The Challenge/The Audition

Chapter 1

Arkyn got up, thinking that he had planned to audition for the new band starting up at the school. A couple days back he had seen a poster on the locker room wall. Today was the day, and he hoped that he would get in and be part of the band. He thought it would ultimately make him cool and not a target of the school bullies. Arkyn had always been a shy kid, he was never able to stand up for himself so he wanted to do something about it.

It was 7:30 as he walked to school, he was listening to Fall Out Boy- his favourite band. Patrick Stump was always someone he looked up to and aspired to be. He thought he would get to school early to get a bit of practice in and maybe finish off his science homework that he hadn't done. Auditions were at lunch time, but Arkyn already felt stressed. He gripped his bag straps and went into the library. The library was always a nice place and not many people seemed to be there, except for the nerds. "Hey Ark" said a familiar face, a nerd with the name of Raevern, they were acquaintances but not much else, he was stuck in thought and replied "hello".

His first class was English, he struggled to concentrate. All he could think about was the audition, he was nervous and didn't know if the older kids were going to like his voice or electric guitar skills. He was talented but lacked confidence and the rest of his classes went by very quickly. It all felt like a blur to him. And the next thing he knew, was that he was walking down the stairs to the music room. As he entered he was asked to write his name and what he was auditioning for. There were five other people setting up their guitars, basses and warming up their voices. He felt paralysed as nervousness overtook his body and he felt as if he was not controlling it.

He listened to the girl with boots and black leather pants belt her voice out, she wasn't amazing, but it made him doubt himself. She was then dismissed by Ethan, the big scary leader of the band. "Good job, I'm sure you'll get in" he congratulated her, "thanks" she replied, shot him a smile and walked out.

It was his turn now, he felt sweat drip down his back as his feet moved forward.

"What will you be playing for us today" Ethan asked,

"Umm, uh, a song I wrote myself",

"what is it called, may I ask?"

"It doesnt have a name because I dont like labels" this was the first bit of confidence he had felt all day and he just felt the words come out of his mouth, not controlling them.

"Okay, well go on then"

Arkyn started strumming with his pick. He could feel his fingers shake and he felt like he was going to faint. After his introduction he had to bring himself to sing, to sing in front of these people that he had always feared. So he leaned towards the microphone and sung.