𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙊𝙀𝙎 𝙂𝙀𝙏 𝙍𝙀𝙈𝙀𝙈𝘽𝙀𝙍𝙀𝘿, 𝘽𝙐𝙏 𝙇𝙀𝙂𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙎 𝙉𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍 𝘿𝙄𝙀.
What do you get when you throw five musically inclined teenagers in detention and leave them alone for ten minutes?
You get a brand new band, new friendships, and a...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
NO SCRUBS — TLC 'Cause I'm looking like class and he's looking like trash
JANUARY, 1994. EIGHTEEN MONTHS BEFORE.
AS IT NEARED midnight, Reggie and Luke found each other in all the chaos.
"Hey," Luke greeted, eyes scanning the area, "have you seen Liv?"
Reggie shook his head and took a sip from the cup he was holding. "No, have you seen Alex? He was pretty much wasted last time I saw him."
"Whoa, Alex Mercer is drunk?" Luke huffed in disbelief before muttering to himself, "What is going on tonight?"
"Right?" Reggie nodded with wide eyes. "It's like we're in an alternate universe where we're the responsible ones!"
They walked through the house, saying hi to people they knew while searching for their two friends. While they weren't looking for Bobby, they did find him making out with Allie by the stairs.
If it were under any other circumstance, Luke and Reggie wouldn't have bothered him. But their concern for their two friends, who they were sure have never gotten drunk before, took precedence.
"Yo, Bobby!" Luke shouted, patting his back. He pulled away and gave him in annoyed look. "Hey, Allie. Have you seen Liv and Alex?"
"They're dancing in the living room!" Bobby answered before turning back to his crush.
"Aight, thanks," Luke chuckled, making a mental note to tease him about it later.
He followed Reggie into the living room and nearly crashed into his back.
"Holy shit," Reggie breathed, frozen in his spot.
Luke's eyebrows furrowed. "What— Oh, my god."
Standing on the fancy table of the living room was Alex and Olivia, jumping around and screaming the chorus of No Scrubs to the crowd of people that gathered by their feet. Alex wore one of those ridiculous New Years glasses with the year 1994 on them, his eyes peaking out the holes of the nines, and Olivia was wearing a sparkly party hat. It was quite the sight to see.
Luke was mesmerized by the girl in front of him. In the few months he's known her, he learned that there were moments when Olivia's eyes would sparkle and you could just tell that she was having fun—that she stopped caring about what other people thought of her for a split second and let go of everything holding her back. This was one of those moments.
The light reflected off her skin and the glow of alcohol made her cheeks rosy. Her dancing still sucked, but the way her body moved to the music came to her like second nature, the music racing through her veins like he always believed it did. Even though she was yelling at the top of her lungs, her voice still sounded like a song. She looked free and it was nice to see this version of Olivia without having to coax it out of her.
