Somewhere in Neverland (An All Time Low Fan Fic)

2) When In Baltimore

Music had always played a large role in mine and Noelle's lives; in fact, it seemed as if notes and keys were added into the daily supplement of nutrients we needed to keep our bodies running. We needed the intake of music to power through just a fraction of the day; it seemed, at some points, we couldn't survive without it.

It began as young, innocent children. Such obsessions as The Jonas Brothers and Jesse McCartney rambled through our brains and sent ripples through our hearts. We'd be married by that Spring Break in Baltimore, if our lives had played our exactly how our elementary dreams portrayed them.

But middle school was waiting in the shadows, just stalking us, suffering to rear its ugly head, and it did. Noelle and I would occasionally look back at middle school, glance down the lane to watch the deep depression middle school put us through, the wrong choices we had made: so, so many in just three short years.

It seemed our choices in music always reflected exactly what court our lives were playing in at the time. For middle school, Noelle and I seemed to drift apart, going down separate places too horrifying to even call roads. They were more of trenches.

Noelle turned to rap music. She decided drinking made everything better, and where better to find both: parties. Parties no seventh grader should attend, mind you. Noelle did, however, and her strive to feel nothing caused her pain, so much pain. She needed something fast, something unstable and blow-up worthy to sink her head into.

I decided smoking eased my pain; a disgustingly filthy habit in which I was quickly over. Smoking, and death. Death music, that is. Things such as Mega Death and Disturbed, which did just those two things to my emotional being. I was dead and disturbed. I felt numb, whenever I tried to do anything but want someone else screaming at the top of their lungs, crying out for gruesome, devilish things.

High school's coming was a blessing. It turned Noelle and I into the people we were, the people we needed to be. We came to terms with middle school, but quickly boxed it up, tape and superglue, and shoved it under our beds. High school was a turning point, like so many other points in life.

"You guys sure about this? I don't want anything to happen, or Mrs. Shana would kill me." Mason said from behind the wheel of my mother's Jeep. She had lent it to us for the day, knowing we were craving an adventure in Baltimore. My stepdad picked her and my siblings up early, depositing the keys and some cash in our hands, and told us to have a blast, and be safe.

"Macy Facy," I said, using a nickname Mason had given me to call him. I was thirteen, and he had just received a new cell phone number, and programmed that as his contact name, for me and only me to call him from that point on. "We're fine. We've got phones-"

"911 on speed dial-" Noelle butt in.

"And superbly amazing ninja fighting techniques." I grinned as he glanced over at me between eye rolls. Noelle laughed loudly from the back seat, and then quickly snatched the door handle as Mason rolled the Jeep to a stop before the park in Baltimore.

It was shrouded in clouds, but the grass was clean cut and vacant: perfect for a blanket. A large pond gauged a deep, watery bowl into the middle and as we peered out, a flock of ducks extended their wings and launched themselves into the air from the water, droplets like diamonds spritzing from their bodies as they rose.

"Where are you off to?" I asked Mason as he rolled the passenger window from its stopping point. Noelle made her way to the back, retrieving the bags we'd packed for this afternoon.

"The music store. I haven't gotten Green Day's third new album yet, and I've been meaning to pick it up." Mason said as Noelle joined my peering through the open frame while the Jeep idled, Mason looking as if he couldn't wait any longer.