Ch Ch Ch Cherry Bomb
Legacy Name: Ch Ch Ch Cherry Bomb

The first strum of the strings was an electric current she could feel in her bones. Her frustrations fell away. Music was a salve on the daily hits to her self-esteem. It didn't matter that her grades were average, her athletic abilities were zero and her two closest friends had more piercings than college acceptance letters. The Produce Bin was her home.

It wasn't anything special, just an oversized shed her dad had always meant to turn into a workshop. At some point her mom had painted the place up in bright, vibrant colors as inspiration for an art studio that failed to develop when Mom realized talent as the neighborhood's best paint-by-number artist did not in fact make her a skilled painter. The place acquired its name thanks to the band name Cherry and Berry came up with after much disagreement. Fruit Salad. Sweet and Tangy Tunes for a New Era. (So their custom-designed CD cover scribbled on the back of a homework worksheet read.)

Cherry didn't want to be like her parents. She didn't want to settle in for a life of boredom and mediocrity. She knew her musical talents were real and she was going to prove it!

Lemon let her warm up for a few seconds before coming in on the keyboard. His yellow curls bobbed in time to the music as Kiwi made the drums come to life. Berry was their lead vocalist, crooning the lyrics into the microphone. They were Cherry's writing, cudgeled out of an exhausted brain that had to contend with mountains of homework and two little sisters arguing over cartoon ponies.

Your kiss is like acid to my brain.
You squeeze out my life but the flavor remains.
I gotta get out or you'll leave me drained.
Citric Adam, you drive me insane.

The girls raised their voices in a synchronized "o-o-oh" that contained a single girl's longing to be held with the "a-a-ah" that embodied the satisfaction of an iced drink at sunset. Lemon's rich baritone cut into their powerful harmony with a rich rumble that contained just a hint of tart mockery.

Emotions are fragile and easy to peel,
So listen up baby, I'll tell you the deal.
Your truths turn to lies and you always conceal,
Secrets of survival you dare not reveal.

The song went on for four more verses, setting the scene beneath a blood moon like a sliced orange, the first lonely witch calling her sisters to turn her dependence into conquest. The story ended within a circle of black candles where Citric Adam breathed his last with a shuddering sob. The three ladies whispered their final verse.

Your kiss was like acid to our brains.
The flavor we savor is all that remains.
You threatened a sister, you should have refrained.
Citric Adam won't harm us again.

Cherry and Berry cheered loud enough to rattle the walls of the shed. Kiwi did a little fancy flourish with her drumsticks, bringing it home with a final symbol crash. Lemon fist-pumped and gave them all one of his signature sunny smiles.

"Aww, hells to the yes! We are gonna rock the house on Saturday. I'm talking record deals, screaming fangirls, the whole nine yards."

Kiwi ruffled his hair. "You better hope our fans don't think you were the inspiration for this one or you might get to meet some real witches."

"Good thing I've got my tough-as-nails drum queen to protect me."

Berry rolled her eyes. "We better pack it up before the gothest Romeo & Juliet in the world get going."

Cherry reluctantly waved her friends down the garden path. Saying good-bye to the gang always came too soon, especially on a school night. One more year of crap and she could finally get her own place.

Her mother got that sour look just by looking at her. Cherry didn't see what the big deal was. Her studded leather jacket and double-pierced ears had been funded with her own crappy wages. Working at a burger bar wasn't glamorous, but it was cash in her pocket. She wasn't high or pregnant and she didn't have any tattoos (at least that her parents knew about.) She wasn't failing any classes, even if her only A was in band. If Gloria and Hailey weren't such wannabe saints maybe her mom would get off her back and let her be the person she was just once.

Her dad was a total nerd in his golf pants and cheesy ties but at least he tried to get along with her...mostly. They had an understanding. She wouldn't take the car past city limits and he wouldn't ask about her personal life. (She also had to drive her sisters to their dance recitals which was so lame but Lemon lived pretty close to the studio so at least she didn't have to sit for an hour and be bored out of her mind.)

"Christina, wait. We need to talk."

Ria and Lee snickered behind their raised hands. Mom was the only person that could get away with using her birth name.

Cherry shrugged and flopped down in the chair next to dad, as physically far from Mom as the room would allow. "'Sup?"

"You never gave me an answer on the program at the U. Their pre-nursing program is one of the best in the country. You know how much it would mean to your grandmother and your Aunt Gertrude if you would at least consider this program. You'd spend the summer learning valuable skills and making new friends instead of moping around here and waiting for your buddies down the block to come around. You're certainly not going to go anywhere in life weighing yourself down with the likes of Patrick Walton and Tabitha Jones."

Their names are Lemon and Kiwi which you'd know if you ever listened to anything I ever told you. Cherry thought it, but didn't waste the breath trying to tell her side. Her mom had stopped listening to her the day she traded pink and frilly for black and more black. "Whatever, Mom. I told you I'm not committing to anything until after this weekend."

"That's just what your problem is, young lady! You never commit to anything!

She'd practiced riffs until her fingers literally bled. She'd squeezed in every spare waking minute she could to listening to the great's to figure out her own lyric writing style, sacrificing much-needed sleep without complaint. She'd saved for months to buy her dream guitar, never mind that her sisters were spending that much per month on dance lessons and materials for friendship bracelets. How could her mother be so stupid?

She stormed out of the room before she could totally lose her cool and start screaming. She was not going to end up grounded a week before the most important event of her life.

Her dad came to get her for supper. "Hey, Sugar Plum. I made your favorites. Meatloaf and cinnamon rice."

It wasn't fair how he could get along with everybody at once. "Princesses don't eat cinnamon rice."

"Last night was Ria's turn. I wanted to make something you like tonight."

"Thanks, Dad, but I'd rather just wait until the royal court retires. Mom's looking for an excuse to ground me. She doesn't want me to have a chance at the Band Wagon Brawl."

"You could register for the pre-nursing program and change your mind later, you know."

"I'm not going into nursing, Dad. It's not who I am. It never will be. Why can't Mom settle for two robot daughters that do whatever she wants? Why does she have to try to change me too?"

He sighed. "Just think about it, alright?"

It wasn't fair. He shouldn't be the one allowed to make Cherry feel guilty when it was her life on the verge of ruin.

Fruit Salad came in second through no fault of their own. They played perfectly and the vocals were flawless. The quartet was dazzled by the raucous applause rising to the rafters. Their feeling-filled ballads just couldn't defeat a cutesy pop/rock trio named Kitten Tornado that had already gained some small amount of fame with Bubbles the Piano-Playing Kitten featured on their online feed.

They had half a dozen contracts with local entertainment venues by the end of the week. It wasn't instant stardom but it was a start, a drop of sweet nectar to keep their hopes alive on the long journey ahead.
CREDITS

Story by PureflowerPet page designed by HPY
pet art image byreddragon1989text images created at cooltext.com
pet character based on the song Cherry Bomb Joan Jett, ‎Kim Fowley co-wrote and recorded cherry bomb-while she was with the runaways
Jett started her musical career as a teenager, forming her first serious band, the Runaways, at the age of 15. The final line-up included Jett on guitar and vocals; Sandy West on drums; Cherie Currie on lead vocals; Jackie Fox on bass guitar; and Lita Ford on guitar.If interested here is a link to the lyrics If you are not familiarhttps://genius.com/The-runaways-cherry-bomb-lyrics