"I'll be back in an hour or two...you'll be fine...Jesus, I'm not gonna run off! I'll text you a few minutes before I'm done and you can come pick me up...yes, we can order a pizza and watch Toy Story. Is your interrogation finished, mother? For the love of- goodbye, Juice!" Talia could still hear him chattering when she pulled her phone from her ear and tapped the red button to end the call.

Talia was walking down the streets of Charming and enjoying the warmer weather. She was used to lots of cold and rainy days up in Oregon. She was going to miss the snow though. They usually had a white Christmas upstate, but she was sure she'd get used to having winters with a temperature of 90 degrees.

She was walking to the school she'd be going to when Summer Vacation was over and Juice called. They talked for a minute, then he asked if she was with Happy and that triggered that onslaught of questions. If she wasn't mistaken, Happy was with Tig and they were doing God knows what to some poor fool.

The rest of the Sons were probably milling around Charming keeping things in order and Juice said he was at the clubhouse, so he must've been put on research duty. Talia usually kept him company and when he was finished working, he'd give her a lesson in coding. They were going to make their own PC game and they already had a name for it: The Torment and Woes of Nightmarish Affliction. It sounded more like a title for a book, but it was their unholy horror game in the works. The object of the game was to survive the most disturbing psychological terrors imaginable whilst trying to escape a supposedly abandoned prison with stray inmates inside. Talia just had to learn the technical workings behind computer games and they could get started because they had the story, plot and monsters all envisaged.

She walked a little faster when she spotted Westridge High down the street and she just saw one of the summer course instructors go inside, so she wasn't late. The school was for 8th through 12th graders and it was the only one in the area that Talia wanted to go to. The other choices were either charter schools that were too strict for her or half-assed schools where the kids were in control and nobody learned anything.

Westridge was a nice walk from her house, no uniforms, had a bunch of sports teams or extracurricular clubs and the high school students got to pick which classes they wanted to take to get them ready for college or whatever they planned to do after school. Another bonus was that they let out early on the first and last Friday of every month.

Westridge had summer programs for students that had to make up a few credits and for hobbies. There was a Theater club that was working on a play to perform Hamlet over in Fresno, an Art club, Public Speaking club, Olympians club, 5K Track Training, the Go Green Gardeners and the school let students use all the instruments they had in their music room. Technically, Talia wasn't in a club, but she had to fill out a sign-up sheet to keep coming back and she's been keeping herself occupied for the last few weeks. Nobody was ever in the music room and it was probably because there wasn't a teacher there to give lessons on how to play the instruments. Tal wasn't complaining though. She always had the space to herself and she could play whatever she wanted whenever she pleased.

Talia just walked past the gym where the Olympians were and all she could hear were grunts and yelling. Tempted, she looked into one of the windows on the double-doors and saw at least a dozen teenage boys doing some hardcore exercising. The man in charge, whom she suspected was the gym teacher, looked like he was a dedicated gym-rat and he had a body like Frank Zane with Ivan Drago's face from Rocky IV. He was walking backward in front of two boys that were lifting cast iron dumbbells and both of their faces were red because they were screaming "No pain, no muscle! Bring it on!" There were veins thumping on both their necks or heads and Talia wondered how much strain it'd take to make them burst.

She shook her head at the class of Olympians and continued down the hall. When she rounded the corner, she stopped and watched. There was a guy pacing in front of the music room and he had brown hair that was partially sticking out from under his red beanie. He had on some kind of baseball shirt with navy sleeves and a white base. When he turned, his arms were folded over his chest, blocking the name of the sport's team, but Talia got to see his soft turquoise eyes. He looked like a normal teenage boy, but she's never seen him around or in any of the classes.

"Okay, just go up to her and say 'Hi, would you like to-' no, no." He said to himself and turned to pace the other way. "Maybe…'Hey, I've seen you around and I think you're really, super fantastic.' No, too peppy. She's really chill and I don't wanna scare her off...ugh! Why is talking to girls so hard?!"

The boy groaned and balled his hands into fists at the sides of his head, bending his knees a bit. Someone was a little crazy. To Talia, it sounded like he was trying to talk to someone, a girl from what he said, and he was practicing what to say. The boy looked into the window of the music room, sighed, then he grabbed his backpack from across the hall. He went down the end opposite to me and she's never ventured down there before, but he must know the school. Maybe he was a student.

Talia didn't move from her spot and waited for a minute to see if the boy would come back. She theorized that he was told to meet someone there and they stood him up or something. Once she was convinced the guy was gone for good, she went into the music room and peacefully sighed. There was a beautiful ambiance in here and it made her feel unbelievably relaxed. Like always, there were a few acoustic or electric guitars on stands and there was a grand piano in the back. Two double basses, a harp, marimba, congas and other foreign instruments were scattered about. There was a picture window on the right side of the room and the sunlight was casting a lovely glow on the space.

Talia walked over to the side of the piano and smiled when she saw the Fender Cd-60 Dreadnought still there. This was the guitar she usually played and it's grown on her. It was a beauty too.

"Hi, gorgeous. Miss me?" She picked the guitar up and went to sit on the only desk in the room.

She dug in her pockets and it took a second, but she found the pick that she grabbed before she left home. It was from the autographed Nirvana set she had and this was the red one that had Dave's signature on it.

Tal kissed the pick before she began strumming to no particular song. She just loved hearing the sound a guitar could make. After dancing her fingers on the frets and tuning the instrument to her liking, she started strumming to Cynical Skin by Get Scared. She loved how her voice sounded in the room. Despite all the instruments, the space sounded like it was empty and her voice echoed a bit, made her feel like she was in a recording studio.

She usually sang a Nirvana song first and since she didn't, the next song was going to be Dumb. She connected with that song on so many levels. She grabbed her bag and dug around for the snacks she packed. After drinking some water and eating a few perfectly sour green grapes, she went back to playing.

Almost an hour later, Talia's had to have gone through about twelve songs and she was lying on the desk now. The baggie of grapes she had was empty and next to her leg. The body of the guitar took up the entire space of her stomach and she was gently plucking the strings as she tried to remember the name of the song she wanted to play. After another few minutes, she pulled her phone out and searched for it, laughing like a lunatic when she found it.

"There's such a sad love
Deep in your eyes, a kind of pale jewel

Open and closed
Within your eyes

I'll place the sky
Within your eyes

There's such a fooled heart
Beatin' so fast

In search of new dreams
A love that will last

Within your heart

I'll place the moon
Within your heart

As the pain sweeps through
Makes no sense for you

Every thrill is gone
Wasn't too much fun at all

But I'll be there for you-ou-ou

As the world falls down"

Talia was smiling her ass off as she sang, giggling through some lines, and everything felt so right. The sun seemed to shine brighter and the room was enlightened with utter happiness. She couldn't stop thinking about Happy and all the memories they made up in Oregon or the Sons and how she loved them just as much, how she was getting attached to them. She thought about Juice and all the things they've done since she's been in Charming, how she's been bonding with the brother she never knew she wanted. It was so serene and this was how she wanted things to be every day, relaxing and carefree.

Unfortunately, reality has a way of making everything hard for everyone, so Talia couldn't stay in this paradise and there was another problem.

Someone was watching her.

Around the second verse, Talia just barely managed to catch the soft click of the door opening and she scarcely heard the late reverberation of her voice in the empty halls of the school. She was supposed to start singing again, but she just hummed instead and was trying to hear if the person was going to move a little, so she could make sure they were there. When her song finished, she slowly sat up and slid off the desk, purposely keeping her back to the door. When she was setting the guitar back in its hiding place beside the piano, she heard the squeak of sneakers on tile and a muttered curse. She was right, someone was there.

Talia grabbed her bag and headed for the door. It was opened a crack and she stepped out, looking down both ends of the hall. She spotted someone trying to sneakily peer around the corner to watch her and she turned the opposite way, going down the unfamiliar walkway. She had her phone out and a text ready to send to Juice, but didn't. She could hear someone following her and she stopped. She put her headphones in and pushed shuffle, letting fate decide her soundtrack before continuing to walk.

There was a split at the end of the hall, one path to the left and one to the right, that led to the lower grades. Talia still felt like she was being watched, so she randomly picked the right hall and leaned on the wall, waiting.

Just before the dirty vocals of the song started, she saw a sneaker and she pulled her stalker over to the side. She pinned him against the nearby lockers and one fist was tightly balling his shirt while the other one was cocked back, prepared to knock his goddamn teeth out. She shook her head to get the buds to fall out her ears and narrowed her eyes when she focused on the person before her. It was that kid she saw pacing earlier.

"Why are you stalking me?" Talia asked in that steely voice that Happy used when he was getting answers from someone.

"Stalking's a bit much, don't you think?" The boy asked with a short chuckle, but Talia could tell he was nervous. "I was just trying to talk to you."

"You were watching me in the music room."

"No, I was...okay. Yeah, I was, but it still wasn't stalking!" He defended and she raised an eyebrow. "I just heard you singing and I listened. I didn't wanna disrupt your groove. You've got a killer voice, too. Did you take lessons? Nah, your sound's all-natural. You've got a rockstar voice, gracefully untamed. Have you ever-"

"Who the hell are you?" She cut off the boy's prattling and he blinked as if he forgot where he was.

"Oh, right! I'm Dylan. My friends call me Dibs." He smiled and put his arm over hers to extend his hand to her, but she didn't shake it. "I don't have cooties or anything."

"Stop following me, Dylan." Talia let him go and stepped back. He started smoothing out his shirt, but he didn't run away and he didn't look upset either. He reminded her of Juice, always looking like a harmless, dopey guy.

"What's your name?" He asked with bright eyes, but Talia walked away from him, going down the hall they just came from. She inwardly groaned when she heard Dylan catching up to her and he was at her side now, walking backward next to her. "I pegged you as an Ivanna or Kayla, Amy maybe? Oh! Callie fits too. You've got an 'A' name, I can feel it. You kinda look Latino or Hispanic too. Maybe Gabrielle? Francesca sounds weird for you, but Annabelle's- oof!"

Talia just shoved Dylan into another column of lockers and had his shirt balled in her tight fists again. Jesus, she was going to break his stupid face if he didn't leave her alone. He was looking at Talia, still not ticked off or scared, and she was trying to understand what the hell was up with this kid.

"You are really strong." He smiled, starting his rambling again. "Are you an Olympian? Coach Payton doesn't fool around when it comes to his club, but I kinda think he's poppin' steroids 'cause-"

"Leave. Me. Alone. Dylan." She sternly ordered.

"Not until you tell me your name." He smiled and tilted his head up a bit to jut his chin out. "If you don't, I'll follow you home and I'll know where you live, so you can expect to see this cute face every morning. And I'll scratch on your window like a cat." Talia narrowed her eyes at Dylan, but his smile didn't waver.

"Talia." She spat and released his shirt. "Now go away."

"Are you going home?" He asked and she vocally groaned this time. "I want you to meet my brother and my best friend. It'll all make sense, why I was listening to you sing, when you meet them."

"If you follow me home, I'll break your legs." She turned her back on Dylan, but glanced over her shoulder at him. He looked like a dog left on the side of the road and she rolled her eyes. She couldn't imagine how weird the rest of the kids at this school were. She heard Dylan start to come after her and she sighed, but yelped when she was tugged back a little. She spun around and her Vans backpack was gone. Dylan had it clutched to his chest and he looked frightened, but determined. "Give me my goddamn bag!"

"I'm sorry!" He called back and dashed down the hall, looking back at her.

Talia growled in annoyance before sprinting after him and he rounded the left corner. Dylan had to be on Track Team because he was just too damn fast and she was keeping up with him, but she was sure it was because he was letting her.

By now, they've gone down a stairwell and Talia was positive they were on the 8th-grade floor because of the posters on the walls. At the end of this hall was another set of double-doors and Dylan just shoved one of them open. She did the same and he was waiting on the other side, so she crashed into him, making them fall. They were in a lunchroom now, but there was a stage in here with an upright studio piano in front of it and Talia figured that the lower graders have a cafetorium.

Talia pried her bag from Dylan's hands and punched him in the arm. "What the hell is your damage?!" She snapped while Dylan was rubbing the spot where she hit him.

"I just- you're- I needed you to-" He groaned. "Just look!"

Dylan pointed to the stage and Talia looked. There were two boys sitting on the edge and they were looking at them with furrowed brows. One of them had brown hair as Dylan did, but his was darker, a bit longer and messy. He had cerulean eyes and Talia saw the drumsticks in his hand. Next to him was a beige-blond with cropped up hair, but his brownish eyebrows signaled that he bleached his locks. His eyes were pickle-green and she noticed the Nirvana muscle-tank he was wearing.

"What the hell have you done now, Dibs?" The other brown-haired boy asked and his voice was a little deeper than Talia expected. He was wearing a denim vest with all kinds of edgy patches on it and when he slid off the stage, she saw the pack of cigarettes poking out of his front pocket.

Dylan got up and was holding his arm, but smiling like he just won the lottery. The blond jumped down and made his way over, standing next to the other boy. The brunet had to be 5'9 and the blond was almost an inch shorter than him. Dylan was a little more than 3 inches taller than Talia, so he was around 5'8 1/2. Now that she's seen them all, the other brown-haired boy looked like he was the oldest of the three.

"This is the answer to all our problems and her name is Talia." Dylan motioned to Talia with his free arm and he still had that wide grin on his face. The other boys looked at her, then back at him, apparently unconvinced.

"And just how is she supposed to help us?" The blond asked.

"She's our missing link, dude! This is who I've been telling you about, who I've been listening to the past few days."

"You've been stalking me for days?" Talia butted-in and Dylan slipped behind the tallest boy, peering over his arm at her.

"I was listening to you sing." Dylan defended himself and Talia didn't understand why the hell she was still entertaining this madness.

"Wait a minute, this is who you want to be our replacement?" The older brunet asked and pointed a drumstick at Talia while the blond had his head in his hands. Dylan excitedly nodded. "She's a chick, Dibs."

"No shit, Sherlock." She retorted and all the boys looked at her. The brunet raised an eyebrow while the blond just stared and Dylan was still smiling. "And what do you mean, 'our replacement'? I'm not replacing anything. If you three are into that sharing a girlfriend shit, I'm definitely out."

"You didn't even tell her why you dragged her here?" The blond questioned.

The boys started arguing with Dylan and simultaneously asking him questions, their voices echoing off the walls. Talia decided that she had enough of Crazy Town and pulled the strap of her backpack over her shoulder, turning away from the trio.

"Hey! Wait!" Dylan called and ran past her. He was barricading the doors with his body and Talia sighed. She had to give it to him, the boy was determined. "Just hear us out, Talia. I really think you're what we need in a lead singer."

"You're a band?" Dylan nodded and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm the bassist or pianist when needed, Ethan's our monster on the drums, Josh slays the guitar and he's got killer dirty and backup vocals. We've all been playing since we were, like, 7-years-old and we practice every weekend. Together, we are Killzone-4!" He threw his hands out with a smile, but his grin faded. "Well...we're Killzone-3 now 'cause we don't have a lead singer, but you could make us a quartet again."

"Why don't you just take main vocals?" Talia shot a nod to the blond, whom she guessed was Josh because Ethan had drumsticks. "You can sing, right?"

"Main vocals aren't my scene." He shrugged.

"Either way, I'm not singing in some pop-trash boy band."

"Hey, now." Dylan said and Talia had a feeling he was trying to be serious, but she's seen him smile too much to think he could ever be pensive. "We are not a boy band, alright? None of us are boys here. We are strapping young men."

"I'm gonna strangle you." Ethan sighed, shaking his head at Dylan.

"And if anything, we're a cover band for the alternatively rockin' side of music." He ended his defense.

"Okay, so you're an alternative/rock cover band. Congratulations. Can I go now?"

"Yeah, after you hear us play."

"On what?" Dylan grabbed her hand and practically dragged her over to the stage.

He pulled her up and tugged the royal-blue curtain to the right. There was a red, eight-piece drum set and next to it was a dark slate-blue guitar with black rimming. Next to that was a black guitar with an abstractly edgy shape and black matte gloss. The guitars were leaning on their own amplifiers and Talia saw another cube hiding behind the drums.

"Just listen to us and see if you like what you hear." Dylan softly pleaded. "If you don't like our sound, I promise I won't bother you again...just give us a chance?"

Tal looked at Dylan and groaned when she saw his face. He looked like he just watched all the puppies in the world be slaughtered in front of him. She looked behind her at Ethan and Josh. They just climbed on the stage and Ethan had this impassive, 'I don't give a shit' look stamped on his face while Josh looked like he was expecting to be disappointed.

"You get one shot." She sternly said to Dylan and watched the light brighten his entire being in a matter of milliseconds. She shook her head, but smirked and gave Dylan a light push in the arm. "Go on, impress me. Don't play Nirvana either."

"You don't like Nirvana?" Josh accused in a clearly disrespected voice and came to her front with his guitar strap over his shoulder. He turned to Dylan. "I refuse to have her in our band if she doesn't like them. Our creative differences are gonna clash and it'll be just like last time. I'm not gonna waste my time-"

"Stop bitching, Josh." Ethan said and took his seat behind his set. "If she doesn't like them, so be it."

"It's not gonna work." Josh grumbled back. "We've already been through this with Oliver and I'm not going through it again."

"I was born the day Kurt died and Aero Zepplin was playing when I came out, so yeah. Nirvana fan, literally, since birth." Talia clarified, getting the faux-blond's attention. "I didn't want you to play one of their songs because based on that shirt, you're a fan too and it would be too easy to perform."

"You were born the same day the Grunge God died?" Josh repeated and Talia nodded. He gave her a small smile, but Talia felt like she knew what the gesture meant. It was like all the times she'd talk to Happy about the first band she fell in love with and how she could ramble on for hours about them. It was a proud smile that fans obtain when music truly changes their lives. "You know, part of his soul's probably connected to you."

"He's one of my spirit animals." She agreed and Josh's smile widened as if he just found someone who truly understood him.

"How's about we play something you can jump in on?" Dylan cheerfully suggested. "You'll hear Josh's voice and perform for us at the same time, everyone wins."

"Forever the optimist, Dibs." Ethan chuckled and Dylan beamed. The drummer looked at Talia as he expertly twirled one of his sticks. "Any requests?"

She shrugged. "Whatever you guys are comfortable with."

Ethan nodded and the two boys went over to him. They formed a little huddle and Talia could faintly hear them whispering. She slipped off the stage to get a good view of their set and after a minute of quiet discussion, the boys clapped and separated. Josh went behind the curtain and tugged a microphone stand in front of his spot. He came to the edge of the stage and held out a mic to Talia that had a red piece of tape around it.

Josh went behind his mic and began tuning his guitar while talking to Dylan, who was doing the same to his bass. After a few testing strums, they gave each other a nod and Ethan tapped his sticks four times before they synchronously erupted in song.

The intro was a little long, but Talia could see how focused the boys were and they looked like they were having fun. Of course, Dylan wouldn't stop smiling and Josh would shake his head, grinning, whenever he looked at him. She recognized the song and the name was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't place it. When Josh stepped closer to his mic, he looked at Talia and she saw the flash of nervousness in his eyes, but he must've sucked it up because it was gone as quickly as it came.

"Not gonna miss you when you're dead and gone
Not gonna talk about you over and over and over

Not gonna file you under latest nostalgia
Or happily ever after

Not gonna listen to your played-out songs
Don't wanna think about you over and over and over

Not gonna read about the latest fads on your trendy blog
I want nothing to do with that

'Cause you've made a mess of everything
And I'm not listening"

Talia's eyebrows tweaked when she heard Josh's voice and she didn't miss how he smirked. She remembered the song too and these guys just scored some major points with her for their choice. They were missing a second guitarist, but it wasn't noticeable and Dylan was a pretty good replacement for backup vocals. That just earned them another batch of points for flexibility.

Josh's voice was a little gruff, but smooth. He had the passion and the pitch was right for the song, but he was missing the oomph. He didn't have the loudness either and Talia just figured out why he wasn't on main vocals. He was good, but not yet skilled enough for main mic. From the way his voice would drop on certain notes and what Dylan mentioned, she had a feeling that he was much better at performing dirty vocals.

"I'm gonna start a revolution
Of convoluted disillusion

I'll lead a war with no conclusion
And in my final hour, I'll be a confident coward

'Cause if we stand for nothing,
we'll fall for anything"

All the guys looked at Talia when she chimed in and they all were so distracted that they fell behind a few seconds to the song, making her smile. Josh gave Talia a bigger smirk than last time and she heard Dylan cheer in approval while Ethan looked like he huffed in contentment.

Talia climbed on stage with Josh and he looked pleasantly surprised. They sang the rest of the song together and their voices worked well with one another. He wasn't trying to overpower her voice and she wasn't trying to overshadow his. They were working together, like a team, and Talia started smiling with him because they sounded so goddamn good.

As Josh and Talia continued singing, she noticed that she was beginning to feel something with these guys. They all looked like they were having a damn good time and they were playing their instruments with a raw enthusiasm that only came from unadulterated merriment. They were connected to their instruments, to the music they were playing and to each other. She was feeling that; she was getting stitched into their emotions.

While the boys were blinded by the upbeat ending of their song, Talia slowly let her voice fade out until Josh was singing solo again. He didn't seem to notice and Ethan was doing nuts on his set. Dylan was bouncing around as he played on his bass and she quietly set the mic down, slipping off the stage. she grabbed her backpack from where she dropped it and made her way to the double doors. The song ended and the trio started jovially shouting about their little jam session, praising each other.

"Hey, where you going?" Dylan called and Talia looked back at him. He was on the stage next to Ethan and Josh. They all looked confused as hell, but Dylan looked frantic. She had one of the double doors opened and was ready to leave. "Did you not just feel what we had? It was epic! I-It was like a blazing fire of creatively cosmic awesomeness!"

"We never sounded like that with Oliver." Josh coolly commented and Talia looked at Ethan, but he said nothing, just stared. He was definitely the Bad Boy of their group. Dylan was without a doubt the most innocent, sweethearted Boy Next Door and Josh seemed like he was the Strong-Silent-Artistic type.

"What's the problem, Talia?" Dylan asked, the puppy eyes begging to come out.

"Be here next Saturday, same time." She instructed and after a second of letting her words set in, Dylan started smiling.

"Does this mean you're singing for us?" Ethan finally said something and she smirked. Seemed like he was also the No Bullshit type.

"Don't follow me home, Dylan." Talia didn't look back at the boys and walked out.

She could feel her phone buzzing in her backpack as she maneuvered down the mazes of halls until she found the entrance and saw Juice parked right in front of the school. He was sitting on his bike with his phone to his ear and his shades were on, but she could tell he looked troubled. He flipped his Burner shut and sighed when he saw her.

"What kept you?" He asked and pulled Talia in for a hug.

"A guy, three of them."

"Damn, Tal. You can juggle three guys at once?" He joked and she glared at him, but smiled.

"Not like that, dipshit. One of them was listening to me sing and asked me to join a band he's in."

"Lemme get this straight. Not only were you socializing like a normal teenage girl and basically stood me up for you new three-headed boyfriend, but you joined a band too?" Juice asked in a playfully shocked tone and she giggled, mounting his bike. He handed her his spare helmet and strapped his on, starting his bike.

Talia had her chin on Juice's shoulder like she always did and when he pulled off, she noticed colors in his right mirror. Tempted, she looked back and saw Ethan, Josh and Dylan with black instrument cases. They were putting their gear into the trunk of a red Range Rover and they piled into the passenger seats afterward, but Ethan climbed into the front seat.