note: this is part I of a bonus chapter that gives a little insight on how ace of wands was set up as a band. it's nothing to do with the naomily storyline but it does give you a better understanding of naomi's personality and childhood. you could skip reading it if you want, i just wrote it because i wanted to. (: but if you read it and like it you could drop me a message to tell me i'll be very glad. :p

8 years ago

Naomi Campbell walked down the corridor of old classrooms, fidgeting nervously as she held her guitar case closer to her for comfort. She wasn't sure if this was such a good idea after all. All this while she had only played music within the walls of her bedroom in her own little solitary world, with herself and for herself – with the occasional exception of Thomas and a very reluctant mom as her only audience.

And now, she was going to put herself out there to let some stranger judge her and her music? What if they hated her? What if they told her that she was absolutely atrocious at the guitar and had wasted the past 10 years of life playing the shit she called music?

She wasn't sure she was ready for that yet.

"Fuck this shit, I'm going home," Naomi muttered under her breath as she turned to walk in the other direction. Just then, the door of one of the classrooms not far ahead opened and out stepped a girl with brown curly hair, with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses that was too large for her pale, freckled face. Naomi noticed her eyes were red as the girl walked towards where she stood. She had been crying.

"Good luck," choked out the girl in between hiccups as she spotted Naomi staring at her. "They are a bunch of assholes," she added with a sob before bursting into tears again and disappearing around the corner.

Naomi stood there not knowing what to think. Assholes huh. She'd seen tons of them in this school. Those idiots who would stick out their feet to trip her whenever she walked past and then disappear into the crowd before she had a chance to look at their faces; puncture her bicycle tires every now and then; whisper in low voices and laughed maniacally loud when they saw her. Yeah, Naomi had her fair share of encounters with those assholes.

For some reason, however, these bastards had never openly confronted Naomi before. Whatever they did, it was discretely done and done behind her back. It was as if they were afraid of what (loony things) Naomi might do to them if they'd challenged her directly.

Naomi scoffed. Cowards.

And now, these jerks turn out to be the ones holding the music auditions? Naomi wondered what their reactions would be like when the loony girl they were so afraid of had walked in for a tryout. That would be one hell of an interesting show to watch.

Naomi smirked as she marched resolutely towards the door.

"Ever thought of getting out of that room of yours and playing in a proper band?" Thomas asked one morning when he was over for breakfast.

Naomi froze for a moment bending over the table and holding the carton of milk in her hand. Her eyes darted questioningly at Thomas, who was busy munching on breakfast cereal next to her.

"That's random," said Naomi as she poured the milk into the bowl, thinking of an appropriate response to answer Thomas' question.

"I mean," continued Thomas as he looked up from his bowl, his mouth still full with cereal. "You are good at the guitar, you know. It's time that someone else gets to hear you too, besides me and your mom."

"And Nietzsche and Voltaire," added Naomi quickly.

"And Nietzsche and Voltaire," Thomas corrected himself. "Well, that's what I'm saying. You gotta expand your audience beyond us – however honored I might to be one of the privileged four."

"Nah, I don't think the world is ready for my musical genius yet," replied Naomi in a serious and matter-of-fact tone as she nodded solemnly and munched on a piece of bread, trying to keep a straight face.

"I'm being serious over here," Thomas said, seemingly unamused.

"I am being serious here as well!" said Naomi. "I mean, there's no point. It just gives those stupid kids at school more reason to throw rotten tomatoes."

"Give it up, Thomas," said Gina as she walked out of the kitchen with a plate of fried bacons in her hand. "Always coming up with excuses. Just like her dad."

Thomas chuckled with a look of amusement as he glanced at Naomi.

"I am so NOT like him," muttered Naomi with a sulk on her face.

"Just let her hide in that comfortable cocoon of hers forever," said Gina to Thomas, ignoring Naomi's comment. "She's too scared to hear from others that her music isn't as good as she thinks because she has no confidence at all," Gina continued as she placed the bacons on the table and removed the apron she was wearing.

"I'm NOT scared!" cried Naomi defensively.

"I think you are," said Gina quietly.

"My music is good. I know it," continued Naomi, shifting uncomfortably in her chair now.

"Are you sure?" asked Thomas with a questioning look on his face as he turned and eyed Naomi closely.

Naomi turned to Thomas and gave him a death glare.

"Damn right I am!" Naomi yelled as she leapt out of the chair suddenly. She marched towards the sofa and grabbed her school bag.

"I'll show you! I'll join a stupid band by the end of the week, if that's what you think I can't do!" she barked in anger across the hall.

"If not you will…?" taunted Thomas.

"I'll… I'll…be a pussycat with no balls!" yelled Naomi as she slammed open the door and stomped out, frowning briefly at what a bizarre comeback she had come up with on the spur of the moment. O heck, she was too angry to care. Outside, Nietzsche and Voltaire were barking loudly and leaping excitedly at the sight of their master and waiting for their routine morning cuddle, but Naomi just strode past them today.

Thomas grinned at Naomi's reaction as he hurried to grab his bag and ran after her, but not before turning back to Gina to wink at her, who just nodded quietly with a smile.

"Pussycats have no balls by default, Naoms!" came the echoes of Thomas shouting and laughing as he ran to catch up with Naomi.

"Fuck, it's that fucking lunatic who sings to herself in the hallways all the time," was the first thing Naomi heard as she walked into the classroom. She pretended not to hear the comment or notice the look of disdain that was obvious on the face of the boy who had apparently blurted it out, deliberately or not. Naomi saw from the corner of her eye that the boy had blonde hair, bright blue eyes and an upturned nose, the corner of his lips curled in a perpetual smirk.

"I'm Naomi Campbell," said Naomi as she stood in the middle of the classroom and turned to look at the four faces staring back at her from behind a row of classroom tables joined at the sides.

"We know, you're famous," the blonde boy sneered in a low voice as he smirked. Naomi rolled her eyes internally. Definitely asshole.

"Dan," said another boy sitting in the middle with a tinge of warning in his voice, as he turned to glare at the boy apparently called Dan. This other boy had very dark hair that was almost black, soft brown eyes behind black-rimmed glasses and a quiet smile. He carried a steady presence about him and looked more mature than the rest of them. Naomi liked him at once.

"Hey, Naomi. I'm Seth," said the boy as he turned to Naomi with a friendly smile. "This is Erik, Dan, Jake," the boy named Seth introduced his band mates as he gestured with his thumb to each of them.

"Hi there, I'm Erik," said another blonde boy sitting in the middle with a bright and cheery tone. The first thing Naomi noticed was his seemingly laughing eyes that became slits when he smiled widely. Holy crap he looks exactly like the Dan boy. With the same look of mischief in his blue eyes. Only friendlier and cuter.

"And this one here, is my brother, Dan. We're twins," added Erik with a grin when he noticed Naomi's astonished look from seeing double, as he wrapped his arm around Dan, who was sulking and rolling his eyes and still refusing to look at Naomi in the face.

"Cut the fucking crap and get it on," said the boy sitting on the far right who hadn't spoken till then, with a look of impatience crossed with annoyance on his face. He had jet black hair with a long fringe that hung across his forehead in a careless manner. Although his hair had concealed his left eye partially, his eyes still managed to pierce when they stared into Naomi's eyes, giving her a slight shudder. Dan, Seth, Erik… This must be Jake.

"Hurry the fuck up and just play whatever shit you think you can play," said Jake curtly as he looked at Naomi with a let's-get-this-over-and-done-with expression on his face. He was sitting with one ankle crossed on top of his other knee and his right elbow rested on his chair behind him.

Naomi suddenly realised why the girl had said they were assholes.

"I'm not scared!"

"I think you are."

Naomi frowned in annoyance as she thought back on the incident that happened on Monday morning. Urgh, she knew her mom and Thomas were deliberately taunting her, yet she still fell into their trap willingly. All because of her and her stupid ego and pride!

Naomi sighed deeply as she leaned against the wall outside the toilets. It was already Thursday today and she was nowhere close to being near a band, let alone being in one. Thomas was so gonna laugh at her and call her ball-less pussycat or something for at least a week or two now, and there was nothing she could do about it. Well done, Campbell. You and your rash behavior had gone and did it again. A round of applause for yourself, please.

"Watch it, Campbell!" A gruff voice broke into her thoughts suddenly as a tall blonde boy deliberately knocked into her with his elbow, making Naomi bump into the flimsy makeshift notice board on the wall. The boy turned back and smirked at her as he mouthed a sarcastic, "Sorry". Naomi rolled her eyes and bent over to pick up the whole lot of notices that had fallen onto the floor due to the collision.

Just when she was picking them up, her eyes were drawn to one of the notices lying in the pile of mess.

"THE INCLINING BACKYARDS"

E. GUITARIST & MALE VOCALIST WANTED

AUDITIONS: 15TH JULY, 14:00 (CLASSROOM E4)

Naomi arched her eyebrow in surprise. Wow, this is freaky. Naomi glanced furtively around to see if she could spot any angels' wings flying away just in time, but she didn't. As she stood up and pinned the notice back on the notice board, a hand tapped her shoulder from behind.

"What's the matter?" said Thomas, who had just got out of the gents.

"Nothing," replied Naomi. "Some asshole bumped into me deliberately and I knocked over all the notices," she said as she gestured to the pile of papers on her hand.

"Those bastards," remarked Thomas angrily. "Are you hurt?" he said as he turned to Naomi with a concerned look.

Naomi laughed. Thomas was always so protective of her like an older brother. "It's just a bump, Thomas. I'm fine," she said with a smile as she tucked her arm into his.

"Let's go," beamed Naomi as they walked off along the hallway.

Naomi plugged the wire into the amplifier that was standing on the side of the classroom, before standing uncertainly in front of the four boys with her electric guitar hanging in front of her.

"What are you playing?" asked Seth.

"Sweet Child O' Mine," said Naomi as she swallowed. Damn, she was feeling jitters all of a sudden.

Jake scoffed and turned away. Dan laughed in jest. But Seth only nodded as he said in a kind voice, "Whenever you are ready."

Naomi exhaled deeply and plucked the first notes of the guitar intro with her trembling fingers but they came out wrong. Shit. She plucked them again. Again, the notes didn't flow and her guitar sounded constipated. Damn it she was too nervous.

"Is this some kind of joke to you or something?" said Jake unsympathetically as he eyed Naomi impatiently. "Fucking play it right or just get out and stop wasting our time."

"Jake, give the girl some time, will you? She's just nervous," reasoned Seth.

"No, she isn't. She's just too fucking stupid to choose a song too difficult for her for a guitar audition, that's what she is," snapped Jake.

Naomi gripped the neck of her guitar tightly; a rush of blood raging to her head was making her face feel really hot as the flames of fury surged through her veins.

Never ever let someone else tell you what you can or cannot do.

Naomi closed her eyes as her mind flashed back to the time she was sitting downstage looking up at him. He was playing the guitar solo beautifully and the crowds below were going wild for him. Her little heart was so proud of him as she sat there, her tiny hands clapping in enthusiasm and her eyes shining with adoration for the man up there. It was the first time she had heard of that song, but she had already fallen in love with it. Sweet Child O' Mine; that was the name of that beautiful song. She knew from that moment that someday she had to able to play that song on the guitar too.

She knew she would.

Naomi's eyes were still closed as her fingers slid down the frets that were so familiar to her touch. As her fingers danced across the strings, the first notes of the guitar intro sounded on the amplifier the way she had played them in her head.

In an instant, Jake's initial expression of contempt had turned into a blank look as he watched Naomi. Seth was smiling and nodding in approval; Erik's eyebrows had arched and his blue eyes had widened in amazement; even Dan turned and looked at Naomi for the first time. The look of surprise on his face was evident.

When it came to the guitar solo, Naomi let go of herself completely. She wasn't even aware of the presence of the boys anymore. It was as if she was alone in her room with the four walls, where only she and the music existed.

It was only after she finished playing the last note and opened her eyes, when she realised that four pair of eyes were staring back at her with a most undecipherable expression. What the hell are those looks supposed to mean? She cocked an eyebrow at them.

It was Seth who stood up and clapped first. Then Erik followed suit. Dan, despite his initial dislike for Naomi, had to admit that she had played really well and had reluctantly clapped while looking the other way.

"Naomi, I think it's clear that you should join-" began Seth as he extended his hand out to Naomi.

"Not yet," cut in Jake with an icy voice. "Not before you pass me first."

Naomi watched in mild confusion as Jake stood up and went to the back of the room. He took out an electric guitar from a case before walking to the front and plugging it into one of the amplifiers.

So he's the lead guitarist. That explains a lot about the hostility towards her.

Jake tuned his guitar a little before turning to Naomi.

"You," he said as he pointed at Naomi with a guitar pick held between his fingers. "Play whatever I play."

Jake began with a set of rhythms that consisted of sixteenths and triplets. Seth dropped his jaw.

"Isn't that a little too difficult…" he mumbled.

"Shut up," said Jake without even turning to Seth. "You play," he said as he cocked his head towards Naomi.

Naomi stared at the guy in front of her. He was obviously jealous that she had managed to play the song he deemed too difficult for her and was now attempting to embarrass her.

"Well?" he asked, arching his eyebrow at her.

Naomi bit the insides of her cheek as she glared at him. She lifted her guitar and closed her eyes as her mind went back to the rhythm he played. Yup, that's how it went.

Naomi smirked as she watched Jake's face change from its initial smug expression to a look of horror as she played the exact same rhythm he had played before. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Erik grinning from ear to ear now, his laughing eyes in slits.

"Again," said Jake, as he played another set of rhythms on the guitar, this time faster and more complicated.

Naomi replayed the rhythm again, without a single glitch and complete with the right dynamics and accents.

"Woohoo! Damn it Naomi, you're fucking awesome!" yelled out Erik who was cheering from the side now. Seth was looking a little worried as he watched Jake's face slowly turn pale with anger.

"Since you're so fucking awesome, why don't you play this," said Jake slowly in a voice dripping with sarcasm as he took out a guitar score from his bag and tossed it on the table in front of Naomi.

"Daddy, daddy!" yelled the little girl as she ran towards her dad and flung her little arms around his neck.

"My baby girl," cried the dad as he lifted her off her feet and kissed her on the forehead.

"Where did you go? I've missed you," said the little girl as she looked down sadly and pouted, her little fingers playing with the collar of her daddy's polo t-shirt.

"I'm sorry I missed my baby's birthday," said the man as he bounced the little girl gently in his arms.

"I'm sorry you missed it too," said the little girl quietly.

"Are you angry with Daddy?" he asked.

"Mm-mm," the girl said, shaking her head quickly.

"Well, Daddy has something to make it up to you," he said with a smile, pinching her lightly on the cheek.

"Really? I've got a present?" asked the little girl, her bright blue eyes widening in surprise and excitement.

"Wait here, I'll show you," he said as he put her down on the floor and went out to the garage.

Minutes later, the man came back with a cobalt blue electric guitar in his hand that was only slightly taller than the girl herself.

"Wow!" cried the girl as she ran over at once to examine the brand new guitar, her little fingers going over the body of the guitar and the metal strings gently, as if she was afraid that any rough movement would break them.

"It's yours," said the man with a wide grin as he bent down and watched the little girl study her new toy in awe.

"Thanks daddy! You are the best daddy in the world!" she screamed happily as she threw abruptly herself into his open arms, making him laugh heartily as he caressed her small head on his shoulder.

He sat on the boot of the car with his guitar perched across his lap. She was sitting on a small stool on the grass, trying hard to balance the guitar that was too big for her size on her tiny lap. In the end, she gave up and placed part of the body of the guitar on the grass beside her.

"Are you ready for your first guitar lesson?" he directed the question to his one and only student in the class.

"YES!" came the very enthusiastic response followed by some erratic strumming of the guitar.

"OK, you've got to stop that, I can't hear myself. Now… Have you played the game 'Simon Says' in school?" he asked.

"Yes!"

"Well, we're gonna play a game now, and it's rather similar to Simon Says. You with me?"

"Yes!"

"In Simon Says, you have to imitate whatever actions that Simon says to do. In this game, what happens is I'm going to pluck a few notes on my guitar. And in order to win, all you have to do is to imitate my actions and pluck whatever string I pluck, in exactly the same way I pluck it. Any questions?"

The girl's hand shot up immediately.

"Yes?"

"What is a note?" asked the girl, scratching her head a little.

"Well," the man said with a hearty laugh. "The guitar produces a different sound when your right hand plucks the same string and your left hand presses on different frets. These little separations on the guitar are frets. Every different sound represents a different note on the guitar."

The girl still looked a little confused.

"It's okay, I will help you along the way so that you will win the game," said the dad and the frown on the little girl's face was replaced with an adorable smile in an instant.

HEARTBREAKER – LED ZEPPELIN

Naomi blinked at the lead guitar score that Jake had thrown on the table.

"What's wrong? Aren't you like fucking awesome? Play it then," taunted Jake further upon seeing that the blood had drained out of her face.

Seth broke in. "Jake, it isn't fair to make her sight-read a score this tough for an audition."

"Nuh-uh. I beg to differ. If you're really good you can play even when seeing a score for the first time. If you suck you can't play it even after practising a million times," said Jake in a matter-of-fact tone, his eyes never leaving Naomi.

Seth and Erik were looking at Naomi expectantly. Even the look of contempt was gone from Dan's face; now he was more curious to see if she was really good enough to be able to sight-read a score as difficult as "Heartbreaker".

Naomi exhaled deeply and stared at the score on the table. For a moment, Erik, Dan and Seth thought she was going to give up and leave, but then she just reached out for the score on the table and the next thing they knew, she had flung it onto the floor. The three of them reckoned she had gone mad.

She heard the familiar sounds coming from the old amplifier in the garden yet again. He was practising it, that Led Zeppelin song. She had heard it a thousand times now, and could almost memorise the entire guitar solo. After watching him from behind the door for a little while more, she ran upstairs to her room and took her guitar from its case and sat down on her bedroom floor with it. She now stood taller than the guitar, and her fingers fit comfortably around its neck. Squeezing her eyes shut to remember the notes that she had seen her dad play so many times on the guitar, she reproduced them, one by one.

A week later, she was all smiles as she ran to her dad with her guitar, tugging his shirt urgently as he sat on the sofa reading the newspapers.

His eyes were blue with amazement as she finished playing.

"That's my girl!" he cried as he threw her up in the air and caught her, his eyes brimming with tears. "My girl's a genius! My girl's a genius!"

Naomi opened her eyes and her fingers played it like how they remembered it. It's been so long, and playing it again really hurt because of the memories that came with it.

By now, Erik, Dan and Seth were completely impressed and the three of them stood there staring at Naomi with jaws wide open. Jake, on the other hand, was frowning silently. After a while, there was a look of revelation on his face as he walked away and bent over to pick up the score that Naomi had flung.

"Wait a minute," he said as he walked towards Naomi. "I don't want you to play from the beginning."

"I want you to start here," he added with a smirk as he flipped to a random page in the score and pointed to one of the many notes that were filled across the entire page.

Naomi glared at him as she swallowed hard.

"I can't play it," said Naomi quietly as she took in a deep breath.

"But why not?! You were doing fine a while ago! Fuck's sake, you were doing more than fine! You were fucking awesome," sputtered out Erik in exasperation.

"Yeah, why can't you play it?" asked Seth, who was as bewildered as Erik was.

"Because," said Jake with a smirk as he turned slowly to glance at Naomi.

"Because she can't read notes at all."

The sound of shouting from below woke Naomi up from her slumber. She groped around for a while in the dark for her glasses and put them on before creeping out of her room in her bedroom slippers.

"…out of the fucking question!"

"Why do you always reject the opinions of others without even considering them? You always so fucking self-centred!"

"I'm fucking self-centred!? I'M FUCKING SELF CENTRED!? WHO'S THE ONE TRYING TO FULFILL HIS OWN FAILED DREAMS THROUGH HIS DAUGHTER AND NOT GIVING A DAMN THAT IT'S GONNA RUIN HER FUTURE?"

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! THIS ISN'T ABOUT ME! THIS IS ABOUT HER! …She is really, really good, Gina. Why can't you see that and accept it?"

"Right. Let's take your word for it and say that she's good. But even if she's good, I will NOT allow her to take the path that you've taken! She's my daughter and for as long as I'm alive, I won't let you ruin her."

"You fucking regret it, don't you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You fucking regret marrying me."

"What the fuck are you saying!?"

"In your mind, I'm always a fucking loser, a fucking failed musician… A good-for-nothing… that you'd married by mistake…"

"I'm really sorry, Gina, for being the only mistake you've ever made in your fucking perfect life…"

"FUCK YOU! LEAVE AND DON'T EVER COME BACK TO THIS FUCKING HOUSE. FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU…"

Naomi fought the tears that struggled to escape and crept silently back into her room as the door slammed downstairs and sobs filled the whole house.

Once inside her room, she flung herself onto her bed and cried hard into her pillow. She cried till her tears ran dry and till she was exhausted, before finally falling into a fitful sleep.

Even in her dreams, the tears couldn't stop falling.

"She what?" Erik blinked in amazement at Jake's words and turned to Naomi in a quick motion. Naomi was silent now and looking at the floor.

"She is fucking musically illiterate," said Jake with a satisfied smirk as he walked back to his seat and assumed the same position as before. The smug look on his face had returned now that his status as lead guitarist was not threatened.

"Musically illit… But wait – how? How?" Erik sputtered out, not grasping the whole situation.

"She's a musician who plays by ear," said Seth quietly as the truth hit him.

"Play by ear? Wow…" said Dan dreamily, whom Naomi thought had a look of admiration on his face now.

"Play by ear?! But all that she had just played? That's one fucking long score. How the hell do you play by ear with that?"

"By listening and memorizing the sounds, and then reproducing it on the guitar based on memory," said Seth. "Still, that's really awesome, Naomi. That you managed to play all that from memory."

"As much as it is awesome, we have no use for guitarists who can't read the bloody score. Too bad, lady," said Jake sarcastically as he glared at Naomi.

Seth looked deep in thought for a moment before turning to Naomi.

"Do you sing?" asked Seth suddenly.

Naomi looked up at him in surprise. Erik, Dan and Jake were all eyeing Seth questioningly as well.

"Well, I…" began Naomi, not knowing how to answer this unexpected question.

"Seth," warned Jake. "We want a vocalist who is a MALE, remember?"

"Correction, Jake. We want a vocalist who can sing rock. Why would it matter whether the vocalist is male or female as long as he or she can pull off a performance well?" argued Seth in his calm voice.

He turned to Naomi with a kindly smile. "So? Would you like to pick a song and perform it for us now?"