Hello readers, welcome to the next chapter of finding peace. I wanted to get the next chapter of Beyond the Lie released, but I am currently suffering from writer's block and I am still working on it. I had a lot of ideas for this story brewing in my head, so I thought it would be best to work on this story. I'm even thinking of starting another one which I'm not gonna even say what it is because it might not even be made.
May I also say rest in peace to Joey Jordison, he was an incredible drummer for Slipknot and was a major inspiration and icon in the metal community. His death will not affect the story but I still wanted to say this small piece. I know he and Paul Grey are jamming up in heaven together.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
A young sophomore boy was currently walking through the halls of Royal woods high, headphones on and walking straight. The song Toxic Garbage Island by Gojira was blasting through his headphones that were covered by his messy black hair as he made his way to his next class. The boy wore cargo shorts and a black lamb of god t-shirt. As he walked through the halls, he looked at the classmates around him. Boys and girls alike laughing with friends and chatting it up before the bell rang. He wished he could be like those kids, but nobody wanted to hangout with the metalhead weirdo. His thoughts were interrupted as he was suddenly shoved to the ground.
"Move it Olsen, I gotta get to class, and I don't need a freak like you in my sight"
The boy just sighed, Keith was the biggest asshole of Royal Woods High. Being captain of the football team, he was beyond cocky, and took pleasure in looking down upon others. He was one of Keiths biggest targets. Being shoved into lockers, stealing his lunch money, not to mention getting his head dunked in toilet water. As he was about to get up, he saw a hand outstretched in front of him. He looked up to see it being Sam Sharp, with Luna Loud right next to her. Even though he felt he didn't have friends. Sam and Luna were always nice to him, with them 3 being music lovers. They helped him out if he was getting bullied, or chatted with him during free time.
"Hey Chris, need some help" The blonde girl said smiling with her arm still stretched out.
Chris took the girls hand and he was helped back onto his feet
"Thanks sam" Chris said giving her a small smile
Luna chose to speak up
"Sorry about Keith man, he such a douche" Luna said a bit miffed
"Yeah I wish he would just leave me alone" Chris said as he started brushing dirt off of his shirt and pants.
"Nice shirt Chris, Lamb of Gods an awesome band" Sam remarked as the 3 started walking
Luna looked at Sam surprised, "I didn't know you listened to heavy music Sam"
"Not usually, but sometimes they really help me get my anger out"
"Yeah Sam, Randy Blythe's crazy vocals really get you excited" said Chris excited
Sam looked at Chris eyes wide, "You just reminded me of something Chris, our band is currently trying to find a new singer because Luna wants to just focus on guitar playing. We're going to hold an audition after school, why don't you come and try out."
Chris looked at Sam stunned. "I-I don't know Sam, I don't think you guys would like my vocal style, and I don't know if your bandmates will like me."
Luna puts a hand on Chris's shoulder and simply smiles, "Don't worry brah, just give it a shot. It's all just for fun. They'll love you"
Chris gave a sigh, "Okay sure, why not"
The two girls smiled happily as they came to a stop at their respective classes.
"Awesome, just go to the music room right after school, come prepared with 3 singers that you take inspiration from and be able to sing one song by each of them."
"Alright sounds good" Chris said giving a genuine smile as he waved goodbye to them and walked into his classroom.
As Chris sat down at his desk, he thought to himself "I haven't smiled like that in a while".
SCENE CHANGE:
"Wait, seriously, that's disgusting" Lincoln said laughing with food in his mouth.
"I know , he thought it was fake" Anthony said as well as he took another bite from his sandwich giggling.
It was currently day 3 of Lincoln and Anthony eating together during Lunch time and they had become good friends. Anthony told Lincoln a ton about different metal bands. He showed him classic thrash like slayer and Metallica as well as more heavy stuff like Slipknot. Lincoln's playlist became a combination of Korn, Slipknot, Pantera, Slayer, Black Sabbath, and other metal bands. They were currently laughing about Anthony telling the story of when Ozzy bit a head off of a bat.
As the two were laughing it up, Lincoln glanced a few tables away from him and saw his friends looking at him, not happy. Lincoln stopped laughing and looked down and frowned. His friends weren't very excited over his newest friendship. Lincoln tried to see if they would sit with him and Anthony, but they kept on denying saying they didn't want to get on his bad side. This really angered the boy, they wouldn't try to be friends with him out of fear. Yes Anthony had a bit of a rough exterior, but he was a really nice guy when you got to know him. He wished his friends would be more open. Although a major perk of being friends with Anthony was he was getting bullied less. Chandler and his goons stayed away from him, but still glared at him from afar and gave rude hand gestures. Ronnie Anne didn't stop though, she still pranked him a ton, not scared by Anthony. Though Lincoln did notice her sometimes looking at him during Lunch when she was sitting at the girl table.
Lincoln shook off all these thoughts and continued eating. "So Linc, how's things with your sisters" Anthony asked as he took a sip from his water bottle
Lincoln swallowed his food and spoke, "It's going okay, still had a lot of responsibilities with helping my sisters, and the trophy situation hasn't changed much. We also had a sister fight protocol yesterday"
"What's that"
"It's basically when two of my sisters get into a fight and we take what they consider to be necessary guidelines to have them resolve it. So some rooms are off limits like the kitchen or our one bathroom so they don't see each other, and I have to make sacrifices like my bed sheets to make a divider. We even have to eat dinner twice with the two sisters separately "
"That sounds ridiculous" Anthony said shocked
"I know, and it's always over small shit like a dress. Yesterday it was about shoes that my two oldest sisters were fighting over. Worst part is, they don't let me help as they say they need to have them resolve it themselves."
"Jesus that's awful"
"Yeah, I got really mad yesterday after they kicked me out of the room so they could use it. I just went outside and blasted some slipknot."
"Damn dude, well you know what I do when I am angry"
"What", Lincoln asked curious
Anthony unzipped his backpack and took out two drumsticks, "I drum"
"You play?" Lincoln asked surprised
"Yeah, have been for years" he said as he started twirling the sticks in his fingers, "I had serious anger issues as a kid and my parents bought me the kit to get my anger out on, I can't tell you how many sticks and drum heads I have broken".
"Thats awesome, I should try to do the same with guitar"
"What, do you play?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty good, having Luna as my sister really educated me on guitar. We jammed together a lot over the years and I'm pretty good. She gave me her old guitar but the neck is broken. So I fixed it up with some duct tape, repainted it black, and jammed on it sometimes."
Anthony didn't say anything, he just stared at Lincoln trying to process something.
"Something wrong Anthony?"
"Dude, we should start a band"
"WHAT" Lincoln said shocked
"Yeah, I play drums, you play guitar, we find others to jam with. Will play some metal and do gigs, it will be awesome."
"Dude that sounds awesome, let's do it"
The two friends gave each other a strong handshake
"E così inizia la nostra band, and so our band begins" Anthony said with an italian accent
SCENE CHANGE:
The final bell finally rang, signifying the end of day. Chris got up from his desk and made his way to the music room. The rest of his day was followed by crumpled up papers thrown at him, rude insults behind his back, and even getting punched in the gut by Keith because he said he looked at him funny. He spent his time thinking about the 3 inspirations and settled on them, he already knew how to sing the songs as he enjoyed practicing them anyway.
Chris got to the music room and entered inside. He saw Luna and Sam along with the rest of her band. A few other kids were also in the room, people who were also trying to get the singing part.
Sam and Luna saw Chris enter the room and walked up to him excited. "You came, Chris" Sam said happily, embracing him with a hug. Chris was surprised by Sam's actions and simply just patted her back.
Sam and Luna walked Chris over to where the band was "Lets have you meet the rest of the band"
The 2 other members looked up to see who was walking towards them
"Chris Olsen, didn't expect to see you here" said Mazzy,
"Just trying new things" Chris said shrugging
Sam chose to speak up, "Alright so that's Mazzy she plays bass, Sully plays drums," sam said pointing to the boy," and me and Luna play guitar"
"Sup chris," Sully said waving
Chris waved back
"Alright, I think everyone is here, let's get started."
The entire audition took around an hour, 5 people showed up including Chris and they all sang their 3 songs to the backing track of the songs. Some sang some metallica, others sang some Led Zeppelin, Nirvana was a popular pick. When it was Chris' turn, he got the mic and sang his 3 songs. He chose his 3 inspirations to be Ozzy Osbourne, Corey Taylor, and Dave Mustaine. For Ozzy, he sang Over The Mountain, he sang Before I Forget for Corey, and finally Holy Wars for Dave. He brought a lot of energy and moved around the stage a lot while also headbanging.
Once all the auditions were done, the band went into a separate room and talked it out. Chris and the other 4 people sat there and waited. 20 minutes passed and still no response. Chris checked his watch, realizing he was going to be late picking up his little sister off the bus. He got up from his seat to tell the band that he needed to leave and to just message him what the answer was.
But as he got closer to the door, he started hearing what they were talking about.
"We can't have him be the singer guys, I mean come on"
"But Mazzy, did you see how much energy he brought, he's really good."
Chris realized that Mazzy and Sam were arguing, he was really hoping they weren't talking about him. He started hearing Luna's voice.
"Sams right guys, I mean I have never heard someone our age scream like that, we need that kind of energy for the band"
Chris then heard sully speaking
"We already all bring energy, and he's gonna be the frontman. I'm with Mazzy here."
Mazzie spoke again
"I mean, do we really want Chris Olsen to represent who we are, the loser of the school? Nobody wants to see us if he's gonna be center stage.
Chris's breathing hitched when Mazzie said that. He got called a loser a lot, he hated that word, and to have what he thought could be bandmates and even possible friends call him that hurt him a lot. Tears started to form in his eyes.
"Not cool brah, not cool"
The bandmates' conversation stopped when they heard a sudden opening and slamming of the music room door. Luna and Sam looked outside to see what happened.
Chris was gone.