Zoey Kagel considers herself quite the artist when it comes to make-up, so when she made her YouTube channel ten-years-ago, she never expected to be identified as the Beauty Hero Of 2020. One viral video later, and she's caught the eye of the music...
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Luke Holland
I'm in the drumming seat, and it feels so good. The sticks in my hands. The creaking noise coming from the chair. The vibrations from underneath. It's pure magic.
"Let's try out I want you from our first album. It gives Luke his drum solo moment," Elijah says, switching on the keyboard.
I don't give anyone the chance to disagree when I get straight into it. The sticks tap the High Tom, foot hitting the Bass Drum, until Tony starts in with the bass guitar and I get wilder with my beating.
"Wooohoo," shouts Elijah into his microphone, bringing a loud laugh from me.
My heart pumps harder when I cross my hands and hit the different Toms to get it a larger sound. The heavy beat reverberating around us and Leo takes vocals on this one.
His voice is low and raspy, so much emotion within the words. We wrote this song in the back of my first car, a twenty-year-old Ford Focus, on his eighteenth birthday after his parents refused to throw him a party.
The song that got us famous.
Tiny beads of sweat slip past my hairline, dribbling down my face until it catches around my jaw. This right here is my high. Nothing else matters but the rock-and-roll.
Leo turns and makes eye contact as he sings. "If we have nothing in this life, at least we got us."
It hits me directly in the chest. I smile through a laugh, hearing him chuckle through the next verse. My foot hits the base as the music gets louder. I lift my head and look out onto the stage of the Beltway Hall, imaging the sea of fans jumping and screaming along with us.
I squint my eyes when I see a figure walking down the steps, a familiar fisting sensation in my gut when I recognise that red jumper.
Zoey's here.
I'm a smiling idiot; as usual. A primal need to show off my skills running through me. I hit harder, running into my solo at the perfect time.
I'm panting like I just ran all the way here, my t-shirt sticking to my body from the exhaustion of it. The overhead lights shine down on me, and when I glance up, I see she's stopped mid-stride to watch.
It lights a fire up my arse. My entire body is one with the music, pushing the demons from my chest. It's almost painful. The emotions coming to a head as the tears push out of my eyes and mix with the sweat.
I'm going crazy, but it's impossible to stop when I realise I'm feeling again. I'm tired of being numb, acting carefully around people, apologising for my past. This is me. THIS IS ME!
It isn't until my arm cramps I realise I'm the only one playing, my band mates watching me with shocked faces. It's the performance of a lifetime. My comeback from the countless times I let them down.
