The pact

There was an uncomfortable silence between me and Vic. There hadn’t been an awkward silence between us since my birthday. This was kind of an exception though.
The silence was there because of two reasons. One of them were the words painted on our lockers and the way they scared us. Neither of us really wanted to talk about it.
The second reason was the fact that we were walking towards the diner I celebrated my birthday in, but this time we were going to meet up with my dad.
I think both of us were just too nervous to talk. I didn’t know why exactly I was nervous, but I just knew that Vic was probably more nervous than I was.
We had been two weeks together now and everything went actually pretty good. Not much had changed actually. We were still the same goofy people around each other, but the things that had changed were good changes.
Our regular make out sessions were a good example of a good change, I guess. We had become better at it since we first kissed. It was weird because sometimes we were just acting stupid, not doing anything special and other times we could make out for minutes.
I had to admit that I loved the feeling he gave me when he was around me and I was happy I had said yes to him asking me to be his girlfriend. Having a relationship wasn’t anything like in the movies or books, it was amazing in a different way.
I had been afraid that having a relationship would disappoint me, because I was such a hopeless romantic and I had such high expectations of it. But luckily it didn’t disappoint me at all.
We had walked really slow, but eventually we arrived at the diner anyway. We stood still before we went in. Just preparing ourselves for what was about to happen.
I looked to Vic who was obviously trying the contain the fear in his eyes, but failed miserably. It looked really cute. I giggled and placed a kiss on his cheek. He turned to me and smiled.
He placed a small kiss on my lips and took my hand in his. We walked into the diner and I immediately saw my dad sitting at a table near the window.
“We can still run away.” Vic whispered in my ear. He was joking, but there was a little bit of seriousness in his voice.
I chuckled. “You’re such a chicken sometimes.” I said and I dragged him to the table my father was sitting at before he could say something back.
“Hi dad.” I said as I let go of Vic’s hand to hug my dad.
“Hey darling. How was school?” He asked as he let go of me.
“It was alright” I said as I sat down across from him. Vic slowly sat down at the seat next to me. I was so going to tease him with his awkwardness when we were alone again.
“Dad, this is Vic.” I said, mentioning to Vic. “Vic this is my dad.” And I gestured to my dad.
Vic reached over the table to shake my father’s hand. “Nice to meet you, sir.” He mumbled, his voice shaking.
My father seemed to notice Vic’s nerves to and smiled. He took Vic’s hand and shook it. “The pleasure is all mine.” He said. “No need to be nervous, boy. If you’re good to my daughter, you’ll have nothing to worry about.”
Vic let go of my father’s hand and smiled. “I think I’m doing a pretty good job at being good for her. At least I think so.” He said and he turned to me.
I chuckled. “Yeah, you’re good.”
My dad smiled at us. I really hoped he wasn’t going to make this awkward. But I was afraid that the scene I was in back then was bound to get awkward. I mean, it contained Vic and my dad, two of the most awkward people I knew.
“So, know I like the real story.” My dad said. “And not the bullshit story you tell your mother.” I chuckled. My dad never sweared when my mom was around, but as soon as she was gone he used a swear word in almost every sentence. He had told me that he was used to it, because his old friends at the soccer club always sweared. I think I learned most of the bad words I knew from my dad. He used to be careful with his words around me, but not anymore. That was one of the good things about my dad, he treated me like an adult.
“What do you want to know?” I said and I shrugged.
“How did you meet?” My dad asked. “Yeah let’s start with that.”
Vic looked at me before he answered. “We’re lab partners. We were put together on the first day of school.”
“Mm…That’s practically identical to what you told your mother, Luna.” My dad said. “About what did you lie to her?”
I bit my lip. “Am I not going to be in trouble?”
He laughed. “I think you get enough trouble from your mother already.”
I thought about the ‘trouble’ I lately got from my mother and apparently Vic did too as I felt him clench my hand a little tighter.
There had been a few incidents with my mother lately. The down point being the day after she had been away. She had slapped me in the face again, for not being home the night before. There also had been a few pushing and arm grabbing incidents in the last two weeks, they seemed to be more frequent. My dad didn’t know yet and I was planning on keeping it that way. Vic didn’t know about the last few incidents either, but I think he was suspecting something had happened.
I shot my dad a forceful smile. “True. Uhm. I have lied a lot of times to her, when I was on my way to him or my other friends.” I said.
My dad shot me a sad smile. “that’s understandable. Your mom wouldn’t have let you go.” He turned to Vic. “And what do your parents think about you two being together?”
Vic smirked. “They love it. My parents love Luna.”
“Of course they love her, there is no one more amazing than my daughter.” My dad said.
Vic laughed and I slapped the palm of my hand against my forehead.
“I think I have to agree on that one.” Vic said and I started blushing. This was already uncomfortable.
“Of course you agree. I not only have an amazing daughter, but I’m also always right.” He said and he grinned. He was definitely proud of himself for being so funny. That in general was funnier than his jokes.
“Wow dad, you’ve really won at life.” I said sarcastically, dropping my hand again.
“I know, I consider myself to be quite a great guy.”
The rest of the afternoon went actually pretty well. It was all a bit awkward, but at least Vic and my dad could get along. That was already a big burden, falling away from my shoulders. Of course my dad asked some embarrassing questions. He even asked if we had sex already. I almost started screaming at my dad and Vic was just trying to hold his laughter. I said no, but he gave us an extremely embarrassing speech about safe sex anyway.
I was happy when, it was over, although we did have fun.
Me and my dad said goodbye to Vic outside the diner. I quickly packed Vic on his cheek. I wanted to kiss him, but figured that it would probably be inappropriate with my dad watching.
“I liked him.” My dad said to me as we were walking home. “You were right to trust him.”
“well, it’s good that you guys get along, but what do you mean?”
He shrugged. “Your mom is always suspicious of these kind of people and to be honest, I was too. But I thought, well let’s give this boy a chance and he seems like a pretty nice person.”
I looked at him, somewhat proud. I was proud that I had changed his prejudices and taught him to be more open-minded. That was normally something kids had to teach their parents, just because parents were too protective. Parents trusted on prejudices on instinct.
My dad was trying so hard, I noticed it. He might not know what I went through, but I think he felt that I was not doing good lately and was trying to cheer me up.
And I was happy about it, because it felt like nothing in my life went right lately. I got still called names in the hallways of school, although I wasn’t pushed into lockers anymore. My mom made a sport of it to make my life extra horrible. And I was probably developing an addiction for alcohol. I usually couldn’t sleep at night, so I just went downstairs and drank whatever was in the closet until I blacked out. I knew it was bad, but it made me feel better. The disadvantage was that I needed to drink more to get drunk now, because I was getting more used to the alcohol.
To make matters worse, I hadn’t spoken to Casey in weeks. I think we were drifting apart. Which wasn’t weird of course, she had her life and I had mine. We were both too busy with our own lives to be involved with each other’s. She didn’t even know about my relationship with Vic yet. Normally I told her everything, but she seemed so far away from me, and not only in the physical way. We didn’t fit into each other’s life’s anymore and I hated that.

*

“say your prayers little one
Don’t forget my son
To include everyone
I tuck you in, warm within
Keep you from sin
Until the sandman comes”

Electric guitars felt the garage with the melody of ‘enter sandman’ by Metallica. It was a special band practice for the guys, because for the first time Vic played guitar and sang. In the previous times he had just sang.
It sounded a lot louder, but also fuller. At first they were just a couple of boys with talent, now they were really a band. It just looked complete.
Not only did they gain an extra guitar and back-up vocals, they also looked more like a band. It was like Vic was the missing link to connect them. It had been almost two months since they had performed on junior prom, but I only realised it now Vic was playing the rhythm guitar parts. It gave Tony the freedom to do his amazing solo.
As they finished I clapped really loud and cheered.
Mike grinned. “It sounds kind of pathetic, just one person clapping.” he said.
I laughed. It did sound kind of weird.
“Maybe it’s because we performed for multiple people, so now we know what it sounds like when lots of people cheer.” Tony said as he tilted the guitar over his head.
“We’re just addicted to fame now.” Jaime said and he flipped his imaginary her over his shoulder.
“Any tips or remarks to make, Madame producer?” Vic said, grinning and he winked at me.
“as a matter of fact, yes.” I said and I put my chin in the air. “tip: don’t be assholes, fame is getting to your heads.” They all laughed. “Remark: you guys have a really hot lead singer.” I walked over to Vic and gave him a small kiss on his lips. He smiled as I pulled back and he took his guitar off.
I heard Mike making a barf sound in the background. “Ew, couples.”
I glared at him and he started grinning. He just enjoyed teasing us, but I wasn’t going to just let it go passed. “Yeah, Mike. We’re a couple. Your brother could actually get someone.”
“OOHH SNAP.” Tony and Jaime said and I could hear Vic grinning beside me.
Mike looked kind of grumpy as he stood up from his seat and started walking towards us. “I can get anyone I want.” He pouted.
“Of course, Mike.” Jaime said, patting Mike on the back. “Keep on dreaming.”
“Fuck off.” Mike said hitting Jaime’s hand away. He had said it semi-serious, but started laughing nonetheless.
“But really, what did you think?” Tony asked with a big smile on his face. It was nice to know that they really cared about my opinion.
I put on my thinking face, my finger on my chin, to make them wait a little longer. Eventually I just dropped my hand and said: “Guys, that was amazing. You really looked like a band!”
“That is what we’re trying to be here, if you hadn’t noticed.” Jaime said.
I looked him with an annoyed look. “You know what I mean. It was just…complete. Everything seemed like it was supposed to be like that. You guys should write songs and just go for it!”
All four of their faces lit up. Maybe they were hoping to hear this.
“You really think that?” Vic asked, his eyes were sparkling. I knew that all four of them enjoyed this a lot. When they performed, you could notice how much they loved it. They played with so much passion. To be honest, I think they would do anything to make this work, they just needed a little push. And maybe I was the person that needed to give that to them.
I nodded. “Yes, I think you guys could be very successful.”
They all burst out in cheers and I smiled at them. At one point Jaime climbed on Vic’s back, but Vic wasn’t prepared and they both fell on the ground. Tony, Mike and me started laughing.
“But who’s going to write the songs?” Jaime said as he stood up from the floor and offered Vic a hand to help him up.
“can any of us even write songs?” Tony asked and everyone remained quiet. Everyone was looking at each other, to see if they reacted to the question.
When it was obvious no one was going to answer Mike said: “normally the lead singer of a band writes the song.” And he hit Vic on the back.
“I’ve never written a song before.” He said and he scratched the back of his neck. “I don’t know if I can do it.”
“It’s not always the lead singer, though.” Tony said. “The guitarist of The rolling stones helped to write almost every song of them and the keyboard player of Toto has written all of their songs.”
Mike shrugged. “That doesn’t help. Neither of us can write songs.” And he looked a little grumpy.
The tension in the room had completely changed. It was like this one disadvantage got them down.
“Come on guys! Don’t give up yet! Just try to write some songs, maybe one of you turns out to be an amazing song writer.” I said. It seemed a bit like I was their personal cheerleader. It was for a good cause though, I was really excited about this project.
Vic smiled at me. “Yeah, we’ll see.”
“Maybe we can think of a name!” Jaime said enthusiastic and he clapped his hands.
“okay, anyone ideas?” Tony asked and he looked around the group. Also this time, everyone remained quiet.
Jaime sighed. “This is not going to work like this. Guys, think! Is there a phrase or word that caught your attention lately? Maybe from a movie or a song.”
I looked at Vic. At first he seemed to be thinking, then his face suddenly lit up and a smile crept on his face. He had an idea.
“What are you thinking, Vic?” I asked and everyone looked at Vic who was smiling like crazy.
“I heard about this expression in English class.” He started. “ ‘to pierce the veil’ It means if there’s a problem in your life that is bothering you or building up over time, sometimes the best thing is just to cut it out completely from the source, not let things grow over time. So it just means to cut it out completely.”
The guys remained quiet for a while as Vic looked around, curious to know what everyone thought.
“So, Pierce the Veil?” Mike asked.
Vic nodded.
“I love it! It’s really cool!” Tony said smiling. “and it has a meaning!”
“I vote for Pierce the Veil.” Jaime said and he raised his hands.
“Me too.” Mike said.
They were all grinning at each other and I could feel that this was an important moment in their career. Little did I know, that I was quite right about that.
“Guys, you have a name.” I said in an official way. “You guys are a band now.”
They started cheering again, but this time I made sure no one was jumping on someone’s back. I cheered along with them and some hugs were exchanged.
“Okay! Let’s make some music now!” Mike yelled.
And they all cheered in agreement. They all picked up their instrument and Mike went to sit behind the drums.
I sat down at my usual place against the wall. I suspected that they were going to play better than they ever did.
After a minute of tuning the guitars the melody of ‘Beat it’ by Michael Jackson filled the room.
I was right. They played better than ever. They seemed to have more energy than ever before and they jumped all through the garage. They were on tune and everything seemed to be right.
The song was perfect for Vic’s voice, Tony nailed his guitar solo, Jaime had always been good, but was now better than ever and Mike almost beat his high-hat of the standard.
It was an amazing thing to watch. It was one of those moments in which I realised how music could bring people together. It wasn’t only the moment in which they formed their band, but it was also the moment in which I knew for sure that I wanted to make music my job. I officially couldn’t live without music anymore.

Notes

heyyy guys,

So i noticed lately that this story isn't doing as good anymore as it used to. I thought maybe it's because I post less, So i decided to update as soon as I could. :)

I also think I'm going to edit an important part of the story. I'm thinking about making Luna and Vic seniors. otherwise it isn't inline with the ages of Jaime, Mike and Tony. But I'm not sure. What do you guys think?

oh and btw, I know pierce the veil started in 2007, but I'm going to set that right in the epilogue of this story. Just trust me ;)

-lots of kisses-

Nicky