Tyler and the Valaholics: The Beginning

Chapter 21

Song of the chapter- 'Thumbs' by Sabrina Carpenter

'Don't believe everything that you hear,
Let it go through your left and right ear,
Don't just march to the beat of that drum,
Don't be one of them people just twiddling them thumbs.'

"What was that?" one of them exclaims, the other three still shocked as they settle back in their seats while the audience remains applauding for more time until the judges silence them with a wave of their hands.

"Erm, a performance?" I joke.

"Wow, I so didn't know that, Valerie! Whatever did I think you were about to do?" he responds with a questioning look and scratches his head as if in deep thought.

I laugh, the judges eventually giving their mostly positive feedback and complimenting my choice of both vocals and performance. They ask to have Vanessa on stage and she rushes to my side in a couple of seconds. As we hold hands, the judges compliment her dancing and suggest that she and I should participate in a dancing competition, so long as it doesn't coincide with this show, of course.

We take a bow and head off stage, Van bouncing with excitement.

"That was insane! I don't know how you deal with it every time you've performed!" she gushes, her words widening my smile.

I'm no stranger to stages and performing but never on a stage so popular. I've only acted in several plays and musicals our school produced and later on as a member of a band with Lauren, Ros, Nat and Cynthia we called 'Quintet-ssential'. Yeah, that's a wacky name but the fun we had performing wherever we got a spot compares to nothing else.

"I guess you get used to it," I childishly stick my tongue out at her and head to the dressing rooms to get changed.

Rolling her eyes, she wishes me luck and walks away to watch the rest of the show, several of the people backstage complimenting her on her dancing. I walk backwards, smiling at her as she thanks everyone for complimenting her so confidently. I'm completely oblivious to my surroundings so I almost fall on my face when I collide with someone or something.

That must be a someone because they hold my arm to keep me from falling and pull me up. I turn around, an apology already in my mouth when I notice that it's Josh.

"Josh, hey! How are you feeling for, your performance? Are you ready?" I greet him cheerily.

"Pfft, I was born ready, Tyler. Just kidding, I'm good but you were amazing! Didn't you get tired of playing your violin like that, singing and tapping at the same time?"

" 'Course you were, and no, we've done much more complicated routines while screaming at the top of our lungs but only Electra was extra but she's not that difficult. She loves performing!"

A look of genuine puzzlement crosses his face as he speaks, "I thought your sister's name was Violet?"

"Violet's the kid sister," I reply, soaring in amusement.

"Something from V. Uhhh, Victoria? Virginia? Ohhh, Vanessa!"

"Vanessa's my other sister, the one who performed with me."

"Who's Electra then?"

The feel of my violin in my hand registers in my head as I reply, "She's here right now!"

Josh looks around warily before asking me if I'm joking.

"No, Electra's right here!"

"Do you have split personality or something?"

I burst into laughter, causing his serious face to become angry as he demands of me to let him know right away. I simply point at my violin and take care to show him the engraved name between the f holes and on the side of the bridge away from the neck.

In a moment of pure rage after Violet had scratched out a small portion one side of the neck about three years ago, I had completely dismantled the violin and left it on the floor on the living room before heading to the kitchen when Mom had called me. When I came back, somehow Vanessa had a used refill as she wrote 'Electra' on a part, probably after hearing me ranting about how 'Electra was hurt'. I shooed her away but she'd already engraved the name and it remained after I put it back together when I came to my senses.

"Hello?" Josh's voice snaps me back to reality.

"Hmm?" I mumble, confused as to what he's asking.

"I asked if you really named your violin Electra?" his voice echoes his disbelief.

"Well, she has been known to be a part of some electrifying performances, so it's perfect," I wink at him.

"Go get ready," he shakes his head and laughs.

"Yes sir!" I salute him and drag along my bag as I reach the changing room.

I sit down for a minute to catch my breath and my fingers wind up tracing the carving by the sound post and the scratched out rough chunk on the neck. I somehow feel farther from the two of them even though they're literally in the same building. A thought passes through my head that gets me running to one of the doors for the performing arena and look for them, probably because I couldn't ever stand to watch them get hurt. Mom passing away was hard enough on its own without anything else happening.

I let out a sigh of relief when I spot them content and entertained as they watch the performer. If this makes them so happy, then I ought to make sure that they have it. It's bad enough for them that they're stuck with a permanently sick pre-teen and a severely ill senile lady as their only living blood relatives to let something else happen. At least for that, I'm glad we have Stacie, but it's not like I can throw all of our weight fully on her when she's a single and barely employed mother herself.

Like she reminded me, it's pretty obvious Grandma doesn't have a lot of time left. College as I attended is probably the last I'll ever get of formal education considering that I have to work to provide for their basic needs. I'm fervently praying for this to work out, otherwise it's going to be back-breaking work all the time soon.

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Hey, I'm alive! Don't throw any more tomatoes at me now unless you want me to have more tomato sauce! Just kidding, I was occupied with completing this other story 'Camouflage Me' these past couple of days so I couldn't update, sorry 'bout that.

While you wait for the next update, feel free to give that a read! (#ShamelessSelfPromotion)

Also, I love these lines from 'Thumbs':

'Somewhere in the world you got a robber and a bank,
And the bank robbed the people so the people robbed the bank,
And the police came to get him but they let him get away,
'Cause they're all just working to get paid the very same.'

Also, just to clear it up: she wasn't tapping, singing and playing Electra all at the same time. Josh simply exaggerated her capabilities. She would get super out of breath, I suppose! She was mostly singing and doing a light tapping ritual during the instrumental break. Vanessa was doing most of the heavy tapwork...

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