Final Preparations
Walking out of the calculus class that they shared, Louis and Zayn heard a high-pitched squeal and the familiar sound of high heels stomping against the floor.
“Uh-oh,” Zayn whispered to Louis, turning his head in the direction of the noise and seeing none other than Louis’ on-and-off girlfriend, Eleanor. Upon noticing her as well, Louis groaned.
“Louis!” Eleanor screamed. “Where have you been! I thought you died! You haven’t texted me back in like 4 hours.”
“Eleanor, babe, I’ve been in classes. Calm down,” Louis said agitatedly, turning to Zayn and discreetly rolling his eyes.
“Ok, well you could have at least texted me back!” Eleanor insisted, smacking him against his chest. Louis recoiled, rubbing his hand against where she had hit.
“Sorry,” he said insincerely.
“Mate, we’ve got to get to practice,” Zayn said, nudging Louis’ arm.
“Ugh! You always have to go to practice. When do you ever make time for me?” Eleanor complained, crossing her arms against her chest and completely ignoring Zayn.
“We’ve got a big competition coming up, El. Do you even care about my life?” Louis shot back, turning this into a heated argument.
“I’m more important than your stupid band!” Eleanor yelled.
“You know what, let’s just finish this later. I have to go,” Louis said sternly, starting to walk off with Zayn. “Come ‘round my place at 7 and we can finish talking.” Seeming pleased, Eleanor nodded and turned away.
The boys walked back to Louis’ car, with Louis complaining about Eleanor and their relationship. He had never meant to get into such a long-term relationship, but she could be very insistent. Even though they had taken numerous “breaks,” Eleanor and Louis seemed to always get back together somehow.
“How do you even put up with her?” Zayn asked, getting into the passenger seat of the car. Louis turned on the engine and backed out of the parking lot.
“She’s not always that bad I guess,” Louis defended. They had been through a lot together after 2 years and there was a reason he hadn’t just ended it after their first break.
“Yeah, but you always seem so unhappy with her. Literally every time I see you after you’ve been with her you look drained,” Zayn mentioned. Louis thought about that for a moment. He wasn’t wrong.
“She can be a lot,” Louis stated.
“Definitely.”
“Whatever. We’ll just see how tonight goes,” Louis said with a sigh. Getting onto the main road, they headed to their last band practice before the competition.
***
“How was your night with Taylor, eh, mate?” Niall inquired, elbowing Harry’s ribs. They were sitting in the band room together, having both arrived early to practice.
“Definitely interesting,” Harry responded vaguely.
“Oh? What does that mean?” Niall asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Well, we kind of, um, added a third…” Harry trailed off.
“Another bird? Wow, little Harry is all grown up!”
“Piss off, Niall,” Harry retorted.
“What? Nothing wrong with a little threesome. You know I had my fun in Japan last summer with those two girls,” Niall mentioned, winking at Harry. Yes, Harry had unwillingly heard all the details about Niall’s trip to Japan.
“Actually, Taylor invited another bloke,” Harry said, ducking his head down with a twinge of embarrassment.
“Oh? That’s fun. How did you like it then?” Niall questioned, raising his eyebrow.
“It was alright. He was a nice bloke,” Harry brushed off.
“Nice looking, eh?” Niall smirked.
“I guess you could say that. I don’t know, Niall,” Harry responded, a little defensively.
“Okay, mate. Nice that you’re trying new things,” Niall said, insinuating something more with his tone.
“Sure,” Harry said, a little embarrassed. He didn’t want Niall to think that he had turned gay after last night. After all, it had been a fun experience but Harry didn’t think it was something he would try again anytime soon. “How was your night?” Harry asked Niall, trying to subtly switch the subject.
Niall looked at him suspiciously for a second before brushing it off and responding. “It was alright, mate. I just headed down to the pub with a few of my friends. Pretty plain night,” he explained.
“Sounds fun,” Harry responded. Evan then walked in, with Regulus and Remus slowly trailing behind.
“Orright, guys? How was everyone’s night?” Evan asked, smiling. The three said that their nights were ‘good,’ but Regulus didn’t respond. Niall gave Harry a look, then stifled a laugh. Shortly after they all sat down, Barty stormed in. It was hard to say what he was angry about this time, so everyone just ignored it and they began practicing.
They started with Please Don’t Leave Me and Stronger Side a few times before going into the final song they needed to practice. The last one needed to be a cover, and it had been a heated debate in some of their previous practices.
A few days earlier, they had picked the song they were going to cover, The Chain by Fleetwood Mac. The boys each brought out their instruments and prepared to begin the song. Remus began playing his guitar with Barty simultaneously keeping the beat in the background on the drums. After a little bit, Harry, Evan, and Niall came in singing different harmonies.
Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise
Running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies
And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain (never break the chain)
And if you don't love me now (you don't love me now)
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying (still hear you saying)
You would never break the chain (never break the chain)
Listen to the wind blow, down comes the night
Running in the shadows, damn your love, damn your lies
Break the silence, damn the dark, damn the light
And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain (never break the chain)
And if you don't love me now (you don't love me now)
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying (still hear you saying)
You would never break the chain (never break the chain)
And if you don't love me now (you don't love me now)
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying (still hear you saying)
You would never break the chain (never break the chain)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain
***
As per usual, when Peter walked into the practice room, James, Sirius, Louis, Zayn, and Liam were all there. They had been chatting about their nights and the upcoming qualifying round. Because this was their last practice before the qualifiers,, everyone was extremely nervous. Luckily, they decided on the song they wanted to cover a few days ago, so all that was left was practicing everything.
They started with Grimmauld Place, and after playing that a few times, they felt quite confident about it. Next, they moved on to The Peak of Paradise, which also was going well. Finally, they spent the majority of their practice learning Eye of the Tiger, a cover of the song by the band Survivor that they thought fit well with their band’s sound and overall message.
James began playing the guitar, slowly building up anticipation. Then, Sirius came in with the louder chords. Finally, Peter came in with the drums and the band all played together, preparing for Liam to begin singing.
Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive
So many times, it happens too fast
You trade your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger
Face to face, out on the heat
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry
They stack the odds still we take to the street
For the kill, with the skill to survive
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger
Risin' up, straight to the top
Had the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger
The eye of the tiger
The eye of the tiger
The eye of the tiger
The eye of the tiger
“Nice work, lads!” Zayn encouraged after practicing the song a few times. Everyone felt confident that they would be ready and blow the competition away. After all, nothing could be worse than their tragic loss in the last competition.
Regulus immediately checked his phone after practice and was greeted with a text from his lovely mother, Walburga.
Hi my darling, I heard from Narcissa that your brother has joined a rock band in London, of all things. He’s such a disgrace to the family name. I’m so glad you turned out nothing like him. Ta ta darling, call soon! XX - Mother
He quickly shot back a response, careful not to let on that he, ironically, was also in a rock band. He wondered if he and his brother would ever cross paths at a competition or something. He wanted to say that he hoped that they wouldn’t, but a piece of him has been yearning for Sirius ever since he left when Regulus was 15.
Hi, Mother. Wow, I can’t believe that Sirius is in a band. I promise, I won’t turn out like him. Talk soon - Regulus
***
Louis messaged Eleanor to come over to his flat around 7. To be honest, he was dreading having this fight, since they often fought about this same topic but always just pushed it off until a later date. He guessed today would finally be the day.
Eleanor opened the door at around 7:15, giving him a kiss as a greeting and essentially acting as if nothing was wrong. This was precisely why they had been together for so long, since they could never have a proper fight and discuss their feelings, always just pushing them aside. Sometimes all Louis wanted was someone who would even care to argue with him about something real, rather than just having pointless altercations.
“Eleanor, we need to talk about what happened today,” Louis started wearily.
“What do you mean, babe?” She asked, oblivious to what he was insinuating.
“I mean when we were fighting after my calc class earlier.”
“Oh, that? That was just a silly argument, babe. Nothing to get so serious over,” she said, almost amused at him bringing it up.
“No, Eleanor, it wasn’t just a ‘silly argument’ to me. You have always had resentment for the band and how much time I dedicate to it, which I think is really unfair,” he explained, getting angry at how she had just brushed their early conversation aside.
“Well, I don’t think it’s fair how you think you can just ignore me, your girlfriend, to go and play some stupid songs with your mates,” Eleanor fought back.
“You don’t understand! They aren’t just stupid songs, they mean a lot to me! If you even bothered to care at all, you would know that we have a huge competition next week and that’s why I’ve been so busy with the band. If you were a good girlfriend, you would support me instead of getting angry with me!” He yelled.
“I am an amazing girlfriend,” she shouted back. “I-I always spend time with you, I put up with your friends, I don’t know, I just am!”
“None of those are good reasons, Eleanor! You and I both know the only reason we’ve been together for so long is because we can’t address our issues,” Louis stated.
“No, we don’t have issues. I don’t know why all of a sudden you’re acting like we have so many problems when we’ve been happy for so long!”
“Well, maybe you’ve been happy, but I sure haven’t. And I’m not gonna stay with you any longer and watch myself suffer with a girlfriend who can’t even support my own dreams!”
“What are you saying?” She asked, with a very frightened tone.
“We’re done, Eleanor. This is our final breakup. I just can’t do it anymore,” Louis shouted, letting out a sigh of relief after he finally said it.
“What?” She screamed. “You can’t break up with me! We’ve been together for so long, how could you?”
“I’m done wasting my life in a relationship that only hurts me!”
“How dare you say that! I’ve been nothing but good to you.”
“No, Eleanor, you haven’t. If you’d listened to anything I said you would see my point exactly. Now, I would really like to spend the rest of my night in peace, so if you could kindly get out, I would greatly appreciate it,” Louis said, regretting his harsh tone at the end a bit.
“Louis, you cannot kick me out! You can’t just break up with me like that!”
“I just did. Now get out, please,” he stated calmly. She huffed and stood up, stomping her high heels towards the door.
“You are clearly not right in the head, Louis Tomlinson. Now, when you call me back tomorrow and beg for forgiveness, I won’t be so quick to take you back,” she yelled, slamming the door on her way out. Louis let out a long breath and collapsed onto his couch, feeling a bit like an unbearable weight had just been lifted off of his shoulders. He was free.