Whew! This has really been a productive month for me! I just finished three more chapters with original stories, including this one! I think writing these things is actually getting a little easier. Anyway, this is another request by Grojbandfan55 and she said:
"What happend if Laney has a new friend and spend time together, but this bothers Corey and decides that he and others to follow and Jackie tries to tell you minght be jealous.
I dont't knon a good idea is you choice but you can put a little of love between Corey and Laney just that they're so cuto together. 3"
Sorry if this one is shorter than the other ones but I feel like couple one-shots like this one shouldn't run for too long. Enjoy nonetheless!
Chapter 39
Jealous Much?
Grojband was chilling out in the garage one day, practicing their music. It hadn't been a very eventful day so far and they had no plans made whatsoever. There weren't any music-related events going on in town so all they could do was stay home. Good thing they didn't have any new songs written up. However, things were about to take a slight turn when Jackie entered the garage.
"Hey guys!" she greeted. "Guess what? A new kid just moved in next door!"
Corey perked up. "A new kid? As in a soon-to-be new fan of Grojband?!"
"Um, well…"
"This is incredible! No way can she not love living next door to the coolest band in town?! And you probably already told her all about us!" Corey got up in Jackie's face. "You did tell her about us right?"
"Well yes, but-"
"Sweet! Is she coming over? Do you think you could ask her to come over sometime this week?"
"I guess I could but see-"
"Aw, forget it! I can't wait that long! You've gotta bring her over right now!"
"Yeah!" Kon jumped up. "The sooner she hears my wicked rhythms, the sooner she'll be completely devoted to us!"
"But-" Jackie tried to say but Kin interrupted her.
"It's totally cool if you wanna invite her over today Jackie." the boy in glasses had hearts in his eyes. "After all, any friend of yours is a friend of mine."
"Well that was the plan Kin." Jackie finally explained. "But the thing is…the new neighbor is actually a boy."
When Jackie mentioned the last part, the hearts in Kin's eyes broke in half.
Just then, a tall teenaged boy with long black hair and freckles came in the garage.
"Guys I'd like you to meet our new neighbor, Luke!"
Luke waved at the band. "Sup?"
Corey was a little disappointed but tried to be polite.
"Oh. A guy groupie huh?" he chuckled. "I guess that could work. I'm Corey Riffin. I'm the band's front man."
Luke shook Corey's hand. "Oh yeah. Jackie told me about you. Said you were pretty cool."
"Yeah!" Corey smiled. "Totally!"
"She also said you were kind of a show-off at times."
Corey gained a look of surprise. Kin meanwhile, was scowling and feeling very jealous.
"Anyway…" Jackie gestured to the twins. "This is our drummer Kon…"
Kon waved and gave Luke a fist-bump.
"And that's our keyboardist Kin."
"Hey, how's it going?" Luke asked Kin. "You know, I'm a bit of a keyboard player myself."
"Oh really?" Kin said through gritted teeth. "How nice."
"Yeah, I've been playing for a few years now actually. My inspiration is Beethoven."
"Who?"
"Oh yeah!" Jackie remembered. "Why don't you play that one song you played for me earlier? Kin, you don't mind if Luke uses your keyboard for a minute, do you?"
Kin put on a fake smile.
"Oh no…go right ahead…" he held his hand out to Luke so he could pull him on stage. When Luke reached his hand out toward Kin's, Kin started squeezing it very tightly.
"Whoa!" Luke went as he got on stage. "You've got a strong grip for such a little dude! What are you trying to do, rip my hand clean off?"
Kin just growled in response but Luke took no notice. He slowly slipped out of Kin's grip and played a melody on his keyboard.
Kon began to cry.
"That was so beautiful!" he whimpered.
"I'll say!" Corey agreed.
"Yeah Luke! You're an amazing keyboard player!" Jackie commented.
"Yeah, you're amazing." Kin got up in Luke's face. "But I'm her favorite…"
Jackie then looked over at Laney.
"Oh! I almost forgot! This is Laney. She's our bass player."
"Oh, hey there I-"
When Luke looked over at Laney, he was at a loss for words. Laney turned her head toward Luke which to him looked like it was happening in slow motion. Her gorgeous red hair flipped from side to side before resting against her cheeks. She smiled slowly and batted her eyelashes, showing off her sparkling green eyes.
"Whoa…" Luke muttered under his breath. He took a step closer to Laney. "Hi. Uh, I, um…you, you're kinda cute…"
Laney's eyes widened. "Oh wow, uh…no one's ever told me that before."
"Heh, heh…" Luke chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I really like your…uh…hair clip? Yeah, it's…nice."
Laney looked up at her bright yellow hair clip.
"Uh…thank you?"
"Yeah…sure no problem." Luke scratched behind his neck. "So you like…music? Cause, you know, I do…and stuff."
Laney nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty rad. Let me tell you though, it's not easy being in a band with all boys!"
"Oh! I know right? We're really immature aren't we?"
Laney shrugged. "It's not so bad though since Jackie's with us now and the two of us have girl time every now and then."
"Cool…heh, heh. Very cool."
Just then, a voice could be heard from the house next door.
"Luke! Dinnertime!"
"Oh! That's my mom. I gotta go. Would it be cool if we finished this conversation tomorrow?"
"Sure. Sounds good. See you then."
Luke blushed.
"Yeah…see you then I guess."
Corey glanced at the two. He wondered why Luke was so flustered when he talked to Laney.
Luke looked back at Jackie. "Uh, you don't mind if I come back tomorrow right?"
"Hey, you're always welcome here, neighbor." Jackie wrapped her arms around Luke causing Kin's eyes to light up with fire. "See you tomorrow."
"Sure." Luke looked back at Laney one more time. "Bye."
Laney waved goodbye as Luke left the garage.
"He seemed nice!" Kon said.
"A little too nice if you ask me…" Kin responded suspiciously.
Corey nodded, silently agreeing with Kin. He knew there was something odd about that kid. The way he looked at Laney and the way he turned red when he talked to her made him feel uneasy. And what was worse was the way Laney smiled at him. Like she had actually found his shyness to be cute! And to Corey, that was not okay. From then on, he decided he would be keeping an eye on this "new neighbor" and making sure he didn't do anything to his bassist.
THE NEXT DAY TRANSITION!
Jackie and the band were all in the garage waiting for Luke to come by.
"I don't like this new kid." Kin grumbled. "I just know he's trying to steal Jackie away from me."
"But Kin, you're not even dating Jackie." Kon pointed out.
"Not yet you mean. But with that idiot Luke around, it'll never happen!"
Kon rolled his eyes. "You're crazy bro. Corey, tell him how crazy he is."
Corey looked down. "Actually Kon, I kind of agree with Kin on this one. There is something suspicious about that Luke guy. But I have a feeling it's not Jackie he's trying to steal."
"Then who is he trying to steal Core?" Laney questioned.
Corey didn't answer. He was too embarrassed. At that point, Jackie and Luke had come in and they were having a conversation.
"So you'll really do it?" Luke asked Jackie.
"Of course! Anything for you!"
"Oh good! You have no idea how happy I am to hear that! Seriously, I've been meaning to ask you this since yesterday, or I guess you could say the day we met, and I was afraid you might say no."
"C'mon, I'd never say no to a guy like you."
Kin saw the two talking and gave a long gasp. Then he clenched his fists and steam came out of his ears. He zipped up to the two of them.
"Oh no you don't!" he interrupted. "Stay away from her!"
"Kin!" Jackie cried. "What's wrong?"
"Yeah man! What's your problem?" Luke added.
"My problem? You're the one with the problem!" Kin exclaimed, poking Luke in the nose. "You've only known Jackie for a day and already you're asking her out on a date! Well, I know what you're up to and I'm not going to let you leave with her!"
"Dude! What are you talking about?" Luke shuddered. "I don't want to date Jackie!"
"Don't try to deny it bub!"
"Kin! Stop!" Jackie shouted, pulling Kin away. "How could you be so rude like that?"
Kin blushed and looked down shamefully. "I-I'm sorry Jackie. I-I-I was just worried about you is all."
"Worried? What is to be so worried about?"
"I-I-I was afraid that if you and Luke were dating then…you'd forget all about me-er, I mean us. You'd spend so much time with him that you wouldn't have time to be our manager anymore."
Jackie sighed and put her arm around Kin.
"First of all Kin, I would never forget about you guys no matter who I'm dating. You don't have to worry."
"Really?"
"Yes. But that's still no excuse to yell at our new neighbor!"
Kin nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry."
"Secondly, Luke wasn't trying to ask me out. He was asking me to ask Laney if she wanted to go out with him."
The other band members, who were listening in on the whole conversation, gasped. Laney blushed a deep scarlet color.
"M-m-me? Really?" she stuttered.
Luke was blushing also. "Yeah, I was a little too scared to ask you myself. I was just wondering if maybe, and obviously you don't have to, you and I could hang out in the park later today…" he paused. "Uh, it doesn't have to be a date or anything like that…no! What I mean is, it's not a date! No, no, no! It's just a chance for us to get to know each other better. Since, you know, we'll be living next door to each other for a while now. So uh…yeah! Not a date!"
Laney was speechless by her new friend's offer.
"I…um…"
Corey watched the two of them curiously.
"I guess maybe…" Laney thought about it for a while.
Luke frowned. "Yeah, I get it. Who wants to spend all their time with a loser like me anyway?" he turned to leave. "Bye."
Laney gained a guilty expression as Luke walked away.
"Wait!" she called. "You know what? I'd love to go to the park with you! I think I'll have time after practice today so what do you say I meet you at around 12:30?"
"Uh, sure!" Luke nodded. "That sounds awesome! Heh, heh…see you then!"
With that said and done, the black-haired kid headed back to his own house. Corey's jaw dropped in surprise. Did Laney seriously just say yes to a date with a boy she just met the other day? It was completely unbelievable. Of course, Luke clarified that what they were doing wasn't a date at all but Corey didn't let that fool him. He knew for a fact that something that wasn't a date would slowly turn into one. And Laney was out of her mind if she was actually thinking about dating that guy. His thoughts were then interrupted by Jackie.
"Corey? Core?" she said. "Are you okay?"
Corey shook his head and looked up at his manager.
"Oh…sorry. Yeah I'm fine. I was just thinking about something…"
Jackie was concerned. "You know if there's something you wanna talk about, I'm here for you. C'mon, what's bothering you?"
"It's just that…" Corey paused for a brief second. "I don't like the idea of Laney going out with someone she literally just met yesterday. Don't you think that's a little weird?"
Jackie raised her eyebrow and smiled.
"Core, are you jealous?"
"What? Me?" the front man scoffed. "No way! Why would I be jealous?"
"Maybe because Laney's taking a liking to the new guy."
Corey shuddered at the thought but he didn't show his fear in front of Jackie.
"Oh c'mon! Laney doesn't like Luke! That's ridiculous! And even if she did, I wouldn't be jealous! Lanes is like a little sister to me. I don't think of her that way!"
"Okay. Whatever you say Core." Jackie shrugged before getting up. "All right Kon, let's hear some beats."
As Jackie turned her attention over to Kon, Corey looked back over at Laney who was strumming notes on her bass. He started thinking about what would happen in the park later that day and whether or not Laney did like Luke. At that point, he had to admit to himself that he was, in fact, jealous. He would never say it to Jackie though, or Kin and Kon for that matter. They wouldn't understand. And there was no way he was going to tell Laney about his envious thoughts. He planned to keep his feelings hidden from everyone he knew and he also planned to go to the park that afternoon so he could spy on Luke and Laney. Whatever was going on between the two of them, he was going to put a stop to it.
COREY IS GETTING JEALOUS!
Later, after rehearsal, Laney headed toward the park to meet Luke. Corey disguised himself as a bush and followed her there. Luke was at the park already, sitting on a bench by himself. He was getting worried that Laney forgot about him or purposely decided not to come. He smiled when he saw her walking towards him.
"Hey! You actually came!" he sounded surprised.
Laney was confused. "Of course. I said I was coming. Why did you think I wasn't?"
Corey scooted himself and the bush he was hiding in closer so he could hear the two of them.
"Well, it's just that…most of the girls in my old neighborhood were kinda dishonest. There'd be times where I'd ask one of them out on a date…uh, not that this is a date mind you, then I'd wait two whole hours and they wouldn't show up."
Laney smiled and sat down next to Luke.
"Well, I'm not like those girls. In fact, I'm actually surprised you know I'm a girl."
"Really? Why's that?"
The red-head looked down. "Because everywhere I go, people are always mistaking me for a boy."
"What? No way!"
"It's true! No matter who I meet, it's always dude this, fella that. It's so annoying. And the worst part is my bandmates do it all the time! Especially Corey!"
Corey's ears perked up at this sentence.
"Sometimes I get the feeling he doesn't even know I'm a girl."
"Wow, I'm sorry." Luke grinned. "If it makes you feel better, I think you're the prettiest girl I've ever met."
"Really?"
"Yep. If you ask me, your friends are crazy if they don't see how beautiful you truly are." he smirked. "Come to think of it, that Kin guy is already pretty crazy. You should have seen how angry he got when he caught me talking with Jackie."
Laney giggled. "Yeah, you should probably know that Kin's had a crush on Jackie since the day she became our manager. He's really protective of her and he doesn't like it when other guys talk to her. What's even funnier is that Kin hasn't told Jackie he likes her and he still acts like he's her boyfriend."
"Really. So why doesn't he just tell her already?"
"He's tried to, believe me, but it hasn't worked out. One time he tried to write his feelings in a letter but it was filled with a bunch of embarrassing stuff. Jackie almost got ahold of it but me and the others managed to retrieve it before she had the chance to read it. To this day she still doesn't know about Kin's crush on her no matter how obvious he makes it look."
Luke groaned. "Ugh, obliviousness. The one thing that keeps a relationship from starting up."
"Yeah, I totally know how that feels…" Laney started thinking about how oblivious Corey had been in the past. Luke continued.
"Well, anyway Kin has nothing to worry about. I'm not interested in dating Jackie. I've got my eye on someone else right now." Luke glanced over at the short female bassist.
"Me too." Laney kept thinking about Corey.
And speaking of Corey, he was still watching both of them from a distance. He noticed Luke was scooting closer to Laney and leaning up against her. That was what did it for the beanie-wearing kid. He jumped out of his hiding spot and charged right for the two of them.
CRASH!
The bench got broken in half and Laney tumbled toward the ground. She sat up holding her head and gasped when she saw Corey pinning Luke down.
"I knew it!" he yelled. "I knew you were nothing but trouble!"
Luke was absolutely terrified. "What? Dude! What are you doing?! Get off of me!"
"Kin was right about you! You just wanted to break the band up! I never should have let you near Laney, you, you band breaker upper you!"
Laney grabbed Corey by the arm. "Core! Stop it! Let him go!"
"Can't you see what's going on Lanes? He likes you! I know he does because I saw him trying to touch you and get close to you! He says this whole thing isn't a date but it really is!"
"What?!" Laney was shocked.
"Look man, I'm sorry! I didn't realize the two of you were dating, okay?" Luke pleaded.
Corey blushed a little at this sentence and so did Laney. But that didn't stop him from stopping Luke.
"Lies!" he shouted.
Laney continued pulling the band leader's arm.
"Core! That's enough! Luke isn't trying to break up the band!"
Corey froze at this statement because he knew if Laney said it, it had to be true. This gave Laney the opportunity to yank him off.
"He isn't?"
"No! Of course not! Why would you think that?"
"Well, I…I guess I just didn't like that look in his eye when he was with you. It made me worried that you would fall in love with him and forget about the band."
At that point, Laney understood.
"Like what Kin was worried about when Luke talked to Jackie?"
"Yeah, exactly. I don't know what came over me. I'm sorry Lanes."
"Isn't there someone else you wanna apologize to?
Corey looked at Luke as he stood back up. He sighed.
"You're right." he got up and faced Luke. "Sorry about that Luke."
But Luke refused to forgive him.
"You're crazy man! Crazy!" the teenaged boy ran off.
Corey couldn't help but feel terrible about what happened. Laney's new friend was gone and it was all because of him. He looked down in guilt and sadness. Laney put a hand on his back to try to comfort him.
"Core, it's okay."
"I…I just wanted to protect you…" Corey mumbled. "I wanted to keep you safe…and thanks to me, you lost the guy you were in love with."
"What? Corey, I was never in love with Luke! Who keeps putting all these crazy thoughts into your…" she stopped for a moment. "Wait…were you jealous or something?"
"Huh? Who me? No! Of course not!"
Laney raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe a little…" Corey scratched behind his neck. "But it's only because I don't want to be forgotten."
Laney smirked and wrapped her arms around the blue-haired boy.
"I would never forget you."
Corey smiled and hugged back. He was happy to know his relationship with Laney was safe…for now at least. The two of them went back home and told the whole story to Jackie and the twins. Kin and Kon were pretty surprised by the events, but Jackie understood. She had a feeling Corey was catching on to Laney's feelings for him.
As for Luke, Jackie and Grojband never saw him again. Ever since Corey attacked him, he had been too scared to visit them. Then a week later, he and his family moved away from Tranquil Town. A moving van had packed up everything and Luke's parents started following it out of town. Jackie and Grojband stood outside and waved goodbye.
"I can't believe he's really leaving." Laney said.
"It's all my fault." Corey replied. "None of this would have happened if I had just stayed out of the way."
Jackie sympathized with Corey.
"Aw, it's not entirely your fault Core. It also has to do with the fact that the author didn't have any other use for Luke and so she decided to get rid of him completely."
"Either way, I've learned my lesson." a spotlight shined on Corey. "Jumping to conclusions is never the right answer. Sure, sometimes you assume right and have things done your way, but most of the time you just end up looking dumb in front of everybody." he glanced at Laney. "Including the ones you really care about."
Laney gave a caring smile and Corey put an arm around her.
"It's better to share your feelings with those people rather than keep them hidden. Especially jealousy. Because if that little green monster inside you stays inside you for too long, it might just turn you into a monster."
The spotlight disappeared.
"You know, you could write those words down and put them into a song?" Laney suggested.
"Maybe fella." Corey poked Laney on the nose. "Maybe."
Laney gained hearts in her eyes.
"Thanks for coming out everyone!" Corey shut the garage door.
Yay! Corney for everyone! BTW, the thing about Luke is true. I really didn't know what to do with him after this so I just cut him from the story altogether. I'm sorry if you were expecting more chapters with him in the future but I really think the story will go more smoothly without him.
Also, there's one more thing that I wanted to talk to you guys about. I just found out that there are 25 Grojband episode segments that I haven't done yet which is almost half of them. 5 need to be saved for somewhere near the end and 1 needs to come after a certain episode. That leaves 19 episodes that can be placedThe reason I bring this up is because I am not allowing this story to exceed 110 chapters and I want to make sure I get the chapters based on episodes done ahead of time so there'll be plenty of room for original requests later on. So...I'm going to make a deal with you guys. After I post Chapter 42, I want to go back to doing episodes for a little while. If we can get 10 more chapters based on episodes done, then I'll post a super-special original multi-part story afterwards! Sound good? Here is a list of the segments I haven't done yet (not including the 6 that need to be saved)
Cloudy with a Chance of Malt Balls
Pox N Roll
Math of Kon
Monster of Rock
Creepaway Camp
Zoohouse Rock
Smash Up Terby
Super Zeroes
On the Air and Out to Sea
Rockersize
Grin Reaper
Who Are You
The Bandidate
Hologroj
The Snuffles with Snarffles
A-capella-lips Now
For Hat and Country
Saxsquatch
Group Hug
Once again, after Chapter 42 is posted, please let me know which episodes you want to see and after 10 are completed, I'll write up the multi-part story. Okay, that's all I have to say. I'll get the next chapter up tomorrow. See you then!