Rebel Rebel

Chapter 2

The first half of the day went quickly, thankfully, and Chemistry was split in half by having B Lunch. I was thankful I had lunch with all the girls this semester (it's the small things, right?). Gave us time to talk music stuff, as well as just shoot the shit for a while.

We had decided to take this week off from practicing, just because we knew we'd need the break. Even yet, Alice and I were still wanting to hang out. We at least had Chemistry together, so we figured maybe we could have a homework group together (in other words, copy the smart kid's answers).

I guess I should tell you more about the girls, considering they were more like family to me than anything.

I already told you a bit about Alice. We were lifelong friends, growing up on the same street. She's the athlete of the team. She plays basketball in the winter, and softball in the spring. And she's an incredible singer. Her parents had put her into vocal and dance lessons as a kid, and she had grown up dancing ballet and singing classical music. However, come 8th grade, I introduced her to Bikini Kill, and quickly she began singing that sort of music, over the Magic Flute (she's a wicked soprano though, don't get me wrong). She still did dance though, appearing in a local production of the Nutcracker ballet most years. The years she had taken off, were the years her grades had struggled the most. She had ditched choir about the same time I ditched marching band, but she kept up her voice lessons, just as I had kept up on my drum lessons.

Rose was our free spirit, as I called her. She had a Woodstock 69 poster on her bedroom door, and insisted on wearing flowing skirts, sandals, and Baja hoodies. She played bass officially, but was a mean guitar player too. She was quite literally the person you find sitting in a circle outside of the school in the morning, her kinky, curly blonde hair blowing in the wind, and the sun sparkling in her bright green eyes, strumming away at some song that made her protest to the world sound light and cheery. As for the band, she wrote a lot of our music. The lyrics were generally mine, but she and I ended up collaborating more I think than I did with anyone else in the band. We've become extremely close as artists, and as friends.

Last, but certainly not least, is Valentina. Her family had come up from Mexico when she was quite young. She had lived most of her life here in Indiana, but her family couldn't be more true to their heritage. She had grown up speaking Spanish at home, and didn't really learn English until she started school. Her mom was an amazing cook that I was pretty sure made me gain 10 pounds whenever I went over for dinner. But anyway, I had always thought her to be quite pretty, with long, sleek black hair, piercing brown eyes, and copper colored skin that seemed to be flawless. And she seemed oblivious to the fact she turned heads everywhere she went. She was always in a leather jacket, fringe leather vest, or leather cowboy boots.

Compared to the rest of us, who had been somehow involved in music and performing for a long time, Valentina had just recently gotten into it. Freshman year, she decided to pick up a guitar. I begged my dad to lend me the money to at least help her buy one. He finally relented, and she and I hit a pawn shop downtown where she got her first guitar, bright and early one Sunday morning.

"Hey, Earth to Doshi," I heard Alice say. I snapped back to reality, looked over at her and smiled.
"Hey sorry, I zoned out."
"Pretty much normal for you," she answered. "There's a party going down Friday night to celebrate the end of the first week of school. It's at some preppy kid's place, but it sounds promising. You in?"
"Why the hell not?" I said, "enough people are there, we won't look like posers."
"Good point," Rose said. I smiled.
"I usually know what I'm talking about," I replied. Rose laughed.
"You're so humble too."
"I know."