Social Norms (Synacky)

Chapter Thirty-Three

“You know what, like four songs on this album really suck balls.”

It was Justin who said this, eyes scanning over the list of songs they had for the album. “I think we should scrap Senseless, Thick and Thin, When We Wake, and Breaking Their Hold. I think we could do better than these.”

“I don’t think any of them are bad.” Jimmy argued defensively. “Thick and Thin is one of the best songs on the whole album.”

“Look, we can only put the best of the best on this album. You wanna be successful? You gotta realize when some of your stuff is shit and that you can do better than that. And we can do better than this. You can, Jimmy, and we all know it.”

Jimmy stood up from behind his kit, “We’re almost fucking done with this album. I’m not about to scrap some songs and put us back where we were a month ago.”

It was Brian’s first practice as part of the band. What a way to kick things off.

“Okay, let’s have a vote.” Justin said, “I can’t be the only one who thinks those songs are shit. This isn’t just your band, Sullivan.”

“I never fucking said it was.” Jimmy glared daggers at Justin, who sized him up, cracking his knuckles.

“I actually agree with Jimmy.” Zacky put in, sucking his lip in between his teeth as he looked between the two. “We’ve worked hard on those songs.”

“Look,” Matt put a hand on Justin’s shoulder, who looked like he was ready to punch Jimmy in the face, “let’s not go bashing anyone’s face in. I think we should keep all these songs, but also write some more to add on. Then we can look at the whole list when we get to, say, fifteen, and take off the ones that aren’t the very best.”

Jimmy groaned, “We’ve got ten songs now! I don’t want to have to dig for the inspiration to come up with five fucking more!”

“We’ll help you, Jimmy. Besides, we’ve got Brian now, so the writing process should take a lot faster. Well, for the guitar part, at least.” Matt replied, “I’ll recycle a song from Successful Failures, one of them might be good enough to go on the album.”

Brian was also kinda regretting joining the band. He liked when he got to just sit in the back with Zacky and they could work on tabs together, talk quietly about date ideas or their favorite artists.

He looked at Zacky, who blushed slightly and smiled at him. “If you guys start working on the lyrics, Zacky and I can start revising the chord progression for Breaking Their Hold.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I like that song, and I think it deserves to stay.” Zacky added, “We’ll make it a little more complex.”

“Yeah, let the faggots go to their love corner and work on some riffs.” Justin, grumbled under his breath, “Gay ass fuckers.”

What?

“Excuse me?” Brian asked, stepping toward Justin. “You got something to say to me?”

“Yeah, I do. That song fucking blows, like I bet you blew Zacky last night.” Justin snarled, “I’d expect the queers to go along with the shit song we’ve put down. Leaves more time for you to fuck.”

Brian was stunned. He felt his fingers curl into fists, and before he could stop himself, he socked Justin in the face. It took Justin by surprise, and he staggered back, hand rubbing his sore jaw, before launching himself at Brian.

Brian had been in a fair share of fights before. Most of them, he’d won. But those had been with kids his age, and Justin was bigger and stronger than him. But that didn’t stop him from trying.

He saw Jimmy jump up out of the corner of his eye to help him try to pummel Justin, and felt Zacky tug on his arm hard, shouting, “Brian, no! Stop!”

He managed to punch Justin in the mouth, splitting his lip, but Justin landed a blow right over his eye, causing his vision to dot with stars. “I’ll fucking tear you to pieces, Haner!” Justin shouted.

“BREAK THE FUCK UP RIGHT NOW!” Matt roared suddenly, wriggling his way in between the guys and forcing Justin and Brian apart. “That’s enough!”

Brian breathed heavily through his nose, glaring at Justin. But he didn’t fight. He and Jimmy knew Matt, and they knew what sort of damage the guy could inflict.

Justin apparently didn’t, though. “Go to hell, Haner.” He snapped, attempting to lunge around Matt, but Matt grabbed his arm and slammed him to the ground, hard.

“I said that’s enough, Justin.” He hissed, “You better fucking watch yourself.”

Justin scrambled to his feet, spitting blood to the ground and wiping the back of his hand over his split lip.

Brian glanced at Jimmy, to see blood running from his nose.

“You uh, you better go get a towel or something.” Matt instructed, and Jimmy obeyed without a word.

The tension in the air was so thick, it could have been sliced with a butter knife. Everyone was catching their breaths, and Matt said, “Why don’t you go home, Justin.”

“No! He fucking started it! He hit me first!”

“That wasn’t a question. It was a demand. I don’t give a shit who started it. Go home. Come back tomorrow.”

Justin glowered at them, flipping Brian off before stalking to his car. “I didn’t know I was joining a band of cocksuckers!” he shouted at them, before tearing off down the street.

Matt waited until Justin’s car was out of sight, before turning to Brian. “What the hell, man?” he asked, “Where the fuck did that come from?”

“I didn’t like the way he talked about us.” He replied shortly. “He was being a dick.”

“Yeah, but that didn’t mean you had to attack him.” Matt shook his head. “Whatever, go work on those riffs.”

Brian slunk to the back of the room, and Zacky trailed behind him. They were just going over what they had so far, when Jimmy approached them, towel pressed against his face.

“So you guys are a thig, huh?” he asked, not meanly or harshly. His n’s didn’t sound because of his messed up nose. Zacky just shrugged, avoiding Jimmy’s eyes, and Brian nodded.

“I dew it.” He patted Brian on the shoulder with his free hand, before going to sit with Matt by his kit.

The pair worked in silence for a while, before Brian spoke up, “So, the guys know.”

“Yeah.” Zacky replied, eyes focused on the tabs before him.

“Look, Zacky, I’m sorry-“

“I don’t want to hear it, Brian. Now if I’m kicked out of the band, it’ll be your fault. And it’ll probably happen, with the way you hit Justin. Why the fuck did you even have to do that?”

Brian hesitated, trying to come up with a response, but shrugged. “I dunno.” He muttered weakly.

“I gotta cool down. I’m mad at you, Brian.” Zacky stood up, putting his guitar in his case. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Brian frowned, watching Zacky zip up the case and turned to go. He paused, pressing his lips to Brian’s forehead, then he was waving to Matt and Jimmy and heading down the road.

Brian just watched him, kneading his temples, willing his headache to go away.