to play for like three hours. I don’t know about you guys but that’s a long time so we’re gonna have to take it easy and pace ourselves. Alex, I’m not sure how comfortable you are with your violin so depending how many songs you want to do we can cover Yellowcard and some other random stuff that has violins,” Mo said seriously as the boys sat in a circle, pulling chairs to the center of the room.
“I’ll be fine, I do l-like a hundred pushups every night,” Alex said. “We could play Yellowcard’s entire discography and I’d be good. I already know most of their songs’ violin parts.”
“Perfect! Do you know ‘Bombers’?” Lee asked, surprised at Alex’s knowledge of Yellowcard.
Alex smiled and silently took his violin from it’s case, grabbed his bow and set the instrument to his neck. “Check this out.”
• • •
“Okay, this is it guys!” Moses said as they finished up their sound check in the expansive gymnasium. “Tonight we’re gonna rock the senior prom.”
“Can I see the set list again, quick?” asked Lee passively from his drum set.
“Yeah, sure. Here,” Mo handed the beat-up looking sheet to his friend.
The list went on for both sides of the paper, featuring songs ranging from Dashboard Confessional on the lighter side all the way to Bullet For My Valentine on the heavier extreme.
• • •
The stage was dark as the boys stepped in front of the crowd. The gym was packed with overdressed high school students and the noise rose and fell as bored conversations came and went. Suddenly, lights flooded the stage and the crowd went silent. Taken slightly by surprise, Moses looked back at Lee then at Alex, shrugged, and they immediately began into “Gifts and Curses”.
NoCal, who had been practicing every day for several hours after school, had played through each and every song on the set list until they had nailed it down thoroughly. As they thundered through the first half of the song, everything seemed to be clicking perfectly. Eventually the guitar and drums dropped and Alex strode to the center of the stage with his violin, beginning his lengthy solo.
The song had been recorded with a piano meandering along with the violin, but as neither Mo nor Lee knew how to play, they let Alex suffice. The way he wielded the violin still captivated Moses, even after practicing for three weeks together. As Mo listened to the beautiful solo, he scanned the crowd. After a minute or so of Alex playing came Mo’s cue.
As the solo picked up, Moses struck a broad chord on his guitar (all seven strings) simultaneously with his amplifying switch. As the chord washed over the crowd Mo noticed a familiar face way in the back, standing by the door. As he gazed at what he swore was EmJay’s face he struck another deep chord, waited a few seconds, and struck another. Luckily, he snapped out of his trance and as he wondered what she could be doing there, they finished up the remainder of the song.
• • •
“That drummer seriously hasn’t missed a beat…” a girl said into her friend’s ear. “He’s insane!”
“I know!” her friend replied, pausing to converse. “These covers are like… really good! And they’re not just copying the artists, their versions sound original.”
“This little Asian kid is keeping right up too,” said the girl, looking toward the stage with the makings of a smile crossing her face. “He’s a nice addition because now Mo can move around some more.”
“I agree,” her friend smiled as she turned back toward the stage, letting out a holler of approval.
• • •
As Mo let the final chord carry through the system, he glanced back at Lee who seemed to be having the time of his life. Likewise, Alex showed no sign of tiring. “Okay, this next song’s for the guys standing in the back getting wasted, it’s called ‘Taste The Poison’” Mo said, smiling as a group of boys in the back looked up, startled, from their bottles of what was presumed to be water. Mo had been watching them for awhile and had noticed them getting marginally more relaxed as the night went on.
For songs such as this where there was no violin incorporated, Alex provided backing vocals, which gave Moses more freedom to jump around. As NoCal reached the end of the third verse, Alex yelled “YEAH!”
At his cue, Mo doubled over for his guitar solo, his guitar screaming rapidly as the gym erupted with energy. It was a short solo but a flawless one and as they ranged through the final bridge of the song, the audience seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.
“Okay, so here’s a couple slower-ish songs by Bullet. You guys can try to slow dance if you want…” Mo said passively as he began to play.
• • •
“Who knew they could cover metal too?” mused a girl after taking a draught of punch. “I don’t think he’s missed a single note.”
“I know! We’ve seen them like four times now and I swear they get better every time,” her friend replied, sounding surprised.
“Right?” the girl agreed. “They could probably give Bloody Demon a run for their money.”
From where the girls stood in the crowded gym they had a clear view of the band. The crowd had subsided leaving pockets of students clustered throughout the gym, some dancing and some conversing. As the girls talked busily they were suddenly barreled into rudely by an older looking boy storming between them, spilling the girl’s nearly empty cup of punch and almost knocking her friend over.
The girls glared after a bulky looking guy as he stalked angrily toward the door.
“What the hell was that about?” snarled her friend. “Did you smell the booze on him?”
• • •
The boys had played through “Forever and Always” and were dragging out the final breakdown of the song (the couples seemed content to slow dance so they saw no reason to end the song). They had found a rhythm and had settled into it almost lazily when the lights of the gym lit up, revealing a couple of policemen standing at the doors, arms crossed.
Mr. Davids made his way from a side door up onto the stage, hardly giving Alex time to step away from his microphone stand. He ripped the mic off of it’s housing and said angrily, “The party’s over, guys. I’m sorry to the students who aren’t drinking but as it reeks like alcohol in here, we’re going to have to check every last one of you. I’d be scared to even light a match in here… Your prom is officially over.” As he flicked the mic off, he turned to the boys apologetically and said “I’m sorry boys, it looks like we’re going to have to wrap it up here. For what it’s worth, you did a nice job.”
• • •
The students were ushered through the double doors of the gym in a single file line as the boys finished packing up their equipment. The students who passed the tests were released out into the night but the students who were suspected of inebriation were pulled to the side. The size of the group pulled aside was astounding.
“Well, I say we just leave our stuff here for tonight and come pick it up tomorrow. I don’t feel like dragging it all home tonight,” Lee said.
“Yeah, definitely,” agreed Moses, “plus we rode our bikes here anyways.”
As they waited around outside the school for Alex’s mom to pick him up, Mo noticed a girl’s silhouette against a tree next to the outside door on the other end of the gym.
“Hey, guys, I’m gonna catch up later, okay? Lee, tell dad I’m helping clean up and that I’ll be back later.” Mo said, staring at the tree.
Lee recognized the silhouette too, and gave Mo an understanding smile before nodding. “Go get ‘er.”
As Moses rose from where he had sat against the building and began to approach the tree, his heart began to beat faster as he drew nearer. The closer he got, the clearer the silhouette became and the more nervous he got.
“Um… Hey, EmJay,” Mo stuttered as he approached her, “what are you doing here?”
“Oh hey Moses! My parents are out of town tonight and my sister is having a party and told me I couldn’t be there so I had to find something else to do. I heard you
and Lee were playing the prom and had nowhere else to go so I decided to just come watch you play,” EmJay said, sounding a little embarrassed.
“Really? You came just to watch us play?” Mo was in shock that she even knew his name, let alone had come to watch NoCal.
“Yeah! You guys are amazing, I just love watching you play. You look like you aren’t even trying,” EmJay said, again sounding embarrassed.
“Is it cool if I sit down?” Mo asked, gazing down into her enormous brown eyes.
“Mmhmm,” was all the reply he got.
“So that was a pretty crazy bust,” mused Mo as he sank down next to EmJay at the base of the giant tree. “I hope I didn’t cause it with that comment before ‘Taste the Poison’.”
“Naw, they were gonna get busted anyways I bet, it smelled pretty bad in there. I recognize how it smells from my sister’s parties” EmJay assured him. “Oh it looks like Lee’s leaving, if you need to go I understand!”
“Well what are you gonna do the rest of the night?” asked Mo, a glimmer of hope flickering across his eyes.
EmJay’s eyes fell, along with her face as she replied, “Oh I don’t know, just sit here I guess.”
Mo looked over at her, an idea running through his head. “Wanna go for a walk?” he asked.
EmJay’s face lit up as she lifted her head and stared into Mo’s face, “I’d like that.”
Mo got to his feet first and helped EmJay up. As they stood there under the light of the lamp attached to the gymnasium wall,
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