I Need Something To Pick Me Up

Kylie was worrying over how we would do today, at our first gig with famous bands, and being the opener for Three Days Grace. I was nervous, I’ll tell you that, but I can manage to hide it better than she can. Truth is that I know we can make that crowd scream. I know that, even though there are only two of us and we have to put in a CD for a drum beat, we’ll kick some ass tonight.

“I think Adam said something about wanting to watch us during Sound Check.” I stated, going through the notes I had typed up on my phone. I’m a crazy person, yes, but one of us wild maniacs has to know how to run a band, and that person was me. “And by the time we arrive at the venue we should be able to catch Three Days Grace perform half of their second song. What do you think they’re playing this year?”

Last year Kiley and I went to a Three Days Grace show around Christmas time. It was amazing, because they all were wearing Santa hats, despite that fact that they don’t celebrate Christmas. We had gotten there a little early, because my dad drives like a reckless maniac, and we got to watch them during their Sound Check. They played two songs, Now Or Never and Let It Die.

Kiley thought for a moment, but answered with a shrug. I rolled my eyes and started to say something when she cut me off. “Maybe they’ll play Break or something else off their new album?” I considered the possibilities. “But a more important question is what are we going to play?”

“Something.” I smirked. “Maybe we’ll do our cover of ‘Check My Brains’ by Alice In Chains and one of our original songs. I was thinking ‘The King Of Generosity Is A Two-Faced Bitch’ or maybe ‘Take Your Lies, Take My Life’, what do you think.”

“The first one.” Kiley smiled. The first one had such a long name, and there wasn’t anything in the story about a king of generosity or two-faced bitches. I mentioned a king and his crown once in the lyrics, but then that was it. Kiley liked this song better because of the meaning behind the lyrics and because of the bass line. I couldn’t narrow it down to just one thing though.

“Cool, we’ll do that one then.” I smiled, tapping the keys on my phone to input the data onto the note. I hoped that Adam and the rest of the band would feel proud, picking us to be an opener for their legendary band. If I was them, I probably wouldn’t have picked us. We’re twenty-three year old women and we still act like two thirteen year old girls who were just given their first musical instrument. The only difference between us and the teenage girls is that we put much more meaning --- and we are much more serious --- about our music.

“Hey Cori, what are you gonna wear when we’re onstage?” Kiley questioned. I looked down at my attire and shrugged. I was wearing my solid black pajama pants and my white tank top. To go along with that I had one black and white stripped sock on and one black and white polka dotted one. “What are the boys gonna say when they see you in your pajamas?”

“I’m gonna go change...” I said, grabbing a random bag and heading into the bathroom. I didn’t know what I was really looking forward to wear for our first concert so I chose a random pair of pants and a random shirt. The shirt was a black wife-beater and for the pants I had a pair of black skinny jeans. I left my silly socks on and straightened my maroon-toned hair the best I could in the allotted amount of time and skilfully applied a layer of eyeliner. “Ta-da.” I said, doing the silly ‘Spirit Fingers’ thing and slipping on a pair of black Converse Chucks. I grabbed a few silver accessories, like my wallet with the chain I could hook around my belt loop and a few earrings for the four holes in each of my ears, before following Kiley off the bus.