Beautiful Chaos (jake x johnnie)

nine

"Hello everyone and welcome to Round Two of Gardener College's Battle of the Bands competition." Adam Samuel's voice carried through the theater. Johnnie and Jake sat in the audience, and Johnnie went over the lyrics of the song they prepared in his head. Johnnie still couldn't process how fast round two had hit them. But he had a lot more confidence that time around in comparison to the first round.

"I'm fighting a feeling I can't escape from. I run from it, I crave it. You don't want me, I want you. My love, my love is buried, my love is banned. It's a Love War, my heart is sore. I crave more. It's a Love War, my desires hit the floor." The lyrics of "Love War" ran through Johnnie's mind. He'd written the song one night when he couldn't sleep and showed it to Jake the next morning, wondering if they could sing it for the second round. Johnnie had lied to him, saying he'd written the song a long time ago. When in reality he was venting his feelings for Jake on paper but eventually found a decent melody to go along with it.

Johnnie knew he should've found a different song for them to work on—but he couldn't let go of that one. He wanted to sing it and he wanted Jake to hear it.

Johnnie glanced around the theater and noticed that Ben and Graham hadn't shown up yet. He was somewhat relieved but also worried. They had eased up their bullying ever since the last round, maybe because Johnnie had made more friends since then. But Johnnie knew people like them were persistent, they wouldn't let go of their hatred so easily.

"Are you looking for someone?" Jake asked him curiously.

Johnnie smiled and shook his head. "No, it's okay."

"Jake, Johnnie!" Johnnie heard Rosalia's voice down the aisle then. He glanced at her as she made her way towards them.

"Hey Rose," Johnnie gave her a small smile, "you're not running the event today?"

"Nah, I took a day off because I wanted to see you guys perform since your last performance was literally amazing," Rose winked at him.

"Thanks for supporting us," Jake gave her a fist bump.

"No problem," Rose looked around then, "I dragged my friend along with me but I think I lost her." Her eyes locked onto a pretty girl with long black hair standing a few rows back. "Aria, over here!"

"That's your friend?" Jake's eyes followed her figure closely as she walked over to them. Johnnie tried to ignore his intrigued gaze, but it was difficult.

"Yeah," Rose nodded, "are you interested? She's painfully single."

Aria sat down beside Rose. "There you are, geez, thanks for ditching me."

"Sorry, you're too slow sometimes," Rose gestured at them, "these are my friends Jake and Johnnie, they're performing today."

Aria leaned forward and shook both of their hands. Jake held onto her hand a bit longer and held eye contact with her. "Nice to meet you both," she smiled at them.

"Nice to meet you too," Johnnie swallowed the lump in his throat and stood up. "Um...I have to use the washroom quickly. I'll be back soon." He moved past Jake who's eyes were on him. Johnnie didn't look at him and kept walking, the sound of the ballad playing on stage followed him out as he left.

Johnnie stood in the washroom a couple minutes later, running ice cold water over his hands until they were numb. He started laughing then, wondering if he was an idiot. He shook his head quickly and gave himself a light slap on the cheek. That wasn't the time to get distracted by jealousy—he had to focus on getting to the next round.

He turned off the tap and turned to leave but his heart plummeted at the scene before him. Graham and Ben stood by the entrance, ominous expressions sat on their faces. He knew it, he knew they were planning something. Johnnie bit his lip and tried to walk past them but Graham grabbed his shirt, pushing him backwards.