𝗜'𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘅 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘆𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿

5.

The next Monday I'm walking to my fourth period class with my headphones in when suddenly someone grabs me from behind and spins me around.

I squeal as I'm being put down and turn around to face Hunter looking ecstatic.

"What the hell!" I exclaim, shoving him in the chest slightly with a surprised grin.

"They're having battle of the bands this year! Can you fucking believe it!! This is huge for skullfucker. Battle of the bands is where it starts for people, check it out." He grabs my hand, speed walking me towards the library.

Kevin is already there waiting and I smile at him in greeting as Hunter begins on a tangent, pulling out an old yearbook.

"Troy Nix." He points down at a black and white photo and I lean in curiously to see a picture of my dad growling at the camera.

I chuckle silently, making a mental note to tease him about this later.

"Jesus." Kevin mutters out when he sees the picture, but Hunter just smiles admiringly.

"Guitarist and singer of Killaton, battle of the bands winner of 1996." He flips the pages again showing another picture of my dad shredding on the guitar.

"Badass." I mutter out and Hunter nods his head in agreement.

"They were gods. No one in this school liked heavy music, same as now. But Killaton terrorized their way straight to victory. By 1997, they were considered the greatest unsigned metal band in the whole country." Hunter fan girls, while I continue to stare at the photo of my dad. He looked so young back then.

"They could've been up there with Metallica or Pantera, but they broke up. I think drinking was involved..." Hunter mentions my dads alcoholism and I bite my lip in thought.

"Nah it was more like one of the groupies getting pregnant." I butt in with the truth, and Hunter looks at me with his brows furrowed.

"Really? I've never heard that." He asks and I only shrug, panning through the yearbook to look for the other band mates of Killaton. Or as I call them, my uncles.

"But if we win battle of the bands, parlay that win into gigs, and then those gigs score us a deal." Hunter gets excited and I feel like I'm interrupting a moment as Kevin nods excitedly.

"Ok. What kind of deal?" Kevin responds and I sigh in relief as the bell rings.

"Cocks. Ok, I've got to walk Kat to c-hall but meet me after school. We've got work to do." Hunter tells Kevin then grabs my hand, dragging me behind him again as I run to keep up. Curse his stupidly long legs.

"Hail satan!" I hear someone call out and watch as Hunter looks over with a smirk and points at a kid sitting down reading a book.

"Sup Robbie." I watch on in admiration as the boy smiles as we pass by.

"You're coming with us after school right?" He asks as we walk through the hallways, his hand still holding mine.

"Uh, I don't know. I don't want to interrupt the metal bromance moment you've got going with Kevin." I chuckle amusedly and he playfully pushes my shoulder with his.

"Fair enough. But don't forget, as soon as the new drums come in you gotta watch us practice. Kevin's really starting to get the hang of it and I've almost mastered the guitar riffs of war pigs." He tells me animatedly, flipping his hair out of his eyes.

I smile and nod, thinking of how goofy the two boys must've looked when they first started out.

"Okay. Can't wait. I'll see you later?" I glance back at my classroom where the teacher is ushering kids inside.

"Yeah, I'll wait by your class after 6th." I nod and look up at him. He looks like he's trying to hype himself up to do something, but the bell interrupts us yet again.

He reluctantly lets go of my hand and holds out his hand for a fist pump instead.

I fist bump him quickly, making my way to the classroom with my heart beating fast.

𖤐

At lunch, I walk over to sit down at my usual spot next to Emily. She looks up at me excitedly and hurries me to sit down so that she can talk.

"Kevin talked to me last night in the band rehearsal room." She whispers with a bashful smile on her face.

I light up when she tells me this, being the founding member of the Emily-Kevin ship.

"No way! Tell me everything." I tell her and she starts telling me all about her conversation with him about metal.

"You should totally ask him to hang out sometime. He'd definitely say yes." I tell her as I sip on an energy drink.

Emily flusters, scratching the back of her neck nervously.

"I don't know. I'm too shy..."

"So is Kevin. You can be all cute and shy together. It'll be perfect." I reassure her with a smile which she reluctantly returns.

"What about you and Hunter? Are you two dating now after the whole party situation?" Emily asks me as she holds out a plastic baggie of grapes.

I give her a look as I take a grape and pop it into my mouth.

"I don't know? We kinda just haven't talked about our almost kiss and it's driving me crazy." I tell her and she hums understandingly.

"Maybe you should take your own advice then and make a move! I see the way he looks over here all the time, I'm not blind you know."  She tells me with a little smirk and I'm taken aback with her new found confidence.

"I miss when you were shy." I tell her with mock annoyance, grabbing another grape and crunching it in my mouth dramatically.

"Too bad. You made me this way." She giggles, waving the bag of grapes out of my reach as I try go get another one.