agreement, "I hope so, so, as always, we will hold an open mic session in 10 minutes, if anyone wishes to come up and do anything, you are welcome to do so."

"So, why do you think this is?", Sophie asked - she had insisted Ace and Amy call her that, "Hmm, most likely it is a chance for anyone doing performance arts to practice in front of a crowd.", Amy replied, while also motioning for Ace to give his point of view. "I think that it's also a way for any clubs to see if any potential new candidates have improved, but this is probably more present in parties where the whole school is invited."

They kept talking for a while and soon, one person came up on the stage to do a short stand-up-comedy, it was not great, but considering he seemed both high and drunk, it could have been worse. After that, a few people came up and did various pieces, some sung and some played instruments, but in general, it was pretty entertaining. The girl then came back up on stage, "Ok! So, we have prepared a little competition for all the people from the sophomore and freshman years for 5 points." Ace perked up at this, and so seemed to do the rest of the crowd, everyone soon quieted. "You can come up on the stage and do whatever you want for 5 minutes, after everyone that wishes to do so has gone, we will decide who the winner is, and he will receive the prize.

At this point, Ace was unsure on what to do, he had no problem going up on stage, but there were no guitars present, all people had played was the piano or keyboard, so he had to play that. He then suddenly had a good idea, he knew what he was going to play, and it would be perfect for a party. Once most people had gone up, Ace apologised to the girls and went up to the keyboard that was on the small stage, he changed a few settings and sped up the tempo a bit. He was planning on playing Yiruma's 'River Flows In You', he had liked this song and it was one of the first songs he had learnt to play on the piano, so he was pretty confident in playing it in front of a crowd, he had never really tried to sing so he had to choose this one since it had no vocals and he could just focus on playing.

The lights went off, and a dim white light focused on him and the keyboard. He smiled at the crowd and began playing. The version he was playing was at a slightly faster tempo and had some chords that he modified slightly on the fly. The crowd was silent throughout the performance, and a heavy atmosphere hung around the crowd, like a low mist, descending to the city.

Once he finished, the crowd cheered and applauded, and the adrenaline galloped around his body, Ace captured the feeling, and felt elated, even as he was going down, people seemed to still be cheering and as he walked past, they patted him on the back. As he came up to the girls, they looked at him amazed and Sophie said, "You bastard, so you could do music…", Ace just shrugged and smiled.

They crowd cheered for a while and no one else came up to perform, so the girl from the Committee went up on stage again, "Well done everyone, thank you for performing! But I think we already know the winner, the guy who got the most cheers, freshman and piano playerrrrrr, Ace!", the crowd cheered and shouted in agreement, and Ace smiled and waved as the lights went unto him in the corner of where he was. "The points will be transferred to you in the morning, but for now, let the party continue!", and with that, she walked off the stage and the DJ continued blasting music.

Ace and the girls were happily chatting and Trace had also come out from wherever he was and was hanging out with them as well, however, to the amusement of the other three, Trace was absolutely hammered, he was still drinking but he looked like he was about to drop on the floor.

It was all going great, but suddenly it wasn't. A group of three guys came up to the small corner where they were, they looked to be sophomores and were clearly there to start some trouble. "Hey! Pipsqueaks, what are you doing here, hiding from everyone!", the boy pushed through the crowd and nearby party goers shut up and stared at the altercation that was sure to begin, "Come on! The geniusss must be at the forefrrront of thhhhe parrrty.", the boy was slurring his words, adn was looking for trouble, then he spotted Amy and Sophie and got closer to them, "Hey girls! What do you ssssay a morrrre mature man showssss you how to havvve a good time in a parrrrty."

Ace got closer to the guy and said, "Hey. If you got beef with me, there is no need to involve anyone else". The boy smiled at this and he pushed Ace into the center of the dance floor, at this, the people quieted down, and the DJ, spotting a chance for good entertainment, quieted down the music. "Come on then, lessss havve thiss beef you keepp talking abbout.", and with that, the boy swung a punch.

He was extremely drunk, but that just meant he put more power into his blows, if Ace got caught by one of those, it was game over for him. Ace dogged, and kicked the guy in the leg, as expected he went down, and with another kick to the back of the neck, he slumped on the floor.

"Watch out!", someone shouted and Ace spun around lashing out a foot as he did so, he had spotted the other two goons sneaking behind him, so he had already prepared for a sneak attack. The turning kick caught one in the face and he was knocked out, the other lunged at Ace and caught his arm, but an elbow to the back of the shoulder and a jab to the bridge of the nose got rid of him as well. And with that, Ace had dealt with three upperclassmen. He smiled sheepishly at the girls and Trace, and walked into the elevator, calling a cab as soon as he could, and getting ready for Monday.