Just As Bad As You

Chapter 25

The boy had jet black hair down to his shoulders. He had a septum piercing and snake bites. His attire consisted of a sleeveless "As I Lay Dying" shirt, black skinnies, a thin silver studded belt, and black converse. He was pretty damn tall too...and pretty attractive. I knew exactly who he was. Johnny Sherwood, the drummer for "Escape the Blame", a local band. I went to all their gigs but, now that I thought about it, they'd disappeared all summer. I used to have a tremendous crush on him. Like I said...used to. Now he was merely a noticeably hot guy.

"No." I answered.

He sat down in the seat next to me, stirring the air with the smell of Blade body wash. I saw that Ozzy was still staring at Johnny...her mouth dropping a millimeter per second. Oh, what did we have here? I forced back the giggle imprisoned behind my lips. My foot made contact with Ozzy's chair. The sudden movement jerked her out of her trance.

I smirked.

"What?" she asked with a nervous laugh.

"Oh nothing....I just like your shirt. It's beast."

She smiled. "Thank you! I like yours too. A Skylit Drive is awesome and the members are hot!"

"So are the ones from Escape the Fate!" I said.

"How about the ones from Escape the Blame?" Johnny had entered the conversation.

Ozzy looked down and brushed at invisible dust on her jeans. To my surprise, she didn't stop talking just because Johnny had spoken.

"Who?" Ozzy questioned. Her voice had gone a bit soft...shy. I chuckled. Johnny's face had gone into shock or something.

"You don't know about us? Tell her Jasmine!"

I stared at him dumbfounded. How the fuck did he know my name? The question must have been clear on my face.

"I've seen you at like all our gigs. I got curious and asked around."

"Oh...well anyway Ozzy, Johnny's the drummer for Escape the Blame. The reason you've never heard of them is because they aren't exactly famous."

"Yet." Johnny added.

"Cool, so what kind of music do you play?" Ozzy asked.

"Mainly post-hardcore." Johnny told her. "By the way, the smell is gone. You can take those things off now."

I dragged the bandanna down and took a small sniff. There wasn't a trace of roadkill in the air. Guess those powerful fans had done their jobs. I removed my bandanna. Ozzy untied her scarf and stuffed it back into her black Jansport.

"So what's your name, hun?" Johnny asked, watching Ozzy.

"Ozzy." She averted her eyes and focused on the "Math is Fun" poster at the front of the room. Remind me to burn that poster later....

"Sweet name for a chick." Johnny said.

"Thank you." she responded.

"So how come you guys haven't played all summer?" I interrogated.

He sighed. "Our lead guitarist, Tyler, had to go to Wisconsin. His uncle is having an operation in a few months and his family is taking care of him. He wont be back until probably next semester. We're still looking for a temporary guitarist."

"I see. Have anyone in mind?"

"Not yet, but hopefully someone here at school pops up. If not, we'll just have to stick it out til Tyler comes back."

At that moment, our teacher ordered everyone to be quiet. She actually taught and assigned us work. Thirty problems! What the hell! It was the first freaking day!

I decided to do some of the problems but after a few minutes I got bored. Ozzy didn't seem to be doing it either so I tossed a folded up piece of paper with the words "Let's talk :)" over her shoulder. We passed notes all class long.

Ozzy was really cool. She wasn't like most people I knew. She had even described herself as a "black oreo rocker". She was into a lot of great bands, she knew what moshing and who Gloomy Bear was, wanted a lip piercing really bad, and she was random and weird! And best of all, she wanted us to chase Justin Bieber with lighted pitchforks! I think this was the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship.

Five minutes before the bell rang, I looked over to my left to see what Johnny was up to. I hadn't heard a peep from him since we stopped talking. He had his head against his arms and had quickly closed his eyes when I turned my head. But I had still caught him.... Had he been staring at me all period...?

Weird.