"Bye, Daddy." Jolene said brightly as she and her younger sister and brother each climbed out of the car. She didn't get why she had to be driven to school on her first day of senior year, by her father, but it was tradition, that day she wouldn't argue. She would just smile and let it happen, then go on her way.

Wrapping an arm around Russel's waist, the girl grinned. For fourteen, her younger brother was a tower. He was already six feet, next to her five feet two, so he made her seem like the younger one. Except that everyone knew Jo Tierney. She was the lead singer of that cool band everyone wanted to play at their parties. She was the hot girl that all the guys tried to get on dates. She was the unattainable.

"I can't believe you are starting high school." She sniffled, squeezing Russ's waist. She was one of the younger of seven children, and because of this, she had a special bond with the other two. Catherine and Russel were like two of her best friends. Her oldest brother, Gabriel, was turning thirty in the next month, then there were the twins, Mark and Stephen, who were twenty-five, and at twenty-four, James rounded out the grouping of older kids. She and Catherine, who was fifteen and a sophomore, were the only girls, and were very well protected by the family. "You are growing up too fast."

Eventually, she extracted herself from her siblings, and made her way to the senior corridor, to her locker, her friends, and her homeroom. "Derek!" She said brightly, hopping onto the drummer's back. "Where's Michael and Tripp?" She asked, putting her chin on his shoulder.

"God, Jo. You're heavy." Derek feigned, stumbling slightly. "Didn't you come in with Tripp? Isn't that the way these things go? You and Tripp ride in together and ignore the rest of us for the day?" He teased.

"Obviously. That's why I'm not talking to you right now." Jo returned sarcastically in turn, grinning at her friend.

“What about Mr. Gornik?”

“Compliment his pet turtle and try to sit at the back of the class,” Eljas recited almost automatically. Stacy, who had her head sticking out between the two front seats of the car, noted this before flipping her class sheet over in thought. Lance was sitting in the passenger's seat, his head propped up on one of his hands as he silently counted the minutes until they would reach school.

“Mrs. Lloyd?” Stacy went on.

Eljas raised a brow, reaching over to snatch the paper out of her hands. “What do you have her for?” he asked.

“Homeroom,” Stacy replied. Eljas snickered, stuffing the paper back into her hands. “What?”

“Good luck. Best advice, just stay as far away from her as possible,” Eljas said. He turned the wheel, nosing the car off the road and into the school's parking lot. “Look, don't worry so much about it,” he went on. “Just... listen in class, do your homework, and don't get stuffed into any lockers.”

“People actually do that?” Lance asked, his interest peaked for the first time since he had gotten in the car. Eljas grinned as he pulled the car into a parking spot and shut off the engine.

“Only if you don't run fast enough,” he looked to his brother with a smirk before opening the car door and getting out. The younger siblings followed, grabbing their backpacks. Eljas shouldered his own bag and then dug his guitar case out of the back of the car, slinging it over his other shoulder. With that he locked the doors and lead the way into the school. Stacy was nervous about her first day of freshman year, as he had expected her to be. Lance was at least attempting to put on a couldn't-care-less front.

By the time the siblings entered the school, the halls were buzzing with activity. Eljas sent the twins off on their way as quickly as he could manage before making a beeline for his own homeroom. Jo hadn't driven in with him that morning as her father insisted on taking her to school. Who was he to argue? He would see her soon enough. And true to that, as he entered the room, he saw the young woman in the middle of attacking Derek. The sight caused him to laugh as he made his way over.

“What's this?” he joked. “High-jacking my girlfriend already?” He set his guitar down near an empty desk, dropping his backpack into the seat. Once freed from his belongings, he only waited long enough for Jo to relinquish Derek before sweeping her in with one arm and leaning down to give her a kiss. Derek's groan of protest only made him grin.

“Get a room,” Derek muttered from beside them. Eljas laughed, looking over to the drummer.

“Sure. Can we use yours?” he joked, causing Derek to feign vomiting. He was saved any further banter by Michael's arrival. The bassist was his usual groggy morning self as he flopped down into the seat in front of them, greeting them all with a half-hearted wave of his hand.

Jo was still teasing Derek when she heard a few people make comments about a guitar and how 'he' always had it. Jo knew who they were talking about. Everyone was fascinated by Tripp and his guitar. She heard his teasing words and then the sound of his guitar case hitting the floor. Of course she was excited that he was finally there, she hadn't seen him since the night before, an eternity in the beginning of a relationship.

She jumped off her friend's back and turned quickly to wrap her arms around Eljas' neck, returning his kiss gladly. As she fell back to her feet, she released him with one arm, the other still around his neck, to smile up at him as their friend teased them. "I wouldn't want his room, too messy." She returned with a grin, glancing back at the drummer.

"Hey, Mike!" She said brightly, when the bassist came in. She could tell if he were any more asleep he wouldn't be able to stand upright, mornings were never his thing, but then mornings weren't good for any musician, she knew most mornings after shows she was dead on her feet as well.

"Oh, guys! Guess what!" She said excitedly, remembering what she'd heard that morning during breakfast. "Headbangers Ball on channel four is looking to feature a young band. I was thinking about entering us." She told them. "What do you think?" She asked them, looking at each in turn. "We can have someone record us playing and submit it to the show. Who knows, maybe we can get discovered?" She suggested.

"So?" She asked, turning the the man who had founded the band with her, the one who had the idea to add the other two. The man who helped her write songs, who spent their childhood dreaming, with her, of the day that they would be discovered and become famous.

Eljas was laughing at Mike's groggy self when Jo pulled his attention back to her. It had now been a while since they had started looking at any breaks that would get the attention of producers and managers. A difficult task considering the fact that they were still just high school students. At least, that's the way others tended to see them. Another year and they would be free of that issue, ready to set off on their own lives that didn't require math and science.

“Headbangers Ball?” Derek asked. “I thought they were more local to the east coast.”

“They try to showcase bands from all over the country,” Eljas shrugged slightly, thinking over the news. If they made it on the show, no doubt someone would take notice. Turning, he settled himself on top of his desk, swinging his feet up onto the chair. He was silent for a moment before Jo turned to him to get his opinion. Resting his elbows on his knees, he looked up at her, aware that Derek and Mike were watching him as well.

“So... I say let's do it,” he decided, looking around at the others, smiling at the prospect. “We got that show coming up this weekend. If we can get it recorded, that'll be perfect. Maybe I can bug Kyle about it. He needs a night out anyways,” Eljas chuckled. “When's the deadline?” he asked, turning back to Jo.

Jolene shook her head, about to speak at Derek's question, when Eljas answered for her. She smiled and moved over, to stand herself beside him as he thought about her questions. She thought it would be perfect to send in a video, it didn't hurt even if they weren't chosen. But, if they were, then who knew what would happen. They were better than most of the bands out there, she listened to them with Tripp all the time, they spent a lot of time gathering information and ideas.

When he agreed with her, the young woman clapped excitedly and threw her arms around his shoulders. "That's what I like to hear." She said brightly. "We can ask Russel or Catherine to help, if you want." She said as she turned around to look at the other two. "Are you in to get famous?" She asked them with a grin.

"Deadline is the twenty-fifth of September. So we have a little over a month." She told him, leaning forward to kiss his cheek softly. They still had a few minutes before class started, so they could talk a little more, but soon enough they'd be broken up and would have to pay attention to something else.

Through school, Jolene and Eljas had only had three classes apart, and those were in different years, with only one of them being in high school. That year, it was as if fate was playing with them. They only had homeroom together that year, which would limit their time together, but after looking over their schedules, they had talked and agreed that for the most part, they would walk to their classes together.

"That's enough, Miss Tierney, Mr. Kiser." The voice called as she leaned forward again to press her lips to his cheek once more. She pulled back and frowned, unwinding her arms from around his neck. She looked at the teacher as she slid away and sat herself in her own desk next to Tripp's. The bell rang seconds later.

"Alright, here are the rules to my homeroom." The man started, writing on the dry-erase board as he spoke. "Noise levels will be kept to a minimum." He started, and began to drone on with the usual list of classroom rules. A while down, he looked at the young couple pointedly "PDA is strictly off limits in my classroom. You are not at home, and certainly not in private, so keep your hands to yourselves ladies and gentlemen."

Derek and Michael looked at the two and made 'kissy-faces' making Jolene roll her eyes and stick her tongue out at the two.

At Jo's answer, Eljas snorted softly, shaking his head. “We can put together a whole video in a month,” he mused. Though he knew that they would likely try to get a live recording out as soon as possible. The wait for the results was bound to frustrate them. This wasn't the first time they had auditioned their band for something, though it certainly seemed to be the biggest opportunity so far.

Eljas grinned as Jo planted a kiss to his cheek, listening to their friends discussing the show. It was all too soon when the teacher's voice rang out, addressing them. And there was that bell that he hated so much. Nearly all eyes in the room turned to them at their names.

Eljas merely turned to Jo, letting her slip away with a wink before he moved to settle down at his own desk. Everyone had grown up knowing him and Jo as close friends. No doubt, confusion would run amok for a while as to why they were suddenly a lot more affectionate. Eljas would, in his usual fashion, ignore it.

As everyone finally settled down and silence fell over the room their instructor began the day with a list of classroom rules. As if they hadn't heard all of this before a million times going through 11 years of school. Eljas leaned back in his seat, playing with a pencil as he listened to the man list off all the usual suspects. When he got to his rule about PDA, Eljas smirked slightly. No doubt, that one would be broken in.... oh... five minutes or so.

As Derek and Mike turned to tease them, however, Eljas narrowed his eyes slightly at them. Without thinking much about it, he threw his pencil right at Mike, holding in a laugh when it bounced off of his head and he winced slightly at the impact.

“No throwing things in my classroom,” the teacher added, pointing out the incident. Eljas smiled over, doing his best impression of a good student.

“Sorry, you hadn't covered that one yet,” he raised his hands as if in defeat. “Won't happen again.”

A few snickers ran through the class that the man chose to ignore. “See that it doesn't,” he reprimanded instead. Eljas gave a nod of his head, though everyone knew he wouldn't keep to the rules. He cast Jo a quick glance, suppressing laughter and then managed to completely tune out while the rest of the rules were covered.

It was only once everything was listed out on the whiteboard that they went through attendance. Eljas didn't even have to answer to his name as it was, quite obvious, that he was present. Though he did raise his hand, the teacher merely waved him down with a, “you're here,” before moving on to the next name on his list. One thing was for sure, this would be quite a long day.

Jolene grinned over at Tripp when he tossed the pencil straight at their friend's head. She managed to keep the laugh in, but had a tough time when he talked back to the teacher. He was a real comic sometimes. But, that was one of the things she so enjoyed about him, he knew how to make people laugh.

The blonde wasn't paying attention to the talking around them, though a lot of it had to do with their little display earlier. People would be catching on pretty quickly that the two people most sought after were actually dating each other. The girls would hate her, wishing that they could have a chance with the hot guitar player. And the boys would be dripping with envy because Eljas was with the sexy singer. But, all in all, they were the perfect pair.

When they were done with the rules, done with attendance, the teacher didn't have anything else to do with them, it was just a place to kill time before classes. So, people talked, Jo turned her attention back to her bandmates, grinning excitedly.

"So, practice tomorrow night?" She asked them, grinning happily. "We can figure out what to play in the demo, and what to play at the gig." She suggested. There was nothing better to her than to be in a band, she got to be creative, she got to have fun, be with her best friends all the time. And it was their passion and talent that would get them discovered, she just knew it.

When the homeroom period ended, Jo stood up, slinging her bag over her back. She glanced to Tripp and grinned. "Want to walk me to class? Or just halfway between?" She asked, smiling. They'd had the talk, but that didn't mean that she expected him to walk her all the way to every class, or even most of them.

It wasn't long before the teacher let them get back to their conversations. Eljas was glad for it. At least they had a little bit of time to kill before the torture would resume. One more year. Just one more year he had to deal with this prison and then he would be able to fully focus on the one thing he wanted to do in life and that was to make music.

As Jo spoke up about practice, Eljas looked over to her, nodding his ascent along with their friends. “We may have to move everything to the basement again,” he replied. They generally used his house for practices. In the summer, his parents let them rehearse in the spare room on the main floor so long as they kept the windows shut and no one complained. Now that the school year had started, though, they would be afraid that the rest of the kids would be too distracted by the loud music.

“Do I need to order more drum parts?” Derek raised a brow, eyeing Eljas carefully. The last time they had moved all of the equipment to a new space, they had accidentally sent some snares tumbling down the stairs. Derek had not be happy in the end and only the promise of better replacements sedated him from the rampage that followed.

“No time like the present to upgrade,” Eljas grinned. Derek narrowed his eyes, but before he could say anything else the bell rang and everyone began getting up to file out of the room.

Eljas got to his feet, grabbing the guitar case first and then his backpack to situate both on his back as usual. With his belongings secured, he snaked an arm around Jo's shoulders, pulling her to him and following their friends down to the front of the room. “I'll walk you over,” he replied to her. Of course he would. He didn't even really want to be in his own classroom. “I got English first period. Think I can pass it if I just spend the year writing lyrics?” he asked hopefully. It would never happen, but he could dream.

“And before I forget... We'll probably need a new lunch table this year,” he added as they left the room. They bid Derek and Mike good luck in their own torture chambers and then Eljas veered Jo down the hallway, weaving the way among the other students. “Or do you want to claim the old one for ourselves?” he asked after a moment, glancing down to her. Last year their table had been shared with certain significant others that neither wanted to see at that point. Though they knew that inevitably they would run into them sooner or later, Eljas really preferred it to be later.

Jo grinned as Tripp wrapped his arm around her shoulder and started to guide her out. She enjoyed this, and she did get a bit of a kick out of the shock on other peoples' faces as they walked out of the classroom and into the hall. Oh, Jo and Tripp had been friendly and affectionate before, but there was just something different about their body language this time.

"Derek, don't worry. We will be very careful with your set this time. We won't throw it around this go." She teased him with a grin. They hadn't been throwing it the last time, but they hadn't been as careful as they might have been, either...

When Eljas brought up the lunch seating, the girl frowned and shook her head. She waved at their friends and considered the options. "Screw that. We out number them. Those two can just find somewhere else to sit." She decided. Richard wasn't going to be showing his face around the two, she was sure, after Tripp knocked him down her stairs for hitting her. Ashlee might be a problem. That bitch was always a problem. But she could handle whatever snide words the girl had for her.

Thinking about to Eljas' words before the table, she grinned. "Who's your teacher again? You might have the first part of class for free reading/writing. Then you can actually get credit for it." She offered. Despite her attitude about being at school and dealing with it, Jo was fairly ahead. She had taken fourth year English the year before. That year she was mostly working on college credits, in History, Language and English. Then she had her fun classes, since she'd skipped out on those the years before. Mythology, Ancient Warfare, and swimming.

When they got to her classroom, math, she sighed and turned to Eljas. "Stupid class." she commented, looking up at him. "I'll see you later?" She asked with a slight smile. "Come up with some amazing songs for us." She suggested with a smile.

Eljas laughed at Jo's lunch table remarks, nodding along. He had never been one for confrontations, though in the case of their ex's that ship had already sailed. In one case very violently. “Old lunch table it is,” he chuckled. “I'll get there early. Just to be sure,” he added after a moment, amusement in his tone of voice. Oh, only if he could get out of his classroom earlier than everyone else.

As Jo asked him about his English teacher, however, the goofy smile left his face to be replaced by a frown. “An hour dose of Mason,” he sighed, hanging his head and leaning against the girl slightly. His hair fell forward for a moment before he flicked his head back, sending the mass flying backwards away from his face again. “She's probably just going to lecture us about Shakespear.”

It wasn't long, however, before they came to Jo's assigned classroom. Eljas peaked inside before sighing and turning back to Jo. It felt odd not being in the same classes together this year. Though it was really his own fault for not taking school as seriously as Jo always had. While she was moving on up to the smarter classes, he was stuck with the boring tedious ones of lower calibur.

“See you out here after,” he told her, pulling her closer in for a kiss. As she spoke, though, he smirked, chuckling softly. “I'll try,” he promised her, already pulling away and taking a couple of steps back. “But if our first album ends up being about some olden ye days of yore, you know who to blame.”

As Eljas talked, he gestured each of the ridiculous words out with his free hand as if reciting a Shakesperian play. Only when he fell silent did he let his hand fall to his side again, ignoring whatever looks he had just managed to attract. No doubt, his rendition had the least to do with people's curiosity. He was known as a bit of a class clown by now.

Giving Jo a wink, he turned and was off to find his own classroom which happened to be just down the hall. Three periods until lunch. He reminded himself of this and began the silent count down that would continue through until the end of the day.

Jolene laughed as she leaned forward and kissed Eljas back. The whole school was probably talking about them by then. Jo and Tripp, the pair that was seen together every day, at every occasion since they were five, were actually kissing and holding hands. Word had been out since the beginning of the summer that they were no longer in relationships with the people everyone knew them to be with. The school just thought they would move to relationships with someone else. Who would have guessed that Tripp didn't see Jo as one of the boys and Jo didn't look at Tripp like a big brother?

"Goof." She commented at his exaggerated movements. "I'll see you after class." She said, laughing at his actions. She hurried into her classroom, shaking her head to herself. She sat down and took out notebook, getting ready to start the class, and get it over with...

Finally, the three periods before lunch finished and Jo was putting everything in her locker and pulling out a notebook that she kept her song ideas in most recently. With only that and her purse in hand, the blonde hurried to the lunchroom, knowing she'd have to deal with either her ex-boyfriend or Tripp's ex-girlfriend. Anything was possible just then.

And the first person she ran into before even opening the door was her ex-boyfriend, Richard. "Hey, Music Girl." Richard said with a grin, putting an arm to block her from entering the cafeteria. "Trying to make me jealous, walking around with that guitarist of yours? It would bother me more if you were pretending to be hooking up with Joel." Joel was the drummer for Richard's band. That was annoying to Jolene, but she just grinned at him.

"Awe, poor poor Richard, can't accept that you aren't the most talented guitar player in the school, and that girls would much rather be with Eljas than you." She said, giving him a pout.

"Yeah, yeah. How's that arm of his?" He asked with a grin, referring to the broken arm Eljas suffered earlier that summer when he had defended her from Richard's harsh handling. "Not looking for a repeat of that, are we?" It was a thread, Jolene knew that. It bothered him to know that he wasn't the best out there.

"The only way to repeat that, Dick, would be if you two fell down the stairs again. Don't pretend that you did it on purpose, idiot." Jo commented, walking around him. "And remember something else, Dick. I can kick your ass any day, too. So don't try coming around threatening my boyfriend. My real boyfriend." She told him, pushing him out of the way and walking in to their usual table in the cafeteria.

Eljas's classes crawled by a painful speed. It likely didn't help that he continued to glance over to the clock every minute or so, hardly paying attention to what the teachers were saying. For the most part, it was a day of reminding them of the rules and telling them what exciting knowledge would be crammed into their adolescent minds this year. He went from English to Math to History in this fashion. He only kept entertained from the fact that some of his friends were in one or more of the same classes. It wasn't often that he hung around people who weren't a part of his band, though he knew enough of them and some he still considered friends.

Though the social aspect of the classes dampened a little in History when Eljas discovered that Ashlee was in his class. She came in with two of her girl friends as Eljas was settling in beside a group of his own buddies. When he looked around, making eye contact with the blonde, she rolled her eyes and stalked off to the other side of the room. The summer had not given her enough time to cool down the drama, it seemed, as became evident when she began to talk out loud about a recent concert she went to.

“Their guitar player was so amazing,” she gushed to her two friends. “I got to hang out with them after and he said he wants to take me out. He was such a gentleman too.” Eljas glanced over to her in mild irritation as she continued talking, seeing a wide smile spread across her features. After that, he turned back to his own group of friends and ignored her voice as best as he could. She didn't seem to understand that he wasn't about to get jealous of another guy. He had actually managed to move on. What irked him was her attitude about it.

He was actually thankful when the bell rang. He sat through the class silently and once the period was over he left the room quickly with a couple of guys in tow. They made a stop over at the lockers, shelving books that weren't needed anymore and picking up ones that would be required later. After that, Eljas made his way down to the cafeteria. After sitting through Ashlee's little show, he was more than glad for an opportunity to see Jo again.

As fate would have it, though, he ran into Richard as he entered the cafeteria. The man didn't say anything to him. Only glared until Eljas had walked off to get in line for the food. The last time the two had seen one another, Eljas had ended up with a broken wrist. Thankfully, the injury hadn't been bad enough to warrant months of rest, though a cast was involved in the beginning. He was still experiencing some pains even to this day, but at least he was able to begin playing the guitar little by little before school started.

Eljas moved quickly through the line, gathering the mush that passed for food these days. He paid for it and then made his way over to the usual lunch table. He spotted Jo already settled with Derek and a couple of other friends who liked to eat with them. Eljas dropped his tray off beside his girlfriend and greeted those he hadn't yet seen that day. He quickly deposited his belongings before settling down next to Jo.

“Is this day over yet?” he asked her with a shake of his head. “Guess who's in my History class,” he added after a moment. It was Derek who answered, though.

“The drama queen?” he guessed.

“The drama queen,” Eljas exclaimed in response, raising a hand to point at Derek.

“At least she's keeping her distance,” Derek sighed. He tilted his head to the side in a gesture. Eljas followed it, looking over in the direction he had motioned toward. There, two tables away, Ashlee was settling down with her girls. His gaze didn't linger, for a couple of them glanced their way. Instead, Eljas merely turned back to those at his table and leaned lightly against Jo.

“If our parents knew how much drama high school was, they'd never let us near this place,” he commented. He hated drama. He also knew that it would be difficult to escape it this year.

Jo grabbed something from the food line to get her through the day so she wouldn't starve. Once she took her seat in their usual table from the years before the friends began to surround. Derek and Michael sat down, with two of Jo's friends from other classes and activities, then the table next to them began to fill with other friends, soon their little corner was the epicenter of the cafeteria.

Jo was laughing with Hilary, one of the other girls at their table, joking about something when Tripp's tray landed beside her own. "Halfway through." She told him, reaching a hand up to pet his hair. The two finished their conversation quickly, with Monica turning to laugh with Hilary about the school's newest couple while Jo turned to her boyfriend.

"No way!" Jo asked when Derek guessed that Eljas had the class with Ashlee. "How did that go?" She asked, turning her gaze to the other table. She could have been further away, in Jo's opinion, but what was she going to do?

"Oh, honey. I'm sure they went through the same drama." She assured him. Or something close. Her own mother had been pregnant at sixteen, and she knew his parents had their own share of things to think about in high school. But, their problems did feel pretty big.

"So, otherwise, classes have been good? Mr. Lauter gave us homework already." She told him with a dramatic sigh, shaking her head before leaning it on his shoulder. "Isn't the first week supposed to be easy?" She wasn't even going to bring up the talk with Richard a few minutes before, he didn't need to have that added to him, with his own ex problems.

“Of course he did,” Eljas snorted as he forked what he assumed was supposed to be mashed potatoes. He had Mr. Lauter as his second-to-last class that day. At least he now knew that the old man hadn't changed since the previous school year. “The day he doesn't give homework will be the day he goes senile.”

Quickly, Eljas shoveled up the mush on his tray. He was eager to eat it before his taste buds could yell at his brain to stop. Otherwise he would spend the rest of the day hungry.

“I got some reading to do for Mason. And thinking of a research project for history for the final. Who thinks about finals on the first day?” Eljas crinkled his nose in distaste. The expression was fleeting. The next moment he pushed away his tray and swung his leg over the bench, effectively swiveling around to face Jo.

“Besides... who needs history when we're going to be going to the top?” he added. It was typical of him. Pushing off school and homework in favor of the band. Other kids were punished by having their TV and internet revoked. Eljas used to get his guitar taken away. When he was younger, this usually resulted in him running through the large house, yodeling at the top of his lungs. Something that was clearly meant to annoy his parents but often got him locked in his room in the end. Upon which he would get Jo to sneak in and simply spend time with her instead of sitting around by himself.

“So I was thinking... if we make it onto the show, we should write some new material for it. At least one song,” he suggested. And just like that he was a little kid again. “We've already played all of our songs around local clubs so some people would know them, but if we can come up with something new for them. Heavier even.”

Jolene laughed softly and shook her head, thinking about it. What was with everyone making them think about tomorrow today? She didn't want to be concerned with what was going to happen in the next few years. Hell, she didn't want to worry about what would happen the next day. She wanted to enjoy her life, the time that she had with her band, her boyfriend.

"That's right. We are going to be the most famous band out there. We will be the U2 of heavy metal music." She predicted, leaning forward to offer him a quick kiss. It was a mutual dream, one that they were both quite passionate about.

"A new song..." She considered it, rolled the idea on her tongue. It had it's benefits, and its drawbacks. They could make something spectacular, something that would make the most devoted fan quake with love for them. Or, it could blow up in their faces and cause them to lose everything... She didn't know which would become. Their usual songs had gotten them that far, but was that as far as they would go without risking?

"Have you been thinking of anything?" She asked. Why not dare? Why not risk? They couldn't come to a standstill at that crucial stage. "We could meet up tonight and start throwing around ideas." She offered with a grin.

"Sure, you are going to talk about songs." Michael butted in. "We all know that when you two are somewhere you aren't considering new songs." There was a lot of ooohing and aaawwwing around the tables, making her roll her eyes.

"Yeah, there is a reason we don't just show up anymore to practice. It's just weird walking in on make-out sessions." Derek added.

"Hey. That happened once." Jolene defended them.

"That you know of."

Jolene blushed and stuck her tongue out at them. "Shut up. We don't do that that much." She said.