Exploding Heart Disorder (Fearless Vampire Killers Fanfic)

Chapter Fourteen

[Drew's P.O.V.]

Sitting in double-period music, with my bass guitar cradled in my lap and my sheet music on the ground at my feet, the others all sitting in the empty classroom playing around with instruments, my mind is working overtime.

It's all my fault, I shouldn't have tried to kiss her. But if she wants to run off then it's her loss. Wasn't that interested in her anyway, just the secret she was hiding.

I can tell the words themselves are a wicked lie, but for now I'll just have to kid myself and hope I fall for it.

The teacher knows the five of us are working on a project of our own, presumably for our end-of-year folio and project, and so has just allowed us to sit in the empty classroom next door to practise. As always, most of the class next door is too shy to play out loud, and so they're just playing silently in keyboards with headphones plastered to the sides of their heads.

I can hear Luke battering on drums, and then adjusting the height of the cymbals and the angle of the drums.Laurence is sitting writing lyrics frantically, flipping through a notebook and taking references from his story, one he wrote a while go and called Ruple and Evelyn, muttering and humming to himself every so often as if to catch a tune. Kier and Shane are tirelessly jaming out guitar riffs, taking turns to write down ideas and take note of chords. A short while of listening to them practise, and perfecting my own self-written chords, Laurence pushes to his feet, turning to face us quickly.

"I've got it." He says proudly. "I've got the lyrics." He holds up the pen-scrawled piece of paper, waving it, and Kier is the first to stop playing his instrument and grab the paper, reading the words out.

"'Palace in flames, the king is dead, a prince remains, I will rise to rule, the kingdom sees a brighter day...' Oh, like that bit in your book?"

Laurence smiles slightly. "Yeah, thought it went okay. Read the rest first, tell me what you think."

"'Two days earlier, sipping on some wine, the cardinal I'm told, is what they call a vampire, I saw her at the ball, who is she, who is she, who is she, it seems that she's controlled by tbe cardinal...'" Kier reads out the rest of the song, and Shane whistles slightly, clearly impressed. Luke claps his hands, grinning, and Kier and I smile up at the pink-faced panda-esque boy.

"That's brilliant, Bevers," I tell him, "it actually sounds like it could go well with the chord we've got so far. We should try it!"

"It's an attempt, not brilliant." Laurence tells me, always too modest. "Besides, I'd rather not sing, if you don't mind. Someone else should-"

"They're your words, mate." Luke says. "Better they come from the panda's mouth."

"Horse." Laurence corrects with a smile. "Kier, Barrone, how's about you try playing that riff you were both playing before? Pilnahn, that drum beat you had there was perfect. Wooly, try those chords you had."

Luke taps his drumsticks together to count beats, and then everyone breaks into the music quickly. Laurence's voice is quiet as he sings, but a quick pointed look from Shane and I is enough to convince him to sing louder, his face flushing slightly red. I'm pretty sure the others next door can hear us, but we keep playing. Luke looks just a little over-enthusiastic as he bashes the drums with more force than required, and Shane and Kier look like they might have a full-scale guitar-duel over the sheet music on the floor between them - they're taking it in turns to use their foot to drag the sheet music closer to one another, until they're glaring playfully at each other, like brothers about to cause mischief. My fingers move quickly, speeding through the end chorus at just the right pace, and as we finish playing I drop to my knees, grinning.

"Wow." I hear a voice that I recognise as the teacher's, and we all look towards the door to see the teacher clapping his hands loudly, shaking his head in disbelief, clearly impressed. "This is what you've been working on? For your final piece?" We all nod. "You're a band?" Well duh. We nod again. "Got a name?"

"Fearless Vampire Killers." I tell him; the others look at me as though I've just made a major medical breakthrough or something. "After the old movie."

"Interesting. Got a name for that song?" The teacher asks.

"Not yet." Laurence says. "I was thinking Palace In Flames - because of the chorus."

"Sounds a little rough around the edges, but it's decent enough to be submitted as a folio project and final group piece. Keep at it, you never know, you might actually get somewhere with it."

He turns quickly, disappearing before we can say anything, and then the guys look at me in amazement, all wide-eyed.

"Fearless Vampire Killers? Wooly, you bloody genius!" Laurence pulls me into a bear hug, grinning, and I shrug slightly as he pulls away again.

"Guess I was thinking about the movie again. Sounds decent enough for a band that wrote their first song based on a dystopian, vampiric future, though, right?" I slip my bass guitar into its bag and look up at the clock, slinging the bag over my shoulder just as the bell rings. The others pack up their stuff, and Laurence drags me out of the classroom, quickly bidding the guys goodbye as he drags me away.

"You've got love-life issues." He says simply. I blink in surprise. "Alyx was speaking to Mitch and I this morning. She was really upset about what happened between the pair of you yesterday. I think you're nuts to ignore her, if you ask me."

"I'm not ignoring her. And it wasn't my fault-"

"Oh, pull the other one Wooly, you're the one that kissed her, she told me. You can't go on not acknowledging her forever, you know. She's still coming to the party on Saturday, so you're pretty much buggered."

"Gee," I mutter, "thanks a bunch." Then, louder, "it's fine, Bevers, don't worry about me. In fact, it's alredy sorted. She doesn't like me, I don't like her - everything is fan-fracking-pazacular."

"Don't act like such an idiot, Wooly. You and I both know you like her. Anyway," I sigh in relief at the quick change of subject, "see that song we were playing in there, Palace In Flames? I was thinking we should try writing some more like it, maybe perform them for people once they're perfected?"

I grin. "Awesome. Here's an idea: how's about seeing if we can write any more songs before Saturday and performing them at the party?"

Laurence's eyes light up, but he feigns his usual modesty and diffidence. "Oh, I don't know, it would be in front of so many people." He mutters, and then sighs. "We shoukd speak to the guys, ask them what they make of it, and if they agree, we'll do it. On one condition."

I was afraid this would come. "Yes Bevers?"

"Make things right with Alyx before the party. It's not fair on her or you."

I sigh deeply. "I'll see what I can do."

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[Author's Message]

Okay, here's today's upload as promised! I saw that the time was after 12am and thought "Ermah-golly-gerd the new chapter!". So it's now 2:15am and I've a new upload. Things are getting interesting now I guess, because since it's kind of obvious that this is a romance based around Drew and Alyx...well you know, there shall be romance. But not smut. I'm more decent than that. I mean, more innocent...in a sense. Others may beg to differ, but I stick by my idea of innocence!! *defiant pose and fistpump*

Keep the peace, stay awesome and faith always...Bevers ;; x