A/N: I don't own these characters, they own themselves.. They are #loosely# based on people I know, unless any of them are reading, in which case, they're not. ; ) First one to spot ten needless song references wins a special mention. And feedback is appreciated as always.

One

Three weeks ago, I was looking forward to a simple, relaxed visit home, some heavy-duty catching up and a reminder of why I left for Milwaukee in the first place. That was it- all my summer was destined to be. A lazy, sun-drenched seven weeks under a resolutely Minnesota sky, the sun, if anything, the only thing possibly lacking from this hopelessly idyllic notion.

The first sign this was about to be called into dispute came in the shape of an electric blue flyer tacked to the student union notice board, partially obscuring a wanted ad for a VCR and a plea for extra soccer players to try out for the varsity squad, the latter dog-eared and at least three months old. No, scrap that. Will's reaction was the sign. The flyer was merely an electrifying, eye-catching catalyst.

Admittedly, I was the first to draw attention to it, but that was due more to the fact we had been stood outside waiting for Denny, Will's brother, for twenty empty minutes than it was to any real interest on my part in the contents of the seemingly untouched leaflet.

"Hey, look at this." I unpinned the flyer and handed it to a less than enthusiastic Will, who frowned as she reluctantly took it from me, glancing again through the door Denny had disappeared through in the hope of him returning.

"So?" Will scanned the heading and then flipped it over, shrugging with disinterest when she found no additional information to lure her into reading it fully. Still clutching the piece of paper, she checked her watch again. "Come on, Den," she muttered, shifting her weight from foot to foot with mild impatience for the brother she had never quite managed to escape, even now they were in college. "You're not serious about this, are you?" she asked after a moment, brushing her long brown hair out of her face and indicating the flyer again..

I grinned. "No way." I dug my hands in the back pockets of my jeans. "I'm just looking forward to going home again."

Will grinned back impishly. "Fair point," she conceded. "I guess I'd be psyched to go home too if Jeff was gonna be there."

I rolled my eyes. Ever since meeting my brother on the day we had driven from Morris Park, Minnesota, to Woodstock University, Wisconsin, Will had been ever so slightly infatuated. "Give it up, already," I pleaded, crossing my eyes at her. "Believe me. Jeff's just.. Jeff." I shrugged. "And practically married, at that," I added, wondering if our parents had any idea of this latest development as yet. Jeff had sworn me to secrecy until he told me otherwise, and I was still waiting to be un-sworn. "Anyway," I continued, referring back to the original topic of conversation. "I have no wish to be trekking all the way to Maryland this summer."

"Maryland?" Will frowned and glanced down again.

"Yeah." As the door behind us opened and Denny reappeared, I waved a hand vaguely over the paper Will had suddenly gained interest in. "Says there. Hector Park, Baltimore." I raised an eyebrow. "Or is my geography failing me?"

Will stuck her tongue out at me and grinned. "Right on, Brit girl," she congratulated me mockingly. "Hey, Den," she added as he put an arm round her shoulder. "Where've you been?"

"I told you it'd take a while," he reminded her. "You wanna go and get some coffee?" he added, twisting his arm round so he could see his wristwatch.

"Sure." Will nodded, shoving the flyer in her pocket quickly as the three of us headed outside, cutting across the subdued lawns towards the on-campus coffee house, a place I had probably spent far too many hours since arriving at Woodstock. Once we'd grabbed a table, Denny went off to get the drinks, while Will and I sat, Will bringing out the blue leaflet yet again when Denny was out of sight. Her behaviour was, quite frankly, strange to say the least.

"You know, we could do this." Will, for once, looked deadly serious. Jabbing the now-crumpled paper, she added, rather earnestly, "Think about it. I mean, it's not that far. And it sounds like fun."

I eyed her sceptically. "You think?"

"Don't you?" Will was still staring at the flyer like it held all the secrets to the universe. "This is exactly what we've been talking about," she continued, gathering pace. "I mean, the band has really come together over the last couple of months. I'm sure we could compete. And the four of us would have a blast."

I raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you forgetting something, Will? Denny and Meg just had the most acrimonious break-up since.. ever. Somehow I don't think spending two weeks together at this festival thing is going to be the best cure for that."

Will sat back in her seat. "I guess so." She was silent for a moment. "It's just. we're never going to get anywhere playing crappy little gigs in Milwaukee, are we? This.. thing"- she gestured to the leaflet- "would be a great way of getting out there and playing to loads of people. Get some recognition. Have some fun." She looked at me. "At least tell me you agree with that part."

I grinned, both amused and surprised at her sudden desire to promote the band outside of the city. "Okay, okay," I conceded. "I see where you're coming from. Really," I added as she glanced at me doubtfully. "And yeah, it has the potential to be fun. But."

"But what?" Will leapt on my apparent negativity straight away, looking slightly wounded, as if I had personally offended her.

"But our bassist and our vocalist are fighting a world war," I countered. "We have no way of getting to Baltimore, no car, no money, no anything."

Will was torn between pushing for victory or conceding defeat when Denny sat down in the remaining seat and distributed the coffees he had just bought. "What's up?" he asked, spying the subject of mine and Will's halted conversation on the tabletop. "A music festival?" He looked at us for confirmation. "Cool."

"See!" Will suddenly looked brighter. "I thought it would be fun to go," she told her brother, who was reading it for himself. "Take the band, I mean." She waited for his response.

"Oh." Denny frowned. "I thought we'd decided to put the band on ice for now." He glanced at me. "What with.. you know. Meg stuff." Switching his gaze to Will, he added, more gently, "And do you really think it's a good idea to be going all the way to Baltimore?"

Will met his eyes, appearing troubled as the two of them stayed as such for what seemed like an age. "One way to find out," she said finally, her voice less carefree than her flippant words.

"Well.." Denny sighed, finally looking away with something approaching regret in his eyes. "Look, if that's what you wanna do, go ahead. But you'll have to count me and Meg out."

"But.. that's impossible." Will's renewed hope at fulfilling her somewhat bizarre plan was suddenly replaced with more despondency. "We can't take half a band!"

Denny sat back, his usually ever-present smile fading. "Not my problem," he shrugged, draining the last of his coffee as the three of us sat in uneasy silence.

* * * * *

So that was that. In one swift move, my summer was suddenly looking a whole lot different. You might be forgiven for thinking the whole idea was dead in the water after Denny's less-than-thrilled response and my own wish to be somewhere else in the eight weeks between our freshman and sophomore years. Not so. Will was not normally so set in her ways, and neither was she particularly persuasive or closed off to alternative suggestions, which was cause for most niggles in our year- long friendship, the two of being equally indecisive when it came down to it.

But Will had a bee in her bonnet about this. Never mind that we had half a band, never mind that we looked like hitching a ride to Baltimore, never mind that there were bound to be plenty of indecently talented acts gracing the stage at this festival, all designed to show up our glaring flaws when it came to our musical ability. Never mind that in short, it was ludicrous. Will wanted to go, and she had stabbed me with the obligation-through-friendship knife, leaving me with little or no choice.

The dream was there. All that was left to do was to fulfil the practicalities that threatened to be our downfall.

Stormer: cheers for reviewing! Glad you liked the first chapter. yeah, lots of angst to come, just to cheer you all up! #lol#