LaLa Land ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

He woke up from the vibration of his phone as he read the messages “what the fuck, now apologizing” he then replied,

“…okay…” as he press sent.

“I’m just going back if the concert starts” as he mumbles to himself turning off his phone as he gets up “damn” as he feels pain in his wounds. “I’m off dad” he then went off to buy some canned beers in the vending machine as he went to his uncle’s house, seeing it’s a full blackout “he didn’t even visit, that idiot making this house like a hunted”. He then goes inside the house as he takes a quick shower, he sits on the couch half naked drinking some beer while playing drum games “hell this feels like practicing”. He played the game and waits for the sun to come out.

Leon sighed, he was usually level-headed but now, he was breaking that little shell that kept his thoughts straight. After he was settled in the front seat, he leaned back and closed his eyes.

"I'm fucking sorry, okay? I just didn't want to worry you." he muttered tiredly as he got comfortable. He rolled his head to the side, to look back at Roy. He didn't want to have to piss off the green haired young man, but it seemed as if he already had.

Jesse let everyone get settled into the car. "Seems to be a bad day for everyone. Why don't we all just calm down a bit? Everyone seems to be so damn high strung today. Except for me, because obviously I am a great big pile of Zen. I think it is the natural endorphin rush from working out. Really balances me out, you know?" He paused, at a loss for words for the moment as he started the drive to one of the local urgent care clinics. He figured he could save the wait and the money of the emergency room for Leon if it was just a concussion. "I think this is where I am supposed to say something like lets all be friends and empathize with one another and walk a mile in their shoes and blah blah blah or something like that. You know, adult-like and level-headed."

"I have some water in the back there if you want some." He glanced over his shoulder to the back seat where a few bottles of water sat on the base board behind the driver's seat.

He turned on the radio to something fairly neutral and drove as smoothly as the roads would allow to the clinic nearest their dorms. He pulled into the parking lot and parked the car near the front door. It looked reasonably uncrowded in the lot, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be a wait inside. "Hey, Leon, you want me to stay and wait? It's no problem if you need me to. Your head is more important than the heads back there." He waved a thumb at the drum cases in the back.

Fiona thought for a moment, just as she heard the sounds of a motorbike outside her house. "I'll fill you in with the details later," she said to her friend as she rushed out the door.

Opening the front door, she was faced to faced with her younger brother. "I made it for dinner, right?" he said, flashing a clumsy grin. His eyes noted Bianca slouched on the couch. "Your friend? Gee, sis, why don't you try getting hotter friends?" he whispered cheekily, earning a playful punch from his sister.

"'Sup." he greeted as he walked pass Bianca. Suddenly he stopped and turned to his sister. "By the way, I think I saw that snobbish friend of yours on my ride here. She's coming over too? She looked like she was about to pass out."

That caught Fiona's attention. "Katie?" she exclaimed loudly, panic in her tone. "Where—" she was cut off mid-sentence as the sound of the door bell was heard once again. Fiona immediately opened the door and was relieved—albeit concerned—when she saw a pale looking Katie at her front steps. "Oh, thank goodness," she gasped as she hugged her friend. "Come in and sit down right this instant!"

Fiona ushered her friend in and hurried towards the kitchen, pouring two glasses of watermelon juice from her fridge. Her brother was there, glugging down a glass himself. "Oh yeah, I saw this at the mall today," he said, offering her a poster.

Quote:

---

TRIPLE L

OPEN SHOWCASE

MONDAY NIGHT
TIME : 8PM
VENUE : KJ STADIUM

---

Grinning, Fiona brought the poster along with the drinks back to the living room to her friends. "The band has a showcase tomorrow night," she smiled, showing them the poster. "Kat, I know you got to go back before dinner, but do you think you can come?"

Roy continued to pout, keeping his arms folded and he still refused to loot at Leon. He simply stared out the window and looked at the passing cars.

When they got to the hospital, he glanced to the other side. "Should I go with you then?" Roy made a sour face as if he had just sucked the juice out of a lemon. He didn't like hospitals. He very much hated them. Still even if he was angry at Leon, he wasn't about to let him go in there by himself.

Roy just kind of sat there, brushing some green strands of hair out of his eyes.

The rumbling of Natsu's stomach practically dragged him around the house. With food being his only priority he failed to remember his mama's teachings "Never take that which is not yours." Until he was comfortably full and situated in the band studio. Remembering his mom, and thinking about the future weren't a good combination for staying awake as Natsu found himself asleep on a cushy chair.

Leon had closed his eyes on the way there was Jesse spoke, and now he was asleep. It wasn't his fault of course, but the fact that riding in a car was one of the ways he was put to sleep didn't help. A soft snort came from his mouth before he jolted upwards and his eyes flew wide.

"HOLY SHI-" he was cut off by the bright lights that entered through his eyes, making his whole head burn in pain. He slammed his eyelids shut and groaned in pain.

"Gaaaah...." he could barely hear Roy's angry little voice in the backseat, but it was still there. "Please, please, please just get the pain to fucking stop!" he hissed holding his hands to his eyes.

Anna jolted when suddenly her phone beeped a text message. Eagerly, she open her inbox and read the text from Ty.

Crap. He's still mad. Maybe I left too many messages, she thought, biting her lips. She tossed her phone away and got up from the bed. She heard a rumbled noise. She looked down to her stomach, realizing she was hungry.

She went out of her room and off to the kitchen. She opened the fridge, trying to find something to eat. At least, some leftover. She sighed when she found nothing. She closed the fridge and glanced up the window. It was dark and no one else in sight.

Anna felt a bit unease when she still haven't seen Leon and Roy. She headed to her room again and grabbed her phone and her bag.

She texted Jesse;

Going to McD.
Be there for awhile.

Katie came in at the invitation. She dropped her backpack at the couch where she was ushered to sit. She was tired and happily enjoyed the air conditioning and comfy couch. It took her a moment to notice that Bianca was there as well. Katie fixed her eyes on the other girl, adjusting her glasses slightly. Pressing her lips together, she spoke curtly, "Hello Bianca."

Fiona pounced back into the room with watermelon juice and the poster. Katie accepted the juice gratefully and took a gulp of the refreshing liquid. She leaned over and pulled out her planner, opening it up to the Band's schedule. "Yes, I knew about the showcase," she said, tapping the schedule page impatiently as if it should be obvious that she knew about the showcase. She gave Fiona an impatient look that matched the tapping of her finger on the page. It was color coded and organized with removable pages so additional calendar pages could be slipped in or out. "Also, according to my notes, they should be at practice right now." She flipped to another section of the book. She read over it before continuing in her usual brisk and slightly curt tone. "According to my sources, Leon is in negotiations for a lead part in a movie." She let a grin creep over her features. "I heard it is pretty much a done deal and just needs to be formalized."

She snapped her book closed, focusing on Fiona. "I already have tickets to the showcase. That is why I have to be home for dinner tomorrow. Part of my agreement with my parents so I could stay out late on a weeknight." She opened a small zipper pocket on her planner and pulled out a pair of tickets.

She glanced to Bianca, "I only got two though. You'll have to get your own." She tossed her hair, unconcerned about this.

She leaned over and pulled a binder out of her backpack, handing it to Fiona. "Since I figured you hadn't done it yet I brought our homework for you to copy so you could go to the concert with me." She placed her planner on her lap. "The sooner you get this copied, the sooner I will share with you the other gossip I discovered."

Jesse dealt with the petulant silence of Roy in the back seat and the wavering silence of Leon beside him. "You stay awake now." At the urgent care clinic near the dorms, Jesse pulled into a parking space and parked the car. It was a small place, an in and out sort of place. A place where if something was really wrong, they'd send them on their way to the ER. If it was a concussion, it wasn't like they could really do much except check for a brain bleed at the ER as opposed to here. And probably it would just be about the same at an ER as the Urgent Care clinic. A light to the eyes to check for dilation, look at the blood vessels in the eyes, maybe an x-ray, then get sent home.

Jesse got out of the car and opened the door for Leon. He looked back to Roy, "You can wait here or come in or walk back to the dorms. It doesn't matter to me." He turned his attention back to Leon.

"C'mon man. You feel dizzy or anything aside from the light sensitivity? Lemme give you a hand here." He offered Leon a hand, literally, to help him into the clinic lobby.

He locked his car doors with his clicker as he helped Leon out of the car. They had expensive equipment in there after all. And that was one more thing he had to take care of today. The drum heads. Damn, hopefully he would get there before they closed so the drums would be ready for the gig tomorrow.

He could let Roy borrow the car and drop them off. "Roy, actually. Here are my keys. Take the drum to the music shop to get the heads repaired. If they need a credit card for it in advance, have them call me or take care of it yourself. Make sure they know it is a rush job and we need them by tomorrow. After that, come on back and pick us up."

"Yo, Katie," she greeted the other visitor casually. Katie looked really pale so Bianca immediately got to the edge of the coach, allowing the fainting girl to take a seat.

Bianca then quietly listened to the conversation between her friends, sipping the watermelon juice. According to Fiona there would be a showcase of the band tomorrow. It'll be nice, Bianca thought.

"Also, according to my notes, they should be at practice right now." Katie stated as she flipped her notebook. That really caught Bianca's attention. Compared to concerts, practices of bands are more attractive to Bianca. She enjoyed seeing the trails and errors, as well as the gradual improvement made during practices. Her eyes sparkled with interest.

She could hear Katie telling her that she had 2 tickets only, but she did not care much. The thing she wanted to see most, was the practice. "That's too bad. I'll try'ta get one." she pouted lightly and soon continued daydreaming about the scene of the band rehearsing.

Anna arrived at the fast food restaurant, McDonalds. It was packed and crowded and just like that, she lost her appetite. She was definitely famished so, she just queued along, despite how ridiculously long the line was.

She didn't know what to do while waiting, so she took out her phone to check whether Jesse had replied her text or not. She felt more unease when she got no new messages. Trying not to get bothered, she kept herself busy by scrolling down her contact lists. Fiona's name came across. Maybe I should invite her out. It'll be less depress than eating alone here, she thought.

Without hesitated, she composed a message;

Hey, Fiona.
Are you free? Let's have McD! :-D

An amused smile crossed Fiona's lips at Katie's immediate remarks. Taking one of the tickets from her friend, she beamed. "Thanks so much, Kat. I'll pay you back later," she grinned while she listened on the slight hostile note in Katie's voice as she was talking to Bianca. The latter shrugged it off easily and Fiona let out a soft sigh of relieve.

Fiona bit her lower lip when Katie had mentioned homework. Smiling sheepishly, she relieved the book from her hand. "Thanks," she said. "I'll do it later. So start your gossip."

Sitting in anticipation, she almost left her vibrating phone unnoticed. She expected it to be a confirmation from Anna about their promised lunch but the guitarist was inviting her out instead.

My mom had already prepared dinner. How about you join us? ^-^

She punched in her home address and pondered on the evening bus's schedule.

Are you at the McD near your building? There's a bus to here which will arrive in 5 minutes. Just hop in that one and walk out the third stop. You'll find your way there. :)

She had already reached the counter when she received Fiona's text messages.

"Good Evening, miss. May I take your order?" said the waiter. She put away her phone, immediately and said, "Umm I'll just have the sundae." When her order arrived, she thanked the waiter and headed out. She read again the text and chuckled to herself. How the heck she knows so much about buses, she thought and typed;

I'm on my way then. :)

She did what Fiona told her to do. She hoped on the bus and waited for the third stop. 24, Vine Avenue. 24, 24. Where is house number 24? she reminded herself. She finally found Fiona's house. Or so she thought. She threw away her empty cup of sundae and rang the bell.

I hope this is right.

Roy was baffled that Jesse had actually suggested that Roy drive this car. How the hell..Okay okay think! Roy tried to remember his driving lessons that he had failed over and over again. How was he supposed to drive a car? Well..there's this stick thing in the middle..and the wheel is to move..and the pedals are to stop and go..Roy stuck the keys in the car, making it start.

Okay okay! I can do this! Roy put on his seat belt and put his hands on the wheel. Lets just go slow okay? Roy had been talking to himself again, like someone were sitting beside him having a full on conversation. Well don't blame me if we get into a car accident! Roy pouted and put hi food on the peddle that made the car go, making the car and himself lunge forward. Ugh! okay okay one more time! He put his foot back on the peddle, only a little this time, trying to get the hang of things.

Soon he got the hang of it and was now on his way back to the music shop. This aint so hard right? Roy let out a little panicked laugh and kept his eyes on the road.

Katie snapped her notebook shut and put it away in her bag. "No gossip until you've finished the work. If you don't do it now, you'll be desperately trying to copy it in the five minutes before class begins." Katie adjusted her glasses, pushing them up her nose.

She narrowed her eyes as she watched Fiona text on her phone, her fingers moving quickly as she typed out her message. Her eyebrows slowly crept up her brow, "Who is that you're texting? Seemed important?" She leaned forward slightly, trying to catch a glimpse.

Leon nodded tiredly before closing his eyes some. Everything was just so bright now, as if he was just staring uncontrollably into stage lights all the time. He seemed to just zone out for a bit until the door opened on his side of the car, where more light spilled into the small space.

He could hear Jesse's voice and nodded at him. He hated not being able to fend for himself at the moment, but sometimes, crap happened. Leaning against the man to get into the clinic. His steps were rather uneven and shaky, as if he was drunk. Gah, I always hated being drunk. he thought after making the connection.

The door opened from the clinic and a wave of chilled air hit the two. They slowly made their way from the doorway to the front counter, where they would sign in. The lights were a bit dimmer in the lobby, and while it really wasn't much of a difference, Leon was grateful for the lesser amount of light.

After an exchange of sorts, the two sat down in some rather uncomfortable white plastic chairs. The headache stopped its crazy pulsing inside his head, but still remained as a dull pain. It was strange how these things worked to him, and he really didn't care all that much to know either.

A soft sigh left his lips.

"I wish Roy would watch out for himself more often." he mumbled quietly as he leaned his head back.

Jesse looked at Leon sitting there beside him in the lobby chair. "Roy is like a petulant child. Treat him like he is 10 years old because that is how he acts. Take away something he wants, he pouts. Yell at him, he pouts or has a tantrum. I always handle him with my kiddie gloves to avoid him getting out of hand." Jesse sighed. It was hard being the responsible one at times.

Today was a prime example of that. Anna over-reacting to everything. Ty going off the handle and destroying some of his drums. Roy acting like a spoiled child. And Jesse was left to clean up the entire mess. Leon probably just found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He wasn't usually one to make waves or cause trouble. Of all the other band members, he was the most reasonable and in control of his emotions.

At least to Jesse's eye.

"We need to find Roy a keeper. A nice woman who will watch after him and be no non-sense. Find someone to take off Ty's sharp edges while we're at it. At this rate, our band is going to implode before we ever really make it." Jesse sighed. He liked this band. When it came to music they were talented- but it was going to be the personalities that pulled it apart. He could always find a new band he supposed, he just didn't want to.

"Hmm, well, that sounds like its going to be tough. I guess its hard to remember that we're still young-ish. You're in college and I still have no fucking clue what to do with my life. Roy, Ty and Anna are still in high school, I think. Did they drop out or something?" The bridge of his nose crunched up some, making the skin into little lines. He just got his high school diploma a couple of months ago, and everything just kinda fell in place for him.

What if the band did fall apart? I'd have my parent's money, but I wouldn't want to live off of them. he thought to himself. A soft sigh left his lips and he opened his eyes to glance over at Jesse.

"We're screwed aren't we? Everything seems to topple down on top of us at some of the worst moments. Ty broke his drums again, didn't he?" he closed his eyes and shook his head. The pain was back again, but the throbbing was kinder then last time.

Over time, names were called and people started to disappear from the clinic's lobby, leaving only them and a few other people.

Holly hell guy! Watch where your going! Roy yelled out of the car window out at someone trying to cross the street, on what he thought was a green light. He was almost at the music shop now but he looked like he'd been driving for hours. How the hell do people do this all the time? Ugh!

He finally got to the music shop, and lazily parked so that it filled up two parking spaces. Good enough! He went to the back seat and grabbed the broken drums. Woah Ty really did a number on these..He shut the car door and walked into the music shop, going to the front desk. I need these fixed by tomorrow, kay? Roy handed the broken drums over to the cashier then rubbed his temples. I an SO not paying for this..He looked back up at the worker One moment please.

Roy must have looked pissed off because the cashier just kind of backed away. Roy took out his cellphone, not really intending on texting anyone. Not that he could text anyone important. Stupid phone! He turned back around and said Well then, tomorrow! they'll be fixed right? The cashier nodded. Right then! Roy walked out of the store and back to the car. He felt sick, like he might just fall to the ground and faint type of sick.

He got into the car and kind of just sat there and closed his eyes. He didn't want to drive anymore, he didn't care if it made him look like a spoiled brat, he wanted someone to drive for him. So once again he took out his cellphone and called his family's driver. He talked on the phone for a moment, sounding very whiny, then he hung up the phone and waited for the driver to arrive. Man those headaches must be contagious.

"Actually," Jesse said, pausing for a moment, "I got my college diploma a bit early. I graduated six months ago. I've been working part time as a contract worker for various insurance companies." He tapped his lips, looking thoughtful for a moment, "I suppose I am a bit older than ya'll. I'll be 23 in a few months."

"I think Anna was studying law for a while, so I think she graduated from High School. And Ty...I think he graduated and just didn't go to college. Not really sure there." Jesse frowned briefly, looking around the lobby. "I'm not sure about Roy. All I know is that his parents are famous and pretty rich. So, if he acts spoiled, it is probably because he is spoiled."

Jesse sat quietly for a while before answering Leon's question about the drums. "Yeah, Ty broke his drums. I managed to fix the frames...he just loosens some of the lug nuts holding them together, but he broke a couple of the drum heads. If we didn't have the show tomorrow it wouldn't be such a big deal. I can't believe he did that. Sometimes I wonder if he even likes playing. Someone who loves music and their instrument would never do something so awful to it." With a sigh, Jesse rests his elbows on his knees, the muscles in his arms flexing to show off his muscles against his t-shirt. "I think we may need a manager honestly. Someone to keep track of everything for us. Someone to keep Roy, Ty and Anna in line, someone to help you with your schedule and take care of all the petty things- like instrument maintenance for those who can't seem to manage it themselves. Someone to manage gigs and money and advertisement and press and all that stuff. I mean, I can only maintain our Facebook fan page so often and our website is...shambles. We should try to establish a YouTube presence and twitter and whatever else comes along in the next couple of months. Especially if we want to eventually make money at this."

"Another friend's coming over," she answered simply.

With a slight pout, Fiona flipped open Katie's binder. As expected, Katie's familiar monogrammed penmanship stared back at her. She wasn't proud to admit that this wasn't the first time—and most probably not the last—she had copied from her friend's homework. It's not that she's not smart enough to do them herself. It's just that she prefers roaming out the streets than sitting in her room, suffocated by her crowded desk to actually sit down and do them. So her solution was to fumble her way through them in class. And, well, by that time there wasn't really enough time for her to do them herself, was there? Really, by actually giving in to her, Katie should be blamed for spoiling her too much.

3 pages. Front and back. Sighing, Fiona slumped back to her room to get her own notebook. She rummaged through the stacks of book sprawled on her desk. It was a mess. Come to think of it, she'd better clear things up before her friends comes in her room—which would lead to a long lecture by Katie which is never a fun occasion. "Oh dear," Fiona sighed.

She spent 10 minutes just to stack her books into a neat pile—for most of the minutes she just sat on her bad staring distractedly into space. "Well, it's better," she consoled herself, as she observed the result of her effort. "Close enough." Fiona was startled by the sound of the doorbell. Grabbing the notebook she had originally entered the room for, Fiona walked out to the front door. Surprisingly, her brother had already answered it. "Aid, who is it?"

When she saw Anna standing by the door, it took her a moment to realize why her new friend was there. "Oh, dinner! Yes. Anna, come right in," she welcome brightly, taking the role of a host.

Inside, she introduced her to her friends. "These are my friends; Katie and Bianca." Turning towards Aiden, she said, "And that's my younger brother, Aiden."

When the door was opened, Anna didn't expect to be greeted by a pretty little boy with a white hair. "Oh, I was looking for Fi—" she was cut mid-sentences when Fiona suddenly popped out of nowhere.

She smiled back at Fiona as she invited her inside. "Sorry for intruding." she muttered. The house was not that big, but it was definitely cosy with modern décor. "Such a pretty house, Fiona." she complimented. It reminded her of her home back then. Before she decided to bail her family.

She made herself comfortable on the sofa and realized there were other guests in the house. She grinned to both of the girls and Fiona's brother. "Hey guys. I'm Anna. Nice to meet you." she said, waving.

Fiona stopped her brother. "U-uh! It's time for dinner!"

She pulled Aiden's collar from behind and pulled him back from his room. She scowled when she realized how tall her baby brother was. "Since when did you get taller than me?" Pushing him forcefully to the kitchen, she ordered. "Now go in there and eat!"

Turning back towards her guests, she gave a sheepish smile. "So, who's hungry?"

She glanced at her untouched notebook and blinked hopefully at Katie. "Can I finish them tonight?"

Katie watched Fiona avoid doing any actual work as her friend tidied her desk instead. She sighed, "You'll never get anything done if you avoid doing work. Maybe I won't let you copy so you'll have to actually spend real time on it." Katie shrugged, taking back her the homework and slipping it into her bag so it didn't get lost until Fiona got to work on it. She watched her friend race off to the door to answer it.

Mildly curious, she followed after her, lingering behind her. At seeing who was at the door, Katie felt her eyebrows rise upward above the rims of her glasses. She hadn't expected this turn of events. Of course, it would give her a chance to probe for some more information. That might be interesting. "I know who you are. I am Katie. Nice to formally meet you," she said in a bit stiffer tone than she intended.

"What is for dinner?" Katie said, changing the subject. "You remember I can't eat a lot of dairy or fatty foods right?" She eyed her friend carefully as she made her way into the kitchen.

Mio dio... This is the guitarist of the band? Bianca's eyes glittered and she tried to match the visitor's face with the guitarist's. "Oh it's really Anna!" her head popped out from Fiona's back. She did not know Fiona was a close friend to the band member. Blood flushed to her head due to the excitement. When Katie was reminding Fiona about what food she could not eat, Bianca smiled at Anna, "Hi I'm Bianca. You may call me Bee or Binky."

Anna took a seat at the dinner table. She smiled sheepishly at everyone, bearing in her mind that she stopped by the house out of the blue. She didn't know that Fiona's friends were there.

When Katie introduced herself to her, she smiled at her and said, "Nice to meet you too, Katie." She was surprised a bit that Katie had already knew her. She never quite used to people knowing her.

Then, she turned to face Bianca as it was her turn to introduced herself. She gave her a friendly smile, "Hi, Binky. How do you do?"

Leon groaned quietly, raising his hands to meet his face with a smack. It didn't really help the pain in his head, but it seemed to get his point across.

"How can I be so stupid? I mean, I should know these things about my bandmates, right? The only one I really seem to know is Roy, but that's because we've been best friends since ever." His hands slid from his face to his lap and he still looked up at the ceiling, but a small glance cast downwards allowed him to get a small glimpse of Jesse's arms. A wave of warmth traveled into his cheeks, but he looked back up to try to hide it.

He listened to the older young man's words, taking them into true consideration. They really did need a manager, but who out of all of them had the time to do some serious looking for one? No one's really all too serious, now. his inner voice whispered to him. He nodded some, both at the voice inside his head and at Jesse.

"I can request a manager search from my agency. They know we're quite popular now, and if I ask, they could probably hand one to us on a silver platter. I'll pay for it, of course." he said quietly.