Author's Note:
I decided to try a different approach with writing music lyrics in text. Consider this an experimental chapter. Please let me know in the reviews if you like the lyrics written this way or in the way I wrote them in Chapter One. Oh, and I suggest listening to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now when reading along with the lyrics. It makes reading the chapter more exciting! Enjoy!
"Tonight, I'm gonna have myself… a real good time…" he started, playing soft chords and single notes. "I feel aliii-hi-hi-hiiiive!" His upper body swerved back and forth in place with the music. He was in the zone. He let himself go and took a ride on the Rock n' Roll train. Fear was no longer welcome.
Widened eyes. Dropped jaws. No words to be said. Luna couldn't help but cough up a snicker to everyone's unanimous expressions. The Louds and their friends were practically frozen in tremendous awe. Even Lisa, a girl of science and logic, was struck with the same metaphorical ailment. With her headphones, she heard the full extent of his voice like she wanted. They witnessed, or in this case, listened to Jamie's voice while he played the opening melody. It was just like Luna said. The famous voice of Freddie Mercury escaped from his mouth. It was clear. It was indistinguishable. It was hard to believe, but Jamie proved it.
"And the world… I'll turn it inside out! Yeah!" He turned his head towards his bandmates. His voice grew soft and airy as he raised it falsetto. "I'm floating around… in ecstasy, so…"
"Don't. Stop. Me. Now…" Luna, Sam, and Tabby's voices joined his, providing the backing vocals. Jamie pleasingly grinned with half-lidded eyes, playing six notes after. With guitars and drumsticks in hand, they were ready to kick their little concert up a notch. "Don't. Stop. Me."
Tabby rapped a cymbaling rhythm lightly while Jamie struck harder chords. Their voices strengthened and sang in harmonious bliss, building the song up to its early climax and its true tone.
"Cause I'm having a good time! Having a good time!"
Tabby led them with a short drum roll and a loud strike on the cymbal. She kept a firm and steady beat while Luna and Sam plucked their guitars. Jamie's hands were jumping all over the keys and took his amplified voice to the main verses. The garage exploded with real rock n' roll. Lincoln, his sisters, and Clyde cheered loudly as the band was finally jamming. They tapped their feet, nodded their heads and snapped their fingers to the rhythm.
"I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky, like a tiger, defying the laws of gravity!" he sang aloud into the microphone. "I'm a racing car, passing by, like Lady Godiva! I'm gonna go, go, go! There's no stopping me!"
At this point, the Louds broke into dance around the band. Most of them anyways. Lisa stayed in front of her computer to continue recording Jamie's singing, but would once in a while do a few spurts of the moment dance moves. Lucy stood in one spot next to Lisa. She wasn't into dancing, but with nods to the beat and a little smile, she was having a good time.
"Sigh…~" she whispered in a less monotone voice than usual.
Lincoln and Clyde swing danced with each other, keeping together with one hand while they synchronized in motion around Luna. Lola and Lana swayed side to side with each other as they kept watch of Jamie from top of the piano. Lynn, Luan, and Leni stayed and danced together, bumping hips. Lori hung out next to Tabby and the drums, tapping her feet and clapping in rhythm. For the upcoming first chorus, Tabby picked up a headless tambourine with one of her sticks and tossed it to Lori.
"I'm burning through the sky, yeah! Two-hundred degrees! That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit! I'm travelling at the speed of light!"
Luna, Sam, and Tabby gave their voices once again.
"I wanna make a supersonic man out of you!"
Jamie hit the same note over and over as the first chorus approached. Tabby winked to Lori, signaling to use the tambourine. Lori grinned and tapped the instrument into her palm along with the beat. She lent her voice for the chorus while her siblings danced on vigorously.
"Don't, stop me now!"
"I'm having such a good time. I'm having a ball."
Lola and Lana raised their heads and sang as well, still swaying to the tune.
"Don't, stop me now!"
"If you wanna have a good time… just give me a call!"
Now everyone was singing together for the chorus. Leni, Lynn, and Luan next.
"Don't, stop me now!"
"Cause I'm having a good time!"
And then Lincoln and Clyde while rocking side to side, shoulder to shoulder. Jamie looked at everyone having the time of their lives, singing to their hearts' content. Even they had good voices. Both his eyes and smile showed a hint of pride.
"Don't, stop me now!"
"Yes, I'm having a good time! I don't wanna stop at all!"
Jamie played a short interval on the piano with both hands hitting fierce chords. Fascinated by his piano playing, Lily wanted to play too. She stood on the bench and leaned forward. Her tiny hands pressed two keys back and forth on the far-left end of the piano. Strangely enough, those two keys worked well with the piano's melody. Jamie reached over and rubbed her head, earning a giggle from her. Tabby struck another short drum roll before returning to the steady beat.
"I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars! On a collision course!" Jamie continued. "I am a satellite. I'm out of control. I'm a sex machine ready to reload… like an atom bomb! About to…"
"Oh... ohh-ohh-ohh-oh explode!" the Louds sang, laughing together the moment after.
"I'm burning through the sky, yeah! Two-hundred degrees! That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit! I'm travelling at the speed of light!"
Luna sang with Jamie for a momentary union of harmonic vocals.
"I wanna make a supersonic woman of you!"
The piano, the guitar and the bass were dropped to silence for the song's short drum solo. Tabby kept the steady beat with the rapping drum and cymbal. The backing vocals and their extra six sung first with Jamie following suit.
"Don't stop me! Don't stop me! Don't stop me!"
"Hey, hey, hey!"
"Don't stop me! Don't stop me! Ooh-ooh-ooh!"
"I like it!"
"Don't stop me! Don't stop me!"
"Have a good time! Good time!"
"Don't stop me! Don't stop me! Awwwwww yeah!"
Tabby finished with a built-up drum roll before smashing hard on the cymbals. Jamie jammed on the keys, Sam strummed her bass, and Luna struck a fierce bend while going into the song's guitar solo. The amps let out her guitar's screams. Her left hand stayed on the twelfth fret of the guitar's neck where most of the string bends took place while her pick plucked the four thinner strings around the pickups. She played her guitar with a burning passion. Her siblings cheered on and clapped in rhythm as she mastered the art of the guitar solo. Near the end of it with Jamie picking up his vocals again, her fingertips bent the strings for the last few times. Her fingers now jumped up and down the neck playing various notes in an almost improvised manner.
"Ohhhh, I'm burning through the sky, yeah! Two-hundred degrees, that's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit! Hey! I'm travelling at the speed of light! I wanna make a supersonic man out of you! Hey, hey!"
The Louds grouped together and joined in for one last chorus. Lori raised the tambourine high and rung it in the hypnotic rhythm.
"Don't, stop me now!"
"I'm having such a good time. I'm having a ball."
"Don't, stop me now!"
"If you wanna have a good time, just give me a call!"
"Don't, stop me now!"
"Cause I'm having a good time!"
"Don't, stop me now!"
"Yes, I'm having a good time!"
Everyone raised their voices loud and proud. They gave it all they got for the big finale.
"I don't wanna stop at all!"
Luna and Sam and strummed their guitars one last time as all voices faded down. Tabby gave one last strike to a cymbal to finish her role. Jamie was left performing a soft melody to the main tune. He vocalized to the lyrics as the song was coming to an end. His voice grew softer as well as the piano's notes, fading away. His voice finished first, leaving him to tap a few more simple keys. He finished the composition with one last chord.
He let out a relieved sigh. He turned himself on the bench to face the others, only to be blasted with loud squeals and applause. All eyes were on him with hands clapping and whistling. He shrugged his head sheepishly and bit his bottom lip as his cheeks hinted a shade of red.
"Mate, that was bloody phenomenal!" Tabby exclaimed, jumping out of her seat.
"Seriously Jamie," Sam said. "you have an amazing voice!"
The Loud siblings clamored over each other, nodding in agreement.
"You could literally be the next Freddie Mercury!" Lori added.
"I told you guys, didn't I?" Luna said, grinning proudly. She looked at Jamie who was now flustered. As the others commented on his singing, she could see the more sensitive side of him when it wasn't being stirred by his anxiety. The little concert went off without a hitch. Maybe he was starting to finally to come out of his shell. However, it was too early to draw that conclusion. For now, she enjoyed the moment with him.
"T-thanks, everyone." Jamie chuckled nervously. "You did great too!" He looked to the Loud siblings. "All of you! I think you guys have a lot of potential in singing!"
The sisters' cheeks turned red, some timidly looking away.
"Come on, Jamie." Lynn said, scratching the back of her head. "We're not that good. At least, not as good as you."
"Yeah!" Leni added. "You totes sound just like that singing man!"
A young throat was cleared. All heads turned to Lisa who stood next to her computer.
"My dear siblings, it is too soon to decide that for ourselves." she began, receiving a low groan from her siblings. "It is true that the human ears can pick up one sound and compare it to another that we may consider to be identical, but our hearing is not as accurate as other species." She gestured everyone to gather around her computer as she displayed the screen, showing a recording program. They huddled together, struggling to get a good view. She fixed her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose as she looked up to Jamie. "Thanks to your cooperation, I have been able to acquire a clear reading of the soundwaves from your vocal chords, which are displayed on the screen here in pitch and duration. Now that we have this sample, we can now add a pre-recording of Freddie Mercury's vocals to compare. This will be the final step in the experiment to determine if your voice is truly identical to his."
With the movement and clicks from her mouse, she opened a music file to display on the screen. Under Jamie's recorded soundwaves was Mercury's. "In order to gain more accurate results," she continued. "I decided to use a different song. No matter how different the songs may be, we are looking for similarities in the pitch of both your voices. We will play yours first."
She clicked on play, and they all listened to Jamie's voice singing out one section of the song. Everyone listened to him very carefully, keeping a mental memory of his voice for the next sample.
Lisa paused the clip. "Now here is Mercury's."
She scrolled the mouse down to the next set of soundwaves and clicked play. The second sample was Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy. It was sung with a softer voice, limiting the full-scale vocal range. There was no doubt from everyone that both voices were very similar to one another. However, they took Lisa's remark about the human ears into consideration. The voices sounded identical, but it wasn't for certain. The clip was paused.
"It is time for the moment of truth." Lisa announced. With a press of a button, the screen scanned both samples in a slow pace. Many fingers were crossed at this point. Everyone wanted the results to be positive, especially Luna. Jamie said nothing, keeping himself from getting any hopes up. As the program continued to scan, the printer next to the computer pushed out a sheet of paper with the results bits at a time. It a minute, but the scanning was complete. Lisa took the printed sheet and handed it to Jamie.
He took the results in his hands and looked it over. Other pairs of eyes hovered over his shoulders, taking a peek as well. The results were shown as a chart with both samples and numbers. They both certain makings within the soundwaves. He stared at the sheet for almost a minute without saying a word. Was it a match, or was there a minor flaw? An uncomfortable cloud of silence hung over everyone. Luna bit her lip, hesitant to put a hand on his shoulder.
"I… don't understand…" he muttered.
Lisa took a deep breath. "I'm sorry the results didn't come out the way you wanted them to…" she said sympathetically. "Occurrences like these are often rare and-"
"No, I really don't understand. I don't even know what this means."
"Yeah, Lis." Lincoln said. "Maybe you should just tell us what the results are."
Lisa pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a disappointed sigh. If only her siblings were as intelligent and advanced as she was. Taking the sheet back, her eyes moved from left to right downwards, muttering to herself.
"Well?" Lori asked.
Lisa dropped the paper from her eyes as she showed her normal expressionless face. Perhaps the results were negative after all. But much to everyone's surprise, she looked up to Jamie with a smile.
Jamie's breath was held as he saw her small gesture. His eyes slightly widened as if he was put into some sort of trance. They last thing everyone saw from him was a cracked smile. They all gasped. By then, they were all smiling, believing at that point the results came out positive. But they needed to be sure.
"So, does that mean…?" Luna asked, biting her lip and jittering in potential excitement.
"Normally, I don't care for inane human emotions but…" Lisa started. She raised the results high above her head, no longer able to contain herself. The biggest grin no one had ever seen from her as she jumped in place. "It's a match!"
Nobody else could contain themselves any longer. Cries and squeals of utter joy echoed in the garage. Almost immediately, they all huddled and gave Jamie a big group hug. He was the only one not playing along, most likely from being completely dumbfounded and suffocating from everyone's combined and ultimate embrace. He was stiff as a board in their arms.
"I can't believe this is happening!" Luna squeaked gleefully. "Dude, did you hear?! You're gonna be a legend!" She heard no response. "Uh, dude?" All eyes looked to him, only to find his face blue and his cheeks puffed.
Lisa quickly stepped away from the group hug. "It would appear our hug is cutting off the oxygen flow from his lungs."
Taking her lead, the rest pulled away. The blue from Jamie's face disappeared as he took a deep gasp, letting out a heavy exhale after. He put a hand to his chest, taking a few breaths.
"Oopsie! Sorry, Jamie!" Leni said sympathetically.
"You're all good…" he replied. "I just… wow…" Still shocked from the experiment's results, he took a seat back on the bench, chuckling silently. "I knew I sung like him, but I didn't think it was actually legit…"
"Science doesn't lie, my talented homo sapient." Lisa implied, showing the sheet of paper. "The tests determined that you and Freddie share identical pitches in your singing vocals. It is a one-hundred percent guarantee."
"Okay, now that we all know Jamie can sing exactly like Freddie Mercury, I want to discuss what to do with it next." Luna announced.
"What do you mean?" Lincoln asked.
"It's the second matter I wanted to tell you guys from our emergency sibling meeting last night, remember?" Her siblings nodded. "Good! So we all know that Mom and Dad's love letter anniversary is coming up in a few weeks, right? Well, I want to do something special for them."
"And this involves Jamie's singing?" Lynn asked.
"You got it! Dad told me yesterday that he and Mom share a special song. And it happens to be a song from Queen. I figured if we can get our band booked that night at Banger's & Mosh, we could perform the song for them as a little present from the family."
"Which song are we talking about, Luna?" Tabby asked.
"We're going to play Somebody to Love."
"Awww! I love that song!" Sam squealed.
Jamie chuckled, knowing the song all too well, having both played and sing it in isolation countless times. The memory however was cut short from a sudden thought.
"Hang on. Not that there's anything wrong with the idea, but why would you need me for it? Couldn't you guys sing it yourselves?"
For once, the outgoing and ecstatic Luna Loud frowned to his question. "Not only it would make Mom and Dad really happy, but I think it'll help Mom most of all."
"What do you mean?"
Everyone was drawn in to Luna's sudden mood change. Her raspy voice grew soft and fragile. "Mom loved Freddie Mercury the most out of the members of Queen." she started. "She was in love with his singing. You could say her love for him is equal to my love for Mick Swagger. When she and Dad shared that song, she hoped that one day on that anniversary, Freddie would sing it for them. But that never happened. Dad told me she was devastated when she heard Freddie died. She stayed in her room for days, crying and listening to his music… That dream of hers fell apart…" She sighed. "I can't blame her though. I would be the same if anything happened to Ol' Mick…"
The other siblings shared the same frown and emotion. The thought of their own mother crying in a pit of depression was an uneasy and uncomfortable picture. It hit them hard, almost to the verge of tearing. A few sniffles were made from amongst them.
Tabby, Sam, and Jamie glanced away, pondering the same thought of their own mothers. Jamie looked up, meeting with Luna's imploring gaze.
"Jamie. Now that we know you have his voice, it would mean so much to all of us if you could sing for my Mom. I know it won't be from Freddie himself, but it would at least be his voice singing it. It would be your voice."
There wasn't much to think about. She was determined to have him sing for her parents. No wasn't going to be an answer. Jamie looked over her side, noticing her siblings giving him the same soft pleading eyes. The younger siblings gave him puppy eyes and stuck out bottom lips, even Lucy but without the eyes. With such cuteness all staring at him, he couldn't help but chuckle. He returned eye contact with Luna and smiled. "It's not like I can say no anyways. So yeah. I'll do it."
While the siblings cheered in accomplishment, Luna leaned forward and pulled him into a tight and warm embrace.
"Thank you!" she exclaimed.
Jamie sighed happily with a hinted blush, accepting her gesture and returned it.
Lucy pulled out a crystal ball from behind her back and hovered her hand over it, her eyes focused both on the object and Luna and Jamie. "Uuummm…" she muttered in meditation. "The spirits are telling me there is a bright future for them. They also say their future will be a course of smooth and rapid rivers. Their first obstacle will be revealed in chapter five…"
Lincoln looked at Lucy with a raised brow and a disturbed glance. "Uh… Lucy, who are you talking to…?"
"The spirits never lie…" she said, ignoring her brother's question completely.
Breaking their hug, Luna gave Jamie a confident grin. "Do you think you can handle singing in front of a bigger audience?"
Jamie bit his lip, but eventually grinned back. "I know I'll start getting uncomfortable with the idea, but as long as I have you to help, I'll get over it. I think today helped me open up to the suggestion."
Luna chuckled and playfully ruffled his hair. "Attaboy. Now, what should we do first?"
Jamie stood from the bench and stretched his arms. "The first thing we should do is to have everybody become familiar with the song; the lyrics, the music, when to sing and at what pitch." he replied, gesturing his hand towards Luna's siblings.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Lincoln exclaimed. "You want us to sing too?"
"Yeah, man!" Luna replied. "I want this present to be from all of us!"
Her siblings muttered amongst themselves, shrugging their heads and looking away uncomfortably.
"I don't know if we can do that…" Lori frowned. "We're literally not as talented as you guys are."
"But you can still sing!" Jamie implied. "This song won't work if it's just the four of us. When Queen recorded the song, they layered their voices over and over to get that soulful one-hundred-voice choir. With all our voices put together, we can get those same results." The Louds continued to express uncertainty. He took a breath. "I heard all of you sing when we played. I love your enthusiasm! You're not afraid to perform in front of a crowd like I am. That's the difference between all of you and myself. Believe me when I say you sing better than you think. Don't doubt yourselves."
"And remember," Luna said. "this is for Mom and Dad. They'll be so happy and so proud to hear us sing for them. Especially to a song that means a lot to them."
The Louds huddled together and whispered to each other in discussion. Lily popped her head out from the group and waved to Sam. Sam giggled and waved back. After a minute, they broke up the huddle and faced the band.
"Where do we start?" Lincoln asked, eager to begin.
Jamie looked to Luna. "It's your call."
Luna nodded and approached them. "Alright, dudes and dudettes. I'll get copies of the lyrics printed and passed out later. I suggest listening to the song and memorizing the lyrics three times a night until you're able to memorize it."
"Is that like doing homework?" Lana asked.
"Hey! I didn't sign up for this just to do homework!" Lola complained.
Jamie laughed. "It's not homework. But Luna's right. The sooner you can memorize those lyrics, the sooner we can get started on doing the real thing."
"And we need to make sure we're all clear on one thing," Luna said. "do not let Mom and Dad find out about this. We need to keep this a surprise. And don't tell them about Jamie's voice either. Got it?"
The siblings all responded with the gesture of zipping their mouths shut and throwing away the key in unison. A small digital ding went off in Jamie's pocket. He pulled his phone out, receiving a text message.
"Shoot." Jamie grumbled. "I gotta get going."
"Aw! So soon?" Leni sadly asked.
"Yeah… but don't worry! We'll have time to get together again and start rehearsals." Jamie looked over to Clyde. "Will you be able to join too? We could use another set of male vocals."
"Uh… sure! I'll be here!" Clyde replied, puffing up his chest in a masculine manner.
"Great!" Jamie jogged over to his bike and slipped on his helmet. He looked back to Luna. "Give me a call when you find a time to get together!"
Luna gave him a thumbs up. "You got it, brah!"
Jamie mounted his bike and took the first few pedals down the driveway while waving goodbye. "See you later!"
"Bye, Jamie!" they all exclaimed, waving back to him.
In no time at all, he was out of sight as he pedaled down the street. Tabby and Sam approached Luna from behind and stood next to her.
"That bloke is really something, eh?" Tabby asked, crossing her arms and grinning.
"Yeah. He sure is." Luna replied softly with half-lidded eyes.
"He is pretty cute." Sam added. "If you fancy short guys." she laughed.
"Oh, knock it off…!" Luna said, giving Sam a playful shove.
"He's cute and can sing like ol' Freddie Mercury." Tabby continued, nudging Luna with an elbow. "A good combo if you ask me."
"Come on, I said knock it off…!" Luna mumbled, cracking an unwanted smile.
Just as Jamie was out of sight, a taxi pulled up to Mr. Grouse's house. Mr. Grouse himself stepped out of the taxi and made his way to his porch. He was looking less grumpy than normal.
"Hi, Mr. Grouse!" Lori waved. "How was your afternoon at the spa?"
"It was good for these old bones!" he called. "Thank you for the coupon! It was just what I needed! But I think one of the workers there put too much effort into waxing my head! What do you think?"
He took off his hat, showing a very waxed bald head. Immediately the sun's rays bounced off his head and shot towards the Louds. They all squinted their eyes from the brightness, but Lola got the worst of it. Her eyes were hit directly by the sun's rays, temporarily blinding her. She fell to her knees and cried in agony.
"Aaaahh! My eyes!"