The Girl

chapter 8

"That wasn't good enough! God! We could have been champions. Right, let's get back to practice straight away, I booked a gig in three weeks at the farmer's markets again, and we're performing at the end of term assembly, which is in two weeks. Oh! That has a theme, by the way. It's 'Late Valentine's Day'. And the semesterly dance is coming up, and we've got a gig playing. Ugh, there's also a theme. 'Vintage'. Seriously, why couldn't it be Hollywood or Bollywood or 60's? It had to be vintage. Then in a month it-"

"Jess please shut up," Jordan started, "you've been going on about this since Friday! It's been two days! We came second! We put in a crazy amount of effort, our guitarist bailed, we had a setlist change, then we had an impromptu encore. I think we did pretty well. What do you think Luna?"

"I, for one, had a good time," Luna states.

"Yeah, I think we did great! We had the crowd going from the very start of our set, and we all had heaps of fun; isn't that what matters?" Sam reasons, "Besides, nothing could beat that Brand New Key cover - it was amazing!" 

"Yeah, it was great, wasn't it?" Andy says walking into the garage, equipped with a pile of freshly baked cookies.

"You were there?" I asked grabbing a cookie.

"Why wouldn't I be there? I'm your biggest non-related fan!" Andy replies, handing out the cookies to everyone.

"We have all heard you've got a great taste in music, Violet has told us. Would you mind helping us pick out a couple of songs for our next performances?" Jess hopefully asks Andy.

"Yeah! Of course!" Andy responds, rubbing his hands together in delight.

"Well, we have a performance for a Valentine's Day themed assembly. Our time limit for that is eight minutes. And we have a vintage themed school dance, and we're allowed to perform for thirty minutes, excluding a break in the middle." Jess quickly explains.

"We can do a McFly medley for the assembly!" Sam exclaims happily

"As much as I love McFly, I think you guys should change your sound up a bit, maybe float away from the punk rock, alternative and pop rock sides of music for a little bit. There are so many other genres that you can explore." Andy suggests.

"But that's the good stuff. What do you want us to perform? Queen? Justin Bieber? Iggy Azalea?" questions Simon.

"No, I never said that! Pop music is overrated. I was thinking more of the likes of easy listening and smooth, groovier music," Andy goes on, "Bring back Sinatra into style, Perry Como. Not necessarily them in specific but, you know what I mean."

"Man, this dude is wise as fuck. " Jordan finally jumps back into the conversation.

"You see, we're clearly all educated in music, but, what about our audience. It's generally teenagers aged from 12-18. What are the chances they'd know Perry Como songs?" Jess says, being very picky. but smart.

"We could mix it up, old and new. We can't forget the theme, though." Luna suggests, quiet, as usual.

"I like that idea but, we have only eight minutes." Simon reminds.

"With that time frame, we could only do two songs maximum. " I think out loud.

"Not if you mix and layer the songs together. Remember, you have two vocalists, three if you count Sam as one." Andy tips, waltzing back inside the house, probably waltzing into the arms of my mother.

After sitting in silence, munching on the warm cookies and processing information, we decide to knuckle back down and get back into the grind.

"This guy's wise as fuck," Jordan repeats, "How old is he?"

"The same age as my mother, 37," I reply.

"Great, that's enough time for pointless chit-chat. We need to find someone who can help us lie the songs together or whatever Andy Mayo said," instructs Jess.

"Layer," Simon corrects.

"I said that!"

"Guys, if only one of us had a DJ girlfriend." Simon drawls, after a couple minute's silence. "You know, Chirra? Sam's DJ girlfriend?" Simon deadpans after a few minutes of silence.

"Oooh," Sam sucks in a breath and puckered into a sour face, "I don't know if she would want to help..."

"Oh my god, Sam, what have you done this time?" I ask Sam, exasperated at the amount of times he's fucked up.

"Well, she was DJ-ing, at the Night Owl," the Night Owl was the local 'underage' club. It was open to ages 15 to 19 and had 'no alcohol'. I've been there, the music is too bloody loud, the floor is always slippery with ~suspicious~ liquids and there was almost a 100% chance you'd find a crying girl there. "and what happened was she was doing her thing, I was sitting at a table, in the corner, and some chick came up to me and started talking to me. Then all of a sudden, she started getting feely touchy real quick. She sat on my lap, I told her to get off, she declined, she wrapped her arms around my neck, I tried pushing her away, then, then shemayhavekissedme."

"No no no no no no no no no no Sam!" I gasp.

"Then it turns out the chick was her sister. Because Chirra was going to introduce us that night. Then, on her break, Chirra ignored me, asked her sister who I was, her sister said I was her boyfriend. Chirra told me to leave, I told her I could explain but, she didn't want to hear it. She hasn't spoken to me since."

"Sam you're an idiot," I begin, only to be interrupted by Jess.

"Well, at least we don't have to listen to her remixes again. But, back to the problem, we need someone to help us lie the songs."

"Layer," Simon butts in.

"I said that!" 

"I may be able to help." Luna casually slips in, "but, I haven't done anything since my mum..."

"Looney, you're a sneaky little guy, hiding with your many talents." Jordan chimes.

"Shh! We need to get brainstorming! Andy didn't help with the song ideas, we need them now!" Jess once again, demands.

~~~

Man, brainstorming is hard. We ended up with a couple of tracks that Luna was happy to layer for the Valentine's Day Assembly. This included Love is Easy, Love Yourself, even though everyone was opposed to it except Sam, Can't Help Falling in Love, Make You Feel My Love, and One.

Everyone went home after a small dinner that my Mum had prepared. We were processing Andy's advice and taking it on board. We're all hoping Luna remembers her stuff.

~~~~~

hey guys, i actually posted an update! amazing!

here are the songs mentioned:

love is easy - mcfly

love yourself - justin bieber

can't help falling in love - elvis presley

make you feel my love - adele

one - u2

please don't forget to vote, comment and vote!

much love,

boomboxed xx