Running on Adrenaline

I ripped my arm from his hand “Well I would have told you if you didn’t manhandle me” I stated rubbing my arm.

“I just want to know, just tell me. Yes or no?”
“Yeah” I then proceeded to walk away
“And you haven’t tried to get with oli yet?” this boy was really persistent.
“No I haven’t, is that a problem?” I asked confronting him.

“We have a record people” he announced loudly, the people with him cheered and patted me on the back; my forehead crumpled in confusion.

“Anyway, I’m Tom, olis little brother. See you around yeah?” he seemed hopeful so I just nodded and rejoined Hannah and Jeremy again.

That coming afternoon, Hannah told me to meet her in front of her dorm room for practice. We met and she then led me down flights and flight of stairs, we finally arrived at what looked like a basement door. I was guessing this is where they practiced. Hannah pulled some keys out of her pocket and opened the door revealing Jeremy on the guitar. He greeted us with a head nod and quickly went back to whatever he was doing.
They then went through each individual instrument in the song to give me a feel to what the song sounded like. After a while I finally caught on and from then on it was almost easy to sing along with them.

“So you don’t have a bassist?” I asked
“Yeah, we do” they answered while fiddling with the sound dials on the amps
“And where is this bassist?”

“He’s coming, he’s just always late” Hannah explained.
In the next second a boy with dark choppy hair came flying through the door and slammed it shut behind him leaning against it. It gave me such a shook I jumped and Hannah and Jeremy laughed.

“I swear someone was following me” the boy said
“Yeah, yeah Tom” Hannah laughed.
It was the boy who harassed me today at lunch.

“it’s you” he pointed at me “I knew I’d see you around” he smiled and sat next to me.
Hannah came over and handed him a sheet of music for the song, Tom inspected it and wrinkled his nose.

“Why the changes?” he asked
“Lia’s voice doesn’t cater for the stuff we planned” she explained
I looked apologetic, but Tom didn’t mind, he just walked across took his jumper off and picked up his base. I noticed a large blue spot on his arm.
“Ouch” I said as I looked at it

He looked down at it as if it was no big deal “meh older brother’s a bully” he laughed
“Oli did that?” I was shocked

“Yeah, and to make it worse, if he beats us, he won’t let meh forget” Tom dreaded the thought.
“Beats us at what?”
“The band comp” Tom told me “the only reason ‘e gets in half the time, is cause of the people he sleeps with”

“That’s fucked” I said quietly “well, then we have no choice but to beat him” I smiled
Tom looked excited and started strumming away at his bass.
“Oh, by the way, what’s the name of our band?” I remembered not being filled in on this detail.

“We don’t ‘ave one” Jeremy told me, making a face.
I sat and thought for a bit “What about ‘the fuck-offs’ or ‘shitsandwhich’ or ‘fuck ‘ems’” I joked
Hannah laughed loudly “Funny, but we wanna be taken seriously, yeh?” she reminded me.
“‘The fantasy league’ “I proposed, smiling.
She made a face.

“Okay, okay, serious name” I laughed

“What about ‘Gunk’ ?” I said hesitantly.

“H mm, simple, catchy, just like ‘Bush’ or ‘Garbage’ and those are great bands. I think that’s the best we ‘ave” Hannah said looking at Tom and Jeremy, they nodded in agreement.
“ ’Gunk’ it is” I confirmed.
After some more scrambling around Jeremy finally proposed trying to put the whole song together. We all readied ourselves, and Hannah counted us in slowly. Playing with them as a band felt good, we were perfectly timed and we all knew each other’s next move somehow. The music was heavy and dirty, my voice was strong but slightly delicate compared to the music I was provided with.

Once we were done I checked my watch.
“Holy crap, I haven’t been here long but I'm pretty sure we’re supposed to have lights out by now” I told Hannah quietly, as we were walking up the stairs.
“ ‘S alright, we can get away with murder here” she joked.

But I didn't doubt her; it became evident that the students did what they wanted, when they wanted, right under the noses of their authorities.

The rest of the week pretty much consisted of long and tiring band practices. Sometimes we worked so hard we ended up sleeping in the basement surrounded by sheets of music and instruments.

We woke up one morning after an especially long band practice, tonight was the night, the first round of the band competition and I couldn’t be more nervous.
“Wake up fuckers” I spoke loudly while I stretched, they all started to rustle on the floor. Tom hugged his bass tighter. I rolled my eyes and went over to them one by one and kicked them softly.

They all finally started to wake and stretch.
“Nice wake up btich” Hannah retorted, I just smiled and started to get myself dressed.
I tucked my shirt into my skirt and threw on my jumper and blazer. We all left the basement quietly, with wrinkled clothing, messy hair and tired eyes. When I entered my dorm room Heidi and her bunch looked at me and then turned away.

“She looks like she’s been shaggin’” they all laughed.

I hated how they talked about me like I wasn’t there. I just rolled my eyes and grabbed the things I needed for the day.

The day went painfully slowly, and my anxiety grew. It didn’t help that I kept passing oli in the hallways. The first time I ignored him, but the other times, he’d just look at me, and then smile a genuine smile. Something I didn’t think a person like him could have.
When our lessons for the day were finally over, I went straight to Hannah’s room to ask her advice on what to wear.

Hannah was already changed in a pair of black skinnies and a black tank top, with doc martens. I complemented her on her outfit choice.

“What about a pair of ripped up skinnies though?” I suggested as we walked to my room so Hannah could help me. She nodded in agreement.

Once in my room Hannah rummaged through my bags and picked out some clothes I wouldn’t choose to wear onstage. She picked a pink and black slip dress, and told me to put on those same all black cons I wore to the party a few days ago. She took out my hair and messed it up a little; I looked at my reflection with my head cocked to the side. I wasn’t fully comfortable, but I just agreed with Hannah’s choice in clothing.

After a long and uncomfortable drive in Jeremy’s doubtful car we finally arrived at the venue. The air in the place was thick with sexual tension and the people there were of all sorts. The varied hair colors, ripped clothing and band tees made me feel comfortable straight away. I missed going to shows with my friends back home, but I guess that was the least of my worries tonight.