The brown-haired one is Ezme Ortiz, one of the uncommon 17 year olds in the 11th grade that actually turns 18 in a month. We can usually spot her wearing some kind of denim vest and khaki Dickies pants, sporting some sort of 80's to mid 2000's band t-shirt. Her best friend Moe, the blonde, is about the same way, except she usually wears a tie and not so much with the khakis. The two always dawn their skateboards and they can be seen riding all around town, occassionally with Luna, the one with the blue hair. That's Ezme's long-time girlfriend. She doesn't ride a skateboard, but she roller blades; also wears alot more black than the average person. The three are in a band together called "path0gen," they're considered local celebrities by the people who like them, infamous by the ones who dont. Despite their sort-of-popularity, their group is pretty secluded. They're little "clique" consists of Ezme, Moe, Luna, Jason, Cody and a guy named Kevin who goes to another school.
A pink and yellow haired girl walked up to the group carrying a bag full of baked things, wearing an outfit typical of a pop-punk loving MyXone scene girl, covered in beads and accessories to match her fluffed up hairstyle, complete with a bow on the side. When she approached with a wide smile on her face, Luna's face immediately went dull as Moe's went skeptical with a twist of the brows, Ezme told them to calm down.
"I come with treats!" Miranda exclaimed, skipping up to them. We got to bake today in Home Economics class and I made enough chocolate chip cookies for everyone." she grinned, holding out the bag.
"That's rad, thanks for thinking of us," Ezme returned the smile before taking a cookie from the bag.
Miranda shifted the direction towards Luna, who was sitting extremely close to Ezme. "Want one, Luna?" Luna scooted a bit away from Ezme and rolled her eyes, Ezme gave her a look of dissapointment. "what did I do?"
"I'll take one, Miranda." Moe said with a raised hand, shaking her head at Luna. Miranda inched over to Moe with the smile re-widened on her face. "I appreciate all offerings of baked goods, especially in the form of chocolate chip cookies." she took one out of the bag and took a bite. "Good job, by the way. I burnt mine when we made them in class yesterday."
"Thank you! But I've gotta ask, how did you burn them? Cookies are easy!"
"I got caught up in a paper-ball war with some turd in class, and presto! I forgot about them. I also had the broken oven so they wouldve burned anyway."
"Maybe you'll do better at home." Miranda took one out for herself and sat next to Moe. "The guy with the broken oven today kinda burnt his too, and he got the recipe wrong so his cookies just looked like big black pancakes," she laughed, then turned around to the guys sitting behind her. "There's enough for you guys too, ya know!"
Jason and Cody looked at eachother, shrugged and scooted up to them. "Thanks," said Jason before taking two and handing one to Cody. "Damn girl, you're gonna make one hell of a housewife one day."
"Would you like some milk with your misogyny?" Luna said to him, rolling her eyes.
"Actually, I do want to be a housewife one day..." Miranda said, almost guiltily, "but I want to be a baker too, I want to work at the cupcake shop in Uptown when I'm older." Luna whatevered and crossed her arms.
"Well I think you've got both jobs covered." said Cody. "Besides, I want to be a house husband one day, so I know how you feel!" they laughed.
"You know what would make these cookies even more special?!" Jason exclaimed.
"You're gonna say marajuana aren't you? He's going to say marajuana isn't he!" Miranda looked at them all frantically.
"...Probably." Ezme said. They looked at Jason, who was nodding in agreement with two thumbs up. Miranda covered her face with her hands and they all laughed.
"It's okay, it's probably super advanced and whatever." Jason rebutted before taking his last bite.
"It is not!" Moe yelled to him. "Don't let him discourage you, make all the marajuana cookies your little pink and yellow heart desires, Miranda."
"I wouldn't even know where to get any..."
"You're talking to a group of skaters, you know that right?" Cody said confused. "My brother's a dealer, ya know, and he's always looking for business, great rates!"
"Oh God..."
"Leave her alone guys, she's not ready for that." Ezme said with a laugh. "We've only got a few more minutes for lunch, we've gotta talk band stuff before tonights practice so we don't waste any time."
"Do you want me to go? I know I'm not part of the band anymore..." Miranda said solemnly.
"It's cool, you might be able to help." She replied, Miranda sat back down. "We're gonna start promoting for our show April 1st with Spotless Mind and Rootbeer Bongs. We've got less than a month now." she swung her bag around and took out a big stack of paper. "The good news, the flyers I designed are getting printed! I've got twenty with me now that I printed from the art rooms photo printer. So we can all pass out three." She passed them out. "Miranda, can you put up 4 for me? You hang out in different places than we do around town, so it would help a lot if you could . Maybe bring in some new people."
 |
| the flyer for their concert. |
"Will do!" Miranda became giddy with excitement as Ezme passed her the small stack. "I'm running errands with my dad after school, so I can put them up in the places we go."
"Sweet deal." Ezme grinned. "Jaq's gonna be printing 100 more and delivering them to me in a couple of days. I'm going to split 50 among us, so you can go crazy with the passing out. Any parties you go to this weekend, you know what to do. The other 50 I'm splitting between me and Moe to pass out at the hot dog stand when we work this weekend. sound like a plan?"
The group nodded in agreement. "Don't forget to promote on MyXone! The poster is also uploaded there, so blog it, post it, talk about it." Moe added in. "We're also going to livestream our practice on XoneTV tonight, so we need to go over songs now."
"Right." Ezme agreed. "Okay, our set is 6 songs long, so we need to choose what we're playing on the show. Tonight we can test whatever line up we decide. I'm thinking three originals for the fans, then 3 covers for the people who don't know our songs. So we've got to play Pathogen, no question there, Forget, and maybe pump it up with Hit The City. For covers, I know I want to do No One Like You by the Scorpions and definately Flesh Into Gear by CKY. I've been dying for that last one. Any suggestions for a third?"
"Flesh Into Gear is going to be tight!" Cody exclaimed. "I already know it on drums, too."
"I know both songs on guitar," Jason put in. "Those are set, it's gonna be gnarly."
"Hell yeah!" Moe pumped up her fists. "This is gonna be tight. For a third song, we still need something people know. So, I'm sorry to say, no Crashdiet, no hardcore, nothing from Finland, and nothing in a different language."
"Dammit," Luna snapped. "I wanted to re-do our cover of La Camisa Negra. It went over really well at our last show."
"Actually, it did do pretty good. We got a feature in the Latin RMX blog from that song alone, and they interviewed you and Ezme that night and everything." Cody reminded them. "Not a bad idea..."
"I'll keep it in mind as a possibility." Ezme took out her phone and typed it down. "Tonight on MyXone, examine the posts made about the show and see if we can estimate our Latin audience for the show. If we feel there's enough people, La Camisa Negra is a go. Any English alternatives?"
"Skid Row, Face Against My Soul. You can't say no to the Row." Jason inserted.
"Done."
"Wait!" Moe yelled, "Toxicity!"
"You guys make this hard." Ezme typed it into her phone and put it away. "Class is about to start, so I'll see you guys later." Fists were bumped all around and then Ezme scurried off back into the school, Miranda followed shortly after, while the boys walked to their cars since apparently the school day was too long for them.
After their next class, Moe caught up with Luna on her way to the next class. They walked together through the school and had a quick talk, or what was meant to be a quick talk, that ended up being more of a confrontation.
"Hey," Moe nudged her. "What's your deal? You're like oozing attitude today."
"I don't like that Miranda chick. At all." Luna said with disgust and a roll of the eyes. "Just being around her pisses me off. I hate how Ezme's so nice to her all of the freaking time, Despite what she did."
"To be fair, you've done worse." Luna looked away with an angry expression. "But, we all agreed that the whole 'I'm not actually a drummer' deal is in the past now. I don't like her too much either, but if she's gonna be cool, there's no reason for us not to be."
"If you don't like her then there's no reason for you to be nice to her either. I'd rather be real than a fake any day."
"Oh, hold on." Moe grabbed Luna by the arm. "If you're going to call me fake for following the golden rule, you can go fuck yourself." Luna jerked her arm away and watched Moe's mouth carefully as she spoke. "You're the one who said you could put this shit behind you, and here you are acting like it's still happening. If you enjoy unnecessary drama, feel free to keep acting like you are now. But I don't, and God knows Ezme sure doesn't. The kid just turned 15, dude, she's a kid."
"I don't care if she's a kid, I don't like my girlfriend treating people nicely that I don't like."
Moe stepped in front of her. "That's petty as fuck, Luna. You have hurt my best freind in probably every way possible, and you're going nuts because some kid tried to fit in?"
"Ezme is mine, point blank period. Miranda can't have her, neither can anyone else. She is mine."
"No one's trying to take your girlfreind. Did you hear anything I said?"
"Did you here anything I said, Morgan?"
"Say my name again." She stepped closer to her and looked her in the eyes. "I dare you." Luna and Moe exchanged glares for a few seconds, their faces tightened with frustration. "Everyone else might be afraid to confront you, but I'm not. If you don't calm your shit, and you fuck up the show, you're going to be out of both the band and probably your relationship. Everyone's in a good place except you and quite frankly, we don't need anything dragging us down. So, straighten up, or get bent. Got it?"
"Whatever." Luna rolled her eyes and readjusted her bag on her shoulder.
"Yeah," Moe nodded. "Whatever." She shook her head and walked into the school, turning the corner into the English room.
Luna went the opposite way to the art room instead of her class. Miranda an Ezme were both taking the class. She knew that part of the reason that Miranda signed up was to still have a class with her. She stood next to the door and quietly watched them. They were drawing each other, exchanging laughter that was muted by the walls; you could sense Luna's anxiety just by the short draws of breath, wondering what they were talking about, laughing about. Her eyebrows turned upwards as she pressed her lips together, staring at them through the small window as if it was the biggest obstactle she could ever overcome, although she really could've just turned the knob and opened it. As the teacher walked in the direction of the door, she scurried off in the opposite direction, practically panting and sat on the bench in the hallway. Instead of going to class, she hid in the bathroom for the whole bell, taking her time to come out when it rang.
As Ezme and Miranda left class with their still opened sketchbooks in hand, they had a little small talk about the class and how they felt about their drawings.
"That looks just like me...wow!" Ezme and Miranda swapped sketchbooks for further examination, Miranda continued to awe over her freind's drawing. "I remember you being amazing, but this is just...amazing!"
"I feel like I've gotten a lot better over the year. I mean, this time last year I probably couldn't have even drawn a daisy while looking at it. Loads of practice later, and here I am! Straight up BAMF!"
"Seriously awesome, Ezme." she smiled. "I don't know how I feel about mine though, I don't have your skills...it almost looks like anime, how I drew you."
"Well, I like anime, if it makes you feel any better," Ezme smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "If you practice, you'll get better, I promise."
"I believe you. I hope i'm as good as you are when I'm seventeen."
"I hope you'll be even better." They exchanged smiles as they approached Ezme's locker. Just as she opened it, Luna finally left the bathroom. Miranda waved to her, but it was ignored. She told Ezme she was there and she happily turned around to also greet her, but was met with a glare and a swift walk-past.
"Ezme...does Luna hate me or something?" she dropped her notebook to her side and rubbed her right arm with the left as she watched Luna walk down the hall. "She's so mean to me and I don't know why..."
"Probably," she said bluntly. "Luna doesn't talk to anyone about anything until she's bottled it up so much that she's ready to burst, so I wont know what her deal is until she explodes on me about it."
"Is it about the band thing? I still feel bad about it and I've apologized a million times, I can even show you the MyXone messages...I know I was so mean to everyone that last day I was in the band and I know I was wrong to trick everyone, I honestly do really regret what I did, but sometimes I go over it again and again and again in my head and I re-apologize, and then she's like 'you already apologized, and I already forgave you' and she'll say we're cool, and then she's really mean to me every time I'm around...I just don't understand what I'm doing now thats making her so mad..."
"You're existing. Luna's biggest flaw is her jealousy and to be honest, I don't really understand it."
"I don't know why she'd ever be jealous of me, I'm not even your best friend and I'm younger than everyone...I don't even think I fit in with your group of friends or if they even like me at all."
"Luna's like this every time I become freinds with a girl. You should've seen the havoc I went through when me and Moe became freinds, she got so jealous that we almost broke up. Moe still has to reassure her even now that I don't like like her..."
"She should just know that you don't...I don't like girls that way, but you can always tell. The way you look at Luna is totally different than the way you look at Moe. 'Cause when Moe walks up, you get happy but its like 'that's my dude' happy. When Luna walks up to you, you look like you're daydreaming."
Ezme smiled and looked down into her bag. "Because that's how it felt, like a dream." Her smile turned into a solemn smile. "but now...I just feel like, I don't know, nevermind..."
Miranda looked at her curiously. "You know you can tell me, I'm here for you, that's what friends do."
"I know, but...it's just, the way she acts causes me unnecessary stress, and telling you all about that would cause you unnecessary stress. You know what I mean? Nobody needs that shit."
"Yeah, I get it. But if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'd be happy to be your last resort!"
"Thanks kid." Ezme smiled and gave her a hug. "I'll be fine though, I promise. There's nothing a little coffee can't cure."
"I don't know how you drink that stuff, ew!" she looked down at her phone and saw a text from her dad. "My ride's waiting, gotta pass out those flyers! I'll see you tomorrow."
"Alright. Message me later!" they waved to eachother as Ezme gathered the rest of her things and exited the building. Moe was already waiting outside, skate board in hand. They promptly skated to Ezme's house, where they picked up their mics , Ezme's laptop and bass as well as some good ol' P B & J and loaded it into her van.
The girls made a few stops around town, putting up their flyers around local restaurants and talking to passerbys, saying their hello's to their aquaintences on the streets. After their errand run, they drove over to Moe's house for a necessary pit stop. They stayed in her room for a couple of hours to do homework and eat before practice.
"Code Yellow." Moe sighed and closed her History book.
"Ditto," Ezme replied and they switched books.
Moe examined Ezme's homework and laughed. "This is English...you're good at English. Right?"
"Yeah, I just didn't read the story. I'm assuming you're Code Yellowing me for lack of reading too."
"Right you are." They switched back books and decided to just do it after practice. "So, I wanted to talk you about something..."
"Code Blue, I assume."
Moe nodded. "I know you love her, but she's starting to drag everyone down."
"I know, it's pissing me off on an ungodly level...but you guys only get the calm bitchyness, i get the whole shabang when no ones watching."
"I know, and I really hate that...so, this is kind of a warning, but I confronted her today about it after she was acting all turdy to Miranda today at school."
"Understandable. Honestly if you hadn't, I would have later and it would get ugly. I'm kind of surprised that you actually defended Miranda."
"I was trying to ask her what's wrong as a freind, at first, but she got all snappy at me and called me fake for being nice. I think everyone knows by now that i'm not Miranda's biggest fan, but i'm for fairness all the way. That's one of the things me and you have always agreed with, the importance of the golden rule. Treat others how you want to be treated. Miranda's nice to me, so i'm nice to her, you'd think that's an easy concept to understand."
"Not in Luna's mind...In her head, Miranda's trying to 'steal' me and trying to 'be her.' But honestly, I think they were already somewhat alike. Personality-wise anyway. But Miranda's told me before that she's always thought Luna was cool, like someone she wished she was like, but she did admit before that she dyed her hair and everything to get my attention to think she was cool."
"At least Miranda admits it! She wants attention, and she admits it. And that's where they really differ. Luna does back-stabby bullshit to get your attention, then cries when she gets caught or blows up."
"I can't stand that part of Luna. She didn't used to be like that, I don't know what happened."
"I don't want to blame myself, but your first real big break up was after me and you became freinds because she got so jealous for no reason. I have to reassure her that we don't like eachother so much that sometimes I feel like she's my girlfriend."
"It's not your fault, it was when I switched schools that Luna started getting shady. But that's pretty much what I told Miranda. We don't have any in-depth talks from my end, but she did ask me today if Luna hated her and what-not and the whole sitch. I told her that Luna causes me unnecessary stress, and me venting about it to her would cause her that same thing which is why i didn't."
"Oh, but you're fine with giving me unnecessary stress?" Moe joked with her.
"Hey, you chose this life." she laughed. "Do you even remember how long it took me to start talking to you about more than nachos and skateboarding?"
"I do, but it's not problem for me. You help me with shit, I help you with shit." Moe pulled up the leg of her pants to reveal a half of a yin-yang tattooed on her ankle. "That's why we got these, yo. We fit!"
Ezme lifted her pants leg and looked at her half and smiled. "Yeah, we're like Beavis and Butthead with emotions of Daria and Jane."
"Damn skippy!" Moe crossed her legs indian style and faced her. "But like, Miranda's just a kid, ya know? That's why I try to cut her some slack. She doesn't really know who she is yet and she's trying to fit in."
"Luna's acting like she's never done the same thing."
"Everyone's tried to fit in before, some just harder than others." Moe looked up at the clock. "We've got half an hour before practice, time to suit up!"
"Alright, let's go." The picked up their bags, and Moe got her guitar and loaded into the van. "Can you call for a pizza while we drive?"
"Sure. In fact, I know a guy who knows a guy so we could probably get a free one. He's a fan!"
"Sweet!" Ezme turned on the van and they began their drive to the practice space, which happened to be Jason's garage, soundproofed with insulation and drink carriers. From the muted sounds from outside and the fuzzy livestream show, it seems to have been going quite well.
