Rising Shards

The club we usually practiced at wasn't far from campus, not as much of a long journey as going to that arts and crafts store was. For some reason, the devils decided to tag along. They promised they wouldn't actually join the club practice but I had my doubts about that, picturing them poking their heads in the door or some other shenanigans like that. They'd met some of the band members before and had seen us play, but they'd never been interested in my practice before. There were some more pressing things than my friends wanting to join me, though.

Namely that I was still in the band. Should I have been so giddy about that? Seeing Nikki again. What would things be like between us now that we were just friends? I practically skipped, humming to myself. The breakup still stung of course, but getting to stay in the band eased that somehow. Nikki said we were better off just as friends, so maybe subconsciously I knew we'd be better off as just bandmates, too.

"Ana!" Charmaine said.

"Huh?" I said.

"Esther's asking you something, you're spacing out," Charmaine said.

"Oh, sorry," I said. "What is it?"

"I asked what your band name is now," Esther said.

"Ah..." I said. "We cycle through a lot, when I first joined it was Tearjerker Sunrise, but then we went to Tearjerker Sunrise X, then Abyssal Guardians, that one I wish we kept, then The Dog Walkers, then just Dog Walk, then Dog Walkers Z, dabbled a bit with variants on Lonely Office Chairs, and lately we've been trying just 'The Band.' Nikki thinks it makes us sound epic, and it does, but I worry it's too vague."

"Yeah, don't go with 'The Band,'" Sai said.

"Well, we vote on things, so it'd need a majority vote to change it," I said.

"I'll join just long enough to vote 'The Band' out." Sai said.

"And you're sure you're good going back?" Esther asked. "I don't want to pry, so just say so if that's too much."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," I said. "I haven't had any good practice in a while, I need to play something, you know?"

"As long as you're comfortable with it, that's the important thing," Esther said.

"Oh, I am," I said.

We arrived at the coffee shop where I was practicing today.

"Perfect, you go play music and we'll get coffee," Charmaine said.

"I'm not getting coffee," Sai said, looking like someone forced them to drink coffee. Not just coffee, horrifically bad tasting coffee.

"Fine, we'll get coffee, you get tea or cocoa maybe?" Charmaine said.

"I'm not getting coffee either," Ash said. "I'll be up all night."

"Always picky, aren't you?" Myles asked.

"Shut up, ass!" Ash said, shoving her sister, who just laughed in response.

I almost wanted to stay with them and enjoy another lazy day together, but it was time to play. We split up, the other devils heading inside the brick building, while I went down a staircase to the basement.

The other band members were there already, sitting in a circle, casually chatting. I wasn't prepared for the physical reaction I had seeing Nikki again. Just a short while ago, we were dating.

Just friends now, which is OK, I told myself. We'll be better off as just friends. Maybe the music will be better, too.

"Hey, you made it," Nikki said, like it was in question if I would or not.

"Of course," I said, setting my case down and getting my bass out.

Our band consisted of me, Nikki, and two other girls. Our drummer, Sofia, had frizzy hair dyed dark blue and always had heavy make up on, and our lead guitarist, Kloudia, had long, straight black hair. Both looked like they primarily shopped at Beyond Gothic, which I respected.

"Weird seeing you without the mask," Kloudia said. "I was all, 'who the hell is that?'"

"Right? Are you still gonna wear it when we play?" Sofia asked.

"I'm...not sure," I said. "I think it might be nice to see how playing on stage is without it."

"Well, for the prom you're gonna wear it, for sure," Nikki said. I was confused by how direct an order that sounded, until she handed me a flyer. "We got you on the poster with it, so..."

The poster was mostly neon green, with big pink letters that said 'THE BAND AT YOUR PROM.' There was an abstract sketch of us playing, and sure enough I had my mask on. It was pretty much the only way to tell the few sketched lines were me, with the others getting about one signifying detail each.

"Just because it's on the poster doesn't mean we have to follow it, do we?" I asked.

"Don't be dramatic, P.D.," Kloudia said.

"Wh—" Normally, my fuse is pretty short, even I would admit that. But when I was with my band, I didn't feel the same immediate urge to fight. It felt almost shameful to argue with my bandmates. Especially Nikki. "Sorry. You're right."

"All good," Kloudia said. "We were talking setlists before you jumped in."

"Oh, yeah?" I said.

"We get fifteen minutes and up to three songs," Nikki said. "When we got the gig I thought we'd be like, the main band, but it's just a battle of the bands thing. So I say we pick our best stuff and I think we blow the rest out of the water."

"Definitely," I grinned, thinking how much better we'd be than whatever other wannabe amateur rock bands we'd be up against. I wasn't sure if there'd be a prize, but being the best in the show would be enough for me. "So, Shadows Beyond would be my recommendation." It was one of our slower, moodier songs, one that I helped write the lyrics for, one I loved playing.

"Nah, too long," Nikki said. "I mean, we could, but I wanna do the full three songs."

I thought I heard Sofia whisper something, but her expression was neutral when I turned to see her.

"Sorry," I said, not sure why I was apologizing again.

I suggested a few others, but none of my picks would work for various reasons. We didn't have a very deep library

"We'll worry about all that later, let's get some play time in," Nikki said.

The atmosphere was strange and tense, but I couldn't put that into words. Maybe I just needed to play, then things would feel less overwhelming.

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