A/N: Before we get into this oneshot, I'd like to say a huge thank you to @postitroach, who also requested this oneshot. I'm so glad you like my work, and your reviews (I got all of them, don't worry :) made my day. Thank you so much for your continued support! And now, please enjoy my take on...The Newmans first gig.
Everybody always wants to hear about Grojband's first gig, and that makes sense. They're wicked cool and have great music, but when people request to hear Grojband's origins, more often than not, they completely forget about an origin story that's way more exciting. And super cringey and embarrassing, but more on that later. So to honor Peaceville's second greatest band, get ready and strap in for a roller coaster of a tale!
It all started when Carrie had burst into the garage, scaring the living daylights out of her band mates. Funny was it, that both Grojband's and The Newmans' band mates somehow show up to the garage before their leaders. Anyway, the blue haired teen had barreled into the garage, a piece of paper clutched tightly in her hands, nearly vibrating from excitement.
"Guys, I think I just found the best debut opportunity!" She squealed, giddily hopping up and down like a small child that was given too much sugar.
"What is it, Carr?" Larry quickly asked, setting down his bass and giving the frontwoman his full attention. Definitely not because she was extremely pretty to look at, but because he was totally invested in this gig opportunity...although, the looks were easily a pretty big bonus.
Kim and Konnie had abandoned their instruments and sat beside Carrie on the stage, shortly followed by Larry hopping up there as well (let's be real; he didn't hop up there on his own, he's, like, a millimeter taller than Laney), all eager to hear about this "debut opportunity." They'd officially formed the band about five months ago, and had gotten pretty confident in their ability to play, not to mention that Carrie could actually write some decent lyrics.
"Well, I was walking around town square earlier, when I found this taped to one of the power poles!" With a flourish, Carrie revealed what was on the paper she was oh-so-excited about.
In large, black gothic font, read "Barney's Goth Barn," and in red, "Grand Opening Tomorrow!"
"It's perfect, right?" Carrie asked, gazing around to gage her friends' reactions.
Kim and Konnie were all for it, already avidly talking about a set list and costumes, meanwhile Larry just looked so bewildered it was actually kinda comical. He kept his emerald eyes glued to the poster, eyeing the grand opening date.
"Something wrong, Larrs?" Carrie asked, rolling up the poster and setting it beside her.
He sighed. "I'd hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not sure this is a good idea."
Ahh, Larry. Always the pessimist. Carrie's face fell, dropping to a strange blend between heartbreak and deadpan. "Let me paint a picture for you, Larrs," she began, slinging an arm around Larry's shoulder, oblivious to the blush rising to his face. "It's the grand opening. The Goth Barn is packed, and they're all anticipating some punk, gothic music from a punk, gothic band. The curtain opens, and the crowd is going wild for whatever band that's up there. And that band could be us!"
Larry sighed, thinking over what Carrie had just thrown at him (although it was difficult to process anything with Carrie's freaking arm still on his shoulder). They had been looking for an opening for quite some time, now, and really, what was the harm in just saying "yes" and making Carrie happy?
"Fine," Larry gave in. Carrie excitedly squeaked, throwing both arms around her bassist.
"Thanks! This is gonna be rocking!"
Larry's face flushed, and he awkwardly returned the hug. The bluenette pulled away, hopping off the stage and waltzing over to the computer, opening up a document that had all of their songs on it. The Newmans definitely had some killer songs, and hopefully ones that would fit the goth scene. They'd have to do some sort of style change, and possibly add some heavier makeup as well. Anything to get them the gig, right?
"Alright, ladies!" Carrie whooped, ignoring Larry's objection to being called a lady as she always did. "Let's rock the house!"
For having a name like "The Goth Barn," you'd expect that it was more...gothic.
This place, however, was the exception. Instead of a more eerie, minimalist gothic look, which is really what Barney should've gone for, the little coffee shop looked more like a tacky Halloween supply store, with all the cheesy decorations and fake spiderwebs that stick to everything! All Carrie could think when she stepped through the door was "wow. This place is a wreck." She was sure her band mates would agree with her, too.
"Welcome to "The Goth Barn!"" Barney greeted as the group of teens walked into the building. He looked just as tacky and cringey as the interior itself, with some giant spider hat on his head and a jack-o-lantern tie. Clearly, this man didn't understand the meaning of the word "goth."
"Hi, Barney," Carrie uneasily waved, still gazing around. "This is...uh, interesting!"
Larry, who stood close behind his frontwoman, nodded in agreement. "Are you sure you know what "goth" means? I mean, it looks fine, but not exactly fitting for the-"
Carrie quietly smacked the red headed boy across the back of the head, instantly quieting his rambling. With her icy blue eyes, she gave him a quick, but very scary side-eyed glare, prompting him to just not talk until the owner of the mislabeled coffee shop had left. Was he trying to cost them the gig?
"Ignore Larry, he's just excited about the gig!" Kim cut in, lying through her pearly white teeth. If Larry blew this, he was never going to hear the end of it. She knew where he kept his bass, and the garden hedges were always within arms reach. "So, what do you want us to do for the show?"
Barney didn't even have to think before he answered. "Well, these songs gotta be spooky. Hopefully, this place will be packed tomorrow, with all the goths and kooks all over Peaceville! Youse guys just play some songs about death and existentialism, and that should just about do it!"
Carrie, Konnie, Kim, and Larry nodded in agreement; this was going to be easier than they thought. Have you seen Larry's notebooks? All of them have thousands of depressing and creepy thoughts scrawled across them, just positively waiting to be used for lyric fuel. The only problem with that would be prying the journals from Larry's small, anxious, dead hands. Which was a lot harder than it sounded.
"That sounds great! Thanks, dude!" Carrie chirped, leading her band mates towards the door, which was covered in those little fake blood jelly stickers. Talk about misinterpretation.
"Okay, so what should we do costume-wise?" Konnie asked as soon as they were outside.
Carrie chuckled. "That's easy: spiderwebs, spikes, and dark makeup!" She glanced over at the small redhead trailing behind her. "Don't worry, Larrs, you won't need makeup. Just keep up with your wack sleep schedule, and you should be good!" It was true, Larry had under eye bags for days.
He rolled his eyes. "Come on, guys! It's not my fault that all the good shows air past midnight!"
"What "good shows?" Whenever I turn on the TV that late, it's either crappy anime reruns or highlights from the golf game!" Kim said sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest.
Carrie cleared her throat, thus ending the start of a bicker. "As much fun as this is, we should really start practicing our set list! Otherwise, Barney might give...you know who our gig."
They all nodded, and began jogging back to the Beff household. Larry and Kim would just have to compare TV channels later.
You know the expression, "anything that can go wrong will?"
Yeah, the pretty much describes how the Grand Opening of the Goth Barn went for our dear Newmans.
It all started when they showed up to the actual place. They had their costumes on, set list down to the note and syllable; all that was left was to get their makeup done, and plug in their instruments. Seems easy enough, right?
Well, wrong. The place wasn't exactly packed, really just serving as a shelter for the alternative kids and the only two real deal goths in Peaceville, Gigi and Emma, and along with their weird friend, who the Newmans all suspected to be Laney Penn's older sister. It was a little underwhelming, to say the least, but that shouldn't have stopped them from rocking out.
The next thing to go wrong was the makeup. Kim and Konnie, who were self taught beauty gurus, had supplied a lot of black makeup, such as eyeshadow, mascara, simply just glitter; you name it, the two probably had it. Konnie had volunteered to do Carrie's makeup, and Kim took over Larry's, against his better judgement. All had been going fine, until Larry had suddenly yelped and almost fallen off of the stool.
"What's up, dude?" Carrie asked, swatting the curvy blonde's hands away from her and looking over at her best friend.
"It burns," Larry hissed, looking astonished. There was black eyeshadow on his eyelids, and Kim had taken the liberty of neatly drawing a skull on his cheek. Both of the products were irritating his skin, and it was visible. The surrounding area had flared red and itched and burned, which wasn't a good sign, as you can imagine. "How are you not feeling it, Carr?"
It could've been the power of suggestion (it was probably that), but right as the words left his lips, Carrie could feel her eyelids begin to itch. Oh, no; this wasn't going to be pretty.
"Konnie, what's in that stuff?" She asked, looking worried.
She shrugged. "I dunno, we got it from, like, some random drug store. Kim and I have been using this stuff for years, and we've never had a problem."
"Huh," Carrie mumbled. "Do you think you can last for about half an hour, Larrs?"
He gave a stiff nod. He was only going to push through for Carrie, otherwise that stuff wouldn't have even been on his face in the first place. Kim continued to work on his makeup, avoiding the eyeliner and eyeshadow as much as she possibly could. By the time the twins had finished, Larry and Carrie's faces had been dusted with black glitter (sort of in place of freckles) and were red and irritated around the eyes. But no one would notice, right?
Then, Barney had called them onstage. He must've introduced them while they had been distracted with the whole itchy makeup fiasco. Kim and Konnie walked onstage first, followed by their stumbling bassist and guitarist. Turns out, when makeup irritates your eyes, they can swell up! Who would've guessed? Therefore, it was a little hard to see. Thank god they knew what they were playing by heart.
Carrie was about to walk up to the mic and open the show, when a loud crash and clatter sounded from behind her. The bluenette turned around only to be met with the sight of Larry sprawled out on the floor, along with Konnie's symbols. A pained grin was plastered on his face, but he was clearly embarrassed. Quickly, the girls ushered him off the stage, making sure he was alright.
"Larry, what the heck was that?" Carrie hissed, squinting. Wow, she really needed to get this makeup off.
"I'm so sorry!" He apologized, looking more anxious and panicky than anyone had ever seen him as Kim began to rush around, grabbing cotton pads and makeup remover. "I couldn't see, and I thought there wasn't anything in front of me, so I kept walking and I...well, I tripped! I'm really sorry, Carrie. Please don't be mad!"
She sighed, grabbing one of the cotton pads for herself and beginning to rub off the eyeshadow. "I'm not mad, don't worry. We're going to have to delay the show, though. Can someone go tell Barney?"
Konnie nodded and ran off, meanwhile Carrie and Larry got their makeup removed, much to Kim's annoyance, specifically towards the redhead. Could he be anymore squirmy?! He apologized profusely, and she made an effort to try and accept each one, but seriously - this kid wouldn't stop moving! Like, he flinched at everything! Eventually, Carrie had to step in and relieve the nerdy keytarist of the job. She was a little more gentle than Kim was, which Larry appreciated. Hey, he could always blame the pink splotched across his cheeks on the makeup!
The show ended up being delayed for twenty minutes, but they performed amazingly! Larry had his eyes closed for most of the show, due to being extremely embarrassed about the fact that he had tripped and fallen in front of...fifteen other teenagers, but still! Not exactly what you'd expect for a first gig, but at least it made one heck of an interesting story to tell!
Thanks for coming out, everyone!
A/N: Wow, this chapter was a little harder to write than I thought it was going to be, but I'm really happy with how it turned out! I really wish that Grojband had been able to continue, and that we would've been able to see more of The Newmans, because I actually really love them! Especially Larry, I just think he's adorable! Also, I should let you guys know that updates might be a little less frequent, seeing as I have school and some other writing projects to work on. Hope y'all enjoyed this little oneshot, and I will see you in the next one, whenever that may be!