Fully Automatic (Bullet)

Fully Automatic (Bullet) Read Free Page B

Book: Fully Automatic (Bullet) Read Free
Author: Jade C. Jamison
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Brad pulled, pushed, and dragged his friend until they were outside.
    On the deck in the cool air, Brad could see the glint in Ethan’s eyes under the porch light, but he wasn’t struggling anymore.  “Deep breath, man.”   Ethan’s jaw was clenched and Brad knew one of two things would happen—either Ethan would start trash talking or he’d say nothing.  When his friend marched promptly to the railing on the deck and leaned over, throwing up probably most of what he’d drunk that night, he figured he’d say nothing.  “It’s late.  We need to get out of here.”
    Leah’s voice sounded panicked.  “It’s not midnight yet, is it?”
    Brad smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.  “Not even close.  I’ll have you home way before your curfew.”  She grinned back at him and stood on her tiptoes to give him a sweet kiss on the lips.  “Coming, Ethan?”
    His friend shook his head as though to get his bearings and walked toward them.  Aside from the shit that had gone down that evening, Brad had the two most important people by his side now, and nothing could get him down.
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
    BRAD WAS DOODLING in his notebook, trying to stylize the word Bullet so it would look good on the cover of a metal CD.  He curved the letters, much like he’d seen done in other logos, but past incarnations had looked like blood dripping and, on another one, he’d tried to make the t look like a handgun.  It didn’t matter yet anyway.  He and Ethan still had to settle on two other members and start writing music.  Brad had already written two songs in secret, but he had no idea what they’d sound like once the whole band was together.  In the meantime, he and Ethan played covers of some of their favorite tunes to sharpen their skills.
    Part of the problem too was Ethan enjoyed partying too much, but now that toxic Heidi was out of the picture, Brad hoped he could get his friend to focus better.
    So Thursday morning in early April, he sat in government class doodling.  He realized his teacher would have preferred it if Brad had been taking notes, but Brad figured the guy should be happy Brad was paying any attention at all.  Drawing helped him focus on the man’s words, and right now his teacher was droning on and on about the president’s vetoing power.  Brad was so ready to be out of school.  He was just hanging in there until graduation, maintaining passing grades until he could walk away, done.  He had friends going on to college, some to tech school, others going into the military, and even others venturing out into the unknown, but Brad had one dream, one goal—that was to make his band.  He’d already been in one other his sophomore year in high school, but it had fizzled when the drummer and vocalist had gone to college at the end of the year and—since then—Brad had focused on becoming the best guitar player he could.  Ethan tried talking him into being in the school band, but he wanted no part of it.  Ethan played bass drum for the marching band and he enjoyed it, but Brad thought playing in the school band would just distract him from what he really wanted to do—and that was to be part of something big.  He dreamed of being in a metal band.  He would even sing if need be, but music was his life, and he would only be happy if he could make that dream a reality.
    The bell rang and he left class, walking down the hall to his locker.  He dropped off the notebook and textbook and then looked around for the two people he spent most lunch breaks with—Leah and Ethan.  Ethan showed up and nodded his head.  Brad was somewhat surprised.  His friend had handled his breakup with Heidi surprisingly well.  But he was afraid it was the calm before the storm.  He knew his friend well enough to know that he could be self-destructive, and he expected a cascade of shit to come crashing down in the next week, whenever Ethan finally managed to completely lose it. 

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