POV Christine
The next day after class came cheerleading tryouts. I walked into the locker room and quickly dressed into shorts and a crop top. As soon as I was dressed I walked over to Sophie and Emily who were already on the field eating for me.
"I'm dreading this because of Janet but hopefully my skills will be enough to get me on the squad." I said.
"We are co-captains, even if you suck you'll get on the squad." Emily said. Emily and Sophie were amazing friends and I felt so lucky to have them by my side. As I looked out to the football players who were also practicing one of them looked over at me and winked and I softly blushed. He was extremely handsome but I had no idea who he was. I couldn't get his face out of my head the whole time. This boy had long blonde hair and his eyes were a soft blue that you could melt in.
After the vigorous cheer tryouts I made it on the team only thanks to Emily and Sophie, I was thankful they had my back. Once everyone made their way back to locker rooms I stayed behind to drink water and catch my breath until a hand on my shoulder startled me and I jumped back to see who it was. It was the handsome football player.
"I didn't mean to scare you." he said chuckling softly.
"I haven't seen you around before. I'm Steven and you are?" he asked.
"I'm Christine." I said.
"A beautiful name for such a beautiful girl. I'll be honest I couldn't keep my eyes off of you." he said. I couldn't help but blush, his words made me melt like butter in heat. We ended up talking for half an hour when Emily and Paul came out to meet him.
"Ah, I see you've met my big brother." Emily said as Paul glared at Steven. If I didn't know any better I'd say Paul was jealous and quite honestly it was adorable.
"This beautiful girl is your friend?" Steven asked his little sister. Emily nodded while Paul clenched his jaw only noticeable to me.
"Get you ass back into the locker room and get dressed we gotta get home." Paul said to Steven as she strolled on over next to me. Steven rolled his eyes and ran to the locker room with the helmet in hand.
"Is someone jealous?" I teased as his cheeks flushed into a bright pink color.
"No." Paul said even though we all knew he was.
The next morning my mom dragged me to school with her at 5 AM, a whole tour hours before school even started. I decided to explore the school some more and that's when I discovered the music room and walked in when I saw someone playing a bass guitar.
"Oh I am so sorry, I didn't know that someone was in here." I said as I was about to walk out. "No it's cool." the boy said. This guy looked like he came straight out of an 80s hair band. The typical wild hair. It was light brown and his eyes were blue and he was fit and thin.
"You're the new girl, Christine right?" he asked. "Yeah, that's me." I said.
"I have you for English, noticed you the very first day." he said smiling. It seemed that every boy I encountered had a flirty introduction with me and this was definitely a first for me. The guys at my old school barely noticed me. I smiled at him.
"What are you doing here so early?" I asked. "My uncle works at a warehouse and this was the only way I could get to school, I understand plus it gives me more time to get better at my bass playing." he said.
"You're really good." I said.
"I used to sing in a band back in my old town." I mentioned.
"Oh yeah?" he asked with a smirk.
"I have a band with two of my other buddies that go here, we're pretty good." he said with a devilish smile. I could tell he was a bad boy and I was definitely drawn to his charm. We talked until students started to fill the halls and the bells began to ring.
"I never got your name." I said looking at him. "Joe." he said with a wink.
"Let's go, we have first period together." he said waiting for me by the door. I smiled and we walked to class together.
I ended up sitting next to him and the class flew by. By the end of the class the teacher assigned us to read F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. It was one of my favorites and I had an advantage of having read it before. I walked out with a smile and waved at Joe before finally making it to my locker. Emily got to hers a few second later.
"How was English? Make any new friends?" Emily asked.
"One. A handsome boy named Joe." I said. "Oh! Joe! He is in my brother's band!" Emily exclaimed.
"Seriously it's like you guys know everyone here." I said giggling.
The next few days seemed to fly by and before I knew it we were headed into our second week of school. Emily and I grew much closer and I was extremely glad to have Sophie back in my life. I missed her dearly. I also grew closer to Joe, Steven and especially Paul. I had never clicked with someone the way I clicked with Paul. We had an instant connection and it felt good and made me happy, sometime I haven't felt since before losing my little brother. One day after class we didn't have cheer practice so I decided to head into the empty music room and sit by the piano. Piano was really the only instrument I knew how to play and I was damn good at it. Music had always been another passion of mine beside theatre. My fingers delicately played the keys. I started playing the song Hey Jude by The Beatles and slowly started to sing along. I belted out each note thinking I was alone but in fact I wasn't and when I opened my eyes there was Joe, leaning against the door smiling at me.
"You got yourself a set of pipes kid." Joe said. I blushed softly.
"I try." I replied.
"No I mean it, you are incredible...a voice like that is rare, you've got a gift." He said as he walked closer to me. Joe sat on the bench very close to me. Our faces were only inches apart. My eyes widened and my breath became heavy, I had never been this close to a boy before and it made me extremely nervous. We were interrupted by his phone ringing. Joe got up and answered it. After a few seconds he turned back to me and smiled.
"I'll see you tomorrow beautiful." He said as winked at me. I meant it when I said I really liked Paul but Joe was a very charming man as well.
POV Paul
My alarm clock woke me up with a deafening ring on a sunny Tuesday morning. I don't even know how I managed to get ready and make it to school on time. Probably my siblings. When I got to school I met up in the music room with Joe and my older brother Steven. We were in a band together. I was the singer and lead guitarist, my brother Steven played the drums and my best friend Joe played bass guitar. Our name was The Runaways. We played mostly rock because it is undeniable the best genre of music, and it's way better than most of the crap you hear on the radio nowadays.
"I finally finished it, the new song I was working on and I gave it a name, Wounded." I said passing them the sheet music. They both looked over it for a few seconds and then they both looked up at me smiling.
"This is an amazing song little bro." Steven said.
"Let's play it." Joe said already putting on his guitar. I grabbed mine and played the intro and then began singing. It was going great until the neanderthal known as David walked in. David was captain of the wrestling team with girls practically fainting whenever he walked by, but he was a complete dick.
"Get out losers, I need the band room!" David said.
"For what?" I asked putting my guitar back on the guitar stand.
"None of your fucking business weirdo." David said getting in my face.
"Call me that one more time." I said menacingly. David clenched his fists and took a swing right to my left cheek. In that split second rage took over my body completely and before I knew punches were being swung to each others faces, arms, guts until I took one swift swing to his nose practically hearing the bones crack under my knuckles. After that Joe and Steven quickly intervened pulling us apart before any teachers or administrators found us in our brawl. Steven rushed me into the locker room while Joe helped David get to the bathroom.
"Paul what the hell were you thinking?" Steven asked.
"Are you kidding, he threw the first punch!?" I said.
"David is twice your size he could have killed you if he really wanted to." Steven said looking at me and helping clean up my bloody face. "That's funny, the guy is twice my size and I made it out of that brawl with not a single broken bone, and him he's got a broken nose he gets to flaunt for the next couple of weeks." I said proudly.
"I'm serious man! Look, I get your upset about what happened with Janet, I'm even ok with you not telling me but fuck man, this isn't you." Steven said looking down.
"Sorry I'm such a disappointment." I said taking off my shirt and putting on a new one. Without letting Steven continue I walked out of the locker room slamming the door.
The day flew by which was great because each bell ring meant it would be closer to my last class where I would see Christine. I sat down in my normal seat and waited for her and then she finally came in. I didn't know what she was doing to me but she was sure as hell doing something. All I could do since meeting her is think of her.
"Ready for our performance tomorrow?" Christine asked. I chuckled softly
"Yeah, you ready to kiss me?" I smirked. I noticed her cheeks flush to a bright pink color and she nodded softly. After a few minutes we got a chance to use the stage in the auditorium for practice. We took a corner of the stage and started our scene and it finally came time to kiss her. I leaned in slowly as did she and our lips were pressed against each others. I felt electricity coursing through my veins, when I kissed her it felt like fireworks and to be honest I didn't want it to end. When we pulled away and looked at each other we both broke character and I pulled her into the wings where no one could watch and I kissed her as I leaned her against the wall. My hands caressed her sides and her arms swung around me as she pulled my body towards her until our bodies were pressed tightly together. As soon as we heard footsteps we pulled away quickly and spoke our lines pretending to go through them. It was just a classmate looking for his jacket and then the bell that indicated the end of the day rang and Christine said she had to go. She kissed my cheek and ran off with a smile. "What is this girl doing to me?" I whispered to myself.
The next day we gave the best damn Romeo and Juliet performance in the whole damn class. We were pretty much flawless. I couldn't have asked for a better partner. We took a seat next to each other once again and I smiled at her. After class we both had some free time before she had cheer practice and we talked by her locker.
"You were amazing Miss Christine." I said. Christine blushed softly before replying with "Thanks, you weren't too bad yourself." I smiled at her. Being around her felt so natural and to be honest I never wanted to be apart from her. When she had to go for her cheer practice I walked to the band room where I met up with Joe.
"Hey man." I said.
"Hey, you working on a new original?" I asked. Joe nodded and then looked up at me.
"I'm not nearly as good as you are I keep getting song writers block." He said scratching the side of his head. As he put his arm back down I noticed something on his arm. It looked like a cigar burn.
"Joe man, what the fuck is that?" I asked looking at it. Joe looked at it and then put his other hand over it.
"Nothing man, I just hurt myself." Joe said and it was clear he was lying.
"Did your uncle do this?" Joe had been living with his Uncle and Aunt for most of his life. Both of his parents died of sickness when Joe was ten months old. Since then he has been living with his drunk Uncle and oblivious Aunt. "Don't answer, I already know, you gotta get out of that house." I said. Joe chuckled sarcastically.
"I don't have anywhere else to go Paul." I stopped and thought for a moment.
"You can live with me and Steven and Emily." I said. Joe and I have similar backgrounds, I lost my parents at a young age too so my older cousin had been raising us and once Steven turns eighteen he can legally take guardianship of me and Emily for two years and it'll just be us three. Our parents made it clear that if something were ever to happen to them the house would be left to us, good thing they got that in writing too.
"You sure you're cousin is gonna be ok with that?" Joe asked.
"Hell yeah, I mean you are at my house most of the time anyway." I said. Joe smiled at me and then got up and hugged me.
"You're the greatest man." Joe said.
"Let's go get your stuff." I said.
We went to Joe's place and packed all of his stuff in two duffle bags and to our surprise his Aunt and Uncle didn't fight us on the way out. We arrived at my place to put his stuff away and then headed back to the school to use the music room. We waited for Steven's football practice to be over so he could go over some music with us. As we waited for Steven Joe looked up at me and asked me a question I never thought I'd ever hear from anyone.
"Paul, do you remember what it was like when your parents were alive." I started to smile softly.
"The best. My mom was a beautiful and caring woman and my dad he was the one who got me into music specifically rock, classic rock where all the hits were." My dad was the best guy in the world. I missed him and my mom more than words can describe.
"My dad taught me how to play guitar before he and my mom died." I said as my smiled faded.
"They sound great, I wish I had known my parents, my aunt and uncle never talked about them but I do have a picture of them I keep in my wallet. I never go anywhere without it." Joe said showing me the picture. Joe looked just like his old man. After a few more moments of talking I picked up my guitar and strummed one of my favorite rock ballads. I started playing and then singing to Warrant's hit Heaven. Joe didn't play, he let me play it and listened with a smile on his face. I hadn't realized it but Steven had walked in during the first chorus and when I was done they both clapped.
"You got a gift little bro." Steven said as he walked over to me and hugged me. After he hugged me we walked over to Joe and all sat down together.
"Joe's working on an original, it's not done yet but so far it's damn good." I said. Joe smiled and looked back down at his unfinished song. "Let me take a look." Steven said as he got closer to take a look at it.
"Paul is right, this sound is incredible." Steven said.
"It'll be done soon enough and then we can work on it.
POV Joe
The rest of the week seemed to fly by and before I knew it, it was Friday morning and I found myself sitting alone in the band room. As I strummed some chords I looked up and saw her. My ex- girlfriend Sherrie. I saw her from the small window of the band room, walking through the hallway. We didn't end on the best of terms but a part of me still loved her even though I knew we would never be getting back together. When I saw that she was alone by her locker I approached her. We hadn't spoken since the breakup.
"Hey Sherrie." I said. Sherrie looked at me and then down. I had broken up with her because I was juggling to many things and I didn't want to hold her back or drag her down so I made up a lie saying that I didn't love her anymore. I have never forgiven myself for breaking her heart.
"I already told you Joe, I don't ever want to speak to you again, you broke my heart." She said.
"Sherrie, I'm sorry." I said looking at her. "Yeah I'm sure you are." Sherrie said closing her locker and walking away.