"Guys c'mon please? It's for his benefit as much as our own," Zack was muttering to Jack and Rian, causing them to all look in my direction watching me. I was pacing up and down the room as I fiddled with my guitar. I was pretty sure I wasn't supposed to be able to hear their conversation as they were speaking in a loud whisper. Tonight was the finale of the battle of the bands competition and we were all waiting in the dance hall for everything to be set up. I felt like we had a good chance as we had finally perfected our new song and I was really happy with how it was sounding.
"Guys you're going to be performing last. Is there anything specific that you guys need?" The school's sound technician asked from the doorway. I went over and gave him all the information he needed to help us get through our performance smoothly, before I headed back over to my friends. We ran over what we were going to play. (We had twenty minutes to perform anything we wanted, but we had to include at least one original piece) In the end we decided on playing three of our own songs (Lost in Stereo, Six Feet Under the Stars and our newest song Stella), a New Found Glory song (Head on Collision, which was where we had gotten our band's name All Time Low) and a Green Day song (Welcome to Paradise). Since we were as prepared as we could Zack and Rian went round to the Theater to watch the other performances with everyone else that had come to watch. Most of the school had turned up along with their parents. I decided to stay back here out of the way, while I tried to prepare myself for the performance, while in reality I freaked out. Jack had decided to stay here with me, but I noticed he hadn't moved from his spot on the stage. I played with my guitar yet again, checking it was in tune.
"Alex, your guitar is in tune, your voice is beautiful, your lyrics perfect and your nerves unnecessary. Take a deep breath and chill," Jack told me as he walked over to me and gave me a hug.
"I'm just nervous Jay. I've only ever sung in front of you guys," I muttered into his shoulders.
"Well think of it as practice for when we're big and famous and selling out shows," he took my guitar off of me and guided me through the doors and pushed me down into a chair at the back of the room.
"If you move from this seat before it is our turn to perform, I swear to God, I will personally come round your house and smash your beloved guitar into one million pieces before I smash the one you keep round mine. Am I clear Gaskarth?" He threatened me.
"Yessir. Loud and clear," I saluted sarcastically as he took my guitar to the front where his and Zack's bass were being kept. He joined me again and we watched the last band before us perform. They were good and it was starting to make me doubt myself again.
"Lex, I swear to God they are not as good as us. Besides we have something they don't," Jack whispered, sensing my nerves.
"What's that then?"
"Me." He replied with his usual cocky grin. The performance went by quickly and all too soon Jack and I were called to go and set ourselves up. We met Zack and Rian at the stage. Rian gave us a nod before he quickly went to make himself comfortable behind the drum kit. Zack quietly plugged in his bass before taking his spot on the right side of the stage, while Jack took the left. I plugged my guitar to the amp and made my way to the center. The first song went really badly in my opinion but that was because I was struggling to keep my nerves at bay. Towards the end of the song I was starting to lose myself in the music and started to enjoy it. The set ended far too soon for my liking, but we were met with a standing ovation from our peers. The judges left the room to go and make a decision, while I congratulated my band mates for their performance. We were just getting a drink and discussing how it went and what we could've done better when our friend Matt came up to us.
"Hey Matty," Jack greeted him.
"Hey guys you were awesome. Alex I didn't know you could sing?"
"No one did," Rian muttered.
"Anyway, my Dad wanted to talk to you about maybe playing for him sometime," Matty informed us.
"Why does your Dad want us to play for him?" I asked.
"Well I just bought a club and I was thinking of setting up a night for under 18s before the actual club opens. You boys have a decent sound and everyone here seemed to love you. It would benefit you greatly as you would get your sound out in the public and would even give you some pocket money," Matt's father explained to us. I looked at the others and they all wore a look similar to my own.
"Of course we'd be interested in working for you," I smiled.
"Excellent, I'll be in touch with the details soon and I look forward to working with you boys," he shook our hands before he went back into the Theater. Matty stayed with us and we talked about general stuff about how life was going until we were all called back in. The teacher hosting the competition gave a 'short' almost ten minute speech, congratulating each and every one of us. I tuned out when he started talking about each band separately and it was only when I heard the loud cheers that I realized the winner had been announced.
"Dude who..." I started but Jack cut me off by pulling me into a hug and screaming well done.
"We only freaking won it. I told you we could do it!" Rian called, also giving me his famous bear hugs. Zack gave me a bone-crushing hug before congratulating me. I returned the hug and congratulated him before I ran out of air and told him to let me go.
"We did it Lexy! We're gonna be stars!"
