Tangled up in You

Three months ago, my life had been turned upside down, and inside out.

After a seven year long battle with breast cancer, my mother had fallen. Gracefully, she died in a hospital bed, leaving me with my fourteen year old sister Stella. If only she knew the challenge that she left me when she passed. Stella was a handful, walking in my footsteps. She wanted to be in a band. She was always getting in trouble. She was loud when she spoke. She was just like me. I loved her dearly, but she would be the death of me.

To make matters worse, our absentee father was our only place of refuge once our beloved mother passed. Moving to a strange home that I’d only visited a few times was hard. Stella and I were perfectly content in Virginia, but since I was only seventeen I couldn’t take care of her on my own. Therefore we were sentenced to the punishment of moving to Maryland.

We said goodbye to all our friends in the place we’d lived our entire lives and left to start over in a new state. Neither of us was familiar with our father, nor were we comfortable moving in with him, but it was what the court ordered, and we couldn’t argue. After moving in and settling down, we learned exactly why our mother left. Our dad was a drunk. No matter what, the stale smell of alcohol was always on his breath. It wasn’t hard for me, but Stella was so used to being loud and rambunctious, and dad didn’t understand. Not long after he started ‘the whippings’. A whipping was our punishment for anything bad that we did. Stella became timid, and shy. It was terrible having to walk on eggshells 24/7 in your own home.

Starting at a new high school was considerably easy. I quickly made friends, due to the fact that I was in orchestra, and met Fallon Reed. When she saw me carry my bass to the room, she was quick to approach me.

“Hey!” she shouted across the room before our class.

I turned and looked behind me, only to find no one.
I’ll be damned, she must be talking to me.

“Yes, you!” she laughed as she stood up from her chair and began to walk over to me. “A bass player. And a chick too. I’ve been looking for you.” She smiled as she sat down next to me.

“Me?” I asked, confused as to where she was headed with this.

She quickly pulled a pen out of her up-do hair, and ripped a sheet of paper from a notebook lying nearby.

"My name is Fallon Reed, and you’re going to be in my band.” She matter-of-factly stated while writing down her phone number and address.

“Says who?” I asked, not too keen on the idea.

“Me.” She said plainly, stood up, and walked back to her seat.

“Hmph.” I snorted, and set up my music stand.

When I got home, I pulled the sheet of paper she had given me from my pocket. It was crumbled and torn from being washed; I could barely recognize the numbers. I dialed them in my phone, and only a few short rings after, she answered.

“Fallon Reed’s Sperm Bank. You Spank ‘Em, We Bank ‘Em. How may I help you?”

“Uhm, sorry. I think I have the wrong number.” I stammered, prepared to hang up.

“I’m just shitting with you. Who be you?” she asked, clearly amused by my reaction.

“Starla Miller. You gave me your number in orchestra today?”

“Ahh, yes. You’re in my new girl band now. Practice. My house. Saturday.” She told me. With that, she hung up.

That was the beginning of something wonderful. Something crazy. Something life-changing. Something beautiful...



Argh. I mumbled as I rose from bed, sweat dripping from my face.
It’s just another night terror. I thought, as I flung my comforter off my legs and onto the floor. I’d had night terrors for as long as I can remember, but no matter how many times I had them, they were still just as scary.

I threw my legs over the side of my bed and steadied myself before standing up. They were wobbly like a new born fawn’s as I struggled across the floor into the hallway where I blindly searched for a light switch. Once in reach, I flicked it upward. My eyes burned as the light filled the tiny hallway. I let them adjust before turning left and entering the bathroom.

I opened the door and stepped in, loudly closing it behind me. I observed my facial features in the mirror.

The girl that looked back at me was skinny, and frail.
She was tired.
She was starving.
She was sick.

This was not the Starla that all my friends knew.
This was not the Starla that my family loved.
This was not Starla at all.
This was the Starla after she discovered the pills.

Nearly three months ago, painkillers had become my best friend and my worst enemy. I opened the medicine cabinet behind the mirror and pulled out the brown tinted bottle. I sighed as I twisted the cap and poured out two small, white pills. I sat them both on my tongue, and swallowed hard. I felt them slide down the back of my throat and into my system to take effect soon.

A tear silently found its way down my cheek as I observed myself in the mirror. I was tired. I stepped in the shower and got ready for the big day that was ahead of me.
I’d be leaving on tour. Took long enough.

After I showered, fixed my hair, and got dressed I silently tip-toed into Stella’s room to tell her goodbye. I’d been avoiding this moment for as long as possible, seeing as my little sister was the most important person in the world to me.

“Stell,” I whispered as I rubbed her sleeping head “I’m leaving, okay? Don’t forget to call me EVERY DAY to tell me how you are. Don’t breathe a word to dad. Because he doesn’t know that I’m going.”

She mumbled something incoherent, and I kissed her on the temple before slipping out her door, grabbing my bags, and practically running to my car.

Topless, our amazing girl band had been picked up by the one and only, Interscope records. They immediately recorded a five song EP, and sent us on our way, touring with some bands that were bigger than us.

I always swore to myself that I’d never be an opening act.
So, I chose not to look at it that way.
Let’s just say that we were… erm… playing a little earlier than some of the other bands.

As I sat on the roof of my car in an empty parking lot, I looked up at the blue sky. Tomorrow, I’d be playing a show with my girls. The four girls that changed my life. Soon enough, everyone would be getting here, and we’d board the large bus parked in front of me. The more I stared at them, the more excited I got.

I finally get to do what I love… Finally.

A blue car pulled up along side of mine, and out stepped the one and only, Jeneva Colorado, and Daiton Ford. The singer, guitarist and I had become very close recently. Probably due to the fact that we’d be living on a bus together for the next four months.

I mean hey, might as well like ‘em. Right?

“Hey!” Daiton said as she approached my red Fire Bird and joined me by sitting on the hood.

“Hi.” I smiled warmly as she looked up at the sky too. Jeneva stood by her car, blankly sipping her latte’.

None of us spoke for a long time. We just sat there, absorbing the moment. It was a beautiful silence, only to be broken by the loud sputters of Ashton Mitchell, our drummer’s, truck. It gurgled to a halt as she and Fallon wildly jumped through the windows ignoring the fact that, despite it’s many dents and rust marks, it did indeed have doors.

“WHO’S READY TO PAAAAARTAY?” Ashton screamed as we all just looked at her.

“Ash, its eight o’clock in the morning. Chill.” Jeneva laughed as Ashton lowered her arms back down to her sides and frowned.

“I’m just excited, that’s all.” She pouted as she stuck out her bottom lip.

“I think we all are, I just don’t have any emotion at this God-Forsaken hour.” I said dryly, and the other girls laughed.

“Everyone’s here?” Fallon asked, and all of us mumbled a ‘Yeah.’ Or ‘I guess so.’. “Great,” she said. “Now we… BOARD THE BUS!” she exclaimed, throwing her arm in the direction of the black and red bus that would be our future living quarters.

This managed a cheer from the rest of us, as we all locked our cars, grabbed our bags, and headed through the doors to our futures.