My Chemical Romance

Chapter....9?

I walked into the poorly lighted warehouse place. We’d be performing to a couple hundred fans in a few hours. I can’t really explain what the place looked like. There was a stage, and then everything else was open space. The stage was a good size and there was a back stage too.

I went up the stairs to the stage with both of my guitars. I set my acoustic and my electric guitar onto a stand. Kurt and the driver were carrying one of the giant amps up the stairs while Link had a part of his drum set in hand. Jay was trailing behind with a piece to the drum set and his bass. I jumped off the stage and walked back out to the van a found something to carry in. For about an hour or two we set everything up on stage. When we got the microphone out Link took the mike and said

“I…am going to write a song about you Kurt!” I laughed with Jay who was sitting next to me on the edge of the stage. Kurt was just coming in from outside when he heard the announcement over the speakers. When Link saw that he had Kurt’s attention he continued “Kurt is a total flirt! He sleeps like a bear and has really crazy, red hair!” Link couldn’t finish the song though because he was too busy laughing. When I saw Kurt I knew why. Kurt stood in a seductive pose in the middle of the empty floor, winking at Link. Jay and I almost died as we saw Kurt turn gay in front of our very eyes. And when he started strutting to the stage in a model walk, the shit hit the fan.

“Is he drunk?” I asked and Jay could only shake his head because he was laughing too hard to respond. I looked over at Kurt who stopped acting and was now laughing at Link who was crumpled on the ground like a piece of paper from laughing too hard. I laid back on the stage to stretch out my sore chest that ached from the laughing.

After a while we all died down from Kurt’s little performance. I made my way over to my acoustic guitar and started to play my song. Everyone was kind of doing their own thing. Link was testing out his drums, Kurt was probably sleeping somewhere, and Jay was messing around with his bass. I stood up and started walking around as I played the song, trying to get a feel for the stage. I still hadn’t change into my outfit for the show, and neither had the guys. We were all in sweat pants and tee shirts, because we just wanted comfort. You can only wear skinny jeans for so long in one day.

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I slipped into my jeans and boots in the small bathroom back stage. I fixed my straightened hair and applied my eyeliner. I have to admit, I look kickass. I stepped out into the dark sitting area back stage where everyone seemed restless. Link was drumming on the coffee table in front of the old couch, Jay was pacing, and Kurt was humming one of the songs. When they noticed that I was dressed they all stood up. This was it. We were going to perform for the first time as My Chemical Romance. We could hear the roar of the crowd outside, and it made me more and more anxious. I felt light headed and Jay must have noticed because he said

“It gets better once you get started. You’ll be fine, so don’t worry.” He smiled at me reassuringly, and I let out a sigh, trying to calm my nerves. It was nice to have Jay there to guide me. I remember when Link told me that Jay used to drink a lot because he would get so nervous before a show. He was probably not only reassuring me at that moment, but himself too.

I could hear Kurt yelling into the microphone, introducing us. Jay and I went onto the stage and plugged in our instruments. On the count of three the music began to blare from the amps as we played. We jumped with the crowd and screamed out the lyrics so that the crowd roared. I stood on the edge of the stage, putting all of my energy into each song. The stage was hot from all the jumping around and our hair started to mat to the sides of our faces from the sweat. Jay was right, once you started all your nerves went away.

That ended when half way through the performance, Kurt announced that I would be singing my new song. Kurt waved me over to the mike as I slipped on my acoustic guitar. I looked at Jay with a pleading face, like maybe he could somehow call all of this off. He walked over to me and said in my ear, “Relax Yankee, you’re gonna be great.” He looked at me with a reassuring smile and I walked over to the mike.