My Crappy Ending Chapter 5: Practicing, a maximum ride fanfic

CHAPTER 5: FPOV

After we had gotten clothes, we headed back to our room. Riko pounced on me before I got my foot in the door.

"Raven! Come on! Y'all took so long! We gotta practice! Come on, Gwen! Hurry! Here's your guitar!" He rushed, thrusting it at me.

"Hey! Easy! Don't break the instruments! They aren't cheap!" I said, taking it from him.

"Come on!" He yelled.

"Yeah, 'Raven'. Play for us." Angel smirked.

"Thanks, Ange. It means a lot." I said sarcastically. She smiled innocently.

Gwen picked up her bass as Riko ran to his drum set.

"Dear Mr. President! Please!" Riko begged.

"Alright. We are gonna play that one tomorrow, so I should practice it…"

"Yes!" He squealed.

I started playing my guitar. It was an acoustic song-just me and my guitar. I started singing.

Dear Mr. President,

Come take a walk with me.

Let's pretend we're just two people and

You're not better than me.

I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?

Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?

What do you feel when you look in the mirror?

Are you proud?

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?

How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?

How do you walk with your head held high?

Can you even look me in the eye

And tell me why?

Dear Mr. President,

Were you a lonely boy?

Are you a lonely boy?

How can you say

No child is left behind?

We're not dumb and we're not blind.

They're all sitting in your cells

While you pave the road to hell.

What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?

And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?

I can only imagine what the first lady has to say

You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?

How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?

How do you walk with your head held high?

Can you even look me in the eye?

Let me tell you 'bout hard work

Minimum wage with a baby on the way

Let me tell you 'bout hard work

Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away

Let me tell you 'bout hard work

Building a bed out of a cardboard box

Let me tell you 'bout hard work

Hard work

You don't know nothing 'bout hard work

Hard work

How do you sleep at night?

How do you walk with your head held high?

Dear Mr. President,

You'd never take a walk with me.

Would you?

As I finished the song, Riko was clapping loudly.

"How come he gets paid for screwing up the nation?" Gwen muttered.

"It's fucked up. Like a lot of other shit in the world." I said.

"Yup! Good song! That's one of my favorites! What about Already Gone? And Sober? And That's What You Get?" Riko said hurriedly.

"Slow down, kid. Gwen's singing Sober, I'm doing Already Gone, and that's what the show tomorrow is featuring. And I practiced That's What You Get before we left on the run." I really didn't want to play Already Gone in front of Max…

"But we didn't practice it all together."

"Okay, then let's do that one next."

Riko hit the drum and then me and Gwen came in. After a few bars, I started singing.

No sir, well I don't wanna be the blame, not anymore

It's your turn, so take a seat we're settling the final score

And why do we like to hurt, so much?

I can't decide

You have made it harder just to go on

And why, all the possibilities where I was wrong

That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa

I drowned out all my sense with the sound of its beating

And that's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa

I wonder, how am I supposed to feel when you're not here

Cause I burned every bridge I ever built when you were here

I still try holding onto silly things, I never learn

Oh why, all the possibilities I'm sure you've heard

That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa

I drowned out all my sense with the sound of its beating (beating)

And that's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa

Pain, make your way to me, to me

And I'll always be just so inviting

If I ever start to think straight

This heart will start a riot in me

Let's start, start, hey!

Why do we like to hurt so much?

Oh why do we like to hurt so much?

That's what you get when you let your heart win!

Whoa

That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa

Now I can't trust myself with anything but this

And that's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa

"Wait! We gotta play Help I'm Alive!" Riko yelled.

"Chill out! Stop yelling! We can hear you!" I said back.

"Help I'm Alive?"

I sighed. "Yes. We can play that next."

The flock was looking at me, shocked.

"When did you learn to play the guitar, Fang?" Nudge asked.

"I-"

"Fang?" Rik asked.

"Riko. It's his old name…" Gwen said, knowing I didn't want to talk about it.

"But you're Raven…"

"I'm both." I said. "I used to go by Fang, now I go by Raven. You can call me either one."

"Okay…" He trailed off.

I turned to Nudge and explained. "I started writing songs, so then I learned how to play guitar and a few other instruments. Gwen learned bass, and Riko learned the drums. We formed a band to get some money for our 'excursions'."

"That's so COOL, Fang!" She all but screamed.

I laughed. Max had stayed silent the whole time, just staring at me, but if I looked at her, she would glare and turn away. It was going to take a while to fix things, if I ever could.

AN: This was kind of a filler chapter, but I wanted to do some of the songs and have the flock kind of hear about Fang's life since he left. Song credits: Dear Mr. President by P!nk, That's What You Get by Paramore, and Help I'm Alive by Metric (They haven't played this one yet.). Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading! Next up: The Concert!