The Long Road

At one o'clock, we all piled into our cars and drove over to Emeryville, chatting and laughing the whole way. Jakob had to go over to a friends place to do a holiday assignment, so he couldn't come. After half an hour we parked outside the cafe across from Hollis Street. The cafe was a plain little building with chairs stacked along the outside and a huge fluoro lighting sign over the entrance.

As soon as we stepped inside, Mike calmly started talking to the guy at the counter, asking how the cafe was going and if there were any problems. We all sat down and started chatting about nothing in particular, and making crap jokes amongst each other. I noticed while everyone was talking that there was a guy at a table, watching us. He was skinny and tall looking, and to be honest, looked as though he had used way too much hair gel that morning. He suddenly caught my eye and got up. He walked over to us and gave us a smile.

'Hey, you're that band that performed at Gilman Street yesterday, Black Beauty Boulevard wasn't it?' he asked in a strangely calm voice.

'Yep, that's us.' Harry said looking up at the stranger.

'You guys seemed to be popular yesterday, not sure why.' the guy suddenly said coldly. 'You could have done way better, but I doubt it.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Katie said, sitting up and giving the stranger an angry look. Billie, Mike, Tre, Joey, Adrienne, Hamish and Justin started listening to the conversation, giving the stranger a cold look back.

'Well isn't it obvious? You guys are nowhere near the status that my band are at.' the guy responded, a hint of pride in his voice. But as he said this, he looked Katie up and down and gave her a greasy smile. Katie sunk back into the seat, looking nervous.

'Hey, just leave her alone okay?' Justin said, putting an arm around Katie's shoulders.

'What's your problem anyway?' Adrienne suddenly said, leaning her arms against the table.

'My problem is that my band has been shrugged out of the light, while this pathetic Australian band wow the crowd. Sure your music is unique, but that doesn't mean it's not shit.' the guy growled. 'I mean, you're not even punk.'

'Well, what is punk?' Billie said, looking at the guy with a raised eyebrow. 'Is it the way you play a guitar or sing a song, or is standing against something that you know isn't right, and doing something about it musically? The last one is what real punk is.'

I looked over a Billie and smiled at him. What he said was pretty wise, and in a way true.

'Whatever.' the guy said, brushing aside his comment. I suddenly felt a wave of pure anger flow over me. I stood up and poked the loser in the chest.

'Look, just leave us alone. Maybe the reason we have the spotlight is that our fucking brains aren't drowning in hair gel like your one is. So why don't you fuck off, before I make you.'

The guy's face flushed a deep red, his fists bunching up. Mike tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

'Hey, Spazzy MeGee, you can leave now.' he said.

The guy shrugged away, giving me an evil look. 'It's Pete to you.' he muttered. And with a final glare, he spun around and stormed out of the cafe.

'Ohhh, watch out for Pete, he's scary.' Joey said in a sarcastic voice. I giggled as I sat back down, my anger dying down.

'Hey, I'm proud of you! You totally burned that dickhead.' Tre said, giving me an impressed look.

'Thanks, and besides, I couldn't just sit there and let him say our music is shit.' I said calmly.

'He's probably gonna try and out play you at Gilman Street.' Mike said as he also sat back down.

'Well, I'd like to see him try.' Katie said, still looking slightly nervous.

'Hey, are you okay?' Justin asked Katie in voice that seemed way too gentle for his explosive personality. Katie looked up at him and blushed a deep red.

'I'm fine really.' she muttered, not looking at anyone.

'I swear, if that dickhead comes near you again-' Justin started, clenching his fist.

'Justin, really it's fine. Just forget it.' Katie said. 'Thanks anyway. Y'know, for telling him - yeah.'

The conversation stopped to an awkward silence, while the rest of us glanced around at each other, trying not to laugh out loud at Justin and Katie's behaviour. But at that moment, I knew that Pete would try to get back, and get back hard. I realised that the band have to step up a notch if wwe didn't want to spotlight to be stoeln away from us again.