Planning Your Future

Bright

August 13, 1992

Veronica's POV

I take my stuff into my dorm. I had made flyers for auditions before I left Sherwood. As soon as I settle in, I will put these around town. Someone hugs me from behind, scaring the shit out of me. "I'm sorry. I just missed you. So tell me all about your summer." Erika sits on her bed. "Well we went to camp. I got a camper taken out of an abusive home but made it so she could still see her sister. Then I did the wedding planning. The wedding went amazing. And then JD asked me to start a band with him. So I got some of my high school friends to help me do a show at the local theater. My dad has this friend who liked our performance so much that she put us in contact with a talent agent here in Boston." I then show her the flyers I made. "That's so cool!" She looks at them. "I also want to hear about your summer romance. How was everything with Alyssa?" I turn away from her. "You guys didn't break up, did you?" She comes over to my side of the room. "Do you remember Henry?" I ask. She nods. "Well he took a picture of us kissing and threatening to show it to everyone. This made Alyssa panic and end things with me. JD ended up putting him in the hospital, which made him take it back and erase the picture. JD told me to try and get her back, but she's still scared that being with me is risky." Thinking about it brings all those emotions up again. "Well let's not focus on that! Let's focus on finding band members! I know the guy who plays the drums for all of our musicals. I'll bring a flyer to him and tell him to audition." She picks one up. "Thanks Erika." I smile.

Erika and I spend the day, walking around campus, putting flyers up. Then we go to the University of Massachusetts Boston to put some up there. We go back to the dorms once we run out of flyers. Kyle knocks on the door. "Hey." He kisses Erika's cheek and sits at her desk. "What's up?" He leans against the back of the chair. "Nothing much. Veronica and JD started a band. They have a talent agent already interested in them. We spent the day hanging up flyers for auditions. I already gave one to someone I know from my theater class." Erika tells him. "Knock knock." JD comes in. "Hey, come join us. I was just telling Kyle about your band." JD sits next to me on my bed. "Did you tell them how amazing we did at our show?" He asks me. "Nope." I shrug. "Well this girl right here as the voice of an angel. Everyone was loving it." He points to me.

August 16, 1992

The day of auditions arrive. We go to the music room in the music department. The first guy is pretty okay on the drums. His voice is what hurts him. The next guy is a bass guitarist. "Hi, my name is Sam. Is this the place for auditions?" He asks. "Yes. Just play us something and then sing for us." I tell him. He nods and plays. I'm blown away by how good he is. Then his singing is just as impressive. "Okay. Not just fill this form out and we'll get back to you." I hand him an information paper and a pen. "He's going to be hard to beat." JD says after Sam leaves. "Agreed."

The next few guys aren't bad but they aren't great. I start to think we won't get a good drummer. Then the guy Erika invited enters. "You guys are Erika's friends, right? I'm Owen." He shakes my hand and then JD's. "Nice to meet you. Just play something on the drums, then sing for us." His drumming might even rival Dennis' skill. Then his singing is pretty good. I give him the information sheet. Based on the forms, only Owen is from Harvard.

We spend only an hour talking about it. "Okay. We should contact Sam and Owen." They were the best. JD goes to talk to Owen. I go to see Sam. I have no idea where I'm going. "Hey, do you know where the dorms are?" I ask someone walking by. "It's in that direction. Just keep walking that way and you'll see it." The girl points one way. I do as she says. When I get there, I go down the hallway, looking for Sam's dorm room number. I find it and knock. "Oh hi!" He smiles when he opens the door. "You were the best of the bass guitarists. So we're doing rehearsals on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 6:30pm." I hand him a schedule. "Okay. What's 'audition' on the schedule?" He points one of the events I have on it. "That's our audition for a talent agent. We need to get ready for it. That way we get gigs." I explain. "Cool."