Breakout

Chapter 1.

"Check mate."

Trevor stared at me like I was from another planet. I hit his figure off the board and smiled at him.

"I can't believe you beat me," he whispered. I brushed my bangs out of my eyes as I pushed my glasses up against the bridge of my nose.

"Well you know what they say," I said. "Winners never quit and quitters never win." Trevor gaped at me as he shook his head making loose hair fall in front of his face. All around me, people clapped and cheered. Trevor growled and got up from his seat and stormed out of the room. I slightly giggled and high fived my best friend, Samantha Henderson. Samantha was your typical popular girl. Blonde hair, blue eyes, clear face. She wore clothes from American Eagle and shoe's from Claire's. But me on the other hand. Brown hair, brown eyes and has a few pimples of my face. I wore glasses and got my clothes from Walmart. I was your All American nerd/geek girl. I'm on the chess team, I'm very bad at sports. I get my shoes from Lowe's. As Samantha high fived me, she embraced me in a hug.

"Congrats on winning, Marie," she said.

"Thanks for supporting me," I said. We pulled away and she squeezed my shoulder.

"No problem."

"We should get to class," I suggested. We both retrieved our bags from the back of our seats and headed out of the chess club room.

"So there's this party tonight. Will you please come?" Samantha asked as we were walking toward our class. I thought over the idea. A nerd at a high school party? If I show up, everyone would end up leaving. Plus I was and am never interested in teen partying. Drinking. Dancing. Never my things. I'd rather be at home studying then at a party. My parents should be proud of me.

"Please?"

"No," I said. Samantha's mouth formed a perfect O.

"Why not?"

"You know I'm not into parties."

"I know that but can you please come this one time? Please, please, please, please?!"

I sighed as she got down literally on the ground on her knees and begged. Other seniors were walking by as they stared at us.

"Fine."

Samantha squealed and got up from the floor and hugged me. I hugged her back as the bell rang.

---

As we stepped into our science class, I peeked at the clock and let out a sigh of relief when I found out that our teacher, Mrs. Overstein, wasn't in the classroom. I glanced out the back of the room to find Samantha making her way to sit with Alex Gaskarth and Jack Barakart. Those two are on of the populars. They play in a band called, All Time Low. They're pretty popular down here in Maryland. They play shows at bars on the weekends. Plus they already have an album out called, "The Party Scene." Haven't listened to it but I heard it was good.

"You never know who's coming to your guy's party tonight?" Samantha asked Alex and Jack.

"Mark Hoppus?" Jack excitedly said. Samantha snorted. "I wish." I settled down in my seat in the front of the class. Since we had very little kids in our class today, I could hear their conversation perfectly.

"Who then?" Alex asked.

"Marie Chambers, my best friend!" Samantha laughed. I could feel Alex and Jack staring at me.

"The nerd?" Jack asked.

"She's not a nerd!" Samantha defended. "She's just a very smart person who does very well on her tests."

"You sure she's not a nerd?" There was silence until Jack erupted into a girlish scream.

"Ow! Why did you pinch me?"

"Stop calling Marie a nerd," Samantha said.

"Sorry," apologized Jack.

"So are you coming to our band practice Monday night?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, but is it okay if I bring a friend?"

"Sure, anyone you want."

"Good afternoon class," Mrs. Overstein walked into the classroom and set her books on the table in front of her. "Sorry I'm late." The class hushed silent as Mrs. Overstein started writing her name on the whiteboard.

"So for class today, everyone is going to be paired up with a person to discuss how your life has changed since you entered the high school." Ashley Hanson raised her hand from the desk beside me. Ashley was also on of the populars but never really liked hanging out with them. She just liked the parties and 'get togethers'. She had slick black hair, green eyes and pale face but she still looked pretty.

"Yes Ashley?" Mrs. Overstein called out.

"How does this have to do with science?"

"We're going to do data on how we had a good year and end up going with our goals from college."

"Boring," Jack coughed from the back of the classroom.

"Mr. Barakart!" Mrs. Overstein shouted.

"Yes Shirley?" Mrs. Overstein turned apple red as Jack revealed her first name.

"You just caused me to pick everyone's partner for our assignment." Everyone turned around and glared at Jack.

"Anyway, let's get started." Mrs. Overstein's eyes glanced over the senior students.

"Samantha Henderson and William Sheep." Samantha slightly groaned as the made her way across the classroom and sat next to William. William was your type of highschool student who barely does his work. Which means Samantha would have to do all the work.

"Jack Barakat and Jasey Rae."

Jasey had jet black hair, emerald green eyes and hung around Alex a lot. I heard they were dating but I'm not so sure. She resembled Ashley.

"Maria and Austin." Maria was also part of the popular crowd. She wore way too revealing outfits and heels everyday to school. Austin was your regular high school boy. Liked going to parties and focusing on his school work at the same time.

"Alex Gaskarth and Marie Chambers." I heard Alex groan behind me and the followed with a yelp. I turned around and saw Samantha pinching Alex's stomach.

"Sorry. Just getting a pencil," Samantha said while Mrs. Overstein glared at her. Alex caught my eye and motioned his hand toward me.

"Come here," he said. As Mrs. Overstein was pairing more students, I made my way to the back of the classroom. I sat next to him in Samantha's seat.

"Should I go first or should you?" He asked.

"Doesn't matter to me," I said. Alex brushed a few strands of hair out of his face.

"I'll go first." He cleared his throat before speaking. "I'm Alexander William Gaskarth. I was born on December 14 in England. I moved her to Baltimore in 1995. I met my best friend, Jack Bassam Barakat on my first day of ninth grade. And we've been friends since. My favorite band is Blink-182. Jack introduced them to me. And they inspired Jack and I to form a band. And we did. We're called All Time Low. It's from a New Found Glory song. I'm the guitarist of the band and also the singer. Jack is the other guitarist. We also have Rian Dawson who is our drummer and Zack Merrik, our bassit. We released a EP two years ago and an album last year called, "The Party Scene." We are writing for our EP which is coming out soon on our new signed label, Hopeless Records. So I guess I won't be going to college. But anyway your turn." I stared at Alex as he gave me that long paragraph.

"Wow. Um, I'm Marie Elizabeth Chambers. I was born on December 15 in Florida. My mom and I moved up here to Maryland in 2000. I met my best friend, Samantha on the first day of ninth grade, also. I don't have a favorite band. I don't really listen to music. Um, I will be going to college after senior year." I stopped talking and tucked a hair behind my ear.

"You don't listen to music?" Alex questioned. I shook my head.

"No. Not really."

"So you don't know who Blink-182 is or New Found Glory is?"

I shook my head.

"Are you serious?"

"I'm totally serious."

Just then Alex went into his backpack and grabbed his mp3 and headphones and handed me on of the earphones.

"Here. Put this in your ear."

"What if we get caught?"

"We won't. I promise."

I obeyed Alex and popped the headphone in my ear. Suddenly music started playing and a dude started singing.

"I took her out. It was a Friday night. I wore cologne to get the feeling right. We started making out and she took of my pants. And then I turned on the TV. And that's about the time she walked away from. Nobody likes you when you're 23. And I'm still amused my TV shows. My friends tell me I should act my age. What's my age again?" Alex turned down the music and turned to me.

"This is Blink-182. Mark Hoppus was singing. He's amazing. Tom Delonge also sings in the band. And Travis Barker is the drummer. They're cool right?"

I shrugged. "They're alright."

"Alright?! They're just alright?!"

I shrugged again. "They're okay."

Alex crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. "I'm going to make you like them."

"You can try but it's going to take some time." Suddenly Jack appeared behind Alex and grabbed his mp3. "Who are you listening to?" he asked.

"Blink," Alex told him.

"Say it ain't so. I will not go. Turn the lights off. Carry me home," Jack sang. I looked at the front of the classroom and Mrs. Overstein not there.

"Nananananana," Alex and Jack chorused together. The class started laughing as Jack and Alex continued singing. I couldn't help but laugh along with everyone else. I couldn't help it, these guys were funny. Alex and Jack stopped singing as soon as Mrs. Overstein walked into the classroom. After that we continued our work. I learned more about Alex. He hopes to work with Mark Hoppus one day. He really wants to go to Japan. He's a dog person and prefers the Ravens than the Steelers.

"So I hear you're coming to my party tonight," he said.

"It's your party?"

He nodded. "Yeah. My parents aren't in town so I'm throwing a party."

"Do your parents know?"

"Shoud they?" Before I could answer the bell rang, indicating the class was over. Alex shot up from his seat.

"See you at the party right?" he said. I nodded without responding. He left the room with Jack, leaving me with the rest of the kids in the class. Samantha made her way over to me.

"You ready for the party tonight?" she asked.

"Sure," I said. She squealed as the pryed me out of my seat and linked her arms around mine.

"Let's go home and get ready!"

"Yay."