*Mention of Alcohol and mental issues*

"The demons in my head is fighting the angels in my heart. And the demons are winning!"

~*~*~*~

To say Ray Molina wasn't happy was the underestimate of the year, you could tell as he drove Chris's truck back home in silence. Before he forced them to leave, he arranged with the manager to have his car stay the night in the parking lot. "Christine. Julie, we need to talk." He said as they walked up the driveway towards the house. "So, after skipping school, missing a test, you decided ti sneak out even though I told you to go to your room and study?"

"I know. I'm sorry." Julie said looking at her father.

"Yeah, you keep saying that. If you'd just... let me in, I could've been excited about tonight instead of having this conversation we both hate. Why didn't you tell me you both were in a band?" 

Chris stuttered, not expecting their talk to end up like this. "It all just happened so fast. These last couple of weeks have changed Julie and my's life."

Julie just nodded her head before looking at her father. "When I play music, I feel so much closer to mom."

"And I love that, you both know I do. But your tía is right, School needs to come first." Ray said looking more at his youngest rather than his oldest at the moment. 

"I know, but without the band, I would've never made it back into the music program. They played with me when I was trying to earn back my spot." 

"They did?" Ray questioned in shock that two of the unknown boys and the Luke fellow would help his daughter. 

"I think this is my thing, Dad."

Ray looked at his daughter and from the looks of her eyes, he knew what she said was the truth. "Well... I'd be a jerk of a dad if I took that away from you. Look, if you're gonna stay in this band, you need to keep up with school, and you need to keep me in the loop. 

Julie looked at her dad with hope in her eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah." He begrudgingly said, making Julie hug her father in happiness. "Hey, so that lady at your guys show, she was, like, some sort of manager, right? Could've been a big deal." Ray asked, in a nervous way. 

Chris just shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows? Hopefully, she'll get to see us play again. Which we will tell you about." 

"Oh. Yeah, you will, 'cause if I ever catch you, Julie, trying to sneak out again, or if your grades slip I'm pulling the plug. Or whatever it is that makes those holograms work." He said, before turning to stare at his older daughter, who was still supporting a headache, but thankfully wasn't as bad as it was originally. "Now you, how could you do this sort of thing again, Christine?" 

"What? What are you talking about?" She asked not understanding his insinuation.

"Oh, don't pull that with me again. How could you be going back to that old habit, huh?"

"Dad, I have no clue on what your trying to insinuate right now." She said once again, but only received a glare from the man. "I'm talking about you drinking, and don't try to deny it. I remember the signs from the first time, passing out, over sleeping, headaches... I mean come on Christine you were doing so well."

Chris was shocked, not at her father for announcing her past mistakes so openly, but because how he was just assuming of something that low of her. "D-Dad I'm still clean." She stuttered, as she looked at the man. 

"I can't believe it until I know for sure." He sighed pinching the bridged of his nose. "Christine, I understand it was hard for you and Julie to move on from your mothers death, but promise me your not going back down that rabbit hole."

"I'm not dad, I promise tomorrow marks the day of mom's death and the day I got into that habit. Ever since I went to rehab to help fix my issue, my lips have not touched any alcohol at any time and I have accepted that mom died on my birthday, alright." She said looking at the man, who was hating how he was assuming his daughter would fall back into bad habits.

"Chris you know that's not wh-" Ray was stopped by the girls angry glares, as she stared at him with tears in her eyes. "Just give me a break right now, ok? I need a breather." She said before Walking down towards her room, leaving a sad Ray and a mixed emotion Julie in silence.

~*~*~*~

Chris could feel the bitter taste of burning liquid that had basically ran her bloodstream, as she walked towards her garage. Even though she has been sober since the beginning of summer, ever since she went to a special rehab to adjust her out of being drunk and accepting that her mothers death wasn't her fault. 

Flinging the doors open she ignored the boys who were chilling on the couch, as they watched her walk over to the secret little cupboard she has hidden in her dresser. Old habits were something that seemed to take some harsh reality to finally help Chris, and sadly those reasons were gone in a blink of an eye as grabbed the brown elixir of stupid mistakes waiting to happen.

"Hey, Chris whatcha got there?" Luke asked as he saw the girl hold the glass, not moving it towards her lips or back down into the drawer. "Chris? Is everything ok?" He repeated in a different way, but was shocked when his answer received some heavy sobs from the girl.

She could feel her breathing growing ragged as she continued to cry, and with an angry yell the girl didn't hesitate to chuck the bottle at the wall that held the dart board. Reggie and Alex were startled, but Luke didn't hesitate as he walked over to the girl, even though he was afraid of girls crying he promised to always be there for Reese, now he's just there for Chris. 

"Shh, Shh. Calm down, Chris. Alright, just breathe, ok?" He whispered in her ear as he hugged her in his arms, rocking the two back and forth. The two of them slowly sank to the ground, Luke still whispering as she sobbed into his shirt. 

"Christine, what happened?" Alex asked as he and Reggie walked over to the duo, both sitting down near them.

"W-Why do I screw up everything? I pass out once, sleep in a little longer than usual or gosh get a headache and my father assumes its back to rehab center for me. I-I mean I don't try to do this stuff, but it just happens. Gosh, why couldn't my mom still be alive, that way I can just celebrate my birthday in peace knowing that my life isn't screwed up." She said, not realizing that she just basically laid her whole life out on a plate for the boys to consume. 

"I-I just want to be accepted." She whispered, no longer fighting the tiredness that was taking over her as she fell asleep in the surprisingly warm body that was Lukes.

As the girl slept calmly in the boy's arm who was still rocking her back and forth, the room was still silent, the conversation still ringing through their ears. "Wow." All three of them said at the same time. 

"I really don't know what to say." Reggie said, as he looked at between the two guys. "It's weird to see Chris like this, she's always so-so..."

"Closed off?" Alex suggested, gaining a nod from Reggie. "Yeah, I agree. To go rehab because of alcohol abuse is a huge deal, but to it's understandable if she believed her mothers death was her fault." 

"The worst part is I never knew her mother died on her birthday or that her birthday is tomorrow to be honest." Luke said as he slowly stood up and vanished, only to reappear upstairs in the loft. He slowly set the girl down on the bed as he made sure to pull the blankets up to cover her the best he could, not holding back from kissing the girls forehead. Sadly, Luke disappeared before he could see the little smile that grew on the girls face.

"We need to make it special." Alex said as he looked at the boys.

"Hear me out, but how do you guys feel about pulling an all nighter?" Luke said as he grabbed the one thing he knew that helped capture his feelings very easily.

More updates soon to come.

Whose ready to see an amazing birthday and great?

-Mech-X4fan