My Warped Summer

Allison's Point of View

About five minutes into the festival, Scarlet finally decides to take me up on that bathroom offer.

“Allyyyyy!” She whines as we wait in an extremely long line for Pierce the Veil merch. “I need to pee.”

“Scar, could you wait like five minutes?” I ask her, exasperated. She gave me a look that proved otherwise. I sighed and stepped out of the line to search for the nearest bathroom. Once I spotted one, Scarlet and I made our way over to the bathrooms situated at the end of the parking lot. As we got closer, I heard yelling and fighting.

“Maybe we should-” I turn to Scarlet and begin, but she cuts me off with a quick shhh.

Slowly, we get closer to the restroom, and face the girl-fight in front of us. Five girls, all dressed in black and red plaid skirts, were arguing back and forth screaming colorful words at each other.

“It’s been three years, you guys can’t just bail on us!” One yelled.

“I’m sorry!” Another exclaimed. “We just can’t do this anymore. The endless days of touring and recording... It’s just too much.” She turned toward another girl beside her and gave a curt nod. The two girls walked away from the group, heads hung low.

“UGH.” The first one, huffed, clearly frustrated. “How the hell are we supposed to go on Warped Tour without a singer and lead guitarist? We’re fucking screwed.”

“Come on, Gen... I mean, we could try and find more members?” A blonde girl offered. This just made the other girl even angrier.

“We can’t, Cassie! There is no way we are going to find another singer in time, not to mention another guitarist.” she replied. “Girls In Skirts is over.” And with that, she sat down on the concrete curb with her head in her hands. This is when Scarlet decided to speak up.

“Hey!” Scar told the girls. “I can play.” The girl on the curb scoffed.

“You really think you can just walk up and-” She began, but the blonde one cut her off.

“That’s actually a great idea,” the blonde one said, in spite of her friend’s clear disapproval. “Now, if you happen to have any singers on you...” She trailed off and began laughing. Scarlet remained serious.

“Actually, my friend Allison here can sing pretty well,” Scar replied, motioning to me. I glanced up at the girls, petrified of Scarlet’s offer. To my horror, the blonde actually nodded.

“Okay then,” she said. “Looks like we found ourselves some replacements. I’m Cassie,” she introduces. “And we are Girls In Skirts.”

*#*

“Well, we better get to work,” Cassie says, climbing onto the giant black and red bus I saw Scarlet staring at earlier. “Our set is in an hour.”

I still couldn’t believe this is happening. In a matter of minutes and various arguments, Scarlet and I found ourselves in a band called Girls In Skirts. The dark-haired one I saw arguing with the girls who left earlier was Genevieve, the base player. Cassie, the nicer blonde one, was the rhythm guitarist. As we boarded the bus, we found another girl in the back, leaning over a set of drums.

“Hey!” She shouted. “Where’s Jessica and Alex?”

“About that...” Cassie started, but Genevieve interjected.

“They ditched us,” she said bluntly and collapsed down onto a couch connected to the wall.

“Wait,” the girl with the drums said. “Who are these people?” She pointed to Scarlet and I.

“This is Scarlet and Allison,” Cassie explained placing her hand on both of our shoulders. “And they are our new bandmates.” The drummer girl looked stunned.

“Hi,” she said after a moment of silence. “I’m Emma. I play drums.”

*#*

After an hour of practicing, I finally got the lyrics down to three Girls In Skirts songs. Scarlet and Cassie were in the back, working on the guitar arrangements, while Genevieve and Emma took me through the set list. We were only playing about six songs, so for the other three I haven’t learned, we were doing covers.

“Okay,” Emma said, with a serious look. “We’re going to start off with Halos and Horns, the first one you’ve been practicing.” She motioned to the sheet music I was holding. “Then, in between we’re doing the cover of Misery Business and a rock version of Pumped Up Kicks. Got it?”

I nodded.

“Golden,” she said. “Then we’re doing the Girls song you’ve been practicing followed by King For a Day. And then we’ll wrap the set up with Rise Up, Rise Up.”

She motioned to the last piece of sheet music lying on the couch next to me. I did a quick practice run along to Genevieve’s bass and Emma’s drums until I felt comfortable with the flow of things. Finally, Cassie and Scarlet appeared from the back of the trailer.

“So,” Cassie said, popping up next to me. “You think we’re ready to try rehearsing this thing?”

I just nodded, while Emma started with the drums. With a nod from Cassie, Scarlet began strumming the black, white, and red electric guitar left from the previous lead guitarist. Soon, the rest of the band joined it and it was my turn to start with the lyrics.

“Give me a halo!” I sang, heart racing. “I’ll hold it with my horns.” As I continued the lyrics, I felt a surge of confidence swell up in me. Like for some reason, this band is where I was meant to be. We continued playing through the set until we finished.

“That. Was. Awesome!” Cassie squealed, throwing her hands up in the air. “I can’t believe we are actually going to pull this off without them!”

“Yeah, they’ll have to do,” Genevieve huffed, glaring at Scarlet and I. She grabbed her bass and nodded her head toward the door. “Now, let’s go, people. It’s showtime.”