The Rich Boy in a Rock Band

Song 27 ♪ We Will Shock You

But that had to be crazy talk. For one, she was a violinist. I had a sudden imagine of her banging on the drums without any reason or tune and a laugh bubbled up out of my throat. Even for me, just because I could sing the one rock song I knew didn't mean I could pull off the entire genre, not that I was seriously considering it. But Madison? She looked like a real life Barbie. Like if she broke a nail she would make the world burn for it. If she'd gone to that rock concert on Saturday the masses would have swallowed her whole. The girl had less street cred in all of her than my left foot.

I dried my hands and tossed the tissue down the trash, along with that random thought of Madison in Ashton's band. I was sure she was just interested because she still wanted to know whatever her ex was up to.

A couple of days later the call for auditions was all over social media. Leti texted me about it, which was the craziest thing to me.

"How did you even find out?" I half asked, half screamed at her over the phone on loudspeaker Thursday night.

She laughed. "I added your friend Addy on Facebook. She made my wall explode."

Since I was sitting across from my roommate as she did her homework, I grabbed a pillow and tossed it at her. It caught her straight on the head, and since she'd been listening to our conversation she wasn't terribly surprised. She still socked me right in the nose with hers, and the strength of the blow caught me off guard.

"God damn it, Addy. You're too strong."

She shrugged. "You started it."

I rubbed my nose and picked up the phone again. "Why do I feel like you both are conspiring against me behind my back?"

"Not against you," Leti said.

Addy nodded as she typed on her laptop. "For you. We agree this band needs to happen."

My phone started buzzing with a second incoming call. I nearly dropped it.

"Why's Ashton calling me right now?"

As Leti cooed in the background, Addy jumped and grabbed my phone. I stood on my bed, because surely this way I'd be able to reach for it, but then she got on her bed and did the same, so the advantage was gone and moot.

"Hey Leti, I'll put you on hold," she said and then clicked on the screen. "Hey Ashton?"

"Addy?" I heard him ask as I folded my arms.

She laughed. "Oh wow, you sound so disappointed that it's me and not Vera."

I grabbed her pillow and chucked it at her, but she dodged it easily. "What do you want?" I asked him.

He cleared his throat, as if prompting us to start behaving. "Not much, just calling to ask if you're joining us for the audition tomorrow."

Addy replied, "Yes, she is."

"Why the hell would I?" I exploded. My roommate started sniggering as if she were being tickled on her sides by feathers.

I could almost see Ashton shrug. "I thought you'd want to see firsthand if you lost the war or not."

I let out a grunt in frustration because he was right, again. I was pretty confident that nobody in this school cut it, but I couldn't pass up savoring the moment of glory and gloat in his face about it.

So on Friday night I found myself sitting first row in the music room, as Ashton and company set up a makeshift stage for the auditions.

Addy rubbed her hands together beside me. "Ohh, this gon be good."