One of the Boys | 5sos | Hemmings

Chapter Two

Months pass. I could tell we were sounding significantly better than the first time I played in Luke's basement. It's sort of funny because even in a few short months, Luke and Calum's voices have gotten a bit deeper and it makes us sound even better.

I had started giving Calum some bass lessons. Nothing major, he was already a decent bassist for having so little training, but I got him to the point where either of us could play rhythm or lead on any of our songs.

Speaking of our songs, Calum wrote our first original song "Gotta Get Out." Obviously we teased the shit out of him trying to figure out who he wrote it about. I didn't really know any of their female friends from school so I just made generally annoying kissing sounds as the boys guessed names and teased him about specific interactions.

Even with the teasing, we knew we had hit a winner. We had all tried writing songs and they all came out like shit. Ash wrote a song "Make or Break" that makes me cringe just thinking about.

After a few weeks practicing that song, I suggested we try to book a gig. I knew the four of them had played a few small shows, but their main audience was over YouTube. I found out about hemmo1996 a while into my band membership because Luke filmed us playing Vegas after we had perfected it. I went back to watch all the goofy videos of them trying to be funny, forgetting lyrics, and generally being little weirdos. I teased them all about it of course, and Luke's ears got pinker than I have ever seen them.

Anyway, back to the gig -- Ashton and I decide to go ask a local bar if we could play there. We figure since we were older, they may take us a bit more seriously. We try to swing it as a way to get more younger kids in there. Even though most of them legally couldn't drink, they could still eat and spend money. Somewhat surprisingly, the bar manager agreed under the condition they kept 70% of the cover. That sucked, but at the same time, we weren't really expecting to turn much of a profit.

So the night arrived, I came by in my big green minivan, because it could actually fit all our instruments as opposed to Ash's shitty little car, and haul the boys off. Earlier that day, Liz had made me tell her the details of the gig so she could go and support us even though Luke would definitely be mortified. I thought it was hilarious, so I filled her in and asked her to film the whole thing for us to put on YouTube.

The boys are nervous as hell when we got there. They tell me a lot of kids from their school were there. Michael is particularly anxious. He always says he doesn't care what people said about him, but he has such a big heart I knew he had trouble taking things personally. I had played shows before, and I wasn't really nervous to play to a bunch of people several years younger than me, so I try to calm everyone down and then pump them up because this is supposed to be fun, dammit!

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We file out on stage: Ash behind the drums, Luke in the front, Michael on his right and Calum and I on his left. They had given all of us microphones, which was nice. I sing a little bit, but my voice isn't nearly as strong as any of the guys, so I usually stay silent or harmonize quietly.

Luke seems to take on a new persona on stage -- one I had not seen before. I am really proud of him.

We play some covers to get the crowd pumped, including "Teenage Dirtbag", a song we had added to our set recently. I hope the audience knew we were covering Wheatus and not One Direction. We end the gig by playing "Gotta Get Out." We had posted a video of us singing it on YouTube, but we sure as hell were not expecting what we got. 80% of the audience (which was pretty much all girls) shout the lyrics back at us. We were all stunned. I look at Calum as we were playing and his face was indescribable. Seeing all these people singing the lyrics he had written back to him was just unreal. We were all so pumped that we were all smiling, shout-singing "We just gotta get out / We just gotta get out!!"

It's one of my favorite videos of the five of us.

We got off the stage and just get into a giant group hug. All the guys are significantly sweatier than me, so that isn't great, but I'm so pumped it doesn't really phase me....until of course, Calum being Calum lifts up his shirt and rubs his bare sweaty stomach on my arm.

"Ew!" I yell, punching him right in the exposed stomach.

"Aw, come on Ally, why did you have to do that??"

"Because you deserved it, you idiot" Michael chimes in, winking at me.

I just walk away shaking my head.

I go up to the bar with Ash, because we could actually drink, and get a beer. Ash was swooned by girls who were in the audience, so I move away to give everyone more room to operate. To my great surprise, a few girls come up to me and start chatting me up.

"Oh my gosh, you were so great!"

"You guys are so talented!"

"You really make me want to pick up an instrument!"

I've never been more flattered, "Wow thanks you guys, it definitely means a lot!" I take some pictures with them, and they scatter.

A few more girls approach me, but with a little less exuberance.

"So like...are you sleeping with all the boys?"

"Are you so desperate to get attention you just had to be the only girl in the band?"

The line of questioning continues along this line and I just look at them in shock. One thing you should know about me is that I don't back down in conflict. I don't go looking for it, and I don't crave it or anything, but if you attack me I will come back at you.

So I just start laughing, cutting off another one of their incredibly rude questions. "I'm 20 years old, I honestly don't have time for this secondary school bullshit. Three out of four of those boys are not even over 18 so, no, I am not sleeping with all of them and I'd sincerely appreciate if you step the hell of before you ruin my great mood."

I feel people approach me from behind and I turn to see four nervous looking faces. I smile at them so they're not worried.

Calum looks the girls up and down and scoffs, "Too desperate for me." The girls look really embarrassed and fled. I can't help laughing at little, lanky Calum telling those girls off.

I give him a big hug, "Thanks for having my back, dude."

"Duh, it's what bandmates do" he says, shrugging. The other boys nod in consensus.

A/N: Hope you enjoy :)