Lindsey stood in her bedroom looking at the dress she has on for the audition today. Jamie had called her last night to see how she was doing and to see if she was still coming over and auditioning on Saturday for the band. She had gotten permission from Barbara after the third day of
staying home. Her knee wasn’t hurting her as much as it did for the past two days. If she took it easy while auditioning, Barbara would allow her to go. She told Jamie she was going to need a stool to sit on while she played.

She did ask if he had a synthesizer or will she have to bring her own? He told her that she would have to bring hers. So, she had her Casio packed up and was taking the small speaker to go with it. The speaker was the one that she got as a Christmas present with her other synthesizer.

She knew Ian was going to be trying out at the same time she was. He had stopped over after school on her second day home to see how she was. He had heard what happened to her and what happened to Christy Warren. He felt that her punishment from the school was a little light, but she informed him that she won’t be able to join any after school activities. He also thanks her for suggesting to Jamie to invite him to try out.

“Come on sweetheart. You’re going to be late if we don’t leave now.” Barbara sticks her head into Lindsey’s bedroom to see if she was ready yet.

She couldn’t believe how cute Lindsey looked in the dress she had on. She was wearing a pair of flats, till she got the okay from her doctor about wearing heels. The brace she had on, prevented her from bending her knee.

“You look cute, Lindsey.” Barbara takes her cell phone and snaps a picture of Lindsey.

“Thanks.” She blushes at Barbara’s comment.

Barbara snaps another one and put her cell phone away. She grabs Lindsey’s backpack and helps Lindsey out to the car. Lindsey grits her teeth as she gets into the car and unlocks the brace, so she could sit down on the seat.

“So, how long do you think you’ll be, Lindsey?” Barbara had spoken with Jamie’s parents.

Jamie and his brother Terry were 15yrs. old and 17yrs. old. Where Lindsey was only 12yrs. old. Terry was a senior and was about to graduate. Jamie was a junior in high school. However, the boys wanted to start their own garage band and only knew a handful of people who played.

When Barbara arrives at Jamie’s house. Ian was already there and had just finished his audition. Lindsey had caught the last bit of what he played, and he sounded good. Ian was staying around to hear how Lindsey played and to help her set her gear up.

A bar stool had been brought out of the house for Lindsey to use. She checks her synthesizer and adjusts the speaker settings. She plays a quick scale and it sounded on key.

Terry looks at Lindsey. His brother had told him about her and how well she played the saxophone at school. He also had informed him how well she sounded when her foster mother bought her the Casio they had on sale. The same one she brought with her.

“You ready, Lindsey?” Jamie looks at her.

He and his brother were going to let her start and then jump in to see how she blended with them. They had asked Ian to play the drums when they do this since they liked the way he played.

“I’m ready.” Lindsey starts playing the piece she was asked to play.

She knew the song Won't Get Fooled Again by the Who well. She starts off playing the intro to it and as she continued to play the piece, Terry and Jami jump in, followed by Ian on the drums. She could hear that Terry was an off on some of his cords and so was Jami. Ian was a little fast in certain parts of the song. As for her, she was on key and her timing was perfect. She continued to play till they got to the end of the song.

There were clapping noises coming from the doorway from Barbara and Jami’s mother. They had come out to see how Lindsey and the boys were doing. When they heard them playing a song from the Who. They had stayed to listen and loved what they heard.

“Dam! You are good Lindsey.” Terry had been impressed with Lindsey’s playing.

“Watch your language, Terry.” Carol didn’t like for her sons to use profanity around the house.

“Sorry, mom.” Terry had looked towards his mother when she called him on his language.

“Thanks. You guys weren’t half bad.” She smiles at all three guys.

Ian was curious “what did you hear, Lindsey?”

Lindsey wasn’t sure if she should say something or not.

“Come on Lindsey, we’re not going to bite your head off.” Terry was curious and so was Barbara and Carol.

“Well, you and Jami were off on some of the cords and for you Ian. You rushed the tempo at certain times. Instead of keeping it sounding like this.” Lindsey plays the tempo on her synthesizer.

“You played it like this.” Lindsey plays the tempo the way Ian played the piece.

He just looks at her. He couldn’t believe she had picked up on his tempo changed. He smiles at her.

“You heard all that?” Both Carol and Barbara were impressed.

“Yes, ma’am.” Lindsey heard all of what she pointed out to the guys.

“Man, you are good. Out of all the people we have asked to join our band. You are the first that has impressed us. So, would you and Ian like
to join our band?” Terry and Jami look at Ian and Lindsey.

“What type of music are we going to play?” Ian was curious.

“I thought we would do some classic rock and then some of our own music.” Jami had a bunch of music he had written that he thought the band could play. He knew his brother did as well.

Ian looks towards Lindsey “I’m game.”

Lindsey looks towards Barbara “can I, please?”

Barbara stands there and thinks about it. She looks at the guys and wonders if a 12yr old will be safe with them.

“Only on a few conditions. You don’t let your schoolwork slip and you carry through with what we talk about.” Barbara really did want Lindsey to have a life outside of music.

Lindsey walks over “I promise.” She hugs Barbara.

Barbara returns the hug.

“Well, I guess you guys are a band now. I think before you take any gigs. You should practice together as a single unit. Plus, you’ll need a name for your band.” Carol looks at all of them.

“How long should we practice and how often?” Terry wasn’t sure.

“Well, individually you guys should be practicing every day you come home from school two to three hours or more a day. However, you need to spend time doing none musical things as well. As a group, you should practice two times a week for 3-4 hours.” Barbara knew someone that uses to be in a band.

That was before he started to use drugs. One night he ended up in a car accident damaging his hands and seriously injuring the person he hit. After he got out of jail, he started working as a freelance disc jockey.

“Mom, can we still use the garage?” Terry knows they need to get their own studio to practice, but they were just starting off.

Carol looks towards Lindsey and then towards her mother, Barbara.

“I don’t see why you can’t. However, once you guys start making money. You should think about having your own practice studio.”

“We will mom, Thanks.” Terry gives his mom a hug.

“Ian, why don’t you call your parents and let them know we bring you home.” Barbara figures since Ian lives right behind them. They could take him home.

“Thanks, Mrs. Weathers.” Ian calls his mother and informs her, he was catching a ride with Lindsey’s mom.

Ian helps Lindsey with taking her synthesizer down and putting everything in the car. He also helps her to the car. She sits in the back, so she could stretch out her leg on the back seat.

Barbara swings by a McDonalds and treats Ian and Lindsey to lunch. Barbara drops Ian off first.

“Thanks for lunch and the ride, Mrs. Weather.” Ian walks up to his front door.

“Thanks ma, for letting me audition for the band and giving Ian a ride home.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie.” Barbara pulls into the driveway and helps Lindsey out of the car.

Barbara helps Lindsey to unload her Casio and speaker. Barbara helps Lindsey set her synthesizer and speaker up in the spare room that
Lindsey uses to play her instruments.

“Thanks.” Lindsey’s knee aches some.

She pulls a bottle of aspirins from her backpack and pops a few in her mouth. She didn’t like taking the pain pills the doctor gave her. She woke-up because of a nightmare. When she looked around her bedroom, she thought she was seeing monsters. The pain medicine was playing tricks with her mind and she thought she was seeing the shape in the shadows. Even the stuff animals and Barbie dolls Barbara had given her, scared her.

For the rest of the day, she practices on her saxophone and records some new music. While she is playing her synthesizer. She thinks about the guitars Terry and Jami were playing. If she was going to write music, maybe she should learn how to play guitar so she could write music for it. She’ll talk with Barbara about maybe getting a cheap one to use.

She goes back to practicing.