Thanks for Nothing

Chapter 21

Alex’s POV

Jack and I were at my house, in the kitchen. We were sitting at the table and having a snack before we started the video. We were having a good time, until Tom and Cass came in and my smile quickly disappeared.

Seeing Tom’s arm around Cass’s waist made me remember how I used to do that. I couldn’t take it, I just got up and left the room, going upstairs to my room. Jack joined me a minute later. “Let’s just do this.” I sighed. “Down to the basement.”

He grabbed his guitars and I grabbed mine, heading down the stairs to the basement. Just my luck, Tom and Cass were on the couch down there cuddling and talking and laughing. My heart shattered a little more and I turned right around. Jack followed me.

“Jack, we really need the basement, can you please tell them to get out? I can’t do it.” I asked.

“Of course.” He kissed my forehead and went back down. I texted Zack, asking him to come over so he could do backup vocals and have him bring his bass. He said he could just as Jack came back.

“Tom said if we wanted the basement, you would have to come and tell them yourself.”

“I fucking hate him.” I growled as I stormed down there. “Get the hell out.”

“Ask nicely.” Tom said stubbornly.

“Tom! I need the fucking basement! If I want to have a life, then you need to get the hell out!” I yelled.

“Ask. Nicely. Then we’ll get out.”

Cass wasn’t saying anything, but I knew she would take Tom’s side on this because they were dating. “You are the worst brother in the world.” I whispered, my voice cracking.

“How?”

“You told me there was something wrong with me when I had so much trouble with cutting. You’re dating my ex best friend and you had to bring her home when you know just thinking about her makes me want to cry. And now you’re depriving me of my one chance at doing something good with my life? How can you live with yourself?”

“I let you move back in. You can fucking deal with Cass and I. You’ll get another chance with doing something with your life.”

My eyes flooded with tears and I ran back upstairs and into Jack’s arm, breaking down. “I hate him. I fucking hate him.” I sobbed and he hushed me and rubbed my back.

“I’ll go talk to him.” Jack said softly, kissing my hair and releasing me to go back downstairs. I could hear everything they said.

“Guys, can you please leave? Alex really needs this chance. This could be his one opportunity to become something big and that’s all he really wants. Can we please have the basement so we can shoot this video?” Jack asked, frustration coloring his words.

“Alex should have thought about that before he came down and screamed at us.” Tom replied coldly.

“Tom, come on. You’ve already ruined his day by bringing your girlfriend home, who you know makes him upset. The least you could do is let us do this so that Alex can have a good future. How would you feel if your best friend ended things with you and then Alex began to date him or her? And brought them home as if to parade them around just to make you upset? That might not be your intention, but that’s exactly what you’re doing to him. He’s already hurt enough by Cass ending their friendship and you’re only making it harder for him to try and get over her. Can we please just have the basement? We really need it so that Alex can have a good future.”

“Jack, you can shut the hell up.” I heard Tom say. I’d heard enough. I went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water and two Advil for my headache. I sat down at the table with my head in one hand, the other holding the water. Cass came in and I guess she didn’t expect me to be in here, because she froze.

“Get out.” I said quietly.

“Al-“

“Get out. You’ve done enough, now just get the hell out.” I cut her off.

“Fine.” She said, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Put back the damn water and leave.”

“Tom said-“

“I don’t give a shit what Tom said. Put the water back and get the fuck out.” I sighed and closed my eyes, then opened them and got two more Advil. She hadn’t left. “Can you please go?” I said, exasperated.

“Tom told me to wait in here.”

“Tom doesn’t fucking own you, okay? Now get the hell out of this room and leave me the fuck alone.”

“Al-“

“GET THE FUCK OUT, CASSADEE!” I screamed, closing my eyes to keep tears from escaping.

“Don’t yell at me!”

I just screamed in frustration and stormed down to the basement, where Tom and Jack were still arguing. I grabbed Tom by the collar of his shirt and literally dragged him out of the basement and shoving him into the kitchen with Cassadee, then stormed back to the basement, grabbing our guitars on the way and locked the door behind us. I moved the couch in front of the door to ensure that Tom didn’t find a key to open the door.

“Finally.” I breathed. “I fucking hate him.”

“How about you sing an angry song for the video?” Jack suggested.

“Something by TDF. Either Alibi, Thanks for Nothing, or Happy Without You.”

“Let’s do all three and choose the best.”

“Perfect. Are my eyes are red and puffy? Because I was crying?”

Jack examined me. “No. You look hot.”

I laughed. “Shut up.”

“No.”

“Okay.” I grinned and kissed him when there was a knock on the door. “Tom, get the fuck away from that door!”

“It’s not him.” I heard Cass’s soft voice say.

“Get the fuck away from that door.”

“I want to talk.”

“No.” I plugged my acoustic/electric guitar into the amplifier I had down there and started to play as loudly as possible to drown her out if she tried to talk. I started to sing along to the beat, since it was just a random tune.

“Thanks to you
Thanks to you I'm moving on,
Chasing out my skeletons and the trouble they have caused.

And all thanks to you I'm turning over
The pages in this book of revelations
About self medication

But there's this ringing in my head
As the ghost of you hangs over my bed.”

I finished the little part of the song as another knock came on the door. “Cass, go the fuck away!” I shouted.

“It’s Zack.”

“Oh.” I moved the couch away and unlocked the door, letting him in. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. What are we singing?”

“I think you should finish the song you just sang, Lex.” Jack said. I looked at him, frowning.

“That? That was just random thoughts pulled together.”

“It was good, I liked it.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I think putting all three of us together, we could make that really cool.”

“Sing it again, Lex. I didn’t hear it.” Zack said.

I shrugged and sang it again. “I agree, that was awesome.” He grinned.

“Alright, let’s do it. Hold on, I’ll go grab the video camera. Zack, think about backup vocals. Jack, try out new chords and such.” I said as I moved the couch away again and unlocked the door, heading up the stairs. Cass and Tom were in the living room cuddling and talking. Most likely about me.

“...Just being a dick.” I heard Tom say.

“I know.” Cass replied. “I got sick of it.”

My heart shattered, but I went in the room anyway because the closet with all the recording things was in there. They immediately stopped talking. “Hey Alex.” Tom sneered.

I didn’t respond, just opened the door to the closet and grabbed the camera, then went back down. “Have fun filming, Alex.” Cass said.

I just flipped her off over my shoulder. Just as I reached the stairs, I felt a hand on my shoulder, whipping me around. Tom was giving me a death glare. “Don’t you dare flip her off.” He growled.

I shoved his hand away. “She fucking deserves it.” I snapped back, running down the stairs and locking the basement door behind me, pushing the couch back in front of it. “Okay.” I sighed, setting up the tripod and the camera.

“Alex, start singing. We’ve got some things.” Zack said, smiling at me.

I began to play and sing, Zack adding backup vocals and bass while Jack joined in with his electric guitar.

“Thanks to you
Thanks to you I'm moving on,
Chasing out my skeletons and the trouble the have caused.

And all thanks to you I'm turning over
The pages in this book of revelations
About self medication

But there's this ringing in my head
(You said it was gunna be easy)
As the ghost of you hangs over my bed.”

I grinned. “Wow, that was awesome.”

“Yeah, it was. Jack and I will work on more chords and such while you work on lyrics, sound good?” Zack said.

“Yep.” I got out my lyrics notebook from my backpack, which I had brought down with me, and started to pour my emotions onto paper.

Within three hours, we had an entire song done. It was kickass, I had to admit. We shot the video a few times to make sure it was perfect, then also Wake Up by TDF in case we weren’t allowed to submit our own song. We considered asking Rian to come over to play the drums, but didn’t want to make him drag his drum set over here, and it would take too long.

We put both videos on a DVD and I pushed the couch away from the door and unlocked it so Zack could leave for dinner. “Do you have to leave too?” I asked Jack.

“I should, I have tests to grade from my Honors class. I text you later, okay?”

I nodded and kissed him goodbye, then went up to my room with all my things, tossing them on the ground by the door and setting the DVD’s on the desk.

After a while, the door opened and Cass came in, looking nervous. And rightfully so, if she didn’t get out, I’d yell at her again. “Get out.” I said, not looking up from the papers I was sorting as I stood over my desk.

“Alex-“

“I said get out.”

“Just-“

“Get the fuck out!”

“No!”

“I’m giving you one more chance to get the fuck out of my room.”

“I’m not leaving until we talk.”

“What is there to talk about, Cass?” I asked, turning around to face her. “You don’t want to be friends anymore! Is there something I’m not understanding here? You made it perfectly clear that you didn’t want to be anywhere near me, so just get out of my room and stay the fuck away from me. You’ve done more than enough. You had to end things with me on a day that was already fucking shitty and I’m trying to get over you, but you’re making that insanely difficult. So I’d appreciate it if you stayed the hell away from me from now on because I want to fucking forget about you, alright? Now get the hell out.” I said sharply.

She glared at me for a minute before turning on her heel and walking back towards Tom’s room. I sighed and turned back around to sort the papers on my desk, but I couldn’t focus, especially not when I found a paper with a bunch of notes she and I had written to each other back in 10th grade. I rolled my eyes and got the lighter out from my drawer from when I tried smoking. Never did that again.

I burned the corner of the paper, then put it fire out after about a third of it was burnt. Then I walked down the hall to Tom’s room and slid it under the door.

Enough is enough, I decided. I needed to get rid of every trace of her possible.

I emptied my trash can next to my desk and found every paper that had to do with Cass, every picture, every memory. Then I put them all in the trash can and lit them on fire. I took a picture of it, it was satisfying. I posted it on twitter, saying how I was satisfied with getting rid of memories.

Cass tweeted back right away. Really Alex?

I didn’t even reply. I blocked her from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and MySpace, unfollowing her as well. I blocked her from my phone and deleted her as a contact, which I wasn’t sure why I didn’t do earlier. Now the only time I would have to see her was in class or when she was with Tom and Tom was around me.

I smiled to myself. Getting rid of her felt good. Like I was deleting evidence that we were ever friends. However, she came storming into my room, extremely pissed off. “Who the hell do you think you are?!” She yelled.

“Alexander William Gaskarth?”

“You are such a fucking asshole!”

“Why? Because I blocked you from everything? Because I want nothing to do with you? Because I want to erase every memory we had together?”

“That’s exactly why!”

“I had every fucking right to do that. You didn’t want be my friend anymore, so I don’t want to remember anything about you. I want you to be gone from my life, Cassadee Pope. You have caused me enough pain.”

“You are a fucking asshole!” She yelled again.

“Oh, go tell it to Tom.” I rolled my eyes.

She stormed over and slapped me. I was sort of expecting it and she was actually pretty strong, so I didn’t necessarily react, although it hurt. “You fucking deserved that.” She snapped.

“If anyone deserved it, it was you.” I snarled before getting up and going downstairs to the kitchen. She just followed me.

“Alex Gaskarth, you are the worst person on this earth!” She said angrily.

“You really don’t know what your words are doing to me, are you?” I asked, turning around and facing her. Truth be told, what she was saying was just breaking me down. It hurt. She was telling me I was an awful person, I was an asshole. The exact opposite of what I wanted to be.

“I’m hoping that they’ll get through your thick skull and make you realize you didn’t deserve to be my friend in the first place.” She crossed her arms and glared at me.

That one hit me like a knife in the chest. “So you don’t see.” I nodded slowly as though I was understanding something that wasn’t there.

“What don’t I see?”

“In case you’ve forgotten, Cass, I’m not that person who can take whatever insults come his way. I’m not that guy who doesn’t give a shit about what people think of him. The scars on me prove that. All you’re doing right now is making me want to go upstairs and drag a razor across my wrist until I loose too much blood and finally die. Think before you speak. You don’t know the power words have.” I said before leaving the kitchen and going back up to my room, locking the door behind me and going into the bathroom, locking that behind me too.

I wasn’t planning on cutting. I wasn’t planning on any sort of self harm. I just put my hands on the counter to stabilize myself, even though I didn’t feel like I was going to fall over. I heard knocking on my bedroom door and I figured Tom would find a way in either way, so I didn’t so anything. I just let my head drop so I was looking at the counter and closed my eyes, my hair in my face.

Like I predicted, Tom picked the lock and starting banging on the bathroom door. “Alex? Are you in there? Are you alive?”

I decided to not reply. Scare him. He deserved it. He picked the lock again and came bursting in. “For fucks sake Alex, you can’t scare me like that!” He said.

“Get out, please get out.”

“Why the hell should I?”

“Because I want to be alone. You and your girlfriend have done enough already, between not letting me use the basement willingly and having her kill me words, so just let me be alone. You’re being really bipolar today and I don’t know why, but it’s fucking annoying and I don’t want to deal with it.” I sighed, worn out and sick of all his bullshit.

“You know Cass didn’t mean anything she said.”

“Of course she did. The girl doesn’t lie. Please get out so I can call Jack.”

“Why do you always turn to him?”

I frowned and looked at him. “Because he’s my boyfriend? Why else?”

Tom shrugged. “I don’t know. I was just wondering. Geez.” He finally left, yelling at me not the shut the door. I sighed and again and dialed Jack’s number. He picked up on the second ring.

“Hey babe, how you doing?”

“Alright. Cass just killed me with words. I don’t know, it’s what I deserve. I’m really just sick of all her bullshit. I miss her like hell, but all she’s doing now is rubbing it in my face that she doesn’t want to be my friend and is dating my brother.”

“Just forget about her.”

“I’m trying.”

~~~
Cass’s POV

I was in Tom’s room, we were doing homework together. I wasn’t paying attention, I was listening to Alex talk to Jack on the phone. About me.

“I’m trying. I don’t want to be mean to her, but every time I see her, all the hurt feelings and anger bubbles up inside of me and I can’t help it. She’s horrible to me now, so I don’t really see why I shouldn’t give it right back to her. .... I know, but we were friends for almost six years. .....” He laughed at something Jack said. “Shut up, don’t even go there. .... Stop! You’re making me blush and you’re not even in the room! ...... Come on, I am not. .... Yeah, that’s actually a good idea.” He started to sing softly. “Call me a name, kill me with words, forget about me, it’s what I deserve...”

I felt bad for what I said to him, but he was right. He did deserve it. He was being an asshole.

“Okay, okay, I’ll look it up. Wait, if it’s new, how did I miss it? ...... No, I always keep up! Whatever. Anyway, hold on. I need to listen to it.” He must have hung up. After a few minutes, I heard a song playing through his laptop.

“She’s an uptown drama queen, always up on the latest talk, whether it involves her or not...” I could hear Alex laughing a little. I knew Jack had suggested the song about me. I was positive when I heard the chorus. “Stay the hell away, oh cause you know I’m onto you...” At this Alex laughed harder and paused it, probably calling back Jack.

“Oh my god, I love you so much.” He laughed. “It’s exactly what I want to say! I can’t believe I didn’t hear this before! If you were here, you know I’d kiss you. ... We are NOT having phone sex, Jack. Not when Tom and her are home.”

He burst out laughing again. “Shut up! You’re so mean! .... I know, I do love you. You might need one too, later on. If you’ll let me sext. .... Damn it! .... No, Tom and her are home. .... Ugh, fine.” He started to sing Stay Strong. I’m guessing Jack wanted him to sing it. He made it halfway through the second verse before he stopped, laughing shakily. “Okay, I’m crying now, I’m not finishing. ... It’s fine, you know I get emotional over music. I’m used to it by now. ... Come on Jay, don’t feel bad. I love the song anyway, I’m happy to sing it, I just always cry over it. Only because I can relate to it so well. Seriously, don’t feel bad. I’m no crying anymore. ... But I’m not, am I? No. I stopped a while ago, you know that. Now it’s your turn. ..... I know you promised, but I still worry. That’s why I never promised you I would stop, because I didn’t know if I could keep it. I just don’t want you to get addicted like I did. Okay? ..... I’m holding you to that.” He laughed.

I tried to stop listening. It wasn’t easy, seeing as I knew he was pissed at me and wouldn’t ever forgive me for ending things with him.

I only ended things with him because we were getting too close. We kissed each other, cheated on our boyfriends. He would always kiss my cheek and hug me and put his arm around my shoulders or waist. It only would have gotten closer as the years went by and he was holding me back. People thought we were dating and I never got asked out because of him. We couldn’t go back to just friends, not best friends. It was literally the only way to get past this.

“I miss her like hell.” I heard Alex say, and my heart shattered. After all I’d done to him, he missed me? “I know I shouldn’t, but I do. .... Why? You should be pissed at me, telling me that I should hate her, not telling me that you don’t blame me for missing her. .... Aw, you’re sweet. But I can’t. I mean fuck, the girl slapped me. I’m not going to say that didn’t hurt, emotionally and physically. She’s stronger than you would think. ..... Yeah, my cheek is like, bright red and stings like hell. ..... No, it’ll be fucking cold.” He laughed again. “You are so perverted, Jack Barakat, and I really fucking love it.”

He was quiet for a while after that, so long I thought he might have hung up, until he replied. “You know I couldn’t do that.” He said it seriously. “Jack, I’m not kidding. I really can’t do that, I’m not strong enough. I don’t care if I get picked or not, I can’t do that. Listen, sorry but I’ve got to go, my phone is dying. I’ll see you tomorrow, bye babe. Love you. .... Love you more. .... No. I love you more and that’s final. .... Glad we agree on that. I’ll see you tomorrow. Night baby.” He hung up with a shaky sigh, like he wanted to cry or something.

“Cass? What are you thinking about?” Tom asked, snapping me out of my little trance.

“Hm? Oh, I was listening to Alex on the phone...” I said, straining to hear if he was crying or not. I think he was, I kept hearing deep shaky breaths and occasional sniffles.

“Don’t pay attention to Alex. He’s a jerk.”

“The thing is, he’s not. He’s a nice guy. I wish I didn’t have to end my friendship with him, but he was holding me back relationship-wise. And I know he hates me now.”

“He doesn’t hate you. He misses you.”

I sighed and looked down at my phone, at Alex’s contact that I never deleted for some reason. His profile picture was a picture of him and I together in 9th grade. I heard him sing Stay Strong again, this time playing his guitar as well. I could hear his voice cracking occasionally and I couldn’t stand it anymore.

I put my things to the side and went into his room silently. He had his eyes closed as he sang, not even noticing I was there. Tears stains shone on his cheeks from the setting sun outside his window. I leaned up against the wall as Tom came up next to me.

The way his guitar was positioned, I could see the many scars on his left arm, knowing there were more on his right, his hip, and his thigh. A tear rolled down his cheek as he finished and he wiped it away before opening his eyes and rolling them when he saw me and Tom standing there. He just got up and put his guitar back on the stand and just looked at us, like he was expecting something.

“Why are you in my room.” He asked coldly, wiping his eyes free of tears.

“I’m so sorry.” I whispered. “I’m so so so sorry, Alex, I miss you so much.”

“It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “I know it is, and I’m sorry, but I want you back.”

“Too late, Cass. You’ve done too much damage for that to happen. Now leave me alone, both of you.” He crossed the room and pushed us out and down the to Tom’s room. He went back to his room, but didn’t shut the door. I guess he called Jack again.

“Hey Jay.” He sighed. “I don’t really know. I was just in my room singing when she and Tom come in and just watch me, but I didn’t know they were there until I opened my eyes and then she said she was really sorry, that she misses me, and that she wanted me back. .... I told her it was too late for that. That she had done too much damage. Did I do the right thing? ..... I don’t know. .... Can you come over? ..... Okay, I’ll see you in a few. Bye.” He hung up.

Great. Jack was coming over to fix Alex’s once again broken heart.

~~~~
Alex’s POV

After about fifteen minutes, the doorbell rang and I ran to get. I opened it and let Jack in, kissing him hello and leading him up to my room.

We lay down on the bed together, me on my side snuggled up to Jack and his arm around my shoulders as he lay on his back. “So what’s going on with you and her?” Jack asked after a few minutes of silence.

I sighed. “She wants me back as a friend.”

“And you refused.”

I nodded. “I don’t want her to hurt me again. Did I do the right thing?” I asked again.

“That depends, baby. Do you think you did the right thing?”

“I really don’t know.” I replied honestly. “She broke my heart, friendship style, and I just don’t know if I can trust her again.”

“Then I think you made the right choice.”

I sighed again. “It’s just confusing.”

“Well, let’s worry about it later. Go to sleep darlin, you need it. Remember tomorrow’s when they choose finalists for the music program.”

“Shit! I completely forgot about that, now I’ll be stressed all day!”

“You do fine. You want to make it to the finalists, right?”

“I don’t know. If I win the whole thing, I get fame. I would do just fine with performing, it’s just... I don’t know. It’s scary.”

“You’ll do fine if you win, baby. Now go to sleep.”

“I can’t.”

“How come?”

“Because I’m all strung out.” I smiled at the reference to the song we had written. So did Jack.

“Come on Lex, you know everything will be okay. We both know that. You’ll end up being known for your music and who knows where I’ll be, whether I be touring with you or still stuck in this town as a teacher. Either way, you’ll get over Cass and Jasey and all the other haters out there. You’ll be fine.”

“I’ll only be fine if you’re there with me.”

“I promise I’ll be there. For as long as eternity allows.”

I grinned against his shirt. “You are so cheesy.”

“You love it.”

“Yeah, I really do.”

“Good.” He chuckled and kissed my hair. “I love you.”

“I love you too. A lot.”

“Are you tired yet?”

“I’m exhausted, I’m just too strung out to sleep.”

“So sing. Slow songs, nothing upbeat. Unless upbeat makes you sleep.”

“Any type of music makes me sleep, Jack. Can you get my guitar for me?”

He nodded and I was forced to release him from my hold, unfortunately and against my will. He got the guitar for me and I played American Secrets by Parachute. I really loved that song, especially the length of it.

“When the sun set low in the blood red sky yeah...”

My day got better just then. Singing with Jack was like my dream day. I forgot about everything having to do with Cass, Jasey, Tom, anything or anybody except for Jack and music.

“...American secrets, ohhh, had a dream it was ours and we just didn’t know yet, ohhh, American secrets, had a dream it was our it was lost in the regrets...”

After a finished singing, I set the guitar to the side and gently kissed Jack, cupping his face in my hands. His hands moved to my hips and he rubbed the scars under my shirt with his thumb. I lightly pushed him back so he was laying down and I lay next to him instead of on him. On him made it seem like I wanted to sleep with him, but I didn’t. Well, I did, but not right now.

So we just lay on our sides and kissed each other slowly and softly. It was more just brushing our lips together than a kiss. It remained completely innocent; I didn’t want it to be heated.

I ended it with a little kiss to the tip of Jack’s nose, which he smiled about. “You’re so cute.” He murmured.

“I am not, but you are.”

“We will forever disagree with each other on this, won’t we?”

“Yeah.” I laughed and kissed him once more before flipping over so I was facing away from him and snuggled into his front so we were spooning.

"Lexi, you don't know how much I love you, do you?" Jack asked.

"I know you love me a hella lot."

"Matt told you about my reaction to the breakup with Holly, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah...."

"Take that reaction and multiply it by infinity and you got 1/16th of the reaction I'd have if you broke up with me."

I smiled. "Awww..."

He blushed and buried his face in my neck. "Shut up."

"No, you're sweet. I wish I was as sweet as you."

"Shut up, you're sweeter."

"Another lifelong disagreement."

"Yep." He chuckled and kissed the spot where my neck and shoulder met. "Anyway, I love you a whole lot."

"I love you a whole lot too." I smiled and squeezed his hand, moving it so it was under my shirt and resting on my stomach. “Dude, your fingers are fucking freezing.”

He laughed. “Sorry.”

“I’m used to it.” I chuckled.

“Must you be so irresistable?” Jack said, grinning against my skin.

“Apparently so, since you just can’t keep your cold hands off me.”

“Do you want me to take my hand back?”

“No!”

He laughed. “Well then I suppose you suck it up and deal with my cold fingers.”

“I’ve got a way to warm them up.” I smirked mischievously, flipping over so I could face him.

He frowned, clearly confused. “What? How?”

I grinned. “Well, a way to warm three of them.”

His jaw dropped and he smacked my chest. “You are so dirty!”

I just laughed and laughed. “That was a good one and you know it.”

“Maybe so, but he and she are in the room right next door!”

“So? He’s heard a billion of my perverted jokes. She can just deal with it if she’s going to be over here.”

Jack shrugged. “I guess you’re right. Go to sleep, it’s late and we have school tomorrow.”

“But-“

“Shut up or I’m not sleeping over here anymore.”

“Okay.” I grinned and flipped over, letting him spoon me again. “Night Jay. I love you.”

“I love you too, Lex. Night.”

I switched the light off and linked our fingers as Jack tangled our legs together. I closed my eyes and sighed happily, forgetting about Cass and Tom for the night.

~~~
I woke up and Jack wasn’t next to me. Instead, a note was.

Lex, something came up with Matt and I had to go. I’ll see you at school, love you. –J

I frowned. What could have happened with Matt?

I got ready and just as I was about to leave for school, Tom came flying down the stairs, yelling my name. “What?” I asked.

“Can you drive Cass to school? She doesn’t have a car and I drove her over here.”

“No.”

“Please Alex? It’s too late for her to walk.”

I sighed unhappily. “Fine! This is the only time, though. I’m leaving right now, so she had better be ready.”

“She is.”

“GET THE HELL DOWN HERE OR I’M LEAVING YOU BEHIND!” I yelled up the staircase.

“Alex! Be nicer!”

“I have every right to be mean.” I snarled as she came running down the stairs. I grabbed my house key and walked outside to the car, unlocking it and getting in. Cass got in the passenger seat. I didn’t even acknowledge her, instead turned the key. Since my car is retarded, the engine stuttered and died.

“Shit.” I muttered, turning it again. Another stutter. Cass was just watching me expectantly and I got sick of it. “Can you not stare at me? I’m trying to get my damn car to start and your watching isn’t going to make it happen any faster.” I snapped.

“Sorry.” She said quietly, looking away.

I turned the key a few more times before I finally just got out and opened the hood, leaning over the engine and twisting a few wires before getting back in and trying again. I had grease all over my fingers, but I didn’t really care.

I turned the key once more and the engine stuttered to life. “Finally!” I said, still mad about having to drive Cass.

We drove in silence, except for the Fall Out Boy music coming from the radio quietly. Ironically, it was playing Thanks for the Memories.

“Alex-“ Cass stared.

“Don’t fucking talk to me.”

“Just hear me out.”

“I’ve heard enough out of your mouth, now shut up.”

“Don’t tell me to shut up, Alex.”

“I’ll do whatever the hell I want.” I said harshly. She didn’t reply. Another few minutes and we reached the school. “Get out.” I said, not even turning the car off.

She sighed and got out, glancing back at me over her shoulder. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Don’t expect another.”

I honestly couldn’t care less if I was being rude. She deserved it. I just turned Fall Out Boy up so loud I was sure you could hear it outside the car. I liked it loud, but I rolled down the windows anyway as I bent back in an uncomfortable position to get my things from the backseat. When I turned back around, Danny was looking at me through the window, making me jump.

“Shit man, you scared the hell out of me!” I exclaimed.

“Sorry. I thought you and Cass weren’t friends anymore?”

“We aren’t.”

“So why was she getting out of your car?”
“My brother forced me to give her a ride.” I rolled my eyes as I got out of the car with my guitar and backpack. “I’ve got to go see Jack, I’ll catch up with you later.” I said as I walked away to Jack’s room.

He was on the phone, frowning, as I walked in and took a seat next to him. “He-“

He gave me the one minute finger. “Well, when will he be out? .... You didn’t answer my question.” He waited, then sighed. “Alright, fine. I’ll deal with it later, just leave him there for the time being.” He hung up and sighed again.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“No. Matt got drunk last night and got into a fight at the bar and now he’s in jail. He’s relying on me to bail him out.”

“Is that a problem?”

“No, it’s just a pain in the ass. Anyway, good morning.”

“Morning.”

“Are you worried about the finalists for the music thing?”

“Yes.”

“How come?” He frowned.

“I’m just worried that I won’t get picked and then everyone will be either telling me they weren’t surprised or pitying me. I’d rather not have either. But if I do get picked, then I’ve got this huge chance and decision in front of me and I’m not sure if I’m ready for that kind of pressure and stress.”

Jack linked our fingers together. “You’ll do fine, baby. I promise. Remember, if you get picked, nine other people do too. You won’t be the only one worrying about this.”

I smiled and kissed him for a few seconds before the bell rang.

We did the whole morning thing, pledge of allegiance and daily announcements. “As you all know, we’ve had a music program going for students who are interested in pursuing a career in music. In these last few days, music teachers have had to make the difficult decision of who will continue on choosing ten people to get a chance at a recording contract with Hopeless Records. Those winners are...” The principle ranted.

My heart started racing and I looked at Jack, who smiled reassuringly at me. The principle listed off a few names. I counted eight, then figured I wasn’t going to get picked. Nine.

“... And Alex Gaskarth.”

Notes

Heya everyone... Just wanted to thank all of you for almost 6500 views and over 160 comments, along with a 10.0 vote. It means a lot, thank you <3