We spent weeks rehearsing and getting our sets as perfect as we could. Our set in Salt Lake, if we made it through the local Battle, would be longer and more intense, and would include the song I wrote for Wyatt as well as "On the Ledge" which was the one about standing on the building. Our set for the Weber one, though, would be a little less intense.
The most emotional song we were doing for that one was about being the family screw up, which surprisingly didn't bring the kind of anger and sadness it used to when I performed it. Varick told me it was hard to tell that when I performed it though, and it was true that I got very into my feelings when I was performing.
Wyatt was busy waiting for letters about college, as well as playing his very last season of high school baseball. It wasn't my favorite sport, though none of them really were, but boy did I love watching him in those pants. I may have not been a big fan of sports, but I was definitely a fan of watching Wyatt play sports. I loved watching the way his body moved, the way his muscles rippled, and his sure confidence.
Since our fight, I had only seen Gus a few times, and he skirted around me like I had the plague, but it was better than the constant tension and hostility. Varick had claimed he was going to destroy Gus if he touched me again, so for Varick's ability to stay out of prison, I was thankful for the space. We really didn't need to try to replace our drummer right before the Battles.
I was writing music almost faster than we could learn it, but we were being careful about which songs we picked too. I wrote a song named "Mediocre" which was essentially about dating men like Gus, and the guys were fans from the moment they read it. We decided to start practicing it to use in the Weber Battle. It would be a good addition to our line up. The songs we were doing for that section were more about anger and not being good enough, and then we'd get into the deeper music in Salt Lake.
We were soon only a few weeks away from the first performance, and we decided that we wanted to change up our look a little. Mostly, my look. I'd had the red for so long and it felt like the right time to change it. We spent some time bleaching the entire mohawk, careful not to get any on the sides. I preferred keeping that dark as I thought the contrast of light and dark worked for the band and for myself.
"I got us a whole rainbow of colors," Varick said as he put the rest of the hair dye on the table. "Since you're finally out, might as well go full gay, right?"
"I don't need to be a walking pride flag, dude," I laughed.
"You've never had the chance to, though," Varick pointed out. "Your dad would have killed you, and we're about to perform. Why not have a little fun for once, you know?"
I looked down at all the different colors he had gotten and then smiled at him. "You know what? Let's do it!"
"Yes!" Zach cried as he picked up one of the colors to start reading the instructions.
I went to wash out the bleach in my hair before we toned it down more towards a white color, and then washed that out as well. Once we got my hair dry again, my friends spent time creating a rainbow through my mohawk. We sat around and fiddled with our instruments and had the TV on while we waited for the dye to set, and then I went in and showered one final time so we could see the final result.
I styled it like I normally would before I came out of the bathroom to show the band. I was met with whoops and whistles.
"It looks great!" Varick cried.
"That's hot," Zach agreed. "Wyatt won't be able to keep his hands off you."
"It's perfect!" Nigel added.
"You're officially a gay rock icon now," Varick said, the grin on his face telling just how ecstatic he was.
I grinned at them then, looking in the mirror down here that showed how good the colors looked. We got dressed up in our punk rock clothing and did our makeup how we normally would for the stage before heading off with Harper to take some photos. She had been asking to take band photos for us for a while, to practice her photography skills, and now seemed the perfect time.
We walked to the park that was near the house, just down the street from us. We had to walk by my house to get to it, as the road that led down to the cul-de-sac that included an entrance was under construction. My family was outside dealing with yard chores while we walked by. Eliza gave me a small smile, trying to hide it from our parents, but both of my parents noticed us walk by. My father had on his normal scowl as he watched us, clearly angry to see me around and doing well.
I don't know what came over me, but as I looked at him, as he tried to shoot daggers at me through his eyes, I just started laughing. It felt a little hysterical, like I couldn't control just how hard I was laughing, and my friends all looked at me like I might have been missing a few screws all of a sudden, but I couldn't stop myself.
"Are you trippin'?" Varick asked me.
"I'm sorry," I said as I wiped my eyes, trying to get the laughing under control. "It's just so pathetic. Come on."
We made it to the park and spent time taking photos of the entire band together as well as individual portraits. Varick had brought his drum sticks with him, while I had my guitar and Nigel his bass. As a bit of a gag, Zach had brought his smaller keyboard with him. Harper managed to take a few photos that made the keyboard look normal rather than small, but she let him enjoy the fact that he had a child's keyboard with him for some joke shots too.
When we got back to the house, Harper went to work on editing the photos while Wyatt finally came down from practice and taking a shower to hang out with me. He stopped when he got to the bottom of the basement stairs, taking in the new look. He ran his hands along the mohawk and then brought his hand down to my chin before he pulled me into a heated kiss.
"That's our cue," Zach joked and the rest of them headed out to go home.
"You look all ready for the Battle now," Wyatt said once they left.
I nodded my head. "I think we are, honestly. I'm pumped for it! I'm also incredibly excited that you and the entire family plan to be there."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Wyatt told me and kissed me again.
