Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > We Are The Kids From Yesterday
10 years ago was the day that changed my life forever. Who would have thought singing one song would change everything, so much? I was straightening my long, black hair when I got a phone call, from my best friend, Cherry.
“Hey, you up for band practice today? The guys are already here, just waiting for you to get your ass here,” she literally shouted down the phone at me. “In other words, be here in the next ten minutes or I’m hunting you down.” She hung up. I had no say in what was going on, and I loved Cherry for that.
I remember my Dad saying something about Frank being a bit like Cherry when their band first started, I guess that’s where she gets it from. Quickly, I finished off my hair and put a bit of eye-liner on, grabbed my notebook and ran out the door, not bothering to say goodbye; I was always going in and out of the house and my cell was permanently in my pocket.
Walking down the road wasn’t particularly easy. Not everyone knew who I was, but some did. Being the daughter of a famous rock-star was tricky; it’s all I knew so I couldn’t imagine life without this hassle. Eventually, I got to the Ieros’.
“Finally!” said Pheonix, as he answered the door. My cousin was always being sarcastic towards me, probably making up for my Uncle Mikey’s quietness. I hit him. “Hey! What was that for!?”
“Because you’re a sarcastic prick, who needs to be taught where he stands. You forget that I’m three years older than you. Love you really, cous,” I grinned at him.
“Yeah. Love you too. Asshole,” There was no point saying anything back, we were practically siblings, and so it would go on for hours and end up in a scrap.
“Bandit! Thank God, you’re here, I thought I was going to go mad! Cole won’t shut up, Ace is being obsessed by his ‘fro and Pheonix—“
“Is being Pheonix?”
“Yeah,” She laughed. “Oh, I wrote a new song. C’mon, I’ll show you.”
We walked through the house, until we reached stairs down to the basement. Uncle Frankie cleared it out, just for us, a few years back. We’ve got guitars and basses all on the walls, amps up against one wall and a drum kit near the back. I sat down and looked in the only mirror in the room.
“Oh my God, I look terrible!”
“No you don’t,” Piped up a small voice from the back. Cole. He was the exact image of my Uncle Frank. Even when he was younger, they still looked the same.
“It’s Cherry’s fault. She was going to hunt me down if I didn’t hurry,” I sighed. Cole always listened to me; I don’t know what it was. He always wanted to be near me, since this whole band thing started.
“Here’s that song I wrote,” Cherry said handing me a piece of paper. “It’s only a verse or chorus at the moment, but I’m sure we can work on it.”
Written on it was:
I’m gunna burn all my old diaries,
Wash away these tears and start again.
This was never how I thought it would be,
And now I crash and break,
At the thought of your face.
“Oh, Cherry, this is amazing!” I told her. I was shocked that she even wrote songs.
“Thanks, I wrote some guitar to it, with the help from Ace. I’ll play it now,” She said, grabbing her guitar.
Her fingers moved on the fret board, from string to string. Cherry was really good at guitar, she’d obviously picked that up from Uncle Frank. Ace was just as good as his dad, my Uncle Ray, but Cherry was better at writing.
The song she was playing was like something from The Poison, by Bullet For My Valentine. But it wasn’t quite metal, which was a good thing, because we were rock. Either way, it was still an amazing guitar line.
Ace started to join in. Pretty soon after, Pheonix was trying out some bass to it and Cole was doing drummer stuff. I was the only one not doing anything, but I picked up the tune quite quickly.
After pressing record on the laptop, I began singing the words and adding my own to it. I sang whatever came to my head, I just let everything out. Before long, we had our 5th song. Which wasn’t bad, considering we’d only been writing for a few weeks, even though we’d been thinking of being a band for the last ten years. Pheonix had only decided he was going to be a bassist last year, and Ace had spent the six months before we started in Mexico, for some reason.
I listened to it and wrote down the lyrics, that I’d sung. We made changes to it, because it wasn’t entirely perfect, and I wanted the whole band to have something to do with the writing. When it was good enough, we practiced it again.
In mid-song, Pheonix and Ace stopped playing. Out of confusion, so did everyone else.
“Cole and Bandit, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…” Chanted Ace and Pheonix. Cole looked at them, with tears almost in his eyes and ran off. Cherry sighed and looked up to God, as if to ask why.
The two boys were sniggering at what they’d done.
“What the hell was that for!?”
“He was staring at you, weirdly,”
“Lovey dovey weirdly,” added Ace, high-fiving Pheonix.
“You two are unbelievable,” I screamed, as I stormed out, to sort Cole out.
I found him, crying, on the couch, upstairs. What the boys had done wasn’t nice, but there really wasn’t any need for him to cry.
“Cole,” I said, as I sat down next to him. “They were only joking, there’s no need to cry.” I put my arm around him, and he rested him head on my shoulder.
“I know, I guess, I- Bandit, I still like you,” He said, still sobbing a little.
“We’ve been through this…”
“Yeah, but I felt something. When we kissed,”
“Cole, we’ve never kissed…”
“Yes we have! When I was 4, the day I got my drum set. I felt something, something good. And I think, I think…”
“You were 4! That was ten whole years ago!”
“I think that I love you.”
I backed away. What the hell was I going to say to him? He’d let out a huge secret, emotion and confession.
“Cole—“
“No, I really do love you. More than anything. I’d do anything for you, anything,”
“It’s a bit awkward, don’t you think?” I exclaimed, looking at him. He was down, maybe he regretted saying those things.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m 17. You’re 14. That’s just, not really going to work,” I looked down. “I’m sorry,”
“No. It makes sense, I guess. I’ll wait for you,”
“Cole, please…”
“We should probably get back, anyway…”
“Yeah…” We got up, I hugged him. “It’ll work out for you one day,” I promised him. He held me closer and tighter, I felt warm and fuzzy. Something clicked.
“I hope so.” He whispered, to me.
“Hey, you up for band practice today? The guys are already here, just waiting for you to get your ass here,” she literally shouted down the phone at me. “In other words, be here in the next ten minutes or I’m hunting you down.” She hung up. I had no say in what was going on, and I loved Cherry for that.
I remember my Dad saying something about Frank being a bit like Cherry when their band first started, I guess that’s where she gets it from. Quickly, I finished off my hair and put a bit of eye-liner on, grabbed my notebook and ran out the door, not bothering to say goodbye; I was always going in and out of the house and my cell was permanently in my pocket.
Walking down the road wasn’t particularly easy. Not everyone knew who I was, but some did. Being the daughter of a famous rock-star was tricky; it’s all I knew so I couldn’t imagine life without this hassle. Eventually, I got to the Ieros’.
“Finally!” said Pheonix, as he answered the door. My cousin was always being sarcastic towards me, probably making up for my Uncle Mikey’s quietness. I hit him. “Hey! What was that for!?”
“Because you’re a sarcastic prick, who needs to be taught where he stands. You forget that I’m three years older than you. Love you really, cous,” I grinned at him.
“Yeah. Love you too. Asshole,” There was no point saying anything back, we were practically siblings, and so it would go on for hours and end up in a scrap.
“Bandit! Thank God, you’re here, I thought I was going to go mad! Cole won’t shut up, Ace is being obsessed by his ‘fro and Pheonix—“
“Is being Pheonix?”
“Yeah,” She laughed. “Oh, I wrote a new song. C’mon, I’ll show you.”
We walked through the house, until we reached stairs down to the basement. Uncle Frankie cleared it out, just for us, a few years back. We’ve got guitars and basses all on the walls, amps up against one wall and a drum kit near the back. I sat down and looked in the only mirror in the room.
“Oh my God, I look terrible!”
“No you don’t,” Piped up a small voice from the back. Cole. He was the exact image of my Uncle Frank. Even when he was younger, they still looked the same.
“It’s Cherry’s fault. She was going to hunt me down if I didn’t hurry,” I sighed. Cole always listened to me; I don’t know what it was. He always wanted to be near me, since this whole band thing started.
“Here’s that song I wrote,” Cherry said handing me a piece of paper. “It’s only a verse or chorus at the moment, but I’m sure we can work on it.”
Written on it was:
I’m gunna burn all my old diaries,
Wash away these tears and start again.
This was never how I thought it would be,
And now I crash and break,
At the thought of your face.
“Oh, Cherry, this is amazing!” I told her. I was shocked that she even wrote songs.
“Thanks, I wrote some guitar to it, with the help from Ace. I’ll play it now,” She said, grabbing her guitar.
Her fingers moved on the fret board, from string to string. Cherry was really good at guitar, she’d obviously picked that up from Uncle Frank. Ace was just as good as his dad, my Uncle Ray, but Cherry was better at writing.
The song she was playing was like something from The Poison, by Bullet For My Valentine. But it wasn’t quite metal, which was a good thing, because we were rock. Either way, it was still an amazing guitar line.
Ace started to join in. Pretty soon after, Pheonix was trying out some bass to it and Cole was doing drummer stuff. I was the only one not doing anything, but I picked up the tune quite quickly.
After pressing record on the laptop, I began singing the words and adding my own to it. I sang whatever came to my head, I just let everything out. Before long, we had our 5th song. Which wasn’t bad, considering we’d only been writing for a few weeks, even though we’d been thinking of being a band for the last ten years. Pheonix had only decided he was going to be a bassist last year, and Ace had spent the six months before we started in Mexico, for some reason.
I listened to it and wrote down the lyrics, that I’d sung. We made changes to it, because it wasn’t entirely perfect, and I wanted the whole band to have something to do with the writing. When it was good enough, we practiced it again.
In mid-song, Pheonix and Ace stopped playing. Out of confusion, so did everyone else.
“Cole and Bandit, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…” Chanted Ace and Pheonix. Cole looked at them, with tears almost in his eyes and ran off. Cherry sighed and looked up to God, as if to ask why.
The two boys were sniggering at what they’d done.
“What the hell was that for!?”
“He was staring at you, weirdly,”
“Lovey dovey weirdly,” added Ace, high-fiving Pheonix.
“You two are unbelievable,” I screamed, as I stormed out, to sort Cole out.
I found him, crying, on the couch, upstairs. What the boys had done wasn’t nice, but there really wasn’t any need for him to cry.
“Cole,” I said, as I sat down next to him. “They were only joking, there’s no need to cry.” I put my arm around him, and he rested him head on my shoulder.
“I know, I guess, I- Bandit, I still like you,” He said, still sobbing a little.
“We’ve been through this…”
“Yeah, but I felt something. When we kissed,”
“Cole, we’ve never kissed…”
“Yes we have! When I was 4, the day I got my drum set. I felt something, something good. And I think, I think…”
“You were 4! That was ten whole years ago!”
“I think that I love you.”
I backed away. What the hell was I going to say to him? He’d let out a huge secret, emotion and confession.
“Cole—“
“No, I really do love you. More than anything. I’d do anything for you, anything,”
“It’s a bit awkward, don’t you think?” I exclaimed, looking at him. He was down, maybe he regretted saying those things.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m 17. You’re 14. That’s just, not really going to work,” I looked down. “I’m sorry,”
“No. It makes sense, I guess. I’ll wait for you,”
“Cole, please…”
“We should probably get back, anyway…”
“Yeah…” We got up, I hugged him. “It’ll work out for you one day,” I promised him. He held me closer and tighter, I felt warm and fuzzy. Something clicked.
“I hope so.” He whispered, to me.
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