CHAPTER ONE

HOMEBODY — VALLEY
Nobody gets to know me
Guess I've been living low key

OLIVIA MONTEZ

The morning sun squeezed its way through the cracks of the blinds, illuminating the particles swirling in the air. The lavender bedroom with walls covered in various posters existed in complete silence, separate from the world outside which was just stirring as the start of the day came about. There was a certain level of peace that filled the air, but that bubble of peace was soon popped by the barking of a shaggy furred golden retriever that went by the name of Solo.

Olivia Montez woke with a groan and turned in her bed, burying her head under her pillow. It wasn't time for her to get up and she refused to leave the warm cave of blankets she laid in when her alarm clock hadn't gone off yet.

The barking didn't cease and Olivia knew that her dog was probably barking up his favourite tree. She was convinced that the neighbourhood squirrels liked messing with the poor guy. They always ran back and forth between the tall trees and the roof of their garage where Solo could see them, but never catch them.

She squinted at the sudden change of light as she pushed her pillow off her face. Sitting up, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Her gaze fell on the alarm clock beside her bed just as its blaring siren sounded through the air. With a slight glare, she reached over and smacked the snooze button before it could put her in a bad mood.

With a sigh, Olivia got out of bed, crossed her room, and opened her door. "Mikey!" she called down the hall. Her little brother thundered up the steps and peaked his head over the bannister. "Can you let Solo in, please? His barking is going to wake the dead."

The twelve year old boy rolled his eyes, but nodded anyway. "So bossy," he muttered as he turned to walk down the steps.

"I'm your older sister, I'm allowed to boss you around," she called out before closing her door. She crossed the room again and shut the blinds.

Five minutes later, she found herself sitting at the dining table eating a bowl of cereal as Mikey went on and on about the toy robot he was building with his friends from school.

That was something Olivia was always jealous of—her brothers ability to make friends that actually cared about him. Olivia was never the most outspoken person and she wasn't that good at making friends. All of the friends she did have—if she could even call them that—were made out of convenience. They only tolerated her for the sake of her boyfriend. She knew that the moment they broke up, she'd be dropped from their social circle. They didn't care about her and sadly, it was something she learned to accept.

A honk sounded through the air and Olivia shoved the last bits of cereal into her mouth. "See ya," she said as she walked towards the front door. Her hand ruffled her brother's hair and she laughed as he swatted it away with an annoyed scowl.

"Have a good day at school!" Her mother called out as Olivia grabbed her bag. The young girl waved goodbye and disappeared behind the door.

Sitting on the street in front of her house was Jason Cummings and his polished vintage car, gifted to him by his father when he got his driver's license. All the windows were rolled down and he was looking at her with an obnoxious smirk.

"Hey," he greeted, watching as she opened the passenger side door and got in. He didn't wait for her to get settled before stepping on the gas pedal.

The entire ride to school was filled with Jason ranting about Burbank High's lacrosse team. They had a big game coming up and as the captain of the team, he had a responsibility in knowing what they were up against. Olivia could barely get a word in. Every time she tried to contribute to the one sided conversation, finding small opportunities when he took sips of his coffee (which Olivia noticed was from her favourite cafe), he would shush her and start complaining about his last game against Glendale.

It wasn't until they were parked in his usual parking spot that he finally talked to her instead of at her.

"So," he started, turning to her and placing his arm behind her headrest, "me and the band are going to skip class and head to Christa's to rehearse, wanna come?"

"I..." Olivia thought for a moment. As much as she would love to spend her morning listening to her boyfriend's band, she didn't think her mom would appreciate getting a phone call from the school saying she wasn't in class. "I can't," she said, guilt spreading through her.

"Come on," Jason pressed, "between lacrosse and rehearsals we barely see each other. Don't be so complicated."

Olivia got out of the car and gave him a look. "I can't just skip class."

Jason followed after her as she walked towards the school. "Sure you can." He took her hand and swung it between them as they walked through the halls. He smiled at a group of girls as they passed by, completely oblivious to the dirty looks that they sent his girlfriend.

Olivia's eyes fell to the ground and didn't lift until they stopped in front of her locker.

"Come on, Olivia," Jason pressed again, leaning against the locker beside hers, "it'll be fun."

"Fun until my mom finds out," she pointed out as the bell rang. She wanted to go and she wanted to support his band, even if she didn't get along with the other members of it, but she didn't want to risk getting in trouble. "I have to go."

Jason shook his head and grabbed her arm. "Olivia," he sang.

"Jay, I'm going to be late."

"Can't be late to something you don't go to. Come on, for me? Just this once?"

Olivia looked up at him and saw the boyish grin he was giving her. His bottom lip jutted out and he pouted with a pleading look.

"Fine," she sighed, a slow growing smile coming over her features. "Just this once."

"Yes!" Jason cheered. He took her books out of her grasp and put them back in her locker. The metal door closed behind them and he lead her down the hall to where he was meeting his bandmates.

The two teenagers roamed the empty halls, eyes scanning for teachers who could bust them or worse, their principal, Principal Lovett. Lovett was quite the character, ruling his school like his own little city where he was the end all and be all of authority.

As the two teens tip-toed around the school, they completely forgot about the security cameras that broadcasted to a set of monitors mounted to Lovett's wall. It seemed that they were only reminded of this when the overhead PA system beeped and they were called down to the main office.

Olivia sat in the waiting room of the office, bouncing her leg anxiously as the clock ticked on. She knew she shouldn't have skipped class and was seriously regretting letting Jason talk her into it.

The office door opened and Jason walked out laughing with Lovett behind him. The two teens locked eyes before Olivia stood and made her way into the room.

Lovett waited for her to sit in the chair in front of his desk before shutting the door. He moved across the room with a disappointed frown and sat across from her. There was a beat of silence as he stared at her before his arm reached across his desk. His hand wrapped around the phone receiver and Olivia leaned forward in her seat.

"Please don't call my mom!" she exclaimed louder than intended. She looked down at her lap. "It's just— She's a baker, and she's opening her own shop soon so she's been super stressed lately and I don't want to add to it. And she doesn't even like Jason, so if she found out I skipped class with him, I would literally never hear the end of it. And—"

"I won't call your mom." Lovett put the phone down and stood up. He sat on the desk in front of her and folded his hands in his lap, staring at her with an analytical eye. "This is your first offence and you are on the honour roll, so I don't see why I should."

"Thank you—"

"This time," he interjected sharply. "But if I catch you skipping class again, I will call home."

Olivia nodded with a gulp. "This'll be the first and last time, I swear."

"But you still need to face the consequences of your actions, so I'm going to have to give you detention."

"Detention?" Her eyes widened. She had never gotten detention in her life.

Lovett nodded. He walked around his desk again and pulled a slip of paper from the top drawer. He scribbled on it before handing it to her with a satisfied smile.

ALEX MERCER

Alex woke up to the smell of bacon. There was the hum of his parent's chatter ringing through the air, something he was used to, and the distant alarm clock blaring down the hall. He groaned and rolled out of bed, making his way to his closet.

The blond boy prided himself on the cleanliness of his bedroom, but he'd be lying if he said he held his closet to the same standards. His room was clean, spotless even, but his closet was far from it. Unfolded shirts hung off the open drawers and his dirty clothes laid in a pile on the ground. It was fitting, really. A clean room and a messy closet to mirror his seemingly perfect life and what his parents would call shameful secrets hiding away.

Once he was dressed, he made his way down the hall and knocked on his little sister's door. When he received no response, he pushed it open. The annoying siren of her bedside clock made him cringe and he wondered how someone could sleep through such an incessant noise. "Hey," he said, walking over to the bed where the twelve year old girl slept. He smacked the snooze button and shook her shoulders, chuckling when she swatted his hand away. "Rise and shine, Kat."

Katherine Mercer groaned and turned away from him, wrapping her comforter tighter around herself. "Five more minutes," she pleaded groggily, sticking a hand out to wave the older boy away.

Figuring that she would get up on her own, Alex left her room and headed to the kitchen, stopping to pet their cat that laid on one of the stairs. Like every other day, his mom stood at the stove humming along to some song playing on the radio while his dad sat at the table reading the daily newspaper. Just like clockwork.

His dad lowered the paper and looked at him, his glasses falling down his nose. "Morning, son."

"Hi, sweetheart," his mom greeted once she noticed his presence in the doorway. "Is Katherine up?"

"Morning. And yeah, she'll be down soon," Alex said, pulling a chair out from the table. "Finish the crossword?"

The older man folded the paper and placed it on the table, crossword side up. He pointed at it with a proud glint in his eye. "In under ten minutes."

"Nice." Alex nodded.

His mom brought two plates to the table, one stacked with bacon and the other with scrambled eggs. "So we were talking to the Richardsons," she started, handing her son a fork, "and they have a granddaughter your age who's coming to stay with them this summer."

"Mom," Alex groaned, shoving food in his mouth. He knew exactly where this conversation was going.

"I know, I know," she dismissed, "you're focusing on school, you've told me."

Alex watched as his dad filled his plate and sipped his coffee. He started talking about the latest news and the teenage boy tuned it out like he always did, giving a 'yeah' and a 'mhm' every thirty-seconds.

Alex Mercer loved his parents. They were kind and thoughtful, patient and compassionate, but they were also close-minded and stuck in their ways. Everyday was the same. They'd eat breakfast together, he'd go to school, then he'd come home and have dinner. On Saturday, he'd help his sister with her chores around the house and on Sunday, they would go to church. It felt like his whole life was planned out for him, but it was a simple life for simple people, and he knew he wasn't made for the simple life.

Growing up, he was taught that love took place between a man and a woman. That a man should not lay with another man how they do with women. It wasn't until he got older that he realized the teachings he learned, the unofficial rules outlined by his family, were nothing more than ignorance.

It took a lot of strength to admit to himself that he was gay after believing it to be wrong his entire life. Once he did, he finally felt like he could breathe for a moment. Life got a little easier once he came out to his sister. A part of him hoped that his parents would accept that love is love regardless of what it looked like, but the rest of him feared that it was naivety speaking in his mind. The majority won the internal battle he faced every single time he opened his mouth.

So instead, he smiled and nodded, and came up with an excuse every time his parents tried to set him up with a nice girl they knew from church.

"You should probably get going," his father said, glancing down at his watch.

Alex looked up at the clock that hung by the fridge. If he didn't leave in the next two minutes, he was going to be late to his first period class. He hated being late, it made his anxiety skyrocket.

He scrambled towards the door, nearly crashing into Kat as she entered the kitchen. Throwing his bag over his shoulder, he ran down the steps of his house and grabbed the bike that was leaning against the side of the garage.

By the time he had gotten to school, class had already been in session for five minutes. After locking his bike on a rack, he sprinted through the school. His history teacher was fairly strict when it came to tardiness, but Alex hoped since this was his first offence of the school year she would let it slide.

Alex opened the door with more force than he meant to open it with and the handle of the classroom door hit the wall behind it with a loud smack. He cringed as his classmates stared at him like he had just committed a federal crime.

"Are you aware that you are almost—" his teacher looked down at her watch "—ten minutes late?"

"I'm sorry, Miss—"

"And that you caused a disruption in my teaching, affecting the learning environment of your peers?"

Alex remained silent in the doorway, refusing to look over at his classmates. He nodded his head slightly as his fingers tapped the sides of his legs. "I'm sorry, Miss Raker, it won't happen again."

Miss Raker walked over to her desk and pulled out a pad of pink paper. She scribbled down on it before ripping it from the pad and holding it out for him to take. "You know what my late policy is," she said. "If you're late, it's a detention."

With a sigh, Alex stepped forward and took it from her grasp.

BOBBY WILSON

Bobby didn't like his dad's girlfriend.

The twenty-six year old woman had somehow wormed her way into his life and had a deluded belief that she had the right to act like she was his mother. In the short amount of time Jenny and his father had been dating, she had managed to consume every single aspect of their lives, including the realm of parenting.

When Bobby first found out that his father had a girlfriend, he was thrilled. His mother had died years earlier and he knew she would want him to move on and be happy. Bobby had even helped the man plan a few of their dates before he met the she-devil. Looking back on it, if he knew then what he knows now, he'd probably talk his father out of the relationship before Jenny could sink her claws in.

The thing about Jenny wasn't that she was nosey or half his father's age, the problem Bobby had with her--besides the fact she repeatedly tried to replace his mom--was that everything had suddenly become about her.

They stopped ordering from their usual takeout place because she thought it was gross, they stopped watching Fresh Prince of Bel Air because her favourite show was airing at the same time, they even stopped talking about sports because she didn't like the same football team that they did.

The life they lived as two bachelors had come to an abrupt end and Jenny was the reason why. Coincidentally, she was also the reason Bobby was skipping math right now.

The night before, Bobby was doing a math assignment at the dining room table. It was quadratic formulas and while he was good at simple things like PEDMAS, finding the time a ball hits the ground after its peak was not his forte. His father was the one who was good at math considering he was a math teacher at another high school.

He asked his father for help, as he had to hand the worksheet in the next day, and the older man had promised to look over his work once he was done grading his own student's work. But by the time that came around, Jenny had called and said that she was coming over.

His dad had forgotten all about helping him and his worksheet remained half finished, leaving his resentment for the twenty-six year old girl festering.

With an unfinished assignment worth ten percent of his grade, Bobby decided to skip class so he could have an extra day to work on it.

He hid away in the library, just out of view of the librarian desk where a group of teachers were sharing gossip they had overheard from students. He knew he wasn't supposed to be in the library and that if they saw him, it wouldn't end well. If he were skipping class for the sake of not going, he would've left campus, but he was skipping for a purpose and the library had books on how to do his assignment.

He mumbled bitter complaints under his breath as he scanned the book shelves for anything that would help him. "Stupid Jenny," he spat, pulling out a textbook in anger, "stupid dad for liking stupid Jenny."

He walked over to the table he was sitting at and opened his notebook. The worksheet in front of him taunted him. "Stupid teacher for not actually teaching well."

It only took him five minutes of staring at the blank question before he gave up. "This is bullshit," he said to himself, closing his books loudly. His eyes snapped up and looked through the shelves over at the librarian table. His shoulders sagged in relief when he realized he hadn't been heard.

Taking the textbook in one hand and his backpack in the other, he stood up and rounded the nearest shelf. Walking in the opposing direction was a mousey freshman looking for their own book. The two crashed into each other, sending Bobby's books crashing to the ground.

Bobby, who had been in a nasty mood since the second he woke up, usually wouldn't snap at a stranger. He was generally a quiet kid who kept to himself, which is why it was such a shock, not only to himself but to those around him as well, that he shouted 'watch where you're fucking going' at the small freshman girl.

The library silenced. Any quiet conversation ceased and all heads turned to the source of the outburst.

Bobby knew the second the words flew out of his mouth that he was in deep shit. His eyes squeezed shut and his face turned to the sky, hoping that by some divine miracle the group of teachers nearby hadn't heard him.

When he gained enough courage, he turned to face them. The head librarian was glaring at him and beckoned him over with the motion of her perfectly manicured finger.

With a heavy sigh, he bent down to collect his fallen books, muttered a half hearted apology to the freshman girl, and walked over to the main desk. Waiting for him was a pink detention slip with his name on it.

REGGIE PETERS

Reggie couldn't remember a time where his parents seemed to actually like each other. All the memories he had consisted of them shouting at each other or glaring at something the other had said. But no matter how many times they fought, he would always try and find a way to calm the storm and stop them.

He didn't intervene because he had the unrealistic idea that they would suddenly fall in love again (if they were ever in love to begin with), he stopped them because the arguing was annoying and he didn't like it when people yelled.

Last night, he spent hours trying to console his crying mother after his father walked out. It wasn't the first time one of them walked out after a fight, and he knew his father would come back in the early morning hours. That left his mother crying on his shoulder until she eventually fell asleep.

He couldn't remember what the argument was about. After years of their marital turmoil, all of the reasons started to sound the same. All he could remember was his mother making a snide remark under her breath over dinner that caused his dad to point out something she did months ago. After that it was all a blur--mom yelling at dad, dad yelling at mom, mom and dad yelling at him when he tried to mediate. The usual.

Currently, Reggie was trying focus on his English class. It was only first period but he had already consumed two cups of coffee. One on the drive to school, one on the walk to class. Usually, he could function on five hours of sleep, his sleep schedule being adjusted to his parents' late night screaming matches. He couldn't understand why the coffee wasn't working today. He could practically feel the caffeine running through his veins. All the signs of caffeine consumption were there: the shaky hands, racing heart, elevated restlessness. The only thing that was missing was the boost in energy he needed.

His head fell lazily into his arms as he folded them on his desk. Mr. Ranger's lecture about the symbolism used in Shakespearean plays provided the boring soundtrack needed to lull him into a calm state.

Reggie hadn't noticed he fell asleep until he was awoken by Mr. Ranger tapping his pen on his desk.

His head lifted from his arms, the inside of his cheek hurting from being pressed against the braces on his teeth. He looked around the room groggily and saw that it was empty. At least his teacher spared him the embarrassment of waking him up in the middle of class.

Ranger gave him a disappointed stare. "It's not like you to fall sleep in class, Reginald."

"I know," Reggie sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's just... Sorry, sir."

Instead of asking him if he was alright, Ranger brandished a pink slip from behind his back. Reggie took it with a slight groan and shoved it in his back pocket as Ranger turned and returned to his desk.

LUKE PATTERSON

One thing Luke knew he was good at was music. He had never felt like he was good at anything before he discovered it. His dad had his writing, his mother had her knitting, and he had nothing. It wasn't until freshman year when he was forced to take an arts class that he realized that music was it for him.

Los Feliz High School had a rule that in order to graduate, you needed to have at least one arts credit. While a vast majority of students chose to take drama, he chose music. He had no prior experience, but he liked the Red Hot Chili Peppers so he thought, why not?

After the first week of classes, he realized that he actually really liked playing the guitar. And that he was good at it. His teacher, Miss Taylor, was shocked to find that he had never played a day in his life before stepping into her class.

Struck with inspiration, he went home to his parents and asked them for a guitar of his own. Emily and Mitch Patterson were hesitant, but caved in after Luke told them that he needed it for school. After that, their once quiet house never saw another day of peace.

Now, after growing his skill and natural talent, he found himself in Miss Taylor's advanced class. Every week, she had someone perform a piece, calling it a 'Master Class' to showcase the talent in the music program. Today just so happened to be his turn.

Standing in front of the class, he played his piece with ease. He was about halfway through when his ears picked up on the murmur of the people sitting in the back row. He looked up, his gaze landing on the group of lacrosse players.

Jason Cummings was the bane of Luke's existence. They had been friends growing up but after Jason made it onto the lacrosse team in freshman year and Luke didn't, they stopped talking. Luke didn't take it too personally until Jason started acting like a douchebag who thought he was better than everyone around him.

It felt like every performance Luke had, Jason was there to heckle him. He liked to believe it was because the lacrosse captain knew he sucked in comparison to him.

Luke shook his head and tried to focus on finishing his song. At the lack of a reaction, Jason let out a loud laugh and the murmurs turned into a chorus of boyish cheers.

Luke looked up just in time to see Jason's girlfriend, Olivia, elbow him in the side and scold him for being rude. She sent him a small but apologetic smile.

Jason scoffed at her in annoyance before turning back to face the front of the room where Luke stood. Their eyes met and Jason scowled. "What're you looking at, Patterson?" He barked, ignoring Miss Taylor as she tried to get a hold of the situation before it could get ugly.

Luke stopped playing and his hand came up to unplug his guitar. "Nothing," he said, shaking his head with a humourless laugh, "I just think it's kinda rude to talk through a performance."

"Boys," Miss Taylor warned from her desk behind Luke.

Jason stood from his seat and took slow steps towards the front of the room in a threatening manner. "You call that a performance?" His finger poked Luke's shoulder.

"Mr. Cummings, sit down."

Luke removed his guitar from his shoulders and placed in on a nearby stand. "Yeah, I would." Copying the lacrosse captain's actions, he poked his shoulder. "Not that you would know what one looks like."

"Boys, do not start."

Two hands shoved Luke backwards, causing him to stumble. He regained his balance and did the same to Jason. The two boys went back and forth, throwing insults at each other. The class watched in anticipation, shouting support for both boys as Miss Taylor shouted for them to stop.

Jason pushed Luke back rather aggressively, causing Luke to fall back onto their teacher's desk. This wouldn't have been such a problem if her mug of tea didn't topple over and spill all over the plugged in amp that was sitting on the ground below it.

The class silenced and the boys jumped apart. They pointed an accusatory finger at each other and once they saw this, they entered round two of their screaming match.

Miss Taylor, who was known to be very soft spoken, sighed before yelling, "Principal's office! Both of you!"

In silence, Luke grabbed his bag and stormed out before Jason could even process her words.

Luke didn't know what punishment Jason got, but he hoped it was worse than his after school detention.

RAE SPEAKS !
get ready for a long ride besties :)