Stay Away From My Friends (sequel to Bulletproof Love)

It's was an early Monday morning and my alarm was ringing loudly in my ear. I groaned and tried to turn my alarm off without actually moving but it didn't work so I was forced to sit up and eventually turn it off. I looked at the clock and it was only 7:00am, why does school have to start so early?

Once my alarm was turned off, I slowly lifted myself off my bed and looked at myself in the mirror that was attached to my wall. I gasped when I saw the state of myself. My hair was a complete mess and I had serious bags under my eyes, I just looked like a zombie. I was way too tired for school today and to make it worse I have to play bass in front of the whole school today and I'm freaking out big time. I'm scared to stand on a stage in front of the whole school and play my bass. You see, I'm in a small band with my 3 friends, Jake who plays drum, Matt who plays guitar and Finn who sings. They're my 3 bestfriends and I wouldn't change them for the world. We decided to form a band about a year ago, at first I hated it because it just seemed pointless to me but once me and the guys became better friends I enjoyed it way more. My dad encouraged me to do it to begin with because he wanted me to be more like him. I'm nothing like my dad at all personality wise, he's always hyper and talkative but I'm the complete opposite, quiet, shy and unsociable, except when I'm around the guys or my uncles. I'm the splitting image of him though, it's quite scary really. My brother is like my dad though, he's not shy at all but he's got a good heart, he got that off our mum.

You probably already know this but I'm going to introduce myself anyways, I'm Megan Preciado and yes I'm Jaime Preciado's daughter. My dad used to be my bestfriend as I was growing up, we used to do everything together with my 3 uncles like playing xbox or go for random drives but now I hardly see any of them because they're always on tour and it's really hard for me. I always FaceTime Mike when he's on tour though, he's still my favourite of them all, me and him just have this special bond and we have ever since I met him when I was a little girl, he's like a second dad to me.
I then got myself ready for school, I did my make up which was just mascara and foundation to sort my face out a little and to straighten my long dark brown hair. Once I was happy with my appearance I went over to my wardrobe to pick out an outfit for today. I ended up picking a Green Day top with black skinny jeans, how original I know. I then went downstairs to see my whole family standing in the kitchen.

"Morning sweetie!" My mum said happily, she's way too happy for a Monday morning.

"Morning" I mumbled sleepily. I then sat next to my brother and stole a bit of his toast.

"Oi!" He shouted. I just rolled my eyes at him and ate it.

"Be nice to your brother Meg!" My dad warned in his fatherly tone.

"I don't have time to make my own, Finn will be here soon!" I explained. As I said that the doorbell rang, "speaking of the devil!" I said and stood up.

"Good luck with your performance!!" My dad shouted from behind me which caused me to smile. I rushed over to the front door and opened it to see Finn standing there looking happy as ever. Finn was my bestfriend, me and him have been close for longer than I can remember. He's like a giant though, there's me being about 5ft2 and he's about 5ft10, I'm a midget. He's very good looking if I must say, he has short brown hair, blue eyes and has his lip pierced.

"Hey Finn!" I smiled.

"You ready?" He asked. I quickly put my shoes on, grabbed my school bag and left the house. Me and Finn don't live far from each other or school so we walk there together.

"So are you nervous?" He asked.

"Yes! I'm freaking out big time!" I panicked. He just chuckled at me.

"Don't be nervous, you'll do well meg, you're amazing at bass!" He encouraged me with a warm smile. I smiled at him shyly, I really don't do well with compliments.

"Thanks Finn, but you're the lead singer you're amazing!" I said and he thanked me. It's true though, Finn has the voice of an angel. He then wrapped an arm round my shoulders and we walked to school talking about random things like we do every single day.

~~~

We eventually made it to school and I saw Jake and Matt standing at the school gates waiting for us. Matt spotted us and waved with a smile. We approached them and I gave both Matt and Jake hugs.

"How's my favourite girl?" Matt asked.

"I'm shitting myself" I replied which caused all 3 of them to laugh, none of them are nervous like me, "seriously why are none of you nervous?" I asked puzzled. They just shrugged their shoulders.

"I'm just don't get nervous" Jake said calmly. Then the school bell rang which indicated us to get to class. Me and Matt had first period together which was Math so we left Jake and Finn and headed to class.

"So how are you and Finn?" Matt asked as we took our seats in class.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"You know, you two are really close is anything going on?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. Jake asked me the exact same thing the other day, can't a girl and boy be friends without being accused of dating?

"We're just bestfriends Matty, you out of all people should know that by now!" I rolled my eyes, "why do you ask anyways?" I ask curiously. He just shrugged his shoulders, I could tell he was hiding something but I didn't push the question any further.

"Did you all do the homework?" Mr Westfield asked as everyone arrived to class. He's one of my favourite teachers, he's laid-back and chill, everyone likes him. It helps that he's also quite young unlike most of the other teachers in this school. He got a reply of groans and mumbles which meant that no one did the homework. Except this one girl called Hillary, she raised a piece of paper in the air and Mr Westfield smiled. He walked over and took the paper off of her. Hillary is one of those quiet, goody 2 shoes girls who keeps to herself most of the time.

"You see, she's a example of good student, learn from her!" Sir said. I saw Hillary smile shyly. No one was really listening to him because no one really cared at all.

"Now get on with the work that I set on the board while I mark some papers!" He then said and everyone began to work, well not everyone, most people began to mess about.

"Hey, we still doing the cover of dammit by Blink 182 later?" Matt turned to me and asked. I nodded my head while coping the writing off the board.

"Yeah" I smiled.

"I hope people like us!" He said.

"So do I" I admitted. He then smiled at me and we got on with our work. Blink 182 are my favourite band of all time, my dad got me into them when I was younger and I'm actually quite excited about covering them. Through out the whole lesson all I could think about was that stupid performance.

What if people hate it?

What if I screw up in front of everyone?

All these questions were spiralling through my head and made me panic. I then saw Matt wave his hand in front of my face.

"Huh?" I asked confusedly and looked at him.

"If you were actually listening to me and not daydreaming, I said class is over and we need to get ready for our performance!" He smiled excitedly.

"Oh yeah, let's go!" I said calmly but I'm mentally freaking out inside. We walked out of the classroom and headed over the hall where we were performing. I felt myself shaking the whole way there, at one point Matt grabbed hold of my hands and told me the calm down, I just get nervous in front of loads of people.

~~~

As time pressed on it got closer and closer to the performance, scared was an understatement. I stood by myself in a small room while warming up with my bass, the silence helps me concentrate more. Then the door slowly opened and Finn poked him head round slightly.

"It's time!" He announced with a nervous smile. I widened my eyes and began to panic.

"I can't do this Finn!!" I said scared. He quickly walked over to me and placed his hands gently on my shoulders.

"Listen to me, you'll do great meg, just believe in yourself and have fun out there!" He smiled. That calmed me down and I smiled at him.

"I'm ready!" I breathed out. We then exited the room and join the other 2 behind the curtain. I could hear hundreds of voices from the other side of the curtain and nerves came slowly creeping back.

"Now welcome Faded Crisis to the stage!" I heard someone announce through the microphone and that was followed by a small round of applause. I took a deep breath and walked out with the others right behind me.
My eyes connected with hundreds of people in front of me, I'd never seen so many people in my life. The whole room went completely silent and all the attention was on us once they saw us walk on stage.

"Um hi, we're Faded Crisis and this is our cover of Dammit by Blink 182!" Finn said nervously through the microphone. There was a small applause and then we began the song.

"It's alright
to tell me
what you think
about me
I won't try
to argue
or hold it
against you
I know that
you're leaving
you must have
your reasons
The season
is calling
and your pictures
are falling down
The steps that
I retrace
the sad look
on your face
The timing
and structure
did you hear
he fucked her?
A day late
a buck short
I'm writing
the report
On losing
and failing
when I move
I'm flailing now
And it's happened once again
I'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
Sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
And I've been here for too long
To face this on my own
Well I guess this is growing up
Well I guess this is growing up" Finn sang. Finn was singing amazingly as the rest of us played our instrument to the best of our ability. Throughout the whole song I had a lot of fun, I danced around and blocked out everyone in the whole room, I pretended like no one was in front of me and I was just performing in my bedroom. As the song went on, more and more people joined in and began to enjoy theirselves, it felt amazing to see people really enjoy our music.

"And maybe
I'll see you
at a movie
sneak preview
You'll show up
and walk by
on the arm
of that guy
And I'll smile
and you'll wave
we'll pretend
it's okay
The charade
it won't last
when he's gone
I won't come back
And it'll happen once again
You'll turn to a friend
Someone that understands
And sees through the master plan
But everybody's gone
And you've been there for too long
To face this on your own
Well I guess this is growing up
Well, I guess this is growing up [4x]
Well, I guess this is growing up" Finn finished the song. Once the song was over there was suddenly a massive round of applause and people even stood up clapping for us, it was totally unreal. I couldn't stop smiling. Finn ran over to me and hugged me while twirling me around which made me giggle.

"We did it!" He grinned, I'd never seen him smile so much.

"That was insane!" I said shocked.

"Thank you everyone!" I then heard Matt say into his microphone and we then all scurried off stage smiling and laughing like complete lunatics.

"Oh my god" I laughed, "that was the best thing ever!!" I grinned.

"I agree with you there!" Matt said happily.

"I genuinely wasn't expecting a response like that!" Jake admitted. I don't think any of us were.

"Well done guys, everyone loved it!" Our headmaster Mr Hughs said with a warm smile while waking over to us.

"Thanks sir!" I smiled

"You're all very talented students I must say!" He smiled with a surprised expression.

"Thanks, I didn't think people would've actually liked it" I said.

"Oh no, everyone loves you!" He smiled. Me and the guys couldn't stop smiling. For the rest of the school day many people would come over to one of us and say how great we were, we were actually getting noticed now and it made me super happy.

~~~

I opened my front door and slammed it shut like I do everyday. I was still buzzing of excitement from earlier.

"Hey honey!" I heard my mum shout from the kitchen. I chucked my school bag on the floor and then I headed over there and saw both my mum and dad standing there talking. As I entered the room they both looked at me with smiles on their faces, they looked like excitable children.

"So how was your first performance?" Was the first question my dad asked, he was happy for me getting a proper chance to show how much potential me and the guys actually have as a band.

"It was seriously amazing, everyone loved it and even our headmaster congratulate us!" I grinned happily.

"I'm proud of you sweetie!" My dad said while walking over to me and hugged me very tightly. Then my mum did the exact same thing, they were proud of me.

"You'll be the next rockstar, our little rockstar!" My dad said which made me smile widely, I'd truly love to be like my dad one day, perhaps one day my dream will come true.

Notes