Emo Calling / AJR

The Beginning

"God no, that has got to be the lamest idea i've heard all week. If you add a trap beat to our newest song, i'm quitting."

I huffed angrily, controlling the strong urge I had to push my little brother onto the ground.

"You don't get it!" I pleaded, "It would perfectly balance out the lyrics!"

"No it wouldn't."

I lightly shoved Jack, only doing enough damage to push him off the sidewalk and onto the grass.

"I'm basically our manager, so I get to do whatever I want. If you quit over a trap beat, then maybe that's a good thing. It just shows you aren't cut out for the real world like I am."

"Whatever," Jack scoffed, kicking the ground. "I'm not actually gonna quit."

"Yeah, I know." I sighed. It was way too early in the morning for this.

We walked the rest of the way to school with a comfortable silence surrounding us. Jack waved to me as he made his way to the freshman side of the school, and I headed in the opposite direction.

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"Good morning students! "If you haven't already, make sure to finish and turn in your study guides. They are due at the end of the class period. Can anyone remind me when the test is?"

"Tomorrow." I say, pulling a pencil out of my bag.

"Thank you Ryan, that would be correct.
I'm sure you all have been studying hard, so I expect no lower than an A from all of you. I'll let you all be for now."

Being the amazing student I was, I had already finished my study guide the day it was handed out. I decided to go over my notes one more time just in case I missed anything important.

As I was flipping through my notebook, a small but evident tune caught my ear. The guy who sat in front of me was pretty much blowing out his eardrums by having his music turned all the way up. I tried to ignore it at first, even plugging my ears at one point, but the song slowly started to grow on me. I couldn't tell what the lyrics were, but the melody was catchy. I tapped on his shoulder, and he took one of his earbuds out and turned to look at me.

"If you don't mind me asking, what's the song you're listening to called?" I whispered, trying not to distract other students from learning.

"Faint by Lincoln Park" he said, smiling at me.

"Thanks man!!"

"No problem." He turned back around to face the front of the room again. My guess is that he is going to be completely deaf before he turns 25.

Studying can wait until I get home, right?
I thought, pulling out my phone to search up that song. I was sure I would get at least an A- on the test anyway, so I could postpone my study time until later. I popped in my earbuds and made sure the volume was at a reasonable amount, and then I pressed play.

Yeah, this is pretty much the best song ever.

I added the song to my playlist and saved it to my liked songs. Once the song was over, I put it on a loop and replayed it over and over again until class was over. I even listened to it on my way to my next class, which was study hall.

I sat down at my table, watching the door for Jack and his girlfriend so I could wave at them. Since Jack is a freshman and I'm a senior, this was the only class I was able to have with him. Both Jack and his girlfriend sit right across from me.

Jack and his girlfriend walk in together, holding hands and laughing. I wave to them and Jack waved back. His girlfriend smiled at me while they took their seats.