The Crazy Girl

"We're Gonna Make It."

"Check this riff out Gabby..."
I was showing Gabby this really cool riff I had learned on bass. Don't ask me why, but Gabby has always been fascinated with riffs. She's the one who got me playing them so much.

When the gang sleeps over, we all pile into my camper with every instrument we can find and we'll watch movies and jam out for hours.

I played the riff and watched Gabby try to top that.

She couldn't.

"Give me your bass. I wanna try it." Gabby said.

"Hurt my baby, and I will bite your face off." I warned.

She rolled her eyes and took my guitar as I took hers. I don't play only bass. I can play pretty much every instrument you hand me, same goes for the rest of the band.

I started playing the intro to my favorite Love & Theft song, Runaway. Pretty soon everyone was playing along and singing to it.

"I'M GONNA PACK MY BAGS AND NEVER LOOK BACK
RUN A PARALLEL LINE WITH THE RAILROAD TRACKS,
MAKE MY GETAWAY.

I'LL PUT THE PETAL TO THE METAL AS THE SUN GOES DOWN,
LEAVE EVERYBODY SLEEPING IN THIS SLEEPY TOWN TONIGHT.
AND AT THE BREAK OF DAY,
I'LL BE A RUNAWAY-

I'LL BE A RUNAWAY..."

"You guys, that was actually really, really... amazing..." Tal said, breathless from singing.

"Do you guys think that we could actually be something one day? That Grains Of Sand won't just end after we start High School? I mean we have so much potential..." I said.

"I don't know Sar Bear..." Ray responded. "I don't know if we could make it big, if we're good enough. But I don't think it'll just end after High School starts. We're too far gone into the music for that..."

"Well I think we could go big if we tried." Gabby said kind of angrily to Ray's response. "We could and we can be big if we tried to be, we just never have so don't talk like we're some piece of crap band cause we're not."

We were all shocked to hear Gabby talk like that. It's not everyday that she's so incredibly serious. But then, it was like it clicked in all of us that we actually do have a chance. That if we really applied ourselves we could be big and it was like we all realized that that's exactly what we want out of life. To make music and be known.

"I think we should start trying..." Alex said from beside me. "Gabby's right, we are good enough for it. And what we have going here, it's too special to let go of now..."

"Agreed." Tal and I said.

We all looked at Ray, as if her agreement to this would make the decision final.

"Why are you guys looking at me? You know that if you guys are in I'm obviously gonna be in with you." Ray said with a grin.

"First thing's first,"Gabby started.

"We gotta talk to Mr. Kiery." Tal finished.

"Correct." Alex said.

"Okay well I'm tired let's put the movie in and crash, we have school tomorrow." I said. As excited as I was, it's been a long day, and I seriously need a nap.

I put the movie in and curled up next to Alex. I had already opened up the sofa bed and brought out a crap load of pillows and blankets. I got lost playing with Alex's hand, and the next thing I knew I was asleep.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

The next day we were all very anxious to get to second period, but eventually, it finally came.

We were all silent as we walked into band, unsure of what to say, what to ask, or even how to start.

Finally I spoke.

"Mr. Kiery, can we talk to you really quick?" I asked.

"Yeah sure, let me just finish helping Jimmy tune his new guitar and I'll be right with you guys."

We all sat quietly at our spots until Mr. Kiery came over at last.

"What do you guys need?" He asked.

"A book on how to make your band big..." Gabby mumbled.

"What?" Mr. Kiery asked.

"We want to make our band big, to make it real." Tal said.

"We know we can do it," Ray put in.

"We just don't know how to start." Alex finished.

"Can you help us start? Tell us the steps we need to take to actually be something and we'll follow them." I concluded.

Mr. Kiery just stared at all of us with a grin of excitement plastered on his face. Finally, he spoke again.

"First thing you need is a manager and a demo which I will more than happily help you guys record if you would like. From there your manager will need to find you guys a starting gig at cheap places like restaurants until they can contact a record label that would listen to the demo. By then your manager will work with your label company and all you'll have to do is write and perform."

It seemed easy enough, but I knew it was still gonna be really hard. I looked around and everyone's facial expressions seemed to show the same thoughts.

"Mr. Kiery? Do you think it's possible that we might actually be able to pull this off and make it big?" Tal asked.

He just smiled really big and answered,

"You know I do kid."

We all looked at each other with grins so big, it hurt your cheek bones just to look at us. We were gonna make it. I could feel it...

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

By the time sixth period rolled around, I had already written two and a half songs I figured we could use for the demo. Mr. Kiery had told us that a demo album requires at least nine original songs and at least one cover song. So I wasn't gonna wait to write all of these songs when I knew I could write a bunch in time so that we could pick from a wide verity of what we like.

In fact, I was still working on these songs after the bell rang, and the Cap. came to ask me about how yesterday afternoon went.

"Sarrrrrr Bearrrrrrrrrr..." he teased.

I looked up super slow to find the Cap. staring at me with a teasing face.

"Caaaaaaaaaap...." I replied.

"Are you gonna tell me what happened after you left with your little friend yesterday?" He asked with a smile.

I smiled back, remembering the song... and the kiss...

"Alex and I have a thing going, but it's not a big deal Cap." I said.

I just kept working on the song until he finally saw what I was doing.

"New song?" He asked. "Or poem?"

"Song." I answered. "The band is trying to put a demo together."

"Demo?" He questioned.

I looked up again from my paper, thinking about how much catching up the Cap. is gonna have to do when the gang gets here.

"You have a long game of catch up to play." I answered with a big grin. "This is why you shouldn't miss our band practices."

He looked at me confused, but I knew that soon he'd know all the answers.

"Hey Cap." Came four voices from the door. Speaking of the Devils...