That night Aunt Marissa dropped us off at the apartment building where the band would practice. Katie pushed the buzzer waiting for the door to be open but instead we were answered by an irritated voice over the intercom.
"Katie go home no one wants you here!" which was followed by a boy's laughter in the background. Katie just rolled her eyes and talked back into the speaker.
"Common! Let me in!"
"I dunno...what if I don't feel like it?"
"You want your drumsticks, my bass, and Lawrence's book shoved up your ass?"
And that's when we heard a click sound and the door opened. Katie smiled and led the way up a flight of stairs to apartment 2A. Before opening the door, she looked up at me. "Don't worry. They're normal." Katie could read my mind like no one else and vice versa. She turned the knob and opened the door to two boys and a slightly chubby man playing football with a roll of toilet paper. The boys were on the ground wrestling, trying to keep it away from one another.
"Well... most of them are."
The man noticed we entered the room and began to pull the boys apart. "Go set up guys, we'll play later." They stood up and walked into the living room. "Hi there, I'm Dewey Finn and you must be Kate's cousin Juliana. Nice to finally meet ya. Everybody's excited show off infront of you." Dewey was a lively one and had just kept yakking away as we walked into the living room. For some reason seeing him was like seeing Santa at the mall. He was merry and a feeling of happiness appeared when I was around him. I mean Dewey was just plain cool. So was his apartment. The space was covered with posters and shelves full of records and CDs. The floor was covered with tangled wired and amps. Microphones stood in the corner and everyone was either in conversation with the person next to them or tinkering away with an instrument. There was so much commotion as Dewey desperately tried to gain their attention.
"Hey guys...yo...listen...guys...EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP FOR A SEC!!!"
He gained it all right. Everyone looked at him then turned their attention to me and all I wanted to do was shrink and hide.
"OK guys. This here is Juliana, Katie's to-tal-ly rad cuz that's gonna watch us practice. That means don't suck and don't embarrass me. Now I hafta make a call and I'm sure you all will be practicing and not goofing off! Juli, just make yourself comfy and enjoy the brilliance that is The School of Rock. Mi casa es su casa babe!"
And that's when Dewey left the room and Katie stated making introductions.
"That's Zack on guitar." She point to a boy with shaggy brown hair and realized he was one of the guys playing with the toilet paper. Kate had told me she had a big crush on him. He smiled and replied with a simple "Hey." Katie then pointed to a boy standing near the keyboards with the fifth Harry Potter book in his hand. I realized it was the book she'd threaten to shove in the ass of whoever pissed her off and winced as I saw a mental picture. "That's Lawrence and the girls by the mikes are Marta, Alicia, and Tomika." They waved at me and my attention was brought to another person.
"Hi I'm Summer the band manager. Are you getting ready for school because you know I could work with you on the lessons we'll be learning and we could also go over the agenda of the entire school year."
She was a tiny girl but her strong personality made up for it. Katie turned and her happy mood had disappeared as she faced the boy in the corner. "And that thing in the corner was the jackass on the intercom." It was the other half of the football fiasco. The blond boy was sitting on a stool behind the drums, his feet were on top of a crate and he leaned his back against the wall with his hands behind his head. He stood up and walked over to us and got up in Katie's space.
"You know, I really didn't appreciate that little threat of yours."
"Maybe if you weren't so slow and dumb and open the door, I wouldn't have to"
He only sneered at her and turned his face to me. He looked me up and down.
"So, this is the cousin you wanted me to stay away from. You know Jules, I would've never thought you guys we're cousins. For one thing, you're a whole lot cuter."
And that when Katie punched his arm. "Ow, god!" He started to rub his arm. I felt the heat rise in my cheeks and hoped he wouldn't notice. I knew I should've been pissed at him for insulting my cousin but I was flattered. And as I feared, he noticed that I was blushing. That's when he took my hand to shake. "I'm Freddy Jones." He smiled and instead brought my hand up to his lips and gently kissed it. Katie was red with anger and I was red with embarrassment. His grin grew with satisfaction and walked back behind the drums. Aha. This is how the game works. By doing this, he managed to kill two birds with one stone. Dewey came back into the room and they started to play. I sat on the couch and listen, just tapping along with the music. Occasionally Freddy would wink and smile in my direction while Zack would roll eyes and Katie would tell him to stop bothering me. I was smart enough to know she always had the upper hand with Freddy. Always had the last word and always put him in his place. But for once he finally found a way to tick her off and all because of little ol' me. I was his ticket to beating Katie and he was happy taking full advantage of it. Sitting on that couch that night I was only sure of one thing. Freddy Jones was dangerous.
