"Come on, Amarie. We have done this a million times. How are you suddenly screwing up the beat now?" It was a the day before the concert, and Laura and I were practicing. Again. Like we have been these past couple of days.
"Can we take five?" I needed to calm my nerves. I was shaking and freaking out thinking about the concert tomorrow. Laura nodded, and I grabbed my water and sat next to Ashley, took a swig of water and looked at him. "How am I doing?"
"Your doing really great, actually You can see you are comfortable until you think of something. Your face turns pale, and then you screw up. Whats wrong?"
"I keep thinking of the concert. How many people are going to be staring at me. It makes me feel sick and I start to freak."
"Don't think about them. Think about all of us, backstage waiting for you. Think about your parents, how proud they will be of you following your dreams. And think about Laura, who is your best friend, and even though she seems harsh, she is just trying to help you, because, like me, she sees how much you enjoy it. Think of that, and see how it helps." He kissed me, and then Laura walked back in.
"You ready?"
"Yup." We got ready to play, but then I stopped. "You know what, lets do one we haven't done in a while. 'Rebel Love Song.'" I looked at Ashley and smiled. He smiled back.
"You sure? We only did that one once."
"I know. That's why we should work on it." She shrugged.
"OK. Whatever you say." We counted off, and jumped right in. We played, and the rest of the band came down hearing the familiar tune. They stopped us every once in a while to point out mistakes we made, and we tried again over and over. I took Ashley's advice, and it helped. But then, I slipped. I thought of that last concert, and screwed up a whole verse. I stopped, and Laura looked at me. Ashley stood up and walked over.
"You OK?' He whispered. I nodded.
"Sorry. Mental slip. Lets try that again." We went to the verse I screwed up, and finished the song.
"OK, I think we are-"
"Five minutes and try it again? Please?" Laura looked at me, then nodded.
"OK. Fine by me if you are up for it." I went over and hugged Ashley, while Laura called to the others for a little help on one part.
"Thank you," I whispered. "Your advice helped a lot."
He hugged me back.
"I could tell. You seemed to be having fun, until that one verse. But you fixed it, and that's something even a pro has problems with." I smiled.
"Even you?" He smiled back.
"Can't ever tell, can you?" We kissed, and I went over and grabbed my bass.
"I'm having problems for the beat at 'Hearts will sacrifice it's do or die,'" Laura said to Jinxx. "How do you keep track of that one?"
"Easy, you just-" I strummed a bit, tuning them out. I played a couple of chords, and then launched into the verse I had problems with. "Take your hand in mine it's ours tonight. This is the rebel love song. Hearts will sacrifice it's do or die. This is the rebel love song." I whispered sang under my breathe as I played, then played the final chords. I realized everyone had stopped talking, so I looked up and saw them all staring at me. I blushed.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you guys, I just wanted to play the final part again."
"God damn girl I knew you could sing but you have gotten better." I looked down.
"I think I sound really bad."
"You don't Trust me." Coming from Andy, that was a real complement.
"She can scream to."
"Really?" Andy raised an eyebrow. "You can't find many girls who can." Laura started to play 'Knives and Pens.'I sighed and when she got to the first screaming part, I jumped in.
"But stay right here and we can change our plight! We're storming through this despite whats right!" Laura stopped playing. I stopped, too, not even realizing I had jumped in on the bass as well.
"Wow. That's really good."
"Thanks," I said and looked down. "I got hooked on screamo before anything. I practiced a lot and eventually got the hang of it."
"If your up for it, you wanna sing and scream while we play?" I looked at her and thought about it.
"Sure. If I'm up for it." We practiced a bit more, and then went to bed.
"You are a woman of many hidden talents. Any others I should know about?" I laughed.
"Not any I know of, if there are any." We soon fell asleep, listen to the sounds of each other breathing.