Catastrophic Happenings

As instructed, the band went to the house last night to set up, so they only had to complete a sound check when they arrived at the party, which was already in full swing.

The band had set up their equipment in the corner of Melanie’s family room. But even though the band’s makeshift stage took up a large amount of space, its area looked like a mere pixel in comparison to the size of the room. The furniture had been moved to allow more room for dancing, making it appear to be the size of a small hotel ballroom.

Before the band would be premiered the party would be contained in the basement where a DJ would be controlling the floor. About an hour before Melanie’s cake would be brought out, the guests would then have the option to go to the first level where Catastrophic Happenings would be playing. After Melanie was serenaded to blow out her sixteen candles the band was free to stay and enjoy the party.

Azalea peeped through the kitchen doors to see the family room fill up with rowdy teenagers.

“Hm,” she mused, “Allison Lieberman isn’t drunk yet. Who would’ve thought?” She turned back to her fellow band members and Rick, who were leaning against the kitchen countertops.

“So, do you guys have any pre-show rituals or anything of that sort?” she asked.

Rick shrugged, “Not really. I just hope for the best and pray that you guys don’t get booed.”

He received glares from everyone in the room, even a small one from Sammy.

“Just joking,” he said quickly, though they all knew that his statement had an underlying line of truth.

“Azalea,” addressed Cade. “You nervous to perform in front of all your little friends out there?”

“A little, but not much. And could you please stop talking to me like I’m in the first grade?”

“Guys, please,” Sammy pleaded. “Not right now. We go on in like, ten minutes.”

Cade and Azalea held each other’s gazes for a few moments, as if daring the other to continue their little spat.

Cade broke the silence first. “You’re right, Sammy.”

Azalea’s eyebrows rose in shock. Cade normally didn’t accept fault, the least of all thinking that insulting Azalea was a wrong thing to do.

“No more fighting until after we perform.”

“How about no more fighting ever?” Austin suggested bluntly. The other three men were surprised that he even talked, but Azalea was glad that he had calmed down enough to be himself again.

Melanie then burst into the kitchen. Azalea had decided a while ago that Melanie Huntington wasn’t anything special. She was plain in looks and bland in personality. Though she could be adorably shy, her constant need for the approval of others completely outweighed that factor. And this need was especially apparent tonight, as Melanie was doing all she could to ensure that her party was perfect and that all of her guests were having a good time.

“Hey Azalea” she said as she constantly shifted her weight back and forth between her new, shiny silver heels.

“Hey Melanie,” Azalea said with a smile. “Happy Birthday!”

“Thanks,” she blushed.

“Are you alright? You seem a bit frazzled.”

Melanie was grateful for the concern but was tiring of the small talk. She had other things to worry about. “Oh, I’m alright,” she gave a nervous laugh as she saw the other guys in the kitchen. “Are you ready to perform?”

“We’re ready when you are,” Rick spoke up on behalf of the band.

“Great!” Melanie exclaimed and practically bolted from the kitchen into the family room. Azalea peeped out the door again, but this time to make sure the band didn’t miss their cue to go to their stage.

Melanie went behind Azalea’s microphone. “Hey everyone!” Her greeting was met by loud cheers and screams of “Happy Birthday Melanie!”

“I hope everyone is having a good time. As many of you probably already know, Azalea Henderson has recently joined a band. And here for you tonight I have hired her band Catastrophic Happenings to play!”

It definitely was not the best introduction, though Azalea did not expect much better from Melanie. She gave a deep sigh before she burst through the doors into the crowded living room. She knew that she would be getting an earful from Cade about Melanie claiming the band was Azalea’s in ownership.

The family room erupted into cheers and applauds as the band stepped out to take the stage. The energy in the room was high with enthusiasm and laughter. As Rick took an empty spot on the wall to watch he thought that it would be impossible for this gig to go wrong.

As soon as everyone was situated with their respective instrument Azalea grabbed the microphone stand and screamed, “How is everyone doing tonight?!”

The three boys behind her all exchanged looks as her response was much louder than Melanie’s had been. People in the crowd continued to yell Azalea’s name and that they loved her.

“As our lovely birthday girl said earlier, we are Catastrophic Happenings. We’ve been working really hard the past couple weeks to be ready to perform for you guys. So I hope we don’t disappoint.”

Though Rick always knew that Azalea would be good front and center, it was so much more evident now that he could see how she worked with a crowd. She was flawless.

Sammy waited until Azalea repositioned the microphone in front of her keyboard before throwing his drumsticks in the air and hitting them evenly three times.


The crowd cheered as they heard the first song and immediately started to dance. They didn’t seem to mind too much that the song had a rock sound—the beat was kept fast so the girls would have something so swing their hips to.

Rick breathed a sigh of relief as the room continued to eat up their song selections. Rihanna was followed by Katy Perry, Flo Rida, and Danity Kane. Though Cade and Austin had their inhibitions about playing these songs for a sweet sixteen, he could tell that they were relishing in the love that the room was giving them. When it all boiled down, they had the chance to perform, and appreciation for their music, no matter what the course, would be accepted gratefully.

An hour in Melanie found Rick and told him that the cake would be brought out shortly. As soon as Azalea’s eyes found Rick’s he held his index finger in the air and made a circular motion, signaling to her to wrap it up with the closing song.

“So, we’re gonna sing one more song and then it’s a wrap for us tonight.” Azalea smiled as she heard the signs and groans of disappointment from the crowd. “But if you like what you heard and saw tonight you can keep up with us on Facebook and Myspace. I know Myspace is lame and everything but I promise our page looks cool.” The crowd laughed in response. “We are Catastrophic Happenings,” she said with emphasis. “Have a good night and I some of you are sober enough to remember us tomorrow. This is ‘Shake it’ by Metro Station.”

They finished strong. Out of the entire set list this was the one song that all four members were excited about playing. Following that they sung Melanie the Birthday Song, which had more electric guitar chords than was probably expected.

Once Melanie blew out her candles and her massive cake was being sliced and passed out, the band jumped off the stage to convene with Rick in the kitchen as they did just an hour ago.

Every person was so excited about their performance that they all spoke their enthusiasm at once. They praised one another on how good they sounded and how the crowd loved them.

Cade spoke up to get his words heard, “I will admit that this whole sweet sixteen gig was a good idea.”

“Told ya,” said Azalea.

“And as we get working on it, we could work a couple of our songs into the set list at future parties,” said Austin.

The group nodded happily in agreement.

“Alright guys,” Rick said as he put his arms around Sammy and Austin. “You guys have worked hard and you deserve a little fun tonight. So I’m cancelling practice tomorrow.”

“Woohoo!” Sammy exclaimed. “Let’s get drunk!”


As soon as the band packed up their equipment Sammy, Austin, and Cade immediately took over the keg in the basement. With the beer they chugged, along with a couple of cups of an attempt at Jungle Juice, the three got drunk pretty fast.

As usual, Cade got to work and quickly found a girl to hook up with. Austin wanted to dance with a girl too, but he didn’t want to leave Sammy standing by himself.

“Come on,” Austin said to Sammy as he put his hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go find some girls to dance with.”

“Nah man,” Sammy shrugged him his hand off. “You know that isn’t my scene.”

“You sure?”

“Go,” he yelled as he pushed him towards the center of the room. Austin quickly found a girl and started to dance with her, but unlike Cade, he didn’t quickly lead her to the wall to get his tongue on hers.

“Oh my God! Aren’t you the drummer?”

Sammy turned to his right to see two girls with excited smiles on their faces.

“Yes I am,” he said with a goofy smile.

For the next hour or so Cade and Austin roamed the dance floor while Sammy welcomed praises from random girls and a few drunk guys.

At around two-thirty, Rick found Sammy in the crowded basement.

“Hey! I’ve been looking for you guys. We have to get going. I told Azalea’s mom that we’d be home around three.”

Sammy nodded before bidding farewell to the three ladies he was currently talking to. He had sobered up considerately since he hadn’t bothered to refill his cup in a long time.

“Are all of you down here?” Rick asked him.

Sammy tilted his head to the side as he thought. “Cade and Austin are down here. I haven’t seen Azalea though since we packed up the van.”

Rick nodded and followed Sammy as he located Cade and Austin easily. It was less crowded since it had gotten pretty late. Sammy asked if either of them had seen Azalea. Both shook their heads. They realized that none of them had seen Azalea since the gig ended, which was a whole two hours ago.

Rick became really worried. He was responsible for her. For the last two hours he had been doing nothing but drinking a couple of beers and talking to a few teenagers that had questions about the band. He shouldn’t have assumed that the band members were looking out for her.

“Come on, let’s look upstairs,” Rick said to them.

“Maybe Melanie knows where she is?” Austin suggested.

“Good idea.”

The four made it up the stairs and quickly found Melanie. She had kicked off her heels and was sitting with her legs on top of a guy’s lap. His hand was high up on her thigh.

“Melanie,” Rick addressed her. She turned her head to face Rick with droopy eyes. It was obvious that she had had too much to drink. “Have you seen Azalea?”

She nodded slowly and giggled. “I told Ben that they could use my room.”

Rick’s eyebrows rose in panic, “Which door is that?”

“Second,” Melanie said slowly and followed with a pause, “to the left.”

Rick sprinted to the staircase with Sammy close behind him. The other two followed but had to take a slower pace since they still very much felt the effects of the alcohol they had drank.

Rick got to the door and threw it open. He saw what he both expected and was fearful of. Azalea: shirt off, pinned underneath a guy on Melanie’s bed with their mouths deeply connected.