The Only Girl in the Band

The Only Girl in the Band...[Part 24]

The hall was lit brightly with fancy chandeliers strewn at strategic points on the ceiling. All around were elegant floral arrangements with colorful flowers. A huge sign behind the long, horizontal front table read, 'CONGRATULATIONS TO THE VELOCITY!'. There was even an ice sculpture of a stage with a microphone, guitars and drum set.

Leave it to my parents to go all out.

"Damn," Liam muttered when we walked in.

"I know..." I mumbled, taking in the scene. All around were people. Several of them were high school friends that I had long stopped speaking to. Most of the others were collegues and their families from my parents' law firm. I saw Mae's parents talking to mine as we approached them.

"Hi, Mom!" Mae said cheerily to her mother. Her mother turned and flashed a smile that looked like her daughter's.

"Mae!! How are you sweetie?" she asked, embracing her in a warm hug. I smiled at them. Mae's mother was the coolest. She was really chill and easy to talk to, more like an older sister than a mother. My mother on the other hand, was not so amazing.

"Hi, Mom," I said stiffly.

"Vanessa," she said, her fake smile plastered on her face. "You gained weight," she noted. I frowned and the boys choked on their laughter.

"I--wow....thanks a lot, Mom," I muttered, self-consciously running my hands over my dress.

"It's not a bad thing. You looked anorexic before. Now you look healthy," she said. I closed my eyes for a moment to steady my rising frustration.

"This is my band, Mom," I told her, pointing at the boys. I could see judgement all over her face as she looked at them.

"Nice to meet you all," she said. "I'd like to give you my thanks for swaying my daughter away from a proper career path," she added.

"MOM!" I exclaimed aggravatedly. She blinked.

"Have I said something wrong?" she asked. I glared at her.

"Where's Dad?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"He's running late. He had some last minute things to run over with his client," she replied coolly. I squared my jaw.

"I need a drink," I mumbled, turning away from her. I intercepted the nearest waiter carrying a tray of white wine and downed it. With the refreshing burst of confidence that the wine gave me, I marched up to some of my old high school friends.

"Vanessa! Look at you! You look great!" one of them, Maya, exclaimed. I smiled at her.

"Thanks! How are you?" I asked politely.

"Good! I'm real good. I'm excited about graduating," she told me. I raised my eyebrows. She was a senior this year.

"Oh! That's great! What college are you at?" I asked.

"I'm at Purdue, in Indiana. Kind of far, but I had to fly back over to congratulate you!" she said. I gave her a strained smile. What she really meant was she had to fly back to California to meet a few celebrities.

"Well it's great seeing you," I said.

"You, too!" she replied, smiling sweetly. I walked away and moved back to the boys, who were standing by the far edge of the long horizontal table. Mae was chatting cheerily with a group of guys from the firm.

"This sucks," I mumbled, grabbing Caleb's drink from his hand and sipping it.

"You're telling me. Your stupid high school friends keep coming up to us and asking for pictures and autographs," Cameron said.

"Not that we don't like it. We do. We're finally being recognized. But at the same time, this looks like a classy party," Liam said.

"And these girls have no class," Caleb finished. I shook my head.

"They're all a bunch of phonies," I mumbled, remembering a book I read in high school English called A Catcher in the Rye. "I really want to get out of here," I said as we surveyed the boring party.

"Who did they get to cater?" Caleb asked.

"I don't know. Some French restaraunt," I replied.

"Let's stay for food and then dip," Liam suggested.

"OR," Ian began, "we can do something to make this party more lively," he said.

"Like what?" Cameron asked.

"Let me think about it and I'll let you know," he said, grinning.

                                                                          ~~~~~~~~~~

"Party rock is in the house tonight. Everybody just have a good time. And we gon' make you lose your mind. Everybody just have a good time!" I sang. Ian's great plan was to do a performance. After all, the party was for us, and we were a band. What better way to celebrate our success than with a song?

We chose to do a cover of Tyler Ward's cover of the 'Party Rock Anthem'. It was up-beat, fun, and easy to dance to. All the young people in the hall put their hands up and started dancing right away. The beat was too infectious to not dance. I jumped off the slightly raised stage and danced and sang in the crowd.

I could see my mom looking disapprovingly toward the stage. I ignored her and kept singing. This is what the party was for: celebrating us.

"Party rock is in the house tonight! Everybody just have a good time! And we gon' make you lose your mind. Everybody just have a good time!" I finished. Everyone cheered and applauded. I went back up on stage.

"Thank you all so much for coming out tonight. Our success was quick and unexpected, but we're extremely grateful for it. Thank you for your support. Our fans mean the world to us," I said into the mic, slightly out of breath.

"Do another one!" someone shouted.

"You're hot!" someone else yelled. I blushed slightly and was glad that my face was already flushed from the energy of the last song.

"You guys want another one?" I asked. The kids cheered. I glanced at Caleb, who nodded. I kicked off my heels to the side.

"According to you, I'm stupid, I'm useless, I can't do anything right..." I began. To my surprise, people sang along. To one of our songs. I couldn't help but smile as I sang. We were finally getting big enough that people knew the lyrics to our songs. My heart swelled with pride.

                                                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thanks again for the party, Mom," I said. It was late and the party was over. Everyone had left. My feet were aching from wearing heels all night. I wanted to go home and sleep now.

"Oh, it was my pleasure," Mom said with a fake smile. I internally rolled my eyes. There was just no pleasing her.

"It was nice seeing you again, Dad," I said to my father, who had showed up to the party just as I was finishing our last song. He patted me on the head in an awkward gesture of love. I drove home with Mae. When we got back, we collapsed onto our beds and fell asleep without changing out of our dresses. Who knew that attending a simple party was more exhausting than putting on a long show?

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A/N: Sorrrrrrry this one's so short. I started taking some summer classes, so I had to do homework for that.

Also, the scene that comes after this has a bit of a different tone to it. I want it to be in a different part. This part was meant to be light-hearted and fun. I wanted to show that Vanessa's parents may not agree completely with her decision, but they're still there to support her, in their twisted condescending way.

Sooo yeah. Next part will be loads better; I promise. It'll have a lot more Caleb in it, since I haven't had a nice Caleb-Vanessa friendship scene in a while.

Comment and vote!

XOXO

P.S. Party Rock Anthem is an excellent song.