The Battle of the Bands ✓

The Battle of the Bands | 8

The rest of the day went by dreadfully slow, with talk of the party filling the halls. Apparently, the girl who'd flashed herself didn't attend school the next day because her nudes were leaked, which kind of sucked for her.

But I couldn't exactly say it wasn't her own fault because, well, she got shit-faced and flashed her tits to a random guy. No offense, but it was her own fault.

After school, I drove back to my place and texted Charlie my address, telling him to meet me at my house. I waited for a few minutes before I saw a black Hyundai pull into my driveway. He parked the car and opened the door, stepping out with a lopsided grin.

"Hey." his smile was contagious and I gave a small smile in return.

"Hey," I replied, making my way to the passenger side of the car. I sent a quick text to my mom, letting her know that a friend picked me up and we were going to hang out, then we headed for Charlie's house.

The drive there was filled with chatter, the two of us discussing how he and Kenzie had met.

"Well, my parents apparently know Kenzie's mom, so they forced our whole family to go to this stupid Christmas party. Me and Kenz were both trying to get away from our overbearing families, so we were hanging out in her room. We actually clicked pretty well, talking about how our parents don't pay much attention to us 'cause they're so engrossed in their stupid jobs. We clicked from there, and then a couple weeks later she asked me to go to the formal with her because she needed a guy friend to take, so I was basically the perfect candidate." he smiled, glancing at me every so often.

"Wow, sounds like you two are pretty close," I replied, a pang of jealousy in my words.

"Yeah, but she's not the only girl I wanna be close with," he replied with a sly grin.

My heart stuttered and I felt my face heat slightly at his words, lowering my head to hide the flushing of my cheeks.

"Looks like we're here," he added, gesturing to his house.

His house was very nice, with a bit of a modern feel to it. There were a lot of windows, allowing you to see all of the decor inside, which looked to be quite expensive. It made me wonder what his parents did for a living to afford such an expensive house.

"My mom and dad are both dentists, so they insist on living in an 'extravagant' home," he sighed, basically reading my mind.

We both stepped out of the car at the same time, heading towards the front door. Once we'd stepped inside, I realized how big the house really was.

"Wow," I said, my mouth agape as I took in the sight of Charlie's home, "Your house is incredible."

"Thanks, though I'd prefer something less fancy if I do say so myself." he smiled slightly, gesturing for me to follow him upstairs. We walked down the hall and made it to his room, which was much cozier than the rest of the house.

"Sorry, it's not too clean. It was kind of a split-second decision to invite you here and-"

"It looks fine. No worse than my room looks right now," I joked, sitting down on his bed.

Charlie gave a nervous smile and sat down in a rolling chair, throwing his backpack to the side.

"So what do you wanna do?" he asked, a small smile tugging at his lips.

I shrugged slightly, unsure of what there was to do in McKinley.

"We could go to the mall," I suggested, glancing up at Charlie.

"Yeah, but I don't really wanna go there. It's always really busy right after school with all the teenagers and shit," he replied, running a hair through his unkempt hair, "Maybe we could just hang out in here until dinner."

I nodded my head, laying down on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. There were a variety of posters, most consisting of different bands that I wasn't too familiar with.

"So how long have you been in band?" he asked, glancing in my direction with curiosity.

"Since seventh grade," I replied, sitting up so that we were face to face. "How about you? Do you play any sports or anything?"

"I play baseball during the school season, then I play for a travel team during the summer," he replied, spinning around in his chair.

"I've never really been interested in sports," I said truthfully, "I've always been more of the 'stay inside and read on a pretty day' type of person. My father always wanted me to be more interested in sports and such, but I always sucked at anything that required you to be athletic."

"Interesting," Charlie replied with a small smirk.

My face heated up as we met eyes, his hazel eyes staring into my own. Before our moment could go any further, however, someone barged through the door.

I glanced towards the door with little interest, then did a double-take when I saw who was standing there.

Maxwell Walker, in all his glory, stood in the doorway of Charlie's bedroom, holding what I assumed to be a PlayStation controller.

"You," he muttered.

"And you," I retorted, narrowing my eyes at the brown-haired boy.

"What are you doing here?" We asked in unison, both confused and irritated.

"Max? How do you know Kylie?" Charlie asked, seeming as confused as Maxwell and me.

"How would I not know the second-best trumpet player in the state?" he raised an eyebrow, a smirk forming on his face.

I glared at Maxwell in return.

"Do I need to remind you, once again, that I beat your ass at Districts last year? And the year before that? And throughout middle school?"

Now it was my turn to smirk as Maxwell's face fell, his smirk quickly forming into a scowl, an expression I'd grown used to seeing on his face.

We all sat there for a moment in awkward silence, then Maxwell seemed to remember what he'd come in for, asking Charlie for a charger to use for his controller.

Once Maxwell had left, I turned to Charlie in confusion, and then things started to make sense.

Their matching brown hair, the dimples, strong facial features, and the jawline. I prepared to ask my question, a feeling of dread deep within me because I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.

"Charlie, what's your last name?" I asked, reluctant to hear his answer.

"Walker," he replied, seeming a bit confused, "Why?"

I let out a huffy sigh, ready to slam my head into a wall right about now.

"Fuck,"