Planning Your Future

Edge of Great (Part 1)

August 4, 1992

Veronica's POV

JD and I sit in my attic. "Then right here I think we stop the instruments and just do piano." I suggest. "Good idea. Speaking of instruments, we need to find some people that can play them. I don't think just guitar and piano will cut it." He's right. "I know. We'll have auditions when we get back. But for right now, it's us and only us." I tell him. "Also, I have big news. Ethan got us a gig. It's on Saturday." Which is less than a week from when we have to leave. "That's great! But what song should we do?" I grab the sheet music in front of me, "I think 'Edge of Great' would be perfect. And I'm pretty sure I know some people who'd help until we get permanent band members." He thinks about it, "'Edge of Great' is a great choice. So we'll sing that and you'll get your people?" I laugh at his pun.

I knock on the door, waiting for him to answer. "Hey Veronica! How have you been?" Dennis smiles. "Hi, I've been good. So I have a question. Do you still play the drums?" One time I went over to his house when we were partners on a project and he had a drum set in his room. "I do. Why?" He asks. "JD and I have a show on Saturday and we need a drummer." Please say yes. "Sure. Do you want me to bring my drums to the rehearsal place?" I shake my head, "We rehearse in my attic so it would be pretty hard to get them up there. Do you have somewhere here we could use." It might be a lot to ask for us to use his house for our rehearsals. "We can use my basement. My drum set is already there now." Perfect. "That works great. So are you free tomorrow?" Again, please say yes. "I am after three o'clock."

Then I knock on Ethan's door. "Hey, you play bass, right?" I remember him mentioning that he plays. "Yeah. Do you need a bass player?" He crosses his arms. "We do. Do you mind?" It would be great if we had a full band for the show. "No I'd love to. Where are rehearsals?" I give him Dennis' address. He says he'll see me at three tomorrow.

Alyssa and I walk around the park. "So how is the songwriting going?" She asks. "Good. We already have our first gig. It's next Saturday." I tell her. "I'm so happy for you! Where is it?" She hugs me. "It's at the theater. We're opening for some band." They're not that big but they're much bigger than us. Which reminds me I need to talk to JD about a band name. "Well you know I'll be front row." She smiles. "I'm looking forward to it." That just made me even more excited for the show. "What song are you going to do for the show?" I always play them for her when we're done writing so she knows them all. "Edge of Great." I say. "I love that one!" She told me that one and the song I played at camp were her favorites. "And we now have a drummer and bass guitarist for the show so everything is going smoothly." She gasps, "I'm so excited! You guys are going to be great!"

We end up back at my house. "Let me show you the new setup." JD and I recently changed up the attic to fit our needs better. "I love it. But where's the drums and bass guitar?" She looks around. "Well we don't know how to get drums up here, so the drummer is letting us rehearse in his basement." I sit down at my piano. "Have you been writing any songs that aren't for the band? Like ones just for you?" She sits on one of the beanbags. "Not really. I've mainly been doing songs with JD." I shrug, playing something random on the piano.

August 5, 1992

JD's POV

Since Zoe went back to Pennsylvania, I have been trying to call her. She never answers. She's probably busy but I don't know. Today I finally get an answer. "Hello?" A woman's voice says. "Hi, is Zoe home? It's her boyfriend." There's silence then I hear Zoe. "Fine just give me the phone." She whispers. "Hi, what do you want?" She asks. "Hey, Zoe. I've been trying to call you for days. Is something wrong?" I don't think I did anything to her. "Well since you apparently are still not over your ex and it'll never be as good with me, I thought I shouldn't bother answering." Shit. She must have overheard my conversation with Heather. "Zoe I am so sorry you heard that. But-" She hangs up before I can finish. "Dammit!" I slam the phone down on the counter.

The front door opens. "I'm back!" My mom calls from the door. "JD where are you?" She walks into the kitchen. "There you are! Listen, I have to go meet with the real estate agent." She puts her purse on the table. Then she notices my face. "What's wrong?" I sigh, "I think I just got dumped." Based on the fact that she's clearly angry and she hung up, I'm pretty sure she's done with me. "Oh I'm so sorry, honey. Do you want me to skip the meeting?" She hugs me. "I'll be fine. I have to meet with Veronica." I have to grab the electric guitar I bought and go to Dennis' house. "Meet with her about what?" I forgot I didn't have a chance to tell her. "Oh. I started a band with her and we have a show this Saturday." Her eyes go wide, "Jason! I'm so proud of you! Just know that I will be in the front row, cheering the loudest." She hugs me, "I'll see you tonight." I look over at the clock. Shit. It's 3:15 already.

I knock on Dennis' front door. "Hey come in." He brings me to the basement where Veronica is playing the song for Ethan. Ethan is messing with his guitar, thinking of what notes he should be playing. "Hey, our guitarist is here." Dennis announces. "Great. JD I brought a spare amp for you." Ethan points to the corner. "Thanks." I hook my guitar up. "So you got it?" Veronica says to Ethan. "Yep. I'm all good. We should do a run through and see how it goes." He suggests. "Hey, are you okay? You're late." Veronica whispers. "Yeah, my mom came back. Then I had to deal with something else that I'll tell you about after this." She nods in understanding. The run through is a little rough but it's not terrible. "Do you have any sheet music that's blank I can write on?" Ethan asks Veronica. She hands him a few blank ones. "You can look at JD's for reference." She nudges me to give him mine. I do as she says. He spends a few minutes playing his guitar and writing on the blank ones. "So Dennis I had an idea for the beginning I think we can try. Do you mind if I..." She motions to his seat. He lets her sit down.

Veronica's POV

I have no idea how to play drums. I lightly hit the drums in a rhythm I think would work. Dennis takes the sticks from me, "Like this?" He does it the same, just using more than one of them. "Perfect. Do that." I tell him. I get up and approach Ethan. "How's it coming over here?" He slides his music towards me and plays what he wrote. "I love it."

I stand up, "I think we should start on vocals. I went ahead and made copies of JD's vocal sheet music and just crossed out his solo." I pass them out to Dennis and Ethan. They look over it. "I like it. Let's try it a cappella." Ethan says. We do it and it goes much smoother than the run through we did with the instruments. "That was great. Now I think we should call it a day. So practice your individual parts and then we can meet back here tomorrow. Does the same time work?" They all nod.

I stop JD in the driveway. "So what's wrong?" He said he'd tell me afterwards. "Zoe broke up with me. I called her because she's been ignoring me since the wedding. Then she yelled at me and hung up. I think it's safe to say, we're done." Damn. I seemed like Zoe really liked him. I wonder what changed. "I'm sorry. Maybe you can talk to her when we go back." I hope they can work it out. They're a really cute couple.

I go home and work on my part. "Hey, what're you working on?" My dad pops his head up. "Hey, it's a song I wrote with JD. We have a gig on Saturday so I'm practicing so we're as prepared as possible." He scoffs. "What?" I raise an eyebrow. "Why am I just finding out about this? I didn't even know you two were doing music together!" I probably should have told him. "Sorry. I know I should've let you know. But if you want to come, it's at the Sherwood Music Theater at 8pm on Saturday." He sighs, "I'll be there. Just try to tell me this stuff when it happens."

JD's POV

My mom gets home. "Hey honey, can I talk to you?" She calls from downstairs. I meet her in the living room. I sit on the couch with her. "So I know I told you I'm selling the house. But I just wanted to make sure you're okay with me moving in with Hank. The guest room would be yours when you come home from college." She holds my hand in hers. "Mom, of course I'm fine with it. You did marry him. It would be a little weird if you didn't live with your husband. Plus this house was bought by Dad. I'd like for us to live in a house that's full of happy memories rather than depressing one." I assure her. "How did I get so lucky with a son like you." She smiles. "I just want you to be happy." I hug her.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. If any of you know what the title is a reference to, we are now best friends. The rest of this book will have more references to it. Next chapter is gonna be sad (at least it'll be sad to me, I don't know about y'all). Bye!