I was waiting, anxiously, for the results. But the deadline was in two days and the shows, in over a month. We'd have to wait so long! I was too anxious about this. The band kept practising in case we'd get more gigs, we acted as if everything was normal most of the time, but really, we were about to explode. We needed to know if we made it or not.

Relax gab. Deep breaths.

The days passed by slowly, all the same. One week, then two. And three. This was getting oh so very long. And stressful. Very stressful.

I was sitting in the music room playing with my guitar, when Michael and David walked in.

"Hey guys." "Hey gab. Do you want to come with Michael and I to the movies, you know, to take your mind off things?" "Sure! Ill get ready and we can go!"

I went back to my room, put on a pair of denim shorts and a teal tank top. I threw my hair in a ponytail and grabbed my purse and shoes. "I'm ready!" I yelled to the guys, throwing my keys at Michael. "Do you want to take my car?" Asked David. "Sure. Give me my keys back." Michael threw them back at me and I dropped my shoes trying to catch them. I put the shoes on and we left.

We decided to watch an action movie. I went to buy the food while the guys decided on a movie and bought the tickets.

The movie really took my mind off things. When we left the theater, my phone buzzed, indicating a new email. I hurried up and opened it. It had a YouTube link in it. I clicked on it and ready the title of the video -why it takes so long to judge the new band contest- might explain why I've been waiting almost a month and haven't heard anything. I went back home and decided to watch it. When the video came on, I realized, the one who had made the video was none other than Ashley Purdy.

"Hey guys! I just want to explain how we judge for this contest. First, when a submission is sent, they have a panel of judges that decide if it should be judged by the next panel or not. When a video passes, it's sent to us. There's a ton of judges, and they all watch every single video. They say yes or no for each one of them. If the video gets more yes then no, it passes. Then, they -as in the organizers- put similar videos in groups of about five or six, and send them to three judges. They then select their top three. Then,they do a kind of rotation until there's only one left in each group. Once that's done, they take the covers, and send them to the artist who originally played the song. If he's not in the panel, another judge is assigned the song, same goes for the originals. They chose their favourite, and then there's the final round. The remaining songs, not entries, songs, are judged by all the judges. Then, they select the winner. This all happens for one region at the time. So for example, first we'll all judge the entries from California, then another state and so on, and we start over again for the next round. So sorry if it takes so long, but we can't really help it. We've got to do it that way. Well good luck in this one everyone! Bye."

So that's what's happening.

I forwarded the email to the guys as we drove back to my place. I invited them to stay over for dinner, but Michael had company over and David had to work. My sister was at a friends place while my brother was gone for a soccer tournament with my dad and my mom was still at work. I had the house to myself so I went to the music room, grabbing myself a piece of cold leftover pizza. I sat at my piano, and started to play Resurrect The Sun. I was so into the song that I didn't hear Hayley walk in. I nearly had a heart attack when she tapped my shoulder.

"Holy shit! You almost have me a heart attack!" I said. She laughed. " I'm sorry! I heard you play and I had to come and watch it. Anyways, um, wanna come over to my place tonight? My parents are at my grandmothers to help her redecorate her kitchen or something like that." " Sure. I'll just text my mom and pack my stuff. Did you walk here?" "No my mom dropped me off before leaving" she answered.

I texted my mom, then I went upstairs to pack my bag. I made sure to have my toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, hairbrush, makeup, pyjamas and an outfit for the next day. Once everything was in my bag, I grabbed my wallet, keys and phone, and we left for her house.

Hayley and I have been best friends even before I met Zach. We went to school together since we were both five. I remember that she used to get bullied because she was really skinny and short, and she wore mostly black. I liked her look, and I recognized most of the bands on her shirts, as my parents were huge rock fans. We quickly became friends. In middle school, she started dying her hair black, and she convinced me to dye mine red. It looked good, since I already had greenish eyes, but I didn't re-dye them afterwards. She grew to be as tall as me, and when we went shopping, we didn't have to try everything. If we both wanted something, one would try it on and if it fitted, it would fit us both.

In high school, she met Zach. I was the one who hooked them up, and the one who texted her until three in the morning if something went wrong. She's also the one who introduced me to David and Fish. They were Zach's childhood friends.

Honestly, all the good things I had lived outside of the Christmases and holidays spent with my family were because of Hayley. Without her, I would be pretty lonely, and I wouldn't have a band.

We spent the night watching movies, from the notebook to the exorcist, and everything in between.

I didn't realize that I had fallen asleep, because when I woke up the next morning, we were still in her living room, surrounded by pillows and empty bowls.

She finally woke up, so we cleaned everything and went shopping.

I bought a black and purple dress, a couple of band shirts and three pairs of skinny jeans. Hayley bought two beanies, a pair of studded leather ankle boots and three shirts. We went back to her house and ate lunch before I went back home to finish some homework I hadn't done yet.

Time lapse to three weeks later.

I was laying in bed when my phone buzzed. It was a text from Fish.

Him: the results for The contest are supposed to come out tonight!
Me: OMG! I seriously was forgetting all about that... Not. Gah! I need to know if we made the cut!
Him: do you think they're the actual results for who's going to perform?
Me: of course! It's been three weeks since the deadline!

The moment I had anticipated was so close. At anytime after five we should receive an email saying wether or not we'll get to perform.

We had all agreed that we'd gather at my house with my laptop, pizza and video games while we Waite door the email. That way, we would all know at the same time.

By five, everyone, including Hayley, was there and we ordered the pizza. We played COD until the pizza got here and then we played some new game David had brought. The my phone buzzed. It was an email. I paused the game and made everyone come. I logged onto my laptop, and opens my Internet. Then, I went to my emails. I took a deep breath before clicking on the inbox icon.

"Dear god..." "No..."

Notes

A little suspence for you. It's my last chapter for tonight. I'll try to post tomorrow after school.
so?
Gabe