Red Sleeves Beckon Throughout the School (Please Vote!)

Red Sleeves Beckon Throughout the School (Please Vote!)

County High School.

Auditorium.

Backstage.

Five minutes earlier.

"Sheldon, are you sure you don't want to stay backstage?"

Adam confirmed it again and again. "You can still play the keyboard backstage. It's only separated by a curtain, and there's practically nothing blocking the sound..."

"No."

Little Sheldon looked puzzled. "Why would I stay backstage?"

"Yeah, why?"

Emmett was confused.

"Are you worried Sheldon might get stage fright?"

Juno's eyes shifted, and she guessed the answer.

"Mm, not might."

Adam gave a bitter smile. "He definitely will. Sheldon has panic disorder. Once he really gets onstage, there are only two possible outcomes. Either he turns around and runs, or his legs go weak, he can't run, and he passes out right there onstage."

"Huh? How did you know I have panic disorder?"

Little Sheldon asked in surprise.

I know way too many strange things about you.

That was what Adam mocked inwardly, but aloud, he said, "Mrs. Cooper told me. Are you sure you still want to go onstage? How about taking a peek at the stage from behind the curtain first?"

Actually, Adam also hoped Little Sheldon could go onstage. After all, there was still a huge difference between performing in front of the audience and staying behind the scenes. But he knew what Little Sheldon was like. No matter how certain he sounded now, once it was time to go onstage, the only outcomes would be the two Adam had just described.

This was one of the problems Adam had never considered when he invited Little Sheldon in the first place.

"Mm, that works."

Little Sheldon tilted his head and thought about it, deciding it was a good idea. He walked up to the curtain and gently pulled it open. Onstage, Cash was singing at the top of his lungs, while the packed crowd of students below screamed without pause.

Thump!

Thump, thump!

Thump, thump, thump!

Little Sheldon's pupils contracted. Everything before his eyes began to feel dreamlike and unreal. His heart raced, his breathing quickened, and then... there was no then.

"Adam, you were right. I'd better stay backstage."

Little Sheldon pulled the curtain shut. His body had gone a little weak as he blankly walked over to Adam and the others, saying it with a sudden change of heart.

Juno: "..."

Emmett: "..."

Adam gave Juno an I told you so look, then nodded with a smile. "Relax. Take deep breaths. If you really feel uncomfortable, it's fine if you don't join us this time. Take it slowly in the future."

They were not professionals, after all. Missing a keyboard player would not make that much difference.

"Huff... huff..."

After taking several deep breaths, Little Sheldon's panic eased considerably. He shook his head. "I can do it."

Then he hurriedly added, "Backstage."

"Fine, then that's the arrangement."

Seeing that Cash and the others were nearly finished, Adam stopped wasting words and made the decision. He moved Little Sheldon's electronic keyboard into position, then heard the host call out.

"...Now, please welcome the Fruit Hard Candy Band, performing their, uh, half-original piece, 'Don't Cry'!"

"Gently tell me,

There are a thousand unspoken words in your eyes,

Don't hang your head because of sorrow,

Please don't cry."

Adam walked onto the stage while playing his guitar, the melody soft and gentle. Under the spotlight, his utterly ordinary face seemed to shine brightly. With that face enhancing it, his quiet singing truly sounded like a lover whispering intimately into someone's ear.

No one in the audience screamed or went wild, but Cash, standing at the edge of the stage, had already gone dark-faced. Most of the girls in his view were either clutching their chests or covering their mouths, and the heat in their eyes was enough to burn everything.

If he had known an Eastern saying, he would have said: silence was more powerful than sound.

The temporary calm was merely a sign that the storm was about to arrive.

"...

Don't cry tonight!

I still love you, baby!

Don't cry tonight!

Heaven is right above your head!

Don't cry tonight!

I actually thought I lived in your world!

..."

Sure enough, when they reached the copied section in the latter half, the mood abruptly shifted and became soaring and fervent. The entire audience exploded.

It was not just the girls. Even the boys and parents were swept up in the emotion. Following the rhythm, they began shouting their hearts out. Who had never had the impulse to go mad for love?

The center of gravity of the entire auditorium moved with Adam's footsteps.

"This... this!"

The members of Emotion Band stared at the scene, which looked like a superstar concert, all of them dumbfounded.

"This sounds like a Guns N' Roses song..."

One member muttered, "But the chorus is very different. It feels... it feels even better than Guns N' Roses' version."

Guns N' Roses, also known as GNR, had only formed a few years ago in 1985. But ever since releasing their first album in 1987, they had risen like a rocket and become the hottest rock band of the moment, with countless young people obsessed with them.

This song, "Don't Cry," was one Guns N' Roses had performed in bars when they had first started out. It had not appeared on an album or been officially released, so practically no one knew it except the most veteran rock fans.

The members of Emotion Band happened to be among those most veteran rock fans. But precisely because they knew, they were even more shocked than the audience members who were lost in the music.

They were merely high school students playing as amateurs, yet someone had managed to rearrange a song by the kings of rock—and rearrange it so well. Worse still, they were competing against them.

God!

What had they done?!

Adam sang with abandon. Catching sight of Emotion Band's stunned faces from the corner of his eye, he smiled faintly. Being a plagiarizing transmigrator really was satisfying.

He had no idea this song would one day remain at the top of the world's ten greatest classic rock songs for years, nor did he know how influential it would be in the United States. But he did know one thing: he would not have to streak.

And...

Looking at the people below, all wearing crazed expressions, Adam's heart trembled. He secretly told himself, This is the United States. Boys really need to protect themselves when they're out...

"Cash, what do we do?"

Watching the Fruit Hard Candy Band being called back by the audience to perform again and again, the members of Emotion Band finally came back to their senses and looked worriedly at their leader.

"Do we strip or not?"

"Strip!"

Cash was silent for a long time before gritting his teeth.

"We're really doing it?"

The members cried out in alarm.

"We really are!"

Cash gritted his teeth. "What happened tonight is bound to shake the rock scene. Unless we never play rock again, we have to strip. Streaking is actually nothing. Like rock, it's art. But going back on our word definitely isn't art. So yes, we're doing it!"

"Oohhh!"

The members of Emotion Band immediately howled in despair.

After the party ended, under cover of darkness and amid everyone's laughter, Cash led the Emotion Band members on ten laps of actual streaking. Adam and the others felt satisfied, but they also had to admire their courage.

Savage. City folks sure knew how to have fun!

The next day.

"Hey, Adam."

"Hey, Adam~"

"Hey, Adam!"

The moment Adam walked through the school gates, he immediately sensed that things were different. Everywhere he went, girls stood around in little groups, pointing at him and whispering. Some looked at him with fiery allure, while others shyly looked away. From time to time, giggles and playful shrieks rang out.

For a moment, it truly was as if red sleeves beckoned throughout the school.