Out of the Blue - Making the Band

[London Zentaro]

Harmony and I sat back to back in the bean bag chairs we had dragged into the small storage/music room. The school agreed that we could use room six, a small room used to house some unusable band instruments, a couple of file cabinets full of old sheet music, and a small upright piano on casters that had seen better days. It it gave us a secure place to store all of our gear, and a place to practice so long as we kept the "din to an acceptable level," and that we didn't trash the place.

Chris had helped set everything up. It was his first "roadie" job. We'd stacked file cabinets and moved all the instruments to one corner, tubas, flutes and clarinets ruined by various super powers or just general wear and tear. When we were done, it looked like a decent enough studio, we had a few metal folding chairs (borrowed from the main concert hall) a couple of semi-decent stands in case we needed them, but more importantly a big enough area we could put our amps, keyboard, guitars and recording equipment. As of yesterday, we added a couple of large bean bag chairs bought at some outlet store, tie-dye for Harmony, mine a bright purple.

It was just a chill sort of thing, not even a real practice, something to do because we were bored and the weather sucked, so for the most part, we banged out sixties songs on the acoustics.

"Think of your fellow man
Lend him a helping hand" Harmony began, slow, low and easy.

"Put a little love in your heart." My voice joined hers.

"You see it's getting late
Oh please don't hesitate"

"Put a little love in your heart"

"And the world (And the world)
Will be a better place
And the world (And the world)
Will be a better place
For you(For you)
And me (and me)
You just wait (Just wait)
And see...."

I couldn't help but smile. I love just kicking back now and again, Harmony in her torn jeans and Reef Wisps, and I'd shuffled there in my Hard Rock Vegas flannels and old Crocs. Chris tapped his hand against the top of the Marshall he planted himself on in time with the music, even though I knew mellow wasn't exactly his thing. I told him we were going unplugged, he said he didn't have anything better to do anyway. For the most part, we were real lucky recruiting him for a roadie, even if neither of us bothered telling him that. He knew all sorts of ways to jury rig things, though he'd never really say where that particular skill came from. Even though he was more east coast, he never acted it. He seemed to "get" it - there when we needed him, scarce when we didn't, and when it came to hooking things up to sound good- he was all business.

We finished the last verse, singing the chorus one extra time, and both dissolving into a fit of giggles as we drew out the last note. I rested the back of my head against hers, and she messed around with some basic riffs.

"So listen..." I said after a minute. "I e-mailed this guy about jamming with us."
"Angel boy again? He belted out a damn good Sonic Youth."
"Anthony Kite, no, different guy. I dunno if you met him. Mal's his name."
"Might have." She said back. "Maybe he didn't make an impression."
"The hero."
"Oh, him, yeah? What's he play?"
"He said he's good on bass."
"I play bass."
"Yeah, and then complain about how hard it is to sing and play bass at the same time."
"That's because it's hard to sing and play bass at the same time."
"McCartney did it."
"McCartney's not here."
"So are you cool with it? He's gonna swing by tomorrow, show us what he's got. Be easier when we play out, no ads in the paper."
"You mean make him permanent?"
"Dunno. Let's see if he's good. We'd sound a lot better if we had regulars. And then we can play an original or two."
"We can give him a shot. What's his pref?"
"Not sure. I'll see if he e-mailed me back." I lazily shot a pleading glance to Chris, who raised his eyes, but chuckled as he slid off the amp over to the Mac set up in the corner. He made some smart ass comment I couldn't hear over Harmony's riff, but I smiled regardless as he typed in a few words to get to my e-mail.
"Just something from Warcry at Zentaro dot com." He called over. Harmony and I both made a disgusted noise.
"Delete."
"Might be about our allowance." Harmony reminded me. Our parents were pretty good about wiring money every month. Not a lot or anything mind you, but they bought studio time if we needed it, and gave us some pocket cash so we wouldn't have to get nose to the grind jobs that'd take away from practicing.
"Save." I changed my mind, and Chris shook his head with another chuckle. He helped himself to a soda from our cooler and went back to his spot on the Marshall, thumping his foot this time as Harmony started in on the Stones "As Tears Go By." I joined in, and went down the mental checklist in my head.

We have a roadie and a possible bass player. Now all we need is a drummer. It's all coming together.

[London Zentaro]

((Thanks to Mal!))

The blue haired boy stood outside the studio and knocked. Harmony and London may have likely have missed it, except for Chris turning down the sound on an amp and pointing to the door.

"Well, he's polite." Harmony quipped with a chuckle, setting her own guitar down and picking up a spiral notebook.

"If he can play? Who cares?" London shot back, giving him a wave in through the window.

"Sorry I'm late, I needed to touch base with my science teacher about..." Both Zentaros tuned him out, Harmony drawing a small flower in the corner of her notebook, and London blowing softly into a pitch pipe.

"No problem." Harmony finally interjected as Mal went about removing his guitar from it's hardwood case which had seen better days.

"Is that a Gibson?" London asked, nodding to the black lacquered finished bass that Mal was slinging over his shoulder.

"This? Yeah, it was my Dad's..." He explained.

"He in a band?" Both girls asked together, dropping whatever previously held their interest.

"What? Um, sort of. I think. As far as I know, it never went anywhere." Mal explained, as he adjusted the strap on his neck. Chris fumbled with some wires, feeding one end of a cord into an unused amp, and running the other to Mal. Mal nodded a thanks, pushing his glasses against the bridge of his nose before hooking in.

"Well he had good taste in guitars." London complimented, as both girls nodded. They had more than their share of hand-me-down equipment, none of which they considered a "freebie." Each came with a price - they'd have to listen to the story of what tour, which video shoot, or what city the guitar made its way into. Repeatedly.

"All set?" Harmony asked. Mal quietly nodded once.

"Show us what you got." London chimed in. Mal blushed slightly and hit a few notes while Chris adjusted the bass level and volume on the amp. Both girls exchanged a glance as he gave himself a four count then continued counting as he hit all the tabs perfectly, methodically. After a minute, London made a face at Harmony, who shook her head in response.

"Hold up, Hero." London called, as both girls picked up their own guitars. He shot each of them a puzzled look, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, you got the mechanics down just fine."

"But that's what it is, mechanic." Harmony chimed in mimicking the robot dance as Chris set a wire in each of their guitars.

"Don't think. Just play." London coaxed.

"You gotta feel it." Harmony added. "Don't be so uptight."

"Um, what...exactly do you mean by that?" Mal responded hesitantly

"The uniform probably doesn't help." London replied, more to Harmony this time.

"I didn't have time to..." but neither London or Harmony were listening at that point. Harmony reached over to loosen his tie and undo the first few buttons of his dress shirt, while London pushed up his sleeves and messed with the hair on the top of his head, ruffling it and tufting it up into little spikes. Mal objected with a swat of his hand when it came to his bangs, but by then both girls took a step back, satisfied with the results for the most part. Finally Harmony stepped back in slid his glasses off, handing them to London, who handed them off to Chris.

"Hey, um, I kinda need those to see..." Mal protested

"Are you planning on reading sheet music?" London asked.
"You know where all the notes are." From Harmony.
"So just try to keep up." London added with a grin.
"From the bridge." Harmony decided.

London took two practice starts, a little rusty at Mal's selection, but playing off of his steady beat. The three of them grimaced when a few notes clashed, but somewhere before they hit the chorus, it just clicked. Mal stopped hitting notes, and started playing the song.

"Go Hero!" London cheered as they continued playing. Mal bobbed his head and tapped his foot to keep time rather than counting aloud.

"Yeah!" Harmony encouraged as Mal started putting his own spin on the song. "You got it!" This time if Mal heard it, he gave no inclination. He played off of them and they played back and by the time they hit the second chorus, most of the awkwardness had worn off. Harmony sang the chorus un-mic'd, loud and strong.

"Sing with me, sing for the years
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, if its just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good lord will take you away.."

He smiled a little as the song ended, balling up a fist and expanding his left hand after the work out. London and Harmony nodded between themselves.

"Got another one in you?" Harmony asked, as London peeked outside the door to make sure the area was clear.

"Let's add a little loud to it!"

[Laurel Fitte]

“Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea…”

“Oh god, did I say that out loud?”

Laurel looked up to see if London and Harmony were staring at her like she was a freak. They weren’t. London was fingering chords and mouthing words to some unknown song and Harmony was leafing through a notebook. Neither of them appeared to have heard anything. Of course, that was a problem too, because they were supposed to be hearing something.

Laurel looked down at the drum sticks in her hands. At the small kit she’d been sitting at for almost ten minutes. She’d been full of confidence the other night. “Hey, are you still looking for a drummer? ‘Cause I can play…”. It was a chance to be part of something. To fit in with a group. Something Laurel wasn’t all that used to. She’d never been a part of anything in her life. Always on the fringe, the periphery. An attachment. An extra. With, but not with.

She could do it, too. Laurel could play. Snare with the school band since she was eleven, then finally convincing her dad to get her a full kit a few years ago. She’d banged away on that thing for hours in the basement, playing along with CD’s or jamming with Terry Arneson. “Ah Terry,” she thought, shaking her head sadly. “Did I really think he was going to like me? He only came over hoping to see Krystal…”

The silence was shattered as one of Laurel’s sticks smashed against the snareskin.

“Oh shit,” she thought to herself, realizing she had everyone’s attention. “I’m not ready! I haven’t played since before…”. Laurel hit the snare again, hoping inspiration would come. Then one of the toms. She tried the crash. Banged her foot on the bass drum petal. Nothing felt natural. She was getting anxious and frustrated. And warm, which was never a good sign for her. She started hitting things left and right, flailing and stomping.

There is a subtle yet powerful difference between the sound of a confident drummer striking an instrument and the sound of two objects smashing into each other with random velocity. No one was hearing the former right now.

“Oh god, where is it? Why won’t it come?” Laurel cried in her head. Finally, she stopped and risked a look up. The Zentaro cousins weren’t looking at her. They were looking at each other. Laurel was pretty sure the expressions on their faces meant “Well, looks like this was a waste of time”. She felt like she was going to be sick. She was surrounded by smoke, one of the unfortunate side-effects of her mutation. Inside, she felt like she was on fire. Which probably meant she was.

She raised her hand to throw one of the sticks against the wall when she noticed Chris, sitting quietly in the corner. He didn’t say anything, he just looked over and smiled. Then he nodded his head towards the kit as if to say “Go on, keep playing.”

Chris knew what was happening with her. She’d told him about how she had to force things until they snapped into place for her. How it happened when she was fighting, and it was just like drumming. He knew she was forcing it now, waiting for the groove to snap into place. She had to do things deliberately.

“Okay then, so let’s deliberate.” Laurel looked down at the snare. It was what she knew best. “A roll,” she thought. She could do a roll in her sleep. That’s something she could do deliberately. Almost before she finished the thought she was running the sticks across the snareskin, tapping out a simple marching roll. “Okay now, let’s mix in some tom”. Her hands snapped out, hitting the toms one by one, then she rolled down them all in succession…

It came.

Where once there was noise, now the kit was producing a solid beat. A pretty powerful one, in fact. Rock, but with a bit of shuffle to it. Laurel lost herself in the rhythm, not even sure where she’d heard this beat before. She just knew if felt good, and natural, and her meter was perfect. She threw in some fills for fun, and it all sounded as good as it felt.

After a couple minutes, she stopped and looked up. Harmony was looking at London with an expression Laurel was pretty sure meant “I guess she’ll do for now.” That was good enough. They both looked a lot happier than they had earlier, but also kind of annoyed, which Laurel didn’t quite understand.

“Not bad, Laurel,” London said finally. “Just do us a favour and never play that song again.”

With sudden embarrassment, Laurel realized where she’d heard that beat before.

[London Zentaro]

Boom boom tap, boom tap boom tap tap.

The beat resonated inside my head. Out of everything she could've picked, she goes with what was probably the most recognizable Zentaro song going. Harmony laced her fingers behind her head and I picked at some notes on the upright, crossing my eyes at Chris to pass some time until Laurel collected her stuff and left.

She was good - Laurel, I give her that, once she started going. We gave her a second chance to play something, and this time, she eased into the beat much quicker. It was edgier, not just a safe 2/4 count, she played on the upbeat, and I could see Harmony smirk out of the corner of my eye. Harmony is a fan of the three beat.

"So what do you think?" Harmony asked, sitting down next to me, picking out "Heart and Soul" with her right hand. I followed suit with the other bit of that as I shrugged my shoulders.

"Mal was really good. I mean, not Rob Bailey good, but he's got a little John Paul Jones, Jack Bruce thing going for him. And he's the bass player, all he has to do is stand there and play, he'll come off cool. The blue hair is a plus." I replied. Harmony nodded, and skipped her fingers down the keys in time to my rhythm.

"And Laurel?"

"She was smoking." I said after a small pause.

"You think? I thought she was good, maybe a little shaky at first, kept a decent beat, but..."

"No, I mean she was smoking, physically. I kept half expecting a nun to walk in and accuse us of lighting up." She giggled at that, and changed the tune she was picking out.

"Cuz everybody knows that smokin' ain't allowed in school." She sang in a baritone voice. I giggled and knocked into her.

"I'm just afraid - what if she like sets off a fire alarm or something?"

"This is Paragon." Harmony replied matter-of-fact. "Someone's gotta have something that can prevent that."

"Only you can prevent small venue fires?" I asked back in my best Smokey Bear voice. "She did keep a good beat. There was a spark, something when she got going. You could see she totally fell into the zone. I just don't want her to set fire to anything, or run screaming from the stage. She seem a little shy to you?"

"A little something. But she'll get it. 'Sides, she'll be in the back with a drum kit."

"Guys dig chick drummers. I hope she's cool with attention. I dunno. I think I'm willing to give her a shot."

"Even after boom-boom-tap, boom-tap-boom-tap-tap?" Harmony challenged and I snickered.

"That song's gonna haunt me." I warned.

But it was settled. Professionals were pretty much a bitch to work with, especially once they found out practice time was limited to curfew. Nothing says amateur night like "we need to be in for bed check." There were people waking up not long before we had to turn in. That's what *I* want. The hell with High School.

But for now, we're stuck, and crying about the situation, I'll leave that to the emo crowd. Emo indie never went anywhere anyway. We had a band. Mal said he was gonna get himself some sunglasses, change up his image a bit. Maybe Laurel will let me mess with her hair, change up her look, put a little personality behind the kit. Maybe she just needs time to get used to us and open up. Maybe I gotta get used to her and figure out what scene she's into. In anycase, take it or leave it, we've got a roadie. We've got a band.

It's all coming together.

[London Zentaro]

Harmony and I practiced every day from after school until dinner, same as back home, except back home we could play until Harmony's mom would get pissed off and cut the circuit breaker. Funny part was she'd do the same thing to our dads if they were in their studio too long. Laurel said she didn't have much going on so she was mostly there with us every day, except now and again when she went to bake cookies. We thought she was kidding about that part, I mean, baking? Then she came in one day with this plate of chocolate chips that were killer. They all disappeared one night when Harmony had the munchies, but great cookies were worth losing your drummer for, if it was only a few hours a week. Mal was there two or three afternoons a week, and then most of Sunday after church or whatnot, but Harmony and I weren't really early risers to begin with anyway. We blamed it on jetlag. Noon here is like 9 am in Vegas. Chris was with us most afternoons except when he went to play street ball with his pals from Skyway, or if I texted him during the day with some technical difficulty.

We all just sort of clicked. I mean, Harmony and I were used to playing off each other, we'd been for our whole lives. And even though Mal and Laurel were sort of new additions, we were playing confident enough after a couple of weeks to do some serious recording and get out a demo track.

It'd been only a few days since Harmony hand delivered the CD over to Rumors, this cool club over in New Troy, but I was still anxious to hear from them. I checked my phone after every class to see if there was a message, but I also knew it could take a few weeks even for them to check it out. We just had to wait. It was me, Laurel, Harmony and Chris at practice, Mal was out doing his hero thing or studying or doing whatever he did when he wasn't here. I should pay more attention, really. He's an excellent bassist.

The scene was pretty typical for a lazy Monday after a hard jam on Sunday. Laurel was changing out the skins of her snare, and I was just messing trying to learn "Flight of the Bumblebee" on my guitar, sort of as a contest I was having with Mal. Harmony sat at her Mac wearing thick headphones as she set out to work on something we had on the back burner.

"Shit." She hissed under her breath, spinning around to face me with a serious expression. "We got a problem." I shot her this worried look, figuring something happened to her computer. Sure we had all our editing and recording software, and we backed up the files every night, but still, that'd suck if something happened to her machine. She yanked the headphone cord out of her computer, but I didn't see the problem. I heard us, Out of the Blue, covering "Hot & Cold" through the speakers. I didn't see the problem. We sounded pretty damn good, even though the song itself was lame.

"So?" I asked, not getting it. She hit the eject button and pulled out a CD-RW, shaking it for emphasis.
"If this is here?" She said pointedly, jamming it in my direction. "Then what CD did I bring to Rumors?" It took a minute to register, and a second for my temper to flare.
"Didn't you label them?" I accused. Laurel shifted behind her drum kit, like she was trying to make herself invisible or something. Even Chris seemed to hang back, busying himself at my MacBook.
"I thought you labeled them." She shot back. "You left it on top of the Mac."
"Yeah, I left it there so you could label it!"
"In a case, which made me think you had labeled it!" She shot back and I huffed. We had dozens of custom cases made with the band name, our e-mail, and my cell number, but we usually light- scribed the CD as well. "And besides, you were the one who insisted on breaking up the practice for the side project to begin with."
"You were the one who agreed to it!" Both of us seethed for a second, then let out a sigh. We worked so hard. I kicked at a metal folding chair, unwilling to admit it, but it was partly my fault. We'd worked so hard.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

"From the top." Harmony had said as I jumped on the balls of my feet, the adrenaline from playing making me antsy. Laruel gave us a three count.

"You change your mind, like a girl changes clothes.
Yeah, you change your mind, like a girl I would know." Harmony sang. I hated the song. It was bubblegum at it's worst, like bubblegum with little bits of potato chips thrown in. I'm not that edgy, angst isn't my thing either, but Katy Perry is just one of those chicks we'd call a Womack back in Vegas. Attention whore, not really into anything, but will do or say almost anything because she thinks it's *gasp* shocking. Then she brags about how shocking she is. You wanna shock, chickie? Come to Paragon.

Yet there we were, me, Mal, Harmony and Laurel, trying to nail down a cover of her song for something like six days.

"You're wrong when it's right,
You're black when it's white,
We fight we break up,
We hug, we make up..." my voice joined Harmony's. Even though I hated the song, we knew the club owner would like it. Me, Chris and Laurel went and spent a few nights hanging around. All the bands - they covered top Billboard songs, so that's what we'd give them.

Harmony made a slashing motion with her hand, and I sighed heavily. Yeah, yeah, my fault. I missed a change up. D,A, D, G, B, E... I knew it in my sleep, yet for maybe the the third time, I skipped the second D and went straight to G which clashed bad with the A Mal was playing. It got to the point he asked me if he should change the chord to match me.

"I know, I know, I know." I apologized. I had a hundred excuses. My sleeping was all messed up, I was tired. I wasn't paying attention. Maybe I needed coffee. Maybe I needed a new song. "I just need a break is all. C'mon, let's work on that side thing."

"That side thing won't get us to play Rumors over in Talos." Harmony groused, but I shot her some puppy eyes, she rolled hers and caved.

"Fine, fine. We're not getting anywhere with this now anyway. Side project. From the top." She said as I motioned to Chris to start recording.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"So what do you want to do?" She asked, after both of us had calmed down.
"I dunno." I replied with a shrug. "Maybe I could call over to the club, explain what happened? See if they'll let me drop off another demo?"
"Couldn't hurt." She shrugged back. "Just make sure it's the right disc." I made a face and picked up the phone.
"Too late for that I think." Chris interjected from across the room, rubbing the back of his neck as he spun 180 on the swivel chair. "You got an e-mail from Jay Tate at Club Rumors." I looked at Harmony and she looked at me, dejected.

"What's it say?" I asked, preparing myself for the standard. "Thanks for the submission, blah, blah, we'll call you. Yank yank."

"Says... Thank you for the submission. They appreciate you taking the time, they..." He paused, reading the rest. Probably going to soften the blow. Instead he let out a surprised laugh looking back to us. " They think that joint is hot! DJ says the crowds been eatin' it up! " All of us paused, dead in our tracks.

"If you're jerking our chain, I'll frostbite everything you own from the waist down." Harmony warned.

"I swear, no playin'! Come look!" The three of us rushed over and crowded around him to stare at the laptop screen. We stood there speechless, as if we talked the e-mail would disappear and it would be a dream or something. "They gonna hit you up for this Thursday, teen night, hope you don't got any plans."

"Oh. My. God." Harmony and I said simultaneously. Laurel gripped my forearm.

Thursday- not only did we get a gig, not only were we playing out, we were playing an original! Not some crappy cover of some crappy song by some crappy band! This was OUR crappy song! I mean, our not crappy song. Our song! At Rumors! Thursday!

I think we pierced Chris' eardrum.

((Thanks, Chris, Harmony, Laurel & Mal for your input/dialog/help/awesomeness - and thanks to everyone who played along saying they'd come see the band in Talos on teen night! You're all the best!)

[London Zentaro]

Mal wasn't usually around on Tuesday. He was off doing Mal things, which I guess means heroing or studying, or... I don't think he does much else actually. I should really pay more attention. But it's cool, he does his thing, as long as he shows and holds it together on the bass, I'm more than glad to have him in the band. Since we were playing out on Thursday, he told us he'd try and be there for as many practices as possible before then, but also mentioned something about having a big science test or something on Friday and needing to study. I mean... a science test? We're playing out. We're playing out for the first time as a band, an original song, we invited a bunch of our own classmates, and he's worried about letting one grade on one test slip?

Boy has no sense of priorities.

Laurel on the other hand has been here near every day. Turns out the she has a decent voice, nothing to write home about, but she can help out with the back up. I sort of found out by accident. Temporary housing sucks, so me and Harm try to spend as much time away from it as we can. We were kicking back in one of the rec rooms with a bunch of snacks, making fun of Mama Mia - again - and it's so bad I figure Laurel has to come and see it too. I just don't get Abba. I mean, sure, catchy tunes and all, but they have like the best selling album in the world. The world! It's like in that Guinness book or something. Maybe it's the Swedish thing. Guys dig Swedish chicks. So anyway, we're being lame, singing along, and Harmony tosses her the make-shift microphone which in reality was a pretzel rod. Dancing Queen was on, and that's like the most Abba-est song that you can get, and Laurel belts out the chorus pretty damn good. Harmony and I added our voices and then some total killjoy barges in and starts whining about having to study and being disturbed.

So anyway, we figure she should sing back-up. I think she turned four shades of red when I told her, and I thought for a second she'd like burst into flames or something, but we've been working together, and I think she'll be all set for Thursday, as long as she doesn't completely freak out and get all spastic. She does that sometimes. It's like watching someone try to learn to walk on stilts. Buskers were always out and about doing that in Vegas, and that's what she reminds me of sometimes. Like someone talked her into strapping these long sticks onto her feet and she was trying to learn to walk in them, and then it clicks, she gets a rhythm and falls into it. She drums just like that. I hope she can pull it together on the first go Thursday. Maybe she can warm up or something before hand.

So yeah, I'm a little worried. Not about me and Harmony- that much, it's not like we're popping our stage cherries or anything. Mal... I'm a little worried. He showed up in Brunos with these clip on things for his sunglasses, and Harm and I were speechless. I near asked if he was kidding. I don't care if he goes to every Star Trek convention within 100 miles of Paragon on his own time, as long as for the six minutes we're on stage he looks cool and keeps a steady beat, I'll be happy. Laurel, I tried to get her to step it up a notch too, but we're taking baby steps.

We brought her shopping, me and Harmony, but hell if she bought anything. We did get her to try on some decent boot cut and flared jeans, they kind of offset her hips. She's one of those people who really have to watch what they wear, sometimes, she looks almost chunky, and other times, I'm wondering where that half a pizza she scarfed the night before went, because she looks as bony as one of the Olsen twins. (See why here.) She said she wanted to think about it. She balked again when I mentioned her hair.

Her color was fine, really, and pig tails could be cute on a drummer, except Laurel had this tendency to go all ash. Serious, like she went and made snow angels in the wake of Mt. St. Helens or something. Dark colors would hide it better.

"She should go dark." I mentioned to Harmony, looking Laurel over, as I picked up one of her pony tails. The color wasn't far off from Harmony's color, which was the other issue. Blond was out with her complexion. Red was an option, firey red or orange she could likely pull off, except for the ash.

"Black's good." Harmony nodded, finishing up the ice pop she bought from Orange Julius.

"And maybe short, like a pixie cut." I added, holding my hand to Laurel's ear to show how short I was talking about.

"I'm.... not really sure a pixie cut would be me.... " Laurel groused, and I raised an eyebrow.

"That's the point." I told her, matter of fact. I mean, Laurel's great, she's a blast to hang out with, she has a quick wit and can keep a steady beat, but she might as well wear her marching band uniform and that hat with the big feather in it. At least then we could say she's trying to be eccentric.

In any case, she promised she'd switch it up some for Thursday. I'd back her no matter what, I mean, really - I'm just trying to help. Mal - he's a guy. Jeans and a leather jacket, I'll be happy.

Thursday is coming up real soon.

(Thanks to Laurel for taking all the abuse. You're the best!)

[London Zentaro]

A bunch of kids showed up to take the tram with us to New Troy, and some even agreed to wear our T-shirts, which was beyond incredible. Okay, so we're teenagers, free tee-shirts are always appreciated, but it was pretty cool when some of them pulled it right over what they were wearing. They were cheap iron-on jobs. Me and Harmony spent the better part of the past two nights printing out the transfers and talking the home-ec set into helping us iron them on right. I have like no intention of getting good at ironing.

We knew Rumors was set up to kind of herd bands through like cattle or sheep, I'm not really up on herding. What I mean is all the equipment was there as far as amps and the drum kit. For the most part, you were supposed to take the stage, hook in, do your set, and then the next group would be good to go. You still needed to bring your own guitar though, which was fine by me, other wise, talk about gross. I don't want to play something with someone elses' finger callouses all over it.

Laurel looked great. She went back to the mall and picked up a pair of flare jeans and this hot looking dark blue tank. She wore a dark bandanna on her head which would totally mask the ashes. She carried her own sticks, she and Chris sort of jury rigged them. They were typical nylon tip hickories, but they were wrapped with this stuff called Isulflux to keep them from burning up, just in case Laurel got hit with a case of the nerves. I didn't so much think she'd be pulling any Alex Van Halen like spin the drumstick moves anyway, and she'd been practicing with them all week. She tapped them nervously against her thigh on the tram ride over, so I tried to offer her a reassuring smile now and again. I noticed how stingy her hair was. I'd have to get her some good conditioner or something if she decides not to cut it.

Mal on the other hand sat there with his prescription sunglasses perched up on his head like a Malibu beach bunny, wearing his normal glasses over his eyes as he poured through some science textbook. The whole ride he's there taking notes and outlining them with a big yellow highlighter. I figure studying was for the morning before the test. It's not like most of the junk they want us to learn is ever going to come in useful, so why the hell should I waste my time? I'm not going to be a biologist, so how the earth's plates move, I could care less about. Know when I'd give a shit? If I was in an Earthquake. And even then, I'd be thinking "Oh my God! I'm in an Earthquake!" Not like "Well, this is a geological anomaly which occurs when the plates of the earth's crust shifts." And the fact that it's called "crust" always makes me hungry for pizza. Always.

On one side of me was Chris, who carried my Ibanez case. He said he wanted to earn his keep as a roadie, and I was more than willing to let him. That was the worst part of most gigs- you had to lug all your equipment around, then play a set, and then when you were all spent from the rush of that, load the van back up, and in our case, unload it back at the school. Luckily, Harmony found this guy Jude who owned a van and sort of "volunteered" to get us from point A to point B when need be. He was a student over at Rhode Island State. But we didn't need him for Rumors.

He sat off to himself a little, Chris, not Jude. Jude didn't even show. But Chris was always a little off to himself. Sometimes, I'd joke around and call him the Grim Reaper, but I don't think he so much minds. I'd usually throw in a few bars of Don't Fear The Reaper and he was good about the whole thing. It sucked, 'cause I knew a lot of kids were leery of him, when it wasn't his fault. Just like me and Harmony. It's not like we asked to be born with some weird freak gene. Our case, it was our parents fault, but Chris - he was sort of on his own, no parents, so who knew. But he was always there - he handed out the shirts for us, he put one over whatever shirt he had on. I smiled and crossed my eyes at him, he waggled his "spooky" fingers at me and I laughed a bit. He was a great find. I'd have to tell him someday.

Harmony was on the other side of me drinking some hot tea with lemon, and honestly I don't know so much if she does that before we play out because it's supposed to be good for your voice, or maybe she just likes hot tea with lemon. Since it's not her drink of choice around home or anything, I'm figuring it's the voice thing. I squeezed her hand and she squeezed mine back, shooting me a smile, the rush of getting to perform sort of hitting us both at the same time. Her guitar case leaned on the seat next to her, and she tapped her foot in time to the song we were going to get to sing that night. Our song. We wrote it, the words, the music and someone liked it enough that they played it and now? I mean, yeah, that was always the plan. This is it, what I want, really happening.

I hope no one messes up.

[London Zentaro]

We all walked into Rumors sort of as a herd, did I mention it was beyond incredible? Near a dozen people and us. We all kind of stood there for a second, taking it all in, until Chris stepped up and spoke to the guy at the door. He directed the band towards the "back stage" area, and I watched as the rest of the kids just seemed to melt into the crowd, most of them wishing us luck and stuff before disappearing.

I was pretty much wishing I bought carrot cake for Matt. It's one of those school superstition things, but supposedly if you bring Matt carrot cake it brings you luck. Normally, I don't buy into stuff like that. I mean, I've stepped on a thousand cracks, my mom's back is fine. But still, this was something really really important. One of the bands was already playing, and they were like beyond good. Maybe bringing a whole lot of kids from school wasn't such a hot idea. Maybe we should have stuck with hiring pros.

The stage manager guy greeted us gruffly. He looked like the busy sort, standing there holding tight to his clip board. He reminded me a little of that guy who hawks Sham Wow's on TV. Like he's to old, and trying too hard to be all "I'm still young!" I know the type ALL too well. At least he wasn't still trying to rock spandex and a silk scarf.

"Out of the Blue!" Harmony called to him over all the noise. I looked over his shoulder as he moved his finger down the list. Sure enough - there it was, with a little asterisk next to it and everything, along with our names in parenthesis. Checking it off, he immediately became a little more friendly to us.

"Oh! Hey! The Zentaro kids. What's shaking?" He asked while pumping Harmony's hand up and down. Her smile faded just a bit as she nodded in return. "You're up, the band right after this one. You going to need help hooking in?"

"We brought our roadie." I said, jerking my thumb to Chris. Chris' hands were wedged in his pockets and he offered a smile as he bounced on his toes. Both my and Harmony's guitar cases sat on either side of his feet. Mal lugged his own along with his text book and note book wedged under his other arm. I wondered if he took time off heroing to study. "Hmm, this bomb is about to go off, but I'm near done with my math..."

"It's noisier than I thought!" Mal called out to me, looking around. I wanted to shake him and ask what he expected - it's a club. Hype up! Get set! But no, photosynthesis or whatever had his attention. The stage manager went and said a bunch of tech junk to Chris. Chris ducked sort of out of the way when the stage guy went to put a hand on his shoulder and I made kind of a face. I knew he had his armor on, but he was always so guarded like that, mostly. Not so much with me. I don't fear the reaper.

Anyway, he goes and tells him what he can touch, what he should stay away from, and then went to take the microphone himself, as the next set was up. Harmony put her hands on my shoulders, and I did the same, leaning my forehead against hers.

"Hyped?" She called as the band started their set.

"Hell yeah!" I called back.

"We're gonna rock this!" She declared. Laurel was standing near enough by that I remembered we actually had a band and should probably include them in the pre-set, hype up chatter so I grabbed her wrist and I pulled her in, making sort of a circle. Her forehead was way warmer than me and Harmony's, but we were normally colder than most people anyway. Still, I hoped she wouldn't burst into flames.

"Mal!" I called, looking up and over in his direction, but he didn't look up from his book. In his defense? He was standing awfully close to a speaker. "Mal!" I said again in a louder voice.

"Kitten in a tree!" Harmony tried, but still nothing. Finally, Chris went and tapped him with his foot, pointing to us, and we waved him over. I waved Chris over too, but he still stayed back away, his hands wedged in his back pockets, offering an apologetic glance. Harmony broke the hug just as he got there, putting her hand into the center of our cirlce, and we all followed suit.

"This is our first show together!" Harmony called, holding onto my wrist.

"Let's not suck!" I warned as sort of a pep talk. Harmony snickered.

"Have fun. Rock it!" She finished, and we did the one-two-three break! thing. I took a second to pull off Mal's glasses, tossing them to Chris, who put them safely in a nearby guitar case. Mal smiled knowingly and pulled the sunglasses down from the top of his head over his eyes. I shot him a smile in response. I knew he got them at my request, it was appreciated. I'd have to tell him that sometime.

"That was Sin Tax!" The stage manager called out, pointing to the band and clapping his hands for them. "Give it up for them!" The crowd seemed pretty pumped. Any doubts I had ended. Some kids were all into school or sports or patrolling, but this? This was mine. Well, ours. Yeah. Ours. Mine. "If you're a regular at Rumors, you know this next group. You've heard their song here, and now to sing it live for the first time, Out of the Blue! Casey's not Dead!" The SJS crew went nuts for us, and I took back everything I might have silently thought about any of them, just because it was an incredible rush to hear. A few other people hollered for us as well, a general mix of kids.

The band ran onto the makeshift stage, but I hung back a second, putting my hand out for Chris, who rolled his eyes at me but did the same. I mouthed "one-two-three break!" to him, just so he'd feel a part of things. I had a ton of adrenaline going through me as it was, so it's not like his spooky gene would bug me all that much, just add to it a little. I slung my guitar strap over my shoulder and tapped my forehead to his. I don't fear the reaper. He was just as much part of the band as us. I should tell him that sometime. He smiled and pointed to the stage.

"Kick some ass!" He called. I took my spot next to Harmony, adjusting the strap of my guitar as I did. I looked out and scanned all the faces. It's not like the place was jam packed or anything, but there was a decent crowd - mostly teens. There weren't a ton of other things to be doing in Paragon on a Thursday night. I couldn't spot Casey, but I knew he was there. I wish I could've seen his expression. Still, Harmony and I pointed to the mess of St. Joes kids we could see, playing it up for the crowd while Chris and Laurel did their things, hooking everyone in and getting set behind the kit.

I hope we don't suck.

((Thank you, Casey. You're a good sport!))

[London Zentaro]

Lauel settled in behind the drum set, near knocking over the snare and the high hat in one fell swoop. Chris dove in, hooking all the cords in and adjusting some volumes before tossing me a Philly "hang loose" sort of symbol. I crossed my eyes at him, and he blended into the background. Mal looked a little squeamish, especially when a group of 13 and 14 year old chicks scrambled to his side of the stage, making doe eyes at him. I had to laugh. Three years ago, that would've been me and Harm.

I glanced back at the now settled Laurel. She looked a little green herself and a bit smokey behind the kit, so suddenly I was all for getting some bar-be-cue after the set. I hoped she'd hold it together. I looked at Harmony, and she smiled back at me, the rush getting to play out building up. We both gave a 1-2-3 count with our fingers in the air, and Laurel tapped her sticks together. Off. She started out off. The song kicked off with a drum rift, the base was supposed to go in on eight, then I had a full 16 count. But the rift was off. Mal compensated for a bit, and luckily it all sort of clicked together when Harmony started singing.

We wrote the song messing around, really, a bunch of us hanging around Talos. Casey mentioned his birthday just passed, but he didn't want a party. He couldn't see celebrating simply because he survived another year. I think it was Chris or maybe it was me who suggested having a Casey's Not Dead party, and it spiraled. Harm and I penned it together, not really meaning it to be anything, just a joke. We wanted a fun, party-your-ass off and dance kind of song, for no other reason than you weren't dead. But yeah, apparently more people than just Casey were up for not being dead.

Me and Harm have been choreographing stuff since we were like six and would sing into hairbrushes when we slept over each others house, so we moved pretty much in sync. Even Mal seemed to settle into his grove and actually have fun with it. It was an easy rhythm to sway to, and most of the crowd had their hands up with the rhythm. I mentioned incredible, right?

My voice joined Harmony's for the chorus, Laurel was supposed to jump in too but all I could hear was a "thud" and I rolled my eyes, not looking back. Chances are, she bashed her mouth on the boom. No one seemed to notice, and she didn't skip a beat, so no complaints from me. I made sure to cross to the side where all the Saint Joes kids were, just because they were the noisiest and rowdiest for us. I spotted Brandon and Joey right away. Joey was right up front, cupping both hands over his mouth to cheer. I was on such a "stage high" at that point. It's like you're hit with adrenaline and suddenly you're all confident and the more the audience plays into it, the more you play it up for them. Joey swayed in time with the music and I leaned over, grabbing his hat. Harmony picked up lead so I could miss a few bars messing around with the crowd. I tossed the hat it on my head and adjusted it by running my hands over the brim, tipping it slightly to thank him and he cheered again. He was right. The hat does rock.

Harmony laughed at me, and I skipped back over to her, picking my part back up as she slightly tilted the hat askew on my head. I fell back in step with her, and the two of us now shared her mic.

Towards the end of the song, there was this part where the lead and rhythm guitars trailed off, going back to the original drum/bass combo for a verse. Some people were actually clapping to the beat along with Harmony and I, who held our hands up high to clap out the rhythm. We sung the last chorus over the steady beat of the drum and bass. Laurel and Mal were holding together great. Some of the regular club goers actually mouthed the words along with us. No high could compare, not ever.

"Go have yourself a good time, party well!
And if they try to stop you give them hell!"

As the last chord echoed, the bass stopped, Laurel drifted into a fast roll on the rider, hitting the crash a few times to end the music, as we hit the song's tag line- the only one that actually mentioned Casey's name. This time, with no music, I could hear a few people in the audience sing along. Not many, but enough that I could hear. Did I mention incredible?

"Happy Birthday, dear Casey.... we're glad you're not dead!"

People hollered, clapped and whistled for us, as Harmony and I finished by waving to the crowd, pointing to the people we knew, or thought we knew. It was hard to tell. Laurel was on her feet behind the kit, one arm held high in the air. I blew her a kiss, then one to Mal. They did great.

I'd have to tell them sometime.

The stage manager clapped with the crowd as he skittered back on stage, hugging around my shoulders as he did, near knocking Joey's hat to the ground. I grabbed it protectively and held it high. I could swear my heart would pound out of my chest. He motioned for Laurel to sit back down and took the mic in front of Harmony.

"First time played live, here at Rumors! London and Harmony Zentaro!" The crowd clapped a little harder. Stupid last name. He didn't even say the band's name. Secretly? It was cool that my name was first and all, but that wasn't the point. Harmony nudged him, yelling into his ear and he corrected himself. "Out of the Blue! Let me tell you, back in the day, I was a huge Zentaro fan!" Goody for him? "And since they'll be playing live in the area soon, maybe they'll be convinced to stop by and play a set!" What the hell was that? He plugged our dads' band? Seriously, what the hell?

"But for now? Who wants another song?" We didn't plan on playing another set. One shot, that's what they said on the phone. Harmony looked at me from behind him and I shrugged. We worked our asses off with "Hot and Cold", we could play that. The stage guy said something to Harmony, and just from her expression, I could tell exactly what he was getting at. I shook my head. "Abandon Ship! Abandon Ship!" He called into the mic. One of the most recognized Zentaro songs going, and so painfully 80's that I suddenly had the urge to wear a pair of bike shorts under my skirt while sporting big hair and a hundred bracelets. I wonder if anyone ever made Miley Cyrus sing Achy Breaky. I looked back at Harmony and she looked at me making a face. Playing something else now would make us look like divas or something, and we might get blackballed from Rumors. I rolled my eyes but nodded and felt a part of my soul shrivel up and die.

"This song is righteous!" Uncle Hunter would say as he'd head-bang along to it. "Listen close, I used to sneak in Abandon "Shit", just to stick it to Tipper Gore and the PMRC!" Harmony and I would make 'that' face, the one that you made when your dad told the same lame story one too many times. Like walking uphill to school in the snow with no shoes or something.

Harmony held up the one-two-three count, and Laurel started us off. I gritted my teeth.

Boom Boom Tap, Boom Tap Boom Tap Tap.


(Thanks, Joey!... Best. Avatar. Ever!)

[London Zentaro]

I rolled over and hit the snooze button on my alarm clock, again. In the next bed, I could hear Harmony groan as she pulled the covers over her head, her face still showing signs of the stage make-up from the night before. I snickered. I didn't want to get up either. We stayed up so late. I mean, of course, we were in by bed check, but who the hell could sleep after being on such a stage high? So me, Harm and Laurel hung out after, laughing and talking, recreating some of the moves we pulled off on stage. The hip-hop classes back home paid off, even if we had no intention of ever actually playing hip hop. At least we could move, not like Sheryl friggin' Crow or someone who just sat on stage with a guitar. Of course, she could pull it off. We wanted something more... dynamic, I guess. Laurel mostly watched - drummers get to stay in the back and drum- and she put ice on her lip to keep the swelling at bay from when she smacked it on the boom mic. I think she had fun too - until Little Miss Keep-it-Down from the dorms went and bitched to the RA.

But even that couldn't put a damper on the night. The club owner was really cool, came out to meet us himself, right after the set. The owner of the club, not just the stage manager. He told us to come back anytime, and gave me a card. He was pretty concerned about Warren and Hunter finding out about the club, but whatever. And I mean, playing the Zentaro song stung, but the crowd did sort of go nuts for it. A lot of people sung along- just one of those catchy 80's toons that should be buried somewhere in a time capsule or something. I consoled myself with the thought that it was our song that got us the gig, the Zentaro thing just kind of snowballed into it.

After, we hung out some, just enjoying the music at the club. Chris was all for it and into it, I danced a few with him, he's a damn good dancer, and I so don't fear the reaper. People might talk, like if two people danced, it was like they were automatically a 'thing,' but then I went and danced with Joey after. Gave him back his hat, plus he was looking smooth on his feet, the boy has some moves to him, he knows his way around a club, that's for sure. Then there was Vi and Casey, it was like Vi spent a season on Dancing With the Stars or something, and was part of one of the good couples. Not like when that guy Ian what's his face was on. Like he's a celebrity? "Hi, I starred in some lame teen drama back in the 90's." Or Dustin Diamond. Why the hell is that guy a "celebrity?" He's at least interesting though. I mean, I know the media can make anyone look bad if they try, but him, he makes it easy.

I think Laurel and Cal mostly just hung out, but really I was too into having a good time to notice, same with Mal. I sort of remember him coming to tell me he needed to get back to study or something, and it turns out he wasn't even having a test! What a waste of a good club night. Like school matters? Me and Harmony had a history test that afternoon, who cares? Yeah, yeah, Magna Carta, whatever. We played out, we rocked, that's what counts. The hell with school.

We caught the latest train we could without breaking curfew, and I'd have loved to keep the party going, but the guys had to go their way, we had to go ours. I grabbed Laurel and made her come to our room anyway, and we stayed up near all night. The hell with school.

School. That's what the alarm clock was trying to warn me about, so finally I gave in and made my way to the shower. I tossed my pillow at Harmony who flipped me off from under the covers, before pulling them tighter around her.

Right now, it was one of those things I couldn't get around. No matter how much I begged, Warren wouldn't budge on getting me and Harmony a place of our own, letting us drop out. Something stupid and lame about only being sixteen. I tried to talk to Harm's dad about it, Uncle Hunter was always the one telling us to buck the system, flush the rules. He told me it was a nice try, and that they put in a word about me getting to room with Harmony. Whatever. It's not like either of them finished high school that I knew of. My mom never finished high school. It was pointless.

But then again, if I cut, I'd get stuck in detention, which meant less time to practice after school, and it's not like the proctor would let me play my scales or anything, even though everyone else gets to work on their homework. So not worth it.

I finished my shower and Harm was still there, covers pulled up over her head so I rolled my eyes and threw one of my shower shoes at her, causing her to stir.

"New day, Harm!" I coaxed. Wake up, get this school bullshit out of the way, then go play. There were plenty of other clubs to try. One day closer to being famous.