The Art of Subconscious Illusion

Chapter Two.

I hadn’t told Mel or Rach about what had happened before the concert, but they could tell something was wrong with me. They didn’t push it though as we enjoyed the concert and for some reason, I felt myself unable to keep my eyes off of Zacky as the group of guys worked so well together. I could almost find myself appreciating everything that was going on and the place Zacky had made for himself. What was I saying? I couldn’t...I shouldn’t...ugh, why did he have to ruin things for me?

Their music was very easy to get into, much darker than I normally would listen to but so worth it, that I would have to invest in their CD. I found myself constantly headbanging, moving along to the music and I noticed that Mel and Rach were doing the exact same thing. It felt like the concert was over before we could even blink and being usher towards a dressing room that was just down the hall from the bathroom. Zacky’s eyes fell on me almost as soon as the guard let us in and I looked down at my feet, feeling my older self come crawling to the surface.

“Hello ladies!” a tall giant of a man, wearing glasses and sporting the black styled hair as everyone else in his group said. I recognized him almost instantly and James Sullivan or Jimmy as he was called by his friends, who was known in high school for terrorizing everyone in sight. He had done that to me only a few times, before he just up and stopped, never to really pay me any attention after that.

We all said our hellos, while we were sat down at the only table in the overly large room and it felt like we were about to be interrogated. I glanced around, recognizing all but one of the group of guys before us, who was also the shortest of them all. The other two guys were Matt Sanders, who kept to his group mostly, he was actually a pretty sweet guy...from what I would hear all the girls in the locker room say. And Brian Haner Jr. who loved to get into mischief about as much as anyone else in his group, he just kept quiet about it as his planned chaos unfolded in front of him.

“So, how’d you like the show?” Matt asked us, turning a chair so the back was to the table and straddling it as he looked at us. He had always been the one to take charge of most situations, his hazel eyes flashed over to me with a moment of recognition and I started fidgeting.

“The show was absolutely fantastic! We’d like to know where we could buy CDs?” Rachel spoke up, glancing at me in concern to my sudden shyness.

“Remind us before you leave and we can get you three copies signed before you go.” the shorter guy spoke up and James brought him into a headlock, nugging his head and I did my best to hold back a laugh. Looks like the giant hadn’t changed much either, which could only be Hell for the guys to deal with on a daily basis.

“Thanks for speaking up for once Johnny!” James said, finally releasing the poor guy from his death grip. Johnny flashed him the bird before sitting down on the bench that was next to Matt. “Johnny here is terrified of females, you are very lucky to hear him speak a couple words at all!”

“So what are your names?” Brian asked, as both he and Zacky brought a chair over and sat in it. Brian was right across from me, so I just kept my eyes on my hands, what was so wrong with me?!

“I’m Melanie Rogers, this is Rachel Banner and Su…”

“Lucy, I’m Lucy.” I cut her off, my eyes widening which caused everyone to jump in shock and give me the exactly opposite reaction that I wanted. Now all eyes were on me, just great...I would have to remind myself later to bash my head into the wall for digging my own grave.

“She speaks!” Brian chuckled, smiling at me and I felt my face heat up. “Be careful, you might end up with your face as red as your hair.” That comment didn’t help as it got even redder and I started fidgeting with my lip ring.

“Lucy here is a journalist for our college’s paper and her end of the year report is on someone’s effect on society and how they’ve worked to change it as a whole.” Mel pointed out, putting me even further in the limelight. I probably looked like a deer in headlights by now, eyes oversized and unmoving as I tried not to bolt then and there.

“Is that so, Lucy?” Matt asked looking over at me and leaned forward to smile at me, his dimples showing up as he did so. “What would you like to know?” They all watched as I got my phone out, which had upgraded since my little Razr and set it up to record.

“Just state your names for record, your positions in the band and then we can get on with the questions.” I stated, letting my business like personality take over to shover the nervous side away. They introduced themselves and then my questions began, running on for about twenty five minutes until one of my questions was my major slip up. “What school did you all go to and how did you meet?” Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, you knew the answer to that! Why did you ask that!?

“Well all of us except for Johnny over there attended Huntington Beach High School while Johnny went to Marina High School which wasn’t that far away.” Zacky said, reminiscing on the olden times and I did my best not to roll my eyes. He went to speak up again to answer the second part of my question, but Rachel spoke up.

“No way! That is the same high school that you went to Lucy!” she exclaimed, causing me to groan as I nearly hit my face on the table. I was almost in the god damned clear!

“You went to Marina?” Johnny asked in complete confusion and I shook my head no, doing my damndest not to glare at Rachel. It wasn’t her fault, I didn’t exactly talk about the hell I went through in high school, neither of them knew.

“You went to...Susan?” James eyes, widened quickly as his mouth dropped open.

“Wait, Susan Luscinia...the girl who always ate lunch alone and would hide out in the library as much as she could?” Matt asked and I finally look up to meet their eyes, looking into Zacky’s eyes last. I could see something in them that had me taken aback as there guilt flashed through them.

“Yeah it’s me...I will be in the car.” I muttered, getting up as I glanced at Mel and Rach as Mel threw me her keys. They all called after me, but I didn’t listen as I started running, wanting to disappear like I would in high school. It didn’t take me long to book it down to the car and I got in, sitting in the back seat and felt my emotions overwhelm me as I started crying. I was supposed to be stronger than this, I wasn’t supposed to let my past haunt me at all. And that was the very thing I was allowing it to do, like the weakling that I was.

Ten minutes later, Mel and Rach made their way into the car and I unlocked it for them, handing Mel her keys. She took them and turned on the car as Rach looked back at me, worry lacing her features.

“What was that all about? Why didn’t you tell us you knew the people in the band?” she asked me and I looked at her.

“I honestly didn’t know it was them...there is a reason why I don’t talk about my high school all that much and they...well, he is the main reason for that.” I state and Mel glances at me in the rearview mirror.

“He...which one?”

“Zacky...he used to bully and torment me throughout middle and high school and it just got worse and worse. Graduation was my saving grace and I figured I would never have to deal with the person who made eight years of my life a living hell.” I sighed, shaking my head as I looked out the window. “Lets go to a liquor store, get some forties and get smashed.” I state and Mel shakes her head.

“Can’t, we have work in the morning, but there is still some booze in the fridge from our last drinking night at home.” she stated, which bummed me out more, but I would take it over nothing. The rest of the way home was spent in utter silence, the other two cleaned the make up from their face and went to bed and I was left up by myself. I changed changed into my black tank top and some black boyshort panties that had red lace on them, going to wash my face off to I didn’t fall asleep with it on. As well as taking out my contacts and putting on my glasses so I could read. Then making my way to the fridge, I pulled out a half bottle of Fireball Whiskey and went into my room to lay on my bed and drink the night away with a good book.

******************

I woke up to someone knocking on the front door, looking over at my alarm to see that it was one thirty-seven p.m. in the afternoon. I winced at how the loudness was hurting my ears as I stumbled getting out of bed, knocking over the empty bottle of Fireball as I did so. No one else was home by now, leaving me to deal with whoever was rude enough to wake me from my slumber.

They were persistently knocking to that point where I was about ready to cut their damn hands off or chew them a new asshole as I was opening the door. I came face to face with a pair of forest green eyes belonging to Zacky Baker, who had stopped in midknock as I opened it. Almost as soon as it was opened, it was slammed shut as I put my back against the wall, eyes widened and breathing heavy.

This was not how I wanted to start my day...a hangover and a headache all at the same time.