My Little Decoy

♪ What I'm Wishing For ♪ {8}

"Oh, star fall down on me
Let me make a wish upon you
Hold on, let me think
Think of what I'm wishing for." -Oh Star

Yawning, I placed my head on my folded arms and closed my eyes, hoping to get a few minutes of sleep. I mean, that's what study hall was for anyway, right?

I needed the rest anyway. Throughout the entire day, my side had been extremely uncomfortable. The pain had dulled to a slight burning sensation that only stung whenever I jostled any area from the chest down.

"Pssst. Lacey, hey. Hey, Lacey. Hey." A male voice hissed at me, and I felt a prod at my side, making me whip in a sharp intake of breath. With a groan of both pain and irritation, I slid my head off my arms so that it landed on the marble desk with an audible thump.

Alright, maybe not.

"Shut up, Xander." I muttered, my voice coming out muffled from lying face down on the table.

"Yeah, shut up, Xander." Carter's mock imitation of my voice sounded to my right and I heard Xander snort in response.

Ignoring them both, I closed my eyes to sleep again when I heard the sound of paper crumpling into a ball. Before I could protest though, Carter had already launched the projectile at my head and I snapped my head up to glare at her.

"And she lives!" Carter exclaiming and running a hand through her messy clump of bright red hair.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your science homework attacking my head?" I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples.

"Well, we wanted to see if you were alright." Xander quipped from my left and I looked at him, watching me with his amber eyes.

I tensed and didn't reply, shifting my gaze to Mr. Clemms at his desk, reading the latest issue of Substitute Teacher Press. My eyebrow arched up at his reading choice. His graying blonde hair was thinning towards the top of his scalp and his matching goatee made him look like a hippee.

The sub was pretty oblivious to what was going on his classroom. I saw that there was a couple in the back passionately making out, the jocks were having wrestling matches, and the stereotypical nerds had their noses buried in homework. Glad to see some people were actually using this class to their advantage.

I mean, I would be. But I had two nutjobs waking me up every five minutes.

There was another prod at my side and even though I noticed it was light, I felt like someone just literally stabbed me in the back. "Ow, God!" I exclaimed, turning to glare at Carter.

"What's wrong, Lace?" She and Xander chorused at the same time and I shrugged nonchalantly, just repeating what I told Blake.

"I fell out of my tree when I was trying to get back in my room the night of the concert."

"Pfft, you klutz!" Carter rolled her eyes and smacked me upside the head lightly. I kicked her shin in reply.

I couldn't help it; disappointment filled in beside my pain. Though I was glad she didn't catch my lie, it felt upsetting that she didn't try to press the issue. It would've felt like she cared.

Like Blake...

I caught Xander's eyes from my left and when I glanced at him, he was giving me this serious, calculating look that he never had on his face ever in the years I had known him. It startled me.

"Xander?" I asked and he immediately snapped out of it, grinning at me.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you're fine." He said cheerfully to me, though his eyes said otherwise.

"Er... right."

Just then, the loudspeakers above us crackled and Principal Luthien's gruff voice came through them. "Attention all students. Starting now, grade 9 students please report to the auditorium for the assembly. Grades 10, 11, and 12 will soon follow." The intercom blipped and the room was purged back into silence.

"I bet this has something to do with Tilted Reality!" Carter widened her eyes, slapping her hands down on her desk.

"I wonder what they're even here for?" Xander asked curiously.

I wondered that too, thinking back to when my conversation this morning with Blake. His answers were all so vague that I didn't know what to expect.

Pondering this, I didn't even notice that my grade was called down to the auditorim until the loud squeaks of chairs being pushed back roused me from my thoughts. Blinking, I set my usual blank stare on the students that passed by my desk.

I felt a soft nudge on my arm and heard Xander say, "Come on, let's go. We're the last ones up."

"Yeah, and we still have to find the Twins and Olivia." Carter gave her input and with that, the three of us were off.

--

"Alright, boys and girls, everyone settle down!" Mr. Luthien bellowed, dabbing at the sweat on his brow. Damn, that man can sweat horses and I wouldn't be surprised. Everytime I see him, he's always sweating. Whether it's because of him always being nervous or because he's always wearing three layers of suits, I'm not entirely sure.

Carter wrinkled her nose when she caught sight of the sweat rings under his arms. Xander held a similar reaction as he scanned the crowd, finally pinpointing the other three members of the gang.

"This way!" He yelled over the chatter of over 1200 students. Xander grabbed my hand, guiding me as if I were five. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to shake it free but he wouldn't budge. I could barely hear Carter's exclaimation of 'awwwww' over the screaming fangirls in the front row of the stage.

When we got to where Olivia, Caden, and Amber were sitting, they shot me a knowing look at which I held up my free hand and flipped them off. We got into our seats and Xander finally let me go.

"Hush, everyone!" Mr. Luthien's voice boomed once again and soon enough, everyone settled into an anxious silence. When we were all quiet, he continued, "As you all may have heard, we have some very important guests today. They will be introducing an important event that I wish you all may participate in. To give you more information, please welcome Seattle's very own, Tilted Reality!"

As the school auditorium shook with cheers, I frowned a little and caught Caden's eyes, mouthing, "They're from Seattle?" He gave me an incredulous look in reply and mouthed back, "Duh. Didn't you know?"

Well, apparently not, O Wise One.

Some idiot girl sitting behind me let out a scream so loud, I lost all sense of hearing for a few seconds. Guessing that meant one thing, I glanced back up at the stage and watched as Tilted Reality made their way to the four microphones situated at the front of the stage. I saw Vanessa take the first mike, followed by Katerina, then Zeke...

My eyes widened ever so slightly as Blake stepped out last, taking the only vacant spot. Oh, God. Guess my hunch was right. It was the drummer of Tilted Reality who I talked with last night.

Vanessa smiled and opened her mouth to speak when some guy in the back wolf-whistled and shouted, "You're hot!" Three of the band members glanced at each other and then burst out laughing, as did everyone in the audience.

Zeke remained impassive just like I did and he tapped his microphone, regaining everyone's attention. "Please refrain from speaking out of turn, idiots. We don't have to be here, you know?"

I felt a small smirk crawl up my face and settle at the stunned silence that followed after his words.

"Er... right." Vanessa chuckled nervously and sent a pointed look Zeke's way before grinning again. "Well, I guess you're all wondering why we're here, right?"

I'm guessing everyone was still afraid of Zeke's wrath so no one spoke up and answered her question.

"Well," Katerina clapped, beaming at the crowd. "We're here to promote a contest!" Hushed whispers started rippling through the crowd before Kat continued, "Our record label, Infinite Records, is hosting a National Battle of the Bands competition!"

"It's going to be great, dudes." Vanessa grinned, giving us all a thumbs-up. "We're going around performing arts and some regular public schools around the nation promoting this contest. Also, you guys have a huge advantage since Infinite Records' main HQ is located here in Seattle too."

"Yeah, I guess." Zeke shrugged and gave his little talk. "The competition is open to bands of all sizes and genres, but since it's a Battle of the Bands, there can be no solo players. It will take place all around the United States-"

"And parts of Canada!" Blake quipped cheerfully and my lips twitched upwards slightly as the sound of his voice as the rest of the audience laughed.

Zeke shot him an half-hearted amused look before continuing, "So, you all get a chance to quote and quote 'tour' the nation."

"Entrants have to be at least 16 though, and must have parental or guardian consent." Vanessa said, gesturing with her hands.

"Oh, yeah," Blake interjected, "There will be five main parts to the contest. This is the first time we've done anything like this, so we're not sure how long the contest will span. We don't exactly have dates set in stone. And at the same time, you have school and your social lives to juggle."

"But the five main parts are like this, see," Kat smiled, holding up one finger. "The first part is auditions. You and your band have to audition in front of us and four agents from Infinite Records. If you pass that, you move on to round 2."

Vanessa held up two fingers, "Round two consists of yet another audition, but this time in front of the entire nation when we broadcast you live. Then our viewers will decide who stays and who goes. There will be a website where viewers can cast their votes and stuff."

"Also, don't forget that it's not just your state that's in this competition, it's all 50 of them." Zeke reminded us, and then held up three fingers. "Now, round three is where it gets interesting. That's when the remaining bands get together and tour the nation, trying to ring in votes and support. You're going to be missing school for this-" There were loud cheers from the crowd but were quickly silenced by a glare from Zeke. "But... You will be schooled on your tour buses. At this point, I'm betting there will be talent scouts on the look-out for bands to sign."

"So, really, it's a huge benefit to advertise your band." Katerina added.

Nodding, Vanessa held up four fingers. "While you're touring, you'll get to indulge in the life of a rock-star, being followed around by paparazzi and adoring fans. If you have any." She said jokingly, making the audience give nervous chuckles. "But, every week for five weeks, people will continue voting for their favorite band on the contest's official website. And the band with the least amount of votes will be kicked out. Then before you know it, it's round four. Which is pretty much a duel. There will be probably be around six bands left at this point and each band will have to go against another band in a live duel."

"And finally," Blake smirked, finally getting his turn to speak. "Round five. My favorite. By then, we're down to three bands. But," He paused for emphasis, making us all lean forward in anticipation. "Of course there's only one winner. This round's pretty much a free for all. You can do anything to ring in votes and the judges' affections. It's literally 'anything goes.' When all bands are done performing, everyone votes for the last time, add that in with the judge's ratings and bam! We have a winner! Then, that winning band will go to London, England to record an album, get signed into Infinite Records, and get a winning sum of a million dollars!"

There were gasps from the audience and the whole room exploded into chatter. Everybody was picking out their band members and choosing songs. My head began to hurt from all the noise so I closed my eyes and tried to drown in all out.

"Oh my God. Me and the guys could totally enter! WTC might have a chance!" Carter exclaimed and the Twins, Olive, and Xander grinned, adding in their support. As always, on the subject of music, Carter turned to me but I was lost in my own thoughts as she rambled on.

I think I may have caught snippets like "-can't wait. We should play Hollywood Undead songs" or "It's gonna be amazing! I'll shred through solos-" and finally the infamous, "-Lace, are you even listening to me?"

Giving her a distracted nod, I smirked lightly to myself, feeling Rev in my combat boots against the fabric of my skinny jeans. A tingle of excitement prickled through me as I craved the urge to just jump out of my seat and shout, "Yes!"

But that would be very out-of-character of me.

Honestly though, I really was excited. A sound rang through my ears; but no one heard what it was except me. It was the sound of hope. This morning, I woke up with a question in my mind. Is there a way for me to escape my life? I never expected the answer to find me this fast.

I tapped my right boot, feeling my drum sticks jingle around and hit my shin. Ignoring Carter's babbling and annoyed tone from my lack of attention, I stared up at the excited glances of Tilted Reality as they watched us with pleasant smiles. The answer was right there.

The Battle of the Bands.

I could do it. I had the talent. I had the motivation.

All I needed was a band to play with...

---

"Quiet down, everyone! Quiet down!" Mr. Luthien yelled, trying to regain everyone's attention again. It took a while but we all eventually settled and he gestured for Tilted Reality to continue.

"Haha, I honestly think we did a suckish job at explaining things," Vanessa rubbed her head with a sheepish expression. "I mean, this was our first stop and we, along with the other bands signed into Infinity, still have to get the news to the other cities."

"But hey!" Katerina giggled, pointing to the table behind her holding stacks of papers. "That's why we have these pamphlets!" The crowd laughed a bit at her enthusiasm and she smiled at us all.

Zeke stretched and added, "Yeah, so if anyone's interested, just come up to the stage and we'll hand you a packet with all the information you'll need. There's some stuff in there that we may have forgotten to talk about so if you have questions, just come find us and ask. Best of luck to you all."

"Yeah. Especially since we're in the competition too!" Blake added semi-teasingly, winking at us all.

His remark was met with shocked silence.

Vanessa exchanged a glance with Zeke and Katerina played with her hair. "It's true," She said with a small smile. "Tilted Reality will be competitors in the Battle of Bands too."

--

Holy shit, you guys need to check out this amazing fanart Starfern drew for me. It's on the side, go look at it. Go.

Stay lovely,
Isabelle