Brothers Bandmate

10

-Luke's POV-

        After working on the poem with Brianna, I actually felt proud of what we had.  I mean, I already liked mine before but when the poem were put together it just...sounded better.  I'm not going to tell her that though.

        The guys and I finished playing Out of My Limit, another one of our songs.  I was surprised by how well Brianna's guitar pick worked, but it's probably because she never used it.  Why did she have it?  No idea, but I don't really care either.

        "So, that song's good then," Calum said when we finished.

        "Yeah, it's been good.  I don't see why we have to keep practicing it," Ashton sighed, grabbing a water bottle.

        "What else do we play?  We've already been through our list," Calum pointed out to him.

        "Why don't we just write a new song?" I suggested, getting into their conversation.

        "A new song?" Calum questioned.

        "A new song," I repeated.

        "Yeah, let's write some new songs!  The ones we have now have already been perfected, let's add some for our next gig," Michael agreed, now included.

        Calum shrugged.  "I guess."

        "We should write a song that's different from our other ones though," I said, setting my guitar down.  "Like...maybe not so pumped up, just chill."

        "Why?" Ashton asked, setting his water bottle down and walking closer.

        "We need a variety," I replied simply but truthfully.  Who wants to listen to the same thing all the time?

        "Well then we need to slow it down, which means more thought into our lyrics," Calum started thinking about this new song.

        "We need a song that will move our fans, that's meaningful, something that will surprise them," Michael went off of Calum's thoughts.

        "What would we write about?" Ashton asked.

        "Something about love, that's easy but could also move people," Calum answered. 

        "Let's just make some sappy love song, that'll get the girls to love us!" Ashton smiled, nodding his head.

        "Dude, that's not punk rock!" Calum shook his head.

        "I was kidding!"  Ashton defended himself.  I furrowed my eyebrows though.  This conversation seemed very familiar...

        "How about a sad song?  Like heartbreak?"  I suggested, thinking back to when Brianna and I were starting our poem.  We fought a lot, but we did make a great poem in the end.  Maybe I still had some ideas from then.

        "A slow and sad song?  These lyrics have to be perfect then so it's not too depressing or boring," Michael said, a bit doubtful.  I don't blame him though.

        "This could work though, it's pretty different from our other songs!"

        "I say we give it a shot," Calum supported my idea.

        Michael slowly nodded in agreement.  "Okay, it's worth a try.  I'll grab an acoustic guitar and try to think of some chords.  Do all of you want to start writing lyrics?"

        "I need to figure out how I'm gonna incorporate the drums into a slow song," Ashton said, sitting back down and grabbing his drumsticks.

        "Good luck with that," Calum chuckled, walking over to me as Michael went to get his guitar.  "Okay, we have to somehow think of sad and meaningful lyrics.  Thanks a lot, Luke," Calum joked.

        I rolled my eyes.  "It's not that hard."

        "Yeah it is!  None of us have experienced heartbreak before, how do we write about something we've never experienced before?" he asked.

        "You just have to get a feel for it, channel what it would be like."

        "Do you have any ideas since you suggested it and seem so confident about it?" he asked, handing me paper and pencil nearby.

        I took it from him, wanting to prove a point.  "Yes, I do actually," I lied, adjusting the pencil in my hand.  I sat there, thinking for just a short line or anything.  When I heard Calum chuckle, I quickly wrote down the first thing that came to my head and handed the paper to him.  Calum raised his eyebrows as he took the paper from me.  I watched as he read it and smiled, crossing my arms and pleased by his surprised reaction.  "Told ya."

        "This is actually good!  How did you think of it so quickly?" Calum handed me back the paper, probably so I could write more.

       I took the paper and replied,  "I told you, it's not that..." I froze when my eyes scanned the paper and I realized what I wrote.  "Hard," i finished under my breath.  I wrote the first line to mine and Brianna's poem.

        "Honestly, it's perfect to start a song like this," Calum continued to praise, but I tuned him out.  I started writing our poem for a new song, I can't use that!  I mean, it is what I came up with but it's for our poem!  Maybe I could just turn the poem into a song, I wouldn't have to do too much and it's already written.  Brianna just couldn't know that I'm using her lyrics.  I'm not sure how that's going to work out, but I could at least try.

        "There's more where that came from," I told Calum, writing as much as I remembered down on the paper.  Obviously pretending to think so Calum wouldn't grow suspicious.


        
        At school the next day, I made sure to approach Brianna in the morning because I don't see her until the end of the day and of course she'd turn the poem in before I even stepped foot in the classroom.

        I walked over to her and her friends, ignoring the calls and looks from my own group.  I cut off whoever was talking and faced Brianna.  "Hey, can I talk to you about the poem?"

        "Um, we'll see you later, Brianna," the brunette said, taking the blond's arm and walking away.

        "Bye, guys!" Brianna called past me and gave a wave before turning her attention me.  "That was rude," she remarked.

        "Don't care," I shrugged.

        "Well I do!  Those are my friends and I..."

        "Can we get back to what I was talking about?  The poem?"  I interrupted her, annoying her even more.  I held a back a pleased smile when I saw her growing more angry.  It was almost like a game, to see how quick I could get her yelling.

        "What is it?"  she snapped.

        "I need a copy of the poem."

        "Why?" she asked, giving me a weird and confused look.

        "Because...I like it..." I trailed off, not sure what else to say.  I wasn't lying, I did like it.

        "I do have both originals on their own pieces of paper, do you really need them now?"

        "Not necessarily, I just want them now."

        She rolled her eyes but swung her backpack to her side and unzipped it.  After pulling out a folder and going papers, she pulled out both of our original poems and handed them to me.  I took them and made sure they had everything as she put the folder away and zipped the backpack up.

           I nodded and walked away when I saw everything was there, only to be stopped by Brianna's annoying voice.  "Anything you want to say?" she basically asked for a "thank you".

        I groaned and turned around so I was walking backwards.  "Thanks, Brie."

        She glared at me.  "Don't call me that!"  she called as I faced forward again.  I smiled at her frustration, already knowing she hated that nickname.

        I shoved the papers away in my bag as I walked to class, feeling better now that I have the full poem.  All I had to do now was turn it into a song and hope Brianna didn't notice it.