Catastrophic Happenings

Austin had printed out the lyrics to all of their songs, so the majority of practice comprised of Azalea simply singing along. But as Rick continued listening to them play, he knew that serious changes had to be made. It didn’t feel right—both Azalea’s voice with the music and Azalea’s femininity with the lyrics. Although, the majority of it was the latter.

Jason and Austin had both contributed to writing the lyrics. While most of the songs were not obviously about a girl, a good portion of them were about partying and contained a ton of sexual innuendo. And what Azalea said before she auditioned rang so true to Rick right now, the lyrics were incoherent. It was weird that he couldn’t see it before, but as Azalea sang their songs he knew exactly which parts were Austin’s whit and Jason’s pleasures. Change had to happen, and the sooner the better.

However, Rick’s envisioning of the new Catastrophic Happenings was interrupted once he noticed that the band had haphazardly stopped playing. Rick turned around to see a Latino-looking woman that looked to be in her early thirties near the staircase.

“Hey mom,” Azalea called. “What are you doing here?”

She smiled back at her daughter. “I got off of work early, so I figured I’d come pay you a visit and see what this whole ‘band’ deal looked like.”

Azalea chuckled and put the microphone back in its stand before jogging over to hug her mother.

The woman was wearing a red dress and high black heels, though without them, she was probably just as tall as Azalea. She had dark brown hair, and tanned skin that didn't quite match her daughter's.

Azalea turned to the band, placing an arm around her mom’s waist. “Hey guys this is my mom, Andrea Martin. Mom, this is the band. That’s Rick over there. And then you have Austin on base, Cade on the guitar, and Sammy in the back behind the drums.”

Ms. Martin raised her arm to wave. Rick walked over and extended his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you Ms. Martin. I’m Rick Under, the band’s manager.”

“Ah, the manager,” Ms. Martin replied with a smile. “You are just the man I came here to speak to. May I have a word?” she asked as she gestured her head over her shoulder.

“Sure thing,” Rick replied before the two walked farther away to converse in private.

Azalea walked back over to the band to find all three of her band mates shooting each other odd looks.

“What?” she asked.

“Cougar,” Austin sang.

“Your mom is a total milf,” Cade said.

“So hott,” Austin added.

“Ew, shut up!” Azalea exclaimed.

Sammy said to her with a grin, “It’s a compliment”

She rolled her eyes, “It’s one that I don’t particularly enjoy hearing.”

Azalea turned around to see that her mom and Rick were still talking. She decided to sit on the floor until practice started again, and the three boys decided to join her.

"Are you part Hispanic?" Austin asked while he assessed her mother.

"A fourth," she said proudly. "My grandfather is completely Cuban."

“How come you and your mom have different last names?” Cade asked.

Austin looked over at him, “Did it cross your mind that that may be personal?”

He shrugged in reply.

“Since we’re trying to get to know each other it really isn’t any secret that my parents are divorced,” Azalea informed them. “ My mom uses her maiden name now.”

“When did it happen?” Sammy asked.

“Three years ago. It’s not too interesting of a story,” Azalea continued. “My dad had this girl on the side, he got her pregnant, and then he chose his mistress and his bastard over his wife and daughter.”

“I’m sorry,” Austin said.

She shrugged off his sympathy quickly and muttered a curt “thank you”.

“I only have a mom,” Sammy offered.

“I’m sorry to hear,” Azalea said. “What happened to your dad?”

“He’s never been around. My mom told me that I was the product of a very short relationship.”

“You mean a one-night-stand,” Austin corrected.

Sammy stuck his tongue out in response.

“Zaley!” Ms. Martin call cut through the air, “Come over here.”

Azalea got up and walked over to where Rick and her mother were standing, leaving the three boys to star at the vacant spot that she left behind.

“What do you think that’s all about?” Cade asked.

“Probably about her schooling. That is the big topic of today, isn’t it?” Austin replied.

Sammy said “I hope her mom lets her join.”

“I don’t understand why you’re so in love with her already,” Cade replied.

Sammy shrugged off his bad attitude, “I like her personality. She isn’t boring.”

Cade scowled in reply.

They then fell into a natural silence, hoping to catch the conversation taking place on the other side of the room. However, the best they got were a few random words said above their soft spoken voices.

Sammy started to twiddle his thumbs; the stillness was making him antsy.

“Go play your drums, Sammy,” Cade said to his best friend.

He gave a wide smile before jumping up to do just that. Austin chuckled, it never ceased to amaze him how much Sammy still acted like a child.

When Sammy was nearly finished drumming the beat to one of the band’s songs, they noticed Azalea hug her mom, and then all three of them approached the group. The smile on Azalea’s face was nearly ear to ear.

“Alright guys,” Rick said to them. “I believe that Ms. Martin and I have reached some terms that we can all live with.”

The three boys gave Azalea’s mom their full attention.

“Azalea is going to get her diploma,” Ms. Martin said flatly. “She can defer going to college, but she isn’t going to put off graduating from high school.”

“But what if we go on tour?” Cade asked.

Rick replied, “Ms. Martin is okay with us doing that over break and whenever Azalea is off from school. But I think it’s a fair agreement. Even if we do get signed, we probably won’t be put on a touring schedule until after we release an EP or full album. So this one year period really isn’t holding us back, we probably wouldn’t have been on a tour either way. So for now, we’ll focus on playing close to home, working on our fan base, making our first EP, and looking to get signed.” ”

“You’re acting as if we’re a whole new band,” Austin said.

Cade and Sammy nodded in agreement.

“We will be,” Rick said simply. “Same name, but new us.”

“All because she’s] our new singer?” Cade asked crudely.

“I have a good feeling,” Rick said as he looked in Azalea’s direction. “I think our luck is going to change.”

“But the moment that Azalea’s grades slip,” Ms. Martin said, primarily to Rick, “she won’t be able to do anything band-related until their up.”

Rick gave a nervous chuckle, “Than I’ll be sure that that doesn’t happen.”

“Good,” Ms. Martin smiled. “Because if it does, I’ll be coming after you,” she said jokingly. Ms. Martin turned her attention to all of the band members. “Well, it was nice getting to meet all of you,” Ms. Martin said before making her way towards the stair case. “Be home for dinner,” she directed at Azalea before she disappeared.

“Okay, bye Mom!”

Azalea turned to the group of men and said, “I’m in. I am totally and completely in.”

Rick put his arm around Azalea’s shoulders, and after looking at each face said, “Come on, we have a lot of work to do.”