London Harmony: Roctoberfest (3 page)

I smiled at her. “Kacy Green.”

She smirked. “You're different Kacy.”  I cocked an eyebrow.  Was that a good or bad thing?  She shook her head and looked away toward James, who was humming again.  She clarified. “You're the first person I've met that wants to know about my music rather than my arm.”

I looked at her arm then said slyly, “It looks okay to me.”  She snorted and I grinned that I was able to make her do that.

She said, “Don't be dense woman.  My other arm.”

I looked at her in mock confusion and leaned in and whispered behind my hand over dramatically.  “You don't have an other arm.”

She bumped shoulders with me with a huge smile on her face as she played.  “I know I've only just met you, but I think I'll label you as a smartass Kacy, I hope that's okay.”

I gave her a cheesy grin, I liked her.  “Better than some labels people have applied to me.  I'll take it and wear it like a badge of honor.”

She smiled and stopped playing a moment to turn up the amp a bit as her eyes kept sweeping over to James.  He started singing the refrain of the song as she continued playing.  Then she looked at me quickly then away.  “Your friend has an awesome voice.”

I looked over at him as he sang to her music as he rocked.  “James?  Yes he does but he isn't my friend, I've never met him, I just overheard his name earlier.”

She looked between the both of us.  “How did you know he could do that?”

I shrugged. “He started humming along when I started practicing.  When I heard his voice, I didn't want it to stop.  Then you lot joined in his jam.”

She finished the song with James then unslung her guitar and leaned it against the equipment she was next to.  She motioned to the grass.  “Have a seat.  I take it you are competing?”

I nodded as I sat and she slid off the amp to sit in front of me.  I said, “I'm with Purple Horseshoes.”

She chuckled at the name and teased playfully, “You sound proud of the name.”

I closed my eyes and bit the tip of my tongue to suppress a smile.  “We may or may not have been a bit tipsy when we came up with the name.  But at least it makes you remember us.”  I gave a hopeful grin.

She shook her head with a 'poor Kacy' look.  I reached out and shoved her right shoulder, then asked.  “You?  What's your band?  Will we be facing off with you today?”

She shook her head.  “No, I'm not in a band... anymore.  But my little brother is.  He's with Haunted Lullaby. “ 
Oh hey, I've heard of them, they play on the local pub circuit.
  She added, “I just volunteered to watch the gear for them while they scoped out the competition.  I'm just here for moral support, I don't do too well in crowds.  I don't like all the staring.”

I nodded.  “I'm not too good with crowds either.  I always feel so anxious and awkward.  But once you get me talking, I babble on.”

She smirked. “Well you are awkward... but it's a great look on you.”

I blushed and tucked some of my honey streaked brown hair behind my ear.  I started to ask another question when four guys came walking behind the stage area, showing the guards their participant badges and walked up to us.  A boy with Strong Middle Eastern features, decked out in black leather, his short black hair spiked with bleached temples, held his fist out.  He looked to be in his late teens or early twenties. The other guys started grabbing the stacked gear with practiced ease and started hauling it toward the stage.

Mei bumped his fist and stood so I stood too.  She said, “Robbie, this is Kacy, Kacy, my snot-nosed little brother, Robbie.”  I awkwardly greeted the bloke.  He was about my height, which was a big contrast to Mei.  Now that she was standing I could feel a blush on my cheeks for some reason when I saw how tiny she really was.  I had no clue why that should make me blush, maybe because I was feeling self-conscious about my height.

I looked between the two, they looked nothing alike and had obviously dissimilar heritages.  I asked her, “Step brother?”

She shook her head and smiled. “What? Can't see the family resemblance?”  They both gave me toothy grins and leaned their heads toward each other.  I suppressed a laugh, I was obviously not the first person to ever ask.  She let me off the hook. “We're both adopted, as are our other brothers and sisters.  We've got a kick ass family.”

That sounded pretty cool.  “How many Hammonds are scurrying about?”

Robbie answered, “Three brothers, three sisters, and mum and dad.”

I noticed the other woman came back with a couple of other ladies, they started taking gear too as she leaned down and talked to James.  She put a sandwich in his hand and she said something about getting him a good place to sit to watch.  As she led him past us, I smiled at him and held a hand up.  “Up high James.  Thanks for jamming with us.”

The woman started to scowl at me but then James gave me a high five without looking at me then he sort of looked down as they walked.  Mei did the same as me and he again gave a high five and sort of hugged his sandwich.  The woman tilted her head to look back at us as they walked.  I put her at ease. “He has a beautiful voice.”  She smiled and turned away as she lead him around the stage.

Mei started to grab some of Robbie's band's gear.  I grabbed a keyboard case to help out.  Robbie grinned. “Aren't you the enemy?”

I snorted and covered my mouth.  Mei, the evil woman, looked like she was going to burst out laughing at that.  I tried to look composed as I said, “Not yet, we're going up against Omen in our first round today.”

We chatted as I handed the case up to his bandmates on the stage.  He looked at his sister as we went back for the last of their gear.  “You really should be up there with us Mei.  The guys would love to have you.”

Her mood darkened and she looked almost angry as she said, “I'm never going back up on stage.  Not like this.”  She slapped her right shoulder.

This didn't seem to phase Robbie as he shrugged and said, “Invitation is always open.  You can really shred sis.  You're still brill on the axe.”

She was silent as we got the last of the gear and handed it up.  I realized the guitar was her brother's as she handed it up.  Then Robbie held out a fist to his now silent sister.  After a moment, she exhaled and bumped his fist with a small smile on her face.  Then he looked over at me.  “It was nice meeting you Kacy. Hopefully, we never meet on stage, it would be a shame for my band to trounce yours.”  He gave a toothy smile.

I smiled at him and shook my head.  Mei was rolling her eyes at him and swatting at the air.  “Stop flirting with my friend and get out of here Robbie.  You're on in five.”

I smiled at their antics as I walked to our equipment and slid down to the ground, my back to the stage.  To my surprise, Mei slid down beside me.  I was suddenly aware of how feminine the woman was and I got self-conscious.  I said without looking,  “Didn't you want to be out front cheering him on?”

She shook her head slowly.  “Not particularly, not a crowd person remember?  Besides, these are the best seats in the house, almost on top of the stage.”  Then she bumped her left shoulder playfully into mine.  “Trying to get rid of me?”

I sputtered, “No.  I mean.  I just thought... I... I thought you'd cheer him on.”

She tilted her head and her smile slowly spread. “You really are as socially awkward as you say.”  Then she looked away and smiled.  “Far too cute.”

Now she was saying stuff just to get to me.  And it was working.  I blushed and looked at my feet as I tapped them together nervously.

I glanced over and she looked concerned.  Then she said,  “Relax.  Tell me something about you nobody knows.  We're complete strangers who will probably never see each other again so you can feel safe about it.  It would be a cathartic release, sharing with someone.”

I really liked this woman, she was so random.  Then I realized she was right.  We'd probably never see each other again.  That was sort of sad since I could see becoming friends with someone like her.  Besides.  She was hot. 
There I said it, are you happy now?

Just then a little girl, maybe five years old, wearing a pink dress with white and yellow daisies embroidered around the hem came around the stage.  Her black hair was in a braid behind her, and her dark chocolate skin complimented the dress, giving a far too cute impression.  Her eyes widened and she ran over to us.

Mei's arm arced out and swooped the little girl into her lap.  She was nothing but smiles as she played with the pinned down sleeve of Mei's shirt.  The little girl asked, “Are you coming sissy?  Mummy is saving a seat right up front.”  She pointed without looking, I saw a woman watching her with an eagle eye from the corner of the stage by the guard, she may as well have had a giant neon sign that read Mum pointing at her.

My new friend looked down at the little one and said, “No you little runt.  Let mum know I'm just hanging out back here with a friend.  Can you do that for me?”

The little girl said excitedly, “Okay.”  Then she hopped up like she was on springs and ran off the way she came.

The proud look on Mei's face when she looked at me showed me that she loved the little girl.  “My baby sister, Angie.”

I smiled back.  “Well, she's darling.  That little dress was almost cuteness overload.”

She nodded in agreement.  “I know right?  I swear mum has some sort of compulsion to dress us all like little princesses when we were small.”  Her eyes drifted to the corner of the stage.  “She's going to be a heartbreaker when she grows up.”  I really loved the diversity of her family.  I again thought of my brother and wondered if Michael was happy.

I was knocked out of my thoughts when Mei prompted, “So.  What's something people don't know about Kacy?”

Before I could answer, the judge for the stage started speaking over the PA, it was Marjorie McClellan.  I chuckled. “Saved.”  She shook her head with a smug grin, letting me know I wouldn't get out of it that easily.

Doctor McClellan said, “Thank you, everyone, for joining us for the start of round three of the Roctoberfest competition!”  People cheered and she recapped the competition and the rules.  Then she announced that this round the bands would be backing up none other than J8 herself, singing ‘Pickpocket’.

The crowd went crazy.  I was suddenly interested in watching, I was girl crushing out about J8.  I looked back and Mei turned around and got on her knees and pulled the stage backdrop up slightly and peeked through.  She grinned at me and whispered, “I love J8.”

I nodded and joined her.  Standing not more than two meters from us was June Harris-West herself.  Decked out in a fusion of punk and pop regalia.  The crowd was going insane.  She stood in front of her mic with her mother's legendary guitar slung over her shoulder.

She lifted a fist into the air and the cheering doubled. Then she simply lowered her head and the crowd just settled down, letting her guide them.  I exchanged an excited look with Mei then we turned back to our spying.

She started stomping her foot and the drummer started up and she jumped into the air and slammed out a chord when she landed.  The band kicked in and she started singing.  I have been around dozens, if not hundreds of singers but the stars that were sponsoring this competition made it plain that they were on a whole different level.

We all love the music, but they embody it.  You had no question in your head in this competition, why each of them was signed to London Harmony or Harmony Trax, they were just that good.  June herself was no exception.  She owned that stage.

I was impressed with the band.  It was an all girl band, Reflections.  The woman from before, James' sister, was on keyboards.  I winced at the drummer.

She was good, but she kept getting caught up in the excitement and kept speeding up the beat.  Not so much that most would ever notice, but myself as a drummer felt it as the fingers I was tapping on my thigh were falling behind at times and I knew I was keeping time right.  June caught it too and I noted that whenever the drummer lost time June would start stomping her foot with the precision of a metronome and the drummer would slow back down.

I doubt anyone else noticed it.  Well maybe Mei, she kept looking between the drummer, June, and my fingers tapping my hip.  We rocked out like fangirls behind the stage. We chuckled at each other when it was over.

Then there was the reset and Robbie's band, on the closer side of the stage prepped.  June nodded to the band and their drummer tapped out the beat above his head with his sticks.  Again June was in the air and thrashing out that first chord to start the song off.

Robbie was pretty good, but I thought Mei was actually better.  I liked the dynamic of this band better than the last.  When it was over, both Doctor McClellan and J8 agreed and Robbie's band,  Haunted Lullaby, walked away with the win but no Half-J unless they win the second round of the day later.

I helped them load up their gear on their carts and they headed off toward the south stage.  They would be playing again around four in the afternoon.  We said our goodbyes and Mei hung back for a second.  “So... ummm.  When does Purple Horseshoe play?”

I looked at my mobile for the time.  “About a half hour.”

She smiled and wandered off. “Good to know.  Break a leg.”  She waved her arm behind her and I found myself profoundly sad to see her go.  Well seeing her go wasn't bad at all with the way her hips swayed.