(OOC: This is a private RP between Dark Soul/Tim Nordwind and I c: You're all welcome to read, though ♥)
"Ugh, you guys should be practising."
Darren sighed and turned on his heel, facing away from the pair who were currently indulging themselves on videogames. He could hear the click clacks of the buttons and the scratching sounds of the joysticks - as long as their cries of sorrow and joy when either one won or lost the game they were playing. Sometimes, they're just idiots, he thought to himself.
Darren was a deadly serious teenager, sixteen years of age. He was in a band with his childhood friend and ex-schoolmate; Charlotte MacDonald and Donny Gonzales. They were, of course, the two playing video games and being disaproved of by Darren. Charlie; or Lee, as they called her, was the singer and guitarist, and also the founding member of the band. Donny was drums, and the newest member. Darren had been in the band - Cheese Bubbles - since he and Lee were little, and played bass and backup vocals.
"Hyaaaagh, stop using that move!" Lee giggled and squealed, sticking out her tongue in an 'I'm-trying-to-focus' way, tilting the PS3 controller. She held down the square and triangle buttons and cackled madly as Donny cursed underneath his breath. "I love Talim's throw moves~" she giggled.
Darren shuffled his fingers through the rows of tabliture books on the bookshelf, looking for the right one. He was constantly being put off by the noises and screams from his bandmates playing their game. After five more minutes, he finally cracked.
He slipped the plectrum that Lee had left on the bookshelf into his hand and turned slowly to face the pair playing their game, reeling his hand back and gripping the plectrum between his thumb and index finger. With infinite grace, it seemed, he swung his arm forward and tossed the plectrum straight at Lee's head, hitting her with the corner right in the center of her cranium. Lee yowled in pain and coiled her back backwards letting go of the PS3 controller.
"Kyaaaaaaaaa!" she screamed, turning to stare at Darren. "What was that for!?"
"For not practising." Darren said calmly, sighing and slapping his hands together. "Now hurry up and get out your instruments, you two."
"B-but but but ..." Lee muttered before standing up and dragging herself over to the guitar rack. She picked up her 1985 Fender Katana and Mario Mushroom plectrum, retreating over to their practising area - a large corner of Darren's room with three amps, a microphone, and a set of drums set up - and murmuring under her breath, "Donny didn't get anything thrown at him ..."
Donny, after tossing down the PS3 remote and stretching his arms, also walked over to the practising area with a stool in his hands, and placed it down and sat upon it, collecting his drumsticks from the Toms on his Yamaha Oak Custom.
"Thank you," Darren heaved a heavy breath outwards. He too walked over to the guitar rack to pick up his Yamaha BB424 Bass, swinging the strap over his shoulders and twirling round one of the tuning pegs. He stepped to the front-right of Donny and plugged in his bass to the amp sat beside him, gesturing to Lee to do the same. She then kneeled down and plugged in her Katana, kicking her legs as she stood up. Donny tapped the cymbal on his drumset to check it wasn't loose. With a grin, Lee switched on the microphone on its stand in front of her, and spoke into it; "Ready, guys?"
She turned to Darren, who nodded promptly, and then to Donny - who, in a less casual manner, raised his drumsticks in the air in a cross and shouted, "One, two, three, four!"
Cheese Bubbles strolled along the streets of New York casually, instruments with them, occasionally looking at the walls for any offers of gigs. Lee, at the front, continuously looked up and smiled at people, brushing her light brown side fringe out of her eyes, while Darren and Donny stayed at the back, watching out for adverts and offers.
Lee frowned as many people just looked at her strangely when she smiled at them. She pulled down the hood of her Mario-Bros'-picture-covered-hoodie and ruffled her hair a bit. The sky was black and the street lights were merely flickering on and off, the pavement was covered in puddles and the air smelled dank and dusty. Lee couldn't quite say that tonight was the nicest of nights in the streets of New York, but it wasn't one of the worst-
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Lee shouted as she was sprayed with dirty water from the tires of a passing car. Donny chuckled quietly and Darren just sighed at the response of Lee - but she wasn't bothered. She had just spotted a shiny poster on the building across the road from them, and decided to run in front of a few cars to get to it. Darren and Donny were left standing on the opposite pavement, staring at the running figure. "Should we ... follow her?" Donny muttered, placing his hand on Darren's shoulder after moving his grey-brown hair away from there.
Lee glared up at the poster on the wall. 'Battle of the Bands' were the words splayed across the paper that stood out to her and captivated her eyes. She placed her hands at either side of the wall and pressed her chin against the poster. She didn't even flinch at the sound of Donny and Darren's footsteps coming towards her and finally placing themselves at either side of her.
"... Lee?" Donny muttered after a few long seconds of watching her stare up at the mainly black and red poster. Her eyes were in the dim streetlights and the rest of her body just quavered in the wind, her long brown hair fluttering by her back.
"We should do this." She whispered, still gazing longingly at the poster. "Look, it says Rodriquez Ramirez, y'know - the guy who owns Ramirez Records? He's like, super famous."
"Ramirez?" Darren muttered, placing his hand on his chin and stroking it, appreciatively admiring the poster. "Didn't he sign Techincally Numb?"
Lee shot a quick, peircing glare Darren's way; the first time she looked away from the poster for even a second. Lee knew that Darren had a big crush on Technically Numb's lead singer, Sonny. He constantly spoke about her and when they were discussing music, Darren would always slide in a comment about Sonny's use of this or Sonny's use of that. There was no denying that he was definetly an admirer of Sonny Peserville, and he wasn't exactly shy about it. When anyone asked him if he had a crush on her or said that he did, he would just blush and not say anything; no denying or talking back. Only, this was an exception.
"Go tell Damian Kulash," Darren muttered, knowing what the glance was about. He smirked slightly when Lee breathed in heavily and almost spoke, only to hold her breath so as to not cry out or say something offensive. Much like Darren, Lee had a celebrity crush, this time on OK Go's lead singer and guitarist, Damian Kulash. He was basically her idol, and she brought him and OK Go up a lot, but she didn't try to silently squeeze him (or them) into a discussion like Darren would with Sonny Peserville and Technically Numb.
"Fine, I'll go tell him what an irratating bassist I have," Lee said scornfully, again glaring at Darren through the constant blushing.
"Oh, so now I'm your bassist?" Darren laughed, flipping his side fringe only to reveal the gleam of one of his eyes for one split second. "Since when was this your band? Surely me and Donny have part ownership, too?"
"It's been my band since I founded it," Lee replied, turning away from the wall to face Darren who also slouched around to fully face his friend - well, foe. He just kept a cool face whilst staring Lee in the eye from behind his dark fringe. His deadpan glare partnered with the fact that he didn't move a muscle - or even twitch - could be quite unsettling when trying to stare him out after an argument. Lee tried to glare past the fringe at stare him out, but only managed to shift around on her feet a bit and become unnerved.
Donny chuckled a bit under his breath, just after everything had become quiet.
"... Donny?" Lee spat out, turning to face him. He was around 13 inches taller than her, so she needed to glare upwards to stare him in the eye. He continued giggling at the girl two-and-a-half years younger than him trying to threaten him, but stopped giggling when he remembered that she was the girl two-and-a-half years younger than him, Charlotte MacDonald. She was mainly a happy, bubbly character, but when she was mad, she was mad. Donny just smiled plainly at her.
"Don't think we've forgotten about Florence Welsh," Darren spoke slowly, stepping over to stand beside Lee. He was about 6 inches taller than her, and around 7 inches shorter than Donny, being the medium-sized member of the band.
"I ..." Donny muttered, squirming a round a bit and shifting feet. He opened his mouth and closed it again repeatedly, almost saying something and then stopping himself. "... must look like a blubbering idiot," he murmured, turning red and looking away.
"See? We're not the only ones," Darren retorted, doing a single hair-flick in a spiteful way.
Lee turned to face Darren, putting her hands on her hips without thinking. She soon withdrew them from there, remembering that she looked extremely stupid like that. "We're not the only ones?" she laughed. "I have a small crush, I mean, Damian's thirty-five. You full-on love Sonny Peserville. She's only twenty."
Darren chuckled in a sarcastic way before shouting at Lee. Donny backed her up and was soon insulted by Darren, who was then shouted at by Lee. This time Donny shouted at Lee, too, and eventually they engaged in a full-on bawl.
The shouting and cursing was only interrupted when they heard high-heels click-clacking on the pavement to the right of them. A tall, young woman with her wavy blond hair tied back came strutting out of the building on which the poster was stuck, wearing a red skirt-suit and red high-heels. As she came closer, red-rimmed spectacles could be seen placed upon her nose and a name tag on the right side of her chest, saying "Heidi". She stopped around two feet from the three arguing teenagers and shouted, "Excuse me!" at what seemed to be the top of her voice.
The three teens quickly stopped shouting and turned to face the woman. She stood firmly in place, putting on her bravest face as she stood in front of them.
"Please, keep it quiet," she spoke clearly, her voice sounding agitated. "Mister Ramirez is trying to audition bands for his new talent programme. He needs the quietest of conditions to work."
Lee inhaled sharply, swallowing loudly and widening her eyes. "M-mister Ramirez?" she stuttered, trying her hardest not to squeal. "As in, Rodriquez Ramirez? Ramirez Records? In there now?"
"Yes, Rodriquez Ramirez," the lady sighed, frowning in irratation at Lee. "This is his last auditioning week before he chooses the contestants. He's auditioning Technically Numb just no-"
"Technically Numb!" Darren blurted out, squeezing out the smallest of smiles. His eyes glittered from beneath his fringe.
The woman frowned again and shifted feet, putting one hand on her hip. "Yes, Technically Numb." she sighed, raising her eyebrows as if to say 'any more questions?'
Darren turned to face Donny and Lee. "We have got to go in for this," he said, smiling slightly maniacally. He looked at Lee, urging her to say something, tugging on her sleeve like an infant.
"... Now you want to?" Lee said quite loudly before squealing even louder due to Darren stomping on her toe. "Ow, sorry, let me start again - now you want to?" she whispered. "But it's the last week, what if there's no space left? Maybe he hasn't got any time for other auditions-"
"I believe he would be able to squeeze in an extra audition," the red-dressed woman offered, quite clearly over-hearing their conversation. "He has an extra few minutes after Technically Numb. I could try and get you in there."
Charlie, Darren and Donny turned around to face her again. Their faces lit up and Lee and Darren shuffled around the guitar cases on their backs; Donny took his drumsticks out of his pockets (a full set of drums would be far too hard to carry around the streets of New York) and grinned.
The woman who worked in the theatre building led Lee, Darren and Donny through the doors and into the hall, which was decorated with large Rodriquez Ramirez posters identical to the one outside. Lee's eyes glittered at all of the framed records behind glass that were hung on the walls; records by people like The Beatles, David Bowie and The Buzzcocks. There were also posters and photos of various live acts, and framed instruments incased in glass, too. It was a sort of music lovers' paradise; Lee could live in there.
"Right this way," Heidi, the woman, said; knocking on a door and peeking her head through. Rodriquez Ramirez was in that room, listening to a band and tapping his pen on the table in front of him to the beat. Papers lay scattered on said table and speakers were stood at either side of it, blasting out the live music played by the band currently performing for Mister Ramirez; Technically Numb.
Ramirez turned his head to the door, looking over at Heidi. He nodded, signalling for her to speak. She then opened the door a little bit more and motioned towards Lee, Darren and Donny. Ramirez rolled his eyes and hissed the word "fine" at Heidi before turning back to Technically Numb and returning to tapping his sharpie on the desk.
"If you would, er, like to take a seat," Heidi said, smiling fakely. Donny was first to sit down; although what he done was more "launch himself" rather than "sit". Lee sat on the seat to his right, laying back and stretching before heaving out a heavy sigh of relief. She stretched her legs and started playing kickfights with Donny. Darren soon sat down slowly to Donny's right, looking very tense and figiting nervously with his fingers. Lee leaned forward past Donny glanced across to Darren with a sort of worried look and mouthed the words 'what's up?' at him. He also leaned forwards and leaned in to the left towards Lee, whispering, "Can you hear them? They're amazing. We're never going to get in."
Lee pouted and raised one eyebrow. "So, maybe they're slightly better, we can still go on," she explained, trying to smile; but in her heart she knew that Darren was probably more right now than she had ever been. Darren managed a small hesitant smile before turning his neck to face the wall straight ahead of him. There was a large black and white photo of The Beatles performing somewhere in England, signed by the 'famous four' themselves. He studied the details closely; their instruments, outfits, and expressions. They were pretty much the perfect band; great music, screaming fans ... if only Cheese Bubbles were like that.
Heidi coughed. "I think mister Ramirez is ready for you now," she said, holding her chin up high as Technically Numb stepped out of the door. They were whispering something about Ramirez being really strict and hard to please. If Technically Numb can't please him, how are we going to stand a chance? Darren thought to himself, before staring up at Sonny Peserville as she walked past. She glanced at him and smiled slightly before turning away, bass guitar in its' case strapped to her back.
"She just -" Darren started, only to be interrupted by Lee.
"- smiled at you, yeah, I noticed," Lee said, laughing. "Now hurry up, or we'll miss our chance!"
She pushed Darren and Donny into the large, almost empty room. Rodriquez Ramirez was jotting something down on a peice of paper, paying no heed at all to the three teenagers who had just entered the room. Lee and Darren unstrapped their guitar cases from their backs and pulled out the instruments, kneeling down to plug them into amps that were at the left and the right. Darren sat himself down on the stool that was behind the Pearl 5-Piece drum kit further back in the room, and starting playing a quiet drum beat to get used to the drums. They gave quite a punchy, persistant tone - and then Donny wrote another thing on his mental Christmas list.
Lee plucked the strings on her guitar, making sure they were in tune. After finding them not to be, she twisted the guitar pegs and plucked the strings again until they sounded right. After playing around with them for a minute or two, she played some quiet chords without turning the amp on. Sounds alright, she thought, and kneeled down to switch on the power. Darren done the same but took less time, only having four strings, and was ready to start. Lee walked closer to the microphone and tapped it a few times -
"Don't tap the equipment," Ramirez spoke in a gruff tone, looking up for a second. "It's pretty damn expensive, so you better be careful unless you're looking for something to spend hundreds of dollars on for me."
"Er," Lee stuttered, speaking into the mic. "S-sorry, mister Ramirez, sir, should we star-"
"Band name?" Ramirez inquired before letting Lee finish. He continued looking down at a peice of paper, this time twiddling his pen between his fingers. He was a well-built, chubby - or even fat - man, whose chubby fingers worked hard to do things like twiddle pens. He was never one to respect kids or teenagers, he would normally just sigh and shake his big bald head.
"Cheese Bubbles," Lee answered nervously, worried that revealing the name would be a mistake.
Rodriquez Ramirez sighed and 'tsk'ed, shaking his big bald head. Never the less, he scribbled down the name on to a peice of paper, as long as two other words - 'brave guitarist'. He looked up at the trio again and flicked his wrist, gesturing for them to hurry up and begin.
"Well, todaaaaay ..." Lee spoke into the microphone again, looking over at Darren for support. He flipped his fringe to the side again and also gestured for her to keep going. " ... we'll, er, be covering a song by OK Go, called A Million Ways. We hope you, er ..." Darren shook his head; saying 'we hope you enjoy it' was a step too far. Ramirez was known for being a simple, straight forward guy. Saying 'we hope you enjoy it' would score minus points. " ... yeah, we'll start," Lee said, getting her fingers in the right position.
Donny started by banging his drums a bit, before laying down the loudness, reverting to a normal drumbeat for the song. Lee played the intro, bending her fingers on certain strings, emphasizing the distortion. Darren, seemingly confidently, played the bassline, staring down at his guitar with a cool expression.
"Sit back, matter of fact," Lee began to sing. She looked up at mister Ramirez, who nodded his head to the beat and stared back at Lee. This sort of put Lee off, but she managed to sing and play guitar to her usual standards never the less. "Teasing, toying, turning, chatting, charming, hissing, playin' the crowd ..."
Donny grinned, bashing the drums on the drum kit heartily. Darren glared over at Lee in a way that encouraged her to keep going without getting nervous. "Play that song again, 'nother couple klonopin, a nod, a glance, a half-hearted bow ..." Lee sung into the mic, looking over to Darren again and smiling. "Oh, such grace ... oh such beauty ... and lipstick, and callous, and fishnets and malice, oh darlin' ... you're a million ways to be cruel ..."
"One, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero cruel ..." Darren sang into his lower-volumed mic that stood in front of him. He was used to doing the backup vocals; he didn't like being at the front.
"You're a million ways to be cruel," Lee sang again, before returning to the guitar line that she played in the intro. Her fingers were very quick at changing to the different strings, and she was quite good with a plectrum, which she was using just now. Her fingers were certainly hard at work at the moment. "I should, wish I could, maybe if you were, I would, a list of stand issue regrets ... one last eighty-proof, slouchin' in the corner booth, baby it's as good as it gets ..."
"Oh such grace," She belted out, pouring everything into the notes she sung. She was trying her hardest to blow Ramirez away, and so were Donny and Darren. "Oh, such beauty ... so precious, suspicious, and charmin', and vicious - oh darlin' ... you're a million ways, oh darlin' ... you're a million ways to be cruel!"
"One, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero cruel ..." Darren sang, starting the 'one' as soon as Lee sang the word 'cruel'. He had a good feeling about this performance, it was certainly going well.
After repeating the line "oh darlin', you're a million ways to be cruel" a few more times, and playing their instruments along, they were almost at the end of the song. The instruments were getting louder, the drums were getting heavier, and Lee sung, "oh, oh, oh, ohh ... !"
Letting all of the instruments fade away before she started, she let go of her guitar so it swung on by the leather strap around her shoulder. Cupping her hands around the microphone and her mouth, she sang the line "Oh ... you're a million ways to be cruel ..." quietly. Finally, she walked backwards from the mic, and Darren did too. Donny grinned as he sat back, holding his drumsticks firmly in his hand. The expression on his face was surely pleased.
There was a moment of silence between the three teenagers and Rodriquez Ramirez. He had picked up the cigar from the ashtray that was sat on the table on top of some papers and started smoking it. He puffed out one last lease of smoke and stubbed the end in the ashtray.
Breaking the silence, Donny spoke. "So ... what did you think?" He asked, placing his feet on the ground and leaning in forwards in an inquisitive way.
Ramirez tilted his head slightly and sighed. After a few seconds, he leaned in, his elbows leaning on the table to support him. "It was ..." he started. Lee, Darren and Donny all breathed in quickly and held their breath in a tense way. "... good."
Lee grinned and giggled, holding firmly onto the neck of the guitar. With another flip of his hair, Darren smiled. Donny cheered and clapped his drumsticks together.
"Although," Ramirez said, shuffling around in his seat and instead leaning on just his left elbow, "you could do with a keyboardist. That song really needed just a bit more keys."
"Of course, mister Ramirez, sir," Lee laughed, "I'm sure we could do that. B-but ... did we ... get through?"
"Well." Ramirez said, moving his ashtray to the side. He scratched his bald head and looked at the three teens again, pausing to think. "I guess, if you get a keyboardist, you will do."
Lee let go of her guitar and raised her hands in a very gleeful way. She laughed and smiled so much that her jaw began to hurt. Donny laughed heartily and stood up from the stool, coming to stand in between Darren and Lee. Darren grinned and turned to face Donny, with whom he high-fived and smiled.
"Now, hurry along, kiddos," Ramirez said gruffly. "And I don't want to see you again until it's time to compete. You'll get letters through yer doors after you give your details to Heidi."
"Yes, sir," Donny and Darren said in unison, laughing together, as they exited the room. Cheese Bubbles, together, had never been happier.
"Ugh, you guys should be practising."
Darren sighed and turned on his heel, facing away from the pair who were currently indulging themselves on videogames. He could hear the click clacks of the buttons and the scratching sounds of the joysticks - as long as their cries of sorrow and joy when either one won or lost the game they were playing. Sometimes, they're just idiots, he thought to himself.
Darren was a deadly serious teenager, sixteen years of age. He was in a band with his childhood friend and ex-schoolmate; Charlotte MacDonald and Donny Gonzales. They were, of course, the two playing video games and being disaproved of by Darren. Charlie; or Lee, as they called her, was the singer and guitarist, and also the founding member of the band. Donny was drums, and the newest member. Darren had been in the band - Cheese Bubbles - since he and Lee were little, and played bass and backup vocals.
"Hyaaaagh, stop using that move!" Lee giggled and squealed, sticking out her tongue in an 'I'm-trying-to-focus' way, tilting the PS3 controller. She held down the square and triangle buttons and cackled madly as Donny cursed underneath his breath. "I love Talim's throw moves~" she giggled.
Darren shuffled his fingers through the rows of tabliture books on the bookshelf, looking for the right one. He was constantly being put off by the noises and screams from his bandmates playing their game. After five more minutes, he finally cracked.
He slipped the plectrum that Lee had left on the bookshelf into his hand and turned slowly to face the pair playing their game, reeling his hand back and gripping the plectrum between his thumb and index finger. With infinite grace, it seemed, he swung his arm forward and tossed the plectrum straight at Lee's head, hitting her with the corner right in the center of her cranium. Lee yowled in pain and coiled her back backwards letting go of the PS3 controller.
"Kyaaaaaaaaa!" she screamed, turning to stare at Darren. "What was that for!?"
"For not practising." Darren said calmly, sighing and slapping his hands together. "Now hurry up and get out your instruments, you two."
"B-but but but ..." Lee muttered before standing up and dragging herself over to the guitar rack. She picked up her 1985 Fender Katana and Mario Mushroom plectrum, retreating over to their practising area - a large corner of Darren's room with three amps, a microphone, and a set of drums set up - and murmuring under her breath, "Donny didn't get anything thrown at him ..."
Donny, after tossing down the PS3 remote and stretching his arms, also walked over to the practising area with a stool in his hands, and placed it down and sat upon it, collecting his drumsticks from the Toms on his Yamaha Oak Custom.
"Thank you," Darren heaved a heavy breath outwards. He too walked over to the guitar rack to pick up his Yamaha BB424 Bass, swinging the strap over his shoulders and twirling round one of the tuning pegs. He stepped to the front-right of Donny and plugged in his bass to the amp sat beside him, gesturing to Lee to do the same. She then kneeled down and plugged in her Katana, kicking her legs as she stood up. Donny tapped the cymbal on his drumset to check it wasn't loose. With a grin, Lee switched on the microphone on its stand in front of her, and spoke into it; "Ready, guys?"
She turned to Darren, who nodded promptly, and then to Donny - who, in a less casual manner, raised his drumsticks in the air in a cross and shouted, "One, two, three, four!"
~*~
Cheese Bubbles strolled along the streets of New York casually, instruments with them, occasionally looking at the walls for any offers of gigs. Lee, at the front, continuously looked up and smiled at people, brushing her light brown side fringe out of her eyes, while Darren and Donny stayed at the back, watching out for adverts and offers.
Lee frowned as many people just looked at her strangely when she smiled at them. She pulled down the hood of her Mario-Bros'-picture-covered-hoodie and ruffled her hair a bit. The sky was black and the street lights were merely flickering on and off, the pavement was covered in puddles and the air smelled dank and dusty. Lee couldn't quite say that tonight was the nicest of nights in the streets of New York, but it wasn't one of the worst-
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Lee shouted as she was sprayed with dirty water from the tires of a passing car. Donny chuckled quietly and Darren just sighed at the response of Lee - but she wasn't bothered. She had just spotted a shiny poster on the building across the road from them, and decided to run in front of a few cars to get to it. Darren and Donny were left standing on the opposite pavement, staring at the running figure. "Should we ... follow her?" Donny muttered, placing his hand on Darren's shoulder after moving his grey-brown hair away from there.
Lee glared up at the poster on the wall. 'Battle of the Bands' were the words splayed across the paper that stood out to her and captivated her eyes. She placed her hands at either side of the wall and pressed her chin against the poster. She didn't even flinch at the sound of Donny and Darren's footsteps coming towards her and finally placing themselves at either side of her.
"... Lee?" Donny muttered after a few long seconds of watching her stare up at the mainly black and red poster. Her eyes were in the dim streetlights and the rest of her body just quavered in the wind, her long brown hair fluttering by her back.
"We should do this." She whispered, still gazing longingly at the poster. "Look, it says Rodriquez Ramirez, y'know - the guy who owns Ramirez Records? He's like, super famous."
"Ramirez?" Darren muttered, placing his hand on his chin and stroking it, appreciatively admiring the poster. "Didn't he sign Techincally Numb?"
Lee shot a quick, peircing glare Darren's way; the first time she looked away from the poster for even a second. Lee knew that Darren had a big crush on Technically Numb's lead singer, Sonny. He constantly spoke about her and when they were discussing music, Darren would always slide in a comment about Sonny's use of this or Sonny's use of that. There was no denying that he was definetly an admirer of Sonny Peserville, and he wasn't exactly shy about it. When anyone asked him if he had a crush on her or said that he did, he would just blush and not say anything; no denying or talking back. Only, this was an exception.
"Go tell Damian Kulash," Darren muttered, knowing what the glance was about. He smirked slightly when Lee breathed in heavily and almost spoke, only to hold her breath so as to not cry out or say something offensive. Much like Darren, Lee had a celebrity crush, this time on OK Go's lead singer and guitarist, Damian Kulash. He was basically her idol, and she brought him and OK Go up a lot, but she didn't try to silently squeeze him (or them) into a discussion like Darren would with Sonny Peserville and Technically Numb.
"Fine, I'll go tell him what an irratating bassist I have," Lee said scornfully, again glaring at Darren through the constant blushing.
"Oh, so now I'm your bassist?" Darren laughed, flipping his side fringe only to reveal the gleam of one of his eyes for one split second. "Since when was this your band? Surely me and Donny have part ownership, too?"
"It's been my band since I founded it," Lee replied, turning away from the wall to face Darren who also slouched around to fully face his friend - well, foe. He just kept a cool face whilst staring Lee in the eye from behind his dark fringe. His deadpan glare partnered with the fact that he didn't move a muscle - or even twitch - could be quite unsettling when trying to stare him out after an argument. Lee tried to glare past the fringe at stare him out, but only managed to shift around on her feet a bit and become unnerved.
Donny chuckled a bit under his breath, just after everything had become quiet.
"... Donny?" Lee spat out, turning to face him. He was around 13 inches taller than her, so she needed to glare upwards to stare him in the eye. He continued giggling at the girl two-and-a-half years younger than him trying to threaten him, but stopped giggling when he remembered that she was the girl two-and-a-half years younger than him, Charlotte MacDonald. She was mainly a happy, bubbly character, but when she was mad, she was mad. Donny just smiled plainly at her.
"Don't think we've forgotten about Florence Welsh," Darren spoke slowly, stepping over to stand beside Lee. He was about 6 inches taller than her, and around 7 inches shorter than Donny, being the medium-sized member of the band.
"I ..." Donny muttered, squirming a round a bit and shifting feet. He opened his mouth and closed it again repeatedly, almost saying something and then stopping himself. "... must look like a blubbering idiot," he murmured, turning red and looking away.
"See? We're not the only ones," Darren retorted, doing a single hair-flick in a spiteful way.
Lee turned to face Darren, putting her hands on her hips without thinking. She soon withdrew them from there, remembering that she looked extremely stupid like that. "We're not the only ones?" she laughed. "I have a small crush, I mean, Damian's thirty-five. You full-on love Sonny Peserville. She's only twenty."
Darren chuckled in a sarcastic way before shouting at Lee. Donny backed her up and was soon insulted by Darren, who was then shouted at by Lee. This time Donny shouted at Lee, too, and eventually they engaged in a full-on bawl.
The shouting and cursing was only interrupted when they heard high-heels click-clacking on the pavement to the right of them. A tall, young woman with her wavy blond hair tied back came strutting out of the building on which the poster was stuck, wearing a red skirt-suit and red high-heels. As she came closer, red-rimmed spectacles could be seen placed upon her nose and a name tag on the right side of her chest, saying "Heidi". She stopped around two feet from the three arguing teenagers and shouted, "Excuse me!" at what seemed to be the top of her voice.
The three teens quickly stopped shouting and turned to face the woman. She stood firmly in place, putting on her bravest face as she stood in front of them.
"Please, keep it quiet," she spoke clearly, her voice sounding agitated. "Mister Ramirez is trying to audition bands for his new talent programme. He needs the quietest of conditions to work."
Lee inhaled sharply, swallowing loudly and widening her eyes. "M-mister Ramirez?" she stuttered, trying her hardest not to squeal. "As in, Rodriquez Ramirez? Ramirez Records? In there now?"
"Yes, Rodriquez Ramirez," the lady sighed, frowning in irratation at Lee. "This is his last auditioning week before he chooses the contestants. He's auditioning Technically Numb just no-"
"Technically Numb!" Darren blurted out, squeezing out the smallest of smiles. His eyes glittered from beneath his fringe.
The woman frowned again and shifted feet, putting one hand on her hip. "Yes, Technically Numb." she sighed, raising her eyebrows as if to say 'any more questions?'
Darren turned to face Donny and Lee. "We have got to go in for this," he said, smiling slightly maniacally. He looked at Lee, urging her to say something, tugging on her sleeve like an infant.
"... Now you want to?" Lee said quite loudly before squealing even louder due to Darren stomping on her toe. "Ow, sorry, let me start again - now you want to?" she whispered. "But it's the last week, what if there's no space left? Maybe he hasn't got any time for other auditions-"
"I believe he would be able to squeeze in an extra audition," the red-dressed woman offered, quite clearly over-hearing their conversation. "He has an extra few minutes after Technically Numb. I could try and get you in there."
Charlie, Darren and Donny turned around to face her again. Their faces lit up and Lee and Darren shuffled around the guitar cases on their backs; Donny took his drumsticks out of his pockets (a full set of drums would be far too hard to carry around the streets of New York) and grinned.
The woman who worked in the theatre building led Lee, Darren and Donny through the doors and into the hall, which was decorated with large Rodriquez Ramirez posters identical to the one outside. Lee's eyes glittered at all of the framed records behind glass that were hung on the walls; records by people like The Beatles, David Bowie and The Buzzcocks. There were also posters and photos of various live acts, and framed instruments incased in glass, too. It was a sort of music lovers' paradise; Lee could live in there.
"Right this way," Heidi, the woman, said; knocking on a door and peeking her head through. Rodriquez Ramirez was in that room, listening to a band and tapping his pen on the table in front of him to the beat. Papers lay scattered on said table and speakers were stood at either side of it, blasting out the live music played by the band currently performing for Mister Ramirez; Technically Numb.
Ramirez turned his head to the door, looking over at Heidi. He nodded, signalling for her to speak. She then opened the door a little bit more and motioned towards Lee, Darren and Donny. Ramirez rolled his eyes and hissed the word "fine" at Heidi before turning back to Technically Numb and returning to tapping his sharpie on the desk.
"If you would, er, like to take a seat," Heidi said, smiling fakely. Donny was first to sit down; although what he done was more "launch himself" rather than "sit". Lee sat on the seat to his right, laying back and stretching before heaving out a heavy sigh of relief. She stretched her legs and started playing kickfights with Donny. Darren soon sat down slowly to Donny's right, looking very tense and figiting nervously with his fingers. Lee leaned forward past Donny glanced across to Darren with a sort of worried look and mouthed the words 'what's up?' at him. He also leaned forwards and leaned in to the left towards Lee, whispering, "Can you hear them? They're amazing. We're never going to get in."
Lee pouted and raised one eyebrow. "So, maybe they're slightly better, we can still go on," she explained, trying to smile; but in her heart she knew that Darren was probably more right now than she had ever been. Darren managed a small hesitant smile before turning his neck to face the wall straight ahead of him. There was a large black and white photo of The Beatles performing somewhere in England, signed by the 'famous four' themselves. He studied the details closely; their instruments, outfits, and expressions. They were pretty much the perfect band; great music, screaming fans ... if only Cheese Bubbles were like that.
Heidi coughed. "I think mister Ramirez is ready for you now," she said, holding her chin up high as Technically Numb stepped out of the door. They were whispering something about Ramirez being really strict and hard to please. If Technically Numb can't please him, how are we going to stand a chance? Darren thought to himself, before staring up at Sonny Peserville as she walked past. She glanced at him and smiled slightly before turning away, bass guitar in its' case strapped to her back.
"She just -" Darren started, only to be interrupted by Lee.
"- smiled at you, yeah, I noticed," Lee said, laughing. "Now hurry up, or we'll miss our chance!"
She pushed Darren and Donny into the large, almost empty room. Rodriquez Ramirez was jotting something down on a peice of paper, paying no heed at all to the three teenagers who had just entered the room. Lee and Darren unstrapped their guitar cases from their backs and pulled out the instruments, kneeling down to plug them into amps that were at the left and the right. Darren sat himself down on the stool that was behind the Pearl 5-Piece drum kit further back in the room, and starting playing a quiet drum beat to get used to the drums. They gave quite a punchy, persistant tone - and then Donny wrote another thing on his mental Christmas list.
Lee plucked the strings on her guitar, making sure they were in tune. After finding them not to be, she twisted the guitar pegs and plucked the strings again until they sounded right. After playing around with them for a minute or two, she played some quiet chords without turning the amp on. Sounds alright, she thought, and kneeled down to switch on the power. Darren done the same but took less time, only having four strings, and was ready to start. Lee walked closer to the microphone and tapped it a few times -
"Don't tap the equipment," Ramirez spoke in a gruff tone, looking up for a second. "It's pretty damn expensive, so you better be careful unless you're looking for something to spend hundreds of dollars on for me."
"Er," Lee stuttered, speaking into the mic. "S-sorry, mister Ramirez, sir, should we star-"
"Band name?" Ramirez inquired before letting Lee finish. He continued looking down at a peice of paper, this time twiddling his pen between his fingers. He was a well-built, chubby - or even fat - man, whose chubby fingers worked hard to do things like twiddle pens. He was never one to respect kids or teenagers, he would normally just sigh and shake his big bald head.
"Cheese Bubbles," Lee answered nervously, worried that revealing the name would be a mistake.
Rodriquez Ramirez sighed and 'tsk'ed, shaking his big bald head. Never the less, he scribbled down the name on to a peice of paper, as long as two other words - 'brave guitarist'. He looked up at the trio again and flicked his wrist, gesturing for them to hurry up and begin.
"Well, todaaaaay ..." Lee spoke into the microphone again, looking over at Darren for support. He flipped his fringe to the side again and also gestured for her to keep going. " ... we'll, er, be covering a song by OK Go, called A Million Ways. We hope you, er ..." Darren shook his head; saying 'we hope you enjoy it' was a step too far. Ramirez was known for being a simple, straight forward guy. Saying 'we hope you enjoy it' would score minus points. " ... yeah, we'll start," Lee said, getting her fingers in the right position.
Donny started by banging his drums a bit, before laying down the loudness, reverting to a normal drumbeat for the song. Lee played the intro, bending her fingers on certain strings, emphasizing the distortion. Darren, seemingly confidently, played the bassline, staring down at his guitar with a cool expression.
"Sit back, matter of fact," Lee began to sing. She looked up at mister Ramirez, who nodded his head to the beat and stared back at Lee. This sort of put Lee off, but she managed to sing and play guitar to her usual standards never the less. "Teasing, toying, turning, chatting, charming, hissing, playin' the crowd ..."
Donny grinned, bashing the drums on the drum kit heartily. Darren glared over at Lee in a way that encouraged her to keep going without getting nervous. "Play that song again, 'nother couple klonopin, a nod, a glance, a half-hearted bow ..." Lee sung into the mic, looking over to Darren again and smiling. "Oh, such grace ... oh such beauty ... and lipstick, and callous, and fishnets and malice, oh darlin' ... you're a million ways to be cruel ..."
"One, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero cruel ..." Darren sang into his lower-volumed mic that stood in front of him. He was used to doing the backup vocals; he didn't like being at the front.
"You're a million ways to be cruel," Lee sang again, before returning to the guitar line that she played in the intro. Her fingers were very quick at changing to the different strings, and she was quite good with a plectrum, which she was using just now. Her fingers were certainly hard at work at the moment. "I should, wish I could, maybe if you were, I would, a list of stand issue regrets ... one last eighty-proof, slouchin' in the corner booth, baby it's as good as it gets ..."
"Oh such grace," She belted out, pouring everything into the notes she sung. She was trying her hardest to blow Ramirez away, and so were Donny and Darren. "Oh, such beauty ... so precious, suspicious, and charmin', and vicious - oh darlin' ... you're a million ways, oh darlin' ... you're a million ways to be cruel!"
"One, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero cruel ..." Darren sang, starting the 'one' as soon as Lee sang the word 'cruel'. He had a good feeling about this performance, it was certainly going well.
After repeating the line "oh darlin', you're a million ways to be cruel" a few more times, and playing their instruments along, they were almost at the end of the song. The instruments were getting louder, the drums were getting heavier, and Lee sung, "oh, oh, oh, ohh ... !"
Letting all of the instruments fade away before she started, she let go of her guitar so it swung on by the leather strap around her shoulder. Cupping her hands around the microphone and her mouth, she sang the line "Oh ... you're a million ways to be cruel ..." quietly. Finally, she walked backwards from the mic, and Darren did too. Donny grinned as he sat back, holding his drumsticks firmly in his hand. The expression on his face was surely pleased.
There was a moment of silence between the three teenagers and Rodriquez Ramirez. He had picked up the cigar from the ashtray that was sat on the table on top of some papers and started smoking it. He puffed out one last lease of smoke and stubbed the end in the ashtray.
Breaking the silence, Donny spoke. "So ... what did you think?" He asked, placing his feet on the ground and leaning in forwards in an inquisitive way.
Ramirez tilted his head slightly and sighed. After a few seconds, he leaned in, his elbows leaning on the table to support him. "It was ..." he started. Lee, Darren and Donny all breathed in quickly and held their breath in a tense way. "... good."
Lee grinned and giggled, holding firmly onto the neck of the guitar. With another flip of his hair, Darren smiled. Donny cheered and clapped his drumsticks together.
"Although," Ramirez said, shuffling around in his seat and instead leaning on just his left elbow, "you could do with a keyboardist. That song really needed just a bit more keys."
"Of course, mister Ramirez, sir," Lee laughed, "I'm sure we could do that. B-but ... did we ... get through?"
"Well." Ramirez said, moving his ashtray to the side. He scratched his bald head and looked at the three teens again, pausing to think. "I guess, if you get a keyboardist, you will do."
Lee let go of her guitar and raised her hands in a very gleeful way. She laughed and smiled so much that her jaw began to hurt. Donny laughed heartily and stood up from the stool, coming to stand in between Darren and Lee. Darren grinned and turned to face Donny, with whom he high-fived and smiled.
"Now, hurry along, kiddos," Ramirez said gruffly. "And I don't want to see you again until it's time to compete. You'll get letters through yer doors after you give your details to Heidi."
"Yes, sir," Donny and Darren said in unison, laughing together, as they exited the room. Cheese Bubbles, together, had never been happier.
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