Bus Rides.

Two & One Fourth.

Jason and I stayed up the entire morning, watching little Ayumi. I watched him sing Italian lullabies to him as he drifted off into his own little world. He set Ayumi down on my pillow and watched him sink in.

"I'm prouder than I should be. I feel like a father. We need to find the real one and harass it for child support."

"Oh, shut up. Shino could've had sex with any dog, there are hundreds, especially in this neighborhood." This was true. Everybody in this area had dogs, and they always let them out at night, knowing they'd come back. One could've easily gotten the hots for Zake and boned her.

"Shut the fuck up, you're making my dog sound like a hoe." He laughed and stroked my face. "You're really pretty."

"And you're high off the smell of being a parent." I smirked and moved his hand. "So what are we gonna do this summer? We didn't do shit last year." This was also true. Jason and I literally did nothing but play video games and watch animes. While that was fun, it was a very unproductive summer.

"Well... I was thinking of going to band camp."

I chuckled. "No, seriously." He was seriously.

"I am seriously." See. "Look, just read the pamphlet and see for yourself."

I sighed and took it from him. It looked professional, so I guess that made it trustworthy.

"Camp Arpeggio: The Best Summer If Your Life Only Happens Here."

Then it went on to include some of the activities and stuff.

"Only at Camp Arpeggio will your child get the opportunity to be signed to Fearless Records and become the next new rock stars. This is our first year being open, and we want your child(s) to be the first potentials to have this experience. Each week, one "band" will be kicked off, and returned to you with a swag bag and with your partial refund. If you are interested, please send an application(s) by 1 weeks time after receiving this invitation. Thank you."

That was all. That was all I needed. I just needed to see "Fearless Records" and that was it.

Our favorite band is Pierce The Veil and they're signed to Fearless Records. He must've pissed his pants when he saw this. If we got signed, we'd be able to tour with them.

"Dude, ohmahgawd we have to go."

"I know. Yo, it's free to, you see they said invitation. That means they want us to come. They must've seen our Youtube video."

Flashback to about 4 months ago when Jason and I used our schools music room to record an original song he wrote entitled "Her Choice, My Voice." He wrote this on a plane to Europe about a boy named Kai who had to make the decision to take his brain-dead girlfriend off life support or to keep her alive. In the end, Kai hears her voice softly telling him she doesn't want to live her life with no purpose and some sad shit, so he did it. I'm good at bass, we had his cousin do drums, and Jason did the vocals. He's a screamer. I fucking love it. He's really great at it.

"So... All you have to do is get it signed by your mom and we can leave on the 1st."

He said "get it signed by your mom" really fast, as if he was trying to avoid talking about her. I didn't mind, but I guess it made him uncomfortable.

"Okay dude, chill. I'll go now and pack up at the same time." I put on my jeans and grabbed my board.

Here's the story. My dad died about 3 years ago. He got... He was standing on set of his short film, where a young Aaron Walker was reciting his lines for the last scene of the movie. He spoke, "It's not what it used to be." Those were his last words before he got shot twice in his head. It was a drive-by. But it didn't just affect him. My dad got shot in the heart. My mom and I mourned for like a good month or so... then she started drinking... doing multiple drugs. She got, like, touchy. Started hitting me. Cursing me out over every little thing. She doesn't care that I sleep over by J's. She doesn't care about anything.

I went to the back of the building and opened the door. The house was loud... and I'm not talking about sound. I walked up the creaky steps and let my foot sink in the shah carpeting. There stood her broken bedroom door being held up by tape. I devised my plan as I stood there. "Okay, I'll bust in there, give her the paper, she'll sign it, I'll pack my shit and leave." I was about to walk in when I noticed something I hadn't noticed before: loud moaning. "This'll be even easier."

I pushed it open and it fell. My mom was getting finger-banged by this blonde Asian chick. I was kinda proud. She looked at me with a smile.

The girl stopped and went to the bathroom.

"What's this?"

"Just sign it. It'll give me the chance to be outta your hair for a long, long time."

She took the form and read it. It took her a while to take a pen from her dresser, I would've been worried that she was gonna say no, but we both know she can't afford to feed me all summer.

After 4 minutes, she signed the paper. She didn't give it to me immediately, she set it on her boobs, got out her wallet, and pulled out some 20's.

"Here." She handed me my form and the money, which turned out to be $260 dollars.

"What's this?"

"In case the whole thing fuck you up and you need a ride home or something. Can't have ya' dying on me." She have a sort of sincere smile. It warmed my heart until I realized the girl from earlier was eating her out again."Be safe."

I walked out and went to my room. It looked exactly the same, I couldn't dare change a thing after he died. It was too hard to even adjust my armoire. Just shifting the TV stand made me tear up.

Everything was packed up within half an hour. All my clothes, posters, jewelry, computer, my camera, everything. Once we won this thing, we'd be on tour. We'd have no reason to come back. The road was our home.