Stage Lights

Chapter One

Hunter is already out of his seat and doing a dance move and there's no music. I love my brother but I don't get him that much. At least I'm pretty sure I love him. He starts doing the sprinkler and I reduce pretty sure to about sixty percent sure I love the whack-job.

I sigh and take my phone out. Twenty texts in the past ten minutes and they're all demanding footage. I'm ninety nine percent sure that's illegal and I tell them as much. It takes ten minutes past when it was supposed to start for a man wearing a snappy suit to walk confidently onto stage. The crowd cheers loud enough that I wince as he takes position on the side of the stage. The man raises a mic to his mouth. "Introducing! The leader of Justinpain, Justin Rockwell! The singer and bandleader!"

The dark haired teenage heartthrob runs onto stage waving and grinning. He comes to the mic and waves to the crowd. "I also play electric, not just sing." He holds up his electric guitar then plays a riff as if stating that after being introduced wasn't stuck up enough. "Though I'm sure everybody here knew that." He winks at the crowd.

Everyone cheers louder and I smack my brother hard on his clapping hands.

And I swear, the stuck up lead singer's eyes go to me the moment I hit him, before he looks over us and then gets in his spot on stage, guiding his amp cord behind himself.

"And now," the announcer says, "Lead bass, Gavin Albright! Rumor has it he wrote one of the songs they'll be playing tonight!"

Gavin walks on stage instead of running and he just gives a shy wave before pulling his guitar across him. Now him, I can relate to a little. Or at least have empathy for, being on a huge stage in front of hundreds of people. Then again, these teenagers have played in front of some of the most famous venues in the world, and this is a small gig for them.

"Next is, Faris Jamison! Our back up singer and main electric." After he runs across the stage and takes his place the announcer introduces the last rock star: "Ronnie Byrd on the drums!" He takes his place as well, the announcer guy leaves the stage. The lights dim, leaving only the spot lights that are all beaming on Justin.

He leans into the mic and flashes a winning smile. "I'm about to make your year, i know all of you have been waiting for this forever, and I'm finally here. And this song we're gonna do I wrote up a few weeks ago. It's close to my heart, and these guys were nice enough to back me up for this show. So, let's do this." He swipes his guitar making a loud, twang sound before doing another riff, starting the song. And I catch it, I'm pretty sure Faris shoots a confused glare at Justin, but it's hard to make it out with the only light on Justin.

Then Justin starts the screaming all these people here call singing, and Faris's electric has to rush to keep up. If I didn't play guitar I don't think I would've recognized the rushed chords and beats. So anyone in that room who played an intrument knew that Justin had most likely stolen Faris' intro and then left him to pick it up without warning. And here is the exact reason I wanted to go out with Nora and Patrick to the pizza parlor instead. But no, here I am watching this display of exactly what's wrong with teenage boys in the spotlight, with my little brother who's screaming his lungs out along with everyone else behind us.

Lights not quite as bright as Justin's slowly light up the other band members as Justin continues his wonderful screaming.

"Yester-day, I went, and I asked, hhhooooowww do I get ovvvveerr you?" I feel my ears and am almost surprised to feel that they're still intact from the new level of volume the lead has achieved. "Then I figured out, howw. I hate your guts! There's nothing to get overrrr!"

I literally snort but can't even hear it. I flick my eyes to my brother who's standing and waving his arms back and forth to the someone sensical beat the bass player is making. That's the only thing that makes sense about their songs to me. The drummer is smacking around like he's a toddler with drumsticks, the main electric and the singer are competing for who can make the best dying cat sound, and the bass just makes a steady drum all the while with a shy smile. Which is why Gavin is instantly my favorite, I decide. I still don't like their band. The only thing that seems to change from song to song was the words which are all still making rude comments and saying how much they hate the world.