This is a story about music, teenagers and their journey following their dreams. Third person, Naomi centred, including her band, Katie, Emily and Effy. See how they got to the point of a wasted national wide telly performance and how love, lust, drugs, alcohol and not enough parenting helped setting their live's on fire.
R: M, better save than sorry.
Paring: Naomi/Katie, Others
Disclaimer: skins' not mine. Not making any money with it.
I'm not using own songs since a couple were stolen and I had to find them on Youtube performed by some wannabe garage band pretending they've written it. A lawsuit is finally starting to deal with the mess. I'll write at the bottom the artist and song I've used in each chapter. There's gonna be a bit of music talk, but you don't have to be a musician to read it, you'll be fine :)
Tell me what you think about it...
IwysAshes
Sex, drugs, Rock n Roll, teenagers, and instruments are the ingredients of ruin. Follow N.E.K.E. Talkin' on their way high above the dreams they shared. Press screams: save your children, bobby soxer dykes corrupting youth.
"Ms Campbell, it's so nice to have you. How are you feeling? I understand you've had quite the hard time for the past months." The too much make-up wearing television host asked with a over caring voice.
Naomi tried to concentrate on his eyes, she tried to keep her legs from buckling and her lids from closing, making her look like she was well out of it. She groaned and leaned on his desk, steadying herself as she tried to remember his questions. A wave of heat hit her when she was about to open her mouth and the only thing leaving it was a strangled grunt as she tried to keep the burger, she had eaten before the show, in her tummy.
From the 'stage' a couple meters away, an dressed to kill Effy came over with slow, swaying steps, making people drool. She almost tripped when the chord of her guitar, still hanging from her shoulders, ended and pulled her back. She ripped it out, throwing it into the mass of instruments with a scoff before making her way to Naomi with a small bottle of water. She actually winked at her when the blonde took the first sip and her stomach clenched, her face contorted. She glared at her band mate who had given her a special blend of different drugs mixed with vodka. "Is she all right?" The host enquired with concern, but Effy waved him off with a shrug.
"She'll be fine. Stage fright." She turned around to go back to her place on the right side of the drums but he asked her to stay, hoping someone might actually talk to him at a live, prime-time national TV show. Shrugging, she took Naomi's hand, bringing them to the sofa and waved her band mates to the sofa too.
She didn't even try to mask her amusement when she looked into Naomi's pale face.
After they put away their instruments, the others walked to the sofa and shook hands with the host before taking a seat. The sofa wasn't big enough, and some intern was send out to bring new chairs for the girls to sit on. Not caring how it looked, Katie pulled Naomi up and sat down, gently bringing her down to sit on her lap. Emily sat on the armrest, her feet automatically held by Effy on the brunette's knees. The host took in their appearance and sighed, turning his head to Naomi. "Feeling better?"
She nodded, gulping down the huge lump in her throat. "Yes...thank you...much better."
"Fabulous. We are here with the 'N.E.K.E talkin' Girls." He clapped his hands like a twat. "Now, the millions of people watching this are probably wondering the same thing as I am right now." He made a long dramatic pause and the girls fought eye-rolls and grimaces. "You're just kids."
"Actually Simon," Katie started, gently stroking Naomi's thigh. "we're adults. Our bobby soxer has turned eighteen last weekend." This brought her giggles from her band mates and the audience. It was a little reference to an awful article the press had printed about them being nothing but wild running bobby soxer dykes trying to play with the big guys.
"That's something. Happy birthday Naomi, how does it feel to finally be a real grown up?" The blonde suppressed a groan, she hated that everyone always wanted to talk to her instead of having a conversation with the girls who actually liked chatting. "I don't feel any different to be honest." She shrugged. "I still do the same stuff I did two weeks ago."
"But now you're legally allowed to do them. " He wriggled his brows and Naomi's eyes widened at the horrific display of this old, used to be, try to be cool man. "Right. That's quite a bonus I guess." She covered it up well with a nervous smile and fidgeting hands. She looked like the poster child of nervousness.
"Eighteen years old. When I listened to your songs the other day after I've seen your gig at 'Glastonbury", I was struck by the fact that you are in fact, teenagers. Bad, angry young girls finally screaming what no one has listened to before." It was such a cliché statement to say that an collective eye roll couldn't be hid. Someone in the audience threw his mobile at the stage with the words; "it's the 21 century you twat!"
The host wasn't fazed, he turned back to Naomi and waited for an answer. "Well, I don't think that that's all we are. It is true that we're young, but we've been on stage for the past five years, recorded four albums, played over 800 shows and toured the world. I think we've stopped being teenagers when we were being first put into a room together." There were cheers and clapping, people going crazy over her defensive answer and Naomi smiled bashfully at the audience. She hated being the centre of attention, always had, but the last year had made her slowly warm up to the idea of people giving a fuck and wanting to get to know her, talk to her, see her. After endless arguments with people she hated, with her band mates and countless of hosts, moderators, interviewers she had to finally agree on fighting her shyness as a good idea. She still wasn't 'into your face' but at least she wasn't a stuttering, sweating mess any more every time someone glanced her way.
"Fair enough. Why don't we start with you telling me a bit about your band? The beginning, the ups and downs, the newly reached fame? The big sexuality question everyone is asking about? Which instruments do you play and why?" Meeting Katie's shining, saucer wide eyes, Naomi nodded. "Sure, why not. Lets see, we're four girls playing rock n roll, that's all there is really. I'm Naomi, now I'm eighteen, and I play a Gibson Les Paul. Always did. Uh, I found my guitar when I was thirteen and shortly after that I've looked for a Bassist. I think from the time where I first touched a guitar and our first gig no more than four months had passed. That's all there is really. I just like playing music and hanging with my mates. Emily is our bassist, she really is amazing and I fucking love it when the room vibrates through her fingers. Come on Em, tell them a bit about yourself."
Emily grinned and waved at the audience, they cheered. "Thanks guys." She was wearing dark red leather trousers, clinging to her like a second skin, a strapless black vest showing her perfectly toned body and the tattoos she got in the last years. Her long, vibrant red hair was in a messy ponytail, but her make up was the eye catcher. Her lips were covered in red paint, (lipstick would melt through the heat and sweat when they played), her eyelids showed different shades of grey and dark blue, thick eye-liner gave her eyes an almost dangerous touch. Her feet were covered by battered Vans, always bringing up the same argument in the group, Vans or Chucks, or British Knights which Naomi sometimes preferred when they were playing a gig in the cold. "I'm Emily Fitch, I'm nineteen and I play Bass. I learned to play the guitar when I was about eleven, but all my friends did too and I decided that one day, they'd need a Bassist. What else? Uh, all my life I've played a cheap Fender Squire Bass, but after 'Glastonbury' we were finally able to get higher quality instruments, aside from Naomi who's had an original Les Paul form the beginning. Now I have a Fender 50s Precision Bass MN FR, if someone's interested."
The girls rolled their eyes when she started going on about her Bass. Emily always tended to get a bit carried away talking about it, she was kinda in love with it. Her cheery, lovely and open personality made people hang on every word leaving her lips, no matter what bullshit she was talking about. "Are you in a relationship Emily?"
"Yes I am, Simon. I'm off the market since my fourteenth birthday actually." She winked at her girlfriend sitting by the side of the stage. "Would you like to tell the world if it is a lucky man or a pretty lady?"
She chuckled with an eye roll and punched Katie who was laughing her arse off. "A pretty pretty and lucky lady."
His smile almost faltered but he caught himself before it could slip completely. The girls saw it though, and like always, they had to swallow their anger at those stone aged minds. Naomi pointed at Effy, who was looking like she'd never been in an more boring situation. "That's Effy and we share the guitar parts."
"You share them? Excuse my lack of knowledge, but aren't there always a rhythm and a lead guitar?" His eyes met Effy's, signalling that he wanted her to respond. With a sigh she did, turning her head to him and away from the camera which almost crawled into her. "Actually it doesn't matter much. We are good guitarists, and Naomi's got songs she loves to play the lead in and I do too, so we switch it up when we write our songs. Mostly the ones I've written contain my solos, and vice versa. If the twins write something, we sit together to write the music and then it just clicks, whatever sounds better is taken. Often I've got a lick in my mind but cant figure it out, so I get Naomi and we try to make it happen, together."
He nodded with a thoughtful expression. "And what happens when the two of you want to play the same lead?"
They shrugged and thought back to those first nights filled with arguments, fights and battles on the guitars over some stupid solo. "Rock-paper-scissors."
This got her an laugh from everyone and a tiny smile itched up her usually frowning face. She looked drop dead gorgeous. Her body was clad in a black, ripped shirt pretending to be a dress, tiny jeans hot pants which had chains hanging everywhere, and black, heavy half open biker boots covered her feet. Her hair was huge. Huge waves of dark brunette hair with as much volume as possible were gracing her soft features, there was no parting as they were just kinda thrown over the back of her head. Her make up screamed: metal. Her whole appearance did. Heavy, dark eye shadow made her blue orbs pop out, giving her the ultimate smoky eyes. Her lashes were long and black, her lips painted dark purple. She had bracelets all over her arms, various necklaces hanging from her neck, and at least two rings on each finger. "Effy, why don't you tell us about yourself?"
"I'm Effy, 20 years old and I play guitar since I was ten. I joined the band three year ago when Naomi realised that they needed another guitarist, and I play a Fender Strat." She responded with the enthusiasm of a person on their way to the dentist. "Which model?" Furrowing her brows she wondered if someone had told him through the earpiece to ask that question, there was no way he actually had any idea of music or instruments. "It's an American Deluxe Ash Strat MNTS. Got it from the girls for my eighteenth birthday. Before that I've played various guitars, but never any expensive ones."
"Do you have a special someone Effy?"
She smirked at him and her eyes showed that he wouldn't like her answer, it'd probably need to be censored. "Every day and night someone new. You know what they say, always keep something from each town you've been to."
It took him a couple seconds to regain his composer and when he did, a tiny scowl was visible on his face. "That's a very modern way of living. But I understand that being a rock star doesn't leave room for a proper relationship." "Well that's bollocks." Katie laughed, slapping Naomi's thigh in her amusement she couldn't contain. "Emily is in a healthy, happy relationship, I am romantically involved with someone and Naomi as well. Effy's whoring around doesn't mean all girls playing music don't have a heart."
"Oi watch it!" Effy grinned, pinching Katie's arse. The blonde hated having the host's eyes on her, already knowing what he was after now. "Naomi, you are romantically involved with someone Katie mentioned? Why don't you tell us who the lucky guy is? Or is it a girl?"
Closing her eyes for a second, she tried to remember that yelling, or breaking down in tears wouldn't help the situation. So, with a fake smile, she opened her eyes and shook her head. "Sorry, that's something I don't discuss. People who know me, know me. And those who don't can listen to our songs, there's pretty much written everything that's making us the people we are."
"Naomi, don't be like that sweetheart. I, for a fact, know that people are dying to know if you're batting for their team. UK's ladies and men need to know how their chances stand with you. We've received over 7000 letters, mails and tweets concerning their desire to be let into this secret." Laughing, she shook her head and grimaced in the camera. "Sorry, cant do that. But I'll tell you something; it doesn't matter if you're a girl or a bloke, I'm happily taken."
"Happily taken? Does this mean it's serious or is there still room for more?"
She couldn't believe this question, it kinda asked if she was a cheater. "Happily taken means she's chained. Happily so." Katie answered for her with a grin, fed up with the questions as well.
"Is this a new relationship, a fresh one or are you like Emily, off the market for quite some time now?" She wondered why he wouldn't corner Katie about her relationship, hating the fact that only because she sang lead, people assumed she was the front man of the band. "We've been together for well over two years now. Could we, please, chance the subject? I think you haven't interviewed Katie yet."
He shook his head with a laugh, badly covering up his irritation at her answer. "Very well. Katie, Katie, Katie. The men magnet from the background. You seem like you have a completely different style than your band mates do. Playing the drums, aren't you often forgotten? I hear that the drummer tends to be left out and forgotten easily."
She laughed, always happy to be the centre of attention. "That's Emily you're having me mixed up with. No one would look for the Bassist playing hide and seek." She almost collapsed at her own bad joke, making the girls chuckle. "Kidding. And yes, my style is a bit more girlish if you want but I don't think that it's that different." Everyone's eyes were trained on her, letting her statement sink in.
She wore a tight, dark blouse, displaying an impressive cleavage, the blouse parted just under her breasts like a curtain which showed her abs and navel piercing. Black skinny jeans clung to her legs, and ridiculous high heels graced her feet. She always took pride in rocking the drums like a goddess with those killer shoes. Her long, dark purplish wavy hair was open and randomly pinned away from her face. Her pretty face had light lip shine over a layer of rose paint, some rouge underlining her prominent cheek bones, dark eye-shadow, eye liner and lots of mascara. Huge, silver Creoles hung from her ears, and a silver guitar necklace she got from Naomi some time ago lay in her cleavage. A bar code tattoo was on the inside of her left wrist, the same one the other girls had too, but each of them meant something else.
They had them done with an bar code creator on the internet over two years ago, tipping in what they wanted the code to mean, and then they'd go to the tattoo studio and had it inked into their skin. It was fun, since it was done very well by the artist, they had tried to read it with a bar code reader, and much to their surprise, it actually meant what they had written into that creator. "What does your tattoo mean Katie?"
"You wont know until you read it with a bar code reader Simon." She teased, effortlessly dealing with the situation whereas Naomi would had had almost an heart attack if she were asked the same thing. "You're playing the drums. Always wanted to be a drummer in a band?"
"No." She laughed wholeheartedly. "I always wanted to marry David Beckham actually, but I think I was fourteen when my cousin had to watch me because I would get into trouble all the time, and she had those music classes she was teaching kids at. One day I had to tag along again and she was getting annoyed, so she made Naomi spend time with me." Narrowing her eyes at the girl sitting on her lap she continued. "Emily and her were playing music together every now and then, and I think they were actually forming the band at that time. She hated me and tried to tune me out with her drums when I wouldn't shut up. I got mad, pushed her off the stool and started hitting random parts of it, just to get on her nerves. She sat beside me and snapped, bringing my hands to where they needed to slam the sticks against. After an hour I could hold an easy 4/4 beat and we tried some different approaches. Soon after that Naomi kicked out her new drummer for me so I could play with them. That's how I started. Kinda got drumsticks in my hands and joined a rock n roll band right away. Pretty good practise, starting to learn an instrument on stage when everyone threw their cans at me."
"Cans?" "You don't want to know what I can dodge, could've have been an Baseball player in another life."
Naomi was feeling better, Effy's drugs had finally kicked in and she was bouncing her legs. Sharp fingernails dug into her thighs, signalling her that if she wouldn't stop, Katie might just throw her off. Blue eyes were wide and her jaw clenching. "Right, remember that time when those bloke's threw their condoms at you? You were blushing like a fucking tomato, and then you took the condoms and walked down, marching up to them you pushed the condoms down their fucking pants."
Emily joined in, laughing. "Or that time when a girl started crying because Katie wouldn't hold a fucking beat for more than half a minute? She was seriously depressed."
"I think her boyfriend pushed Katie away and played the song." They erupted in laughter at Effy's statement, even Katie who was good at laughing at herself.
"All right, girls. Naomi, you've often stated that without finding the guitar your life would've turned out completely different?"
"That's true. I found her one day in our basement, it was a hobby play room type of thing, someone must have forgotten her and when I walked down to play some drums, I saw her. Simply beautiful." Effy nodded and looked longingly at Naomi's guitar at the side of the stage. "Fucking true, almost cried when I saw her for the first time. Lucky bitch, started playing with such a beauty."
"So you're not a born guitarist then? A hidden drummer?"
"Not very hidden, Simon. I still play drums now and then, I guess my heart beats both ways." She took a sip of her 'water'. "Without finding her, I'd probably be in college now, getting ready for university to study physics and lit." It was a strange picture to imagine the blonde studying for an exam. In that moment she looked like something the devil and gods had created to make people sin and go wild after seeing her. Rock was oozing from her every pore.
She wore black leather pants, biker boots, a tight navy singlet with a ripped open blouse hanging from her shoulders. The sleeves were rolled up, showing a couple tattoos, and her toned arms. She had the same tattoo the others had on her wrist, the other wrist was covered with countless bracelets, straps, and a fingerless half glove. Her short nails were painted black and red, while her eyes had as much make up as Effy's. Smoky eyes, lots of mascara and eye liner, gave her radiant dark blue eyes people were ready to die for.
"Who has inspired you as an musician? Were you always into rock n roll? Even as a child?"
"Yes." She nodded with a thoughtful expression. "I think so. My parents are pretty young and I always listened to their music. Instead of adoring stupid, fake, lip singing Britneys and Backstreet boys, I, as a ten year old, listened to lots of Janis Joplin, Suzi Quatro, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Guns n roses, ACDC, Scorpions, and so on. One day, when I was going crazy on my drums my dad came down and said we were going to a festival. He wouldn't tell me who we were going to see, but even if he had, I'd never know who it was. There was no internet in my room and media stupidity yet, so if I weren't found sitting on my drums I were outside playing with my mates." He asked her again, who they were going to see and how it had changed her taste in music.
"It didn't change it per se. But I was a thirteen year old who had found a guitar and we went to a festival, people weren't that concerned about kids at festivals back then, and I remember almost dying when I saw Suzi Quatro live. But what had me gaping and slack jawed was Joan Jett. The way she moved on stage, played her guitar, interacted with the audience simply blew me away. In that moment I knew I needed to do just that. I needed to play raw rock n roll, bring people to the brink of losing their minds, where a well played chord said so much more than thousand words would."
He asked a couple other things about that festival, about Joan Jett, about the way the band had formed, how their parents had reacted to them joining a rock band.
"My parents have tried to forbid playing with Naomi." Katie confessed with a shit-eating grin. "They said rock n roll is stealing souls, that it'd corrupt us, make us lose our way and take drugs. It did all that, but we have the best of times doing it." Emily nodded, just as happy as Katie. "They wouldn't let Katie or me out of the house any more, we were under house arrest for ages but Naomi always broke us out. And one day we packed our shit and moved in with her, telling them that if they wouldn't accept and support us no matter what, they'd lose us."
"Have you talked to your parents since that day?" Something similar to feelings washed over the hosts face as he looked at those children on the sofa, who hadn't had a home since they were about fourteen years old. "No." Both twins shook their heads in sync.
Katie wiped her sweaty hands on Naomi's pants. "They wouldn't believe in what we do, what we are, who we are, so why bother with someone who cant love you the way you are?"
"What about you Effy? Were your parents okay with it?"
She shrugged her thin shoulders, longing for a cigarette. "I guess. I was seventeen by that time Naomi let me join the band so they didn't care much. Before that I've played in different bands, but we've never been on the road or anything. So it was quite exciting, sleeping in different cities every night, meeting new people day by day, just having fun. But my parents were fine with it, they just get nervous when I wont call for longer than two weeks."
"Naomi? How about your parents? How did they react?"
She remembered those days as if they had happened yesterday. "I think they always knew I'd either be a perfect child, or a rebellious one. So instead of making my life living hell with rules and unnecessary fighting, they supported me. Still do. Their only rule was, when we were on the road, that an adult they'd choose had to watch out for us. And I had to call every two days."
"Wasn't that annoying? Having a babysitter tag along on the road?"
They laughed, remembering the fun times with their 'babysitter'. "No. They weren't with us to actually babysit, they were with us so if we'd get arrested they could get us out, or if we were sick they could take care of us. Just to see that we've always had enough food and money."
They talked a bit about music, their songs and then he asked them on stage for their first, national wide live gig.
By then the girls were high enough to get their nerves under control. They were taking a couple minutes through the break for a smoke before going to their instruments and tune them, they had finally fun, knowing they could play at last.
Katie was sitting behind her drums and waved Naomi towards her. The blonde made her way over with a grin and sneaked her arm around the other girl's waist, gently stroking her stomach as she leaned down so Katie could whisper into her ear. "Thought you'd pass out when he asked you to join him at his desk."
Pressing her lips to Katie's ear Naomi softly kissed the spot without attracting attention, as it looked like she was whispering something behind the blonde curtain of hair shielding them from the excited audience's eyes. "I couldn't feel my legs baby, thought I'd pass out myself."An arm circled Naomi's hips, nails softly draping over the skin they found as Katie pulled her a bit closer. "You did well, honey. And you'll do great when we play. Remember you're in for a special night afterwards, you and I are going to celebrate this breakthrough."
Smirking, the blonde inched her leg upwards between Katie's thighs. "Yeah? How we gonna celebrate? I thought we were having a meet and greet afterwards."
"You're kidding?" Katie burst out, chuckling at Naomi's surprised face. "Baby, after the show I'll be fucking exploding. You've got any idea how fucking hard it is not to rip the freaking guitar from your hands and put my hands on you after seeing you play? I'll be well turned on and luckily for you, that is your job to take care of now."
Blue eyes widened and the blonde gulped, images of Katie stalking towards her and having her panting and gasping after freeing her from her guitar, had her at a loss of words. Dimples formed on Katie's cheeks, she was happy with herself seeing Naomi's reaction to her teasing. "Now be a doll and fuck off looking hot at the front yeah?" She pulled Naomi down and winked at Effy, so the girl could something to make the crowed look at her, before she brought their lips together in a loving kiss. Tender eyes bore into Naomi's, telling her that she didn't need to be nervous, that she'd be great and that they'd all be happy when it was finally over.
"Love you." Naomi whispered without moving her lips, she was still in awe at the girl she could, secretly, call hers. Katie's face softened and she affectionately stroked the blonde's cheek. "I know darling. Love you too. Now go get wasted."
When they took their places Katie slammed her drumsticks together three times before an explosion of instruments melted into a fast paced rhythm. Katie was at the back with her drums, Emily to her left, and Effy and Naomi shared the front with their guitars but the brunette was standing a bit more on the right side.
After a couple beats in the intro the first solo was due, Effy kept rhythm and Naomi jumped into the air with her guitar before she got back to the micro and roared the first verse into it.
Blue skinned sleeping boys
Man you're lookin' wasted
Greasy wheels, streets of steel
No tellin' what ya tasted
Good guys bad guys
Doesn't really matter
Punch drunk, high on junk
Sad you are so shattered
When the chorus started, all girls yelled into their micros.
Wasted lives of wasted drives
Wasted days an' wasted nights
Wasted this an' wasted that
Wasted is where you're at
It was then that Effy jumped up with her guitar, playing the same solo Naomi did earlier with a smirking face, kinda looking as if she was shooting the blonde with her guitar. It made the audience go wild. They always had that thing going, that they'd play different part at every show, and look like they'd battle. Of course it was all well coordinated but it made people go crazy nonetheless. During Effy's won solo time, Naomi had turned towards Katie, with her back to the crowed, and had winked at her, mouthing 'you're so hot' as Katie was buzzing with excitement. The blonde was playing the same solo a tone lower, just not front. She turned back to her micro and yelled the next verse into it.
Torpedoes in tuxedos
Got iron in their hands
Cotton sound, lost an' found
Is in every crazy man
Lonely rain, bad cocaine
Doesn't really matter
China white, don't treat ya right
Sad you are so shattered
Wasted lives of wasted drives
Wasted days an' wasted nights
Wasted this an' wasted that
Wasted is where you're at
Effy and Naomi turned towards each other and played the short solo together until the blonde jumped up into the air, kicking, and then got to her knees, playing another solo three times as long. She was shooting Effy with her guitar, having a blast. They were all sweating by the last verse, Emily looked as if she was actually fucking someone with her bass, Katie was a second away from smashing her drums, Effy's fingers were on fire and Naomi's voice was hoarse as sweat dripped from her forehead.
Madhouse melodies
Got beach rats on the run
Golden tractors, low plus factors
Silver bullets, rubber gun
Rebel rocker, or devil daughter
Doesn't really matter
Cheap dope, ya can't cope
Sad you are so shattered
Wasted lives of wasted drives
Wasted days an' wasted nights
Wasted this an' wasted that
Wasted is where you're at
The last bit of the song, and the last solo they played together, gasping for breath with huge smiles almost splitting their stoned faces in half.
Cheering, clapping, stamping their foots the audience were out of their minds. This was the only reason they had agreed on the gig, as they hated mainstream and would never sell out for anything. Huge labels had tried to get them and sign a lucrative contract countless of times, but that always contained huge PR, lots of studio work, television shows but no real gigs any more and they lived for small clubs and festivals. They didn't want to have anything to do with music biz politics. Hell, they still fought like lions not to have an Facebook, myself and twitter band page. Their motto was, to reach people where people were, not on-line. It made them to honest underground musicians who still had their privacy and weren't followed by annoying paparazzis. They had a steady growing fan base, but were also able to go buy milk without being bombard.
"Thank you!" Naomi screeched, joined by the others. "We're N.E.K.E. Talkin' and the next song is Katie's favourite, so you've got to like it or you'll have to answer to the drummer." Tuning her guitar she smiled at the crowd behind the blinding lights. "It's called 'Saturday night special'!" She gasped for air, talking a bit to the crowd until her lungs were ready for her to sing again. "Now we need your help. We'll sing: 'She's a Saturday night special' in the chorus, and every time we do, you scream it back at us. Only Saturday night! It's really easy and fucking fun. So, get ready, get set and fucking goooo!"
Katie started with a beat, soon joined in by Effy's lead guitar and the others rhythm. Naomi's dark, scratchy voice hotly breathed out the first verse.
Let's talk about women
Let's talk about love
Let's talk about bitchin'
And the comin' I've done
I live for the weekend
It's part of the script
You pray for an angel
Well, hey this is iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiit
(The audience's, including the host's eyes almost bulged out at the clean, high, strong note leaving her usually screaming lips).
You can dress me in ribbons
You can tie me in knots
You get out the camera
Provocative shots
You do what you want to
Let's see what you've got
And if I don't like it
I'll just tell you to stooooooooooooooooooooop
The girls: She's a Saturday night special (Saturday night)
Naomi: A two two calibre bore
The girls: She's a Saturday night special (Saturday night)
Naomi: You caught me dreamin' before
The girls: She's a Saturday night special (Saturday night)
Naomi: I'm young and easily bored
The girls: She's a Saturday night special (Saturday night)
Naomi: And you know I'm kinda special and you know that you'll be back for mooooooooore
You wanna respect me
How long will that last
You wanna protect me
I don't need it you jerk
I'm lookin' for action
I'm hungry and hot
You want to know why
That's easy why noooooooot
The girls: She's a Saturday night special (Saturday night)
Naomi: A two two calibre bore
The girls: She's a Saturday night special (Saturday night)
Naomi: I saved my acceptable score
The girls: She's a Saturday night special (Saturday night)
Naomi: I'm young and easily bored
The girls: She's a Saturday night special (Saturday night)
Naomi: And you know I'm kinda special and I know that you'll be back for mooooooooore
They both played a different kind of solo, blending together beautifully and when they managed to do it without slipping off, they almost pissed themselves of happiness. Even at rehearsal, they wouldn't get it right, always getting confused about the other lead solo.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Saturday night
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Saturday night
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Saturday night
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Saturday night
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Saturday night
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Saturday night
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Saturday night
When they bowed and thanked the fans, all girls stared in awe at the masses losing their minds. Naomi's hand reached for Katie's and she squeezed, showing her that they had done it, they'd managed to do what no one had believed they could. They were begged to play rock n roll in front of a pop obsessed population, on television, with a host who hated them, and they had rocked it. "How did we get here?" Emily whispered in wonder, resting her head on her sister's shoulder. The blonde tuned out the loud noises of people who wouldn't stop yelling for an encore and let her mind wander back to the days changing her life.
Five years earlier, Bristol.
"Hi" the thirteen year old brunette waved shyly, "I'm Naomi and someone's forgotten their guitar at our house about a month ago, that's how I've got it." She was leaning on the wall for support, her nerves were getting the best of her, and biting her thumb her crystal blue eyes flickered across bored faces.
The Twenty three year old woman sitting closest to her nodded with an expression just as bored as the group of young teenagers were watching Naomi with. It made her nerves explode and soft stuttering left her trembling lips." I...uh...I would like to play it...but...I don't...uh..know...anyone who could teach me...well...I'll just go."
The blushing girl wanted to run away and never look back but a hoarse chuckle made her stop and slowly turn around to the oldest person in the room. "Naomi, have you ever played before? Or talked to an audience? You seem horribly shy, honey, I don't think that this group fits you." These words made it worse and she felt her eyes fill with hot tears of embarrassment. Who wouldn't fit into a music class where kids her age were taught how to play instruments? She was their age, she wanted to play the guitar, why wouldn't they let her join? "Why don't you think about another instrument, a cello perhaps?"
A confused expression washed over her and she felt something stir inside of her, something she had never felt before. And as she rolled her eyes at the adult, for the first time ever, a scowl appeared on her young face and she shook her head. "A cello? Why cant I play the guitar?"
"You could" the woman started but she was interrupted by the irritated teen. "I want to!" Furrowing her brows Lana, the woman teaching the kids, made Naomi take a calming breath and see the clear warning to never again talk to her that way. "That's fine Naomi, your mother is a good friend of my mum's and I promised I'd help you. But you'll have to play this guitar." Moving the children-acoustic guitar Lana had on her lap she raised a brow at Naomi.
"No!" Shaking her head she raised her arms, flaring them around. "Why cant I play the electric guitar? I don't wanna play yours, I wanna play mine. It's the same, isn't it? To teach I mean, just let me play my guitar and I promise I'll be a good student."
Letting out an exasperated sigh Lana shook her head and told the other kids to go and take a break. When they were alone she moved back towards the angry girl and shrugged. "This is a children, young teenager group Naomi. An electric guitar isn't good for beginners, it's a completely different way of playing and music." Seeing the look Naomi was giving her she shrugged again. "All right, fine. Tell me what your favourite song is, the one you'd like to play as your first song ever."
"I love rock n roll." It came out like a bullet, Naomi didn't need to think about that question. She knew that this song was going to be her way into music. She could feel it. Since the last Saturday when she had seen Joan Jett perform it, she knew that she had to learn to play it.
"I'm not teaching rock. We play folk, pop, oldies, but no rock Naomi. It's not proper for children." "But you know it? Do you know how to play the song? Please show me, show me how to play it and I'll be out of your way." She begged.
Sighing again, Lana got to her feet and took Naomi's gig bag, her eyebrows almost vanishing when she saw which guitar the girl had found. Running her fingers gently over the wood, Lana's eyes scanned every detail, every little part of this original 60's Gibson Les Paul. "This one's too heavy for you. What do you say if we swop? I'll give you this one, you can keep it, and I take the heavy monster?"
Eyeing the smaller electric guitar Lana was holding out for her, Naomi carefully put the strap over her shoulder and wriggled around a bit until it felt comfortable enough. The guitar she was holding was different, she didn't weight nearly as much as the one she had found, it had a completely different form, and somehow it didn't feel right. "Can you show me?" She asked instead and watched Lana tune her LP guitar with an awestruck face.
"All right. Put your index finger here. Oh, right, those are the strings, right? There's six of them, the first one is the one at the bottom, the high e. Then the b, g, d, A, and the low E. See this? These are the frets, that's important to know. You following?"
The brunette nodded, excitement buzzing through her body. "You sure? Fine. Put your index finger on the second fret, fifth string please." Her face showed the surprise she felt when Naomi got it right after only a couple of seconds trying. "Wow you're learning fast, okay. Uh, now you strum only the E and A, keep your index finger on the string and strum them twice."
A huge grin broke out on Naomi's face when, after trying it a couple of times, it sounded good. "Amazing Naomi, now you need your middle finger. You strum those strings twice, wait a beat, and do it again, right afterwards you bring your middle finger on the E in the third fret."
It took them twenty minutes until Naomi almost could play the easiest song ever written. When the older woman showed Naomi the little lick, (a bit of a solo but tiny), she had the girl completely hooked. "Will you teach me? Please, you've seen that I'm a good and fast student, please Lana. You play rock n roll, why wont you teach me?"
Shaking her head Lana helplessly shrugged again. "I cant do that, honey. Those kids' parents pay me for teaching them, and they'd have me killed if I showed their precious children how to rock. I cant do that, it's a lot of money, which I need, I cant risk that."
"But, but my mum will pay you too." Was sadly whispered and Lana smiled slightly, tracing the Les Paul's corpus. "No honey she wont. And that's fine, I wouldn't take any money to teach you anyway. But I cant lose the other students." Seeing Naomi's hope-losing eyes fill with tears Lana bit her lip, thinking about a way to solve this and have the girl learn to play the way she wanted it, and what she wanted.
Sensing her only chance Naomi fidgeted nervously with her dolphin bracelet her mum'd given her for her eighth birthday. "You could keep my Les Paul." She wasn't stupid, of course she had walked to Bristol's only music store to find out if that massive monster of a guitar almost throwing her to the ground when she carried it, was a good guitar. She hadn't told her mum, scared the woman could take it away if she knew that it was worth well over two grand. Gina didn't like Naomi owning such expensive things.
Surprised eyes locked on Naomi's and the woman bit her lip, kinda looking like someone had kicked her favourite puppy. Or, as if she'd kicked it. "I cant do that Naomi, do you have any idea what this axe is worth? And aside from that, if you're gonna play rock n roll, you couldn't do it on a better guitar. I'd sell my boyfriend and parents for that, honey."
Flopping down on one of the bean bag chair Naomi played with her ponytail. "Doesn't matter. You can keep it, I could give you my drum kit too if you wanted. I'd just...really like to play. Someone needs to show me how though, I couldn't learn it on my own."
"I'd love to help you, Naomi. Tell you what, I don't have much time because of my job and the group here, but how about we make a deal. I'll show you the basics, really only basics, then you practise at home and when you're good at what I've shown you, you come to my place and I'll show you something new. Guitar lessons are the biggest rip-off, you pay a fortune for being shown how to put your fingers somewhere, you do it for an hour and go home. That's it. You pay for the 'teacher' staring at you while you do it. It takes fucking ages until you can play your first song, which isn't power chorded 'I love rock n roll' and they just look at you for nothing. We'll simplify it, and if you really want to be a guitarist, you'll be fine. That's sadly the only thing coming to my mind, so if you want to, I'd say you start rocking."
Childish excitement oozed from the brunette as she bounced around and lunged herself at Lana, almost knocking them over in the process. "I cant read notes." She blurted out suddenly, fear visible in her emotion filled eyes.
"You don't need to. It's not a piano, the best guitarists out there never knew how to read notes. Come on, I'll show you something."
And then she got some pens and paper, drawing weird geometrical looking rectangular objects. "What's that?"
"This", a short fingernail was tipping on the line of the drawn thing, "are the strings...this are the frets...and here you've got the numbers so you know which fret it is." She showed her how to read chords, it was really simple and the girl couldn't believe her eyes when she understood what Lana was explaining. "Here, take this little booklet. It's just chords really, pretty old but that doesn't matter much. I'll mark the chords I want you to practice, okay? Oh, and here I'll write down how you play 'I love rock n roll' because you've probably forgotten it already. Okay, so you go home and practise, practise, practise. Your fingers will hurt like a bitch and you'll be ready to cut them off, but please don't. If you wanna be a guitarist, honey, those fingers will be magic and the most important thing."
Throwing her arms around Lana again, Naomi squealed in delight until a hoarse chuckle build up deep down in her throat. The woman gently pushed her away, shocked about the dark, hoarse tone leaving this tiny, girly, body. "Do you lose your voice a lot?"
"Uh...yeah..if I talk lots or sing...why?"
"Can you actually sing and talk that lowly?" Raising her brows in confusion Naomi shrugged, she had never tried it. "We'll work on that. But one thing that's important; try to stop your squeaky talking. If you wanna be a rock star, you cant sound like mickey mouse." Naomi had no idea how to do that, she had never given her voice or tone much thought before. She just...talked.
But when she'd have a fight with her parents, her voice was always very low and she wouldn't sound like herself any more. Not a lot of people made her angry though, well, not a lot of people knew that she existed. She was a bit shy, not a social butterfly, much to her parents dismay. Gina and Matthew Campbell were rich, annoying, never-there parents. That was the only thing Naomi enjoyed about them, they let her be as long as she was keeping up her grades and joined their events, smiling and looking pretty, she was in the clear.
They weren't bad parents.
When Gina got pregnant, she was fifteen years old. Making her the youngest mother in every school Naomi attended. Her dad wasn't much older, he had finished his A-levels a couple days after Naomi was born.
They had celebrated Gina's 28th birthday two months before, Naomi smiled absently when she thought about the trip to Disneyland they went on to celebrate, the girl liked having young parents. They were fun to be around, if they were around, and they actually understood her. She wasn't holding any grudges, it wasn't like they'd forgotten about her, the opposite really. They were hard working, successful, young parents.
Her dad was a broker, always on the road to do whatever brokers did, while her mother was an artist. She had always been arty and had her first exhibition when she was seventeen. Having Naomi at such an young age hadn't kept her from anything, no, she was a very successful photographer, owning a Europe wide chain of shops and with over 300 employees in the UK alone. She designed high priced glasses too, which made her 'the face' of mentioned glasses. In addition to that, she also worked on a new project for kids with deprived backgrounds where they'd be able to live out their artistic touch without having to pay for it. Gina was a world saver, she always tried to do good, find new ways to help and save those who were forgotten and overshadowed by Africa's starving children. Everyone was trying to give their best and go to Africa, help, volunteer. As it was important, Gina loved that people finally gave a fuck, she also thought that they had forgotten about other countries with just as much starving children.
Naomi promised to stop talking like she'd inhaled helium and then the other children came back into the room, making the girl grimace at the explosion of noises. In a quick matter, Lana showed her how to read TABS too, and then she was ready to go. Naomi wrote down her number and addresses and thanked Lana again for her help and the number she had punched into Naomi's phone. "No Iphone?" She had murmured with an amused grin and almost cracked up when Naomi's face looked like she had eaten something sour. "Uh no? Idiot phone? No thanks. Android is so better Lana, it's an windows operating system, not only for one phone model but loads of them. Besides, I think apple was cool before it got all touchy, don't know why though, still love and have my very first Ipod. It was really cool. Everyone's got Apple now and I don't like being like everyone else."
Unlocking the door she yelled into the empty, huge house. A smile made its way across her face when she saw the gigantic canvas placed directly in her bedroom's way. She traced her mother's mismatched words, that woman always found a new way to make Naomi remember that she'd do anything for her. Instead of writing her a note and pin it to her door or the fridge, Gina had splattered her message over a canvas bigger than Naomi was. Making out the words the brunette giggled and took the marker which hung there for her to respond. She crossed off 'Yes', 'Yes', 'Yes' and then scribbled 'don't be embarrassing mother' with a smiley face.
Gina's message asked if she had talked to Lana, if she was going to help her, if Naomi still wanted to play the guitar and if she could please sign the new canvas behind the sofa so she'd have her first autograph.
She didn't go to sleep that night, staying up all night wasn't something she did often but she had to practise and practise she did. Every couple minutes she had to take a break because her fingertips were sore and felt as if she fell and burned them on a hard carpet. But she didn't stop. No. She had set up her notebook, plugged it into her telly, used her phone as a remote and watched Youtube guitar lessons. Almost pissing her pants out of excitement when she finally heard, a slow paced, very slow paced, 'knocking on heavens door'.
Naomi made her way to the kitchen to make new coffee. Her mug almost fell to the ground when she jumped about a metre high as her mother's head came up from under the kitchen island. "Mother!"
"Good morning love, it's Saturday, any particular reason you're up? You're not getting ill, are you?" Hands were on her forehead, nose and cheeks in a flash, and like every mother, Gina acted like a fucking doctor. Swatting her mother's probing and pinching fingers away, Naomi gratefully took some of the already steaming coffee. "I'm fine mum."
"You don't look fine love, in fact, you look like shit." Raising her brow a shocked chuckle escaped the brunette and she shook her head at her mother, sipping on the hot liquid. "Way to get the 'mother of the year' award, Gina."
When Gina furrowed her brows, Naomi was hit with a sudden realisation. It was Saturday morning, 5.30am to be exact, and her mother, who wasn't supposed to be home until Sunday evening, was stood in front of her looking worse for wear. "What's wrong mum?" Of course the blonde waved her daughter's concerns away and shooed her to the table, promising to make some eggs. "No mum, I'm not hungry. It's too early. Why are you home then? Weren't you supposed to be in Glasgow this weekend to make sure everything's ready for the new store? Thought dad was gonna meet you there."
The sadness wasn't covered up fast enough and Naomi caught a glimpse of something in her mum's eyes she didn't like, pain. It was gone too fast and when Gina saw the way her daughter was mustering her she glared, showing her that she needed to stay out of this. "Why are you fucking awake Naomi? You're thirteen for fuck's sake."
Recoiling, the brunette hold up her hands, showing her mother her red fingertips as an explanation but her face hold a look of disappointment. She was being yelled at for caring, that wasn't something she enjoyed and like every girl hitting puberty, Naomi was hurt and confused all the time anyway. That, and she was horribly sentimental, sensible, and shy. The three S's making her life as difficult as it could get.
"Oh baby." Whispered Gina, taking the hurting fingers she kissed the tips. "I don't think that you should play that thing, maybe it's too old to work properly? This cant be healthy or normal. Why don't you keep playing your drums? Come on, I'll put some salve on the tips, it'll cool them a bit and stop hurting." Snatching her hands away Naomi's eyes narrowed and she gripped her mug protectively, bringing her fingers as far from her mother as possible. "That's actually normal. You'd know if you cared enough to give what I'm doing a fucking thought."
"That's nonsense, don't be like that." Seeing resignation in her, always fierce and energetic, mother's face Naomi calmed down instantly. It wasn't much fun to fight with her mum when she wouldn't fight back.
"Sorry ma. But I'm gonna play either way, so you should get used to hurting fingers." Eyeing her daughter with something resembling worry Gina nodded, biting the inside of her cheek. "Oh and mum?" Gina hummed, stirring eggs. "I'm gonna need some extra pocket money."
Blue eyes, similar to her own locked on the young girls determinant face. "Do you now?"
"Yes." Seeing that her mother would need more than this to actually give her money Naomi explained what she needed it for. "I need an amp, and talking to Lana she said that the best sound for my LP would be coming through a Marshall amp. A combo preferably. And I need a couple other things too, like a tuner, a couple chords, some books, a capo, pics, a new strap, a guitar stand, music stand, a couple books, new Urbanears, mod pedals, and some other stuff too."
With every word the girl muttered her mother's eyes had widened, the pound notes flashing through her eyes like through a one-armed-bandit. "How much is your new hobby costing us sweetheart?"
"Look ma, it'll be an investment into my future. Those things last a lifetime, well if they're not the cheapest plastic rubbish there is. And I'm gonna be a rock star mum, so I need the best stuff, you know that." Furrowing her brows Gina shook her head, clearly not sharing Naomi's optimism. "Well I will! You can cut it off my allowance, and off my university money, I can work it off?"
"You're university money? Naomi, get fucking real. You're thirteen, this week you're gonna be a rock star, next a fucking model and the week after that you'll be a freaking astronaut. You want to study lit and physics, not throwing your life away for music."
Naomi's glare never faltered, she stood her ground with new found determination in her eyes. Her whole posture screamed; You cant take this from me, deal with it. This alone made Gina reconsider her words, seeing her daughter passionate about something for the first time, brought her to the point of nodded and agreeing. "But you'll work it off at my store, or with dad. And I fucking hope you're gonna be a stupid rock star, otherwise this is an expensive rebellion I wont forgive you for."
Jumping to her feet, Naomi threw her arms around her mother and squeezed her almost to death, promising she'd be proud of her.