It's Andy's birthday. You know what that means? BLINK-182. I got into my blink shirt and my jeans and shoes and fixed up my hair, mum drove me up to Andy's and beeped the horn. Andy and Bradie came running out and got in the car.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!" I smiled, he smiled back
"thanks Shaun, you're the bestest friend ever"
"that makes me feel special" I laughed
"let's gooooo" Bradie butt in
"I agree" me and Andy both said at the same time and laughed, mum smiled and started driving, we were singing Blink on the way up to the venue, when we got there we jumped out.
"Thank mum!"
"Have fun boys" she smiled and walked off, we went and waited in the line for an hour just to get in, we were at the back of the mosh and the stage we were looking up to was massive "come on!" I grabbed Andy's hand and he grabbed Bradie's, we pushed through heaps of people and made it to the front eventually after 10 minutes of sweating.
"YES! We made it! HIGH FIVE!" Andy laughed and high fived me
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!"
"THANK YOU SO MUCH SHAUN!"
"IT'S OKAY, ANYTHING FOR MY BEST FRIEND" I smiled. We looked to the stage and saw the guys run out and rock that stage singing "Dammit to "Adams song" and to "All the small things". After the concert we were covered in sweat and happiness, that made us so happy, just to look up to your idols like that is the best feeling in the world. After we got a drink we waited outside for my mum to come.
"hey guys, we should start a band?"
"Really?" Andy and Bradie said, laughing a bit
"yeah, I mean, there's not much to do and we love music so, why not?"
"yeah, that's a good idea" Andy said
"who can do what though?" Bradie asked
"Well, Shanny can play drums well so he can be the drummer and you can play keyboard and guitar and Andy can play bass and I can just sing"
"you? Sing?" Bradie scoffed
"I'm not that bad"
"sing then" said Andy
I took a deep breath and gulped, starting to sing "All the, small things, true care, truth brings, I'll take, one lift, your ride, best trip, always, I know, you'll be at my sho-"
"oh my god, Shaun's the singer, enough said" Andy said
"he still has a high voice though" Bradie said
"It'll deepen as I get older anyway" I added
"true that"
"yeah"
"Shaun, your mums here" Andy said, we all got up and got in the car "enjoy the concert boys?" "HELL YES!" I yelled "YES!" Bradie said "THANK YOU SO MUCH OH MY GOD!" Andy added, I smiled and mum drove home, we kept discussing about the concert and the band we hadn't named yet, this was going to make me happy, I could tell. We dropped Andy and Bradie off then went home and I went straight to bed. I was way too tired.

3 months since that concert, and it's my birthday tomorrow. Oh sweet 14. We haven't got much shit from Daniel lately. He's been so quite lately. And our band is slowly learning. Bradie's the drummer now, he's fucking awesome at it and now I'm learning guitar and it is a bit harder than I thought and Andy is pretty good at bass now. Andy's coming over soon, I need to show him some new tune I made up, I don't know if I'll write music or anything but we'll see, Andy knocked at my door, I opened it
"Hey Andy"
"Hey Shaun, what did you want to show me?"
"Come, come, come" I grabbed him by the hand and dragged him into my room, I was using Bradie's guitar to do my tune, I started to play my little tune and look at him "So?"
"I like it" he smirked
"really?"
"yeah, write some lyrics up and put in some chords and bam, we've got a song"
"yay" I smiled, he smiled back.
"I better go back home though Shaun, it's 9pm and it's your birthday tomorrow"
"no, no, no. Please stay? Sleep the night?"
"Where..?"
"in my bed, I don't mind to share"
"okay then" he smiled as I did, at 11 I got into my pyjamas and lend some to Andy and we got in my bed "Oh my god, this is squishy" he giggled "oh well, as long as it's nice and warm" I smiled "yep" he smiled and closed his eyes, he fell asleep quickly, he was tired, I just stared at him. He actually made me happy which was different for me, no one ever made me feel this content. I closed my eyes slowly and fell asleep. Excited for the day to come.

I woke up slowly with Andy, Bradie and my mum were in my room, I sat up and rubbed my eyes
"good morning sunshine" Andy laughed "Happy Birthday" he smiled
"thanks Andy" I smiled back
"Happy Birthday Shaun" said my mum and Bradie, I couldn't stop smiling
"come downstairs Shaun, I got you something" my mum added
"YAY! Presents!" I jumped out of bed running with my Friends and mum behind me, I saw this big box in my lounge, I ripped the paper off and gasped, it was an electric guitar
"oh my god mum I love you"
"don't thank me, thank Andy and Bradie and Gerald when you see him next as well" I had the largest grin on my face "I can't believe you guys!" I smiled and hugged my mum, Andy and then Bradie, scruffing his hair and he pouted as I laughed. This was a good day.

A couple weeks later Bradie and Andy stayed at my place. Andy slept with me in my bed and Bradie slept on the floor. Andy slowly woke up.
"Good morning" I whispered
"Morning" he smiled, tiredly
"how you feeling?"
"amazing" he yawned, I giggled quietly
"shut up"
"never"
I heard Bradie yawn and I looked down to him
"morning Bradie"
"morning"
"let's get up and eat some breakfast" I said
"yum" Andy smiled, Bradie got up
"let's go then" he said. Me and Andy got up and walked to the kitchen and we saw pancakes on the table
"morning boys"
"morning" Andy said
"morning mum"
"good morning" Bradie said after
"OOH YUM I'MA EAT A SHORT STACK OF PANCAKES" Andy said. Then it hit me
"wait…what?"
"I'ma eats a Short Stack of pancakes?"
"Short Stack" it just clicked, that was the name of our band, that's the best thing I've thought of.
"Short Stack…Shaun, is you thinking what I'm thinking?" Bradie asked
"yes, we are Short Stack"
"wait, you want to name the band Short Stack?" Andy added
"yes, it's perfect. I don't know why but it just fits"
"you're right Shaun" Andy replied
"then it's settled" Bradie smiled "we're Short Stack.

officially 14 years and 1 month. Haha creepy. Andy, Bradie and I are going to a youth rock competition for our band; this was it, this was going to get the band somewhere. I heard a beep outside my place, it was Gerald. I left my house, kissing my mum goodbye and went, I was so nervous, I might fuck up. I have no idea. We got out of the car and went to the backstage area, Gerald was recording us, he always does, he's really proud of us, I was so nervous, I went up to the camera "yeah, it's before the show and we're shitting ourselves"
"this will be worth gold in the years to come, it'll be on your first doco…" I just smiled, this is all so overwhelming. It was our turn we got on that stage, I looked out, it was pitch black, all I could see was the lights behind us, and we did our song but didn't win. This sucked balls.