As Rise In Girl’s luxury tour bus made its way through the cornfields of central Ohio, Trevor Green felt at peace. He and his bandmates had come a long way since their days riding in cramped, dirty tour buses and sleeping on friends’ couches as they grinded their way through the Ohio underground scene. Now they were at the top of the industry, en route to a venue that was smaller than usual, but one that meant a lot to Trevor.
“Woo-hoo, we out here in the middle of nowhere, baby!” exclaimed Jake Bartoni, the band’s shaggy-haired, gregarious guitar player. “Nice of the college president to let us do this.”
“Oh yeah, it’s good to be able to see my girl for sure,” Trevor replied. “Now if only she would stop keeping me such a secret.”
“Yeah, Trev, what’s the deal with that, man?” asked Dustin Rose, the heavily tattooed bass player. “Her dad’s a big rock star, you’d think she’d want to be the big shot on campus.”
“Nah, it ain’t like that, bro,” Trevor explained, lighting up a joint. “She’s all shy and introverted. She loves the music and loves the scene, but she doesn’t want her friends all up in her business. Too much attention and shit, you know?” He blew out a healthy-sized cloud.
“Oh shit, is that why it’s like a surprise thing?” asked eccentric drummer Paulie Watson. “I heard they’re not even telling the kids until the last minute.”
“Yeah, that’s it,” Trevor said. “We had to arrange it that way with Haggerty. The kids are so into the scene, it’d be a riot around here if they knew we were coming.”
“Damn, that’s some crazy ass shit, bro,” Jake guffawed as the bus drove past the drab gray college campus. Looking at the school’s sign, he observed, “Richard J. Haggerty University. Shit sounds like a goddamn law firm, man. Callie like it here?”
“You know her, man, she’s lowkey,” Trevor replied. “Just wants a liberal arts degree to figure out what the fuck she’s doing with her life. She doesn’t need any of that fancy ass big university shit.”
“Admirable,” Dustin said with respect.
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It was only the second week of college, but already Dexter had made some friends on the baseball team. His roommate, Bobby Albany, was a laid-back and outgoing guy, not to mention a promising two-way player. Lewis Park, Dexter’s fellow infielder and English major, was also part of the group. The three shared the same bizarre, dark sense of humor. They had also gotten to know Dazzy and his girlfriend Kat, who were both big parts of the campus music scene. Things were looking up, and they were about to get a lot more interesting. On this evening, Dexter and his buddies were walking to Fairbanks Hall for dinner after practice.
“So what do you think about the moon landing, bro? They definitely faked the pictures,” Lewis speculated.
“Bruh, you fuckin’ wild,” Bobby scoffed. “Clearly the Kennedy assassination was an inside job.”
“Nah, they were too busy doing 9/11, they didn’t have time for that shit,” Dexter chimed in.
“Man, y’all homies is trippin, I don’t know what the fuck y’all talkin’ about,” Dazzy mused. “This is some white people shit if I ever heard it.”
“Hey, I’m Asian, bro,” Lewis reminded him.
“Aw, my bad.”
“Hey, y’all need to pay attention,” Kat snapped at them. “Check out the sign right here.”
The sign on the Fairbanks Hall door read:
ATTENTION FIGHTING HAMSTERS!!!
Saturday, Aug. 27
9:00 PM
Come see RISE IN GIRL live at the Triangle!
The likenesses of Trevor, Jake, Dustin, and Paulie graced the lower part of the sign.
“Whoaaa,” they collectively reacted.