Max POV
It's 4:00 and I'm getting ready. Nudge and JJ asked if they could get me ready, and I said yes. JJ curled my hair and ironed my bangs. She pulled my front hair, except my bangs, into the back, holding them in place with some pins. Nudge chose my outfit.
I'm wearing black tights, black boots with buckles, black feather earrings, a black shirt with a grey leather jacket on top, and a black leather bracelet that matched. It's something I would wear but not the makeup. Nudge put grey stuff on my eyelids; don't know what it's called. Black mascara, I think. And a light pink blush. JJ put light pink lip gloss on my lips. I looked in my reflection and I looked beautiful.
When they finished it was 5:00. Good thing they were ready. Nudge wore a silver dress that glittered at the torso with some black glitter mixed with the silver, and the bottom was a dark grey, with black flats. Her was curled but she only wore a black bow at the side. She looks beautiful. JJ is wearing an exact same dress as Nudge; the bottom half is black, and the torso is the same as Nudge's but she's wearing grey flats and a grey bow on the side. She looks beautiful.
"You guys look amazing," I said, after thanking them for their art work. They hugged me and kissed my cheeks.
"Let's go downstairs! I want to see how Iggy looks like!" squealed JJ. I grabbed her arm and winked at Nudge who had an evil grin.
"Why the interest in Iggy?" asked Nudge crossing her arm over her chest. JJ looked at the two of us, blushing.
"Fine! I sort of…have a…crush on…Iggy," she mumbled. Nudge squealed and hugged her. I smiled and gave her a thumbs up. Iggy has a crush on her too, even though he won't tell me.
"Come on, JJ. Let's go downstairs," with that, we went downstairs where our families stood there, talking. Iggy was in grey jeans, his hair is tousled, and he's wearing a black button up shirt. JJ sighed and blushed after he smirked at her for staring. Sam wore black jeans with a grey button up shirt. I guess everyone agreed on grey and black for our outfits.
"You all look amazing!" said Nudge's mom. She looks exactly like Nudge , but aged.
"We should get going," said my mom. We all agreed. Mom drove us, the band, and the others, the other parents, carpooled.
We got there ten minutes before the show started. The stage had thick red stripes on the back walls with a screen on top that said, BATTLE OF THE BANDS. There were four steps that, if you were in the crowd, you could see them change color. At the top of the stairs, the drumset, and keyboard were sitting there and mics were placed there. I could see the bass guitars on the opposite side of the stage. Everything is awesome! Nudge and JJ grabbed each of my arms and squealed, jumping up and down.
"Guys, we made it," I said. We slapped high fives. Sam looked up and his eyes widened.
"Max, turn around," he hissed. I did. Fang was standing there, with Lissa, Dylan, Bridgid and some other girl in her posse. Lissa looked up and smiled. Time to put on my tough face. So did the gang. The slut walked over.
"Well, who do we have here? Oh it's the bitch and her bitchy friends," chirped Lissa. I lunged forward but Iggy gripped my arm from behind.
"Now Max, don't kill her yet. I think we should wait after we're done," said Iggy. We laughed menacingly, and Lissa had fear in her eyes. I patted Ig's hand.
"Yeah you're right," I said.
"I see you're better now," said Bridgid, looking up and down at me. I gave her the finger. Sam and Iggy and Nudge laughed. JJ was glaring at Fang.
"What are you doing here?" spat JJ at Fang.
"Didn't Fangy here tell you? He's part of our band now. I mean yeah Dylan was the reason we're here but he asked if he could join us and why would we decline!" purred Lissa, grabbing his hand. My stomach dropped. I knew Dylan was kinda good at singing, I admit, but Fang…He actually would go against us? That does not hurt…right? I mean it's what I want, to get away from him. I snorted and laughed. The idiot didn't look up.
"We'll see who laughs when we win," hissed Lissa. We snorted and laughed loudly.
"Did you guys hear her? She thinks she's gonna win," I laughed. We all laughed until our stomachs hurt. Lissa's cheeks reddened with anger and her hands curled into fists. But then she did the unexpected. She grabbed Fang by the jacket and hauled him into a kiss. They pulled away after a few seconds.
My stomach churned. And I remembered the day he betrayed me. I rolled my eyes when she smirked at me. Fang stared at me, his eyes black and emotionless.
"I forgot to mention, did you know we're a thing now?" teased Lissa. I crossed my arms across my chest and shrugged.
"I don't give a shit," I said and walked past them.
"Ohhh someone get some ice for that burn!" said Sam. I smiled, and we went to sit down at some chairs nearby. I sat dwon going over the lyrics of th songs.
"Max!"shouted a familiar voice. Bernie. I opened my eyes and smiled at him. The day I got back, he came over to me crying, saying he was really sorry, I forgave him after he told me he wanted Lissa to lose. To make it up to me, he said he was our special effects guys and his friends would help with technology. I thanked him and accepted his offer.
"I got the guys in their positions," he said, indicating to his friends around the equipment and pushing his glasses further up his nose.
"Max, again I'm sorry for-" I interrupted him with a wave of my hand.
"Bernie, I said it's okay. Besides, it's not you I hate. I think you're a cool guy," I said. He blushed and ran off, after thanking me. Just then, Mr. Montgomery came to us.
"The show is starting and it's good to see you made it!" he said shaking each of our hands. We heard a beep and he chuckled.
"That's my signal, good luck!" after that, he ran off.
"Guys huddle," I told them. We put our hands against each other's backs and put our heads together. Literally.
"Okay. We've made it this far, and we've dreamed of this since we were little kids. And if we don't win…we still got to live our dream. It won't be the end of the world. I want to say one more thing…let's try our hardest and have fun," I told them. We stacked our fists on top of each other's, said "To Wing Reed" and threw them in the air. I saw Fang a few feet from us.
He smiled at me and walked over. The guys stiffened.
"Hi Max," he said. I nodded at him.
"How are you?" he murmured.
"Good," I whispered.
"I wanted to tell you good luck," he said.
"Thanks," I responded. This is really awkward!
"And I'm…sorry," he said. This again…
"Fang not right now," I said, looking into his eyes. He closed his eyes and nodded, walking away. Nudge squeezed my shoulder and JJ hugged me. I looked down at my hand and noticed the promise ring he gave me. I stood up and walked over to Lissa.
"Lissa," I said. She had her hand on Fang's chest and she looked at me, with a devilish grin. I pulled off the ring and handed it to her. A lump forming in my throat.
"Here. Since the two of you are a thing…" I trailed off, when I saw the hurt expression in Fang's face. I glared at him, and walked away.
"Max!" hissed JJ. I raised my eyebrows.
"You don't give that away!" whispered Nudge. I looked down and shrugged.
"He broke his promise of not hurting me," I said. Iggy pulled me to him and hugged me real tightly.
"But we're not here for this…we're here for music," I told them. They all nodded and we faced the screen, where we saw the host introducing the bands. People cheered louder when she mentioned us. The woman wore a red simple dress that reached her knees, with red flats, and her brown hair was curled, which fanned around her shoulders.
"These ten bands are going to compete for the top prize, the winners will get a contract, once they turn eighteen. There will be four stages. For the first one, bands are going to sing a song from the 'olden days.' In the end of the stage, three bands will leave…Now…plese give a round of applause for…Big Collector!" it was an all guys band and they sang "We Will Rock You!" by Queen. I got admit they were good. I sat down and waited until our band played, but Lissa's band, "Marooned Runner," was in front of us. We're last.
Fang was going to sing "Every Breath You Take," by The Police. He started to sing. Fang would look at me, most of the time.
"This is for a girl I'm in love with…" he said and started singing.
Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you.
Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you.
Oh can't you see
You belong to me?
How my poor heart aches with every step you take.
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you.
Since you've gone I've been lost without a trace.
I dream at night, I can only see your face.
I look around but it's you I can't replace.
I feel so cold, and I long for your embrace.
I keep crying baby, baby please...
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you.
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I'll be watching you..
Fang stared at me as he sang the last lyrics. He smiled at me and looked down. I turned my head to the side and swallowed the lump in my throat. I shook the feeling to go out there and kiss him. I ignored him, when he passed by me and kissed my cheek. How I missed him, but he broke his promise. I shook it off and put on a smile on my face.
"Last but not least…Wing Reed!" said the host. Here we go…