Track one- Hail

A Chapter by Kate Baedecker

Meet Christian and Johnny

My t-shirt sticks to my skin, totally cold and damp, making hairs stick up on the back of my neck. The water swishes around the sand, looking as if it's not quite ready to form waves. I crack a small smile, it'd be almost invisible if not for the sliver of sun peeking through a mostly overcast sky.

“What're you smiling about?”

Johnny asks. His eyes are closed, and I'm wondering how long I'd been zoned out.

“How can you even tell I'm smiling?”

I ask, and he just shrugs.

“I dunno. Asian psychic powers.”

I roll my eyes and lean back into the sand. Really bad decision, as the grainy stuff is covering my back in seconds. I just stay there anyways though, I'm too sleepy to sit up right now, too sleepy to do anything.

“It's just…” I start taking without really planning my words. “I guess this is some good songwriting fuel, y'know? Laying on a beach in the rain.”

The corners of Johnny's mouth twitch. He groans.

“No, this is preteen emo girl songwriting fuel. That's not our kind of music.”

He says it like we were a real band. The closest we've come to performing anything is playing messy bass and drums in his basement to a song I scribbled on a napkin. We didn't really make music, as fun as it was to pretend.

“It could be.” I say, not even sure if I'm joking or not. “We don't have a kind of music yet.”

I could almost feel Johnny cringing at my suggestion. He shifted in the sand, muddying up the back of his shirt. The rain had gotten heavier and was now pelting our faces aggressively.

“Screw that. Let's get inside before you start spewing s**t like 'MCR saved my life”.

We both stand up and brush and off as best we can, but the sand must be stubborn and refuses to completely disappear.

The rain turns into hail seconds after we reach Mia’s car. Johnny gets into the passenger seat and almost immediately flicks on the radio. As he flips through the stations I watch the hail beat the windows.

“This is kind of a sick beat, huh?” Johnny grins and starts tapping the window. I roll my eyes and buckle up.

“Totally. Why don’t we just name our first album Hail?”

Johnny nods approvingly.

“That’ll sell out real fast.”

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