N I N E

The band's practice place used to be a barn. It still had the high ceiling, stalls, and hayloft of it's origin, but we'd rigged it up a bit, with the help of Lyn and Is's mom. Speakers blasted out sound around the perimeter of the ceiling, plugs were everywhere across the walls, and Jazz had splatter painted most of the walls, although we came here to pop paint balloons on the northern wall often.

Lyn played some notes on her keyboard before her sister started singing softly into the microphone. The song was called Thank-you. Lyn wrote it.

When Is finished the first verse, Jazz and I started playing with the rest of the band.

Is started the bridge, then the chorus, getting faster and louder. "I'm back!/And I'm better than ever/I'm here!/And I'll never leave, ever.."

At the third verse, we all stopped playing and Is's voice was the only sound. "I'm gonna live/Like I've never lived before..." she began.

When we were done, we reviewed our progress.

"I like it," stated Is.

We agreed that it need work, and went to the next song. We still didn't have a name for it, but we'd been playing it for a while now.

The first part was a sad song. Is brooded over how some boy broke-up with her, how she missed him so bad... Lyn made a nails-on-chalkboard sound with her keyboard, mid-lyric. The rest of us stopped, and Is started up again. Loud.

Jazz, Lyn, and I played again.

"This ain't some stupid sad song/saying 'I'm sorry, take me back'/No, no, I'm not hurt like that/This ain't some stupid sad song/Because I don't want you back/I don't need you back!" was the chorus Is sang.

We finished to a clapping sound. I looked at the barn door, where no other but -You guessed it- Max stood. "Very good, girls! Does this band still not have a name?"

"We shall remain nameless," I said.

"That'd be a good name," stated Jazz. Lyn and Is nodded their agreement.

"Ok, then we have a name."

"Well, I was thinking that We Shall Remain Nameless could play at the Winter Ball. I'm on the committee."

"Band conference!" commanded Lyn, motioning for us to move to the south/west corner.

"It'd be a good gig," said Is.

"But dances suck," I reminded them.

"Not with our music!" Jazz high-fived Lyn.

"Yeah!" she said.

I poked my head out of the circle. "Would we have to dress up?"

"Not if you don't want to."

I stuck my face back in. "Then I'll do it."

Is walked over to Max. "We Shall Remain Nameless will play."

Max grinned from ear-to-ear. "Awesome."