"You won't find me in the same spot, believe me

I could never stop, my life's turned upside down

Meet me out past the train tracks, I'm leaving

And not coming back, you're right, and I was wrong

This town will be the downfall of us all"

The Downfall of Us All – A Day to Remember

Louise

Louise noticed it starting to rain as she walked home. The frigid droplets felt like tiny knives piercing her face. She found solace in the warmth that engulfed her when she opened the door to Bob's Burgers.

The smell of greasy oils, and grilled meat brought a comfort that she hadn't realized she had been craving. She almost broke down and started crying.

"I'm telling you, Linda, it's going to be great!" Teddy was sitting at his usual spot at the counter. His wife, Kathleen, sat beside him, both engaged in a conversation with Louise's mother, Linda.

"I'm going to be his American dad! We're going to do all sorts of bonding! Maybe I'll even take him to the backyard and play catch with him!"

At this, Bob looked up from the grill, "Uhh, Teddy? Didn't you say that he's 18?"

"Yes, what about it?"

Bob paused, staring at his friend. "Never mind, I'm sure he'll love playing catch with you."

Louise let the door shut behind her, this caused all heads to turn and look at her.

"Louise! Sweetie! Why didn't you wear a jacket? You look cold!" Linda shouted from behind the counter. Louise had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at her mother's loud voice.

"I didn't think it was going to start to rain…Hi, Teddy. Hi, Kathleen." She acknowledged the couple, as she walked towards the kitchen, shoes squeaking against the tile floor.

"Hey, Louise!" Teddy shouted back in excitement, unaware of Louise's gloomy mood. "Are you ready to meet the international student, tomorrow? He's so lucky to have you showing him around-"

Louise didn't have the energy to listen to Teddy talk. She let the door to the kitchen swing shut. She tied her hair back, washed her hands, and joined her dad at the grill.

"To go order?" She asked.

"Multiple. Want to help put the condiments on?"

Louise grabbed two buns, slathered on mayo, mustard, ketchup. Added cheese, lettuce tomato, etc. She would never admit it to her dad, but there was something she found soothing in this repeated movement. For a moment, she had completely forgotten about Logan. At least, until her dad cleared his throat.

"Louise?"

"Yeah?" She grabbed a piece of cheese, slapping it onto a hot patty.

"I told you not to go see him."

"Hmm."

She topped the burger with the usual veggies, placed the last bun on top, and began wrapping it in tin foil.

"In fact, I remember you telling me that you weren't going to go." He flicked a patty with his spatula, the patty spun in the air before landing on the opposite side.

Louise ripped off another sheet of foil from the roll, tearing the edges as she yanked. "I wasn't going to," she admitted.

"I don't even know why I went in the first place," she smoothed the foil out, trying to make it look perfect, though she wasn't sure why.

Bob flipped another burger, it's sizzling filling the silence that had fallen between them.

"Well," he motioned for her to bring a bun towards him. "How did it go?"

She held out a bun, allowing her father to place the patty on top. She flinched as the patty burned her fingers.

"He said that he was sorry. That it was a mistake." She placed the burger down on the counter, staring at it intently. "He said he wasn't himself."

Her throat had gone dry again, and she silently cursed herself as her vision blurred.

Beside her, Bob sighed heavily. He turned to his daughter, ignoring the other burgers still cooking on the grill.

"Look, Louise, I'm sorry that he hurt you. I'm sorry that he didn't love you as much as you loved him, I could tell how much you loved him."

The burger in front of Louise kept getting blurrier, why was her father telling her this now?

"And I know that it doesn't mean much coming from me, but you're too good for him."

Louise stood up straight, wiping her eyes, and sniffling. "I just-I just thought he was the one, you know?"

The burgers on the grill had started to burn, neither Bob or Louise paid any mind to them.

"Falling in love is hard, and I truly don't believe that you can get through love without some sort of a heartbreak."

Louise scoffed, "are you saying you were in love before mom?"

"I'm saying that love hurts. And just because your mother and I are happily married now doesn't mean that it was always smooth sailing."

Louise looked up at Bob through teary eyes, "what, you and mom had relationship problems?"

"Everyone has relationship problems, Louise. You just have to decide whether the relationship is worth it."

Louise sniffled.

"In my opinion though," Bob turned back to the grill, silently panicking as he saw the state of his burgers. He grabbed his spatula, scrapping the burnt burgers from his grill. "He's not good enough for you."

This made Louise chuckle, she wiped her eyes again. "I don't know what I want to do about Logan, he wants me to take him back."

"Do you want to?"

Louise shrugged, "I just want to get through this next school year. It's my last year of high school, maybe by some miracle I'll have everything figured out by then."

Bob smiled, scrapping the last of the patties from the grill. "Try to focus on yourself. You dated Logan for the past year, that's a long time. Spend more time with your friends, meet new people, find yourself again."

Louise sighed, remembering that Mr. Frond had assigned her to show the new kid around school tomorrow. Why he had picked her, she didn't know, but maybe that distraction is just what she needed.

"I'm meeting Teddy's international student tomorrow," she informed her father who raised his eyebrows.

"That'll be fun, you might make a new friend, keep your mind off of Logan," distaste fell from his mouth as he said his name.

Louise nodded, "yeah, I wasn't thrilled at first, but maybe this will be a good thing. I can show him around, introduce him to my friends…"

She paused, her friends. She had been neglecting them for a while since dating Logan. Not that she shut them out completely, but wasn't the best of friend as she could have been.

"You're right, Dad. I'm going to focus on myself, make new friends, and hang out more often with my usual ones. Logan be damned!"

Bob smiled down proudly at his daughter, "I love you, Louise."

"I love you too, Dad."

Bradley

Bradley looked down at his bags that he had placed by his door, waiting for the taxi to arrive.

He was really doing this. His stomach flipped, he had sounded so confident during the last conversation with his dad, but could he actually pull this off? Going to public school? He had never been to public school. Never been to any school actually, his father hired private tutors who taught Bradley from the comfort of his home.

He took a look at his appearance in the hallway mirror. His black hair standing out against his fair skin, and his brown eyes looking foreign. It was as if an entirely different person was looking back at him.

His heart hammered in his chest.

I don't think I can do this.

Without a second thought, he pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket, and called his best friend.

"Hey, Boo Boo! Don't you have a flight to catch?" Allen's voice rang from the other end of the line. Allen, who had been a band mate when they were both in Boyz 4 Now, was the only person in his personal life that he allowed to still call him Boo Boo.

"Dude, I'm freaking out, I don't know if I can actually do this."

Bradley began pacing in his living room, running a hand through his hair, which still smelled like hair dye.

Bradley heard Allen take a sip of something, "Ahh! That's refreshing! Have you tried hard kombucha? I picked some up today, and it's really good."

"Allen! Focus! I can't do this!"

"Yes, you can, dude. You've been talking about his for months since you found out that you could apply as an international student. Though, I don't know why, you could've just gone to a public school in Los Angeles-"

"That's not the point. I don't want to be recognized! You're the only person in my life who genuinely likes me for….for me. Even my ex-girlfriend loved me for my fame."

"Hey," Allen warned. "We don't talk about Shelby."

Bradley rolled his eyes; he looked out of his window and noticed a yellow taxi parking in front of his building.

"Shit, my taxi's here."

"Time to go!"

"What if my dad's right? What if someone recognizes me? What if I'm, like, an alien because I've never been to a public school before?"

"Just tell everyone you were homeschooled, it's not even a lie," he heard Allen take another sip of his kombucha.

Bradley got a text on his phone, he checked, and saw it was from the taxi downstairs, waiting for him to come down.

"I'm just…I'm scared, dude."

Allen sighed, "do you remember your last solo album? What was that? Two ago?"

Bradley nodded even though Allen couldn't see him, "something like that."

"I was over at your place in Vancouver, and you were trying to write a song. Wait, no, you were trying to write the song. The song you'd release first, the song you wanted on the radio, the song you wanted everyone to remember."

Bradley wiped his sweaty palm on his jeans, "what about it?"

"You were scared as hell when you sent it to the record label, scared when they played it on the radio for the first time. After working on it for so long, and tweaking it, you'd convinced yourself it was crap. What did I say to you then?"

Bradley felt a slight weight lift off of his shoulders, "you told me to remember why I wrote it."

"Exactly, remember why you wrote it. Remember why it meant so much to you. Remember why that was the story you wanted to tell."

Bradley remembered, it was about his mom, about mourning that love he was scared he'd never feel again. Of course, the song was marketed as a love song, but he was content knowing that he'd written a song for his dead mother.

"I'm going to tell you the same thing now," Allen continued. "Remember why you wanted to do this in the first place. Why is this so important to you?"

Bradley let the question hang in the air, not feeling like he needed to answer.

"Thanks, Allen."

He could hear Allen smile through the phone. "You're welcome, dude. Call me when you land!"

"Will do."

They hung up, and Bradley grabbed his suitcase ready to go downstairs.

"Well," he said before opening the door. "Here goes nothing."