Four hours seems like an eternity. Adelaide seems a world away. This whole thing feels like a dream.
These are just a few of the thoughts that are buzzing around my head as our dusty old four-wheel drive makes its way down the highway. My name is Breezi and I'm the bass player in a band called Drop Dead Faithful. A few months back we entered this competition to be one of the supporting acts at Soundwave 2013. No one in our stupid little hole of a hometown saw it coming, but we won! And we get to play at Soundwave in Adelaide in less than three days. Sez, our guitarist is sitting beside me in the back of the car. Shona, the singer, is driving and Nathaniel, the drummer is asleep in the front seat. Sez is looking up the bands that will be performing this year. She's already done this ten thousand times and must have it commited to memory, but she's restless and excited, like me.
"I can't believe Escape the Fate and Falling in Reverse will be there. There's no way that can be good." Sez says.
"It'll be fine." I say, with a slightly exasperated sigh. "It's none of our business anyway."
"W-what's going on?" Nathaniel says from the front seat.
"Morning sleepyhead." Shona says.
"It's afternoon," I interject.
"Just talking about the bands... again," Says Sez.
"Hey, you reckon I'll get to meet CC?"
"Dunno, but they will be there." Shona says.
"Ashley!" I say excitedly.
"Oh, enough about Ashley already!" Shona says, annoyed. She has a right to be. She puts up with me talking non-stop about Ashley every day.
"Hey, at least it's not Andy Clemmensen anymore." Sez tells her. I used to be an obsessed Stacker, but I'm kinda over it now. Kind of.
"Can someone put on some music?" Nathaniel says.
"Sure. Breezi, what've you got?" Typical. They always turn to me for music. Maybe it's because I have hundreds of CDs or maybe it's just because I'm awesome. Probably not.
"Um, Falling in Reverse, Slipknot, and BVB and... Mayday Parade."
"BVB, no questions asked."
"Which one?"
"I like Set the World on Fire." Says Sez.
"Yeah, okay."
Four hours (and about 8 CDs) later, we arrive in Adelaide. As cities go, it's pretty nice, but not my favourite. I love Melbourne. Next year, when I finish year twelve, I plan to move there and go to uni. The hotel we're staying at is not flashy, but it's liveable. I can't help thinking where the members of the other bands will be staying. Somewhere way flashier than this. Way more expensive. To me, it's a harsh reminder that they're better than us. "Something bothering you, Breezi?"
"Huh?"
"I said, are you okay." Nathaniel says.
"I'm fine, just thinking."
"You think a lot," Shona says.
"Maybe," I help myself to a bowl of chips and sit down at the table. We're so broke, we're all crammed into this one tiny room and already it's a mess. The next week will be annoying.
I can't sleep and at two in the morning, I'm leaning against the kitchen counter, drinking coffee. I know it won't help me sleep. I'm not even trying to sleep anymore. I keep thinking. Will people notice us? Will they talk to us? Or ignore us? We are less important, but I hate being ignored and feeling like I'm in the way. I have to tell myself I belong there, but I'm having a hard time believing that. Our band has written a few songs but we mainly do covers. The song we're performing is called Miss, May I. It's the first original we ever did. Sez wrote it ages ago, but I like it.
The question is, will anyone else like it?
