"My Christmas went pretty well. My mom was very happy that I was able to celebrate it with my family. My brother recently got a scholarship for his college too, so it was pretty great. What about you all?"

Jackson asked as he scanned his eyes to the people in front of him. The whole band of Dreamers was sitting there along with Wade in The Rabbit hole.

All of them were meeting after holidays, so the natural topic was how they had celebrated Christmas.

"I went to meet my grandfather. My parents were busy, so I just spent time with him."

Cameron replied in a stoic tone. Emily shook his head at his short answer and tone that seemed to say that he didn't care a lot about holidays. Turning towards Aiden, she asked.

"What about you, Aiden? You were busy polishing your award during Christmas or returned home?"

"I was here in New York." Aiden replied with a smile. "Too busy to go home. I just celebrated it with my uncle and cousins."

"Busy during Christmas?" Emily raised an eyebrow.

"He had a lot of interviews scheduled. A lot of small and some big media outlets wanted to interview him after his win at Indie Music awards."

Wade answered instead of him.

After winning the award, Aiden's stocks had risen a lot for a while in the American music scene.

It was a typical effect of one being in the public eye after doing something big but it had soon died down at the end of December as more prestigious award shows were coming.

But during that time, Aiden was going from one place to another to give interviews about his win and his plans for the future.

"I think I should start calling you Mr. Famous from now on." Emily joked while Cameron gave him a glare.

The blonde guy felt a bit jealous of his success but in the end, there was not a lot he could do. Aiden had worked hard in the time when he had stopped focusing on singing.

In the end, he himself was to blame for his rival moving ahead in his career.

"Anyway, any news from Animeroll? You haven't received any calls yet. They should have come to a decision by now."

Jackson suddenly asked, looking at Wade who shook his head. The reason the whole band was back in New York was due to the title track.

Animeroll had said that they will notify them today, so they were waiting for it in the bar.

"I think the meeting will come to an end soon and they will soon notify us. Let's say half an hour more."

Wade said, taking a look at his watch. It was almost evening and they were already sitting there for some hours.

"I really hope we win." Emily muttered, suddenly looking a bit worried.

"Our opponent is a big band. It won't be easy."

"Their latest music is very average, so I don't think they will win." Cameron said. "They are past their prime."

That was his verdict as he had listened to most of the music attached with Ryse. Although he didn't show it, Cameron was equally worried as everyone else.

"It doesn't matter if they are past their prime or if they are too old." Jackson retorted. "They are one step away from becoming a mainstream band and that gives them a huge edge over us. Who had even heard of Dreamers?"

Saying that, Jackson leaned against his seat. There was a frown on his face and the atmosphere around their table was getting worse and worse.

Even Emily wasn't able to smile now that it had gotten so serious.

It was then that Aiden opened his mouth.

"I think you all are worrying too much. Just a moment ago, you were talking about holidays and now the atmosphere is so tense."

He said, taking a sip from his glass.

"Are you not feeling nervous? Or you are over confident after getting an award?"

Jackson couldn't help but ask. The last time he remembered Aiden was the composer and vocalist of the song but he was acting like he had no tension on his head.

"I'm nervous too and no, I'm not over confident." Aiden gave a light smile. "I'm just trying hard to be confident. After all, we worked damn hard to make a good song and it's a good song in my ears."

Emily chuckled at the last part and raised her small head to stare at Aiden.

"I think it's a good song too but it's just the thought of what if it isn't enough to become the title track? Maybe I should have worked harder?"

Jackson and Cameron nodded their heads. Sometimes, even their best wasn't enough. It was because of that they were restless, praying that the song would get selected and wondering what would happen if it didn't.

It was truly a strange feeling.

"We worked hard enough. Moreover, there's a lot we could do even if the song doesn't get selected."

Aiden was someone who had experienced failure and he also knew that even after failure, there's many things they could try.

One door closes and another opens You just need to find the new door that has opened.

"What can we do?" Cameron raised an eyebrow.

"If the song didn't get selected, we will shoot a music video for it and go around college festivals to sing it. As the quality is pretty good, I'm sure it will get its own audience." ,c,om

It was Wade who answered. He and Aiden had already planned out everything. Wade was someone who always liked making a lot of plans for everything, so he will never dive into something without thinking it through.

The anime title track was the same.

"That's a good plan."

Jackson said and for a moment, the atmosphere cooled a bit as the tension released a bit.

At least, they weren't pinning everything on getting selected and already had backup plans in case things go wrong.

'I really hope we get selected.'

Aiden thought, taking another sip from the glass.

It was then that Wade's phone suddenly rang.

Everyone focused on it like it was the most important thing in the world. Feeling a bit nervous, Wade took it out and his eyes shined.

"It's Animeroll." He said and Jackson gulped.

"Pick it up quickly."

Wade nodded and picked it up.

For the next few minutes, every pair of eyes dug into his skin as he finished his talk with the person on the other hand.

When he put down his phone, he had a frown on his face. Emily and Jackson both became disappointed thinking that the result was not in their favour.

"What happened?" Aiden asked.

"Ah, well we got in. Our song was selected as the title track."

Wade said, feeling all sorts of emotions for a moment.

Hearing that, Jackson, who looked like he had lost his country in a war just a second ago, jumped up in joy and looked at Wade.

"We really got in?"

"Yes, Animeroll selected our song after a lot of discussions as they felt like it's fresh. They are going to send out a press release confirming it right after we sign the contract."

After that, celebrations truly began.

Emily looked like she was overwhelmed with 10 thousand emotions and there were even tears in her eyes while Jackson just shouted excitedly. Cameron just drank but there was a smile on his face.

'We got in somehow. It was getting harder to stay calm.'

He thought, letting out a deep sigh.

As the composer and vocalist, he was doing his best to act like the wait wasn't making him tense because if he had acted like Jackson, his bandmates would have gotten more nervous.

But in the end, it had all worked out for good.

They have beaten Ryse!

***

"We didn't get in!"

LZ, the composer of the band Ryse, frowned as he finished talking with an employee from Animeroll. The other members of the band, Kat and the leader, Orion looked at him with a hardened face.

"What do you mean by that? Why didn't we get selected?" Kat asked and LZ wasn't able to stop himself from lashing out.

"I don't know, bitch. They just told me that the track won't work with the American audience. The other track submitted to them was better."

"I fucking told you to not make it too similar to the original. We should have gone for an innovative song instead of taking inspiration."

Kat frowned. Her opinions were always rejected in the band and it was infuriating her, for a long time. Now that they lost out on getting the title track in their name, she couldn't help but not hold anything back.

"You two are too much in your own worlds and don't focus on music. Especially you, Orion." She pointed at the leader of the band who was just silent till now. "You spend more time in hotel rooms with your female fans than actually making music."

"What the fuck you said?"

Orion shouted, not willingly to take such accusations in his face. He also had a lot of hopes with the title track but somehow, they got rejected.

His mind was a mess at the moment.

"I said what you heard."

"You are just a bitch who doesn't know anything. If it wasn't for me, you would have become a stripper."

Like that, the members of the band fought amongst themselves. It was a bit tragic but a band always required respect among the members which was not present in Ryse.

A month after that, news came out that Ryse had broken up.

...