Chapter Five: A New Crew- Sam's New Friends

Sam breathed in deeply, breathing out and knocking on the club door. On the other side, Luna, Ruth and George were sitting there, working on a new song. Various instruments were scattered around the room. And Luna. She was there.

"Hey, Sammy!" Luna said cheerfully. Sam smiled back. Luna had been surprised when she first met Sam.

"Come on in! Sit down. Show Georgie and Ruth how good you are at playing guitar!" Luna said. Sam sat down and began plucking the guitar strings with her fingertips, playing Classical Gas for them.

As she played, she plucked the strings with her fingers. She had learned to play the 12 string guitar as well. She was an impressive guitarist and a much better than average violinist. Of course, having a 1,500 dollar violin didn't exactly hurt in the sound department. Sam remembered Mr. Scovario teaching her to play Classical Gas on the guitar. They were better times for her.

She wished she could just forget Columbus… In some ways, she did. In other ways, she had great friends back there, and Mr. Scovario was one of the best teachers and tutors she'd ever had. He was multitalented. He played guitar, violin, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and surprisingly, sitar. He was an incredible musician who in his younger years played for the philharmonic and in his later years worked teaching young musicians.

Now, Sam put all the emotion she could into this piece, not letting herself play a lackluster performance. Luna, George and Ruth were stunned by how good she was as she tuned the world out. She had played Classical Gas for Simon once and he had been blown away. At the end, the crew clapped.

"Wow, Sam! That's amazing!" Luna said. Sam gasped.

"That's amazing! Where did you learn to play guitar like that?" Luna asked. Sam blushed happily. She could tell that these people were really cool.

They were the definition of the 'in crowd'. They had a niche that they clearly followed. Rock music. But it was likely that they were all obscenely popular.

"Well… I-I got guitar lessons as a kid and I just… I don't go to professional lessons anymore. But I play most nights." Sam said. Luna nodded.

"Cool, dude. Do you play any other instruments?" Ruth asked.

"Well… Violin, viola, bass, and well, guitar obviously. What about you guys?" Sam asked. Luna smiled. Sam was multi-talented.

"Well, I started playing guitar when I was eight. Before that, I played violin. So guitar and violin. I picked up some ukulele, bass, and some keyboard and drums, some banjo. I-I guess a lot of the same instruments as you." Luna blushed, not wanting to seem like she was copying Sam.

"Wow… What about you, George?"

"Well… I mostly play backup guitar or bass in the band. But I can play drums if I need to. We've kinda been looking for new members to take permanent positions. But for now, we all fill in whatever the band needs." George said.

"George is a bit more specialized. You should hear him rock that bass though. He's crazy good at it." Luna said, causing George to blush, flattered by Luna's compliment.

"And you, Ruth?" Sam asked.

"Oh, keyboard, accordion, guitar, Theremin, and drums." Ruth said.
"Wow. You guys are so multitalented. I dunno if I could fit in." Sam said shyly. Luna laughed.

"Ahahaha! That's complete hogwash! You just played Classical Gas on a 12 string guitar with your fingers!" Luna said.

"You're plenty good enough, girl!" Ruth said.

"Violin, Viola, Guitar, 12 String Guitar, Bass. You're def good enough, and if you want to learn more instruments, you can learn 'em here." George said.

"Were there any instruments that you're especially interested in?" Luna asked.

Sam smiled shyly.

"I kind of want to learn to play the banjo and the ukulele." Sam said. Luna smiled.

"I'd love to learn alongside you." Luna said.

"I've already gotten the chords down with Uke and Banjo. But I need to work on songs and perfecting my technique." Luna said.

"Wait, Lunes! You really got all the chords down with the Ukulele and Banjo?" Ruth asked.

"You only started working on it less than a month ago, dude!" George said. Luna shrugged. The two members looked at each other. Ruth and George both knew that Luna was a prodigy when it came to music. None of them thought that she could pick up two more instruments this quickly though.

"How long've you been playing guitar, Sam?" George asked.

"Well… Maybe since I was nine."
"Only four years?" George asked. They clearly had another prodigy in the club.

"How are you at singing?" Luna asked. The three started playing a well-known song, and Sam sang Toto's Africa, showing that she was an incredible singer.

"Wow! Sammy. That was incredible, dude!" Luna exclaimed. Sam blushed happily.

"Really? Thanks." She said.

"I was in chorus in my previous school, and I sang lullabies to Simon sometimes when he couldn't sleep. I love singing, so I sing as often as I can. I've written some songs of my own, even if they're not that great." Sam muttered.

This group was amazing. They had accepted her so quickly. They didn't suspect anything yet. She couldn't let them know. Luke, Estelle and Bridget had told her to be herself. But she knew that she couldn't be. She knew that as much as she wished she could be, she couldn't. She hoped that one day, Luna and George and Ruth would say that they knew she was a lesbian and that they were okay with it. That there was nothing wrong with her.

She didn't expect that to happen though. She smiled for now though and lost herself in the conversation, laughing along with the group. Half the time she didn't know what she was laughing about, but they were so cool that they pulled her into their laughter. It was contagious. Finally, Luna handed Sam some sheet music.

"See if you can play this." Luna said. Sam nodded and practiced a few bars, looking down at the sheet music occasionally as she played through it. At the end, the rest of the group clapped. She had done very well. Luna high fived Sam.

"Awesome, brah! You really play a mean guitar." Luna said. Sam smiled. Ruth was pretty quiet when they weren't talking to her.

Sometimes, she was on her cell phone, but mostly she seemed to experimentally pluck her guitar strings, trying different combos and occasionally singing a few lines. It sounded like she wasn't entirely sure of where she wanted to take the song, but she was working on it. Sam saw George occasionally glance at Luna. It was obvious he had feelings for her. But it didn't seem like she returned them. Or that's what Sam took away from it. She could easily have been wrong.

After all, look at how wrong she was about Saoirse.

"So, dude… Where do you hail from?" Luna asked. Sam gasped, pointing questioningly at herself. The three nodded.

"Columbus, Ohio. My parents… I-I mean, it's a long story, but my parents got pretty good jobs up here. My mom is a registered nurse. My dad works in construction.

"He was a construction worker for a while before an accident broke his knee. It's… Complicated, but the pain that he was in… Is still in I suspect, forced him to stop. He got a new construction job up here as a foreman. He's gonna be leading the crew instead of working on it. Pretty good job considering how relatively young he is." Sam said. Luna smiled.

"How old are they?" The brown haired rocker asked.

"Well, I'm 13 and they said they had me when Mom was like 24 and Dad was 26 or something. So I'm guessing that they're 36 and 38 now." Sam said. The three nodded, impressed that she had done the math so quickly. Even simple math was tough for George.

Ruth was good at math, knew that most couldn't do math in their head so quickly like that, and Luna was more skilled at creative subjects than things like math. History and English captured her interest, but mostly because she was an Anglophile and she was a music history buff. She could go off for hours about the evolution of music from the Classical Era to Modern Music. Her forte was music between the 50s and 90s. Basically, Rock and Roll up through Classic Rock.

But she didn't automatically reject modern music or music before those decades.

"D'ya have any siblings, Sam?" Ruth asked. Sam nodded.

"I have a brother. Simon. He's 8, and he looks… He's practically the spitting image of our dad. He's not quite as buff as Dad yet, but he's shown that he's really strong and tough. He's really sweet though. He's smart and sensitive and charming." Sam said.

"What about you guys?" Sam asked.

"I have 9 siblings. Lori, Leni, Luan, Lynn, Lincoln, Lucy, Lana and Lola, and Lisa." Sam gaped, openmouthed at Luna.

"I thought Lincoln was just joking." Sam laughed. "What about you, George? Ruth?"

"Nah, I'm an only child. I have cousins though. Cousins on my Mom's side named Sawyer, Tabitha and Riley. Cousins on my Dad's side named Sascha, Saoirse and Sarah. Sam gasped.

"Um… S-Saoirse… She-she doesn't… She's not your age, is she?" Ruth shrugged.

"About. Maybe a few months difference."

"W-where… Where does she live?"

"Maine." Sam breathed a huge sigh of relief. Of course it was a different Saoirse.

"What-what does she look like?" Ruth raised an eyebrow.

"Um… Brown hair, brown eyes, a bit shorter than me. Her hair is kinda long, down to the middle of her back? Why… Why the interest in that particular cousin?"

"Oh…" Sam sighed deeply in relief.

"No-no reason. It's just such an uncommon name." Sam said. Ruth didn't seem convinced. But she let it drop. "C'mon Georgie. We've all talked about our siblings." Ruth said.

"I have two sisters. Claudia is my older sister. She's 16. Emily is my younger sister. She's 10." George said. The group nodded. Sam had a real start there for a moment. Imagine another girl named Saoirse.

But of course there was bound to be more than one. It was uncommon, not unheard of.

"You alright, Sam? You look a bit spooked, dude." Luna said, concerned. The rest of the group looked at Sam as well. She smiled, nodding.

"Of-of course I'm alright. Luna could tell she was hiding something. But she didn't press the issue.

"Alright. So, would you like to join our band?" Luna asked. Sam nodded, picking up an electric guitar. It felt strangely heavy in her hands. She'd only ever played an acoustic guitar. But this electric guitar… Maybe it would be fun. They started playing a song when Sam noticed that her phone was buzzing. She stopped and went over to the side.

"Hey, guys! Can I get a minute! I got a phone call!" Sam said.

Everyone quieted down, letting Sam talk. Sam picked up the phone.

"Hello? Samantha Sharp speaking." She said politely. She didn't recognize their new number yet.

"Sammy? It's Simon… Are you alright?" Simon asked.

"Oh… Yeah… I'm fine." Sam said. He was surprised at how happy and full of life her voice was. He hadn't heard that level of energy in months. It was wonderful to hear Sam with so much life in her voice again, but a little bit weird too.

"I'm just hanging out with the Rock Club. Luna invited me to hang out with them. I think they're trying to recruit me for their garage band." Sam said.

"I've learned a few things already. The boy has a crush on Luna. Luna doesn't really seem to feel the same way. They've been friends for a long time, though George talks about a time when Luna didn't look like she does now. She used to have long hair and wore dresses and played violin. She can still play, but she mostly plays guitar and she's getting into other rock instruments as well.

"She's incredible. She's only been playing guitar for like 3 years, and she's already able to play Through the Fire and the Flames perfectly. She also played Pachelbel's Canon on the guitar. That was fun to listen to. A combination of Classical and Rock." Sam laughed delightedly. Simon felt tears of joy filling his eyes. He was so happy that Sam was having so much fun.

"I'm… I'm really happy you're enjoying yourself…" Simon said.

"Are you alright, Simon?" Sam asked. "What are you calling about?" Sam asked, her voice concerned now, clearly full of love for him, but worried.

"I'm fine. I just got home and you weren't here. I forgot that you said that Luna had invited you to hang out with them.

"Seriously, don't hurry home for me. Stay and enjoy yourself." Simon insisted. Sam smiled.

"Thanks, Simon… I'll stay a while longer. Luna, Ruth and George have so much energy. George is a little bit shy and Ruth is quiet when she's not singing. Luna's clearly the leader of the group. But they're all really animated and they're all really close." Sam said.

"I'm sure that you'll be just as close with them in no time." Simon said.

"Go back in and enjoy yourself. I love you." Simon said, saying goodbye and hanging up. Sam smiled. Her little brother really was an amazing person. She sighed wistfully. She hadn't been a very good sister these past few weeks.

"Hey, Sammy… Was that your bro?" Luna asked. Sam nodded.
"He's a bit of a rapscallion sometimes." Luna snorted with laughter.

"Rapscallion?" The brown haired rocker asked. Sam blushed. Luna's laughter was contagious.

"He's a bit mischievous. He's a really good person though, and he's really charismatic. He could be president someday if he wanted to be." Luna laughed.

That description reminded her of Lincoln. He was almost certainly the most charismatic and skilled member of his group of friends, but he somehow had a way about him of making all of his friends feel good about themselves.

"I bet your brother and my brother would get along really well." Luna said.

"My lil' bro is 9. Yours is 8, right? I think they'd get along well." Luna said. Sam smiled.

"Maybe. Does Simon like video games?" Luna asked. Sam cracked up at this.

"He loves video games! Does Lincoln like comic books? Playing dress up? Superheroes?" Sam asked.

"Yes, yes, and yes." Luna said. The two girls laughed.

"Boy, and I thought Simon and Alric were soulmates! Him and Lincoln seem like they were made for each other!" Sam laughed. Luna smirked.

"Use any of the instruments we got here. Start up a song and we'll pick up with you. See how we work as a group." Luna said.

Sam smiled. They were being so cool. She was brand new, but they had accepted her right away. She picked up the bass and began strumming Seven Nation Army.

"I'm gonna fight em all." Sam sang.
"A seven Nation Army couldn't hold me back!
"I'm gonna rip em off.
"Takin' my time right behind my back." Sam finished, passing to Luna.

"And I'm talkin to myself out loud because I can't forget!" Luna sang.

"Back n' forth through my mind behind a cigarette!" George added.

"And the message coming from my eyes says leave it alone!" The group said together, the entire band playing their instruments for the refrain. Luna was an incredible guitarist. She really was a prodigy, and she had so much passion.

The song played through to the end, and Sam had tears of joy in her eyes.

"Ahhahaa! That was fun!" Sam said. She could barely remember the last time she had enjoyed herself this much. George, Luna and Ruth laughed with her. Their conversation didn't go anywhere specific after this. There were brief questions about what Ohio was like. But it became obvious that Sam didn't really want to talk about it.

They didn't think much about it. Maybe the move had been sudden and she was still surprised about it. Maybe a lot of things. Either way, they weren't going to force her to talk about something that made her uncomfortable. Finally, they realized they needed to get home. Sam said goodbye and walked home, going in and seeing Simon finishing up his homework.

Amanda was already home and so was Erik. She felt a strange sense of nostalgia. Like her family was a real family again. She sighed, putting her guitar back in her room and going down to have dinner with her family.