1

                                    

                                          
It was nice, feeling the warm water wash down my skin and over my tired and aching joints. It a good pain, it was a reminder of the night I had shared with one of my band mates the previous night. 
Suddenly, and sadly, my peaceful shower was thrown off when there's a pounding against the bathroom door. "Will you hurry up, June?" It was Ben, my twin brother and band mate, that was pounding on the door. "You're using up all the hot water!" 
I finished washing my hair with a chuckle. "Maybe if you were up a little earlier, you wouldn't have a hot water problem!" I turned off the water and grabbed a towel before stepping out and drying myself off. As I dried myself off, I admired James's handy work and the marks he had left on my body. 
I let out a low whistle as I wrapped the towel around my body. "Man, that boy is rough." 
As I opened the door, Ben side stepped me to get into the room while muttering. "I don't want to know anything beyond that." 
"I wasn't going to tell you anyway." I called over my shoulder as I opened my bedroom door and stepped inside. 
As the door closed behind me, I let the towel drop and went to my closet. I didn't know what I was going to wear that day, and the teenage girl side of me felt like having the perfect outfit was needed since this was our senior year and we all were about to graduate. 
I had decided to just put on my Beatle Juice pants, a tank top and the leather jacket that James had let me borrow the previous night. Once I was dressed, I shoved my feet into a pair of boots and grabbed my bag. As I checked my phone, I smacked the bathroom door with the palm of my hand. 
"Come on, Benjamin, they're waiting for us!" 
"Yeah, yeah! I'm coming." He yelled back. 
I let out a snort of laughter at that. "And speaking of things I didn't need to know." I stepped away from the door as it opened with a small grin growing on my lips. 
"You hush." Ben said, but all the same, he returned my grin. "Where are we meeting everyone?" 
"Same place as always." 
After we had said goodbye to our parents, and left the house, we went down to the end of the road. Surprisingly, we had been the first to arrive. This was something that had rarely happened, mostly because Ben and I were usually way to tired and hungover to get out of bed most mornings. 
"James should be here any second." I said as I scanned the surrounding area, and just as I was making my second sweep, I finally spotted him. James Cassells was the drummer for our band, Asking Alexandria, he was tall and muscular with big brown eyes that made you feel like you were at home when you looked into them. And I was his permanent booty call, or at least, I had been for the last few months. 
"So," Ben started as James took my hand and we started walking. "Where's Dawn?" 
"She's meeting us there, she went to go get Danny." James said as he looked me over. It was obvious to me that he was checking me out, and honestly, I didn't blame him. I was incredibly attractive. "You, by the way, look great, June." 
I winked at him as I dumped my shoulder against his. "I could say the same about you." 
Ben gave us a flat look before he exchanged it for a glare. "Can you two stop flirting with each other for two seconds?" 
I rolled my eyes at that. "You're just mad because I let slip that I got some love in the sack." 
"That's not what I'm mad about," Ben said as he poked at my sides. "What bothers me is that you didn't get caught. You aren't the quietest person in bed." 
"Especially when I'm in bed with you." James whispered in my ear as he held me against his body. 
This was true, James had always been very dominate and rough in bed, he always made sure that I knew who was in charge, and that was one of the many things I had loved about our relationship at the time. 
"Stop that!" I yelled with a giggle as I smacked Ben's arm and elbowed James's ribs. "But if you really need to know, I snuck out and Danny let us use his place." As Ben and I started a childish, slapping right, Dawn and Danny chose this amazing moment to arrive at the gates of our school just as we did.
"Come now, children," Danny said as he watched us in our mock fight. "We don't have time to mess about, we have classes to get to." Danny Worsnop was the lead vocalist of our little band, while Dawn Cassells, James's little sister, was our photographer. 
Cam and Sam joined us just in time to hear Danny say that, they both looked at him like he was fucking insane as I raised my eyebrow at him. "You alright, Mate?" I asked. "You're never worried about being late for class." 
Cameron Liddel was the third guitarist in the band, Ben and I were the first and second. And lastly, Sam Bettley, was our bassist. Together, the seven of us made the small, tight knit family we still had to this very day. But that's not really the point of this story, is it? 
"Yeah," Danny said with a shrug. "I feel fine. I just felt like saying it." 
Dawn raised her camera with a smile. She was short, with blue eyes and long brown hair, and while being sort of plain looking at the time, she had a sort of conventional beauty about her. "I need pictures for the year book!" She had yelled out of excitement. 
As a group, we let out a laugh as James put his arm over my shoulders. "Go on, then." He said with a grin. "Put us under the category of 'Most Likely to be the Best Band'." Our next bout of laughter was cut off by a group of rugby players coming up to us. 
Their star player was a jackass called Mike Wood, he was the son of our headmaster, Steven Wood. He was usually able to get away with anything that was thrown at him because of his star status. 
"You guys? Best band?" He asked as he looked us over. "You're emo shit isn't worth listening to." 
"Well," I said as I tucked myself under James's arm and against his side. "Thank God it's not meant for people like you." 
"And who is it meant for, June?" He asked as he took a step toward me and, in turn, James. "Sluts like you?" I felt the blood in me start to boil with rage as he spoke to me. "I've heard you've fucked everyone in your pathetic little band." He continued with a smirk. "A shame you won't expand your horizons, you look like a rough ride." 
I rolled my eyes as I stepped away from James and shoved Mike away from us. "Fuck off, Wood." I took James's hand back and walked away with the band following us. In truth, I had slept with Cam, Sam, Danny and James, with James being the only one I'd done it with repeatedly. It wasn't something I was ashamed of, the only thing I hated were the rumors that were spreading about me. 
"Fucking Hell." I muttered to myself as I heard one of the guys smack their shoulder against Mike's. "What does he think I am? Some sort of sex slave?" 
Danny smirked in my direction as we made our way down the corridor and toward our lockers. "Do you really want that answered?" 
I pretended to consider this for a moment as I opened my locker. "Do I? Yes. Should I? Probably not." I glanced over my shoulder at him as I shrugged off my borrowed leather jacket. "Either way, keep that up, and I'll make sure you don't get any for a week." 
"You wouldn't dare!" He yelled. 
"I would dare, actually." I said with a chuckle as I shoved the jacket into my locket. I could hear him muttering a quiet, 'fucking hell' as he, and most likely the other three, checked me out. I didn't have to turn around to know that Ben was probably glaring at every single one of them for it. 
"Come on, guys, that's my fucking sister!" Ben yelled. 
Cam let out a snort of laughter. "We know, Mate, we've been fucking your sister." 
I turned back around as I closed my locker and locked eyes with James. It still sent a thrill of pride through me, knowing that I was able to get James's hand to turn after all of this time, after all the times he had seen me naked. He was still able to find me attractive. 
As we laughed at Cam's comment, our next moment of glee was ruined by the basically bone chilling voice of Steven Wood speaking behind us. "Mister Bruce," he said as he eyed my brother. "I'd hate to have to call your parents about your habits of using filthy language, wouldn't you?" 
"Yes, Sir." Ben said as he fought back another bout of laughter. "I would hate for that to happen." 
"That's what I thought. Now, watch your mouth and head off to class." Steve cast his gaze to the rest of us. "That goes for all of you." And with that, he walked away. 
When I look back on this man, I think about him being something like Snape from the Harry Potter series, but I highly doubted that he would end up being some sort of hero at the end of this story. 
"Dawn and I have to bolt, we have art in five and we can't risk being late again." I said as I kissed James's cheek and took Dawn's hand. "But we'll see you all in Maths later." 
And then, we took off running and thankfully, we were able to make it just before the bell rang. "We made it," I said with a breathless laugh. "And before Shlunt too." 
"Mister Shlunt is always late," Dawn said with a sigh as we sat down at our table and she took out a notebook and a set of pens. "But it's no matter, I barely pay attention to what the man says." 
"With our career path in mind, I don't think we'll need to worry about this shit anyway." I said as I leaned my chin in my hand. 
"You mean your career path." She corrected me with a small, shy smile. "Your band is great and all, but I don't want your life-I just want to be in the background, where no one can see me." 
"Alright, Dawny." Was all I said before Shlunt arrived and our class started. 
What she didn't know was that, even from her safe space in the background, she had already been noticed. I had noticed Danny, noticing her. He more than just fancied her, I could tell whenever he spoke to her and in the way he looked at her. 
And I hoped that she noticed that soon because I knew that a part of her felt the same.
   
When art was over, we met up with the others in the corridor for our next class. It was maths, I had always hated maths, and it wasn't all that much of a fan of me either. "At least we all have dumb math together." I laughed with Dawn as the others came down the hallway toward us. 
"Thank God for that then." Dawn said as she nudged my ribs with her elbow. "And it's good for you because you get to sit with my brother. So, I hope you're happy." 
"Oh, believe me, I am." I said as I gently knocked my shoulder against hers before we all walked in and took our seats. I took out a scratch pad and a pen for James and I to pass back and forth during class for when it started. 
"I don't see why we need maths," James muttered as he sat down next to me. "We won't be using it in the future." 
I shrugged as the teacher walked in and the room had fallen silent, I shared a look with Ben across the room as we started our work. If I was lucky, I'd at least get a passing grade in this class. 
"I guess it's needed." I whispered to him as I worked on the problems in front of me. 
"Do you think we'll make it?" James whispered back, I noticed that his lips were barely moving as he spoke to me. 
I gave a sigh as I shrugged. "Through this test? Probably." 
"Not what I meant, June." He sounded clearly exasperated by the fact that I hadn't caught on sooner. "Like make it big, do you think we can do it?" 
I turned to face him as I put my pen down. "Yes, I think we can do it, unless we don't get through this-" 
Our teacher, Miss Robin, looked at the two of us as she approached our table. "Miss Bruce, Mister Cassells, what are you two whispering about?" 
I looked back at her with a smirk growing over my lips. "We were talking about our band, Asking Alexandria, we'd like to play at the Winter Formal." I leaned back in my seat as I crossed my arms over my chest. "If that's alright with you, of course." 
There was a wave of hushed chuckles and giggles throughout the class room as I looked our teacher. Robin blinked a few times, I couldn't tell if she was shocked that I had the balls to mouth off to her, or surprised that we weren't talking about the test.
"Yes, well... be sure to talk to the director." She said finally as she looked at me. "Keep your eyes on your tests, and no talking." And the rest of the class was silent, save for the sounds of our pens scratching against paper. 
At lunch, we gathered around our usual table as Cam, Sam, Danny, Ben, James and Dawn all looking at me as if I had lost my mind. "And you expect them to let us play the formal?" Danny asked for the second time. 
I nodded slowly as I crossed my arms over my chest. "They don't have anyone to play, I figured I'd ask if we could." 
They don't seem to be against this idea of mine, it would be our first gig, even if it would just be us playing at our school.