"So, Hannah… how long have you lived in Sherman?" Mr. Lunis asked.
"Well, my dad and I moved here after my mom passed when I was ten. We still lived in Illinois before, just relocated because we couldn't pay the bills at our old house." Hannah said, taking a bite of her Mac and cheese.
"I see…"
"So, what about you guys? I heard you're from out of country?"
"Well, I was born in California, Lance is from Canada and Ilana was born in England, but is an American citizen by birth."
"That's cool." Hannah took another bite. "Do you remember anything from England?"
"Not really, I was just born there, then came over to the states. My parents were from here." Ilana lied. The trio had set up an entire elaborate cover story.
"Got it…"
. . .
"This band is pretty good!" Lance shouted, trying to get his words across the blasting sound.
"What?" Kristin asked, pointing to her ears.
"This band is good!"
"Fish man gives wood?" Kristin echoed.
"No, the…" Lance pointed to the band on stage. "Band, is good!" He next did a thumbs up.
"Okay!" The music played on, the bands' each having the heavy metal rock feel, but the depressing lyrics Lance was fond of. One of the song's going as…
You try so hard to be perfect.
But just stop, because it's not worth it
Can't you see that no one cares?
You've got just yourself and all your prayers.
It's their game and we're the players
But there can't be a winner without a loser
Even If you're beat, they need you to win
So stop caring, like you should have sooner.
Lance looked around, he saw Ian, the band leader of Disenfranchised, he looked stressed. But Lance didn't care, he had kicked him out of the band after all. "Next band up is Killer Super Hippos! Check out their CD's for sale at the left leg, little toe!" A teen announced on the microphone as the band set up.
"I guess some kids at school were talking about these guys, heard they're pretty good." Kristin told Lance before they started playing.
"Lance, man…" A hand was placed on his shoulder, he turned around to see Dunkin, the long haired blonde bassist from Disenfranchised.
"Yeah?"
"Need your help, dude… our new guitarist totally blew us off, I don't know where he went, man… you wanna sit in?" He asked.
"What… I don't even have a guitar…"
"Ian's using his Flying V, but he brought his Stratocaster too… we're playing the same songs we worked on when you were in the band except for one new one… please, dude… if we flub this gig, our career is over…"
"I though it didn't matter what people cared, as long as it was all about the music…" Lance said, remembering how they kicked him out with similar words.
"Man, it is… but you can't make music without cash… otherwise it's just garbage, literally! Our drum kit used to be made out of trashcans and duct tape!" Dunkin seemed fully passionate about his points, but he remained completely cool and collected like he always was. Lance thought for a moment, he looked at Kristin, who nudged him to go on.
"Alright, show me the tab and let me get used to the guitar…" Lance said, following his former band mate to the back of the legs.
. . .
"Okay, one… two… three… lift!" Ilana ordered, Hannah pulled up on her side of the heavy wooden bed, while Ilana had the other side. After a long moment of strain, they gently set it down.
"I think we got like… a quarter of a foot…" Hannah examined.
"It's not even that big of a bed…" Ilana examined it.
"It's some weird imported wood, it's really dense, doesn't chip, though."
"Okay, let's just bring all of the other stuff in. Your dresser and nightstand should be easier."
"Well, luckily the dresser doesn't have clothes in it, or it'd be heavier than the bed!" The girls laughed and slowly waddled inside, and up the stairs carrying the two smaller furniture items up. "We just had to tell George that we didn't need any help…" Hannah mumbled.
. . .
"Ian, I got Lance, he says he'll sit in!" Dunkin announced; a flood of relief washed over the otherwise emotionless singer.
"Thanks Lance, our guy just ditched completely…" Ian passed Lance his second guitar, the raven haired boy played through a few licks to get used to it.
"So, what's the set list?" He asked.
"Open the door, Wait for me, End of the World, Terrorized, Left Behind, and High Hopes." Ian said, passing a piece of paper over with the titles and lyrics, with the chord charts and tablature scribbled underneath in pen.
"High Hopes is new?" Lance asked, skimming through the lyrics.
"Yeah, everything else is the original stuff, you know… might be a bit rusty, but it'll come back…"
"Alright… I'll just run through the new one…"
"Guys, you're up…" A teen said.
"Alright, let's do this…" Alex, the drummer said, putting his drumsticks around his belt. Dunkin strapped his bass guitar to his back, so did Ian.
"I forgot about the climb…" Lance groaned.
"That's half of the fun…"
