MAX POV
Nudge and JJ had ballet practice for 45 minutes, so they took Sam's car. Sam, Iggy, Fang I walked to my house. When we go home I noticed Mom's car was parked in the driveway. Our house has two stories, it's walls are white, the roof is brown. There's probably three to five windows in each wall. And there's four bedrooms. Mom let us have the extra for our instrument and to have band practice there. I opened the caramel colored door.
"Mom! We're home!" I shouted.
"Coming honey!" she shouted back. I heard a few pairs of footsteps coming from the kitchen. I turned to Fang.
"You can put your stuff where Sam is putting his," I said. Sam puts his stuff in the living room, next to the couch. He nodded and followed him. Mom appeared, wiping her hands with a rag. Her brown hair was in a loose ponytail, and she was wearing jeans with a blue blouse. There were two kids that were behind her.
They looked like the kids Fang described…
"Max, Iggy, this is Angel and Gazzy," she said and beckoned them in front of her. They are so adorable. The little girl looks like a little angel and so does the little boy.
"Hi," they said together. I smiled and waved to them.
"Are you Max?" asked Angel.
"Yes," I responded.
"You're really pretty and your brother is handsome," she said.
"Thank you, you're really pretty too," I responded. She smiled at me. God, she's cute.
"Why thank you, and you're adorable," he said.
"See? She thinks I'm handsome," he said. I rolled my eyes and snorted. Mom swatted his head playfully and looked over at me.
"Anyways, guys, we got new neighbors, they moved in a week ago," she said.
"I know," I said and dropped my stuff in the kitchen.
"Well I met with these kids' mom and she's single like me. We have tons in common and she asked me if I could take care of her kids today only. Turns out there a boy your age," she explained as she took a plate of cookies, from the counter and set them in front of us. Yum!
"His name is-" I interrupted her.
"Fang Walker," I said and took a cookie. She smiled and nodded. I bit into it and let the delicious flavor of it explode my mouth. It's like tasting heaven. I love mom's chocolate chip cookies. She makes the best. Just then Fang and Sam walked into the kitchen. Gazzy and Angel hugged Fang and Angel kissed his cheek.
"Hey Valencia," said Sam and headed to the refrigerator. This house is my friends' house, just like theirs is ours as well.
"Hey Sam," she said. Mom was taking out another batch of cookies and didn't notice Fang. She turned around and saw him. She smiled at him.
"Max, Iggy, Sam? Who's your friend?" she asked.
"This is Fang, the new neighbor," said Igtard as he ate his second cookie.
"He's part of our band and he's our buddy," I said.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Ride," said Fang, extending his hand. My mom took it and shook it.
"Please call me Valencia. It's a pleasure. Help yourself," she said and motioned to the cookies. Fang ate one and told her they were the best cookies he's ever tasted. Iggy was going to chug down the milk carton.
"Hey! Share!" she scolded him, hitting him with a rag. We all laughed.
"Yeah, share," said Sam. He got the carton and was about to chug it down.
"Please use cups guys," said mom and we groaned except for Fang. I got six cups from the cupboard. We ate cookies with milk and Fang told us his dad left then when he was five, and that they lived in an apartment. They didn't even need a moving truck.
"Mom, Fang's going to stay for dinner. That okay?" I asked.
"Of course! Our home is his home," she said. Angel and Gazzy were drinking their milk and cookies.
"Thank you, Mrs. Ri- Valencia," he said. She nodded and smiled. Then we heard the front door open and shut.
"Guys?" shouted JJ.
"Kitchen!" shouted Iggy. JJ and Nudge came in, with their regular clothes, but their hair was in a bun.
"Oh cookies!" said Nudge. JJ and Nudge grabbed one and looked at Angel and Gazzy.
"How cute!" said JJ.
"I agree!" said Nudge as she ruffled Gazzy's hair.
"Watch the hair!" he said and slightly batted her hands away. We laughed.
"That's my boy," said Fang. We laughed harder.
"You guys ready for band practice?" I asked them. Everyone nodded.
"While you guys practice, I'm taking these cuties to the park and store," she said as she helped Gazzy with his windbreaker.
"Nice to meet you, Fang" she said.
"You too," he said with a kind smile. Everyone headed upstairs. Fang and I were the last ones.
"You're going to have tons of fun," I said.
"I already am," he said. I smiled and led him to the room on the other part of the hallway. We entered my favorite room. There was a red velvet couch next to the door with a coffee table in front of it, two black arm chairs, three bass guitars, two acoustic guitars, two violins, a piano, one keyboard, one drum set and one cello that covered the room. The walls were covered with pictures of our favorite singers and some records. You could hardly see the red paint. The room was pretty huge and we bought the instruments with our own money.
"Wow! This is…" started Fang.
"Amazing?" I suggested.
"Awesome?" said JJ.
"Cool?" said Nudge.
"Sweet?" said Sam.
"Swaggy?" said Iggy. Fang nodded to all of them.
"In this room we have our meetings, practice and we like to hang out," I said. Fang smiled at us, especially me.
"And we get to share it with you," said JJ.
"Thank you, for letting me feel welcome guys," said Fang. We nodded and said 'anytime.'
"Alright! Band meeting!" I said, clapping my hands. The boys sat on the couch and the girls sat on the arm chairs. Everyone stared at me, smiles on their faces.
"First order of business," I said. "I would like to give an awesome welcome to our new band member."
The guys cheered and Iggy slapped Fang on the back. Fang smiled at us and said thanks.
"Alright, alright. Now the moment we've been waiting for…drum roll please!" I said. Sam and Iggy banged their hands flat on the table, making it sound like a drum roll. After five seconds I slid my hand up my neck, cutting them off.
"I got a letter yesterday, saying we got a spot in the Battle of the Bands competition," I said. My friends whooped loudly. We've been dreaming of this moment for ten years. The competition was once every five years and streamed live on TV. The winners got a contract, once they turned eighteen. If we win, we could get it and we're seventeen, almost eighteen in six months.
Once it died down I said, "we got four months to practice. And we need to come up with three songs. Because you know, there's three stages we have to get through, and another song, in case we get to the Final stage," I said. We cheered again.
"So we need four songs?" asked JJ. I nodded.
"But I have two down," I said.
"Don't we need a duet?" asked Nudge."
"Yes! And I've been working on it," I said, biting my lip.
"What is it?" asked Iggy.
"Who am I going to sing it with?" I asked.
"Fang!" they said in unison. We all looked at him.
"You mean that important competition with bands against each other?" he asked and we nodded.
"You want me to sing a duet with Max?" he asked, we nodded.
"Hell yeah," he said and slapped the guys high five.
"What instrument do you play?" I asked him. Please let it be bass guitar…
"Bass guitar," he said. I smiled at him.
"Perfect! We got everything! Except for that last song!" said Iggy.
"We can work on that later, but for now let's practice," I said and handed them copies I made of the chords. They started playing, while I waited for them to hit the chord I was supposed to start singing on.
(Ain't it Fun by Paramore)
I don't mind letting you down easy
But just give it time
If it don't hurt now then just wait, just wait a while
You're not the big fish in the pond no more
You are what they're feeding on
So what are you gonna do when the world don't orbit around you?
So what are you gonna do when the world don't orbit around you?
Ain't it fun living in the real world
Ain't it good being all alone
Where you're from
You might be the one who's running things
Well, you can ring anybody's bell to get what you want
You see, it's easy to ignore a trouble
When you're living in a bubble
So what are you gonna do when the world don't orbit around you?
So what are you gonna do when nobody wants to fool with you?
Ain't it fun living in the real world
Ain't it good being all alone
Ain't it good to be on your own
Ain't it fun you can't count on no one
Ain't it good to be on your own
Ain't it fun you can't count on no one
Ain't it fun living in the real world
Don't go crying to your mama 'cause you're on your own in the real world
Don't go crying to your mama 'cause you're on your own in the real world
Don't go crying to your mama 'cause you're on your own in the real world
Don't go crying to your mama 'cause you're on your own in the real world
I looked at Fang for this part.
Ain't it fun
Ain't it fun
Baby, now you're one of us
Ain't it fun
Ain't it fun
He smiled at me.
Ain't it fun
Ain't it fun living in the real world
Ain't it good, ain't it good being all alone
Ain't it fun living in the real world
('Cause the world don't orbit around you)
Ain't it good, ain't it good being all alone (oh)
Don't go crying to your mama 'cause you're on your own in the real world
(Down to your mama)
Don't go crying to your mama 'cause you're on your own in the real world
(Don't go crying to your mama)
Don't go crying to your mama 'cause you're on your own in the real world
(Oh, this is the real world)
Don't go crying to your mama 'cause you're on your own in the real world
(Don't go crying to your mama)
This is the real world
This is the real world
Don't go crying to your mama 'cause you're on your own in the real world
Don't go crying to your mama 'cause you're on your own in the real world
Don't go crying to your mama 'cause you're on your own in the real world
Don't go crying to your mama 'cause you're on your own in the real world
We clapped and told Fang he's amazing. He really is. Fang gave me a warm smile. We're so going to win.