The Hippie | DISCONTINUED

10: music

As soon as the bell slices through the air, I shove my stationery into my large bag, throw it over my shoulder and scurry out of the room. As doors flew open down the corridor, bodies spilled out and charged to the main exit to escape this cease pit. I battled my way against the flow of ravenous students. I didn't look at the people who I elbowed and accidentally stood on and I tried to ignore the yelps of pain and shouts of outrage. 

It took longer than I would have liked to get to the music corridor but it was what I guessed. The music corridor was significantly quieter than the corridor I had just fallen out of as most people's priorities were food.

As I strolled down the hallway, I peeped through the music room door, heavy metal music blasting out from within. Though the window was small, I managed to see a group of four people clad in black. 

There were two people on with guitars as I have to admit, their amount of talent was admirable. The guitarist also seemed to be back up singers to the girl at the front. She had a sweet set of vocal cords and her hair was very a very 2000s emo cut dyed red. At the back of the room was a skinny guy playing the drums. He had black messy, shaggy hair that fell over his eyes. I watched for a second as it bounced because of his movements as he whacked the drumsticks on the surface of the drum. 

Just because I didn't listen to rock music like this, didn't mean I couldn't admire the skill. 

Moving away from the door, I carried on down the hall to practice room 2. Inside, I saw Bree was always inside and warming up on the drums. 

"Get lost again?" Bree asked me when she noticed my presence. 

"No actually, I didn't. I was watching those people two doors down rocking some awesome music," I stated as I dropped my bag and plugged my guitar in once the rainbow strap was over my head, on my shoulder. 

"Oh yeah, the Emos. You don't want to mix with them. Druggies, a lot of them," she informed me as if it was general knowledge.

"Really? They didn't look that bad to me. Yeah, they looked pretty scary., I'll give them that but it sounds too much of a stereotype."

Bree flashed me a strange look before shrugging and starting on the drums. With that, I started up my own warm-ups. My left hand traveled up and down the neck of the guitar as my fingers danced across the strings. The sound of the different scales sounded throughout the room.

As I warmed up, my mind reverted back to this lunchtime when Bree and I had played together for the first time. 

"So," I hand began as Bree set down her sticks from warming up, "What music do you vibe to?"

"Queen," she replied without a second thought, making me chuckle. "What about you?"

"Abba, though I like Queen too."

She had nodded approvingly. "Abba is cool. "

"Yeah, wanna play a Queen or Abba song now?" I said, wanting to get on with playing an actual song. 

"Queen. You're my best friend." 

"Aw, thanks!" I had joked, smiling at her and quickly got the music up on my phone. 

At first, it was hard to try and play the song, having not played it for years. I tried not to cringe at the mistakes but Bree hadn't seemed to mind. 

'"Oh, you're the best friend that I ever had

I've been with you such a long time

You're my sunshine and I want you to know

That my feelings are true

I really love you

Oh, you're my best friend"'

Once I had the swing of the song, I looked up from the sheet of music and watched as Bree played the drums. She was very good at it. I grinned at her when she looked at me, I could feel the sound in my chest. It was so loud.

"Lola!" Bree's voice snapped me back to reality. I stopped the riff I had been playing and looked at her expectantly. "Great, now you're back down on earth, what song do you want to play?"

"Why did it have to be me? Do you know that one?" 

"Yeah, I'm familiar but I'll have to get the music up like you did."

"Perfect."

'"When you were lonely, you needed a man

Someone to lean on, well I understand

It's only natural

But why did it have to be me?"' I started to sing.

This was possibly the best song ever and I had absolutely no trouble playing it. The chords were engraved in my muscle memory and the lyrics rolled off my tongue effortlessly.

'"Nights can be empty, nights can be cold

So you were looking for someone to hold

That's only natural

But why did it have to be me?"'

As the song progressed, I tried and failed not to get lost in the tune. I couldn't stop the embarrassing facial expressions from covering my face as I sang my heart out. Shaking and bobbing my head along to the tune, my purple hair flew everywhere.

'"I was so lonesome, I was blue

I couldn't help it, it had to be you and I

Always thought you knew the reason why

I only wanted a little love affair

Now I can see you are beginning to care

But baby, believe me

It's better to forget me"'

As the song came to a close, I mirrored my best friend's smile. For our second time playing together, we made quite a team.

Loud clapping from behind me had me yelling in surprise. Spinning around, I saw Kyle leaning against the door frame and smirking.

"Not bad," he said as I stared at him, heat rising to my face.

I was about to sputter out my thanks when Bree asked, "What are you doing here?" she squeaked, sounding as surprised as I felt.

Dude, you knew he was coming.

Kyle chuckled, "Didn't Lola tell you I was coming to pick her up?"

"Pick her up!" she screeched from behind.

I winced.

 It seemed I had forgotten to tell her the information she would see as valuable.

"Um yeah," I turned around to face her, "You know for that project I told you about? Jordan invited me to go to his house to start it."