Rum and Coke

The auditions started at 5 the next morning. Officials walked up and down the line, plucking the would-be’s and the kids who didn’t have a chance in the world out of the line and sent them home. Out of the hundreds of kids camping out in the line, only the first hundred bands were going to be let in. Out of those hundred, only fifty would go on to the next round. The pool will be then cut to twenty-five, then to twelve, and six. The final three would perform in a live studio room with the guys of Avenged Sevenfold sitting behind a two-way mirror.

Stereotypical Youth was lucky enough to be in the tail-end of the first hundred. They barely had enough time to tune their instruments and warm up before they were shoved in front of the first set of judges. A drum-kit was already provided for them, but it only had one kick drum (much to Ryan’s disadvantage since he normally played on a three-kick kit). All in all, it was not their best performance. An hour later, Ellie was surprised to see that they had made the first cut…and the second.

~*~

“Bailey Mariah Smith! Calm the fuck down!” Ryan yelled at her as he twirled his sticks in his hands. They were the next ones to go.

Chuckling lightly, Ellie plucked a few strings on Izzy.

“How the hell are you so calm? You have like nerves of steel or some shit like that,” Bailey said.

“Bailey, do you not remember what I’ve been doing since I could walk? The stage doesn’t terrify me.”

“This isn’t the stage, though. Those are professional judges out there.” Mark said, laying his bass in his lap.

“And critics aren’t? Honestly, guys, we’ve performed in front of hundreds of people and haven’t been phased...and you’re letting four strangers get to you?”

“Well, when you put it that way…” Bailey said sheepishly as she took a swig from her energy drink.

“Glad that someone’s finally come to their senses,” Ellie muttered under her breath. “Besides, if we make it to the final round, I would at least like to have some energy left.”

“If? Why are you so pessimistic? You’re the one who wanted to come here.” Ryan said skeptically.

“Yea, to find my dad- which I’m having no luck on, b-t-dubb. Bails is the one who actually registered us for this. Besides, don’t you guys remember what I said before we left? I’m going to NYU in the Fall, that’s not negotiable.”

“So, you’re here just for shits and giggles?!” Ryan raised his voice. He was always a drama queen.

“GUYS! Let’s deal with this later, kapeesh?” Mark interjected, stepping between the two fighting band members.

“Stereotypical Youth, you’re up!” one of the coordinators yelled at them.

Casting all qualms aside, the band put their fists together for them pre-performance ritual and got out there. If there’s one thing that you had absolutely love about that band and its members, is that, no matter what kind of shit is going on between them offstage, onstage, they are completely professional. All you see, is them working together to make an incredible show. Three years ago, no one realized that, not two minutes before the set, Ellie broke up with Mark. It was one of their top ten performances to date.

When they got back into the “holding pen” after their song, they were told that they had about thirty minutes before the next cut would be made. Taking this time to escape the tension between her band mates, Ellie exited the room to call back home.

“Hey, Squirt, how are you?”

“Relatively well considering that my band hates me now,” Ellie told her Uncle Jared. She knew that she could always confide in him and that he would give her sound advice on what to do.

“What makes you say that?”

“They found out about NYU.”

“I thought that was one of the conditions?”

“It was, but I don’t think they believed me.”

“Oh, I see. So, how’s the auditions going?”

“We made it through Round 3 and now we’re waiting for the results.”

“And how many bands?”

“It was cut from 100 down to about 50. From 05 down to 25. And now they’re cutting us down to twelve.”

“That’s really intense. Man, I’d hate to be there,” He chuckled as he flipped through his many file folders. “So, is this why you called me?

“Kind of. And also to talk to you. We haven’t spoken since I left and it’s kind of depressing me.”

“Ellie, you can’t lie to me.

“Fine then, I had to get away from them.”

“Because of NYU? That sounds like you’re running.”

“No, I’m not, because if I were, I would be on a plane home by now.”

“This is true.”

“Is it so bad that I don’t want to be stuck like Mom?”

“Your mother wasn’t stuck.”

“Yes, she was! She was stuck here, in California, because her parents stole all her money.”

Jared laughed at the naive girl. “Ellie, Ellie, Ellie. Let me tell you something: you’re mom was never forced to stay there. If she wanted to leave, she could have at any time. She was way too strong-willed and independent to think otherwise.”

“Then why would she stay somewhere that she hated? Every time we talked about the West Coast, she only told me how much she despised it and how much better New York was.”

“Ellie, I knew nothing about your mother while she was in Cali…but I think she stayed because she loved your dad.”

“Mom didn’t know what love is.”

“Oh, I bet she just couldn’t place it. I know she felt it. I remember the look on her face when she was giving birth to you. I could tell that she was wishing for your dad to be there. She didn’t leave because she finally could. She left because she was scared shitless about how she felt. That’s also why she refuses Adam’s advances- because she’s too scared of that feeling.”

Ellie was shocked. Was that really the reason? Can he see through my charade, too? she thought to herself. “I gotta go, they’re about to put the cut list up. I’ll call if we don’t make it. Love you.”

“Ok, break a leg!”

She didn’t reply. She just shut her phone and looked at it for a few moments. She realized then that it’s actually not that great to be almost exactly like your mom. Because then, you hear about all of their character flaws through stories, notes, and other memorabilia…flaws that you yourself show. Ellie is always shocked when her uncles tell her something new about her mom. It really freaked her out to see exactly how alike they are. To Ellie, it could be easily compared to losing your soul: it’s like…you’re not living your own life anymore, rather picking up where they left off.

“Ellie! There you are! They just announced the cut! We’re still in!”Bailey squealed, grabbing the younger girl’s arm.

“That’s great,” Ellie muttered out.

“That’s what I thought! Come, we’re the first one’s up.”

“What are we playing now?”

“Bleeding Guns, we thought that it was only fitting.”

Bleeding Guns is about an abused outcast that plans out an entire scheme to kill everyone in his school and executes that plan. So, how is that fitting? What does it fit with? Ellie questioned in her head. “Sounds good.”