I'm Amazed That I Got This Far

Once the talent show was over, the announcements for the end of the day came on, and then the bell rang. All of the kids left the PAC and rushed out the doors, so they could head home. I waited for it to clear out a little bit, because I had to wait for John, and I walked to the doors that led backstage. The door opened a few minutes later, and some students that were in the talent show were filing out. The door shut again and I leaned against the wall, waiting for John to come out.

"Hey!" John said as he came out the door and looked at me.

"Hi! You did amazing." I smiled as I gave him a hug.

"Thanks, Kay." He said happily as he hugged me back. "I was so nervous."

"Why? Did you fine!" I said.

"Because it was in front of the whole school, and there was that camera and ah!" He smiled as we pulled away from each other.

"Well, you did great!" I grinned.

"Thanks." He sighed. "Ready to go to the park?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Can we run to my house first, so I can put my keyboard away and grab my acoustic?" He asked.

"Sure. Why are you getting your acoustic?" I replied.

"You don't think I'm doing homework at the park, do you?" He smirked, as he opened the door to the PAC, and let me out before him.

"Thanks and no." I smiled.

"Welcome and exactly." He chuckled. "And I want to show you some stuff I made up the other day."

"Oh, I'm excited." I said happily.

"You always say that." He said.

"Because I am!" I stated. "If I wasn't excited to hear what you had to play, I'd tell you."

"I know." He smiled. "But still!"

"But still what?" I chuckled.

"I don't know." He sighed with a small smile.

We stopped off at my locker, and I put my combination in, before opening the door. I grabbed my books that I needed for homework and shut it, once I made sure I had everything. John and I walked down the hallway towards his locker, and once we got there, he leaned his keyboard against the lockers, and I put my hand on it to make sure it didn't fall. He put in his combination and opened his locker, before tossing everything he took down to the talent show into it. He shut the door and spun his lock, a habit he's had since freshman year, and we walked towards the doors of the school.

"Hey, John!" Someone called from across the parking lot.

John looked over at them and it was a guy that barely ever talked to John. John didn't talk to a lot of people at this school, considering he was kind of shy. The only reason he went into the talent show was to show everyone his music, and he was definitely nervous. If he didn't care if people heard it or not, he would've let his shyness get the best of him, and he would've backed out. I knew the talent show was something he really wanted to do, and he did it, and he was proud of himself.

"Yeah?" John said.

"Great job. That was sick!" He said.

"Thanks, man." He replied with a smile.

"Anytime!" He said, before getting in his car, and shutting the door.

John looked at me and grinned and I smiled at how happy he was. He obviously didn't think he was going to get the response he did from his song, and that excited him. He wanted people to like his music, and he wanted people to think he did a good job. Music was all he wanted in life, and everyone knew that, since he pushed his shyness aside and sang in front of everyone.

John and I got into his car, once he put his keyboard in the backseat. He started up the car and pulled out of his space, once the isle was clear. He put his car in drive, and took off out of our isle, to go onto the main road.

Once we arrived at John's house, he unlocked the car doors and got out. He opened one of the back doors and took out his keyboard, and he rushed inside. He came out seconds later with his acoustic, and stuck it in the backseat. He shut the door, before sliding back behind the wheel, and taking off towards the park, so I could do homework and so he could fool around with his guitar.

"Can you play Into Your Arms on your acoustic?" I asked John, as we sat down at one of the picnic tables.

"Yeah." John smiled. "But I just wanted to do it on the keyboard for some reason."

"Play it." I said.

"Okay." He said happily. "I'd love to."

I smiled as I opened my notebook, and John started to play some guitar chords. I looked up at him and he smiled.

"You're making me nervous!"

"How?!" I laughed.

"Just don't look at me!" He chuckled.

"Okay." I sighed, before looking back down at my notebook.

John sang Into Your Arms, and it sounded great on the acoustic. Once he was finished, he stopped playing and looked at me.

"That was great!" I smiled. "What else are you going to play?"

"Anything." He said with a shrug. "What do you want me to play?"

"Well, what did you come up with the other day?" I asked.

"Just a few guitar things, no song lyrics." He replied.

"Play them?" I smiled.

He nodded and smiled, before he started to show me what he came up with. He looked so happy and comfortable playing the guitar, except when he got nervous. I don't know why he got nervous when I was watching him play. I was his best friend, and he knew I wasn't going to laugh at him, but I found it kind of cute that he was shy about it. I knew if he got into a band and played shows, that he'd eventually get over his slight case of stage fright. He looked in his element when he would play, and he acted like he was by himself, and just sang and played his heart out.

"Hey!" Some kids on skateboard shouted, as they came over to our picnic table.

John stopped playing his guitar, and laid it across his lap. I looked over at the three guys and they were looking at me and John. They looked stupid, gross, and like they could use a bath or two. Their pants were ripped, probably from skateboard accidents, and they all needed a hair cut.

"Hi." John said.

"Sup, brah and...girl?" One of them asked.

I rolled my eyes and John smiled. "Nothing much?"

"You play guitar?" He questioned.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"You sing?" Another one wondered.

"Yeah." John nodded again.

"You in a band?" The third one asked.

"No." He said with a small smile, liking where this conversation was going.

"We need a singer in our band. You should show us what you got and maybe you can join." One of them said as he sat down next to me.

I looked over at him with a disgusted look on my face and he smiled. I scooted over as another one sat down next to me, and the other one sat next to John.

"Really?" John asked.

"Fer sure, bro." The one next to him nodded. "Show us what you got."

"Uhm, alright." He said, getting slightly nervous.

He looked at me and I smiled. "Confidence."

He nodded and smiled, before he started to play Into Your Arms, for the third time today, on his acoustic. The guys all listened to him and exchanged looks of approval. The guy to my right started to pat the picnic table and he smiled as he looked at his friends. Once John was finished with the song, he stopped playing his acoustic and looked at the guys.

"That was sweet!" The one next to him said.

"You want to be in our band?" Another one asked John.

"That'd be awesome." John said with a smile.

"Then welcome to our band!" He grinned. "We call ourselves The Rolling Pebbles."

What are you getting yourself into, John?

John looked at them with a confused look and I laughed. "Like The Rolling Stones?"

"No..." One of them trailed off.

"Okay, then." I said sarcastically.

"Well, I'm Jake. I play guitar." The one that was next to me said. "That's Brian; he plays the drums, and that's Kevin, our bass player."

"I'm John." John said with a smile. "And this is Kalen."

"Is she your girlfriend?" Brian asked.

"Best friend." He corrected him. "Where do you guys go to school?"

"Hickory Lake." Jake replied.

"Our first practice will be on Wednesday." Kevin said as he took my notebook and tore out a piece of paper. "I'll write my address on it."

"Excuse you." I said as I took my notebook back.

"I can give you my address, too, if you want." He smirked.

"I think I'm good." I replied.

"Here, John." Kevin said as he handed John the piece of paper with his address and phone number on it. "That's where we'll be having practice. Bring your acoustic just in case, and some of your lyrics."

"Okay, thanks." John said with a smile. "I'll be there. What time?"

"Is six alright?" He shrugged.

"That sounds fine." He nodded.

"Is she coming?" Brian asked with a smirk as he looked at me.

"Maybe." John said. "She comes pretty much everywhere with me."

"Is she like, your bitch?" Kevin chuckled.

"Don't call her that." He said rudely, sounding offended. "She's my best friend."

"Sorry, bro. Just askin'." He said as he held his hands up.

"Let's go. We need to go to the gas station for some Icees!" Jake said.

"You two want to come?" Kevin asked, as he stood up.

"I'm here with Kalen doing homework, but thanks, though." John said with a smile.

"Alright. Later." He waved, before the three boys left on their skateboards.

Honestly, I didn't approve of these skate rats. They were rude, gross, and just plain ew. I didn't approve of John being in a band with them, but I couldn't just tell him that. He was so happy to have a band finally, and I knew he really wanted it. And if this band wasn't working for him, I know he'd do something about it. I wasn't going to tell John that this band was going to go to shit, because how did I know for sure? And I honestly didn't want to hurt John's feelings when he finally found some guys to have a band with. John turned to look at me and smiled wide.

"Kalen, guess what."

"What?" I asked.

"I'm in a band!" He said happily. "They just--I'm in their band!"

"I know, I heard." I laughed. "I'm happy for you, John!"

"Thanks!" He said with a dreamy sigh.

"Welcome." I smiled.

"You know what this calls for?" He asked, before he started digging in his pocket.

"What?" I sighed.

"Free ice cream at Andee's!" He yelled with a grin, as he pulled out coupons for free ice cream.

"Where did you get those?!" I laughed.

"That coupon book thing. My mom had one." He shrugged. "So I took them and was going to see if you wanted ice cream, and this seems like the right occasion."

"Okay, John." I giggled.

"Let's go! Free ice cream on me!" He said as he hopped up from the picnic table.

I smiled and stood up, before collecting my books. John grabbed his guitar and the two of us walked to his car. He set his acoustic in the back, and the two of us got in, before he started it. He pulled out of his spot, before taking off towards Andee's.

"Thank you, John." I smiled, as we sat down at a table that was inside Andee's Ice Cream Shop.

"You're welcome, Kalen." John mocked with a grin. "Today's a great day!"

"I bet! I'm so happy for you." I said.

"Thanks. I couldn't have done it without you!"

"What do you mean?"

"You were the one that's been supporting me all these years." He shrugged. "And I mean, if you weren't there to help keep my confidence up, I probably would've stopped."

"No, you wouldn't have. You love singing and writing and playing." I said. "You wouldn't have stopped."

"I think I would've." He sighed. "Everyone just kinda puts me down about it, ya know? And now they can't. You know why?"

"Why?" I smiled, already knowing what his answer was going to be.

"Because I'm in a band!" He shrieked.

I started laughing as the workers by the ice cream looked over at us. John's face went red from embarrassment and he started laughing.

"Oops." He smiled. "I didn't mean to do that."

"Oh, bullshit." I chuckled.

"Okay, maybe I did! But it's still embarrassing." He mumbled.

"Whatever, John." I sighed.

"Will you go to band practice with me on Wednesday?" He asked. "Please?"

Even though those stupid guys creeped me out, I didn't want John to go alone if he didn't want to. I wanted to be there for him as much as possible, and I wasn't going to let some freak, gross skate rats change that. If it all got too bad, I'd just have to tell John that I couldn't go because of his stupid bandmates, but I wasn't even sure if that was just how they acted, or they thought it'd be a funny first impression to act like assholes.

"Sure, John." I nodded with a smile.

"Really?" He said.

"Why not?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. But thanks, bestie." He said, before giving me a hug.

"You're welcome." I replied, as I hugged him back.

After John and I pulled away, we continued to eat our ice cream, before throwing our trash away. We walked out the doors of the ice cream shop and over to John's car. We got in, John started it up, and he took off towards my house.