Gavin sat doing his homework in his school’s library at one of the sparse empty tables scattered throughout the books and emptiness.

One more question to go. If X equals the denominator of Y squared . . . Oh come on, can’t they make these harder? Gavin thought to himself as he quickly scribbled the answer down. He put his calculus book away and glanced at his watch. The student he was supposed to tutor should have been there by now.

Gavin sat for about ten minutes before a young blond can running into the library. He stopped quickly to apologize to the librarian who yelled at him, then walked at a furious pace to Gavin’s table. Gavin raised an eyebrow over his glasses. The blond stood panting before him, raising one finger to say, ‘one minute!’

“Adam…Breckler?” Gavin asked. The blond nodded and said, “Yeah, that’s me sorry I’m late. You see, I had to stop and talk to this one girl because I wanted to ask her to the dance next week . . . I didn’t know it would take to so long, but I had to really put on the charm but she said ‘no’ anyway and, I’m really, really sorry and–wait, aren’t you in grade 12?”

Gavin sat staring at him for a second, trying to take in his run on sentence and make sense of it. “Um, yeah. I’m in grade 12. So?” Gavin asked skeptically.

“Well, because . . . um . . . I’m in OAC. And, you see . . . ”

Gavin sighed and pulled out his Biology book. “Adam, I know what you’re trying to say. I think you feel a little . . . ”

“Stupid?”

“A little stupid getting help from me. But if you think about it, it’s not that big a deal. It’s only a year. And I have a feeling you wouldn’t need help in biology if that girl you were talking about wasn’t in there.”

Adam stood there a moment with a bewildered look on his face. He then smiled and sat down. “Shit, you’re probably right. Sorry about the year stuff.”

“It’s ok. You ready to pass that biology test?”

Adam nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be. Hey, what’s your name again?”

“I never gave it, but it’s Gavin. Gavin Sykes.” He said as he reached out and shook Adam’s hand.

“Sykes? Do you have an older brother. . .um. . .Gar. . .Gary…I don’t know. Graduated a couple of years ago?”

“Yeah, Garrett. Why?”

“Oh, I was in a music class with him my first year here. I remember he was really good.”

“Ah, yeah that’s probably him than. What instrument do you play?”

“Um, 2/3rds bass.”

“Oh? So you’re the bassist! Mr. Broughburry talks about you a lot in class. He claims you’re very good.”

“Oh? You’re in music? What do you play?”

“Well, I play piano and violin in class. But I also play . . . um . . . the accordion.” Gavin said shyly.

“Accordion?” Adam asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, accordion. Laugh all you want. ” Gavin said flipping pages through his book to the correct chapter.

“Dude no, that’s really cool. So, do you like jam with your brother or something after school?”

“Well, yeah. We’ve made up a few songs and played them together. It’s basically our life outside of school.”

“Wow. That’s really cool. I wish I had someone to jam with,” Adam said with a disgusted look on his face. “But I’ve only got my stupid little sister, and all she cares about is shopping and shit.” Gavin thought for a moment, and then grinned. “Care to jam sometime?”

***

Garrett threw open the door of his family’s apartment and drug his feet as he walked in. He plopped down on the couch, and just sat there. “I really hate my job.” He mumbled to himself.

He was the only one in the house at the moment. But that’s the way it usually was. Gavin was at school all day. And his parents? Well, the last he heard they were somewhere in Nicaragua photographing rare birds. But that was a few weeks ago. He and his brother should be receiving another post card any day now. It had been like this for as long as he could remember. His parents were always traveling . . . his dad being a professional photographer and all. As far as he knew, he wasn’t even born in Canada because of this. But he wasn’t sure if his parents were teasing him when they told him this.

Garrett leaned across the couch to the side table and picked up a photo frame. Inside was a picture of himself and his family from somewhere in Nova Scotia. He and his brother were only seven and ten in the picture. That was a long time ago, seeing on how they were seventeen and twenty now.

He grinned. He could finally see where he and his brother got their physical traits. His brother was either cursed or blessed with their mother’s red hair and freckles. However, Gavin had his father’s squared face and wide nose. Garrett could see he himself had gotten his dad’s thick, fluffy, dark brown hair, and his mother’s long slender face.

He couldn’t remember much about their trip to Nova Scotia. The only thing he could remember was he nearly fell off some rocks into the Bay of Fundy. If it wasn’t for his brother’s quick action, he could have been seriously injured—or worse. It had taken Garrett a few years to get over his fear of climbing large rock formations. Luckily his training in Hwa Rang Do helped him deal with his fears more quickly than if he had never been trained. Garrett was pulled out of his memories when the door flew open and a flash of red hair ran in.

“Garrett! Get your guitar out!” He yelled. Garrett groaned. He loved playing guitar, but he was too pooped to get up and get it. Waking up at five in the morning every day and working in a bakery till three made him extremely tired. Before he could argue, his guitar was shoved onto his lap by his brother who could tell he was just being too lazy to get it.

“Gavin, what the hell is the rush?” Garrett asked sleepily. He heard a loud thump, and glanced past his brother at a slim guy with a large instrument in a gig bag.

“This is Adam. He plays a bass. I thought it would be cool if we tried playing with him.” Gavin said with a smile. Garrett squinted at the stranger. “Adam eh? You look familiar.”

Adam shifted nervously. “Yeah, well, we had a class together a few years ago. Music class. ”

“Oh I remember you. The bassist . . . of course. I remember now. You were pretty good.” Garrett said rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes.

Adam smiled nervously. “Yeah? You’re not messing with me?”

“Of course. I don’t lie,” Garrett said, sitting up and tuning his guitar. “But let’s see what you’ve got now.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Colin was nervous. It was his first time playing for an audience. Well, a real audience anyway. His three older brothers and one sister were used to his performances. But until now, they were his only audience.

Colin peeked around the corner at the act playing. There were three guys who looked to be around their late teens, or perhaps older. They were really good. The oldest looking one was singing and playing guitar–man that kid had a head of hair! Another kid on a unique looking electric bass, and an red headed kid with an accordion. It sounded like . . . folk-pop-art-rock to him. Odd combination he thought, but strangely compelling. After their second song, he had taken a liking to them and their persona on stage. They started playing another song when he was tapped on the shoulder.

“Rabideau? You’re on next. Your amp set up out there?” Asked the café event planner quietly enough not to disturb the performers, but loud enough for Colin to hear him. Colin nodded at him. The planner gave him the thumbs up and left. Colin took a deep breath trying to calm his nerves. As their song was wrapping up, Colin took a swig of his lemon water to clear his throat, and put on his “Clearly Canadian” fuzzy hat. The small group bowed to the polite applause and left the stage opposite of him. Oh come on crowd, they deserve more then that. Colin thought, upset that such talent didn’t get more applause. The event planner rushed past Colin and onto the stage to introduce him. Colin felt another wave of nervousness flow through him. This was not a good crowd to begin with. Probably pop loving kids and the occasional uptight pony-tailed men with majors in music who had nothing better to do then scowl at new musicians while sipping java’s. Colin grimaced. The event planner came back to Colin’s side and gave him the, ‘You’re on.’ look. Colin pushed his hat forward on his head, and pulled a pick out of his plaid overcoat pocket. He rolled his eyes as he picked up his black Ibanez guitar. He knew no one would understand his choice of attire.

“Well would you look at that.” Gavin said over his coffee to Garrett, who was paying for his Mocha. “What?” Garrett asked, as Adam stepped up and ordered a French soda and plopped his college Biology book down on the counter. Adam was nearly late for their second gig ever due to a late college class.

Adam didn’t want to go to college, but his parents insisted, claiming that he would never get anywhere with music. Gavin who was in his last year of school wasn’t thinking too much about college. He was already taking college courses in lieu of high school courses he had already taken due to his advanced skills.

“The guy on stage, who does he remind you of?” Gavin asked.

Garrett looked at the oddly dressed character on stage. He looked to be about twenty-three or so. His pants were clearly too short, for everyone could see his white socks. He had a god awful red plaid jacket, a fuzzy hat covering his curly black hair and thick sideburns. His nose was round and prominent and rather obvious eyebrows sat above thoughtful looking eyes. Garrett stared, thinking hard. It was too odd to be true. It had to be some sort of huge coincidence that he looked like a young. . .

“Hello there,” Said the young man on the stage, a bit of nervousness crept into his voice. “And thank you for coming out here tonight. The song I’m going to sing is not my own. But, I hope you like it anyway.” And with that he started plucking out a few single notes that swam throughout the café as he seamlessly started adding vocal. “Sweeeet . . . sweeet . . . silence . . . ”

“My god, he’s not…” Garrett said as his idea was driven home.

“See? I knew it. He’s trying to be like--”

“The Guitar God himself?” Adam asked, sidetracked by his blackberry French Soda.

“Yeah,” Garrett said in awe. “He’s playing and singing just like Martin freekin Tielli.”

Martin Tielli voted number one guitarist in Canada with no one to argue otherwise. Lead guitarist for the cult hit Rheostatics, Martin became known to a select few people in Canada as the Italian Canadian, smoke puffing, Alcohol downing, pants too short for his legs, falsetto singing, guitar scratching, effects pedal god of Canadian Rock. Or in short he was also known as the Renaissance Man. A highly talented, highly unknown, yet known, never seen but always sought, man.

Colin stepped offstage when he was finished. His brother Dylan was there to congratulate him. “Awesome job Col. I’ve never heard you sing so well.” Colin shrugged, smiling. “Thanks bro. But the audience seems a little . . . ”

“Uptight?” His sister Theresa chimed in. Colin nodded. “Yeah, very.” He said while picking at the buttons on his jacket. “I don’t think anyone understood what I was going for.”

Dylan smirked. “Does it matter? You got their attention. I think they liked you just fine.”

“You know what, I think you can sing higher then I can.” Theresa said slyly, trying to cheer Colin up.

“What are you talking about? You can’t sing.” Dylan smirked. Theresa punched him playfully on the shoulder.

“What’s wrong with being able to sing falsetto?” Colin asked feeling a little hurt.

“Oh relax. It’s a manly falsetto. Just like your idol. So forrgettaboutit!” Dylan said.

Another group was taking the stage, so Colin ushered his older siblings further from the stage so they wouldn’t disturb the act.

“Marco and Sid couldn’t show up?” Colin asked, wondering why his other two siblings didn’t show up. Dylan shook his head. “No, Marco had to stay home with ‘Becca because Audrey was sick, and they think the twins are getting sick too. And Sid got stuck at work again. You know how it is.” Colin nodded solemnly. “Yeah, I understand.” Teresa gave Colin a quick hug. “They’ll be able to make it next time. I’m sure.”

“If there is a next time that is.”

“What do you mean?” Dylan asked, his thin brows burrowed in concern for his only younger brother. Colin sighed. “I don’t know if anyone liked what I did. I just saw empty faces. Maybe it scared them. I don’t know…”

“That’s not true. They were . . . entranced by you.”

“I don’t know. No one understood.” Colin took off his hat and let it drop down next to his guitar as he sat down on the short black bench. Teresa sat down next to him and put an arm around him to comfort him. Colin looked up when a stranger approached him with an outstretched hand.

“Martin? I’m Dave.” Garrett said smiling, with Gavin and Adam standing next to him with smiles on their faces. Colin sat shocked for a moment, unable to believe someone wanted to talk to him. Then with a smile on his face, he shook Garrett’s hand vigorously.

“The name’s Colin.” He said still grinning. Garrett smiled back. “I’m Garrett. Awesome job by the way. I nearly soiled myself when you started playing.”

“Then he did soil himself when you started singing.” Adam interjected. Colin stood up grinning from ear to ear. “You guys got it. That’s fantastic! I didn’t think anyone would get it!”

“Only the yuppies wouldn’t get it,” Gavin said, rolling his eyes at the crowd. “Great job. I’m Gavin.” Colin shook his hand. “Thanks! Nice to meet you too! And you rocked as well!” He replied merrily.

Adam stepped forward. “I’m Adam. You’re one hell of a guitar player. Where’d you learn to play like that?” Colin shook his hand still smiling like a fool. “Self taught.” He explained as if it were nothing.

The three companion’s jaws dropped. “Self taught?” Garrett asked, shocked. Colin nodded unfazed.

“Wow.” Is all Garrett could muster, and everyone stared at the guitar prodigy with awe. “Aww, I’m not that good.” Colin mumbled, as he looked away shyly. “I’ve still got a lot to learn.”

“Nonsense, you rock. Hey, I was discussing this with my band mates, but . . .” Garrett struggled to pull the correct words out of his mouth for fear of rejection. “If you’re not playing with another group or anything, would you mind jamming with us some time?” Garrett asked as he scratched his head absentmindedly. Colin’s eyes lit up, and Teresa and Dylan exchanged looks, a happy glint in their eyes.

“Would I?!”

*********************

A year later, Colin ran into the Sykes’ home without knocking as usual. “You guys won’t believe this!” He yelled. Garrett looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow.

“I just talked to my uncle who owns an apartment complex downtown!”

“And then you found five dollars?” Adam asked, meandering over to the commotion. Colin threw him a look. “No! Well, I found a nickel, but that’s beside the point. I talked to him, and one of the tenants moved out in a huff. I guess they left the place kinda ratty, and no one wants to clean it up. Not even Mr. Shovan who’s in charge of the place. So, my uncle says, if we clean it up, he’ll let us live there!”

“What would the rent be?” Garrett asked. Colin shook his head. “That’s the best part. My uncle lowered it considerably.” Garrett raised an eyebrow. “Very considerably.” Colin added. “With the four of us and our jobs, rent won’t be much of a problem.”

“Much?”

Gavin came over with a juice and put his hand over his brother’s mouth. “Shh! This could be our opportunity to move out on our own!” Garrett considered this, and smiled. “On our own . . .” He smiled, liking the idea of leaving the nest and moving in with his new best friends.

Adam came up and slapped three toonies and a loony on the table and looked at everyone. Colin looked at him, his eyes lighting up with uncharacteristic wry. “Come on man, you know my rates are higher then that.”

“That my friend is my first contribution towards the rent you expensive bastard.” Adam corrected, a glint in his eye. “Besides, who would pay to get into your pants?” Adam quizzed. “I know for a fact you would!” Colin added slyly. “Touche!” Adam exclaimed, backing away and trying hard not to laugh. Colin chuckled then looked at Garrett. Garrett smacked his brother’s hand away from his mouth, and stared at Colin, shaking his head slowly. “I just don’t know about this.” He said. Colin’s lower lip jutted out and quivered as he gave the puppy dog look. Garrett sighed, and reached inside his brother’s jacket much to Gavin’s surprise. “Hey! What’re you . . .?”

Garrett pulled out some loose change and slapped it down next to Adams, then looked at everyone in turn. Adam smirked. “Looks like he wants a bit of the Colin love too.”

They celebrated their common decision by pulling out the mops, brooms, and paint brushes and thusly fixing up their new digs and their new lives they would now share together.

Catch ya later Amelios!