Shadows of Sound

An Invite?

From just about halfway down Wallflower ln. the sound of a whining guitar filled the unfortunate ears of those who lived in the neighborhood. The source of the sound was a teenage boy no more than 17 named Vesper Whitlock. Vesper slides his flimsy pick down the fretboard of his guitar, causing it to wail. He throws his head back, lifting his foot onto a nearby stool, holding his guitar steady on his knee. His long, blond layered hair swayed behind him as he shook his head along with the rhythm of the solo he was playing; 'Paranoid' by Black Sabbath. He finished it by kicking the worn, brown stool to the ground with a loud clatter against the concrete floor of his basement. "Awesome performance, my little rockstar." A voice behind him hums, it was satisfied, but also a little sarcastic. Vesper turns on the heels of his tattered combat boots to find his mom, Percy, at the bottom of the stairs looking at him with a small, tight lipped smile. Vesper notices her and smiles back. "Mom! I.. I didn't notice you were listening." Vesper says with a laugh, his mom crosses her arms. "How could we not notice, I've been getting calls from all the way down Cherry Avenue that people are hearing 'an awful wailing noise'. I suggest you maybe put it to rest for the night, it's almost 10 and that's when they can call the township on us." His mother warns, it's not like Vesper cared, in his mind all that mattered right now is that people were hearing him. Not caring was one of the best things about Vesper. He looks at his mom and Just shrugs, she looks at him past her glasses in something that could only be described as a 'mom glare'. That got the idea through to Vesper and he nods quickly. "Right, I got you." Vesper declares quickly with his chest puffed out. "Good, and don't forget to clean up those picks... last time you left them the dog chewed some of them up." His mother motions to the pile of flimsy, plastic, white guitar picks on the ground. "Mom! Why didn't you tell me that he was chewing them? I was wondering where they were disappearing to!" Vespers eyes fall to the large, extremely fluffy white dog standing neatly beside his mother. "I thought you knew, now Chop chop. You've got school in the morning!" Percy crosses her arms and gives her son another glare before turning to walk back up the stares, Vesper rolls his eyes. As his mom makes her way up the stairs she looks over her shoulders, "I mean it, Vesper!" She calls to him before closing the basement door behind her. "Yeah, mom, I got it!" He shakes his head and lifts his guitar up over his shoulders and leans it against the amplifier. He unplugs the wires and turns off the amps. His eyes scan the basement, posters littered the unfinished walls, the floor was a mess of cords and wires from his guitars and sound equipment. Vesper just shrugs, falling onto the couch behind him, taking off his combat boots and tossing them to the side before regaining his balance on his feet and running upstairs.
-
The next morning Vesper wakes up to the sound of his phone alarm blasting 'The Trooper' by Iron Maiden right in his ears. Despite it being one of the best songs known to man... at least to Vesper, it ticked him off that he had to be up so early. His hair was a knotted tangly mess and his shirt was bunched at the sleeves. His mom described his look like a 'tornado had ripped right through him' when he woke up in the morning. Vesper rubs his eyes lazily as he sets up in bed and makes his way into the bathroom, jumping into the shower, the hot water pelted his back. He brushes out his tangly hair and washes it thoroughly twice before getting back out. He quickly gets dressed, he had sliced off the sleeves of his Slayer shirt long ago. His mother had obviously given him grief for it, but he did it anyways. He threw on some black cuffed skinny jeans and some dangly shiny earrings. A black spiked cuff accompanied his left arm and a plain black one on his right. He clipped a chain to his belt loops and looked himself in the mirror, nodding he made his way out of his room and down the hall. "Vesper!? Vesper I've been calling you for the past ten minutes you're going to be late!" His mother was always on his tail in the morning, he was 'going to be late' about 300 other times, too, but he still arrived on time nonetheless. "Right, mom let's just go. Yeah?" He rolls his eyes and his mom looks at him. "Was that Attitude? Because I can take that guitar right back to the guitar center if I need to." His mother always used that threat, she knew it got to him. "Fine, yeah okay it wasn't attitude, I'm sorry. Let's go." Vesper sighs, looking up at his mother with a forced smile and she nods, grabbing his arm and pulling him along with her as if he were a child. "Mom, you know I'm capable of walking, right?" Vesper eyes his mother with slight resentment. "Attitude." His mother reminded him and he just sighed again.
-
Upon arriving to school, Vesper pushes open the doors to the lobby of Wallflower district high school. "Back in hell, I suppose." A voice calls from beside him, he looks over and locks eyes with his best friend, Adrian. Adrian had short brown hair that had just begun to snake down his neck, icy blue eyes and a septum piercing. Vesper has been Adrian's friend since he chased away some boys who were picking on Vesper with a lighter and a can of air freshener. Vesper extends his hand to Adrian, Adrian shakes it, they hold their hands above their heads before making the "bull horns" symbol with their pointer and pinky fingers and pounding it to their chests.
As Vesper and Adrian make their way down the hallway, they couldn't help but notice the amount of people carrying bright pink flyers in their hands. "What is..." Vesper looks over to Adrian. "Hell if I know, man." He replies, quickly noticing that a short blond haired boy appears in front of them. "Birthday boy said everyone's invited." The blond haired boy rolls his eyes, takes a pink flyer and shoves it into Vesper's chest, causing him to cough. "Thanks a lot dipshit!" Vesper calls, his eyebrows furrowing as the blond haired boy walks away. Vesper looks down at the pink flyer. "Paul R.'s birthday, huh?" Adrian looks over to Vesper. Vesper shrugs and reads on, "558 Vulture Burrow Lane." Vesper finishes. "Isn't that totally fucked church over there?" Adrian asks. "Huh... yeah I think it is." Vesper nods quickly, his eyebrow raised as someone shoves Adrian to the side, clearly trying to get through. "Watch where you're going Dickweed!" Adrian hisses, the person turning around to catch Adrian's eyes. "What did you say to me you little punk." Davie. A hotheaded football player, and one of the most intimidating 10th graders you've ever seen, grabbed Adrian's shirt and lifted him up by it, just like you'd see in the movies. "Hey! Dude! Put him down!" Vesper yells as he walks up to Davie. Davie just hits Adrian off the locker and drops him to the floor like he was some sort of flesh rag doll. Vesper felt his chest begin to rise and fall irregularly as he stared up at the boy in front of him. "Whatcha' gonna do now, Whitlock, cry? Did I hurt the Satan worshippers feelings by beating up his companion? Hmm?" Davie mocks him, all the while a wild, maniacal expression spreads across his face. Vesper approaches him quickly, bringing his knee up and planting it right in Davie's groin. He falls to the ground, his hands between his legs. "You- you stupid little satanist! You're evil." Davie hisses angrily as he tries to get to his feet, but he feels a tense pressure on his chest, its Vesper's combat boots. "You're pathetic, Davie. Nothing but pathetic, where do you think a football spot is going to get you? Huh? Nowhere! Me and Adrian on the other hand, however, have something going for us. I think if you build that confidence and realize you're one of the worst football players on the team, maybe you'll be able to tell that Adrian and I are above you." Vesper takes his foot off of Davie and turns on his heels, making his way over to Adrian, Vesper extends his arm out to Adrian, who grabs it and hoists himself upwards again. "Everything good? You aren't hurt or nothing, yeah?" Vesper asks and Adrian just rubs his head. "No I'm.. I'm good, just hurts a bit." Adrian claims with his eyes squinted shut. Vesper rubs the back of Adrian's head. Adrian regains control of his body and stands upright again. "I'm good, man I'm good." Adrian makes the bullhorns symbol with his fingers again, and so does Vesper. They both slam their fists against their chests and part ways for first period.
-
Vesper sits in his first period class with his legs extended out under his desk. His pen tapping to a certain rhythm he made up in his head. Then suddenly, the classroom phone rings, his teacher picks it up and nods. Her eyes flash to Vesper and then back as she hangs up the phone. "Vesper, you're wanted in the deans office." She mutters. Vesper just nods and gets up from his seat, hearing people around him mutter about what he may be leaving for.
As Vesper makes his way to the deans, he looks to the side to see if anybody was called down with him, it didn't seem that way until he got to the front office. Vesper knocks on the door, flipping his long blonde hair out from around his shoulders, he combs it back with his fingers as the door swings open. "Vesper Whitlock, nice to have you, go ahead and take a seat." Dean of students, Mrs. Yoko answered with her hair tied in a neat bun like it always was. As soon as Vesper walked into the office, he spotted Davie and he nods to himself. "So he really is a pussy." Vesper says to himself with a sly grin plastered on his face. He sits down on a chair in front of him, beside Davie.
"So I'm being told that you brutally tormented Davie into..." Mrs. Yoko trails off and Davie continues for her. "Possessive submission, ma'm." He finishes. "Yeah, okay, so... I just wanted to hear your side of the story before I make any needed or unneeded punishments." Mrs. Yoko continues where she left off. "I didn't brutally torment anybody, he picked up my friend by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against a locker." Vesper says, shaking his head as his hair falls back in place where it was before. "You won't believe him, will you Mrs. Yoko! He's a Satan worshipper!" Davie whines, he sounds like a dying troll when he does whine around. "I don't warship Satan." Vesper declares shaking his head again. "Oh Mrs. Yoko, dont give in!" Davie begs. "Okay, I think that's enough. You both shouldn't have allowed it to get as out of hand as it did. Yes or no?" Mrs. Yoko shakes her head hearing Davie's pleas. "No, we shouldn't have let it get that out of hand and we promise not to let that happen ever again." Vesper says with a sarcastic, almost mocking smile. "Is that what she wanted?" He asks himself. "Perfect, you both are free to go now. I expect we won't have any more issues. Yes?" Mrs. Yoko raises her eyebrows in await of an answer. "Right, Mrs. Yoko." Vesper was quick to suck up to authority, even though he didn't seem to care too much about it. Mrs. Yoko shoos them away with a nod. "I expect that to be true."
On their way out, Vesper looks over to Davie, he flips his hair off of his shoulders again. Davie glares. "I know what you are, Whitlock. Just you wait." Davie huffs a loud sigh as his chest puffs out. Vesper looks up at him and scoffs, turning around and flipping him the middle finger over his shoulder.
-
When the lunch bell rings, Vesper stands outside the men's restroom in await of his best friend. Sure enough, Adrian comes around the corner with his arms crossed behind his neck. "Adrian! Dude we have got to sue the school system." Vesper says with an angry huff out his nostrils. Adrian tilts his head. "What?" He questions. "Well first, they don't give us any classes together, and next Davie got me called down to Mrs. Yoko's office for 'tormenting him into possessive submission'" Vesper rolls his eyes, looking at his feet and then back up at Adrian who has his eyebrows bunched together. "But he tried to beat my ass?" Adrian turns and begins walking towards the cafeteria. "That's what I told her! She left us both off with a 'warning'" Vesper makes a high, mocking voice to make fun of Mrs. Yoko. "A warning? What did you do!?" Adrian begins to sound a little irritated. "I let it get too out of hand, I guess" Vesper and Adrian claim an empty table, black backpacks slamming down on the table causing some people to look up at them. Adrian flips them off and makes his way to the line to get his lunch.
"She told you that?" Adrian says when they're both sat back down at their lunch table. "Uh huh." Vesper hums, his mouth stuffed full of food. "But he beat me up for no reason." Adrian states with his eyes blazing with anger. "Yeah, I know, but Mrs. Yoko would rather die than punish a football player. Davie kept saying that I was a Satan worshiper?" Vesper shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "I'm going to put that simpleminded kid in the ground if he isn't careful." Adrian hisses. "Metal." Vesper mumbles under his breath.
Standing up, tray in hand Vesper and Adrian walk to return their trays. Out of the corner of his eye, vesper noticed a blue letterman jacket. He didn't think anything of it until he heard Adrian call out to him. "Dude! Watch!" Vesper spins around only to be met with a face full of pizza sauce and ranch. Davie. He heard voices around him gasping and laughing. "Ohh... gosh, I'm sorry! Why don't you pick up those boots of yours and maybe that won't happen!" Davie holds his head up and walks past Vesper. Vesper just stares, his chest heaving angrily as he wipes his eyes of the pizza sauce. "Dude, he's not worth it. Cmon, you can just wear my gym shirt." Adrian says, looking over vespers shoulder to see Davie high fiving a bunch of boys around him. All football players, all about the same height. Like copy and pastes of each other. Adrian just wraps his arms around vesper and walks him to the bathroom. The rest of the cafeteria was silent, watching them walk out. As soon as they left, the room behind them exploded into a roar of laughter.
"I just don't understand the point." Vesper states, pacing back and forth in front of Adrian. Adrian's gym shirt was plain black which Vesper didn't seem to mind wearing all that much. "The point of.. me giving you the shirt?" Adrian asks with a tilt in his head. "No, dimwit. The point of Davie picking on us all the time. Not like we did anything to him until this morning." Vesper shrugs with his eyebrows raised. "Well you know how Davie is, right? He'll do anything to get back at someone who humiliated him. Even if that means purposefully spilling pizza sauce and ranch all over you." Adrian states patting Vesper on the shoulder. "We'll show him, though. One day we're going to be on a huge stage. 'Is that Vesper Whitlock and Adrian Reed? Those losers from 10th grade? Gee golly gosh! I wish I'd been nicer to them!' And you know what, Adrian?" Vesper starts, but doesn't let Adrian answer. "We won't need to worry about him, because we won't even remember of his painful existence." Vesper puts his hands on his hips with his head held high.
-

"You know this party is about to be totally awesome, right?" Adrian asks as he and Vesper walk to attend their last class of the day. "Yeah, I mean full of a bunch of conforming losers, but nonetheless anything to get my reputation shiny." Vesper says. Tugging on a strand of his pure blond hair. "That's going to be... difficult given you just beat up the lord of all conforming douchebags right in the middle of the hallway a couple of hours ago, and also had pizza sauce and ranch splattered all over you in front of the whole cafeteria. I love your confidence though." Adrian gives Vesper a firm pat on the back, Vesper winced, it stung a little but he never said anything. "Davie is convinced I'm a spawn of Satan." Vesper rolls his eyes and hoists his book bag over to his more dominant arm, his hair getting caught in the process. "That right? I always knew he was a religious nut." Adrian states "matter of factly". "There's no way you can miss it. He sports around like he hasn't sinned in his life." "I'm sure beating up an outcasted metalhead isn't exactly a desirable action in the eyes of god." Vesper sighs before pushing the door open to his last class of the day, the party tonight was going to be crucial to Vespers reputation. He was planning on showing up, and he was going to do whatever he could to get all eyes on him.