House 4 - Play Our Music

Alvin’s Hoodie and baggy jeans

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Alvin was on his way back from a meeting with one of his teachers, headphones in his ears, blasting out Determinate from Lemonade mouth. He didn’t really care how he looked to other people passing him by – he danced along to the song, swerving through sidewalk traffic with acquired flexibility. Most people thought he was dumb and made mean comments but Alvin didn’t care. With his earbuds in he was a rock star.

He reached his house and soon after entered his suite, just as his song ended. He was about to replay it and dance some more around the dorm’s common area when he heard what sounded like a cover of a song he knew! Slowly, Alvin removed an earbud from his ear and craned his ear, pressing it against the other boy in his dorm’s door.

He could hear a voice – not an expert, by any means, but Alvin loved the enthusiasm he heard – singing along to a guitar. That guitar was really impressive! And that song – that song! It was The Jonas Brother’s!

”I LOVE THAT SONG!” Alvin threw open his roommate’s door, privacy be damned. He grinned widely at Kasey, looking at the other teen flopped on his bed with a broken guitar. It finally clicked that he had just interrupted the guy and he cleared his throat and moved to close the door, poking his head in to still converse. ”I mean, I really like the Jonas Brothers and thought that your guitar was really, really good.”

Well, he wasn’t being yelled at for breaking and entering! Alvin took that as a good sign. He smiled at Kasey and took that as initiative to step into the room.

”I love the Jo Bros! They’re awesome!” He said. When Kasey said he liked Camp Rock he almost squealed! ”Really? Really, same! I mean I can’t sing, or play guitar, or that but I’m good at drumming. Like, really good. Like wicked good.” He emphasized, with a firm nod. When Kasey expressed wanting to be in a band, Alvin couldn’t help but gasp.

”Really? Me too! I’ve always wanted to be in a band, in the back, rocking the show!” he did air drums in the air for a second. When Kasey introduced himself he reached out to awkwardly shake Kasey’s hand. Alvin was trying to act cool, and failing. ”I’m Alvin. Kasey and Alvin, we could make a cool band, if we wanted!”

Alvin was so happy that he seemed to have found his kin here! Especially when Kasey seemed so interested in him being a drummer! No one really expressed that much enthusiasm for it and Alvin’s face lit up. He also liked the nickname ‘Al’ – it wasn’t a malicious nickname, nor was it childish. It was cool, new, and a symbol of a new friendship! He hoped.

”Yeah! Of course I can drum to that! I can drum, beatbox, to anything!” Alvin said. Oh man! He really wanted to get started on a band! And he mentioned a sister – Alvin wondered if maybe she could be their singer! Oh, this was his dream come literally true. He was bouncing in his seat as he leaned over to take a selfie with Kasey. He made a stupid kissy face, and stuck his fingers up in a peace sign. ”I’m so ready to join a band! Does your sister play music too??”

Alvin nodded. ”Oh, uh – “ the rapid-fire threw him off guard. Could he do all of those songs?! He didn’t really know Katy Perry that well. But he could learn, couldn’t he! He could learn anything that they wanted to and then they could be a band. They could be a band! ”I love Determinate! I was listening to that on the way here and I love Lemonade Mouth, too!”

Alvin didn’t mind when Kasye followed him into his room. When he was inside, Alvin grinned as he showed off his posters and room. ”I just got here uhm – last week? Yeah last week! I set all of this up and was waiting to meet my roommates! I just got here from my hometown,” he grinned when Kasey said his sister didn’t believe him. ”That’s only because it’s too good to be true! She’s probably in shock! So she can be our singer, I’ll be drummer, you’ll be guitar and singing? We’re halfway to a band already!”

Alvin was so excited! He didn’t even expect to find another person this enthusiastic about a band – especially not so soon! But here he was, sitting with Kasey and preparing for their future band! They needed a name, a slogan, a head singer... they needed gigs, performances, reviews, a fan base, a YouTube channel! And this, Metric Academy, was crawling with artists. It was the perfect place to find members for a band!

Alvin shifted and wondered what Kasey’s sister’s reaction to this whole thing would be. Hopefully a positive one!

”Yeah I’ve mostly been getting ready for classes so I haven’t been able to play,” he said. In actuality, his mother was trying to get him to get more involved with the business side of campus and to join the business club that met every Thursday after school. Alvin wasn’t sure about that – he was going to give his classmates a few weeks before he decided whether or not it was worth getting to know them. But Kasey was a player, like him – and a good one! ”I’m not sure! Uhm, I guess there’s lots of options here! It might be cool to have singers because every band has singers, duh! I think a keytar is really cool! And I don’t care about bass players!” He shrugged. ”Honestly I just wanna get a band started so we can start playing gigs! We’ll have to get in tight with the local places to perform for free! We could totally go out to get a pizza later and get in their kahoots!”

Finding more players was going to be difficult. They could put up flyers, make an ad on Craigslist, or other stuff! But it was all kind of sitcom-y and would it even work? Alvin hummed as he thought about it. He sat on the bed and crossed his legs over one another.

”We could try to play somewhere and get attention! But then people might just think we’re homeless and playing for money,” He sighed. ”We will be lemonade mouth! We need a cool name like that too! But uhm, what’s a good name... well! We can think of that after we think of more members! I think we could uhm – go and practice together! And then after that we can go try to show off our talents with a BIG FLYER behind us like, join our band! That way we won’t look homeless! It’s genius!”

Alvin nodded in affirmation. They definitely weren’t homeless! That would be a bad reputation! Though maybe the Homeless Rockers could be a cool bandname... nah, judging by Kasey’s reaction he probably wouldn’t like that one! Besides, he had a point when he said that no one would probably be happy if they picked a name before they recruited people!

”YEAH! We can do it on the quad or something!” Alvin said, ”That way people will hear us! And we can make flyers and pin them around so people will know what we’re doing! Hey you should invite your sister over! If she’s gonna be in the band she needs to be in on this!”