𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙊𝙀𝙎 𝙂𝙀𝙏 𝙍𝙀𝙈𝙀𝙈𝘽𝙀𝙍𝙀𝘿, 𝘽𝙐𝙏 𝙇𝙀𝙂𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙎 𝙉𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍 𝘿𝙄𝙀.
What do you get when you throw five musically inclined teenagers in detention and leave them alone for ten minutes?
You get a brand new band, new friendships, and a...
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ROCK ME — ONE DIRECTION I want you to hit the pedal, heavy metal, show me you care!
MAY, 1995. TWO MONTHS BEFORE.
THE MONTH OF April closed with Olivia's acceptance into UCLA's music education program. Everyone was happy for her—the band celebrated at Sonny's, her mom baked her a cake, and the Pattersons made her her favourite lunch. But despite getting into one of the top schools in California, everyone could see how unsure she was about accepting the offer. Whenever it came up in conversation, she would force a smile and quickly change the subject.
Olivia tried to tell herself that she wanted to go to college, but deep down, she knew that wasn't the case. When she applied, she was full of doubt and unsure of the band's future, but as the months passed by and their fanbase grew, she quickly realized that she didn't want to keep her options open. She wanted the band and everything that came with it.
If she accepted the college's offer, she wouldn't be giving the band the attention it deserved. She couldn't do that to the boys, nor could she do that to herself. She'd regret it for the rest of her life if she did.
So she decided to take a gap year.
"Are you sure that's what you want?" Sylvia questioned as she and Olivia watched Mikey's basketball game. She would support her daughter through anything, but she wanted to make sure that Olivia was making this decision for herself and not her friends.
"Yeah," Olivia nodded. She loved performing and she fully believed that it was the one thing she was born to do. Glancing over at the four boys cheering on the sidelines of the court, she replied, "I have a feeling this year is going to be our year, especially with the demo we're recording later."
Sylvia looked down at her watch. "Speaking of which, shouldn't you guys get going?" She held her wrist out for Olivia.
The younger girl did a double take at the time and excused herself in a hurry. "Hey, we've gotta go," she said as she reached the boys of Sunset Curve. "We're going to be late and we still haven't decided what songs we're going to record."
Panic set in as the boys scrambled to leave. They shouted for Mikey's attention and the thirteen year old looked over to see the older teenagers pointing to the door and apologizing for having to leave early. He gave them a wave and ran down the court.
Sunset Curve piled into Reggie's BMW and left the neighbourhood of Los Feliz. They used their travel time to throw together a setlist comprising of their most popular songs. Since they already had the bootleg of their first ever performance, they wanted to record songs that weren't on the first CD.
"Alright," Olivia said, struggling to write the list in her journal as the car moved, "one more song, guys. What's it gonna be?"
"What about the one we were writing for Alex?" Luke flipped through his own notebook, missing the way his girlfriend shook her head.
