A chronicle of Fire

13 DAYS UNTIL THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS

“You have got to be fucking kidding me! Almost two weeks until we get this fucking battle of the bands?” Kaleb asked while staring at the poster as if it asked for her first born child.

“Relax Kaleb, it’s less than two weeks away. And we don’t even have anything to play,” Blaine said in a calm tone while he read the poster from over her shoulder.

Canderlot High Battle Of Bands
Tryouts will be on October 31st at the Canderlot Highschool Gym
The final battle of the bands will be on November 1st at the schools outdoor stage, or the schools indoor theatre should weather conditions require

“So Kaleb, any idea on what we can do? We’re not exactly the best two person band if you know what I mean,” Blaine remarked while glancing over his shoulder and looking at Sunset Shimmer and her friends who were crowding around a old dusty brown book. They seemed to be a little confused as they talked with Sunset Shimmer explaining to them something that was to faint for Blaine to hear from across the hallway. But that classy white girl with the purple hair though. She looked pretty damn hot in that t-shirt and skirt. If he stared hard enough he could just make out the purple lace bra she was wearing throu-

WHACK

“Ow what the fuck was that for?” Blaine growled while turning to Kaleb who had just backhanded him across the back of the head. The hit stung like a motherfucker and Kaleb wasn’t weak. Stronger than him in fact, but that’s because she was in basketball and was eating better a lot more than Blaine was.

“Quit staring at Rarity’s ass, we only have less than two weeks to figure out a music thingie to win this shit,” Kaleb declared before walking down the hallway. Blaine sighed and immediately began following her. It was strange in a way. Normally he and his beloved cousin wouldn’t give a damn about this type of thing. Sure they liked winning, but they couldn’t even play a single damn instrument. But he wanted it, more and more with each passing second. He wanted to show the world that he and Kaleb were better, they were the best and they deserved to be seen.

“Alright, see you at lunch kiddo,” Kaleb said while walking away. Blaine replied with a grunt and walked down a empty hallway that was dimly lit as per usual. Advanced art, his biggist gamble because he didn’t know how to paint for shit. Once he got to the room he entered and saw six large wooden tables with stools around them. They had already finished the introduction and had shot straight into the program. With her teaching them how to make realistic textures. Something he rather enjoyed because he loved art. And learning how to make it himself made him very excited in a sense. Because instead of looking at art and thinking how beautiful it was, he would look at it and think... wow I made that. And the thought of doing that gave him almost as much pride as winning that battle of the bands.

“Um excuse me dude, but could you show me how to do that?” A voice asked from his left. Glancing up Blaine looked from his left and to his right before he saw who was speaking to him. It was one of those eco kids. The big one with the green hair and strange hat.

“Show you what?” Blaine asked in a relatively calm tone. He was only asking a question so there was no need to be aggressive as he felt that he should these past few days.

“How you did that thing with the wood,” the kid asked while motioning towards his painting that was only partially down of a tree. Blaine glanced at his tree and immediately his mind began wondering about how he did do that, his hand had just stroked back and forth at certain pressures with a little paint coming off here and there. Now it was a little strange to actually be able to put it into words.

“Yeah um... you see I kind of just got the base color down and made the borders with this light brown, then I used just a little bit of darker brown to made the lines that you usually see on a tree, kind of getting where I’m coming from?” Blaine asked hoping his explanation wasn’t as bad as it was sounding in his head.

“Yeah, like this?” The boy asked while mimicking Blaine and doing something similar in his own painting with a lot less finesse. But it was a remarkable improvement compared to what he was just doing before hand. Blaine nodded his head and went back to his own painting. Making sure that he wasn’t missing anything in any of the details on his own painting when he heard the boy again.

“And thanks for showing me this, names Sandlewood by the way,” Sandlewood said while extending his hand after putting his brush down. Blaine being a left handed person didn’t even put his paintbrush down to shake the boys hand. And responded with his own which seemed to intrigue the boy a little bit.

“You’re a lefty? That’s insane! Don’t seem to find that many lefties here,” he remarked while going back to his own painting.

“Nope, it’s a rare trait if you think about it,” Blaine responded while he continued to paint his tree. But had a little feeling of foreign friendliness about him. These kids were all friendly to him and he didn’t give them any reason to be, maybe it was because back where he was from. Things were more rougher and harder in general than this place. But it was a nice change for once, and things couldn’t have been any easier. If only he knew what Was the deal was with Sunset Shimmer and why people were avoiding her like the plague. It wasn’t hard to figure out that she was the outcast here. But it wasn’t for him to judge, they all had skeletons in their closet. Even them.

Not long after they had to put their stuff away and clean up. Which Blaine was reluctant to do as he absolutely loved to paint. But once he finished he promptly made his way to the lunchroom for his usual lunch with Kaleb. Who like usual was in a competitive mood and was arguing with a girl with long silky black hair. By the time he got there he learned that her name was Octavia and that she should stick her cello up her ass and many other things that Kaleb said. By the time he got there the two girls were about ready to start trading blows which Blaine thought was a uneven fight. Octavia looked like a classy girl while Kaleb was a tall athletic girl who he knew could fight.

“Calm the fuck down you two, it’s only Wednesday and you two have disrupted the sanctity of the cafeteria.” Blaine said as he arrived, being taller than the both of them he easily overshadowed them and his deeper voice cut off any arguments. Before either could respond he grabbed Kalebs arm and yanked her towards their unofficial official seat. “Care to explain?” He asked while he sat down next to her.

“Just some shit about the battle of the bands,” Kaleb said with a simple shrug as if that would explain everything. The only problem Blaine had with that was, how much it did explain everything. Even he wanted to argue someone about it, put everything up and gloat about how easily he could beat them.

“Cool, alright I have an idea about what we can do, we both know technology, and some piano. So I think that we should do a mix of piano and electric dance music to win this damn thing,” Blaine suggested while leaning back against the wall.

“Sounds legit, so when do we do this shit?”

“Saturday, we have almost two weeks to train so we’re pretty good, after all. It’s not like we have this thing in the bag,” Blaine remarked with a mischievous smile to which he beloved cousin returned.

“Oh Mr. High Elk, I don’t think that it would be that easy of a win, not if the great and powerful TRIXIE! Has anything to say about it,” a smooth and feminine voice that Blaine assumed to be Trixie said from behind it.

“I assume that you’re going to be Trixie?” Blaine asked in a calm tone while turning towards her. She was a slender looking girl with a haughty look about her. With long smooth platinum blonde hair and a blonde girl and a pink haired girl standing next to her with their lunch trays in hand.

“Yes, Trixie will win the battle of the bands... and are these seats open?” Trixie asked while motioning towards the empty seats next to them.

Blaine opened his mouth to respond before closing it, turning to Kaleb he looked to her for guidance. Kaleb glanced at him from her lazy slouch and shrugged. The meaning was as clear as day.You decide

“Yeah these seats are open, but the rule is no talking about the battle of the bands. We can scream at each other all we want outside of the lunch table,” Blaine informed the trio that was about to sit down.

Trixie seemed to think about this and put a finger to her thin lips and thought about it for roughly ten seconds before nodding her head. “Alright, Trixie will withhold her comments about the upcoming Battle of the Bands in exchange for the seats,” Trixie said while she sat down.

“You’re talking about yourself in third person and calling yourself the Great and Powerful Trixie... that’s not a sign of impending Megalomania or anything,” Kaleb remarked with a smirk while Blaine hid his.

Once seated Trixie and her friends began talking with each other and Kaleb who seemed to know them pretty well, but it was a few minutes before any of them took notice of Blaine. And that someone was The Great and Powerful Trixie herself.

“Kaleb, who is this boy next to you? Trixie does not know who he is,” Trixie remarked while glancing at Blaine. As if she hadn’t talked to him just several minutes before.

“I haven’t the slightest idea... maybe you should ask him,” Kaleb said seemingly bemused by her question.

“Fine, the great and Powerful Trixie will ask him his name herself,” Trixie said while turning towards Blaine and taking a deep. With her dark violet-blue eyes full of pride and haughtiness she spoke in a haughty tone. “The great and powerful Trixie demands to know your name,” She demanded, to which Blaine responded with staring at her silently.

After a moment Trixie turned towards Kaleb with a look of slight confusion on her face. “He does not answer Trixie, is this boy a mute?” She asked Kaleb who gave Blaine a sly smile.

“Relax Trixie, Blaine isn’t a mute... he’s just shy,” Kaleb said which earned her a death glare from Blaine.

“Maybe you should try to ask a little nicer Trixie, perhaps he’s like a little lost puppy?” Trixie’s pink haired friend asked which resulted in Kaleb stifling a laugh. And Blaine mentally face palming.

“Good idea Fuchsia! Trixie will ask in a nicer tone!” Trixie declared before turning towards Blaine again. “The Great and Powerful Trixie respectfully requests the knowledge in which the tall boy sitting across the table’s name is called. Doing so will make communication with Trixie much more-“ Trixie began before Blaine cut her off.

“Blaine... my name is Blaine,” Blaine said while staring at her dumbfounded at how she requested his name. It was a little odd with lots of strangeness.

“So his name is Blaine, seems like a fitting name,” Trixie’s blonde friend stated.

“Yes Lavender, Trixie agrees with you,”

“So after they thought you were a mute and stuff, Trixie and the Illusions befriended you?” Marquel asked as she spotted Blaine in their final class.

“Yeah, strange girl that Trixie, but also a tough competition. Confidence like hers isn’t something that you can just fake,” Blaine remarked as he continued to think about what he and Kaleb should do about their routine during the battle of the bands. Besides a little bit of piano, they didn’t have much music talent under their belt save computers. And he doubted that either one by itself would be able to win the battle of the bands with just that. He just needed to find a happy medium.

“Alright, that’s ten, add another ten to each side,” Marquel said while pulling the bench press bar back onto the rack and moving to do as such. Which by Blaine’s count would be fifty five pounds on each side plus the bar equaling... one hundred sixty pounds!

“Um Marquel... I’m not sure that I can bench that much,” Blaine said while staring at the bar in bewilderment. Sure he could lift ten pounds under, but even then it took everything he had just to lift that much. This was on a while different level!

“Well how do you know you can’t lift it, if you’ve never tried it?” Marquel asked as she got into a position to spot him.

“Um... common sense?” Blaine replied in a sarcastic tone while he got into position. He vowed to do ten and no more, anything else and he would most likely hurt himself. And he didn’t care how much Marquel egged him on. He wouldn’t let her make him do anymore. After all, it was almost the end of the day and he and Kaleb needed to work on... whatever they were doing. Something the two of them had still yet to figure out yet.

“One, two, three,” Marquel counted off as Blaine lifted the bar. It was a lot heavier than Blaine had expected, and by the end of the third one his arms were trembling. But at the sound of Marquel’s encouraging words gave him just enough strength to lift it one more time. But it was the fifth one that his arms stopped halfway, and as much as he tried he could not lift it any more. No matter how hard he tried. At least until he heard another women’s words. Someone who’s voice gave a nice chill up his spine and his tongue to lock up. He didn’t need to look to tell it was Sunset Shimmer. Most likely dressed in a pair of black form fitting short running shorts, and a tight red tank top. Something Blaine had to stop himself from looking at to long without risking embarrassment poking up from his own basketball trunks.

“Come on Blaine, you can do this!” Sunset Shimmer began cheering somewhere out of Blaine’s vision. And all thoughts about quitting disappeared from his thoughts. Because if Sunset Shimmer was watching him workout, then he was going to show her how strong a man he really was!

“Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty! You’re done!” Marquel said while pulling the bench press bar back onto the rack.

Blaine himself hid a smile, because he just did a lot more than he should have, and his arms felt like noodles. But he did it! With a hidden grin on his face, Blaine pulled himself up and rose to his feet.

“So let me get this straight... you two are going to make a piano trance remix? Or a song for the battle of the bands... why?” Marquel asked her two younger cousins who had presented their idea to her not a minute before.

“Dubstep piano mix,” Blaine corrected as a matter of factly. The trance genra while admittedly legendary, wasn’t the type of music to win a battle of the bands. But with dubstep, their limited piano skills might just be enough to give them a fighting chance in the battle of the bands.

“You two are obsessing way to much over this...” Marquel told them to which the two younger cousins scoffed at. She didn’t understand how important this was to them. She just didn’t understand, they needed to compete, and they needed to win.

“You know what? Whatever, Kaleb, keep at it, I’m going to go for a swim and a dip in the hot tub,” Blaine replied while moving away from the keyboard and laptop that was on the kitchen table. Walking into his room, Blaine ignored the rather emptiness of it, the futon mattress was more than enough for Blaine to make by on. Moving to his closet he dug around in his mostly empty dresser. Once he found a pair of black basketball trunks he let out a small sigh and shrug. They would work, and he needed to buy a proper set of swim trunks whenever he got the chance. And his lack of job wasn’t making anything easier for him.

Promptly emptying his black backpack, he stuffed them in there along with a towel, and Kaleb’s Bluetooth speaker. His phone was full of nice calming music, not really the rock or rap that most people listened to. But classical and electric. Polar opposites and it actually reminded him of two girls he recalled as school. He knew one was Octavia, but the other one was a little bit hard to remember as he never met her yet. But he knew she wasn’t partaking in the battle of the bands after it went from a musical showcase. Which was just fine with Blaine and Kaleb. As she was a far superior DJ than they were.
Which was actually painful for him to say when he thought about it. But it was the truth and he wasn’t going to cover it up for his own pride.

“Alright, I’ll be back later,” Blaine called to his cousins as he exited the door. He heard the two of them give a reply before he closed the door. It was a nice feeling to have two people there for him, and even nicer knowing that he had freedom that he had yet to learn how to use. Briefly he wondered if he should stay out until the early hours of the morning just to see what their reactions would be before he decided against it. It wouldn’t be a good idea for his studies, after all. He came to Canderlot to graduate with a proper education.

Once outside the warm spring air hit him almost immediately. The best thing about it, it was warm without being as unbearably hot like the summer months. But personally he preferred the Autumn months more as it was still warm enough to be warm, but cold enough for hoodies. But that was always a personal opinion of Blaine.

Eventually after crossing the large parking lot, and outside pool of the apartment complex, Blaine came up to the main building with a inside pool, workout room, and last but not least... a hot tub. With a giggy feeling about him Blaine made his way to the locker room, pausing only long enough to observe a wooden door with a sign that read Sauna. After a moments debate he decided that he would be looking at it later. After the hot tub.

Inside the locker room was a single wooden bench with twelve gray metal lockers stacked in two rows. From the dusty look on them, it was obvious that not many people took advantage of the indoor hot tub. Or workout room for that matter. At the end of the small white tiled room was a single shower with a canvas door, and a door leading to a large bathroom. But those things weren’t important to him. What was important to him was the hot tub itself.

Taking a moment to change Blaine began walking towards the door before pausing when he saw himself in the mirror. Despite all his social instincts telling himself to keep going, his masculinity won over. Bringing his arms up, the sixteen year old boy began to flex.

He wasn’t that large of a guy. He stood at 6’0 1/2, with his shoulders being pretty broad for someone as skinny as himself. But he was only 170 lbs. But that was mostly lean muscle, as he flexed he saw that he had a little muscle on his chest and shoulders, his arms were very toned, but they weren’t that big. His stomach was well toned and just short of a six pack, as well as his back muscles having the same problem as his arms, they looked muscular, but weren’t that large. So the better word to describe it would be lean. The only thing he was happy about was his calves, which were hard as rocks from all the running he used to do before moving to Canderlot. Despite how lean he was, he still seemed a little to much on the slender side, but maybe that was because of his haircut. Which was now coming down and looking similar to a emo haircut.

Something he planned on changing soon, but enjoying a hottub was his priority. Walking out he turned his head at the room and was unsurprised to find it empty. He doubted the other residents really used the room except on special occasions. But it was alright, after all, he preferred to enjoy things in solitude. As he approached the square tub of paradise he discarded his towel and phone onto a nearby pool table before walking to the edge of the pool.

Dipping his feet in, Blaine let out a pleased sigh at the touch of the scolding hot water. But also a silent hiss of pain at its touch, was this what it was like to truly love something? To want it with your very essence but knowing that it’ll hurt you while you descend into its grasp? Jeeze! Calm the fuck down Blaine, it’s just a hot yup!

With a shuddering breath Blaine descended into the corner of the hot tub. Tilting his head back he let out a breath he didn’t realize that he was holding. But also bit down a breath of pain at the feeling of the scolding water enveloping his body. It had been to long since he last used a hot tub of jacuzzi. But if it was going to be pain for pleasure? Then he’d feel s thousand years of pain.

Slowly as the minutes ticked by Blaine began growing used to the heat. As his body relaxed and his breathing became easier he strangely began to wish that the hot water was.... hotter. But oh well, he could settle that with turning that little dial thingy to start it. He just had to get out of the water and turn it. Perhaps later. For now relaxing was his priority. While he sat there his thoughts once again began drifting to the battle of the bands as it had been for the last several days now. Less than two weeks now, and each day that ticked by was making things harder and harder for him to actually focus on school or other important things. But the more he thought about it, the more he wanted it. The battle of the bands will be taking place on a Sunday night. And today was Monday, so that meant Blaine and Kaleb had until the next Saturday to put together a song of sorts to win, which he doubted they would be able to pull off. But because it was the two of them, they would still try. As he drifted into his thoughts a sudden realization came about him which in turn caused him to sit up rapidly. Splashing the area around him as he thought about the days date.

It was Monday, and the 18th. There was something important about that date. He believed that there would have something to do with fruit punch. And snacks, but...... THAT THING!

Jumping up Blaine grabbed his towel and wrapped it around himself he hastily dried himself before throwing his shirt on and grabbing his backpack. He faintly recalled bringing Kaleb’s Bluetooth speaker, but forgot about it when he was memorized by the pleasing heat of the hot tub. Once he had his bag slung over his back he took off in a dead sprint back to their apartment. Rushing up the stair he burst through the front door while screaming, “Kaleb we forgot that free food thing after school today!”

“Why didn’t you remind me fag?” Kaleb shouted back while she rose from the table while Marquel groaned and face palmed. It was obvious that Blaine and Kaleb would do anything for free food. Just a bunch of freeloaders. And she wasn’t exactly wrong, the two of them were very stingy in their limited money. And would freeload every single chance they got as long as the feee stuff was at least good. Because even they, the two freeloaders of the family had standards. Even if their standards weren’t exactly high to begin with.

“Bye love you Marquel!” Blaine and Kaleb called in sync while sprinting out the door with a slam.

“Shit shit shit shit shit!” Kaleb said like a broken record while moving swiftly to her car with Blaine on her heels.

“If they ate up all the snacks, someone is going to lose a finger,” Blaine promised as he moved after her.

Thankfully for the two of them, the snacks were in fact not all gone. But that was the only thing the two of them even showed up at all for. Most of the students were in some sort of silent hate with each other. Shooting each other scowls and such, and Blaine and his cousin were no exception to the hate. As he chilled out by the snacks he found himself shooting glares at the other bands. Particularly the eco kids. Damn earth freak tree huggers. He and Kaleb had gotten into more than their fair share of arguments with them during the past few days. And nothing either of them shouted at each other was exactly clean. But he was certain if Principal Celestial had heard them, then all five of them would be sitting in detention and not sipping on the fruit punch made by anonymous. Or cookies and cakes made by a pink haired girl named Pinkie Pie who Blaine had yet to meet yet. And the apple sauce, apple pie, and apple cider from a ranch outside of town called Sweet Apple Acres wasn’t half bad either. Except the fruit punch was a little.... cringe worthy in Blaine’s opinion. There was to much grape Juice.

“Blaine! Kaleb!” Trixie’s familiar voice sounded as the silver haired girl approached with her two lackeys. Fuchsia and Lavender. At least Blaine was 90% certain that’s what their names were. He only heard it briefly during lunch and no more. But it was enough for him to wing it and bullshit his way through if needed be.

“S’sup,” Blaine replied in greeting.

“Trixie wishes you luck in the battle of the bands. For you shall need it to stand a chance against her,” Trixie said confidently with a perfect white smile.

“Wow... way to toot your own horn Trixie, but you’ll find that besting Blaine and I won’t be as easy as beating the Rain Bombs,” Kaleb replied.

“Rainbooms,” Blaine corrected.

“Tomato tomato,” Kaleb remarked just as another voice rang out in the center of the room.

“There won’t be a battle of the bands. FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC!”

Turning towards the center of the room Blaine and Kaleb watched as the Rainbooms and a new girl with black hair and purple highlights stood in the center with their hands interlocked. Directly across from them were the none other than the Dazzlings who looked as confused as Blaine felt. Turning he looked at Kaleb wondering if she knew what that whole charade was about. To which his elder cousin just shrugged and shared his same confused expression.

“Wow talk about throwing down the gauntlet. A little cocky though, claiming that there wouldn’t really be a battle of the bands, it looks like these girls have this thing all wrapped up,” Adagio said in the memorizing sarcastic tone of hers. Which caused people’s competitive side to light up like a wild fire.

“Not if the great and powerful Trixie has anything to say about it!” Trixie started directly from Blaine’s right. And then chaos erupted.

It wasn’t long before Kaleb and Blaine were arguing and trading insults with their favorite band in the whole world. Sarcasm inputted. Like per usual there was three of them while there was only two of themselves. But insults and sarcasm were the two things Blaine and Kaleb were masters at. If it came to physical confrontation. Well Blaine was confident that he could take on Sandalwood. Who was the only real threat there. The other two would be little more than punching bags for Kaleb. As they went on the angrier they seemed to get. Until a large hand clamped down surprisingly gently onto Blaine’s left shoulder.

“I’d say they had enough, wouldn’t you?” A deep voice asked. Turning his head slightly Blaine saw that the owner of the voice was a student who Blaine knew as Big Mac, it stood for something longer, but all Blaine knew was that Big Mac was easier and quicker to say. So that’s what he knew him as.

“Yeah, they had enough, Kaleb let’s bounce. We’re out,” Blaine told his older cousin who nodded and turned to exit the gym. Blaine and much to Blaine’s surprise, Big Mac following closely behind.

“Man, I’m running out of insults,” Kaleb remarked to which Blaine agreed, from his large cache of insults he found that he was running low on them thanks to this battle of the bands.

“I’ll admit, you two have a... large vocabulary,” Big Mac remarked as the three of them walked to the benches near the outdoor stage was.

“You’re very talkative today,” Kaleb remarked at how often Big Mac was talking.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac replied. Doing his usual reply.

For the next hour or so the three of them sat with their phones out. Doing their own thing until Blaine spotted Sunset Shimmer and the Rainbooms near the statue. Wondering what they were doing Blaine narrowed his eyes at them from the distance. Way to far away for him to be able to hear them, but he was interested in why they did that little charade earlier at the after party... if they could even call that a party.

“Blaine, thunder up. We got hostiles coming from the large super structure we call our school,” Kaleb said while snapped Blaine to attention. Turning he saw Trixie and the Illusions making their way towards them. But surprisingly behind them were the Dazzlings, some troll looking boys with diamond collars, Bulk Biceps, and Octavia.

“Huh... wonder why that pack is coming this way,” Blaine wondered out loud.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.

“Hey! Blaine! Kaleb! Guess where we’re going?” A high pitched voice rang out as a dash of blue sprinted towards them.

“.....where?” Kaleb asked with a sarcastic tone as Sonota stopped right in front of them. Big Mac watched the girl with mild curiosity while Blaine kept his quiet demeanor about him.

“We’re going to the woods to make a bonfire! And there’s going to be drinks as well, but not fruit punch. Aria says my fruit punch tastes awful, but what does she know about good fruit punch?” Sonota spoke at the speed of light before Aria’s deeper, but still memorizing voice rang out.

“More than you,”

“Do not!”

“Do too,”

“Enough girls, we don’t want to scare anyone else away from our little group,” Adagio spoke, her voice full of authority as the rest of the group appeared. “Besides, our guests haven’t even stated if they wanted to come along with us or not,” Adagio added while turning her bright eyes towards them as if waiting for an answer.

Kaleb turned towards Big Mac and Blaine. Watching closely at their reactions before giving a verdict. Kaleb had a car, and if memory served well, Blaine knew that Big Mac drove a big red country truck. But it was Blaine who would decide. He doubted Big Mac really did these types of things, but he seemed to have glued himself to himself and Kaleb. And Kaleb would be down to head on this little adventure. But she would only go if Blaine went.

“So, think this a good idea?” Blaine asked their new found country friend.

“Eenope,”

“Yeah me neither, lets do this,”

Four Hours Later

“Okay, I sincerely thought that they were going to head straight there, I didn’t think that the Illusions, Octavia, and the Dazzlings were going to stop by their places to change for the next couple of hours to get ready,” Blaine said in his defense when Kaleb began getting prissy about the whole thing. Like himself she wore jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie. But she looked just casual in appearance while Blaine looked like he was some sort of thug. But that was mainly in appearance. Because in reality it was probably the opposite as the two of them sat in Kaleb’s car while Big Mac drove in his truck behind them. Ahead of them was a grey four door car containing the Diamond Dogs, who were there because Adagio’s belt buckle memorized them. Ahead of that was a turquoise Viper containing the now fetching Octavia, ahead of that a silver mustang for Bulk Biceps, and ahead of that was a golden corvette containing the Dazzlings. All cars with the exception of Big Macs truck outshining Kaleb’s older black Dodge Challenger. Which had a paint job that was similar to Big Mac’s truck in terms of how worn the paint was. But Blaine knew she was getting a newer one soon by their folks back West for her eighteenth birthday. Which was a month or so away, so he’d most likely be buying this thing by the time he turned seventeen. Which was a good week or so after Kaleb turned eighteen. Something the two of them always joked about as she was barely a year older than him.

“Yeah keep saying that shit,” Kaleb grumbled.

Sighing Blaine leaned back against the passenger seat. Nice leather seats that were freezing in the winter and burning in the summer. But it was a nice look about it. If only she cared to repaint the outside, and maybe change the tires and rims. But since it was her car, he didn’t really care about how she kept the upkeep. Besides, he needed to find a job first.

As they drove the moon began peeking above the horizon while the sun sank and in turn turned the sky into a beautiful array of scarlet, violet, and gold. “So how long is this place woman!” Blaine exclaimed as they continued to drive out of town and into the nearby woods. Taking a turn Kaleb also sighed. The two of them wanted to drink, but this was going to be a problem on how to get back. And he doubted that anyone of them besides Big Mac would be going to class the next day if they were hungover. Marque would skin Kaleb and himself, but YOLO!

Ahead of them Adagio’s corvette pulled into a deserted part of the forest and finally parked.

“Finally!” Blaine and Kaleb exclaimed in sync while falling to the back of their seats as they parked. Opening his door Blaine got out and slammed the door shut before turning towards the rest of them. Despite it only being eight o’clock. The sun had already set with the waning echos it twilight giving any indication about how recently it had set.

“You guys sure this is far enough out?” Kaleb asked while rising to her feet from her door before the sweet sounding slam of her door being closed sounded.

“We couldn’t exactly risk being caught by the police would we?” Sonota asked in a cheerful tone. Completely missing the sarcasm in Kaleb’s tone. Her outfit was quite appealing to Blaine’s eye to put it lightly. She was wearing a pair of yoga pants with a baby blue tight t-shirt. Something that Blaine could easily see her wearing right after a shower. Easy to slip in, and easy to slip out of. Next came Aria, who dressed as she did in her usual fashion, a pair of purple jeans with a tank top and a green jean jacket with the sleeves ripped off. And finally came Adagio. Even though she was already sexy with it just being her. Blaine almost choked when he saw her. She stepped out of her drivers door wearing a pair of black leggings that showed her nice round ass with a sleeveless red blouse. Which was almost see though to the point that Blaine could tell she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath. But despite her memorizing body, or those knee high brown leather boots, it was how she looked that made Blaine choke. It was no surprise that Adagio was stunningly beautiful, but at the moment she looked even more so in the pale moonlight. Her eye lashes seemed to be just a shade longer, her eyes more enchanting, her skin more flawless, and each and every one of her features looked angelic in the pale moonlight.

After she got out she turned her attention towards the rest of them and gave a smile that would put even the most dedicated practices of asexuality to the test and spoke. “We’re going to need some wood for the fire,”

So apparently the packs muscle consisted of himself, Big Mac, and Bulk Biceps. The diamond dogs initially tried to help collect firewood, but they kept on getting splinters or falling in the dark. When they weren’t doing that they were stumbling and running into the trees until Blaine finally told them to just go dig a fire pit where there was light where they could see. They didn’t give much argument to that and promptly left. Saying something about how they wouldn’t let him down with digging a whole. Regardless it made things go easier without Blaine or the other two guys leading them on like they were blind or helping them pic out a splinter or two every five seconds. After several trips of carrying large armfuls of splints they walked to the area where the Diamond Dogs were.

Blaine was genuinely surprised when he saw that they in fact dug a decent fire pit. Or more than a decent one, it looked professionally done with benches carved into the very earth itself.... and cup holders? Okay Blaine wasn’t sure how they managed to pull that one off, but he wasn’t complaining. After all he knew Kaleb had a bottle of Coca-Cola and Vodka. And that was enough to get him drunk.

With a sigh he sat down in the nearest seat and tilted his head back. Thanking the world for his dark hoodie. The chilly air around them caused him to automatically cross his arms and lean closer to the large stack of wood he just helped create while Big Mac began to start a fire.

Lowering his head he let out a chilled breath before he felt Kaleb shove something into his gut. Curling his arms up he grabbed it and opened his eyes he saw that their bottle of Vodka was in his hands.

“Take a shot little bro, we’re out here now,” Kaleb told him while taking the lid off of for him. Nodding his head Blaine lifted the bottle to his lips.

It burned as the liquid went down his throat. And he cringed considering it had been a few months since he last drank. But lucky for him, it stayed down and didn’t come back up in another burning throat experience. But despite his throats protests he forced the alcohol down before setting the bottle of Vodka down as well.

“Here, use a chaser,” Kaleb said while putting the bottle of Coca-Cola down as well. Her words a little slurred. From the emptiness of the bottle he was certain she took at least three shots and would be tipsy momentarily. The Coca-Cola went down much smoother and finished off the burning taste of the Vodka. Once finished he reached for the bottle of Vodka again, but a golden tan and perfectly manicured hand beat him to it.

“Would you mind if I had a quick drink?” Adagio asked while looking at Blaine.

“It’s a free country,” Blaine replied while pulling his arm back.

“Thank you,” Adagio said before taking a long drink of the vodka. When Blaine offered her the Coca-Cola she waved his hand away before tilting her head back and taking a deep breath of the cold crisp air. Letting her chest stick out as the fire began flickering to life. Did she ever get cold? Because Blaine knew that he was cold, Kaleb was cold, and even Big Mac was wearing a brown country style jacket. And that was over a red flannel so he should have been the warmest of them all. But strangle Adagio, Aria, and Sonota all seemed or at least appeared to be relatively warm.

“Here you go,” Adagio said while handing back the bottle of Vodka. Blaine immediately took a swig before handing it off to Kaleb. But this time he didn’t use a chaser.

“Well done,” Adagio said when she noticed that he hadn’t reached for the Coca-Cola.

“Thanks... I guess?” Blaine replied as he watched the fire flicker before him, it was nice and warm. A good break from the relentless cold that was about him. Leaning back against his seat he propped himself up on his elbow before taking the bottle back from Kaleb and taking yet another drink before he handed it back to his cousin, the bottle was roughly two thirds full. But Blaine was already feeling drunk. No mistaking the new found warmth in his body nor the earth moving at a slower pace than before. And his lack of hand eye coordination for that matter.

“You guess? My my Blaine, you don’t know how to take a compliment do you?” Adagio asked seemingly amused at his reaction before adding. “Or how to give a lady a compliment do you?” She added.

“What?”

“Here I spent two hours (told you! Said Kaleb) getting ready to look all nice and such and you didn’t even notice?” Adagio said in a hurt tone that was obviously fake.

Blaine twitched his eye just briefly as he thought of a way to respond and settled with , “oh, um... you look nice,”

“Much better,” Adagio said with a satisfied smile.

“So what made you want to have this little bonfire anyways? I mean, besides Big Mac over there, we’re all sort of competing against each other next Saturday to win on Sunday,” Blaine drunkenly questioned. Normally he would refrain from saying such things. But at the moment he didn’t exactly care about much.

“Couldn’t a girl just want to have a nice bonfire and make a few friends along the way?” Adagio asked.

“No.... not this lot. Even Kaleb and I are as competitive as we can be,”

“Really? I didn’t expect you to be that competitive to be honest,”

“Why? Is it because that weird green smoke that comes out of everyone only comes out of small wisps out of me while Trixie is a walking smoke machine?” I asked which caused Adagio to tense up.

“Green smoke?” Adagio asked carefully.

“Yeah, at first Kaleb and I thought that it had something to do with it being taco Tuesday. But it’s been happening for a few days now. So can I get a hallelujah!?” Blaine said in a loud voice while lifting his fist into the air. Which got a immediate chorus of.

“Hallelujah!”

“I see,” Adagio said while her body relaxed a bit.

“By the way, don’t mind what I say, I’m a little past drunk at the moment,” Blaine rambled which earned him a smile from Adagio.

“It’s alright, after all. Drunk men tell no tales,” Adagio commented while taking a drink from their Coca-Cola.

“And what’s the point of Drunk men tell no tales? Because shouldn’t honesty be outright with everything? Because while Marquel will lie to save someone from being offended. Kaleb and I have always used brutal honesty in everything we do. Better they dislike you for telling the truth. Rather than hating you if they find out that you lied before. And sometimes you can get so deep in a lie that you can’t climb yourself out of it. And what that happens you realize that you’re just living a lie. Like maybe you lied about your personality and then you have to maintain that lie. Or you pretend to be happy and then you have to act like you’re happy. It’d be better to just be happy or miserable as you are. Rather than having to act like you’re one or the other because you couldn’t just be honest about who you were and what you wanted in the first place. You know what I’m talking about?” Blaine asked in his drunken stupor.

“I think, you’d rather be honest and up front instead of being someone you were not?” Adagio pondered.

“That or I would just keep my mouth shut. Avoid both problems altogether and just keep people wondering who I really am,” Blaine said in response.

“A valiant effort, but unfortunately a wasted one. Since I already seem to have you figured out,” Adagio told him.

Blaine raided his head up slightly and his lips curled upwards ever so slightly while he turned to her and looked at her with his eyes that gleamed like polished obsidian in the faint glow of the flickering fire. “Really? Because besides my thoughts on the lies of the world. I haven’t really let out much on what kind of a person I am,” Blaine slurred out.

“Okay, let me take a guess. You’re a nice calm guy who has a ambition to see the world and all it’s beauty, but is hindered by the fact that the world is cruel,” Adagio told him to which Blaine began to laugh. And Adagio to pause slightly to figure out what she said to cause such a response.

“You had the first part right, but I have no ambition to see the world. The world is to big for me to ever experience it and enjoy all of it. But my ambition is different, and I’m not hindered by the fact the world is cruel. In fact it’s my drive, after all. Once a place becomes to cruel. We move on and hope the next place is better,” Blaine told her.

“So what do you want in this world?” Adagio asked.

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,”

“Deal, but you go first,”

“Sounds fair, all I ask for is satisfaction,” Blaine said in a matter of fact tone. “And yours?”

“I want to be adored, to be told that someone wants me, and to not be ignored. But what do you mean by satisfaction?” Adagio asked while Blaine grabbed the bottle of Vodka again.

Raising it to his lips he took another long drink which caused his vision to start fading into black. Oh well, the night was good so far. He just hopped that he wouldn’t do anything stupid when he blacked out.

“..........revenge,” was the last thing Blaine remembered saying.