Running on Adrenaline

I was completely stuck into the essay i was writing, when a light tap on my shoulder made me jolt.

I looked back ready to punch, and Brian held his hands up holding back a smile.

“i’m a jumpy person, don’t do-“ he stopped me with a light peck on the lips.

“good afternoon to you too” he sarcastically said while sitting next to me and reading my essay so far.

I snatched it away from him “I’m not finished”

“Maybe i could help” he suggested.

“oh really? Could you?” i smiled, leaning my chin in my hand. I offered Brian the paper and snatched it away just as he went to grasp it.

He smiled and placed a kiss on my lips, he then took the essay out of my hands easily and placed
his hand on my head, keeping me easily away while he read it.

Oli then took the paper out of Brains hands and gave him a sour look.

“She’s meh student” he warned.
“She’s meh girlfriend” Girlfriend? Brian rolled his eyes and squeezed my hand to let me know he was leaving. I was then left with Oli.

“You have an amazing talent” I stated

“I didn’t think meh band was that good, but-“

“No, a talent at ruining nice moments between people, and butting into things you are clearly not involved in”

He was thrown by that but quickly rebutted my response.

“At least I’m not failing English”

He smiled “That the only thing you have against me?”

“Shut yeh face” he ordered and proceeded to continue with his torturing lesson. I smirked and shook my head.

Well into olis lesson i found myself resting my chin on my hand and just nodding at everything he was saying.

“Are yeh even paying attention?” he knocked my hand from under my wrist and my head hit the desk.

“Ow” i shoved him hard, while rubbing my head.

“Oli” we both turned our attention to Heidi.

Oli looked down at his watch “I’m meeting yeh in 5 minutes” he reminded her.
She looked from him to me and it the reason she approached Oli was pretty obvious. Oli stood up and spoke to her for a moment, she seemed convinced, but not happy and walked away.

“Does getting walked all over hurt?” i smirked pencilling down something.

“She doesn’t walk all over meh”

“I beg to differ”

“Once again, I like her. Are yeh gonna sue meh?”

“Some advice Oli; put her in her place. Then you won’t need me to spy on her”

He was once again thrown.

“Lessons over, see ya whenever” he gathered his stuff and shrugged his blazer on. He walked out of the library and waved without turning around.

“Goodbye Oli” the library lady shushed me again.

I checked my watch to see i had practice now. I searched the library quickly for Brian but he wasn’t to be found. I rushed down flights and flights of stairs to finally reach band practice.

“I’m late, i know” he ripped off my blazer and took the microphone, the band just rolled their eyes and Hannah counted us in. The practice consisted of us playing our new song over and over. It had its hook, and i knew it would take the crowd for a ride. We nearly had it perfect but Jeremy just didn’t want to leave until we got it completely right. After all, another round of the competition was due tomorrow.

. . .

The competition night came fast once again and we found ourselves further and further into it. Every competition night, we found ourselves either the victim to a joke or the culprit to a prank. Bring me the horizon didn’t like us and we didn’t like them.

As we gathered our equipment carrying it out of Brian’s van, we carefully kept our eyes on it, it had been a couple of weeks since it happened, but since then that was the worst prank they played on us. Oli and his band walked past us and Hannah glared at them, oli laughed and put his hands up in defence.

“Sup Ame” he greeted.

“Don’t try anything funny tonight Oli” I warned.

“We got nothing Ame, i promise” he smiled deviously.

I turned to the rest of the band and twisted my mouth to the side “I’m really sick of having to watch our backs like were being hunted” I then picked up a guitar case and walked it into the venue, with everyone else following.

Once we got inside we placed our equipment down and Jeremy and Tom sat by it, standard operation. The rest of us stood side stage to watch the action. Bring me the horizon were hot and heavy, chugging like it was no tomorrow, but Oli was all over the place, he even looked a little distraught. I rolled my eyes at his pathetic acting; I peered into the crowd to see what type of people we would be playing tonight. The crowd was a little rowdier and I spotted Heidi up the front, with her tongue down a guys throat, she stopped when she caught sight of Oli, trying to look innocent. I looked back at Oli, who had stopped yelling and turned to take a few angry breaths.

When he took the mic to his mouth for their last song, his voice was explosive, growling and yelling like he was speaking straight to Heidi. I had to admit, I felt a little bad.

Brian slipped his arm over my shoulders, my eyes were fixed on Oli. I glanced at Brian who was looking at me, i smiled in return.

When they finished Oli threw the mic down and the rest of the band exchanged looks, quickly packing up equipment. Jeremy and Tom were quick to replace the stage with our equipment, Brian lending a hand. When Oli passed me and stopped him.

“I wish I could say I was responsible for this but-“Oli shook out of my hold.

“Fuck off Ame” the way he said it threw me and i stood for the first time feeling bad for Oli.

“Lia” Brian was standing there shaking his head “That hurts” he knew what happened to Oli and i knew he could relate to the feeling oli was experiencing. The announcer took the stage and shouted our name.

I was glad to get the response, but the guilt i was feeling blocked any other feelings. I fixed a smile on my face and ran on stage grabbing the mic. I halted the band and looked into the crowd.

“I want you to imagine the person you hate most right now” everyone’s face grew a little more intense “now, put your finger in the air and when I say, I want you to yell FUCK YOU” I counted, and the whole crowd held their fingers in the air, like this was some sort of anthem. They yelled as loud as they could, and I could see the anger in each of their eyes. That’s what I wanted.

I threw my hands up and Hannah started us off. Our track was fast and the chords struck made me jump and sing. The crowd moved to our beat messily and all I was happy about was that I evoked some sort of emotion in the crowd. When we hit our last drumroll and struck our last chord, the crowd went wild.

When I saw oli, he half smiled, until he saw me looking at him. He then dropped his head and shook it.

We piled our stuff in Brian’s van and i followed the band to Jeremys car. The drive home consisted of yelling and screaming out the widows, the whole band was completely lost in the performance we had, and it was safe to say, they were convinced we were finally getting it right. With another round safe in the competition we were ready to just hang tonight.