The Long Road

~Leslie's P.O.V~

I ran down the stairs and jumped into the car, my heart beating wildly and my face still flushed. We all waved at Billie and Adrienne as we pulled down the driveway and sped down the road. Adrienne wanted us back before eight thirty, because she wasn't planning on keeping dinner hot for long. After what felt like five seconds, we pulled up outside Gilman Street.

We raced backstage, having been late that afternoon. We could hear somebody slam a keyboard solo from the stage loud and clear. I quickly took a peek from the side of the stage behind the curtain. I tried not to sigh too loudly when I realised that Pete was onstage. The rest of the band looked like clones, with the same ugly hairstyle and even the same shirts, that said Photoshop Dreams. Lame much?

They were playing a horribly over rated cover of Spanish Bombs by the Clash. I raced back to the band and told them who was onstage.

'Ughh, not that loser again!' Katie groaned, slumping against the wall. Justin walked over to her again and patted her on the arm.

'I seriously thought I wouldn't have to deal with him again.' Harry said as he improvised on his bass.

'Well, I think we should get him back and do one of our cover songs!' I said, looking around at everyone.

'Leslie, don't be immature about this.' Harry said again calmly. 'Just because his crappy band is doing a cover, doesn't mean we have to.'

'Harry's right.' Hamish said, backing him up. 'We'll just do a couple of our other songs again.'

I was about to retort when Pete and his band came into the room. Pete smirked at us.

'Hey look guys! It's that Australian band I was telling you about.' Pete said in his greasy voice. The band laughed as soon as he said this, like they were programmed to respond positively to anything that came out of Pete's mouth.

'And oh look guys, it's that band that make The Clash sound like brain damaged sea lions.' Hamish responded, giving them a cheesy grin.

I tried not to laugh as the image of a brain damaged sea lion came to my mind. But Pete threw Hamish's comment aside like trash.

'Oh please, don't be childish. I believe it's your turn up there. What cover are you gonna do? I'd like to see you try out play that song.'

Harry walked up to Pete and glared right at him.

'We could out play you any day of the week. Just you wait and see. Come on.' Harry shrugged past Pete and we followed close behind him.

'Hey, what happened to not having to do a cover just cause they do?' Justin questioned as we positioned ourselves onstage.

'I'm sorry, but that guy pisses me off. Can we do our cover of Smooth Criminal by Alien Ant Farm?'

I was starting to regret what I said backstage. Now because of Pete, I got Harry angry and we were about to perform a song we had not practised as much. I had to do something.

'Look, why don't we do something simpler? What about Rolling Stone's Respectable? We've practised that song to perfection and it's one of our crowd pleasers! Please Harry?'

Harry took and deep breath and nodded at me.

'Alright. Respectable it is. We can do this, alright guys?'

We nodded at each other. We parted and grabbed our instruments. Harry introduced us and the song. I glanced to backstage and I saw Pete glaring at us with his arms crossed. Anger boiled up inside of me. I was going to show this dickhead what we were made of.

We plunged into the song smoothly, getting the crowd singing along and dancing. I felt sweat drip down my back as I changed from chord to chord. We finally finished the song and the crowd cheered. Justin's face was red and I was pretty sure that the drums were soaked in his sweat as well. Everyone else was red as well, but we only felt warmed up. We played three more songs and left the stage with the cheering crowd following us backstage.

We packed up everything and were just about to leave when Pete blocked the door.

'That was nice. Pretty nice for a bunch of unexperienced toddlers.' he whined, grinning again.

'Piss off.' Hamish mumbled as he pushed past Pete and into the alleyway.

As we passed, Pete suddenly lashed out and grabbed Katie's arm. He pulled her forwards and gave her a sloppy kiss. Before any of us could react, Justin roared and his fist went flying. His fist connected with Pete's nose, which knocked him backwards and falling backwards onto the small table in the room. Blood trickled down Pete's face.

Justin pulled Katie away and ran towards the car. Not knowing what else to do, we made a break for it. We jumped in the car and sped all the way back to Billie's house. During the trip, everyone was silent from shock. We all knew right there and then that we were in deep shit.