Infinite

Sunday night. Mom is furious about me taking the kids to Newark. Jamie wanted to tell everyone about her encounter with Gerard Way, so where we went to do so just slipped out. But it all still seems unreal. All the “I can’t believe you would do that” and “when are you ever going to take responsibility” blur together and it isn’t until the next morning that reality seems real again.

And it isn’t until then that I realize I actually have Gerard Way’s phone number.

Not that I plan to use it or publish it on the internet. I decide to text him (not the wisest decision ever, some might say). After pressing “send” with some difficulty – is this just stupid or what? - comes trying to get mom to think I’m going to school today. Mondays are boring – Math and Biology and stuff all day long, but a few missed lessons won’t affect my grades since I’m not getting high ones anyway. I’m not failing (B's and C’s have distinguished my grades in those subjects almost all of my school years despite my hatred towards them) but I know my mom is disappointed in me. Or was disappointed in me – nowadays she’s got two other kids to worry about.

I leave the comfort of my bed, and after sneaking into the shower, applying makeup and getting dressed (jeans, a band tee and the standard woolen cap), I’m ready to face the outside world.

I race down the stairs with the guitar case in hand and my school bag thrown over my shoulder, and vaguely hear mom saying something about breakfast (for once) and Jamie saying “Bye Aubrey!” before I sprint down the sidewalk with my jacket in hand, making sure mom sees me from the kitchen window. I’m walking in direction of the bus stop, which coincidentally is in the direction of Red’s house.

The Baker’s basement has been my sanctuary for years, even before we started the band I spent most of my weekends at Red’s house. He lives with his mother and little sisters (his Dad found himself a younger woman when Red was just a kid and the twins were barely on their way) and Mrs Baker – who I know as just Alice – has always liked having us there.

A big german shepherd happily greets me as I open the front door. His name is Billie Joe – Riley, the nicer one of Red's sisters, and the Green Day fan of the family named him.

“Aubrey, is that you?” Alice calls from the kitchen. She is a nurse, and must have just gotten back from work.

“Yeah, hi Alice,” I say, sticking my head into the kitchen. “I’d love to stay and chat, but we’ve got to practice.”

Alice is sitting by the kitchen table drinking coffee. She is the kind of woman you don’t have to get to know before knowing that her smiles are genuine and her concern about you is for real – the kind of mom anyone would want, because while she’s not too strict, she does really care.

Now, she smiles at me instead of telling me to get to school – but I’m not really sure if that’s because she has worked the night shift and is dead tired or that she thinks I can make my own decisions. One would think she wouldn’t want four loud teenagers having band practice in her basement when she needs to sleep, but she has never complained. Earplugs and the basement being soundproofed may have helped with that.

“Red told me about the gig. The others are already down there,” she says. “Good luck!”

“Thanks,” I say and smile back, before grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter and turning around to get down to the basement.

“Hey Aubrey,” Karl says as I walk in, or rather down, to where the drums and the amps already are set up.

“Hey,” I reply, taking off my jacket and putting it on the back of a threadbare armchair. Noel and Red are too deep into a discussion about some random band they disagree about to notice me, so I just set up my guitar and plug in the microphone. I’m ready in fifteen seconds, but Red and Noel are still talking.

“Guys, are we gonna practice or what?”

No answer.

“Guys!”

“What?!” Red says, looking at me for the first time. Karl and I are used to this – the two other members of our band tend to have tunnel vision.

“I’m skipping school for this, come on!”

“You might not wanna say that too loud, I told mom we have the day off,” Red says, rising from his seat and sitting down behind the drum kit.

During the chorus of the first song, a buzzing from the cell phone in my pocket tells me I’ve got a new message. And seeing that the only one who would text me today is Gerard Way, I lose all concentration on what I’m doing.

The guys protest loudly when I suddenly go quiet, stop playing and flip my cell phone open, but I can’t hear them.

1 new message from Gerard.

I suddenly feel nauseous.

I didn’t think u would tell anyone ;) say hi to your sister from me, shes got a great music taste! /G

I must have made some kind of impression despite my non-speaking behavior, since he trusts me enough not to think I would tell the world what his phone number is. I can hardly contain my smile as I look up at the guys.

“Who was it from?” Noel says, winking at me, causing me to smile even wider.

“No one… just the lead singer of a band I happen to like,” I say, and Karl lets out a low whistle.

“That Way guy?”

“Yeah, Jamie got lost yesterday and he found her, and called me since she had my phone number on her.”

“Cool!” Karl says, and is rewarded with stares from Red and Noel. “Oh come on, I might not like his music that much but he’s hell of a lot more successful than we are, you have to admire that!”

Red groans, and puts his forehead on the drum nearest to him in desperation.

“You gotta be kidding me…!”

Ignoring Red, Karl says:

”But what’s he doing texting you?”

“Uh…” I say, that my face isn't as read as it feels. “I… um, I texted him earlier and said I wouldn’t publish his phone number on the internet.”

Karl smiles, but Noel and Red snicker.

“Aubrey’s got a crush!” they yell in unison.

“Shut up and no I haven’t!”

“Yes you do.”

“No I d…”

“Guys! Could we just drop this and get on with practicing?” Karl says before things get worse. “We have a very important gig in less than a week, remember?”

So after sticking my tongue out to Noel and Red, I get back in front of the microphone. Soon, we’re lunging into Detention again, and this time we nail it.