Moving Up In The World Tonight

Chapter One

"Alright, the show's on in ten minutes!" Milton called out and everyone began scrambling around to get ready. It was a big show tonight, and some important people would be coming to check it out. In fact, it was one of the biggest concerts that year as well as one of the most anticipated of the rising band.

"Echo, come on!" Leon called and Echo looked up from the guitar he was tuning. "Head to the back with me. I want to rehearse one more time before we go onstage."

Echo stood up, stretching, though it wasn't easy with the guitar strapped to his back. He followed Leon further backstage so that the audience wouldn't be able to hear them practicing.

Leon led Echo into a room with purple and black walls, the floor being long black carpet. Along the walls were posters and a couple of shiny guitars that'd been used, polished, and hung up for keepsakes. Light purple LED lights surrounded the bottoms of the walls on the floors, lining all the way around. In one corner, a large drum set sat. Next to it were a couple of amps for the guitars and a box that held parts for the other instruments. On the back of the door was a large body mirror that's edges were decorated with stars.

All-in-all, the room had a cozy feeling to it and it was also soundproof, which allowed the band to practice to their hearts' content.

"Alright, let's run this one more time," Leon said, picking up his own guitar that rested on the box. "We don't have much time and without Jace to rehearse with us, it'll be a bit different. But it's better to do what we can. Practice makes perfect, right?"

Echo shrugged, tuning his guitar a bit more to ensure it sounded okay. Leon watched, his eyebrows furrowed at his bandmate's behavior. Echo was usually a pretty talkative person (at least he was to him), so he didn't understand why Echo was so quiet.

"Is something on your mind?" Leon asked and Echo looked at him. Leon stared into Echo's stormy grey eyes, trying to find anything. "If something's wrong, you should tell me. I want to help before the show."

"I'm fine," Echo said, playing the beginning notes for the first song they were to perform. "I'm just a bit nervous, I guess. I've never performed in a concert this big, and for me to be the lead singer is crazy."

"Maybe there won't be a lot of people," Leon said as he played notes in sync with Echo's notes. "I mean, maybe not a lot of people know we're performing tonight."

"You know that's not possible," Echo said. "We literally blew up over night. People want to see what we're about. They're most likely going to check us out tonight."

Leon didn't argue. Echo was right. Everyone would want to see what their band was about, despite them not even having a stable band name.

Before Leon could respond, Milton popped his head into the room. The smell of lavender hit his nose, and it was actually pretty comforting. It was mixed with the scent of new leather.

"Show's on in about three minutes," he said. "The crew's already setting up, so I came to get you two. Let's do our best tonight, guys. This is our debut, got it? This is where we show the world who's coming out on top."

Leon rolled his eyes.

"I don't know about all that," he said, "but we're definitely about to raise Hell."

Echo smiled, standing up. This was it. He was finally getting away from his small audiences and social media. Sure, he was used to performing at large events and such, but this was a concert, meaning way larger crowds and even dangers.

Echo took a deep breath as he walked behind the curtains. He could see the drummers setting up on stage along with some of the stagehands.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the main announcer said and everyone began going quiet. Echo could feel his breathing going unsteady and Leon placed a hand on his shoulder. When Echo looked at him, the dark blue stars mixed in his light electric blue hair clinked together a bit.