Silently I Wait

The Tree

I snapped out of my daze when I noticed we were next in line, and I was going to have to actually stand in front of this boy.

The three guys in front of us grabbed their passes and walked away. My eyes felt as if they widened, and my stomach dropped completely. Time stopped for a brief second, then Mike elbowed me to push me up to the table. I suppose he assumed I would get our passes. No, no fucking way. I raised my fist and coughed into it, and Mike rolled his eyes. He stepped forward and grabbed my book bag. "Really? Again?" he whispered as he turned back to the table.

"Sorry, my big brother is being a little bitch right now, so, we're Before Today, should be in the B's." Mike said, as I just stood there like a statue.

"Oh, yeah! People have been talking about you guys. Your name is all over town. It's a pleasure to meet you." The boy said back. I kind of just rolled my eyes and wished he would shut the fuck up so I could go..we could go.

"Yeah, yeah, my bro here doesn't think we'll get a following." Mike said, leaning on the table, now looking at me. Which, of course, only caused the boy to look at me.

"Would you please?" I said back to Mike.

"Fine, fine." He returned back to the check-in boy, "Did you find our passes?"

"Yeah, they're right here." He handed them to Mike and I took that as a "go" to begin to walk towards the stages.

"Have a good show!" I heard the boy yell at me as I left.

I raised my left hand in the air and waved, walking faster now.

"Vic! Slow down!" Mike yelled behind me.

He caught up to me and started walking beside me at my pace.

"What the fuck is up, dude?" He asked.

"That boy...I've seen that boy before." I said at a low volume.

"Where? Why does that even matter?"

I took an abrupt stop, and looked at Mike, "Look, it doesn't matter. Forget I said anything, okay?...Now, let's go blow this place down, show em' what we got."

Mike shook his head and walked behind me.

-----

After watching a few bands perform, it was our turn. Our time to show the judges what we have to offer the world.

"Nexxxxxtttttt Uppppppp...Beforeeee Todayyyyyy!!!!" said the announcer like a damn wrestle match commentator.

My brother and I ran out onto stage, and a small crowd of about 200 people stood before me.

I reached to grab the mic from the mic stand beside me.

"Hey! We're Before Today, and we're gonna be playing Yeah Boy And Doll Face for you guys. It's new, I just wrote it, it's not planned for anything spectacular. But, Here it is. I hope you guys like it."

I had practiced that fucking intro for months, and I still even fucked it up. I didn't think much about it though, since the music started immediately.

I was already half a beat off when I began.

------

"So keep talking, cause I love to hear your voice, voice agaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiin" I finished the last lyric to the song, and I was moving around the stage like an idiot. Then the note that lead me into my scream began, and I collapsed to the ground and sang my heart out.

The song had faded. I stood up slowly, dropped the mic and walked off stage. People cheered me on from behind. I could hear individual people cheering even though it was an entire crowd.

"Vic! Holy shit, man!" Mike yelled at me from behind.

"I know right!" I yelled over my shoulder, absent of an excited tone.

"Do you hear all those people cheering for us?!"

"Yeah..It's crazy man."

"You okay?" he asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, I was just thinking again. But, that's awesome that that many people are cheering for us."

We had finally gotten back to the crowd, and pushed our way back towards the check-in table so we'd have a comfortable place to sit and wait for the winner announcements.

The boy from earlier walked towards us. God, no.

"Mike, give me a cigarette." I said.

"You don't smoke."

I looked at the boy, then back at Mike, "I do now."

He shook his head and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a pack of Marlboro's and a pink lighter, and handed them to me.

"Thanks." I said, rushing off to a tree that had shade.

I sat under the tree and lit a cigarette. God, this tastes terrible. How does Mike even smoke these?

I looked back at my brother and the boy, and noticed Mike pointing towards me. What the hell.

The boy nodded and started walking my way.

Before I could react, the boy was feet away from me, and I could do nothing but sit here.

"Hey." I heard him say.

"Hey." I whispered, looking at the ground, taking a puff from the cigarette.

"What are you doing over here? Why aren't you with your brother?" He asked, walking closer. I could tell because his voice got louder, even though he didn't raise his tone.

"I came here to smoke, obviously." I said sarcastically, hoping that would make him walk away. Not only did he not walk away, he fucking sat down next to me.

"Can you not, please?" I said, annoyed.

"What?" He asked.

"Can you not sit next to me or be anywhere near me?" I said, regretting it the minute I said it.

"Why are you so rude? I just wanted to come congratulate you on winning Battle of the Bands."

"Won't I find that out at the announcements later?"

"No, we're just giving the winning bands an envelope, and they go home. To protect them from potential tomato throwers in the crowd. That shit actually happened last year, so, this year, we're keeping the bands safe. Here's your fucking certificate. I'm Jaime, by the way. But, you're an ass, so I won't be talking to you anytime soon." He then stood up and walked away.

I looked at the envelope and just dropped my head.

Goddammit.