White Eskimo ~ Harry Styles

Then

January 23rd, 2009

"Why'd you have to tie it to the table?" 

I chuckle and ignore Will's audacious grin, going back to yank my hand until it finally comes off. For some reason he thought it would be hilarious to tape my hand to the leg of my desk during Mathematics but now I can't get the bloody thing out of the masking tape. Lauren reaches over and tugs with her delicate fingers but it still doesn't budge. 

"I'm actually, like, sweating," I complain as I catch Will filming the whole incident on his phone. 

"You could just use scissors." 

My eyebrows furrow and I nod. "Yeah, why didn't I think of that before?"

"Because you're a plonker."

I roll my eyes. "Ha. Ha. So, are we going to your place this afternoon?" 

Will nods. "Haydn and I want to start a band. I'm going to be on the drums and he'll play guitar. We need a bass so maybe you could give it a shot?"

Starting to agree, I stop myself. We already know someone who plays bass. "But what about Nick? He plays it well I've heard."

"You should be vocals," Lauren pipes in, hands steepled under her chin whilst pretending to listen to our teacher. 

"Yes. Perfect. I'm the best singer, aren't I?" I deadpan, then finally hack the masking tape off my hand with Will's scissors. My eyes turn to the bright blue table. "Oh, no no no, I don't wanna sing, I can't sing. It's not exactly my forte." To be honest, I haven't really tried singing, especially in front of people. When I was six I played Barney the mouse in a Christmas play, but that was the most experience I had with performing. The only other times I attempted it were when I was mucking around listening to music or singing in the shower. Neither gives an accurate idea of my ability. 

She smiles coyly. "You could be the bee's knees."

"Mr Sweeny, Mr Styles, Miss Harvey! I would appreciate your attention," our teacher scolds, glaring his dark eyes at us. We shut our gobs and sit quietly until the end of the lesson, hoping not to annoy him again. 

The rest of the school day passes quickly. I shrug back into my jumper as Lauren, Will, Hadyn, Nick and I rush down to Robin who offered to pick us up from school and drive us to Will's house. Normally I would walk if I was just going back home, but I'm glad we're being driven since it's blooming freezing this time in the year. Robin also said that we should at least have some parental supervision; apparently Will's mum is working on some Paranormal Channel with his dad so we have the house to ourselves.

For the entire trip, the five of us are horrendously loud but only because we're so excited about the whole idea of a band. During the drive it starts snowing again, and Nick goes off on a tangent about how cool the snow is. Only once we arrive at the Sweeny household we start to quiet down. Saying goodbye to Robin as he lets us out in front of Will's doorstep, we run in, grab some food and crash in the basement.

The entire room is filled with instruments - a drum kit in one corner, a cheap piano opposite the table and a xylophone closest to where we sit. I marvel at it since I've always wanted to learn to play anything but the kazoo. I mean, the kazoo is fun and everything, but it just doesn't seem legitament enough to be considered an instrument. Gemma goes off her head if I play it too long and I prefer to play something that doesn't cause someone to go bonkers.

Will stands, facing all of us. "Haydn and I have been practicing for a while by ourselves. Originally we just wanted to see how it sounded but now we want to enter the Battle of the Bands this year that the new music teacher is running. It's in a week though so we have to learn quickly if we're gonna participate. Nick, we were thinking you could play bass and Harry, you'll be lead singer."