OUT OF THE RED ↝ dave grohl

ten.

              "YOU ALRIGHT?" KRIST asked as he, Reagan and Kurt awaited their entrance in the wings of the stage. Reagan's hands were slick with sweat, struggling to firmly clutch her drumsticks, though she refused to tell Krist that. As if he needed to worry that she would lose both sticks mid-set, allowing them to slip out of her hands and into the air.

"I'm fine," Reagan lied.

From the side of the stage, she could hear the sound of raucous music diluting any noise from the audience. This made her feel better knowing that the people in the crowd would be drowned out by their playing. She didn't want to hear them if they decided to boo her.

As the Melvins wrapped their performance, Nirvana, with the addition of Reagan, was ushered out onto the stage. Reagan held her breath as they stepped into the view of a hundred watching people. She kept her eyes trained on the drum set awaiting her, knowing that once she was behind it, everything would fall into place. Her anxiety would float far away and hopefully be forgotten.

Once she sat behind the drums, Reagan was thankful to note that she could not even see the congregation of attendees. The lights streaming onto the stage were bright enough to block her vision from anything beyond the figures of Kurt and Krist. It wouldn't have made sense for her to want to see the crowd anyways; she had her drums to focus on.

As Kurt and Krist threw on their guitars, a continuing rise of chatter grew within the audience. Reagan could only hear snatches of the conversations buzzing out ahead of her, but her stomach clenched angrily when she processed what was being said.

'Is that a girl drumming  for Nirvana?'

Their questioning was only moderately understandable. Nirvana had never debuted a female member of the band, so Reagan sympathized with their confusion. What she would not stand was their apparent doubt. The only defense she had in being the only girl on stage was her skill, a skill that she wouldn't hesitate to prove was sharpened with experience.

Like a big brother checking on his little sister, Kurt looked over his shoulder briefly at Reagan. His eyes were searching, seeking confirmation on her end that she was ready to play. She gave him a brusque nod, pushing down her nervous nausea with all the confidence that she could muster. It was like Richard would have said -- she was up to bat and there was no going back to the dugout now.

She was to lead them into their first song, the vigorously titled 'Stay Away.' Reagan was going to kick off their performance and not even Kurt nor Krist would be the first to produce the beginning echo of music in the room. That was up to Reagan.

After a deep breath of air, she launched into the intro of the song, drumming relentlessly against the snare and working her leg up and down to function the bass drum. Only five seconds passed before Krist joined her, throwing his whole body into playing as he plucked out the opening bass line. And then, they were playing. But not even just playing -- they were actually playing well.

Reagan told herself not to get her hopes up as she beat away on the drums, listening as Kurt began to sing scratchily into his mic. It was only the first song and she had a fifteen track lineup to play. But they had started off without a hitch and she hadn't fucked up instantly as she'd predicted.

Kurt's shrill screaming marked the end of 'Stay Away,' and without much of a prelude, they dove straight into the next song, 'Blew.' By this time, Reagan's heart was pumping furiously. The blood that rushed through her veins was thick with adrenaline, and she found herself actually enjoying the thrill of performing. Not a single distraction could have torn her attention away from the drums and the pure stimulation she was getting from playing them.