I'd Rather Live My Life Through Honest Eyes

[Gabriel's P.O.V.]

I slowly played with adjusted the zipper on my hoodie, snuggling into it even more to try and avoid all the looks I was getting from the tons of girls that the guys and I passed through the hallways of the school. Sometimes I asked myself why we had agreed to do this damn thing- we were supposed to "attend" this school to watch and observe the various bands in the advanced music classes. At the end of the year, we would select one band to open on our tour to promote our second album, Post Mortem.
I began to ask myself based on the appearance of half of these kids if any of them would be good enough.
"Dude, Gabe, you in there man?" I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to Zakk, who had taken to waving a hand in front of my face to grab my attention.
"Yeah, yeah." I mumbled, weakly slapping his hand away. We were heading toward the school's main office to meet up with our "tour guide" of the school, who would basically be giving us directions everywhere around the place so we knew where we were going whenever.
Stepping inside, we came face-to-face with a tall boy with curly dark brown hair that came to about his shoulders. Damn, and I thought Steven was tall. This kid was at least six and a half feet tall.
"Hey guys, I'm Terrick," he spoke in a calm, collected voice, waving to us with a smile on his face. "I'm gonna be showing you around, okay?"
Suck-up. I thought to myself, trying to avoid sticking my tongue out at him. But since I had to keep a professional status, I simply nodded.
After a while, we had reached the small auditorium where the bands would be practicing and performing on a daily basis. Terrick climbed up the stairs to the stage and walked around.
"So, here's the stage where the bands are going to be playing," he told us.
Yeah, I think we figured that out already.
"What are the bands?" Austin asked him, glancing around the room to eye the lights and stage equipment.
"Well, of course they're all a kind of rock band," he started out, running a hand through his hair. "There's my band, Shattered Matter. I'm the bassist. Then there's Fallen Promises, Inactive Eruption, Black Lightning, and our," he put quotation marks above his head, "heaviest band," he paused, then made a motion as if to gag himself, "Dark Waters."
Hmmm... Dark Waters. Sounded sort of like a tribute to us. Black Tide.
"And what are they like?" I risked myself asking the question, as Terrick turned to me and looked at me like I was crazy.
"Ugh, they're probably the most popular band out of them. But their singer..." he actually looked like he was going to gag himself this time, "She's an absolute whore. She's crazy, stupid, and above all, she's fucking hideous. I'm not surprised nobody likes her."
Okay, now that was pretty low. Telling us bad things about this girl we don't even know and trying to give us a bad impression of her. What was his problem?
I turned to the door at the sound of other people's voices and saw who I presumed to be the members of each band making their way into the room. I asked myself, How will we know which one is her? Then, as if answering my unvoiced question, Terrick spoke up.
"She's the only one wearing a Black Tide sweater." he then jumped down to greet a blonde girl with wavy hair and glasses, kissing her. I assumed that the blonde was his girlfriend.
I started to scan all the kids in the room, looking for this mystery girl... the only one in a Black Tide sweater...
"Hey, I think I see her." Steven pointed to a figure seated near the back, coming in alone, with a guitar case strapped to her back.
I turned to get a look at her, and, lo and behold, saw her in one of my favorite sweaters we sold- a black one, with a a teal sea green human heart surrounded by thorns that faded from a dark pink to a light red. However, the sleeves were cut off to make it sleeveless. After getting a better look at her, I swear my jaw dropped to the floor.

She was the most beautiful girl I'd ever laid my eyes on.

---

[Elise's P.O.V.]

I kicked the door to the auditorium open, like I usually did, and walked down the carpet ramp to find an empty seat next to the other members of my band, Dark Waters. Normally, I was the last one to arrive, so I took to glancing around the isles for the rest of the guys.
Then my eyes found him. Terrick.
Ugh, he made me sick. He's such a pretty-boy who thinks he's the greatest thing to come into the world since canned meat. A boy who thinks he's all that and a bag of chips.
Personally, I'd like to take that bag of chips and shove it up his ass.
To my dismay and disgust, I had to walk past him in order to get to my usual spot in the auditorium. He always did this. He always made me walk past him so he could ridicule me about something random and stupid just so he could make himself look like he was the kid with all the power here.
"Hey Elise, I see you're wearing the same sweater you've been wearing all year so far. Don't you ever wash it? I bet it smells horrible." he smirked, laughing.
"That'd be an inaccurate comparison," I scoffed, "'Cause then it'd smell like you."
Yeah, stupid comeback, but I wasn't in the mood today. I wanted to play and sing with my band, not deal with Terrick's bullshit. While I turned to walk away, I heard him start to say something back to me before I heard a smack on his arm.
"Terrick, will you just quit it?" I heard the guardian angel voice of his girlfriend and one of my friends since elementary school, Katie, scold him. He didn't deserve her. He deserved nothing.
"Yo, Elise! Over here!" Thank god, I heard them! My other guitarist, Brett, waved me over to our spot, which I thankfully sped towards. Sitting in the seat closest to the aisle, I flashed a thankful smile towards the other members of my band. My guitarist Brett, my bassist Tyler, and my drummer Nick.
"So what's the plan today, boys?" I questioned, placing my feet up onto the top of the seat in front of me before setting my guitar case down. Nick and Brett shrugged, but Tyler put a finger to his mouth in thought.
"Well, I heard that there's a famous band coming to watch us for the rest of the year and observe out playing." I raised an eyebrow at him.
"...For some reason, I find that hard to believe," I responded, sighing before turning to face the stage. "But I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
Once everyone was settled in (and Terrick finally stopped making out with Katie), our teacher, Mr. Martin, made his way up the stairs to the stage and took a microphone from the front.
"Alright, g'morniing everyone!" he spoke cheerfully, which immediately put a smile on my face. Mr. Martin was an awesome teacher whom everyone liked in the school. If you got him, you were extremely lucky.
"Now, we've got a special treat for all of you," he continued, "Starting today, and going on for the rest of the year, we have a famous band who graciously offered to come to the school and watch all of you play!"
So Tyler was right... but which band was it?
"So, without further mindless blabbing," I chuckled softly at that, "let me introduce you all to- Black Tide!"
Wait... what?!
I tried to ignore the countless screams from the girls in the auditorium as I watched the four boys walk to center stage. There was Austin Diaz, Steven Spence, Zakk Sandler...

...and then, there was him. The most unbelieveably gorgeous boy I'd ever seen in my life.
Gabriel Garcia.

---

[Normal P.O.V.]

"Hey guys, we're super excited to be here," Zakk spoke up, waving to the students in the seats of the auditorium. He laughed to himself at the screaming girls. "So, why don't we start out with each band playing one song for us?" He then looked at the list that the teacher, Mr. Martin, had handed him. "I guess we'll start with Shattered Matter.
The four boys watched Terrick and four other teens, including Katie, stand up and grab their instruments before walking onstage and setting up.
Gabriel turned to glance at the girl in the Black Tide sweater and could swear he saw the smile on her face quickly turn into a deep scowl.
Katie stepped up to the microphone. "We'll be playing one of our favorites for you guys," she spoke, "Blink-182's 'All The Small Things'."
With that, the band started the song. At first, they took to eyeing Terrick, who was completely focused on his bass playing, before glancing around at the other members. They were all very good, Katie's voice was pretty and fit the song well.
But they didn't think it was what they were looking for.
The other bands played more pop, punk, and alternative songs, just like Terrick's band. When it was time for the last band, Gabe snatched the list and took the microphone.
"And now, the last band... Dark Waters."
The rustling of the group in the far corner standing up and picking up their gear made Gabe turn and look at the band members. Once more, the girl in the sweater caught his eye as she unlocked her guitar case and pulled out a beautiful Jackson Soloist. It nearly mirrored his own, except for the fact that his was solid black, while hers appeared to be a bright blue with a maplewood sunburst finish.
The guys walked off the stage, Gabe passing the girl as he stepped down the stairs. He looked briefly over his shoulder to see her glancing back at him.
Their eyes locked.
Hating to turn away, Gabe forced himself to, walking over to sit next to the guys, who had sat next to Terrick.
He saw the sparkle in her eyes disappear, replaced by what he thought to be disgust and rage. He nearly shivered.
Now that she was in the light, Gabe was able to get a much better look at this girl. She had chest-length, auburn red hair that slightly covered her face, blueish-green eyes accented by a thin coat of eyeliner, and gauged ears like his, except hers were only 2-Gauge. Along with the sweater, she was wearing skinny jeans the same color of the heart on the sweater, and pink convers with thick black laces.
She was absolutely beautiful.
Her voice on the microphone brought him back to reality.
"We're Dark Waters, and this is one of our favorites by that band down there." she pointed to where the members of Black Tide were sitting, "This is 'Let Me'."
Gabe, Austin, Zakk, and Steven were nearly blown away when the girl starting playing the notes of the opening riff to their song, concentration taking over her whole face. She was playing the beginning solo perfectly too. Gabe started to ask himself how this girl could get any more amazing.
Then, she started to sing.
"Are you the one that I've been looking for... all along? I can't wait any longer, I don't have much time... please tell me now. Let me have you, let me touch you, let me get inside... let me have you, let me touch you, let me get inside..."
Gabe's eyes widened in disbelief, shock, and amazement as she continued to play and sing.
"Your skin, your exquisite flesh, your sweat... drips down your neck. Please tell me one day, it'll be mine... all mine. The heat from your body drives me insane, and I doubt that I can stand much longer. When I'm around you, my body aches, and when I see your face, everything else just looks fake..."
Well, I think I've found the girl of my dreams. And in the band that might just open for us on tour.

---

"Terrick, who is that girl? What's her name?" Gabe asked, desperate to know about the girl from Dark Waters.
The curly-haired boy let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "Why are you so interested in her?" he groaned, pausing before biting his lip. "Her name's Elise McCready. But don't think she's special, or anything. Take it from me, she's horrible."
So... her name was Elise. It was a beautiful name for a beautiful girl.
"Elise..." he whispered to himself.
Her name sounded even more wonderful coming from his lips.
Terrick rolled his eyes at Gabe's antics. Zakk, however, tapped his friend on the shoulder. "Ooooh, does little Gabe have a crush already?" he laughed. It safely earned him a punch in the arm from said vocalist.
His eyes then quickly averted to the brunette vocalist of Dark Waters walking alone out of the auditorium doors. He decided to take a chance on this.
"Elise!" he called her name.
As if surprised, she turned to the sound of his voice, her eyes wide with what looked to be possible happiness, but it quickly vanished when she saw him. Trying to see the happy sparkle in her eyes like before, he waved to her. But that changed nothing. She scowled at him, then turned her head and kept on walking.
"See? I told you." Terrick said matter-of-factly. But Gabe wasn't listening.
He was too busy staring at the retreating form of Elise.

The one and only girl who hadn't even bothered to give him a second glance.