Senior year was already going to be the most dreadful year of Grian's life, he didn't need to be called into the principles office on the first day! He sat in the small square office, the white walls as blank as ever, aside from a huge corkboard behind the principles desk that housed millions of photos of students, teachers, groups of students and teachers, sports teams, the cast from the drama club, colourguard and the marching band during parades, cheerleaders, and of course, Boatem. Boatem was the school's rock band, everyone loved the kids in Boatem.
Luckily for Grian he lived with two of the members, Pearl his twin sister (keyboard), and Jimmy his younger brother (lead singer). Another stride of luck for Grian, he was best friends with the band's basest Mumbo. All of them were hugely popular, it was dumb, really, it was. They just played instruments and sung covers of songs that were mediocre at best. The only song that Grian thought they did well was Zombie by The Cranberries, and that was only because they played it so often it was like second nature.
The principal finally walked in, jolting Grian from his thoughts.
"Good morning Mr. Void, did you find your classes ok?" Mrs. Floyd asked.
Speaking of people Grian hated, Mrs. Floyd was one of them.
"Well I've only been to one class since you randomly ushered me into your office," He responded, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms.
"Right...." She trailed off, "Grian, have you thought about an extracurricular to join this year?" She asked.
Grian shook his head, "No," He said.
"Ok, well I hate to tell you this but...if you don't join some sort of extracurricular you won't be able to walk with your class," That got Grian's attention, he shot straight up.
"What?! But I have straight A's in all my classes!" He exclaimed.
She looked at him regretfully, "Yes, but the state requires you to do at least one extracurricular or you can't graduate,"
"This has to be a joke," He stared in disbelief at the principle, mind racing.
"Unfortunately it is not, and if you have not joined or participated in any after school activity by the Winter Showcase you'll have to stay back a year."
Grian stood up grabbed his backpack and left, he couldn't believe it! How could the school force their students to do a stupid extracurricular activity?! That sounded like hell! He walked into Astronomy and sat beside Pearl, dropping his bag on the ground next to him. Pearl looked at him concerned but before she could speak the class started.
*
"It's so dumb!" Grian complained at lunch, sat with Mumbo, Joel, and Martyn, "If I don't join a stupid team or some sort of Arts program I'm toast!"
"My offer still stands for Football," Joel sing-songed.
Grian glared at Joel, "I am not kicking a ball around in a dumb jersey and shorts that have our schools logo on them!"
"Oh come on G! Tryouts are this Friday and I'm sure you'd be good if you tried!" Joel said cheerfully.
"Not. Happening." Grian responded.
"What about Drama?" Martyn suggested, "We're always looking for new people!"
"Ew no. Pass." Grian said.
"You are impossible!" Mumbo said, laughing.
"Guys what do I do?!" Grian put his head in his hands, he really wanted to graduate but he just didn't like teams of people.
"Suffer?" A female voice Grian recognized as Joel's girlfriend Lizzie's.
Grian pulled his head out of his hands and saw Lizzie had walked over to their table. Joel turned his head upwards and Lizzie gave him a short peck on the lips which made Mumbo 'ew' softly. Grian laughed at his friend and Lizzie sat down beside Joel.
"I don't want to suffer Liz," Grian said.
"I mean.... The cheer team is always looking for talent?" She smirked, Grian looked her up and down before realizing she was serious.
"Lizzie." He deadpanned, giving her a look that was a clear no.
"What? You'd look good in a skirt Grian!" She smiled and Grian grimaced.
"We're not doing this right now," He said. Joel began to laugh, "What's so funny?" Grian asked.
"Thinking of you in a skirt is the funniest thing ever," He said, trying not to laugh through his sentence.
"Alright, alright," Grian said before getting up, "I'm gonna go check the club board," He sighed and walked away, slinging his bag over his shoulder.
He walked up to the corkboard outside of the gym, there were several flyers up, football, cheer, theater, colourguard, etc. One flyer caught his eye, it read "Auditions for a new lead singer in 'Boatem' are being held this Friday in the chorus and band room after school!!" This was weird since Jimmy was their lead singer, why did they need a new one?
*
After lunch he had gym and it only takes so many times of being smacked with a basketball to the face to throw Grian off of sports completely and straight to the nurses office with a concussion. Holding an ice pack to the side of his head and leaning back in the padded chair in Sadie's (the nurse) office he ignored the flow of students coming in and out.
Until Pearl walked in and started talking to Sadie, "I don't know what were gonna do, I mean obviously we are all very excited for Jimmy since he's my brother and the bands friend but I don't really know anybody who can sing like he does and I'm scared we're gonna find no one to replace him in time for the Winter Showcase," She vented to the nurse.
Sadie nodded and offered some sort of support to Pearl, Grian sat up and stared at his sister.
"Why isn't Jimmy in your guy's band anymore?" He asked.
Pearl jumped at the sound of her brothers voice then took a breath, "He's doing school abroad in Scotland this year, remember?"
Oh, yeah. Grian completely forgot. He was just so caught up with the extracurricular thing he forgot his brother was leaving tonight.
"Right...." Grian said, "Sorry Pearl," Pearl smiled at her older brother.
"Its ok, are you?" She asked.
"Huh?" Grian furrowed his eyebrows im confusion. Pearl motioned to the ice pack that was long forgotten and now in his lap, "Ohhhh, yeah. Got hit with a ball like 50 times," He said.
"Gotcha..." She trailed off before leaving the room with a quick wave to Sadie.
'That was weird.' Grian thought as his twin left the room, he sat there until gym ended and he had to go to his next class.
*
The rest of the week went smoothly aside from trying to figure out what after school activity Grian could do, by the weekend he was down a sibling and most likely wouldn't be graduating ever. Pearl came home that Friday night very annoyed, she went up to her room and sobbed, Grian heard it through the wall. So the next morning he went to check on her.
"Pearl?" He asked as he entered her room, slowly opening the door.
Pearl lifted her head up to look over at the door, she was on her computer on Spotify. Grian assumed she was looking up songs for 'Boatem' to play. Her light brown hair up in a ponytail, freckles dusted her face in the same patter that matched Grian's own, over her nose bridge and around her cheeks, her blue eyes looking up at her brother with wonder, and lips twisted into a slight smile. She wore her usual red zip up hoodie, black t-shirt with jean shorts that were ripped as well as frayed at the bottom, she also wore white fishnets that had a heart design on her knees.
"Hey Gri," She said, smiling at her twin and patting the bed, sitting up.
Grian sat beside his sister, "Are those the songs you're going to try to play this year?" He asked.
"Yeah," Pearl said, there was a hint of sadness in her voice as she spoke before shutting her computer, "Do you need something?" She asked.
"Do you?" Pearl looked confused, "You were crying last night," Her face fell.
"Uhmm..yeah.." She looked everywhere but at Grian, until he grabbed her hand, she sighed. We didn't find anyone to sing for us, I mean sure, Scar can sing but he can't hit high notes and it limits what we can play. Mrs. Floyd is saying if we don't find a lead singer in a week she's gonna shut us down..." Tears began to prick at Pearl's eyes.
Despite how stupid Grian thought their band was he knew how much it meant to Pearl and the other band members, he remembered how excited Jimmy and Pearl were Freshman year (8th grade for Jimmy) coming home from a pep rally where they had their first gig. They wouldn't stop talking about it, Grian knew that loved it, he knew they couldn't lose it.
"She can't do that," Grian said.
"Oh yes she can!" Pearl exclaimed, before putting her head in her hands and crying.
"I'm so sorry Pearl..." He said, wrapping his arms around his sister.
*
That night he heard Mumbo express his annoyance with the situation, "Just because we don't have a fifth member we need to stop playing! The only reason she's aloud to stop is is because all of the equipment is owned by the school which is so dumb!" He said as Grian sat in his bedroom.
The teen had a handle bar mustache and jet black hair that made him loom a little silly, he wore a black 3-peice-suit everywhere. Why? Grian didn't know. He was weird.
"I don't get why I can't just sing and that be that!" Scar yelled from the floor.
Scar was laying on his back in simple jeans and a t-shirt. He had emerald green eyes and brown hair, the interesting thing about Scar is the scars that covered his body. Grian didn't know Scar very well, only having talked to the 18 year old 5 or 6 times in the 4 years he'd been going to their school. Scar was an exchange student from America, he's lived with Mumbo the whole time seeing as he has no family here. Scar went home for summers but he always came back for school in the fall, always.
"She's a totally bitch," Grian said, making Scar sit straight up with a dramatic gasp.
"How dare you swear, G!" He exclaimed, Grian laughed at the brunette.
Grian was at Mumbo's house till Sunday night, when he got home Pearl rushed over to him a shoved a slip of paper into his hand.
Grian yelped, surprised by his sister's enthusiasm, "What's going on?" He asked.
"Open it!" Pearl said happily, she was practically jumping up and down.
Grian rolled his eyes at her and opened the small piece of paper, it read: "I'm sorry I broke your painting here is an I.O.U. that can be cashed in at anytime - Ari" Grian cringed at his old name but looked up at her expectantly, he remembered when he gave Pearl this paper. It was after he had knocked over a painting that Pearl had spent 3 months on, it fell and the glass that she had painted shattered. He felt horrible so he gave her a paper that said he would so whatever she wanted and she could use it whenever she wanted.
"What do you want?" He asked, sighing.
"I want something that will fix both of our problems," Pearl said.
"And what is that?" Grian put the paper in his pocket and filled up a glass with water taking a sip of it.
"I want you to be Boatem's new lead singer!" Pearl jumped and did jazz hands, Grian, choked on water.
"I'm sorry, WHAT!?" He exclaimed.
"Come on Gri!" She walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder, "I know you can sing! You sound amazing, plus you have the same range that Jimmy has," Pearl smiled at him, "Maybe a little higher since you're a Soprano and he's an Alto," She said thoughtfully.
"No way," Grian shook his head, took his glass and went upstairs, Pearl trailing after him.
"Why noooot?!" She drawled.
"Because I don't sing anymore Pearl," He said, Pearl frowned at him.
"But you would be able to graduate and we wouldn't be eradicated!" Pearl said, she seemed desperate.
"I'm sorry but no amount of I.O.U.'s will make me sing in front of the whole school," Grian deadpanned before waking into his bedroom and shutting the door.
After a few moments he heard Pearl sigh and walk away, closing her bedroom door. Grian felt bad but he didn't know how his anxiety would fair in front of the whole school. The only people that have ever heard Grian sing are Jimmy and Pearl, not even Mumbo has heard him sing. He just couldn't bare the thought of messing up and bombing it in front of everyone.
*
Monday, after school, Grian made his way to the chorus and band room. He reached the door and paused, his hand hovering over the knob, he couldn't believe he was doing this. Grian took a deep breath to calm his nerves, shook himself off and opened the door. He was met with Pearl unplugging her keyboard, Mumbo putting his base back into the case, Scar putting an amp away, and Impulse tucking his sticks back into his backpack.
Impulse had brown hair and soft brown eyes, he was a very sweet person and Grian liked him a lot. He wore a black shirt with yellow lines of colour on his sleeves as well as the bottom of the shirt and a yellow 'i' in the middle. Impulse also wore brown cargo shorts.
Scar was wearing his usual get up, a cream coloured collared button up with a small pocket in the front, brown pants, and black shoes. His cross body bag on the ground beside him.
None of them noticed him, he cleared his throat and all four band members snapped their heads up to look at Grian.
He flinched at the sudden movement but remained calm as he walked over to the closet, pulled out a mic, and said, "I am only doing this because I owe my sister," Pearl was ecstatic.
She jumped up from the seat behind the keyboard and ran up to Grian, pulling him into a tight hug. As Grian laughed and hugged her back she was lifted slightly off the ground
"Yes! Yes! I knew you'd do it!" Pearl exclaimed. She pulled back from her brother and turned to her band mates who were all stunned, "Lets go! Chop chop! It's 2:45 we only have till 5:00!" Pearl clapped and went back to her keyboard, plugging it back into the amp and powering it on.
The three students all exchanged looks before pulling their instruments (in Impulse's case drum sticks) back out and getting set up. Grian went back into the closet, he had watched the band practice once or twice and knew what Jimmy did. There was a shelf that held a box full of microphones (one of which he was already holding), next to that stood a wall with hangers on it, hanging off of those were the chords that connected to the instruments and microphones. He grabbed one off the wall and walked back out, Grian connected the chord to an amp and the mic, then he tested the mic by tapping on it and placed it on the microphone stand. He also grabbed a music stand seeing as everyone else had one in front of them, along with black binder, though, Grian didn't grab the binder.
"Soooo.." Scar said once they were all set up, "You can sing?" He asked skeptically, Mumbo hit his arm.
Grian swallowed his fear and smiled, "Yep!" He said happily.
"Anybody can sing," Impulse said rolling his eyes, "The question is...are you any good?" He smirked, clearly joking and not trying to scare Grian or make him feel bad.
Though the comment did anyway, "Erm... Not really..." He trailed off which made the group of teens look a little fearful, well, that was before Pearl jumped in.
"He has no self confidence." She said plainly.
"Thanks Pearl?" Grian didn't really know what to say to that.
"You didn't let me finish," She sing-songed, turning to her band mates and nodding, "He can sing. I assure you that," Pearl said confidently.
"Oookay then," Scar said, "Grian, do you know any of the songs in this binder?" He asked as he picked a black binder off the table and handed it to Grian.
Grian took the binder and read through the list, there were only 3 songs he didn't know and that was because they were labeled as songs that Scar wrote.
Grian put the binder down and nodded, "I know them all, bar yours, Scar," He said, smiling at the guitarist.
Scar smiled bashfully, "Yeah... Um..." He trailed off before Mumbo picked the conversation back up.
"That's good then! Do you want to pick a song and we'll play based off of you?" He asked.
Grian grabbed the binder and stared at the songs, one caught his eye, "Call Me?" Grian suggested.
"Ooh! That's my favorite!" Pearl exclaimed, standing up and flipping her binder to that page.
The other band members followed suit, Grian decided to follow them and flipped through the songs till he found it.
"Want me to count us in?" Impulse asked.
"Always," Scar said, smiling at his friend.
Pearl turned to her brother and smiled softly at him, "Ready?" She asked, her voice matched the smile on her face, she also had a look that told Grian 'you can back out if you want too, it's ok not to be ready for this' but Grian just nodded at her.
He took a deep breath and said, "I guess," accidently speaking into the mic and startling himself, the group laughed and Impulse raised the sticks above his head.
"1, 2, 3, 4," Impulse said as he clicked the sticks before starting the drum part to the song.
After his little drum part the bass, guitar, and keyboard came in, Grian was surprised at just how good the group sounded when he wasn't sitting hourly in the audience.
He listened for his que which came rather quickly, "Color me your color, baby.
Color me your car," He sung into the mic, timidly, but he was still heard.
Scar and Mumbo exchanged looks as Grian sung the first verse of the song, they looked pleasantly surprised. Impulse gave Pearl an excited look, which she returned happily.
The chorus came up and Grian had pushed down all his nerves, "Call me!" He sung which was quickly repeated by Scar, "On the line, call me, call me any, anytime. Call me," Again repeated by Scar.
It seemed Scar was a backing vocalist seeing as it sounded like second nature for him to respond with the backing vocals to the song. Grian really wasn't expecting it but he really liked it, made him feel like he wasn't alone. One of the only things we was worried about when it came to agreeing to this, he hadn't even noticed that Scar had a mic until just now.
"Emotions come, I don't know why, cover up love's alibi...." Grian stretched out the note on 'alibi' in the pre chorus before repeating the chorus.
Everytime Grian looked at Pearl or Mumbo the two had a fond look on their faces that signaled to Grian that they were happy with him and that's all that mattered to him. When they got to the bridge of the song Grian went solely off of what was on the sheet in front of him, he didn't know French and he defiantly butchered the word 'chiamami' but nobody seemed to care.
"Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, any day," He went up higher on the last note of the last word in the bridge, Impulse played the drum lead up to the guitar solo.
Which Scar began to play and made Grian's jaw hit the floor, he didn't think he'd ever heard Scar play so well before he was amazed, a bright smile on his face as he began to sing the last chorus of the song. Scar caught his eye and Grian's smile grew wider as he sung. Scar blushed and sickly averted his eyes going back to playing, before the whole thing began to fade out and Grian stopped singing. The song ended just how it had began, when Impulse signaled for it, the moment the song was over everyone was smiling happily.
"Grian, that was amazing!" Scar exclaimed.
"Yeah! You did so good!" Impulse said, standing upt from his chair.
"I told you he could sing!" Pearl said, she sounded proud and it made Grian really happy.
"Nobody doubted that after you said it Pearl," Mumbo responded.
"Still!" She exclaimed, walking over to Grian and slinging her arm around his shoulder. "This boy is a prodigy!" Pearl smiled at him and Grian leaned into her side.
"You did super good too," Grian said, "All of you!" He smiled at the group, "Scar especially though, I wasn't expecting the guitar solo to be so good!" Scar put his hand on his chest and gasped dramatically.
"You thought I'd be horrible?!" He said, "Oh, what a travesty!" Everyone laughed at Scar's dramatics.
"Do you know what travesty means Scar?" Mumbo asked.
That made Scar stand upright, wide-eyed as he thought about it, making the group burst into laughter again. Scar glared at everyone as they laughed and a little while later they played another song. By the end of the day while everyone was packing up Grian realized just how much fun he had today and maybe, just maybe, he might have found his thing.