Everything I Used to be is Coming Back to Torture Me
Secondary Audition
“Mommy, Nate pulled my hair!”
“Nate, mind your sister!”
“I don’t wanna!”
Clover slipped out of the house into the backyard as she heard Patricia, her foster mother, storming up the stairs to straighten up her foster siblings Nate and Katie. They were about the same age and constantly bickered. But when they weren’t together, they were pretty sweet kids. Clover still didn’t get along with them real well. She was much, much older than any of her four foster siblings. Their ages ranged from 6 to 12, with Nate and Katie being the two youngest, and Clover just never found anything in common with the others. Patricia and Stephen had welcomed the other four into their homes when Clover was old enough to handle being alone and entertaining herself all the time, and Clover preferred solitude anyway.
Clover stretched out in the hammock suspended between two large trees in the backyard and opened her book, Carrie by Stephen King. She’d made it her mission to read all of his books. After reading a few pages, however, Clover just laid out in the hammock, not in the mood to read, and looked up through the leaves at the beautiful blue sky.
A week had gone by since Clover’s audition. She figured if she was going to receive a call from Avenged, she would’ve received it by now. Clover had lost all hope that she had even competed against the other drummers that auditioned despite the band’s reaction to her playing. Or maybe they had been impressed by her playing but hadn’t chosen her for other reasons, such as her gender or because of her lack of band experience. Really, Clover had begun to put the audition behind her. She started to look at colleges and researching majors trying to figure out what she wanted to do. Clearly the band thing wasn’t going to work out for her.
The sound of Clover’s ring tone going off scared her to death, and she nearly flipped out of the hammock. She quickly righted herself, however, and grabbed her phone out of her pocket. The number was an unknown number, but it was an area number, so she answered it.
“Hello?”
“Hi, this is Clover, right?”
“Yep.”
“Hello, Clover, this is Matt. Uh…M. Shadows, you know?”
Clover sat bolt upright, and the meticulous balance it takes to sit in a hammock went wonky. The hammock flipped, and Clover landed heavily on the grass. She scrambled into a sitting position, hardly noticing her fall because of her excitement.
“After much thought and consideration, my band mates and I have chosen you as one of the drummers among the crème of the crop. We were absolutely blown away by your audition. You are a magnificent drummer, Clover, and we would love if you could come by for a secondary audition. Does Thursday at 4 sound okay?”
“Yeah, that sounds awesome,” Clover answered. “Wow, that’s just…I’m so…Thank you so much!”
“No problem, Clover,” Matt answered. He gave her an address for the secondary audition. “See you on Thursday then?”
“Of course,” Clover said. They exchanged farewells and then hung up. Clover jumped to her feet and skipped inside to tell her foster parents that she would be helping a girl with her math again on Thursday.
@!@!@
Thursday afternoon, Clover left her home after telling Patricia and Stephen that she was going to help tutor a girl for the SAT that she would be taking in the fall. Her foster parents let her go without much of a fuss, probably because Nate and Katie were having one of their nuclear fights. The address Matt had given her wasn’t too far from her home, so Clover just walked.
Ten minutes later, Clover walked up to a newer-looking building just off the PCH. The whole front of the building was a giant pane of glass basically, and Clover could see inside to what appeared to be a lobby of sorts. She walked in and took a quick glance around as she stepped inside. Three other drummers, all male, sat nervously in the chairs grouped around the outer rim of the room. They looked up as Clover entered and sized her up as she walked over to an empty chair and sat down. All three had dark hair and visible tattoos. None of them looked over 25.
A little while later, a door leading back further into the building opened and Matt stepped out. He smiled kindly at the four of them and walked in their direction.
“Hello,” Matt said. “If you’re wondering why I asked you to come to a random building, it’s because if you do become our new drummer and prove yourself on tour, you’ll become very familiar with this place. Welcome to our recording studio.”
Matt paused to allow the four of them to marvel at the idea before continuing. “Please, if the four of you would follow me, we can begin.”
The four of them rose from their seats and there was an awkward moment of shuffling where they attempted to figure out who would step forward first. Clover stepped bravely forward, being the first to follow Matt into the studio with the other three following behind.
From the lobby, they walked down a hallway before turning into a room broken up into two parts with a glass wall. Their side of the wall was filled with recording equipment, dials and buttons and knobs and many electrical things. On the other side of the glass, there sat a drum set.
“My band mates appear to have disappeared,” Matt said genially. “Arin, could you go through that sliding door there and take a seat at the drums? The rest of you can find a seat back there somewhere and I’ll go find the guys. Little bitches, they hate doing this sort of thing.”
Matt left the room. The one named Arin, a tall, scrawny twig of a kid, did as Matt had instructed and so did the other three. Clover took a seat between the other two drummers.
“You drum any good?” one of them asked Clover as they sat waiting for Matt to return.
“I guess so, since I’m here,” Clover answered.
“No, you’re probably here because of your boobs. Or your ass. I guess it could be either. You don’t really have a chance against us. What can you play? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? Or is that even a little too difficult for you?” the drummer continued snobbishly.
“Hey! That is entirely uncalled for!” Clover exclaimed, deeply offended.
“Yeah, man, lay off,” the other drummer said. “My name’s Frank, and I say, rock on if you’re female and got this far.”
“Thank you, I’m Clover,” Clover answered, shaking his hand.
“I’m just saying, my money’s on the chick,” Zacky’s voice floated into the room as the four remaining members of Avenged Sevenfold stepped into the room. “Oh, they’re in here…” Zacky continued awkwardly. The four members each took a seat behind the huge electronic tray of knobs and buttons and dials. Despite not being a vindictive woman, Clover couldn’t help but shoot a smug look in the direction of the douche bag drummer.
“Okay, Arin, do you know any of our songs?” Matt asked after pushing a button so the intercom in the recording area turned on. Arin nodded, gave him a few song titles, and then played what Matt told him to play.
The rest of the auditions went much the same way. The band had saved Clover for last. Frank wished her luck as she stood up and she thanked him before stepping through the door into the recording area and sliding it shut behind her. She took a seat at the drum set and looked expectantly up at the band directly across from her on the other side of the glass.
“Clover, do you have any full songs completely memorized? Any of our new ones?” Matt asked.
“I’m in love with Buried Alive,” Clover offered. “I think I have it pretty well memorized, but I might make a few mistakes here and there.”
“Yeah, that sounds great,” Matt answered. “It’s one of the songs we’ll be playing on tour and I just want to see how well you hold up playing an entire song through. Would you like for us to play the rest of the song in the background to keep you in beat?”
“Yes, that’d help a lot,” Clover answered.
“Whenever you’re ready then,” Matt said after hitting a few buttons. Clover nodded and Matt counted down for her before beginning the song.
Clover played straight through, making only a few minor mistakes. When the song finished and she looked up through the glass, she saw the band conversing and the three other drummers staring with their mouths open. She blushed and quickly looked away, staring instead at her drumsticks.
“Thank you, Clover, that was great,” Matt said. “You can come back in here now.”
Clover stood up and stepped through the door. As Matt escorted them back to the lobby, he told them that they would receive the results within a week. They all thanked each other and then the four drummers left, going their separate ways, each with the hope that they’d been impressive enough to get chosen.
“Nate, mind your sister!”
“I don’t wanna!”
Clover slipped out of the house into the backyard as she heard Patricia, her foster mother, storming up the stairs to straighten up her foster siblings Nate and Katie. They were about the same age and constantly bickered. But when they weren’t together, they were pretty sweet kids. Clover still didn’t get along with them real well. She was much, much older than any of her four foster siblings. Their ages ranged from 6 to 12, with Nate and Katie being the two youngest, and Clover just never found anything in common with the others. Patricia and Stephen had welcomed the other four into their homes when Clover was old enough to handle being alone and entertaining herself all the time, and Clover preferred solitude anyway.
Clover stretched out in the hammock suspended between two large trees in the backyard and opened her book, Carrie by Stephen King. She’d made it her mission to read all of his books. After reading a few pages, however, Clover just laid out in the hammock, not in the mood to read, and looked up through the leaves at the beautiful blue sky.
A week had gone by since Clover’s audition. She figured if she was going to receive a call from Avenged, she would’ve received it by now. Clover had lost all hope that she had even competed against the other drummers that auditioned despite the band’s reaction to her playing. Or maybe they had been impressed by her playing but hadn’t chosen her for other reasons, such as her gender or because of her lack of band experience. Really, Clover had begun to put the audition behind her. She started to look at colleges and researching majors trying to figure out what she wanted to do. Clearly the band thing wasn’t going to work out for her.
The sound of Clover’s ring tone going off scared her to death, and she nearly flipped out of the hammock. She quickly righted herself, however, and grabbed her phone out of her pocket. The number was an unknown number, but it was an area number, so she answered it.
“Hello?”
“Hi, this is Clover, right?”
“Yep.”
“Hello, Clover, this is Matt. Uh…M. Shadows, you know?”
Clover sat bolt upright, and the meticulous balance it takes to sit in a hammock went wonky. The hammock flipped, and Clover landed heavily on the grass. She scrambled into a sitting position, hardly noticing her fall because of her excitement.
“After much thought and consideration, my band mates and I have chosen you as one of the drummers among the crème of the crop. We were absolutely blown away by your audition. You are a magnificent drummer, Clover, and we would love if you could come by for a secondary audition. Does Thursday at 4 sound okay?”
“Yeah, that sounds awesome,” Clover answered. “Wow, that’s just…I’m so…Thank you so much!”
“No problem, Clover,” Matt answered. He gave her an address for the secondary audition. “See you on Thursday then?”
“Of course,” Clover said. They exchanged farewells and then hung up. Clover jumped to her feet and skipped inside to tell her foster parents that she would be helping a girl with her math again on Thursday.
@!@!@
Thursday afternoon, Clover left her home after telling Patricia and Stephen that she was going to help tutor a girl for the SAT that she would be taking in the fall. Her foster parents let her go without much of a fuss, probably because Nate and Katie were having one of their nuclear fights. The address Matt had given her wasn’t too far from her home, so Clover just walked.
Ten minutes later, Clover walked up to a newer-looking building just off the PCH. The whole front of the building was a giant pane of glass basically, and Clover could see inside to what appeared to be a lobby of sorts. She walked in and took a quick glance around as she stepped inside. Three other drummers, all male, sat nervously in the chairs grouped around the outer rim of the room. They looked up as Clover entered and sized her up as she walked over to an empty chair and sat down. All three had dark hair and visible tattoos. None of them looked over 25.
A little while later, a door leading back further into the building opened and Matt stepped out. He smiled kindly at the four of them and walked in their direction.
“Hello,” Matt said. “If you’re wondering why I asked you to come to a random building, it’s because if you do become our new drummer and prove yourself on tour, you’ll become very familiar with this place. Welcome to our recording studio.”
Matt paused to allow the four of them to marvel at the idea before continuing. “Please, if the four of you would follow me, we can begin.”
The four of them rose from their seats and there was an awkward moment of shuffling where they attempted to figure out who would step forward first. Clover stepped bravely forward, being the first to follow Matt into the studio with the other three following behind.
From the lobby, they walked down a hallway before turning into a room broken up into two parts with a glass wall. Their side of the wall was filled with recording equipment, dials and buttons and knobs and many electrical things. On the other side of the glass, there sat a drum set.
“My band mates appear to have disappeared,” Matt said genially. “Arin, could you go through that sliding door there and take a seat at the drums? The rest of you can find a seat back there somewhere and I’ll go find the guys. Little bitches, they hate doing this sort of thing.”
Matt left the room. The one named Arin, a tall, scrawny twig of a kid, did as Matt had instructed and so did the other three. Clover took a seat between the other two drummers.
“You drum any good?” one of them asked Clover as they sat waiting for Matt to return.
“I guess so, since I’m here,” Clover answered.
“No, you’re probably here because of your boobs. Or your ass. I guess it could be either. You don’t really have a chance against us. What can you play? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? Or is that even a little too difficult for you?” the drummer continued snobbishly.
“Hey! That is entirely uncalled for!” Clover exclaimed, deeply offended.
“Yeah, man, lay off,” the other drummer said. “My name’s Frank, and I say, rock on if you’re female and got this far.”
“Thank you, I’m Clover,” Clover answered, shaking his hand.
“I’m just saying, my money’s on the chick,” Zacky’s voice floated into the room as the four remaining members of Avenged Sevenfold stepped into the room. “Oh, they’re in here…” Zacky continued awkwardly. The four members each took a seat behind the huge electronic tray of knobs and buttons and dials. Despite not being a vindictive woman, Clover couldn’t help but shoot a smug look in the direction of the douche bag drummer.
“Okay, Arin, do you know any of our songs?” Matt asked after pushing a button so the intercom in the recording area turned on. Arin nodded, gave him a few song titles, and then played what Matt told him to play.
The rest of the auditions went much the same way. The band had saved Clover for last. Frank wished her luck as she stood up and she thanked him before stepping through the door into the recording area and sliding it shut behind her. She took a seat at the drum set and looked expectantly up at the band directly across from her on the other side of the glass.
“Clover, do you have any full songs completely memorized? Any of our new ones?” Matt asked.
“I’m in love with Buried Alive,” Clover offered. “I think I have it pretty well memorized, but I might make a few mistakes here and there.”
“Yeah, that sounds great,” Matt answered. “It’s one of the songs we’ll be playing on tour and I just want to see how well you hold up playing an entire song through. Would you like for us to play the rest of the song in the background to keep you in beat?”
“Yes, that’d help a lot,” Clover answered.
“Whenever you’re ready then,” Matt said after hitting a few buttons. Clover nodded and Matt counted down for her before beginning the song.
Clover played straight through, making only a few minor mistakes. When the song finished and she looked up through the glass, she saw the band conversing and the three other drummers staring with their mouths open. She blushed and quickly looked away, staring instead at her drumsticks.
“Thank you, Clover, that was great,” Matt said. “You can come back in here now.”
Clover stood up and stepped through the door. As Matt escorted them back to the lobby, he told them that they would receive the results within a week. They all thanked each other and then the four drummers left, going their separate ways, each with the hope that they’d been impressive enough to get chosen.
♠ ♠ ♠
Okay, I want to take this time to clarify a point that I probably caused some confusion about in earlier chapters.Clover is 18. She is graduated and just hasn't started college yet. The flashback chapters that have occured so far are set in November/December-ish 2010, before they start the Nightmare After Christmas Tour (which, I went to Battle Creek to see a concert during that tour...IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME...Seriously, go find New Medicine and get their CD! IT'S FREAKING SWEET!) I just wanted to clarify that because I haven't mentioned it in the story and I didn't want confusion later on.
Please comment!