Second Chances

Chapter Four

"Hey noob!" was the first thing I heard as I entered the wooden cabin. I was at the base of a spiral staircase that led up to the second floor.

I looked up to see a tall, weedy kid with an electric guitar slung over his shoulder. His hair was dark brown and fairly long, down to his shoulders. He had a snaky smile and lazy baby blue eyes.

"Noob," I muttered under my breath. How rude, especially for a first impression.

As the kid got to the base of the staircase, I realized how tall he really was. He was about a head taller than me, and I had to be 5'11" at least.

He smacked my arm playfully and I forced a smile. This wasn't how I would have treated a newcomer, but I supposed not only were these people boys but druggies as well.

"Hello," I said politely, holding out my hand. "My name's... uh, Chance. What's yours?"

He looked at my open hand like I was an alien. "God, don't be so stiff bro!" He threw his head back and laughed. "My name's Trevor! I suppose you already met Axel, your new roommate."

"Oh my, he's my roommate?" I grumbled. "This will be an interesting stay."

He looked at me once again like I was speaking a foreign language. "Don't be so upset, man! He's a real cool guy when you get to know him. He just doesn't take to kindly to strangers," Trevor shrugged. "You want me to give you a tour of the cabin?"

I paused. Maybe Trevor wasn't so bad, after all, he was just trying to be friendly. I smiled, for real this time. "Sure, that would be nice, thank you."

Trevor laughed at my wording. "Alright dude, follow me."

He led me down the hall and into a common room with a kitchen. "This is the kitchen, as you can probably tell."

It was complete and utter chaos. There were pizza boxes and soda cans and empty bags of chips scattered throughout the room. Do they own a trash can?

"It looks...nice," I commented.

Trevor burst into laughter. "Don't lie to me dude. It's a pig sty, I know. We clean it about once a month, but Finn and Dumpster are disgusting."

"Dumpster?" I snorted, raising an eyebrow. "What sort of a name is that?"

"It's a nickname, exactly as it sounds. That dude is a walking dumpster," Trevor laughed. "There's something wrong with him, I swear."

"Rachel said that there were six people in this cabin not including Rocky," I noted. "Who's the other, um, dude?"

Trevor looked at me funny. "Yeah, don't even try to be cool," he laughed. I paused. That stung a little. "The other dude's name is Conrad. He's a huge nerd, but we love 'em. He's like our little geek. He's the only one who ever bothers to clean the house. If you ask him to do something for you, he'll do it without question." Trevor laughed. "We're tryin' to get him to grow a little backbone by bossing him around."

I frowned. That sounded awful! They picked on this poor kid? "Uh, okay."

Trevor studied my face. "You don't seem crazy about the idea of that." His smile lightened up his whole face. "Don't worry, he's a bro."

"Alright," I sighed. At least they gave him a little credit.

Trevor led me down the hall and then turned around at a door, giving me a giant smile. "You're gonna like this room. You're a singer, right?"

I paused, nodding. "How did you know that?"

"Rocky told me we were getting a new edition to the band. Well, welcome to the practice room!"

With a dramatic flourish, Trevor opened the door and beckoned me inside.

I gaped in awe--this room was amazing! The neon colored walls were liked with posters of famous musicians and old records. There were two mini fridges in the corner, along with a few coffee tables. There were bean bag chairs scattered throughout the room, and in the center on a purple shag carpet, there was a drum set, keyboard, three amps, and a microphone.

"Dude!" I exclaimed, trying to make myself sound as cool as possible. In all honesty, I almost squealed and tackled him to the ground. This room was so fantastic!

"Conrad handles the production and electronic shit, Dumpster's on the keybaord, Axel plays the drums, Finn plays the bass and I play guitar. Rocky was our makeshift singer, but in all honesty, he sucks ass." Trevor's smile infected me. "Guess where that leaves you?"

I grinned from ear to ear. "This is the coolest room I've ever seen!"

Trevor laughed. "Definitely. Did anyone tell you about the Music Festival?"

I frowned. "No, no one mentioned it. What's the Music Festival?"

"Well first I've gotta explain special event days. We have four special event days, Music Festival, Art Gallery, Theater Performance, and Martial Arts Tournament. It's where all the different colors compete against each other for prizes. This semester, I'm lookin' to win the Music Festival," Trevor gave me a mischeivious grin. "All the cabins have bands, and I think we've got the winnin' team."

"Do you rehearse regularly?" I asked cautiously. Knowing how piggish these boys were, I somehow doubted it.

Trevor rolled his eyes. "If there's anything we care about, man, it's music. We rehearse almost every day, or whenever we're bored." He shrugged. "I thought you'd like this. The rooms are upstairs, I'll take you to Axel's and then we can head to dinner, okay?"

I nodded. As he led me up the stairs, a question popped into my head. "This place is awesome and all, and I don't wanna question it, but how exactly does this "rehabilitate" us?"

Trevor looked at me wide-eyed. "It shows us our passion, y'know? That there's something out there for us. To live for. To fight for. And drugs? They'll just mess that up--get in our way. I want nothing more than to be an accomplished guitarist."

I thought about my situtation. "But what if you've already gotten there?"

Trevor looked at me funny. "What, don't tell me you're a famous singer with a multiplatinum album?"

My heart just about fell through my ass. Holy hell, he knows! was all my mind could think of.

Trevor's serious face melted into a playful one and he slapped me on the back, causing me to stumble forward. "Just kidding, bro! If you were there, why'd you do drugs? You Lindsey Lohan or something?"

I laughed. "Haha, sorry, that was sort of a ridiculous notion."

"No prob, bro," he laughed opening the door to my new room. "And here we are!"

Axel was sitting on a single bed across from a duplicate single bed. He looked up at us, his eyes shielded with sunglasses. "Well hello, pretty boy," he sneered. "Looks like we're sharing a room big-shot. I'm sure it'll be fun."

I shivered. Something about the way he said "fun" made me think he meant quite the opposite.