My Life in a Band

I eventually arrived at the building. It was battered and a good place to practice since nobody really ever went here. I chained my bike to a corner and went inside. It was a bit damp but that didn't bother me. As I made my way to the second floor where we were supposed to practice(there was an abandoned room there), I checked my bag if I brought my sticks with me. That was all I needed. But I also brought my music book where I wrote musical notes for drums. That way, it felt easy, thanks to Mr. Keller.

I was now a few meters from the door to where the room was. From here, I could already hear amps blearing, but that seemed like a welcome to me. I didn't really like the feel of this old abandoned building.

I knocked twice(although I was sure they couldn't hear me from all the noise) and went inside.

"Hi there, Amber," Charlie was the one who spoke up first. I already got the feeling he was the friendliest among the group, and of course the opposite was Eric who was now tuning his guitar in one corner, not looking up.

I wasn't able to answer immediately. The whole room was amazing. Most of all, their instruments and tools were breathtaking(for me, that is). They were all new(seeing the glitter and the shine of them) and the drumset was really cool with extra cymbals although I only used the most important ones. I started to wonder how rich these guys actually were. There were even two pairs of Zildjian drumsticks waiting for me on top of the snare drum. The room was eerily quiet and then I realized all of them were waiting for me to say hi or pretty much say anything. But before I could do so, Charlie spoke up, "Nice right? We won all of them for being the champion in one competition," he said proudly.

"They're all wonderful." I couldn't take my eyes off the drumset and my hands and feet were itching to do a beat.

"Why don't we start now?" Nathan, the vocalist, asked. He smiled at me. I guess he noticed I was very excited although I tried very hard to hide this.

I got to the drumset and brushed the fingertips through the nearest cymbal. It really feels good to have a go on this cool Yamaha drumset.

"Can I use these?" I asked William, the rhythm guitarist, who was nearest to me. I never had the chance to use original drumsticks like these. I never had the money to buy them so all I had were pretty cheap wooden drumsticks. But they were alright. This is the first time I'll have to set aside my beloved sticks first.

"Sure," he said, smiling. "Feel free to do anything you want here. You're in the band right now." I felt very glad. "Give me a high five, man." He held out his hand and I high fived him. This band was going to be fun, I guess.

"Don't hesitate to do anything Amber," Nathan said. "You're part of the group now." And everyone started to high five me. All except for Eric. He was still tuning his guitar although I noticed(I'm no guitar expert but I knew how to play one but not that good) the guitar was perfectly tuned. He never looked up once from his oh so nice glittery white guitar. All my happiness from being part of the band now started to fade a little.

We practiced a song first( and were really enjoying it. Nathan was a pretty good vocalist. He had a mellow, sweet voice and more than that. He could be for rock, ballad, alternative and I guess he could do everything.

William was very good too. His hand strumming his guitar was really fast and he totally knew how to control it.

Charlie was very good. His bass was five-stringed and he was really good. He had fast hands.

Eric was very good too. His left hand was very fast in sliding and I don't know but I challenged myself more thinking I should do better than him although we played different instruments. As I went on playing, I noticed my right hand was bleeding and I was feeling great pain now. Maybe I didn't notice the pain a while ago since I was feeling pretty glad of being actually in a band. I didn't like the sight of blood and stopped suddenly, which made the others stop too. I clutched my hand quietly. I was really hurt now, the blood slowly spreading through my white shirt where the blood dripped. I swore inside my head and told myself I wouldn't cry. I didn't want to be a crybaby on the first day.

"What's wrong, Amber?" Nathan asked. He looked at my bleeding hand and got out a first-aid kit from cabinet near the wall(I just noticed that). "Give me hand here please. Amber, it's okay."

"I'm totally fine, Nathan, it's just a small cut," I insisted but he paid no attention. I was near tears now but I fought them back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Eric smiling mysteriously.

Everyone was really helping me now(although I kept on insisting I was fine). They were all very nice and told me it was okay. I continuously thanked them. Charlie got up from where he sat beside Nathan and picked up my drumsticks. He held it out in the light and I saw something very, very small glinting in the middle of the stick. I then remembered I was clutching the stick very hard. I always did that.

Charlie then saw the glinting stuff and touched it. He flinched a little. He surprised all of us then when he threw the stick on the floor, marching toward Eric.

"Is it one of your pranks again? Why the hell would you do that you--" He made an attempt to grab Eric's shirt. Eric looked terrified, to my surprise. But he didn't say anything. I guess he was the one who cut open the stick a little and jammed the glinting stuff just enough for me to get cut but not being able to see it.

The other two, Nathan and William got up and stopped Charlie from doing what he was about to do. Charlie sure was scary when he got mad.

"It's okay, Charlie, I'll deal with him," William said.

Charlie sighed and relaxed a little. "We were expecting you to become friendly with people and have some new friends, Eric. She was new and you hurt her," Charlie said to Eric who just looked at the floor, speechless and very white. And anyway, what was the meaning of all of this? Then I thought probably Eric didn't really have a lot of friends.

Charlie approached me and apologized for what Eric had done. "He's really like that. He--he doesn't like people very much." Instead of getting mad, I had an urge to laugh. But of course I didn't do it. Not in a situation like this. I stole a glance at Eric and he looked mad at me and I was suddenly mad too. I haven't even done anything bad to him. I never even talked to him. But he still looked very white, I noticed.

Nathan then said, "Well I guess we'll have to finish for today. Amber's hand has to heal. That was a really deep cut." He looked at Eric pointedly, who was now looking out the window. Everybody apologized. Except for Eric. I could see a vein throbbing in Charlie's temple when he saw that Eric hadn't apologized. But he didn't say anything. Instead he just looked at Eric pointedly. It was a pretty hard stare.

"Sorry," Eric said, still looking out the window, not even feeling so sorry, I noticed.

We all packed up then, Charlie still fuming how inconsiderate Eric was. My hand really hurt and I saw it was still bleeding a little. It felt cold so I put it in my pocket.

Night had fallen when we finally got out of the building. There was only one car parked near us where I didn't notice before. I guessed it to be theirs. I was really amazed now despite the pain in my hand. The car was new too. The newest version at least(I remembered some new models of cars when I flipped channels on TV).

"Bye, then. And thank you for all your help." I smiled warmly at all of them, even to Eric, who was then looking at the ground.

I saw Eric's eyes at my bike. "Are you going to ride your bike home? Your hand's not healed yet." He raised one of his eyebrow.

"Well I've got no choice," I said. "Thank you anyway." I started to ride my bike but then I remembered that I couldn't control it with just my left hand. I could have ridden it with my right hand but of course, it got cut. I was about to fall off my bike but then a hand grabbed me and held me steady before I fell off. To my great surprise, it was Eric, still looking away. This close, I could see his eyes were really cool and breathtaking. He was very good looking too. He held me a little longer than was necessary and then he must have realized it and released me, but helping me off my bike as if I weighed nothing.

"Thank you," I said shyly, looking away too. I was surprised by how my heart fluttered. Then I stopped myself. He cut my hand with that small glinting stuff of his. I was torn between hatred and admiration although I knew I shouldn't adore someone deeply just because he was good looking or stuff like that. At least that's what I thought.

He held my injured hand in his and helped me to the car, where everyone was now waiting. I felt shy getting inside(everybody kept asking if I was okay). We were all sandwiched in the car but that didn't matter.

William drove after I told him where my house was(they said they'd return my bike tomorrow) and I just looked straight ahead. Nathan was on my left and Eric on my right. It wasn't really crowded and although we were sandwiched we could still move a bit freely. I stole a glance at Eric once and I almost looked at him again when I realized he was smiling.

But that couldn't be possible right?