That Girl Band (Liam Payne)

Part 1

So, this is my new story. I've never done first person, so let me know what you think. Thanks - Eva.

I don't think I ever wanted to be a 'Rock Star.' At least, I don't think I did. According to my parents, we went to a parade when I was 6 and my sister, Maxine, was 8. I saw the marching band and was fascinated by the drums. I wanted one in the worst way. They started with a simple snare drum, which kept me busy for about a week. I had figured out how to make it sound like the drums in the parade and asked for more. They got me a bass drum and a cymbal. I'd figured most of that out by the time I was seven. They decided to get me lessons, just to see if there was something to this 'talent' I had. By the time I was 10, I was using a full kit and playing like a was born with a drum stick in my hand.

Max was in middle school and had decided that she was the next Avril Lavigne, a bad ass, take no prisoners, rocker girl. She decided to start a band. She was going to be the lead singer. I would play the drums. She knew a girl from school who played guitar, Jessica and Jessica knew a girl who played bass from the place where she took lessons, Vicky. The four of us were now That Girl Band and Max had a plan to make us rock stars.

First, all of us had to have rocker names. Jessica was Jesse and Vicky became Viper, but we called her Vi. And me? Little sister Beth? I became Styx. She never called me Beth after that. She bought me a holster that hung around my waist at an angle. The bottom strapped onto my right thigh and instead of a gun, I had to always have a pair of drumsticks. It was my image, she said. She started dying her hair pink and wanted me to go blue, but I refused. Finally, we agreed that I would wear a wig. A blue wig with lots of bangs and pigtails. I felt like a Japanese anime cartoon, but I didn't want to disappoint her. She was my big sister, after all.

My parents thought it was a phase that Max would get over, but she never did. We practiced everyday, in my parents garage. She finished high school and took classes at the local community college to appease our parents, but she didn't try very hard. She was just waiting for me to turn 18, so we could play in clubs and get discovered. In the mean time, she recorded us and put us up on YouTube, hoping we'd be discovered and plucked out of Nowhere, Michigan to become huge stars.

Max booked us to play at a club the second I turned 18, in May of my senior year of high school. We played covers of pop songs, turning them into rock. We also had written three songs. Well, Max and Jesse did. One was a song called 'Hallway' about seeing your ex-boyfriend in the school hallway and wanting to kill him. Another one was called 'Damn you' which had been named 'Fuck you' until our mother heard it. It was about seeing your ex-boyfriend in the mall and wanting to kill me. The third was called 'Red Leather Jacket' which was about forgetting your jacket in your ex-boyfriend's car and wanted into kill him to get it back. Yes, that's right. We were that band.  It was not music I was fond of, but I did love playing it on my drums. It was an amazing release of adrenaline. In reality, I preferred to listen to bad, sing along pop.

We played clubs every weekend hoping to get discovered. Well, she hoped. I had a scholarship at the University of Michigan to play in their marching band. I planed to play as long as a could and then maybe teach music. I had been in marching band all four years of high school and head of the drum line since I was a sophomore. I didn't really want to leave the state, much less move somewhere where I could play drums professionally. In truth, I was shy and didn't like the attention. I was glad to hide behind the drums. I wanted to go to college and stop wearing that stupid holster. But, I didn't get my wish. In August, just before I was supposed to leave, we were offered a small tour, playing clubs around the country. The man who 'discovered' us was named Benny Wilson and he said he'd have us making a record in under a year. We just needed to 'pay our dues' and 'get some experience'. Then we'd make a record and release a single.