✮ Rockstar ✮ || A Lightbrush Fanfiction

Chapter 36 - Bright Lights

Paintbrush turned over in their bird's nest of a bed, seeing their phone screen light up on their bedside table. They reached out for it, missing it a few times, and pulled it towards them. They squinted and turned down the brightness to normal. An email from Camera caught their eye. They tapped it and read through it.

    Paintbrush Canvas,
    I have taken your idea into consideration, and I have come to the unfortunate decision that... I can manage your band! You'll always be stuck with me now, Paintbrush. Anywho, I loved the song, and I think y'all will go far. I can look around and see if anywhere would be willing to be your first gig! Get back to you soon!
    -Camera Casio

    They sat up with a start, re-reading the email over and over again. They were going to be a band together! They quickly went over to their messages and texted the group chat.

     Paintbrush - guys
    Paintbrush - camera said she'd manage our band
    Lightbulb 💛- WAIT ACTUALLY??
    Lightbulb 💛- HAHSAHFHSGFHSJAGFEAGHBDH
    Lightbulb 💛- OMGA
    Lightbulb 💛- OMGA
    Lightbulb 💛- WERE GONNA BE A BAND AHSHHDHSA
    Fan - wow
    Fan - that's crazy
  Test Tube - That's amazing!

They smiled at their responses, glad they were all happy. But now what? They glanced at the date. April 4th, nothing special. They groaned and slid out of bed, heading for their bathroom. Most days were like this, they'd just sit back and do practically nothing. They were a terrible procrastinator. So many song ideas were thrown out the window because they were too lazy to get up and make it.

They observed themself in the mirror. Same old, same old; nothing special. Messy bed hair, eyebags, they wanted something different. Even though so much had changed in their life, they still felt the same as they did 7 months ago.

Paintbrush's eyes flicked to different parts of themself. They needed to change something. Then, an idea popped up in their head. That's it! On impulse, they left their room and rushed downstairs. They threw their shoes on and grabbed their keys, getting ready to go to the store for something.

They'd never really changed stuff about their appearance before, other than bleaching their hair in rebellion against their parents almost a year ago. They were surprised the bleach held up that long. Despite their roots growing out, their hair looked pretty fresh.

As they entered the store, they b-lined for the make-up section and grabbed a box of pink hair dye off their shelf. While they were at it, they grabbed some eyeliner, too. They knew their dad would probably get mad at them because "Pink was a girly color!" or whatever. Their dad screamed like a girl, anyway, what's the problem?

After they got home, they dug under their kitchen counter for a few trash bags to cover their countertop. They knew this was permanent — or at least as permanent as hair dye gets — but they could care less. They skimmed through the instructions on the box as they headed up to their bathroom and shut the door.

The instructions shouldn't be that important, right? Paintbrush ripped the box open and poured the contents on their counter. They squeezed both mixtures into the provided tray and mixed them with the brush. They reached up to grab a strand of their hair but stopped. The realization of what they were doing caught up to them. Is this a good idea...? They wondered to themself as they stared in the mirror. They contemplated for a moment before shrugging, Oh well! Not my problem.

They laid the brush on their hair and ran it down the strand, purposefully leaving their roots and around 2 inches of their bleached hair untouched. They worked slowly, careful not to mess up. They finished in about an hour, using almost all of the hair dye the box came with. They laughed at their appearance, comparing themself to a wet dog before undressing and hopping in the shower.