Chapter Text
I screamed so loud in my bass player, Mike Cook's, garage, I thought the amps might blow. James—my stepbrother of all people—had just told us he showed the principal a clip of our rehearsal, and now we might actually play at the dance in June.
It was mid-March, but my ears were buzzing like it was Christmas morning. This was it. This was the start. One step closer to being the rockstar I always swore I'd be.
I grabbed James and hugged him so hard he nearly dropped his clipboard. "This is awesome!" I yelled as he spun me. "I can't believe I ever tried to deny you the role. You're way better than Trent ever was."
And yeah, I meant it. James was such an upgrade. Trent had been a total disaster—phone glued to his face, booking us senior center gigs where even the grandmas booed. Who knew a dork like James could actually pull this off?
Mike groaned like we'd just told him Christmas was canceled. "Trent wasn't that bad."
I bugged my eyes out at him. "Not that bad? Dude, he sent us to play at the senior center! They didn't even like us!"
Jack banged a quick roll on the snare for emphasis. "Yeah, man, those old ladies booed louder than our amps."
I laughed, shaking my head. "Exactly! James actually cares about this band. He's out here showing videos to principals while Trent's too busy leveling up on Clash of Clans."
Mike shrugged, pretending not to grin. "Fine, fine. The dork's got hustle."
James straightened his clipboard like it was a crown. "That's manager hustle, thank you very much."
"Manager hustle," Jack repeated, already drumming out a rhythm on his knees. "Kinda has a nice ring to it."
I leaned against my guitar, still buzzing. "You guys don't get it—this could actually be our shot. We nail this gig, people start talking. People start talking, we get more gigs. And that's the first step to... all of it."
Mike rolled his eyes, but he was smiling now. "Here we go—Derek Parker, future rockstar, legend of the school gym dance."
"Laugh all you want," I said, pointing at him with my pick. "When we're famous, you'll thank me for not firing you too."
That made everyone laugh, even James. But underneath all the jokes, I could see it—they wanted this as much as I did. We all did.
And yet, as high as I was riding, there was still one thought chewing at the back of my mind: Melly doesn't know yet.
"We should tell the girls," I reminded them.
"Nothing's official yet. You tell them and the whole school is gonna know," James told us, "I love your girlfriend, but she doesn't know how to keep a secret."
That wasn't right. They don't know what we've been up to lately. I'd tell them, but then I'd have to kill them before Melly knows I even said it in the first place.
But I said, "Alright, alright. I won't tell her. For now."
I glanced at the door, hoping to see her and Ally walk into the garage soon.
Fast forward
Walking back from the vending machine, water bottle in hand, the earbuds blasted music loud enough to fuel a full-on air guitar solo. Couldn't stop grinning—still hard to believe my stepbrother actually scored us this gig.
I knocked on the bathroom door. Ally opened it quickly.
"How is she?" I asked as I gave her the drink.
"She's," The blonde started, but scrunched her face as another gag was heard from the bathroom, "going through it."
"This is the second time she threw up today. That's not like her at all," I said, "Just give that to her." I nodded towards the bottle, "Should help."
Ally nodded her head and gave me a big grin, "Thanks, Derek. You're really sweet."
Then the door closed. I crinkled my eyebrows. Sweet? That's just what you do when your girl is 'going through it' as she phrased it. Melly's been sick for a while. If anything, all I've been doing is taking care of her in between school and band.
Leaning against the wall, I ruffled my auburn hair as I got lost in the guitar riffs. The music reminded me of why I move in this world. Besides, Melly, of course.
That's when I felt something slam against my chest. I opened my eyes, taking a bud out of my ear, and-- speaking of the angel.
My stomach flipped as her dark, wide eyes bored into mine.
She might feel like hell, but to me? She's still the most beautiful girl alive. Dark curls spilling all over her tiny frame like a halo. Everything about her was seared into me. I'll always thank the universe that our moms' friendship brought us here. I can't picture a single moment of my life without her in it. There's seriously nobody else that I'd want.
That being said, I realized this is the first time I looked into those precious eyes since the night of the dance. Again, between her, the band, and everything else, everything has been such a blur. I didn't even realize I'd miss something. Not until my dark eyes looked into them.
She mumbled, "I'm sorry," as if bumping into me was the worst thing she could've done.
None of it mattered to me. I couldn't help it as I swooped her in, smelling the sweet, vanilla scent of her perfume.
"It doesn't matter," I told her as I dove in for a kiss with music still humming in one of my ears. As if the kiss was enough to melt any weird tension from our time apart. And for a moment, it did.
I broke us apart, and I brushed her bangs from her face, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I guess," She assured me as she led Ally and I to a walk.
I slung an arm around her, "Would you like to go see the nurse?"
She bugged her eyes for a second. If I know Melly well enough, that's the last place she'd wanna be, especially since she's been out since last week.
"I'm fine. It's no big deal." She said, quickly, rubbing her thumb across my knuckles.
We reached the table where the rest of our friends sat.
"Melly, are you okay?" Mike asked her.
She rolled her eyes. Now that can get annoying. She'd probably been asked that a dozen times in the past several days.
She inhaled deeply as she raised her head.
"I'm fine. Thank you." She repeated.
She cocked her head at the boys being on their phones at the table.
I met these guys when I was in seventh grade. With Melly involved, we formed the band, "The Black Pliers." Both of us on the mic. Melly plays either the piano or the guitar. I play most instruments, but I stuck to the guitar. Mike was on the bass and Jack was on the drums. Ally didn't come around until Melly introduced us in the ninth grade. We felt like a well-established band, and the blonde was a little shy-- until she blew us away with an Evanescence cover on the piano. She's been a member since.
"Are you guys texting each other?" Melly knitted her dark eyebrows together.
"Yeah," Jack confirmed, not looking up from his phone.
"Derek's in on it, too." Mike pointed.
Well, fuck me. Way to put me on the spot when they wanted me to keep my mouth closed.
Melly glanced at me before exchanging a look with her blonde friend.
"Why are we left out of this conversation?" Ally demanded.
"Because neither of you can keep a secret," Jack replied casually.
"Yeah, especially Melly." Mike agreed with a laugh.
"Hey!" She protested, "I can keep a secret."
"Oh yeah?" Jack mocked, "What secrets have you been hiding from us?"
I peered at her, wondering if she was about to spill the beans about the Valentine's Day dance. Part of me wanted to brag to these bozos that I lost my virginity before them, but my loyalty was with her. It wasn't their business. That night was ours, and ours alone.
"Well," She hesitated in thought, "it wouldn't be secret if I shared it, would it?"
"Sorry, but no," Jack confirmed with a grin.
My girlfriend groaned into her hands. I'd also feel frustrated to be left out the way we're doing with the girls. I'd tell her, but I want to make sure that James got us the gig first.
She shook her pretty head and changed the subject, "Are you guys coming to Derek's tonight?"
"Can't. Mr. Humphrey gave me so much homework for the week." Ally rolled her eyes.
Mr. Humphrey is the junior and senior English teacher at Calvin Beris High. He's notorious for giving his students ten-page essays to work on. He said it's to prepare us for college, and I don't think anybody would debate him. But it doesn't make us hate him less.
"I got a lot of homework, too," Jack answered.
"Me too. And I have to game tonight." Mike said.
Mike's been able to squeeze Discord into his heavy schedule. It's how he maintained a relationship with his distant family members overseas. I dig it.
Suddenly, the bell rang.
"Well, looks like we gotta skedaddle," Jack said as he rose, swinging his backpack over his shoulders.
"Same," Mike waved as he picked up his books.
"Same here." Ally stood up with her garbage in her hands, "Later, guys."
Now I'm alone with Melly. Her skin looked paler than usual, but she's still gorgeous even though she frowned at the garbage between her fingers—I thought it might've had something to do with me. But when she made eye contact with me, we couldn't help but burst out laughing, as if we've both waited for this tiny break.
I scooted closer to her and kissed her forehead.
"Looks like it's just you and me," I commented. It felt like the most normal we've had in a while.
"I'd hoped they canceled," she said, leaning in for a kiss.
Relief hit me harder than the soda fizzing in my stomach. It's like we needed this moment, right now, to dissipate whatever awkwardness there's been since the dance and be 'us' again. And I honestly didn't get why she seemed so off. Yeah, she'd been out of school, and yeah, I'd been busy covering extra at rehearsals, but I figured she knew that. She should know me better than someone who runs away—I wasn't going anywhere.
I broke the kiss with a grin. "Time for math?"
She groaned, "Please kill me."
I laughed, slinging my arm around her as we headed to class. Maybe she needed this, too. Perhaps we both did. For the first time in a while, I thought: yeah, we're fine.