End of the Hall, page 16
The mixed chorus whispers amongst themselves as they return backstage and Cydnie tries to sneak away to her parents and friends, cut short by her chorale director. “A word, Ms. Smythe,” he requests.
‘Shit. Shit. Shit,’ she thinks to herself as she slowly turns around. “Mr. Valle, I’m really sorry about all of that, I have no idea where it came from, it won’t happen again--”
“Where has that been all semester?” he asks with wide eyes.
“You’re not mad?” Cydnie asks as the color drains from her face.
“Not mad? I’m furious!” he says with the biggest grin she’s ever seen. “Why have you been keeping that voice to yourself this whole time? You should be in the Wildchords!” As he says this Stella joins Cydnie, who is currently trying not to keel over from embarrassment. “Stella, you should move up to. I had heard your songs on the radio and knew there was untapped potential, but this! You two are diamonds in the rough!”
“Thank you, we really appreciate that,” Stella quickly tells him as she spots Cyd’s parents. “See you at school Monday?”
“Of course,” he says, gesturing them to freedom. “Enjoy your weekend! Wildchords rehearsals are 7 am sharp Monday morning!” he yells to them as Stella pushes Cydnie over to their friends.
[CYDNIE and STELLA]
After receiving accolades from the boys and having a relaxing girls’ night, Cydnie wakes up to the glow of the looping menu in front of her on the TV. She turns it off and turns to see Stella passed out on the other couch. She quietly gets up and sneaks off to the kitchen. After filling up a mason jar with cold tea, she leans on the counter opposite the fridge. Cydnie can’t help but think about the college party and their failure. With a sigh, she says to herself, “Maybe if I take a look at our songs and tinker, we might get some more radio play.”
She walks into the garage and sits in her chair. She opens the recording software and clicks on their most recent song, Never Again. “Thank god Stella finally gave us lyrics before that party,” Cydnie whispers to herself. With headphones on, the amateur producer analyzes the song for anything that can be done before it gets sent to the radio station. “Ugh… it feels so… calm. What did Stella say when she wrote it?”
“Wrote what?” Cydnie jolts around to see her friend.
“Jesus, you bout gave me a heart attack,” she pants.
“Sorry. Woke up and you weren’t on your couch. Figured you came out here,” Stella explains. “So, what song did I write?” she asks as she takes her seat next to Cyd.
“Never Again,” Cydnie answers. “Your other songs were loud and… you. What’s different about this?”
“Never Again is… it’s me looking back. It’s our adventure.” Stella shifts in her chair as she continues. “When I think about how we’ve done so well, playing for everyone around town, getting on the radio, it’s nuts.”
“So, why so calm?”
“What would you add?” Stella asks.
“Well…” Cydnie looks at the track as it makes another loop. “I’d change the chorus. Damien is way too reserved. Then I’d put in some more backing vocals, screams, shouts, stuff like that.”
“Yeah, that sounds a lot like us when we’re live,” Stella laughs.
“Right?” Cydnie smiles.
After some silence, Stella’s demeanor changes to inquisitive. “Wait, you mean right now?”
“I mean…”
“Cyd, it’s 5 in the morning!”
“And we’re up!” Stella sighs then grabs Cyd’s guitar. She walks into the booth and fixes the microphone from Damien’s height to hers.
“Fine, but you’re showing me what you want for this chorus.”
[DAMIEN]
Damien gets in the car with his mom on a sunny May day, the last month of school. As they drive and drop off his brothers, Carson and Louis, Cassy changes the radio station to one of the state’s more popular channels. “Alright, coming from Ponca City, Oklahoma, right here in our own corner of the world, we have Against All Risk!” the DJ announces.
“Wait, mom turn that up!” he says. Cassy hears the same words and turns up the radio.
“Turns out they’ve been tearing up all of north OK for a year now and here they are with their new single, NEVER AGAIN, on Hits104!” The version Damien hears as the two pull up to the school is nothing like they’d recorded. It feels like the whole band instead of some sad song from Stella.
“It’s all the same words, what the fu…”
“Don’t you finish that,” Cassy tells him as she parks the car.
“Mom, you hear that right?”
“Yeah, I’m really proud of you guys, now get out! I gotta go to work.” Damien hops out of the car and sees groups of students talking about the band. Sam walks up behind him and bats his shoulder.
“Hey man, heard your song on the radio yesterday, you guys kick ass!” he tells him.
“Yeah, that’s just it though, I don’t remember that being the song.” Damien tells him as they walk to their lockers.
“Well, it sounds like whoever produced that song should hit me up.”
“Oh yeah, heard your last mixtape, it was lit,” Damien tells him while spinning the combination to his lock and opening the door. “It was probably Cyd.”
“You think she could help me get on the radio?” he asks.
“Couldn’t hurt,” Damien replies as she finishes grabbing his things for class and shutting his locker.
[CYDNIE and DAMIEN]
Cydnie is scrolling through internet tutorials and playing with loops on her laptop in the garage when Damien walks in with Sam. “Hey Cyd, is it alright if Sam hangs with us today?” Cydnie turns to notice him and quickly pulls off her headphones.
“Oh, yeah, hey, what's up, Sam?” she greets as he reaches to bump her fist. Sam and Damien pull up two more chairs.
“Not much,” he says. “Whatcha workin’ on?”
“Stella was in here earlier doing a couple drum fills but I can't think of anything to go with it so I've been playing with some bass loops on this program,” Cydnie explains. She hands her headphones to Damien and Sam grabs another pair. As the first few bars loop, Sam slowly nods his head to the beat. Damien looks over to see the focus expression on his face.
“I think Sam might have a fix for you,” he suggests. Cydnie looks over to see him thinking.
“Whatcha got?”
“You got anything against rap music?” he asks. Cydnie smirks and shifts her glance.
“Not really, Damien raps on our album,” she tells him. “Why?”
“Have you not heard Sam before?” Damien asks. “He's got like, a butt ton of mix tapes, goes by Sam I Am.”
“Okay, well um, you think you have something?” Cydnie asks as she spins her chair away from the board.
“Yeah, I think I got something.” He grabs the notepad from the desk and writes down some lyrics. He hands the paper over to Damien. “You think you can put that down real fast while I write some more?”
“Uhh, yeah, yeah.” Damien looks over the lyrics then gets up and walks into the booth. He puts the headset on then takes to Cydnie through the mic. “Think you can start that loop again?” Cydnie gives him a thumbs up and clicks on play. Damien lets the loop play a couple times before figuring out a rhythm.
Cydnie and Sam bop their heads to Damien's singing. Cydnie cuts the loop and lets it play with Damien's vocals for them all to hear. Cydnie can't help but smile. The small chorus sounds perfect while Sam continues writing. After a few minutes, he finally chimes in, “okay, I think I got something.”
He gets up and goes into the booth to put down his first verse. After finishing it, he signals that he wants to go again. “It doesn't feel right, I don't like it.” Cydnie waves her hand to stop him.
“Hold on,” she says as she gets up. She walks into the booth and speaks into the mic. “Damien, press space on the keyboard. It'll replay the chorus loop.” Damien presses it while Cydnie stands there thinking.
“What's up?” Sam asks.
“I think a bass line or a snare won't be right for this,” she explains. “I'm just trying to think what will fit.” She looks around until she spots her keyboard. “Hmmm.” She walks over and scrolls through some presets before deciding on one. She plays a few notes and chords before settling on a progression. She continues listening to the track loop while she improvises. Sam watches her work with an impressed expression.
He looks at Damien and points, to which Damien nods and mouths, ‘she's like this all the time.’ Cydnie finishes the piano fill and begins playing faster and faster until she matches the tempo of the loop. She looks over to Damien and signals to stop the loop. Sam follows her out then she hits record and walks back in. She knows the sound of the door will end up on the layer, but she decides on just cutting that out.
She plays the piano fill then comes back out and makes her cuts for the layer.
After saving the entire loop for the chorus, she silences everything but the piano. “Hmmm, I like it, but it needs something else,” Sam remarks. He gets up and records his verse then comes back to the desk. The three spend a few minutes debating bass or drums or whatever they can find to accompany the piano. Eventually Damien and Cydnie go in as the verse loops and mess around, taking turns on drum fills to find the right one.
Hours and several changes later, Sam finally looks at his phone to see the time and taps on the glass. “Hey, I gotta get going,” he tells the two. “Text me and let me know what you get.” The two exit the booth and say their goodbyes and soon after Damien leaves as well. Cydnie sits in her chair, once again alone at the desk. With her elbows propping up her entwined fingers, she rests her chin on her hands as she continues to listen over and over to figure out what else to do.
[CYDNIE, DAMIEN, and ERIC]
At lunch the next day, Cydnie hurries through the line to find Damien and Sam at a booth with Eric. “Guys, I think I got it,” she starts in with some glee.
“Good to see you too,” Damien greets.
“You got what?” Eric asks.
“Oh, Sam and Damien were over yesterday, and we fiddled around on a song for Sam,” Cydnie quickly explains as she scrolls through her phone. “Here.” She taps on the song and turns the speaker all the way up on her phone as it starts. The four sit there and listen to the entire song, slowly nodding to the rhythm and analyzing each second.
“Damn. You're good, Sam,” Eric notes.
Sam looks at Cydnie and says, “thank Cyd, she helped a lot.”
“I do have my prices for such services though,” she tells Sam.
“Wait, what’s that mean?” he asks. “How much do I owe you?”
“Oh, I don’t want money,” she says with a smirk. Eric and Damien eye each other.
“So what do you want?” the three say in unison.
“I want you, Sam I Am, to be on a song with us.”
[CYDNIE and STELLA]
“Ugh,” Cydnie groans as she and Stella walk into their last chorale rehearsal of the school year. “Did you think it would suck this hard coming up here so early in the morning?”
“Not in the slightest,” Stella replies as she opens the door. The two drop their backpacks off by the door and ascend the stands to join their sections. With everyone dragging in, Mr. Valle comes up to give his announcements.
“Good morning everyone, I’m very happy to see you all today at our last rehearsal for the school year,” he begins. “You all made it through rehearsals to either join us or stay on and I cannot express my pride enough to hear every amazing voice before me every morning.”
“Pretty easy when you’re already on the radio,” an offshoot commenter says within earshot of Cydnie. She grimaces and looks toward the clock, only 7:10. With the announcements dragging on, Stella gets the feeling that they won’t actually be singing today. 7:40 rolls around and Cydnie’s pocket starts buzzing.
“Uhh..” she trails, realizing she forgot to put her phone on silent.
“Ms. Smythe, you know the rules.”
“Sorry.” she descends the stands and turns off her phone then hands it to the director. Rejoining her section, she sits down to hear another voice.
“What, is she waiting for a call from her agent?”
‘Seriously? I got enough of this from Kate. Why do I need it here?’ she thinks.
Mr. Valle finishes his announcements and the bell rings. Everyone gets up and grabs their stuff, save Stella and Cydnie. Stella moves over closer to her friend as Mr. Valle climbs the stands and sits in front of the two. “I just want to let the both of you know that I am proud with how far the two of you have come as vocalists and I can’t wait to see how much better you do after this summer.” He pulls Cydnie’s phone from his pocket and presents it to Cydnie. “Ms. Smythe, remember to have your phone off during rehearsals from now on.”
Cydnie takes the phone and returns it to her pocket. “Thank you, Mr. Valle.”
“Have a good summer.”
[CYDNIE]
The school day comes to a close and Cydnie finally remembers to turn her phone back on. Once it’s booted up, it buzzes with notifications. She turns it on silent and continues her walk home. Walking in the door she puts her bag in her room and slouches on the couch. Mo walks over and sits next to her with a glass of tea and turns the TV on. “How ya feel, sophomore?” she asks.
“Exhausted.” She finally pulls her phone out and checks all the notifications. “I have a crap ton of messages from D asking what we’re doing this summer, Eric telling me he can’t practice all next week cuz Victoria owns him, and Stella wants to come spend the night.”
“Anything else? That all sounds like the usual,” Mo remarks as she flips through channels.
“Uhh… oh yeah, I have a missed call, Stillwater number,” Cydnie notes as she calls her voicemail. After putting her code in she listens to the messages.
“Hey, it’s Rob, Jax is bugging me about seeing cousin Cynnie this summer. Call me, butthead.” Cydnie smiles and deletes the message, making a note to call her cousin back before listening to the next message.
“Good morning, sorry if you are currently busy. This is Joseph Carpenter, I’m the manager at Caribou Lou’s in charge of the Summer Music Shows.”
“Oh my god, mom,” Cyd says, gesturing to her mom as she puts the phone on speaker.
“I’m calling to let you know that while we were unable to offer you a spot during the fall and spring, we have some openings here in Stillwater if you are still interested. You can call back at this number or call the Caribou Lou’s main phone and ask for me during business hours. I look forward to your response. Thank you.”
“I… I,” Cydnie attempts to process the news as Miranda slowly stands.
“Mike! Our baby is going to play her music in Stillwater!”
11/16 songs
Track 12: Rise Above It All
[AAR]
After playing parties and shows all over small town northern Oklahoma, the four get set up on stage a little bit before their gig starts. “Can you believe it?” Cydnie squeals as she shakes Damien. “Caribou Lou's! We're finally playing in a real college town!”
“Yes!” Damien yells back as he pushes his friend off and laughs. Cydnie can't help but feel more and more accomplished as they gain more and more renown throughout the state.
“I'm just so excited!” she exclaims. “We haven't even started sophomore year yet and we're here!”
“Don't get too crazy just yet,” Stella cautions as she checks her bass with the sound system. “Remember, people barely know us here. Some friends might come, Kim obviously cuz she drove us, and a handful of our parents, but that's it. Everyone else, they're just strangers barely giving us any attention while they eat their cheese fries.”
“Well, I'm determined,” Cydnie says as a fire blazes in her eyes. “We can do this, and then we'll get better and better, and we'll play OKC Arena.”
“Oh, I cannot wait to see that,” Damien chides as he sets his guitar on the stand then raises his hands. “Ladies and gentlemen, coming all the way from the Shady Five-Eighty, please welcome to the OKC Arena, Against! All! Risk!” As he yells, Eric and Cydnie scream out pretend fanfare, causing everyone to laugh.
“We'll get there, the sky's the limit,” Cydnie encourages. “Long Beach, Barcelona, Tokyo, Rio, just wait.”
“It's your baby,” Eric says. “where you go, we'll follow you on this crazy ass adventure.” After making it through sound check, the four join Kim over at her table.
“I’m so excited for you guys!” she says as a server comes by with a couple plates of cheese fries.
“This has literally been one of Cyd’s goals since last summer,” Stella informs her.
“Kim’s the one who suggested it,” Cyd tells Stella as she points to her with a couple fries.
“Well look at you go, den mom,” Damien jokes.
“Den mom?” Kim asks.
“To den mom!” The band yells as they raise their cups, even saying the word “clink” as they touch the rims.
“I don’t know how I feel about being your den mother, guys,” she cautions with a laugh.
“You don’t have to actually be the den mother for us,” Eric starts.
“We just really appreciate all the help you’ve given us since we started,” Stella adds.
“If we actually did have a manager, I don’t think we could ask for anyone more awesome than you,” Cydnie finishes, smiling at her de facto big sister. Kim can’t help but smile back. Yellows, pinks, and oranges swirl together from Kim’s words as she finally raises her own cup.
“Okay, den mom,” she accepts before everyone cheers and repeats their “clinks” with her cup this time.
Later that night, one of the hosts introduces the band and they ascend the stage as people converse between meals. As the band gets set up to go on-stage, Stella notices a woman who sticks out like a sore thumb. She orders some plain drink and a small appetizer, very much unlike the regular patrons of the college bar. “Cyd,” she whispers then motions her over.
