Since You Came

Chapter 3

A/N

Yo, peeps. I have recently become obsessed with math puns, so you lucky people get to take the brunt of it. I got nothing else, so here goes.

Enjoy!

"You seem happy," Tess commented in chem. I grinned back at her.

"Woah, he smiles! The world is ending!" Iggy proclaimed dramatically. I punched his shoulder.

"Shut up. But, um, yeah. Something-" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lissa enter the room. "-happened." Iggy and Tess followed my gaze, and Iggy wiggled his eyebrows.

"Hey, Nick," she said casually.

"Hey Lissa," I replied exaggeratedly.

"Hey Iggy," Iggy chimed in. We all looked at him. "What? None of you were gonna say hi to me."

"I said hi to you ten minutes ago, Ig," I reminded him.

"Whatever. So, Lissa, anything...exciting...happen yesterday?" Iggy asked suggestively. She raised her eyebrows.

"What on earth are you on about, Iggy?" She said. Everyone was sounding really...implicative (see that epic vocab skill!) today. It was seriously weird.

"Oh, nothing," he replied, before turning back to Tess with a so-that's-how-they're-playing-it expression on his face. I saw Lissa wink at me, though, and I winked back. Iggy asked Tess something I couldn't hear, and she nodded.

"Five days," she whispered.

"Really? That's so slow," Iggy answered.

"That's what I'm going with," she replied, shrugging.

"One day. Whoever's closest, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"What are they on about now?" I asked Lissa. She shook her head.

"No idea. Probably when Iggy's gonna do his next prank or something."

"I can't believe she's making us do symmetry. Does she want us to fail?" Iggy moaned.

"Probably," I replied truthfully. He shrugged.

"Hey, at least I can do this," he began, then smirked. "Where are mathematicians buried?"

"Oh, lord," I groaned, rubbing my face with my palms.

"The symmetry," he finished. Tess and Lissa giggled. "See, Fangy, if you wanna impress the girls, you gotta know good maths puns."

"Aw, you shouldn't be so mean, Ig," I teased. "Be median or mode instead." Iggy stared at me.

"Dude, that was terrible. You have such a bad range of jokes," he grinned. I raised my eyebrows.

"Going off tangent, are we?"

"That, Walker, is a sine of a major problem," Iggy declared.

"Great, I'll just add that to the list," I fired back.

"You're looking at it from the wrong angle, man."

"To a certain degree, you're pretty good at this," I said, but I was running out. Please say Iggy didn't have another one...

"Sum people just don't have my skill," he replied triumphantly, raising his hands. I sighed dramatically. Iggy patted my shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. No one else can match my skill either." I stared at him.

"Right. Your skill. I'll just go and sulk in the bathroom," I deadpanned, slowly standing up.

"Wait, Fangy, don't leave me!" Iggy wailed. I rolled my eyes, and asked the teacher if I could go piss. Well, I phrased it nicer than that, but whatever. You get the point, yeah?

I didn't actually need to go, so I wandered aimlessly around the hallways for a bit.

"Skipping class, eh?" I jumped, and spun around. Who the hell was sneaking up on me? I was the one who did the sneaking-upping, not some rookie amateur.

"And you're not?" I retorted, raising my eyebrows at Max. She shrugged a shoulder, and flapped a lazy hand.

"I don't see myself as a history buff in twenty years time. Call me crazy."

"You're crazy. Who doesn't want to be a history buff when they grow up? It's the ultimate job," I replied.

"What're you wimping out on? Maths?" I stared at her.

"How'd you know that?" I asked her. A grin curved one side of her mouth.

"Call it intuition. So, why're you out here?"

"I...don't know, actually. I should probably get back, before they think I'm constipated," I mused.

"They might just think you hate maths," Max said, shrugging. "Or that you have diarrhea." She turned back to her locker. I took a step back toward the classroom, then stopped.

"Hey," I said. Max glanced over her shoulder. "We've, uh, got another gig this Saturday. Same place. If you wanna come, well, um...yeah, come. If you want," I added quickly. She gave me an amused grin.

"Maybe, Fang. Maybe."

"Something's happened to Nick," Angel announced loudly. Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy and Max (who was sitting with us again. She kinda just went wherever) looked at her. Max had a knowing smirk on her face.

"I know that. He was being all weird in maths, thinking he could beat me in a pun-off," Iggy scoffed arrogantly. I raised my eyebrows at him, but didn't say anything.

"Oh, sure. Now you want to be quiet," Nudge grumbled.

"Well, there is a reason I'm happy, but you're not finding out," I said stubbornly, crossing my arms. Iggy's face suddenly lit up.

"Hey! You started acting weird today, and yesterday you and-" I reached over and slapped my hand over his mouth, glaring at him.

"Yesterday you and who did what?" Nudge pushed. I shook my head, and cautiously peeled my hand away from Iggy's mouth.

"Right. So-" I felt a tap on my shoulder, and looked back.

"Oh, hey Lissa," I said. She nodded.

"Hey, can I talk to you? Just over there's good," she added, pointing to an empty space about three metres away from our table.

"Sure," I replied, and walked the distance. "What's up?" She wrung her hands together.

"Okay. So. About the library thing yesterday, I just wanted to know, uh...this is really not my thing-"

"Lissa," I said, taking a step towards her. She looked up at me.

"We can make this really awkward, or..." I trailed off, and mentally psyched myself up. This was going to be the boldest thing I'd ever done in my entire life. I leaned down and kissed her. Right there, in front of the whole cafeteria. Conversation ceased, and everything went silent. Jeez, guys, way to make this awkward. When we pulled apart, every single freaking student was staring. I glanced nervously at Lissa, who was staring right back at me. Suddenly, everyone (well, mostly everyone. I mean, not the damn 'Bang' shippers) was cheering. We both walked back over to my table.

"Fi-na-leee," Iggy sung. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"You can't really talk, Ig, since Teggy still isn't a thing," I pointed out.

"Pfft. I'm just takin' it slow. Slow and steady wins the race, right?" He argued.

"Sure Ig. Sure." He snapped his fingers.

"I just won ten bucks! Thanks Fangy poo!" He exclaimed, and ran over to where Tess was sitting. I watched as she grudgingly handed him a ten dollar note. He swaggered back over, grinning widely.

"You made a bet?!" I asked incredulously. He nodded unashamedly. I heard Nudge and Gazzy whispering, and turned to see them handing money to Angel, who was smiling. "You guys had bets too?"

"'Course we did. Easy money," Angel replied, pocketing her winnings.

"Unbelievable," I muttered.

"If it helps, I wasn't here long enough to bet," Max put in. I cut her a look.

"Oh, it truly does help. So much," I deadpanned. She grinned.

"I'm glad. Besides, these guys aren't the only ones with bets," she pointed to various other tables around the cafeteria, who were, sure enough, exchanging money. I felt my eyes widen.

"What the hell is wrong with people?" I asked.

"Everything, Fangy, everything," Iggy said, patting my shoulder.

"Right," I muttered.

"Pull me up from this sinking town,

I'm dying to live,

Something's gotta give," I strummed the last chord, and looked in the mirror. I hadn't turned into a zombie like Alex did in the video, so kudos to me.

"Isn't that the song with the weirdo Walking Dead video?" Angel asked. Of course she was here. She was always at my house.

"Yep. Daddy issues?" She pulled a face and nodded, coming to sit on the bench beside me.

"When is he gonna learn that he can't just come home drunk every day?"

"When I learn to give a crap," Angel replied bluntly. "At least Gazzy's with mom. That means it's only me to deal with it. But that's not why I came here."

"You don't need a reason to come here, Ange."

"I know. But I found this, and I thought you might wanna see it." She held out her phone, and I took it, giving her a questioning glance. "Play it." She kept her eyes on the ground. I pressed play, and a girl with an electric guitar filled the screen.

"Uh, hey. I'm just gonna get into this before I make it awkward. I'm Max, and I play guitar (duh), and I'm gonna sing Have a Nice Day by Bon Jovi," a younger version of Max began. She plucked a string, then started strumming.

"Why, you want to tell me how to live my life?

Who, are you to tell me if it's black or white?

Mama, can you hear me? Try to understand

Is innocence the difference between a boy and a man

My daddy lived the lie, it's just the price that he paid

Sacrificed his life, just slavin' away." I listened as she began the chorus. She was really good. I didn't know how Angel found this video, but her intentions were clear. I locked eyes with her.

"You want her to join the band," I stated. "You don't think you and Nudge are good with the vocals?"

"We only do backup. But Max, she's really good. And a female vocalist would be good for some of the other songs," she added.

"I dunno, Ange. I mean, it's a risky move-"

"Nick," she said sharply. I looked up at her. "You need to start thinking big picture. You want a record deal?" I nodded. "Then we need Max. Simple as that. She nailed those riffs, and even you can't hit those high notes."

"But-"

"No, Nick. No buts. The reason we haven't been signed yet is because we need an edge. Max could be that edge," she said. I mulled this over for a few minutes.

"What if...if she doesn't want to join?" I asked finally.

"I have a feeling she will." So that's why, at seven thirty in the morning, we got to school early to wait for Max.

"How do you even know she'll be here early? Actually, she seems like the type of girl to show up late-"

"Stop trying to get out of this. I asked her to meet me here yesterday." I gaped at her.

"You...what?" I asked dumbly. Angel rolled her eyes.

"She asked me to meet her. It's not that hard, Fang," Max taunted. I spun, and there she was, leaning against a wall.

"So, what's this about?"

"Nick wants to ask you something," Angel said. I stared at her.

"Why am I the one asking? It was your idea-"

"Exactly. I do half the work, you finish it off. Fair's fair," she argued.

"'Fair's fair'," I muttered. I rubbed my eyes, then looked at Max through my fingers. "Okay. So, Angel found a video of you singing-" I heard Max hiss slightly. "-and was wondering if you wanted to...joinourband," I said quickly. Max raised her eyebrows.

"Speak up, Walker. I can't hear anything you're saying."

"Do. You. Want. To. Join. Our. Band," I enunciated slowly. Max's arms folded.

"What would I be doing in this and?" She asked.

"Singing. And guitar," I added. She looked thoughtful.

"You know what, sure. I'll join. When do we practice?"

"Meet us here after school. You can see our studio. It's sick," Angel said.

"It's not that great-" she cut me off.

"You're just saying that cause you own it. Believe me, it's awesome."

"Well, if you say so," I said dryly. Max smirked.

"After school, then. Later." She ducked behind the wall, and I heard a door swishing.

"Mysterious, that one," Angel remarked.

"You can say that again," I replied.

So that's it. Fax shippers, don't kill me. It'll get better, trust me. I got a whole load of stuff planned.

Kinda.

Well, my beds calling, so I'm gonna sign off.

HV