The Real Kings and Queens of Prom

"Where are we ever going to find a drummer?" I asked Abby one day between classes. Madhouse had been together for a few weeks by that point, if by "together" you meant "playing in Robin's basement." We had yet to play a live show, but the two of us had great aspirations for our band. However, these aspirations could only become reality if we had a drummer.

"Kyle plays the drums," Abby said. "You should ask him."

Why didn't I think of that earlier? I asked myself. Abby had mentioned that Kyle played the drums, but I forgot all about it. "Thanks Abby!" I exclaimed. "You're the best!"

"You're welcome Bianca," she said as she entered her calculus class.

As I made my way to my AP English class, I wondered how exactly I would contact Kyle. I didn't have any classes with him, nor did I have his phone number. Luckily, as I was leaving the school, I spotted Kyle waiting for the bus.

"Hi Kyle," I said.

"Hey Bianca," he said. "What's going on?"

"Not much," I said. "I started a band with Robin."

"Robin Stanley?" Kyle said. "I think I know him. He's in my Spanish class."

"What do you think of him?" I asked.

"He's kind of weird," Kyle said. "Then again, I'm weird too, so I can't judge him."

"I thought he was weird when I first met him, but he's quite talented," I said.

"What's your band called?" Kyle asked me.

"Madhouse," I answered. "Robin wanted to call it The Wallbangers, but that's a silly name."

"That is a silly name," Kyle agreed. "I like Madhouse better. Who else is in your band other than you and Robin?"

"Nobody," I said. "It's just us."

Kyle looked at me quizzically. "You can't be a proper band with just two people," Kyle said. "There's only so much multitasking you can do. You'll need more people if you want to perform live."

"We haven't done that yet," I said. "Honestly, I'd love to add someone else to the band. We could use a drummer."

"I play the drums, and I'd love to join," Kyle said.

I smiled and said, "That's wonderful. You should practice with Robin and I on Thursday."

"I'll have to ask my parents first, but I think that will work," Kyle said. "Wait a second, I think that's my bus. I'll see you soon, Bianca." Kyle waved to me as he ran towards the bus, and I went to the student parking lot to find my car.

That Thursday, Kyle and I both came to Robin's house for band practice. Kyle was a little bit late, so while I was waiting for him to show up, I explained the situation to Robin. "Kyle agreed to drum for us," I told him.

"Kyle Spencer?" Robin said. "I didn't know he played the drums."

"Abby told me," I explained.

Robin shrugged. "We'll see if he's any good," he said. "If he is, then he can join the band."

"None of the songs we've been playing have drum parts," I said. "What is he going to play?"

"For the covers, I think we can figure out the drum parts," Robin said. "He can make up whatever he thinks would work best for the songs we wrote."

"That sounds good," I said.

Kyle knocked on the door, and Robin and I sprinted upstairs to meet him. However, his little brother got there first. "Hi!" Jay exclaimed, waving excitedly.

"Hi!" Kyle shouted, almost matching Jay's enthusiasm. "What's your name?"

"I'm Jay!" Jay said.

"I'm Kyle," Kyle replied. "Do you happen to know where Robin is?"

Jay pointed towards the basement. "It's loud!" he said as he covered his ears.

"Jay, I thought it was your naptime," Robin said. "Go back upstairs."

"Okay!" Jay said as he clumsily climbed up the stairs.

"We might have to be a little bit quieter," Kyle said. "Jay was complaining about the loudness."

Robin rolled his eyes. "I'm teaching the twins to appreciate music," he said. "Besides, we're not that loud. Come on, let's go down to the basement."

Robin and I helped Kyle bring the piece of his drum set down to the basement, but neither of us knew how to set it up, so Kyle had to do that himself. "What songs have you guys been playing?" Kyle asked once the drum set was set up.

"We've been doing a mix of covers and original songs," I told him.

"Let's do the original songs first," Kyle said. "I can figure out the patterns for the cover on my own."

"Well, there's a little bit of a problem there," Robin said. "Bianca and I don't know a lot about drumming, so we didn't write parts for you. Can you just make something up?"

"I guess so," Kyle said. He started playing a simple drum beat. "How's this?"

"That's fine," Robin said, and he started playing the guitar part from Chameleon. All of a sudden, it all seemed to come together. Robin's guitar part was in perfect time with Kyle's drumming, and when I joined in on the bass, I was able to fit in with their wall of sound. It turned out that all we needed was a drummer to help us stay together.

At a few points, Kyle changed up the rhythm, and Robin started improvising too. After a while, the song morphed into something rather far from our original plans, but in a way, it was better that way. I changed a few of the lyrics as well to reflect the changes in the instrumentals.

Kyle played with us on our other two original songs, and with his drumming, all of the songs improved tremendously. We also had time to rehearse a few of the covers, and we put together a setlist for a hypothetical first live show.

That live show came much faster than any of us expected. That weekend, Abby called me and told me that she had some very good news. "What is it?" I asked her.

"My aunt came to visit last week, and I told her about Madhouse," Abby said.

"That's nice," I said, unsure as to where Abby was going with this.

"She owns a club in Tacoma, and she wants you to play there next week," Abby said.

I couldn't believe my ears. "Really?" I said.

"Really," Abby said. "She seemed excited to hear you."

"Have you even heard us play?" I asked. "How do you know that we're good?"

"Kyle said that you were ready for a live show, and I trust his good judgment," Abby explained. "I'm sure you guys will do great."

"I'm not so sure," I said.

"Come on Bianca!" Abby said. "You can do it!"

"Fine," I said. "I'll have to ask Robin and Kyle if they're available, but if they are, we'll take the gig."

"Awesome!" Abby exclaimed. "See you soon!"

"Bye Abby," I said. After I hung up, I called Robin and Kyle to ask if they were available. As it turned out, both of them were free on the day that Abby's aunt wanted us to play, and both of them were far more excited than I was.

"This is amazing!" Robin shouted when I told him the news. "We'll be a real band now!"

In that respect, Robin was right. Madhouse would be a real band once we had played our first show, and that fact brought both excitement and nervousness for me. I wanted to make our first impression on the world a good one, so I scheduled several emergency practices that week, including one at my house. Melissa wasn't exactly happy that I was interrupting her phone calls, but she was getting a taste of her own medicine.

The day of the concert arrived, and I managed to talk Abby into driving us to Tacoma and helping us carry our instruments and equipment, since neither Kyle nor Robin had a car, and my dad's car broke down, so he needed to use mine for the week. She picked all of us up after school that day. Once all of us were in the car, Robin handed Abby a copy of In Utero to listen to in the car. She put the CD in, and all of us listened while Abby drove to Kyle's house to pick up the drum set. I had already given Abby my bass, and Robin was carrying his guitar with him.

Thankfully, we didn't have too far to go before we arrived in Tacoma. When we got to the club, Abby introduced the three of us to her aunt. "I'm Jeanette," she said. "It's so nice to meet you guys. I've heard a lot about you."

"I'm Bianca, and this is Kyle and Robin. It's nice to meet you too," I said. "Where can we set up?"

Jeanette showed us a small stage in the front of the room and how to make the sound system work. Abby helped us set up all of our equipment, and by the time everyone arrived, we were ready to play.

As it turned out, the club we were playing at was quite popular. The club was packed that night, and all of the people there seemed excited to see that there was live music, even if the music was being provided by three high school students who had never played live before.

Robin gave Kyle and I the cue to start playing, and the three of us launched right into our cover of I Just Want To Have Something To Do by The Ramones. I knew that I messed up a few times, but overall, I thought we did a nice job. However, it was clear that the highlights of our performance were the original songs. Although Robin was certain that the audience would love Nirvana as much as he did, they liked Chameleon so much that we decided to move it to the end of our set for next time.

Jeanette was impressed too. "You were great!" she told us as we were packing up.

"Thank you so much," I said.

"Can you please come back next week?" Jeanette asked. "I'm sure that everyone here would love to have you back."

"Kyle? Robin? What do you think?" I asked.

"Yes!" Robin exclaimed. "We'd love to!"

"Well, it's settled," Jeanette said. "Thank you for coming today."

"Thanks for having us," I said. Once we were finished packing up, we left, satisfied with the job we had done.

For the next several months, Madhouse played at Jeanette's club on Friday nights. In retrospect, it was a good deal for us, especially since we were just starting out. We were able to perfect our live shows and establish a fanbase, and Jeanette paid us quite a bit of money to be there. Meanwhile, Abby became Madhouse's biggest fan. She came to every show that we played, as well as helping us set up and talking to our other fans. Therefore, it wasn't too much of a surprise when she helped us find yet another performance opportunity.

"Why weren't you at the last student council meeting?" Abby asked me one day after school.

"It was at the same time as band practice, and we needed to rewrite the lyrics for one of our songs," I said.

"Well, it was the prom planning meeting," Abby said. "It's the most important student council meeting of the year."

"I wasn't planning on going to prom," I said. This didn't seem like a big deal to me. It wasn't like I had anyone to go with anyways.

"You're going now," Abby said. "I talked the Prom Planning Committee into letting Madhouse play for thirty minutes during prom."

"Abby, that's not a good idea," I said.

"Yes it is," Abby said. "I'm sure that Madhouse will do an excellent job at prom. Besides, it was hard enough to convince the committee to let you play. Do you realize how hard it would be to get them to change their minds again?"

"Fine," I said. "We'll play at prom."

"Great!" Abby exclaimed. "I'll have to take you shopping though. You'll need a dress for this."

"Are you sure that playing a show in a fancy dress is a good idea?" I asked.

"Sure, why not?" Abby said. "I'll make sure that Robin and Kyle wear suits to match. It's going to be great."

By the time prom arrived, Abby had become Madhouse's manager, publicist, sound technician, roadie, and stylist. In fact, she had picked out a long, lavender dress for me to wear for prom, as well as tuxedos for Kyle and Robin. "Are you sure I can't just wear a band T-shirt or something?" Robin asked when he saw what Abby had in mind.

"No, this is prom!" Abby exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "You can't wear a band T-shirt!"

"Whatever," Robin said.

To nobody's surprise, Robin showed on prom day wearing combat boots along with his tuxedo. He looked ridiculous, but I didn't have the heart to tell him that. Besides, his questionable fashion sense was endearing in a way.

After a half hour of listening to the DJ play bland pop music, Madhouse played. We used the same setlist that we did for our first show, with a few tweaks. In my opinion, it was one of the best shows we ever played. Kyle's drumming was absolutely perfect, and Robin's guitar playing was unbelievable, but the best part was the energy that was running through the whole room. I certainly had a great time singing and playing the bass, and it was hard to tell, but my fellow students seemed to be enjoying themselves as well. I recognized one girl from Jeanette's club, and she was right next to the makeshift stage the whole time, screaming for us.

We finished the show with Chameleon, which as usual, everyone seemed to love. In fact, it was a little bit anticlimactic when the DJ took control of the dance floor once again.

The first song that the DJ played was a slow song that I didn't quite recognize. Abby ditched me to dance with Kyle, so I didn't exactly have any reason to stay on the dance floor. I was heading towards the snack bar when Robin came up to me. "May I have this dance?" he asked me.

"Uh...I guess so?" I said. I wasn't a great dancer, but then again, I suspected that Robin wasn't much better than I was. He put his hands on my waist, and I put mine on his shoulders, which was a little bit awkward since I towered over him in my heels. Despite all of the times we stepped on each other's feet, we made it through the dance without too much embarrassment. After the song was over, we both went to the snack bar, but there was something I needed to tell him, so I leaned over and said it to him.

"Robin, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."