thunder -- michael clifford

chapter nineteen

>> nineteen.

"Jessica Kaufman?"

"Here."

"Brandon Laurence?"

"Here."

"Taylor Lusk?"

"Here." 

"Alexandra Maison?"

"Here."

"Austin McAdams?"

"Here."

"Lia McAllister?"

"Oh, uh, here."

I'd been in school now for nearly a month, but I still stuttered during roll call.

"Harry McBride?"

"Here."

"Rachel Meadows?"

"Here."

"Quentin Murphy?"

"Here."

"Okay," my homeroom teacher, Ms. O'Sullivan, began, "seems like everyone's here, and that's good enough for me." She sat back down in her seat without another word.

We only had homeroom one day a week, on Fridays. I had four classes a day, with my AP literature and government classes being an A/B scheduling sort of thing, meaning I alternated days for that class. Along with that, I had psychology, art, and a creative writing course. Next semester, I was scheduled to have physics, AP calculus BC, Spanish 4, and then a music class. 

Even though I'd been here for nearly a month, it was still a hard routine to get used to for me, especially without Beau or Sophie. I'd made a few friends, but no one significant enough to really care about. Oliver and I had gotten closer in the past few weeks. We were around each other all the time, when I wasn't in school. I was honestly starting to develop a little crush on him. But I didn't say anything; I knew he didn't feel the same.

As for Michael, I had slowly begun to think less of him. I'd written him letters everyday, but they became less of 'I miss you and love you' and turned more into 'How are you?' which was good. Even though he'd never read them. 

The poems he'd inspired had impressed my creative writing teacher, Mr. Grey. So, one good thing came out of those. 

I'd almost started to feel grateful that he left the way he did, because it gave me a chance to really help myself, something I needed to learn to do. I'd always been so dependent on my brother, but with him and Michael both gone, I'd found out how to become more independent. 

"Hey, uh, Lia?" The girl to my left, Alexandra, began, slightly startling me.

"Hm?"

"Do you wanna sit with me and Quentin at lunch or something today? I mean, I know you're new and all, and I was new, like, last year, so I was wondering if you wanted to." She smiled.

I thought for a minute. "Uh, yeah. That'd be great."

"Awesome. We'll see you then!"

***

My first two classes, the writing class and AP lit, went by quickly. The lunch bell rang, and I made my way down to the commons to find Alexandra and Quentin. I noticed them waiting against a doorway with a few others. They saw me and waved.

"Hey, there you are!" Alexandra smiled brightly.

"Yeah, uh, here I am."

"Oh, here, let me introduce you. This, of course is Quentin, and then that's Ella, then Gabriel, Connor, Brady, and Violet. Guys, this is Lia. She's in mine and Quentin's homeroom."

Each of them shot me a wave, which I returned.

"So, uh, let's get something to eat then we can kinda get to know each other or something." Quentin suggested. We all agreed and followed him through the lines to get our food. Once we had our lunches, we found a table off to the side of the commons.

"So, Lia," began the girl named Ella, "where did you move from?"

"Um, Indianapolis. My twin brother and I moved in with my sister so we could find better opportunities for jobs and stuff."

"Oooooh. You have a brother? Does he go here?" asked Brady.

I took a drink of my water. "He was supposed to, but, uh, well.. My sister owns this recording studio, right? And some band recorded there over the summer, and we all became really close friends. Then, they got big, like, overnight, and they hired Beau to be a guitar tech or whatever. So, no. It's just me."

"What band was it?!" Violet said excitedly.

"This band called 5 Seconds of Summer."

Alexandra and Ella both nearly choked. "No shit?!" Ella exclaimed.

I giggled. "No shit."

"That's so cool. So like, you guys were friends or whatever?" Alexandra said.

"Yeah, and uh, me and the guitarist were kind of a thing.." I trailed off. "But not anymore. They're touring now, so.."

"Fuck. That's awesome." Ella grinned. 

I looked around for a second before Connor started speaking. "Wait, so Lia, you said you came here for job stuff. What is it exactly that you wanna do?"

"Oh, I'm gonna be a tattoo artist, actually. Uh, I apprentice at this shop called Art & Soul now, which is rad. It was a dream to land that."

"Really?" Gabriel asked. 

"Yeah. It's really cool."

"You'll have to tattoo me or something! Well, once you can, and once I turn 18." Violet giggled.

"Totally. That'd be really great!"

Quentin chuckled from the other side of Alexandra, who was sitting next to me. "Where have you been all of our lives, Lia? You, like, complete us as a group."

I laughed. "I'm asking myself the same about you guys. I was really worried I wouldn't make any friends, because, well, I'm not the most social without my brother."

"You're fine. Great, actually." Connor insisted.

I felt myself blushing. Of course. "Well, thanks, you guys."

We continued with small talk and getting to know each other as we finished our lunches. Eventually, the class bell rang, so I stood up and began to head off to my next class, art before Violet stopped me by setting a hand on my arm. 

"Hey, uh, do you wanna hang out or something tomorrow? It probably sounds weird, but I'm not really close to anyone in the group, but you seem cool or whatever."

I nodded and smiled. "Sure, that'd be great. Um, I have to be at the shop until 4, so you can meet me there or something, if you want."

She grinned. "Totally. That sounds awesome. I'll see you later, Lia."

"Bye, Vi."

I turned on my heel and headed off in the direction of my locker. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the time, but a text caught my eye instead.

From: Oliver

This is really weird to do through text I'm sorry. But anyway, I'll pick you up tonight and bring you down to the shop. I was wondering if you'd go out with me after we leave? Like, a, uh.. Date or whatever. If you don't want, that's fine. But, yeah. Um, just call me when you get a chance? 

I felt my heart skip. Hm.. Today was turning out to be better than I ever expected.