Everything Harmony: Church Balls (A The Lemon Twigs Fanfiction)

I. They Don't Know (How To Fall In Place)

I woke up in a groggy state and picked the eye goop from the corners of my eyes. I slept like a baby last night.

As I stared at my alarm clock, I realized it was 09:00 AM. Way past my time to be out of bed already for a Monday morning. Why hasn't mum come upstairs to wake me? I'll be late for school if I don't hurry! How did this happen?

I threw an assortment of clothes onto my bed and rush to get dressed. I didn't think too hard or too much about it, just a plain pattern t-shirt and the first bell bottoms I could find.

"Mum!" I shouted from the top of the stairs. No reply. That's strange, really strange. She couldn't be at work already, her shifts always start at 15:00 PM.

I crept down the staircase to hear the murmurs of voices at the kitchen table. My mum's, and two other voices.

"Mum," I repeated to her, "did you not hear me?"

Just as I reached the last step, my body froze up. My mum was sitting at the take, two young men with long, brown hair across from her.

The Lemon Twigs.

I blinked once, then twice. Thrice. I was in full disbelief, thinking I was somehow still sleeping. This felt like a dream, or a set-up to a weird joke, but...

"Sorry, sweetheart, I don't think I did hear you. How are you?" She smiled as if nothing was wrong.

I shook my head. "Well, I'm fine, other than that-- that I'm going to be late for school--"

My mum shook her head and told me, "You're not going to school today, honey. I had to call it off for you."

"Why? I'm not sick," was my rebuttal. I sat at the table in the chair between her and the Twigs. "Why did you call off?" My eyes searched for hers but couldn't reach her. She was looking off to the side, evading me. 

Michael waved in my general direction. "Good morning," he said to me. Brian gave a nod of reassurance. I felt nervous and giddy and waved back with a sheepish smile. "Hi!"

My mother looked very serious suddenly. The tension in the air could have been cut with a knife. She put her hand on a piece of paper and slid it over to me. It looked like very official papers, like a contract.

My mum was selling me to The Lemon Twigs.

"But- mum--" I immediately hesitated, "you can't just sell your daughter off, I don't think that's allowed anymore." 

I was a big fan of The Twigs and had been for a really long time. I had posters, and vinyls, and I have always wanted to see them performing live on their Europe and UK tours. The financial rut of a situation that we were in, though, made that difficult. I was such a big fan. But in this moment, I started to question things.

My mum supported her chin on top of her hand, and put her other hand on mine reassuringly. "I'm sorry, but I don't... have much of a choice at this point anymore... It will be alright. Brian and Michael are two very nice boys."

"But- but then what about school?"

"You can still go to school," Brian said, "in between the tours."

Michael giggled. "Go To School," he repeated.

The tours... I had been dreaming of seeing them live for so long, but not like this. Not in this way. Not that I was complaining per se, but I felt so torn between feeling betrayed by my mother and feeling excited that I was meeting my idols.

My eyes darted from my mum, to The Twigs, and then back at my mum. "But the talent show is coming up, mum. Will I have enough time to focus on that?"

"Sure you will, and Brian and Michael have got to be the best people to help you prepare for the talent show."

"What were you going to do? -- for the talent show?" Brian questioned.

It was a little embarrassing to say in front of them. I pinched my hair with my fingers, as I usually did when I was nervous. "I was going to play Everything Harmony."

The brothers looked flattered. "Ohh, that's cool," said Brian. "We can definitely help you!" I happily nodded. 

I looked down at the contract. Maybe when I'm older, I'll understand how helpless my mum must have felt and why she needed that money more than she needed me. I swallowed my pride and grabbed my favourite pen, a pink biro pen with a fluffy pom-pom at the end, to sign the contract. 

I raised my head to finally meet my mother's eyes again, and while she was warmly smiling, it seemed like she had to swallow her pride to accept this, too.

"Welcome on board," Michael yelled, "it'll be fun!"

"Sure," I replied. I wasn't completely sure.

"Go ahead and grab your things, love," my mum told me as she slung her arm around me and pulled me in to kiss my forehead.

I grabbed my bag and stormed upstairs to pack my things. What the hell happened there?! I barely could contain my excitement, packed my bag as quickly as possible, and rushed back downstairs.

"All set?" Brian asked.

"Don't forget your shoes," Michael told me.

"Right," I replied and wormed my shoe onto my foot. "I'm ready to go now."

Michael pushed the front door open and was already running to their bus. "Let's rock!" he yelled.

–

I was sat in the back seat next to Reza and Danny, with Michael in the passenger seat, and Brian driving. Danny removed one earbud from his ear. "Hiya," he welcomed me. Reza showed me finger guns.

I was wiggling and jittering in my seat from excitement. "Hello," I replied, just barely disguising my embarrassing voice crack.

I leaned back and stared at the back of Michael's seat. "So, I was sold to you guys. What did you need that money for?" I joked, expecting them to return with a joking response.

But there was only silence that filled the bus.

I was starting to question the moral ethics of my idols.

I trudged on. "...Because, I thought the last album was quite successful, actually."

"No-- no," Michael finally replied. "No, yeah. I mean, we don't care about the money."

"We really don't," Brian bolstered.

"I mean, that Uni Boys album called "Buy This Now!", right? What's up with that, then?"

The mood in the bus got a little lighter again. The boys laughed.

"By the way, your name was Yn, right?" Brian asked, his eyes meeting mine from the rearview mirror.

I nodded, "How did you know that?"

Michael shifted in his seat and looked back at us in the back seat, "We were talking to your mom. She told us. It's a really unique name, where's it from?"

"It's Spanish, I think."

"Cool!"

Somehow, I felt that this whole situation wasn't going to be so bad after all.