As the cool Autumn winds picked up, the trees began to moan in a tune that was sad and foreboding at the same time. Emil didn't understand what the tree's problem was, he quite enjoyed Autumn. It meant winter was coming. Ylvie looked at Emil, as she sucked a technicolour crushed-ice drink. He never understood her cold tolerance. Ylvie kicked at a can near her feet as she walked, thinking about who thought of first milking a cow. She had seen a post about it on Emil's tumblr and had been contemplating the thought since. Ylvie didn't really get the appeal of cows milk anyway, mostly because she was lactose-intolerant.
"Hey, pale and paler!" called a familiar voice, Emil knew exactly who's voice that was, but Ylvie turned around, still slurping away at the slushy.
"Oh hi, Jia," she said, sounding slightly disappointed.
"Wow okay, a little more enthusiasm would be nice…" Jia looked at Ylvie and then shook his head and put his arms around both of their shoulders, "I have a brilliant idea!" those words sent a surge of electricity down Emil's spine. The last time Jia had a brilliant plan Ylvie got a nose piercing and they ended up with community service. It's a long story.
"That fills me with dread." Emil said bluntly, Jia waved his words away like a bad smell,
"No, no, no, not like last time! This is different!" He took his arms off their shoulders and walked backward in front of them, so that he was facing them, "We're going to start a band!" Emil nearly choked on his saliva, a band? That was the dumbest thing he had ever heard,
"That could be cool," said Ylvie, before going back to slurping her drink. Emil looked at her, rage filling the whites of his eyes.
"I thought so!" said Jia, perking up when Ylvie gave her approval, "See, I'll play the guitar, Ylvie you played the double bass for a bit, right?" Ylvie nodded curtly and Jia continued, "so you'll play the bass, Ravis will be our drummer – he plays percussion in the orchestra, it's totally the same thing – and Emil you sing." Emil choked on his saliva again and stared at Jia, hoping to hell he had heard him wrong. Emil sighed and looked at Ylvie, she looked back at him, awaiting his answer with baited slushy.
"Come on, it'll be great!" pleaded Jia, looking at Emil with a puppy-dog expression
"What'll be great?" said a small voice behind them, Emil turned around and saw it was Elise, he straightened his spine to a length it hadn't been since he was born and feigned a smile.
"We're going to start a band," Jia said, a smug expression plastered on his face.
"A band? That's so cool! I'll be your number one fan!" she said. Emil's smile faded, but then fixed itself,
"Absolutely, so cool. Ice cold." Ylvie and Jia looked at Emil, both with one eyebrow cocked and an expression that screamed 'I know you're talking out your arse'. Emil raised his eyebrows back at Jia and then looked back at Elise, Ylvie slurped her drink some more as Elise pulled out her phone and the two began discussing things – stupid things.
"Where are we even going to get the equipment?" hissed Emil, looking at Jia, his smile completely absent.
"My step dad never got over his punk phase, he's still got a whole set-up in the attic." Jia said, with a shrug and a nonchalant head nod.
"Does Ravis know?" Emil asked, searching for reasons to not join this band.
"Yeah, he wants to help write our songs, which means they'll all be love songs, but I'm okay with that." Jia smirked at Emil, knowing that his pale friend had no option now.
"Great," Emil said, sarcasm lacing every syllable, "we're a band now." Jia fist bumped the air happily as they wandered past his house,
"We'll talk more at lunch tomorrow, but until then, rock on!" Jia said, extending his fist to the sky and sticking his tongue out. Emil rolled his eyes and Ylvie waved curtly.
"I have to go too, but I'll see you tomorrow," Elise said as she hugged Ylvie good bye and waved to Emil before running across the street. Emil sighed, just his luck.
The next day at lunch Jia, Ravis, and Elise were gathered at their usual table as Ylvie and Emil sat down with them,
"So we need a name," Jia said, Ravis nodded and Ylvie slowly unwrapped her sandwich.
"How about 'no'." Emil said, Ylvie shrugged and began tearing pieces of bread off her sandwich and passing it through her fingers before nibbling at it like a rat. Jia furrowed his brow at Emil and shook his head, Ravis thought a moment,
"What about 'the Valentines'?" Ravis asked, Ylvie looked up and shook her head, before looking back down at the piece of bread in her fingers and nibbling at it some more. Elise looked around and thought,
"What about JERY?" Elise said with a smile, "Jia, Emil, Ravis, and Ylvie!" Jia nodded,
"I like it!" he said, with a enthusiastic smile. Emil shook his head and Ylvie bgan tearing off the next bit of her sandwich,
"I like 'no'. It's indifferent and ironic, yet indie and unique. It's got a nice ring to it." Jia looked at Ylvie as though she were insane, Elise nodded, seeing her point. Emil smiled at Jia, proud that his sister finally came through on something. Ravis smiled and nodded happily.
"Fine, I guess we can call ourselves 'No' but just so you know, I don't like it." Jia said, taking a bite of his lunch and aggressively chewing.
"You don't like any idea that's not yours." Emil said, watching Ylvie in her strange and somewhat mesmerizing process of eating. Jia mumbled something about what Emil said not being true Elise giggled quietly like the little school girl that she was. Ravis sat quietly and thought about what he could write songs about. 'Your light heart is my sun and solar system, that's good!' Ravis thought, praising his genius.