#the-bellhopper | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

oliverreedmasterass · 4 months

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Synopsis: A young Greta Van Fleet find hope in a local battle of the bands competition to finally catch their big break.

Words: 16.4k

Notes: Here's a whopper of a chapter lmao...thank you @infinisonicosm for the fic idea!

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Day 2

The next day, the members of Greta Van Fleet walked into the competition like they owned the place. After being showered with praise the day before from friends, family, and strangers alike, they all couldn’t help but think that they were bound to win the whole thing. It felt as if nothing could get in their way.

Sam was sitting with Danny at one of the picnic benches by the hot dog stand when Jake came rushing to them, his face obviously overcome with panic.

“Have you seen my baby?” he asked them.

“You have a kid?” Danny didn’t seem to follow what he meant.

Jake pinched the bridge of his nose and huffed. “My guitar. Have you seen my guitar?”

“It was with all of our gear,” Sam told Jake. “Is it not there anymore?”

“No.” Jake’s eyes looked like saucers. “I can’t lose that guitar, it’s all I have.”

“Wow, thanks,” Sam retorted. He and Danny rose from the table to follow behind Jake, who had taken off back towards the backstage area without another word, running as fast as he could. They saw him with Josh, tearing through their cases and cables, growing more frantic by the second.

“Someone must have taken it,” Josh decided as he watched his brother. Jake snapped back upright and fumbled to brush his hair out of his face.

“Whoever did this to me,” Jake started, “I will find them and I will kill them.”

“Let’s tone it down a bit, okay?” Danny tried to get Jake to follow some breathing exercises. Jake only started to hyperventilate which made Danny stop.

“But who would take it?” Sam had to ask. “I mean, maybe someone grabbed it by mistake? We can check with the other groups.”

Josh looked between Danny and Sam. “Why don’t you both do that while I calm him down?” Sam took one look at Jake and noted that he looked like he was on the brink of foaming at the mouth he was so stressed. The guy really did need to sit down and go through a guided meditation.

Sam grabbed Danny by the arm and they wandered around the grounds, hoping to find any of their competitors to see if they could shed some light on their situation. Danny pointed out the lead singer of The Bellhoppers, who was talking with some older guys in front of their jet black Mustang.

“Hey!” Sam jumped and waved to catch her attention. She spotted him and excused herself to join their side.

“What’s up?” she asked them, crossing her arms and looking Danny and Sam down with interest. She seemed to be at least a few years older than them, probably in college, and had tattoos covering her arms. Sam felt like he had never seen someone as cool as her in his eighteen years in Frankenmuth.

“We’re missing a guitar,” Sam cleared his throat to regain his focus. “Cherry red, like the one Jimmy Page played. Have you seen it anywhere?”

“I can’t say I have,” she answered after giving it some thought. “I’ll keep an eye out for it though and let you guys know if it turns up.”

“Thanks,” Danny told her, dragging Sam on to find the other bands.

Invalid Password was pretty inebriated when they found them, despite it being 1pm, and gave answers that were barely coherent. That was more than enough for Sam and Danny to consider them innocent. Their drummer kept asking their keyboardist where they were; if that was a mystery to them, they probably had bigger fish to fry than Jake’s missing guitar.

Sam checked his wristwatch and winced when he noted that they only had thirty five minutes before they had to take the stage. He knew for a fact that Jake wasn’t going to go out there if he didn’t have his old reliable, and then it would be all over for them. Sam still wasn’t sure where the guitar could have possibly gone, but he really hoped with all of his might that it was all just a fluke, and it would turn up soon.

They couldn't find anyone from Fellowship around, so they made their way back to Jake and Josh, who were sitting cross-legged in the field behind the stage. As they came closer, Sam realized that Josh was walking Jake through one of the meditation routines he had picked up from YouTube. It seemed like it was working, because Jake’s eyes were softly shut and his breath was level. Josh was still talking him through the steps in a soothing whisper but, when he saw Sam and Danny approach, he arched an eyebrow at them, checking their progress. Sam and Danny both shook their heads, and Josh visibly looked troubled.

Sam was about to offer that he do one more loop around the perimeter when Danny smacked him in the arm.

“Ow!” Sam called out in surprise. Jake opened one eye and looked at them with a frown, but then returned back to his meditation. Danny pointed across the stage to the other side, where a few members of Fellowship were huddled around something.

“They look like they’re up to no good.” Danny whispered to Sam under his breath. Sam looked at their opponent and squinted. Even though they were a decent ways away, Sam could hear them laughing about something.

“Should we investigate?” he asked back. Danny had already turned on his heel and was stomping across the stage to them. Sam hustled after Danny, appalled by his assertiveness. Danny was usually more of the methodical one between them; Sam wasn’t used to seeing him act so brashly.

Danny jumped down in front of the band and put his hands on his hips, taking in the scene in front of him.

“Are you serious?” was all that Danny could say to the other band. Sam joined Danny’s side and saw what he was scowling at. In the middle of the five band members was Jake’s guitar, laying on the grass with all its strings snapped.

“We found it like that,” their guitarist told Danny, trying to fight back a grin.

“Why are you standing around it like you’re doing a sacrifice or something?” Sam asked. None of the band members seemed to want to answer that one.

“You’re lucky we found this and not our guitarist,” Danny told them. “You’d all be in serious trouble. I mean, you don’t go messing with someone’s guitar. That’s, like, the number one rule in music.”

“You’re a bunch of shit heads,” Sam summarized what Danny was trying to say. “Just remember that karma’s a bitch.”

“Is that supposed to be a threat?” the bassist stepped closer to Sam. He was a couple of inches taller, but Sam felt like he could take the guy.

“That’s for you to find out,” Sam balled up his hands into fists. The bassist watched him and started to get his fists ready too when Danny jumped in, grabbed Sam’s shoulders, and steered him away from the band, only taking a brief pause to retrieve Jake’s guitar from the ground.

“Go fuck yourselves,” Danny told them before leaving. Sam was happy to see that all of them were gaping and, luckily, none thought of anything to retort back.

As they walked back to Jake and Josh, they tried to assess the damage. Danny held the guitar up and scanned its polished surface, looking for any scratches or nicks.

“It looks like they just messed with the strings,” he concluded. “It shouldn’t be that hard to fix. I can put on a new set in under five minutes, we should be fine.”

“WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU?” they heard someone holler in the distance. Danny and Sam whirled around and saw Jake sprinting towards them with his head down, Josh chasing behind him. “MY BABY!” Jake shouted louder. Sam felt like he should duck and cover from his brother (he was so panicked he almost looked feral) but instead Sam remained frozen in place. He reached Danny and forced his guitar out of his grasp, clutching it to his chest. “My sweet girl,” Jake practically sobbed into the wood finish.

“It was Fellowship,” Sam told Josh under his breath, so Jake couldn’t hear. “They took it and cut the strings.” Josh’s face folded into a frown.

“Who the hell does that?”

“A band that’s afraid of us,” Sam tried to look for the silver lining.

Jake held his guitar back out in front of him and let out a sharp gasp when he saw the condition of his strings. “Who did this?” Jake turned back to Sam and Danny. Sam felt like it would be best if he withheld that information since it really wouldn’t be good for their music career if their lead guitarist was charged with manslaughter.

Josh, unfortunately, didn’t seem to have the same concern. “Fellowship,” he replied. There was a jarring fury blazing on Jake’s face, and then it calmed. In silence, he handed his guitar back to Danny and motioned towards the strings.

“Would you mind fixing those for me?”

“Of course,” Danny said without hesitation. Jake then looked at Josh.

“Come with me.”

“Hold up, what are you gonna do?” Sam tried to stop them. Jake and Josh were notorious for taking things a little bit too far. He let out a frustrated groan when he realized that his brothers were walking away, not bothering to answer his question.

“It’ll be okay,” Danny tried to reassure Sam.

“You’re not worried?” Sam couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Danny was usually the one who was the most up in arms about keeping things civil. Danny shook his head.

“You don’t mess with someone’s guitar,” he repeated himself. “Whatever Jake and Josh do, Fellowship had it coming.”

“Dear lord,” Sam whispered. He didn’t realize how intense the music industry could get.

Jake and Josh returned back right before Danny was done adding Jake’s last string. Sam had been busy making sure that his bass was in tune (in case Fellowship tampered with that as well) but looked up when he heard his brothers’ jovial laughter. In comparison to the rage that had surged through Jake just a few minutes earlier, Jake seemed like he had entirely cleared it from his system. In a similar vein, Josh looked energized. Sam could only imagine what they had just done.

“I can take over,” Jake told Danny, motioning for him to hand him his guitar back. “Thank you so much for doing that.”

Josh took a seat in the folding chair next to Sam and let out a soft giggle to himself. Sam looked between his brothers and finally gave in.

“Okay, fess up. What did you do?”

“What do you mean?” Jake played stupid while he worked on the last string. “We took a walk.”

“You obviously didn’t,” Sam countered. He was going to press more but caught a whiff of a strange smell and took a longer, deeper inhale. “Is that smoke?” he asked. Jake and Josh exchanged a glance and tried to hide their laughter. Sam stood and scanned around the grounds. Sure enough, at the edge of the venue just past the food concourse area, one of the porta potties was set ablaze, turning into a growing fireball of melting blue plastic. Sam stared back at Jake and Josh blankly and jutted a thumb towards the fire. “How did that solve anything?” A few volunteers were running around in a panic, trying to find water to toss on the growing flames. The fire jumped to the next porta potty in line and erupted into an even bigger inferno.

“That’s our best work yet,” Josh nudged Jake in the side. Jake gave a wide grin and nodded while playing with an orange Bic lighter.

“Put that away,” Sam practically shouted at his brother. They had to hide the evidence, and fast. The way that fire was spreading, they were bound to be held liable for an unfathomable amount of damages. Jake tucked the lighter back into his pocket and took a break from tending to his guitar to lean closer to Sam and Danny.

“We stole the strings off all their guitars and basses,” Jake shared.

“Where are they now?” Danny looked confused. Jake let out a laugh and then tried to regain his composure.

“We put them all in the porta potty,” Josh finished Jake’s thought. “And then decided to partake in a little bit of fun and friendly arson.”

“There’s no such thing as fun and friendly arson,” Sam hissed.

“Sure there is,” Josh shrugged. “See?” Sam looked to see where Josh was pointing and watched as the volunteers finally got a hold of a hefty looking hose and smothered the flames with an impressive gush of water. “Only minor damages,” Josh concluded. “Fun and friendly arson.”

“You both need to be put on a watchlist,” Sam told his brothers.

Jake let out another chuckle. “You need to lighten up.”

Sam wanted to protest that it was incredibly hypocritical for Jake to even consider telling him to “lighten up,” but a stagehand stopped by before he could argue.

“Fifteen minutes before you need to take the stage,” the woman told them.

That got them to spring to action, and they rushed to their instruments. While Sam, Danny, and Jake worked hard to get everything set up, Josh hurried to find which band they were set to square up against.

“Bellhoppers,” he reported to the rest of the band, out of breath, a few minutes later. Jake pondered their matchup and then nodded his head.

“They’ll be tough to beat, but we have a stacked setlist.”

Sam had to agree with his brother there. While they had stuck to the blues and folk the day before, they made sure to prove to everyone on the second day that, at their heart, they were a rock n’ roll group. Jake, Sam, Danny, and Josh would all have time to showcase their skills in their own solos throughout their three song setlist, and that seemed to be what was feeding into Jake’s confidence.

“They’re good for covering songs,” Jake continued, “but we know how to improv, which is sure to impress the judges. That’s what the solos are for, boys. Don’t go wasting them.”

“But don’t get too carried away with them either,” Josh reminded his brother. Jake had a tendency to get lost in his music and, sometimes, it took pulling the plug on his amp to get him to stop. They didn’t have a time limit for the third round, but Sam had a feeling they could get some points docked if they played for too long.

Jake was about to make a sarcastic retort back at Josh when the guitarist from Fellowship stormed up to them, his face bright red.

“You took our strings!” he accused the band. Greta Van Fleet looked around at each other, turned back to him, and collectively shrugged. “Our bassist doesn’t have a spare set!”

“And what are we supposed to do about it?” Jake mocked the guy. Before he could argue back, Jake added, “Maybe think twice before messing with my shit next time, twerp.”

The dig didn’t really land, considering the guitarist was well over six inches taller than Jake, but it was evident that Jake had won their dispute since the guitarist let out an aggravated huff and then turned on his heel to clomp back to his band. Jake waved to the guy and then focused on his guitar, which was back in optimal shape.

“Those strings were getting old,” he shared. “If anything, those guys did me a favor by cutting them, as traumatizing as it must have been for my baby.”

“Way to look on the bright side,” Sam congratulated him.

“Oh good,” the lead singer of The Bellhoppers greeted the band. “You found your guitar.”

“The guys from Fellowship took it and cut the strings,” Danny caught her up to speed. She shook her head with disgust.

“What a bunch of cowards. You don’t do that to a guitar.”

“Exactly!” Jake and Danny both emphatically agreed with her.

“Well, I wish you all luck,” she looked around at them. “I can’t speak for the rest of my band, but I’ll be cheering you on from the wings. You guys have a spark to you that I haven’t seen in a long time. It’s really exciting.”

“We’ll be doing the same for you,” Sam assured her. He had really enjoyed watching her band play the day before. She grinned at him and then motioned for them to take the stage.

“May the best band win.”

“Hear hear,” Jake nodded.

They heard the host announce them and, just like that, they were back out in front of the growing crowd, ready to take on the third round of the Battle of the Bands competition.

Sam slipped off his boots at the back of the stage and made his way to his amp to plug in his bass. It hummed to life and, with nerves and excitement coursing through him, he made his way to center stage where Jake and Josh were facing Danny at his drum kit.

“Ready for this?” Josh asked around, wiggling his eyebrows. Danny twirled his drumsticks around a few times and gave an infectious smile.

“I’ve physically never been more ready,” Jake announced. He looked around at his bandmates with a mixture of love and joy, and turned to resume his position on the right side of the stage. Sam stood, facing the crowd that extended all the way back to the food tents over 50 yards away, and took a deep breath. They had made it to the third round. They were good, and the audience in front of him knew it. It was time for him to prove that what they thought was absolutely true.

“One, two, three, four!” Danny counted them in. Jake broke out into the opening on his old reliable, churning out a full and rich sound that Sam knew could partially be credited to his new strings. He had a feeling the Fellowship guys were probably kicking themselves for that “prank.” Sam played alongside his brother and let his head bob around to the steady beat Danny was keeping. To his left, Josh made his way in front of the microphone and took a deep breath.

“We used to say that come the day, we’d all be making songs,” he bellowed out while Jake played behind him, using his pedals and whammy bar to create a warbling effect with each chord he struck. The crowd started to cheer when they realized that they were playing a cover of the Fairport Convention song, “Meet on the Ledge.” Josh grinned at their recognition and sang louder over his bandmates, going through the rest of the first verse.

As they entered into the chorus, Sam kept his eyes trained on the neck of his bass to make sure he was playing the right notes. Then, alongside Jake, he approached his own microphone that was set in front of him and closed his eyes. He was definitely not the strongest singer in the band by a mile, but Jake had convinced him and Danny that their voices sounded strong together when they performed backing vocals. Sam was deemed the baritone of the trio, which worked to his favor since Jake and Danny’s higher vocals typically wafted above his and were easier to hear. So, while Josh sang his verse, Sam, Jake, and Danny sang behind him as they played, creating a mesmerizing wall of sound that filled the entire field.

Sam took a moment to open an eye and look across at Jake as they held their elongated notes, and saw that he was looking back at him with a twinkle in his eye. That was refreshing to see, considering Jake usually looked like he wanted to bash Sam’s head in whenever he tried to sing. Sam focused back on his vocals and listened as they folded in perfectly with Jake’s middle harmony and Danny’s high notes.

When they returned back to the second verse, Sam stepped away from the microphone to catch his breath and reopen his eyes. They were doing well, and he could see that the audience was visibly into it, swaying back and forth to their music. Josh had taken the microphone off its stand and started to work the stage, moving back and forth across it so he could wave and smile at as many people as possible. Sam chuckled when he saw Josh flash his old high school buddies a middle finger before moving back to center stage, right before the second chorus.

Without thinking, Sam plodded across the stage, right past Josh, over to Jake, who was just starting to gear up to lean into his microphone. He gave Sam a surprised glance but then let out a chuckle when Sam nodded towards the microphone and leaned into it so they could share it. The brothers crowded around the stand and let their vocals feed into the same input so it washed over the crowd. Josh seemed tickled by their theatrics and spent more time on Sam’s side of the stage, where it was empty, to sing and try out a kind of foot shuffle that got the crowd going. Sam and Jake finished their singing and Jake stepped away to take center stage for his solo. As he passed by, Sam gave his older brother a kick in the ass with his bare foot, which caused Jake to widen his eyes in shock. It was fortunate that he was on his A game and didn’t let that surprise flub his moment in the spotlight.

Sam took his position back on his side of the stage and smiled with content as Jake nailed every note of his solo, arching his back and holding his guitar vertically out in front of him, as if showing it off. Behind him, Danny was working hard as well, adding in fills that Sam had never heard before, but found to be perfect for the song. He kept beat on his bass, and Josh bumped shoulders with him after taking a chug of water.

“This is fun.”

“Yeah,” Sam laughed back.

Jake’s solo was wrapping up, so Josh hurried back to his microphone and belted out the last chorus of the song. Grinning from ear to ear, Sam returned back to his own microphone and closed out the song strongly, singing his rich harmonies while gazing out at the cheering crowd. Jake played the last note and let the feedback wash over the audience, who were clapping with all of their might.

Once again, they met at center stage. Jake was already starting to sweat through his velvet black blazer decorated in silver etchings, so he hastily tugged it off, which earned them more cheers. Josh laughed at that, and then looked back at everyone.

“Feeling good?” he asked around.

“Never better,” Danny was the one to speak for the rest of them. Sam could only nod in agreement. He wanted to keep playing; the adrenaline was intoxicating.

“Done getting naked for the fans?” Josh poked fun at Jake, who was readjusting his guitar strap.

“Go introduce the next song, shit head,” Jake looked back at him with a cheeky grin. Josh laughed back and approached the microphone.

“HOW ARE YOU ALL DOING TODAY?” he hollered so loud, Sam nearly reached his hands up to cover his ears. Cheers and applause erupted from the crowd. “We’ve got a funky one for you,” Josh continued, “Well, kinda. It’s called Motown Funk No. 4.”

Jake began the opening riff while Josh was finishing his sentence, which earned him a scowl from Josh, but it was quickly replaced by a look of concentration. Danny joined in with Jake and, soon after, Sam played in parallel with Jake, blasting the crowd with their second song. Josh channeled a more bluesy and deep tone as he let out the first verse,

“Hey, lady! Whatcha trying to do to me? Hey, lady! Please don’t give me anymore…”

As Josh sang, Sam hurried to the back of the stage, where one of the stagehands had helped him set up his keys. Danny had expressed concern that he would be doing too much by switching between instruments mid-song, but Sam assured him the night before that he was faster than Roadrunner. He proved that to Danny right there in that moment as he turned down the volume on the bass, pushed it out of the way, and leaned over his keys to pound out the chords that he had written for the chorus. It went smoothly and, at the start of the next verse, he was back at the edge of the stage, playing his bass in line with Jake, tossing his hair around and mouthing along to the words.

He scanned around and finally spotted his family in the center, a few rows from the stage, dancing and waving their arms around with glee. Next to them, their group of friends were more excited than ever, jumping around, trying to open a mosh pit. It was unfortunate that the rest of the crowd wasn’t into that idea.

Sam retreated to his keys once more and got through the second chorus, feeling the power of their music flood through his body. Standing close to Danny’s drums made him feel like he was vibrating in place, and he loved the sensation.

Like they practiced in their endless rehearsals, the chorus came to an abrupt end and the audience began to applaud, thinking the song was over. Jake remained frozen in front of them, holding his guitar out and grinning. The cheers grew, and then Jake called out before ripping into his solo. Sam tried to work his part of the stage for the crowd while he played along on his bass, and made a show of flipping his hair and lifting his leg up when it felt right. Jake closed out his solo and pointed at Sam, who made his way to the edge of center stage, getting as close as he could to the people in the front row. He let his fingers dance over the neck of his dad’s bass and bopped back and forth to Danny’s groovy beat while he created a riff on the spot, deviating away from the bassline he had written with Jake for the song. His fingers flew up and down in complex patterns to the roar of the crowd and, after giving it his all until he felt like his hands were going to fall off, he played a long note with vibrato to indicate to the rest of the band that he was finished. Jake was quick to jump back in and take them into the chorus, where Sam once again found himself on the keys, taking a breather from his moment of fame. He wasn’t sure that he could replicate whatever he had done out there, but he swelled with pride that he hadn’t played the wrong note or created pesky feedback to dissuade the crowd and judges. He had contributed to the band in a way that would hopefully propel them to the final round and beyond.

They played through the last verse and then, as planned, Danny began his own solo, giving Josh, Jake, and Sam a breather before they started their third and final song of the round. While Danny played his heart out, pounding away on his drums and creating a tidal wave of noise to wash over the crowd, the brothers joined together on the wing of the stage.

“Great solo, Sammy,” Jake congratulated him, giving him a hefty pat on the back. “I didn’t know you could play slap bass.”

“I didn’t know either,” Sam admitted as he tried to sort his hair out. It was incredible how many knots he got after every one of their performances. Danny had suggested he learn how to do a french braid, but Sam didn’t feel like that was very rock n’ roll.

Josh opened a bottle of water and started to down it when he stopped, made a confused and then disgusted face, and spat it out onto the floor.

“BLEGH!” he called out. “What the hell is this?”

Jake snatched the bottle from him and took a whiff. “That’s rubbing alcohol, dude.”

Josh’s eyes bugged. “In my Dasani water bottle?”

“Good to stay hydrated, right?” the guitarist from Fellowship smirked as he approached them from where his band was hanging out.

“That could have seriously hurt him if he drank that,” Sam stared at the guitarist in shock. Isopropyl was potent enough to cause chemical burns.

“Like how he hurt my guitar’s strings?” the guitarist shamelessly countered.

Jake wasn’t having any of that. “Like how you hurt my guitar’s strings?!” his voice raised enough that a few people at the front of the crowd were craning their necks to see what was happening backstage. Sam was disappointed that he couldn’t focus on Danny’s solo since he was really killing it, but he needed to help his brothers put the asshole in place.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he tore off his denim button up and jumped at the guitarist. Now, Sam wasn’t usually the fighting type, but giving a guy rubbing alcohol to drink was a step way too far out of line, especially for a local band competition. Jake seemed to have the same idea as Sam, because they both flew at the guy at the same time, their hands ready to pound him in. To Sam’s utter surprise, Josh squeezed himself in between his brothers and the guitarist before things could get ugly, waving his hands around in a desperate panic.

“Don’t fight!” he called out. “Danny’s solo is almost done!”

Sam cursed to himself and took a step away from the guitarist, who was laughing and calling them cowards. Even though the clock was ticking, Jake couldn’t restrain himself from reaching up to launch his balled up fist straight into the guy’s face. They watched as the guitarist dropped like a sack of bricks and then, without saying another word, marched back out to join Danny. While Danny finished out his last drum roll, Josh approached the microphone like nothing had just happened.

“This is called Edge of Darkness. It’s about… the edge of darkness.”

Sam could already tell from across the stage that Jake’s hand was blossoming with purple bruises from the contact he had made with the guitarist’s face, but it didn’t seem to bother him while he picked out the opening riff of the song. While they were building out their setlist, Jake had been adamant that Edge of Darkness be added so he could try out a new part of his solo that he had been working on, where he played his guitar behind his head. Sam felt like it was a risky move, but that had been just about everything they had done in the competition so far, so it only felt right.

Jake’s playing was intense, and Sam could feel his anger and frustration with Fellowship brewing to the surface as he tore into his guitar strings. Josh, likewise, nearly shouted the lyrics into his microphone throughout the opening verse. Sam matched their energy, plucking his strings extra hard. He made a few glances at the chaos that was unfolding on the wing of the stage, where the host and a few stagehands were trying to tend to the guitarist, who was still flopped on the ground. His stomach dropped at the thought that they would be ejected from the competition for Jake’s violent lashing out, but he tried to tuck that bad thought into the back of his mind.

He started to play his bouncy bass part for the chorus, throwing in some higher notes to stand out over Jake’s guitar and Danny’s drums, and they moved into the second verse without any issue. Sam took a deep breath and released some of the anxiety starting to ripple to the surface about the repercussions of their feud. They were playing at their top level, and technically they hadn’t started the whole thing. If anything, Fellowship should be booted for nearly killing Josh.

Sam was so deep in thought about this that he let his muscle memory take over and, soon enough, was surprised to find that they were entering into the guitar solo. Jake nearly sprinted to center stage with a loud yell, as if releasing some of his pent up emotions. Whatever he was feeling about their beef was instantly channeled into his playing, as he hit every note with perfect precision and power.

“Do it, Jakey!” Josh called to his brother.

Jake’s body folded over his guitar as his fingers danced up and down the frets, and then he straightened upright and turned his back to the crowd. Sam could feel the audience hold their breath as he hoisted his guitar up and over his head, resting it across his shoulder blades so he could play without looking. Sam couldn’t believe it, but Jake’s playing increased in difficulty while holding his guitar in that unconventional position, letting his fingers flutter through complicated patterns.

While Jake was giving quite literally everything he had to offer, Sam noticed that a few of the members of Fellowship, excluding the guitarist who was still moaning on the side stage, were sneaking closer to him. He continued playing without pause, but used his peripheral vision to make sure they didn’t try anything with him. He was relieved that their path veered away from him, but then his eyebrows furrowed when he realized that they were headed towards Jake’s amp with a pair of wire cutters. Jake was at the climax of his solo, his guitar back in front of him, and sweat poured down his face as he exerted all of his energy into playing faster than the speed of light. They couldn’t stop him while he was at his literal peak.

Sam rushed to Josh, who was honed in on his tambourine playing, and gave him a nudge.

“Help,” he managed to whisper to his brother. Josh turned and saw the Fellowship guys closing in on the amp and shook his head in anger.

“Not on my watch,” Josh grunted. Sam watched him storm to the guys, grasping onto his tambourine like he was ready to use it as a weapon. While Jake and Danny continued to throw their bodies around to the music, entirely oblivious to the scene unfolding, Sam watched Josh hustle behind Danny’s drum kit so he could confront the three guys without anyone in the audience seeing. Sam poked his head behind the drum kit to keep tabs on the situation in case Josh needed backup, but it seemed like he had it covered. The members of Fellowship hollered out as Josh sprung behind them and smacked them all in the head with his tambourine. Somehow he managed to stay in time as he did it. That distracted them enough that Jake’s amp and cables were left unscathed, and Josh forced the wire cutters from the drummer’s hands and slid them across the stage to Sam where he could keep them safe by his feet.

“Stay the FUCK away from my band!” Josh barked after them as they scampered away.

Jake closed out his solo and, for the first time, seemed to realize that something had just happened behind him. He cocked his head to the side when he saw Josh stomp back to the microphone to barrel the final chorus out. Jake made his way to the side of Danny’s drum kit, where Sam was playing, and called over the music, “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you after,” Sam yelled back. He looked behind and saw that Danny was watching them with concern, but kept smacking away at his kit like nothing was wrong. They returned to their designated spots on the stage, gave the crowd what they wanted, and finished out the song with a collective jump on the last note. After waving goodbye to the crowd and blowing kisses to their families, the members of Greta Van Fleet rushed off the stage to get as far away from Fellowship as they could.

Jake was immediately on Sam’s ass. “Tell me what happened,” he demanded to know. Sam mulled over the right way to share the information without riling him up too much and watched as Jake wiped the sweat away from his brow with the back of his hand.

“Fellowship tried to cut your cable during your solo,” he shared. Jake’s face turned red.

“They’re playing dirty,” he hissed.

“You did pop the guitarist in the schnoz,” Sam reminded him.

“You did what?!” Danny turned to Jake in horror.

“They slipped isopropyl in Josh’s water bottle!” Jake raised his voice, motioning back towards the stage. “What the hell was I supposed to do?”

“Are we gonna get tossed from the competition?” Danny looked between Josh and Sam with worry. “That seems like something that would definitely happen.”

“Maybe we can negotiate with them to only eliminate Jake and you can take over the guitar, Danny,” Sam told him. Jake scowled at the thought.

“We’re the best ones out there - they’d be crazy to take us out of the competition.”

“Don’t get too cocky,” Josh reminded him. “We’re up against some really good bands.”

“You did hear us out there, right?” Jake checked with Josh. “We sounded fucking incredible.”

Whatever confidence Jake let take over himself immediately vanished when the host of the competition approached him with a grimace stretched across his face. The members of Greta Van Fleet all paled at his appearance.

“Is it true one of you punched a member of Fellowship?” He checked with them. They all looked around at one another, trying to telepathically agree on a plan to talk themselves out of their sticky situation. Josh finally took the lead.

“Yes sir,” he replied, keeping his gaze glued to the grass. The host made an annoyed ticking sound and shook his head.

“I was hoping it wasn’t true.”

“Please don’t kick us out, we promise we’ll keep our fists to ourselves moving forward,” Danny tried to plead with the older man. He looked back at Danny with a sympathetic smile and shook his head.

“I know this is a big deal to you all,” he started.

“Monumental,” Jake corrected him.

“But I also want you to understand that AutoFest prides itself in being a safe haven for car and music enthusiasts. Fights are vehemently prohibited, even if they are in self-defense.”

“What does that mean for us?” Josh’s eyes slowly rose to land on the host.

“I really do like you guys, but this can’t go unaddressed. You have to face some kind of repercussions for your actions.”

“What about the Fellowship guys?” Jake couldn’t hide his anger. “They tried to poison my brother! That’s the only reason why I threw that punch.”

The host’s eyes widened. “Of course they didn’t tell me that,” he pinched at the bridge of his nose. “Here’s my proposal: you’ll have to pay a fine to the city. All the more incentive for you to win this competition so you can forfeit some of your earnings instead of digging into your own pockets.”

“How much?” Jake demanded to know.

“$250,” the host had obviously given it some thought, he answered so quickly.

“But can we still play?” Sam checked. The host nodded his head, and the band released a long sigh of relief.

“I’d be crazy to pull you from the stage after the show you just put on,” the host admitted. Jake leaned into Josh’s side to point out that he had been right, and Josh owed him an apology. Josh responded by pushing Jake so hard, he nearly toppled to the ground. “You just have to promise me you won’t do it again. You know what? Consider this a warning. Do it again, and you’re out.”

“Crystal clear, sir,” Danny told him. Sam felt it was only right to give him a salute.

“I’ll have a word with Fellowship as well. I think it would be best for you both to keep your distance for the rest of the competition. You know, for all of your safety.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Jake nodded. The host gave them a wave and made his way back towards the stage, where The Bellhoppers were getting ready to go out. Sam watched him go and thought about following behind him so he could watch their competitors perform, but Jake grabbed at his arm. “Can you help me find some ice?”

Sam looked down at Jake’s hand, which was starting to swell a concerning amount, and pointed towards the food court.

“I bet they have something.”

Jake led the way and Sam followed behind, leaving Danny and Josh back to unwind after their performance. Sam wasn’t quite sure why Jake wanted some alone time with him, but that confusion was quickly resolved when Jake started to rant.

“It’s bullshit that we have to come up with money to pay a fine for something that I was forced to do!”

“You technically made the decision to sock the guy,” Sam shook his head. Jake studied him, looking disappointed.

“I thought you’d understand my frustration here, you went after the guy too.”

“I’m not saying what you did is technically wrong,” Sam backtracked. “It’s just a bit hard to play it off like you’re entirely innocent. I mean, it kinda looked like you broke the guy’s nose.”

“I hope I did!” Jake exclaimed.

They came up to the slushie stand and all Jake had to do was show his hand off to the college kid running the cash register. He fixed Jake a large Ziploc bag filled with ice and joked that he didn’t want to know what the other guy looked like, which got a chuckle out of Jake. Instead of making their way back to Danny and Josh, Jake motioned for Sam to take a seat with him at one of the picnic benches on the outskirts of the festival grounds. As he iced his hand, Jake continued to ramble.

“I think the Fellowship guys should pay our fine. What do you think about me threatening them with a broken bottle?”

“Jake, no,” Sam sighed. He understood that their opponents had gone way out of bounds with him and his band mates, but Jake matching their energy wasn’t the right way to handle the situation. The host had given them a warning, and he seemed pretty serious.

“Well I’m not paying that stupid fine,” Jake spat out. “$250 my ass.”

“Why don’t we try to earn it?” Sam thought aloud. Jake snapped his good hand at Sam with a look of intrigue.

“We’ll encourage people to bring singles to our next performance and Josh can do a strip dance.”

“No,” Sam quickly shook his head. “But you’re not too far off. We’ve played enough that I feel like we’ll be pretty recognizable around the festival. All we have to do is set up shop somewhere and do it how we used to.”

Jake tried to make sense of what Sam was suggesting. Then, his face brightened in realization. “We’re gonna go back to the good old busking days?”

“If that’s what it takes,” Sam replied. Jake seemed on board, but then he looked down at his hand.

“I should probably take a break from the guitar so I’m okay to play in the next round.”

“If we make it,” Sam cut in.

“If we make it,” Jake agreed.

“You can sing, Josh can drum, and Danny will take the guitar,” Sam thought on his feet. Jake didn’t look entirely on board but, the more he considered it, the more the idea seemed to grow on him. Singing in front of people was a better option than forking over $250 of their own hard-earned money.

“On one condition,” Jake held up a finger. “I’m not taking any requests.”

Fifteen minutes later, the members of Greta Van Fleet were stationed in front of the festival entrance, serenading the guests as they filed into the venue. Sam and Danny were making use of his electric amp, and Josh was in his element, playing away on Danny’s cajon drum. Jake, although he was stiff with discomfort, was stationed in front of the group, singing along to Wonderwall. An elderly couple had requested it as they walked in and, after handing Jake a twenty, Jake was backed into a corner and forced to suck it up.

Sam was glad that they had gained so much stamina from all their practice sessions because, otherwise, he would have been entirely burnt out. But between the excitement from their last performance and the determination to get the money they needed, Sam felt he had enough energy to continue giving performances for as long as they could.

“I said maybe, you’re gonna be the one to save me…” Jake belted out in his best Liam Gallagher impression. A girl around their age stooped down in front of them to toss a $5 bill into Jake’s fishing hat that he had been wearing offstage. Jake flashed her a cheeky smile and gave a thumbs up with his good hand as he continued on with more energy. Sam was glad to see Jake get out of his comfort zone when it came to singing in public: Jake needed to realize sooner or later that he was fully capable of being a frontman too.

At the end of their song, Jake took a pause to count their earnings. “$44.39!” He announced to the group. “Not bad for being out here twenty minutes.”

Sam wasn’t sure if that really was a good sign, but he couldn’t dwell on it for long since he caught the sound of The Bellhoppers’ set. It was hard to place the song at first, but then he realized that they were playing a fast tempo version of Everybody Wants to Rule the World. From what he could hear, the crowd was pretty into it.

“Do you think we’d have more luck if we did this after the competition is done?” Danny asked around. “You know, when everyone who watched us is leaving?”

“I want to celebrate at the end of the competition, not be working my ass off for money,” Jake protested.

“Again, Jake,” Josh called up to him. “We haven’t won yet. Please stop jinxing us.”

Jake let out a soft apology and then faced back out towards the clutters of people who were entering the fairgrounds. “Welcome to AutoFest!” He greeted them with a charisma that was more characteristic for Josh. On Jake, it felt unnatural and forced. “We’re Greta Van Fleet and we take requests!”

Sam arched an eyebrow at his older brother. Apparently his standards could change when they weren’t making money fast enough.

“Do you know Ed Sheeran?” a younger boy approached them. Jake had trouble hiding a look of disgust, but opted to play stupid instead.

“Who? I can’t say I’ve ever heard of Ed Sheridan before,” Jake said. “But we’ll play some Black Keys for you!”

“Nah,” the kid waved Jake off and ran in through the front entrance. Jake stuck his tongue out at him and then shook his head.

“I still have my limits,” he muttered to himself. Then, he looked back at Josh for help. “What music do rich people like listening to? Maybe we can lure them in.”

“We’ve been busking for years now,” Josh looked back at him. “You haven’t figured that one out yet?”

“Obviously I haven’t since we’re still busking,” Jake retorted. He combed his fingers through his hair while he thought, and then snapped his fingers together. “Dean Martin.”

“Do you know any Dean Martin songs?” Sam was genuinely curious.

“Of course I do,” Jake scoffed. And then he broke into the worst rendition of That’s Amore Sam had ever heard, mostly because he only knew half of the lyrics. Josh and Danny tried to humor Jake and play along with him, but Sam shook his head and opted to watch his brother make a fool of himself instead.

“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore,” Jake tried to sing in a deeper tone with an Italian accent that was bound to offend someone. “When the moon seems to shine and you chugga da wine, that’s amore,” he continued, and Sam winced. “Bells will ring, ting-a-ling-a-ling ting-a-ling-a-ling…”

Sam couldn’t help but smack his forehead when Josh and Danny joined in with Jake’s botched song, messing up the lyrics in their own unique ways as well so the song was entirely muddled. One person approached Jake’s hat and took out a $10 bill, shaking his head in disappointment.

“Hey!” Jake took a break to holler at the guy. “Give that back!”

“Maybe when you learn how to sing Dean Martin right!” the guy called back, and then hustled away.

“So now we’re at $34.39,” Danny concluded.

“Okay, I’ll admit Dean Martin wasn’t the right choice,” Jake admitted. Sam strained to hear if The Bellhoppers were still performing and took note that the live music had stopped inside the fairgrounds. That meant that Invalid Password and Fellowship were bound to go out and face off at any minute before the winners were announced. A part of him wished he hadn’t told Jake about his busking plan because the nervous anticipation was starting to feel like it was going to eat him alive. He had no clue how The Bellhoppers had done in comparison to them since he missed their entire set, and doubts started to consume him that they would make it to the final round.

“I think you need to turn up the heat, Jake,” Josh advised him. “Flaunt what you’ve got.”

Jake pondered Josh’s words, and then gave a half-assed shrug like he had nothing left to lose. He had tugged his blazer back on following their performance so he wasn’t walking around with his nipples fully out, but he started to slowly shimmy out of it while Sam, Josh, and Danny played Feel Like Makin Love.

“Baby, when I think about you, I think about love,” Jake sang slowly in a husky voice, trying to make eye contact with everyone that passed. While some people did slow down to watch them for a bit, most snapped their heads down and hurried past them. Sam felt secondhand embarrassment from the countless rejections towards Jake’s show as he joined in the backing vocals. “Feel like makin’,” Jake sang out as he fully removed his coat. “Feel like makin’ love.” The blazer whirled around his head a few times and then was flung off in the distance, where it landed in a bush. With Jake’s chest fully out on display, he noticed that more people were gathering around them to watch. This encouraged Jake to go a step farther, and he retrieved a bottle of water from the ground by his feet and proceeded to dump out the contents over his hair, soaking himself. Sam thought he looked beyond ridiculous, but people started to step forward and drop bills into his hat.

To keep it coming, Jake tried out some dance moves that closely resembled what he did on stage with his guitar, and the people seemed to eat it up. When he started to rake his hands through his hair and wiggle his hips around, Josh put his foot down.

“Too much!” he shouted to his brother, who was getting lost in the performance. “I don’t want to see your ass moving like that back here!”

“You’ve got a front row seat to the show, why are you complaining?” Jake took a pause from his singing to argue with his brother. Josh shook his head in disbelief and continued drumming.

“I created a monster,” he told Sam.

“A motivated monster, that’s for sure,” Sam agreed. He wasn’t used to seeing Jake steal the spotlight out in public, around a bunch of people. It was much more common that he was hiding behind Josh, only coming out when he was comfortable, but he was obviously motivated to earn the money to pay off their fine.

The song ended and Jake made a show of bowing to those who stuck around for the full performance, and then called for five so he could dry off and count their earnings. As he sorted through the growing pile of cash, he took a pause to look at his bandmates.

“I really do appreciate you guys helping me get the money to pay this fine,” he told them. “And I’m glad I’m the one out there making a fool of myself since I’m the one who got us in trouble in the first place.”

“I mean, I’m glad you’re fronting this too, trust me,” Josh told him. “I need to rest my vocal cords, but we’ve been at this for a while and I need to take a breather. It’s been a long ass day.”

“I think we earned that rest,” Jake agreed, shoving the money back into his hat.

“We made it to $250?” Danny asked in surprise.

“Kind of,” Jake replied. “Well, close enough that I can pay the rest out of pocket if I have to.” He took a break to squeeze the water out of his long locks and study his drenched black and white striped pants. “I need to change out of these.”

“You go and do that,” Josh told him with a laugh, waving him off.

“I want to watch the other bands,” Danny shared, and Sam agreed with him.

“I need to hear from our friends how The Bellhoppers did.”

They collected their instruments and left their busking area behind, setting back inside the fairgrounds to the competition.

“They’re definitely an 80s cover band,” Leah shared when they found their friends hanging out near the fair games. Sam hoped his relief wasn’t evident to his friends but he was glad to hear that The Bellhoppers only played covers. That was bound to earn Greta Van Fleet some bonus points.

“The crowd loved them, but I think they were louder for you guys,” Ian added. “There was an older guy next to me who looked like he was having a spiritual awakening or something when Jake put his guitar behind his head.”

“Jake has a way of doing that to people,” Danny laughed.

“Speaking of Jake,” Tom cut in, “is he icing his hand because he was playing faster than is humanly possible?” They all turned to look at Jake, who had changed clothes and was with some of his own friends, trying to use his left hand to throw baseballs at empty milk jugs while keeping the melting bag of ice on his bruised hand. The poor guy obviously wasn’t ambidextrous like Danny because he missed the bottles by a mile, nearly taking out the guy running the whack-a-mole booth.

“He punched someone,” Sam shared, shaking his head with disbelief. Everyone gaped at him, so Sam continued. “We have some beef with one of the bands.”

“That one?” Ian asked, looking back at the stage. Sam tried to make out what Ian was looking at since they were a good distance away, but he scowled when he saw that Fellowship was taking the main stage.

“Yup,” Danny confirmed. “They broke Jake’s guitar strings, tried to poison Josh, and nearly cut Jake’s power when he was doing one of his solos.”

“What the hell?” Leah called out. “Who would do that?”

“A bunch of dickheads,” Sam replied.

“I think they’re all in college,” Danny added. “They must be especially desperate to catch their big break so they don’t have to keep attending lectures and taking finals.” Sam had never thought about it that way; he thought they were just a bunch of jerks.

Tom, Leah, and Ian nodded like they could see the rationale behind that. Sam heard Fellowship begin the first song of their set and excused himself so he could move closer to the stage. Danny’s eyebrows knit at that, and he trailed closely behind Sam.

“You’re not gonna pull anything, are you?” he asked as he struggled to push through the crowd. Sam shook his head, but he wasn’t sure if Danny had seen him. As tempted as he was to fire a flare gun at them, he was mostly curious to see what they brought to the table, and if he should feel as threatened by them as they were apparently threatened by his band. Sam found a spot in the middle of the crowd, off to the left side of the stage where the guitarist was, and put on a pair of sunglasses so the guy wouldn’t recognize him. Danny joined his side, out of breath, and positioned himself close to Sam.

Fellowship was playing a cover of a Rush song and, to Sam’s dismay, they did sound pretty good. Greta Van Fleet had attempted playing Rush before and, while they almost got it down, it wasn’t something they could confidently say they had in the bag. Fellowship, on the other hand, was playing through Freewill like it was nothing. The only thing that brought Sam comfort as he watched them play was the guitarist had two black eyes forming, and his nose did look a bit crooked on his face. Jake really did know how to throw a mean punch.

The people around them whooped and hollered as Fellowship jumped straight into their second song of the set, which was an original and dark song that sounded like a mix between Metallica and Ozzy. Sam hated to admit that the guitar and bass merged together to create a rich sound that he wasn’t sure he and Jake could accomplish. The drummer was like a blur behind his kit, he was hitting so many things at once. And the lead singer knew what he was doing as well: the guy was able to let out the lyrics with an impressive range, and made a show of dancing around and pulling some moves that Jake had attempted earlier during the busking to get the crowd into it. Sam would have to tell Josh to turn it to 11 if they made it to the final round, because they would have to go against a guy who really knew how to work a crowd.

As the guitarist went through a mind-boggling solo, Sam tugged on Danny’s arm.

“I’ve seen enough,” he called into his ear. Danny looked relieved and nodded, so they took off to find Jake and Josh. After they made it back to the open space away from the stage, Danny and Sam exchanged worried looks.

“I knew they were good, but I didn’t realize they were that good,” Danny admitted as he crossed his arms over his chest. Sam was utterly puzzled by everything.

“Why are they messing with us if they could easily win this whole thing?”

“Beats me,” Danny shrugged. “They must see something in us that we’re not seeing.”

They reached Jake and Josh, and Sam deliberated whether he should tell them about Fellowship’s performance or not. He didn’t have to, though, since they had already found out. Jake was fuming at Josh when they approached them.

“We need to edit our setlist,” he planned out while pacing back and forth between Josh. “No covers, more solos, we need to find ways to get the crowd excited. We need to be memorable.”

“You need to turn up the charm and seduce the crowd more,” Sam pointed at Josh. He and Jake both whirled around to face Sam and Danny. “We saw a bit of their performance,” Sam explained. “It’s gonna be really hard to beat them.”

“There must be something we have that they don’t,” Danny tried to assure them.

“We’re better looking?” Jake guessed.

“I was thinking more in terms of our playing,” Danny tried to steer him in the right direction.

Jake’s face scrunched together, deep in thought, and then his face brightened.

“I think I have a plan.”

***

Fellowship and Invalid Password played their sets and, right at five, they were brought on stage to announce the finalists. Greta Van Fleet allowed themselves a small celebration when it was shared that they would be playing at 7pm, going against Fellowship, but then they went straight back to their preparations.

Jake’s plan was an intricate one and, while Sam wouldn’t admit it out loud, it felt like they were trying to pull off a mini-miracle. The first step of Jake’s plan was that they dress to the nines: the members of Fellowship were all going for the skinny jeans and black shirt combo, so they could outshine them in that way. The band made a quick detour to the local thrift store and, after an hour, were back at the fairgrounds looking better than ever. Josh had found a jumpsuit on the women’s rack that looked like it was a Halloween costume at one point but, when he put it on, he looked like an ethereal being. The white velvet cloth decorated in rhinestones was guaranteed to make him stand out on stage. Danny found a mesh silver top that fit perfectly and glimmered in the sunlight, so he would be hard to miss behind his kit. Jake was ecstatic to find an army green suit in his size, and made a side comment about how he was going to customize it a bit. Sam wasn’t sure exactly what look he wanted to go for, but he spotted a baby blue suit similar to Jake’s and decided that was what he needed to wear. As they paid for their clothes, Jake whispered to Sam that he was going to add something to his outfit as well.

Back at AutoFest, Josh and Danny were already suited up in their new clothes and rehearsing backstage, but Sam was with Jake. There were a lot of things that he didn’t know about his brother, and the fact that he was a seamstress was apparently one of them. Out of the back of their car, Jake was hunched over Sam’s suit, stitching fabric between the sleeve and body of his jacket. Sam was holding Jake’s suit, which he had already personalized, in awe of his brother’s craftsmanship. In under twenty minutes, Jake had managed to add a moth decal to the back and front flaps of the coat, along with some swirls of gold, explaining as he worked that he liked moths because they chased after the spotlight.

“There we go!” Jake exclaimed, holding Sam’s suit up to him. Sam took it and studied Jake’s work, his eyes widening. Jake had added a rippled piece of fabric that almost looked like a wing beneath his arm. The fabric shimmered as he moved it, and Sam was immediately entranced. “Now get that on,” he told Sam. “We need to practice a bit more.”

Once they were fully suited up, they found Josh and Danny huddled around Danny’s cajon drum. Danny was trying to explain a pattern to Josh, but stopped when he spotted Jake and Sam.

“Looking good!” he grinned at them.

“I can say the same!” Sam exclaimed back. Danny gave a shy grin and shook his head with a chuckle. His eyes were darkened with some dramatic eyeshadow and eyeliner that fit well with his outfit.

“Josh started it, but Leah helped me clean it up,” Danny explained. Josh looked proud of himself.

“If musical theater taught me anything, it’s how to put on eye makeup.”

“I’d say we look like a rock band now,” Jake looked around at them with satisfaction. “How’s the practicing going?”

“Josh has almost got it,” Danny gave an update.

“Are you feeling good?” Jake checked in with Danny.

Danny looked at ease. “I know the part like the back of my hand, it’s not gonna be a problem.”

“Let’s run through it a few more times though,” Sam told everyone. He wanted to make sure they knew exactly what they were doing so they didn’t drop the ball when it mattered most.

The swelling in Jake’s hand had lessened enough that he was able to practice with them without any trouble, and they wound up running through their updated setlist right up until they were supposed to go out on stage for the final round. That worked best for Sam because he was so caught up in his bass and keys that he couldn’t think about how monumental everything was shaping out to be. Their big break was within grasp.

The host had explained to them that they were going to take the stage at the same time as Fellowship so he could announce them to the crowd that had well over tripled since the third round, and then Fellowship would go through their five songs first. Sam wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to put them out there all together, but both bands were so focused on winning that their feud was put on hold. As the host announced both groups, Sam let the applause from the crowd wash over him. This was something they had earned. This was where they were supposed to be. The feeling made him smile wide.

He was also tickled by how his friends and family reacted to their new looks.

“God damn, Danny!” someone had shouted close to the stage when Danny first came out.

While Fellowship got ready to play, Greta Van Fleet retreated to the backstage area.

“I don’t want to hear them,” Jake was telling Josh. “It’s just gonna get in my head.”

“Wanna sit in the car?” Josh suggested.

So they piled into Danny’s car and blasted some Tchaikovsky to clear their heads. Sam was glad that they weren’t watching Fellowship’s set; the panic he had experienced after seeing their third round performance was the last thing he wanted to feel before they were supposed to take the stage. Sam leaned his head against the passenger seat and closed his eyes so he could get lost in the strings blaring from Danny’s speakers. The rest of the car was silent as well, caught in their own heads.

Sam’s mind wandered away from Swan Lake to reflect on the turmoil he had faced prior to the competition. He had wanted to throw the whole thing away because he wasn’t certain how he wanted to spend his future. Thinking about that now felt absurd. He had experienced an indescribable amount of joy while playing in front of people and showing off his skills. There were other things that he definitely wanted to do with his life, but he had put a lot of time and effort into playing his bass, and he realized that it would be a waste to throw that away before he could reap the benefits for his hard work. The Battle of the Bands competition was really the first time he felt like he was being truly recognized for those countless hours spent in the garage and at shady bars around Michigan. He was all in on trying to make it to the top. Like his brother had told him earlier, he needed to remain in the present and not dwell too much on the future. And in the present, it seemed like he could have an exciting future with his music.

A timer on Danny’s phone made them all jump and Danny turned down the music.

“Fifteen minutes until we need to take the stage,” he announced to the car.

“Let’s do this,” Josh said as he threw his door open. “Before my nerves eat me alive. Plus I really gotta piss and I know it will take me a second to get out of this thing.”

Jake made some kind of half-assed excuse about checking that his guitar was fully in tune and hustled out of the car. Danny and Sam sat in silence for a few beats, and then Danny took a deep breath.

“Josh told me what you were going through yesterday.”

Sam’s shoulders slumped. Of course Josh couldn’t keep his secret between them. “I’m feeling a lot better now,” Sam tried his best to assure Danny. He frowned when he could tell that Danny wasn’t buying it. “I swear,” he promised.

“You really want to go to college, don’t you?” Danny asked down into his lap. Sam wished they could have this conversation at a better time, but he didn’t know how to steer things into more friendly territory.

“That’s how I felt yesterday, but now it’s different,” Sam locked eyes with Danny. “I love playing with you guys. I think we could go all the way.”

“But I don’t want this to get in the way of your own dreams,” Danny stared back at Sam. “This is your life we’re talking about. You don’t have to always make sacrifices for us. I know it’s been hard for you to miss out on so much.”

“You’ve been going through the same thing with golf,” Sam pointed out. “I’m sure that’s been a hard decision for you too.”

Danny considered this. “I do love golf, but it’s something that I can always do, no matter what. Being an engineer isn’t something you can just pick up in your offtime.”

“I’ll bring a Lego set with me on the road and be content,” Sam tried to joke. Danny chuckled and shook his head in disbelief.

“I want you to be happy,” he told Sam.

“This is making me happy right now,” Sam replied. “And that’s what matters at this moment.” Danny’s frown lifted into a relieved smile and he gave Sam a pat on the back.

“I’m so glad to hear that. I was gonna offer to blow the whole competition for your sake, but thank god I don’t have to do that. Jake and Josh would probably have my head on a stake if I pulled that one off.”

Sam looked at his friend in amazement. He knew Danny would always have his back, but the thought of him offering to throw their big break like that was astonishing.

“How were you gonna do it?” he had to ask. Danny mulled it over.

“Play the wrong tempo maybe. Jake hates it when I do that and he misses notes when he gets flustered. Josh gets confused when Jake starts messing up. I know you would continue to carry, but I think that would be more than enough for us to get booed off stage.

“Well please don’t do that,” Sam said. “I really want to win this thing.”

“Me too,” Danny grinned at him. “I’ll be steady as a metronome back there, don’t worry.”

With that, they got out of the car and worked their way to the stage. Josh must have managed to get to the bathroom because he was back by their instruments, looking tranquil. When he saw Sam, he motioned for him to come to his side. Sam raised an eyebrow when he saw that Josh had decorated around his eyes with a series of rhinestones.

“Where’d you get those from?” he asked.

“The lead singer of The Bellhoppers,” Josh answered. “Now come here.”

Sam didn’t want to, but curiosity got the better of him and he cautiously approached his older brother. Before he could react, Josh was smearing silver eyeshadow with glitter over his eyelids.

“BAH!” Sam called out in surprise, wiggling his arms in retaliation.

“It’s for the aesthetic, hold still,” Josh instructed. Sam didn’t like his brother poking his fingers around his eyes, but he gave in and stood stiff while Josh continued to swipe his thumb into the palette and press it across his eyelids. “Your eyes will pop now,” Josh felt like it was important to tell Sam. Sam felt mortified that he was going to go out in front of his friends with eye makeup on, but then he remembered that Danny was wearing some too, and he looked good.

Josh finished and admired his work. “Pretty,” he commented. Sam could feel his face flush red. Danny took a look as well and whistled. Sam pulled his phone out from his pants pocket and used the reverse camera to check the damage. Josh was kind to use a lighter shade so it didn’t stand out as dramatically as Danny’s look. For what it was worth, it did look good with his baby blue suit and wing.

A stagehand told them they had two minutes until they needed to take the stage, and Jake hustled to their side shortly after. Sam did a double take when he realized that Jake’s eyes were darkened with carefully etched on black liner. He stared back at Sam and then gave Josh a cheerful pat on the back.

“You managed to get it on him! Congrats.”

“I let him do it,” Sam frowned. “Since when did you learn how to do that?” He pointed to Jake’s face. Jake gave his best blue steel and then motioned back at the crowd.

“Gabby did it,” he explained. Sam should have known that Jake needed some help from one of his friends. “We’ve got the look, we’ve got the setlist, we’ve got the extra pizzazz, we’ve got this,” Jake looked around at the group. “How are we all doing?”

“Feeling sexy and free,” Josh replied.

“Love it,” Jake pointed back at him.

“I’ve never felt more alive,” Sam said, and he wasn’t necessarily lying. Jake nodded with a smile.

“I wanna get out there,” Danny answered while twirling his drumsticks around. A stagehand nodded at them, which was their cue, and Jake pointed at the stage with the neck of his guitar.

“Onwards!” he called out. Leading the charge, Jake held his head high and made his way out in front of the crowd, making sure to wave and give thumbs up to as many people as possible. Josh trailed behind him and followed suit, blowing kisses to everyone in the front row. Sam decided it was only right for him to salute the crowd, and he wrapped an arm around Danny before he climbed behind his kit.

“Here’s to our future,” he told Danny. Danny squeezed his shoulder back.

“To our future,” he repeated.

Sam plugged his bass into the amp and closed his eyes for a brief second. It was the final round. They had proved their worth to the audience and earned their spot in the top two. All they had to do now was blow everyone away one last time to get their big break. Sam felt like they could do it.

Jake finished greeting the audience and, after getting his guitar set, he held it up to everyone to see and immediately flattened the crowd with the loud roar of his opening notes to Safari Song. Josh matched his energy with a long and powerful scream to kick things off and, just like that, they were sucked into the music. Sam didn’t allow any of his previous doubts and worries to reach him while he played along with his brothers. He felt free in front of that crowd, and bounced around on the balls of his bare feet, making sure to stay close to the front of the stage so everyone could see him.

During the chorus, Jake and Josh leaned into each other to sing into the same microphone, which was met with loud cheers. Sam caught a glimpse of Danny singing along at the top of his lungs as well while he drummed, even though he wasn’t mic’d up this time around. Josh had taken notes from Sam and Jake about how to increase his showmanship and get the crowd really into it, and made sure to dance around to the music more than he usually did. During Jake’s solo, he goofed around with some girls close to his age, flashing them his nipple before quickly covering it with a wide grin.

They sounded electric, and Sam was amazed to see that the audience was matching their energy. Even though Safari Song was a new one of theirs, the people caught on fast and sang along with Josh and Jake during the chorus, pumping their fists in the air. Josh joined in and led them so they were all in unison, creating a massive wave of fists in the air. Sam had never seen anything like it before, and found himself staring.

At the end of the song, Danny launched into the drum solo that he had been practicing in almost all of his spare time over the past year. Sam was with him for many of those hours when he was trying to figure out what solos to take inspiration from, and what moves he could use to impress. Sam hoped that the crowd appreciated what Danny was doing back there, because he was working his ass off and playing stuff that some professional drummers could only dream of accomplishing. While Danny was hard at work, Josh hurried to the side stage and retrieved a bouquet of white roses that he had picked up from a local florist after their stop at the thrift store. Jake joined Sam by his keyboard and watched Josh jump down from the stage and run across the barricade, passing out flowers to as many people as he could.

“Do you think he’s gonna need help getting back on stage?” Jake asked Sam. They watched him continue to speed around the front of the crowd and Sam shook his head.

“He’s gonna launch himself back on here, I’m sure of it.”

Josh did exactly what Sam predicted, thrusting himself up onto the stage with sheer arm strength, and carried the travel bottles of Fireball and Jameson that had been handed to him from the crowd to his brothers.

“They want us to do shots,” he told Jake and Sam.

“They know we’re underage, right?” Sam checked.

“It’s Michigan, does it really matter?” Josh shrugged back. He handed Jake a bottle of Jameson and Sam a Fireball and then booked it back to center stage so he could throw the hard alcohol back with no hands. Sam placed the small bottle on top of his amp and returned to the front of the crowd since Danny was nearing the end of his solo.

“Ahh, better the isopropyl!” Josh joked into his microphone after finishing his shot, which earned him a thunderous applause from the crowd. Jake shoved the bottle of Jameson back into Josh’s hand as he passed by to return to his spot on stage, and told Josh something that Sam couldn't hear.

“Let’s go!” Danny called behind his drum kit, and Jake took the lead, entering into their second song of the set, Black Smoke Rising. It was a crowd favorite when they played it at biker bars, and Sam felt like it truly captured the essence of Greta Van Fleet.

He was surprised to hear shouts from the crowd like they recognized the song, and even a few people outside of those they knew were singing along with Josh. Sam didn’t know what to make of that, but he liked the feeling of having the lyrics they worked so hard to compose sung back to them. Sam played through his complicated basslines and felt Danny’s drumming pounding through his feet. From his vantage point, they were all playing at their best, and the audience was eating it up.

“Yeah, Sam!” he could hear some of his friends holler from the sea of people. He scanned around for them and then flashed them a wide smile when his eyes met theirs. This made them cheer louder, and the people around them followed suit. On his side of the stage, Jake had the audience in the palm of his hand. They watched him in muted awe as he played and mouthed out his part and would scream when Jake jumped around the stage and shimmied his shoulders to the beat. Those in front of Josh were the loudest, and he egged them on by raising his hands up, indicating that they keep the calls of approval going. Sam only wished that Danny could experience the adrenaline rush he was feeling at the front of the stage, but he also knew that Danny was most comfortable in the back where people weren’t scrutinizing his every move. It had taken Sam a while to get used to being in that position.

Like he had pulled off in every other song of theirs, Jake effortlessly flew through his solo with his eyes shut and held his guitar in front of him as he shredded. The song ended with the buzzing feedback from their amps, and the audience cheered over the static. They let their applause carry them as Jake retrieved his acoustic guitar and Sam set himself up behind his keys.

“Thank you all for coming out here tonight,” Josh addressed the crowd. The sun was just starting to set, and Sam could feel the heat from the stage lights starting to reach him. “You all look beautiful out there,” Josh added. “I can’t say we’ve ever played to a crowd this big before but, well, I think I could get used to this.” Josh chuckled and then looked back at his band. “Ready?” he asked them, covering his hand over the microphone. They gave him nods and thumbs up, and Josh returned back to the crowd. “This next one is a love song to a really important movement that took place in the 60s. Some of you were around for it, and I’m jealous. It’s called Flower Power.”

Sam was the one to bring them in this time around, and he played up and down his keyboard on the organ setting, taking the crowd to church. Danny tapped his cymbals behind him, and then Jake joined in with his acoustic guitar, filling the field with their upbeat song.

“She’s a lady, comes from all around, she’s many places but she’s homeward bound,” Josh sang along. Sam looked up from his keys and grinned when he saw that people were starting to lift their lighters up and sway them to the beat. Josh reacted to the same thing and took a pause from the lyrics to call, “Light it up!”

“Like we did the porta potties,” Sam could overhear Jake call into Josh’s ear. Josh laughed, which made him miss the next part of the verse, but he quickly recovered.

“She’s a sparrow of the dawn, our love is born…”

Sam especially enjoyed playing Flower Power since his organ playing added a complex layer to the sound they already excelled at creating. He loved how the organ wafted in and out of Jake’s guitar playing, and fell in time with Danny’s drums. Plus, he could sit on his ass and take a break from making eye contact with as many people as possible. He left that to Jake and Josh, who stood together at the front of the stage and played back to back. Someone in the crowd tossed a bouquet of daisies onto the stage, and Josh leaned over to grab it as he continued to sing. He plucked out a white one and brought it back to Jake, checking with him first before tucking it behind his ear while he continued playing his guitar. Jake met the cheers with a bashful bow, and Josh brought the bouquet back to Danny and laid it by his feet, mouthing out “for you.”

The song came to a slow as Josh drew out his notes and Sam let the music take him away into his solo. He played with the chords he had used throughout the song and created a melody from scratch, blaring the sound from his keyboard and rocking his head back and forth to the beat. His hand passed up and down the keyboard and used both levels of the keys to play the bass and higher notes. He could see Danny, Josh, and Jake watching him and nodding with happy approval as he went and then Danny joined in on the cymbals, giving Josh the cue to let out his final note to close the song. Sam could feel the final note still ringing through his finger tips, and he took the pause to remove his suit jacket, exposing his bare chest to the crowd. Those stage lights really were intense.

Josh was back in front of the crowd and basked in their cheers for a while before calling over them, “We have a new one for you tonight. How does that sound?” They were met with roars of approval. Sam remained at his spot with his keyboard, buzzing with excitement while Jake strapped back on his electric guitar. It had been a part of Jake’s plan that they bust out a song they had been workshopping over the past year. It was a bold move, considering they hadn’t practiced it as much as some of their other songs, but Sam knew that they had created something special when they wrote it.

Josh pointed back at Sam and he played on his mellotron setting, serenading the swarm of people with a flow of hypnotizing notes. The vibrations from his keys rose from his fingers up into his soul, and he could feel the music taking him away. He took a pause from playing to hear the claps from the crowd, and then entered into the beginning of Age of Man. Danny softly kept the beat behind him with his cymbal, and Jake added in some ad lib playing, fluttering across his strings.

“This is about the story of us all,” Josh told the crowd over the instrumental music. “In an age of darkness light appears, and it wards away the ancient fears,” he began to sing. As Sam played along, he felt like he was transported outside of his body and soaring up into the universe, past all of the troubles of Earth. Out amongst the stars, as he played his mellotron, he felt light as a feather. He could feel the very essence of his being come to life, dancing in front of his eyes to the beat of their music.

“Ooh ooh, oooh ooh ooh,” Josh cooed into the microphone in his high register. Sam let in a deep breath and then exhaled as they entered the main part of the song, Jake’s guitar coming to life. Sam played in time with him and continued to feel the power of the music flowing through him.

“A tree of life in rain and sun, to reach the sky it’s just begun,” Josh sang with his eyes squeezed shut. The crowd seemed to be holding their breaths as the song carried them forward, and when they hit the chorus, it felt like there was a collective release. As Josh thundered out, “And as we came into the clear, to find ourselves where we are here,” Sam noticed that the people in front of them had let the music take control. Many of them had their eyes closed and their hands raised to the sky, swaying back and forth and feeling alive. Sam had never felt such a close connection with so many people at once, but he knew that they were all brought together in that moment. He looked to his right briefly and raised an eyebrow when he saw that Fellowship was standing a few yards away, watching Greta Van Fleet with their mouths hung open. Their bassist was even moving along with the crowd, like he couldn’t help it.

Sam was learning right then and there that, while engineering and going to college had its pros, he would never experience anything like what he was going through on that stage. He was bringing people together with his closest friends, and they were succeeding with flying colors. Sam began to understand the power of music and all that they could accomplish with it if they did it right, and all of his lingering doubts and concerns immediately flushed away for good.

The song finished and they were met by silence before some guy in the middle of the audience called out, “Holy shit!” People seemed to agree, because the cheers were deafening. Jake pointed back at Sam, and he stood from his stool, took a shaky breath, and bowed. He had never let a song take him so many places before. It was a good thing they decided to end things with Highway Tune, since that was one of Sam’s favorite songs to play, and he knew it by heart.

Jake teased the crowd by crouching low at center stage, looking around at everyone and wiggling his eyebrows as Danny crashed on his cymbals.

“We don’t want to go, but we’ll leave you with one for the road,” Josh spoke into his microphone. Jake nodded his head and started to churn out the Highway Tune theme as he continued to crouch lower and lower while tapping his foot. Josh, Danny, and Sam joined in and shocked the crowd out of their hypnotic state with the high energy song. Sam jumped around while he played and grinned when he saw the crowd bouncing along with him.

“Are you ready?” Sam approached Danny’s side of the kit to call to him. Danny didn’t miss a single beat as he smirked at Sam.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life,” he joked back. Josh ran back to join them and expertly swooped into Danny’s position behind the drums, swapping with him so Danny was free. Josh carried the beat forward and whooped out with glee, crashing some of the cymbals just for fun. While Josh went to town and Sam and Jake continued to play alongside him, Danny retrieved his own Fender from the side stage, plugged it in, and started an overdrive solo, playing next to Jake and surprising the crowd. Jake took over the rhythm guitar part and nodded for Danny to go out into the spotlight so he could have his moment of fame. While he at first looked hesitant, Danny made his way in front of everyone and came out of his shell, transforming into a rock god.

“Do it, Danny!” Josh hollered from the back of the stage.

Sam watched his friend go and could feel his heart swell with pride. Jake needed to be watch out for Danny.

Danny closed out his solo by jokingly tucking his own guitar over his head, but then motioned to the crowd that he was only kidding. He and Jake played a duet of the main riff and then the music opened for Sam to jump in and take his own solo. While Josh continued to bash on the drums with the power of a hundred men, Sam hustled to center stage, flipped his long hair out of his face, and let his bass take over the melody. He churned out bone rattling notes alongside Josh’s fast-paced drumming and was happy that he was playing a pretty funky line with a little stank on it.

While he continued to play, Danny took the opportunity to spend some time of his own with the crowd, and caught a bottle of Fireball that was tossed to him. Even though his parents and younger sister were in attendance, he quickly opened the bottle and downed it before returning back to his guitar part. Jake grabbed a pair of oversized Elton John-esque sunglasses that had been tossed on stage and brought them back to Josh to wear. Josh called out in glee when Jake pressed them onto his face, and then stuck his tongue out while he continued to play. For Sam, Danny placed a cowboy hat on his head, which made him laugh. It was like Jake and Danny were making all the costumes and props appear out of nowhere. Danny shoved a trucker cap onto Jake’s head and Jake retaliated by tossing a feather boa around Danny’s shoulders.

Sam’s bass solo transformed into a jam session on stage, and Jake inserted one of his favorite Black Keys riffs, which the audience approved of. Sweat was starting to plaster over Sam, so he knocked the cowboy hat off of his head and contemplated taking the shot Josh had given him earlier. Maybe not a good idea to do that, he told himself. So instead he made his way to Danny and whispered in his ear, “Do Elvis.” It was something they liked goofing around with during rehearsals. Danny looked eager to do it, and whispered the same thing to Jake. Jake passed it on to Josh and then, in a rapid transition, they slowed it down and started playing “That’s Alright.”

To everyone’s surprise, Danny stationed himself in front of the microphone.

“That’s alright mama, that’s alright with me,” he crooned in a nearly spot-on Elvis impersonation. He took a pause to laugh at what they were doing, and then tried out his best Elvis-inspired hip thrusts and wiggles. Sam heard a few girls scream in the crowd, which made him cackle. Danny fed into their energy and pouted his lips while he continued to sing the opening to the song. “Take it away, Josh!” he called, motioning back at Josh. He had a microphone set up in front of him, and started to scream the lyrics in his signature voice while flinging his drumsticks all over the place.

They made it through the chorus, and then Jake retrieved his lucky harmonica from his back pocket. He held it up for Josh to see so he would stop playing, and let his guitar lazily flop in front of him as he grabbed his microphone and held it up to the harmonica, which was practically glued to his lips.

All of the Kiszka children had been taught the harmonica by their father, since he was a pretty damn good player himself and wanted to pass it on to his kin. Of the four siblings, Jake had been the one to really feel a connection with the instrument, and spent a lot of his time on long road trips practicing, much to the protest of everyone else in the car. Jake’s incessant playing seemed to pay off though as he let out a bluesy tune which, backed with Danny’s concentrated guitar playing, sounded really good. At this point in their set, all of them were nearly drenched, they were covered in so much sweat, but Sam still felt like he had enough energy in him to light up an entire power grid. The audience was definitely into it, and their excitement was what made Sam all the more determined to give it everything he had. That, and he so desperately wanted to get Greta Van Fleet on the map. After all that they had been through, they deserved some recognition.

Jake and Josh started to do a call and response with the harmonica and Josh’s vocals which led to a hearty applause, and then Jake, satisfied with his performance, tucked his harmonica back in his pocket and turned his trucker cap backwards. He took back to center stage, bringing Danny with him, and stood with his guitar held out and ready to play. Josh, Danny, and Sam had stopped playing alongside Jake so the only sound was the on beat clapping from the audience. Jake beamed around at everyone, looked at Danny, and raised his eyebrows. Danny held his guitar out in front of him too, indicating that he was ready to go and, together, they brought everyone back into Highway Tune with the main riff.

While Jake continued on, Danny put his guitar away and switched back with Josh so he could finish singing while Danny closed out the song on his drums. Josh booked it to the front of the stage, got everyone to give a round of applause for Danny, and then belted out the last part of the song. As he let out his glass-shattering last note on “Sugar,” it felt like there wasn’t a single person at the festival who wasn’t cheering for them. Sam looked out at the sea of happy faces and tried his best to take a mental photo with his mind so he could remember how they looked for the rest of his life. It wasn’t too often that he felt like he had lived through a monumental experience, but this was definitely one of them.

The host came out onto the stage as soon as they finished, calling out, “How about that? Greta Van Fleet everyone!”

Sam dropped his arms to his sides and immediately felt the exhaustion catch up to him. He knew for a fact that they had never put on a performance like that before, and he was practically guaranteed to need a couple of weeks to recover. For that, he was grateful that Jake insisted they do their busking before the final round.

“We’ll be announcing the winner of our Battle of the Bands competition in fifteen minutes!” the host declared. “Stick around, we’ll be back soon!”

“Great job guys,” he congratulated the band once his mic was off and they were on the side of the stage. “Absolutely stellar.”

They thanked him, and then enveloped each other in a celebratory hug. Sam called out in protest when Josh started to ruffle his hair. As they released from each other, Sam was glad to see them all smiling, as spent as they looked.

“I hope someone filmed that,” Danny commented.

Jake nodded. “That shit could go in the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame.”

“Cocky,” Josh warned him. Jake threw up his shoulders and laughed.

“I think I have every right to act cocky after a show like that, Jesus Christ.”

They teetered down the steps to get off the stage and almost immediately were met by a small crowd, congratulating them and demanding to know how they were so good. It made Sam a bit uncomfortable since he wasn’t used to being put on a pedestal, but he did have to admit that it felt nice.

But, there was still a voice nagging at him that maybe Fellowship had managed to be better. And that was something they would find out soon.

Final part >>>