𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙊𝙀𝙎 𝙂𝙀𝙏 𝙍𝙀𝙈𝙀𝙈𝘽𝙀𝙍𝙀𝘿, 𝘽𝙐𝙏 𝙇𝙀𝙂𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙎 𝙉𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍 𝘿𝙄𝙀.
What do you get when you throw five musically inclined teenagers in detention and leave them alone for ten minutes?
You get a brand new band, new friendships, and a...
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TROUBLE — NEVER SHOUT NEVER I'm in trouble I'm an addict I'm addicted to this girl She's got my heart tied in a knot And my stomach in a whirl
MARCH, 1994. SIXTEEN MONTHS BEFORE.
SUNSET CURVE OWED a lot to their music teacher. Miss Taylor planted a seed of hope in them on that first day in detention and without her, the band probably wouldn't exist. She let them know when gigs were available within the school and even let them use her classroom as a rehearsal space before they moved into Olivia's garage. They kind of owed her one, so when she approached them asking if they could help clean the music room, they couldn't say no.
Even though the band as a whole agreed to help, only two members were actually doing so. Bobby was nowhere to be found, Olivia was seated at a desk helping Luke with his algebra homework, and Alex and Reggie were organizing the brass instruments while the latter tried to convince the group to play a country song he wrote.
"Bobby will like my song," Reggie said with a pout. "He likes horses."
The image of Bobby riding a horse while singing Home Is Where My Horse Is was enough to make Olivia laugh. As she recovered, the door to the music room opened to reveal the very boy they were talking about.
Luke glanced up from his math problem as Bobby walked further into the room. "Speak of the devil," he muttered.
Alex shot him a look before turning his gaze to their rhythm guitarist. "Dude, where have you been? School ended like—" he glanced at his watch "—an hour ago."
Bobby just shook his head. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them, wearing an excited grin on his face. "Guess what I did."
"Tripped and face planted in the hallway?"
"Ripped your pants?"
"Finally asked Allie Nichols to be your girlfriend?"
"Booked a gig?"
Bobby was undeterred by their answers and his expression remained steady. "No, no, already did that, and yes!" He cheered pointing to each of his friends. "I signed us up for Battle of the Bands!"
"I thought sign ups were full," Olivia said with furrowed brows. She could remember Harmony Lane gushing about the competition and how they were barely able to get a spot months ago.
He shook his head. "One of the bands pulled out," he explained, walking over to sit on top of a nearby desk, "leaving a spot open for us."
"Oh, no way!" Reggie exclaimed, figuring that this was good thing for them. "What is that?"
Alex nodded, not having heard of the gig's title before. "Yeah, what is Battle of the Bands exactly?"
"It's a talent competition," Luke explained excitedly, standing from his seat. "Music scouts, label execs, managers—it's the real deal. Winner gets a thousand bucks and shot at a record deal. Dude, we'd so win that! We need to start practicing right now!"
