Dedicated to 830freckles for making a beautiful visualization of my ultimate dream. :)

You will now meet Karl and Peter! The mischief duooooooo! *evil laugh*

(Their pictures are in the 3rd chappie)

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Maxine's mouth literally fell open. Todd was surprised, too. The shock was clear on his face. But unlike Maxine, he managed to recover his composure fast enough.

What now? Did she still want to join the band, knowing that Todd was in it, too? Then, she decided that keeping herself from doing what she loved just because she couldn't stand him was unreasonable. She just had to endure it.

“Whoa,” breathed out Brian, glancing warily at Todd. And then, his eyes went back to Maxine. “You're Maxine, right?”

“Yes,” she nodded.

“Okay, let's see what you got,” shrugged Brian in a go-ahead-and-impress-me voice.

Maxine looked around and saw a piano at the corner of the room. She suddenly had an idea. She quickly turned to Brian.

“Can I play the piano?” she asked.

Brian blinked, but nodded all the same.

Maxine walked over to the piano and sat on the chair. She put her fingers on the piano, feeling it. She didn't realize that her eyes were close until she opened them. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to sing Gavin DeGraw's Chariot.

“Staring at a maple leaf, leaning on a mother tree I . . .”

The people around her ceased to exist as she felt the melody come out of her. The music relaxes her muscles, and her mind's uneasiness began to wash away with every drum of her fingers.

Nobody made a noise apart from her singing. They were obviously impressed by her soulful voice. She was on the beat, and they could tell she was connecting to the music.

When Maxine finished, she slowly looked at the others. Their expressions were unreadable. It would make her feel better if they said something – anything – but they didn't. She stood up, her eyes narrowing.

Brian clapped, followed by the others – except for Todd. They were broadly grinning at Maxine.

“There's no point in beating behind the bush,” sighed Brian. “We've decided to pick you for the spot.”

Todd reacted almost immediately. He got up and faced Brian.

“Who's 'we'?” he demanded in a low voice.

“Dude, she's the only girl who's good enough for the spot,” Brian argued, with a raised eyebrow. “And you know that.”

Everyone in the studio waited for Todd's decision. Maxine concluded that he was the leader of the band from the look the others were giving him.

“Fine,” replied Todd, after a moment's silence.

Maxine could hear the others sigh in relief. All of a sudden, she caught Todd looking at her. Not wanting to back down, she stared back. Then, he moved closer to her. With a threatening voice, he told her, “You don't know what you're getting into.”

“No, apparently not,” said Maxine, mocking fear. “Why don't you tell me?”

Todd ignored her statement. Instead, he continued to stare coldly at her. They were on an eye to eye contact, both have flaming eyes. The only thing missing was that they weren't knocking the lights out of each other.

Kim and Brian exchanged looks. In amusement, they laughed as they walked toward Todd and Maxine – who looked as though they were about to kill each other.

“Guys, you're staring at each other for a few minutes now that I'm starting to think you're both ready to make out or something,” commented Brian, chuckling.

“What?” demanded Todd incredulously.

“Excuse me?” said Maxine in protest.

Brian was taken aback by Todd and Maxine's sudden outburst.

“Well, you are,” he muttered.

“Relax, people,” said Kim, both of her hands in level with her shoulders defensively. “Brian has a point. Besides, he's only joking. Anyway, that aside.” She paused to gesture her hands to her right. Then, she looked at Maxine excitedly. “You are now an official member of The Sky Deviants!”

“Kim, that's my line!” complained Brian, grinning. His eyes wandered to Maxine and he announced, “I'm Brian, as you well know. I'm the lead guitarist and also the Student Body President of Sky.”

“Student Body President?” repeated Maxine, fearing she might have heard wrong.

“Yup.”

She was awestruck. Student Body President while in a school band? Wow. You can mix pleasure and responsibility in this school, she thought. Honestly, though, I shouldn't even be surprised anymore.

“I'm Peter Sullivan,” said by the guy whose hair color was dark brown mixed with blonde highlights. “The bass guitarist,” he added, smiling seductively at Maxine.

He was one of the guys she saw earlier. Up close, he was really . . . charming.

“Peter, stop it,” Brian scolded him, frowning disapprovingly. “She's one of us now – and she's new.” He smiled sheepishly at Maxine. “He's a ladies’ man,” he explained after seeing Maxine's confused expression.

“Oh,” murmured Maxine in understanding. Now she got why he got that strong charming aura around him. Besides, his seductive smile sort of gave it away.

“I am not!” protested Peter indignantly. Then, he grinned, “Well, maybe I am.”

“I'm Karl Andrews,” declared cheerfully by the guy with the boyish teen face. His hair was color red, and was spiky-styled with his bangs combed to the left side. He had an edgy rocker look, but then his face gave it an adorable aspect. “I play the rhythm guitar. I'm also the best friend of Peter.”

Maxine smiled at him. He was just so cute that he reminded her of Alex.

“And of course, I always hang out with them,” beamed Kim. “That means, I get to hang out with you a lot from now on.”

They all seemed very friendly and welcoming. She might even have fully forgotten Todd's presence if Brian, Peter, Karl, and Kim didn't turn to Todd. They appeared to be waiting for him to introduce himself like the rest of them did. But he just looked back at them. When he didn't say anything, it turned slightly awkward in the room.

“Um, well,” began Brian uneasily, breaking the silence that engulfed them for a moment. “You know Todd Samuels already, right?”

Maxine merely nodded, turning her eyes to Brian.

“He's the drummer.”

“Ah,” was all she could say.

They others exchanged amused looks.

“This is the part where it's your turn to introduce yourself,” said Karl, grinning.

“Oh, right,” chuckled Maxine sheepishly. “I'm Maxine Ferguson. I just transferred from John the Great All Girls School in New Jersey.”

“You seem to be forgetting a rather important fact,” said Brian, tilting his head.

Maxine gave him a confused look.

“You are now the Sky Deviants' vocalist.”

Maxine was happy about it all – except for Todd who was still being obnoxious. Eventually, Todd finally accepted her as his band-mate. But more than that . . .

Well, not so much.

Brian, Kim, Peter, and Karl were all happy to have Maxine around. During the times they were hanging out, they had bombarded her with questions like,

“Have you ever dated a guy before?” asked Brian.

When Maxine answered “No”, they all couldn't believe it. Studying at an All Girls School had nothing to do with her not having a boyfriend. In fact, she knew quite a lot of boys from other schools in New Jersey. It was just that she was never interested.

Peter, on the other hand, added comments to his questions that Maxine found amusing. “What does it feel like, having no boys around?” he asked curiously. “Man, if I ever get transferred to an All Boys School, I'll probably die. How can a male teen with raging hormones stand a school without girls? Seriously!”

While Karl had his mind on something far away. He asked Maxine the most different question. “Why is the school you came from named 'John the Great', if it's an All Girls School?” he inquired, frowning innocently. “Shouldn't it be named after a girl? Like, 'Jane the Great', or something?”

They all laughed at him, even Todd chuckled. Maxine wasn't sure herself. But she answered based on what she knew, “He was the husband of the founder of the school – according to rumors. But I haven't really paid attention.”

Most of the time, when they had band practice or they were just hanging out together, Todd and Maxine couldn’t stop arguing – whether simple or big things. It was as if they were getting used to disagreeing with each other. And the day wouldn't be complete if they didn't fight. Fortunately, it never went below the belt.

Maxine was happy that she would get closer with the gang whenever there were parties that they had to attend. She found out that every week, there was most likely a party somewhere in Manhattan. Their families were always invited. So she didn’t have to worry about having no one to talk to when at a party, since she knew that Kim and the others would be there.

Except for the party at Connecticut.

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