REJECTS\\M.C.

-1-

-mikey-

"Have a good day, darling," Karen says as she kisses Mikey on the cheek, his lips curling into a fake boyish smile before he exits out the front door.

He slides his headphones over his unruly purple hair and presses the play button on his iPod. Green Day blares in his ears just as he steps onto the pavement and turns left, taking the same route he does five days of the week. His large hands shove into his pockets on his zip-up hoodie as he eyes the other students from the neighborhood, kids he's known since childhood. Some he even used to play with or invite to his house for sleepovers. A junior, Jason, waves at him and Mikey returns with head nod, but he leaves it at that. Mikey isn't a morning person and he prefers the heavy guitars to wake him up during the five blocks to school.

With one block left, he can see the fence of the football field when a girl rounds the corner in front of him. She walks in front of him, like she does every day, ignoring his and everyone else's existence. Her platform Dr. Marten's slap on the pavement, audible over his loud music; so he turns it up more. He watches her soft blonde curls in her short hair sway from side to side before his eyes drift down to her familiar tattered backpack and to the tiny Green Day pin. Her backpack contains many pins, but this is his favorite out of the collection and he enjoys looking at it everyday as he wonders who this girl is.

Her name is Hannah. She's newer to Bathurst High, having moved here three years ago, but she keeps to herself. Mikey said hi a couple times, only to receive an emotionless stare. He questions her clunky boots and plaid tailored slacks or why she always wears a sweatshirt three sizes too big, but he doesn't have the desire to get to know her to understand why after his failed attempts in the past. Now she's just the girl in some of his classes.

So he follows behind her, nodding along to the drum beat and subtly strumming against his stomach in his hoodie pocket while the other hand loosely makes the chord shapes in the other pocket. They walk along the sidewalk on the edge of the back parking lot, joining the horde of students and weaving through the small groups and cliques. Mikey enters into the school and heads straight for the cafeteria.

He spots his best friend, Calum, at a table on the senior's floor, a two layer raised section dedicated to the senior's, and sits next to him. He removes his headphones as Calum lifts a finger and then points at his own headphones, his head slightly nodding as he eyes look at Michael's face in thought, not focused. Mikey leans over to look at his iPod and notices the generic bare screen, indicating a homemade track, making Mikey giddy.

Calum smiles at the grin that takes over Mikey's face before he lowers his headphones and Mikey pounces, "You wrote a new song?"

"Yeah," Calum chuckles, handing the headphones over to Mikey. "I have a voice memo on my phone of some lyrics, a pic of the lyrics, and another memo of the guitar. I already sent the guitar memo to Ash. But he has some classes this morning then some homework and then he said he will sit down to record some drums."

"Sick," Mikey nods and puts the headphones on to listen just as the bell rings for a five minute warning.

The track is just an amateur mix of the guitar and vocals that Calum threw together as an example to get an idea started. Mikey loves it; always encouraged by his friends ability to write and find melodies to effortlessly. He hopes to reach that level of skill someday. He nods his head along, listening intently to the lyrics and humming along to the melody while he pictures the chord progressions in his mind.

"This is a great start," he smiles excited, "Did you send it to Luke, I bet he can help with the lyrics."

"Yep," Calum nods.