I actually wanted the crew to go to Charlie's Pub in this chapter, but I think it would've gotten too long for you guys if I did that. This is actually only 4-ish pages long on Microsoft Word. :M
QUESTION! Do you want me to put page breaks in here where the actual pages end on Word? Or do you not care? xD
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Ch. 5
12th Grade
Dare
Do it, Dare. Do it. Doooo iiiiiiit...
The address on the flyer brought me to a fairly large house with a big red door. I was contemplating over whether or not I should knock on the door. There were tons of reasons why I shouldn’t have come. Namely, being in a band would take up a huge chunk of my life. My grades would probably slip… which sucked, since I got straight A’s like the nerd I am. I’d probably have to quit my job at Charlie’s, too. But for some reason, I had a strange feeling coming here would be good for me. Rick told me the same thing this morning, come to think of it.
Auntie always says you should play bass more. And who knows, the band people might be really nice and stuff. Yeah. Just knock on the door, Dare. You can do it...
Jeez. I was being such a wimp. Sighing, I nervously raised a fist to the door and knocked a couple unsure knocks.
The door whipped open and caught me off guard.
“Hellooo!” an enthusiastic voice rang.
I straightened up immediately and looked up with surprised eyes at the woman who opened the door. Long wavy red hair hung down her shoulders, almost reaching her waist. She dressed a satiny black collared shirt with a white tie, paired with a black miniskirt. All kinds of necklaces draped themselves around her neck. She was pretty friggin’ tall, too; nearly 5’10, it looked like. While her freakish height puzzled me for a second, another aspect of her grabbed my attention: an eye patch was plastered across her face, covering her right eye.
Holy crap. Maybe coming here wasn’t such a good idea after all...
The lady looked down at me, and her expression changed from enthusiasm to disappointment. “Huh,” she grunted. “It’s a shrimp.”
“What?” was my confused response.
A guy with a blue-and-black fauxhawk hairdo popped up from behind the girl. He wore a green-and-yellow polo shirt with jeans. A gold-colored earring in the shape of a key dangled from his left ear.
“Who’s at the door, Michka?” he asked the girl.
“Dunno. Some kid who probably wants to join the band,” Michka replied, shrugging. She looked back at me. “Is that why you’re here?” she asked.
I bobbed my head up and down.
The earring dude leaned forward from behind Michka and looked me over. “Hm...” he said, squinting. He straightened back up and made a conclusion.
“Isn’t he kind of short?”
I groaned. “Can we stop talking about my height?”
Michka, totally ignoring me, said, “Why don’t you come inside, kid? We can talk there.”
I shrugged and followed them inside the house. Michka led the way to a large living room with a leather couch in the middle. A coffee table sat in front of the couch, while a TV and DVD player located themselves on the parallel wall. The furniture looked to be top quality; I felt a little underclass in comparison.
Michka and the other guy sat down on the couch, while I sat myself on the coffee table facing them. Michka leaned forward and moved her wavy hair behind her ear. She gave a sort reluctant sigh before talking.
“You have the paper?” She asked me.
“Huh?”
“You know...” She waved her hand in search of the word. “The flyer. The questionnaire thing. Do you have it?”
“Oh, yeah...” I handed the flyer to her and she began reading it over.
“Your name’s Dare? ...Like the word?”
“Yeah.”
“Is that your real name?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh.” She looked back at the paper, seemingly unimpressed. Remembering something, she looked back up and spoke again. “Oh. I’m Michka, by the way. I’m the guitarist for Something Impossible.”
The guy piped up. “You can call me Zack,” he told me. “I sing for the band.” He smiled.
I nodded and impulsively smiled back. Zack had a kind of friendly and inviting air about him; he sat in a relaxed position, leaning back with his hands behind his head. In contrast, Michka gave of a crass vibe, sitting stiffly on the couch with a look of annoyance on her face. She made me a little nervous because she seemed kinda... testy.
“There’s another person in the band, too,” Zack continued. “She plays drums.”
“Oh,” I said plainly. There was a brief moment of silence while Michka continued to read the flyer.
“So you’re still in high school...?” she started.
I nodded.
“What’s 4 times 12?” She suddenly shot the question at me.
I answered almost automatically. “48.”
“What’s 32 times 17?”
“544.”
“What’s pi squared?”
I gave this one a couple seconds. “Probably something like 9.86...9-- wait, what?”
Michka ignored me again. “Oookay... So he’s an emo-nerd. Weird.” She directed the statement to Zack.
Emo-nerd? ...the heck? That one was definitely a first.
A look of panic unexpectedly pasted itself on Zack’s face.
“Michka!” he cried with drama in his voice. He grabbed Michka by the shoulders and swerved her body to face him. “You’re not into emo-nerds, are you?” He asked this with complete seriousness, seeing the situation as a dire problem.
Michka sighed. “No, Zack.” Relief washed over Zack, and he regained his previous cheerfulness. Michka shrugged him off, and decided to continue talking to me. “Do you play any other instruments besides bass, Dare?”
I brightened up. “I can play the oboe!” I said with excitement. I loved playing the oboe.
“Hm. Weird.” She looked at me strangely.
I pouted. “It’s not weird, it’s wicked aweso--”
Suddenly, the most gorgeous and melodic voice interrupted me.
“Hey guys! Does anyone want some lemonade?”
I turned my head to see where the musical voice had come from, when a burst of dazzling radiance from across the room hit me like a brick to the head. It emanated from a girl in her teens, whose billows of soft brown hair poured from her head like a glimmering waterfall. Bright hazel eyes glinted from beneath her long bangs, and on her gentle smile a silver lip ring was worn. She paced forward, carrying a tray with glasses of lemonade. Her slim and graceful body seemed to float when she walked.
Basically, she was friggin’ hot.
“Loyal!” Zack gestured his hand in my direction. “Go introduce yourself to that guy over there.”
The girl named Loyal noticed me for the first time. Smiling, she skipped over to the coffee table I was sitting on and put the tray of lemonade next to me.
“Hi, I’m Loyal! What’s your name?” she greeted me cheerfully.
“H-hey, my name’s Dare...” I stammered, and ducked my head in embarrassment.
I pretty much had no experience with girls; dating has always been Greek to me, even now at age 18. Heck, I’ve never even kissed a girl. But jeez... sometimes I act like such a loser around chicks.
Loyal gave me a friendly smile. “Nice to meet you, Dare.” She casually walked back toward Zack and quietly whispered, “Zack, he’s weird.” He replied with a stifled laugh. Did I mention I also pretty much had no luck with girls?
Michka started up again. “But anyways, back to business.” She turned her eyes to me. Or eye, rather. “Do you think you could hook us up with a music gig?”
I scratched my head as I thought of an answer. “You mean like... a performance, right? I guess you could play at Charlie’s Pub. Maybe.”
Loyal spoke up. “'Charlie’s Pub'?”
“It’s a bar-and-restaurant a mile or so down from here,” Zack explained. “I’ve been there a couple times.”
“Yeah. My aunt and I work there, and my aunt’s friends with the boss… so he’d probably let you play there if she and I asked. There’s a stage and stuff, too. There’s no electrical equipment, but my friend Rick could probably get a hold of the basic stuff.” I paused for a moment and flipped out my phone to check the time. “Shoot... Actually, I have to be down there like, now, for work.”
I sprung up from the coffee table and began collecting my things while the three band members stared in half-shock. I scratched my head out of nervousness. “You guys wanna come down, too?”
We took Michka’s car.
***
