***Eight Years Ago***
"Oh damn, I'm sorry!" Freen scrambled to apologise to the girl she had bumped into, sending both of their books and papers scattering everywhere. Freen had been removing her work from her locker and when she slammed it shut and turned to walk... Well it really was an accident and Freen had always been a bit clumsy.
"It's okay, don't sweat it." Becca muttered as she bent to help Freen in gathering their things. It has not been a good day for Becca. It was only the third day of freshman year and she had already gotten into a fight with a junior and nearly got suspended. She seemed to garner trouble everywhere she went. In fact, her parents had to beg the school board to accept her with the bad record she had. Becca had always had a short temper and refused to stand back for anyone, older or not. This girl was just lucky that she had caught Becca in an exhausted state and the fact that she already had Saturday detention hanging over her head.
As they both rose back to their feet, Freen gave Becca a shy smile as her cheeks turned a rosy colour, leaving Becca to simply smirk at her. "Are you a freshman too?" Becca asked as she studied the pretty girl, all olive skin and dark hair cascading down her shoulders, not to mention eyes that seemed like they could pierce your soul.
"Yeah, it's all a bit overwhelming. Hi, by the way, I'm Freen." She switched her books to her left arm and held out her right hand for Becca to shake. Becca took the proffered hand with a small smile and gripped it firmly. "Hey, I'm Becca. Are you clumsy by nature or was that just a fluke?" She grinned at Freen.
Freen turned a darker shade of red as she removed her hand from Becca's grasp and ran it back through her hair. "Yeah it tends to be a thing when I'm nervous."
Becca nodded and canted her head to the one side, blonde strands falling onto her shoulder. "Why so nervous Freen? We've already been here a few days."
Freen cleared her throat and nodded, looking around quickly. "It takes me a while to warm up to a new place and new people."
"Well, give me your roster and let's have a look." Becca smiled genuinely. Perhaps actually making a decent friend could help keep her out of trouble. "Hey look, we've got quite a few classes together. There's Maths, English, History and PE." Becca gave Freen a genuine smile then. "Maybe neither of us don't have to feel so alone."
Freen's big smile cast a light on Becca's dark world and the girl sighed. She felt relieved to have found someone whose gentle nature seemed like it could balance out her anger issues.
______________________________________
***Seven years ago***
"Another school year, another disaster lying in wait." Becca sighed as she walked through the halls of the school towards her locker.
"Oh come on Becks, maybe this year will be filled with more fun than trouble. If you can manage to stay out of trouble long enough." Freen chuckled to her right, adjusting her bag in her shoulder. She was quite keen on sophomore year, but then again that was because she was, for the most part, a model student. No one could ever figure out how the friendship between Becca and Freen worked, but it worked very well. They did in fact balance each other out very well. Freen helped Becca with her schoolwork, while Becca showed Freen how to have some fun once in a while.
"Freenkie, you know that my middle name is 'trouble'." Becca grinned as she turned around to face her best friend shirking her shoulders as if she was already reserved to the fact that she'd be another screw up for the new year.
"As long as you don't get me drunk in the graveyard again, I think we'll be fine. I still feel bad for barfing all over John Peter Sunderland who died in 1874." Becca cackled as she recalled that night, while Freen simply shook her head. "Or get me into detention for vandalising Mr Sherman's car." Freen shook her head.
"Hey! He had it coming! Grading your history paper so low just because he insisted you copied it off the internet. I was fighting for your honour!" Becca raised her hands, palms out, indicating her excuse was genuine and legitimate.
The bell rang and Becca rolled her eyes as Freen pulled her into a tight hug. "Yeah yeah I'll see you later." Becca squirmed in Freen's tight grip until she let go, before sauntering off to homeroom.
______________________________________
***Six years ago***
"Were only halfway through junior year and I'm bored as fuck." Becca groaned as she and Freen sat on the benches beneath the old oak trees, eating lunch. Freen's eyes were scanning the crowd of students, barely hearing a word Becca was rambling on about. When Becca noticed Freen's attention slipping away, she grabbed her arm. "Earth to Freen, Earth to Freen. Come in Freen. Do you copy?"
Freen quickly glanced back at Becca, her face glowing red from her cheeks to the tips of her ears. "I'm sorry, what were you saying Becks?"
Becca raised one brow and looked over to where Freen's gaze had settled for the most part. She spotted Scott McAllister, star soccer player but also resident bad boy. He was both a jock and had his own band. Not to mention good grades as well. He was the type of guy that you'd take home to mom, but then end up doing the nasty the next night in the back of his jeep; both charming and dangerous.
"Oh come on Freen, not Scott. Please." Freen stared down at her fidgeting hands and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Why not Becks?" She seemed like a deer caught in headlights and Becca noticed. "Because he's a dumbass. Everyone thinks the sun shines out of his ass, but I know guys like him. He just uses his talents as tricks to get into girls' pants. Do you even know what his body count is?"
Freen looked at Becca and frowned then, not quite understanding the terminology. "His body count, Freenkie. How many girls he's slept with. I heard his mates making fun of him on the side of the field at practice one day. It's pretty high for a sophomore. Not to mention some of the girls whose names came out were seniors. He's been all over."
"I don't put stock in rumours, Becks, you know that. And besides..." Freen trailed off, her gaze shifting back to the boy. "Oh god, you haven't! Freen!" Becca raised her voice to the level that Freen had to shush her. "We only made out a few times, okay? It's nothing serious."
"Yeah, that's what they all say, Freen. Next thing you know you're sixteen and pregnant and addicted to drugs. Okay maybe not that last part, but still. Freen! You're too good for him." Becca spoke the last words gently, resting her hand on Freen's shoulder and staring into those beautiful almond eyes. "You deserve more. You deserve better. No, you deserve the best there is."
"Well, if you find that guy, point me in his direction. But in the meantime..." Freen smirked as the bell rang, cueing her to stand and start moving. "Are you coming?" She asked her stoic friend, but Becca waved her off. "I'll be there just now." As Freen disappeared from view, Becca dropped her head into her arms and sighed. Something hurt deep in her chest. It felt like something was squeezing the life out of her heart and pulling her stomach out through her throat. Suddenly she felt sick, really sick. It only took a minute for her to empty her insides on the grass, retching as tears rushed down her cheeks. Becca went home early that day.
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***Five Years Ago***
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! We're about to crown this year's prom king and queen!"
Becca sat at a table off in one dark corner, a cup of spiked punch in her hand. She'd already had a few of them, as well as her friend Nop. Neither of them were big on school events, especially prom. But in order to satisfy both their parents they sucked it up and went together, pretending to be the perfect couple. Becca had befriended Nop per chance while sitting alone underneath the bleachers after the first boys soccer team were done practising. She hadn't been watching the boys. She had been watching the girl watching the boys. The girl she was no longer friends with, since that fateful day when Scott asked Freen to be his girlfriend. At first it was just about Freen joining Scott's band, her guitar skills outmatching anyone else's. But as time went they grew closer, then started a fling, and finally made it official in the fall of senior year.
So there she sat, watching Freen walk off with Scott's arm around her, and removed a blunt from her pocket. She had barely lit it when Nop sidled up to her. He was an outcast like her and didn't care much for school politics, or school in general. They clicked immediately as they passed the blunt back and forth and had been friends ever since. As Becca would say, he's a better friend than Freen had been anyway. At least he wasn't dumping her for some jackass boy.
"Your prom king iiiis: Scott McAllister!" The crowd of teenagers cheered and shouted and no one was surprised, though the delight did not dim at all. Scott jumped on the stage and took a bow before bending slightly to have his crown fitted, then waved at his loyal subjects. Becca scoffed and raised her cup to the circus display.
And finally, the moment is here! Your prom queen iiiiis: Freen Sarocha!" The crowd once again went wild as Freen stepped onto the stage to receive her crown and join her king. What a perfect couple, Becca thought sarcastically as she emptied her cup that was actually more alcohol than punch. Nop always carried a flask inside one of his pockets.
Getting up, unsteady on her feet, she tapped Nop's shoulder and motioned for them to leave even before the new king and queen started their dance. Becca was so done with high school.
______________________________________
***Three Years Ago***
It was Becca's first unofficial Bandslam and she was nervous as hell. Looking from the side over the crowd of teenagers and young adults as they mashed to the band playing, she was terrified that they wouldn't be as hyped up when it was their turn.
"Relax, sis. We've got this. We've been practising this song over and over and over again. It's perfect." It was Richie, Becca's older brother. He was the drummer of the band, called The Sickstrings. Heng was their bass player and Seng lead with the electric guitar. Becca herself was the frontman, having discovered that she had quite the talent for singing with a very diverse range to her voice. It was perfect for a four man band.
"And now, making their debut at The Steel Underground, I give you the new kids on the block: The Sickstrings!"
Becca had to swallow down the extreme nerves creeping up her throat as they stepped onto the stage. Readying their equipment, they took their stance and took a deep breath. Richie tapped his sticks three times together and on what would have been the fourth beat, Heng's bass and Seng's guitar joined in. The sound was light metal with a slight pop-like melody mixed into the tempo. Once the guys had finished the lead-up, Becca grabbed the mic and gave her all.
"Stifling in love and falling out
Of favour and sanity alike.
Grab and grip and hold on for dear life
And watch as the memories slip,
And slide into dark oblivion.
We're just one in a million
Why should things ever be different for us?
We were fucking with nature
And fucking with ideals
And fucking up our own perspectives!
We never learn and we don't grow
And now I don't know
How to cope anymore...
Should have known better,
Should have listened to the voice,
When it still made sense...
But now the voice speaks toxic words
And spews forth insane warnings
That I don't want to hear!
Not now...
Please not now!
We were fucking with nature
And fucking with ideals
And fucking up our own perspectives!
We never learn and we don't grow
And now I don't know
How to cope anymore...
Please not now...
After we've come so far,
And promised so much -
Why must we be stuck?
I hate this so much
But I hate even more
What we've become...
How you have made me come undone!
I no longer familiar with myself
Nor with you!
We were fucking with nature
And fucking with ideals
And fucking up our own perspectives!
We never learn and we don't grow
And now I don't know
How to cope anymore...
Not now...
Please not now..."
As the song came to an end, the crowd was initially silent, but then a great uproar erupted. They loved The Sickstrings and the feeling of so many screaming bodies at her feet made Becca's heart race, electricity shooting up and down her spine. She was elated, and she knew then that it was all she would ever want to do.
The last band of the evening entered the stage after The Sickstrings and set up, Becca still celebrating with her bandmates behind the set. "And now I give you... The Shots!" Becca stopped dead in her tracks. That name. That name was so familiar...
She turned around to watch the band set up, and there she was: Freen next to Scott with her electric guitar, ready to blast the crowd away.
Rushing out of the building, Becca disappeared into the night before anyone could catch her.