Simple As A Song (School of Rock)

fifteen - til the world gets sick of us

PEOPLE ARE MILLING ABOUT the ground floor for Battle of the Bands. Riley and I stand next to each other, her guitar slung over her shoulder and my keyboard clutched in my arms. Excitement travels through my veins as we watch the bands set up for their performance later. Riley nudges me, grinning. 

"This is the best day of my life," she says. "What about yours?"

"Definitely."

We share a smile before heading over to the line to check-in. There are a few bands in front of us, but that's okay. I want to check out our competition. I know that Night Lizard is performing sometime, and I spot Justin talking with his bandmates in the corner of the dark room. He's still as handsome as ever, but I'm still angry with him for trying to get Zack to join his band. I probably shouldn't be mad about that since he's not happy with Riley and me, but whatever. 

The other bands look excited about performing, too. However, I know that Ri/Low will blow them out of the water. We've been practicing for a while now, and we sound good. My mom has been our only audience, and she has strange music tastes, but she liked us. It might be because I'm her daughter, but it made me feel great about myself. 

I glance toward the door and nearly scream when I see School of Rock walk in. My scream dies in my throat, and then I almost laugh at them. The rest of our friends (at least, I think they're still our friends) are wearing pastel-colored onesies. I nudge Riley, and she looks at them, stifling her laughter behind her hand. 

"Why did they come looking like that?" she asks. "Where are the clothes you helped them pick out?"

"I'm not sure," I say, grinning. "But maybe the judges will disqualify them for being dressed like toddlers."

"They won't."

"I know, but we can dream."

For a second there, I watch as the band walks over to a door. They must have checked in earlier, and then they disappear through the door. I turn my back on School of Rock, a bout of nervousness shooting through my body. I wrap my arms tighter around my keyboard, and my shoulders start to hurt. Soon enough, we make it to the front of the line. 

"Ri/Low here to perform for Battle of the Bands," Riley says excitedly. 

The woman looks over the list she has in front of her, and my heart drops in my chest when she looks back up at us. "You're not on the list," she says. "Did you pay the fee and audition?"

"We paid the fee," I say, gritting my teeth together. "No one said we had to audition for it."

"Well, that's what you have to do to get in." She looks between Riley and me, and I can feel the anger building up. "I can't let you guys perform since you didn't audition."

"Why not?" Riley asks. "We're here now, and we paid for our spot. Let us perform."

"No can do, sweetie."

"Can you give us our money back?"

"No."

"Why can't you do this one thing for us?" I ask, pointing at her. I hold my keyboard up with one arm, trying not to drop it as I go off on the lady. "We practice so hard for this, and we're really good!"

The lady just shakes her head at us, and Riley grabs my arm. She tugs me away from her, and I nearly fall over. Anger is boiling dangerously to the top, and I might scream. "Take a deep breath," she says, slowing to a stop. "I know you're angry, and so am I, but we don't need to take it out on that lady. If we do, we'll never be able to come back here."

"If she's not going to let us perform, she should give us our money back!" I say angrily. "My mom gave us the rest of the money, and she deserves to get her money back."