Chapter Text
The Battle of the Bands was in March. It was September. That’s 7 months. They had to find a lead singer soon.
They had asked around all of their friend groups and friends of friends and acquaintances but all of them either weren’t interested in the band or sounded terrible. Luz had even asked her twin sister, Vee, if she’d join the band but Vee was very adamant about staying out of it.
They had considered the idea of simply making one of them lead singer but their voices never fit the sound that they were going for. Luz’s voice was too bubbly for their rock ballads, Amity had gone to choir classes as a child which meant her voice felt more at home in classical music, Gus was still going through puberty so his voice would crack in weird places and Willow had a tendency to scream into the mic and causing interference.
They had to find a new member.
Which was why, today, they had each headed to school with a big stack of printed posters on their hands. They tapped them to walls and doors, shoved them into lockers and handed them to as many people as they could.
After class, Willow went to the library to go look for some books she needed and that’s when she heard him.
“Some of them want to use you, some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused…”
It was very clearly a young male voice, probably belonging to another student. She did not recognize its owner, so it probably wasn’t someone in her class. But the thing that really called her attention was how nice it sounded. It was gentle but firm, not too loud but perfectly clear, it matched the tone of the song flawlessly. And, despite it coming from a teen boy, there were no awkward voice cracks.
Willow listened carefully, appreciating the sweet sound and thinking things over before actually taking action.
Could this be it?
She followed the sound of his voice to a table hiding behind a bookshelf in a corner of the library that was fairly secluded. The librarian, working at the other side of the building, probably could not hear the melodious sound and thus hadn’t come to shush it yet. Willow was thankful for that.
It was indeed a teenage boy. He was sitting down at the table, surrounded by mountains of books and taking notes on his notebook, airpods on his ears most likely playing the song he was singing as well.
He had dirty blond hair slicked back gracefully except for the one rebellious hair strand, his bright brown eyes came with deeply dark eyebags and his face and body were scattered by several scars and bruises. He had the classic ‘bad boy’ look that would probably fit in perfectly as the lead singer of a band.
A small, devilish voice inside Willow’s head whispered ‘he’s cute’. She shoved that thought down as deep as she could. Don’t get distracted.
“Hey, you!” she called.
He didn’t answer. That made sense. Airpods. Carefully and softly, she got close to him and tapped his shoulder.
He got spooked by her touch and immediately jumped and fell from his chair with a yelp. His notebook also fell on the floor, making a rather loud noise.
Someone behind them must’ve heard them because the noise was followed by several angry ‘SHHHHHHHHH’ sounds.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I tried talking but you didn’t hear me,” she tried explaining.
The boy continued to simply stare at her, still in shock. Willow then decided the nice thing to do would be to pick up his notebook from the floor and help him stand up, so she did. She picked up the notebook in one hand and held out the other for him to grab onto.
He hesitated for a second before taking her hand and standing up to his full height. He was a lot taller than her, she had to strain her neck to look him in the eye. She hoped that wouldn’t be a problem in the future.
“I’m Willow Park, I’m a sophomore,” she pulled their still holding hands into a handshake.
She tried not to be too enthusiastic, she’d been told she tended to go too hard with her handshakes and that it was often painful for the other person. Willow sometimes forgot her own strength in her excitement. She probably failed in restraining herself, however, as his whole body shook along with his hand.
“Nice- to- uh- meet- you!,” he finally spoke. “I’m Hunter Wittebane, I’m a junior.”
“Sorry for scaring you, again.”
“Apology accepted. It was my fault anyway,” Hunter smiled, revealing a gap between his teeth that made him even cuter. “I should be paying more attention to my surroundings. The librarian is going to kill me one of these days, I’m sure.”
Willow laughed.
“Yeah, you probably shouldn’t be singing here.”
Hunter’s cheeks turned red very quickly.
“Y-you… you heard me?! h-how much did you hear?”
“Enough to know you might be the person we’ve been looking for.”
He gave her a quizzical look, obviously not understanding what she meant. Willow put down the notebook on the table and opened her backpack to pull out one of the many posters announcing the search for a lead singer, handing it to him.
‘The Bad Girl Coven’
It was purple, with the letters of the band’s name on vibrant neon colors and that silly drawing of Eda on a skateboard. King had designed their logo and drawn all of their stuff, despite Willow and Amity’s objections. Eda always told them that, since they practiced at her house, then they had to let her be involved in the band; this apparently meant letting her name it and allowing her son to design their merch.
The poster included Eda’s address and the time the auditions would be held, as well as Luz’s phone number, the band’s Instagram and their Youtube page. Hunter read it all very carefully.
“My friends and I are in a band and we’re planning on participating in the Battle of the Bands in March,” Willow said. “We’re looking for a lead singer and, from what I heard just now, I think you could be it… if you want to, that is.”
“You… you really think I’m that good?”
“Yeah, I think your voice is really nice.”
His face got even redder, if that was possible.
“Uh, thank you. Sorry to disappoint you but I have no intention of joining a band, I’m very busy.”
She was actually disappointed. More than she ought to be, probably.
“Oh, okay… at least, keep the poster?”
Hunter nodded and opened his notebook to save the poster there, careful not to bend or scratch it. Willow turned to leave, knowing her efforts had failed. However, before she left, she looked at Hunter again and told him:
“And don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell anyone I caught you singing just now. It’ll be our secret.”
In a moment of bravery, she winked at him.
The poor boy looked like he had a sunburn.
“I appreciate that. I’d hate to get banned from the library, I love it here.”
She bit down an ‘aaww’ and instead said:
“You’re welcome. I’ll see you around, then.”
“Yeah, see you.”
And she left.
Hunter did not have time for flights of fancy such as singing in a band. That sounded like a silly, teenage hobby that would only distract him from his studies and getting into a good college to make his uncle proud. He had a bright future ahead of him and he did not have time to sing and dance like a silly child.
But he still kept the poster.
He said he’d keep it and he did. And, as he looked at it again at home, the memory of Willow’s bright smile and her nice laugh bounced back into his head.
No matter how he tried to erase her from his mind, she kept popping up.
Peridot eyes behind gold rimmed glasses. Sunshine smile. Hair like the night sky. Surprising strength. How she’d said he had a nice voice…
People always told him his voice was annoying.
Curiosity killed the cat very easily. Hunter was a naturally curious person, eager to learn.
He didn’t have an Instagram. Why would he? social media was yet another kind of silly teenage tomfoolery that only served to keep otherwise great students away from their books.
He did, however, use Youtube from time to time. He sometimes looked up videos on his odd moments of free time and had a couple of music playlists on the app. So, when he got curious about the band, he bit the bullet and typed in ‘The Bad Girl Coven’ on the search bar.
The first result took him to the band’s channel, where he found only a few videos. Most of them were the band playing a cover of a popular song; mostly entirely instrumental, since they lacked a lead singer. Their most recent video was an announcement that they were looking for a lead singer, sharing all the info of where and when the auditions would be held.
Hunter watched all the videos, putting them in the background while he did his homework and his chores. They were actually really good. They didn’t have a lot of subscribers or views and the videos were all very low budget but they were full of energy and passion.
It seemed like Willow played the bass, as she twirled around happily with the green guitar in her hands. She played gracefully, her fingers moving quickly and hitting every note, clearly very familiar with her instrument. She smiled that sunshine smile, winked at the camera and laughed with her friends. She looked so at home when she was playing music. It was a rather mesmerizing sight.
Aside from Willow, the band had 3 other members:
On the drums, was a girl who looked around the same age.
She had light brown skin, bright brown eyes and her hair was in a pixie cut. She wore an old letterman jacket on all of the videos. Letterman Girl also looked like she was having fun whenever she played, hitting the drums with great strength and bobbing her head up and down along with the music. Sometimes, when she was really concentrating on the song, her tongue would stick out of her mouth as she played. It was weirdly endearing.
On the electric guitar, was another teen girl.
This one was incredibly pale but, at the same time, very blushy. Her hair was dyed purple, but her natural color appeared to be brown. Purple Girl appeared to be a lot more restrained than her bandmates, as she would often stay perfectly still while she played the song. She looked like a very prim and proper person.
This changed whenever Letterman Girl entered the picture, however. Purple Girl and Letterman Girl seemed to have natural chemistry in front of the camera. Whenever Letterman Girl would smile or wink at her, Purple Girl would smile back and blush, letting her guard down and allowing herself to have fun.
On the keyboard, was a very young boy. He looked like a middle schooler.
Hunter wondered how someone so small had ended up playing in a band with teenagers. He had dark skin, black hair and gray eyes. Despite his young age, he seemed to be incredibly talented, playing with flawless precision. Maybe that was why they chose him, he was a prodigy.
So yeah, the videos were good.
So yeah, Hunter subscribed to the channel.
But he decided to draw the line there. He was NOT going to audition. No,no,no,no,no.
“What are you watching, little prince?”
Darius’s voice behind him made him jump in alarm.
Darius was his godfather, he had been a friend of his father back when he was alive. But Hunter still somehow ended up in Philip’s custody when his parents died. This meant he only got to see Darius like once a week when he visited.
He was a nice person, if not a little vain. However, he had the very annoying habit of invading Hunter’s personal life no matter how much he tried to push him away.
“It’s a music video,” Hunter answered, hoping that would be enough to satisfy.
“That doesn't look like a professional band.”
“It's not. They’re just teenagers, but they’re very good!” Hunter surprised himself with how much emotion was in his voice, he tried to tame himself. “For a bunch of silly kids, that is.”
“Hunter, you are ‘silly kids’. No matter how hard you try to act like an adult,” Darius did the air quotes with his hands.
“I’m not like other people my age. I barely understand them.”
“Have you tried actually talking to one?”
The young boy looked at him in anger and frustration. He hated these conversations, he felt like he was being mocked.
“Of course I’ve talked to one! I’ve talked to a lot of them but… I don’t know… it’s weird.”
“Well, maybe you should start with common interests. Have you thought of joining a club?”
Hunter scoffed. “I don’t have time for extracurriculars, Darius. I have to focus on getting into a good college and finding a good job!”
“Okay, two things,” Darius counted on his fingers. “One, you still have 2 years before you have to start college, you have time. Two, if you want to get into a good college, you’re going to need more than just good grades! extracurriculars actually help you get into a good college, genius.”
Hunter suddenly looked surprised. He hadn’t considered that but it was true. Good grades alone would not be good enough to get him into a good college, he had to do something more interesting to prove his worth. He didn’t want to disappoint his uncle by becoming a failure.
And, maybe, this was the excuse he needed.
“Why do you care so much about my social life anyway?”
“You’re my godson, Hunter. I’m fond of you, no matter how annoying you are,” he laughed. “I told your uncle that sending you to a normal school would be a good idea because I think you deserve to have more of a life than just trying to impress him. You’re more than just your career, Hunter.”
There was a small silence between the two.
“Your dad would want you to be happy and allow yourself to be a child.”
That night, with Darius’s words still echoing in his head, Hunter reluctantly sent a text to the phone number written on the band’s poster. The owner of the phone number was named ‘Luz’. He said he wanted to come to the audition and she had agreed to sign him up.
Well, here goes nothing.
Auditions were held at the Clawthorne-Whispers house.
Eda and Raine were neighbors to the Noceda family. When Vee and Luz were little and Camila needed a babysitter, she would leave them with Eda and/or Raine. The two households had morphed together with time. When Raine and Eda adopted King, Luz and Vee molded into the role of older sisters almost seamlessly. Now that they were older, one of the twins would always be babysitting King. They had become a little family.
Raine had been the one to get Luz into music and inspired her to form a band in the first place, which was how they now had their place to practice at that house.
It was an odd home, with a weird sense of style. They had old furniture, the walls were painted in several clashing colors and random stuff was scattered around the floor. It was messy and chaotic, just like the people who lived in it.
But the acoustics of Raine’s music room were amazing.
Willow sat on a table while she tuned her bass guitar, not really paying attention to her surroundings.
Amity was sitting at the desk writing something, Luz sat next to her with her head on her girlfriend's shoulder.
King and Gus were sitting on the floor, playing a very violent game of UNO.
Very suddenly, they heard the doorbell ring, which prompted Luz to get up from her seat and go answer.
"Oh, that must be the one guy who signed up for auditions," Amity noted.
"Oh yeah," Willow was still only half paying attention. "Who did you say it was again?"
Then, Luz walked in with… him.
"Hunter!" Willow suddenly stood up from her seat, holding her instrument close to her chest. "You came!"
Gus immediately noticed the weird energy vibrating from his best friend and asked:
"You two know each other?"
"Oh, I was the one who gave him the poster and told him to come to the auditions," she explained innocently. "But you told me you didn't want to, what made you change your mind?"
Hunter blushed and refused eye contact.
"I had a conversation with someone who convinced me that this might be a good opportunity… an interesting experience."
Willow simply smiled. Part of her wondered if Hunter had come to the audition because he wanted to see her again.
Funnily enough, she was right.
"Well, Hunter, we need to hear how you sound before we decide to let you join or not," Amity said, scrutinizing him with her golden brown eyes. "Would you mind singing something in front of us?"
"Uh yeah, okay," he tried standing up straight and clearing his throat. "Um, what song should I sing?"
"Oh, I know!" Willow perked up, remembering the day they met. She pulled out her cellphone and quickly looked up the song from that day. She then showed him the screen. "Is this one okay?"
Hunter also remembered and knowing that she had bothered to remember the song made him feel a little giddy. It was a popular song, tho, so maybe it wasn't that out of the ordinary for Willow to know it, too.
He gave her a tentative smile and a nod. She started playing the instrumental on her phone and he grabbed the nearest microphone and started singing.
"Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
I traveled the world and the seven seas.
Everybody’s looking for something…"
His voice was amazing, just like she remembered. It was something sweet and subtle but very clear. He sang the song very naturally, as he had done it numerous times before. This was one of his favorite songs and it showed in how happy he was when he sang it.
"...Hold your head up, moving on.
Keep your head up, moving on.
Hold your head up, moving on.
Keep your head up, moving on…"
Hunter hit the high note and it gave her chills. She wanted to capture that sound on a seashell and keep it to herself like an evil sea witch.
Amity and Luz nodded and smiled as they listened. They seemed to like it as well, slowly coming to the same conclusion Willow had come to days ago.
Gus seemed to be a little more unsure about it, eyebrows raised in doubt.
Finally, the song was over and Hunter held his breath in nervous expectation. There was a pregnant silence before Luz got up from her seat and said:
"Wow, that was really good! I'm thinking you should join in! What does everyone think?"
Amity smiled softly at her girlfriend and said. "Yeah, he sounds nice."
"He's also the only one who showed up today," Gus pointed out, his skepticism showing.
"See?! Hunter, I told you you were great!" Willow could hardly contain her happiness as she said this.
"Well, if you're going to be a part of the band, we should introduce ourselves," Amity got up from her seat gracefully and held up a hand for him to shake. "I'm Amity Blight, I play the electric guitar and I sing back up."
Hunter nodded, obviously he already knew this about her but didn't say it for politeness.
"I'm Hunter Wittebane."
Amity wrapped her arm around Luz lovingly and added:
"This is my girlfriend, Luz. She was the one who founded the band in the first place. She's the heart and soul of the band."
Oh, Purple Girl and Letterman Girl were dating. That explained why they were so flirty on the Youtube videos.
Luz blushed. "Aww, thank you, Sweet Potato. I'm Luz Noceda, I'm on the drums."
"Nice to meet you."
Gus walked up to Hunter and tried to stare him down, which was super awkward considering the height difference between them was so big.
"Gus Porter, keyboard."
"Charmed," Hunter tried to appear friendly, even though the younger kid was still glaring at him.
"And obviously you know me already," Willow giggled.
Hunter couldn't help but be enchanted by her.
"It was a pleasure to meet you the first time and it's a pleasure to meet you again."
The two blushed at each other for a minute before King jumped out of nowhere, screaming.
King was 8 years old, but he liked to remind everyone he was almost 9. He was a very cute kid, with chubby cheeks and a squeaky voice. His eyes were golden brown, his hair was black and scruffy. His smile revealed he was still losing his baby teeth.
"AND I'M KING CLAWTHORNE-WHISPERS! I'M THE BAND'S MANAGER!"
"Oh my goodness, King!" Amity whined, annoyed. "Stop saying that! you're not the manager!"
"Amity, it's fine, he's just a kid," Luz tried to calm her girlfriend down. She explained to Hunter: "King's our manager's son and we're supposed to be babysitting him. He also helps make the merch."
"Oh, okay. Hi."
They discussed what time band practice was held, they wrote down Hunter's phone number and talked through a few more logistics of the band before ending the meeting and calling it a night.
As Hunter drove back home, he could hardly believe it. He was in the band. He was in the band. He was going to be the lead singer. This was amazing. He felt excited. He couldn’t really remember the last time he felt excited about something. When he was singing, he felt at ease and happy with himself, which was a rare feeling for him. He wasn't used to feeling comfortable but music did that for him.
When he got home, his phone vibrated with notifications.
'You've been added to a group chat'
He opened it. The group chat was called 'TBGC 💜💚💙' and it was him, Luz (whose number he already had) and 3 unknown numbers.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: Welcome to the band, Hunter! 😄🌺🌼🌻💮🌷🌸
UNKNOWN NUMBER: It's me, Willow
He smiled.