About the show.

That next Thursday at university, I learned something that came as a huge shock, but looking back it really shouldn’t have been. Turns out Eric and I were the weird ones for knowing.

It was during one of the more theoretical and boring classes with another one of the many classically trained professors. He gave us all a music sheet as an example to analyze a song’s structure and neither Eric nor I blinked at that. When we glanced towards our friends, though, we saw them… extremely troubled.

Later, as we skipped going to the cafeteria in favor of a very quick sandwich lunch, we learned why that was as we entered the practice room we’d booked.

“Wait, you guys can read sheet music?” Ruby asked us, eyes wide.

Eric and I looked at each other, then nodded.

“Well… Yes,” I said.

“We learned in high school,” Eric said.

“They didn’t teach me,” Steven said, grumbling.

“Are you serious? With how good you three are, I would’ve guessed you’d know,” I said.

“Our school didn’t have a music subject,” Luna said. “Ruby and I learned by watching tutorial videos.”

“In my case my parents taught me how to play,” Steven said. “But they didn’t teach me with sheet music.”

“Ugh, and this class will be mostly theory and sheet music…” Ruby grimaced. “I thought they’d at least teach us that, first, but… I guess they’re assuming we know.”

“Say… Think you can teach us?” Luna asked Eric and me. “Is it hard?”

I shook my head. “No, not really. It’s actually fairly simple.”

Eric nodded. “What takes a while is getting used to it so you can read it quickly.”

“We’ll treat you to something,” Ruby said.

Steven nodded. “What would you like? Wanna go drinking again?”

“Oh, I kinda do…” Eric said.

“You know I can’t if it’s at my job, right?” I said. “Anyway, I’m willing to, but we have to practice for the show, first.”

“Right,” Luna said, setting down her violin case and opening it. “We’ve decided on two songs. One’s 4 minutes long, the other is 3 minutes long. With a bit of crowdwork, that makes up half the show.”

“I was listening to the first song, the one you said I might like,” I said. “I actually did like it. It’s tough, but I think I can do it. What are we gonna do about the vocals, though?”

“We usually let Luna handle that,” Ruby said.

“You sing?” Steven asked her.

“No, I suck at singing,” Luna said. “We replace sung lyrics with violin melody.”

Oh. “That might actually sound really good…”

Ruby grinned. “Right? It’s why we suggested it.”

“What about the rest of the instruments?” Eric asked. “I’m the only drummer AND I can only play drums decently, so I’m locked in there. What about bass and guitars?”

“I’ll play synth bass,” Ruby said, triggering the same reaction from Steven and me.

“Ewww! Synth!”

“Oh, get off your high horse. Did you forget what the professor said the other day about learning from different styles? Synth bass is perfectly fine, or are you two the same kind of purists as the professors you seem to dislike?”

Ugh, she got us. Both Steven and I grimaced and accepted the scolding.

“Besides, it’s not like we can replace the guitars,” Eric said. “And speaking of… Well.. Er… W-Who’ll be lead and who’ll be rhythm?”

“...”

“...”

I knew why Eric was being hesitant. Last time this discussion happened, all the way back in freshman year of high school… It ended up with me getting bullied out of the music club.

Now, if I’m being honest, I’d like to play lead guitar. Not because I want to prove my dick’s bigger than everyone else’s, as some people out there seem to think being lead guitarist means, but because it’s just more fun. That said… I’ve always been a bit slow learning the harder solos. And with just two weeks to practice four songs…

“Steven, you play lead,” I said. “You’re a lot better than I am.”

Steven frowned. I don’t think he liked that. “Are you sure?”

“If anything, you’ll get the harder parts faster than me. And I’m fairly confident in my basics, at the very least. I can do rhythm guitar.”

“...” Steven groaned and rubbed the back of his neck, but still accepted. “Fine, I’ll play lead.”

“What, you don’t want to?” Luna asked him.

“No, I do. Just… You could’ve fought for it a little more.”

“I’m just happy to be playing guitar,” I said. “I was willing to play bass if we needed to, but I’d much rather stick to what I like more.”

Eric let out a soft sigh of relief. I went up to him and gave him a soft punch in the shoulder. “Relax. We’re not kids anymore.”

“Right, right. Just… you know.”

I sighed. “Yeah, I guess I do.” I shook my head. I just wanted to put that past me for good. Maybe this would help with it. “So? What else are we playing?”

“Freebird?” Eric said.

Steven snickered. “Sure. That’ll fill the remaining 10 minutes on its own.”

“I mean, seems we can already play it, so…” I said.

“Guys, anime convention. Get with the program,” Ruby said.

We left the music selection to the girls who understood the audience more than we did. They picked another two songs that were from a relatively recent show that was, apparently, about girls playing music. What little time was still left we’d fill with crowdwork.

“We say that, but who’ll be on the mic?” Steven asked.

The silence was heavy. Despite us saying things like ‘we’ll fill time with crowdwork,’ it seems we all thought that someone else would do it.

My fingers went numb and a pebble suddenly got stuck in my throat. I felt my mouth dry up as I tried to speak up, but nothing was coming out.

“I suppose I could…”

“Hey,” I cut Luna off, forcing the word out. Since I’d done it, there was no going back. “Think you could… let me do it?”

I didn’t want to. Any one of them could probably do a better job than me. But… Something in my chest was telling me that if I didn’t do this now, I’d be holding myself back forever.

Still… they didn’t need to agree so damn quickly.

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