"There it is!" Amber exclaimed from the passenger seat of the van while pointing her finger at a brick building coming into view.

A large sign reading Alleyway Pub in bold black letters hung above the front door, and a large window was on the right, allowing us to see parts of the interior. From what we could see, the place was packed.

Salvador, Amber and I scanned the street in search of a parking spot that was both close to the entrance and wide enough to fit the van.

"This side is too full," Salvador frowned. "I'll have to circle the block."

Just as he was about to speed forward, I noticed the back lights of a truck flickering on just to our right.

"Hold on, maybe they're leaving," I said, gesturing towards the vehicle. "Let's wait and see."

We watched the driver beckon impatiently with one arm to a man with carryout bags slung over each arm. He entered the truck's passenger door and quickly shut it with a resounding thud. After a few seconds, the driver backed out and drove ahead. The second the path was clear, Salvador swerved the van into the now empty spot.

"This'll do," he said in approval. "Nice catch, Shy."

Grinning, I thrust open the sliding door and leapt onto the pavement below before grabbing my violin case and slinging a bag of cables over my shoulder. Salvador and Amber both wore their instrument cases like backpacks and helped with carrying the microphone stands and mixer board.

"This place has speakers, right?" Salvador asked me after slamming the trunk shut. "I can't remember what the email said."

"Yeah, they do," I replied with confidence. "I re-read it earlier today. We just had to bring the rest of the gear."

"Do you think Clare's gonna bail?" Amber asked, her brown eyes glinting from the lit lampposts above.

"No, she'll be here, she just didn't want to carpool with us."

Salvador patted his jacket pocket. "I printed sheets of paper with the lyrics to our songs just in case she decides not to show up. I didn't want to take any chances."

At that moment, we all spotted my younger sister's gray Hyundai pull into a parking spot on the other side of the street. She gave me a death glare the second she looked my way.

"I guess we're an official band," Salvador murmured. "It's our first show, and there's already inner drama."

"Shy, what were you doing talking to Mom about me?" Clare demanded in a booming voice. I noted she was several feet away and hadn't even finished crossing the street.

"We'll talk after the show," I said through clenched teeth. "Let's focus on setting up and doing well tonight-"

"No, we need to talk now!" my sister shouted.

Several people walking down the street turned their heads our way.

"There's no need to make scene," I replied in a calm voice despite my heart clenching up from embarrassment at the unnecessary attention being drawn towards us. "I'm not talking about it before our performance, and that's final."

"Fine, then I'm not playing or singing!" Clare shot back.

"Good. We don't need you, you can leave."

Clare's jaw dropped to the floor when we turned our backs on her and headed inside the Alleyway Pub's front entrance.

The inside was large and spacious, with several rectangular tables spread out across the floor. A bar took up the middle of the room, and opposite of it was a raised platform with two speakers mounted on stands.

"Shy, you can't seriously perform without me," Clare said to the back of my head, her tone more quiet since we were now inside.

Salvador turned and looked down at Clare, his forest green eyes lit with an emerald fire. "That's up to you," he snapped in a low voice. "Are you going to respect Shy, or are you going to make a scene and ruin this show for us?"

Clare didn't answer, but lowered her gaze to the floor instead.

"We need to set up," Salvador added while heading towards the stage. "If you're going to help, do what I'm not doing."

Several minutes later, the instruments and microphones were all plugged into the mixer board. One cable extended between the mixer and the speaker on the right, while another cord connected both speakers together.

"This will make our sound balanced," Salvador explained to us before he switched everything on. "We're muted at the moment, but I need everyone to give sound one at a time so I can listen and adjust the volumes. Then, we'll play all together and make sure it's a good mix."

He turned towards Amber and gave her a nod. "Play the bass."

Amber immediately plucked some scales on her instrument while Salvador turned her volume up.

"Shy, your violin."

I played a song from a video game I liked, then added some double notes to make my instrument as loud as possible.

"Clare, sing."

My younger sister played her ukulele, then started singing.

I shot her a glare, since I figured her response was out of defiance. Clare ignored me.

"Shy, since you have a wireless connected to your violin, can you stand out there and listen to us all play at the same time?"

I nodded and stepped off the stage, waiting for them all to sound test together.

He counted off, then strummed his guitar. Amber and Clare joined in with their parts, then I jumped in last with my violin.

From where I was standing, it sounded balanced. I moved around the floor, avoiding bumping into the people sitting at tables as I both listened and played to the chorus of one of our songs.

I gave them all a thumbs up, then made my way back to my band.

"It's balanced, but you can turn the volume up on the mixer. Everything should be louder."

"Will do," Salvador replied, then promptly slid a button up on the side of the mixer. Amber glanced down at her phone. "We start at eight, and it's seven fifty-seven."

"We're playing a forty-five minute set," I reminded everyone.

Salvador chuckled. "That's good, because we barely have enough songs to last that long. Just remember not to rush, and to talk a little bit between each song so we have time to catch our breaths."

Several people sitting at the tables and bar turned their attention towards us. I avoided looking into anyone's eyes so I wouldn't get stage fright. Instead, I kept my focus on the walls behind them.

"Ready?" Salvador asked everyone while raising his instrument.

Amber and I nodded in unison. Clare gazed down at her shoes and heaved a large sigh.

"Hello everyone," Salvador said with gusto into the microphone. "We're the band, Demolition Riot. We're happy to be here and are excited to play some originals for you all tonight."

Several people whistled and clapped from the audience. My cheeks ignited into flames from the attention.

"Our first song that we'll be performing is called, Winding Roads. It's about the importance of finding your own path in life, even when others might pressure you into following in their footsteps."

I snuck a glance at my younger sister to see if she picked up on what my boyfriend was alluding to, but her eyes were glued to the cellphone in her hands.

Seriously? She shouldn't be texting on stage just before we start playing!

My girlfriend waved her hand in front of my sister's face to grab her attention. "We're about to start!" she whispered in a not-so-quiet voice.

Salvador heard us, but acted as if he didn't see what was going on. Instead, he played the opening chords on his guitar.

I joined him on the violin, then Amber on the bass. My younger sister added the ukulele, then sung the lyrics in a voice that sounded almost bored.

I tried not to let my annoyance show since several pairs of eyes were watching us.

Even after the song ended and a roaring applause surrounded us, I could tell Salvador and Amber were both irritated at Clare's lethargy.

"I'll sing the next one," Salvador said to my younger sister, his voice on the edge of a growl. He pulled out the lyrics from his pocket and clipped it to the side of his microphone stand.

"But I sing this one!" protested Clare when she read the title of the song.

"Not anymore."

I wanted to laugh, but I kept it in.

The rest of the night was Salvador singing and Clare pouting in the background. However, he did allow her to sing the penultimate song, which turned out to be a big mistake.

When my younger sister was getting ready to sing the second stanza, she went silent for a few seconds.

Salvador, Amber and I's eyes bulged out of our sockets.

Did she forget the lyrics?

Clare stumbled her way back into the song and finished the tune, but the damage had been done. Salvador's ears were beet red, Amber had turned a shade paler, and my stomach was forming into knots.

We still managed to gain some applause from the audience, though I couldn't tell if it was genuine or out of pity.

After we thanked the venue for having us, and once we tore down our instruments and put everything into the trunk of the van, Salvador dug into Clare in the alleyway outside.

"What was that?" he snapped, glaring at my younger sister through flaming emerald gems. "They might not want us to come back because you stopped singing! That was so unprofessional!"

"Do you really think this band actually stands a chance of going anywhere?" Clare shot back, equally enraged. "There's no point in traveling and playing music, this is a waste of time."

"Then do us a favor and quit already!"

"Shy can't travel and play unless I'm with her."

I hadn't said anything up to that point, but I was ready to step in and defend myself.

"Why not?" my boyfriend asked, his voice seething.

"Because Christian women aren't supposed to travel with a married man."

"Excuse me, I'm in the band too!" Amber butted in.

"But what if we have to share a hotel room?" Clare asked, her voice turning higher pitched. "We can't do that with a guy! Shy and I will just have to get our own room."

Salvador rolled his eyes. "Bands travel and share space all the time. How else are we supposed to afford being on the road? We can't be paying for two hotel rooms, that's absurd."

Clare turned and faced me, her dark blue eyes piercing into my skull. "Are you going to live in sin, or are you going to listen to reason?"

"I'm staying in the band," I stated, my tone unwavering.

"I can't support you living in sin, Shy," my younger sister said while glowering at me.

"Then don't."

Silence hovered in the air for a few moments as Clare looked at me, then at Salvador and Amber.

"I quit!" she exclaimed before storming back towards her car. Once in the driver seat, Clare stared at me, shook her head, then drove off.

"Good riddance," Salvador mumbled, then locked his arm around my waist. "She was just going to keep holding you back."

"Yeah, we don't need her," Amber agreed, then slung her shoulder around my arm.

I leaned into my boyfriend and girlfriend's embraces, then pecked them both on the cheek.

"Let's hope we can still come back here in the future," I said, though doubt was creeping into my mind about that possibility.

"Let's wait a few months before asking them for another show," Salvador suggested.

With that, we drove back to my boyfriend and girlfriend's house so we could have another date night.