High Impact || Genshin Impact H.S AU

Chapter 6.3

Clutching her diaphragm and holding the phone close to her mouth to record the vocals, Barbra sings with all of her heart. Her throat tightens as she breaths out the notes, rapidly changing the pitches and notes according to the song. The speaker plays a pop song about recovery and persistence, something she always believed in.

Hitting the high note and bending a bit for dramatic effect, she ends the song with a bang. She smiles, seeing her teeth shine in the wall mirror in front of her, she was proud of herself for hitting the high note she was practicing for all day. She already stopped the recording and was prepared to set her laptop up so she can check it out and see if she uploaded another cover.

Since she hadn’t debuted yet but still had a fanbase, she needed to maintain it with covers, always aiming to upload once a week. She pulls up her audio editing software, having learned how to edit her own audio and videos after watching hours of tutorials to upload decent-quality videos.

Barbra softly smiles, hearing her voice sing the lyrics, and do well. Her ears prick up and wince when she realizes she had accidentally recorded part of the actual song that played in the background.

“Ugh, guess I’ll have to do better,” she grumbled, annoyed at the constant mistake that comes when she recorded herself singing. She didn’t have any professional recording equipment or a vocal studio due to Alice admitting they don’t have the funds, so it has always been her phone. Alice once got a small microphone to help but then it broke easily, and Barbra was back to using her phone.

She closes her laptop, having to scrap the audio and try again, this time distancing farther away from the speaker. She moved to a farther spot in the practice room and pulls up her music streaming platform. Looking for the song, she spots it while scrolling an old playlist.

Songs to cover with the group

She grimaced at the sight of the old playlist, clicking on it only to see songs that required multiple people to sing along. Her heart aches a bit, seeing that some of the songs were her childhood favorites, something she would sing along on the radio. The songs that got Alice to notice her.

She looked up from her phone and examined the old practice room. The cracked mirrors, the single speaker, and the wood which was thankfully in good condition. She looks to the door and saw it missing a hinge, along with its window being cracked.

Deep inside her, she feels the doubt and fear that grows every day as she continues to be alone and a trainee. Thoughts telling her that this was a bad idea, that she shouldn’t be here, telling her to give up her dreams. She refused to do so though, determined to debut, and become an idol, spreading happiness with her music.
But one thought inside of her always provoked her the most.

“Still lonely I see, no one ever going to join you,” Barbra always felt a gut punch when that idea pops up. She may have supportive friends, she doesn’t have members alongside her, joining her. Whenever she imagines debuting, she dreams of three or more other pretty girls dancing alongside her. She wished for the camaraderie that she witnesses in idol groups, becoming friends and close together, achieving dreams together.

Yet she stands alone, phone in her hand and a speaker in the distance. She knew she couldn’t sing just yet, needing to get rid of all the bad vibes she kept thinking and feeling of. So, she just did some jumping jacks. Part of being a trainee required being fit for dancing and exercise was the best course for that.

Over the years, she had faced many ups and downs, times where fear and doubt would fill and stunt her, so she would exercise the energy out. Sometimes she would sing a ballad and feel depressed, so she would go on a run right after, developing the happy chemicals back into her brain. Other times when feeling overwhelmed, she would just do workouts till her muscles were sore and she was tired.

It had made her surprisingly fit a point where she beat Rosaria at an arm wrestle, scaring the tall goth girl. Barbra always held pride on that day, knowing that she gained a bit more respect from Rosaria that day.

Feeling slightly better, she pressed play on the song and began to sing. Only to be interrupted by a phone call.

“Ugh” Barbra groans, annoyed at the interruption. She coughs, hoping to make her voice sound a bit less tired and sweaty, aiming to sound peppy, she answers the phone call.

“Hello, it is me, Barbra!” Barbra exclaims, brightening up.

“Uh, hi Barbra, it’s me, Jean,” Jean said awkwardly. For some reason, Jean sounded odd, her voice deep and low.

“Oh, hey Jean, what’s wrong?” Barbra says, usually hearing from Jean if Alice was busy with something or if she needed a babysitter for Klee. Barbra did feel a bit awkward around Jean since she was her principal, but she learned over time that Jean was just a worrying mother life figure, always caring and very sweet.

“Um there’s no easy way to say this, but she’s gone,” Jean said. Barbra’s heartbeat increased, confused and anxious now.

“What do you mean gone? Who’s gone anyway?” Barbra asked, raising her voice a bit.

“Alice,” Jean whispers. In the background, Barbra could hear Klee’s whining. Barbra felt her stomach drop to the pits of hell, her body shaking. She hears Jean say something else, but Barbra felt too out of it, her mind elsewhere, processing the news.

Instantly, she hangs up with Jean while she was mid-sentence, not caring about the woman at that moment.

She felt her face littered with tears, now pouring as her mind goes into overdrive, realizing what it means for her and her dreams now that Alice was gone. She glances at the room, realizing that she won’t have a practice room for long now that Alice was gone. Gasping and sobbing, she crumbles, falling to her knees and feeling the wood with her hands. She was scared to lose her connection to her dreams, scared that years of hard work with no payoff, and scared of so much more.