CHAPTER TWO

PERMANENT VACATION — 5 SECONDS OF SUMMER
We're the voice of the new generation

THE REST OF the day dragged on slowly for the five teens and at the end of the day, Olivia found herself trudging towards detention like someone had tied a weight to her ankle and sent her to the gallows. She could feel her heart pounding against her ribcage as a thousand different scenarios of what awaited her played in her mind. She's never gotten detention before. Would this go on her permanent record? Would colleges reject her because of it? What would her mother say?

In a moment of silence for the fall of her perfect student record, she failed to notice that her pace slowed, no doubt a subconscious attempt to lessen the time she had to spend serving her punishment. Unfortunately, it didn't work because when she walked into the music room, she learned that she was just on time.

When she entered, she found that she wasn't alone. Sitting by the window was Alex, a boy she knew from the percussion section of her music class, next to him was Reggie, who was in her first period English class, in front of him was Bobby, who she faintly remembered from freshman music, and two seats down from him was Luke, her boyfriend's ex-best friend. Jason was no where to be seen.

Letting out a sigh, she took her backpack off her shoulder and sat at the empty desk between Luke and Bobby. The five teens barely spared each other a glance as moments later, Miss Taylor walked in.

"Oh, good," the woman mused, doing a mental head count, "you're all here."

Olivia's eyes widened by a fraction and she discretely looked around the room. Her jaw clenched when she realized Jason wasn't coming. His presence was the only reason she wasn't completely freaking out. If she had to serve a punishment, especially when he was the reason for doing so, she expected him to at least serve it with her. Yet, here she was, all alone with four strangers.

Beside her, Luke wore the exact same expression of disbelief. He was the one provoked into a fight, not Jason, so why should he have to be the one to suffer the consequences? He was only defending himself.

Unbeknownst to both Olivia and Luke, Jason had used the 'I'm the lacrosse captain' card with Mr. Lovett and claimed that he had a practice that he just couldn't miss. Lovett, a far past middle aged man who was never quite popular in his youth and definitely favourited the popular kids to compensate for it, had always showed favouritism towards members of the lacrosse team. He played right into Jason's manipulative hands.

"The rules in here are simple," Miss Taylor started, looking each student in the eye. "No eating, no drinking, no sleeping, no passing notes. You break a rule, I add another day of detention."

The woman moved through the room and opened the curtains. Light flooded the area, making the already bright room glow in gold as the sun began to leave its peak. "My freshman class has a bad habit of making a mess of things, so you five are going to help me clean this place up. The only time I want to hear you speak is when you're helping each other move something heavy, other than that, the rules apply. Are we clear?"

There was a murmur of disheartened agreement that sounded through the air.

"Great," Miss Taylor nodded. She clapped her hands together and urged them to get started.

Olivia stood and moved to the back of the room where stacks of sheet music laid messily on top of the windowsill. It seemed that Bobby had the same idea because he came up and stood a few feet away from her. He muttered a series of colourful complaints under his breath that caused Olivia to suppress a grin.

There was shuffling behind her, but she didn't look up. Reggie decided to organize the music stands against the far left wall, Alex moved empty cello cases from the main area to the storage closet, and Luke sorted packages of guitar strings on the ground into their respective boxes.

Five minutes of tense silence passed before the overhead PA system beeped, calling Miss Taylor to the main office for a phone call.

The older woman sighed and turned to her students. "I'll be back in a few minutes," she said with the warning wave of her finger. "No funny business."

Luke looked up at her from where he sat on the ground and drew an X over his heart. There was a playful grin on his lips. "No funny business, Miss T."

The older woman rolled her eyes at the childish gesture before turning on her heel and leaving the room. She left the door wide open and Luke waited until the sound of her heels were down the hall before getting up and closing it.

Olivia hadn't notice him walk up behind her until he placed a box of strings on the windowsill beside her. She flinched, heavily startled by his presence, before taking a deep breath and giving an airy, but nervous, chuckle.

Olivia didn't know Luke Patterson personally. She knew they were in the same music class and that he played guitar, and she had the faint memory of sharing a juice box with him in the first grade. Everything else she knew about him came from Jason. He had never spoken a single word about the shaggy haired brunette that showcased him in a good light and Olivia had no idea why. Every time she asked why they had stopped being friends, Jason would worm is way out of giving a straight answer. Honestly, she didn't think Luke deserved it. There had been countless times she had witnessed him helping someone from afar, whether it be sharing a pencil or holding a door open. He seemed like a nice guy.

Luke, on the other hand, knew a lot about the girl standing beside him—probably more than he would care to admit. He was drawn to her ethereal presence and like a moth, he was pulled to her warm personality, though he wasn't the only one. They had gone to the same elementary school, but he didn't expect her to remember and prayed she didn't know about the schoolboy crush he used to have on her. He knew she was gifted at playing the piano and that she was classically trained, he also knew that her boyfriend was a complete and utter asshole. He knew she was fairly shy and the stereotypical golden girl with good grades and a reputation of kindness that the majority of people around her adored, which admittedly made him very confused as to why she was dating Jason. He also knew she was pretty, very, very pretty.

"So," he started, leaning against the windowsill with his interest piqued. "What did little miss perfect do to get herself in trouble?" Admittedly, when he thought of detention, Olivia Montez was the last person he'd expect to be there (as well as Alex, considering how high-strung he was about school), and he wanted to know what the hell she could've done to land herself there.

Olivia looked up at him with a questioning gaze. She didn't expect for him to be staring at her so attentively. The moment they made eye contact, she turned back to her work, uncomfortable with being so seen. She shook her head and flipped through the sheet music. "I'm not little miss perfect."

His head tilted at her words and the corner of his lips turned upwards. "My bad, troublemaker."

On the other side of the room, Reggie abruptly spoke up. "This sucks,"" he whined loudly, almost dropping a stand on his foot.

Bobby nodded. "Yeah, this is bullshit."

"Can you just stop talking and do what we're supposed to do?" Alex asked, propping an empty guitar case against the wall. "I'm not getting another detention because of you people."

"You people?" Luke turned his ex-boyfriend and placed a hand over his heart. "Ouch, Alex, that hurt."

The blond boy rolled his eyes and turned to grab another empty case. "I'm serious."

Luke's hands went up innocently. "Alright, alright."

The five teens silenced and the only sound that rang through the room was the ticking of the clock beside the door.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

A steady 4/4 beat.

Moments later, the ticking was joined by Alex absentmindedly tapping his fingers against the cases he moved to create a more rhythmic beat. It was slow at first, but it quickly turned rapid.

Tap, tap. Tap.

Tap, tap. Tap.

Across the room, Luke and Reggie locked eyes, similar grins coming over their faces. Almost as if they operated on the same wavelength, they both abandoned their chore to find an instrument to play.

Beside Olivia, Bobby began to snap his fingers. He kept his gaze locked on the papers in front of him, but anyone could see how immersed he was becoming.

Olivia looked over at the boys in confusion as their impromptu melody grew like the joyous expressions on their faces. The energy in the room was infectious and she could feel herself let loose.

Alex joined in again, this time purposely, and grabbed a pair of drumsticks from a nearby bucket. He tapped them against each other, mimicking the rhythm he had been playing before. Olivia's head started to bop to the song and she made her way to where the electronic pianos were, a small smile spreading across her lips. A catchy bass line sounded through the air as Reggie plugged his cord into one of the dusty amps and he was soon followed by Luke joining in with an acoustic guitar. The song filled them, lifting their moods up to the heavens.

Olivia's hands found the keys of the piano and she played chords in the key Reggie was playing in. Her eyes lit up as she watched Alex get behind the drum kit and Bobby grab another guitar.

The five teens were jamming out, but their song wasn't complete without lyrics.

They looked between each other, wondering who was going to make the first move. It was a silent challenge, and Olivia was hardly one to back down.

Giving herself a small push, Olivia sang the first words that came to mind with mild hesitation. "You say that I'm too complicated, hung up and miseducated," her eyes flickered over to the ticking clock, "I say 9-to-5 is overrated and we all fall down."

Luke took over the lyrics as she left the piano and moved around the room. "I can't sleep cause my mind keeps racing, my chest hurts cause my heart keeps breaking." He laughed, watching as Olivia's nerves left her body and she became comfortable in the music. It was a magical thing to witness music's affect on the mind in real time. She wasn't the best dancer, either. "I'm so numb and I can't stop shaking and we all fall down. Olivia!"

"Frustration," she sang, running over to him with her hand curled like she was holding a microphone. "Desperation."

She held the nonexistent mic out for Luke to sing into. His eyes locked on her face as he sang, "They say I need some kind of medication."

Olivia spun on her heel, holding her hand out to Bobby. He leaned in. "Situation," he joined.

"No motivation," Reggie added, smiling when Olivia got around to him.

She pointed to Alex who was watching her from the raised platform the drums sat on. He struggle to find a word that rhymed. "Oh, uh— Destination?"

"Permanent vacation!" She held the note so Alex had time to do a drum fill. "Hey! I'm doing fine, and I know I'm out of line, so let's sing this one more time, it goes: destination—" She raised her arms like she was a conducted and hoped that the boys caught her drift.

They seemed to understand what she was trying to do and shouted, "Permanent vacation!"

The door opened and Miss Taylor reentered the room, catching the five teens as their voices blended together to repeat the lyrics of the chorus they had just improvised. While they broke the rules of detention, she couldn't bring herself to be mad at them. There were moments when stars aligned and fates collided. This was one of those moments.

Alex finished with a drum solo and the five teens stared at each other in disbelief. Their breathless laughter filled the air after the brief pause of shocked silence. It was like nothing they ever felt before.

"That was awesome!" Luke exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet. His eyes darted to each of them to make sure they had just experienced the same thing he did and that it wasn't a maladaptive daydream.

"Holy shit," Olivia said with a small smile. "That was so cool." She tried to catch her breath as she moved her hair from her face.

"Language."

The faces of the five teens dropped at the sound of their teacher and they turned to look at her like deer caught in headlights.

"O-Oh, hey, Miss Taylor," Luke stammered, rubbing the back of his neck, "welcome back, how— How was your call?"

"We're really sorry," Olivia added, shifting her weight between her feet. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "We didn't mean to—"

"Please don't give us another detention!"

"We just started to, um..."

"I'm just gonna stand over here... silently."

The older woman raised a hand, signalling for them to stop talking. Her eyes swept over them with an analyzing gaze before her face broke out in an excited smile. "I didn't know you five had a band, you're so talented!"

They shared a look before turning to her in a stuttering mess. "Oh, uh, no..."

"We don't even know each other," Alex said, his eyes flickering over to where Luke stood only to find that he was already looking at him.

"Yeah, we were just messing around," Bobby added, taking the guitar off his shoulders. "We're not, like, together or anything."

"You should be!" Miss Taylor shouted, waving her hands about. "That was amazing, you were meant to play together!"

"Yeah," Bobby drawled, "I'm gonna have to pass."

Miss Taylor's eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

Bobby shrugged before walking across the room. "It's ridiculous." He resumed sorting through the mess of sheet music.

"I'm going to pass too," Alex sighed. He slid the drumsticks back into the bucket beside the drum kit. "I have AP classes to keep up with."

"Me three," Reggie nodded, ducking his head as he removed the bass guitar and set it on it's stand. "I have... stuff."

Miss Taylor scoffed. "You have stuff." She shook her head in disappointment before stopping in front of Olivia. "Okay, what about you, Olivia?"

Her eyes widened. "I can't," she said quickly.

"Why not?" Miss Taylor pressed, placing her hands on her hips.

"I can't sing."

Everyone in the room looked at her like she had grown another head. "We just heard you sing," Luke pointed out, taking the guitar off his shoulder.

Reggie nodded enthusiastically. "And you were angelic!"

"I wouldn't say that," she continued in a high pitched tone. She pulled her sleeves down nervously. "That wasn't like singing singing— Like on a stage? In front of a crowd? I-I can't do that."

"Sure you can," Miss Taylor encouraged.

Olivia shook her head and returned to her previous spot beside Bobby. "Trust me, I can't." She tried to busy herself so she wouldn't have to look at anyone. "The last time I tried was my sixth grade talent show and I threw up before I could even get on stage."

Luke nodded in understanding. He could remember the teachers looking concerned as he watched the show from the audience. "Well, that means I'm out." He shrugged. "You can't really have a one man band."

"You could if you're doing a solo career," Reggie pointed out.

"Yeah, that's true."

Miss Taylor let out a sigh, disappointed that nothing was coming out of their talent. "Well, if I can just say one thing," she said, giving them a wise look. They turned to face her. "You don't have a moment like that and ignore it."

RAE SPEAKS !
Lemonade Mouth is shaking in its boots. Does this story count as a musical?