The Music Freaks: Alone

Chapter 1 ~ An Old Friend

It had been a few months since the incident. Jake punching Drew, leaving the club and breaking up with Hailey. A few months without friends, it wasn't nice. Even Sparkz, who was like his number 1 fan, gave up on him. It reminded him of Middle School and when the club kicked him out because of the audio. But at least in those two situations, he had Daisy every now and then to help. She certainly wasn't going to talk to him anymore. Every time Jake saw her and see looked back, she'd instantly look away and walk away. But, Jake couldn't blame her. In her mind, Jake turned out to be an asshole, hell, Jake even felt like one. But at this point, he didn't care. He'd gotten use to the feeling of being alone again. At least he still had his mom, dad, Milo, Oreo and some people he was able to talk to online who didn't know who he was, but it didn't feel like real friends, at least not how the club felt...never mind, life fucking sucked. Well, maybe not sucked. Jake had actually met a new friend, he had gotten a job at a coffee shop(which was actually the one where he organised Luke and Zander's first date) and he made a friend with a coworker, called Ashley, who thankfully was nice to him. So, at least after school and before he had to go home, he had someone he could always talk to. Jake had actually seen Zander and Luke near the coffee shop, clearly wanting to go there again since they liked the first time, but they saw Jake working there and he hadn't seen them anyway near there again. He'd asked Ashley if they ever came over while he wasn't working, but she told him that she hadn't seen them. There was only one person Jake had actually interacted with in the past few months that wasn't Ashley or his family, it was Lia. He saw Lia in the hallway at school, and she looked at him with a look that clearly expressed that she knew everything that happened. It was even worse since Lia apologised to Hailey after the competition, and they were on better terms. But Lia did say hi to him, asking him how he'd been. But after Jake responded, Lia nodded and then just walked away. But hell, it was an interaction!

Jake was at the coffee shop(it being a Monday), chilling behind the counter since no one was really in the shop at the moment. School had been the usual, he avoided everyone, ate lunch in the cafeteria but then spent the rest on the roof, and then immediately went to the coffee shop after school. Once he arrived, he put his uniform on and waited for any customers to come in. When he heard the door open, he looked up and saw Ashley walking in. "Hey, Ash." Jake said, smiling at her. "Hey, Jake." Ashley responded, smiling back as she walked behind the counter as well to put her uniform on too. "How's your day been?" Jake asked. "It's been good. Yours?" Ashley asked, walking up to Jake, now in uniform. "It's been alright." Jake responded. Before they could talk more, some customers began walking in, so they had to start, well, doing their job. While they were at work, Jake looked up at the next customer in front of him, and they looked extremely familiar. To be honest, Jake thought it was Thomas the first time he saw him. But Jake quickly realised it wasn't, and he remembered that he had seen this person on social media recently. It was then Jake realised who this was. It was Max! "...holy shit...Max!" Jake said, Max chuckling. "Sup, Jakey. Been a while." Max said. "It has. What was the last time we met, like Middle School?" Jake said, Max nodding. "Yeah, I think so." Max spoke. Jake then took Max's order, clocking out and walking over to a booth to sit down with Max because he wanted to speak to him more.

"So, Jake. I saw you perform at that competition a few months ago." Max said, Jake being surprised. "You were there?!" Jake asked. "Mhm. Was gonna perform, but a member of my band freaked out and didn't wanna go on." Max explained to Jake. "You have a band?" Jake asked. "Yup. You remember Damien and Jaime?" Max asked, Jake nodding. He wasn't friends with Damien or Jaime, but he remembered seeing them every now and then when he was with Max. Back in Middle School, he wasn't that much of a friend to Max, considering Jake spent most of his time alone or with Daisy. But every now and again, he would hang out with Max, who he did find cool. "You did good, Jake. You and that club you found, I'm glad you were able to find some friends to do music with." Max told Jake. "...y-yeah." Jake responded, looking away, being reminded of how him and the club were no longer friends. "Jake, you good?" Max asked, seeing that he looked sad. Jake instantly looked back up at Max, nodding, putting a smile on. "Yeah, man, I'm good." Jake said. "Well, I got places to be. You still got the same number?" Max asked. "Yeah." Jake replied. "Cool, I'll message you later. We should hang out sometime, maybe introduce me to your club, I'd like to meet them." Max said, smiling as he got up, Jake not having the guts to tell Max that the club left him. "Of course, it was nice seeing you again." Jake told Max, getting up as well, sharing the smile back.

Max then left the coffee shop, waving at Jake as he did so. "Who was that?" Ash asked. "Oh, just an old friend. Cya tomorrow, Ash." Jake responded as he walked out. "Cya Jake!" Ashley called out as Jake left. While he was walking down the street, he pulled his phone out and scrolled through his pictures of him and the club, looking at the competition pictures that he wasn't in...then he scrolled through Hailey, Zander, Luke, Milly and Sean's dm's, despite the fact they blocked him, he still liked to look at them every now and again. Jake then looked at Drew's dm's, knowing he blocked him too. But there were three people who didn't block him: Henry, Liam and Daisy. He looked through their dm's, thinking of messaging them. But Daisy thought he was an asshole, and he told Henry and Liam to not talk to him ever again. Jake sighed, putting his phone away. After a few minutes, he arrived at his house. Once he went in, Jake went straight to his room, seeing Milo on his bed with Oreo. "Get out." Jake said, walking in and putting his bag down. "C'monnn, Oreo only spends time in your room, I just want to spend some time with him!" Milo said, petting Oreo. "Just take him and go to your room." Jake told Milo, sitting down on his bed and sighing as Milo gently dragged Oreo off of Jake's bed. "Are you alright? You've seemed a bit...off the past few weeks...or months." Milo asked. "Yeah, Milo, I'm fine." Jake responded, putting on a fake smile to Milo to reassure him.

Milo nodded, sharing the smile back as he kept gently dragging Oreo out of Jake's room, which was hard because Oreo was a big dog, and seemed to love Jake's room more than anything else. Once Milo had left, Jake closed his door, laying down in bed and groaning, he hadn't been getting much sleep as of recent and spent most days almost falling asleep and being tired as hell. Plus, even when he did fall asleep, he had nightmares most of the time. So, Jake was about to fall asleep, being woken up when he felt his phone buzz, hoping it was a member of the club, a member of the Jomies, or Daisy! But, when he grabbed his phone, he saw it was just Max messaging him. Jake sighed, but he was glad to have someone messaging him for once.

Max:
Yo, Jake! I'll visit you at that coffee shop your working out after school tomorrow if that's alright.

Jake:
Yeah, man, that would be nice. It was cool talking to you today.

Max:
Of course! I missed you, Jake.

Jake smiled at looking at this.

Jake:
Same, Max.

Max:
Hey, I'll bring Damien and Jaime along too! If that's okay, of course

Jake:
Yeah, that's cool. Do they remember me?

Max:
Of course they do, they watched you perform

Jake:
Oh, yeah. Well, I haven't seen them since Middle School either, so, yeah, that would be cool to see them again

Max:
Alright! They'll come with me tomorrow. See ya, Jakey

Jake then put his phone down, thinking. This was good, he could become friends with Damien and Jaime, along with Max again, and then at least he'll have some friends. Hell, he could even join their band and be a member of a band again! That would be nice. But what would the club feel if they knew? A few months after he leaves their club and leaves them all, he just joins another band and forgets about them...maybe it wouldn't be that good after all. Well, he didn't have to worry about that until tomorrow. So, Jake closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep, having a smile on his face which was rare nowadays. Well, him being in a good mood was rare nowadays.