Chapter 2

(Two months later)

While on his way to the Loud House, Jedi doesn't have his car radio turned on.

Instead, he sings to himself whatever lyrics he can remember from his favorite song.

"I'm falling so I'm taking my time…

I'm falling so I'm taking my time…

Who would you live for? Who would you die for?

And would you ever…"

He turns onto Franklin Avenue only to hear increasingly loud music.

"WAKE ME UP!"

"WAKE ME UP INSIDE!"

"I CAN'T WAKE UP!"

"WAKE ME UP INSIDE!"

"SAVE ME!"

While trying to ignore the overwhelming urge to let go of the wheel and put both hands over his ears, he then hears his cell phone vibrating in his cup holder.

He quickly glances at it. It's Lyle.

(Robbery - Juice WRLD)

"She told me to put my heart… in the bag,

And nobody gets hurt!

Now I'm running from her love… I'm not fast!

So I'm making it worse!

Now I'm digging up a grave… for my past!

I'm a whole different person!

It's a gift and a curse,

But I cannot reverse it!"

Lemy looks up from the ground to see his friend, Joey, from the other side of the garage point at his own ear and says some things he couldn't hear because he has his earbuds in.

He pauses the song and takes his earbuds out. "I'm sorry. What did you say?"

Joey repeats what he said now that Lemy can hear him.

"I said… what song are you listening to? It sounds kinda familiar."

"It's called 'Robbery.'" Lemy answers. "I've been listening to a lot of music from this one guy lately. Juice WRLD. You may or may not have heard of him."

The name of the artist caught Joey's attention. "Juice WRLD? Wait… isn't he the guy that had that seizure way back when?"

Lemy nods. "Yeah, died at the young age of 21, too. I imagine it came as a shock to everyone. You know, back when it happened."

"You know, Lemy. Come to think of it, I think I have listened to one of his songs just last week. 'Lucid Dreams.' I think it was."

Lemy crosses his arms. "Hmm. I don't remember listening to THAT one. How'd it go?"

"I have these lucid dreams where I can't… feel these things?" Said Joey, trying hard but failing to remember the lyrics to the song. "I'll listen to it when I have the time."

Lemy then notices Jedi in his car pulling up to the house, "Well look who finally came to join us!"

Jedi gets out of his car and shakes hands with Lemy and Joey.

"Hey man! I got the news from Lyle! You've all made it in! Congrats!"

Lemy chuckles. "Lyle was the one who got us in. We wouldn't be standing here right now if it weren't for him."

"Wait… right HERE!? In Stuart's garage?" Questioned Joey.

"Yup." Answered Lemy. "Because unfortunately, MY PARENTS… made it in too!"

"WHOA MAN! That sucks!" Yelled Jedi. Joey also looking a bit concerned as well.

"I'm not all that worried though!" Continued Lemy. "Lyle did say earlier that he has an ace up his sleeve!"

The three guys then hear three other voices coming from the hallway leading up to the garage.

They see Lyle, Bobby, and Stuart talking to each other, but something caught Jedi's attention.

Stuart has been growing his hair out. It was pretty long before but now it's looking almost feminine.

He shakes those thoughts out of his head as he hears Lyle address him.

"JEDI! I'm so glad you could make it!"

"Yeah, well… I couldn't leave my friends hanging after hearing the good news. Lemy here told me you got an ace up your sleeve. Something to beat your aunt?"

Lyle gives a goofy smile. "Yeah man, I do! The ace up my sleeve is…"

He quickly places both his hands on Jedi's shoulders, catching his full attention.

"YOU!"

Jedi's eyes widened. "WHAT!? M-me? What about me?"

Lyle picks up a folder nearby then looks at Jedi again.

"Three of my aunts are in the band along with Dad and Aunt Luna… so with you singing my brand new song…"

He hands the folder over to Jedi.

"Gloom Eclipse will have FIVE members!"

Jedi takes the folder from Lyle.

"You wrote a whole new song!? Okay… let's just see. LET'S JUST SEE IF I CAN BE ABLE TO SING WHATEVER YOU-"

He opens the file expecting to be disappointed at what Lyle had written. He was so used to songs like 'Ride,' "Stressed Out,' 'Chlorine,' and 'Migraine,' that his new song seems like a breath of fresh air to him.

"Okay… this song may actually help us win the competition!" Said Jedi, amazed at what he read.

"It'll take me some practice, but… I think I can get this down!"

"Well all right!" Said Lyle. "That's one problem solved!"
He then feels Bobby tap him on the shoulder.

"Talk to him about the other thing!" He tells him.

"OH YEAH! THAT!" Said Lyle as he faces Jedi again.

"Lemy's parents aren't the only one's we're facing…

There's ANOTHER talented band!"

That caught Jedi's attention. "Huh?"

Lyle faces Stuart. "Stuart, tell him."

Stuart looks confused at first but then goes on to explain the situation.

"Huh? Oh, um… yeah. There's this… band… from Great Lakes City. They've… gotten pretty big over the last few months.

They call themselves 'Essential Greece.' They even model themselves after characters from Greek mythology."

Bobby chimes in. "You gotta give 'Saturday Night' a listen, man! It's their best song!"

Joey then takes a step forward, ready to argue with Bobby.

"You think THAT'S their best song!?" He then faces Jedi. "Don't listen to him. Listen to 'This is Gospel' instead. It's actually not a Christian song like I first thought… it's WAY better than that religious crap!"

Lemy points at Joey. "Are you kidding me, man!? Their best song is 'Far Too Young To Die!' We listened to that song TOGETHER and you think that wasn't the best song they came up with!?"

Joey argues with Lemy. "I'm not saying that song was BAD… I think the lyrics weren't as memorable. Unlike This is Gospel… 'Words are knives that often leave scars.' That just sticks out to me for some reason."

"Guys. Guys! Just stop!"

Everybody stops talking and looks at Lyle.

"What are we hoping to accomplish here!? Are we Gloom Eclipse or The Essential Greece Fan Club? We got a lot of work ahead of us if we want to win this tournament…"

Lemy relaxes his shoulders. "Lyle's right. He wrote a new song while the rest of us have been sitting on our hands. It's time we pull our own…"

"ALSO!" Interrupts Lyle while also pointing fingers at everyone else in the garage. "All of you are WRONG! High Hopes was their best song!"

This enraged everyone, except Jedi, who was trying to figure out which song he should listen to first, and Stuart, who finds himself attached to every word that Lyle's saying.

Lyle's comment ended up sparking a massive argument that lasted throughout the rest of the day and there was no band practice.

Everybody went home without changing anybody else's mind.

(The next day)

Lyle and Lemy are at Ketcham Park lamenting about their insults the day before.

Lemy is sitting down on a swing while Lyle is walking backwards on top of a nearby balance beam.

Lemy looks up from the ground and at his brother.

"Again, man. I'm really sorry I called you a whore! I don't know WHERE I got THAT from!"

Still walking backwards, Lyle talks back. "Probably because of my looks or something like that. I'm the one who should be apologizing, Lemy. I shouldn't have brought it up. I mean… have you even SEEN the look on Stuart's face when you insulted me? He looked like he was about to let loose and tear your head off."

Lemy rolls his eyes. "Yeah… I HAVE seen that! He must have loved the song as much as you did."

He then gets up from the swing and sees Lyle jump back to the ground.

"Let's just put it all behind us and forget it ever happened. Okay?"

Lyle smiles at his brother. "It's okay by me, man. Hug it out?"

As soon as he hears his brother's offer, Lemy dives his arms around Lyle's back and embraces him.

"Alright… Alright man… You can let go now."

That's when they both hear a woman call out to them.

"Wow. The one day I decided to jog here and I just so happen to meet you two guys."

Lyle and Lemy quickly let go of each other to face the woman who has confronted them. Lemy then goes wide eyed when he takes in the fact at who he's seeing right now.

This woman looks to be in her mid 40s, has long blond hair in a ponytail, blue eyes, and is wearing a sky blue joggers outfit that exposes her stomach. As well as her cleavage.

"WHOA!" Lemy mutters out. Also seeing that there's no kids out, he goes on to swear. "Holy SHIT! You're Sam Sharp!"

He faces his younger brother, "Lyle! Look who it is!"

Lyle talks back. "I know who Sam Sharp is, thank you."

Sam smirks as she looks at Lemy. "So I take it that your mom talked about me before?"

Lemy struggles to speak. "Well… YEAH… Once or twice… but… I can't believe I'm actually standing here TALKING TO YOU!

I'm such a big fan of your music!"

This made Sam giggle. "Well it looks to me like you're an even bigger fan to your brother. The way I saw you hug him like that…"

She extends her hand out to Lyle, who accepts her handshake. Making Lemy a bit jealous but decided to keep quiet.

"You know, I got a kick out of your first song, 'Stressed Out.' It really… made me wish for a simpler time in life."

Lyle just stands there with his mouth open. "Uh…"

"NOT THAT… the time I have here right now isn't good, of course. I also liked… 'The Hype.' 'You don't get thick skin without getting burnt.' That was… genius."

"Ah." Said Lyle. "I see… You're more of a fan of my more… slower stuff."

"Well…" Said Sam. "Some days I like the faster stuff better."

Lyle chuckles. "Well… I think you're gonna like my newest song that Gloom Eclipse will release to the public in The Battle of the Bands two months from now."

"YEAH!" Yelled Lemy. "Can you believe that we're gonna be competing against MY PARENTS! I still can't believe they even got accepted!"

"They probably wanted a mother-son feud for ratings." Said Sam.

"Anyway, I'm looking forward to this new song of yours, Lyle. I don't care if its slow or fast."

"Well thank you Sam. I really appreci-"

"SO YOU'RE SAYING YOU SUPPORT US AND OUR MUSIC!?" Yelled Lemy, interrupting Lyle due to being unable to contain his excitement.

"Well… yes. That's the idea." Said Sam.

"I'd love to stay and talk with you guys a little more, but I only allow myself so much time for jogging.

Hopefully next time I see you guys… your album will be making its way to the stores."

She shakes their hands, then jogs off.

"Hahaha!" Lemy laughed. Having just shaken the hand of Sam Sharp, he's jumping up and down with a goofy smile on his face.

"Come on, man." Said Lyle as he puts his hands in his pockets. "We've spent more than enough time outside already."

They then start to head back home with Lemy still jumping.

"Sam Sharp. Sam Sharp. Sam Sharp. Sam Sharp. Sam Sharp. Sam Sharp. Sam Sharp."

It was unusually quiet that night, and Lyle saw this as an opportunity he just couldn't pass up.

He's starting back at a blank piece of paper with a pencil in his right hand and his desk lamp turned on.

He thinks back to all the things that have happened over the last two days: His fight with Lemy and then later his apology as well as the confrontation of the famous musician Sam Sharp, who at one point earlier in life, dated Luna Loud before everything… changed.

For a split second, he even tried to imagine what Luna Loud would have been like if she hadn't fucked her brother and gave birth at the young age of twenty.

She would probably be touring the country with Sam instead of working at a help desk at an IT department for nine hours a day.

As much as he thinks of her as his enemy in the tournament, he does feel like he should be thanking her for giving him the one thing that he needs in order to defeat her band and claim the grand prize.

That thing, of course, is Lemy Loud.

Lyle lightly slaps himself out of his train of thought and focuses more on his songwriting.

The only problem is that what he's gonna write about.

"Hmm. Should it be a fast song… Or should it be a slow song…

Decisions decisions…"

A few rooms over, everything is pitch dark and quiet, perfect conditions for sleep to take over…

Only for Lacy Loud to break the silence by asking Lupa a question.

"Psst. Lupa? You awake?"

The white haired girl in the bed on the other side of the room rubs her eyes and answers.

"Ugh. I am now. What do you want?"

Lacy turns to her side and directly faces her sister.

"I can't sleep, Lupa. I keep thinking… Who do you think will even WIN the Battle of the Bands?

Our aunts or our brothers?"

Lupa scoffs at her sister's question and turns the other way, wanting to get back to dreaming about her and her dad.

"You want my opinion, sis? Fine.

I hope they both lose."

Originally, I was going to have Lemy, Joey, and Stuart sing Post Malone's 'Die For Me' in the garage scene and have Stuart wear women's clothes again, but I changed it due to the death of Juice WRLD because he died while I was planning this story. It seems appropriate.

So a quick summary: Jedi is going to sing a song for Gloom Eclipse during the tournament and 'Panic! At the Disco' doesn't exist in the 'Chlorine' Sin Kids universe.