Tangled Web (3 page)

Johnny grinned. “Nothin’.” He laughed. “Are
we a little paranoid?” She laughed too, and Johnny locked the
helmet onto the bike. Then he hung his arm around her shoulders.
“Man, it’s great to be hangin’ with my best friend again. Been way
too long.”

“Yeah, it has.” She wrapped her arm around
his waist, and they sauntered into the front door of what used to
be their favorite restaurant, the low-lying early summer sun
hitting their backs before the door swung closed behind them.

Johnny pointed to his right. “Hey, check it
out! Our favorite booth is open.”

A waitress approached them. “Two?”

“Yeah, but can we sit in that booth over
there?”

The waitress obliged and took them to
Johnny’s favorite spot. “Can I get you started with something to
drink?”

Katie said, “I’d love a glass of ice water
with a wedge of lemon.”

Johnny snorted. “How about a pitcher of
beer? Coors okay with you?”

Katie wrinkled her nose. “If you’re gonna
make me drink with you, make it Light.”

He scrunched his mouth into a grimace, then
laughed. “Okay, Coors Light then.”

“I’ll be right back with that. Do you still
want the water, ma’am?”

“Yes.” The waitress walked away. Katie
lowered her voice, wincing at Johnny. “God, do I really look like a
ma’am?”

Johnny grinned again. “Depends on how old
your audience is, I guess. But as far as I’m concerned, I’d say
you’re at least two years away from reaching ma’am territory.”

Katie stuck her tongue out, then smiled
back. “So what are you in the mood for? I seriously just want a
salad.”

“Aw, come on, Katie. Don’t be a party
pooper.”

“I’m not that hungry.”

“Is that why you’ve gotten so skinny
now?”

“I’m not skinny. I’m in shape.”

“Hmmm.” Johnny looked back down at the
menu.

“Okay, how about if I get a mini cheese
pizza with a salad? Would you be happy with that?”

He smiled. “That’s better. And I think I’ll
skip the salad and get a medium pizza covered in double pepperoni.
I’ve been craving that for at least a year. Nobody else does it as
good as Napoli. And, believe me, I’ve looked.”

Katie smiled back and shook her head. “So,
are we going Dutch? Or I can pick up the tab if you want.”

“No way. This was my idea. My treat.”

“Yeah, but you’re in between bands,
right?”

“Yeah, but I’m good. I get some monthly
spending money off residuals. I have a coupla albums out there plus
there’s this new band just starting up that did a cover of a song
off my first album. You’ve probably heard it on the radio. Anyway,
there’s always a little money rolling in.”

“What’s their name? Which song did they
do?”

The waitress approached the table again,
placing Katie’s water in front of her, then on the table set a
pitcher of beer already forming condensation on the glass and two
chilled beer glasses. “Are you ready to order?”

“Yep.” Johnny pointed to Katie, letting her
order first, then ordered his food. Once the waitress left, Johnny
asked, “What were we talking about?”

“I think we were talking about what you’re
doing career wise now.”

Johnny reached for the pitcher, pouring
Katie a glass first, then pouring himself one. “Well, Scathing
Vengeance just wasn’t going anywhere artistically. Everything we’d
written most recently sounds just like the last album. Sure, it’s
hard, it’s loud, even awesome by most people’s standards. It’s
everything metal should be, but...we just weren’t growing.
I
wasn’t growing. It was the same old shit, different day. And I’m
not getting any younger.” He took a long swallow of his beer. “I
need to work with people who care that what we’re doing is not only
quality but says something too, means something.” Katie nodded and
took a tiny sip of her beer to be polite, then took a big drink of
her water. “You know what I mean?”

“I think so.”

“Besides, I already did the whole ‘big rock
star’ thing. You know that. I’ve spent the last fifteen years
living that...partying hard, hooking up with nameless chicks in
every port, writing the angry, loud stuff. I just...I just want it
to mean something now, you know? If this is going to be my life,
then it has to mean something.”

Katie took a deep breath. “So do you think
getting a new band together will help?”

“Hell, yeah. With Vengeance, we all
considered ourselves equal partners. We all contributed. Brian
wrote the words and the rest of us guys collaborated on the
music.”

The waitress stopped by with a salad that
she carefully placed in front of Katie. A faint smile crossed her
face, but she didn’t say a word. “Thanks.” Katie picked up the
fork.

Johnny took another long drink of beer. Once
the waitress left, Johnny asked, “Tell me this: do you think our
third CD sounded any more mature than our first or second one?”

“Did it sound different at all, do you
mean?”

Johnny looked at her over the rim of his
glass and then set it down again. “You know what I mean.”

She did; what he’d said before was true. No
smoothing it over. He wanted her honest opinion. “No. It just
sounded like more of the same. But it was great more of the
same.”

“That may be. But no growth. That’s what I
mean. So, here’s my theory. I get together a bunch of guys eager to
work and desperate to make it. I already have the connections and
the credibility. Hell, I even have a fan base. I do all the
writing--lyrics, music, all of it. Then I’m assured we’re doing
what I want. It’s gonna be my fucking band, so I want that kind of
control.” He took another drink. “Besides, it’s not like they’re
not gonna make money with me. They will. They’ll get it all--the
fame, the fortune, the chicks. But I can maybe also help them avoid
all the stupid mistakes I’ve made.”

Katie had been nibbling at her salad. “It
sounds like a great plan, Johnny.”

“I think so too.” He poured himself another
glass of beer. “But enough about me. What have you been up to since
I saw you last?”

Katie scooted her fork around her salad. She
knew the conversation would come here at some point. But she didn’t
know that she was ready for it. For one thing, she hadn’t wanted to
think about the last time Johnny had been here. She’d been afraid
for his life, thought that she’d never see him again, and if she
did, she’d feared he’d never be the same. But he’d pulled through
it--survived and even thrived. Still, it was a dark period in their
friendship that she’d prefer to forget. But it had changed
everything. The last time Johnny was in her life had made Katie
rethink her life and change the way she lived it.

Which led her to the matter of Grant. Yes,
Johnny would find out soon enough that she was engaged to be
married. Hell, she’d probably even ask him to be her best man if
she could convince Grant that it was okay for them both to have
best men. But she didn’t know that she was ready to tell Johnny.
For far too many reasons, she wasn’t prepared to tell Johnny about
Grant and her plans for the future.

The long-awaited Battle of the Bands at
Winchester High was approaching. For some reason, the high school
had never done anything like this before, but Johnny and his band
had insisted (via circulating petition signed by more than half of
the student body). Johnny and his band were finally seniors and had
been writing their own music for a couple of years now. Katie had
listened to a little of it, but Johnny had been secretive. He’d
play her a solid guitar riff once in a while (“Katie, guess who
this is? That’s right, Judas Priest”), but he gave her no
performances, no guitar solos. He wanted her to see their band
onstage, “the way we’re meant to be seen.” So she’d bided her time,
ever since Johnny had formed his band at the end of their sophomore
year.

So in January, the principal at last
acquiesced and announced that the school would host a “Battle of
the Bands” in February. It would be judged by popular (audience
enthusiasm) vote, as well as by a panel of “experts”--namely, the
band director, choir director, theatre director, and a Student
Council representative from each grade. And the school decided to
hype it up. It would be held in the gymnasium and, thanks to the
perks of living in a small town, even the
Winchester Tribune
would be there, covering the event (if the adults could handle the
noise). It turned out that the high school had fourteen bands who
asked to perform, so the principal said they wouldn’t even hold
tryouts. They’d allow them all the time and space to perform, since
the students had made it clear how important this event was. Each
band was allowed a maximum of five minutes, not including set-up
time. Finally, the administration decided that the winning band
would have the honor of performing three songs at the prom later
that year.

Johnny had the band and Katie meet at Napoli
(not a surprise) to discuss the news. He was excited that at last
he had the opportunity to show the school their talent. Sure, lots
of the school kids had heard most of his band members in the school
bands--jazz and marching--but in jazz band, it was hard to really
show off the guitar playing nor could Johnny display his writing
abilities in that situation. Finally, a legitimate venue, he
thought.

Katie kind of knew some of the band members,
but they were just Johnny’s other friends. They kind of knew her
too, but they felt the same way--she was just Johnny’s old friend.
Johnny wanted to change that by getting them all together. Katie
already knew Riley Schultz, the lead singer. He’d always been a
cocky sonofa, Katie had thought. She knew Riley, a boy with sleepy
eyes and a permanently affixed hemp choker, had been on the
wrestling and baseball teams back in their freshman and sophomore
years, but he gave athletics up to sing lead vocals for Johnny’s
band. She knew him from her algebra and geometry classes and had
never had a high opinion of him. He’d always just seemed like a lot
of shine and little substance. Then there was Mike, their drummer,
who’d played bass drum for the high school marching band all four
years. And, finally, the two Katie knew the least about were Trent,
the quiet guy who played bass, and Norberg, another guitarist. She
couldn’t remember what Norberg’s first name was, but she thought it
was also Mike. Maybe that’s why they called him by his last name,
she figured, to keep things from being confusing. Unfortunately,
all the meeting at Napoli had done was make Katie feel even more
like an outsider, kind of like Yoko to Johnny’s Lennon, except
without the sex. She appreciated that he still felt the same way
she did about their friendship, but she felt awkward there. Still,
she was a good sport and enjoyed listening to their enthusiasm
about their upcoming performance. One thing was clear after that
night: they believed they were hot shit, God’s gift to WHS. Katie
hoped they were right.

And the night of the Battle of the Bands
arrived. Katie got there early, when Johnny and the crew did, and
she claimed a front-bleacher seat. She wound up moving up two tiers
when she saw the judges setting up a table right in front of her.
She wanted to see it all, not filtered through a bunch of heads.
Before the judges arrived, all the bands got to the gym early and
began assembling their equipment so all they would have to do when
it was their turn would be to move it all in place. Katie scoured
the program beforehand--she saw that two bands had dropped out of
the running for one reason or another, and there were only twelve
performing. Johnny’s band was last. She hadn’t even known until
reading the program what they’d named themselves: Spawn of Satan.
Of course. Why not?

Some of the bands were so good that it was
hard to believe they were still in high school. Many of them did
covers of tunes--some were pop, some were punk, some were rock, and
two were metal. Some of them needed a lot more practice--squeaky
voices, wrong notes, getting out of sync, nerves made of Mexican
jumping beans. But Katie was just impressed that they had the
courage to get up in front of the whole school--over five hundred
people, not including the teachers and parents who’d decided to
brave it all. Anyone who could keep his or her cool under that kind
of pressure earned her respect.

And, finally, after two hours, the majorette
who’d been introducing the acts announced that up next was Spawn of
Satan. Katie nearly squealed in anticipation. Finally, she would be
able to see Johnny doing his thing.

The lights were brought down, but Katie was
able to see the band members in silhouette moving their equipment
out to the center, including two huge amplifiers. She then saw Mike
sit down at the drum set. Suddenly, his pounding, rhythmic drums
broke the silence. Katie could feel the beat in her heart, as
though his drumsticks were hitting her breastbone, the cadence
insistent. And Katie nodded--it was very good. The lights around
the performance area started to come up, and she heard Trent’s bass
playing as he walked under the lights. Then Johnny and Norberg came
out, screaming guitars playing both in unison and against each
other. It was loud. It was demanding. It was incredible. Finally,
Riley joined them onstage, the microphone gripped between his hands
as he screamed an introduction.

Katie was blown away, first by the fact that
they all seemed professional, like they’d been doing this their
whole lives. Even if she hadn’t had the rest of the school’s bands
to compare them to, she would have been impressed. Their equipment
was slick and they sounded polished, unlike a lot of the earlier
bands of the night. The crowd of kids in the gym cheered and
yelled, reaching a crescendo until Riley began singing the first
verse. Katie couldn’t understand a single word he sang, but it
didn’t matter. He sounded great too.