Nat POV

The concert in New Orleans passed without much drama. I could tell that Christa knew something was wrong, and I felt terrible for lying to her. I gazed up at the bus' ceiling as I lay on my bunk.

"Nat?" I sat up and looked down. Christa was leaning against the opposite bunk.

"Yeah?" I failed at trying to sound upbeat. I sounded more like a druggie that smoked too much. I went back to lying down.

"Um, the band wants to know if you're okay. I want to know if you're okay." I realized how quiet it was on the bus.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Why is it so quiet?" I finally sat up and climbed down the ladder. There was a partition to my left, Lisa had put it up between the bands bunks and all the girls used it as a changing room. Christa glanced at it uneasily.

"Well, Rosalina's band," I inwardly scowled. Her band should be us.

"Are sleeping because they had a bit too much to drink last night…" Christa's gaze shifted. The guys rolled their eyes.

"Yeah. I bet Rosalina,"

"Do you want to finish that sentence Quassim?" Rosalina was right behind me, digging a cola out of the fridge. She stood up and glared.

"Well, I was gonna say that you never did that kind of stuff when you were in our band. You were in high school, and you never partied like they do!"

"How do you know?! Maybe I did. I know it was hard, but did you ever think for a second I had a life outside of your band!" Rosalina hissed as she slammed the fridge shut.

"You had a life, sure Rosalina! But not like that one! You know it! You would never come in to a morning practice on the weekend smelling of beer and cigarettes. Not like Cati and Lisa do!" David piped in angrily. Christa and I exchanged nervous glances.

"Excuse me Christa, Nat." She gently stepped between us and made her way closer to the rest of my band. "If you guys have anything else you want to say, you better get it in the air now, before we reach Miami. Because I am not fighting about my life with you." She glared.

"Well, if we're getting things out in the air about you, I think you're selfish." Rosalina's eyes practically turned black.

"Really, Thomas? Why is that?" He scoffed.

"Because you left the band maybe? Maybe because you left and never came back!" Rosalina looked ready to spit fire.

"Yeah, well, I wanted to, trust me Thomas. But just because I didn't, because I knew you guys could find another bassist, maybe someone that didn't act like I did, someone that deserved to be with you, well, that doesn't mean I'm selfish. For those reasons it would be anything but."

"But you go and find another band?!" David practically yelled.

"Yeah, I did! Because even though I lost you guys, I wasn't going to give up playing! I needed music more than ever! And when Cati came along and made tryouts, I went for it! Because I knew you had moved on already! That day I came back, when I saw the banner," I cut in.

"What banner? The one for – Oh no, Rosalina."

"What!" She yelled at me, now close to tears.

"The banner was for Juanita. She won a skateboard competition that day. I wanted to throw her a surprise party." Alex had been silently watching the exchange. When he interrupted, I saw Rosalina's face turn pink. She opened her mouth to say something.

"So, technically you moved on before we did!" Thomas yelled tiredly. "But then we had to go and find another bassist and it was so hard! We were lucky we found Christa!" I saw Christa stiffen out of the corner of my eye. He saw too.

"Wait, Christa, I didn't mean," She just shook her head, trying to stop the tears.

"No. I get it. I'll never be like Rosalina. It's fine." She turned and opened the partition. I grabbed her wrist.

"Christa, wait." She just shook me off, and slipped behind the curtain. I heard a sob break out. I covered my head in my hands.

Rosalina POV

I watched as Christa closed the curtain. My eyes darted to Nat, who seemed too tired and confused to speak. Thomas was still sputtering out an apology. I let out a sigh.

"Look. I'm not going to fight about this with you guys. Regardless of what has happened, this tour is happening. We only have four more cities to stop at, and then my band and our foolish antics will be out of your life." Rosalina motioned her hands between us. "In the meantime, we have to try to get along, and none of you are making this any easier." David and Quassim scoffed.

"What if we don't want to just make this easy, Rosalina?" Alex had removed himself from his spot next to the driver. He had walked right into the middle of a fight. Thomas shook his head.

"Alex I told you not to,"

"NO. THAT'S EXACTLY WHY WE HAVE TO. LOOK AT US. WE'RE ALL ACTING LIKE THE ONLY SOLUTION IS TO FORGET WE'RE EVEN NEAR EACH OTHER. WHAT ABOUT ALL OF THOSE OTHER MEMORIES WE'VE HAD? YOU GUYS CAN'T FORGET ABOUT EACH OTHER."

I sighed, "Alex, you don't understand,"

"WHAT DON'T I UNDERSTAND ROSALINA? THAT YOU DRINK? THAT YOU PARTY? THAT YOU FINALLY HAVE GIRL FRIENDS WHO ARE THE SAME AGE AS YOU? I UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING. YOU'RE ACTING LIKE YOU'VE OUTGROWN THE NAKED BROTHERS BAND BECEAUSE OF SOME SILLY, STUPID EVENTS THAT HAPPENED A YEAR AGO. YOU WANT TO GO BACK TO FORGETTING US BECAUSE YOU THINK YOUR 'NEW' LIFE IS SO MUCH BETTER." I opened my mouth to speak.

"NO. WHY DON'T YOU JUST TELL US THE TRUTH. WHY DID YOU REALLY BREAK UP WITH NAT AND WHY DID YOU REALLY LEAVE THE BAND? WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED THAT NIGHT ROSALINA? WHY DID YOU GET ON THAT BUS?" The tension was thick and the emotions were buzzing around everyone like pesky flies. Alex almost never yelled at anyone. I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. When I opened them, everyone was looking at me expectantly. Okay, get a grip. Act natural. Don't let them know. They can't know. Alex's words unraveled my memories, ones that were kept locked up for long. That voice leaked out, into my brain: Break them, Rosalina. Do whatever you have to do to protect them. If you fail, then you know what happens next. Break their hearts, because that will be the only way to keep them safe.

No. This wasn't happening. I glanced outside the window, to the highway. We were closer and closer to Florida every minute. I could do this.

"I don't know why you think that Alex." My glare was set, my eyes steely and cold. I was gripping the coke bottle for dear life.

"At least, the part about me lying to you. I wasn't. I needed Cati's band. I wasn't being a real teenager. I felt like I couldn't even go to a party without you guys suffocating me. This band totally sucked. It wasn't fun." My gaze cut through everyone's hurt faces, and I rushed on. I needed to do this.

"I hated how you guys always acted so childish. I hated all of you. I'm just glad I will never have to deal with this shit again once I'm home in Tennessee." I turned, and without another glance I walked back through the partition. I didn't have to look, I already knew.

Finally, I did it.

Break their hearts sweetheart. If you want to save their precious little band, break them all.