Driving to the restaurant to meet up with the guys was shitty. Driving Kaylee back was shitty. Shit. I didn’t even know what it was. I mean, maybe I was a little upset about this afternoon but I got over that. What hit me was the guy. Kaylee was with a guy, a guy she was clearly close to. Was I jealous? Nah but I didn’t know there was someone in her life. She’s cute and all and she seemed into me but shit, I guess I was wrong.

I tried not to let it get to me while at dinner and focused on the conversation we were having. My brother, being the person he is, got our band a gig at a small coffee shop next Friday. We needed to fill an hour and we’d get paid $400. Honestly it was one of our better gigs so I had to give Vic props on that one.

I wonder if Kaylee would be able to come…

I pushed the thought out of my mind and jumped back in the convo.

“Maybe we could put flyers up around campus. You know, get people out.” I nodded at Tony’s suggestion. Honestly, Pierce The Veil wasn’t as big as we’d hoped. When Vic suggested that we all move to Dallas I was shocked but he said he knew some people down here who could get us some good gigs. To tell the truth our recent gigs have paid pretty well, there just haven’t been as many as we’d hoped.

“Hey, maybe we could play around campus too,” Jaime added.

“Yeah but do you think the president of the university would let us?”

“It’s worth a shot.”

“What’s the occasion though?” I chimed in.

“I dunno man,” Jaime answered, “some occasion. We’ll figure it out.”

The rest of the night was like that: talks about making it big. We didn’t drop everything in San Diego just to move and go to an extremely overpriced school for nothing. I mean, getting degrees and shit would be cool but performing in front of screaming fans was the dream.

After we paid for dinner we rode back to the dorms. Tony and I separated from Vic and Jaime and went up the stairs and into our building. I threw my hat on my bed as soon as we got into our room and hoped onto my matrass. It was barely 10 and I was already thinking about calling it quits. I mean, classes then practice did something to me. Not to mention Kaylee and that dude. I’d seen him at a few of our practices in the past but he was closer to Vic and Jaime than to me. I think those two are living with him this year, I’m not sure.

I looked over at Tony’s bed once I got out of my head. He wasn’t in it. Weird. Maybe he was in the bathroom. Sure enough I heard the water running from behind the only door in the space. I took the moment to unwind before Tony came out and started asking why I’d been acting weird. I knew he had picked up on my mood while we were at dinner. Tony’s good at stuff like that, reading people. I guess it’s because he’s so quiet. Quiet people are so perceptive.

What would I tell him? What could I tell him? That I was jealous? That I might have a crush on a chick I just met? That the chick I just met was dating a dude and I hated it? I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that it was getting close to midnight and I was getting tired. I closed my eyes and let my thoughts fade out.

***

Tuesday morning. I groaned as Tony’s alarm rang. “Tony shut that shit off,” I said sleepily. His phone kept ringing though. I forced myself to open my eyes and looked across the room to Tony’s bed. He was fast asleep, as if there wasn’t an annoying ass sound coming from two feet away from him. I found the strength to throw a pillow at his head and actually made contact. He woke up pretty quickly after that.

“What the fuck dude?”

“Tone just turn off your alarm, shit.” He reached onto his nightstand and grabbed his phone. The alarm turned off and Tony got out of bed.

“When’s your first class?” he asked.

I answered, “9:30.”

“You’d better get ready then,” he said from the closet area. I sighed because I knew he was right. After getting up and stretching I walked into the bathroom and took a quick shower. When I got out Tony had left. I didn’t wanna be late so I slipped on some shorts, a T-shirt, and my Vans, grabbed my backpack, and left the dorm.

***

If I had to say anything about my first Tuesday-Thursday class it would be who the fuck decided to schedule math at 9:30 in the fucking morning? And why did I have to get put in the one fucking class that required attendance as part of your grade? I sighed at my desk and tried to pay attention. In all honesty I was thinking about so many things. The band had practice today and hopefully Kaylee would be there.

Kaylee.

I hated the fact that she and I weren’t talking and yes, I knew it was my fault. I didn’t mean to offend her and then on top of that I was acting like a baby over the guy thing. If she and I couldn’t be together then I would like to have a friendship. I didn’t know what it was but I didn’t want her out of my life completely.

“Now there will be an assignment due next week….”

Shit, maybe I should be paying attention. Seriously, who the fuck said math needed to be so early in the morning?

***



My classes were over by 1 so I went to the student center to meet Brandon for lunch. I was starting work today at 2:30 at the reception desk in the building. Lucky right? I walked in and headed straight for Chick-Fil-A, the agreed upon spot, ordered my food, and sat at a table. I scrolled through Twitter while I waited for my brother. I saw that Gabi had recently tweeted so I decided to mess with her.

@LittleMissGabi: Sooooo bored hmu
@KayQuinn: @LittleMissGabi you know you should be paying attention in class right? Also don’t use hmu
@LittleMissGabi: @KayQuinn why not?
@KayQuinn: @LittleMissGabi because creepers
@LittleMissGabi: @KayQuinn fine then text me ho!
@KayQuinn: @LittleMissGabi you’re almost out of class. I’ll text you later
@LittleMissGabi: @KayQuinn whatevs ho! :*

I rolled my eyes at her reply but smiled. I really missed my little sister. She was honestly my partner in crime, my other half. Well, technically she was a third if you counted Brandon. Since all three of us were born pretty close together time-wise we formed a really tight bond. Brandon looked out for Gabi and me and in return the two of us judged every single girl he brought home.

Speaking of the devil Brandon walked up and sat with his food. He gave me a smile while Jaime and some guy I’d never seen before pulled up a chair. I looked at Brandon questionably.

“Kay this is Kellin. Kellin this is Kaylee.”

I nodded at him. “Nice to meet you Kellin.” It was nice to meet him. He was cute. He gave off a sort of quiet vibe like Tony and yet somehow he seemed outgoing like Jaime. It was weird.

“You too.”

“So what’s your deal?” I asked. Kellin took a bite of his sandwich before answering.

“Well, I’m a sophomore. Creative writing major. I’m also in a band.” Maybe that was why I was so interested in him. My mom always said that guys in bands were hard to resist.

“What’s your band’s name?” I asked.

“Sleeping With Sirens. We’re not that big but we’re working on it.” I nodded and ate a waffle fry.

“What’s your major Kaylee?”

“Music therapy. So far I’ve only had four music classes out of the many I need but I like how it’s going.” Kellin nodded.

The four of us kept up a pretty decent conversation until I had to leave for work. The guys walked me out of the tiny restaurant and to the desk I would be sitting at for the next four hours. I hugged Brandon and said goodbye to Jaime and Kellin before taking my seat behind the big desk.

Four hours of sitting, taking calls, and helping freshmen get around. Fun stuff. Technically I wasn’t really qualified to have this job since this was my first semester of college but my mom went here for her master’s degree so she would drive Brandon, Gabi, and me up here to check it out when Brandon told our parents that he had applied for colleges. Ever since he said he was gonna go to school here and I told him I was interested he would drive me up to explore my future campus. Thank God my parents were about education because I would be totally lost without all those trips.

I tapped my pen on the desk while looking down desperately at my music theory homework. I understood a couple handfuls of things concerning theory thanks to my mom but we jumped right in with resolutions and I was a little stuck. If only I had my textbook….

Someone cleared their throat and took me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see a familiar face looking down at me.

“How can I help you?”

“I was wondering if you knew where Dallas Hall was.” I pulled out a map from a drawer in the desk and pointed to a building.

“You’re gonna want to take McFarlin then Hyer. It’ll be the only building on Hyer, right in the curve.” He nodded.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” I put the map away and looked back down at my homework while he walked away.

“Hey,” he called before he left the building. “The band’s practicing again tonight and if you don’t have anything going on I’d like for you to come. We have a gig next week so, you know, we could use the audience.”

“Look…I’d love to but-” He put his up to shush me.

“You know, forget it. I just thought you’d want to come hang but I don’t need your excuses. I don’t need you to try to make me feel better with your lies. Save it, okay?” And with that Mike Fuentes walked out of the building.

Notes

Hey guys! Sorry it took a while for the update but I wanted to get it just right. I recently found the track by track for the album and I tried to make this chapter reflect the song. Anyway, thanks to everyone who's read, commented, voted, and subscribed so far. Please continue to do so; it'll make me so happy. Enjoy!