The Ballerina and the Rocker

Quinn

It didn’t make any sense. It was such a beautiful, clear day; the color of the sky would have put a robin’s egg to shame. But now the sky was smokey and the air tasted like metal.

Time stood still.

Zacky

“Zacky!” his mother called from downstairs in the living room. “Come, quick!”

Reluctantly, he got up out of bed and made his way down the stairs. He saw his parents watching the television, their eyes wide and faces struck with horror.

“What?” he asked, his annoyance quickly changing to concern.

“Planes have hit the World Trade Center,” his father explained. Zacky looked at the television where a news reporter was frantically talking about what his father had just mentioned, and in the corner was an image of the giant gray buildings covered in smoke and flames.

“Oh my god, Quinn,” he said to himself, struck with worry.

He bolted to the phone hanging on the kitchen wall and quickly dialed her dorm, hoping she was there and out of harms way. When it went to voicemail he hung up and dialed again. He did this three consecutive times until she finally picked up.

“Hello?” he heard her ask.

“Oh, thank god,” Zacky all but screamed.

“Zacky!” she exclaimed. “Oh my god, I don’t know what’s going on!”

“Are you ok?” he asked. At this moment, the most important thing to him was her safety.

“Yeah, I’m fine! I was in class when they escorted us out, telling us that the Twin Towers were hit…” She paused and he could hear her sniffling from holding back tears. “Zacky, I’m scared.

She was safe, that was all that mattered. But being so far away from her during this made him absolutely sick.

Quinn

Classes had been postponed. The once busy and vibrant streets of Manhattan were desolate. Her mother had wanted to get out there to be with her, but given the circumstances trying to get a flight anywhere, let alone New York, was near impossible.

Quinn got an Amtrak ticket and headed up to stay with her grandparents in Connecticut until classes resumed. It was an incredibly melancholy time. She spent the days on the phone with either Zacky or her sister, wishing desperately to see them again. The three thousand miles separating them had never felt so far until now.

“Hi honey,” her mother said during one of their daily phone calls. “How’s everything going today?”

“Pretty good,” Quinn replied. It seemed almost a sin to answer positively nowadays. “Classes are starting up again, so I’ll be heading back in a day or two.”

“That’s great, sweetie... Now I don’t mean to bring the morale down, but I have some really important news for you.”

A giant pit formed in her stomach.

“Oh-okay…”

Her mother took a deep breath. “You father’s being deployed. He’s set to leave in a few days.”

And now her heart had fallen into her stomach.

“For how long?” she asked, holding back tears.

“Six months, then we’ll see from there.”

This wasn’t the first time her father was being deployed. But this was the first time Quinn had the terrible feeling like he wasn’t going to come back.

Zacky

It was definitely a time of change and a time to move forward.

The band had finally managed to snag a new bass player. Dameon, a friend from around the scene, helped them out at a show in town and then decided to tag along for the ride. Maybe they’d have better luck this time around?

To top it off, the band had been contacted by some guy named Larry Jacobson, who had taken an interest in being their band manager.

“Do we even need a manager?” Zacky asked. Having a band manager was not punk-rock, but then again the band was definitely heading in a different direction.

“I don’t really know what they do…” Matt admitted.

Still relatively new to the industry, the guys were confident in themselves but were still lacking in some departments… which no one wanted to admit to.

“I guess the worst thing that could happen is that we get a free dinner?” Brian submitted to the conversation.

The restaurant where they were meeting Larry was fancier than the places they frequented, to say the least. Zacky felt a bit out of place with his black eyeliner and spiked up hair. But then again, he really didn’t give a fuck.

“Thanks for meeting with me guys,” Larry said as they sat down at the table. He seemed genuine enough, and not at all the sleazy type they were all probably expecting.

“Can we get a bottle of red and a round of beers?” he asked to the waitress passing by, who nodded before taking off. “So,” he began, turning back to them with a huge smile on his face. “I just got to say -- I heard your demo and flipped out.”

He certainly didn’t look like the type of guy who would take an interest in their music.

“So I found your CD and listened to the rest of your stuff,” Larry continued. “And, hell -- you have interesting minds.”

As Larry went on and on about how much he was impressed with their music and the dent they had made in the SoCal scene, Zacky felt more and more comfortable with the idea of having a manager. The drinks helped a bit, too. But to see someone who clearly had a grasp of the industry and wanted to a help a band for the right reasons really made Zacky feel proud to be doing what he was doing, and he had a feeling his friends were feeling the same way.

“You did not see Metallica” Matt said to Larry in disbelief, several bottles of beer and wine into their night.

“Did so,” Larry said, “You were probably still in diapers.” The table erupted in laughter as drinks continued to be drunk and stories continued to be shared.

While they had gone in with the intent of “sticking it to the man,” they walked away with not only a manager but another friend and the feeling things were on the right track.

Quinn

So far this had been a shit semester. Aside from the obvious fear and distress the city had been enduring, Quinn had been struggling in her classes. Her concentration just wasn’t on point the way it usually was; her mind was constantly distracted and wandering. She missed her father. She missed her sister. She missed Zacky.

The crisp, autumn air brushed against her face as Quinn walked down 9th Avenue, heading no where in particular just desperate to get away from anything ballet or school related. Having lost track of how long she had been walking, Quinn looked up at the street signs and realized she had walked a good 30 blocks and found herself near Penn Station.

Part of her felt inclined to just hop on a train to see where it would take her. But what good would that do? It certainly wouldn’t put her mind at ease. With a heavy sigh, she got the subway instead and headed back up to her dorm.

When she got back into her building, Quinn decided to check her mail. Inside was a flyer about some upcoming performance at Lincoln Center and a white padded envelope from Zacky. She quickly tossed the flyer into the trash and eagerly opened the parcel. Inside was Avenged’s re-released CD. It even felt more professional this time around.

She smiled at the purple covered CD, which had been signed by all five of the guys. At least they were on the right track.