Every muscle in my body tenses as we reach the stairs, the nightmare I’d had before causing me to tighten my grip on Anon’s hand. He gently squeezes back with a comforting smile.

“It’s okay, Fang. I’m here and nobody is going to give you shit. Pretty sure that the news of what happened to you made the rounds…no one will pick on someone who’s just gone through hell.”

I sigh deeply as I shakily nod. “Still scary. That nightmare really fucked me up.” I pull another cigarette from my pack before lighting it up and sucking in a quarter of it, coughing as I push my lung a little too hard. He looks concerned but I wave it off. “Sorry, just really needed another one. I’m still not sure I’m making the right choice coming back…but what else can I do?”

He turns me around and hugs me tight. “It’s all you can do. Move forward, slowly put the pieces back together, and build a life for yourself—no matter what it takes.”

I nuzzle my cheek against his, softly smiling whispering. “A life…for both of us.”

He leans back a bit with a quizzical look. “What was that?”

I snicker before shaking my head. “Nothing, Anon. Let’s just get up there before my nerves turn to shit.”

He gives me one last reassuring squeeze as we turn to face the stairs. I quickly finish off the cigarette and stomp it into the curb. The dread tries to make me run as I gaze out across all the students loitering about. They all seem too absorbed in their own worlds to even care about me as Anon and I make our way up the stairs slowly. Every step I take is harder than the last and I keep looking out of the corner of my eye, terrified of anyone giving me their judgmental looks. Anon keeps me close, not even complaining as my claws nearly dig into the skin of his palm as he guides me up.

We make it to the final step and he pushes open the double doors to the sanctuary of the halls. I let out a deep sigh of relief as I mentally recover. No one bothered me, no one even looked in my direction. I honestly don’t know if that’s better or worse…do they even care? I suppose not…why would a bunch of highschoolers care that someone they made fun of nearly killed themselves? I’d just be another footnote in their lives, the crazy ptero girl with the terrible band.

The war going on in my mind must be written all over my face as Anon tilts my snout up to him, brushing away the tears from the corners of my eyes. “Hey…see? No one bothered you. Just a month of smooth sailing and then school’s over and we are out of here. Then we do whatever the hell we want and figure out the rest of our lives, okay?”

A sorrowful sigh passes my lips as I nod. “Okay, I can do that…at least I hope.” I look back outside at the students still milling about on the stairs. “Not a single one even looked at me, Anon. Do I matter so little to everyone that almost dying didn’t even faze them?” I choke back a sob threatening to pour from me as I turn back to him.

Without a second of hesitation, he pulls me in close and embraces me, his hands rubbing my back. “Of course you matter, Fang. They are just a bunch of fucking highschoolers. They probably all lost their shit for a week and then some dumb crap on the internet caught their attention right after that. Attention span of gnats, you know this. No one even talks about what happened to me and everyone saw it.”

“You’re right.” I sigh with a shrug. “Guess it’s better than them looking at me like I’m a loser. Let’s get to science though, don’t want to be late.

He nods with a smile. “Of course. Let’s take it easy though. You’ve been through a lot, so  just try to settle back into things and enjoy a little normalcy, okay?”

We go through the door to science class and take our seats. It feels so weird to be back here after everything, even stranger since they held everyone back for so long. Not that I mind it too much. The regular feeling of class is so much better than what I dealt with just a little while ago.

I kiss Anon on the cheek and he blushes as he sits down beside me. “Weird to be sitting in this chair after so long,” he says as he adjusts himself, getting used to the crappy chair.

“No kidding. But to be honest…I’m just happy to have something normal again. Not that school is any fun but fuck me, the hospital was so much worse.”

He pulls out his science textbook and slaps it on the table. “I’d take anything over that place ever again.”

I give him a quick nod as Fernsworth shows up. He mumbles about nothing in particular that makes any damn sense to me before he drops worksheets on everyone’s tables and tells us to find a partner. Not that we need to…I don’t want to be partnered with anyone but Anon.

He grabs the worksheet and sets it out in front of us. “This’ll be no problem. Get this hammered out so we can get on with our day and get to the good part, when Spears agrees to let your band play.” I smile at him before looking at the assignment.

I take a look at the page. Not a fucking bit of it makes sense to me and I give Anon the biggest doe eyes I can. He laughs as he takes the page back. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll work through it together. It’s the least I can do since you basically do my music homework for me every fucking day as it is.”

“Thank yooou.” I smile and we get to work, hammering out the problems. I try my best to absorb the information as he works through it with me. I’ve missed this more than anything, just spending time with him at school. Really wish more of my classes were with him, but it’s not like we’ll be here much longer. Just four weeks left to go until we graduate, then I have to figure out what the hell I’m going to do with the rest of my life.

The bell rings and we hop out of our seats after turning in the assignment, though Anon is far more eager than I am to go to the next class. He gives me a hug as he rests his head on my shoulder. “Everything is going to be fine. I’ll catch you at the start of lunch before I head to the office, okay?”

I nod to him as we break the hug and go our separate ways. It’s going to be fucking rough going to English without him, but we only share two classes; not like he can just sit around with me everywhere, he’s got his own shit to do. I awkwardly stand in the hallway before heading off.

I catch Trish waving to me from the corner, and a small touch of joy fills me at seeing a friendly face as I slide up beside her.

“Hey Trish! It’s been a while.”

She nods with a knowing frown. “Yeah, it has been. It’s good to see you back though, Fang. How have you been?”

I bury my face in my palms as I speak. “To be honest, I still feel like shit. I didn’t even want to come in today, but I’ve already been out two weeks and I don’t want to fucking fail. I’d rather be at home in my bed—another movie night with Anon woulda been nice.”

She huffs in thinly veiled frustration at the mention of his name. “That skinnie is still sticking around, huh? I guess I have to give him a little credit. He did help you, after all.”

“Help me?” I scoff. “He did more than help Trish and you know it. I wouldn’t be fucking breathing right now if not for him.”

“Still feel like he caused it to happen in the first place,” she mumbles quietly to herself.

“What was that?” I can’t make out whatever the hell she just said but it didn’t sound nice.

She waves me off. “It’s nothing. Anyway, I’m just glad to see you are okay, Fang. Now we can get back to building up VVURM DRAMA and figuring out our next big show. Prom was a fucking bust but there is always next time. Maybe with less disasters to fuck us up.”

“Yeah, no kidding. On that note though, you might like Anon a little more.”

“I doubt that completely.”

“You shouldn’t. He’s talking to Spears at lunch about us playing at graduation. We’d only have time for one song, but I know we can nail it. No fucking broken string to ruin our plans, and I’ll have spares this time.”

“Feh. Don’t need your guitar anyway. We know the double bass works, we just need to pick the right song.” She grunts as she stares down at her phone.

“Trish…” I glare at her. “They fucking laughed us off the stage in two seconds…again. There is no way two basses will work and you know it.”

“Fine, fine. We’ll do it your way. Reed is going to meet up with us at lunch in the auditorium as usual. We can talk about the future of VVURM DRAMA there and what we can do to salvage everything. We still have a chance, right?”

“Right!” I smile at her. She’s still a pain in my ass but her confidence is refreshing, though I still have one question I need to ask. “Trish?” She looks over at me with a raised eyebrow. “Why didn’t you two visit me in the hospital? I would have thought that maybe you guys would have stopped by at least once…”

She sighs as she lowers her phone. “Well, we were going to but Reed isn’t allowed in the hospital unless he’s actually dying. Last time he went there, he tried to light up in the middle of the fucking waiting room. So he’s technically banned…as banned as one can be from a hospital. I didn’t want to go without him and I figured you’d be out soon so…” She shrugs. “Just felt it was better to wait.”

“Oh…okay. Well, I guess that makes sense. Still, it’s good to see you again, Trish.”

She nods to me with a smirk. We spend a few minutes catching up. She talks about how they came back the day after prom and how much heckling she and Reed got until she told them I almost killed myself. That apparently shut the whole school up; not a single person was willing to pick on the friends of someone who nearly took their own life because of them. We say a quick goodbye and she heads to math class. Trish is in her own world as she mumbles her way down the hall; I can only imagine what she’s thinking up now.

I get to English and slide into my seat, some students giving me looks before immediately going back to their phones. The teacher doesn’t waste any time getting on with everything as he hands out a worksheet that I knock out in minutes. The rest of class goes by quickly and then it’s time for me to gather up my stuff. I don’t like being without Anon in class. I still feel so fucking uncomfortable when he’s not around. I finish putting away my pen and sling my bag on my back before stepping out into the hall.

Anon is waiting for me outside of class; guess his let out early. He quickly walks up beside me as we start heading to the principal’s office.

“So, how was class? Everything go smoothly?”

I nod as I sigh, shrugging while I look off to the side. “Yeah, nobody bothered me again. Trish talked to me in the hall before class. It felt weird, like…she was happy I was back, I think but not in the way I thought she’d be.”

“How so?”

I shrug, taking his hand in mine. “I dunno…like she was just waiting for me to hurry up and get back or something. Like I was a missing piece of her next ‘get big’ scheme. I don’t know if she was happy I came back or just happy I am there to be there for the band. It’s messing with me a little.”

He squeezes my hand gently as he walks beside me. “I’m sure she’s just shocked, is all. The last time she saw you was at prom and that definitely wasn’t a good night for any of you. Give her some time to get used to seeing you again.”

“Yeah, I guess. Still feels weird to me. Like she’s still locked in that get-rich mindset and me shooting myself was an inconvenience more than a tragedy. Really fucking hope I’m not just a meal ticket to her.”

“You’re not,” he says with an earnest shake of his head. “Might just be how she handles pain. We all deal with things differently. I mean she didn’t even bother talking to me in class so that’s back to normal I guess.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Probably nothing and I’m getting worked up over it like a dumbass.” He flicks my shoulder with a glare. “Sorry…still working through shit. Anyway, we are going to meet up at lunch and talk about what to do.”

“You’ve got another show to prepare for is what you’ve got to do.” He grins. “No way that Spears will say no to a classic redemption story, especially after I sell it to him hard on it being your big chance to put the shit all behind you.”

I smirk and rest my head on his shoulder. “Dweeb…but you are right. If he lets us and we nail the show, I can dump all this dumb shit and move on with my life. I can be someone, instead of always dreaming I am and pretending.”

“You’ll always be someone to me, Fang. No matter what happens.”

I can feel my face grow warm and a tiny grin grows on my beak. “Dweeb. You know, it’s fucking weird to be coming here when I’m not about to get detention,” I say as I stare at the name plate on the door. “Not like I ever came here for anything on purpose before.”

“Yeah, the last time we were here was after that fucking disaster of a presentation. Fucking Trish airing out my weebness to the entire fucking school. Still pissed about that.”

A somber frown grows on my beak as I stare at the floor. “And I fucking tried to make you apologize to Trish when she did it to you. I’m so sorry about that, Anon.”

“Hey.” He kisses me on the forehead. “It’s water under the bridge. You weren’t in the right headspace and I won’t be mad at you for desperately trying to put your life together.” He pats me on the shoulder. “Now go talk with your buddies while I sweet talk this hulk of a man into letting you put on a show.” He cracks his neck as he looks at the door before smirking at me.

“Knock ’em dead, dweeb. I’ll see you in music class afterward.”

He nods at me before pushing open the door and disappearing into the office. The sound of Spears’s booming voice reverberates through the hallway. Fucking hell, even at a normal volume he’s still loud as fuck. After saying a prayer for Anon’s eardrums, I make my way to the cafeteria, picking up a bacon burger with a side of seasoned fries before heading to the auditorium. Reed and Trish are already chatting each other up as I walk in, and Reed turns to me with the biggest smile on his burnout face.

“Yo! Fang! Good to see you in one piece!” He waves at me with the telltale aroma of carfe permeating him as he jumps to his feet.

I walk down the aisle before sitting down beside them, flashing a smile at Reed. “Good to be back, Reed. That hospital fucking sucked.”

“You’re telling me.” He takes a swig from his thermos and his pupils dilate. “Dudes wouldn’t even let me visit my buddy going through some shit. Fuckers.” He spaces out for a second before returning to reality. “Anyway, want a sip?” He holds it out to me as I shake my head.

“No thanks, Reed, I don’t need to end up in someone else’s clothes again. So, what were you guys talking about?”

“Well, now that you finally made it here…” Trish shoots me a look as she lays a poster down in front of her. “We can get down to business and really get our name out there.”

“Sorry I was a little late, I went with Anon to the office and he’s in there right now talking to Spears. If it goes well, we’ll be playing at graduation!”

“Sweeeeeet.” Reed smirks as he takes another sip. “Not a fuckin person will make fun of us after we nail that shit.” He stares at his hand for a while, disappearing into whatever world he goes to while Trish shakes her head.

“Sure, graduation is good but we need to think beyond that. How is the band going to do things when we get out of here? I still think two basses would make us a ton of money. We just need to practice more.”

I stare at her in shock…the fuck is she on about? “Trish, we just talked about that like two fucking hours ago. There is no way we are playing two basses. It’s the stupidest thing we could do and you know it.”

Her pencil snaps in half in her hands as she huffs. “No…we could easily do it and we could have done it if you had just stuck to the fucking plan instead of wasting your time playing guitar. That show at the prom wouldn’t have been a disaster if we had just focused on it…but then Anon had to butt his head in and here we are, trying to pick up the pieces.”

“Wasting my time?” My chest tightens as I grit my teeth, holding back my anger. “Trish, we nailed that show at Moe’s because of that. All of our songs sound better with guitar and you fucking know it!” I snap at her, failing completely to hide my rising temper.

“Or maybe…” She glares at me, her lips curling in rage. “Or maybe we could have just stuck to the plan and Anon could have fucked off and we’d be rolling in the money. It’s his fault it failed; he got you to play guitar and then your string broke and we were fucked. We would have been fine if you had confidence in my plan and in yourself instead of fucking up and wasting time on guitar and Anon!” She growls as she stands to her feet, pointing her finger in anger at me.

“W-what the fuck are you talking about, Trish? I did everything I could…we would have done fine if that string hadn’t broken, and all Anon’s done is try to help me!” Tears fill my eyes as I struggle to keep it together under her assault.

“Fat lot of good he did!” She stomps on the floor and grunts. “Gets in our lives messing with things, screwing up our band and then you almost kill yourself. Everything could have gone to shit!” She grins as she stares right through me. “But we got a chance now! You’re back and we can fix this. Just need to keep you on task and away from guns, and probably Anon.”

I shake in my seat as my burger falls off my lap and splatters on the floor. I don’t know what to say, I don’t know what to do. What the fuck even am I to her? Does she even care that I almost died?

I don’t get the chance to say another thing before I hear the most lucid shout I’ve ever heard from Reed. “What the fuck are you talking about, Trish?!” It shocks me as I quickly look over at him. He’s standing up, feathers bristling on the edge of his tail as his face twists into an enraged scowl. I’ve never seen him this way—it’s almost like all the drugs got burnt out of his system all at once.

He points a claw at Trish, who is stunned herself at his sudden outburst. “Fang almost fucking died and the only thing you can think about is how she could have done better? Or how you believe she’s been wasting time doing what she loves or hanging out with Anon?!”

“Reed, I—” Trish tries to speak but he slams his hand down the stage, shaking the whole thing and knocking over a speaker.

“Shut the fuck up, Trish! I’ve put up with a lot of crap with you. Always believing you were a good friend to me and Fang, but it’s pretty fucking clear all you’ve been after is fucking money!” He growls and I can hear his teeth almost cracking under the pressure. “Ten years you’ve known Fang. Ten fucking years! What a fucking waste!” He spits venom with every word as his eyes burn through Trish.

He takes me by the arm and pulls me over to him. “Fuck this. Fuck all of this, and fuck you, Trish! Fang doesn’t need you to pull this off and she certainly doesn’t need to be taking shit like this after she almost died! We’ll do the show without you somehow, and you can sit here and rot with your stupid fucking plans!” He glares at her one last time before putting a hand behind my back and leading me out of the room.

“Reed, wait! Where are we—?” I try to say as he pushes his way through the students in the hallway, making a path straight to the music room.

“Just…hang on for a second, Fang, I need to be as far from her as fucking possible.” He pushes open the door, almost slamming it into the wall as he takes a seat and buries his face in his hands. I take a seat beside him and put a hand on his leg. I can feel the tension in his muscles as he comes to grips with what just happened.

“I can’t fucking believe it, Fang.” He sniffles, the rage replaced with sorrow as a tear streaks down his face. “You almost die, and she still acts like it’s all about her fucking plans. I blew it off thinking she was just coping while you were gone, going through her ideas like it was gonna keep her sane, but after that? Fuck all of it.”

I’ve never seen Reed like this. Ever since we met, it was always like he was in his own world, never giving a shit about anything and just going with the flow wherever it took him. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him actually take a stand, and he did it for me. “Reed…”

His eyes meet mine, his pink irises turning a deep shade of red as his tears continue to fall.

“You didn’t have to do that. I could have done something.”

He slams a fist into his thigh with a grunt. “You shouldn’t have to! You almost died, Fang!” His gaze never loses focus on my eyes as he trembles. “You should have just been able to come back and start over. Instead, Trish fucking ruins everything. Now what are we going to do?”

“I don’t…I don’t know what we can do, Reed, without Trish we don’t really have a band anymore.” My heart sinks as reality settles in. It’s really over—without her, it’d just be me and Reed up there, no redemption for VVURM DRAMA or for me. As it crashes over me, I start to sniffle, my hands covering my eyes as the sobs begin. All I wanted was another chance and Trish has stolen it from me on the first day I come back.

I can feel Reed’s arms wrap around me, holding me tight as I sob into his shirt. He just wanted to help and did more for me in thirty seconds than Trish has done in years. But what is left for us now? Just the two of us up there can’t do anything, it’s all fucked.

“Wait…” He gently nudges me away from him and stares directly into my eyes. “What about Anon?”

I sniffle back a sob. “What about him?”

I can see the idea light up in his eyes as he smiles. “Anon! We can use him!”

I cock an eyebrow at him as I wipe a few tears away. “Use him for what? He doesn’t play any instruments, you know that.”

“I do but…” He smirks. “I also know you guys played in your room. You told me after a couple hours he could actually play somewhat decently.”

“I mean…” I shrug. “It didn’t sound awful, but how in the hell would he learn how to play bass in a fucking month?”

“He doesn’t have to know everything. We pick a song, and you teach him how to play the bass line!” His smile grows bigger as he places his hands on my shoulders. “With a teacher like you, he can totally pull it off. It’s a fucking long shot, but VVURM DRAMA doesn’t need to die just cause Trish fucked it. We can put it back together, the three of us.”

“We don’t even know if Anon would want to—”

“You think he’d say no to you?”

“Well…no he wouldn’t, but it isn’t right to force him to do it.”

He shakes his head. “We would never force him to, but I know he’ll do it. He’d do anything for you if he thought it’d help.”

“I mean yeah but, fuck. That is not going to leave a lot of time, Reed. I don’t even know what song we’d play.” Just then it hits me. That song on the roof. The one I started but never had time to finish. I could do that, write the whole thing out and teach him as we went. I’m already fucking good at the guitar. I just need to get him up to speed on the bass for just one song, that’s all it would take. I look back over to Reed. “I’ve got an idea, Reed…we can do this. I know we can.”

He smiles at me and the door opens. Anon comes in with the biggest grin on his face as he holds his arms out triumphantly. “VVURM DRAMA is playing for graduation! Only one song but that’ll be all you need!”

“Yo! And you’ll be playing bass!” Reed shouts before I can even say anything.

“Say the what the fuck now?” He stares back blankly with his mouth hanging open.

I jump out of my seat and run over, embracing him in my arms and wings, nuzzling my snout against his cheek. “Thank you so much, Anon! This show will be our chance to fix everything, and if you are up for it”—I edge away to look him in the eyes—“I’m going to teach you how to play bass and you’ll be right up there with me. If that’s okay?”

He thinks for a moment, staring back with a growing smile. “Of course I will. I mean, I don’t have any talent whatsoever and this is going to be a fucking nightmare for you to deal with, but I’m game if you are. Plus, that’ll be a whole lot more hours I get to spend with you. But what happened with Trish? Why won’t she be there?”

“Fuck Trish,” I spit out her name with venom, which surprises him. “She doesn’t matter, we can do this. This is our dream and we got Reed right there with us.”

“Yeah bros, we will nail this.” He gives a finger gun salute before standing beside us. “We’ll be the three carfeteers.” He eyes Anon. “No carfe for you though, bro. Sorry.”

“Since it would make my fucking heart explode, I think I’m good missing out on that, Reed.”

Reed chuckles as he pulls a thermos out of fucking nowhere and takes a swig. “Sounds good to me, bro. Anyhoo, gonna get going. Got my own shit to do. Catch you two laters.” He gives a wave before stumbling out of the room, returning to his own imaginary world like nothing had happened.

“This is going to suck, isn’t it?” Anon says as he rests his forehead against mine.

“Yeah…we are going to need to stock up on bandages and painkillers, but we can do this, Anon. It’s just one song and then you’ll never have to do it again. Unless you want to, of course.”

“Who knows?” He shrugs with a smile on his face. “I might actually not suck at this for once.”

“You’ll have me teaching you, dweeb. There’s no way you will. Plus, this’ll really piss Trish off to see you playing beside me. So it’s a win-win in every way.”

“You’re right.” He pulls away slightly and then gives me a kiss on the lips. “This’ll be our moment, together.”

I smile up at him, stars in my eyes as the reality settles in. This really is going to be our moment…not just mine. “Exactly. Let’s show her how wrong she is about you.”

He smiles with a nod before taking the bass from the wall of instruments and sitting beside me. “No better time than the present. Let’s get to work, Fang.”

“Right!” A glow forms in my heart as I sit beside him, pointing out the strings and how best to hold it to keep his hands from cramping up. It’s only the start. We have so much more work to do to make this happen, but with enough hard work I can turn him into a presentable bassist. Trish could have ruined everything. Now she’s just going to have to seethe from the audience as she watches the person she hates so fucking much help make my dream come true.

The rest of the school day flies by as the three of us text between classes. We plan the whole thing out as I begin to think of lyrics for the song. The final song that we will play at Volcano High, setting our star ablaze. Who knows…maybe VVURM DRAMA can be more than just a high school band? Now I get to share this with Anon, too, and Trish will never come between us again.