CHAPTER TWELVE

YOUR MAN — DOWN WITH WEBSTER
I'll take you all around as long as were on solid ground
I'll introduce you to town and never will I let you down

OLIVIA DIDN'T WANT to go to school the next day. She didn't want to be faced with the inevitable rumours surrounding her breakup with Jason and she definitely didn't want to be in the same building as him. The thought of people staring at her with whispers of judgement leaving their lips made her skin crawl.

As her mother called out her name from the bottom of the staircase, she buried her head under her pillow and groaned. Her bedroom door burst open and Mikey ran in with Solo following close behind.

"Get up!" The twelve year old shouted, jumping onto the bed with their dog.

Olivia tore the pillow away from her face and threw it at her brother. "Dude!" She complained, sitting up. "Quit it!"

"No!" Mikey stuck his tongue out at her as he continued to jump on her bed. "Mom told me to tell you that she knows you don't want to go to school but you still have to! She also told me to wake you up!"

Her hand reached for her other pillow and she hit his legs with it. "I am up, now leave!"

Mikey laughed and jumped off the bed with a thud. "Okay, bossy pants." He pet Solo on the head and walked out of the room, throwing a look over his shoulder at his sister.

Olivia rolled her eyes and greeted her dog before getting out of bed and walking to her closet. If she had to go to school, then she wanted to look good and show Jason what he was missing out on.

After getting ready, she headed downstairs and sat at the table next to her mom. She had her usual bowl of cereal and waited for her brother to finish eating so they could leave. Since Jason would usually drive her to school, she no longer had a ride, leaving her to get one from her mother.

The last thing Olivia expected to hear that morning was a car honking outside their house.

At first, Olivia thought it was Jason and froze in a panic. Mikey and Sylvia had the same thought because they shared a look before racing over to the living room to peak out the window. Both of them deflated in relief when they saw that it was one of Olivia's friends.

"Who is it?" Olivia asked nervously from the kitchen.

"It's Reggie," Sylvia answered in mild confusion. She watched as the boy got out of the car with two cups of coffee and walked up to the house. When he got to the porch steps, Mikey left her side and opened the front door before the flannel clad teen could even knock.

Sylvia walked into the kitchen in search for some left over pastries she could offer the boy, passing Olivia as she stood from the table and approached the door.

"Hey," Reggie greeted, holding out her coffee. "I thought I we could go to school together?"

Olivia took the cup from him, noticing how he had one for himself as well. The gesture melted her heart. Jason never thought of her when he got his morning drink. "Yeah," she nodded, "yeah, that sounds cool."

"Sick. I like your outfit, by the way." Reggie scratched Solo behind the ear and greeted Mikey as Olivia went to grab her backpack.

When Olivia returned to the foyer, she saw that her mom had moved from the kitchen to the door. In her hands was a small paper bag, probably filled with treats for them to eat on the way to school.

"Here, take these," Sylvia said, handing Reggie the bag.

He opened it, trying his best not to spill his coffee, and looked at her. "What are they?"

"Berry coconut squares," she replied. "There should be enough for the other boys too."

Olivia shook her head with a small smile. "Okay, we should probably head out now." She ushered Reggie out the door, messing up Mikey's hair as she passed.

As they walked down the steps, Reggie looked over his shoulder and shouted, "Thanks, Miss Sylvia!"

The two teens walked to Reggie's BMW and got in. Olivia wondered if his parents gave him permission to use their car or if he stole it again. "Thanks for the coffee and the ride," Olivia said as he started the car.

"Thanks for the squares," he countered, taking one out of the bag and biting into it. His morning hadn't been the best start to the week. His parents were up late fighting again, so he didn't get much sleep and getting out of bed was incredibly hard. Sylvia's baked goods made his day so much better. "Ugh, these are so good. I can't wait for your mom's shop to open."

"Trust me," Olivia said, taking a square out for herself. "I feel the same way."

The ride to school was filled with the two teens singing along to the radio's Top 40 at the top of their lungs and nearly choking on the berry coconut squares. It was nice to exist in the moment, like time wasn't passing and they were just two friends having fun as the morning sun beat down on them. Reggie was cheered up by Olivia's company and Olivia wasn't thinking about what awaited her at school.

The pair arrived at school and entered the building side by side. Expecting the worst, Olivia braced herself for piercing glares and snide comments uttered under passing breaths. Reggie's guard was also up, ready to defend his friend from anything that could ruin her day. But as they walked through the front doors, what they expected was far from the worst. It felt like a scene out of a movie. As she and Reggie walked down the hall, the heads of their classmates turned to watch them with wide smiles.

"Hey!" Someone greeted cheerfully as they passed.

The two looked at them and offered small (and very confused) smiles. "Hi," they said in unison.

"Olivia, Reggie!" Someone else called from down the hall. As they neared, they raised a fist for Reggie to bump. "Great job at the dance!"

"Thanks!" Reggie turned to Olivia with wide eyes. "Have we entered an alternate dimension?"

"I don't know, but this is really weird." Olivia was right to expect people staring at her, but the reason was for something she never would've guessed. A week ago, people were wishing for their downfall, now they were praising them. It was a little odd, but surprisingly exciting.

The pair rounded a corner and saw Alex standing at his locker. They stopped in front of him and Reggie shoved the paper bag of treats into his hands. "Dude," he said urgently, looking around at the other people in the hallway, "what's going on?"

Alex glanced around and gave an awkward smile to someone who waved at him. "No clue, but it's freaking me out." He opened the bag and saw that there were baked goods in them. He gasped, turning to Olivia. "Are these from your mom?"

Olivia nodded and waved at a person behind him. "Yeah," she said. "Save some for the others."

Alex grabbed his history textbook and shut his locker. The three walked further down the hall and stopped at Olivia's locker, number 754. She collected the books she needed from the locker and listened as the boys hypothesized reasons for everyone's sudden kindness towards them.

"They've been possessed," Reggie proposed.

"They haven't been possessed, Reg."

"They could've been!"

Olivia turned, hugging her books to her chest, and saw that Luke was walking up to them. She smiled at him and he returned her look with a smirk. When he was close enough, he slung his arms around Reggie and Alex.

"Morning, boys," he greeted with a wide grin. "Morning, trouble."

"You're in a good mood," Olivia observed.

Luke removed his arms from the others' shoulders and stepped closer to her. He leaned against the locker next to hers. "Of course I am," he acknowledged. "People know how good we are! Haven't you seen the looks we're getting? Besides, it's not everyday you get one of these bad boys made for you." He dug into his back pocket, pulled out a square piece of plastic, and showed it to the other members of his band. "Ta-da!"

The square piece of plastic was a CD case with a poorly drawn sunset on it. The words 'SUNSET CURVE: LIVE AT THE DANCE' were written in awful bubble letters that certainly raised a few eyebrows.

"What is that?" Alex questioned, staring at the CD with furrowed brows.

Luke took the paper bag he was holding and gave him the CD. He opened the bag to find baked goods—no doubt from Olivia's mom—and took a bite out of one. "That—" he pointed at the CD as crumbs fell from his mouth, "—is us."

"I don't remember recording ourselves," Reggie said in confusion.

"And I don't remember approving that cover art," Olivia added. The cover art looked like it had been drawn by a five year old. "We definitely need to work on our branding."

"CJ and his tech crew buddies recorded our set at the dance and burned it onto a bunch of CDs," Luke explained. He turned to Olivia and pointed at her coffee, wordlessly asking if he could take a sip. She nodded and passed it over. "Apparently a whole bunch of people have been asking to buy them."

Olivia let out a laugh in disbelief as he drank from her cup. "Holy shit, really?"

"Mhm, we've made a connection with the people," he replied proudly. He reached over her head and placed the cup of coffee on the top shelf of her locker. "But that's not all."

Reggie, Alex, and Olivia grew excited as they watched Luke dig through his pockets for something. "Ah ha!" He held up a small wad of cash. "The AV club gets a cut of the profit, but the rest is ours!"

There was a moment of stunned silence before the members of Sunset Curve realized what this meant. People liked them so much that they were buying CDs of their show. People liked them. When the realization set in, they cheered and brought each other in for a group hug, not caring how crazy they may have seemed to anyone watching them.

"This is insane," Alex said with a laugh.

They pulled away from each other and stared at each other breathless. "You know what this means right?" Luke questioned, looking between his friends.

Olivia looked up at him, her smile beaming bright. "That we're one step closer to playing Madison Square Garden and the Staples Center?"

He nodded his head, remembering the small argument he had with his parents the night before. They were one step closer to their dreams. "Exactly." He gave Alex the paper bag and took back the CD just as the bell rang.

The four teens smiled each other one last time before heading their separate ways, each of them in a better mood than were in at the start of the day.

OLIVIA SAT THROUGH her first two classes, politely smiling at her peers as they praised her (and Reggie because they had the same first period class) for her performance on Saturday night. She answered their questions about the boys and successfully avoided any questions asked about her breakup. Their interest in her was flattering, but Olivia wasn't used to being someone people went out of their way to talk to. She was used to Jason and Harmony Lane getting the recognition for their talent. Now that Sunset Curve was the object of everyone's affection, she couldn't help but feel a bit nauseous. The sudden attention felt like she was being pushed onto stage all over again, but this time, there was no music to ease her nerves. By the time lunch came around, her social battery had drained and she was in desperate need of her friends' company.

"Hey, guys," Olivia said tiredly as she approached the table where her friends were seated.

"Hi, Liv," Alex greeted, chewing on his sandwich.

Luke looked up from his journal and smiled at her. "Hey, trouble."

Olivia looked around the cafeteria and furrowed her brows when she failed to find Bobby and Reggie. "Where are the others?"

"Bobby had his drivers test today so he skipped and I have no idea where Reggie is."

"Me neither."

Olivia shrugged and sat next to Alex. She slid her bag off her shoulder and pulled out her lunch and water bottle. "People keep asking me about you guys," she said, feeling the full effects of her empty social battery. "After telling me how good we were at the dance, it's all 'Is Luke seeing anyone? Does Alex have a girlfriend? What cologne does Bobby use? Is Reggie's hair as soft as it looks?'"

Alex shifted uncomfortably at the question people were asking about him, but his discomfort was so well hidden that neither Luke nor Olivia noticed.

"We're not the only ones people are interested in," Luke chuckled, giving her a look. "You forget how pretty you are, Liv."

Olivia's eyes met his gaze, but the moment they made eye contact, she looked away. Her cheeks flushed as she traced shapes on the table to avoid his stare. She bit the inside of her cheek and shook her head. A part of her believed that after their conversation on Sunday, he was making it a point to call her pretty to make up for the fact that Jason never did. (He was, but he wouldn't admit it.) Luckily, she didn't have a chance to respond because Reggie came up to the table panting.

"Guys!" Reggie called, hunching over to catch his breath. "Guys— Hold on, gimme a second."

Alex looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Dude, why're you so out of breath?"

Reggie waved his hand and sat on the bench beside Luke. "I was running, but that's not the point." When he finally recovered, he swung his legs over the bench and faced Olivia and Alex fully. "I was just at Sonny's—"

"You went to Sonny's without us?" Luke questioned, upset that they could've gotten diner food instead of the school's sorry excuse for a lunch.

"Yeah," Alex nodded, "not cool."

"I didn't go there to eat," Reggie said as though it were obvious. "I had second period with CJ and he gave me another copy of our CD. I showed it to Sonny and he loved it."

Olivia leaned forward in her seat. "Yeah?"

"Mhm," Reggie mused. "He loved it so much that he offered we play at the diner on Thursday!"

"No way!" The three teens shared excited looks and smiled brightly.

Reggie nodded in confirmation. "And if we're good, he said we can come back every Thursday night, baby!"

Luke turned to Reggie and did the handshake every boy seemed to know. Olivia watched them in amusement and nudged Alex's arm. He smiled down at her and nudged her back. Things were looking up for their band.

As Reggie reached over and grabbed Alex's bag of chips, a group of girls walked by their table. They giggled and waved at Reggie. "Hey, Reggie," they said shyly, tucking their hair behind their ears.

Reggie nodded at them with a smile and turned to his friends. "I think they like us."

The other three shared a look as Olivia let out a laugh. "I don't think it's us they like, Reg."

"What do you mean?" His head tilted to the side like a puppy.

"Never mind," Olivia said. She sipped her water to hid her growing grin.

Alex took his bag of chips back. "We'll tell you're when you're older."

Olivia leaned over and snatched the chip out of Alex's hand just as he was about to bite it. She chuckled at his flat expression, but her smile faded as her gaze landed on the people sitting a few tables behind him.

Harmony Lane's usual table was filled with members of the lacrosse team and cheer squad. Among the rowdy group, throwing a wad of paper back and forth over each others heads was Jason and he was staring directly at Sunset Curve's table, his gaze burning Olivia's skin. She felt like a deer in headlights. She had managed to avoid him the whole day and she was actually convinced that she'd be able to face him without feeling anything. But she was wrong and she could feel her heart beating in her chest, the sweat that now covered her palms, and the anxiety induced by the possibility of him coming over.

"Liv, you alright?" Luke asked, stopping the conversation that was taking place. His eyebrows furrowed at her distressed expression.

Olivia tore her eyes away from Jason's and turned away from him. "Yeah," she said, slightly distracted, "I'm good."

Alex followed her previous line of sight and saw that Harmony Lane was now staring at them. "They look pissed." Christa, Josh, and Megan were looking over at him, muttering bitter complaints to each other, while Jason was staring at Olivia longingly.

Reggie turned to look as well. "Should I wave?" He lifted a hand, but Luke reached over, grabbed it, and shoved it down.

"Yeah..." Alex started in a high pitched voice. "Maybe that's not the best idea."

RAE SPEAKS !
get you a thoughtful friend like reggie honestly