𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 (𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙱𝚡𝙱)

Track 07 | 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝘃𝘆𝗱𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹

"What?" Levi freaked out, fear overcoming him. He always tried to be the best for us and felt terrible when he made mistakes.

"Dude, Harley never does what we ask him to do," Eden scoffed, giving Levi a look that said 'It's okay, don't worry'.

"He either forgets or decides not to," I added.

"Well, don't lose hope just yet, there's still time to see! He could've handed them out, you never know!" Levi rambled, fretting to ease our nerves. It was really his nerves that needed the easing.

"What time is it?" I asked.

Eden pulled out her phone.

"4:15."

We all sighed, except for Levi, and collapsed in our judging chairs, sinking down with irritation. Eden's face rested on the table as I slapped my paws over mine.

"Maybe no one was interested? Maybe they're all just late? E-Either way, I'm sure we'll be able to find a drum player somehow in all of Cloverland for our band," Levi babbled, not giving up hope.

"I'm gonna miss Harley, but he was uncoordinated as fuck," Torrence began to chuckle.

"I love him, but I hate him," Rian bantered.

"Guys, I'm sure he at least tried to hand out flyers—" Levi attempted until we all heard the sound of a knock on the door.

We all went quiet and shot our eyes at the door.

I looked at the others and made the decision to be the one to answer it. I stood up and walked over to the door, unlocking all the latches and knobs, and opening it to find a crow standing in the doorway.

"Hi, do you need anything?" I asked the stranger, not knowing whether he was auditioning or if he was just a visitor of Rian's that I haven't met. He was about our age and was the same height as me.

"I'm here for the audition?" He presumed. In his hands, he held a yellow flyer. "And I think everyone else here is too?"

From those words, I directed my attention to the hall behind him. I could hear chatter and ambiance coming from the stairwell. I politely pushed past the crow and walked out into the hallway, looking over the balcony to see a variety of teenagers in our grade, lined up one after another. They were all cooped up on the many apartment floors and stairwells linking them, waiting patiently, staring at the flyers, talking with others.

"The son of a bitch really did it..." I muttered to myself.

With a newly found sense of determination, I ran back over to the door of Rian's apartment and looked at the others waiting inside by the judging desk. They all looked at me, eager for an answer. "We've got candidates."

The three of them widened their eyes and looked at each other with excitement. Levi just crossed his arms and snorted, saying that he 'told us so', but I could also tell he was relieved he didn't mess up. I turned back around and stood next to the crow, scanning over all of the teenagers waiting in line behind him.

"Alright!" I shouted, getting the crowd's attention. "We're gonna need only one person to come in at a time! You'll stop by the door and wait your turn, and when we say 'next', that's when you come inside! All you gotta do is show us what you got. That means, playing a beat from a song you like or improvising, whatever, doesn't matter, just play for us, alright? We'll see whether you're worthy or not." I called out for everyone to hear. They didn't give me a verbal response, just a small nod. I faced the crow. "Okay, come on in."

➤ ➤ ➤

The next hour consisted of the five of us listening to random people play Harley's drums and consider whether they deserved to take his spot in the band. We were looking for three specific things: their skill in the area of drumming, their looks/style (because we still wanted to be a good-looking band, you know?), and their personality. Sure, we would've been looking for strictly canines to be our new member, but Harley wanted us to change the name, so this would likely be the deal breaker.