Chapter One: Kai

Kaila Padilla-Vasquez was raised in a family of musicians.

It started with her grandparents on her mother's side. They were all she knew, considering her mother and father had both run off, leaving her with Abuela. Abuela had been a cabaret singer, where she met Kaila's grandfather, who was a piano player. They married, and had three sons, who all played various instruments, and one girl, Kaila's mother.

Kaila didn't know much about her mother, other than she had been a good girl. She sang in their church choir. Then she ran away with Kaila's father at a young age, returning only to give baby Kaila to Abuela the next year. Kaila knew nothing about her father.

It had never bothered her much. Abuela loved her immensely, and indulged her with as many music lessons as she wanted. Singing lessons, piano lessons, violin lessons, cello, upright bass, drums. Though she was a quick learner, and had at least a mediocre skill level at the instruments (except for violin, she had never gotten the hang of it), nothing quite felt right to her. Abuela told her to be patient, and encouraged her to keep trying.

"The right instrument will come, mi tesoro." She said. "When you find it, you will fall in love."

She was twelve when she started taking guitar lessons. Abuela was right, she had fallen completely in love with it. She loved the way she made her fingers dance across the frets, the feeling of the callouses hardening her fingertips, the way the instrument sang to her as she strummed. She was a natural at it, and soon was rarely seen without it.

It wasn't until high school that she really considered playing for other people.

She'd made friends with a sophomore named James Kalivas, who had found her playing at lunchtime and promptly begged her to join the band he was starting. Startled, she said no, but the boy shrugged it off and they talked about music for the rest of the lunch period. It soon became an everyday occurrence.

When she was a sophomore, she met The Killjoys for the first time. James played the guitar and sang. His friend Sam Park, a senior at a different school, played bass. Remy Lewis, who had graduated high school two years prior, played the drums. They were good, but they only played covers, which Kai was quick to point out. They needed to write and compose their own songs, and Kaila could help with that.

"Does that mean-"

"No, James, I'm not joining the band."

Kaila and James wrote and composed together all throughout James's junior and senior years, and they'd worked up enough songs to make a demo for the band. Kaila had wanted her credits to be under Kai, the shortening of her name that she preferred over Kaila, but James had a different idea.

"Star Kid has a cooler feel to it." He'd said, referring to the nickname he'd given her after a school trip to the Air and Space museum, where she'd gotten a little to excited and wouldn't stop spouting random facts about space and stars and the likes. "More mysterious, more eye catching. But then, if you would only join the band-"

"No, James."

Kai finally accepted James's offer after she graduated, with the exception that they would allow her to go to college. She would be the first in her family to do so, and the local community college had an excellent music program where she would take classes in the fall. They had told her that they wouldn't have made her choose in the first place.

Now the infamous Star Kid had joined the Killjoys every Thursday and Friday night at the Crash and Crank, a local hot spot for young adults. They were double booked with The Beatles, another band that had the same surge in popularity as they did, which James and Sam didn't like.

They'd met the group on several different occasions, and tensions between the same four members ran high each time. James and Sam couldn't stand John and Paul, and the feeling was mutual. No one knew where the animosity started, but there was always something to argue about. Who went onstage first, how long the setlist would run, who's crowd was louder, it was endless. Kai and Remy found the whole thing amusing, as did the remaining two members of The Beatles, but they didn't try to make friends, fearing the wrath of the others.

Other than the rivalry between the bands, playing with the Killjoys was fun, and Kai really enjoyed it. However, she hadn't realize how much it was starting to pay off. Until James had called an emergency meeting.

"I got a call." He started ominously as soon as Sam had gotten there.

No one said anything. It was best to leave James to his dramatics. They had long since gotten used to it.

"We have been handed the biggest opportunity of our lives." He continued, pacing in front of them. Kai settled into her chair. This would take a while. "This could be it for us. Our big break. If we do well, we could gain more popularity, record companies will be on their knees begging us to join! We'll have the world in the palm of our hands! It's an opportunity like no other! We have to take it, it's-"

"Get to the point, James." Remy cut in gently.

"Right, the point. We're going to be one of the two opening bands for White Noise's summer tour!"

"What?!" Kai yelped in surprise. White Noise was a really popular band. How had James managed that?

"Apparently they saw us playing at Crash and Crank and liked us enough to book us! And that's not all! If we do well, we might be able to play a main stage at The Dive."

"You don't mean-" Sam started before James plowed over him.

"The massive summer music festival? Yes, that's exactly what I mean."

"This is huge, James…" Remy said softly, his kind face practically glowing. "Who's the other band?"

"What other band?"

"You said we were one of the two opening bands."

"Oh, I don't know, I didn't ask." James admitted with a shrug. "Too excited. We'll meet them in two weeks when the tour starts."

And that was that. Two weeks of preparation began, and before Kai knew it, she was hugging Abuela goodbye. She was excited to go, but a bit nervous to leave.

"Remember to call me whenever you can, mi tesoro." Abuela said, holding her close. "Play your heart out on stage, make me proud."

"I will, I promise!" Kai hugged her tightly one last time before running out to the rest of the band, who were waiting in Remy's van.

"Alright, so the loading zone is at the Crash and Crank, not too far away, so no falling asleep, Sam."

"Yes, mum." Sam replied, settling in his seat, eyes already closed. Five minutes later, he was snoring. Rolling her eyes, Kai rested her head on his shoulder, figuring she wouldn't get in too much trouble if Sam was asleep as well.

The were both awoken by James shouting an ugly swear word that would have caused his mother to smack him. Sam and Kai jumped so violently, they bonked their heads together.

"Ouch, dammit!" Sam muttered, rubbing the spot where Kai's head had hit his.

"Apologies." Kai muttered, squinting to see what had caused James's outburst. When she found it, her eyes widened. "Oh…"

"What are they doing here?" James spat.

"Are they the other band?" Remy asked.

"I hope not."

"What's going on?" Sam asked, always late on the uptake.

"The Beatles." Kai told him. "They're the other band opening for White Noise."