Scene One (5SOS & R5)

Chapter Three - Liv

Liv's POV

Luke sits quietly as he watches Mikey and I play an intense round of Zombies. "What?! Why isn't it dying?!" Michael shouts loudly, causing Luke to jump.

"I don't know, why don't you actually use your gun rather than knife the damn thing?" I ask as I shoot the head off a zombie.

"Tati is so weird," Luke speaks up. "She looks really preppy. Ross was babbling about how intelligent she was and--is that my shirt?"

Mike pauses the game and I look down at my shirt. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I took it. I liked it."

"It looks cute on her," Ashton chirps as he walks into the room and plops in a purple bean bag chair.

"The new girl is weird." Calum sips his tea. "And she called me Asian."

"Sorry to hear about it, Cal," I empathize with him.

"Liv would know; people call her hair purple sometimes," Mikey snickers. I punch his right arm and he gives me a frown.

"I've gotta take a shower." Ashton stands up and Michael does the same. "Michael, if you're going to race me, I will beat you."

The two of them sprint away. Michael in first place, and Ashton as the loser.

Luke stretches and stands up. His flannel shirt is long enough to cover up his stomach when he stretched. "I promised Cal that we'd do a cover together. We're singing Mean by T-swizzle."

I cross my braceleted arms. "Are you guys taking the piano or guitar?"

"I'll play piano and Luke's playing guitar." Calum stands up as well. He's wearing a plain white shirt and skinny jeans. "Sorry to ditch you, Liv."

"I'm heading to the kitchen, anyway." I shrug them off and make my way to the kitchen.

I end up spending most of my time making brownies. Ross comes in with a glum look on his face. I lean against the island and smile at him. "What's up, Ross?"

"What's up is Tatianna," Ross responds sadly. His tone makes me sad, but the topic of our conversation angers me.

"She's kind of a," I pause to find the right word, "not smart person..."

"That's the problem! Before, she was really smart and didn't speak like that, but then she just...stupid! It's like she's clueless!" he exclaims, throwing his hands up in the air. His black shirt matches his black jeans. Sorry, just thought I had to point that out.

"Is she like...a year younger?" I ask him.

"Yes, and she graduated," Ross tells me. "She graduated early."

"How?" I look out the window and ask him. "How can you be so unintelligent and graduate at her age?"

"She's smart, I swear!" He begins rubbing his temples violently.

I make my way over and rub his back.  "Honestly, I think you're over thinking it."

He shakes his head. "I thought she was different."

"Ross, do you like her?" I imply, sounding almost amused by his petty crush on Miss Ratliff.

"I thought I did." He shakes his head. "She's so gorgeous and smart. She's got common sense and loves everyone. What happened, man?"

Just then, Tatianna skips into the kitchen. "You're making ice cream?!" she squeals and runs over to the counter, where a box of ice cream cones were set. She takes one, opens the oven, scoops the brownies with her bare hands, and puts it into the cone. After that, she walks away, eating her brownie-filled ice cream cone.

"Common sense?" I ask Ross, obviously stunned by what had just happened. "Dude, she stuck her hand in my brownies."

"Why does this stuff happen to me and not you? You met your friends on the internet! I met mine in real life before living with them!" Ross whisper-shouts. I flinch and shake my head.

"Well, they're YouTubers and we've hung out several times before actually living together," I answer. "It's not like you'll be living with that thing."

"Maybe you're right," he says. "Are you gonna eat those brownies?" He points to the oven.

I shake my head. Tati's stupid might be contagious and I'm not risking it.

"Take it," I tell him. "Anyway, I'm going to go sing meet with Ashton or Mikey. One of the two have to be doing absolutely nothing."

Ross flashes a smile and heads over to the oven. I leave the room and hear Ashton's Australian accent from the hallway. I follow the noise and find him making a video, probably for Instagram.

"Hey, guys! Guess who just made her way here!" He holds his phone camera to me and I wave. "It's Livia! Isn't she the cutest?"

"Ash, that's sweet. You're a doll." I playfully nudge him and he grins.

"She's wearing Luke's shirt. How much do you want to bet that she'll steal Cal's flannel tomorrow?"

"I warned him ahead of time," I tell him.

"Anyway, Liv and I are going to make a cover soon and we want suggestions!" he updates the people who would be watching once he posts the video. "Bye! Say bye, Livia!"

"Bye!" I wave and he stops recording. "Ash, where's Mikey?"

"He's actually taking a shower," he answers with his dimpled smile.

Luke walks into the hallway with a camera in his hand, facing himself. "So today, we got a new recruit. Her name's Tati and she is really cool."

"Hard to believe," I interrupt the vlog, knowing the Luke would edit that out.

"Liv doesn't see a need in another recruit," Calum speaks for Luke to the camera. "She said that R5 was enough."

"Tati is only visiting," I state to the camera. "She's no recruit."

"What?" The infamous Tatianna walks into the hallway with her brownie cone. "I heard my name."

"This is Tati," Luke introduces the camera to her.

"Why is Lucifer talking to a microwave?" she asks, pointing to Luke and his camera.

Ashton begins choking on his own spit and Calum turns away to bite back a laugh. I smile and say, "He's a confused boy."

"Oh. Hi, microwave people!" She waves excitedly to the camera. Someone was giving this girl too much drugs. "I guess I'll get going! Ross is calling me!" Tati runs off and that's when Calum loses it.

She was getting herself into so much...

"The fans want either If These Sheets Were the States by All Time Low or Cinema by Benny Benassi and Gary Go," Ashton reads off of his phone.

"ATL!" chants Luke.

"I like All Time Low and all, but Cinema really suits your voices," Calum says after Luke quotes down. "Your voices combined to do the chorus thing would be great."

"Cinema it is." Ashton grins and high fives me. "This is for my channel. Livia can choke what she wants for hers."

"You know what?" I let a smirk appear on my face. "Let's let Tati choose. Then, we'll learn all the notes."