Roswell Fanatics

Title: Musical Vibrations
Author: Cayla [a.k.a.: strbrstcyl/Madden/loviedovie (It just depends on what forum)]
Category: AU/CC (M/L, M/M, A/I, K/T & Z/S) & NA
Disclaimer: Yeah, I don’t own the show or anything (Rub it in why don’t you!) so just don’t sue me, please. I’m giving credit to all songs that are used (there are a lot!).
Rating: TEEN
Summary: Two small town bands, just trying to make it big… and have some fun along the way. (I know that this is not very descriptive, sorry but you’ll just have to read to find out more!)
Author’s Note: This is my second fan fiction! Just so that you know, although I do have some musical experience (mainly the guitar) I am no professional or anything so sorry if there’s any mistakes or misunderstanding of things in this story. Tess is “good” in this story (Be glad, because that probably won’t happen too often in my stories…) and there are no aliens or supernatural forces involved. Also, since I’ve noticed that I didn’t seem too good at writing in the character’s thought and feelings throughout the story, I put a journal entry at the end of each chapter to compensate. I did journals for all of the main people (except for Serena and Zan) they won’t really be in any particular order. And Zeal Tour is basically the equivalent of Warped Tour or Lollapalooza. (Which is basically a tour where a bunch of bands that get together for a festival every summer and tour around.)
I had a lot of fun with this one…
My first AU fan fiction! Yay! I’ll try to update as best as I can, but I do have to still finish My Alien. (I know, I’m bad. I didn’t finish it yet… I just couldn’t wait to post this story. I’m almost done with it though and I’ve already got a lot of this story typed up and basically ready to post.) Remember: Feedback = more inspiration = the parts come out quicker!Enjoy!

Part One: The “in” crowd

Roswell, New Mexico

June 17th, Wednesday

“Sis, get up!”

Liz groaned and pulled her dark purple comforter up and over her head, muffling the insistent voice.

“Come on, this is important Liz. Liz!”

The comforter flew out of Liz’s hands swiftly and she instinctively raised her arm to shield the sunlight from her face. She pried her eyelids open cautiously only to be greeted by her older sister’s, big, smiling face.

“What the fuck?” Liz mumbled, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

Nobody could look this happy at ten a.m., Liz thought bitterly.
Liz never was a good morning person… she’d rather sleep all day and party all night.

“I just talked to Rob!” her sister announced excitedly.

Liz’s eyes widened and she sat up, no longer tired. “What’s up?” she asked anxiously.

Liz watched as a sly grin flickered across her older sister’s face, her brown eyes sparkling.

“We’re in!” she exclaimed happily.

“Oh Serena, that’s great!” Liz squealed, embracing her in a hug.

“I knew we’d make it.” Liz stated knowingly.

Serena smiled and pulled away from her little sister. “I guess we should call the others then, huh?” she replied, grinning happily.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

South Spring, New Mexico (about 6 miles away from Roswell)

“No shit! We’re really in?!” he asked, unbelievingly.

Zan paced the room in his plaid boxers and black t-shirt, phone in hand.

He raised his pierced eyebrow as he listened to the person on the other line.

“Damn.” He commented, astounded.

There were four sets of eyes sitting on couch who were all listening intently to his side of the conversation.

He gave them thumbs up, grinning widely.

“Cool, we’ll be there. Thanks! Yeah. Peace, bye!”

Zan hung up the phone and walked over to the couch.

“That was Robbie, we’re in.” he announced, smirking at his friends.

The two girls jumped up and hugged each other, squealing happily.

Zan looked at his other two friends who were sitting on the couch with huge smiles on their faces.

Max was the first to speak up. “So, when do we leave?”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Roswell

“Well, you woke us up Serena, so start talking!”

“Michael, it’s almost noon! Just because you don’t have school anymore doesn’t mean you can just sleep the day away!” Serena argued.

Michael rolled his eyes and stuck out his pierced tongue at her.

“Sooo…” Tess interrupted, wanting to hear what Serena had to say.

“Do you guys remember that demo tape we sent out a few months ago?” Serena asked, glancing around at the small group.

“Yeah…” they all replied in one way or another.

“Well…” Serena began.

Tess was the first one to realize it.

She jumped up quickly. “No way! No freaking way!” she exclaimed excitedly.

Liz stood up. “Yup, it’s true!” she assured, hugging Tess happily.

Alex looked from Tess and Liz hugging to Serena sitting on the couch with a very smug smile on her face.

“You mean…” he began, eyes wide.

Serena nodded. “We’re in!” she confirmed

“Hot damn! I knew that we were on a roll!” Michael exclaimed, jumping up from his place on the couch. He no longer looked tired.

He pulled the three girls into a tight hug.

Alex stood up and joined in.

After a few seconds Tess spoke up. “Uh guys? I’m getting a little squished.” She complained.

“Yeah, me too!” Liz squeaked.

They broke apart and sat down.

“So, looks like we’re going to Los Angeles.” Liz stated affably.

Serena nodded her head excitedly. “Yup! We can’t afford to fly so we’re driving. We leave early Sunday morning.” She confirmed.

“Well then, that doesn’t leave us a lot of time to shop now does it?” Tess observed.

Liz nodded. “We should get new outfits for the show before we leave.” She agreed.

“Yeah, this definitely deserves a major mall trip!” Serena added, causing Michael and Alex to each emit a groan.

“Well, I guess I could really use some new strings…” Alex stated duly.

Serena rolled her eyes. “Strings for your guitar are not a part of your outfit!” she reminded pettily. “We were thinking more along the lines of something like this!” she replied, pointing to an ad in the latest Hot Topic catalog.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

South Spring

“Oh my gosh! I can’t believe this!” Maria squealed.

Isabel nodded in agreement. “Don’t forget to breathe Maria.” She reminded slowly.

Maria nodded and pulled out a vial of cedar oil.

She took a deep breath in and inhaled the oil, relaxing visibly.

“How am I going to be able to sing under this kind of pressure?!” she mused.

“Don’t worry, you’ll do great. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it!” Isabel reassured her.

Maria nodded and put the vial back in her purse.

“I know what will make you feel better!” Isabel exclaimed, her eyes twinkling.

Maria looked at Isabel, her eyes widening and her mouth curving into a grin.

“Mall trip?!” Maria squealed.

Isabel nodded. “Yeah, I could use some new strings and a new outfit…” Isabel replied.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go get the boys!” Maria said, heading towards the kitchen.

Isabel followed her.

Her twin brother, Max, was digging through the fridge and Kyle was eating a sandwich at the table.

Isabel glanced around the small kitchen and frowned. “Where’s Zan?” she asked aloud.

“He’s planning for the trip, why?” Kyle replied, mouth full of food.

Maria rolled her eyes. “As soon as you two are done, we’re all gonna go to the Fairfield mall to get stuff for our trip.” She announced.

Max sat down at the table and popped open his soda.

“Why? So you can blow more money on shoes?” he asked bitterly.

Maria gasped angrily, hitting him on the shoulder.

“No, little brother! We’re going to improve your wardrobe.” Isabel snapped.

“You’re older by three freaking minute Izzy! Stop using it against me!” Max exclaimed to Isabel.

“Actually it’s three and a half minutes.” She huffed in response, before stomping out of the kitchen with her pierced nose in the air.

Max rolled his eyes and took a large gulp of his Mountain Dew.

Maria grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and plopped down besides Kyle.

Max caught her staring off into space a few moments later.

“Cut it out.” He demanded softly.

She looked up, startled.

“What?” she demanded.

“Stop worrying.” Max answered bluntly.

Maria frowned and bit her lip. “I wasn’t-”

“Yes, you were.” Kyle chimed in.

Maria sighed. “I just don’t want us to rush into anything… I mean, some bands just loose their cool as soon as they make it big.” She said thoughtfully.

“Ria, we will never lose our cool.” Kyle stated smoothly, grinning over at her.

“Yeah, were in this together and we’ll stick together until the end.” Max reminded her, making her think back to the year that they had all made that pact…

* “What if this doesn’t work Zan?! What if we don’t make it big and we end up wasting all of our time and energy, not to mention money, on this?” Isabel shouted.

“Because, we will be a team.” Zan replied calmly. “We will all be in this together and then we’ll all stick together until the very end!” He finished swiftly, glancing around the room.

“He’s right guys, we can do this if we just make the commitment!” Kyle agreed solemnly.

Max nodded. “I’m in.” he announced, placing his hand out.

Kyle added his on top of his. “Yeah, we’re gonna rock out dude!” he added enthusiastically.

“Okay, this sounds like fun.” Maria said, placing her hand on top of theirs.

Isabel sighed and nodded. “Yeah this could work.” She said approvingly before placing her hand on top of Maria’s manicured one.

Zan smiled. He put his hand on the top and announced, “If we stick together through everything, then I know that we can make it big some day. Now, let’s start us a band!”

Maria smiled at the memory. Six years and they were still a close knit group, working their way towards the top. Sure, they’d had their ups and downs, but they were getting closer and closer to their final destination: Stardom.

Isabel sauntered into the kitchen with Zan right behind her. “Let’s go!”

Kyle stood up. “To the music mobile!” he joked, pointing towards the door.

Max shook his head and the girls just rolled their eyes as they all headed out of the small apartment.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt so excited about something. A part of me is still trying to understand it, we were chosen. Us! I’m not the type that most people would choose for anything, in the end at least. Maybe with all of the shit that I’ve been put through recently, something good is about to come my way! This will change me, I know it. Whether I like it or not. I just hope to God, that as a group we’ll be strong enough to see it through. No one can touch us and that’s the way it’s always been, an unspoken bond among the five of us. At least that is one thing that I know will not change. We are one and that’s what will help us get through this and win.

~Liz

Soo... what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Wow! I'm so glad that you guys love my story! It makes me feel so good! So, I'll be nice and let you in on the next part...
Enjoy!



Part 2: “Dude’s gonna get it…”

Fairfield Mall (Fairfield is in between Roswell and South Spring)

“Hey Liz!”

Liz inwardly groaned, recognizing the masculine voice behind her. She spun around to see an all too familiar face smiling widely at her, his tongue messing with his silver lip ring as he leaned over the counter and waved her over.

“Sean.” She acknowledged, coming over to the counter. “Did my order come in yet?” she asked, trying to hide her anxiety.

He smiled at her and grabbed a long, thin package from the shelf behind him. “Yup.” he replied, handing it to her.

She nodded. “Cool, thanks.”

She slipped out a pair of hot pink drumsticks with black flames on the bottom half of them from the package. She nodded approvingly, before sliding them back in. “Nice.”

He grinned at her. “Yeah, they’re pretty hot. I’ll bet you’ll find lots of fun things to hit with those babies.” He said cockily, winking suggestively at her.

She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “Yeah, wanna see me shove them up your ass?” she shot back, slamming money on the counter to pay for them and then stalking off.

“Yeah, maybe later babe!” he shouted to her retreating form.

She turned around and stuck out her middle finger. “Fuck you!” she shouted angrily.

“Hey, nothing’s stopping you!” he shouted back.

Ignoring his last comment, Liz headed to the back of the store and plopped down in a familiar stool.

She pulled her new drumsticks back out of the package again and weighed them in her hand, making sure that she liked their weight.

After a few seconds, she began a steady beat on the drum set in front of her.

*~~*~~*

As soon as Serena heard the drums she headed to the back of the store in search of her sister.

She smiled when she spotted her seated in front of her favorite drum set. She sat down on the stool next to her and watched her drum.

Suddenly there was a small crash, causing Serena to jump up out off of the stool.

Liz stood up too, and they both shared a worried look.

“What now?” Serena mumbled before grabbing Liz’s hand and dragging her through the store to the source of the noise. They both stopped abruptly at the scene laid out before them.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Maria and Isabel practically skipped into the music store like two kids in a candy store.

Kyle, Max and Zan trailed behind them.

Isabel headed straight for the guitar strings with Kyle following her while Maria went to browse the music books.

Max and Zan went to check out the flyers advertising upcoming events at the front desk just in time to see a petite brown haired girl talking to Sean at the counter.
She was wearing baggy khaki colored cargo pants and a tight black tank top with black and pink Vans shoes on. Her dark brown hair was pulled into a messy, but cute bun on the top of her head. She had three piercing on each ear, and then two more in her cartilage.

“Yeah, they’re pretty hot. I’ll bet you’ll find lots of fun things to hit with those babies.” Sean was saying, leaning over the counter and grinning suggestively.

They watched as the girl narrowed her eyes and glared at Sean angrily. “Yeah, wanna see me shove them up your ass?” she threatened back.

Zan raised his eyebrow and turned to see Max watching the girl with deep interest.
“You see this chick Maxwell? She’s crazy, talking to Seany boy that way…” He commented, nudging Max in the ribs.
Zan felt as if she reminded him of someone, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Max kept his eyes trained on the girl as she stalked away from the counter.

“Yeah, maybe later babe!” Sean yelled, grinning like a fool.

“Yeah…,” Max agreed as he watched the girl spin around and shot Sean the finger. “She sure is.”

“Fuck you!” she shouted at Sean, obviously very pissed off.

“Hey, nothing’s stopping you!” Sean was shouting back at her as Zan and Max came up closer to the counter.

Sean shook his head as he watched the girl walk away. “Damn it!” he cursed, hitting the counter top in frustration.

“I see someone’s not getting any.” Zan mocked, taking a seat on a nearby stool.

Sean shook his head and mumbled something along the lines of “We’ll see…”

He looked up and smiled at Max and Zan.

“Hey, what’s up?” he greeted, offering his fist out to Zan.

Zan pounded his fist as Max took a seat besides him.

Max never really like Sean all that much, he was cool to hang with and have on your side but sometimes he thought that the guy just took things too far. Like last year, there was a guy who said some wrong things around him and he just blew up. Broke the guy’s nose, some ribs and then he spread rumors that probably still follow him to this day. Max thought that Sean had overreacted but didn’t dare tell him that.

“So, anything new come in yet?” Max asked curiously.

Sean rolled his eyes. “Yes your majesty, your sticks have arrived.” He replied sarcastically before grabbing a package from behind him and tossing it over to Max.

Max grinned and pulled out two black drum sticks with silver flames stenciled onto the bottom half.

He paid Sean before standing up to head over to the drum section when they all heard a crash.

All three of the boy’s heads turned towards the sound.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

A/N~ Just so that you know, Ernie Ball is a company that makes guitar strings. (and probably other things too, I’m not sure)

“Ah ha!” Alex announced, holding up the last pack of Ernie Ball brand guitar stings.

Tess grinned over at him from her spot in front of the guitar straps. “Well aren’t you in luck!”

“Yup” he beamed, walking over to browse with her.

“What do you think of this one?” Tess asked holding up a pink fuzzy guitar strap with black cheetah spots.

He raised his eyebrow in surprise. “Uh….er…”

Tess moaned. “Aleeexx!” she whined. “If you don’t like it, then just say so!”

“Fine. I…” he began.

“Hey!”

He turned around, startled.

His eyes widened as he saw a gorgeous blonde haired girl standing in front of the guitar strings section with her hands on her hips. She was wearing tight black jeans and a red halter top with black boots. Her hair was pulled half way up, her curls looking soft and bouncy. There were various earrings lining up and down her two ears.

The boy next to her patted her softly on the back. “It’s okay Izzy. Why don’t you just get those ones instead?” He suggested, pointing to a pack of guitar strings.

“Kyle! You know that I can’t play without my Ernie Ball strings!” The girl groaned.

The brown haired boy next to her, Kyle, covered his mouth in an attempt to cover his smile.

She glared at him. “What are you laughing at?!” she shouted, pushing him slightly.
He looked at her innocently, putting both of his arms down immediately.

“No-nothing.” He stuttered. A second later he burst out laughing.

Alex couldn’t help the smile tugging at his lips as she slapped Kyle on the shoulder roughly.

“Oh grow up Kyle!” she snapped.

When she looked up, her eyes locked with Alex’s and he gulped quietly.

It was then when he realized that he had exactly what she wanted.

He watched as she realized it now, her eyes flashing down to the pack of strings in his hand.

He could almost hear her growl from the way she was looking at him, and it was not in a pleasant way.

“Uh, Alex!” Tess interrupted, tapping him on the shoulder.

He turned back around to face his friend. “Huh?”

She held up the guitar strap again.

“Oh! Well it’s… okay, it’s very you” he relented.

She smiled at him happily. “I knew it!”

Alex smiled back, glad to have finally helped.

“Um, excuse me!”

Alex twirled around to come face to face to the blonde haired girl he had seen before. Up close he thought that she was even more beautiful. Her eyes were bright and blue and she had dark red lips that he was yearning for.

“Yes?” he replied politely.

“Um, you took the last pack of those guitar strings.” She said, pointing to the pack in his hand.

He shrugged. “So?”

She shook her head as if she’d misheard him. “So?! Listen up pal, I’m leaving town in a few days to play what could be the most important concert of my life and I need those strings!” she explained haughtily.

He grinned. “Well, it just so happens that I am also leaving town in a few days to play a very important show as well.” He replied briskly.

She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

He glanced over at Tess who was talking next to the boy he’d heard referred to as Kyle. He seemed to be flirting with Tess, who was eyeing him suspiciously.

The blonde sighed in defeat. “Well, do you at least know where I can get another pack at?” she asked.

He turned back to her and smiled. “As a matter of fact I-”

There was a crash from the front of the store and their heads all snapped in that direction before they all rushed over to find out what had happened.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Maria marched straight to the music book section as soon as she entered the music store.

There was a book that had a song in it that she couldn’t wait to make her band learn so that she could sing to it.

There was a tall dark haired guy browsing through the Linkin Park books, standing right where she wanted to be.

The Lillix books were right next to the Linkin Park ones.

She sighed impatiently as she waited for him to move.

When she realized that she was wasting time, she decided to just reach over and grab the book she wanted. He wouldn’t even notice, she thought smugly.

She came up behind him and tried to grab the book she wanted when all of a sudden he backed up into her, knocking her off of her feet and into a shelf of books.

She fell to the ground with a plop and an “Ooff.”

The boy turned around, startled.

She grasped his offered hand and allowed him to help her up.

“Geez woman, why’d you have to stand right behind me?” he growled.

Serena and Liz practically skidded to a stop a few feet away with Zan and Max not far behind.

Zan gasped and nudged Max. “Dude’s gonna get it.” He whispered. Max nodded in agreement quietly.

Serena shook her head, “Geez, didn’t we teach him betta than that?” she asked Liz softly, sorrow in her voice. Liz just shrugged.

“First of all,” Maria began, her eyes dark with anger. “Nobody calls me woman!” she shouted, jabbing her finger on his chest.

Isabel, Kyle, Alex and Tess all joined the group with Sean behind them.

“Well then what are you?” Michael scoffed jokingly.

“I am a human being with a name! And second of all, I was just trying to get a book and you were standing in my way! Why did you knock me over?!” she asked, infuriated.

“You were right behind me!” he informed loudly.

She shot him an incredulous look. “No. You were in my way.” She replied, just as loud, standing on her tip toes to reach his height.

He rolled his eyes, who did this chick think she was anyways?

Sean pushed Alex and Isabel aside and came up to them. “Guys, cut it out! Just help me clean this up!” he demanded, gesturing to the piles of books in front of them.

All eleven of them gathered up the scattered books quickly and then returned them all to their place on the shelf.

When Zan reached down to pick up a copy of Sum 41’s “Does this look infected to you?” tablature book, a smaller hand grabbed it as well.

He looked up and came face to face with someone he hadn’t expected to see in years.

“Serena?”
She gasped and pulled her hand away. “Zan?”

They both stood up and looked at each other in shock.

Zan had let his hair grown out a little bit and it was scruffy and cute. He had a small diamond earring in his left ear now and Serena couldn’t help but notice how much muscular he looked than he did the last time that she had seen him. He wore a form fitting gray t-shirt with a Nine Inch Nails logo on the front and loose jeans with black converse shoes.

“Yeah, how’ve you been?” he asked nervously, running his hand through his hair.

“Uh, good. Good. You?” she asked causally.

“Yeah, I’m good. Are you still playing?” he asked curiously.

Serena’s eyes dimmed for a moment. “No, actually. Not really… but! My sister! My sister, plays drums.” She beamed, pulling Liz over to her.

Liz eyed Zan up and down before sticking her hand out to shake. “Hey, I’m Liz.” She greeted.

He shook her hand and smiled. “I’m Zan, I thought that you looked familiar.” He said, looking from sister to sister.

He nodded at Max, Isabel, Maria and Kyle to come over. Michael, Tess and Alex all came up behind Serena and Liz.

“This is Max, Isabel, Maria and Kyle.” Zan introduced, pointing to all of his friends.

“It’s nice to meet you all.” Serena replied, smiling at Zan and the group. “This is my sister Liz, as I said before, and that’s Michael, Tess and Alex.” She introduced, pointing to her sister and their friends.

They all mumbled their hellos.

Zan nodded. “Cool.”

Michael caught Max looking over at Liz interestedly so, being the overbearing close and brotherly friend he is, he draped his arm around her shoulder and shot the boy a mean glare.

Liz looked up at Michael irately and pushed his arm off of her before stalking off towards the drum set she was practicing on before.

Michael scowled and then glanced over at Tess hopefully. She raised her eyebrow curiously and then went off after Liz.

Maria shot Michael a dirty look and then grabbed Kyle and took him with her to look through the store. Isabel walked over and told Alex to follow her before heading off back to the guitar equipment.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Tess sat down next to Liz, who was (as suspected) playing on the drum set in the back of the store.

Liz finished up the song she was playing and then spun her stool around to face Tess.

“Hey.” Tess greeted.

Liz smiled. “Hey.”

“So… what was Michael’s deal back there?” Tess asked casually.

Liz sighed. “Oh, you know… he’s such a dumb ass. The other day he flipped off three twelve year old boys just because he thought they were checking me out.” She complained, rolling her eyes.

“Well, were they?” Tess prodded.

Liz just grinned in response.

“Ahhh…” Tess nodded, her mouth curving into a smile.

Liz blushed and playfully nudged Tess in the side.

“So…” Liz continued, glaring at Tess. “He’s been acting very much like the jackass older brother I never had.”

Tess nodded. “Yeah, I’ve noticed that too. I think that it’s because of…”

Liz shot her a silencing look. “I know. It’s sweet and all that junk, but I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself.” Liz concluded firmly. “Now.” She added quickly.

Tess rolled her eyes. “Yeah, he just didn’t like the way that one guy was looking at you.” She commented.

“What?!” Liz asked, confused.

“You know that dark haired hottie, he was totally checking you out!” Tess replied bluntly.

Liz raised an eyebrow. “No, I don’t think so Tess...” She said, shaking her head.
Tess looked at her. “And why not?!” she demanded.

Liz frowned. “I just- no, No! Michael was just being all touchy feely. You know, making sure that I was okay.” She explained, stumbling over her words.

“Liz. When is Michael ever ‘touchy feely’?” she asked rolling her eyes.

Liz shrugged and stuck her drumsticks back into her pocket.
Then she stood up. “Well, whadda you say we blow this shop and cruise the rest of the mall?” she suggested, a playful grin on her mouth.

Tess speculated for a moment. “What about Michael?”

“Oh, come on! I can always call him later!” Liz persuaded.

Tess shrugged. “Yeah, let’s go.”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is admit when you’re wrong. I hate it when people try to circle around the truth or try their hardest to cover it up. My father, if you can call him that, has always had that problem. I remember this one time when I asked him, ‘why don’t you ever hug me daddy?’ I was six and he replied, ‘Honey, I’m busy right now… let’s talk later’. Yeah, too busy sitting on you ass all day! What kind of father would say that?! Lucky for me, my mom would try and make up for him. Even when he stopped coming home before ten p.m. But it took her a while to actually explain it to me. To look at me and say ‘Daddy isn’t coming back’. Maybe they thought that I wouldn’t understand or that I didn’t deserve to know. Whatever their reasons, it doesn’t matter now. I have what I need to get by and I’m not still waiting for “daddy” to hug me anymore.

~ Maria

Hey, thank you so much for all of the feedback! I love it!
Here's the next part!
~ Cayla



Part 3: Mad Crazy

Serena and Zan were talking nonstop about some class that they used to share.

Michael watched, surprised, as Max walked up to him.

“Hey.” Max greeted, hands jammed deep into his dark blue Dickies brand pants.

Michael nodded back. “Hey.”

“So… what’re you guys doing here?” Max asked curiously.

Michael eyed him suspiciously. “Just, browsing.” He shrugged casually.

Max nodded. “Oh.” He replied, shifting his feet.

There were a few minutes of awkward silence. “You play drums?” Michael asked finally, nodding to the drumsticks sticking out of Max’s pocket.

“Yeah.” Max answered. “Ever since I saw Blink 182 and I caught one of Travis’ drumsticks…” he added, smiling at the memory.

Michael’s eyes widened. “Wow, that’s cool.”

Max shrugged. “Yeah, the asshole wouldn’t sign them though.” He muttered.

Michael laughed. “So, you don’t really have proof then?”

Max shook his head, grinning. “I still have the stick though, and the ticket stub. It was my first concert and I was… twelve.” He replied. “My sister’s a witness though, if you wanna talk to her…” he continued.

“No, that’s okay. Is your sister that short, clumsy blonde girl?” He asked curiously.

Max laughed. “No, the tall, bitchy blonde girl is my sister. Twin sister actually.” He told Michael.

Michael nodded. “Oh, so is the clumsy one your girlfriend or something?”

“Hell no!” Max laughed. “No, we’re just friends. She’s like a sister, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I uh, I guess I do.” Michael replied embarrassedly, scratching the back of his neck. He really did know what Max meant.

“It’s just that I could tell that you were all a tight group, you know?” Michael explained clumsily.

Max nodded. “Yeah, well that’s probably because we’ve all known each other for so long and we’re all in a band.”

“Oh… that makes sense.” Michael nodded.

“Yeah. What about your group? Your guys aren’t in some kinda gang are you?” Max asked jokingly.

“No…” Michael laughed. “Actually we’re all in a band too.”

Max nodded. “That’s cool. You going to Zeal tour this summer?” he asked suddenly.

Michael’s eyes twinkled. “Yeah, you may even see us on stage.” He replied.

“No shit?! Well, you’d better watch yourself because it may very well be my band up on that stage.” Max replied cockily.

Michael’s eyes narrowed as he sized up the guy in front of him. “Right…”

“What was that?” Max snapped, glaring Michael in the eyes.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Alex followed Isabel, a smile across his face.

Ladies just can’t resist the good old Alex charm, he thought happily.

As soon as they were a good distance away from the rest of the group, she stopped and turned to face him abruptly.

She took in his baggy blue pants and his black Simple Plan shirt for the second time that day as well as his cocky grin.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Alex, right?” she asked coolly.

He nodded, noticing her cold tone of voice. “Yup, and you must be Princess Isabel.” He replied back briskly, eyeing her up and down.

She glared at him. “So, you know where I can get some strings right, because if you were lying then I’m just gonna take yours!” she declared.

“I’d like to see you try.” He mumbled.

“What?!” she asked sharply.

He grinned.

She took a threatening step towards him and pointed a finger at his chest. “Listen, I don’t wanna play games here. If you know where I can get some strings like that then you’d better tell me now!” she ground out.

His eyes narrowed, he found her incredibly sexy just then. Now’s not the time he chided himself. Bad Alex!

“Come on.” He replied before walking away, leaving Isabel no choice but to follow him out of the store.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

“Maria! Slow down would ya!” Kyle shouted, jogging to catch up to her.

She stopped and turned around, placing her hands on her hips.

There was a mean glare on her face that had not left since her argument from earlier.

He stopped in front of her, panting. “Geez, you’re like mad crazy right now you know!?” he shouted, glancing around the mall. “Zan’s gonna be pissed when finds out that we left.”

She shrugged and looked around the walkway. She grinned. “Hey, check it out.” She said, nodding towards a huge arcade nearby.

Kyle grinned. “Oh.”

She grabbed his hand and pulled him over to it.

They stepped inside and Maria dragged Kyle over to the nearest token machine.
He watched as she pulled out five dollars and tried to shove it into the machine. She groaned when it wouldn’t go in.

“Stupid, fucking machine!” she cursed.

Kyle snatched the bill out of her hand and smoothed it out carefully. Then, he put it into the machine.

Maria’s mouth fell open when tokens clinked out from the machine.
She then set her mouth in a thin set line and glared at Kyle, who was grinning cockily and scooping the tokens into his pocket.

Maria grabbed a handful and headed over to the nearest air hockey table.

Kyle followed her and frowned when she began to put coins into the air hockey table.

“Let’s play.” She said, tossing him one of the round paddles.

He sighed. “Fine...”

There was no point in arguing with her, she always won. He mentally prepared himself for a rough game of dodging her attempts to behead him with the hockey puck, because Maria played rough. Especially when she’s pissed off about something.

The table started up and Maria pulled out the puck and placed it on the table before shooting it straight towards Kyle.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

“It’s not like I meant to spill beer on her precious Prada shoes!” Serena shot back.

Zan raised his eyes in disbelief. “Come on Serena! It was so obvious that you hated the girl! I mean, everyone knew that it wasn’t an accident. You guys were like… the biggest gossip in school most of the year! With all your ‘cat fights’” He replied, gesturing quotation marks for emphasis.

Serena rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

Zan grinned, realizing how much he had missed this. The one girl who had listened to him and made him felt like he wasn’t a piece of meat, or some lame ass loser during high school. All of his feelings he had for her had been shoved down when they went their separate ways after graduation. Now, he felt them all over again, making him feel like it was just yesterday they were joking around at Jenn’s pre-graduation party or one of Kevin Baker’s lame ass ‘B.Y.O.B.’ parties.

“So, how’s business treating you?” he asked.

She grinned. “Well… my band just might make it up on one of the Zeal Tour’s stages.” She replied smugly.

His eyes widened. “Seriously?! Us too!” he burst. Then, realizing how ridiculous he’d just sounded, he added in a relaxed tone. “That’s cool.”

Serena grinned. “Wow, so I guess that we’ll be like competing then…”

Zan nodded. “Yeah.” He agreed, catching her eyes.

They heard a punching noise and they both jumped simultaneously, turning to see two figures wrestling on the ground.

Serena’s jaw dropped as she watched the scene.

“You’re-going-down!” Michael growled, pushing against Max roughly.

“No-way!” Max grumbled back as he pushed back harder.

“HEY!”

They two boys stopped and looked up to see Zan hovering above them, a stern expression across his face.

Serena stood nearby; her arms crossed across her chest with a disapproving look spread over her face.

“Get your asses up NOW!” she shouted sternly.

Michael scrambled up, pushing Max off of him. He straightened his shirt as Max scrambled up besides him, grabbing the drumsticks that had fallen from his pocket earlier.

“What are you doing?!” Zan demanded, looking from Max to Michael.

Max and Michael avoided each others eyes as well as Zan and Serena’s.

“We were just messing around.” Max mumbled, staring at his shoes.

“Messing around?! You two are way too old to be ‘messing around’” Serena declared, glaring at Michael disappointingly. “Someone could have been hurt!” she added.

Zan nodded at Serena’s words.

“Max, go get the others it’s time to leave.” He said, glaring at Max meaningfully.

Max got the message and went off.

“You too Michael, it is time to go.” Serena added.

Michael rolled his eyes and stalked away.

“Urghhh.” Serena sighed. “Sometimes, I feel like their mom or something rather than their manager!” she complained.

Zan nodded. “Yup, I know that feeling.”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

“Oh my gosh Liz! That is such a great color for you!” Tess squealed.

Liz spun around and frowned, glancing in the mirror. “Ya really think so?” she asked self-consciously.

Tess nodded. “Yeah, red looks really great with your skin tone.” She assured.

Liz looked in the mirror again, admiring the red and black striped, low cut halter top. A smile grew on her lips. “Yeah… I think I’ll get it!”

Tess smiled. “Cool, now what do you think about these pants?” she asked spinning around.

Liz nodded. “Yeah, there nice but I think that the purple ones worked better for you.” She speculated.

Tess nodded. “Yeah I was thinking so too. Okay, let’s go buy this and then go to the nearest restroom to change!” she suggested.

Liz looked at her. “Tess… why do you want to change now?” she asked, confused.

“Because Lizzie, we’re going to a party tonight!” she chirped.

Liz groaned. “Already?! We just went to one Wednesday night!”

Tess shook her head. “Yeah but it’s Saturday night!”

Liz rolled her eyes. “Where is it at this time?”

Tess chewed her bottom lip. “Um… thebetafrathouse.” She said quickly.

“What?” Liz asked, eyeing her friend carefully.

Tess sighed. “The… beta junior fraternity house.” She repeated, slower this time.

“What! Tess… that’s like on the other side of town and- I really don’t think that Michael would let us…” Liz rambled.

“Liz, stop. First off, it’s like ten minutes away. Second, who says that we even have to tell Michael?!” Tess interrupted.

Liz looked at Tess.

“Oh, come on Liz! Don’t be like that! Besides it’s not like I’m asking you to go to another party at the old soap factory or anything…”

Liz shuddered slightly.

“I know one of the guys who are throwing the party; he’s an old friend. It’ll be fun! Please go with me!” Tess whined.

“Fine, fine. When does it start?” Liz replied, defeated.

Tess grinned. “It starts at six.”

Liz looked at her watch. “That’s in like an hour!”

Tess shrugged. “Yeah, that’s why we gotta buy this stuff and change!”

“Well, how are we gonna get there?” Liz asked.

“Uh… actually, I was hoping that you could help with that.” She replied, looking up at Liz hopefully.

Liz sighed. “What do I have to do?”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Max frowned as he looked around the guitar section for his sister.

He spotted Sean at the front desk and made his way over to him.

“Hey Sean! Have you seen my sister or Maria and Kyle around here?” he asked, frowning.

Sean thought for a moment. “Actually, I think that I saw your sister leave with some guy a little while ago.”

“What?!” Max shouted.

“Hey, dude chill! Alex’s a pretty good guy, I’m sure that they’re fine.” He assured, only have met Alex briefly a few times but knowing that he was good friends with Liz.

Max sighed. “Great. I can’t believe that she left the store!” he mumbled.

“Hey Max, since you’re here…” Sean began leaning closer to Max. “You need a ride? We could just leave from here, I get off in about half an hour.”

Max groaned. “Oh shit. I forgot…”

“You’re still going though, right?” Sean asked expectantly.

Max nodded. “Yeah… I guess so.” He replied, scratching his ear.

Sean nodded. “You bringing anyone?”

Max shrugged. “I think that Kyle wanted to go… but I don’t know where he is.”

“Okay, well I’ve got plenty of room in my car for you two so… how about we leave at about five thirty. I’ve gotta pick up a few kegs of beer on the way.” He informed.

Max nodded. “Sure. I’d better go and find everyone so I’ll see you later!” Max called as he backed away towards the other section of the store.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Maria’s cell phone number.

“Hello?” she shouted, Max could hear loud noise behind her.

“Hey, where are you?”

“Um… we’re in the arcade.” She yelled back.

“Oh…” he replied, letting out a sigh of relief. “Good, so Isabel’s with you.”

“No, I’m with Kyle.” She replied, sounding distracted.

“Where’s Isabel then?!” he shouted, confused.

“How should I know?” Maria answered. “Listen I gotta go…”

“Maria, listen to me! Get you asses back here A.S.A.P.! And if you see Isabel, then you bring her back with you!” he ordered.

“Yeah, yeah, just lemme finish up this game and we’ll be back soon.”

“Okay, bye.” He answered, but she had already hung up.

He sighed, shoving his phone back into his pocket.

“LIZ!? TESS!?Alex…?”

Max smiled smugly as he watched Michael calling frantically.

“Where the fuck are they?!” he muttered.

“Yo, you know where your friend Alex went with my sister?” Max asked, coming up behind him.

Michael spun around. “Do I look like I know where he is?!” he shouted frantically.

Max stifled a laugh. This dude is hysterical, he thought.

Suddenly Michael’s eyes narrowed and he marched towards the front desk.

Curious, Max followed him.

“Sean!” Michael barked, getting his attention.

Sean walked over to them and sat down in the stool behind the counter.

“Can I help you with something?” he asked dryly.

“Yeah, you know where Tess or Liz is?” he scowled.

Sean rolled his eyes. “I thought that was your job.” He replied pointedly.

Max watched as Michael practically growled in response.

“Listen you tell me where they are or I’m gonna-”

“Hey, chill! I don’t know where they are okay!” Sean shouted, holding his hand up.

Michael glared at him before backing away.

“You’re welcome!” Sean shouted to his retreating form.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Why do they do it to me? Why?! I’m always the one worrying my ass off while they’re off, doing who knows what with who knows who! I’m not the type to get all emotional or any of that crap but I treat my band like my family. And in this family, I like to think of myself as the responsible, strong older brother. I look out for everyone and make sure that they don’t get hurt or into trouble. They don’t make it easy on me though, do they? Especially Liz, damn trouble follows that girl wherever she goes! If I wasn’t keeping an eye on her she’d probably be in jail or worse by now, not to sound cocky or anything… but I was the one who made sure that Joey stayed away from her. She would’ve lost it if he’d stuck around… that asshole.


~ Michael

Thank you for the feedback! The whole liz/joey deal is gonna have to wait, but there's lots more fun things to discuss before we get to that!
Enjoy this next part!

Part 4: Party, frat house, be there

“Hey Sean!” Liz called leaning over the counter of the table.

He turned around, her face causing him to grin haughtily.

She inwardly groaned.

She smiled at him sultry as he placed himself in front of her.

Okay Liz, she thought positively, you can do this!

“Ready to take me up on that offer?” he asked, wagging his eyebrows at her.

She shook her head. “Sorry but no… But I was, however, wondering if you were planning on attending that party tonight at your frat house. You’re going right?” she asked, leaning forwards and smiling flirtatiously.

He smiled. “Of course, It’d be hard not to because it’ll be right down the hall from me. Do you plan on making an appearance, ‘cuz that would definitely make it worth my while.” He replied smoothly.

She grinned. “As a matter of fact, I would love to go you see but the problem is that Tess and I,” she said, pointing to her friend who was standing off to the side. “we don’t had a ride…” she told him sadly.

He shook his head. “Now there’s a dilemma. I’ll tell you what?” he said, leaning in close to her ear. “I’ll give you a ride, if that’s what you want...” he whispered, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

She gasped and pulled away from him. “Sean!” she hissed disapprovingly.

He held his hands out, chuckling. “Hang on, I was only kidding with ya Lizzie!” he told her. “Just be here by 5:30 and I’ll take both of you to the party.” He amended. “Just as long as you save me a dance.” He winked.

She hesitated, glancing towards Tess who was biting her finger nail worriedly. “Deal.”

He smiled. “Shake on it?” he asked, offering her his hand.

She shook his hand and he used her hand to pull her closer to him.

“Did ya know that spikey’s looking for you?” he asked softly, referring to Michael.

She shook her head.

He nodded, releasing her hand.

“Yup, he was shouting all throughout the store for you two. Hell, he even thought that I had something to do with you two missing!” he told her.

She rolled her eyes. “Hmmm. Well I’ll have to ask him about that. Thanks Sean! See you later.” She called, walking towards Tess.

“So?” Tess questioned.

“This better be a damn good party!” she hissed as she yanked Tess through the store.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Max followed Michael over to where Zan and Serena were chatting by the music books.

“Michael, what’s wrong?” Serena asked, leaving Zan to go over to Michael.

“I can’t find them,” Michael informed gruffly.

“Oh, why don’t you just call them then?” she asked.

Max snickered lightly from behind him and Michael shot him a deathly glare before nodding to Serena’s suggestion.

He pulled out his cell phone and began to punch in Liz’s cell number when all of a sudden, he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

He spun around to see Tess and Liz standing there, looking annoyed.

“Heard that you were yelling for us.” Liz said, peeved.

He glared at them both. “Where have you been?!” he demanded, looking from Liz to Tess.

Tess shrugged. “We were just cruising the mall.”

He shook his head, incredulously. “Why didn’t you just let me know that you were leaving?”

Liz shrugged. “You could have just called us.”

Michael shook his head, unbelievingly.

“Did you guys change clothes or something?” Serena asked, eyeing the girls.
Tess was now wearing tight purple jeans with a black, sparkly tank top and Liz was now wearing low slung baggy, black pants with a tight red and black striped halter top.

Michael narrowed his eyes accusingly towards Tess and Liz.

Liz’s checks reddened slightly.

“Yeah, well we did some shopping…” Tess told her.

Serena nodded. “Liz, you should wear red more often. It really works for you!”

“See, I told you so!” Tess exclaimed, nudging Liz.

Liz nodded nervously. She was glad that their actions had not seemed too suspicious to her older sister.

“So where’s Alex?” Serena asked, placing her hands on her hips. “I gotta get down to the club by six forty-five so we gotta get moving!”

Michael looked at Max accusingly. “You said something about your sister being with him, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, Sean said that he saw them leave together a little while ago.” Max replied.

“Okay, so why doesn’t somebody call them?” Maria asked as she walked over to the group with Kyle.

“Thanks for letting us know you were leaving!” Zan told them sarcastically.

Maria rolled her eyes and pulled out her cell phone.

“Fine, I’m calling Izzy.” She replied.

“Izzy?” Tess questioned.

“Isabel, my sister.” Max informed her.

Tess nodded in understanding. “Ohhhh.”

“Hey Iz!” Maria chirped into the phone.

“Is Alex with you?”
(Pause)
“Good. Where are you guys?”
(Pause)
“Guitar Central?! Why?!”
(Pause)
“Ohhh. Well you two had better get back here quick!”
(Pause)
“Yeah, we’re waiting for you!” Maria exclaimed.
(Pause)
“Okay, bye.” She replied before closing the phone and sticking it back into her purse.

“They’re at Guitar Central?!” Max burst as soon as she was off of the phone.

Maria nodded. “Apparently, Isabel needed to buy a certain type of strings for the show.”

Kyle nodded his head in understanding. “Yeah, the Ernie Ball kind.”

Zan sighed. “Whatever.”

Serena turned to the girls. “As soon as Alex gets here, we’re leaving.” She informed.

Liz glanced at Tess expectantly.

“Oh, um… actually do you think that it would be okay if we just stayed here with a few friends?” Tess asked hesitantly.

“What friends?” Serena asked suspiciously.

“Well… we ran into Mimi and Kat and they wanted to go see a movie in a little while and hang out at the mall. They said that they’d give us a ride home.” Tess answered quickly.

Serena nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Liz smiled. “Thanks!”

“Just don’t stay out too late.” Serena warned. “You know the rules.”

The girls nodded.

“See you later!” Tess called as they left the group.

“You’re letting them stay out after the stunt they pulled?!” Michael burst unbelievingly.

“Michael… they’re fine!” Serena shot back.

“Whatever…” he mumbled, shoving his hands deep inside of his pockets.

Max motioned to Kyle and Kyle went over to talk to him.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“You busy tonight?”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

“This is where you’re taking me?!” Isabel asked.

Alex nodded. “Yeah, come on.” He said, pushing the door open.

She sighed and followed him.

“Hey Kris!” Alex shouted.

A few minutes later, an older man stepped out from the back room and headed over to them.

“Hey! Alex, wassup?” he asked.

Isabel raised her eyebrows and glanced over at Alex. Who was this guy kidding? He looked as old as her grandfather and he still said wassup?

“Yeah… Kris! This is Isabel a good friend of mine.” He told the man, winking.

Isabel rolled her eyes and then turned to smile politely at the man.

“Actually, we pretty much just met about half an hour ago.” She told Kris, keeping a smile on her face as she did.

Kris grinned. “Really?” he laughed. “Well then, it’s nice to meet you.” He said, sticking his hand out to shake hers.

She gave him her hand and shook it.

“Now, what can I get for ya babe?” he asked, eyeing her up and down, still holding her hand.

She ripped her hand out of his grasp and wiped it onto her jeans, her expression now irritated.

Alex decided to step in. “Actually Kris, we’re just here for some strings.”

“Oh.” Kris replied flatly. “Well, you want me to grab some Ernie’s for ya dude?”

Alex laughed lightly. “Yeah K-man, that’d be cool of you.”

“Alright, hang tight bro.” Kris replied before heading back behind the counter.

Isabel was inspecting her red nails while Alex leaned over to whisper in her ear. “You just got to humor him. He’s a little off his rocker.”

Isabel nodded. “Yup, he is pretty out of it.” She agreed, distractedly.

A few minutes later Kris came back out and held up a pack of strings. “These kind, right?”

Alex glanced at Isabel and she nodded her approval. Alex grinned. “Yup, just ring it up for me K-man!”

They walked over to the counter as Kris rang up the strings.

Just then “American Idiot” rang from Isabel’s purse.

She pulled out her cell phone and put it up to her ear.

“Hello?” she answered, stepping away from the counter to talk to whoever was on the other line.

Kris grinned. “She’s a fine one!”

Alex chuckled.

“You wanna give me a piece?” Kris asked, nodding towards Isabel.

Alex frowned. “Sorry, find your own.”

“Alright… well that’ll be $3.50” Kris announced holding his hand out.

Alex pulled out a five and handed it over.

As Kris was handing him his change, Isabel came over.

“We gotta go,” she said grabbing Alex’s arm.

She flashed Kris a fake smile. “Thanks for the strings K-man! My grandma’s looking for a date, want me to hook ya up?”

Kris frowned. “Why you-”

Before he could finish, Isabel pulled Alex out of the store quickly.

As soon as they were out she dropped his arm and set a steady, but fast pace towards the parking lot.

Alex was laughing. “Damn girl! That was good. You sure told him.”

Isabel smiled. “Yeah well, I’ve dealt with worse.”

“Here’s your strings.” Alex said, handing her the small brown bag.

Isabel took the bag from him.

“You’re welcome!” he grumbled before he hopped into the driver’s seat of the van.

She hopped in next to him and turned the radio up.

“I love this song!” she squealed.

“Sad, small, sweet, so delicate
We used to be this dying breed
I got a bad feeling about this
I got a bad feeling about this

You kept still until the long drive home
You slept safe and close to the window...
I got a bad feeling about this
I got a bad feeling about...”

“Taking back Sunday’s cool I guess…” Alex said thoughtfully.

“What do you mean, you guess?! They rock!” Isabel retorted.

Alex chuckled. “Yeah, okay they do.” He agreed.

“Who's to say you'll have to go (I could go all night)
Well say you'll have to go (I could go all...)
To hell with you and all your friends
To hell with you and all your friends, it's on

Sad, small, sure in porcelain
You're skin and bones, I'm a nervous wreck
I got a bad feeling about this (when it comes to this)
I got a bad feeling about this

You kept still until the long drive home
You slept safe and close to the window
I got a bad feeling about this
I got a bad feeling about...

Who's to say you'll have to go (I could go all night)
Well say you'll have to go (I could go all...)
To hell with you and all your friends
To hell with you and all your friends, it's on

I got a bad feeling about this (what is this for?)
I got a bad feeling about...

“So what’s this ‘important show’ that you’ve got to play this weekend?” Isabel asked curiously.

Alex smiled. “My band’s in for the Zeal tour competition.” He informed. “What about you?”

Her mouth dropped open then she shut it quickly. “I- my, my band’s in for the Zeal tour competition too.”

“Wow, what are the chances…” Alex mumbled.

Isabel nodded. “Yeah, weird…”

Anyone will do tonight
Anyone will do tonight
Close your eyes, just settle, settle
Close your eyes, just settle, settle
Anyone will do tonight
Anyone will do tonight
Close your eyes, just settle, settle
Close your eyes, just settle, settle
Anyone (anyone) will do tonight
Anyone (anyone) will do tonight
Close your eyes, just settle, settle
Close your eyes, just settle, settle

Well I got a bad feeling about this,
I got a bad feeling about this (to hell with you and all your friends, it's on).
I'm coming over but it never was enough
I thought it through and my worst brings out the best in you
Well I got a bad feeling about this
I got a bad feeling about this (to hell with you and all your friends, it's on)
I'm coming over but it never was enough
I thought it through and my worst brings out the best in you
Well I got a bad feeling about this
I got a bad feeling about this (to hell with you and all your friends, it's on)
I'm coming over but it never was enough,
I thought it through and my worst brings out the best in you
Well I got a bad feeling about this,
I got a bad feeling about this (in you...).
I'm coming over but it never was enough,
I thought it through and my worst brings out the best in you
I got a bad feeling about this,
I got a bad feeling about this (in you...).
I'm coming over but it never was enough
I thought it through and my worst brings out the best in you
I got a bad feeling about this,
I got a bad feeling about this,
I got a bad feeling about this (I am you)
I got a bad feeling about this (I am you)
I got a bad feeling about this (I am you)
I got a bad feeling about this (I am you)
I got it bad (I am you)
I got it bad
I got it bad
I got it bad
I got it bad
I got it bad”

~ Taking Back Sunday (“A decade under the influence”)

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Some people just click, you know what I mean? They take an instant liking to one another and become friends or lovers or whatever. We met a lot of new people today. None of us really “clicked”. The only exception was for Zan. He really seems to dig that Serena girl. It’s amazing really! He’s been like a tough, cool older brother to us for years and to see him act like a fool in front a girl was pretty hilarious! It’s not a good idea, however, for him to be into a girl from the other side. What’s he thinking? I mean, yeah I was being nice to them but that’s just how I am. I’m not one for making enemies, unlike some people…

~ Alex

Part 5: Let’s go!

They rushed into the mall quickly, practically running into the music store.

“Hey.” Alex greeted breathlessly, nodding at his friends when they finally found them.

“About damn time!” Serena scolded. “Come on, we gotta go. I’ve got to get to work soon!”

Alex nodded then walked over to Michael.

“How come the girls aren’t here?” he asked.

“They’re gonna stay here with a few friends.” Michael replied, scowling.

“Really? I think that we ran right pass them… but they weren’t with anyone.”

Michael’s eyes snapped to meet Alex’s. “Where?” he demanded.


Zan walked over to Serena. “So… where do you uh, work at?” he asked her, attempting to sound casual and relaxed but failing miserably.

She smiled at him. “I work at this club part time… it’s called Slim’s.” she informed.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been there a few times. It’s a cool place. Bet it’d be fun to work there.”

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s okay.” She admitted, shrugging. “Hey, you looking for a job? ‘Cuz we’ve got a few openings…”

“Really?!” he asked, surprised. “That’d be cool! I mean… I was sorta looking for another part time job anyways. We’re gonna be tight on cash during this trip to Zeal.”

She nodded excitedly. “Yeah, wanna check it out tonight?” she asked.

He grinned. “Yeah. That’d be great!”

“Yo Zan!” Kyle called, gesturing for him to come over to him.

Zan sighed. “Hang on a minute.” He told Serena, smiling apologetically.

“Kay.”

“What?!” he hissed, walking up to Kyle.

“Listen Max and I were wondering if it’d be cool if we hung out here at the mall for a while…” he began.

“Oh! That’s a great idea Kyle!” Maria shouted happily, coming up behind him.

Isabel came over. “Yeah, I love this place!” she added.

Max and Kyle glared at the girls.

Zan nodded. “Sooo. You all want to stay here?” he asked.

They all nodded slowly.

“Okay.” He replied.

“Really?” Max asked, surprised by his answer.

“Yeah.” Zan confirmed, nodding.

“Hey Serena, you think that Alex and I could stick around here too?” Michael asked.

She nodded, sighing. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Cool.” Michael replied.

“Hey Serena!”

She turned to Zan.
“Yeah?” she asked.

“I’ve got an idea, what if we took one car to the club and then left the other one for them to take and meet up with us there or something?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yeah! That’s a really good idea.” She replied.

She glanced at the younger teens standing around them. “Whatta you think?” she asked.

“Yeah, whatever.” Maria and Isabel agreed, nodding.

Michael glared at Max momentarily and then looked back at Serena. “Well uh…”

“Great! Then it’s settled. Michael, here are the keys to the van, you should all fit in there and we’ll expect you to all be at the club before my shift ends at midnight.” She announced happily.

That was one of the perks of being chaperoned by a person that was only a few years older that you… curfews were much later than usual.

Serena grabbed Zan’s arm. “Come on, we gotta get. See you guys later!” she called as she pulled Zan out of the store.

“Okay well, we can get our own ride… so we’ll see you guys later” Max announced before heading off with Kyle at his side.

“Hey!” Maria protested, running after them with Isabel.

Michael rolled his eyes and headed towards the exit of the store with Alex.

Isabel stalked up to her brother who was chatting with Sean at the counter and yanked on his t-shirt roughly.

He turned to glare at her. “What?!”

“What the hell are you doing?! We’re supposed to go with Alex and Michael!” she reminded him sternly.

He shook his head. “Listen, we’ve got plans… so just fuck off!” he growled, gesturing towards Kyle and Sean.

Maria’s face reddened in anger.

“Maxwell Evans! You do NOT speak to your sister that way!” she shouted, stepping onto her tippie toes to speak to him.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Michael and Alex were just about to leave the store when they saw Liz and Tess headed right towards the door, talking obliviously.

Michael yanked Alex over to hide behind the nearest shelf.

They watched as the two girls strode in, laughing.

They followed behind them quietly.

“Listen to me Liz, if he does anything even remotely wrong… you kick him right in the balls!” Tess was telling Liz.

Liz nodded. “You think I don’t know that?!” she joked.

Tess grinned. “Yeah, you should be fine. But still…” they stopped as they reached the counter.

“Hey Lizzie!” Sean called, causing all of the people around him to stop and turn there way.

Liz’s checks turned pink.

Tess pulled her over to the counter.

Liz glanced cautiously over at the group of kids that she recognized from earlier before leaning in to speak to Sean.

“Did my sister leave?” she asked cautiously.

He nodded. “Yup. You ready to go?” he asked eyeing her up and down before he added. “You’re looking hot!”

Her eyes narrowed furiously and she reached over to slap him but he stopped her.

“Now now…” he scolded. “Is that any way to treat your ride?”

She was about to spit on him or yell at him when someone shouted. “Hey!”

She spun around at the sound of Michael’s voice and yanked her arm out of Sean’s grasp.

Michael walked over to her. “Where are your friends Liz?” he asked.

“Uh… they-” Liz began, stumbling over her words.

“They left.” Tess interrupted briskly. “So we decided to go to this party at Sean’s.” she added.

Liz nodded reluctantly when Michael glanced back over at her. “Okay then, where’s this party at?”

“My frat house.” Sean interrupted.

Michael nodded. “Cool, I could go for a party.”

Liz was about to protest when Tess jabbed her side.

“Okay… but you’re gonna need your own ride, ‘cuz my car’s all full.” Sean told Michael.

Michael nodded. “Yeah, I got a ride.”

“Well, we want to go too!” Maria announced.

Sean shook his head. “Sorry but no room!”

“I’m sure that Michael wouldn’t mind giving you girls a lift.” Alex blurted, smiling at Isabel.

Michael glared at Alex.

“Right Mike?” Alex asked, elbowing him.

“Uh… yeah, sure.” He mumbled.

“Okay… well, we should get going then.” Sean announced. “I’ve gotta stop at one place on the way there.”

“Okay then, we’ll just meet you guys there then.” Alex told Sean.

Sean nodded. “Yeah, come on.” He said, gesturing to Liz, Tess, Kyle and Max.

They followed him out the back way towards his small, black car.

The other four went the opposite way to the parking lot where Michael’s van waited.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

“I call shotgun!” Kyle announced as soon as they reached Sean’s car.

“How very mature of you.” Tess commented dryly.

He stuck out his tongue at her.

She rolled her eyes. “And you just get dumber by the minute.” She mumbled.

Kyle hopped up front and Max got into the back, right side of the car.

“After you!” Tess chirped as she held the door open for Liz.

Liz raised her eyebrow at her and crossed her arms over her chest.

“You’re smaller than me!” Tess reminded her.

Liz rolled her eyes. “Maybe by a centimeter.” She mumbled as she climbed into the back next to Max.

He flashed a small smile her way which she pretended not to notice.

“Sean, I thought that you said that you had plenty of car space!” Max groaned as Liz and Tess squished besides him.

“Hey, we can make some room for the ladies!” Sean replied, shooting the girls a suave smile to which they just rolled their eyes.

Max grinned at their reaction.

As soon as Sean started the car up, Kyle began to surf through radio stations.

He finally stopped. “Ahhhh. Here we go!” she said, turning up the volume.

“It's about time for a party at my house
And it wouldn't be the same without you
No not at all as I recall
You've got what I need

Bring along yourself and don't forget that smile
And plan on staying a while
Till summer turns to fall, as I recall
You've got what I need…”

Tess bobbed her head, humming along to the song and Liz could tell that she was anxious and bored. Not always a good combination for Tess…

“Soo….” Tess began turning to Max, who was staring out of his window.

“Max, right?” she asked.

He turned to look at her and nodded. “Yeah.”

She waved. “I’m Tess and this is Liz.” She told him.

He glanced down at Liz quickly and then looked back at Tess. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Right... So, do you play an instrument?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Well, what do you play?” she asked, slightly annoyed by his short answers.

“I play drums.” He replied.

She nodded. “Oh, so does Liz!”

He glanced at Liz again. But Liz was looking at Tess, annoyed by her.

He nodded. “Okay…”

“Are you in a band?” She asked him abruptly.

“Only the best!” Kyle answered for him turning around to join in on the conversation.

Tess glared at him.

“The best, huh?”

Kyle nodded proudly. “Yup, we’re on our way to Zeal Tour in a few days.”

Tess gasped. “No way! So are we!” she exclaimed, gesturing towards Liz.

Kyle’s eyebrows rose and he glanced over at Max who shrugged.

“So… what do you play?” Kyle asked Tess, eyeing her carefully.

“I play the bass guitar.” She told him smugly. “You?”

“I just so happen to also play… the bass guitar.” He replied slowly and awkwardly.

Liz snorted at his awkwardness, Max and Sean laughed and Tess grinned, highly amused.

Kyle blushed slightly before turning back to face the front of the car.

“Okay,” Sean said, pulling the car over next to an apartment building and hopping out. “I’ve gotta run in and grab a few things, you kiddies be good now.” He said, winking at Liz before heading to the door.

Liz rolled her eyes at his retreating figure and slouched down in her seat.

“You said you were leaving
I said you were crazy
You said that you have some things to do

I'll see you in a while
And don't forget that smile
What else could there possibly be to do?”
~ Mxpx (“Party, my house, be there”)

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

I can be a real dumb-ass sometimes. Hard to believe, I know. It’s hard to say the right thing at the right time. Music is different. It’s like I can naturally play the right thing (and at the right time too!). It truly is amazing. Now why can’t I always work that way? My dad always thought I was a dumb-ass. At least I think he did. He was always so reserved to himself and in his work. We didn’t exactly leave things at the best of terms last year when I left. He thinks I’m wasting my life. Well dad, be prepared to be amazed.

~ Kyle

*A/N: Okay, I swear that they will actually <i>get</i> to the party by the end of the next chapter! Now I feel like I’ve dragged all of these events out too much … hope you don’t mind.

Hey, Party time! Thank you much for the feedback everyone! As for Liz, she just seems to have issues with guys... and yes it is pretty bizarre that Liz and Tess are friends! At first I didn't think I could do it... but it ended up working just fine! I've gotta ask you guys, when the bands start performing (this won't happen for a while though...) do you think that It'd be okay if i used songs and have them perform them as if they are their own songs? Or should I just make up songs for them to perform, or I was thinking that I could mix the two together and have songs that are based on real songs but with other lyrics mixed in there too. I'd just like to hear your thoughts/ideas on that when you get the chance. Thanks! Enjoy this next part!


Part 6: Feeling this

“Hey! Can we put the radio on or something?!” Maria moaned from the back seat.

“Yeah!” Isabel agreed from besides her.

Michael clenched his hand on the steering wheel and gritted his teeth. For about the millionth time he wondered how the hell he’d gotten into this position.

“Yeah! Hang on…” Alex announced, leaning over to mess with the knobs on the radio.

Michael glared at him, a ‘what the hell are you doing!’ kinda glare.

Alex shrugged. “What’s the prob?”

Michael nodded towards the girls in the back with his head.

Alex’s mouth formed in an ‘O’ and continued flipping through channels.

“Hey stop there!” Maria told him.

“She clings to me like cellophane
Fake plastic submarine
Slowly driving me insane
But now that's over

So what if the sex was great
Just a temporary escape
Another thing I grew to hate
But now that's over…”

“What the hell is this shit?” Michael asked.

“It is not shit! Metallica is shit!” Maria argued.

Alex watched in horror as Michael’s face turned a deep shade of red.

He glanced back at Maria and shook his head putting his finger across his neck in a slitting motion.

“I am the one that is driving here! I’m doing you a favor and all you can do is talk and talk and talk and diss my all-time favorite band, which I’ll have you know is NOT shit! Metallica can whoop these little fuckers any day!” Michael roared.

Maria looked taken aback for a moment and Alex couldn’t quite read the emotions that flitted across her face. “Whatever.” She huffed, seeming bored with the conversation.

“Why you always kick me when I'm high
Knock me down till we see eye to eye
Figured her out I know she
May not be Miss Right but she'll do right now

I used to hang on every word
Each lie was more absurd
Kept me so insecure
But now that's over

She taught me how to trust
And to believe in us
And then she taught me how to cuss ... that bitch!
It's over

I used to be such a nice boy”

~SR-71 (“Right now”)

Michael flipped the radio station and turned up the song playing.

“Now this is more like it!” he growled, mainly to himself and Alex.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

After what felt like forever, Sean finally emerged from the building along with three girls and two guys behind him.

The guys were all carrying kegs and the girls were carrying bags of plastic cups and chips.

Sean opened the back of the trunk and they loaded it up.

The girls came over to the side of the car to talk to them.

“Hey Max, Kyle!” they greeted, leaning onto the car.

“Hey girls” Max greeted, grinning.

“You’re coming tonight, right?” Kyle asked.

“Of course!” the red headed girl exclaimed.

He smiled. “Great! It’s gonna be an awesome party.”

They nodded and the blonde haired girl with huge curly hair leaned over and whispered something in Max’s ear.

He nodded, smiling. “Sure thing Ava.”

The other girls giggled and waved. “Okay, we better go then. See you later!” they hurried over to a nearby jeep and jumped in.

The guys were talking to Sean, when they noticed the people sitting in the car.

“Hey!” the blonde said, sticking his head into the open driver’s window.

“Hey Matt.” Kyle greeted.

He nodded to Kyle and Max then turned to look at Tess and Liz.

“What’ve you girls been up to?”

“Matt, we saw you just the other day.” Tess said, rolling her eyes.

He smiled slowly. “Oh, yeah…”

“How’s your head?” he asked Tess.

“It’s better thanks.” She replied, rubbing the small bump on the back of his head.

He nodded.

His friend stuck his head into the car next to him. “Hey!”

Liz smiled. “Hey Ethan.” She greeted.

“Hey Liz, how are you?” he asked.

“I’m fine, how about you?”

“I’m good,” he said, nodding. “Yeah, so I heard about what uh… happened. I just wanted to say that Joey was an asshole and if you need someone to you know…”

“Okay, she gets it!” Matt interrupted.

Ethan scowled at Matt and then turned back to Liz shrugging. “You know.”

Liz nodded. “Thanks… I appreciate it but,”

“But she’s determined that all men are assholes and she really doesn’t need you trying to get into her pants right now.” Tess interrupted bluntly, glaring at Ethan.

He gasped. “Alright, alright! Whatever, I’ll just go now…” Ethan said, pulling his head out of the car.

Matt shook his head and shot Liz a smile. “Sorry about that, it’s been awhile since he’s had any-”

“Okay, it’s time to go guys. We’ll see you at the party.” Sean interrupted, pulling Matt’s head out from the window.

“Yeah, see you guys later!” He shouted, jogging over to the jeep and hopping in.

Sean got in and started the car up. “Okay, now it’s party time!”

“About time!” Kyle commented as they started down the street.

Sean’s phone rang ‘Crawling’ by Linkin Park.

“Hello? Oh yeah, we’re just about there…”

Kyle turned around to see Tess picking at her nails.

“Hey, did you really buy that fuzzy guitar strap back at the mall?” he asked, frowning.

“Yes I did, what’s wrong with that?!” she snapped.

“Nothing… it’s just, sooo girly and all.” He replied, crinkling up his forehead.

“So, I am a girl aren’t I?”

He grinned and opened his mouth to speak but she put up her hand to stop him. “Wait don’t answer that.”

He put a hurt expression on his face. “Awww, I had the perfect come back!”

She rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile:

“Who’s Joey?” Max asked Liz quietly, the curiosity to know more eating him away.

“No one.” She answered bluntly, her arms crossed over her shoulders.

He nodded. “Right.” He said sarcastically.

She shot his a deathly glare.

“I was only asking…” he mumbled, turning to look out the window.

“Well next time don’t!” she snapped.

“Don’t tell me what to do.” He argued, turning back around to face her.

He stared her down, watching shadows flicker across her angry face as they drove down the dimly lit road.

“We’re there!” Sean announced, turning off the engine before hopping out, leaving the four to scramble out hurriedly.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Maria and Isabel weaved their way through the crowd, stopping only to smile or flirt at guys or to scowl or roll their eyes at the girls.

“Let’s go dance!” Maria announced, already bored.

Isabel rolled her eyes. “Fine, but just for a little while.”

Maria nodded and pulled her over to the dance floor.

They were dancing in the crowd to “1, 2 step” by Ciara when Sean ran in carrying a large keg.

“The party can now begin!” he whooped, high-fiving his fellow frat members.

They watched as Kyle rushed in carrying a keg with an annoyed looking Tess behind him.

Tess rolled her eyes as Kyle whooped along with the other guys.

Then Max and Liz entered, looking pissed at each other.

They both practically ran the opposite way of each other.

“C’mon.” Isabel said, grabbing Maria’s arm and pulling her over to Kyle and Max.

They dodged by Sean and his friends who we’re already chugging down beer.

“Max!” Isabel shouted to her brother.

He stopped and looked around, confused.

When he spotted Isabel, he grabbed Kyle by the back of the shirt and headed over to them.

“Man, what the fuck?!” Kyle growled, pulling away from him.

“Oh, hey girls.” Kyle greeted, surprised.

“Hey, what did you do to piss of the bitchy twins over there?” Isabel asked, nodding towards Tess and Liz who were arguing over something.

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Who knows?! Girls…” he huffed.

Max nodded distractedly, watching something that was happening on the other side of the room.

“Kyle!” Maria shouted, slapping him.

“Hey! Hey, I was only joking…”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

“Tess, I’m not so sure that this was such a great idea…” Liz stated, crossing her arms and glaring at one of the guys leering at her.
“Come on Liz, this will probably be our last party before we leave town for the competition.” She reminded her.

Liz rolled her eyes.

“Does this have something to do with what that asshole Ethan was saying?” Tess asked knowing her best friend well.

“Why do you think that every time there’s something wrong with me that it has to do with some guy?!” Liz burst.

Tess looked at Liz. “Liz, let’s face it. Aren’t all your problems guys?” she asked.

Liz paused for a second and then nodded. “Okay, yeah you’ve got a point there…”

Tess put her arm around her friend. “I know, which is exactly why you need to keep going out. You get to meet new guys! Older guys! Hotter guys!”

Liz rolled her eyes. “How the hell does that help me?! Shouldn’t I be staying away from guys?! If I were gay, this would be a lot easier you know!”

Tess nodded sympathetically. “I know what you mean, but don’t worry Lizzie one day you’ll meet a guy who will treat you like you deserve to be treated! That is, if you don’t kick his ass first…”

“Hey!” Liz protested, swatting Tess on the arm.

Tess laughed. “Hey, it’s happened before!”

“What has?”

They turned around to see Sean leaning against the door, grinning.

“Sean!” Tess squeaked, surprised. “Were you just standing there this whole time?!”

“NO, not the whole time! Just for a couple of seconds.” He slurred.

Liz wrinkled her nose as he grasped her shoulder.

She began to push it off when he shook his finger at her. “Uh, uh! I believe that you promised me a dance!” he reminded, pointing to her.

She glanced at Tess, who was trying not to laugh.

“I’ll just, leave you two to it then…” Tess said, backing away to leave.

Liz watched helplessly as her friend scampered off into the crowd without her.

“Here, have a drink.” Sean said, handing her a paper cup.

She sighed and nodded, grabbing it from him and chugging it down.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

One of the best things about being in a band is the people. You go from town to town, playing and partying, meeting new people along the way. That’s what we’re going to be like one day. When we go on tour, we’ll visit new places and we’ll be introduced to some of the coolest people. When I got my first bass, my dad was so excited. He was glad that I was actually showing some interest in something that he approved of. I think that my mom was jealous. We’d go down to the park, just dad and me, and he’d show me all of the chords and how to find the beat to different songs. He’s still the best guitar player I know of. (Don’t tell Alex that!) I would ask him to play a song that I liked and he could figure out the chords in five minutes or less. I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher. If this band can make it, and I mean really make it… then I’ll be living out a dream. Not just my dream, but my dad’s dream too.

~ Tess

Hey, thank you for the great feedback and input! It is much appreciated! Enjoy this next part!


Part 7: Damsels and disaster

Tess searched the crowd for something to do.

Ah ha! She thought, spying the snack table outside near the pool. Mmmm… mini quiches…

She made her way over and casually plopped one in her mouth.

“Mmmm…” she murmured, only this time it wasn’t in her head. She reached over and picked up another one.

“Hey, don’t hog all the mini quiches!”

She turned around, mid chew.

Kyle grinned at her and then reached over her to grab a few of the bite size quiches.

She dodged his arm, gulping.

“Darnt wes liwe rewat?” Kyle asked her with a mouth full of quiche.

“Excuse me, are you talking to me?” Tess asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Kyle gulped and nodded. “I said, aren’t these things great?” he repeated, clearly this time.

Tess rolled her eyes. “How was I supposed to know that when you were talking with your mouth full?!”

He shrugged and grabbed a handful of chips.

“Unbelievable!” she burst.

“Hey, where’s your little mean brunette friend at?” he asked brusquely.

“First off, my friend has a name! And secondly she is not mean!” Tess growled.

“But she is little?” He retorted.

“She’s- Arghh! What is your problem?!” she groaned.

“Maybe it’s you!” he replied, taking a step closer to her.

“Me?! What the hell did I ever do to you?!” she demanded.

“Well… first off, you- you’re so annoying! Most girls would be like ‘hi, wanna make out?’ or something like that. You, however…” he said, pointing to Tess accusingly as she grew madder by the second. “You really got to chill down!”

“You want me to chill down?! Okay buddy, you are way off! I mean look at you! You’re totally wasted, your tossing random food down your throat, and you’re trying to tell me that I should do the same thing?” Tess argued angrily.

Kyle shook his head and stepped closer to her, leaning in to whisper in her ear.

“That’s not what I meant!”

Confused, Tess froze for a moment allowing Kyle the chance to pick her up and throw her over his right shoulder.

“What the hell?!” she screeched. “Put me down! KYLE!”

“Okay!” he announced, before tossing her into the pool gracefully.

“Ahhhh!” she screamed, splashing around wildly. “You bastard! I hate you!”

Kyle grinned, laughing. “Oh, you know you love it!”

“Arghhh!” she growled, grabbing the edge of the pool.

“Kyle! Get your ass over here right now and help me out of this pool!” she shouted.

He stopped laughing slowly. “Yeah, okay…”

He bent down and grabbed her hand. She smiled as she yanked him into the pool besides her.

“Hey!” he yelped.

Tess hopped out of the pool easily. “Oh come on, you so deserved that!’ she spat, stomping towards the back door.

“No! Get back here!” he shouted.

She slammed the door shut harshly behind her.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Maria ambled around the living room, bobbing her head to the beat of the music.

They were playing Liz Phair’s song, “Extraordinary”.

She spotted a group of kids in the corner of the room surrounding a small table. Naturally, she was interested so she made her way over there.

She recognized a few of the faces of fellow classmates, laughing and giggling over something.

“Hey Ria! Wanna play!” One of the guys called to her from the opposite side of the table.

She thought that his name was Craig or Greg or something like that.

“What are you playing?” she asked, stepping closer to see what they were doing.

“Quarters.” One of the girls replied.

Maria nodded. “Yeah, why not?”

She sat down next to the guy she recognized from school last year.

**Ten minutes later**

Michael wondered around the crowded party, wondering for the fifth time where Tess and Liz went.

Alex was trying to find a bathroom so he was stuck by himself in this sweaty, drunken mob.

“CHUG, CHUG, CHUG!!!”

He turned towards the sound of the whoops and hollers.

He saw a red headed girl at a nearby table gulping down a large glass of beer.

“Hey Mike! Get your ass over here and join in!” One of the guys yelled from the table over to him.

He grinned, thinking to himself, We’ll I may as well have some fun while I’m here…

As soon as he reached the table, they guy who called to him, Jake, introduced him. “Hey guys, do you remember Mike? He’ll kick our asses in this game!”

There were a few loud whoops from that comment.

“I dunnoo Jake!” Another guy began drunkenly. “This blonde chick is damn good!” he countered, nodding to the girl next to him.

Michael sat down and glanced over at his supposed competition. He inwardly groaned as the same blonde from earlier glared back at him.

“Okay,” Jake said, rubbing his hands together and passing Michael the quarter.
“This should be interesting…”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

“Isabel Evans!”

Isabel turned abruptly.

“Oh Ava!” she squealed. “How are you?”

“I’m good! How ‘bout you?” the girl replied.

Isabel grinned, about damn time! she thought.

“Well, it just so turns out that my band will be competing for a place in this summer’s Zeal tour.” She replied smugly.

Ava wrinkled up her nose. “Oh, really… isn’t that like for a bunch of poor, dirty bands who play all of that loud, obnoxious music?” she asked rudely.

Isabel raised her eyebrows at her. “No… sorry, you must be confused!” she replied stiffly.

She seriously hated those punk rock haters who only liked what everyone else liked just because it was “in”. Ava was definitely one of those. She didn’t seem to be able to think for herself. As much as Isabel could and would love to punch her lights out… she knew that would not be a good move. Ava was someone you needed on your side, and Isabel always felt the need to impress her or outdo her.

“Oh, I’m sure.” Ava answered, nodding with a sly grin.

“So where’s that hunk of a brother of yours?” she asked, scanning the crowd.

Isabel sighed. Ava must be the stupidest person alive if she thought that Max would be into her. Isabel knew as well as anybody that her brother hated posers.

“Sorry, I’m not his keeper. Dunno where he is…” Isabel replied monotonously.

“Hmmm, well if you see him be sure to remind him that he promised me a dance!” she chirped.

Isabel frowned. Why the hell would he do that? She wondered.

“Okay, sure.” Isabel replied, seemingly unfazed.

“You wanna come hang with me and mine?” Ava asked.

Isabel nodded. “Sure.” What else is there to do here? She thought bitterly.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Alex pondered his options. Well, I can pig out at the snack table… he thought glancing over at the food, oh mini quiches! I can get wasted on beer… he eyed the large kegs surrounded by guys, or not. I can get wasted playing quarters… he glanced over seeing Maria and Michael throwing death glares towards each other as they passed the shot glasses and quarters around, he shivered, definitely not. Or…. He spotted Isabel laughing with a large group of friends and grinned.

He straightened his posture and ran his hand through his hair before heading over to the blonde beauty.

“Hey.” He purred coming up behind her.

She turned around, surprised. “What do you want?” she asked quickly.

Uh oh, that’s not a great start… Alex thought, pondering his plan in his head.

“You wanna go dance?” he asked, surprising himself by the calmness of his voice.

She glanced over at her friends, one of the blonde ones raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“No, sorry.” She replied bluntly, returning to her group of friends.

He stood there, stunned for a minute.

“Who’s the loser?” he heard one of the girls ask as soon as he turned around.

“Oh, just nobody.” Isabel replied briskly. “So, what were you saying about…”

Alex stalked off angrily. “Bitch” he muttered to himself heading for the snack table.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

“Hey” Sean whispered, leaning in close to Liz as they danced. “You want me to get us some joints?”

“Nooo…” Liz forced herself to say. She did want to do that anymore, or ever again actually.

He frowned. “Aww, you’re no fun!” he told her before grabbing two drinks off of the nearby table. “Well at least have another drink then.”

She took the drink, nodding. “Yeah, I guess.” She drank about half the cup, feeling drowsy.

“I think that I’m just gonna go- now…” Liz stuttered, turning to leave. Her legs wobbled and she stumbled.

Sean grabbed her by the waist quickly. “Whoa there, you need to stay with me.” He told her, smiling.

She shook her head, the music pounding into her head.

He pulled her closer to him but she pushed herself off of him.

“Liz!” he called to her as she pushed her way through the throng of people surrounding her.

She ran into something hard and looked up to see concerned brown eyes staring down at her. She lost her balance and stumbled backwards but two strong hands steadied her before she fell flat on her ass.

She placed her hand on her throbbing head and groaned.

“What’s wrong?”
“Are you okay?”
“Liz?”

Liz looked up, finally realizing that someone was talking to her.

She saw the guy from earlier shaking her, Max, she thought. That’s his name… Max.

“I-” she began, opening her mouth to speak.

“Lizzie!”

Sean pulled Liz away from Max’s grip.

“I’ve been looking for you! Come on, I’ve got some aspirin for your headache!” he told her, speaking to her as if she were a child as he pulled her away.

“No!” She shouted, coming to her senses and pushing him roughly to the floor.

Max rushed over to her. “What’s going on?”

“I- I don’t wanna go with him!” she spat, woozily.

Max looked down at Sean as he began to stand up, looking extremely pissed off.

“Damn it Liz, why do you gotta be such a bitch?!” he groaned loudly.

“Me?!” Liz shrieked. “Why the fuck is everyone always saying that?! It’s shit like you that make me this way!” she shouted at Sean menacingly.

“Okay, maybe you should-” Max began to tell Liz in a calming voice.

“Stay out of this ass wipe!” Sean growled at Max.

Max’s eyes flashed over to Sean and he grabbed him by the collar roughly. “What did you call me?”

“You heard me you dick! You know, I always knewed you were a wuss! Zan shoulda never let you in his band! It should have been me playing drums in that band! ME!” Sean yelled, shoving Max to the floor roughly.

Liz took this opportunity to jam her fist into Sean’s ribs harshly.

She smiled, hearing a very satisfying crack.

The small crowd that was actually paying attention to them applauded and whistled.

Sean yelped, clutching his side. “Screw it! Liz, you are so not worth it you know that!” he spat before turning around and limping out of the room.

Liz stared after him with cold eyes while Max picked himself off of the floor.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Junior year was probably the worst year of my life. There was just so much shit that kept on getting to me. All of my classes were AP, and although I’ll admit that I’m pretty smart, they weren’t exactly a piece of cake. My long term girlfriend started to avoid me, I later found out why. She was doing the football quarterback and one of his buddies behind my back. After that, my grades slowly slipped which of course caused a uproar at my house. My dad does not accept laziness. This is probably why he’s always been against my choice of career. Then one of my best friends, Tommy, the kid I’ve known since second grade, began to drift into another crowd. He started taking drugs regularly and drinking his ass off every chance he got. Then, the very last week of junior year… he overdid it. I never talked to him about it before but now I know that it was a mistake. It was a big, huge, terrible mistake. He wasn’t supposed to overdose; he wasn’t even supposed to start taking drugs in the first place. It wasn’t him. After that, I swore never to let something stupid like drugs hurt me or those that I cared about. Senior year just wasn’t the same without him, and I’m just not the same without him. I learned a lot of things the hard way that year…

~Max

P.S. As for Sean, so far I have no future plans for him... but that could always change...

Hey! Sorry it took me long to post. I just like to make sure that I update my other fic before I add to this one. Kay, here is the next part! Thanks for the feedback!
Enjoy!
~ Cayla



Part 8: So over this

Maria glared at the guy sitting next to her who was grinning cockily.

“Well,” he prodded, nodding towards the large glass in the middle of the table.

She frowned and picked it up bringing it to her mouth.

“Who hoo!” he shouted as she downed the dark liquid. “Chug it!”

The room was a blur of shouts and whistles as she emptied the glass.

Wiping her mouth, she set the glass down and let out a small burp.

Michael laughed. “There you go! I believe you owe me… twenty five bucks!”

She glared at him. “I do *hiccup* not! *hiccup*” she replied.

“Uh, yeah, you do!” he countered.

“NO! It was the first one to lose three times!” she burst. “That was only the *hiccup* second time I lost!”

Michael frowned, then looked at Jake for advice. “Was that her second or third loss?” he asked.

“I’m not touching this one dude, sorry.” Jake told him shaking his head. “You two gotta figure this shit out on your own!”

Michael looked around the table. “I think you both lost twice, didn’t you?” a drunk brunette slurred.

Maria nodded. “Yeah, *hiccup* you lost twice too!”

Michael shook his head. “Whatever, let’s finish this then!”

Maria nodded, picking up the quarter. She tossed it into the glass easily and then passed it on to the guy sitting besides her.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

“Alex! Thank God!”

Alex turned around to see Tess, soaked from head to toe standing in front of the back door.

He raised his eyebrows questioningly.

“What did you do now?” he asked.

“You gotta help me! You know that jerk Kyle?! Well, he just threw me in the pool! He’s such an arrogant son of a-” Tess ranted quickly.

“Wow, hang on. You’re talking a mile a minute Tess, you know I don’t speak your girly lingo!” Alex interrupted.

She nodded, understanding. “Okay, can you help me find a towel or something?” she asked tiredly.

He nodded. “Yeah, come on.”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Kyle dragged himself out of the pool muttering and cursing the whole time.

“Hey Kyle! Need some help?”

He turned around to see the red haired girl from earlier smiling at him.

He nodded, smiling slowly. “Yeah, I need to dry off.”

She nodded slowly. “I think I can help you with that.”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Michael gasped as the second shot glass made its way over to him.

“No shit!” Jake gasped.

Maria couldn’t seem to wipe the huge grin that graced her face.

Michael groaned, shaking his head as he downed the glass in the center of the table that had been refilled.

He slapped it back onto the table as soon as it was empty and pushed himself out of his seat.

He slammed the money he’d lost from the bet in front of Maria before storming off.

“Thank you!” Maria chirped happily. “Better luck next time!”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Michael strode purposefully into the other room, scanning the crowd for familiar faces.

Finally he spotted Liz from afar, punching Sean in the gut.

‘Bout damn time… that guy was seriously getting on my nerves he thought watching Sean yell at her and storm off.

Michael weaved his way over to her. When she didn’t seem to notice his presence, he waved a hand in front of her face.

She looked up at him startled, and peeved.

“Looks like you’re thinking what I’m thinking,” Michael observed.

“And what’s that?” Liz asked, annoyed.

“That it’s time to go.”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

“Thanks.” Tess sighed, wrapping the towel around herself.

Alex nodded. “No problem. So… what’s with this Kyle guy? Where’d he get the balls to mess with you?” he asked curiously.

Tess shook her head. “He’s just a dumb ass, I don’t know what his problem is.” She replied.

Alex grinned. “Hmmm, so how bad did you get him back?”

Tess smiled. “Well… we’re even at least.” She shrugged.

Alex laughed. “That’s good, I guess that we don’t need to sick Liz on him then.”

Tess laughed with him. “Yeah.”

The bathroom door creaked open slowly.

“Come on!” someone giggled.

Alex and Tess turned to see a red haired girl drag a wet Kyle in.

Tess frowned. “Excuse me, but didn’t you learn to knock?!”

The girl glared at Tess as she grabbed a towel from the rack. “It’s not like you two were doing anything!” she snapped.

Tess practically growled then. “This is still a bathroom! You can’t just waltz in without warning!” she hissed back.

The girl eyed her up and down menacingly. “Sorry sir, but could you please dry your wet hamster somewhere else!” she told Alex, staring at Tess in disgust.

Alex’s eyes narrowed at the girl and then looked back to Tess.

Tess took a step closer to the girl. “We’re not leaving until you and your filthy, smelly, wet dog leave too!” She seethed angrily.

Kyle grinned slowly. “I think it’s time for a cat fight! Or better yet…mud wrestling!”

Tess gasped, turning to point at Kyle. “You are such a conceited jackass! What is it with you and your perverse, little mind?!” She shouted, jabbing him in the chest with her finger.

Kyle chuckled. “Whoa there! Watch where you point that thing.” He said, pushing her hand away from him.

Suddenly Michael came up behind Kyle and pushed him out of the way carelessly.

“Hey!” Kyle protested.

Michael looked at Tess and Alex, ignoring Kyle completely. “Let’s go.”

They looked at each other, both knowing that something was up before following Michael out of the small bathroom.

Kyle straightened up.

“You okay?” the girl asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, but I’ve gotta go.” He told her, grabbing the towel from her hands and rushing out of the room.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

“She was like, ‘no fucking way!’ and I told her, ‘why would I lie to you?’ and then she was all like-”

Isabel nodded, only half listening to what the girls surrounding her were blabbering about.

“Hey! There he is!” Ava exclaimed.

Isabel looked up to see Ava nodding over to her brother who was standing in the crowd next to one of the girls she recognized from the other band, Liz.

Ava pulled out her red lip gloss and reapplied what must’ve been the fifteenth coat that night, and checked her appearance in her compact mirror.

“Perfect!” she mused, before snapping the compact shut and marching over towards Max.

Isabel groaned silently. Just great… she thought sulkily before heading over to help her brother.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Kyle followed the small group through the crowd when he spotted Maria sitting at a nearby table counting a small pile of money happily. “Hey Ria!” he shouted.

She looked up, meeting his eyes. “Let’s go!” he shouted.

She nodded, gathering her pile and heading over to him.

“Hey.” She greeted happily.

“Hey, we gots to go.” He replied.

“Oh, where’s Izzie and Max?” she asked as they wove their way through the crowd.

He shrugged. “Dunno, look for them.”

She nodded, following him through the room. “Okay.”

“Hey, there’s Isabel.” She said, pointing to Isabel who was trying to get through a group of girls.

“Izzie!” she shouted. When she didn’t see them, Kyle joined in. “Izzie!” they shouted together.

Isabel stopped when she heard her name being called. Then spotting Kyle and Maria, she headed over to them.

“Come on, we gotta go now.” Kyle told her before pulling her through the crowd with him and Maria.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Liz felt way better as soon as Michael told her that he was going to go round everyone up to leave. She was beyond sick of this party, as a matter of fact, she was just plain sick.

“Maybe you should sit down or something…”

She turned around to see Max standing behind her, glancing at her uneasily. She had briefly forgotten he was there.

“I’m okay.” She replied coolly. “Besides it’s not like there are many places to sit here.”

He nodded. “True.”

He smiled a little bit. “You must be glad that I helped you escape from Sean, he’s such a pervert.”

She frowned. “Actually, I believe that you should be the glad one. Because the last time I checked, It looked like you were the one that needed saving.” She countered.

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, but you would’ve fallen right down on your ass if I hadn’t helped you earlier and then where would you be?”

“I would’ve been fine!” Liz snapped. “I’m not some weak little girl that needs saving all the time!”

“Yeah, I get that! I just thought that maybe you’d be a little grateful, that’s all!” he replied, annoyed.

“Well, you thought wrong!” she shot back.

“Okay, sorry then Miss Indepen-” he began, stepping forward to get up in her face.

“Maxie!”

Max stopped mid sentence, feeling an arm wrap itself around his shoulder.

He turned to see Ava smiling at him innocently.

Liz rolled her eyes.

“What are you doing Ava?” he hissed.

“You said that you would dance with me!” she pouted, playing with the hair on the nape of his neck playfully.

“Oh I…uh” he began, staring at Liz helplessly.

He watched as Liz fought the urge to burst out in laughter by chewing on her bottom lip adorably.

Just then, Michael came over to them followed by Alex, Tess, Kyle, Isabel and Maria

Michael glanced at Ava and Max in amusement and then nodded towards Liz. “Ready?”

She nodded. “Yuppers.”

He frowned, glancing at her suspiciously. “Yuppers?” he asked.

She shrugged back.

“Okay then… let’s go.” He turned around to see Alex and Tess along with Kyle, Isabel and Maria.

“Hey what do you guys want?” he asked gruffly.

Tess gasped. “Hey! Are you like following us now?!”

“No! You’re supposed to give us a ride, remember?!” Kyle shot back.

Tess groaned. “Great. Can’t you just get that red headed girl to walk you home?!”

He rolled his eyes. “So are we going now, or what?”

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

All eight of them crammed into Michael’s eight passenger van.

Michael reluctantly gave Alex the keys, seeing as how he had already downed three large glasses of whisky and then crawled into the back seat. Liz took the seat next to Alex up front and Tess sat next to Michael in the back.

Maria sat next to Tess in back and Isabel, Max and Kyle sat in the middle three seats.

“We’re going to Slim’s, right?” Alex asked Liz.

Liz nodded as she flipped through the radio stations. “Yup.”

He nodded before pulling out of the driveway.

“Yay!” Liz squealed, stopping at one of the stations and turning the sound up happily.

“All I can taste is champagne
When it hits the brain like cocaine
Spinning around and round
I can’t get up without your help
I've fallen down

All I can taste is champagne
Another day down the drain
Sleeping around and around
We can’t make up without your help
It’s over now

You want it
You need it
You can’t explain
You fight it
You feed it
You can and I can live without you,
Ohh, moving on without you, ohh”

“Hey Max!” Isabel whispered, nudging her twin brother who was staring out of the window.

“Huh?” he asked tiredly.

“Did Ava get to you?” she asked.

He grimaced. “Yeah, but I brushed her off easily.” He replied coolly.

“Ha!” Liz burst, turning around to but into their conversation. “Yeah right! You totally let her get all over you and you kept looking around like a poor little puppy wanting someone to rid you of fleas or something!” she laughed.

Max glared at her, annoyed. “I did not.”

Liz continued laughing. “Yes you did! It was hilarious!”

“Uh, Liz you seem kinda drunk. I’m sure that just about anything would be funny to you right now!” Alex pointed out.

“Hey! You’re supposed to be on my side.” Liz pointed out childishly.

“Love is like Novocaine
And it leaves a little stain
The beauty in all this pain is I can’t get away from you
So pull me down and don’t make a sound…

You want it
You need it
You can’t explain
You fight it
You feed it
You can and I can live without you,
Ohh, moving on without you, ohh”

Michael groaned. “Urghh… I’m not feeling too hot right now…”

Tess frowned. “What the hell did you have at the party?”

Maria grinned. “He downed three large whiskeys pretty quick.”

He groaned again, clutching his stomach. “Wow, why’d you do that?” Tess asked.

“It’s her fault.” He grunted, pointing to Maria.

“Why’s it her fault?” Tess asked curiously.

“Oh, yeah now it’s my fault!” Maria burst. “We were playing quarters! It’s not my fault that he can’t toss for shit!”

Tess’ eyes widened. “You mean that you actually lost at quarters!” she exclaimed at Michael unbelievingly.

Michael just grunted in response.

Maria nodded happily. “Yeah, I beat him fair and square.”

“Damn, that’s a first. Michael never loses at that game!” Tess noted.

Maria shrugged. “Hey, I’ve never lost a game at all!”

“All I can taste is champagne
Dancing away down my veins
Spinning around and round
I can’t get up without your help
I’m on the ground

Somebody help me
I'm losing everything when I'm without you,
Ohh, doing it without you, ohh

All I can taste is champagne
Another day down the drain
All I can taste is champagne”

~ “Champagne” by Sugarcult

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

How did I get here you ask? If you had asked me three year ago where I wanted to go with my life, my answer would have been plain and simple. I’d be in New York, modeling. That’s right, me, Isabel Evans… professional model. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Unfortunately I’ve discovered that that’s just about the only glamorous thing about modeling. The title. I tried it, I really did. After about an hour of posing, I was bored out of my head. While my friends on the other hand… were happy just sitting pretty with dopey smiles plastered on their faces. Not my idea of a career. It was pretty depressing and sad to find out that my lifelong dream was nothing but a bore. So… what’s the next best thing?! A band! Ha, I would have laughed in your face if you told me that three years ago. Then I picked up a guitar. It all changed after that.

~ Isabel

Hey, sorry for the wait! I went to Warped Tour last Sat. and it reminded me that I needed to update! Thank you very much for the feedback;
RASaero611
roswellian504
Sternbetrachter
Emz80m
kismet
Aura Guerin

Sorry for the wait, I hope that everyone likes this next part!
~ Cayla


Part 9: Creep

Serena grinned as she watched Zan from afar as he slid out three glasses and skillfully mixed up three gin and tonics within seconds.

He was smiling and talking with the few guys who were sitting at the bar.

“Excuse me! Uh miss!”

Serena turned around as an older man tugged on her skirt.

“Yes?” she asked politely.

“Yeah, be a doll and show us your tits hun.” The man slurred.

She frowned at the table of old drunken men and shook her head. “Sorry, you’re at the wrong bar.”

“I don’t think so.” One of the men shouted, smiling at her stupidly.

Serena nodded. “Uh, yeah you are!” she countered, louder this time.

The man stood up out of his chair while his drunk friends cheered him on.

He pulled out a twenty and waved it in front of her face. “C’mon sweet checks, give us a dance?”

“Excuse me?!” Serena shrieked, taking a step away from him.

“Sir.”

Serena turned around and grinned as she saw Zan standing behind her, a stern look upon his handsome face.

“I’m gonna have to ask you to leave now.” He continued.

The drunk guy marched over to Zan purposefully. “Sorry, we’re not going anywhere.” He sputtered.

His friends shouted in agreement.

Serena watched Zan carefully as his eyes narrowed and she could tell that he was about to punch the guys lights out or something. All she could seem to think at the moment however was, ‘damn he looks so hot when he’s pissed off’.

Zan had adjusted quickly to the bar, and the boss was thrilled to have another good bartender around. The last one, Jonny, had been caught taking ecstasy one night with some of the customers. Mix that with the many tequila shots their boss found out that he was sneaking here and there and he was fired within seconds.

Zan took a threatening step towards the man and glared at him. “You sure about that?”

The man was stupidly smiling at Zan and he nodded. “You’re damn right I am, I am. Cuz I ain’t gonna leave till she,” she slurred, pointing towards Serena. “Takes her top off and gives me an’ my buddies a lap dance!”

Zan’s expression grew ever harder if that was possible and Serena had to gasp slightly when he swiftly grabbed the man by the collar before her eyes.

He carried the man to the door by the collar stopping only to tell him, “You stay the fuck out of here, you hear me?! If I catch you in here again, or messing with that nice waitress over there again then I will surly kick your ass!” and with that he pushed him out the door harshly.

When he marched back to the table, Serena smiled at him appreciatively and the rest of the guys sitting at the table were already grabbing their coats and rushing out of the bar.

When they were gone, Serena gave Zan a quick hug. “Thanks, I owe you.” She whispered in his ear.

He grinned. “Don’t mention it.”

She smiled.

“Well, we’d better uh… get back to uh… work.” Zan murmured, looking down at her from their close proximity.

Serena nodded, feeling his hot breath against her face.

She licked her suddenly dry lips. “Yeah…”

Their eyes were locked onto one another as their faces grew closer and closer until…

*~~*~~*

“Okay last stop, everybody out!” Alex shouted as he pulled the van to a stop.

The group pushed their way out of the van quickly, using this as an opportunity to elbow each other while they were at it.

Maria marched ahead of the group, heading straight to the club’s door.

“Hey.”

A figure stopped her in her tracks.

“What the fuck?!” she screeched, jumping back quickly.

She could vaguely make out a drunken guy, stumbling towards her. “Ain’t you cute.” He drawled, reaching for her.

“Get away you creep!” she told him, pushing him away from her.

The guy grinned stupidly. “Awww baby… don’t be that way!” he crooned.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust and took an imitating step towards him. “Look buddy, if you think that you can-”

She stopped mid sentence when a group of older men emerged from entrance to Slim’s.

Maria narrowed her eyes. “I see…”

She glanced back behind her quickly to look for her friends and the guy launched himself on top of her.

“Ahhh!” she screeched.

Alex noticed first, squinting ahead of him at the dark figures. “Hey, what’s going on?” he asked.

Max’s eyes bulged and he raced ahead to help his friend. Kyle shot after him followed by the rest of the group.

Max immediately tore the old guy off of a protesting Maria and pummeled him to the ground.

Kyle started punching the first old guy that he saw.
“Oh look, some pervs for me to beat up!” Liz chirped, planting her fist into one of the guys fat faces.

Michael rolled his eyes and took a tall bald guy by grabbing his collar roughly.

Isabel and Tess helped Maria to her feet. “Are you alright?” Tess asked cautiously.

Maria nodded slowly. “Yeah,” she put her hand to her head. “but it didn’t help the way that Max pushed me down!”

“Hey! Don’t you dare!” Max growled, from his position wrestling with one of the older guys.

“Damn, these guys don’t give up do they?” Max grunted as he pushed the guy down again.

“They do too!” Liz argued, after she got done with the guy she was fighting with. “Just grab ‘em where the sun don’t shine and they go down easy.” She shrugged.

Max glanced at her, eyebrows raised.

“Okay… so I see why you wouldn’t want to do that.” Liz amended thoughtfully.

“Liz!” Michael called, his foot shoved in the bald guy’s face.

“Yeah?! Need a hand?” she asked pleasantly.

“No,” he grunted. “go get Serena to call the cops or something!”

As he said this of course all of the older guys began to struggle even more.

Liz nodded. “Sure thing, boss!” she called back, kicking the guy she had finished with one last time before heading through the entrance of Slim’s.

Liz immediately spotted her sister standing next to a table, her face dangerously close to Zan’s face.

“Hey!” she shouted, catching her sister’s attention as well as the attention of the other seventeen or so customers that still resided at Slim’s.

She watched her sister’s face go from shock, to embarrassment, to anger then to concern in approximately point five seconds.

Serena hurried over to Liz. “What’s wrong?!”

“It’s okay, just call the police.” Liz replied calmly.

“What kind of answer is that?!” Serena squawked. “I want an explanation right now missy!”

Liz cringed. She hated it when Serena called her ‘missy’.

“Just do it! There are some really creepy, old, drunk guys out there. We took care of them, but they should be behind bars or something now.” Liz replied, folding her arms across her chest.

Serena’s eyes widened. “Oh crap!”

By then Zan had come up behind her and overheard the last of their conversation. Liz watched as he placed a comforting hand on her sister’s shoulder.

“I’ll go check it out while you call.” He told her reassuringly.

Serena nodded dumbly, seemingly calmed by his presence.

Liz eyed Zan suspiciously. He seemed to have very friendly intentions towards her older sister.

Liz followed Zan outside to where the group was. By now things had calmed down a bit. Liz noticed that her previous captor was now being held down by Max. Maria had obviously felt better because she was successfully helping to hold one of the guys down as well.

Zan scanned the scene and grinned. “Wow, I guess that you guys do have a pretty good handle on things out here.” He commented.

“Yeah, what’d you expect Zan?” Maria asked, rolling her eyes.

Zan, ignoring her comment, marched over to the older guy he recognized from earlier who was one of the two unfortunate men being held down by Max.

“Take extra care of that one Max.” Zan told him, glaring at the guy who had harassed Serena earlier.

Max nodded, “You bet I will.” He replied, recognizing the dark tone in Zan’s voice.

Serena burst through the double doors a second later, nearly knocking Liz onto the ground.

“Hey!” Liz grumbled, as Serena scanned the premises carefully.

She seemed to relax as she noticed that nobody seemed hurt.

Zan went over to her. “Hey, are they coming?” he asked her softly.

She looked into his eyes and nodded. “Yeah, any minute now.”

He gave her a soft smile. “Good, everything’s fine. Nothing to worry about.” He assured her.

She nodded again, turning her head down slightly.

Zan caught the look that crossed her face and recognized it immediately.

“Hey! You are not going to feel guilty about this!” he told her in a tone of voice that caused her brown eyes to meet his blue ones.

“I mean it, we did the right thing by kicking them out earlier. They should have left.” He continued.

Serena smiled at him softly. “I know…”

Meanwhile Kyle rolled his eyes and made a gagging motion with his hand towards the others. They laughed at his dramatic performance as he made kissy faces. Then he used both of his hands and had them talk to each other back and forth before mashing them together in a kissing motion. “Mmmm Zan,” Kyle mimicked. “Mmmm Serena,” “Oh Zan, I love your tongue ring!” “Oh Serena I love your boobs!”

Everyone burst out laughing, causing Serena and Zan to catch on to what they were doing.

Serena’s cheeks flushed pink and Zan walked threateningly towards Kyle.

“What are you doing?” Zan demanded gruffly.

Kyle lowered his hands slowly and smiled sweetly, feigning innocence. “Nothing.”

“That’s what I thought.” Zan snapped back.

Three cop cars pulled up and four young policemen started towards them.

“Mmmm, cops.” Tess mumbled, nudging Liz. Liz rolled her eyes in response.

The cops all started to take the situation into their own hands. One walked over to help Michael and Kyle, one walked over to help Tess, Maria and Max, one walked over to talk to Serena and the other one walked over to help Isabel and Alex.

Michael, Kyle, Isabel and Alex all helped the cops arrest their attackers and put them into the cop cars.

Meanwhile Serena described the situation to the cop that came to talk to her and gave him any information needed.

Tess and Maria flirted shamelessly with one of the police officers while Max waited patiently to hand over the two attackers he had held down.

Liz helped the few people who were trying to leave Slims’ by telling them to “Go aways thata way!” and “Nothing to see peoples! Walk around the collaboration of weirdos!”

About half an hour later, the police officers left the bar with their car filled with the attackers.

“Okay guys, let’s all go inside now!” Serena told everyone, shivering slightly from the chilly night air.

They all sat down at a large table inside of the now nearly deserted bar.

Zan grabbed some waters for the kids as well as some pretzels and chips.

“Wow, what a night…” he muttered, taking a spot at the table next to Serena.

Serena nodded. “Yeah it sure was.”

“Urghh… so tired…” Michael mumbled, lying his head down on the table.

“Awww, poor Mikey!” Tess cooed, patting him on the back.

“Don’t call me that!” Michael growled warningly, head still on the table.

“Can we go home now?” Liz murmured to Serena.

Serena nodded tiredly, standing up. “Yeah, let’s close up.”

They closed up the bar and went their separate ways. The only ones that even bothered saying goodbye was Zan and Serena, and even that was brief.

“So… see you tomorrow night?” Zan began, his hands shoved into his pockets.

“Yeah, see you then.” Serena replied, nodding.

“Okay, night ‘Rena!” Zan said, using his favorite nickname for her.

“Night!” she called back, before climbing into Michael’s van.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

You know, I used to be a sweet, frilly, little girly girl. Hard to believe, I know. I started to play with make-up when I was five. Although that’s probably because my older sister was already using it religiously at the time. I loved anything that was pink and my favorite movie was Thumbelina for the longest time. I loved to go outside and garden with my mom and I’d even tried to bake a couple of times. Of course, I was never good at it… My dad took me fishing and he shared my love for horror movies and spicy foods, while my mom and sister preferred their soap operas and sewing kits. I was daddy’s girl and Serena was mommy’s girl. It always amazed me how my parents could be such opposites, yet they were so perfect for each other. With parents like that, you’d think that I’d have a different view on members of the opposite sex. It’s not that I’m against guys… I just can’t seem to trust them with my heart anymore.
~ Liz

Hey I'm finally updating again, yay! Thank you sooo much for your comments and support: kismet, RASaero611, kittens, GottaFeedTheMonkey1257, RoswellRulz, roswellrox and any other lurkers out there!
Yes, Warped Tour was awesome and I know that Funeral for a friend were on the tour but I don't think that they played at the venue I was at. I heard they were really good, but I haven't actually listened to much of them yet. (I'll be sure to check them out though... )
I'm glad that everyone is liking this, I promise that they won't hate each other forever.
~ Luv Cayla

Part 10: Wake up call

Thursday

Serena and Liz’s apartment:

“Girls! Why don’t you get up now!” Serena shouted, banging on the door.

Tess and Liz moaned simultaneously.

“Come on! It’s late. Let’s go get something for breakfast!” Serena continued, crossing her arms across her chest.

She took in a deep breath before barging into Liz’s room.

She looked at the mess surrounding her disapprovingly.

Liz was buried somewhere deep inside of her comforter while Tess was sprawled over a pile of blankets and pillows on the floor.

Serena sighed, folding her arms across her chest. “What the hell did you two do last night?”

Tess emitted a grunt as a response.

“I thought that I heard your radio at 4 in the morning!” Serena burst, throwing her hands up into the air. “Well you’d better get yourselves up out of bed soon, we’re supposed to start practice earlier than usual today. If you want to eat and do anything else today then, GET UP!” she told them sternly before turning and leaving. She flicked the light on before she left.

Liz groaned and slowly sat up, stretching her arms out and yawning. “C’mon Tess, we should get up…” she mumbled, nudging Tess’ form with her foot.

“Mmmm, just a few more seconds…” Tess replied sleepily.

“Kay,” Liz replied, stumbling out of bed. “I’m gonna hop in the shower then…”

“Kay…” Tess mumbled.

Once Liz had showered she got dressed and headed into the kitchen.

“Finally.” Serena said from her spot at the table. She was frowning at some bills that had just arrived in the mail.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… where did you put the coffee?” Liz asked, flipping open cabinet after cabinet.

“Oh, check by the toaster.” Serena said.

Liz snatched the coffee up and began to fix a cup her Tess and herself.

“Where’s Tess?” Serena asked.

“She’s getting dressed.” Liz replied, taking a seat next to her sister.
“How bad is it this month?” Liz asked wryly.

Serena looked up at Liz. “Hmm, do you really wanna know?”

Liz frowned. “That bad, huh?”

Serena shrugged. “Well, as long as we’re careful this week I think that we can make it on the trip.”

Liz sighed. “Well, I guess I don’t need to buy my ipod this week…”

Serena nodded. “Yeah, that’s gonna have to wait.”

“What is?”

Serena and Liz turned to see Tess enter the kitchen, her hair still damp.

“My ipod.” Liz told her sadly.

“Awww, poor little Lizzie!” Tess mocked, frowning.

Serena laughed and Liz pouted and stuck out her tongue.

“And to think, I even made you coffee!” Liz told Tess dramatically.

Tess widened her eyes. “You did?!”

Liz nodded sadly.

Tess hugged her. “Well, then maybe I’ll let you borrow my ipod again. For a little while….”

Liz perked up. “Cool! Here’s your coffee!” she chirped, grabbing one of the coffee cups from the counter.

Tess smiled and winked at Serena.

Serena returned the smile, then looked back down at the bills on the table.

“We’d better go make sure that the boys are up by now. C’mon, we’ll tempt them with food.” Serena said, standing up from the table.

*~~*~~*

“Breathe in for luck, breathe in so deep….” Maria hummed, using a spatula to stir some eggs around on the stovetop.

“The air is blessed, you share with me…”

She scooped them up into a large, clean bowl.

“This night is wild, so calm and dull, these hearts they race, from self control…”

She turned the stove off and placed the bowl in the oven alongside the warm toast and pancakes that she had already cooked.

“This night is wild, so calm and dull, these hearts they race, from self control…”

She continued to hum as she pulled out a stack of bright, plastic plates and placed them on the table top.

“Your legs are smooth, as they graze mine, we're doing fine, we're doing nothing at all.”

She opened one of the cheap plastic drawers in the corner of the room and frowned. hmmm, there’s one knife and two spoons…

She pulled open another plastic drawer. Well, this will have to do…
She grabbed a bag of mixed plastic utensils and placed it on the table along with the plates.

”My hopes are so high, that your kiss might kill me. So won't you kill me, so I die happy…”

She walked into one of the bedrooms, singing loudly now.
“My heart is yours to fill or burst, to break or bury, or wear as jewelry, which ever you prefer…”

She walked over next to Zan’s sleeping form and belted out more of the song.

“Hands down this is the best day I can ever remember, I'll always remember the sound of the stereo, the dim of the soft lights, the scent of your hair that you twirled in your fingers
and the time on the clock when we realized it's so late-”

Zan groaned and sat up. “Alright! Alright, I’m up!”

Maria smiled. “Great! Now that you’re up… breakfast’s ready!”

Zan grinned. “Yay! You made us breakfast!”

Maria nodded. “Yeah… Now get dressed and I’ll get the others up.”

“Okay, is Isabel here yet?” he asked.

“I sent her to the store for some O.J. and some cleaner, you’re bathroom is gross!” Maria replied before heading into the adjacent bedroom.

As soon as she entered the bedroom where Max and Kyle were sleeping, she continued to sing. “The streets were wet and the gate was locked so I jumped it, and I let you in. And you stood at your door with your hands on my waist and you kissed me like you meant it. And I knew that you meant it, that you meant it, that you meant it, and I knew, that-”

“Ahhhh!” Kyle burst, pulling his pillow over his ears. “What is that horrible racket?!”

Maria gasped and grabbed the pillow from him. She whacked him on the head.

“Hey! Ouch! Okay, okay, I’m sooorrryy!” Kyle shouted, sitting up.

“Shut up!” Max mumbled.

“Get up!” Maria shouted to him in reply.

Max stuck his middle finger out from the sheets of his bed.

“Urghh!” Maria cried, going over and wacking Max with the pillow.

“I got over here early, to make you breakfast, and clean your bathroom and you won’t even get up!” she growled, hitting him all the while.

Max sat up. “You made breakfast!”

“Ohh!” Kyle said, hopping out of bed.

“Why didn’t you say so?!”

Maria rolled her eyes as the boys brushed past her to make their way to the kitchen.

Isabel walked in just as they were all collaborating around the kitchen table.

“Great, let’s eat then!” Maria said as Isabel handed her the grocery bag.

She pulled out the food from the oven and set it out so that everyone could serve themselves.


“Mmmm, that was great!” Max moaned.

“Yeah, I’m stuffed.” Isabel agreed.

“Great breakfast Maria.” Zan told her.

“Thank you.” Maria replied happily.

“Hey, is anyone going to eat that last pancake?” Kyle asked.


A/N: By the way… the song that Maria was singing was “Hands Down” by Dashboard Confessionals! I just love that song; don’t you?

*~~*~~*

“Michael! Where are your napkins?” Tess asked pleasantly.

“Uhh… napkins?” Michael replied, wiping the bagel crumbs from his mouth.

“Yes, napkins. You know those nice clean things that you use while eating?”

“Right…. Well, you see I don’t really have any…”

“How can you still not have napkins?! I told you last week, to go and buy them! They’re not that expensive!”

Michael scratched the back of his neck. “Uhh…I don’t really shop that much.”

“Well, yeah but you’ve got to have gone to the store within the last week at least!” Tess argued.

He looked down at his plate guiltily.

Tess gasped. “No way! How could you- what do you- no wait, I don’t want to know!”

“What?” Alex asked, confused.

“Michael has not been to the grocery store in the last week!” Tess burst.

“Oh yeah, actually I think it’s been more like two weeks by now…” Alex commented.

Tess’ eyes bulged. “No freaking way!” She turned to look at Michael. “What do you eat?!”

“Well we usually eat at your place, or fast food or whatever… Listen we can’t afford to go out and spend fifty bucks or whatever every week on groceries like some people!” Michael said, finally standing up for himself.

“We don’t spend fifty dollars on groceries!” Tess argued.

“Actually…” Liz began.

Tess glared at her. Then she popped the last bit of bagel into her mouth.

“Okay kiddies, shall we get to practicing now then?” Serena interrupted.

“Good idea!” Alex agreed enthusiastically.

While waiting in Michael and Alex’s basement for everyone to bring all of their instruments down and tune them up Tess sat next to Liz.

“So… how did you get so drunk last night?” Tess asked curiously.

“Last night?” Liz asked, frowning. “Let’s see… it was that asshole Sean. He put some strong shit in my drink.”

“Ah! I knew he was a loser!” Tess replied, a little loud.

Michael sat down on a stool next to Tess. “Who?”

“Sean.”

“Yes! He is a loser! By the way, what’d you do to him? He left you looking pretty pissed off.”

Liz shrugged. “Ahh, it was nothing.”

Alex came and sat down on a beat up couch that was behind the drums.

“Liz,” he began. “It’s never nothing when it comes to you.”

“Yeah, tell us!” Tess pleaded. “Please!”

Liz sighed, defeated. “Fine.”

*~~*~~*

Max spun around in the stool in front of his drum set.

“Cut that out!” Maria scolded jokingly. “I told you that one day you’ll get so high off of that, that you won’t be able to play.”

Max stopped, sobering. “That won’t happen.” He told her seriously.

She opened her mouth to say something but then closed it shut, knowing how he felt about anything drug related. She sat down on the nearby couch.

“Besides, you can’t actually get high off of a chair!” Max joked.

“Ah, that’s not what I heard…” Maria countered, grinning.

“So, what happened last night?” she asked, changing the subject.

“What do you mean?” Max asked neutrally.

Isabel flopped down next to Tess. “Ooh, sounds juicy. Please do tell.”

Max glared at her.

Kyle came over and sat on a stool next to Max. “Oh, are you talking about that girl you were talking to?”

“Oh yeah,” Isabel said. “You were talking to Ava… and that other girl.”

“You mean Liz?” Max asked.

“Right, Liz… were you hanging with Liz?” Maria asked, slowly smiling.

Max glared at her. “No! I was just-” he began. “You know what it doesn’t matter anyways. Let’s just start practice.”

“No, come on! You have to tell us now!” Isabel protested.

Max sighed. “It’s nothing.”

Everyone stared at him, unconvinced. “If it’s nothing, they why don’t you just tell us what happened?” Kyle asked.

“Fine.” Max huffed, caving.

*~~*~~*

“So, Sean and I were about to dance, like I said that we would” Liz began.

“What do you mean you said that you would?” Michael asked.

“Shhh! I’ll tell you later!” Tess hissed, shushing him.

“Then he brought me a drink, I figured that if I’m dancing with him then I’d need it. After I drank about half of the cup, I was feeling a little tipsy…”

*~~*~~*

“I was walking around, minding my own business, and Liz ran straight into me. She was obviously drunk, so I just grabbed her by the shoulders before she came toppling down.”

*~~*~~*

“I walked straight into Max-”

“Wait, who’s Max?” Alex interrupted.

“You know, the drummer from that other band that we met.” Tess informed.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, luckily I didn’t fall straight on my ass after that.” Liz continued.

*~~*~~*

“So I tried to ask her if she was alright but then Sean comes over and grabs her. Then she gets pissed at him and says that she doesn’t want to go anywhere with him.” Max tells everyone.

“Well, who would want to go anywhere with that creep?” Isabel asked, wrinkling her nose.

*~~*~~*

“So then Sean comes over and grabs me and I’m all like ‘whoa, back off! I ain’t going nowhere with you!’”

“Good, good, then what?” Tess asked.

*~~*~~*

“They start yelling at each other a bit. You know, bitch this, bitch that. So I try and step in there, you know to help her out. But of course, Sean had to take that opportunity to bitch me out too…”

*~~*~~*

“He calls me a bitch, and of course I lash back at him. I called him a piece of shit or something like that… So Max, being the dumb ass that he is, tries to get in the middle of it all.” Liz says, rolling her eyes. “I guess that Sean has something against the guy so he starts to yell at him…”

*~~*~~*

“So Sean yells at me because I guess he’s still pretty pissed that he wasn’t in Zan’s band anymore. He’s obviously jealous of me.”

“Uh, sorry but why is he jealous of you?” Isabel asked.

“Because, he’s been really good friends with Zan for a long time and he wanted to be the drummer in Zan’s band.”

“How come-” Isabel began.

“Because Sean can’t drum for shit!” Max interrupted, knowing what his sister was going to say. “besides, Zan knew that I could actually drum and we were already jamming together by then.”

“Oh.” Isabel replied, nodding.

“So, then what?” Maria asked, anxiously.

*~~*~~*

“Sean socks Max in the face and Max goes down like that.” Liz says, snapping her fingers together for emphasis.

*~~*~~*

“So I was trying to calm Sean down, but he takes the opportunity to hit me in the face…”

*~~*~~*

“That’s when I stepped back in,” Liz told everyone, grinning. “you shoulda seen it. I must’ve broken a few ribs or something...”

*~~*~~*

“Then Liz steps in and punches him a bit. He’s so drunk that he falls right down. Then he drags his sorry ass off of the floor and tells Liz that she’s not worth it before stomping off. Liz kinda just stood there for a while, dumbfounded. I think that what Sean said must’ve pissed her off bad or something…”

*~~*~~*

“Sean wobbles out of the room and yells at me one last time, ‘you’re so not worth it!’. I mean what is that?! He’s such an ass…”

*~~*~~*

“So I go over to make sure that she’s alright you know. So I’m kinda expecting a thanks or something you know, for backing her up and helping her…”

*~~*~~*

“Then Max goes over and talks to me like he’s expecting a thank you or something! I mean if anything, he was in my way…”

*~~*~~*

“Instead Liz goes off on how I should be thanking her instead! I mean can you believe that?! She’s all like ‘well I’m not some little girl that needs saving’!” Max says, making his voice high pitched on the last part.

Kyle snorted and then failed at trying to cover it up with a cough when the girls shot him a mean look.

“I thought that she would be grateful…”

*~~*~~*

“I get all up in his face about how I ain’t some little princess that needs help from him! He’s all like ‘oh I thought that maybe you’d be grateful’!” Liz continued, lowering her voice as her last line. “So I’m all like-”

*~~*~~*

“She tells me, ‘well you thought wrong’!” Max huffed angrily.

*~~*~~*

“He is sooo annoying! I mean I would have been perfectly fine, if not better if he hadn’t been there!” Liz exclaimed.

*~~*~~*

“She was soo lucky that I just happened to be there, and not only that, but I was helping her! She would be a drunken pile or raped by Sean or whatever by the end of the night if I hadn’t been there!” Max continued.

*~~*~~*

“He should have just minded his own damn business!” Liz added harshly.

“Seriously, I mean that guy is such a loser!” Michael nodded in agreement.

Liz laughed. “Yeah, I know!”

“Hey, I thought that he was like friends with Sean though. Wasn’t he?” Tess asked thoughtfully.

“Yeah… I think he was.” Liz replied softly, no longer laughing.

*~~*~~*

“She should have shown a little gratitude, just a little!”

“Yeah, she sounds like a major bitch!” Maria exclaimed.

Max shook his head slightly. “I wouldn’t say that… she was just so uptight and moody that she couldn’t spare a small thank you.”

Maria and Isabel shared a look. Now he was defending her?

*~~*~~*

Hmm, I guess that the best part about this band for me (besides the people of course!) is that I get to do what I love all of the time. Singing is like a second language to me. My mother used to sing to me, my grandmother used to sing to me, and my aunt used to sing to me until I could sing right along with them. It’s what I do best. So yeah, no lessons, no dad and no money and here I am! Now I just gotta make sure that I don’t screw this up…

~ Maria