Choke on Your Misery

Alex

“WE’RE GONNA ROCK!” Jack yelled out. It was Saturday afternoon, and we were all at Rian’s house for band practice. The Battle of the Bands was in two days, so we were practicing like crazy. We had four original songs that we were trying to perfect. We had put the rest of the music to the song I had written for Zack a while back, which was now called Memories That Fade like Photographs. Everyone had helped me write My Paradise a while ago; the first original song we’d played together as a band. I had pulled out an old song called The Next Best Thing, and put music to that too. We had just finished up a song that I wrote when I was sick, called Hit the Lights, but it wasn’t going to be ready for Monday.

“We better – I want to win this thing!” I said. The winning band would receive 150 dollars and an offer to record an EP with a local label, the second place band would receive 100 dollars, and the third place band would receive 50 dollars. All of the participating bands would be featured in the newspaper the following week.

“I think we’ve definitely got a good chance now. We just have to narrow down which three songs we’re going to play,” Rian said.

“We should probably play a Blink-182 cover – it will at least give the crowd something they know,” Zack pointed out. He was absentmindedly playing some notes on his bass.

I nodded, “He’s got a point. We can do two Blink-182 covers and one of our songs. Which covers, though?”

“Roller Coaster for sure,” Zack said immediately. “It shows Rian’s drumming skill.”

“Drumming skill is one of the things they look for,” Rian pointed out, tapping the beat to the beginning of the song.

“Don’t be a show-off,” Jack said, tossing an empty can at Rian and narrowly missing his head. “Let’s play Dammit, too!”

“Any particular reason?” I questioned.

“I just like saying ‘dammit.’” Jack shrugged, and we laughed. “Seriously though; it’s one of our best covers.”

“He’s right, we’ve got that one down almost perfectly,” Zack pointed out.

I nodded in agreement, “Sounds good to me.”

“As far as our songs go, I don’t think Hit the Lights is ready for Monday. And Memories is a little long for the Battle of the Bands,” Rian said.

“Yeah, I don’t plan on playing Memories in front of the entire school,” I shook my head, glancing up at Zack. He nodded in agreement. We had agreed that it would be played in shows; just not as our first original song. “I think we’ll be best off doing The Next Best Thing.”

“Let me go, can’t you see?! You’re just the next best thing to me!” Jack screeched the lyrics to the song, jumping around.

Zack grimaced, “As long as Jack doesn’t ever sing, I think we’re good.”

“My mom says I sing like an angel!” Jack stopped jumping, crossing his arms and pouting at Zack.

“Hey, Jack?” I said.

“What?”

“Your mom lied to you.”

••••••••••

Monday had finally come – the day of the Battle of the Bands. The event was held out on the football field and track outside of Dulaney high school. It was a beautiful day, so it had been decided that it would be outside, where there was more room for everyone. There was a decent stage set up and everything. It was crazy out here.

Behind the stage were the eight bands that were performing tonight. Most of the people were standing around to talk or warm up, but some people were walking back and forth to observe the other acts. We could hear them loud and clear from backstage, though. Jack, Rian, Zack, and I were standing in the back of the crowd of bands.

In the audience, there was an enormous amount of people. The Battle of the Bands is the biggest event at Dulaney because of the people performing and all the extra stuff going on for other clubs and such. Most of the school was here, along with the families of the people performing. Jack, Rian, Zack, and I’s parents and siblings were all here. It was the first show of ours that they were attending. Flyzik had shown up too, and was now in the crowd somewhere with Evan and Grieco.

“How long until we go on stage?” I asked, wringing my hands nervously. It was about six-fifteen, and the winners weren’t going to be announced until around seven-thirty. The Battle of the Bands always took forever because each band had to play three songs.

Rian glanced at his phone. “About fifteen minutes, I think. We’re after this band, and there is one more after us.”

“I can’t wait to get this over with,” I admitted.

Jack chuckled, “Two days ago you were psyched; now you can’t wait to get it over with?”

“You look like you’re going to puke,” Zack mused.

Rian nodded, “You’re looking pretty pale, bro.”

“I feel like I’m going to puke,” I said, leaning into Zack’s side. He wrapped his arms around me. He wasn’t looking much better than I was, to be honest.

“You two are so anxiety-ridden, it’s almost sad,” Jack said, but patted me on the back in reassurance. “We’ll be great.”

“I know; the only thing making me nervous is the fact that everyone in school is here to see us,” I said, pulling away from Zack and holding his hand instead.

“Same here,” Zack admitted.

“Well, we get to show them that we’re fucking awesome and it’ll give them a little respect for us,” Jack grinned.

“If we win,” Rian said, pointing a drumstick at him.

“Don’t ‘if’ me. I think we can come in first or second place,” Jack said, pushing Rian’s drumstick away.

Zack rolled his eyes, “Don’t be cocky, or the judges will put us in last place.”

“Sorry,” Jack pressed his lips shut.

The band on stage began to play their second song, and Rian looked at us. “We should probably get over by the stage, since we’re up next.” He and Jack ran along ahead, while Zack and I walked behind slowly.

“I didn’t realize you were so nervous,” Zack said with a slight smile, squeezing my hand.

I shrugged, blushing a little, “I don’t want to fuck this up and become the laughingstock of the school.”

“I don’t think we’ll mess up that much.”

“Probably not, but my mind is only capable of worst case scenarios right now.” I sighed, looking up at him. “Why do you seem so calm? No offense, but I figured you’d be a nervous wreck by now.”

“Drugs,” Zack chuckled. “I took all of my anti-anxiety medicines before we came, so I’m oddly calm. My hands are shaking, but you’re squeezing my hand too hard to notice.”

“Oops,” I blushed, loosening my python grip on Zack’s hand. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” We got to the stage with Rian and Zack, just as the band was starting their final song. We had to go on the stage in five minutes!

“You boys should get ready; I want to hurry this along because we’re running behind,” one of the teachers running the event told us as we walked up.

Jack, Zack and I grabbed our guitars before joining Rian behind the stage again. Everyone was using the same generic drum set and the same amps, so we didn’t have to take everything down after every single band. The band before us finished up their set of songs and headed off stage, nodding briefly to us as they walked by.

“Are you the band on next? All Time Low?” A senior boy asked, walking up to us.

“Yeah,” Jack replied with a nod when I didn’t give an answer.

“I’ll go out and announce you; get on stage and get situated while I do,” the boy said, heading up to the stage and motioning for us to follow.

I swallowed heavily, glancing over at Zack. “Kiss for good luck?” I grinned nervously.

“Dork,” Zack chuckled, kissing me softly before following me onto the stage.

“Alright you guys, next up is the band All Time Low, made up of Alex Gaskarth, Jack Barakat, Rian Dawson, and... Zack Merrick,” the boy said, faltering a bit at Zack’s name. I rolled my eyes as I plugged my guitar into the amp. The boy nodded to us and walked off of the stage.

I glanced up to see that Jack and Zack looked ready and stepped up to the microphone stand as confidently as I could. “What’s up, Dulaney?!” Everyone applauded and cheered at the school name, and I grinned. “We’re going to play a cover of Blink-182’s song Roller Coaster first.” I looked around at the others, who gave me thumbs-up signals. We began to play the song and I loosened up a bit as we did so. It was much easier to do this once I was actually on stage singing. I grinned at Rian during the drum solo, because the cheering increased as it began. He was probably under the most pressure during the set.

We headed straight into Dammit after the song ended. I had to admit; it was pretty damn cool to see my classmates singing along to the Blink-182 songs that we loved. After that, I took a breath and smiled at the audience, “The last song we’re doing is an original one of ours; it’s called The Next Best Thing.”

Once we finally finished up the set of songs, I thanked the audience and we headed off the stage. I was sweaty and exhausted. I collapsed onto my guitar case after I put the guitar inside, sighing heavily and looking up at the others. “That was tiring.”

“It was pretty awesome though,” Jack said, sitting in the grass across from me. Rian and Jack followed suit.

“Definitely,” Rian agreed, wiping the sweat off his face with the bottom of his t-shirt.

“Your hair looks so gross when it’s wet with sweat. You should just shave it all off,” Zack said, wrinkling his nose at Rian.

Rian flipped him off, “Shut up. Jack tells me that every day.”

“Because it’s true!” Jack insisted.

“He’s right,” Zack shrugged, falling backwards into the grass. “I could seriously fall asleep right now.”

“Well we’ve got about half an hour until the judges announce the results; you’ve got some time to sleep,” I chuckled.

“Nah; I’m afraid of what you guys will do to me in my sleep,” Zack rolled his eyes.

I shrugged, “Jack would probably draw on you with a Sharpie; I, on the other hand, would probably blow y-”

“Alex!” Rian interrupted, punching me in the shoulder. “We don’t want to know that!”

“Ow!” I whined, rubbing my arm as Zack laughed. “I’m sorry that I’m honest!”

••••••••••

“The third place winners are the girls of Operation Sassy,” Mrs. Allen, one of the judges, announced. The audience cheered as a band of girls stepped forward on the stage. They were the only girl band in the Battle of the Bands, and I had to admit that they were pretty good.

“I think I’m going to die of anticipation,” Rian said, crossing his fingers. We were standing together on stage with the other seven bands, who looked just as nervous as we did.

“Now, we’re going to have the remaining two bands step forward,” she said. I raised an eyebrow, looking at Rian and Jack. Usually they would just tell us the bands in order and move on. “With these final two bands, we could not come to a clear decision, so we’re going to do things a little differently. We’ll bring the two bands forward and allow the crowd to cheer for each one. Then we will make our decision with the crowd reaction in mind.”

Huh. That’s different.

“So, our final two bands are... Stitched Erosion and All Time Low!”

My eyes widened at the others as we stepped forward. I wanted to jump for joy at the announcement, but I was too afraid for the final result. The others looked just as worried, and I knew the four of us were thinking the same thing – who’s going to cheer for the band with the gay couple?!

The other band was the group of three boys who had played their set before ours. They looked pretty nervous too. Having them as the other band was slightly reassuring; no one in either band was ‘popular,’ so it was at least fair in that aspect.

“Quiet down!” Mrs. Allen called out to the crowd, who became mostly silent. “Okay, if you liked Stitched Erosion, cheer now!” A roar of applause broke out in the crowd, and my heart sank a bit.

“I’m going to pass out,” I whispered to the others, bringing my clasped hands up to my chin.

“Hush!” The crowd silenced again as Mrs. Allen yelled out. “Now, if you liked All Time Low, cheer now!”

I was surprised to hear so many people cheering for us, and I grinned out at the crowd.

“Give us one moment, and we will have our decision.” Mrs. Allen went to speak with the other two judges, and Zack reached for my hand, holding it tightly between us. Jack was bouncing with anxiety and Rian was as still as a statue, except for his hand tapping against his leg nervously. I glanced out into the crowd to see that our families had their fingers crossed or their thumbs up.

Mrs. Allen returned to the microphone stand after a minute or so of deliberation. “After much thought, we have finally come to a decision. The winner of the 2005 Battle of the Bands is... Stitched Erosion!”

The guys in the other band cheered, stepping forward as the crowd cheered for them. I squeezed Zack’s hand once in frustration before letting go, and he gave me a sympathetic look. I sighed and forced a smile for the crowd. I guess second place was better than nothing, after all.