A High School Band Story

Chapter 3: Getting a Band Together

"Who else plays instruments that we know?" I asked.

"Well, what instruments do we need?"

"We need a guitar player, someone who can play the keyboard, and a drummer for sure. Oh, and a singer." I told her.

"Hmmm..." she started.

"Don't you take piano lessons?"

"Yeah, but I was thinking about stopping and just focus on my flute."

"Not anymore," I grinned.

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The next Monday at school, Baylee and I asked our musically inclined friends if they were interested in forming a band. They all said no.

"Eli!" I nearly shouted that afternoon when I saw him.

"Melody!" he shouted back.

"Do you want to play in me and Baylee's band for the talent show?"

"What happened to the magic show?" he asked.

"Didn't work out," I said. "So, yes or no?"

"Well..." he held out his 'well' and smirked as he did so. "Okay."

"Thank you, Eli!" I ran up to him and threw my arms around shoulders.

Eli and I were best friends. Even though Baylee is my best girl friend, Eli is my best friend. We sat next to each other on the first day of school in 2nd grade and we've been friends ever since.

"I can play lead guitar and you play your bass guitar." he suggested.

"Okay." I said. "Hey, do you know any drummers or good singers?"

"Hmmm," he thought. "Oh, how about Colin Bishop as the drummer? I hear he's good."

"I don't know him that well though."

"Ask him," Eli said. "Maybe we'll all become best friends."

I looked up at Eli; he's about four inches taller than me, and I looked into his blue eyes. His light brown hair cut short and unkept.

"Eli, you know you will always be my best friend." I smiled.

He put his arm around my shoulder and smiled at me.

"Yeah."

We have been asked so many times if we were dating: no, we are not. He's not flirtatious with me either. I mean, yeah, when he gets a girlfriend, I'll probably be a little jealous. But that doesn't mean that I like him.

"Let's get to class." I suggested.

"Okay."

We walked side-by-side the whole way to class.

"So what kind of music will we be playing?" he asked after a minute.

I haven't really given that any thought.

"I dunno, haven't thought about it," I said. "We've been looking for people to play."

We walked and I thought.

"I'm not a fan of country." I said.

"Neither am I." he replied.

"I kinda like blues."

"That wouldn't be so bad. Could we do rock too?"

Rock & blues. I liked that. I said yes and we talked to Baylee about our decisions that day.

"Okay, so lemme get this straight: we've decided on rock and blues and we're gonna ask Colin Bishop to be the drummer?"

"Correct," I told her.

"Sounds fine with me."

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"Go talk to him."

"No!" I yelled in a whisper.

"We need to ask him sometime!" Baylee said forcefully.

Colin was sitting in the back of our science classroom talking to one of his friends. They chatted away as Baylee and I walked up to them. Colin looked up at us with his wavy ginger hair just above his eyebrows.

"Hi Colin," I started.

"Hey." his voice was smooth.

"I, um... was wondering if you-," he cut me off.

"Before you say anything else, I have a girlfriend."

"No!" I could feel my face getting red. "Baylee and I were wondering if you would like to be the drummer in our band?"

He looked pleased and relieved.

"Sure, what kind of music will we be playing?"

"Blues & rock," I told him.

"Okay," he nodded. "That'll be fun."

He smiled.

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"Do you wanna be lead singer, Baylee?" I asked her later that day after school was out.

"HAHAHA!" she laughed. "You're kidding me, right?"

I looked at her.

"I can't sing," she said on a more serious note.

"Yes you can! I've heard you."

"Okay, let me rephrase that," she said. "I can't sing in front of a crowd of people."

I rolled my eyes.

"Then who's gonna sing?" I asked her.

"Hmmm.... Let's see here: you and Eli."

"Yeah... I'm not singing." I told her.

"Then Eli will."

"We're gonna have to get a song in his voice range."

"Or," she said. "You could sing!"

"I really don't want to." I complained.

"Never mind. We'll worry about this later. What song do we want to play?"

"Do we want to play blues or rock for the show?"

"I dunno. I'm not making all of the decisions."

"We need to have a group meeting so we can sort everything out." I stated.

"We should have it sometime Saturday." Baylee suggested.

I got out my phone and sent a text to Eli.

Me: Can you come over Saturday for a band meeting? And do you have Colin's number?

He replied almost immediately:

Yes. And yes. 555 - 7841

Me: Okay. And how did you know his number?

Eli: There's this thing called a phone book. It's a really neat invention; you can find almost anybody's number in it ;)

Me: Harhar. You're so funny (;