Wide awake

Chapter 1

Alex had always been a loner. Then he met
Luke Patterson, and things changed.

It was his first day of fifth grade. Alex was already sitting alone at the lunch table. He didn't mind. In fact, he didn't care at all. He rather enjoyed being alone. Of course the thought of friends was nice, but he had himself, and that was all he was ever gonna need. Or so he thought. A scrawny brown haired boy walked right up to the empty table that Alex
was sitting at.

"Hey, I'm Luke. What's your name?"
Alex, startled, responded shakily. "I- I'm uh... Alex. My name's Alex." Luke gave him a cheeky grin. "Cool, let's be friends."
Alex never knew why Luke decided to befriend him that day, nor did he care to ask. Luke was Luke, and nothing was ever going to stop him. He was wild, free, and without a care in the world except for his music. Maybe somehow he knew Alex and him would get along, because it had been six years now and they were still going strong. Somewhere along the line an optimistic Reggie came along, and rather the opposite of him, Bobby. They were all totally different, that was for sure, but they all had one thing in common. Their passion for music.

Alex's parents forced him into picking a  hobby at the age of eleven. They didn't care what, as long as he was busy doing something. He was okay at sports, but never really cared much for them. He tried other things like acting, chess, crafts, but nothing really set a spark in him. He had given up for the time being, that was until he found it in his best friend.

He was at Luke's house for the millionth time that month, the two quickly becoming close.
"Hey Alex, check this out!!" Luke motioned Alex over to the inside of the garage. "My mom got me this for my birthday, isn't it cool?" He quickly put together his microphone stand, and then pulled out a guitar. "I spent the past two weeks learning this song, listen."

"Is it easier to stay? Is it easier to go? I don't wanna know, oh
But I know that I'm never ever gonna change And you know you don't want it any other way."

There it was. The spark. Watching Luke shine like that, so caught up in the moment without another care in the world, set something off in Alex. He wanted to feel like Luke did. He wanted to be so into the music that nothing else mattered while he was playing. So later that day, Luke's parents took Alex and their son to go look at some more instruments. Alex had already tried Luke's guitar, and it just didn't feel right. Then he tried bass, still just didn't fit. Then there they were, shining as if they were calling him. The drums. Alex sucked at first, like every child would the first time playing an instrument, but it just felt right.

So, Luke and Alex went on playing for another six years. Heck, they had even formed a band. Reggie could play bass, and Bobby was another guitarist. Luke was lead singer of course, damn how that boy craved the spotlight. It was all going smoothly for a while. The band (sunset curve- named by Reggie) was doing great, booking gigs left and right.

Sure, Luke's parents weren't feeling the greatest about their sixteen year old son being in a boy band with no college aspirations, but it wasn't the end of the world. Reggie, Bobby, and Alex's parents didn't really seem to care about the band too much. Alex's parents just wanted him to get some social interaction, and Reggie's  parents were too busy arguing to notice how long Reggie stayed out at night to rehearse with the guys. Bobby's parents were always traveling, which happened to work out perfectly for the boys, since Bobby's parents had a huge garage that the band could practice
in.

It was a Friday night. The band didn't have any gigs that weekend shockingly, so they took some time to recoup. Alex was sitting on the couch next to Reggie while Bobby was leaning against the door and Luke was sitting on the floor, writing in his song book.  "Hey Luke, watcha working on?" Alex asked. "Eh, nothing much. I'm trying to come up with a melody to these lyrics but I'm stumped." Alex smirked. "Woah, the Luke Patterson stumped? That's a first." Reggie glanced at Luke. "Yeah dude, you're like a song writing prodigy, are you sure you aren't broken or something?" Luke stood up. "I'm not broken. Shut up and let me think!" This sent Alex and Reggie into a hysterical laughing fit. Bobby just rolled his eyes and the boys continued on. "I'm not broken!" Luke pouted, which made Reggie and Alex laugh even more.