Chapter Text
“If I ever see another hot dog again, I may vaporize on the spot,” A boy with pale
skin joked as he rolled to stare at the ceiling of the nurse’s office.
“You’re not the only one, Reg,” a second boy with chestnut hair groaned and tried
to shift into a comfortable position.
“I told you those hot dogs looked funny,” The last boy in the nurse’s office
muttered, “but no one ever listens to me.”
“Yea Luke, we should listen to Alex more often. He’s got like spidey sense or
something.”
The three boys laughed, only to groan in pain and clutch their stomachs. A
moment of silence passed as the boys all stared up at the off-white stained tiles above
them.
“Guys, I’m quitting the band.” The words were so quiet that they could barely be
heard over the hum of the air conditioning unit across the room. Luke and Reggie sat up
quickly, barely wincing from the pain, and turned to Alex in disbelief.
“No you’re not,” Luke stated bluntly.
“I-I have to. My parents-they found my sticks. Jason said they were his but they
were so close to finding out.” Alex kept his eyes trained on his hands as he picked at a
cuticle but he could feel the eyes of his best friends staring into the front tips of his hair.
“If they found out they’d be so mad, they’d send me to that boarding school probably.”
Luke and Reggie shared a look over the top of Alex’s head. They were both
familiar with the threat both Alex and his brother were told to keep them in line. If
either boy seemed too rebellious, they’d be sent straight to Sampson Prep Boarding
School for Boys in Connecticut. And Luke thought that sounded like the least Rock and
Roll thing ever.
“Well we’ll just need to be more careful and they won’t find out.”
“Luke, actually my um-my parents want me to quit too,” Reggie whispered.
“What-Why?”
“My grades-they’re dropping. They think if I quit the band I’ll have more time to
study.”
“So what now?” Luke jumped into a standing position on the nurse’s cot. “Sunset
Curve is just over? Are we still friends then? Or are you done with that too?” He glared
at the boys he called his best friends since the second grade. Alex’s knee was bouncing
faster than usual and his cuticle was starting to bleed. Reggie looked at his scuffed vans.
Neither boy wanted to point out the tears collecting in Luke’s eyes or the way his cheeks
reddened.
“I’m sorry Luke, I don’t want to quit-” Alex’s trembling voice was interrupted by
Luke’s growling.
“Then don’t”
“I have to. You-you don’t understand.”
“Oh I understand Alex, you’re a coward.”
Alex looked away from his hands for the first time. If Luke hadn’t been blinded by
rage he would have seen the complete look of hurt and confusion on Alex’s face. But
instead, he kept yelling.
“You’re a coward, who can’t even stand up to his parents. You’re a little baby who
hides behind his big brother whenever the slightest problem shows up. You-”
“Luke-” Reggie placed a soft hand on Luke’s shoulder, but instead of calming the
boy down, it just turned his fury into the boy.
“And you just don’t care do you? As long as you're having fun you’re good to go. If
you just put in a little more effort, if you could just focus, you wouldn’t need to quit the
bad because of some stupid grades.”
“Luke, stop it-” Alex's leg bounced faster.
“No. I-I hate you. I hate you both. Forget about the band. Forget about being
friends.” When Luke finished yelling, he stormed out of the nurse’s office and slammed
the door shut behind him.
“Geesh,” Reggie broke the shocked silence that echoed through the nurse’s office
for minutes following the band’s break-up. “That was pretty harsh, huh?”
He turned to Alex, only to find Alex curling in on himself, eyes closed and
breathing harshly.
“Hey, dude, you okay?” Without warning, Reggie placed a hand on Alex’s arm
and shook him lightly. In response, Alex flinched back hard enough to almost fall off his
cot.
“G-Get away,” Alex muttered, panic lacing his voice.
Reggie looked hurt, but Alex couldn’t notice. Alex sat curled on the cot, tapping
rhythms in the sole of his converse. He barely even heard Reggie’s footsteps towards the
hallway or the second slamming of the nurse’s door. And by the time Alex noticed he
was alone, he was too tired to do anything but cry.
********
Luke stomped through the empty hallways, the rest of the grade busy eating
lunch in the cafeteria and the others still in classes. His fists squeezed tight at his sides and his head angled down so he could watch the dirt on the floor drift away with each stomp on his vans.
He was so focused on channeling his anger into the floor that he didn’t notice
another kid in the hallway until they bumped into each other.
“Hey twerp, watch where you're going,” the student, who was at least three inches
taller than Luke, growled at him. If Luke wasn’t fuming or had any common sense at all,
he would have just muttered an apology and moved on. But he decided to growl back.
“Who you calling twerp?”
“You’re a seventh grader, aren’t you? That makes you younger, and a twerp”
“Well then you’re a d-bag.”
That got a chuckle out of the older kid, who then looked Luke up and down,
scanning his outfit.
“You like Queen?” The older kid gestured to Luke’s sleeveless shirt, the Queen
label printed at the center.
“Yea. You?”
“Hell yea. I even know Bohemian Rhapsody on the guitar.”
At that Luke perked up with the hope of an idea.
“You know how to play the guitar?” The older kid nodded smugly. “Me too. Want
to...want to start a band?”
Luke felt a little guilty, but if ditching his friends meant he could keep playing
music, he'd have to deal with it. Besides, it’s not like Alex or Reggie actually wanted to be
in a band anymore.
“Sounds like it would attract a lot of girls. Sure, why not?” The older boy stuck his
hand out, asking for a handshake which Luke quickly took.
“I’m Luke by the way.”
“The name’s Bobby.”