I woke up that morning with a hangover, head pounding so hard my vision was blurry. The alarm clock on my nightstand added to my pain as it sang the songs of its people. “Fuck me!” I moan out not wanting to get up or even move for the whole day. I grab the beeping terror and throw it on the ground, smashing it into three or four bits. Slowly, I swing my legs off the bed finding the solid ground beneath. “Ok, another day another random pain to deal with.” I mumble to myself dreading to raise my head knowing the massive headache that followed. I barely managed to get vertical, pain and dizziness racked my senses when I took that first step. Stumbling across the room I manage to get to my clothes without killing myself, I stand there on shaky legs just trying to balance.

“One leg at a time.” I say mentally preparing to bend down and slip into my jeans. With one leg down and one more to go I try to run my other leg into my pants only to be met with pain and a carpet burn on my shoulder after eating the floor. Looking around with pants around my ankles and ass in the air I find one of my guitar picks that I lost when we first moved into the house. “Neat, this day isn’t so bad after all.” I say to myself in an upbeat tone.

After I got my clothes on, packed my guitar in it’s hard case, and with amp in tow I head down the stairs to start my day. The smell of my dad’s morning coffee fills my nose and I feel more alert than I did getting out of bed. “Make me a cup please.” I say to my father who is glaring at me with that ‘I know what you’ve been doing but I won’t tell cause what you’re going through is punishment enough’ look.

“How’d you sleep last night?” He says flatly still pissed from last night, not looking at me as I make my way to the espresso machine to make that much needed pick me up to start my day.

“Like the dead, and from what you probably heard a few minutes ago I feel like the dead as well.” I shoot back my voice gravely and tired.

“Well that’s what you get son.” He says despondently.

I scoop out some coffee grounds into the group head lightly tamping down on the brown powder then reattaching it to the body of the machine. Grabbing my dark blue mug from the countertop and placing it under the spout, I turn on the espresso maker and it comes to life spilling the fresh coffee over the two openings. I inhale the sweet and bitter aroma of coffee that is filling the air once again, hearing the sputter of the machine signaling that it’s done I turn it off.

“I see you are taking your guitar to school.” Dad says between sips, “you better be working on your studies rather than focusing on playing that thing all day.”

“Like I said last night, I need to practice for the battle of the bands.” I say on auto pilot, “not to mention that this is really important to me and there’s a possibility to get a recording deal as first place prize, second place gets to play the summer festival, and third place is a $500 gift card to GuitarBrother in town, so, if I want to win any of those prizes I need to practice.”

“We’ve had this conversation over a thousand times and you still don’t listen, but I can’t force you to do anything so I am not going to give you the lecture again. My dad’s voice sounded somber as he said those same old lines to me.

“I know dad, you just want me to pass school and go to university, make a better life for myself than the one you and mom have. I’ve heard those lines before and I am going to make a better life for myself my own way, I have dreams of playing for people, making them forget about their lives for a moment and not having to worry about the stress or the daily grind. I want to move people to tears with my music have them think that everything will be alright in the end, actually do something fun with my life instead of doing what everyone else is doing; have you ever thought of that?” I retort trying not to have the venom of the multiple conversations and lectures pour through.

“I get it son, but what you’re not understanding is if you do this music thing, will that really make you happy?” My dad says with a questioning sigh.

“Yes. Come watch us preform at the battle of the bands 4 weeks from now and I will show you that I am serious about my music.” I reply with excitement, knowing that my dad is going to come watch me play.

My headache is going away as I sip the dark liquid in my mug, the sweet nectar of the gods works it’s magic as I start to wake up more. “Dad?” I ask as I contemplate the question rolling in my head.

“Yea Milo?” My dad huffs a bit while straightening up the newspaper in his hand.

“Sorry for last night, I know we fight a lot and don’t agree on much outside of sports, good music, and some political views. I want to say that I don’t mean to push everyone to their limits.” I say to him in a regretful tone.

“It’s okay Milo, I just get so frustrated by you not listening to me or your mom. Get in the car I’ll take you to school today.” My dad says to me as he sets down the news paper. I finish the coffee in my hand set the mug in the sink walk over to my gear and start for the door leading to the garage. I walk down the steps and make my way to my dad's truck, struggling to get all my gear in the small cab I set my amp in the bed by the tailgate and hope that it doesn't get damaged.

"Thank you dad for the ride to school." I tell him as we pull down the drive, "You'll come to the battle of the bands right?"

"Yea, your mother and I will support you but we also want you to have a good life a better one than we have. I just want you to succeed in life and if you already have this plan set on music then we will see where that goes, just do well in school and have a backup plan if your first plan fails." Dad says to me while placing an arm on my shoulder as a way to show his kindness.

****

Dad pulls to the front of the school and waits for me to get my amp out of the bed of the truck, "thank you for the ride dad, see you when I get home." I yell out to him as he pulls away.

"You're late Mr. Blackwood." Vice principal Luna says to me when I walk in the front doors of the school, "looks like you'll have detention after school."

"See here's the thing Luna I am not a morning person and from what I can see from those bags under your eyes, you aren't either." I say with a smart ass tone, "also I do believe I don't have a first hour class, so that would make me on time unless the school has some new policy that was implemented just now and I didn't get the memo."

"Get to class or you will have detention with me for a week." Luna says in an exasperated tone, "I don't get paid enough for this shit." She comments under her breath.

"I don't get paid at all yet I still come to school under threat of being sent to a juvenile detention center." I quip back as I make my way down the main entrance.

"Milo, you have detention for a week with me, you start on Saturday." Luna yells out, I look back at her and she is red in the face either form yelling or from me hearing what she said under her breath. Making my way down the rows of lockers not really caring if I am late or early, I hear someone approaching fast.

"Watch out!!!" Came the voice behind me, then pain and a sickening cracking sound.

"Watch where you're going you twat!" I bark, feeling pain when I try and shove who is on top of me. "My fucking hand."

Rolling in a pile of limbs and accidently copping a feel that I wasn't expecting but it was nice, "sorry." The girl says who is now straddling me. "Well, this is kinda awkward." Scratching the back of her head with a hand averting her gaze form mine.

"No shit dumbass, now get off before I freak the fuck out and throw you cross the hall." I say trying to keep my cool.

"No need to get so short with me, also stop using all that profane language because its not needed." She retorts with a huff. "My name is Rainbow Dash, but you can call me either Rainbow or Dash let me help you up."

"Thanks." I say, she grabbed my hand and that is when the searing pain started. "Let go, fuck that hurts." I pull my hand back to my chest and hold it there.

"I'll get the nurse." Rainbow says, then speeds off down the hall.

Slowly sitting up looking at my right hand, there bending at an odd angle was my pinky finger going the opposite way crossing the ring finger. "Fuck me this actually hurts, good thing this isn't on my fretting hand. Okay, time to pop it in place. "I say wincing in pain. "One....Two...…..Three." There was a sickening pop and my pinky finger was straight.

"Here he is." I hear Rainbow say to the school nurse.

"What was that sound?" Rainbow looks at me, "that wasn't your finger was it." She looks at me almost green in the face.

"Yea, I relocated my pinky while you went and got the nurse, I need a fucking drink and some pain killers, possibly a splint for my fingers." I say to the nurse and Rainbow in a deadpan tone.

Getting up I walk over to the rainbow hared girl and say, " dislocated fingers are nothing, easy fix." Placing my good hand on her shoulder, I get in close and tell her. "You are lucky that wasn't on my fretting hand, also find me at lunch I'd like to talk to you about something."

Author's Note

I have a few references in this chapter and if anyone can guess them and from what show or movie leave a comment.