Famous Last Words - Lyn-G

Chapter 8: My Way Home is Through You

A tap on my left shoulder as I'm retrieving my homework from my locker at the end of the day causes me to spin around quickly. I breathe a sigh of relief as I see the person standing behind me. It's Jimmy, grinning widely, his backpack slung carelessly over his left shoulder.

"Hey Jimms, you scared me," I greet the boy and slam my locker door shut. Jimmy starts walking towards the door, me following him.

"Sorry. Steve is already at his house, I think he skipped last period," Jimmy says. I frown. What is the talking about?

"Why are you telling me this?" I ask carefully. Jimmy stops dead in his tracks and turns to me slowly. He squints, making sure I'm not pulling his leg but when he sees my innocent eyes, he just sighs and rolls his eyes.

"Did you actually forget? We have band practice now, at Steve's house," Jimmy says like it's the most blatant thing in the universe.

"Ooh, that makes sense!" I say. Jimmy's words sparked something in me and made my heart swell with happiness. Band practice sounds like a good idea right about now; it'll get my mind off of things. Plus, playing the bass and making sound with my best friends is fun, "I don't know how the hell I forgot, I'm sorry. Let's hurry so were not late," I apologize to Jimmy and start dragging him towards the doors.

"We're already late," he mumbles as he follows me with his lanky legs. I scoff and walk faster.

After a brisk ten-minute walk, we arrive at Steve's house. The door leading to the basement is open, and I can hear the strumming of his guitar, as well as a few bangs of the drum every now and then. Kitty and Steve are both already there, I conclude as I step in.

"Hey, you're only twenty minutes late," Steve greets Jimmy and I as we walk in to the dimly lit basement where Kitty is sitting behind her drum set, familiarizing herself with it and Steve's guitar is hanging around his neck. I roll my eyes.

"Sorry, Mr. I'm-always-on-time," I say as I throw my school bag on the floor and retrieve my bass from where I left it after last band practice. I pick the bass up and pluck a few notes. I frown as I hear it's a bit out of tune and start tuning it up. I play random notes and chords to test the bass and once I'm pleased with the sound it's releasing, I look up at the rest of our 'band'. Steve is looking at the song we're playing, correcting some of the notes, while Kitty is leaning on her bass drum, daydreaming. Jimmy on the other hand is busy with his phone, typing away furiously.

"I'm all tuned and ready to go if you are," I announce. Kitty is immediately awoken from her daydream and she shakes herself out of it before picking up the sticks and giving the drum a few test hits. Steve nods and writes one final thing on the papers before handing them out to all of us. Jimmy pockets his phone and stands where he is supposed.

"Okay. This is the song we played last time too, the one I wrote, but this time we all kind of know it so it should be a bit easier. I highlighted everyone's parts; Kitty is in orange, Lyn, you're in pink, Jimmy you're yellow, and I'm blue. Kitty, since you're at the drums, can you do that thing where you tap the sticks together and say 3, 2, 1 or something to start us off?" Steve explains. As she hears his request, Kitty's eyes light up and she nods enthusiastically.

With that, we all assume our positions, me tightening my pigtails and straightening my shirt and Jimmy running a hand through his alarmingly pink hair before Kitty counts us off,

"1, 2, and 1, 2, 3, 4," she yells and claps her sticks together accordingly. With that, we kick into the song.

It was so small and you tried to take it

Yeah, it was so... small and you tried to take it

Now it's so small and you tried to take it, to take it