They had to rehearse, so they invited me to watch them. They practiced for about an hour or two, but I didn't mind. They were a really good band, and they had some major potential. Vic had a great voice, it was unlike anything I've ever heard, it was about three octaves higher than his talking voice, it was really unexpected but mind boggling at the same time. He also played guitar, which he seemed to enjoy a lot. Jaimie put every ounce of energy into his bass, he played it passionately and I admired how much fun he had while doing it. Tony shreds on the guitar, he had some serious talent. I got a kick out of watching him play, he really got into it. Mike never missed one beat on the drums, it was impressive. All together they made really great music and it was fun to watch. They ended their rehearsal and I helped them clean the lounge area a bit.

"So what'd you think?" Mike asked while putting away extra drum sticks. He waited for my response as the three other boys stopped what they were doing so they could hear what I had to say.

"You guys are great! And I mean it, like really great. You could definitely make it big some day, no joke" I said this and tried my best to have some assurance in my voice like my mother.

"Well thanks, Stella!" Jaime beamed. I smiled back at him.

A couple of moments later Mike leaned in to where I was standing and in a hushed tone said, "So uh, what did you think of me? How was I?" He had a trace of arrogance in his voice but other than that it was playful, like he was flirting. I ignored that and decided to answer honestly and seriously to the best of my ability.

"I have to say, you were impressive. I wasn't expecting you to be that good," I half-laughed.

"Woah woah woah, what? Why? Can't you see the talent just by looking at me?" He flashed a cheesy smile and then winked. He was still trying to flirt, I pretended like I didn't know.

"Eh, I don't know about that. You can come off as cocky, usually when people are cocky it's because they think they're a hotshot. They think they're really great at something when they're just average or okay," I was about to continue until he interrupted me.

"And you're saying I have a reason to be cocky?" He laughed.

"Didn't say that,"

"It was implied," he stuck his hand in his pocket and leaned on the wall. Jaime was still in the room, putting stuff away and Tony and Vic were in the main lounge area.

"You didn't let me finish my sentence," I argued back.

"Finish then," He replied casually.

"I forgot where I was, but it doesn't matter." I was starting to get a bit frustrated with how he knew he was so good. "Look, you're good and I think you know it. Just don't let it get to your head anymore than it already has," I left him with that and walked off towards Jaime not giving him a chance to reply.

"Hey, need any help?" I thought it'd be nice to ask Jaime if he needed extra assistance, even though he looked like he was nearly done.

"Nope, I'm just finishing up. But thank you," he smiled and continued putting items into a storage closet.

I walked into the lounge room to find Tony and Vic whispering about something. When I walked in, they stopped like it was something super secretive and they didn't want me to hear. I didn't want to come off as nosy, so I let it go. I hated when people stuck their nose into places where their nose didn't belong, so I guess I should respect the same rule for other people a well.

"Hey there," Vic said, nervously. I laughed a bit.

"Hiya," I waited for him to start talking.

"You know if you want, you can bring a guitar up to your room and play it free willingly." Vic looked at me.

"Really? I mean you don't have to-" Vic cut me off.

"Don't worry about it, we have plenty of guitars," he said.

Tony walked back into the room and came out with the guitar I had been playing before in hand.

"This is the guitar you played before, you're probably most comfortable with it," he gently handed it to me and I flung the strap over my shoulder.

"Thanks," I said this as genuinely as possible, I was really happy I had the chance to play on my own time.

"No problem! We were actually going to go upstairs, we have some homework to do and my mom's probably making dinner sometime soon, want to come?" Vic stood up shortly followed by Tony. They waited for my response before starting towards the stairs.

"Yeah, sure" I replied casually and started following them up the stairs, guitar in hand. I had forgot how many stairs there were and how deep down in their house the basement really was.

"The basements really far down, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah, there's quite a few stairs. When we renovated it my mom made it like that, she knew we would be playing our loud music and she didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to get the sound proof walls so she made the basement farther away from the house. It's kind of nice though, it's like we have our own apartment away from everyone," he said this while walking up the stairs.

"Yeah, it is pretty nice. Your mom was smart to do that though," As soon as I finished saying this we arrived to the door connecting the basement to the house. Tony opened it, and we walked in. Vivian wasn't in the kitchen, neither was my mom.

"Mom?" Vic called throughout the house. "I don't think she's even here, hold on" he ran outside and within a few seconds, came back inside. "Yeah, her cars not here. She must be out with your mom," I nodded at this, I was still holding the guitar.

"I'm gonna go and put this upstairs," I motioned towards the guitar. Vic nodded.

"Do you want some help? The stairway is really narrow," Tony stated this before I was about to head up the stairs. He was right though, it was narrow and I would probably end up scratching the walls.

"Yeah, thanks" I handed him the guitar and he began to carefully walk up the stairs, being sure not to scratch the walls or dent the guitar.

We walked down the hall and to my room. I opened the door and walked in as he followed. He set the guitar down near my bed and took a look around. He noticed my unpacked suitcase with a few clothes scattered around, and my messed up sheets.

"I'm gonna take a guess here, tell me if I'm wrong. You started to unpack, got tired and went to sleep?" He stood over by the wall and looked at me curiously. I laughed.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it. " I continued on. "I needed to slow my mind down and unpacking wasn't really my priority," I half-laughed again.

He abruptly walked over and sat on the bed. He picked up the guitar and started picking with his fingers. I decided to have a seat next to him, I didn't know what he was doing or where he was going with this, but I wanted to find out.

"You know, I haven't ever met someone who played guitar like you did," he continued to softly play the guitar, but said this while looking at me.

"What do you mean?" I was a bit confused by his statement.

"You said you hadn't played in over a year," I nodded as he looked up at me. "You took the guitar, completely unsure of yourself, not knowing what you were doing. I could see that you were really nervous, and I don't blame you. " he stopped playing guitar and looked at me straight in the eyes, I was ready for him to continue. "But once you started playing, I saw all of your nerves drift off. You knew what you were doing, you almost had a connection with it, if that makes sense?" I nodded. "I don't know if you believe me, but you have some serious talent, and what you did was special. Especially if you haven't played in a long time." I could tell he was done when he put his hands on the top of the guitar, and waited for my response.

I looked away for a second, then traced my eyes back to his. He was so trustworthy. It usually took a lot for me to trust a person, but I felt like I could trust him with just one look at him.

"I don't know, I mean, music has always been there when no one else has." I took a deep breath. I didn't know how to talk about or explain the connection I had with the instrument, without bringing up TJ. I wasn't ready to tell anyone yet. "I wasn't expecting to play like that, but something came over me, it's unexplainable and I just-"

"Nothing came over you, you're just really talented." He patted the guitar.

"So are you," he shook his head and began to smile a bit. "No really, you did really great during rehearsal and you seriously shred," I half-laughed again.

"Well thanks, but if I didn't touch a guitar in over a year, I would definitely not be able to do what you did," he set the guitar down and stood up.

"You don't know that," I could tell he didn't know how great he was at the instrument, he wasn't arrogant like Mike, he was the complete opposite. I stood up, and stood right in front of him.

"Oh, but I do," he looked away then back at me. I was getting ready to argue back when he ended the conversation with; "we should probably go downstairs, you think?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," he walked out of my room and down the stairs as I followed. Vic wasn't in the kitchen, where we left him a few minutes ago.

"I wonder where Vic is," Tony started looking around the den and checked if he was on the outside porch, soon he came back into the kitchen. "He must be in the basement," Tony said this on the way to the fridge and took a look inside. I sat down on the chair facing the kitchen, where my mom was sitting earlier.

"Are you hungry?" Tony asked as he took out different meats and some bread.

"Yeah, I could eat." I said this casually even though I was starving. I hadn't eaten since this morning at the airport's Starbucks and it was almost six o' clock.

"Sandwich alright?" He looked up at me before getting the cheese out.

"Yesiree," A sandwich did sound awfully good. I watched as he began to prepare two sandwiches. He got out the bread and started to make conversation.

"You're going to Clairmont High, right?" He turned around to put the bread in the toaster, and looked back at me.

"Yeah, that's what my mom said. I'll probably be starting on Monday," it was Thursday and knowing my mom, she would let me stay home until the new week began.

"Are you nervous?" He took the bread out of the toaster and began to put mayo on it.

"Yeah, a little. I'm not that great at talking to people, and I was a bit of an outcast at my old school, so I don't know what to expect being the 'new kid' and all," I hadn't really thought about how nervous I was, until I said it out loud. I could feel my heart-rate speeding up.

"Really? You seem really social" He paused. "I know what you mean though, I was that kid until I found the guys in Junior year. I spent most of the time before all of this, lonely and depressed, I was the outcast too," he scoffed quietly after saying this and I couldn't help but feel empathy, I knew exactly what he was talking about, I still do. "Its alright now though, I found some people I really click with," he paused again. "Don't worry about it, you'll have us. We'll make sure no one messes with you," I nodded at this and smiled, it made me feel a lot better.

He finished the sandwiches and put them on plates. He carried them over to the seat next to me and handed me mine. We talked about music and made small-talk as we ate. More as he ate, I finished mine in the first three minutes being I was so hungry.

"I have to say, you make a mean sandwich," I stood up and brought my plate to the sink right when he was finishing up, I washed it off and sat back down.

"Why thank you, I happen to pride myself on my sandwich making skills," he joked and made a face as I laughed.

We ended up sitting in the den, watching TV. I began to feel a little more comfortable around Tony and I could tell he was starting to feel more comfortable around me. I was in the middle of laughing at something he said when Vic, Mike, and Jaimie came out of no where.

"What cha' watchin'?" Jaimie jumped over the top of the couch and landed on the couch seat.

"American Horror Story," Tony looked over to him as he answered.

"Ooh, I want to watch!" Mike walked over to the couch with food in hand and plopped down next to me. He slyly put his free arm around me. I looked at his arm, then looked at him. I shook my head as he pretended he didn't see me. I lifted his arm off of my shoulder and placed it in his lap.

"I don't think so," I whispered. He ignored the whole situation and acted as if he wasn't just rejected.

"I'm watching too," Vic walked into the den and sat on the floor.

"Hey, where did you go? We went upstairs and when we came back you were gone," Tony questioned him and waited for a response.

"Oh, I had to talk to Jaimie about something and lost track of time. I didn't think you'd mind," he looked over at Tony.

"I don't mind, I was just wondering," Tony continued to watch the show as Vic stared at him for a few more moments, eventually he stopped and we all just watched.

A couple of episodes and hours passed by and Vivian and my mother bursted through the door, loudly laughing and talking. We paused the show and we got up to see what the commotion was about.

"Where were you guys?" Vic asked this and walked towards the kitchen.

"I don't know, where- where were we again?" Vivian said this to my mother in between giggles.


"I don't even remember," my mother slowly replied and they both laughed like someone just told the funniest joke in the world.

"Woah, are you.. are you drunk?" I grabbed on to my moms shoulders and shook her a bit, she turned away and followed Vivian to the kitchen.

"I don't know," she began to laugh again, followed by Vivian's laugh. They were both extremely tipsy, definitely drunk. I've never seen my mom like this, she never drank but this, it was actually amusing.

Vivian opened the fridge and nearly collapsed to the ground, but held on to the door for support.

"Holy shit mom, you are wasted," Mike stretched out 'wasted' and everyone started to laugh at the comment he made.

"Oh my god, who drove?" Vic looked worried.

"I don't even- do you remem- I just- I want some-" my mom didn't bother to finish any of her sentences, she was drunk off her ass and so was Vivian.

"Me too," Vivian started to hold my mom until they both collapsed on the floor, on top of each other. We all erupted with laughter just watching them.

Eventually, they both made their way to the couch and fell asleep. It was obvious Vivian wouldn't be cooking, so Vic ordered pizza and we just hung out for the rest of the night.

"I don't think I've ever seen my mom drunk," Vic said in the midst of chewing and laughing

. "I know me neither," I laughed, although I was really surprised about my mother drinking. She was completely against it, especially with the whole situation of my father. She liked to have control over her mind and be at ease with herself, I could never picture her being wasted.

"That was priceless, dude. Really, I mean- your mom, she's never gonna hear the end of that one," Jaimie said this in between bites of pizza and everyone laughed.

"That was pretty funny," Tony agreed, pulling out his phone from his pocket. "Oh shit, it's already eleven," he quickly shoved the rest of his pizza in his mouth and stood up. "I gotta get home," Jaimie stood up as well, I assumed they carpooled over here. Tony grabbed his keys and sweatshirt laying on the kitchen table and started for the door, followed by Jaimie.

"See you tomorrow guys," Tony waved at Mike and Vic and paused for a moment. "Bye Stella," I waved goodbye to him as he opened the door.

"Bye guys," Jaimie waved and went after Tony. We sat in silence for the next few moments and heard the car engine start, and drive off.

"Well that was.. abrupt," I was the first one to break the silence, confused about what just happened.

"Tony has a curfew. His grandpa is old school and doesn't let him stay out past eleven unless he's talked to my mom about him staying the night, it's crazy cause' the kids almost eighteen," Mike cleared up the confusion as he rubbed his forehead.

"Oh, gotcha" I stood up from the couch and threw my paper plate away.

"Well, I'm goin' to bed," Vic stood up and started for upstairs. "Night guys,"

I looked over at Mike, he wiggled his eyebrows at me. I definitely didn't want to be alone with him, he was too flirtatious, I felt like he might try something with me.

"Yeah, I think I'll go to bed too. It's been a long day," I looked over at Mike who's mood was just shot.

"Oh come on, you guys are lame," Mike looked over at us from the couch.

"There is no shame in having a regular sleep schedule, you should try it some time," Vic yelled this as he walked up the stairs, not bothering to give Mike the time of day. I followed him.

"Mikes always up until like four in the morning doing weird shit, then he complains about only getting a couple of hours of sleep when he has to wake up in the morning for school" Vic explained this to me in a hush-tone of voice, not wanting his brother to hear.

"He really stays up until four in the morning when he has to get up at six?" I scoffed.

"Sometimes he doesn't even sleep, he can go a full twenty-four hours and you wouldn't even know," he raised his eyebrows.

"What does he even do?" I was taken by this, I could never stay up a full twenty-four hours, I loved sleep too much.

"Like I said before, weird shit. Sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night to hear him talking to himself, and yelling at inanimate objects," We were now standing at the end of the hall, right in front of our rooms, his was across from mine.

"Huh, crazy." I shook my head.

"I know, huh?" He yawned after saying this. "I'm gonna hit the hay, we have school tomorrow and I'm beat." He paused and looked at me with the same honest eyes his mother had. "It was nice meeting you today, I feel like we could become really great friends, Stella. You have a great personality," he smiled a bit.

"Yeah, I do too. Thank you Vic," I half-smiled at him. "Sleep well," I began to walk into my room until he stopped me.

"Oh and uh, meet us in the basement at like one? That's where we usually hang out after school,"

"Yeah, sure. See you then," I walked into my room this time without Vic stopping me.

I got changed into comfortable clothes and threw my hair into a bun, not bothering to take my makeup off, I was exhausted. I collapsed onto the unmade bed and put some music on. I closed my eyes and ran the day throughout my head, it was probably one of the most normal days I had in what seemed like forever. Usually, I came home to screaming. I listened to hell for however long it occurred, and if my dad was in a bad enough mood, I endured it.

I thought about my father, I wondered what he's doing about the whole situation, hoping he wouldn't do anything at all. I thought about the house, the town, how we just got up and took off. How we just left everything behind. My mom was acting like it never happened, like she was completely okay. It was nice to see my mom happy, or seeming happy, but the years of torture my dad put her through must have left serious emotional damage, she was ignoring it. Then again, so was I. Who really wants to deal with their problems though? No one. We all just critique and worry about other people so we don't have to fix ourselves, we're afraid of being broken. I ran the conversations I had with Mike, Tony, Vic and the small-talk I made with Jaimie. I barely knew them, but I already felt close to them. I was starting to think positive and hope things would get better for once, but I didn't have much hope left. Everyone good that had ever walked into my life, walked out, betrayed me, or died. I have the 'everyone leaves' mentality. It was only a matter of time before things fell apart, and I had to be there to put the pieces back together

. I was starting to get upset with myself, so I cleared these thoughts and focused on the music playing. I soon fell asleep, and things weren't so bad anymore.

Notes

Hello! I know not much happened in this chapter, and I feel like it was a bit boring, but I really needed to update. I promise there will be some excitement in the next couple of chapters. If you have any feedback, constructive criticism, anything you feel would make the story better, or anything at all, please comment! I want to know what you guys think! I'll update very soon.
Stay wonderful :-)