Monday, Shane's Locker, 8:12 A.M...

Break was now over, much to the chagrin of every student currently walking through the halls of St. Augustus High... Well, everyone except Xavier. Man was a total bookworm after all. But, whatever the case, it was back to the daily grind with the everyone. Kids were scrambling to finish any homework they didn't do at the last minute and teachers were dreading having to deal with children again. Well, at least ones like Dean, due to his lack of fucks given to any one class except gym. Or ones like Big E, who saw every moment as a chance for comedy. When it came to Shane however, he didn't really feel any ill will toward coming back. In fact, he was pretty positive when it came down to it. He saw it as a chance to see his friends again, and see what else the school had to offer.

As he stood by his locker, he thought of all the clubs and teams he knew about. Football had taken up all of his extracurricular activity time, so now that that had ended, he had plenty of options. There was the obvious choice, which was joining the basketball team. But, part of him wasn't really up for strenuous practices and hard workouts, so soon after winning a title with his football squad. He kinda wanted to take it easy. Then there was the book club. The boy wasn't against a good piece of literature. He liked to read as much as the next guy, but... He needed more physical activity. Sitting still and concentrating on one thing was not his strong suit at all.

Another option was the Young Dem- nah. How about the Young Repub- no. Shane was not into politics at all. He felt that it alienated people away from each other, and he wasn't about that. Maybe the baseball team? Nah, he admittedly didn't know much about the sport. Soccer... oh, Paige would love that wouldn't she? "Oh, so the yank finally recognizes what real football is." He could hear her in his head right now saying that shit. Nah, he won't give her the satisfaction.

"So, what is there to do? I can't just not do anything. I gotta do something." He thought.

As he was deep in his own mind, he didn't notice someone trying to get his attention.

"Shane? Shane, honey. Shane... Shane!"

He snapped out of his almost trancelike state when he heard the voice that was calling his name. He looked over and saw it was one of his closest friends from the cheer squad, Liv Morgan.

"Oh, hey Liv. Sorry about that. What's up?"

"You alright? You seemed pretty out of it just now." She said, voicing her concern.

"Nah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about stuff."

"Whatcha thinkin' about?"

"I'm tryna figure out what I'm gonna do now that the Football season is over. I can't just sit around and do nothing for the rest of the year." He explained.

"Funny, that's exactly what most kids would wanna do. Then again, you aren't like most kids."

Shane chuckled.

"I'm gonna take that as a complement."

"That's what I meant it to be, hon. Well, if you haven't decided by the time school ends today, meet me by my locker on the 3rd floor. I've got something for you to do."

"Any chance I could get a hint as to what this "something" might be?" Price asked.

Liv giggled and playfully tapped his nose with her finger.

"Nope. You'll just have to wait and find out."

Then, she skipped away, leaving Shane both intrigued and confused. Seth had walked up to him, just catching the tail end of that exchange.

"What was that about?" He asked.

Price shrugged.

"I don't know. Guess I'm gonna find out after school."


2:55 P.M...

Alexa and Shane walked out of the last period together, glad that they were finished with classes for the day.

"My God, Ms. Guerrero is soooo annoying. If I have to hear her say, "Excuse me!", one more time, I'm gonna lose it." Little Miss Bliss vented.

Shane chuckled.

"Eh, it's not so bad if you tune her out."

"That's impossible though. Her voice could probably carry throughout the entire building if she yelled hard enough."

"Maybe. I don't know, I don't mind her too much."

"You're crazy. Anyway, you ready to go home now?" Alexa asked.

"Nah, I can't yet. I'm supposed to meet up with Liv. Said she wanted to show me something."

The petite princess was perplexed. (Try saying that shit three times fast.)

"Really? Liv? That's kinda random. What does she want to show you?"

"Babe, I have no idea. I asked, but she wouldn't tell me anything. You wanna come find out with me?" He offered.

"I can't. I need to go home and study for this stupid Global exam tomorrow."

"Oh, okay. Well, I'll let ya know what happens later."

"Alright. See you later then. Love you."

"Love you too, princess."

The two lovebirds shared a quick kiss before Alexa left to go home. Now it was time for Shane to find out what Morgan had in store for him. He walked up one flight of steps, then walked in the direction of what he was pretty sure was Liv's locker. His guess was proven correct as he saw Liv herself talking with Ruby in front of it. She saw him approaching and waved.

"Honey, you decided to show up. I'm glad." The blonde girl beamed.

Shane smiled and waved back.

"Hey, Liv. Ruby, how's it goin'?"

"I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking." Ruby replied nicely.

Price clapped.

"So, I'm here. Whatcha got?"

"Okay, I'm gonna let Ruby here give you the rundown." The cheerleader told him.

"I'm all ears, Ms. Riott."

"So, in a month, there's this little battle of the bands competition happening downtown and we wanna enter." She started.

"Wait, you guys can play instruments?" Shane asked surprised.

"Yup. I play the drums." Ruby confirmed.

"And I can play bass guitar like nobody's business." Liv bragged.

"Anyway, we were wondering... if you'd join our band."

Out of all the things that Shane could've guessed Liv was talking about, playing in a band with her was not one of them.

"Wow, um... That's surprising. I'm flattered, but I'm gonna be honest. I can't play any instruments. Like at all. I took acoustic guitar lessons for like two months when I was 11, but I stopped cause it was too boring for me at the time. So, I don't think I'll be of any use to you guys, sadly." He admitted.

However, that confession didn't deter Liv.

"That's fine. We don't need you to play any instruments. We wanted you to be our lead singer."

That also surprised the hell outta Price.

"Lead singer? Me? Why do you want me?"

"Dude, have you not heard yourself sing? Your voice is crazy good. Plus, you have the look of a lead singer. All you need are some cool tattoos and you'd have the look down pat." Ruby complemented him.

"Hold on." Liv chimed in.

She reached up and ruffled his hair a little bit to make it messy and unkempt. She then stepped back and admired her work.

"Hmm, perfect. Now you look like a real rockstar." She beamed.

Shane chuckled.

"Aw man. I spent all morning combing my hair. But, back to the lead singer thing. I don't know, man. I get real nervous in front of crowds." He confessed.

"What? What the hell are you talking about? You played football for months. The bleachers were filled to maximum capacity every time you guys played at home. Along with that, me and the rest of the cheer squad were there. And to top it all off, you were one of the stars. People would legit come to specifically see you play. You did fine during that, obviously." Liv pointed out, trying hard to convince the Irish boy.

"That's different though, Liv. With football, I wasn't really paying attention to the crowd or the cheerleaders chanting. My mind was completely focused on the game, nothing else. Performing is a different story. I have no choice but to look at the audience and interact with them. Especially when I'm at the forefront like a lead singer is. I wouldn't say I'm a shy person, but I'm not really a fan of all that attention on me."

Ruby and Liv sighed in disappointment.

"Okay, we understand. But, can you at least think about it?" The punk rock girl asked.

Seeing the two girls' despondent faces forced Shane to say yes to that. He couldn't stand to see them all sad.

"Alright... I'll.. I'll give you an answer by the end of the week."

That gave them some hope.

"We'll take what we can get. Thank you." Ruby happily said.

Liv hugged him, and the two girls started to walk away.

"It would be a lot of fuuuun." Morgan playfully sang before blowing him a kiss goodbye.

Shane was now alone with his thoughts. He rubbed his chin.

"Lead singer of a band, huh?" He said aloud.

Then he started rubbing his hair, which caused him to frown.

"I really did spend a lot of time on making it look nice today."

AN: So yeah, that's how we're starting off the new arc. Love it? Hate it? Any comments or concerns? You know what to do, baby. Just head to the review section. Peace. You guys are the best.