Westwood School

Motley Crew

Magnolia:

I looked in the mirror and rang my hands through my hair, trying to give it a little volume and make it "cool girl". I kinda desperately wanted to cut curtain bangs. So badly. But the only thing stopping me was acne from bangs (I have temperamental skin).

A hand snaked around my waist as Rowen came up behind me, leaning into my ear. "You look good," he said as I studied our reflections together.

We were backstage at Music Magazine, which wasn't quite as amazing as Rolling Stone, but they were well known for Debuting Bands, as well as notorious for their live television interviews with the bands. This was one.

I had never been on TV before (that I know of), and was extremely flustered and worried I'd look stupid on camera. Like, my school friends from Nashville were having a watch party (sponsored by Ruby), along with literal fanclubs around the world to tune in. Social media was losing its shit about it, #Branded being the number one hashtag on twitter. I didn't run our instagram, and I really tried to not look at the social media side of stuff, but it seemingly was going wild.

This was the night we were going to be telling the public about Counter Culture.

Suddenly me and the boys were ushered by a bunch of super professional looking people to the side of the stage. My hands began to sweat, butterflies filled my stomach and my knees weakened as I watched the clock countdown for us to walk on stage. Rowen slipped a comforting hand into mine, squeezing it gently.

God I love him, was my last thought before the moment arrived for the five of us to waltz into the coaches on stage that were placed next to the desk the host, Damien Red (an ex member of a 70s rock band) sat behind.

Applause and cheering filled the room from the in house crowd as the cameras started rolling. We walked over and sat down in the seats, I sat on the far end, closest to the host, and on my right was Rowen and Caspian (in that order). Laurent and Matteo sat happily on another bench to the side of ours.

As soon as the cheering settled down, the long haired old man with a gruff voice from years of smoking started talking.

"Alright alright! Thank you for being on the show tonight."

"Pleasure to be here," Laurent said and the rest of us nodded along.

" Of course of course! And for those of you in the audience who don't know who you are, why don't you introduce yourself?"

I beamed in a practiced smile, "I'm Magnolia Harris, I'm 16, I'm from Nashville Tennessee, and I am half of the lead guitar and vocals for this amazing band, Branded." Some cheers filled the audience, and I just smiled along.

"I'm Rowen Ashworth, I'm 18, born in raised London, and I am the other half of the lead guitar and vocals," He turned to look at me as he said the last part, throwing a wink in that paralyzed me for a moment.

"I'm Caspian Grant- Martin, I'm 18 as well, I'm good looking, but that needs no introduction," My jaw dropped as he said that, but he kept talking, "another London boy myself, and I play bass."

He threw a wink in with the comment, and I honestly wanna know how the hell he scored someone so put together and perfect like Ivy when he's a flat out hot mess.

"I'm Matteo, I'm 19, I'm from Madrid, and I play drums. On top of that, I'm annoyed with Caspain, but who isn't?"

That comment solicited multiple laughs from the crowd, and us.

"I'm Laurent Moreau, I'm Parisian, 18 as well, and I play the key-board, and I am annoyed with all of these... children."

His think accent shown through, and his obviously french attitude showed, which led to even more laughter.

Damien Red even laughed as well, "Well I can see you sure are a motley crew-"

I glanced between the five of us. I mean, he wasn't exactly wrong per-say. Laurent was wearing a well tailored suit which designer shoes. Matteo was in black pants and a tight black shirt, a corduroy jacket over it, looking very handsome if I do say so myself. Caspian looked a bit like a wannabe Kurt Cobain.

Rowen was looking delicious, and was giving me serious 60s Rolling Stones vibes (and maybe a little bit harry styles as well). I am honestly surprised he didn't wear head to toe pink in Keith Richards style. He wore black pants that were slightly flared, a loose fitting white shirt he unbuttoned, and a red leather jacket on top.

I wanted to jump his bones so badly.

I wore just a pair of boots, bell bottoms and a vintage bohemian blouse.

"-how did you all meet?" Damien Red finished.

"School," Caspian blurted out, not hesitating a minute. Once again, seemed to get a kick out of the audience.

"Speaking of school and teenagers, you seem to have a very avid fan base? Why do you think that is?"

I spoke up this time, "Honestly, I'm not sure. Maybe it's because we seem like a little breakfast club. Maybe it's because we popped out of no were. If anything, I think it's because we are trying to reinvent the way music is perceived, and we fulfill a bit of that rock and roll dream I think so many people have."

We kept talking for a while, asking about the music and ourselves, cracking a joke here or there before we got to the exciting part of the meeting.

"So, I have here a bit of a surprise for the audience," Damien said, and he pulls a vinyl of our album out, "Branded is here to announce their new album, Counter Culture, as well as their international tour! The first concert will be here in London, and the album will drop as soon as the first night of the tour is over. It will feature the opening band..."

It was hard to hear him finish over the screaming crowd. I can't believe I was dealing with Gemma at Westwood school less than a month ago. 

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