The Deadbeats

*I had to write this short story for school with the theme of the American Dream in mind. I would appreciate it if you guys could help me to improve it so that I get a good grade. The story has to be between 1,000 and 1,500 words (it's 1,107 words right now). Thanks for the help.*

The Dream

“I can’t believe this is really happening,” Matt said. He was grinning as if he had won the lottery. I couldn’t help smiling either. We were standing in the office of Vintage Records, the biggest record company in the country.

“This is pretty awesome,” I agreed. “We’re finally going to reach the top.” Pretty much every band that’s signed with Vintage has become world famous. It’s every musician’s dream to sell millions of albums and play in front of thousands of people. It looked like our dream was about to become a reality.

“When we go in to meet with Mr. Snyder, let’s try to not look too eager,” said Alexa. “We don’t want them to take advantage of us and give us a bad deal.”

I nodded. “Good point. Let’s all try to stay professiona—is that Gerard Way from MCR?! I have to get his autograph!” The band stared at me.

“It doesn’t get much more professional than that,” Jordan snickered. I blushed.

“Sorry. I promise to keep my cool during the meeting.” We tried to calm down, but it was a futile effort. How could someone not be excited about becoming rich and famous? After what felt like an eternity, the lady at the front desk told us that Mr. Snyder was ready to see us.

“It’s the moment of truth,” said Matt. We took a deep breath and went through the door.

The Success

The crowd went wild as I belted out the chorus. Bodies swayed and bumped and jumped and the mood was totally chaotic. Matt shredded his guitar like a mad man and Alexa let loose with a crazy drum solo. Not wanting to be outdone, Jordan kept the song down with a funky baseline. It got on my nerves. Who did they think that they were? This was supposed to be MY show. Are they trying to upstage me? I thought. I jumped up and down and sang even louder. We finished the set and there was a roar of applause. Everyone in the stadium chanted our name. “Deadbeatz! Deadbeatz! Deadbeatz!” I waved to my adoring fans one last time and headed backstage with the rest of the band.

I marched over to Alexa and turned her around to face me. She looked surprised. “What was that? I didn’t say that you could have a drum solo,” I said.

She shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I just thought that it would spice up the song.”

I glared at her. “Next time, ask me for permission before you start messing up our songs. You’re not the star of this band.”

Now it was her turn to glare at me. “You aren’t the star either. This is supposed to be a team effort.”

Matt put down his drink and got in between us. He stumbled and put his arm on me to steady himself. “You guys shouldn’t fight,” he said, slurring his words. He pointed to his cup. “We should all, just chill and have some more of that.”

I pushed him off of me. “I can’t get drunk all of the time like you,” I said, not bothering to keep the disgust out of my voice. “I’m the most important member of this band and I need to be at my best whenever I perform.”

Matt looked at me, dazed. “Oh, okay.” Then he passed out on the floor.

Alexa turned to Jordan. “Can you talk some sense into Sean? His ego is completely out of control.”

Jordan looked up from the two blonde groupies that he had been making out with. He wiped some lipstick off his mouth. “What’d you say?” he asked.

Alexa rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in the air. “I give up. You guys are a mess! Jordan spends all his time with girls, Sean thinks that he’s the Queen of England and I can’t even remember the last time that Matt was sober.”

I rolled my eyes. She could be such a drama queen sometimes. It seemed like we were having this conversation more and more often lately. “If this is too much for you, the door is right there,” I said.

Alexa started to say something and then changed her mind and gave me a sad look.She shook her head and left the room.

I laughed even though I felt empty inside. “We don’t need her. Drummers are a dime a dozen.” We’ll be just fine without her, I thought, but honestly, I wasn’t so sure.

The Fallout

A man in a designer suit was hurrying down the street. He looks pretty well off, I thought. I held up my cup as he passed me by. “Sir, can you spare me some change? Please?” I asked. The man kept on walking as if he hadn’t even seen me. I sighed and went back into my box.

Ever since Alexa quit the band, things had gone horribly for me. Matt got liver poisoning from a drink one night while we were partying and ended up in the hospital. We had to cancel our world tour and refund thousands of tickets while he recovered. Not long afterward, Jordan became extremely ill and he ended up in the hospital too. It turned out that he was in an advanced stage of AIDS and didn’t have much time left to live. I tried to replace them, but the new lineup wasn’t very popular and eventually got dropped from the label.

As I was sitting in my box thinking about the past, someone wearing black high heels stopped in front of me. “Sean? Is that you?”

I looked up and saw Alexa peering down at me. “What’re you doing here?” I said.

She shifted her feet. “I heard that you lost your house after the band broke up. Matt told me that you’ve been living on the streets.”

I couldn’t meet her eyes. “So what? You came here to gloat? Go ahead, I deserve it.”

Alexa laughed. “You really do. But I’m not here for that.” She went down to my level. “You might have turned into a real jerk after we became famous, but you’re still my friend. If you want, you can stay with me for a while until you get back on your feet.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You would do that even after everything that I did?”

She nodded. I felt a tear drop onto my cheek. Before I could stop myself, I started sobbing. Alexa helped me up and gave me a hug. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s get out of here.”