before the pain | luke (JATP)

XXXIV

"YOU FAILED THE HISTORY TEST AGAIN?!"

This was the yelling of Mila's dad, having that morning gotten a very angry email from Mila's history teacher making sure her parents knew that if she fails one more test there is a chance she will not be able to finish her senior year.

"Dad, I can explain" Mila answered, yet her dad did not look at all happy, his face was red from anger and his eyes had gotten so big his glasses now looked tiny. Her mother hadn't said a word, which was unlike her.

Mrs. Garcia had the whole morning been cleaning the kitchen, trying to act like her daughter was the perfect Latina, which of course got ruined but Mila's mother was good at playing pretend.

"Is this those boys you have been hanging out with, are they this caused by those boys?" Her mother asked, causing her dad to have his hand in a wrist.

"You were the one who asked them for dinner, they have brainwashed our daughter"

"Brainwashed our daughter, are you crazy?"

"Sophia, don't be like this, we have to punish our daughter"

"Andrew if you give her more punishments for just having fun-"

"Why do you think she suddenly became like this huh? Maybe you should move out again, you are clearly a bad influence"

Their yells were loud, causing Mila took a deep breath as she closed her eyes, she felt the anger boil inside of her as she stood up, causing her orange juice to spill and her eggs to almost slip off the plate.

"SHUT UP"

Mrs. Garcia dropped the plate she was holding, making it shatter all over the floor as Mr. Garcia's face turned white. You see in the whole seventeen years Mila has been alive, she had never once in her life yelled at her parents. Yet what she thought would help, for the first time to stand up to her parents, only caused her parents to yell even more at each other.

Mila sighed and took her school bag as she walked out the door, she stopped up seeing Reggie's car driving to her house, as she smiled, yet the smile faded as she saw the car being filled.

Out came Bobby to open the door for her. "Miss Garcia, are you ready for a small adventure?" He said with a smirk, she noticed Luke's smile was smaller than normal, he didn't even look into her eyes, yet she could still hear her parents yelling, so of course, she said:

"What kind of adventure?" She asked as she placed herself between Luke and Bobby in the backseat. Luke's breath almost stopped as the smell of coconuts filled the car, making him lick his lip in a small smile.

"The best kind," Reggie said as he began driving. "But guys it's a Tuesday I hav-" Bobby chuckled. "We don't care" He teased, which made Mila roll her eyes.

"What's happening?" Mila asked, having a small smile on her face, the boys laughed. "You miss, will do something scandalous" Mila looked confused at them, yet didn't dare to say a word, as Reggie began driving,

"Where are we going?" Mila asked, before Luke smiled at her and took her hand, which for a second made her heartbeat fasten. "Trust us" Luke said looking into her eyes, he tried to see how she felt, yet she couldn't help to look at him in shock.

He stole her first kiss...

She didn't know what to say or do, she simply nodded and leaned back in the seat. Which caused Luke to sigh and look out the window.

"We aren't doing anything illegal are we?" Mila asked with a small smirk looking at Alex who looked back at her, he thought for a couple of seconds before laughing with the boys.

"Depends on how you see it," He said which caused the other to laugh even more, yet Mila almost had an anxiety attack in the middle of the car, yet she felt her hand being squeezed gently. Her eyes went to Luke who smiled softly at her.

"trust us.... we're making history" He said with a soft smile, she looked at him and nodded, after a long drive, the car stopped, Mila didn't recognize that part of town, as they all went out of the car, that was when she saw the big building, the light still shining bright in bright daylight.

"The Orpheum?" She asked in a low voice, Reggie took a deep breath as he stood beside her with a bright smile. "What we are doing is crazy, but we had a long band talk and we said to ourselves if we need people to listen to our music, then we have to play here"

"That is crazy, how are you going to get a gig here?" Mila asked as she looked at the boys, Alex lifted an eyebrow. "What don't you think we can?" He asked as he looked into her eyes, Mila bit her lip as she smiled.

"Of course I think you guys can....." She said, Bobby, crossed his arms. "You hesitated," Mila took a deep breath. "Okay... what can I do to help"

It only took the five of them a small hour to set everything up, Mila having gotten a clipboard and a pen. Luke cleared his throat as he looked at the other boys.

"You ready?" He asked, which they nodded to, Alex had his drum box underneath as he began playing, Mila nodded to the rhythm.

The people in the streets began stopping up and listening to the song, which Mila had never heard before as Reggie and Luke began singing.

"We have never had it better than the good days
Whistling through the city with an open sunroof
Got so tired of school, felt 'it made me mentally weak
I knew I had another way to the better days, yeah
Press the button, the seat moves forward
Think that people like us could go so far"

Some people began dancing along to the chill beat as Luke sang into the microphone, he looked at Mila as he sang, yet she was going around, asking people to sign for the boy's to get enough signatures to lang a gig at the Orpheum.

"You loved 'me where we started'
Take my hand, I hold my hand on the wheel
I do it for the boys
Not like them because they do it for dollars
A place to live, only a few million
We empty the tanks with shots and cartridges
Remember the time when no one understood me
These days, long nights, the accelerator pushes to the bottom
There 'so much we want to see so we stay awake'
Since we were little, we have been used to not 'taking care'
So tell the Orpheum we need more bass"

The song ended and the people cheered as Mila looked at the boys, she had gotten a lot of signatures and with every song they played, she made more. A couple of hours into one of the songs, the sound of sirens was heard, which caused all the boys' eyes to widen.

"Go, Go, Go!" Alex laughed as he took the box, running back to the car with adrenaline, Luke took Mila's hand as everyone placed themselves in the car, as soon as the police car came, they hid their instruments as Reggie panicked as he tried to drive without the police noticing.

Luckily the police didn't, as they drove Mila home the car was filled with laughter and smiles. "I can't believe we just did that," Mila said as her heart was still beating rapidly from the adrenaline.

"And that my friends is how we get a gig," Alex says as he showed the clipboard, having enough signatures for them to get an official gig at the Orpheum.