Another chapter for you all... hope you like it! A lot of you were asking when Brad was going to come back in the story so... here you go! <3

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Streams of pink and gold littered the sky as the warm orange light beamed through the windows of the car, landing on the soft grey material of the seats. The sun was just beginning to become visible on the horizon, but Brad wasn’t driving in that direction.

"Goooooood morning Ohio," boomed the radio in an over-cheerful voice as Brad turned the dial to switch it on. He was sick of driving in silence, with only the sound of the rattling engine to keep him company. Silence only brought him to think about what he was doing, and that was the last thing he wanted to do right now. What he needed to do was focus on his destination, not how pissed off his Dad was going to be when he found out what he was doing. "It’s now 5:30am and we are set for another sunny day with highs of 85."

Brad rolled his eyes. How could people be so upbeat this early in the morning? Usually at this time he felt ready to smash his alarm clock into tiny pieces at the sound of it. Which was exactly what he had wanted to do this morning, when he had woken up at half past four in the morning. Half past four! It was not human to be awake that early in the morning. But it had been necessary to leave early if he wanted to get away quick enough. He had to be well on his way before Olivia and his Dad woke up and realised he was gone.

As he turned onto the freeway, he was greeted by a long stretch of traffic-free road. He smiled inwardly as he increased the speed and shot across the road. At least this way he would reach his destination more quickly and it would be harder for his Dad to get him to return home.

Home. That word was so false, so forced. How could Olivia and his father even like that place? The house was a complete dump, not to mention it was so tiny it was like living in a cupboard. He had met literally no one interesting at all and spent his days bored out of his brains. No, that wasn’t his home. His home was where he was heading.

He grabbed his cell phone, which was laying on the passenger seat, pressed a few digits and brought it to his ear. After a few rings, a tired-sounding voice came through the line.

"Hello?"

"Jack, it’s me."

There was a pause and fumbling could be heard on the line. "Brad? What the fuck are you calling for? It’s five in the morning, man."

"I know. I’m on my way."

There was a pause. "On your way where?"

"There!" Brad said, slightly irritated. "I’m coming back to New York!"

"What?" Jack sounded genuinely confused, but then again, he had never been the sharpest tool in the shed. "You’re moving back? I thought your sister was at some private school... wasn’t that the reason you went in the first place?"

"They’re not moving, man. I am. I’ve took my Dad’s car and I’m coming back."

"Wow... your Dad’s gonna be pissed when he realises you’ve gone."

"I know. But that’s why I’ve gone early. By the time they both wake up and realise the car’s gone, I’ll be well away from there."

Jack was beginning to sound uneasy, although Brad didn’t know why. He had expected him to be excited about the prospect of their guitar player coming back to the band after he had been forced to leave against his will. But at the present time, it seemed far from it. "I don’t know if this is a good idea, man."

"Whatever. I’m not going back to that shit hole. And we can finally get some proper band practice in, maybe try out for a few gigs... Anyway, what I was really calling to ask you was... is it okay if I crash at your place for a while?"

There was a pause. Why was Jack being so weird about the whole thing? Brad had thought he’d be glad he was coming back, so their band could finally start getting somewhere. "Uh..."

"Well, can I or not?"

"Listen, Brad..." Jack’s voice sounded slightly embarrassed. "The thing is... we kind of got someone else. To be in the band, I mean."

Brad sat frozen, rooted to the spot. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words would come out. As the words sunk in, disbelief started to consume his insides.

They had replaced him? Already? No. This was not happening.

"What the fuck?!" Brad shouted down the line, anger rising inside of him. "Who is it? Who have you got to replace me?"

"Uh..."

"Who is it?!" Brad screamed. He was now unable to contain himself. Anger was taking over, as well as jealousy. He had put all his time and effort into setting the band up, actually getting somewhere, and they had just thrown it all back in his face.

"Bryce."

No. He couldn’t be serious. This whole thing... it had to be some kind of sick joke. They really had replaced him with Bryce Adams? The stupid vain blonde guy who cared more about tanning himself than anything else? The guy who spent his whole life living off a trust fund and sleeping with girls just to pass the time?

"Are you kidding me?" He almost felt like laughing, the idea was so ridiculous. But this was no joke.

"I’m sorry, man, we thought you weren’t coming back. And I mean... we had to get someone else. We had no one on lead vocals, and we needed another guitarist and well, Bryce offered..." Jack’s voice trailed off. He was out of explanations.

"Save it. I don’t fucking care anymore. If that’s what you think of me, then you can just piss off."

He jabbed at the end call button on the cell phone, slamming it back down onto the passenger seat with all his force, as if trying to release his anger through this action. But it did nothing, because every second he thought about it only fuelled it even more.

Bryce Adams. Bryce fucking Adams, in his band. If they wanted to replace him, then to hell with them. If they wanted a complete poof in their band who couldn’t go for five seconds without looking in a mirror, then that was up to them.

Thoughts of possible revenge schemes were just seeping into his mind when suddenly there was a deafening crash and a blanket of blackness covered everything.