This is my official second fanfic! Well, that I've uploaded. In lieu of the newest album dropping, I decided to finally share this story. Plus I've been slacking on my other story, so I might as well put my focus on this one.

Anyway, this story starts out in Phase 2 and will continue from there. There may be *some* mistakes that I've made in some places concerning plot, but hey, this is fan fiction, not a thoroughly thought out piece of literature!

Rated T but it might change. I keep having a mental back and forth with myself whether or not this is T or M.

Chapter 1

Murdoc had officially lost it. Not like he had it before, but this time he had officially lost it. He was yelling at 2D more than usual, he worked Noodle's poor fingers to the bone, and he even dared to criticize Russell. The success of the first album had them all in a tailspin; the pressure of living up to the initial hype was enough to drive them all mad, but especially the manager-slash-bassist. Murdoc volunteered to take on the role of manager because, simply put, he didn't trust anyone else to get the job done. But now working on the second album, the stress came to bite him in the arse.

Murdoc groaned, leaning back in his swivel chair. "Fucking 'ell! You better get this fucking chorus right, you fucking face-ache, or I'll come in there and wring your limp pencil neck out!" he yelled into the intercom so that 2D could hear him from inside the recording booth.

"I-I thought I did it right this time! I-It sounded pretty okay from in here…" 2D stammered.

"Okay? Okay?! Okay music doesn't pay the bills, you twat! You don't stop until it's perfect!" Murdoc screeched, giving 2D a murderous look.

"B-But we've been doin' this for 3 hours! An' it's just the chorus! Don't you think we should move on to guitar?" 2D complained.

"We move on when I say we move on! We'll keep doing it until your voice gives out and you puke out your own voice box! And then I'll rip your throat out for giving up!" Murdoc pressed some buttons and the track started again, signaling for 2D to start singing again.

Russell twirled his drumstick in his hand as he sat on the lounge couch on the other side of the studio. "Man, Murdoc has been nothing but wound up since we started working on the new music. It's like he never stops screaming."

Noodle, who was sitting on the floor practicing the chords to the new song over and over again, nodded in agreement. "Hai, too high strung."

"I AM NOT HIGH STRUNG!" Murdoc boomed, over hearing the two behind him.

"Man, Muds, you need to take it easy," Russell said, earning a nod from Noodle. "When's the last time you actually slept?"

Murdoc, without turning around to face his drummer, scoffed. "Sleep doesn't matter when you're a famous Rockstar."

"Maybe you needa focus on one job right now," Russell suggested.

"Last time I checked I was the leader of this band, not you! I have everything under control," Murdoc muttered under his breath, trying to listen to what 2D was singing in the headphones on his ears. As soon as 2D hit the wrong note, Murdoc cringed and growled deep in the back of his throat, slowly rising from his seat. "What did I say, you sorry excuse for a—!" He rose from his chair and skulked to the booth's door.

2D frantically pulled his hair and shrank back as Murdoc stepped toward him with outstretched arms, all while shrinking. "No, no, no!"

As Murdoc tried to strangle his defenseless singer, Russell pulled out his laptop and began to type.

Noodle looked at him inquisitively. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Muds is gonna go even crazier if he keeps going on like this. I'm calling in for some backup." Once he was done typing, he turned the laptop around so that Noodle could see what he was doing.

Reading what Russell had typed, a wide grin spread across her face. "Nice!"

Sam burst into the small pub, a bright smile gracing her face. She quickly went over to the bar and took a seat. "I'll take a bottle of your finest champagne!" she exclaimed to the single bartender.

The tattooed barman turned to her and grinned. "Coming right up. What's the fine occasion?"

Sam set her graduation cap on the bar top and shimmied out of her robe. "It's not everyday someone graduates from college magna cum laude with a master's degree in business."

"I guess that does call for celebration," the man said cheekily, pulling a bottle of champagne from the chiller. "You know, Sam, if I didn't know you I'd never peg you for the business type. You're more 'artsy'."

"Way to stereotype, Colin! I'm erasing labels like that one tattoo at a time," she retorted, pulling the hem of her tight black dress down the side of her tattooed thigh to be more covered. Probably not the most appropriate dress for a graduation, but she figured no one could see it under her robe anyway so she could just dress for going out later.

Sam, age twenty-three, her body already covered in tattoos. Some colorful and some black and white. Most people could recognize her by her long, curly black hair with bangs that covered most of her dark chocolate eyes, but it was the tattoo of three roses side by side on her neck that was what caught most people's eye.

"So, how do you think employers are going to react to you?" Colin asked, handing over a glass of champagne.

Sam just smirked and shrugged. "I don't want to be someone's employee. I'm going to be the boss."

Colin laughed. "You sure do have big dreams, kid."

"You gotta shoot for the stars, Colin!" Sam said with a smile, drinking her champagne. "I want to work with like-minded people. People with big dreams and ambitions who know that what you look like doesn't dictate the amount of knowledge you hold. My tattoos and piercings don't hold me back from doing a job that I love to do. You should know that."

Colin nodded in agreement. "Amen, sister. I wish had followed my dreams instead of just settling for bartender. I just thought I couldn't be hired. You are truly an inspiration, Sam."

Sam blushed and held up her glass. "To dreams," she toasted, Colin holding up the bottle and clinking them both together.

Setting the bottle down, Colin asked, "So, what are your celebration plans for tonight?"

Sam let out a sigh, trying to navigate her plans in her head. "After this I have to swing by the florist, then I'm going to the cemetery for a while," she said, lowering her gaze to the bar top.

"Your parents would be so proud of you," Colin said, trying to cheer her up.

Sam just let out a bittersweet chuckle and downed the rest of her glass. While Colin filled her glass again, she told him more. "After that I'm heading to Laura's to get ready for the night and then we're going to meet Tanya on sixth street to get wasted."

"Sounds like heaven!" Colin said, taking a stool from the back of the bar area and pulling it up in front of Sam. "I'm working a double shift. Don't get off until two, and I am the one that opened the damn place! I gotta get a new job."

Sam placed a comforting tattooed hand on Colin's. "Well the great thing about living in the city is that there's not any shortage of bartending jobs here. Just get a job on sixth street."

"Maybe," Colin said with not much enthusiasm. Sam knew Colin loved this bar. It was his uncle's bar before he moved away. Even though Colin didn't get to take over management, he still had a duty to his uncle to stay and make sure the bar was going in the right direction.

Once she was done with the bottle of champagne all by herself, and still not a buzz in sight, Sam made her way to the florist, where she bought her mother's favorite flowers—tiger lilies.

Crunching through the dead grass the bright Texas sun showed no mercy to, Sam found the big headstone and stood there before it. The headstone read "ANTONIO DELAROSA BELOVED HUSBAND AND FATHER" on the left side and "ESMERELDA DELAROSA BELOVED WIFE AND MOTHER" on the right. Beneath the names it read "La paz les dejo, Mi paz les doy; no se la doy a ustedes como el mundo la da. No se turbe su corazón ni tenga miedo." She set the bouquet of flowers down on the ground as she kneeled to touch the headstone.

"Hola, mama, papa," Sam said under her breath. She lifted her graduation cap to her chest, as if showing the headstone. "Yo me gradue'," she said, tears pricking on the sides of her eyes. Letting the cap down, she kissed her index and middle fingers and pressed it to the headstone. "Los quiero mucho."

Standing up, brushing the dead blades of grass from her bottom and wiping the tears from her face, she held her cap to her chest and closed her eyes. "I wish ya'll were here," she said in a low voice. Turning back to her car parked a few yards away on the curb, she wobbled back to it in her wedge heels, trying to keep steady underneath the unleveled earth below.

"Sam, babe, come in!" Laura exclaimed as soon as she opened the door of her apartment and saw Sam standing there. "Can you believe we are two-time graduates? I mean once was a miracle for me, but twice? Hallelujah!"

Sam stepped inside the small studio apartment, kicking off her wedges and making herself comfortable. "It felt like a lifetime," she said, taking a seat on the futon. "Time to start our careers, find a man, get married, and have babies," she said flatly.

As Sam made herself at home, Laura went back to fixing her makeup in the bathroom. "Find a man, maybe. Hell, I might find one tonight if I'm lucky! But marriage? Children? Ugh, I'd rather break both of my legs twice," she said in disgust.

Sam chuckled, kicking her legs up onto the futon and leaning back to lie down. "I mean, I wouldn't mind getting married, but I don't think I could squeeze an entire baby out. I mean, I know it's possible, obvs, but, like, gross."

"I know, right? If I wanted to take care of something, I would just get a dog. They're cuter, smarter, and won't grow up to resent me."

Sam giggled to herself lightly at her friend's frankness. "Are we meeting Tanya at the club or is she coming here?"

Laura stepped out into the common area, all made up and large barrel curlers wrapped in her long blonde hair. "She said she was going to meet us there with her boyfriend. Looks like it's going to be mostly you and me tonight."

Sam sat up, giving Laura a smirk. "Okay but just so you know I'm trying to get laid tonight."

Laura snatched up a pillow from her bed that sat behind the futon and tossed it at her friend's head. "When are you not trying to get laid?" Laura joked. "That actually works out because I haven't gotten any since before midterms. Mama needs to let off some steam!"

"Tonight's mission: find someone, get laid, try not to get alcohol poisoning," Sam said, moving her hand like the was checking off a list in the air. "I'm just ready to finally let loose."

And there you have it! The first chapter! Please leave a comment on what you thought, because I am dying to know!