Skybreak [not to be continued]

XXIV

The magazine cutting lay on my desk as I strummed my guitar aimlessly, awaiting the confidence which would support me to pick up my phone and invite the boys over.

I felt as if I was in an eternal battle with them, and this tactic was my final resort. The 'kind and friendly' approach had been working so far, and I did truly want these boys to understand me and then we could be friends. Furthermore, they had talent and unless I, or someone else with the same intentions as me, pushed them to work; they wouldn't ever achieve anything.

The cutting could be so important to them, potentially life changing, but I couldn't bring myself to contact them; the boys that I had lost faith in so fast. I never wanted to give up on them, but they were not helping me.

Slowly though, I reached out to my phone to text Luke. I only sent a short message, asking if they were free to talk, all of them, and if they could come over. After a few minutes without a reply, I grabbed my laptop and google searched the details and the criteria you had to follow.

The competition looked fairly easy to enter, and with the prize that could be life changing - I knew exactly what I was going to do. All I needed was the 5 Seconds of Summer boys to arrive (well, picking up my text would be a start), and then I would be able to put my plan into action.

~

The unruly banging on the door was the first sign which lead me to believe that it was not Alaska's university friends knocking on it. Walking into the hall to open the door, I could hear a raging argument between the people on the other side. Checking my phone, there was still no new messages. Slowly, I opened the door - only to be crushed under the weight of a heavy bassist.

I was unaware that on the other side of the door, before I opened it, Calum was stood. He had been leaning onto the door, but as I opened it, he had toppled into me.

Now I was crushed under his weight. Groaning, I attempted to push the boy off me but he refused to budge. It took Luke to lean down and roll him off of me and lend me his hand for me to finally retake my original position.

"Hi..." I greeted, my voice breathless due to the lack of air in my lungs. "Want to play some music?"

The response was immediate as they barged into the lounge, and I was glad that Alaska was currently out with the racket they were making, and began to set up their instruments. The guitars came out and it wasn't long before Ashton began to produce silver poles and black disks. Realisation soon hit me that the contents of his back-pack was an electric drum kit - one that could easily be linked up to one of my amps. After staring in amazement for a few minutes, my addiction to background music led me to Bluetooth my phone to the nearest amplifier and blast out MCR's Famous Last Words.

"So many bright lights, they cast a shadow but can I speak? Well, it is hard understanding, I'm incomplete. A life that's so demanding, I get so weak. A love that's so demanding, I can't speak."

I slowly danced around the room, air guitar in hand, playing and singing along with so much pure emotion that boys did little more but stare at me. Their instruments lay on the sofa and my laptop sat on the coffee table, the headphones detached from it and instead hung loosely around my neck.

I don't quite think that Ashton, Michael or Luke understood my outbreak, but Calum just stood laughing at me as the music slowed to a finish.

I tried to avoid Ashton's comments about my awful dancing, and instead encouraged them to play me something - sure that they must have written something since I'd last seen them. They had, and I asked if I could hear it. I grabbed a couple of microphones from my room (only small ones in which I had bought with me from home), and set them up with my laptop to record.

Strumming into an opening chorus, they played the first original I had ever heard: Gotta Get Out. However, with the acoustic sound that they had in the station replaced with something a little more pop-punk, I was blown away by the pure talent that each of them possessed.

Ashton played his drums like it was a second nature to him: taking the anger that may have otherwise been aimed at me out on the small wooden box. Calum, playing his bass, rocked out as if he was in a stadium instead of the small comfort of Alaska's lounge. I couldn't quite find a way to describe Michael. He looked so at home when holding his guitar, a different world to this British land that seemed ever so foreign to them. And finally, Luke. He sang so passionately while strumming that it pulled on my heartstrings and bought tears to my eyes. He stared over at the window, gazing at the London skyline as he continued to sing. They were all so talented and I was amazed at how well they performed together.

On the laptop, the squiggles showed all of their sound was being picked up and I expected the same vibes to be released when I played it back. I smiled and nodded my head, mouthing the lyrics I knew along as Luke sang them.

It was in that moment that it hit me. I knew this little band from Sydney were going to make it big.