"Alright, alright, everyone settle down," Danny announced to the already settled room. The five of us were arranged around the living room: me leaning against the side of the pushed to the wall couch, Bishop sitting behind the keyboard, his guitar resting on the wall beside him, Finn with his light brown guitar, looking only slightly disinterested, and Zane sitting behind his drum set that was moved out of his room.

     "Dude, none of us are talking," Bishop said, rolling his eyes at his brother.

     "Shut up and listen."

     Bishop played a few deep, discordant notes on the keyboard and pouted. Zane threw a drumstick at him.

     The two jumped up to duke it out, but before they could go any further, Finn grabbed the back of Zane's t-shirt and yanked him back to his seat.

     "Thank you, Finn. Anyways, let the first band practice of Hex commence!" Danny raised his arms in the air, as if to wait for applause. However, he was only met with four different glares, me confused, Zane entertained, Finn aggravated, and Bishop in the middle of a roll.

     Zane hit the symbol on his drum kit three times, and then the others joined in with their instruments. I stepped up in front of them, took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and let the notes flow.

"...And that's why I think I'm qualified for this job," I said, later as I sat in the back room of a coffee shop a block away from my apartment building. It was the fifth place I'd been since moving here.

     The cute shop was called Beans and Breakfast and had the best vibes, in my opinion. There were dark wooded, circular tables and adorable chalkboard walls. The two walls that weren't mainly chalkboards were lined with bookshelves, holding older-looking and aesthetically pleasing books.

     The middle aged man named Jeff sitting in front of me with his legs crossed and hipster glasses on pushed his finger into his lips in thought.

     He silently stood up, paced to a filing cabinet to his left, opened the door, and pulled out a white t-shirt.

     Throwing it to me, he said, "You got the job, kid."

     "Really?" I asked, standing up excitedly. "Thank you, thank you so much. You won't regret this."

     "Calm down, kid, it's a coffee shop not Apple. Can you start soon?"

     I took a deep breath, clenching my fists to prevent myself from clapping my hands together excitedly. I tried to put on my serious, business woman face.

     "Yes, of course. That sounds lovely. Thank you for your time." Someone hand me a power suit.

     "I'll text you with the schedule and your training day."

     I nodded happily and stayed where I was, staring up at the older man.

    "Get out!" He all of a sudden yelled, startling me to scamper out of the room hurriedly, while squeaking out an apology.

     I walked on a cloud the entire way home, the grimy streets not looking as dirty and crowded as normal.

     I arrived back at the apartment, ready to burst with my good news. However, when I swung the door open, I was met with an unexpected sight that made me completely forget about my new job. Chaos was erupting in the living room.

     The sofa was upturned in front of the door, with Bishop and Zane hiding behind it, a piece of paper between them. They carefully studied it and yelled commands at each other.

     Across from them, hiding behind the counter in the kitchen, was Finn and a girl that I didn't recognize. She was around our age, Hispanic, and beautiful, with large brown eyes and long brown hair. She was tall and skinny and held herself with poise.

     As I opened my mouth to question what my eyes were beholding, an egg was launched across the room at my face. I narrowly ducked underneath it and let out a yelp of surprise. The yolk ran down the wall and the shell shards scattered.

     "What the hell is going on here?" I yelled, dropping my bag next to me and shutting the door behind me.

     "What does it look like?" Zane sarcastically remarked, before refocusing in on the battle.

      Bishop grabbed my hand and yanked me down behind the couch. "Vienna! We're having an egg fight. Be careful, this is dangerous territory. You've just stumbled into a war zone." He looked at me completely seriously.

     "But you guys are making a huge mess!"

     Zane rolled his eyes and handed me an egg. "Let loose, baby."

     I hesitated for a minute, rolling the white orb around in my palm, before remarking "fuck it", and chucking it towards Finn. It made contact with his chest, as he poked out from behind the counter.

     He dramatically clutched his chest, before stumbling back and collapsing against the fridge, extending an arm out towards his partner.

     "No! Man down, man down!" The girl screamed.

     "Goodbye cruel world," Finn squeaked out, his head in the girl's lap. I was surprised that he was actually having fun for once.

     "Why!?" She shrieked, throwing her head to the ceiling.

     The three of us behind the couch broke out laughing at their antics.

     "Our neighbors are going to hate us," I said, shaking my head.

     "It's okay, because we hate them too. Damn vacuuming at dawn," Bishop said, angrily shaking his fist upwards.

     I smiled at him, before grabbing another egg and throwing it. Yeah, I could get used to this.

     After we defeated the other girl, and the losers had removed most of the traces of destroyed eggs from the apartment, we all collapsed onto the couch.

     "Sorry, I didn't actually introduce myself. I'm Valeria, I live across the hall," the girl said, extending her hand out to me. She daintily shook my hand, giving me a warm smile.

     "I'm Vienna. I moved in a little while ago."

     "Yeah, I've heard a bit about you, right Bishop?" She winked at the boy to my left and nudged his shoulder. He cleared his throat and looked away, his cheeks slightly tinged pink. "Anyways, why'd you decide to move to the city?"

     "Music. My parents wanted different things for me, and I wanted to follow my dreams and pursue music, however cliche that sounds. So, I left Dartmouth and came out here."

     "Wait wait wait," Finn said, suddenly taking an interest in the conversation. "You were going to Dartmouth?"

     "Yeah, I went there for two years."

     "Shit. I didn't know you were smart," Zane remarked.

     "I guess. Either way it's not what I want, and I know that now."

     "You're crazy," Finn said, blowing air out of his mouth and leaning back against the couch.

      "Why?" I asked, getting a little frustrated. I had already explained this to both my parents, my aunt, and practiced it several times in front of the mirror. I did not want to explain it to my judgmental douche of a roommate.

     "You got into Dartmouth and had the funds to actually go there, and instead, you came here to, what, sing songs?"

     "What are you talking about?" I asked, incredulously throwing my hands up in the air. "You're a musician too. I made a decision, and I'm happy with it, even if others aren't. Why are you attacking me?"

     He laughed humorlessly. "The difference here is I'm not some rich bitch who has never had to work for anything in her life and decided to come and slum it down here in this tiny apartment. You probably have parents that pour money at you and give you everything you've ever wanted, and little miss princess over here threw it away for what? 'To be a musician'. Yeah, like you'll ever be a true musician. All you'll ever be is a pretentious little girl with dreams bigger than her level of talent." And with that complete and aggressive surmise of my life, he stormed out of the room, just like in the movies.

    The room was deathly silent, all eyes on my reddening face. I cleared my throat and bit my bottom lip, as I avoided eye contact with the three people remaining in the room.

     I grew up in a slightly sheltered home, I'll admit that. I was not originally from New York City. I didn't have the thick skin that the boys had accumulated over the years, seeing as three of them had grown up in or very close to the city. So yeah, I was sensitive, and after being accosted by Finn, I was holding back tears.

     I awkwardly stood up, clasping my hands together and playing with the rings on my fingers. "I'm just, I'm just going to, uh, yeah," I said, before leaving the room and going into my bedroom.

     I shut the door behind me and slid to the floor, putting my face in my hands, a couple of tears escaping my eyes. What if he was right? What if I really don't belong here? Should I just go back to Dartmouth?

     "What am I doing? I must be crazy." I whispered to myself. More tears swam in my eyes. I separated myself from my family, probably forever, for what?

     Then there was a soft, almost hesitant knock at the door. I moved away from the door and sat on my bed, before telling whoever it was to come in, as I furiously wiped away my tears.

     "Hey Vienna," Bishop said, as he came in, shut the door behind him, and sat next to me on my bed. He looked down and traced the patterns on my comforter.

      I studied him. He was in gym clothes, and I saw traces of egg on his white t-shirt. He looked up and caught my eye.

     "He doesn't mean it, you know."

     "I know," I said, my voice only shaking a little. I swallowed hard to keep from crying in front of him.

     He raised his eyebrows and shot me a look.

     "Okay, I don't know. Why is he so mean to me anyways?"

     "Finn is, well he's, let's just say he's complicated."

     "Everyone is complicated. That doesn't mean he has to be a jerk for no reason." I crossed my arms and pouted like a child.

     Bishop inched a little closer to me. His shoulder pressed into mine. "I know it's not an excuse, but he's had a hard life. I probably shouldn't be telling you all of this, but his childhood was rough. His dad was a deadbeat and wasn't nice to him or his mom. His mom was an alcoholic, and she tried to take care of him, but getting drunk was just always more important. I've known him my whole life, and it was really hard on him."

     "Poor Finn," I said, my anger quickly fading.

     "Yeah, he's been through a lot, but he still shouldn't have taken it out on you. I think he's just jealous. I'm sorry."

     We were silent for a couple moments. I fiddled with my fingers, my mind racing. "Do you think he's right?" I finally asked.

     "About you being a rich bitch? Yeah, I think you're the fucking worst."

     My jaw dropped, but after he cracked a heart-stopping smile, I joined him in his laughter.

     "No, I'm serious, you suckkk," he said, laughing, as I jokingly shoved him away from me.

     "No, he was just saying that to piss you off. Vienna, you're really talented, you wouldn't be in our kick ass band if we didn't think you're going places. We're very exclusive."

     I smiled. "Thanks Bishop. And just so you guys know, there's nothing to be jealous of anymore. When I dropped out of Dartmouth, my parents cut me off completely. No money, no family, nothing."

     "I'm sorry. If Finn had known that-"

"I didn't want anybody to know."

He nodded and wiped a wayward tear off of my cheek, his eyes boring into mine. Then he cleared his throat and looked down. "Now, take all of that emotion and write a song about it."

     "I'll get right on that," I said, cracking a smile.