Oceans and Emeralds

Chapter 5

There are only two days until school gets let out for Christmas and the new year and everyone's going kind of crazy. If a teacher lets us talk after our work is done, pencils start flying. At lunch, a fully-fledged food fight broke out in the courtyard yesterday. Moe, Leah, Tayler, Jessie, and I watched from a bush until Jessie started eating and throwing tater tots and now he's suspended until after break along with ten other kids. Moe, Leah, Tayler, and I got off with a warning since when the teachers stopped everyone they all defended Leah, Moe, and Tayler, who defended me.

Today Moe is out sick so I'm stuck with riding the bus to school. I make sure my hoodie is warm enough to walk in the cold and put my hat on before leaving. Once I've found a seat on the bus I stare silently out the window as the people around me joke and laugh. The ride is almost peaceful. For the most part.

"Back for more huh?" Blake asks. I can hear the smirk in his tone.

"Leave me alone." I roll my eyes with a slight sigh as I watch the trees pass by. Only a few more minutes.

"But I wanna talk." He whines. "You seem so nice." I do my best to ignore his pestering as the bus pulls into the school's drive. "You don't seem as bad as people say. But I might be wrong." The bus slows and I'm the first one through the doors and into the building.

After I'm done at my locker I find Leah and Tayler in Tayler's first hour. "Hey, guys." I smile as I sit next to Leah.

"Okay, Tayler is trying to compare The Pretty Reckless, Halestorm, AND My Chemical Romance to some rock band that plays at the diner down in Rightaway Bay," Leah says, sounding as angry as I get when I'm defending the things I love.

"You got their music?" I ask Tayler.

"Right here." Tayler hands me their Bluetooth earbuds and I hold them next to my ears as they press play on a cover of one of Halestorm's songs. After a few seconds I hand the earbuds back.

"Not even close to being as good." I shake my head.

"Okay, we're all going down there during Christmas break. No backing out. You're going to hear these people live." Tayler states.

"Even if they are better than whatever was on your phone, they will never compare to the original songs. Do they even have originals?" Leah asks.

"They have a few but they mostly do covers." Tayler shrugs. "From what we've heard, at least."

"Fine." She puts her hands up as if surrendoring. "I'll go along with your little plan."She lets her hands fall onto the small table.

"I have to check with Arthur and Tammy," I state the obvious. Because why not?

"Yeah, we have to check with our parents too but still." Tayler agrees. The bell rings and we all go to our classes. At lunch, Leah offers to drive me home since Tayler is getting picked up by their parents so we meet by the door after school.

"Hey." she smiles as she sees me come outside, into the cold, winter air. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, can we get food on the way, though? I'm starving and I have some extra cash." I reason.

"Sure, no problem." She nods and I follow her to her car. It's a rusty four-door that looks at least ten years old. The rust is mostly around the rims and hood while the rest of it's an inky black with snow in some spots. "What an awesome car, right?" Leah smiles sarcastically as she pulls out her keys.

"I like it." I shrug with a smile as she unlocks the car and we get in.

"You can have it when I get a new one if you like it that much."

"I can't tell if you're joking." I chuckle lightly.

"Well if you want it I'm not joking." She shrugs. "I almost have enough money to get a better one." She pulls out of the school parking lot.