Chapter 1: fresh, dreaded start.
Chapter Text
"...Again we are so sorry your senior year is starting at a new school."
Johnny Gargano let out a crooked smile, looking down at his shoes and then back up at his parents. "It's fine, like genuinely, it's okay!" He assured his parents and heard a loud honk of a car outside of the house and let out a breathy laugh. "Besides, I got Matt and Greg...I won't be entirely alone." He grinned.
"Text when you get there, have a good day!" Johnny nodded, grabbing his backpack and walking out the front door. The California sun started beaming on him. He was gonna have to get used to that and quickly. "Johnny!" The voice of Matt Cross rang out, waving his hand out of his car window.
Well, it's more of a van.
It only had two front seats which are currently occupied by Matt Cross and Gregory Iron, who were now both waving at Johnny.
The two seats being occupied meant only one thing.
Johnny knew it and so did his friends, who both cocked their heads in the direction of the very back seat. He let out a groan.
"Really?"
"You know the deal, Gargano."
Johnny grumbled, sliding open the door and plopping all his things down into the floor.
The dreaded backseat wasn't even a real seat.
It was a floor that majority of the times held all of their instruments for their band, but thankfully today it was empty.
Nothing was gonna crash into him at least, now he just had to hope the ride was smooth.
As Matt drove the trio started talking.
"Okay...Battle of The Bands is still on.." Matt begun, taking a right.
"Why bother? We don't even have a fourth member." Gregory pointed out. "Doesn't mean we can't find one.."
"In one week?" Johnny asked.
The trio was a pretty good band but they lacked in social skills.
"Listen...we've worked too long for us to just not participate...we can just find some kid and teach them how to sing, no biggie!"
"No biggie." Johnny and Gregory mocked Matt who rolled his eyes.
"Glass half full." He said as he pulled into the parking lot.
"Welp...l guess we can continue that band recruitment talk at lunch." Gregory said as the three seniors hopped out of the van.
"See you all at lunch."
"Cya"
"Until lunch."
Johnny unfolded a slip of paper which revealed his schedule.
"Homeroom...D395." He whispered to himself, walking at a quick but not too noticeable pace.
"I really can't do this."
Candice LeRae expected her senior year to start off in a lot of ways.
But internally freaking out in the girls bathroom while her best friends tried to calm her was not one of them.
"Listen, Candice...you just gotta walk out there and show them you don't care."
"But I do care!" She blurted, feeling tears sting her eyes. "Candice...he ghosted you for two months before breaking up with you."
Tegan Nox and Bayley also did not expect their senior year to start off like this, but helping Candice was always their number one priority.
Candice let in a deep breath. "We dated for a year...he ghosts me all summer and breaks up with me right when school is about to start...and is now dating someone new.."
She thought out loud. "He doesn't deserve you, he's a dick."
RING RING RING
The group of friends looked up at the intercom.
The one minute bell had just went off.
"We gotta hurry up to homeroom, I heard Mrs. Blayze does not like late students." Bayley advised, holding onto her friend's hand.
"You got this."
Candice let out a weak smile and nodded.
One small group hug before they went into the hallway.
Candice put on a small smile and opened the restroom door and her friends followed, heading to homeroom.
"Girls...you were almost late." Mrs. Blayze warned them. "We're sorry.." Tegan stated, Candice and Bayley avoided eye contact and joined the classroom.
There was an assigned seating on the projector and Candice let out a small groan.
Just her luck.
Bayley and Tegan sat together and she was seated with....
Johnny Gargano.
Who is that?
She had never heard the name, he was probably new.
And when she turned to sit down and finally saw Johnny, she smiled.
He was definitely new.
She slid into her desk, hanging her backpack off her chair and giving Johnny a small wave.
"hello." he said in a hushed whisper, his cheeks went red and then he cleared his throat.
"Hello." He said, a bit louder this time. "Hi, you're...new, right?"
"Yup...to the school and to the...sunshine state."
Candice nodded slowly. "That's cool, you'll love California." She assured him.
"I hope so." He nervously replied. This kid was definitely shy.
She turned to look at Tegan and Bayley who were already in their own conversation. She turned back to Johnny, who was doodling something on his schedule.
The bell rang.
Candice laid her head down, trying not to make it seem obvious she was looking at Johnny's schedule.
They had this class and lunch together, that was about it.
She took one quick glance at him again and was a bit taken aback to see he was staring right back.
He instantly darted his eyes away, into any direction other than Candice's eyes.
Shy and awkward.
"Hello, Seniors!" Mrs. Blayze began. "I know I may just be your homeroom teacher, but homeroom can be a very important class!"
She pulled the projector away. "These faces...will be the first faces you see every morning this school year, and that it is v-"
The door swung open, everyone stared.
Oh.
Great.
"Mr. Cole...."
"It's Adam, actually."
Adam Cole had entered the classroom, Candice's ex.
"You're late...Adam." Mrs. Blayze said in a low voice, pointing at the only empty seat in the class.
Next to Pete Dunne.
"Just handling some first day business, no biggie...Miss...?"
"Blayze."
"Miss Blayze."
Adam broke into his infamous grin.
Suddenly sitting with the new kid wasn't so bad.
Chapter 2: paper rings
Summary:
johnny and the gang are on the hunt for their singer, with a one week deadline and having to sign themselves up soon, they start panicking.
Notes:
hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter and hopefully this one as well! thank you for the kudos!
Chapter Text
Johnny bit down on his lip, eyes scanning the large cafeteria. It was loud and overwhelming and he was pretty sure some kids were blaring loud music on a speaker.
Normally, he would have no issue with music, he was in a band after all. But when you're trying to find your two friends it can be pretty distracting.
Oh, Music.
The band.
Johnny remembered Gregory and Matt saying they would discuss the band at lunch. He felt a buzz in his pocket, it was a text.
Bro.
We're outside, bleachers.
It was from the group chat he shared with his friends.
He put his phone back in his pocket and walked to the football field, a little confused by their choice of seating but he'd ask later. He mainly wondered how the convo would go about finding a singer for the band. Johnny was no rocket scientist but finding a singer in a little less than a week sounds near impossible. He brushed the thoughts out of his mind as he waved at his friends for their attention, who noticed and waved back. He hurriedly went up the bleachers and sat down.
"This is a little bit of a weird setting to eat at...I can only assume Matt picked this."
"It was Greg's idea, actually.."
"What a twist of events."
Johnny unwrapped his sandwich and bit into it as he looked at both of his friends.
"It would not be a Matt idea..." Matt begun, taking a sip of his soda. "If it was up to me I'd be in the cafeteria scouting for the newest member of our band."
"It was way too loud in there, plus we gotta take advantage of this beautiful Cali weather, man!" Gregory protested. "I talked to Mr. Rocca, we have to sign up tod-"
Johnny spat out his water.
Gregory's eyes went wide.
"TODAY?!"
"...but he still has our deadline for Friday..." Matt finished his sentence, handing Johnny one of his napkins.
Johnny patted down his shirt and jeans, the napkins were barely helping but he didn't want to say it. "Oh thank god, Mr. Rocca you saint." Greg let out a breath of relief, putting a hand on Johnny's shoulder.
"But we should still seriously look for a new member and quick....ly..." Matt's voice zoned off when he noticed a girl about to walk onto the bleachers but paused.
"Oh! I'm....I'm sorry! I didn't realize people would be here." She quickly sputtered. Johnny perked up, noticing who the girl was. "It's okay! You can sit here! We won't bother, promise." Matt, the ever so gentlemen of the group offered.
Johnny studied her, she wore a tie dye blue and white shirt that was tucked into a pair of black jean shorts. She had a sad smile and she appeared to be holding back tears. "Thank you guys." She said in a hushed tone, sitting not too far, but not too close either.
The group fell silent, exchanging looks at each other.
"Oh! I know you!" The girl's voice broke the silence.
They all stared at her and pointed at each other, not knowing who she knew.
"You're...John? Right?"
"It's Johnny, actually."
"My bad, but you're in my homeroom. We sat next to each other..." Johnny nodded at her, unsure what to say.
"Um...I never caught your name..." He finally said. "It's Candice! Candice LeRae."
Candice normally wasn't one to spark conversations with people, but she had to distract herself.
If she thought about Adam Cole for any longer she would probably start to tear up again. She wasn't over him if it wasn't clear by now.
She should be, she should be pissed but scrolling down her Instagram feed and seeing Adam post a picture of him and his new girlfriend with the caption 'Senior Year, here we come!' made her feel every emotion imaginable. She knew she should not be in a room packed with rowdy seniors.
And in a room with Adam there as well.
She needed alone time but was not expecting to bump into a group of kids she had never seen before.
Normally the bleachers were empty.
Nonetheless, they were friendly and kind of awkward.
And she was okay with that.
After introducing herself to them, she moved from her original spot on the bleachers to a bit closer. "You guys trying to avoid the noise, too?" She asked, kind of unsure as to why they were sitting out here.
"Yeah!"
"Nope."
"I guess."
All three answered in unison and Candice raised an eyebrow at this. "Greg's avoiding it, I'm going with whatever but the noise is a bit overwhelming and.."
"And I'm just determined to find our fourth member of our band." Matt finished Johnny's sentence, hoping that this girl knew someone who was a decent singer. "A band, you say?"
"Yeah! We're doing Battle of the Bands...but we don't have a fourth member..." Johnny explained.
"What part?" she asked, curious as to what position they were looking for. "A singer!"
"I can sing." Candice mentioned.
She was desperate for any band to join. Originally she was going to be in Adam and his friend's band but...you know.
"You can?!" Matt asked, his voice rising in pitch. "I've been singing for a while, I'm not too shabby..."
"Wow, we'd really appreciate it...if you want to of course!" Greg chimed in. "What he said." Johnny added with a grin on his face.
"Well...it depends on how we'd sound...do you all have a free period for 7th?"
The three boys scrambled to get their schedules out of their backpacks. "Yes!" They all hurriedly shouted.
"Great! We'll all meet in the band hall...there's some instruments Mr. Rocca keeps in there and see how it goes from there." She decided.
"Sounds good!"
The bell rang in the distance, signaling lunch was over.
"See you guys then!"
The trio watched as Candice walked across the football field towards the school building.
"We have to sound perfect." Johnny simply said.