More Than A Band

Okay SORRY FOR BEING GONE FOR SO LONG I got caught up with a show obsession (which still hasn't ended oh god) and also had to work like full time but now I'm off of my job and school is starting up so (ironically) I GUESS I HAVE MORE FREE TIME NOW???? I didn't read very thoroughly or critically enough to add in improvements but from what I've seen the story is looking pretty good and there was lots to learn about the UK educational system which I will review over and read articles about during lunch today.

I'm really excited to see this story get rolling and our characters are ABSOLUTELY PRECIOUS so keep it up guys.

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry. I know it may seem like I'd disappeared from the face of earth but that's not the case. I still exist and still pretty much alive, thank you very much.

Jordy, I totally love the first chapter. It's amazing! I as I'd told you via FB, I think you portrayed Joey really well in that short scene he was in.

Javin, I think we need to decide our turn. I know Jordy's the first writer, then Kayleigh. And the both of us are still floating. If you don't mind, can I be the last writer?

And Kayleigh, I do agree with you. We need some sort of frame or outlines for our chapters. This is what I have in mind:

Round 1

Jordy - Ali getting into the band.
Kayleigh - First band practice
Javin - Discussing band name
Me (aka Lina) - Preliminary round for the battle of the bands thing.

That's my suggestion for the outline for the first round. And through each chapter, we can tell the readers more about our characters without it being too information-dumping kind of chapters.

And maybe in the round 2, the problems between them become more profound and there will be a lot of tension between them and it's making it hard for them to get along with each other. And in the middle of second round, something happened between two characters (or more) and one of them become like the link that bring the all together and make them see that it won't work out unless they're working together.

And in round 3, they'd started to learn to work with each other and see each others' strengths and weaknesses. And they started to warm up to each other. And they work hard for the upcoming battle of the bands.

That's all I have. Somewhere in the middle of our story (or maybe the beginning when they were still cold with each other), I plan on making Joey wanting to leave the band because he thought it's a waste of his time and maybe because he was made fun off by his team mates because according to them, he's hanging out with a bunch of 'losers' and he was embarrassed.

It's all just ideas though.

So what do you guys think?

@ voodoo doll.
I like your ideas. For my chapter, I'm not going to have them practice at school because they'd probably spend that small time they have at lunch discussing the band with Ali as she's now new, so I was thinking of them having a pre-established place where they practice, like someone's room or something. I know that Isobel definitely would not invite those guys to her house, so her room is ruled out. If there's no bedroom available, then perhaps an empty hall in the community centre that they're allowed to use so long as they tidy up when they're done and don't make a mess.

Round two sounds good, especially with the drama. With the one being the link to bring them together, I'm not sure if it's just me but that sounds like something Ali might do.

Also, with Joey wanting to leave the band, perhaps during their time together before that part, he's confessed something that he doesn't want his teammates to know (because let's be honest, what seventeen/eighteen year old group of sixth formers don't drink alcohol?) and Isobel, doing what she does best, threatens to expose it if he does? So she's effectively blackmailing him to stay in the band, and it could cause friction, but as time goes on he starts enjoying being in the band and he no longer needs to be blackmailed to stay? Just a thought.

@ castiel's vessel

I love those ideas! They're brilliant

And yeah, I can see Ali being the level-headed one, it's going to be interesting to see where this story goes :D

@ castiel's vessel
I like your idea. But at the same time I can't see Joey as someone who will let himself being blackmailed. So yeah... maybe that will cause more problems between him and Isobel? That can totally work. And I can already see that Joey will be the one that drives everyone crazy because he's just an ass. But it's gonna be fun writing him!

@ Death The Angel
Go Ali! And I do agree. Ali does seem like the only one who can bring the group together.

@ voodoo doll.
No one lets themselves be blackmailed, and perhaps it was a slip of the tongue a while ago that surely no one remembers - but wait, this is Isobel we're on about. The girl who will take anything from any situation in order to spread it. I look forward to them having problems with each other.

@ voodoo doll.
@ Death The Angel
@ Javin Pilotte

Do you guys want me to post my chapter here first or just post it?

@ castiel's vessel
You can post it here!

@ voodoo doll.
@ Death The Angel
@ Javin Pilotte

Alright, here it is. Did anyone want their character to take History as well? Because I'll slot in a sentence or two to mention it casually.

Quote:

If there was one thing that Isobel liked, it was her study leave. It was all very convenient for her, making it so that she had at least one study leave period per day and giving her pretty much the entire day off on Fridays, asides from the pesky third lesson slot that was nestled between break time and lunchtime. And of course she had to have History then, the one subject that she regretted continuing for A2, but the lie-in and the early day's end made it slightly more enjoyable than her other History lessons. Speaking of History, that was the subject she was currently in, watching the clock above the board slowly tick closer to three o'clock. Although the school day ended at quarter past, most teachers let the sixth formers out at three because a single lesson was hard enough to concentrate in at the end, but a double lesson was almost impossible to comprehend when it approached three.

At lunch, when that Ali girl had shown up unexpectedly, they had decided to just talk during that time - mostly about nothing, but some of it was band-related - and when it was close to the end of lunch, they decided to meet up after school in the normal place so that they could assess whether Ali was truly just a nerd or whether there was something vaguely interesting about her. Isobel though she would end up being just a nerd but she'd been surprised before.

"Alright Year 13, write down the question on the board and then you can go. It's due for next week," the teacher said, bringing her eyes away from the clock and toward the board. Great, a thirty mark question. That was just what she needed.

The boy next to her called out, "How many pages?"

"I expect no less than four sides. Three sides might have been okay in Year 12 but this is Year 13 now, and three sides is just not enough." There was a groan in the room as he spoke, and Isobel felt the same. Four sides at the minimum? She could barely write two that were coherent! "Do you want to fail your exam in the summer? Because you can leave right now and not come back to class." No one moved and after a moment, they began writing down the question into their notepads.

Slowly chairs started to scrape across the floor and people were filing out the door, and just as the clock struck three, Isobel was out of her seat, packing her bag and leaving the room. She hurried out of the school grounds and down the road so that she could catch the quarter past three bus in order to get home earlier so that she could change out of the clothes she wore to school. Despite not having a uniform like the younger years did, they were still required to dress formally for appearance's sake.

The meeting time was four so she had enough time to lounge about in her bedroom after getting changed before having to start her journey to the local community centre. As the local council was keen to encourage its teenagers to do more productive things with their time rather than cause trouble, they had been allowed access to a small room in the centre twice a week. It was there that they would practice - as well as bicker - as none of them were willing to take the others back to their house each week. There was no way Isobel would ever invite Reed to her house, even if there was a disaster outside.

When she arrived the room was empty so she sat on one of the plastic chairs that were arranged against the wall and began playing one of the apps on her phone while she waited for the others to arrive. Ali was the next to arrive and Isobel looked up when the door opened and she tentatively stepped in. "Am I late?"

"Not likely," she muttered, going back to her game. After completing two more levels she exited from the app, put her phone away and looked around the room to see Ali looking at the drums that occupied the corner. Luckily the centre had drums for the times when musicians would play for certain events otherwise Joey would have to bring his own each time and despite not playing drums herself, she knew it'd be hard work to always have to bring a set of drums for practice.

Before anything else could be said, the door opened and Reed came sauntering in. "Honey, I'm home," he called, looking at Isobel then at Ali. "Wow, you actually turned up. I thought you'd miss doing homework too much."

"Funny," Ali murmured, taking up one of the chairs a few down from Isobel. "I thought this was supposed to be a practice? I've been here for ten minutes and haven't done anything."

"Well, Babycakes, first we have to wait for Joey. Then you have to sing for us."

"So, like, an audition?"

He winked. "Exactly," he confirmed, settling next to her. "You get to sing your pretty little head off and we get to listen, judge you vocally and then decide whether you're in."

Isobel rolled her eyes. "Well, when you put it that way I wonder whether you actually have a vagina in your jeans," she said sardonically as Joey walked into the room. "Although I know he's fully male between the legs."

Joey stopped in the doorway and glanced quizzingly between Isobel and Reed. "You've never seen between my legs."

She winked. "One day, Joe."

Ali stood up abruptly and placed her hands on her hips. "Are we going to get on with this? I promised my mom I'd be back within half an hour."

"Practice takes longer than half an hour," Joey explained making Ali sigh.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind for the future but today I really can't stay any longer. So can we get started?"

Reed saluted. "Sing, Babycakes," he instructed as Joey deliberately sat next to him instead of near Isobel. She loved toying with him.

For a moment Ali just stood there, not sure what to do. Isobel cleared her throat and looked at her pointedly making her fiddle with her hair. "What should I sing?" she asked.

Immediately Reed piped up. "You could sing 'Bad Touch'!"

Isobel snorted while Ali looked unsure. "I've never heard of that."

"It goes something like 'You and me baby, ain't nothin but mammals, so let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel.'" Isobel laughed when Ali's face dropped in disgust.

"No!" she exclaimed, mortified. "If that's what you sing about then I will not be a part of this."

Joey hit Reed. "Cut it out," he ordered before looking back to Ali. "Sing whatever you want. All we need to hear is your voice."

She looked unsure about herself but took a deep breath and began to sing. Isobel didn't recognise the song but then again she normally identified a song by its chorus and Ali didn't sing long enough to make it to the chorus. "Well?" she said, after a minute's silence from everyone. "How did I do?"

Isobel shrugged. "I've heard better," she commented.

"It's not amazing but it is alright," Joey confirmed, nodding his head. "And you're the only person we have who can at least hold a tune. Isobel wouldn't even try."

"I'd much rather hear you sing."

"And that's not going to happen."

Ali cleared her throat and looked at them expectantly. Reed stood from his seat, walked over to her and slung an arm around her shoulder. "Well to the band, Babycakes!"

@ castiel's vessel
I LOVE THIS!!

I love Reed.

@ castiel's vessel
I've talked with Jordy and she said she'd read your chapter and she liked it but she doesn't have the time to reply to you.

@ castiel's vessel
*Stands up and applauses*

I LOVE IT. You wrote my character so perfectly, I'm so happy. ;u;
I'm next right? I have a couple of exams next week and a lot of writing to do for Creative Writing class but I will get to it right after I get all my other work done.

@ Javin Pilotte
I'm so glad I wrote him well! Oh, also you said that Reed gives people food nicknames but I don't think you decided one for Isobel. And yeah, it's you next. The discussion of the band name, if we're going by what's put above.

@ Javin Pilotte
Hey, how's your chapter doing??

@ castiel's vessel
OH I'M SO SORRY!!!! I've been really busy with a lot of science classes and I forgot about this during Thanksgiving break but I should be able to get to it during Christmas break! Aw, dang, I'm really sorry! I'm writing it in my planner,

@ Javin Pilotte
That's alright. It's completely understandable. My classes and labs and assignment also take up most of my time these days.

@ Javin Pilotte
@ charity_hope
@ Death The Angel

So...it's been four months. And going by activity, two out of the four of us are still active.

@ Maleficent.
I can contact Javin and Jordy and see if they're still up for this group write. I have Javin on Twitter and Jordy on Facebook.

I really love this story and it's really sad to see it go without me even have the chance to write my chapter.

I still pop on every now and again :) I'm still into this story so I'm happy to do this ^_^

@ charity_hope
@ Death The Angel

It's great that you guys still want to do this. If Javin ends up not being up for this/not having the time, we could always re-plan with the three of us?