Weird High: Kelly Strikes up the Band (2018)

Weird High

 Deep in the woods

 In darkness it looms

 Blood moon hangs high in the sky

 Nestled in gloom

 The nightshade in bloom

 Walk left of the chill down your spine

 A school for ghouls

 Awake from their tombs

 Beware of the place called Weird High

Kelly Strikes up the Band

Halloween approached swifter than a vampire bat. The dim lights in the halls of Weird High flickered ominously but they brought no comfort to the skeleton girl as she stood before her locker. With Halloween came the Blood Ball and the Battle of the Bands competition. Kelly the Skeleton trembled from her skull to her phalanges. Her all skeleton band, The Marrows, would be performing for the first time in front of an audience. 

Kelly’s best friend, Blobby the Blob, tried to comfort her. Their cover of Bad to the Bone sounded perfectly grim and would fill the vampire judges with such dread they were sure to win. Graveyard Shift, the all zombie death-metal band, and reigning champions, did not have a leg to stand on, or so they thought. Apparently this morning their lead singer found his missing limb and they had just returned from the Zombie Zoo with new muscle and sinew. They were going to be hard to beat. 

Kelly was beyond comfort. Her nerves were rattled to the core at the thought of popping a joint in front of the entire school. To make matters worse, almost as if summoned by her thoughts, Zeek, the lead singer of the zombie trio slipped up behind Kelly and slammed her locker. Kelly started. Blobby’s eyes swirled inside his head before popping back into place. Zeek and his undead cronies, Zim and Zan, groaned with laughter. 

“Ready for tonight?” Zeek sneered through rotted teeth.

“None of your bat guano,” Kelly chattered. 

Kelly and Blobby turned to leave but the zombies dragged their feet and groaned behind them.

“What’s your damage? Did Madame Poltergeist possess you again?” Kelly snapped, threatening to pop out her hip bone and brandish it like an axe.

“I just wanted to make sure you were ready for the show tonight. I wouldn’t want you to lose because you were missing something.”

The zombies laughed (or as close to a laugh as they could manage) and limped down the hallway.

Kelly had no idea what they meant but she soon found her answer after school during band practice. Their lead singer, Leon, could not find his voice box! He had a habit of removing it before shows to insure it was in pristine condition. He kept it in his locker in a miniature coffin but when he came back for it after school, it was missing! 

The Blood Ball was in a matter of hours. Monsters were arriving from every graveyard and mausoleum. Sound check was imminent! Kelly had a creeping suspicion that the zombie boys were responsible for sabotaging their performance but there was no time to start a witch-hunt. They needed a plan.

Blobby bubbled up and calmed the rattling of the skeletons. He suggested Kelly should sing. Everyone knew Kelly could sing but she never liked it. She preferred to play the drums in the back where people could not see her. It took much ribbing and prodding but Kelly agreed to the plan.

The full moon hung bright and terrible in the sky. The wind whipped cold and moaned through the wraith-like trees. The Blood Ball had arrived and the weather could not have been more perfect. Every student at Weird High marched through the doors of the gymnasium to the ceremonial dirge to see the battle of the bands competition. They all cheered on The Marrows and hoped for their victory over Graveyard Shift. The obnoxious zombies had alienated everyone except the exchange students from Area 51 and they all prayed for their undead demise.

Backstage, The Marrows watched as Graveyard Shift took the stage. They groaned through their song and killed it. The crowd danced. It was a graveyard fright and the judges loved it. The next act was the mummies from Romania performing an original rap, which everyone monster mashed to. But now was the moment of truth. The Marrows took the stage. Leon stayed at the front to perform his signature bone-chilling dance routine. Toni took her spot with her bonefish guitar and Kelly sat behind her drums. She picked her two favorite ribs and limply held them in her bony fingers. Kelly gulped. All eyes were on her. Her band mates looked to her. Kelly’s bones rattled. She could hear the zombie boys snickering offstage. 

Suddenly, out of the crowd, came a cheer. It was Blobby! He smiled at Kelly and performed his signature puddle dance. Kelly laughed. She felt invigorated by her friend’s enthusiasm. She ignored the crowd and pulled the microphone to her mouth. Leon and Toni smiled and readied themselves.

“Let’s shake, rattle, and roll!” Kelly yelled into the microphone. She counted off a beat with her bones and launched into their song like a bat out of hell.

The banshees shrieked. The vampires danced the twist and the goth kids that somehow stumbled upon the school and could not escape bobbed their heads in terror to the beat. Leon pulled off his bone-daddy dance routine and Kelly sang her lungs out but managed to catch them without missing a beat. The crowd went wild. The zombie boys disappeared faster than a ghost at sunrise. They knew they had been beat.

As the song ended Kelly let out one final vibrato that set the werewolves howling. The judges ushered perfect scores. Leon and Toni lifted Kelly into the air and lead everyone in a cheer. It was on that day that Kelly struck up the band and was no longer afraid to sing.