Chapter Text
“Hey.”
Johnny glanced up from the tray of cafeteria food he was eating, when he heard the sound of an unfamiliar voice.
He saw that the owner of the voice, was a handsome boy he didn’t recognize. He had a young-looking face - probably a first-year student. His dark, messy hair was spilling out from under his backwards baseball cap.
Why is he smiling at me like that? Johnny wondered, raising an eyebrow.
“I just wanted to say - good luck!” the boy grinned.
“Uhhh…thanks?” Johnny blinked, confused, as he swallowed a bite of his sandwich. He was about to ask what exactly he needed luck for, but the strange boy had already walked away.
“What was that about?” Middy wondered from his seat at Johnny’s left.
“So…please don’t be mad,” Archie said quickly.
Johnny turned to his right, to look at his friend, feeling immediately suspicious.
“Spill it,” Taz laughed, as he sat across from them, drinking the last of his milk. “What did you do?”
“I signed our band up for the school talent show,” Archie confessed.
“Without talking to any of us first?!” Johnny gasped.
“I didn’t even know there was a school talent show, to be honest,” Middy admitted. “When is it?”
“On Friday,” Archie said sheepishly.
“Three days from now?!” Taz sputtered. “Dude, how are we supposed to choose and rehearse a song in less than a week, and make our performance good enough to win?”
“I don’t know,” Archie shrugged. “But, it’s our last chance, isn’t it? We’re all third-years. In two months, we’re going to graduate. We have one last opportunity to make a name for ourselves at this school. I want to give them a show they’ll be talking about for years!”
“Then, I guess we need to get started as soon as possible,” Johnny decided. “Should we go to our usual practice space after school?”
“Yeah, I’m in,” Middy agreed.
Their friend Elias had a father who owned a rehearsal studio. He let them rent a room every Tuesday and Thursday, for cheaper than the standard rate.
Today is Tuesday , Johnny considered. So we were going to have band practice today anyway.
He wished that Archie had talked to him, before entering Santa Cruz into the contest. But he liked the idea of performing in front of the whole school. It was a bigger audience than the pizzerias and dive bars where they usually played.
“Okay, sure, let’s do it… but that still doesn’t explain who that guy was,” Taz frowned.
“Oh,” Middy blinked. “I think I’ve seen him before. He’s in a band, as well.”
“So, he’s our competition?” Johnny guessed.
“Yeah,” Archie nodded. “I heard that some band called Lost Society is going to be in the talent show, too.”
“Never heard of them,” Taz shrugged.
“I know their guitarist,” Middy explained. “Arttu. He used to work at Espresso House with me.”
“Arttu…isn’t he a second-year?” Johnny recalled.
“Yeah,” Middy nodded. “Their bassist, Mirko, is a second-year, too. That kid must be their singer, Samy. I heard he’s a first-year. Only sixteen years old.”
“Well, there’s no way we’re going to let some snot-nosed kid, who’s three years younger than us, win the competition!” Archie smirked.
“Right, there’s no way they’re any good,” Taz snickered.
“I don’t know,” Middy shrugged. “The winner is decided by audience votes, and I heard that Samy kid is really popular with the girls in his year.”
“Seriously?” Archie raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Middy nodded. “The ladies love his long brown curls.”
“He’s nothing special,” Johnny reddened. “I’ve got pretty, long brown curls, too.”
“We’re not gonna win the competition with our fabulous hair,” Taz rolled his eyes. “We need to pick a song by the end of the day, and start rehearsing it.”
“Agreed,” Johnny nodded.
The school bell rang, signaling that their lunch period was over.
*******
For the rest of the day, Johnny struggled to focus. He didn’t hear a word his science teacher said, because he was too busy thinking about which song they should play.
He scrawled a note on a piece of paper, and discretely passed it to Archie:
It’s definitely got to be a cover, right?
Archie took out his pencil, and scribbled a note back, his brow furrowing in irritation:
Why? Are our original songs not good enough?
They’re fine, Johnny wrote, praying that the teacher wouldn’t notice them writing furiously back and forth. But I think the audience will get more into the performance, if it’s a song they know.
Should it be a Finnish artist? Like Hanoi Rocks, maybe? Archie wondered, trying very hard to look like he was paying any attention to the lecture about photosynthesis.
No, I was thinking something American , Johnny explained. Maybe Motley Crue, or Bon Jovi.
After science class ended, they had to go and get their textbooks for their next class. They met Middy and Taz in the hallway, and told them what they were thinking.
“I think Bon Jovi is a great idea,” Taz grinned.
“Let’s do Living On A Prayer, then,” Middy suggested.
“Oh, Mitja, you’re a genius!” Archie gasped. “Everyone loves that song.”
“We might even get the audience to sing along,” Johnny grinned.
With the plan set, paying attention in Swedish class was next to impossible. How was he supposed to conjugate verbs, when his mind was already in the rehearsal room?
It felt like it took a thousand years for class to be over. But when it finally ended, he practically ran to the parking lot.
“Get in the car!” Archie called. Middy and Taz were already in the backseat.
Johnny opened the passenger door, and got inside.
“You already have our instruments in the back, right?” he asked.
“Of course I do,” Archie rolled his eyes. “C’mon, let’s go!”
Johnny tied his hair back as they drove to the practice space, itching to get to work.
But, when they got there, and started unloading their guitar cases, he saw Elias standing there, frowning.
“What’s the problem?” Johnny asked.
“There are no rehearsal rooms available right now,” Elias explained. “They’re all in use, so you’ll have to come back later.”
“What?!” Archie gasped. “But it’s Tuesday! You know that we always use the rehearsal room at the end of the hall on Tuesdays!”
“It’s not like you have a reservation in writing,” Elias shrugged.
“Which band is using our rehearsal room?” Middy demanded.
“It’s not your room,” Elias reminded him. “It’s my dad’s, and he can rent it out to anyone who has the cash. First come, first serve.”
“So, who got here first?” Taz scowled in frustration.
It wasn’t fair! Johnny had been waiting to practice for hours , and now there was nowhere to do it!
“It was those Lost Society guys, wasn’t it?” Archie growled, narrowing his eyes.
“Please don’t be mad at them,” Elias shrugged. “Samy is actually a pretty nice guy.”
Samy . That was the dumb kid who had wished Johnny luck earlier.
Damn him! How had he gotten here so fast?
“I’m going back inside now,” Elias sighed. “Maybe you can come back in a few hours, and use the room when Lost Society is done with it.”
“Fuck that,” Archie snapped, as soon as the door shut behind Elias. “I bet those guys stole our space on purpose!”
“You don’t know that,” Johnny reasoned. “It could have been a coincidence.”
“No way,” Archie shook his head. “I bet they’re scared they’re going to lose the contest. So, they wanted to sabotage us!”
“Why don’t we sabotage them back, then?” Middy suggested.
“Wait, what are you talking about?” Johnny asked, eyes widening.
“That’s Arttu’s car, over there,” Middy explained, pointing to a truck on the other side of the lot.
“Why don’t we slash his tires?” Archie suggested.
“What?” Johnny gasped. “Dude, no. Let’s just leave. My mom won’t be home from work for an hour. We could at least do a little practice, in my garage.”
“No, fuck these guys,” Taz swore. “They stole our practice space, that we could have used for several hours. Let’s puncture their tires. Make them carry their equipment home on the bus. It serves them right.”
“What would we even puncture them with?” Johnny wondered, shaking his head.
“I’ve got a screwdriver in the trunk,” Archie replied.
“Yeah, that’ll work,” Middy nodded.
“Guys, I don’t know about this,” Johnny hesitated. “Do you think they have security cameras here?”
“I don’t see any,” Taz shook his head. “Let’s do it quickly, and go.”
Archie grabbed the screwdriver from his car, and strolled over to Arttu’s truck.
“That’s what you get for messing with Santa Cruz!” he declared, before viciously stabbing the left rear tire.
“Do two,” Middy suggested. “Just in case he has a spare tire in the back.”
“Great idea,” Archie nodded. “You want to do the honors?”
Middy took the screwdriver from him, and stabbed the left front tire. The air whistled quickly out, leaving it empty and deflated.
“Now let’s get out of here,” Taz hissed. “Before we get caught.”
Johnny had to admit, there was a little bit of pleasure, in messing with someone, who had messed with him and his friends first. But, he still had a bad feeling that this was going to bite them in the ass later.