Side note: I don't own any of the songs or other pop culture references which I have made or will make in this fanfic.

I would like to apologise in advance for leaving a lot of musical detail out of this chapter. I cannot play the guitar or the drums (but I can play the piano and the pencil drums) and so am unable to describe how much of the band plays notes or rhythms. I hope the chapter is still satisfactory.

As they began taking sound equipment out of a cupboard in the back of the two-car garage, Sam explained to Luna, "I tend to leave the garage door closed because the noise bugs the neighbors. But it's a really nice day for October, and the door screws with the sound, so I think I'm gonna open it up and pray that nobody's home."

Luna nodded, plugging Sam's keyboard into a power strip. Sam walked over to the garage door control panel and pressed the Open button.

As the garage door finished opening, Jamie and Alex walked inside, Jamie with his guitar slung over his back and Alex carrying two pairs of drumsticks.

"Hi, Luna! Glad you could make it!" said Alex, giving her a high-five.

"Glad to be here, dude. What's new?"

Alex casually leaned up against the car on one side of the garage. "School sucks, my brother sucks, everything ****ing sucks."

Sam said to Alex, "We really gotta break you of your swearing habit before the gig. We're playing for eight-year-olds, after all."

Jamie turned to Sam and asked her, "So, uh, did you ever ask Kate what she thought about me?"

Sam uneasily said, "No."

"Why not?"

"Uh, it slipped my mind. Sorry. I'll hint to something tomorrow, if you want."

"'Kay."

Oh ****.

Luna said, "Uh, didja ever listen to "Two Princes"?"

Sam replied, "No, I never got around to it. We can listen to it right now, if you want."

Sam connected her phone to a Bluetooth speaker in her pocket, then searched for the song on YouTube.

The band finished setting up equipment while they listened to the song. After it ended, they all nodded in agreement.

Jamie asked, "So do you have sheet music for that song?"

Luna replied, "Nah, but I know the words and lead part by heart. It's my sister's favorite song."

Sam inquired, "Which one?"

"Lola's."

"Like I said, which one?"

They all laughed.

Jamie said, "So I think you should sing that one, Luna. It's probably too high of a register for me."

"'Kay, but it might be too low of a register for me," replied Luna. "Also, any of you guys know "Birthday" by The Beatles?"

Jamie replied, "Yeah, I started learning it 'cause I thought it would fit the sitch."

"Me too," said Sam.

Alex shook her head. "I didn't learn it, but I think we should play it."

Everyone else agreed.

Sam asked, "How many songs do you think we should play?"

Jamie replied, "I dunno, maybe seven or eight? If we run out, we can always ad-lib something."

Luna added, "Yeah, and let's not make anything original. It'll just take too long to prepare and everything."

Everyone agreed.

Sam asked, "Any more ideas?"

Alex replied, "How 'bout "**** You" by CeeLo Green?"

Everyone else laughed and said, "No."

Alex said, "On a more serious note, how 'bout "I Want You Back" by Jackson 5?"

Luna perked up and said, "Ooh, that's a good idea! I say yes!"

Jamie and Sam nodded their agreement.

Sam said, "I like it. It's got piano in it. I won't be bored the entire performance."

Jamie asked, "Can we sing something with a lower register, please?"

Luna turned to him and said, "You feel up to "Dream On"? Or "Take On Me"?"

Jamie gave her a withering look.

Alex spoke up: "How about "Take 5"?"

Luna asked, "Don'cha think that may be too boring for little kids?"

"Oh, come on! I like jazz!"

"Then why the **** are you in a rock band?"

Jamie interjected, "Language!"

Sam retorted, "Shut up, Cap."

These guys are just great.

Jamie's face lit up all of a sudden. ""Wonderwall"."

Alex said, "No." Luna and Sam said "Yes" simultaneously.

"You're overruled, Alex."

"****."

Jamie remarked, "Finally! A song that I can actually sing!"

Sam ignored him. "Okay then. We got four songs for now. Wanna start practicing them now and talk about other ideas later?"

Everyone agreed and picked up their instruments.

After a brief tuning session, Sam asked, "So what do you want to play first?"

Alex said, "Let's go with "Birthday". That's the most important one."

Sam flipped through her music binder and found copies of the song for lead guitar, bass, piano, and drums, then handed them out.

Luna was impressed. "You're prepared," she remarked.

Sam replied, "Pat is a huge Beatles fan. He knows how to play almost all of their songs." She turned to Alex, grinning. "Especially "From Me to You"."

Alex groaned. "I swear to God, if I hear that song one more ****ing time, I'm going to snap and murder somebody."

Sam threw up her hands and exclaimed, "Please don't do that! My mom would get mad if you got blood all over her garage!"

Jamie and Luna laughed.

Jamie quickly calmed down and said, "Guys! So let's get to it, now!"

Alex counted off, and they jumped right into the song and played it through.

That didn't sound so bad, but it could definitely use work. I'm not quite sure where, though. Maybe we could record it and then play it through to see what we need to fix.

Sam said, "Okay. How 'bout we record our next playthrough to see what we need to work on?"

Luna turned to her in grateful surprise. "You musta read my mind, dude!"

"What can I say? I'm a regular Professor X!"

Jamie laughed at that, then pulled out his phone, opened a recording app on it, and placed it on the floor in the middle of the group. "Ready, guys?"

They played through the song again, then listened to it.

"My God," said Alex. "My sense of timing is really ****ed up."

Jamie retorted, "Took one too many blows to the head lately?"

Alex curled her left hand into a fist and shook it at him. "I'll show YOU a blow!"

"Hey, now! Let's keep things PG-13 here."

Luna and Sam doubled over with laughter.

Through giggles, Sam managed, "Jamie? Are you sure it's not you with the head injury? 'Cause your train of thought is WAY screwed up!"

Did I mention how awesome these people are?

...

Sam checked her phone after finally nailing the chord progression for "I Want You Back". "It's 5:30, guys," she said, sweeping her hair out of her face. "My dad's gonna be here around 6, so we should start packing up."

Everybody started to move the sound equipment back into the cupboard.

MAN, time flew by FAST. These guys are really good musicians; I'm glad I can play with people that aren't worse than me for once! And we work together really well, too!

I'd better practice those beginning riffs to "I Want You Back" more tonight. It's been a while since I've played it. I learned it because of Guardians of the Galaxy and haven't returned to it since.

Speaking of which, I really wanna watch the sequel at some point. Maybe after we indoctrinate Luan into the "Loud Highschoolers Group" with Mean Girls, we can watch it the next week.

Speaking of which, I'm surprised we haven't done that earlier. Well, I guess Lori has been busy wi-

Alex exclaimed, "Oh sh- I mean, oh crap! I gotta get home so I can change before work! I forgot that I had work today!"

She picked up her sticks and started to speedwalk to the open garage door. Jamie followed on her heels, carrying his bass. They both climbed into Alex's car and drove away.

Luna watched the car fade into the distance, then remarked, "They hate packing up that much, huh?"

Sam smirked and unplugged her keyboard from the power strip. "No, not that they've ever complained."

"I'm not complaining either."

"I'm glad."

They finished packing up in silence, Luna growing more uneasy by the moment.

The answer to my mini-quiz from last chapter is the song "Listen to the Band" by The Monkees. It's a fairly good song, and they're an undervalued band. If you did happen to know the answer without Googling it, good job.

See you soon!