The Only Girl in the Band

The Only Girl in the Band...[Part 4]

"Wish me luck!" I yelled to Mae.

"Good luck!" Mae called from the kitchen. I walked out of our apartment, typing the address to Camron's house into my phone as I walked to my car. Once I was seated, I started the GPS in my phone and followed it to his house, which is where the band decided we would meet. I was impressed when I pulled into the large, circular drive way. The Spanish villa was large and extremely beautiful. The driveway was lined with tall palm trees, a must in every California home. I rang the doorbell when I got to the front door. A short, petite woman with cropped blonde hair opened the door. She was no doubt Camron's mother. They shared the same facial features.

"Hello, how can I help you?" she asked.

"Hi. I'm Vanessa. I was supposed to meet Camron and the band here for a meeting?" I said.

"Ah yes! Vanessa. Camron told me you'd be coming. Come in, come in!" she said. I stepped into the large home and was impressed once again. The interior was just as amazing, if not more, than the exterior of the house.

"You have a really beautiful home," I told her. She smiled at me.

"Well thank you. It's my pride and glory," she said, her eyes sparkling as she looked around. "The boys are down in the basement. It's through that door over there," she said, directing me where to go. I opened the door and walked down two flights of stairs into the basement. When I got down there, I saw the boys sitting on the red leather couches. The room was bright because the balcony doors were open to let the breeze in.

"Ah, our newest member!" Camron said, standing up. I smiled shyly and walked up to them. He gestured for me to sit. I sat down next to Camron on the loveseat. There was a guy with wild looking brown hair that I didn't recognize.

"Even though we all know you, I think we should go around and introduce ourselves. Just so everyone's comfortable," Liam suggested.

"I'll start. I'm Camron Matthews," Camron said, smiling at me.

"Liam James," Liam said, waving at me.

"We actually haven't met before. I'm Caleb Rhodes," the guy with the wild hair said, his blue eyes twinkling. I nodded, smiling at him.

"Ian Giovanni," Ian said, frowning at me. They all looked at me. I blinked.

"Oh! I'm Vanessa Laine," I said, giving an awkward wave.

"You're even prettier in person," Caleb commented coolly. I felt myself blush a little.

"Ummm, thanks," I replied quietly. Camron nudged me.

"All right. So...welcome to the band. We're The Velocity, obviously. From Beverly Hills, California. We're all 21 or 22," Camron said, doing some overview stuff.

"I'm 20," I said.

"Wow, you're young," Liam said.

"Another reason she shouldn't be in the band," Ian muttered under his breath.

"But I'm turning 21 in a few weeks," I added, glancing at Ian.

"That's great! So you won't have a problem getting into any of the 21+ clubs," Caleb said. They told me a little more about them, telling me how they came together, where they were really known, what instruments they played, etc, etc.

"I have a question," I interrupted. They looked at me. Well, all of them except Ian.

"What happened to your old lead singer? I saw him perform with you guys like, last Friday," I asked. They all exchanged glances and Ian let out an annoyed groan.

"He left. He wanted to go solo," Caleb replied.

"That fu**ing traitor. Son of a b*tch used us to get discovered, got a record deal and then straight dipped on us," Ian spat, anger in his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said awkwardly, not knowing what else to say.

"And now we have a fu**ing girl in our band. God, this whole thing is turning into a mess," Ian continued. The other boys exchanged annoyed glances.

"Give it a rest, Ian. We all want her here. Just because no one meets up to your standards, doesn't mean she's not good," Caleb said.

"She's a GIRL. Do you know what that's going to do to our image?" Ian cried.

"Nothing! It won't do anything to our image. She's an amazing singer. If anything, she'll give us an even better rep. People will give us respect for having a sick lead singer that has a good voice that's a girl," Camron replied.

"You're the only person that has a problem with her. Get over it. If we want to get our record deal back, we need to get working as soon as possible. We can't go touring the country for 'Ian's Perfect Replacement'," Liam said. The other boys nodded in agreement. I simply sat there, listening to the argument, and feeling my ears turn red.

"Boys! Lunch is ready!" we heard Camron's mother call.

"Perfect. Time to re-fuel," Camron said. The boys got up and walked upstairs. Caleb stopped me before going up.

"Don't mind Ian. He's a class-A douche bag that just wants it his way. He's the one that formed the band in the first place. He's just angry that Bryan left. Getting a record deal means the world to him. This band is everything for him. That's why he's acting the way he is. Just give it time; he'll come around," he explained to me.

"I hope so," I mumbled. He squeezed my shoulder and gave me a sympathetic smile before we went up to join the rest of the band. After eating, we went back down to the basement. The boys played me some of their songs and had me listen to some demos. They had me sing some of the songs so that they could hear how they would have to adjust the music.

"We'll probably go in a more Paramore direction. It's still the same kind of music. We'll just have to account for a female singer," Caleb was saying.

"We have to get practicing as soon as possible. We need to get another record deal since Bryan took ours," Camron added.

"E-mail us your class schedule so we know when to schedule band practice," Caleb told me.

"She's still in school?" Ian asked, aggrevated. I was starting to get pissed off at Ian. Every time he talked about me, he was complaining, and each time, he wouldn't address me directly.

"I'm graduating next semester," I said.

"You're graduating early?" Liam asked. I nodded.

"I took some classes over my summers while I was working. I wanted to graduate early to take a year off and find a job and raise some legitimate money for myself," I explained.

"Sweet. That's perfect for us, then. If everything goes as planned, and the record deal that we want likes our demos, we should be recording and writing songs for the half a year or so. So when you're done with school and our album is a success, you won't have any problem touring," Caleb said. I wanted to ask them how they knew everything was going to work out. To me, it seemed like they had very high expectations. They were definitely dreamers. I kept my mouth shut, though. I knew they wouldn't like it if I brought up such a negative comment.

"I think for now we're good. We've given you a lot to think about," Camron said. Caleb and Liam nodded.

"He's right. It's a lot to take in. Sleep on it for a bit and we'll let you know the next time we meet," Caleb added. And with that, my first band meeting was over. I went home feeling a lot of pressure on my shoulders. What had I gotten myself into?