Take a Sad Song and Make It Better

Jade's POV

“Jay, we are All Time Low.” My body froze and my eyes widened.

I felt like an idiot.

I mean, wouldn't you? You just found out that the band that you have been listening to since the day you arrived, and fallen in love with, was actually comprised of the people you had been hanging out with for the past four days that you had been there. Most people would be excited and overjoyed to have such awesome friends. But not me. I was a plethora of emotions at that time.

Embarrassed, frustrated, stupid, and somewhat angry.

So I put all my emotions behind the punch I gave to Alex's arm.

“Ow!” Alex cried out, his hand automatically reaching towards his now throbbing arm. “For a little girl, you sure can throw a punch.” He said, chuckling a little, from what I supposed, to cover up the pain I had caused him. I meant it to hurt.

“What the hell!?” I looked around the room at all the surprised and somewhat amused faces. “I've been singing their music for the past four days, Mel, and all along you knew it was these douche bags?!” Melanie burst out laughing, having to lean on Jack in order to remain upright.

“Hey, I resent that-”

“You can shut the fuck up, Jack ass. You didn't tell me either!” Jack shrunk back into the couch, clutching onto Melanie like she would protect him from my angry glare. I swear, if looks could kill, the pair of them would be dead by now.

“Sorry I didn't tell you, Jay. I kinda wanted to surprise you when I brought you to the show-”

“-tomorrow night.” Alex said, interrupting Melanie and wrapping his arm back around my shoulder, where it had been residing before I punched him.

“So...” I started after a few moments of silence. The air in the room was slightly clearing from my awkwardness and embarrassment, but I still felt stupid. I looked around, trying to think of some kind of relief from this now dead aura. I wanted to find something to talk about now. “What do you guys do in the band?”

“Play music...preferably.” I rolled my eyes at Jack. His blunt answer almost made me laugh, but in a way, at that moment, it wasn't really helping my awkwardness.

“I think she meant what we play in the band.” Alex whispered 'douche bag' underneath his breath, causing a round of giggles from me, considering I had been the only one to hear it.

“Well...I play the drums.” Rian said, looking over at Kara before kissing her forehead lightly. “As we already established.”

“I play the guitar. And run around on stage. And throw things at people. And-”

“Jack?” Kaylie said, looking over at the skunk-haired boy. Jack looked over at her, a goofy grin on his face.

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

“Okay.” The group laughed as Jack shrunk back into the couch, a small pout on his face.

“Well, I play guitar.” I looked over at Alex, who was already looking at me with a smile on his face. “And sing.” My eyes widened substantially. Alex's voice, the voice I had fallen in love with over the past four days, was the boy I had hated on the first day of school, then become friends with not a day later. Alex smiled, probably noticing my growth in eye size. “Surprised?”

In retrospect, I wasn't really surprised that Alex would have been he lead singer. Now that I listened to his voice and stood (actually sat) in his presence, I could tell he held the aura of a singer type. Great, I was pegging him again. Typical of me.

“Not really, no.” Alex arched an eyebrow and stared at me quizzically. I sighed, “This is going to make me seem really judgmental,” I looked up into Alex's eyes, “again,” Alex smiled and chuckled slightly, “but, judging by the way you act-”

“-you pinned me as the singer type, correct?” Alex laughed softly and pushed my shoulder with his hand. I let out a sigh of relief. I had no idea why, but I had put into my head that Alex would have been angry with another assumption. “Nah, it's cool.” I smiled up at Alex's face. He really is good looking. I thought, looking up into his chocolate brown eyes and coffee-colored hair that swept over his forehead. I wonder how many girls swoon over him on a daily basis? I mean, he's good looking, in a band, the bad boy type, and- He's also my best friend, and I shouldn't get carried away. I shook my head from such thoughts, which, having done so, caused Alex to pull his eyebrows together as if to ask if there was anything wrong. So I frantically searched my brain for a change in subjects.

“So...you guys got a bassist?” Alex sighed and looked over at Jack, who flipped open his phone and shook his head.

“Yeah. He was supposed to meet us about an hour and a half ago, but for some reason he must have gotten sidetracked.”

“Probably met a girl or something.” Jack suggested, wrapping his arm, yet again, around Melanie's shoulder; this time she merely rolled her eyes and let him leave his arm there.

Just as I turned my head back to the movie, which was still playing by the way, the front door opened and I heard a small laugh that I immediately recognized as my sister's. I jumped from my position on the couch, and out of Alex's arms, and towards the door. I wanted to know why my sister was laughing.

As I rounded the corner, I saw her, standing in the hallway, pulling off her sneakers, a smile on her face. But she wasn't alone. Standing next to her, taking off his shoes as well, was a taller boy. He had blond hair, and from the looks of it, very muscular. He wore basketball shorts and a tank top, his cheeks red from what I assumed to be from running. He seemed athletic, something my sister would enjoy.

“Um, hello?” At my greeting, the pair shot up, their smiles faltering slightly. “Do I get the pleasure of meeting my sister's, um, stranger person?” Bailey rubbed the back of her neck nervously and looked at the blond boy from the corner of her eye. He smiled softly and the pair looked back at me.

“Um, Jay, this is my new friend, Zack. Zack, this is my sister, Jade.” 'Zack' stretched out his hand and offered it over to me, a smile on his face. I took the boy's hand and shook it, before retracting it back to my side.

“Did I hear someone say Zack?” Footsteps rounded the corner and soon Alex stood in the doorway, a smile on his face. “Dude, you finally fucking made it! We have been waiting,” Alex took out his phone and looked at the illuminating screen, “an hour and 47 minutes for you to get here. What the hell, man!”

“Wait, you know him, Alex?” Bailey asked, looking between the two, confusion clearly written on her face.

Alex nodded. “Yeah. This is Zack Merrick, our bass player.” Alex and Zack smiled before doing that man hug thing that all guys do.

“Oh, God. The connections are fucking killing me.” I exclaimed, putting my head in my hands.

“Wait, bass player?” Obviously, Bailey was still confused, so I decided (being the loving sister that I am) that I would give her the water down version of what had taken me an hour to decipher.

“Yup. Alex, Rian, Jack and apparently Zack make up the band All Time Low. Alex plays guitar and sings, Jack plays guitar, Rian plays drums, and as we both just learned, Zack plays bass.” Bailey's jaw dropped and she stared at me for a minute before snapping back into a more composed facial expression.

“You knew?” I shook my head.

“Nope. Just found out a while ago-”

“-while we were waiting for youman!” Alex cried out, laughing slightly at the end of his statement, that was obviously directed towards Zack.

“Sorry I got a little,” He looked over at Bailey and smiled softly, “sidetracked.” I raised an eyebrow at the two as Bailey returned his smile and the two followed Alex to the living room where a chorus of 'hello's followed after the them.

I was skeptical of Zack, considering his display with the whole "I got a little sidetracked" thing, but after getting to know him and talking to him, he became another part of our group. Even though technically he already was a member; Bailey and I just didn't know about it yet.

He was quiet and shy like Bailey, but I began to see changes in my sister. She became a little bit more open towards the group than she had before. She's becoming like she had before...

Things were changing, and it wasn't long before we were heading back to Essex, New Jersey.

It wouldn't be long until we were cutting the ties we made here in Lotherville. And I was starting to dread that day.