Let's Start a Rock and Roll Band!...... interesting Story

Let's Start a Rock and Roll Band!

Being twenty, living at home with my single Mom that does pills every night and sleeps for cash, no girlfriend (never had one), and basically no money, there's nothing to do. All I have is my computer, video games, and my community college that sucks. I don't have the grades to go somewhere nice, and I'm too poor to run away.

Being a pretty boring person, I need something. Anything. I finally decided that I would do the one thing that makes every person cool, even if that person sucks at it: creating a rock band.

Having no friends, I would have to start my band from scratch at community. Having a second hand electric guitar that my older brother gave me years ago and barely played, I set off to find my new friends and band mates.

I put up signs all around my school, asking anyone with music ability to come and find me so that they could try out. On the day they were supposed to find me, only six people showed up.

The first was some hipster kid with a fedora on. I asked him what he played, and he said he plays a keytar. I ask what the fuck that is, and he pulls out a keyboard that looks like a guitar out of his case. He starts playing, and he's good, but I still can't shake the feeling that he's a gigantic faggot.

Second and third were too girls who liked to sing. One was some black chick who just liked singing the same way Beyonce did and added in horrible dance moves. The other girl was some country chick from Oklahoma that sung like shit, but she was hot, so I picked her over the other chick.

Fourth was Lucas. Lucas is probably 400 pounds, black, and rides around in a wheelchair. He plays the drums, and he is fucking amazing. With his wheelchair, I don't even have to get a seat for him to sit down on while playing.

Next was some emo chick who played bass. She was bad as well, but she wasn't wearing a bra, so I told her that she was in.

Finally, a Korean kid, Lee Won, showed up. Wearing a South Korea soccer jersey, he took out a guitar and started to play Canon Rock. He wasn't even fucking trying, but he was fucking amazing. He can't speak English that well at all, and he looked more like a girl than the chick trying to be Beyonce, but the guy knew how to play guitar.

So at the end of the day, I had my band. Tony, the hipster keytar player. Chelsea, the Spears wannabe singer. Lucas, the wheelchair bound African drums player. Lauren, the depressing chick who doesn't wear a bra. And finally, Lee Won, the Korean who can play guitar like a God.

We called ourselves KOREAN POP ROBOTS 9000.

Sleeping around, etc. My Mother is a slut. She's not a terrible Mom, and she's not mean, but she's been really flaky since my Dad left her for some Swedish transfer teacher.

Anyways, after that day, we started practicing every day. The Spears wannabe didn't show up for the first two practices, so we had the others try and sing. Lucas couldn't sing at all, Tony and Lauren sounded like they were trying to do a cover of My Chemical Romance, but Lee Won, again, was pretty good. You couldn't really understand the fuck he was saying because he was mixing in Korean and English, but he had a nice voice.

Chelsea showed up for our forth practice, and she said that she had an important date with her boyfriend all those days. This put me off because I wanted to bang her, so I became jealous and told her that Lee Won would be our lead singer and guitar player while she sung back up to him.

We got into a fight, she wanted to quit, but Lucas stepped in (...rolled in) and told us all to stop acting like faggots. Tony was off to the side smoking some weed, and Lee Won was reading manga on my couch. Lauren was sitting by herself on a chair I brought from my room and was staring at everyone back and forth like she was about to explode from anxiety.

We kept practicing for a few weeks, and we became closer as a band. We started thinking of songs, mostly me, and we were finally hitting a groove. Chelsea was fine with being the back up singer to our Korean superstar, and the others were having fun with it all.

First gig we had came when Lucas came up to me and said that his little brother was having a party. I agreed to play it, and we were all pumped to be getting paid $10 each to play for an hour at a party.

We show up at the party and it turns out his little brother is sixteen-years-old, a gangster in training, and everyone at his party was black. We all stuck out like a sore thumb, and the music playing before we came on was all 50 Cent and Lil' Wayne.

I confronted Lucas and asked why the fuck didn't he tell me that his brother didn't like rock/alternative music, and he told me that if he said anything that I would have declined. Being stuck in the situation, we started to playing and it went terrible.

It wasn't like we weren't playing well on our first song known as 'Fit', but the kids weren't paying attention to us. They were all of, drinking alcohol and talking to each other while we looked like idiots playing to two black kids who were staring at Chelsea the whole time.

We finish the gig early, about forty minutes early, and prepare to get the fuck out of there. Lucas' parents thank us and tell us we did a great job; even if they didn't hear us play at all while they were in the house.

We start packing up, and Lauren comes up to me and thanks me for helping her get out of the house. She tells me that her brother killed himself and all that jazz, and she didn't do anything all day but play World of Warcraft before the band sign-ups came up.

She hugged me, and fuck, she smelled good. Like strawberries and sweat mixed together into a totally sweet combo. She then walks off and gets in Lee Won's van that he took from his parents restaurant.

Our first gig was a failure, but luckily, that wasn't the end.

Alright, so we finished our first gig, and we all went back to college that week and took a week off of practicing because of mid-terms. I was studying like crazy to get good grades, and since I suck at anything school related, Lauren told me that she would help me. Seeing as she was getting straight A's in everything, she helped me out while we worked on music at our house.

I tried to make a move on her one night, but she didn't notice it and went to go get food when I tried to put my hand on her knee. The next day, again, I tried to talk about if she had a boyfriend, but everything got interrupted when the whole band came over for a study session.

Chelsea brought her boyfriend, a guy who looked like he was a forty, and he had the balding hair to prove it. They just went off in the corner and made out while we were all working, and Lee Won went around and helped everyone with our math. He would come over to whoever was having trouble, take our pen, make a few swipes, and he would show us how to do it. Lauren helped everyone with our Literature course, and Lucas brought us food.

We all had a fun time, and we were ready for the tests in the upcoming days. Since the weekend was coming up, I asked Lauren if she wanted to go to Six Flags. She said that she would love to, and then she asked Lucas because he was right by us. Lucas then asked Lee Won, and Lee Won asked Tony who asked Chelsea who asked her boyfriend who brought some old people with him for some damn reason.

We get to Six Flags in the Won Mobile (except Chelsea, her boyfriend, and his posse) and all start to go around and do all the shit we can find. Seeing as Lucas can't ride on the roller coasters, him and Tony went off to go play games. Me, seeing that as the most fun, first went to go out try X2 with Lee Won and Lauren.

Things then got kinda got awkward. Seeing as there is only two people per seat on the ride, and there was three of us, one of us had to get left out. We all looked at each other, and Lee Won said he would go with some random person and let us two go together. I gave him a high five behind Lauren's back, and he gave me a thumbs up.

The ride was awesome, and she didn't scream as much as I did. The coaster came to a stop, we got off, and went on other rides like Superman and Riddler while Lee Won continued to stay in the background with me and Lauren in the front.

All of us finally got back together around 4:00 PM for some food, and Chelsea and her boyfriend were hanging out with these old guys in suits. They were discussing politics and crap while she looked like she was only interested in making out with her balding love.

We ate our food and then went to go play games with Tony and Lucas. We all played that game where you have to shoot the target until the thing goes into the air and hits the top, so we all went at it at once. Lucas somehow won, gave the gigantic teddy bear to Lauren, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

I raged on the inside, but I let it slide seeing as I didn't think of Lucas as a competitor for her heart. The rest of the day was a bunch of rides and games. The most memorable thing could probably be the 3-Point Challenge thing the park was running.

It was a basketball court, and they were saying if you could hit 10 three pointers in sixty seconds, you could win a basketball jersey or a mini electric guitar. Lee Won told us that he would try, gave $7 to the guy running it, and hit 12 three pointers with five seconds to spare.

A crowd submerged onto all of us, and he got cheers from all the girls and got high fives from all the guys. He took one of the mini guitars and gave it to me, saying we were best friends.

We all had a great time that day, and we left in the Won Mobile back to my house for a late night cramming session.

The night comes and everything is hectic. We're all supposed to show up at my house, but my Mom has two gentlemen over, and they're drinking alcohol and partying in the living room.

I have to intercept everyone, bring them to the garage, and get ready there. I'm no going to say I'm ashamed of my Mother, but...never mind, I am very ashamed of her. We all get ready, throw our shit in the Won Mobile, and we're on our way to the high school.

We show up and there is a gigantic group of people around most of our ages in front of the school. Mixed in with college students and high school students, a lot of them are holding bottles with brown bags covering them and cowering into corners where no one can see them.

We get ready and start heading inside when a few girls come over to van and start chatting up Tony. Tony, wearing some horrible looking black and white striped tuxedo with a hat to match, starts to chat with them and then bails for a few minutes to go wherever they wanted him to go. Lucas says he'll go roll after him, but I tell him that I'll go.

Lee Won tags along, and we leave the heavy lifting to the two girls and the guy who is in the wheelchair. We head over to where there are some kids hanging out near the lunch tables of the school, at night, and see that Tony is with them with his unique attire.

I question Tony what the hell he is doing, and he's doing coke lines on the table while some other kids cover him. One of the girl has her hand on his ass, and I take his hat and throw it on the ground, saying that we need to take this seriously.

Tony gets in my face, pissed off that I threw his hat, and Lee steps in to calm everyone down. Tony and the random underage jailbait make out for a few minutes, and then all three of us run towards the school to get prepped for the show.

We get inside and almost no one is there. The teacher supervisors are all inside and not giving a shit about the party outside. The only kids inside seem to be the preppy kids and the nerds that wouldn't ever do drugs or drink alcohol.

All of us get our instruments on stage, check the sound system, play a little to get going, and we have to start. We begin playing, and we're not bad except for the awful country singing by Chelsea and the off tune keyboard playing by Tony.

The set is finished, and a few kids clap. A few kids danced, some told us that we did a good job, and that was it. We had finished our second gig, and it was a big improvement over the last one, I guess.

Tony explains to us since we're done playing, he's going to go outside and find a girl named Sara. Lucas tells me to fuck off and to carry all the shit I made him carry before, and he follows after Tony. Chelsea gets on her cellphone right away and calls up her boyfriend, ignoring all of us.

That leaves me, Lauren, and Lee Won to clear the stage and put everything back. Me and Lee start getting the drum set to take back and Lauren takes the smaller things, all three of us sticking close together.

Some random guy walks out from the back entrance where the van was, and he asks Lauren if she wants to go have fun with him. Since me and Lee are putting the instruments away, we don't see what's going on, and when we look back she's getting harassed by some guy doped up on drugs.

Before I can yell for help, Lee rushes over to her and headbutts the guy in the chest and then punches him in the face. I then yell for help, and people rush over to check out what happened. We explain the situation, and we say that the guy has drugs on him.

A few hours later after all three of us are hanging out in the van, the other three people in our band show up and we're ready to go home. While Lee drove us back to my house to rest, I couldn't shake the feeling that Lauren was looking at me.

Okay, friends went home already, so I can continue. Let's see, after the Valentines Night Dance, we all said we would take a few days to settle our heads before practicing again. Me and Lee Won were at my house, doing some homework when my cell began to ring. It was Lauren.

I pick up, trying not to sound surprised and excited, wanting to pick out the perfect words. When I started to stutter and sound idiotic, Lee Won picked up his pen, wrote some lines on a paper and held them up to me so that I could sound like I knew what I was doing.

Lauren wanted to thank me for being a great help, and she says that her family is proud of her for doing something productive instead of sitting around the house all day. She questioned me to see if me and her could meet later on that night at a local book store, and I couldn't contain my happiness. I told her I would be there in an hour, and I hung up.

Lee Won gave me a pounding of the fist and asked if I had ever been on a date before. Seeing as I was twenty, it was weird telling him that I had actually never been out with a girl alone before. He told me that he hadn't either, and he was 19-years-old. I was shocked, knowing how great the guy was, but he then added in that his Mom thought women in America were demons and would rape him.

I laughed, and Lee said that he didn't like it. He felt like an outsider when most of his friends talked about trying to get girls back in high school, and he knew that if he asked out a girl that his Mom would beat his head in. His Dad, on the other hand, wanted Lee to fuck every girl he saw, but his Mom wore the pants in his family, so Lee Won was out of luck.

I told Lee that he could sleep here tonight with my Mother not caring who stayed. She was out for the night, anyway, probably having sex with her new Italian boyfriend named Rodrigo or some shit like that.

I tried to find the nicest clothes I had that didn't smell terrible, but the only things I could find were a plain black shirt that said 'HAPPY DOG' with a brown cartoon dog smiling on the front and jeans that were to small for me. I had no time, so I forced myself into the jeans and put on the stupid shirt.

Lee told me to have a great time and to get Lauren. He added that I was a good guy, and he knew that Lauren liked me the same way I liked her. I don't know why, but I gave him a hug, and while the silence broke in, I ran out of the room without looking back.

She was at the book store when I got her, and she was sitting down at the counter where they served coffee. I asked her what she was reading, and she told me it was just the newspaper from the school we performed at. They called us the 'College Dropout Robots 9000' for some fucking reason, probably Lucas, but it also said that we were an upcoming band, so that felt nice; even though that piece of writing was probably from some 14-year-old kid that didn't even listen to us.

We started talking about how much fun it has been to have so many people around, and she thanked me again for being always there for me. She looked me in the eye, smiled, and gave me a gigantic hug. I melted in my seat, and if I died right there, it would have been fucking awesome. My first intimate hug from a girl that wasn't part of my family, and it was soft, warm, and her body smelled like strawberries without the sweat this time. The last time she hugged me was different. This time it meant something.

"You're like a big brother to me."

...What?

WHAT?

WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?

"You're always there for me, Leon..."

I sat there, sipping on my cold cup of shit beans grounded up, and put on the most fake smile since the Presidential election.

"So, I wanted to tell you first before even Chelsea."

I nodded.

"I like someone in the band."

My stomach curled into a knot, and my heart exploded like a bomb had just been dropped on it. I didn't care who the fuck it was anymore.

"Lee Won...right?"

Of course, my best friend. It had to be the guy who I actually liked, but at least he was a good guy. At least it was Lee Won.

"No, I think I love Tony."

Tony? Hipster Tony? The guy who makes out with under age girls Tony? Guy who ruined our performance almost by snorting coke at the lunch tables with loser high school rejects?

"...That's great."

"I'm going to ask him out. Do you think he'll say yes?"

"...Yeah."

Everything after that was a blur of her talking about how hot and perfect he was. How she LOVED his style. How she LOVED his fucking keytar playing. When she came to give me a hug to leave, I hugged her and felt nothing but my heart breaking even more.

Luckily, though, for me, I had one person that could move mountains if need be. I had the one person that had the power to change the balance of love in one go.

I had Lee Won.

I go back to my house a few hours later and see that Lee is on the computer doing some homework before heading off to sleep on the sleeping bag that I had in my garage. He asked me how the date went, and I said that it wasn't any date.

He asked me if he found out about Lauren liking Tony, and I flipped out. He fucking knew? Then why the hell didn't he tell me this before? He told me that he wanted me to have confidence and not feel like shit going, and Lee Won thought she would like me the same if I had some confidence. His confidence busting failed, and I felt like shit.

He told me that Lauren told him the night of the Valentines Day Dance, and how she was really jealous of him going after those young teenage girls. She asked him what she should do to get Tony, and Lee Won told her that Tony seemed kinda of a free spirit and probably couldn't be tied down by one girl. He then said she responded by saying that it was her goal to tame him or some dominatrix shit like that.

We spent the rest of the night trying to think of a way for her to fall for me and not him, and he suggested to take his van, go to her house, stand atop the van, and play guitar outside her window. I told him that her parents would flip out and kill me, and he agreed.

On Monday we had class, and me and Lee Won hung out during free period to become strategical and find a way to make myself appealing to her. We thought maybe that I should change my style to what Tony wore, but we agreed that becoming like him would be too much money and be a waste of time. Lucas came over in his chair forty minutes later and asked what was up, saying he heard about Tony and Lauren.

We ask him how the hell he found that out, and he told us that Lauren came to him last night on the phone, asking how to get Tony. I raged inside, Lee tried not to laugh at all of her attempts, and Lucas said to go up to Tony, show her breasts, and ask him for sex. I was about to hit the fucking 500 pound wheelchair bastard, but Lee stopped me and said that he was just joking. He wasn't, but I was calmed down by that point.

I call a band meeting after school at my place and everyone shows up, including Tony and Lauren. I tell them that we'll probably be booking our new gig soon, so we should start practicing. We all agree to do an instant practice session, and we begin. An hour or two later, Tony says he has to leave and bolts, Lauren following behind him.

Me and Lee Won stop for a few seconds, look at each other, and go closely behind her to see what transpires. Mom wasn't home again, so the two of them were in the kitchen we caught up to them out of the garage.

Lauren had her hands on his trashy suit that he was wearing, and I could hear the words, 'I like you' over the silence that overcame me. My heart dropped, again, and I felt like shit...again. Tony took her arms, pressed his hands around her waist, grabbing her ass in the process, and started to make out with her in my kitchen.

I sigh, tell Lee Won let's go back, and we do. We go back to the garage and hang out with Chelsea and Lucas who are talking about some shitty new television show on VH1 or some stupid crap . I sit down on the rundown couch I have in the corner and put my heads in my face. I felt like crying, but I couldn't feel any water come out of my eyes.

Chelsea asked me what was wrong, but I just told her that I hit my head when walking to the bathroom. She sat next to me and apologized randomly for always bringing her outside friends to practices and outings we have. I told her it was fine, and we shared...a moment...somewhat.

The night ended with Tony and Lauren coming back to the garage, hand in hand, Tony saying that he had the energy to practice some more.

We practiced all night long, and even if the rest of the band was having fun, I was not.

She called me the night after the practice, saying that she couldn't believe that he liked her the same way she did him. I didn't believe any shit that came from Tony's lips, even if he was apart of my group, and I wish he would burn in hell for putting his lips on the girl I really, really liked.

The next few days of practicing was awkward, having the two of them playing right next to each other with Tony grinding the top of his instrument into the backside of Lauren while playing. If it wasn't for Lucas and Lee Won stopping me after that practice, I was going to follow Tony and Lauren, killing Tony when I caught up to them.

The two of them left practice right away and went to some cheap cafe that Tony raved about, Lauren wanting to try the coffee that he adored. The rest of the night was spent with me, Lucas, Lee, and Chelsea playing scrabble with my Mom and Rodrigo.

We wanted to go out and do something as a group, but my Mom saw us all come out from the garage and insisted we spent the night meeting her new man. The game lasted until 12:00 AM when Rodrigo finally got drunk enough to start groping my mother in front of my friends. She said that she should get him to bed, and the two of them went upstairs with his hand up her shirt.

Lucas said he should get home and had Lee Won help him down my front steps to get to his expensive car. Chelsea trailed behind the two and stayed with me while Lee gave his best shot at making Lucas get off his chair and take a few steps down.

She implored to why I looked like I was about to throw up during practice and wondered if I had a crush on Lauren. I told her that I didn't and just thought Tony was ruining our practice, but she didn't believe me and saw through my simple disguise of not caring.

Chelsea told me that if I wanted, me and her could go out on a date and see if I liked her as much as she liked me, but I declined. Told her that she was just joking with me, and I walked away before she could say anything else to me. I went down to push Lucas off his chair and force him to walk to his car while Chelsea's eyes burned in the back of my skull.

Next gig was lined up for February 27th at Lucas' Mom's best friend's daughter's party that she was holding because she got back together with her old boyfriend. A stupid reason for a party, but Lucas got us another gig, so we took it right away.

Tony and Lauren wouldn't get away from each other. Every time I looked at one of them, the other was there. I asked Lee if he could ask Tony to see if he really liked Lauren and wasn't just doing it for sex, and Lee Won complied by getting Tony alone after practice before he went off with his new girlfriend.

Lee came back, telling me that Tony said that he really loved Lauren, and I wanted to punch something. The guy was such a douche, and if Lauren wouldn't quit from it, I would have kicked him out of my band. He didn't add anything to the band, anymore.

Then it hit me on the head. He never signed up for my band because he wanted to play music. He signed up so that he could get high, get paid, and have sex with women...Dammit, it was really like he was a rock star.

Two days before the performance, Lee Won came to me with an idea. He told me that he had an idea to get Lauren and Tony to break up and leave her to me. I didn't know why he was so mad at Tony, but then he added that he found Tony and Lauren in his van...doing stuff, and he had to explain to his parents why his van smelled the way it did.

With that said, we made a pact. In two days, we were going to take down the hipster and get myself the girl I love.

Sadly, Lee Won would never get to forget the images that he saw that night in the van.