[Cedric]

Titel : Long before Rock'n'Roll
Autor : Cedric
Rating : PG-13
Pairing : /
Sonstige Anmerkungen: My own story...





[SIZE=4]Long before Rock'n'Roll


[/SIZE]

Preface
His heart was racing. He tried to calm down but his breathing would just not become slower. His black Converse T-Shirt was soaking wet. He now was glad that he had decided against a white shirt. That would have been embarrassing. He looked around to face Cody and instantly was relieved. He didn’t look any better than he felt. He gave him an encouraging smile, took a deep breath and then heard an enhanced voice:
“And now you guys, the last contestants in our Battle of the Bands: This is a local group here from Dallas, with great talent and promise. Please welcome…”
He couldn’t even hear the name of his own band. The speaker’s voice got swallowed by a thunderstorm of cheering and clapping. Together with the other guys he nearly ran on stage. Looking over the approximately 1000 people who were standing in front of them and were without exception throwing them friendly looks, he almost was sure that they had good chances of actually winning this thing. Finally, he found the pair of eyes he was looking for in the crowd. He would recognize this shade of color in any place, at any time. They twinkled and encouraged him. However, he now concentrated on the task that lay in front him and as he picked up his guitar and played the first chords of their very own song he felt like he hadn’t felt in a very long time. He actually was happy, indescribably happy. One more look to his left. One more look into Cody’s eyes and he was sure that he was doing the right thing; that they had been doing the right thing all along.




One: California Sweat


[FONT=&quot]This was one of these moments when Lance actually hated that he had decided to go to college in California. It was three o’clock in the morning, his roommate was snoring like he could win some kind of competition and the air conditioner was broken. It was much too hot to even think of sleeping. So he had been lying in his bed for hours now with nothing to do but staring at the white walls surrounding him. It struck him that he had to rethink his choice in posters. His best friend would laugh at him, when he finally would join him in studying here. Posters of his former favorite bands Oasis, Simple Plan and Nirvana were pinned to his side of the wall. He smiled to himself how a taste in music could change so suddenly. He now listened to bands like Rage against the Machine, Bad Religion, Disturbed and Slayer. His best friend from back home, Knox, had always tried to make a metal head out of him, but he had tenaciously said no to any of those bands. But as soon as he was a long way from his hometown Dallas, a long way from Knox, this kind of music suddenly appealed to him. And he decided now, lying in his bed that the next day he would hook up on Allposters.com to get some new ones, new ones for a new phase in his life. He could even imagine the smile on Knox’ face, telling him, “I told you all along”.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] He was still hanging in his thoughts, finally drifting into a light sleep when suddenly the sound of the Foo Fighter’s song My Hero was in the air. Levi, his roommate, cursed, threw an angry glance at him and turned in his bed. Lance hurried to get up to answer his cell phone. He immediately was worried as he saw his mom’s number on the display. After all, it was nearly four o’clock in the morning and his Ma should be in bed for hours as she was pregnant.
“Mom?” he answered, “Everything okay?”
For a few moments there was silence on the other end of the line. As his mother finally spoke, her voice was cracking and barely audible.
“Lance, I have to tell you something. It’s about Knox…” she broke off.
“What about him?” Even he could hear the slight note of panic in his voice.
“He had an accident, Lance. Another car crashed into him. He’s… he’s…”
“No, Ma. No.”
“I am so sorry, kiddo.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] A cold hand reached into his body, removing his insides. He didn’t hear his mom’s voice anymore, talking about booking flights back home. He leaned against the wall, slowly sinking to the ground. He was feeling numb, even the tears wouldn’t start rolling. He took a look at Levi who was still sleeping, unaware that the world around him had just broken down. He didn’t know how long he just stared at Levi, not seeing him, not thinking, just doing nothing at all. He couldn’t remember when he had hung up the phone, when he had started breathing again, when he had come out of shock again. He just sat there. Staring. After a while, if it were ten seconds or ten hours, Lance would never be able to tell, he suddenly leapt up, dressed himself, and went outside. It was still very hot but he didn’t mind. It would help him now to become tired. He started to run. Just for the sake of running. He ran as fast as he never had done before. One hour, two hours, three hours. And finally, as he reached a forest, he was so exhausted that he just sunk down to the ground. And finally, the tears came, streaming down his cheeks, dripping from his nose. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He was too exhausted, too shocked, too sad to do anything but sit there on the ground and cry. He didn’t know what he should do now. Knox had been the only person besides his family who had always understood him, who supported him no matter what. Without him he would have become crazy, dealing with the idiots in school. Lance couldn’t imagine himself without Knox. They had known each other since they were 3 years old and Knox’ mom had kind of raised him whenever his mom had been out in work. They had decided to go to college in California together to escape the suburbs of Dallas, to escape the same punks who had given them a hard time in school. But what now? Lance didn’t now. He just didn’t know.[/FONT]




TBC

[LillyKiki]

hey=)

nice story and it's exciting. I like your stories and it's always nice to read fanfictions in english
hope you'll write a new chapter soon.
kind regards

[Nathi 4545]

Hey
I've just found this thread and began to read. The beginning of the story sounds exciting and I hope you'll continue the story soon
Looking forward to a new chapter
Kind regards, Nathalie

[Cedric]

Hey hey!

Entschuldigung, dass es sooo lange gedauert hat, bis ein neues Kapitel kommt... ich hoffe, dass ihr - Nathalie and LillyKilly - weiterlest und dass vielleicht auch noch ein paar andere ;-)
FB wie immer sehr erwuenscht ;-)


[FONT=&quot]Two: Would you know my name?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Looking back on the next few days, Lance couldn’t really recall all the occurrences. He vaguely remembered flying back home, still feeling numb, still being unable to feel properly. He still hadn’t realized that Knox was really gone. Everything seemed just so normal. As he got home, his room was still the same, as he switched on his notebook and MSN popped up, Knox’ name was still online. It gave him a jolt. Then he remembered, Knox never shut down his computer, he hadn’t probably done it before he left that faithful Thursday just to drive around a little. Reading his name now, he suddenly felt like his body was ripped apart. How would he survive without the senseless talks, without his comforting words? Knox had always been the one who helped whenever times had been rough. But now at the toughest of all times, he literally had no one. Sure, his parents and his two brothers were there, but it was not the same.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] The funeral was the worst part of it all. Knox’ mother had asked him to say a few words about her son but he declined, only the notion of having to say something there was unbearable. Knox’ little sister, Molly, who wasn’t that little anymore – almost eighteen, just two years younger than himself – took his part. Her words freaked him out the most. She didn’t say much, just that she had lost one of the three most important people in her life and that she would never forget her big brother and all the joy, the fun and the frustration he had given to her. Lance was feeling pretty much the same. Knox had been like his brother for most of his life. The linchpin in the twenty years he was alive. As Molly had ended her little speech, she caught his eyes. Once again, a cold hand had reached into his body as he noticed that her eyes had the same shade of green as her brother’s used to have. That kind of green, Lance always imagined Harry Potter to have. He gave her the first smile since his mom had called him. He was feeling for her, it was probably even worse for her than for him, even though he couldn’t imagine how that could be even possible.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He stayed in Dallas for two more days but it still was all unreal. His mom, his stepfather and his two brothers didn’t really know what to say to him. They threw him sad looks all the time, even the youngest brother, Jamie, who was only five, behaved kind of weird around him. Lance was sure that he didn’t know what was going on exactly, but he knew that something was seriously wrong. The worst part was as he overheard him asking his mother why Knox wouldn’t come round, when Lance was there. Lance wished he would have gone away after hearing that but instead he just stood there, hidden behind a door to listen to his mom’s answer.
“He’s not coming here anymore, honey,” she said. “God wanted him to be by his side all the time. He’s in heaven, looking down to all of us, taking care that we are safe.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] While for Jamie that answer was enough, Lance was unable to move. His mom had never been religious, she was an atheist through and through and never told her children to believe in god or any other higher spiritual beings. But right now at this moment, Lance wished her to be, wished her to actually believe in what she had just said. For heaven’s sake, he wished that he would believe it. He felt childish, but that was all he could think about, that Knox was still around somewhere.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] He was kind of relieved as he boarded the plane back to San Diego, California. He thought it would be easier there, with things to do, like studying for college or just going out with his few and he had to admit, superficial, friends he had met there. But he was wrong. As he came to his apartment it was obvious that Levi had been out the whole time, probably at his girlfriend’s, because the room looked exactly like Lance had left it the week before. Exhausted, he sank down on his bed. He wanted to cry or to shout or just anything. But he couldn’t. Finally, he picked up his guitar, which he hadn’t used in months, and started to play. First it were only a few chords, simple melodies, he had been playing years ago, but then, he remembered the chords to Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven. Ironically enough, that song had always been Knox’ favorite, despite his preference of Heavy Metal. Lance guessed it was because of his father, who had died when Knox was only four years old. As he played, he started to sing along, first very quiet but with time he got louder and louder. He didn’t care if the neighbors would complain or if he was singing out of key. All that mattered was that he had something to do, something to fall into, something to forget all the other things. [/FONT]

[Nathi 4545]

Awesome!
I liked the new chapter very much. I liked how you described the things, especially the feelings
Want to read a new chapter soon. So, go on typing
Kind regards
Nathalie <3

[Lava]

Hey there Ceddy

I really like your new story. But you know this already.
I just like it how you describing the feelings of every persons and sometimes those little details
Hope that we can read something from you soon
Anne

[Cedric]

[FONT=&quot]Three: I miss you, I’m not gonna crack[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Hey man! Get up, get up! You’re not planning to miss another class, are you?”
Levi’s voice was loud, nearly aggressive as he threw a pillow at his roommate. He didn’t care much about Lance, they never really got along very well but he started to grow worried about him. Since he was back he hadn’t been himself. Levi knew that his best friend had died but Lance would have to get over it, not wallow like he had done the last couple of weeks. He barely had been to classes, he wasn’t speaking to him or to anyone for that matter.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Lance turned around, got up and slowly went to the bathroom. He couldn’t understand why Levi was shouting at him or why he was so frantic to get him to school. It was none of his business if he wouldn’t make the year. What did it matter anyway? Nothing really mattered now. Life didn’t really matter now. Knox was dead and nothing else mattered.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] He dragged himself to class that day, barely listening to the monotonous drawl of the professor’s views of the Spanish Inquisition. He actually was nearly asleep as the professor finally ended his speech, therefore Lance was shocked as a blonde girl suddenly approached him, asking if he had taken any notes. As he said no, the curious smile on her face didn’t vanish.
“Well,” she said, “I wasn’t really asking about the Spanish actually… I’ve been watching you, I was surprised you didn’t snore.”
Again, she smiled, kind of awkward now. Finally, Lance snapped out of his trance-like state, and tried to reply her smile.
“Yeah, I shouldn’t have taken so many sleeping-drugs last night.”
She laughed, “Well, anyways…” she trailed of, “I’m Brenda and I wondered if we could maybe go out sometime… for drinks or something.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] For the first time now, Lance really looked at her. She had long blonde hair, sky blue eyes, was a little shorter than himself, slender but clearly not a sports person. In short, she wasn’t really his type, but what the hell…
He shook her hand,
“Well, I’m Lance, and yeah, why not? D’you know some place where we are able to actually drink?”
Brenda just grinned, “Yeah, I do.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] They made arrangements to meet that night. Back at the dorm, Lance, like so many times in the last few weeks, picked up his guitar and played some songs, forlorn. He didn’t really want to go out with that Brenda girl but drinks sounded cool and a few minutes without thinking would probably do him some good. As he was about to leave at around 9 o’clock, his best jeans and shirt on, his black hair even styled with gel for the first time in weeks, Levi hold him back.
“Where do you think you’re going,” he said in a jokingly serious manner that reminded Lance of his mother. “It is a school night.”
Lance let out a laugh, but stopped himself, realizing that it would have been the first laugh since… since… he didn’t finish his thought and changed his laughter into a loud cough and answered:
“Yeah, well, Daddy, the little boy has a date tonight.”
“Oh yeah? With whom? That blonde chick that talked to you after History?”
“Yes, you’re right. That’s her.”
“Well, have fun, then… and try to get wasted,” Levi said with a weird kind of a knowing smile on his face.
Lance asked himself whether Levi knew something he didn’t, but didn’t push the subject any further as he was running a little late.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Fifteen minutes later, he was standing in front of a club he never had seen before, waiting for the girl. He was listening to Nirvana on his iPod. The Nevermind LP had gained in appeal for him in the last couple of weeks. Sometimes it seemed to him that Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl had known that his best friend would die fifteen years later and had composed that long player just for him. With any time he listened to the album, he found a new song, a new chorus, a new line that he could relate to. In fact he was just quietly sing along to the chorus of Lithium,
“I like it, I’m not gonna crack. I miss you, I’m not gonna crack, I love you, I’m not gonna crack, I killed you, I’m not gonna crack,”
as he felt a tip on his shoulder. He turned around and he saw his date with a vague smile on her face.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Awkward pause. He had to say something, he knew that but couldn’t think of one thing to say. It probably had been a bad idea to go out with her. He wasn’t ready, yet. Not that he would ever be ready. He always had been clumsy around girls, but to his astonishment he had had a couple of girlfriends before and Knox had always tried to make him see, that he was a ladies guy. Middle long black hair, hazel eyes, an athlete. But now… he still hadn’t said anything. Finally, the girl, whose name he suddenly couldn’t even remember took initiative.
“What were you singing before I came here? Was that Green Day?”
Inevitably, Lance took a deep breath. He would never understand how anyone could confuse Green Day with Nirvana or could even like Green Day. But he kept those thoughts with him, instead he answered,
“No, that was Nirvana. The song’s called Lithium.”
“Huh,” she simply said, clearly not interested.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Again, an awkward pause.
Finally, they started to walk into the bar, ordered their drinks – a mojito for her, a long island ice tea for him – and they chatted about nonsense things. Lance still didn’t remember her name but he knew that it wasn’t important anyway. He could feel that they would never meet up again. The talk was too slow, too awkward and he knew that it was all his fault. He wasn’t really saying anything. And she just talked and talked and talked… literally a mile a minute and he couldn’t really stop her anyway, so he just kept on drinking his first cocktail and another one and another one. He soon lost count on the drinks and he soon lost any interest, if there ever was one, to what the girl was saying.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He was deep in thoughts again by the time Brenda, he suddenly remembered, stood up and said to him:
“You know what? Why are you here with me anyway? You haven’t even listened to a word I said, did you?”
“Er…” Lance started, but was interrupted.
“Don’t bother. I’m out of here. I hope you have fun with your alcohol in bed tonight.”
With those words, she left him sitting there.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]First, Lance thought about running after her, but in the end he decided it didn’t matter. He paid for the drinks and slowly went back to his dorm. He was slightly tipsy, he had to admit but he was feeling better. He would go out with Levi and the guys more often now. Drinking and clubbing actually sounded like a good diversion from anything else.[/FONT]