No Strings Attached, Please?

The pain I held was real; it was not some physical pain, but mental. I was really unprepared when the band decided that I needed to sing two songs. I know that I memorized all the lyrics, but still...

“Don’t cock it up, aite?!” Geoff warned me with his index finger as I felt Nat brushed his hand on my back soothingly while we were still backstage.

“So, give it up for BigBang Aftermath!” I heard the announcer and it started to get me down.

A loud cheer erupted from the crowd as Geoff and Kale ran out to the stage. I was having difficulties breathing, but that was suddenly replaced by another tingling sensation that Nat gave me. He leaned down to my face as he cupped my cheeks, giving my lips a big wet kiss with his amazing lips. Okay, Nat McGregor just passed the kissing lesson. He was just real good in handling it now.

I gasped loudly when Nat pulled back. Nat only smirked and chuckled at me.

“A good luck kiss,” Nat said with an inviting smile, “Go kill the crowd now, you can do this.” He grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the stage. Kale and Geoff were already in their places checking to make sure their stuff sounded right. Carlton walked aimlessly toward his bass and Nat jumped to the back of his drumset. Dante’s guitar sat silently near the microphone. I wasn’t going to play it because I couldn’t play any chords of the first song.

Some cheers, screams, and random voices from the crowd greeted me and I felt a wave of shock was over me. I walked toward the microphone awkwardly and then the music started. My legs became jelly, my hands trembled and when I saw the judges table was set up on the tribune, I lost my ability to speak.

I wasn't used to singing in front of a big crowd but it was even worse with judges sitting there, watching me. The band needed points to win this competition and I needed to get them. I really hoped I wouldn’t mess up.

“Psst, Saves, get on it,” Kale whispered. I nodded silently while nervousness washed over my face. My shaky hands wrapped around the microphone and I cleared my throat. Improvising.

“Hello Cleveland!” I started yelling loudly through the microphone making a few people cheer loudly. “We’re BigBang Aftermath, your only hometown hero, and we’ll play some songs to rock this place!” I said lamely. Well, I was only improvising. I didn’t know what to say, it just came out randomly.

“This is our first song!” I put my hand in the air and Kale started his intro on his synthesizer. My foot tapped to the beat Kale made as Nat hit his cymbals. Gives You Hell by The All-American Rejects intro resonated through the hall.

“I wake up every evening…with a big smile on my face. And it never feels out of place,” I sang smiling widely at the crowd when I got the ‘big smile’ part. “And you're still probably working… at a nine to five pace, I wonder how bad that tastes.”

I paused and let the back singers, who happened to be Geoff and Kale, do their part , “When you see my face, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell. When you walk my way, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell,” it came out sounding good and I realized that I didn’t mess it up in my first attempt.

“Now where's your picket fence love?” I continued while Carlton, Geoff and Nat rhythmically played the harmony. “And where's that shiny car? And did it ever get you far? You never seemed so tense love! I've never seen you fall so hard. Do you know where you are?” I smiled swaying my body from side to side, making up some random dance moves that stuck to the beat.

“And truth be told I miss you…” I sang again, playing with my vibration pipe and high pitch voice. I thought it would come out as an epic failure, but I saw Kevin Lyman smiling at me. Or was it just my mind playing tricks? “And truth be told I'm lying! When you see my face, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell. When you walk my way, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell!”

“If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well, then he's a fool you're just as well. Hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell!” I sang. I tried my hardest to enjoy the performance. They said you would get some outstanding points if you looked like you were enjoying your performance. Geoff’s part came and he played his semi-heavy guitar riff of what Nick Wheeler’s part should be.

I turned my head slightly to Geoff and he did look like he enjoyed his part because he was smiling at the crowd. I crooked a smile to him and continued to sing until I got to the part where I jumped up and asked the crowd to jump and sing with me.

“When you see my face, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell. When you walk my way, hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell,” I was jumping around as the crowd sang when I offered the microphone to them. They were singing really loudly which I found amusing. “When you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well. Then he's a fool you're just as well, hope it gives you hell,” I finally joined them and then did my last chorus after that with a lot of instrumental support from the BigBang Aftermath guys.

As the first song ended, I panted breathlessly but still smiled widely at the cheering crowd. My eyes trailed to each face before they suddenly landed on someone that shouldn’t had been there. Lynn’s arms were crossed over her chest as she sat near the judges table. She looked miffed and NOT amused to find I replaced Dante’s position in the band. She stood up and then walked away from her seat to somewhere I didn’t really care to know.

What the fuck is she doing here? I said in my mind.

Carlton cleared his throat to pull me back to earth. I turned my head to him and he told me to continue. The next song wasn’t easy since I needed to lower my alto voice closer to a male’s voice and also to make it raspier since I was going to sing All I Want by A Day To Remember. It wasn’t my favorite song, but Cleveland kids seemed to get into it.

“The next song!” I raised my hand as Nat hit his drums back there while Geoff and Carlton leveled up with the rhythm. I did some slight headbanging like a boss but I was laughing at myself because wow, this was so embarrassing. I wasn’t a singer kid and I wasn't used to this. My red hair was dancing around as sweat trickled down my forehead. I could feel my tank top was already damp.

Everyone screamed as if it was their national anthem and then I started my first part. I sang and walked to every part of the stage like it was my own show instead of the Battle of the Bands event. I kept singing until I reached the first chorus as all the kids down there started to split up and I was amazed to find a mini circle pit. They were enjoying BigBang Aftermath set, and I really appreciated it though I wasn’t part of the band.

I heard loud bang coming from Nat which reminded me of the chorus.

“All I want is a place to call my own, to mend the hearts of everyone who feels alone, whoa!” I screamed through the microphone with all my strength to level up my alto voice. “You know to keep your hopes up high and your head down low!” I was dancing all over the stage while headbanging again.

The next part became even crazier when I saw Geoff playing his part with spinning guitar. Well, he was quite good in handling his guitar, I suppose. When we performed, I didn’t find any malice on his face, all I saw was passion. He was really passionate about music and it was clearly showing when he sang his part of the song.

“I get what I want, so everyone’s always judging me,” Geoff sang as his lips pressed into the microphone while his crazy fingers ran through chords on his guitar. “I'm not afraid of anything, and I've got the whole world in front of me!” The last part was screamed and he banged his head wildly.

Okay, so when he performed, he was less harmful.

I continued my job as the singer. I wasn’t experienced on how to perform with a band, but I think I was quite good at it. I know maybe the judges found errors in my missed lyrics or failed pitch control with my voice pipe. But I kept going as I danced and jumped around like an ADHD kid. As my last part came, Geoff helped me with singing so it was like we were featuring.

“All I want is a place to call my own, to mend the hearts of everyone who feels alone, whoa!” I screamed with closed eyes as Geoff helped me. “You know to keep your hopes up high, and your head down low.” That was my last part because after that it was Geoff’s part to scream and growl.

“Keep your heads down low! Keep your heads down low! Keep your hopes up high and your head down low!!!” He finished his part as Nat ended his beats.

I coughed when I felt my throat starting to ache because I wasn’t used to sing a lot like this. Everyone was cheering, screaming, and gave us loud ‘fuck yeah!’s that made me grin from ear to ear. I even heard some of the guys yell, “YOU’RE SO HOT, BABY!” that made me laugh my head off.

I turned my head to Kale when I was ready to play the last song, but I found Kale was talking with someone backstage. Oh God, this isn’t good, I said to myself. Kale was arguing with Dante and I’d come to stop the show that time. But it wasn’t long until I saw Dante raise his hand and motion for me to come backstage for a moment.

A hard lump was too hard to swallow in my throat. But I tried my hardest to be tough. Dante was probably really mad because I rudely stole his place as singer. I jogged up to him to find this weird look on his face.

“Well, you’re good up there,” he commented.

“Thanks. Uhh.. I’m sorry. The boys were out of ideas when you didn’t show up, so…” I apologized and didn’t dare bring up his departure last night because I was dying to know about how Corey and he got along.

“You did a great job, really” Dante told me with a slight smile. “Better than me,” he added. It seriously just made me blush.

I nodded and handed him the microphone I was holding. He looked me oddly and arched his eyebrows with hidden confusion.

“Come on, hold this. You can’t make them wait,” I told him with heartbreaking smile. He sighed and took the microphone from my hand. He was walking up to the stage but then I was startled when he grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him.

I swore I was going to faint every time we touched. There was a megawatt jolt through my blood while my heartbeat accelerated really really fast. My stomach churned and I was stunned.

“Dan! What are you doing?” I whispered. But Dante ignored me, going over to Geoff.Geoff greeted him with brotherly hugs. He grabbed Geoff’s microphone and passed it to me. Geoff knitted his eyebrows in confusion and I only shrugged. Carlton and Nat watched me with puzzled and curious looks.

Dante pulled me to the front of the stage and took his ignored guitar, slung it on his shoulder and checked it for a moment. I, on the other hand, was having stage fright all of a sudden because I didn’t know what to do since the real lead singer was already there and then what the fuck I was doing with a microphone on my hand?

Dante turned to me, “You know we’re playing Start With Today by Before Their Eyes. You can sing the girl’s part in the song,” he said.

I gasped and muttered, “Uh-oh, not good.” This song was originally sang by two people, but the boys had rehearsed it to be a solo. That was not just it, I also didn’t know how to do duet, I was afraid that I would screw up.

“You can do it, Savannah. You’re good,” he said with simple nod and then motioned his band mates to start. I was screaming loudly inside my head, I was really scared about this. Geoff, Nat and Carlton began their first part on intro while Dante played his guitar part really well.

“I was blind, didn't know you hurt so bad…” Dante started with his angelic voice while he observed the crowd with his eagle eyes. “I saw inside, when everybody said I'm mad and… ran away, never to be seen again… I found a friend, when all you need is just a friend and all you need is a friend….” Nat, Geoff, and Kale came into a harmony as Dante began to sing the first chorus.

“I don't want you to go! One million miles away” Dante leveled up in high pitch of his Baritone type of voice. I was amazed to find he was a really good singer even though his type of voice was so common. He knew how to play with the pitch control. “Let you know that it's okay… I will bring you back home, shelter you from the wind, light a path with a burning flame….We can start with today.” He played his guitar while he sang, without ever glancing at the chords he was playing. He gave me a look when my part began and I started hesitantly.

“I was lost, time was moving by so fast…. Felt alone cause’ I was living in the past and, I ran to you, hoping we could make amends… Cast away, when all I needed was a friend,” I knew that this part should had been sung by Dante himself or originally was sung by a girl with soprano voice. I hoped no one found it wreck. I saw some of the people in the crowd singing because they knew the band and the song, but mostly people simply swayed their hands in the air as we sang.

As my part ended, Dante quickly replaced it with the second chorus with the same hopeful voice while Nat backed him up with a constant beat. I turned around to find Nat hitting his drums seriously, too wrapped up by his babies—like he mentioned yesterday.

When I heard the song some to the part that Dante and I were supposed to sing together, I turned back to Dante who was smiling to me. Did he just smile at me? Okay, I could feel everything was turning out smoothly. He might not want to bring up the incident last night again.

“Would you take me by the hand?” I sang with eyes locked to Dante as my body swayed to the beat.

“I'm gonna take you by the hand…. hand” he let out his, grinning at me like a kid that could make my heart burst. And then he surprised me by taking my hand just like the song said. This was so corny, I could just die.

“Would you take me by the hand?… Yeah” I sang my last part, hearing Kale starting his keyboard part smoothly while Nat, Carlton and Geoff stopped playing, letting Kale play alone.

It was Dante’s time to sing and he did so softly and smoothly with Kale’s keyboard in the background. “I don't want you to go..one million miles away…let you know that it's okay” He was squeezing my hand delicately while he looked me meaningfully. I melted. Seriously melted because of his soft hands. I just wanted to kiss him right then and there. But my mind stopped me because I was determined not to let myself fall in love again.

Dante let go my hand and played his last part with so much passion in his eyes. I decided to stop looking at him because I was scared that if I stared at him too long, I could fall into some useless crush again. He didn’t see us as ‘something’ anymore, I should keep that in my mind.

He ended the song really nicely as all the boys behind finished their parts. Everyone was screaming and clapping their hands. Dante took my hand and motioned me to bow to everyone there.

“We’re BigBang Aftermath and we rock!” Kale said into the microphone cheerfully making the crowd go crazy. I chuckled at this, because it was so unexpected that they all loved the band.

“Thank you! See you soon!” Dante spoke. The six of us walked out from the stage and went backstage where Bridget and Kat were squealing at how amazing we were. Bridget hugged the sweaty Kale and gave him a passionate kiss, while Kat clapped her hands at Geoff and gave him a bottle of mineral water. Geoff only smiled to the 15-year-old and pecked her cheek and I spotted Kat’s cheeks redden. So, she had a crush on Geoff?

A hand was ruffling my hair and hugging me from the side. It was Nat who was being all goofy and cheerful at how we performed.

“I told you, you killed it, Sav!” Nat said hugging me tightly while I only blushed at him. He was telling me, complimenting me all the way down to the band’s dressing room but he stopped when he saw Lynn was leaning on the wall next to the door.

“LYNN! You’re here!!” Nat grinned widely and ran to Lynn eagerly, leaving me behind. He looked so fantastically happy when he met Lynn. Lynn smiled and laughed at him, even enveloping him into an intimate hug. Something weird suddenly happened inside my stomach, something really weird that wasn’t related to some illness but something that I couldn’t put my finger on.



The six of us were now standing on the stage with every band that competed today; the announcer was reading the points for each band that the judges had given. I looked at the boys and told them that I wasn’t the part of the band but why did they drag me with them on the stage?

“The judges have decided the winners for The Battle of The Bands this year. The points are as follows: First, scoring is based on 50 points from the audience voting and 50 points from judges', making it 100 point total. Second, each of the four judges awards points to each band for each of five criteria: Technical Skills, Song Quality, Stage Presence, and Crowd Response,” the announcer explained. Nat grabbed my hand and crushed it with his when the announcer began to inform the prize and the winners.

“Four bands will be chosen to perform live on the Ernie Ball Stage for each date of the Vans Warped Tour. They will play live in their hometown venue in front of thousands of fans alongside main stage headliners. And two bands will be eligible to win the grand prize! You wanna know the grand prize, guys?” The announcer winked our way.

“$15,000 Guitar Center Shopping Spree, All Expenses Paid Trip to Hollywood to play live at the Vans Warped Tour After-Party, Record a 3 song EP with Multi-Platinum Producer Matt Squire, and Custom Atticus Apparel Package!!!! BOOOYAH!” he cheered as the crowd joined, screaming in excitement.

“Oh God, kill me now. I really hope we win this!” Carlton whispered behind my back.

“Shit man, if we win, Matt Squire will be the producer for our original EP! Maybe I will pass out if we win,” Kale joined, laughing nervously. I turned to him and found how pale he looked. Looks like they boys were all passionate about their music future. And I just hoped they would win this shit.

“The first winner of Battle of Bands 2011 in Cleveland is….” Nat squeezed my hand really tightly now, and when I lifted up my head I found him facing down with closed eyes like he was sending a silent prayer. I heard annoying drumrolls in the back that just made us all worried and nervous.

BigBang Aftermath. BigBang Aftermath. BigBang Aftermath. I said in my mind.

“THE CLEVELAND LIGHTS!” the announcer screamed making the band on the very side of stage suddenly go all crazy. They all were boys in their early twenties. They performed just before us, and they sounded like Blink-182 made love with New Found Glory. I wouldn’t lie if I said they were technically good, but I saw they’re pretty boring and annoying for a band. “With 543 points!” the guys in The Cleveland Lights cheered and danced around, then ran to announcer and gave him a kiss.

“Alright, alright, enough boys. You will get the grand prize later,” the announcer shooed them back to their place as he chuckled. He turned his card again to read the second winner. Kale was leaning into my side and he whispered something about being hopeless for it. Kale and Nat were unsure about being a winner; they were far from good as compared to those bands.

“The second winner who will take the grand prize is…” Another annoying drumroll played. “THE HEFTY SOUND! Give it up for them!” As the band name was announced, I saw so much disappointment in each face of BigBang Aftermath boys. They sighed longingly and they lost their spirit. I tried to comfort them all (excluding Geoff) but I failed because they were really down about it. “With 502 points!” the announced added while the audience applauded.

“I’m out of from here,” Kale said unhappily, and walked staggeringly towards backstage with big pout on his face. I felt sorry for him. He was really hoping that he could win the grand prize.

“And two remained bands that will fill up the spot at Ernie Ball stage are…” All the bands around me were sending their prayers that at least they would win the lineup.

“Give it up for Chief In Menace and BigBang Aftermath!” he said at last. What I realized it was us a couple of second later, my body was already being crushed by the huddling boys near me. They all hugged me except Geoff and squeezed me like I was a jelly. I squealed with them and soon Kale joined the group again, cheering and all crazy. They all lifted up me to the air when they were officially announced as the third winner. “Chief In Menace with 498 points and BigBang Aftermath with 502 points!” the announcer said.



Geoff was mad, he was really mad because we were not chosen as the second winner since we were tied with The Hefty Sound. We got the same 502 points so why the hell did BigBang Aftermath not get the chance to take the grand prize?

The band, me and the girls were in the same room where one of the judges, who happened to be the Vice President in Interscope Records, told us what really happened..

“There’s one rule you broke, ‘Only the members of the band listed on the registration may perform’ and technically you lost some points, but in the end you have the same points with The Hefty Sound. And then another rule you broke about ‘Each band will be allotted a 45 minute set’ in fact you went over your time limit to 50 minutes. But you won the audience’s vote, so it still helped you. Although you’re tied, there’s a priority that makes the other band win over you,” he explained.

“But that’s unfair!” Geoff roared with rage. “You could just pass us over that shitty band. They were making some waves with other band personals! Ain’t there a rule about being disqualified from the competition once the band fights with other band?!” He glared at the juge.

The announcer who happened to join us suddenly cleared his throat, “I’m really sorry kid, but the Judges’ decision is final.”

“What the sod! You bollocks are unbelievable. They’re cheating, huh! I know they paid you for this!” Geoff pointed out to the Judge as the Judge only shook his head, sighing.

“Gee.. it’s okay,” Dante came to Geoff’s side and held his hand.

“This is unfair, mate. Really unfair,” he barked.

“It’s okay, mate. We can try next year. Besides, we got a spot on Warped. It’s already enough,” Dante comforted his best friend and suddenly Geoff melted. Dante knew the right way to take down Geoff’s anger and it amazed me. Dante was Geoff’s tamer, I believed.

I know it was my fault that the band didn’t get the chance to take the grand final prizes. The prizes were so cool and too awesome. I made all the boys disappointed. First, I wasn’t listed on the registration because I literally wasn’t the part of band itself. Second, I knew why it took us too long to perform, because there was a part I was arguing with Dante to take over the stage. So technically, it was entirely my entire fault.

Moments later, the announcer and the Judge walked out from our room and left us alone. Though Kale really wanted the prizes, he still looked happy because it was his dream to be in the lineup for Warped Tour. Carlton and Dante thought so too; they said if they got the chance on Warped, they were sure that there was another bigger fish to catch in the future.

Nat looked flushed when he heard the Judge, he himself agreed with Geoff. The Hefty Sound band had some problems with the other bands inside the venue, they were all annoying and rude to other people. The lead singer even punched someone’s face today, and what made us confused was that they still weren’t disqualified. We felt cheated.

My eyes drifted to Nat still, he was sitting with Lynn next to him. I didn’t believe at first that Lynn would come, because this wasn’t really her scene. Nevertheless, it seemed Nat invited her along. Lynn played with Nat’s hair and rubbed his back to comfort him. She even rubbed his cheek intimately and whispered something that made Nat turn his head towards her with shocked look, but then it was replaced by wide grin on his face.

I decided to look away. It was really disturbing to see Lynn’s shameless attraction to Nat. But Nat took the bait innocently and I was already too tired to remind Nat not to be too easy for her. He never listened, anyways.

In the afternoon, Lynn left first, leaving the band with slight goodbye. I was helping Bridget and Kat with the boys’ dirty clothes when I heard Nat cheer.

“What’s with the entire goofy manner, dude?” Kale chuckled at Nat.

“This is great! Lynn was sorry about our loss on this. AND! She invited us to her badass party tonight! We’re all invited! So who’s with me!?” Nat woohoo-ed making Kale and Carlton cheer.

“Well, at least there’s free booze and free girls to shag!” Geoff smirked as if his mood had just boosted up. Geoff cheered and gave Kale a high-five, joining Nat who was dancing. Nat looked really happy that he got the chance with Lynn. I saw Kat was looking down when she heard Geoff mention the girls. I was sure that Kat had a really big crush on Geoff.

But later I realized that it wasn’t my duty anymore to help Nat get Lynn. He was already succeeding and I wasn’t needed anymore. Anyway she invited all the boys, probably Bridget too and not Kat—since she was still a freshman and no freshmen were allowed at Lynn’s party. And of course, she didn’t invite me along because I was her biggest enemy.

So, I wasn’t going with Nat and the others. But why did it feel so wrong and I was almost sad about it? Because Nat was going to be there? Without me? And he probably would give his virginity to Lynn? Okay, I was over-thinking it. I should just forget it because well, Nat didn’t need my help anymore, he got his girl, and we would stay friends again.

In the back of my mind, I didn’t really know why I did still want to have fake relationship with Nat. Slim chance, Savannah, slim chance.