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winos were just low-life scum. Better they should all be out of the way somewhere so we didn’t have to look at them. I told Eric so.
    â€œRelax, Cody,” he said.
    But I wasn’t relaxed. Ever since Kelsey told me off, I felt like crud. Jordan and Logan showed up just about then.
    â€œWe were on the news, dudes,” Logan announced.
    â€œI was on the news,” I corrected him. “It was a drawing of me they showed.”
    â€œWe were all in on it,” Jordan told me. “Don’t try to hog the glory, Cody.”
    When you feel the way I was feeling then — pissed off, confused, angry — you’re gonna lose your cool on someone. I guess Jordan just happened to be the one in the way. “Jordan, you’re a complete and total idiot.”
    The two winos were looking at me now out of their bleary-eyed haze. Eric and Logan were intent on watching how Jordan was going to take it. Big, snarly Jordan was always too gross and too ugly for his own good.
    â€œScrew you,” Jordan said.
    â€œIt’s just like you to try and take the credit when I’m the one who gets involved in the serious action.”
    â€œWhat do you want? You want this?” Jordan showed me his fist. I stared at the bony white knuckles, at the scars and the three shiny rings.
    I didn’t know what I wanted. I hated the way I felt just then. I had a flash of that guy in the hospital bed. I saw Kelsey’s face swim up into my head. They had made me feel this way. It wasn’t fair.
    Jordan was breathing hard, like a fat slobbering pig. For that alone, I wanted to bust him. It would have felt good.
    â€œI take it back,” I said, not meaning a word of it. “I don’t know what got into me.” That part was true.
    Jordan was still huffing as I walked away. “Apologize!” he demanded.
    â€œSorry,” I said cynically, still not turning back to look at them. I threw my hands in the air. I didn’t care if I ever saw those bastards again.

Chapter 5
    That next day at school, I felt like Jordan and Logan were watching every move I made, everywhere I went. They had their eyes on me when Alex approached me in the cafeteria. He had on a My Chemical Romance t-shirt.
    â€œI’ve decided I want you in the band,” he said. It came as a real shock. “I think you add an interesting touch. I was watching some videos last night and I get it now. It looks good to have a drummer who plays it like a heavy, some guy who looks like an animal. It’s an interesting image. But it will only work if you adjust to what Kelsey and I are doing.”
    â€œHow do I have to adjust?”
    â€œWe’ve got a goal here, you know. We want to make it. We want to produce something that is commercially viable.”
    â€œBullshit.”
    â€œNot bullshit. We can do it. Kelsey is a dynamite songwriter. She can do anything. All three of us can create the right chemistry.”
    â€œHave you talked to her about me? Are you sure she wants me in the band?”
    â€œShe said so yesterday. She was trying to convince me to accept you.”
    â€œAsk her today.”
    â€œWell, I did,” Alex admitted. “I don’t know. She was just kind of moody. Maybe it’s her old man or something. Don’t take it personally.”
    â€œHow come you’re on my side?”
    â€œI like you, man,” Alex said. The words were less than sincere.
    â€œBullshit number two.”
    â€œI’m serious. We’re different but that’s what’ll make us unique. It’s the chemistry. That’s what will make us good.”
    â€œYou’re desperate for a drummer,” I translated. “And you know I’m good.”
    â€œOkay. Have it your way. We’re desperate for a drummer and it’s our time to move. We’ve been treading water for too long, Kelsey and I.”
    â€œWhat about the good part.”
    â€œOkay. You’re good, Cody.