Blackmailed Into The Band

Without The Band

As school started the next day, I promised Emily that as soon as she saw the guys she'd fall down and have a stroke.

Mission accomplished.

As they walked into the lunchroom, they weren't a group of faceless emos anymore. They were laughing and shoving each other, smiles and eyes no longer hidden. Emily screamed beside me and I laughed as she struggled to tie a few words together.

" You guys are going to get famous really fast," She said, keeping her eyes on Carter.

" I know," I said as Josh found us and smiled at me. I smiled back and looked down.

" You have to hook me up with Blondie," Emily said, pointing at Carter.

" Learn his name first, then we'll talk," I said. She rolled her eyes as I caught Josh making faces at Phillip. He looked really cute with his new hair.

If I were looking at him for the first time, being in a screamo punk rock band is the last thing I'd associate him with. He seemed more like a classic rock kinda guy. Or a gardener.

" Do you have practice today?" Emily asked.

" No, tomorrow. Did you watch our cover?"

We talked about the cover until lunch was over. At the end of the day, I went to my locker and threw my history book inside when Josh caught up to me.

" Hi Alexia," He said.

" Hey," I said. " I thought we weren't practicing today-"

" I know, I wanted to see if you'd hang out with me," He said, getting flustered at my reaction.

" Oh," I hid behind my locker door so he wouldn't see me blush. " Sure," I said, composing myself and closing my locker.

" Are you hungry? We could go eat something," He said.

" Have you been to the new Steak and Shake?" I asked.

He shook his head and offered to drive but I couldn't leave my car at school so we decided to meet there. As I remembered the new route, I turned on my Sempiternal album and hummed along. Once I pulled into Steak and Shake and few minutes later, he was waiting at a booth.

" How are you liking your new hair?" I asked.

" I love it," He said before coming up with something else to say. " Most of my teachers were in shock when they saw me... And you should of seen my parents, they were so surprised at the sudden change. Thanks by the way."

" It's no big deal, cosmetology is one of my many talents," I said, making him raise his brow.

" You and Aidan have the biggest egos," He said.

Our food came around and we ate while talking about our next cover. It was his turn to choose the song and he said he wanted to do The Balcony Scene by Pierce the Veil, which was one of my favorite songs, despite it's age.

When that died down, my curiosity got the best of me and I asked about the band name.

" Most of the names on the list were made by you, weren't they?" I asked.

He nodded.

" How'd you come up with them? Something tells me they mean a lot to you," I said.

" Drea's Last Words?" He asked.

" Is Drea someone you know?" I probed.

He nodded and took a bite out of his burger as I did the same, preparing myself for a sad story.

" Her real name was Deborah," He said. " She was my little sister. She was 7 and I was 12 years old when our parents took us to Disneyland on New Years. While we watched the fireworks show, she told us that she needed to use the bathroom. We were so distracted by the fireworks that we ignored her and didn't realize she left by herself. She missed the rest of the show and it started to scare my mom and dad. We left and searched every bathroom but didn't find her," He said. " We put up flyers after that and contacted the police which directed us back to the Disneyland staff. They did everything in their power but no security cameras recorded the disappearance of Drea. I wonder if she just decided to vanish," He said.

I sucked my cheeks in and remembered the first time the story was shown on national news. I was 12, sitting at home with my mom and dad, eating cookies as they announced a child's disappearance in Florida's Disneyland.

The story of Deborah Cartel aired on our local news channel every New Year's Eve, asking people to come together and continue the search for her.

" I didn't realize she was your sister. I feel like... As a band, we have to honor her name," I said.

He smiled. " Wanna know what her last words were?" He asked.

" What?"

" Fine! I'll do it by myself," He said, raising his voice a few pitches. We laughed as people turned to glare at us.

Despite the continuing sadness in his eyes, our little lunch date ended nicely. We made plans to meet up again soon.