Chapter 1 It was practice, for me, Lucas, and Valerie. We are in a band together, we named it Sugar Spoons. I’m the vocalist, Valerie plays the electric guitar and Lucas plays the drums. We upload our songs onto Soundcloud and Spotify, we’d also upload to Youtube. We had around 1000 followers, and a few thousand monthly listeners. It was fun, singing things we came up with, and people liked it. We sometimes performed at music clubs, not very often though. Currently, we are all in Valerie’s garage. Lucas and Valerie were talking about lyrics and I was leaning against a big metal tin. I was singing Deceptacon while trying to think “Do you have anything to eat?” Lucas asked, “I have this cereal bar, but that’s it.” I replied, handing the cereal bar to him. He basically inhaled it. I rolled my eyes. “What song are we going to play if we perform soon?” “Nirvana? No Doubt? White Stripes?” “Those are all 90s bands dipsh-” “Hey! Calm down!” We all looked at each other. “Crap.” Valerie muttered “We could do Sweater Weather.” I mumbled. That made Valerie and Lucas look up. “Yeah, that could work.” Lucas said. “Sweater Weather it is.” School was boring. Bullies, homophobes, jerkholes, and a bunch of kids going through puberty is how I describe high school. The majority of the student body knows about The Sugar Spoons. Obviously there are varieties of opinions on the band, and today, me and Lucas wanted to get it on camera during free period. The plan was to ask students and some decently nice teachers about the band and we’d record it on my camera. We weren’t allowed to bring in a real mic so I made a paper one. Flimsy, but it works. “Hello! I’m Ash Hills and Lucas Rilo is holding the camera!” Lucas turned the camera around to wave. “And we’re gonna be asking our school about our band, The Sugar Spoons!” After about an hour of asking people, we got answers ranging from ‘I love them so much!’ to ‘They’re terrible and I hope they quit.’ Very motivational. A few people recognized us and they did at least one of the following -Asked where Valerie was. She was asleep in the library by the way on a bean bag -Wanted an autograph, hug, or to join the band. I said yes to everything but any creepy questions or for them to join the band. -Complimented us. -Or overdramatically freak out and I had to help them while Lucas was terrified. It was fun. We told Valerie what happened and she found it funny. Valerie hated being on camera, unlike me who loved being the center of attention on my terms. Kinda why I’m the vocalist, other than I’m a great singer according to strangers and my friends. Eventually, it was the end of the day. Valerie lived in the addition a few blocks from the school, so we always practiced at her house because we could just bike there after school. She put the pin into her garage door to open it. I walked inside, put my stuff against the metal tin I always sat on. I got my mic and put it on the stand as Valerie started up her guitar and Lucas sat on his stool and got his drumsticks. “Sweater Weather?” I asked. They both nodded. Lucas started playing first. After practicing about 5 times. I sat down for a break. I looked over at Valerie and Lucas. Valerie usually had a big sweater, usually striped dark red and black, black shorts, dark brown eyes and dark brown hair, messy bangs the back of her hair was choppy with long middle strands. Lucas has blue eyes, a zip up hoodie, jeans, his bangs were light brown, the rest were dark brown. I have messy blond hair that goes to my shoulders, bright green eyes, a black tank top, usually I wear jean shorts. “Hey, if you guys ask your parents, I bet you could sleep over. It’s a Friday after all.” Valerie suggested. I opened my phone and texted my mom. A: Hey, can I sleep over at Valerie’s with Lucas? M: Yeah, sure just be back before dinner tomorrow. A: TYSM!! “My mom said I could, I’ll have to borrow some sleep pants,” I said excitedly. “I have a ton of clothes you two idiots left here, so just use those.” Valerie chuckled. “My mom said yes, but Valerie, you aren’t allowed to sleep until midnight,” Lucas said. I grabbed my bag and we headed inside. We headed upstairs to her room. Valerie’s room was dark, LED lights on the walls, fake vines hanging from the walls, caution tape on her door, the broken closet door Lucas and I broke on accident.
A few hours passed. “We should go to the park and play on the playground like little kids,” Lucas suggested. “Yeah, we can do that. I’ll let my mom know, you guys put our bikes on the sidewalk while I’m doing that.” Valerie replied. We got the bikes on the sidewalk as Valerie walked out. I hopped on my bike and started pedaling, my hair blowing back behind me, Valerie and Lucas in front of me, chatting. None of us had changed out of our clothes since practice. It was April, almost the end of the school year, teachers were nicer, teens getting jobs as lifeguards or ice cream stand workers. We had our band instead, which was nice. “Keep up, Ash!” Lucas yelled playfully. “Shut up, I’m not that far behind!” I retorted, pedaling harder. I caught up to Valerie, who was riding a little ahead, her dark hair bouncing in the wind. “Hey, slow down,” I called, laughing. She glanced back at me, smirk tugging at her lips. “Or what? You gonna tackle me?” I shook my head, grinning. “Maybe I will… maybe I’ll just chase you forever.” She laughed, and for a moment, I noticed how the sunlight caught her messy bangs. My chest felt weird and fluttery but I quickly shook it off. We rode over the bridge above the lake, the water shimmering underneath. I stayed next to her, pretending not to notice how close our handlebars were. At the playground, I ran to the swings, pumping my legs high. I glanced at Valerie and Lucas. Valerie was hanging from the witches’ hat bar, spinning slowly while Lucas jumped on. We played until the sun dipped lower, bikes clattering across the pavement as we headed back. I kept glancing at Valerie, noticing the little things…the way she tucked hair behind her ear, the quiet smile when Lucas made a joke, the slight bounce in her step. Back at her garage, I leaned my bike against the wall and caught her eye. She winked, and I grinned back. My stomach flipped, but I couldn’t stop myself from thinking that maybe… just maybe… the best part of our band wasn’t the music at all. (end of chapter) Next: COMING SOON Not my art, I did it on picrew lol