Welcome to the Top

This is Where it Starts

"2, 3, 4!"

I closed my eyes and let my hands take over. My fingers moved up and down the neck of the guitar as I strummed. I knew the chords to this song as well as I knew my own name.

The drums picked up, followed by another guitar falling in sync with mine, as well as a bass. All that was missing was the lyrics. Why was no one singing yet? Wait, what song are we playing?

"Leann!" I stopped playing abruptly and felt my cheeks flush.

"Sorry guys, I just lost track... again." If this were any other band an argument would have broken out immediately, but this isn't just any other band so everyone busted up laughing.

"You take 'clear your head' to a whole new level," Jason -- the bassist and vocals, with dark, shaggy hair, blue eyes, and pale skin, friend since 6th grade -- said to me.

"Jazzy's right, maybe you should go back to school for a few extra weeks," Aaron -- lead guitarist and vocals, longish, dark, curly hair, brown eyes, good friend since 6th grade who I've been sort of dating for the last year -- winked at me.

Ba dum tsss

We all look at Daniel -- the best drummer ever, long, wavy blonde hair, hazel eyes, best friend since 3rd grade -- and start laughing again.

"Danny-boy, you're killing me," I ruffled his hair and sat by his feet.

"Are you ready for tonight?" Jazz asked.

Tonight was our first real gig. I mean we've had little get-togethers in Danny's garage but this was going to be different.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I played with the drums.

"Well, I'm pumped. It's a real gig, man!" Aaron shouted.

"Yeah, someone was actually stupid enough to book us," the guys laughed.

I shook my head, "Alright boys, let's get cracking, we've got a show to get to."

~~~
"Thank you all so much for coming out tonight! It was so amazing for us to have this experience and we owe it all to you!" Danny yelled to the crowd of about 20 people.

"That's all we have for tonight but if you enjoyed the show come on down next weekend for round two!" I hinted at our next gig.

"We are 101 Salvations, goodnight!" We said together before exiting the stage.

Back at the dressing room we set up no one could sit still.

"That was amazing!"

"I can't wait until next weekend!"

"We have to rehearse our new set!"

"When do we get paid?" We all turn towards Aaron.

"That's all you have to say after all of this?" I looked at him expectantly.

"I'm psyched, don't get me wrong, I just thought there would be more to it."

"Aaron, it was our first gig man, what did you expect?" Jazzy asked.

"Nothing, alright, it was great. I can't wait until our next show," he snapped.

Jason and Danny looked at me with their eyebrows raised and I shrugged. This type of behavior wasn't uncommon for Aaron. In fact he was always pretty short tempered, but it was moments like these, when he made our band -- our dream -- about fame and wealth, that I forget why I've put up with him for over a year
~~~
We had four more gigs after that night. Every time we stepped out on stage the crowd grew. 20, 40, 60, 80. Tonight's show had a crowd of 100 people! Aaron stopped complaining about lack of fame, we started writing more songs for a future album, and people started putting our shows on YouTube so we got a more widespread fan base. Everything's was finally going great.

I felt my phone buzz in my pocket as we were packing up, I didn't know the number but I picked up anyways.
"Leann Colby."

"As in 101 Salvations, right?" A guy with a very strong accent asked.

"That depends, who's asking?" I joked.

"This is Ashton Irwin of Hi or Hey Records," he chuckled. So the accent has a name. Wait --

"Ashton Irwin, as in 5 Seconds of Summer?" I stuttered out.

"That depends, who's asking?"

"Alright, I can practically hear your smirk. What can I do you for?"

"Well, the guys and I saw that you covered a few of our songs and most of the songs we covered before we got signed and well, you seem like the kind of band that we want to sign to our record label," he said.

"What exactly are you getting at, Irwin?

"We need an opening act and we wanted to check you guys out."

"Oh, well, um, that's, that'd be amazing! Thank you so much!"

"Slow down, love, a deal hasn't been struck yet," he said calmly.

"Then let's strike a deal!"

" It's not that easy, well, okay, it is pretty easy. We are going to come to your gig next week and then after that we are going to have to put on a sort of interview. Its really not a big deal, we just want to make sure that you are someone we'd be able to stand being on the road with. So, are you in?"

"Absolutely! Thank you, again, so much."

"No problem, I have a feeling it'll be a good fit. See you Friday, Leann," he hung up.

I set my phone down and screamed. The guys were around me in seconds, bombarding me with questions.

"I just spoke with Ashton Irwin!!"

"What!"

"No way!"

"What did he say?!"

"5 Seconds of Summer wants us to open for them on their tour! They are coming to watch our show next week and talk to us and then we may or may not get signed to an actual record label!"

"This is unreal! I just, whoa," Danny hugged me and that soon turned into a band hug.

"This is where it all starts, guys. You know what this means, don't you?" Jazz stated.

I smiled, "It means that we need to go rehearse our new set." They all groaned and locked me in the back of the van.

Let's just say it was a bumpy ride home.

•••

Chapter One is complete!
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