The Academy
Angus Beetles, NJ Uno, James Gilligan, and Patrick Drilovsky were all big fans of music and had all decided to form a band together. The name they chose for the band was, The Academy. They occasionally would make original songs, but they mostly loved doing covers. They even decided to put both their originals and their covers on Spotify, as singles before making it an album. Angus was the lead guitarist, NJ was the lead singer and bassist, James played on the keyboard, and Patrick was the drummer.
Given the size of the garage, Wally and Kuki allowed the band to practice there. Angus always found more support from Wally than he did from his mother, which bummed him out at times.
"Don't worry, mate. Your mother loves you with all her heart. She doesn't always show it, but she does." Wally would reassure his son.
"Do you think she'll come to any of our performances?" Angus asks.
"Of course she will, son." Wally replied.
Unfortunately, the Beetles lived next door to a cranky old woman, who was very angry about anything that happened. She would always yell at them for playing in their garage, and she even called the police on them.
They boys were practicing in the garage when NJ noticed police lights outside their house.
"Oh shit. We got cops here." Angus says.
"What?" James asks.
Angus opens the garage door and the boys step outside, Wally steps outside too. The old lady then rushes up to the boys waving her phone in their faces.
"Ma'am, step away from the boys." Patrick pauses as he recognizes the officer as his mother.
"Mom? What are you doing here?" Patrick asks.
"Noise complaint, sweetie." Fanny says. She then turns to the woman. "What's the problem, ma'am?"
"These boys have been blasting their music! You can hear it from a mile away! They were rude when I told them to stop! They were being confrontational!" The lady lies while panting for breath. Hoagie and Fanny look at each other and smirk, knowing that she's lying. They couldn't even hear the music from the cruiser.
"Wally, are the boys okay?" Hoagie asks.
"Of course they are. I soundproofed the garage months ago. I couldn't even hear them." Wally says.
"He's lying. Call these boys parents!" The lady shouts.
"We are these kids' parents." Hoagie replies.
"We'll raise them right." The lady says.
"Hey, don't talk to my dad like that." James says, promoting the old lady to get in his face.
"Don't you talk to me like that you little shit!" She shouts.
"Get away from him right now, ma'am. Go back to your house and leave them alone." Hoagie orders.
"I'm doing nothing wrong!" She gets in Hoagie's face and slaps him. This causes Hoagie to grab the woman and handcuff.
"You are now under arrest." Hoagie reads the woman her rights as she continues to resist arrest. Fanny goes over to the others to calm them down.
"You guys did nothing wrong. I'm not mad at you. She will be charged with harassment, assaulting a police officer, and resisting arrest." Fanny reassures.
"Thanks mom. That means a lot." Patrick says.
"Thanks, Fan. It's been too long with her bugging the boys. Just glad her threats of Cali g the police but her in the ass." Wally says.
"You're welcome, Wally." She then turns to James and Patrick. "Just a reminder, the game starts at 10:30. If you boys could be there at 10, it would be good." Fanny then walks off to assist Hoagie.
"Well enough that madness. What do you say we get back to it." Angus says.
"Sure thing. So what song are we gonna do for the park show?" NJ asks.
"I'm thinking we should do Pompeii by Bastille to open and go from there." Angus says.
They go back to work in the garage, while Wally goes back in to watch the Nationals game.
The boys were thick as thieves with each other. And to Angus and Patrick, they were all like brothers. Girls would hit on all four of them, but only Angus and Patrick would reciprocate those feelings. Though he always wondered why NJ and James never talked to girls, Angus eventually found out when they were taking a break. They were all having movie night at NJ's house and he saw the two of the holding hands.
"NJ, James, can I ask you guys something?" Angus asks. "Are you guys gay?"
The two boys immediately froze. "Um… well… yeah. Honestly we were nervous about admitting it. We didn't know if our feelings were mutual towards each other or if you two would be okay with it." NJ explains.
"Why wouldn't I be okay with it? You guys are like brothers to me and Patrick." Angus says.
"Question, does anyone else know?" Patrick asks.
"Only our families know. When we told them we felt, they told us to go for it. And actually, my cousin said that he and you brother would kick anyone's ass if they tried to hurt us." James says to Patrick.
"Well that's Jack and Frank for ya." Patrick says.
"Well let's just try to be ready for tomorrow night fellas. Summer Festival in the park. Gonna be a hell of a way to kick off the summer." NJ says.
The following night is the Summer Festival. A giant barbecue on the first Friday after school lets out. The boys set up their equipment in the gazebo with the help of Wally. Angus and Patrick notice two girls out in the crowd with giant posters saying they love them.
"Well, this is DEFINITELY gonna be a good summer." Patrick says to Angus.
Angus looks out to see that most everyone he is friends with and his family is there, save for his mother.
"Hey, Angus. I'm sure your mom'll be here." NJ says.
"It doesn't get me down at this point. My father's here with Genki and Chris, that's good enough for me." Angus says.
"If you say so, wanna cue us in Pat?" NJ says. Patrick starts playing the drums and they start playing their music, much to the crowds delight.
(NJ)
Getting born in the state of Mississippi
Papa was a copper, and her mama was a hippy
In Alabama she would swing a hammer
Price you got to pay when you break the panorama
(James)
She never knew that there was anything more than poor
What in the world does your company take me for?
(NJ)
Black bandanna, sweet Louisiana
Robbing on a bank in the state of Indiana
She's a runner
Rebel, and a stunner
On her merry way saying baby, watcha gonna?
(Angus)
Looking down the barrel of a hot metal forty-five
Just another way to survive
(All four of them)
California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess
I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah, yeah
The crowd really digs their music, to the point that they fill up two guitar cases worth of money by the end of their set. Hoagie and Fanny even take a quick break from their patrol to listen to their respective sons play their music. At the end of the night, they decide to leave them on a high note.
"Alright this is our last song for the night, you guys have been a great audience." NJ says. He signals for the others to start singing the last song in their set.
(Angus, Patrick, and James)
Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh, Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh, Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh, Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh, Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh, Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh, Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh, Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
(NJ)
I was left to my own devices
Many days fell away with nothing to show
And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Grey clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above
The crowd enjoys the final song as they finish it and wrap up for the night. As they finish putting their stuff away and the barbecue wraps up, NJ and James walk over to their respective families as they all leave together.
Angus and Patrick walk over to the two girls with crushes on them. Wally watches with his two younger kids and Fanny.
"Daddy, is that Angus' girlfriend?" Genki Beetles asks.
"Maybe. Let's see how time goes." Wally says.
"My baby boy has a girlfriend." Fanny says.
"Was bound to happen, Fan." Wally comments. He then notices Kuki walking over to them. "Ah, nice of you to show up." He chastises.
"Wally, not now. I've had a lot to do today. I'll make it up to him next time." Kuki says in an annoyed tone.
"Listen, I know your parents can be a pain. But stop making promises just to let him down, Kuki." Wally says.
"Well let me at least say…" Kuki stops when she sees him talking to a girl.
"Talk to him tomorrow, hun. Let's get the others home." Wally says.
"Yeah, sure thing." Kuki follows Wally, looking away and hiding the hurt of seeing her son talking to a girl but missing the band's performance.
End of the chapter. I was originally gonna write NJ and James coming out as gay much later, but I didn't want it to be prolonged, especially since I'll tie it into the next chapter, which will focus on Frank Drilovsky and Jack Dickson. Until then, enjoy this chapter and happy reading.
PS, the songs covered by The Academy were "Dani California" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and "Pompeii" by Bastille.