Chapter Text
All was quiet in the suburbs. Over the horizon, the sun had begun its ascent into the hazy blue above and the birds had awoken with a cheerful dawn chorus. Few cars had yet hit the road, all waiting for the perfect moment to roar to life and join the endless lines of traffic through the city. It was the closest thing to bliss you could find in Los Angeles. The world was at peace.
BANG.
“I’ll kill you, I swear!”
And just like that, the peace was shattered.
Luke Patterson was caught between laughing and groaning in pain as he lost his footing on the trellis. He tumbled down the last few feet to the ground, rolling over and pushing himself upright as the sounds of feet stomping down the stairs inside grew closer and the front door was thrown open. It had been a hasty exit on his part, resulting in one shoe left behind and his shirt on backwards. Fortunately, he’d had the hindsight to lean his bike up against a nearby tree when he’d arrived in the early hours of the morning. He hopped on it, speeding away with a wide grin on his face to the echoing sounds of an angry father cussing him out, euphoric over his successful escape.
Julie Molina woke in a much less chaotic fashion. She was not disturbed by a bedroom door banging open or an angry shout, nor did she find herself clambering out a window. Instead, she made a noise of distaste into her pillow as the trilling sounds of her alarm filled the room and spent a few moments haphazardly waving one blind hand around until she had found and successfully beaten it into silence once more.
It took two snoozes and a bargain with God for her to wrench her sleep-crusted eyes open at last. The rest of the house had already come to life, the sound of the radio drifting up from the kitchen and her little brother’s tone-deaf rendition of Whatta Man dampened only by a wall and the rush of the shower running. She slid out of bed with a reluctant sigh, shivering as the warm comfort of her blankets disappeared, forcing herself to pull open the blinds and let the daylight in. If she was late then Flynn, her best friend, would honk her car horn all through breakfast until Julie appeared in the door. Last time it had resulted in a noise complaint from across the street.
Her neighbour’s window, which was positioned a mere ten feet away and looked directly into her own, obscured only a little by the tree which sat between the two hours, was being held open by a thick textbook with the blinds pulled away. She paused, frowning.
Any second now. She waited for a moment and then came the sounds of heavy pedalling from down the street. Luke rode into view in his usual careless fashion, no helmet, no sleeves, and… only one shoe? God, what a weirdo.
She watched as he dumped his bike by the fence and crept around to the tree. His hair was a mess and he looked like he’d had less sleep than a zombie. He climbed with practised ease. The branches rustled noisily, sending a cascade of orange and yellow leaves falling to the ground, and Julie leaned forward to rest an elbow on the window ledge with an amused huff.
“Rough night?” she asked as Luke reached eye level.
He shrugged, unsurprised to see her. “The usual. Fight with a bear, abducted by aliens, a dinner date with Dolly Parton. Y’know how it goes.”
Such a weirdo. She bit back a smile.
“So what happened this time, did you wake up in a police cell again?”
“Haha,” he said dryly. “That was one time. And they let us off with a warning.”
“They probably just realised how annoying you are,” she teased.
“At least I have enough of a life to actually annoy policemen,” he shot back with a sweet smile, edging along the branch and reaching for his window ledge.
“I don’t think that was as much of a flex you think it was.”
“Whatever. Nerd.”
“Loser.”
Luke laughed. Julie stuck her tongue out.
Down below, there was the familiar rattle of a front door chain. They both startled, looking around. At the front of the Patterson’s house, Luke’s mother – Emily – had bustled down the yard to bring in the garbage cans. There was a pause, Luke shot a pleading look at Julie, and she gave him a menacing grin.
“Don’t you dare,” he hissed.
“Good morning, Mrs Patterson!” she called, stretching out of the window to wave.
As Mrs Patterson looked around, Luke let his feet slide from the tree and flattened himself against the house, still hanging on to the window ledge by the tips of his fingers. He had managed it just in time. From where his mother was stood, he was just out of view.
“Good morning, Julie!” Emily beamed, waving back as she returned to the house.
“You’re evil,” Luke grunted, scrabbling his feet against the wall and pulling himself up into his own bedroom.
She laughed and shut the window.
Despite the new tear in his jeans from scaling the wall, Luke couldn’t help but smile at Julie’s laugh. They’d lived next door to one another for five years now and she’d watched him slip in and out of his window more times than he could count. It was a miracle his mother hadn’t caught him yet. That was how he knew, regardless of her jokes, that she wasn’t about to rat him out.
“Luke!” came his mother’s voice from the hall as she rapped gently on the door. “Time to get up. You don’t want to be late for school... again!”
“I’m up!” he shouted back, spraying some deodorant under his arms and sniff-testing the shirt he was wearing. It smelled fine, no trace of the venue they’d played the night before left since Ashley had let him sneak into the shower at her place (God, he was lucky to have a friend like her). He’d stick with it – there wasn’t really enough time to shower when he had to take his bike to school. Especially if he made stops along the way to meet his friends.
He clattered downstairs to the kitchen to find his dad at the counter reading the paper and his mom busying herself with something in the refrigerator. She’d laid out breakfast for him – a jug of orange juice and a collection of powdered buns piled up on a plate instead of the usual toast.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“Pan de Mallorca,” she said, closing the fridge and turning to smile sleepily at him. “Rose from next door sent them over for us when she heard about your father putting his back out, isn’t that sweet?”
Luke was already halfway through cramming a roll into his mouth, eye on the clock. He could stop by the record store on the way to school and only just miss homeroom if he pedalled fast.
“What? Oh, yeah. Real sweet. Tell her thanks for me,” he said, darting forward to kiss his mom’s cheek and heading for the door. “See you later!”
“Be good!” she called after him anxiously. “And don’t be late for school!”
But Luke didn’t hear. He had already grabbed his walkman, put on his headphones and clicked play on the mixed CD that his bandmate, Reggie, had made for his birthday. Basket Case blared to life and, with the spirit-lifting sounds of Green Day playing in his ears, he began his bike ride towards the hell they called school.
Julie made it outside before Flynn could lean on the horn of her red convertible, her stomach comfortably full with her mom’s cooking and her schoolbag almost exploding from the sheer amount of notebooks she’d crammed in there. It was her music class’s fault – nothing else she studied required nearly as much paper. She had more composition notes than she did Carrie and Kayla were already in the car.
“Mm that Luke Patterson is F-I-N-E foine,” Flynn stated with a low whistle, peering over her sunglasses as Julie slid into the back.
“Boys like that should be illegal,” Carrie agreed from the passenger seat, turning to look at Julie. “How do you cope?”
They had been watching an oblivious Luke as he’d cycled down the street. There was no way he’d be on time for school if he was leaving at the same time as them, Julie thought with fond irritation, even if the girls did stop at Dunkin’ first. He was wearing the same shirt he’d shown up in this morning – there was a grass stain down the side – she wrinkled her nose.
“I don’t need to cope. I’m pretty sure he didn’t even shower today,” she said, before adding sarcastically, “And good morning to you too, guys. I’m great, thanks for asking.”
“Morning, Jules,” Kayla beamed, leaning over to give her a quick squeeze in greeting. Unlike the others, she paid no mind to Luke’s retreating figure. “Ignore them, they’re just being thirsty.”
“The not showering thing doesn’t put me off as much as it should,” Carrie admitted airily and rolled her eyes fondly at Julie. “Anyway, good morning. You look fly as hell today. Can I steal your lipgloss? Someone stole all mine.”
She eyed Flynn accusingly. Flynn pretended not to hear.
Julie handed her bag over to let Carrie rummage through her emergency supply, returning the eye roll as she did, and leaned back to revel in the breeze as Flynn started the car. Thank God for California, she thought. She couldn’t handle living somewhere cold.
“Why are you thirsting over Luke anyway? I thought you were into that girl, what’s her name?” she asked. “The cheerleader?”
“Tasha,” Carrie said. “And just because I’m into someone doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the local eye-candy.”
She and Flynn bumped fists over this, ignoring Julie when she rolled her eyes.
"Sure he's cute and all," she agreed because it was true. Luke did have an objectively nice face. "But I just don't get what the big deal is."
A lot of girls in their grade seemed to be crushing on Luke. Ever since he’d hit senior year and his band had started playing local shows, there had been an upsurge of interest in him. It annoyed Julie to no end, especially since most of the girls assumed the fact that she was his neighbour meant she could find out if he was interested in them.
"I don’t get it either," Kayla shrugged. “He’s the same flavour of white boy as most of the guys in our grade.”
"See? Thank you, Kayla."
Flynn just shook her head, tutting.
"She's only saying that because she's got a crush on Reggie."
"What?! I do not!" Kayla squeaked, cheeks reddening. "...but you know, he totally winked at me that other day at their show."
“You know Reggie’s a white boy too,” Julie teased.
Kayla looked away, mumbling something about ‘different flavours’, and the girls laughed.
“You all set for today, anyway, Jules?” Flynn asked.
“Yeah, I’m meeting with Nick at lunch for more practice,” she replied. “I really think we’re going to nail this piece. Mrs Harrison won’t know what hit her.”
“Ooh, Nick,” Carrie said, winking at her. “He’s pretty fine too, but you already knew that.”
It was Julie’s turn to blush. Nick was her project partner for their duet composition work in advanced music. Before they’d paired up, Julie had had a pretty epic crush on him. He was cute. She’d thought it would be hard to work with him on account of the way she became a stuttering mess whenever he spoke to her, but then they’d gotten to know one another and slowly her feelings had evolved from a crush to real friendship. Besides, it was hard to get distracted when your high school musical career hung in the balance. Getting a good grade on this project was integral to staying in the programme, and they needed to put in as much work as they could. In her opinion, she’d lucked out. Nick was the best guitar player in their grade.
“And you’re the best pianist,” the girls liked to remind her when she pointed this out, but she would just shrug that off.
Today would be the first day that they showcased their project to their teacher, Mrs Harrison, so she could offer them feedback on any alterations they needed to make. Mrs Harrison had been a pillar of support for the past couple of years with Julie’s music and she really wanted to impress her.
“You’ll be great,” Flynn reassured her as they pulled up in the parking lot. “You’ve been working on this for weeks. Plus, you’re like a total composition genius. What could possibly go wrong?”
What indeed? As it turned out, a lot more than any of them thought.
“So Ashley called me this morning,” Alex greeted Luke as he slipped into the hall. “You know, to check you were still alive.”
Luke had arrived at school just as the bell rang to signal the end of homeroom. Whoops. He’d slipped up the stairs and in through the entrance without being seen, grateful to find Alex waiting by his locker with a Red Bull in hand. Oh well, it wasn’t like he’d missed much. Coach Barron never took roll call anyway – he usually took a morning nap at his desk before first period. Besides, Luke had unearthed like three different hidden gems at the record store. Skipping was totally worth it.
“Yeah,” he grimaced, taking the drink and gulping it down. “Dude, I thought her dad was gonna explode when he found me in her room.”
“Were you even on her bed?”
Luke snorted. “No way. She got me a sleeping bag ‘specially.”
Ashley was one of the many friends Luke and the guys had made when they started getting more involved with the local rock scene. She worked at one of the clubs downtown, selling merch for the performers and getting drinks. It had been thanks to her that they’d booked their last three gigs. It had also been thanks to her that Luke hadn’t had to risk waking his own parents up by making a racket climbing back in his bedroom window in the middle of the night – she was always happy to sneak him into her house and let him crash on the floor.
He was feeling pretty pleased with himself if he was honest. It had been a good morning, near-death experience by window ledge aside, and now he had an energy drink he could feel his mood picking up. A song had been forming at the back of his mind since the evening before. His fingers itched for his guitar.
“We still on for band practice tonight?” he asked.
Alex nodded. “Reggie says we can use his place. His parents are taking a weekend away to try and ‘reconnect’.”
They shared a look of disbelief. As long as Luke had known them, Reggie’s parents’ relationship had been a strained one. The only good thing about it was that it meant a lot of sleepovers when Reggie didn’t feel like going home. Why they didn’t just get divorced and stop making their family life so miserable was beyond him.
“Also Bobby says he got the number for that guy,” Alex continued. “Y’know the one with the studio in his basement?”
Excellent. Their band, Sunset Curve, had been gaining momentum for a while now. It had taken them some time to build up the connections to get where they wanted, but the more shows they played the easier it got. If things went the way they hoped, they’d be able to call the guy and get him to help them produce a demo. Maybe then they could start spreading their music to more than just shitty bars. Maybe then Luke’s parents would start taking his music seriously.
“Ah, Mr Patterson,” came a voice from behind them.
Alex’s face dropped. Despite the sinking feeling of dread, Luke wheeled around with a wide smile plastered on his face.
“What’s up, Mr Covington?”
The teacher loomed over them like a cat with a cornered mouse. Covington and Luke had an ongoing war that involved many detentions and Luke buying eggs for nefarious reasons when it got particularly annoying. He wished he could say he didn’t know why Covington had it out for him, but he was well aware of the reason. Every year he was encouraged to join swing band, run by Covington, and every year he’d determinedly said no. Swing just wasn’t his style. Covington didn’t seem to agree.
“I couldn’t help but notice you were missing from homeroom this morning,” Covington said. “I presume you have a good reason for not attending?”
Luke’s eyes narrowed. Alex shook his head minutely, a warning, but he ignored him.
“How would you know if I wasn’t in homeroom?” he asked.
Covington’s lip curled.
“Because, as you might’ve known had you an ounce of punctuality, Coach Barron is out sick today and I was given the glorious task overtaking on his roll call.”
Think fast, Luke.
“I overslept?” he offered.
That’s too fast, Luke.
Covington’s smile sharpened, unpleasant and vulture-like.
“This is the sixth time you’ve missed homeroom in the last two months, is it not, Mr Patterson?”
“Not if you count the time there was a fire drill. I was outside just like everybody else.”
Alex sighed. Covington’s white teeth glittered under the fluorescent lights.
“Principal’s office, Mr Patterson.”
Luke sighed too. Accepting his fate he hiked his bag up onto his shoulder and shot Alex a baleful look as he was marched down the hall. The principal’s office before classes had even started. Oh man, he was in so much trouble. His mom was going to kill him.