My Life in a Band

“So,” the big guy turned to me. “I’m Chris Roscoe, by the way. Very nice to meet you.” He held out his hand.

I looked at it. I wasn’t sure if it was safe to shake his hand. This might be a trap. I struggled to remember the back kick my father taught me when I was small.

“I’m not going to bite you, okay?” he chuckled a little by my expression but he put his hand back in his pocket. “So, um, we were watching you play the drums over there and we were, let’s say, amazed. You were wonderful.”

“Thank you.” I smiled a bit. Maybe this wasn’t that bad after all.

“These are my mates, by the way,” he said, indicating the other three guys with him. “William Rourke,” he indicated a tall gangly guy with red hair who was smiling, “Nathan Leandro,” he pointed to a guy with an athletic figure, “And Eric Ackley,” he indicated the guy with cool spiky hair. I noticed this Eric looked very young, about my age, probably. He had very nice green eyes with long lashes too. Anybody could say he was cute (I can’t believe I’m saying this).

“Nice to meet you all,” I said out of politeness. I knew I had to say something other than ‘thank you’. If I don’t, they’d probably think I was mentally competent. At least they smiled.

“By the way,” Chris said. “We’re in a band. And, um, William’s the rhythm guitarist, Nathan’s the vocalist and he’s sometimes on the keyboard, Eric’s the lead guitarist, and I’m the bassist.”

There was something missing. “Don’t you have a drummer?” I asked him.

“That’s exactly why we came to see you, Amber,” William spoke up.

“Wha-what?” I was surprised. I’m hope it’s not what I’m thinking. “You want—me to be your drummer?” I pointed at myself. I must look very silly since Nathan was laughing quietly. He just passed it as a cough. But I noticed that this Eric looked like he had dung under his nose ever since we were there outside. I don’t think I smelled that bad. I put on perfume.

“Well,” Chris continued. “Our drummer and his family migrated and we don’t think he’ll ever come back. And we were thinking we needed to continue on with our band. We badly need you, Amber. There’s a contest coming up and the prize is quite big cash.” He smiled wickedly and looked at his mates.

I didn’t like this. It looked like I was being used just for some cash. But of course, I had the guts not to say this aloud. “Look, that’s a really nice offer. But I—I don’t have time with all my schoolwork and stuff. And besides, I’m not that experienced yet.” They all looked like they were professionals, including the young Eric.

“You’re too humble, Amber,” Charlie smiled. “But we want to reform our band. A cool band can’t stand without a drummer.” He raised one of his eyebrows.

I tried to be nice about it. “I—I’ll think about it,” I said and forced a bit of a smile.

“Oh, just call me if you’ve finally decided.” Charlie pulled out a card from his pocket. He gave it to me.

I put it in my pocket. “Thanks,” I murmured. “I gotta go back now. I think my teacher’s waiting for me.” Although, of course, I knew Mr. Keller wasn’t. I just needed to get out.

We all headed outside. As I was turning to the other direction towards Jessica’s seat, Charlie said, “And it’s not just the way you play the drums, Amber. You look like a professional too. Girl drummers are cool.” I managed a smile and with that, they walked away.

I headed back to where I sat and Jessica congratulated me. “Thanks, Jess,” I told her.

“You were really great, Amber,” she told me. “Everybody was applauding you.” She smiled warmly.

“Thank you,” I said, smiling back. And I decided to ask her something. “Um, Jess?”

“Yes?” she said, but her eyes were glued back to the stage. I knew she liked Jacob Lavonne, since she looked at him intently while he was now playing onstage.

“I wanna ask you something…” I seemed uncertain about this. But I had to share it to somebody.

“Shoot,” she said, now turning her attention to me.

“If somebody gave you an offer, and you really like it, but you’re not sure if you want to dedicate your time on it, would you grab that opportunity?”

“Okay, let’s get this straight,” she said. “You like this offer right?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“You said you’re not sure if you want to dedicate your time on it, right?” she asked.

“That’s right,” I said, smiling, glad that she was listening and ready to give advice. That was why Jess was the first one I wanted to share this to since she gives great advices.

“But I thought you like it.” She seemed confused now. I admit that I was too.

“Yes, and I’m having second thoughts if I want to grab this offer. This offer’s my passion, but I’m not sure if I want to put my time on it.”

“Well, if you’re certain then that you don’t want this offer, then if I were you, don’t grab it. Because you’ll never learn to love what you’re doing if you don’t put your mind and heart in it. No matter how much I like the thing I’m doing but if I don’t have time for it, then I don’t think I’ll enjoy it that much, if you know what I mean. But that’s just my opinion, okay? You’re free to do what you want.” She smiled.

“Thanks.” And with that, I finally made a decision. “Um, I think I’m going home now, Jess. I still have homework to do.”

“You sure you don’t want to go for the after party when the show’s done?” she asked me.

“No, thanks,” I said, smiling. “Bye, Jess. See you on Monday here.” And with that, I left.

I got to the room where I left my bag and checked if I had everything there. I put my sticks inside and headed for the driveway where I put my bike. I unlocked the chains and rode it and felt the rush of cold night air on my face. It was a refreshing feeling. I took the long way home, enjoying the night and the ride. I loved riding my bike at night where I feel cold and carefree. I felt nobody could bother me.

“Just kiss me, okay?” I heard a guy telling a girl somewhere ahead of me. The tree above them cast shadows upon them so they couldn’t be really seen. The girl laughed and I heard the smooching sounds. I didn’t want to bother them so I turned back the other way. But as I did so, the outline and build of the guy was very familiar. I turned back again and tried to see who the guy was, intertwined with the girl like there was no tomorrow. What I saw made me fall of my bike.

There in front of me was Martin with Natasha.

I couldn’t believe my eyes so I rubbed them with both hands and looked up again. My eyes did not deceive me though it was dark. It was really Martin who was supposed to be home, grounded by his mother. Martin who was not supposed to be outside.

I couldn’t take it anymore. He deceived me. He just didn’t want to be with me. I turned and rode at full speed. I could hardly see where I was going since my eyes were filled with hot angry tears. My hands hurt from gripping my bike too tightly. How could he be like this? What did I even do to him? I know I’m not supposed to feel jealous since he’s not even my boyfriend. But it just hurt my heart to know that lied. I couldn’t get the image of him with Natasha out of my mind. I saw my house just ahead of me and as I gathered more speed, I don’t know what happened but all I knew was that I fell down. Badly. My arm and head hurt so much, in addition to my heart. Great. I walked toward the house and unlocked it. Good thing no one was here yet. The last thing I wanted now was for my sister to start asking me questions.

I threw my backpack on the sofa and ran upstairs to my room. I lay in bed facedown, not even bothering to take off my shoes and just cried all night till my eyes hurt.