Chapter 1

"Hey Punk." 2D leaned back from the passenger seat of the band van, offering her some of the mint chocolate he had bought at the last gas station. A big, kind grin appeared on his admittedly quite pretty face and exposed the kind of cute gap where his front teeth would usually be as she broke a piece off the candy bar.

A rude slap against the back of her hand made Punk jump and she let out a little scream of pain. The chocolate flew out of her hand and was caught by the little Asian girl that sat next to her.
Noodle, who was so small that Punk could not help but think that she actually still needed a booster seat – even though apparently none of the other band members had come to that thought by now – gazed at her provocatively. Undoubtedly she did not really have a thing for Punk.

She was probably secretly scared of being replaced by the new, older guitarist, even though there was absolutely no chance of that ever happening to Punk. Noodle played better than her, and everyone of the guys looked at her with so much affection and will to protect her that Punk was sure each of them would kill for her without any hesitation. Even Murdoc, though he made sure the little girl did not notice.

Oh, speaking of Murdoc. Unlike Punk, Noodle was not a part of the band because its leader wanting to lay her had given her unfair advantages. He tried to make it not too obvious, but it was. Already from the stage during her performance she had noticed the looks that strange satanist was giving her, and when he came to her afterwards she was actually surprised when he offered her a place in his band instead of his phone number or even a quickie in the bathroom right away. But he did not, and Punk was happy about the opportunity the lucky instance of some freakish lewd bass player finding her hot had given her. Before he told her a little bit about them she had no idea who the Gorillaz were, but once she listened to a few of their songs she was thrilled by the diversity and incredible intensity of their music. And she did not even really like hip hop usually. Her preferred genre was – surprise, surprise:

"Punk." Russel, who had dozed off leaning against one of the windows of the van and had been awoken by the loud clap of Noodles fingers on Punks hand, looked at her with sleepy, but observant eyes. "D'ya even wanna be called that? We can just call ya by ya birth name, ya know. Camille, right?".
She shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, Camille, but Punk is fine. I like Punk." First of all, it fit her big, dark brown mohawk and music preference, and second of all it was a lot better than Noodle or the nickname Murdoc had suggested to give her. Camilletoe. No thanks.

Murdoc glanced at her through the rear mirror for a second before looking out of the front window again, and she could see at his eyes that he was grinning facetiously. He knew exactly what she was thinking. "Alright, kids", he said with that nasal voice that supposedly a million cigarettes had raspened. "We're here." He put one arm around the passenger seat to look back to Punk. His eyes glowed with enthusiasm and he sticked out his long, pointy tongue way over his chin. "Y'nervous, Camilletoe?"

It actually just really came back to her right now as he said it, but her heart did start to beat faster and blood rushed to her cheeks. Her first gig with the Gorillaz. And they did not even have nearly enough practice hours, even though she, an admirer of the Punk subculture, should not be worried by that. She could not remember when she had ever been properly prepared for any gig in her entire life.
There was nothing to be nervous about.

Punk swallowed before putting on a crooked grin. "Nah. Are you?...Pickles?"
And even though she only got a sarcastic slow clap by Noodle and the finger by Murdoc for her mediocre comeback, 2D and Russel actually laughed as they all got out of the van.

They got closer to the bar in front of which already half a dozen people stood, smoked and drank, and Murdoc put his wiry arm around Punks just as wiry shoulders and grinned at her once more from the side. "Well here we go, Camilletoe."
"Dat rhymed", 2D noted happily as they went inside.

"Okay, that was fucking awesome." Punk's sweat-covered skin sticked uncomfortably to the old leather sofa that stood in the community room in Kong Studio. The air in the bar had been incredibly smokey and warm, and it heated up even more when they started playing. People loved the Gorillaz. That band had a big future, she just started to completely grasp that now. Who knew, maybe joining them was the best decision she had ever made.

Russel had gotten into the shower the minute they got back, probably so he would not stick to the couch like Punk did, and she could still hear the water rushing and his deep voice singing some song from the 50s. 2D had fallen into the old, dusty armchair across the room and started snoring, Noodle jumped on the backrest and silently started braiding his hair.

"Budge up, won't cha." Murdoc got from the kitchen and with a deep groan sank into the sofa next to Punk. He left almost a meter of distance between them, which she found quite comfortable. Without a word he gave her one of the bottles of beer he had brought, while holding the other one against his meager yet from years of holding a heavy bass muscular chest to cool it.

Punk had had some booze earlier at the bar, but as much as she had seen him chug down would probably have instantly sent her to the hospital. Considering that he seemed applaudably controlled.

"We were bloody damn ace", he confirmed before lighting himself a cigarette and letting out a second groan. "Exhausting concert though." He exhaled smoke. "My back hurts. I'm getting too old for this shit."

"You're what, thirty-seven?", Punk raised an eyebrow. "Less drugs I suggest."

An irritated look appeared on his face and he wrinkled his nose. "I'm thirty-two, but thanks love. And seriously?"

She shrugged. "Whatever, I'm not your mama. Can I get one?" She nodded to the box of cigarettes.

The annoyed expression disappeared as quickly as it had come and he grinned, exposing his shark-like teeth that scared her just as much as they amazed her. He stubbed out his cigarette on the leather of the sofa. "Y'know what, I've got something better."

"Something better" turned out to be pot. Quite good pot though, as she could smell when he opened the little plastic bag to pour some onto a paper.

Doubtingly Punk pointed over at Noodle with her chin. "Dude, we can't have a joint with a ten year old in the room."

"Hell, you're right. Russ would kill us. Well, me, he thinks he's too classy to hit a chick." Like he was over a hundred years old he got up, stretched his stiff, creaking limbs and walked over to Noodle. "Hey, um, kid. Would you mind going to bed? Uncle Mudz and Punk wanna do adult stuff, y'know."

One of the little girl's eyebrows jumped up her big forehead and Punk's palm hit her own. "Maybe just a little bit more ambiguous?"

"Oh. Heh." He grunted amusedly. "Nah, we're not gonna fuck, girl. We're just doing drugs."

Punk facepalmed again. "Not getting better."

"Whatever, let's just hope I'll never make the mistake to become a father, right? Anyway. C'mon, kid. Go to bed."

The little Japanese girl shaked her head stubbornly and without a word showed him 2D's hair that she was not quite done braiding yet.
"Oh. I see. That's easy."

2D woke up with a faint scream of pain when Murdoc rudely knocked against the back of his head with his palm. "Whuut?", he whined. "Did I snore or sumfink? I, I'm sorry..."

"Take that pain in the arse to bed", Murdoc interrupted him harshly. "Punk and I wanna smoke."

"Why d'you always..."

"Just shut your cockhole and fuck off, alright Faceache?"

Yammering complaints about how he had been hit for no reason and how Murdoc was always so, so mean the blue haired boy lifted Noodle off her chair, put her on his slender shoulders and disappeared upstairs with her.

Murdoc sat back on the sofa and sighed deeply. "Satan, what a whiny little bitch."

"Dude, you are such an asshole towards him. If I were you I'd be careful. One day you're gonna overstep the line, and then you can look for a new frontman."

"Eh, maybe you're not even wrong about that." The bass player shrugged as he started rolling a spliff. His long fingers that reminded her a little bit of claws where shaking, and after a while of watching him fail she took paper, weed and filter to finish it. She leaned forward to reach the fire he lit for her with the cigarette between her lips and immediately noted his eyes wandering down her despite her skinny figure more or less presentable cleavage. Goddammit, that guy was so easy. Even though she would lie to say that she was not provoking him at least a little bit, just to see if he was still giving her those looks. He was.
She blew out smoke, coughed a little and then passed him the spliff.

Silently he took it and inhaled deeply. "How old are you?", Murdoc breathed out, laying back in the sofa until he was looking at the ceiling.

"Nineteen."

"Interesting."

Punk raised an eyebrow as she reached for her bottle. Her throat was starting to itch as it often did when she was smoking weed. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Just wondering. Just thought it would be weird of you to hit on me like that if you were underage."

She almost choked on her beer. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, come on." He rolled his eyes. "You don't have to pretend to be a tease, y'know. A woman can be just as underfucked as a man. It's fine, you want my cock. That's nothing to be ashamed of, my dear."

She laughed out loud, but it sounded a little too hysterical. Blood rushed to her cheeks, which she decided to blame the weed for. That guy was nuts. The alcohol made him way too confident. "Okay, sorry to break this to you, but not everyone wants your dick", Punk informed him, wiping beer from her chin and sitting up on the sofa. Suddenly she felt really uncomfortable. Was that his plan? Getting her high and then trying to make his move?

"Not everyone", he confirmed amusedly. "But you. You are hitting on me. You were during your stage performance, and you were right now when you basically sticked your lovely little tits in my face." His pink tongue appeared between his teeth and licked over his lip.

"You're disgusting!" She was almost yelling now, and her voice was unsteady, mainly from the alcohol though.

"Murdoc, ya leave the lady alone right now or I'm coming for ya", Russel shouted a warning from upstairs. "He harassing ya, Camille?"

"It's fine, thanks Russ", she answered, fixating Murdoc's face with a piercing gaze. One word and she would have the bulky drummer break his wonky nose for the sixth time, and he knew that. His eyes narrowed.

Then his face relaxed again and he sighed. "Alright, you know what? I approached this the wrong way. I need to take a piss anyway, and I think I'm gonna honk up in a bit. G'night." He bowed totteringly before disappearing to the bathroom, and Punk stayed on the sofa, confused and irritated.