The Harley Band♬

☏7- ᴛʜᴇ ᴅʀᴜᴍᴍᴇʀ

🎸

I love the silence, it makes me feel like I can breathe, I'm happiest when I'm alone in my room doing anything. But I also love music, since I was a child. When I was younger, a toddler I think, my jīchan¹ got me a drum toy, a really colorful one, my mom told me I used to love it, she told me that the best part of my days was playing that drum with my little hands.

When I grew up a little bit, that toy wasn't so fun anymore, so my bāchan² gave me a toy drum set as a birthday gift. I just wanted to play with it the whole day, my parents couldn't handle it anymore. 

Jīchan¹ (Ojīchan): Grandfather in Japanese. Bāchan² (Obāchan): Grandmother in Japanese.

When I got my first real drum set, I was ten, all my family saved money so they could buy it for me and I started to take drum classes the same year. But then I started middle school, my dad left, and I felt like giving up on music forever. The only thing that kept me going was my mom, she was sad enough because of my father, and I didn't want to make her feel worse, so I stopped playing the drums, but I joined the school band, it was a way to distract both of us.

I was so busy taking care of myself and my mom, that I never really felt the need to make friends, and whenever I expressed that people just said "Oh, you're shy." because they didn't understand how a child didn't have time to have friends.

I always thought Robin was cool and if I had to say someone who would be a great first friend, it would be her, but she doesn't need a friend like me, sometimes I wonder if one day she'll have too many friends. I certainly didn't want to join that band, from my point of view it is a dumb idea and these people aren't the kind of people I like to talk to, and besides, I can't even get near my drum set since my sweet sixteen when my dad promised he would come to my party, but he didn't, and that was the last time I believed in him.

It was 2 AM and I couldn't stop staring at my drum set, earlier Robin tried to make me join the band one more time, and since she started talking to me I had been thinking, I felt like my drums were talking to me trying to make me play them again, I think I'm about to freak out.

But... What if I tried just for a bit? I haven't been playing the drums for almost a year now, what if I already freaked out? No, stop that, Akari. I better sleep, I have school tomorrow.

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I had just come back home from class when I received a text, it was Dustin telling me today they would meet to talk about the project at his house, he gave me the address. I wondered if I should come or not, but I already avoided them the whole day, I should go, as much as I wanted I couldn't avoid them forever.

"I'll be late" I texted him back and called my mom.

─Okāsan? ─I called her when she picked up the call.

─What do you need? ─She asked.

─Remember those kids who came to our house some days ago? Can I go to the house of one of them to talk about the project?

─Sure you can go to one of your friend's houses, honey.

─They're not my friends. Bye, mom, I love you. 

─See you later, Akari, love you too. ─She said and I hung up.

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I went to the address Dustin had given me, but I was kinda confused because was of an expensive house, and the house beside looked a bit more simple, so I just stood there thinking about which house to knock on.