Rick,â said Jen5. âCome on, letâs at least try to look around a little.â
We made our way through the crowds, scanning the top for TJâs mop of brown hair. While we were looking, I spotted Joe and Laurie in a dark corner making out. Rick followed my look.
âShit!â he said.
âCome on, guys,â said Jen5, pushing us on.
âDid you see that, Fiver?â asked Rick. âJoeâs totally grabbing her tit.â
âYeah, yeah,â she said. âKeep it moving.â
We found TJ backed up against a wall looking lost and bewildered. Like he couldnât even comprehend all the trendy people swarming around him. The look of relief in his eyes when he saw me wave to him made me feel like Iâd just thrown him a life preserver. But by the time we worked our way over to him, we didnât really have any time to talk because Monster Zero was onstage.
Nobody noticed right away. The band just climbed up there, all casual, like they couldnât care less that this was the biggest crowd theyâd ever played to. It wasnât until they started tuning up that people noticed and started to get quiet.
Eric Strom, the lead singer, looked more like a computer geek than a rock star. He had thick, square glasses and short spiky hair, and he always wore thin polyester button-up shirts.He waited until the crowd was looking at him, then he cleared his throat.
âWow,â he said into the mic, totally chill. âListen, I just have one thing to say to you people: Donât believe everything you read.â
And then the band blasted into their first song. A wall of noise washed over the crowd, punctuated by Ericâs howling vocals. Somehow, in a split second, heâd transformed before our eyes into a punk rock god. This was charisma. This was what I was talking about when people asked me why I wasnât the lead singer. Because I didnât have that.
Ericâs energy, backed by the sheer power of the band, transported me, and suddenly the crowds didnât matter. Joe and Laurie groping each other didnât matter. An army of marketing minions and their bullshit magazines didnât matter. There was just this band doing their thing.
Itâs hard to explain. When Iâm playing music, thatâs when I feel most alive. I escape from all the crap: no doubts, no worries, no fears. Just me. And when I listen to really good music, especially if itâs live, itâs the same thing. Iâm transported and nothing else matters.
When Monster Zero finished their set, I came back to the real world and looked around. Half the people had left at some point. I hadnât noticed, and I didnât really care. Because I knewthat Monster Zero was for real. They wouldnât sell out. They had proved that to me. And I was so relieved. I almost felt like crying. Not cool, I admit. But at the same time, I didnât want that feeling to ever end.
âSam,â said Jen5. âItâs time to go home.â
âYeah,â I said, and all the fears and doubts that I had escaped came flooding back, making me feel twenty pounds heavier. âI guess youâre right.â
âThatâll be you someday,â said Jen5.
âMost of the time I think so,â I said. âBut when I see a
real
band play, as much as I love it, it makes me feel like weâve still got a long way to go.â
âYou
are
a real band, Sammy.â
âWeâve only performed twice, and we didnât finish our set either time.â
âWell, okay . . . ,â she said. âIt wasnât your fault some neighbor called the cops on Laurieâs birthday party. You guys werenât really playing that loud. That neighborhood is just full of old rich snobs who hate teenagers. And getting shut down by the cops is kind of cool, right?â
âWhat about the show in Heath?â I asked.
âWas that the one you did at the Union Hall