Free Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert Page A

Our old frontman is gonna be back in town. It should be pretty cool. Maybe you could provide us with some pyrotechnics to give Shelly’s basement that genuine arena-rock feel.” He chuckled at his own joke.
    On the flyer, Symbiotic was drawn as a late-eighties cock-rock supergroup, their names even written across their pictures as Christian aka Slash, Quentin aka Nikki Sixx, and Craig akaRikki Rockett. In bold letters, it also touted the return of Wes aka Sebastian Bach.
    â€œI love Symbiotic, but Wes is not going to be happy when I tell him that his band has started doing Skid Row covers,” Maya remarked with a smirk.
    A chorus of voices responded to her statement. Craig, who didn’t get Maya’s sense of humor, explained that the flyer was a joke. Christian, thinking his band had gained notoriety all the way down in Florida, wanted to know how Maya’d heard Symbiotic. But Harlan shouted over everyone else, “Whoa! Maya, how do you know Wes? He left Oak Park before you moved here.”
    â€œOh,” Maya answered simply, “he and Cassie are my cousins.”
    This quieted everyone. Finally I asked, “Why didn’t you ever mention that?”
    Maya shrugged and gave the response I should have expected, given her tendency to antagonize religious zealots and our fellow chemistry students: “I love social experiments. I wanted to see who was friendly to strangers”-she smiled at Harlan and me-who wasn’t”-she honed in on Jessica and Mary and kept her focus on them as she finished “and how that all changed once everyone found out who my cousins are.”
    Quentin, the one with the shy smile and the black braids, softly admitted, “I knew. Cass talks about you all the time and I see the resemblance, very similar eyes. Not the color, but—”
    â€œAre you kidding?” Jessica interrupted. “They don’t look alike at all. Maya’s obviously playing some weird game. Hello? Cass and Wes are black.”
    â€œCassie and Wes are biracial,” Maya corrected. “Our moms are sisters. I’m not playing any game. Why would I?”
    Jessica looked to Mary to back her up. I’d noticed that Mary was sitting as far from Christian as possible that day and her expression was even more dour than before. Mary shrugged and told Jessica, “Cass does have a cousin named Maya. Rememberthat picture on her dresser from when she went to Florida in second grade?”
    Jessica grimaced at Mary. “No. But if you recognized her, why didn’t you say anything yesterday?”
    â€œYeah, Mary, isn’t it your job to keep Jessica up on all the latest gossip?” Maya mimicked snapping a whip.
    Everyone laughed except Jessica and Mary. Mary crossed her arms over her chest, ignored Maya’s remark, and replied to Jessica, “I didn’t recognize her. She was a cute little blond kid in the picture. Besides, why wouldn’t Cass tell us about her cousin moving here? We’ve been best friends since kindergarten.”
    Jessica nodded, sitting up straighter. Clearly this was the defense she expected from Mary.
    â€œBest friends’?” Maya questioned coldly. Her gray eyes shone like freshly sharpened knives. She forced her mouth into a straight line and said no more.
    An awkward silence descended until Christian filled it, asking Maya, “Did Wes send you the Symbiotic demo? What do you think of my band?”
    â€œOf your band?” Maya laughed. “I thought Symbiotic was Wes’s band.”
    Christian shrugged. “When he comes home and visits, sure, but when he left I stepped up. I play lead guitar and sing now.”
    â€œAh, you’re the cocky sophomore he told me about.” Maya watched Christian’s face flush. Then she smirked and added, “He says you’re pretty damn good.”
    Shelly nudged me and whispered, “Maybe Harlan’s right about those two. I see some potential