Rainbow Vision: Rewritten

Chapter 3- Eclipse

If you were to walk through the halls of the second floor of Shadow High, you'd hear a LOT of noise.

The music room was currently being filled with the heavy sounds of distorted guitars, crashing drums, and sick vocals. Neon Shadow, Shadow High's most prominent school band, was having a practice session. 

Was it going well? That's more up to interpretation.

"MARA! HOW many times do I have to tell you to leave the snare ALONE at the end of the chorus!" 

Neon Shadow's drummer tossed her mane of hot pink crimps and smiled angelically.

"Ya know, Harley, I feel like your bassline is really lacking something at the tail end of that phrase. I'm just trying to fill in your empty space."

The green haired frontwoman furrowed her brows and clutched her bass closer. "There's an art to knowing when NOT to play, Mara. And it's clearly something you don't have down yet."

Mara spun her silver drumsticks and thumped out a rudimentary beat on the toms. "Why would I care about not playing? The drums should be playing always! You should give me a solo, Harley. A drum solo! Who doesn't love a drum solo?"

"I don't." Harley humphed and turned back to her mic, making sure it was angled properly. 

"Uma, you've been quiet." Mara turned to their resident guitarist, who was currently fiddling around with her high E string. The indigo musician sighed. 

"You and Harley always have something to argue about. I just can't get a word in edgewise."

"Whatever." Mara spun around on her drumming stool and continued to smash the drums haphazardly. 

"WE'RE TRYING TO TUNE!" Harley and Uma shouted in perfect unison. 

Mara narrowed her light blue eyes. "You always are when I'm trying to drum." 

Just then, the music room doors opened. "Hey, this is a closed practi- oh." Uma backed away as the Storm Twins entered.

Naomi and Veronica Storm, the two most intimidating, conniving students at Shadow High. They always had SOMEONE or SOMETHING under their thumb, and they were willing to do whatever it took to get to the top of the chain.

Harley squared her shoulders and looked them straight in the eye.

"What do you want? We're trying to prep for Rainbow Vision and we would appreciate if you didn't interrupt."

Naomi glowered. "Cool your jets, mullet girl. We had a proposition." 

The members of Neon Shadow glanced at each other, curious but vaguely uncomfortable with the whole situation. 

"I assume you've all signed up for Rainbow Vision by now?" Veronica asked, casually popping a bright pink bubble of gum.

"Yeah." Harley said nonchalantly. "Signups were online yesterday."

The twins looked at each other and nodded. 

"Don't you think it's... a little ODD how Rainbow High has won every single Rainbow Vision competition since its creation?"

"Nope, not all of them!" Mara chimed in from the back. "Egypt School of the Arts won in '88!" She tapped her chin thoughtfully with a drumstick. "Although... they were ALSO barred from all future competitions after that... somethin' about them cheating. I dunno."

"Interesting." Naomi sneered. "Our point is! Rainbow High created the competition, it's always on their home turf, and saturated with nothing but Rainbow High students. Isn't it suspicious how they slay the competition every single year?"

Harley shrugged. "I mean, it IS a little weird. But nothing we can't handle. We're good, we can take them EASY." 

"Not if Rainbow High is cheating." 

The room was silent for a moment as that sunk in. They'd all been thinking it, anyway, even if Naomi was the one to finally say it out loud. 

"I don't get what that has to do with us." Harley finally said. 

"We're going to level the playing field this year." Veronica said. "It's only fair if students from every participating school are allowed to participate in Rainbow Vision, and NOT just the musical aspect. We're talking sets, costumes, hosting, filming- everything."

Neon Shadow shared a look again. "How are we supposed to help?" Uma asked.

"You won't need to help with that part JUST yet. Leave it to us, and... a confidant of ours. But we're going to make sure Shadow High wins this year. We're selecting you as the ones we sponsor to go on through every level of Rainbow Vision." Naomi extended a hand to Harley. "What do you say?"

Harley blinked, staring at Naomi's spiky 4 inch manicure. 

"Hell no." She hefted her bass and looked at her bandmates. "We're in it to win it just as much as you guys. And we agree that all schools should have an even footing. But we're musicians, not cheaters. Take your offer elsewhere."

Harley expected an outburst, but the twins were surprisingly calm.

"Fine. Have it your way, Neon Shadow." Naomi said. "We have other students who we can push to the top. But you'll regret this."

The twins left the practice room, letting the steel doors swing shut with a crash of finality.