Hyde Park
Chapter One: Brew Brothers
Her fingers were like fire on the frets as she shredded her way through "Bark At The Moon". She was confident in the solo towards the ending because she ate heavy metal for breakfast and spat out the hardcore rock to use again later. Ozzy would have been proud if he had heard her doing her own variation of the ending. She was a rock goddess, and she knew it. Now her mission was to make the world aware that she was in fact a guitar hero by landing herself into a band. That's why she was here, putting herself out there on another open mic night at her favorite coffeehouse, The Brews Brothers, hoping that eager musicians who were in need of an insane guitarist would see her and be interested. It had been about a year since she had been in a band, but all they had cared about was boys, so she quit. She had an inkling though that told her she was about to make it big with a new band that would know what to focus on: the music.
As she was ripping the last couple of notes, she noticed that a group of boys was starting to stare at her, drool emanating from one boy's lips with the rest having glazed expressions as if they were stoned. She rolled her hazel eyes at them and glanced around the shop until her gaze rested upon a guy that she recognized from her school. He had a foot-high spew green Mohawk and a raw attitude. Surely he was trying to start a band…she would ask him after she left the stage. Now she would focus on rocking out with "Ziggy Stardust". The opening chords went smoothly and Mohawk Guy seemed impressed. Good, the more she could impress him, the better chance she had of getting into his hypothetical band.
The end of the song came too soon, but she was grateful for the interval between the end of "Ziggy Stardust" and the next act, which was supposed to be a drunken blonde girl doing her best impression of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot". That didn't look like it would be too promising to impress Mohawk Guy, so she was pleased. She flounced over to Mohawk Guy and introduced herself spontaneously.
"Hey, Judy. My name is Johnny Napalm, and don't you forget it," he joked with her, trying to sound tough.
"So, you in a band?"
"No, but I know a guy who plays guitar and drums who's trying to start a band," he droned as his face scrunched at the awful sound coming from the stage.
"Really? You know, I'm trying to start a band, so maybe you could let your friend know about me," Judy suggested, hoping she didn't sound too desperate. Johnny smiled half a smile and chuckled.
"Maybe I will. You weren't half bad. You know, you were the only girl I know who can rip that solo on 'Bark At The Moon'. That was insane, you know?"
"Yeah, I know. I've had a lot of time on my hands to practice since I moved out here to live with my dad. I don't have my mom trying to shove religion down my throat anymore 24/7, so…you know," Judy replied smoothly. To her delight Johnny burst out laughing at that comment.
"Amen. You know…you're too cool to share with my friend. I just might keep you all to myself. Here's my number. Call me, and we can start a band," Johnny said to her as he handed her a slip of paper with his name and seven digits on it. Judy felt that life couldn't get any sweeter than it did at that moment, so she thanked the rock gods for blessing her profusely.