CHAPTER FIVE
A NEW SONG

◥✤◤

     "I have a new song," Luna said bluntly as she sat down with her friends in Pop Tate's diner.

     "Are you serious? There's no way we're going to be able to learn a new song in three days," Peyton said and Kai cleared his throat.

     "You guys learned Alchemy in two," he said and Peyton sighed.

     "To be fair, we didn't have four other songs to rehearse," Naomi pointed out.

     "Exactly!" Peyton said.

     "We won't be recording it until after the show. If we spend more time practicing the chords we might be able to nail it by Friday," Luna explained.

     "And if we don't?" Maya questioned with her eyebrows raised.

     "We simply do one of our other songs," Lune said while shrugging her shoulders.

     "Speaking of which, I posted the update last night and we already have a lot of people commenting which song they want to hear," Kai said.

     "Let's hear it," Naomi said and Kai looked at his phone screen.

     "Most of them want to hear Shine Days and Morning Dreamer," he said and Luna nodded. "So, add them to the setlist?"

     "Add them to the setlist," she confirmed.

     Kai typed something on his phone while Luna took out her notebook. She had copies of the lyrics and sheet music for the new song and handed them to the others. She knew it was a risk to try and learn a new song for an upcoming show in three days but there was no reason they couldn't at least try.

     "Do you really think we could learn this in time for Friday?" Peyton questioned with her eyebrows raised.

     "I think it's worth a shot," Naomi replied with a shrug.

     One of the waiters arrived with a tray with the milkshakes they ordered and he placed them down in front of the five kids before walking away. Luna took a sip of her mango milkshake and looked at her friends.

     "After our milkshakes, we go to my garage to practice," she said and the others nodded. "We are going to shake this town to the ground."

     Luna smiled as she took another sip of her milkshake and the others smiled as well. They were about to take a risk but it was a new year where they could try new things. She could tell Peyton was still a little hesitant about it but she also knew that she could learn the new song quick enough if she focussed and let go of that hesitation. While they were drinking their milkshakes, they all looked over the lyrics and sheet music, except for Kai since he wasn't going to be the one performing on Friday. Once they were done with their milkshakes, they left the money for Pop Tate and left the diner with the copies of the song and sheet music in their hands.

     "Luna, I'm still not sure about this," Peyton said while on their way back to Luna's house.

     Since her mother was at work and Rosalie was out with her own friends for a few hours, that gave the band enough time to rehearse the songs they were going to play at the Whyte Wyrm.

     "Don't worry too much about it. If we can't learn the song in time for the show, we'll play another song and save the new one for another performance," Luna said and Peyton sighed and nodded.

     "I think we might be able to do it," Maya said with a huge smile and Kai wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

     "I know you guys will be able to do it," he said and Naomi laughed.

     "We can try," she said as they reached Luna's house.

     "I'll see you guys tomorrow and I'll keep you updated about everything," Kai said and the girls smiled and waved.

     "See you tomorrow, Kai," Luna said as he walked away.

     Since nobody ever used the garage, they always left their instruments and equipment inside. So when Luna opened the garage door, everything was still in place from their last practice. She turned the light on and closed the door again while Peyton grabbed her guitar and Naomi grabbed her bass. Maya sat behind the drum set and Luna made sure that everything was in place so their practice could run smoothly.

     "Did Rosalie tell you anything else about what Sweet Pea said?" Naomi questioned and Luna shook her head.

     "Actually, Sweet Pea talked to me last night at Pop's. He said that they'll even pay us to play our songs for the hour," she said as she stood up and grabbed her own guitar.

     "Wait, are you serious?" Peyton asked in shock. "We're getting paid?"

     "Technically, he said that they were willing to pay us but that doesn't mean they will. When we finish off for the night they could turn around and say they changed their minds," the raven haired girl said while tuning her guitar and testing the chords.

     Naomi sighed. "That is true. The older Serpents are still stuck in an era where they think they can exploit people and get away with it," she said.

     "But we're not doing this for money, even though it would be a great bonus. The whole reason we even agreed to do this was because we agreed that we should do a back-to-school performance," Maya said as she played with the drumsticks.

     "Exactly. If they pay us, great. If not, oh well," Luna said while shrugging her shoulders and putting the sheet music and lyrics in front of her. "You guys ready?"

     The other girls nodded but Luna could tell that Naomi was a little nervous since she was the one opening the song with her bass. "Hey," Luna said to grab Naomi's attention.

     "I'm the one who is supposed to start the song," the pink haired girl said.

     Luna smiled reassuringly. "This is just a practice so if we don't get it right, it's okay. We try it again," she said and Naomi nodded.

     Her heart started to race as she played the chords off the sheet music and it was a few seconds before Maya joined in with the drums and Luna and Peyton joined in with their guitars. So far, they were a little off but since it was just a practice and this was the first time they were playing the song together, it didn't really matter if it sounded horrible. All of their other songs sounded just as bad when they first started playing them but they always learned. Luna knew the lyrics by heart considering she was the one who wrote them and this was the first time she sang them out loud with her friends, or with anyone for that matter. Before now, she only sang them when she was putting the song together.

     If the four of them could nail this song in time for their show, then they would play it live for the first time for everyone to hear. But if not, then they would have to pick another song to add to their very short setlist. Either way, they were excited to play at the Whyte Wyrm.

༻✧༺

     This was it. Friday night came pretty fast and the girls were excited but nervous at the same time. They got all their equipment transported and set up on the stage at the Whyte Wyrm and they were ready to do their thing.

     "Don't you think that's a bit much?" Rosalie asked while pointing out Luna's choice to wear black lipstick and thick eyeliner.

     She was wearing a black tube top, a pair of black cargo pants and a pair of black combat boots. Most of her black pin straight hair was left down with two small pigtails on the top sides of her head. She also wore her denim jacket to protect herself from the nighttime breeze.

     "No," Luna said while grabbing her guitar case and putting the straps over her shoulders.

     "You're bringing your acoustic?" the older girl questioned and Luna stared right back at her.

     "One of the songs we are playing is ninety percent acoustic so I'm going to need my acoustic tonight," she said. "Shouldn't you be out on your date?"

     "I'm going to meet Sweet Pea outside the Wyrm in twenty minutes," Rosalie said.

     "Why don't you just grow a pair and let him pick you up on his bike?"

     "I am not getting on that death trap!"

     "Fine!"

     Luna sighed as she made her way down the stairs and saw her mother in the kitchen making dinner.

     "I see you're heading off to your show," she said and Luna nodded.

     "I'll see you later, Mom," she said before walking out the door and headed to the Whyte Wyrm.

     It wasn't a long walk from her house to the Wyrm and when she got there, not many people were inside. This was the first time she was going to play any of her songs there and it was going to be packed with Serpents, old and young. She stepped on the stage and she already liked the angle. She was able to see everything and everybody, even the hidden corners where people might try to watch from.

     "Luna!"

     The raven haired girl turned around and she saw Toni right behind the bar with a big smile on her face.

     "Hey, Toni. You work here?" Luna asked as she stepped down from the stage and walked over to the bar.

     "Yeah, I got a shift tonight but I'll still be able to see you guys play," the young girl said with a smile. "Can I at least know which songs you're going to play tonight?"

     "Sorry. You'll have to wait until later," Luna said with a playful smirk and Toni frowned.

     "Fine. Fangs really wants to see you play again so he should be here soon. We actually went to your shows during the summer and we listened to all your music," Toni said and Luna laughed sheepishly.

     "Glad you like our music so much," she said.

     "Also, when I read the English lyrics, I notice how much deeper your songs are than many other songs I know and to be honest, I thought nobody cared about deep and honest lyrics anymore," Toni said and Luna nodded. "Where do you get your inspiration from?"

     "A lot of it has to do with personal issues and to be honest, these songs weren't meant for anyone to hear until I met my friends. They helped me start this whole thing," Luna said with a smile.

     "That's amazing! You should probably finish setting up because I'm starting to see more people show up," Toni said and Luna laughed.

     "See you around, Toni," she said and stepped back onto the stage.

     Peyton and Naomi were already there plugging in their guitars and Maya was sitting behind the drum set. Kai had his camera ready to shoot the performance live while Luna picked up her red guitar and put the strap over her shoulders. She took off her jacket and let it stay on the sidelines along with Kai who was prepared to film the show. She could see her sister sitting at one of the tables with Sweet Pea and she remembered the deal they made a few days back.

     "Are we ready to do this?" she asked as she was tuning her guitar for the first song.

     "Hell yeah!" Peyton said and the others smiled.

     Luna took her spot at the front of the stage and she could see the lights dimming until the only lights were the colourful one on the stage.

     "Alright. Maya, your call," she said and the short haired girl nodded.

     Maya started off the first song and the others joined in on their parts. The sound of Luna's guitar grabbed everyone's attention, especially the people who came to the Whyte Wyrm to see them play. She could see Toni at the bar and she saw Fangs there too. Both of them had excited smiles on their faces as the first line of lyrics fell from Luna's lips.

     "Behind me is a wall of shutters flashing, and my fingertips smell of metal," she sang confidently and she swore she could feel her heart soar.

     Singing in her native tongue made her feel closer to herself, her family and her roots. It made everything much more personal for her and she loved it. If only the kids who would put her down whenever she spoke Japanese could see where she was now. There were people who loved her music even though it was written and recorded in Japanese and there were people who showed up to see her band to perform. Being up on stage and singing her songs gave her such a rush and she never wanted the feeling to go away.

     As the song ended, she looked for her sister in the crowd and just as she suspected, she wasn't even paying attention. Sweet Pea on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the show and how Luna was so passionate about performing. Toni and Fangs were enjoying it more than anybody she knew and she always loved to see how excited people were. This was something she always wanted to do and she never wanted to stop.

as i said, the songs performed will be added at the end of the chapter so here is one ot the songs that were played at the whyte wyrm. the songs that were mentioned but not performed in the chapter will make an appearance in the future chapters ♡♡

crow song by girls dead monster