A/N- Hello there! This is a story written by both MyTheroryOfAGoodLife13 and I, and oh boy is it looking to be a good one. It follows five of our own characters though a boot camp loosely based on the one in the music video for Punk Rock 101 by Bowling For Soup, which you should totally go and watch, but you won't completely miss everything if you don't. The teachers are all band members. We will hopefully update often although we do have lives you know, so that might be hard.
And yes, I am taking on too many stories right now.
Disclaimer: I own nothing and this will serve as the disclaimer for the whole story.
Chapter titles are after song lines by bands included in this story.
Read, Review, Recommend!
Chapter 1
In the car, I just can't wait
**Olyi Apollo**
I was walking home from normal school.
"Dude I'm so totally stoked for this new radical school we're going to" I looked at my best friend.
"Man you really are excited." I laughed at her.
"But Olyi, I can't wait. It's gonna be so fun!"
"It's just a summer camp and shut up I've got a headache goddamnit." I said while over dramatically grabbing my head.
It did hurt though. I we turned into our street and then into our building, then my floor.
"See ya later man." I waved to my friend Viola.
"Tomorrow we're off dude!" she shouted "punk rock 101!"
I laughed and went into my house.
"Are you ready Oliver?" my mum asked and soon as I was just in the house and closing the door.
"Hey mum, hey Olyi, how was your day son, good thanks mum." I mocked my mum.
"Oliver don't be so rude. This is your final straw, if you don't get kicked out of or fail this you are stopping all this punk rubbish and going to a private school."
I stormed up stairs "fuck you mum." I mumbled. I hate my mum and dad and sister and brother.
My little sis and little bro were perfect. Just want they wanted. They also wanted an older mature role model brother but instead they got me. Guess that's tough.
I finished packing my bags while playing Nirvana really loud.
"Oliver, dinner is on the table. Come down now!" my dad yelled.
Slowly I pulled myself up and shuffled down stairs.
I went to grab my plate to take up stairs to eat alone like I always did.
"No son, sit. It's your last day at home for a while and we must have a proper meal together." dad said all seriously.
"Since when have you given a shit about me!" I shouted back and stormed upstairs without the food.
"Oliver you forgot your food." mum called.
"I don't want any of your crap." I replied and turned up my music.
-Morning-
I woke early and had a shower to get washed and ready for the camp bus to arrive. I grabbed my bag, rucksack, guitar case and skateboard. Clumsily I walked down the stairs. I was almost at the last step when I fell.
"shit!" I yelled and my right wrist got crushed by bags and me. I sat up dazed a little and held my wrist. I'm so fuckin clumsy. I need to wrap bubble wrap around me so I don't fall and walk into things.
"Bye mum, bye dad. See ya guys later." I yelled good bye and left the sleeping house.
I was half way there when a car pulled up next to me. The window rolled down.
"Hey Olyi Apollo!" I turned to the car it was Viola and her dad "Wanna lift?"
**Viola Stella**
"Damn I am so stoked for this radical new summer school we're going to." I said as me and Olyi waited at the bus stop.
"Yeah. You're so goddamn stoked its kinda ridiculous man." he told me, flicking his hair out of his face and playing air drums on the shelter. I laughed and dragged my Bass rucksack up my shoulders another few inches. Shuffling my converses on the pavement, I took a moment to drop my black and yellow holdall and sweep my bright (party poison) red side fringe out of my eyes. I hope I packed enough hair dye, I don't want it to go blonde again.
"Viola, do you reckon we'll fit in? At the camp I mean?" Olyi asked. I shrugged at him.
"Dunno. But we were chosen 'cause its specially for kids like us. So we must have something to fit in with."
At that point, a black bus pulled up. It was all black with PUNK ROCK BOOT CAMP printed in white on the side and was empty apart from 3 kids scattered throughout, a guy who looked like he could only be some kind of teacher maybe and a bus driver. The teacher guy stepped out in-front of us. He had dark brown hair with a platinum blonde streak and tight skinny jeans and was short, maybe a centimetre taller than Olyi, so not very tall for an adult.
"Hello and welcome to Punk Rock 101, you have been selected to participate in a summer camp designed for kids like yourselves blah blah yaada yaada and so on." he said, un-enthusiastically throwing the paper he was reading off on the floor irritated "Who even writes this crap?! I'm Mr Wentz but call me Pete okay? Now get on the bus, I ain't got all day."
Slightly shocked by his directness, me and Olyi followed his directions and grabbed two seats next to each other about 3/4 of the way back. He held out a headphone and I accepted. We head-banged all the way there.
More and more kids- each one just as punk as me and Olyi- hopped on the bus. Loads of them had guitar cases, about 4 had basses like me and a few had drumsticks and hyperactivity like Olyi. I was really pumped for this. It was the first time me and Olyi could be ourselves. Our normal school hated us, not cause we were bad or dumb or anything, just because we were to different. But then we got a letter from this summer camp and now we're; in a desert. Not kidding you, me, Olyi and a bunch of other equally punk kids had been dropped off by the bus at a disused warehouse. A man strode up to us side by side with Mr W- Pete. He was tall and had a lip-ring and wore a beanie hat. The most interesting thing about him though was his voice. It was weird and probably like the vocal equivalent of marmite but I decided I loved it. It was awesome, with a sweet dude accent.
"Hello kids. I'm Tom DeLongue and I'm a teacher here at Punk Rock 101. I'll call your names and give you your timetables and then you've gotta get your arses to bed 'kay?"
It was alphabetical order of last name so almost immediately Olyi was called up.
"Olyi Apollo. Did I get that right?" Tom asked as he handed Olyi a piece of paper. Olyi nodded and traipsed back in line. Then I tuned out until
"Viola Stella." my name was called. I took my timetable and then we all got dismissed. Me and Olyi compared timetables.
"Where do you reckon Cabin 7 is then?" Olyi asked. I shrugged as we stepped outside what looked like a warehouse but is actually a school. Pete led us up a set of outdoor stairs to the very top floor. On that top floor were 13 doors each with a big number printed on. Everyone headed to their respective door and me and Olyi hesitated before opening the door marked 7. Our roommates had already made themselves at home, a boy and a girl both with guitars. The boy sat on the top bunk; legs dangling over the edge, bag on his lap and mousey brown hair flopping into his dark brown eyes. The girl sat in the centre of the floor deep in thought. Her blue-grey eyes were focused on a piece of paper on the floor in front of her and she was bent over an acoustic guitar attempting a progression. Me and Olyi ran over to the other bunk but he got there first.
"I TAX TOP BUNK!" we both yelled but he scrambled up the flimsy ladder fastest.
"I win bitch!" he laughed and I poked out my tongue. He poked his out as well. I flopped down on my mattress and threw my holdall under the bed. It hit the bedpost with a clang and I sat up cross legged and surveyed the room. It was small and had a big widow with some kind of mesh over and heavy black curtains. The light warmed the small space and made the low ceiling look even lower. Everything was covered with posters; Floor to ceiling and then the ceiling too. A little bathroom was off from a door on the left and there was a sofa facing out the window and a coffee table that Olyi would inevitably trip over more than once this summer. Altogether it looked nice, I thought as the girl on the floor strummed a painfully out of place chord. I grimaced.
"B minor." I said, still grimacing.
"What?" asked the floor girl.
"B minor. You're looking for a chord to end that progression: B minor." I explained. Floor girl gave a little 'oh' and strummed the progression again, this time ending on B minor.
"Whoa that actually works." she noted it down "Thanks. I'm Octave."
"Viola." I said. Bunk dude spoke up.
"Yeah and I'm Josh. Dude?" he said nodding upwards to Olyi I think.
"Olyi. Spelt with a Y and an I." he said quietly. Then he started climbing down the rickety stairs but slipped two down and fell flat on his back with a bang. Octave looked shocked and Josh looked surprised but I just laughed.
"Only you man, only you." I giggled as he stood up.
"Yeah. I should probably come wrapped in cotton wool or some shit." he stood up and dusted his hair off, laughing.
After that, the evening was uneventful. We were called down to dinner in a large grey concrete hall with white fold out tables and grey chairs. The food might have been good, but then it could have sucked. I payed no attention, being too busy poking Olyi every time he tried to feign eating by spreading the food around his plate and nibbling the corners of his dessert. There was a girl at the end of our table who kept singing. I don't think she even knew she was doing it, but I'm not complaining. Her voice was somewhat unique and very pretty, like lavender honey. Her roommates kept telling her to sing different songs.
"Come on Sunshine! Sing this, please!" a boy nudged her and she rolled her eyes through her poufy hair.
"Go away, you're making me self conscious!" she nudged back before standing up and carrying her plate away.
"Olyi, you eating that man?" I asked pointing at his half eaten pizza slice. He shook his head.
"Not hungry."
I took the pizza and shrugged
"Suite yourself." I said to him before hungrily chowing down on his food. He giggled and pushed me his plate.
"Hey I don't want your salad!" I shoved it back at him. He reluctantly took a forkful of lettuce and munched, strands hanging out of his lips. Then another till most of the plate was done and, not to be rude, but he is the worlds messiest eater. I mean really, how can you even eat that scruffily? I have no idea on that boy sometimes.
The next morning I woke up to Olyi playing drums on my forehead.
"You're such a knob, you know that?" I mumbled into my pillow and he laughed.
"Yep. Now wake up dude, we've got first class in an hour."
I flipped him off and went into the bathroom where Octave was brushing her teeth in the shower.
"Mornin Viola! How are you this fine day?" she sang, and I could see her blurry form dancing around the shower cubicle behind the curtain. I rolled my eyes and wiped the steamed up mirror with my forearm.
"Fine. Where do you keep your hair dye?" I asked while attempting to tame my bed head.
"I'm insulted you even think I use it!" she said, mocking hurt which made me roll my eyes even more. She has very straight black hair which looks almost as out of place as my colour and to top it all off, her roots are bubblegum pink.
"Just answer my question." I sighed
"In the cabinet under the sink. Pass me a towel?"
I grabbed a towel and averted my eyes. A few seconds later she had wrapped herself in the towel and joined me at the mirror. I threw my hair dye under the sink, applied my eyeliner and left the bathroom. I dressed in my black shorts, black and yellow nirvana smiley tee, and sunshine yellow converse with stars on. My dark red hair clashed with all this yellow but I didn't care.
Me and Olyi had first lesson together. It was Punk and Rock History and the teachers name was Mr F Iero. This meant nothing to us but as we entered the class we realised it would be fun. The two spare seats had a girl in-between them. She was quite pale with dark poufy hair crammed underneath a grey fedora. Her Doc Martin clad feet rested on the desk as she leant back on her chair. She had dark blue skinnies on with luminous blue safety pins where a belt should have been and black suspenders over the top of them. She had a crazy mixed colour neon shirt on and her expression was of blissful uncaring. I took the seat to her left.
"Hey. Sup? I'm Sunshine." she smiled at me. Ahhhh. She was the girl with the honey voice.
"I'm Viola. Nice pins." I commented. She pulled at the hem of her jeans.
"You think so? I don't know if I like them or not. They're kind of annoying."
"No, they look pretty cool."
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a packet of bubblegum.
"Want some?" I asked her and she shook her head.
"I'm a vegetarian." she said sheepishly. I shrugged and threw a piece at Olyi before chewing on mine contentedly.
"So what cabin are you in?" she said.
"7. I'm like the only girl Bassist in this whole camp. You?"
"11. I sing and play piano but I kinda do guitar too. There's one other guy who does all that. Not in my cabin though." she commented "Why do you reckon they're called cabins? Cause I mean they aren't really cabins, if anything they're dorms."
I shrugged. "No idea."
A short man with ink black hair and eyes the colour of hazelnuts walked into the room, took a piece of chalk from the bottom of the dark green blackboard and wrote FRANK IERO in the centre.
"Morning Punkrockers! Isn't it a lovely day to learn about the great legacy Rockers and Punks have left for us?" he said and we all looked up at him baffled.
"Only joking motherfuckers, don't look so worried. We're gonna look at Rock History, that cool?" he asked receiving nods from around the class "I'm Frank and please don't call me Mr Iero, it makes me feel old. And if you feel an urge to age me mentally, pronounce Iero properly."
I looked at Sunshine. She shrugged at me as Frank wrote in the centre of the board.
"Now, what do you guys know about the start of Rock and Roll?" he asked. No one really knew anything, so Frank started writing on the board. It was interesting; like a web, of bands, their influences and who they influenced. I took out my book, usually reserved for writing lyrics, and began to make notes like the rest of the class. It was actually shocking, cause I never normally care about lessons.
The bell rang and Frank stopped writing on the board.
"Shit, is that the time?" he said, piling things on his desk "Well I hope you guys had fun. See you soon."
I piled out of class and Sunshine walked over.
"What lesson do you have next?" she asked and I stared blankly at the paper.
"Erm, Bass I think. Then Vocals, then stage makeup." I said with faux confidence.
"Oh cool. I think we have almost the same classes, 'cept I don't play bass." she looked in identical confusion at her own schedule.
"Your loss." I giggled.
"Hey, Bass is like guitar for dumb people!" she retorted and I faked being wounded.
"How so?!"
"You only have four strings! It's way easy!"
"I could so beat your ass at it! You guitarists are so full of yourselves!"
We both exchange glances and burst into laughter at each other.
"That was weird." she said.
"Yep. I guess I'll see you in vocals class yeah?"
"I'm stoked already." she smiled, pushing the door that said PIANO on. Except the O had fallen off so it actually said PIAN, which took all of my willpower to not go over and swap letters so it said PAIN. But I'm way to mature for that (she says).
I ran up to my cabin and grabbed my case. Opening it I took a second to admire my bass. Black with deep candy apple red trim- a fender precision- I had seen it in the music shop down the high street two years ago and set my heart on having it. I asked my mum, she said there was no way, that I should take up a more suitable hobby for a girl. Then I asked my dad, he told me it was too expensive and as much as he would love to get me it, he doubted I would work at it enough. So to prove him wrong I set about getting the 1000 dollars myself. I worked the whole summer; every day I was washing cars, mowing lawns, babysitting- you name it. Then in mid-winter I finally took the money out of my savings, bought my beautiful instrument and played it till my fingers were red and bleeding.
So worth it.
Upon entering the classroom, a few guys looked at me with faces that just said 'Is she for real?'. About 5 guys were sat on red stools in a rough circle with basses on laps and amps in a bigger circle round the edge. Pete sat on the furthest edge of the circle from the door.
"Err- My schedule says I have a bass lesson now." I mumbled. An obnoxious looking dude on the edge of the circle scowled.
"But you're a chick. That's just wrong."
"That's very sexist. Girls can play bass too you know." Pete said "Take a seat Viola."
I gave Mr Obnoxious a death glare and unzipped my case, taking a stool and attaching to an amp. Pete played a baseline.
"Okay, just copy after me."
He played a relatively simple bassline and I copied with ease. This carried round the circle until it got back to Pete where he played another bassline. We repeated this pattern for a while, then Pete put a backing track on.
"Okay, now you've just gotta make a bassline for this. Crazy as ya like." he explained "Joey?"
He pointed at Mr Obnoxious who struggled his way through a really boring pattern. Then it was my turn. I played my heart out, walking my fingers all over the instrument, feeling the bass pulse through me. I didn't realise everyone was stareing until the backing stopped. Petes eyes were wide and even Joey had a look of interest.
"And that is a chick, playing bass!" Pete exclaimed "Dude that was awesome! Hang on a second, I've gotta tell Billie."
He got up and exited the room excitedly. The boy on the left of Mr Obnoxious spoke up
"How did you learn to play like that?"
"I just taught myself I guess." I said, rubbing my fingers.
I said no more for the rest of the lesson, but apparently Billie wanted to see me play during my next lesson, which was tomorrow. But now we had a break, so I found Sunshine at a table by herself, reading a book.
"Whatcha readin?" I slid onto the chair beside her.
"A book."
I rolled my eyes and examined the cover.
"I didn't think you would read Harry Potter."
"Who doesn't read Harry Potter? It's totally awesome. Are your friends gonna be here soon?"
"Yes. But they'll love you, you should stay." I said, grabbing her forearm and noticing the writing and drawing all over it in sharpie. Olyi and Octave arrived at almost exactly the same time. Octave was sipping a blue slushy with a contented grin on her face and Olyi fidgeted with his drumsticks, twirling then through his fingers. Octave slurped her slushy loudly.
"Hey Viola. Hey you with the cool hair."
Sunshine grinned at this compliment.
"Sunshine. Sup?"
"Nothing much. What do you play?"
"Piano and Vocals. I also do a little bit of guitar."
"Cool."
Sunshine and Octave began discussing guitar chords, which I wasn't interested in so I turned to Olyi.
"You having fun?"
"Um kinda. My drum teacher is called Tre and he thinks I'm really good. But when Octave went to buy that slushy some douche-bag emptied a load of ice down my shirt, so I had to go change." he looked at the floor. I squeezed his shoulder.
"I'll get them later. You hungry?" I asked. He shook his head until I produced Oreos from my pocket.
"I guess I could eat something..." he shrugged taking the foil Oreo packet from my hand.
"So who was it?" I asked as Olyi ate the Oreos whole.
"Who was what?" Sunshine asked, moving next to me.
"The one who threw ice at Olyi. Get with the times Sunshine!" I said, bitchy sarcastic making her laugh.
"We should put hair remover in his shampoo." She said and everyone laughed.
"That's actually a good idea" I giggled. Guess what we're doing tomorrow?