A band of performers were playing rock music. As the song came to a close, they jumped and freezed in the air.
As the episode ended the four audience members were smiling at the television screen. One of the kids grabbed the remote and started flipping through the other recorded episodes.
"I just got a great idea. We should totally start our own band." Anne suddenly suggested.
The three other kids looked at her, a little surprised at the sudden suggestion. "Our own band?" Sasha repeated.
"Yeah, our own band." Anne confirmed.
"But there's only four of us." Drake said.
"Come on guys. I know we can do it." Anne encouraged them.
"We will need a place to meet up and practice though." Marcy said.
"We could practice at my house. It's a pretty big garage." Sasha said.
"Yeah, let's meet up tomorrow." Anne said.
"Wait, what about instruments?" Drake asked.
"Don't worry about that. My house has a place where we can borrow some." Sasha explained.
The four kids went home for the night. Each of them thought about what it would be like, to be in a garage band together. In the morning, the four kids were preparing to meet up.
"Hey mom! I'm going to Sasha's house today." Drake said. He had told her the night before about his plans to join the band.
Drake's mother, Natalie Cohen was washing the dishes. She stopped to wave goodbye. "Bye Drake! I packed your lunchbox! Make sure you're back home before dinner!"
"Thanks mom!" Drake grabbed his lunchbox and went out the front door.
He met up with Anne and Marcy outside a large walled off house. Judging by the neighborhood, mainly the wealthy lived here. The gates swung open revealing the path to the house where two cars sat outside. At the edge of the path stood bushes. To the left was a garden with a gazebo and a fountain.
Sasha stood right behind the gate ready to greet her friends. "Hey guys, great to see you. You ready to get started?"
"Your house is a lot bigger than I expected." Marcy commented.
Sasha rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, it's something alright. Anyway, let's go. The garage is ready."
Sasha led the group towards her home. The garage was open revealing a large open space that looked like it could fit at least three cars. To one side was a rack full of mostly gardening equipment. On the other side were a set of speakers connected to an outlet.
"Oh wow. This is pretty cool Sasha." Anne said.
Sasha smiled. "I'm glad you like it, now come on. Let's go get our instruments."
Sasha opened the door that connected the garage to the rest of the house. The building itself was massive and it looked as though the others would get lost if they didn't have Sasha acting as a guide. She led her friends to one of the rooms in the house. There was one of every known instrument on display.
"Ooh..." Marcy walked to each instrument.
"If you find something you like. Just go ahead and take it. I already made my choice," Sasha grabbed a guitar that had been put off to the side.
Anne, Marcy and Drake browsed the selection. "What do you think we need?" Drake asked.
"The instruments are a very important choice. That determines what kinds of songs we can play. Most bands have a drummer which dictates the beat so I could do that," Marcy suggested.
Drake grabbed a flute and tried to blow into it. He coughed then put it back down.
Anne looked through the selection as well. "What do you guys think?"
"Well Sasha already picked a guitar. We don't really have a bass guitar," Marcy said.
"There's a difference?" Anne said.
"Bass guitars can hit lower notes. It would certainly give our songs more depth," Marcy explained.
"What should I pick?" Drake asked, holding a small drum.
Marcy looked around. "I don't know, there's a lot to choose from."
While Drake and Marcy worked. Anne and Sasha walked to another corner away from them. "So, do you have a song in mind?" Anne asked.
"No, not really. We could probably just play in the garage. We can come up with something," Sasha said.
"Alright I got it!" Marcy called out. She held a xylophone in her hand. "We just need to get this setup."
The four kids went back to the garage with their instruments. Once they were set up, they started playing random notes and making noises. It was rather fun, and they all had a laugh just being able to play together.
Weeks went by as the quartet would continue playing. Everything would change one day while Sasha was walking around during school hours. It was an advertisement for a talent show.
Sasha thought about it for a bit. A chance to perform in front of the whole school would be a great way to get popular. She decided to write down herself and her friend's names.
At the next band meeting at Sasha's house, everyone was set up. "So I got some exciting news for everyone. We're going to be playing at a talent show!" Sasha announced.
The garage was silent. It wasn't the kind of reaction Sasha was expecting.
Anne broke the silence first. "You signed us up for a talent show? You couldn't have asked us before signing up?"
"Yeah, we've been practicing quite a lot. I think we're ready," Sasha said confidently.
"Well we are very well coordinated as a band," Marcy agreed.
"I don't know... I was happy just playing with you guys. I don't really want to go on stage," Drake said.
"I wouldn't have signed us up if we weren't ready. Besides, I've already got a song to play," Sasha held a couple of musical sheets and a lyrics sheet.
Sasha placed the sheets on a nearby table where her three friends immediately gathered.
Marcy looked through the sheets. "I think we can do it."
"I actually kind of like it. It reminds me of that high school show," Anne agreed.
Drake's anxiety vanished immediately. "We're actually going to play our first song. I can't wait!"
"We have a full week of practice before the talent show. Let's rock!" Sasha said, readying her guitar.
The four kids would spend the rest of the week practicing Sasha's song. They picked it up rather quickly. In no time at all, they were prepared for the talent show.
On the day of the talent show, a young girl tapped on a box with her arm. "Abracadabra!" Then she opened it, there was no one inside. She then bowed as people cheered.
The curtains closed and the magician cleaned up the stage. While this was going on, Anne, Sasha, Marcy, and Drake went to set up their instruments.
The announcer could be heard in the background. "For our final contestants. Please welcome, Sasha and the Sharps!"
The curtains opened and a small amount of fog covered the stage. It slowly went away revealing Marcy as the drummer, Drake standing behind a xylophone, Anne with a bass guitar, and Sasha with both a microphone and an electric guitar.
Sasha was standing in the front; she was the star of the band. She started playing first. She strummed her guitar which echoed across the entire theatre. They began to play Sasha's song, "Heartstomper"
As they played, Sasha looked towards the crowd was certainly loving it. The judges were smiling and shaking their head to the song. She knew they were ready.
Then there was a pause as Drake hit his xylophones with his sticks in quick succession. He ended his solo part by dragging one of his sticks across the entire xylophone.
Sasha couldn't turn around to see her friends, but she could tell from the way they were playing, they were getting very confident with the song. Only one more verse.
Sasha closed off the song and there was silence. Sasha and the Sharps did the pose they had rehearsed and held it.
At first there was silence, then the crowd erupted in applause. They held their pose but could see the judges were really happy with the performance. The curtains closed in front of them.
"We actually pulled it off!" Drake yelled once the curtains fully closed.
"Right! Did you all see that?" Anne asked.
"They loved it! I can't wait to see the scores!" Marcy practically screamed.
"Hold on guys, don't celebrate until they announce the winners," Sasha silenced them. "Let's pack it up."
The four kids began clearing the stage while waiting for the judges. Once they were off the stage, they waited with the other groups. The winning competitors would walk onto the stage.
After a few minutes, the announcer could be heard. "We've had a lot of talented kids today but it's time to announce the winners... today's winner of the Saint Martin's Elementary School talent show is... Sasha and the Sharps!"
Anne, Drake, Marcy, and Sasha ran out from backstage and were met with cheering applause. The four friends held hands and bowed together.
Author's Note
________________________________________________________________________________
While I was writing this episode, I did consider putting in the actual lyrics for Heartstomper. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to do it correctly, even going back to Battle of the Bands chapter in the other fanfic. After my research, I realized actually putting in the lyrics in that original chapter was a mistake. So I made sure not to repeat that here and instead put even more emphasis on the thoughts and emotions of the performers.
I am probably going to go back to the Battle of the Bands chapter at some point and revise that chapter. It's another steppingstone to writing better.
Looks like Sasha and the Sharps has been formed.