Holiday Drama at Springfield High School

by Mr. C.J.O

This fanfic is set on December 17-19, 2004, and involves Harry and Maggie, now high school teenagers, preparing for a huge winter concert. WARNING: Almost a straight remake of my first fanfic. Also, I know, it sucks. Contains violence, mild language and references to drug use.

Holiday Drama at Springfield High School

Part 1

This story starts out on Friday December 17, 2004, which was the day before Christmas vacation officially began for the students of Springfield High School. All the teenagers who were enrolled at Springfield High during this time were celebrating this event. But none of them more so than 13-year-old Harold "Harry" Jay Simpson, and his older sister 15-year-old Margaret "Maggie" Patricia Simpson, the two youngest Simpson kids. Now he was a freshman actually having skipped a grade being a straight A student, and she was a senior, actually having skipped two grades being a straight A-plus student. They were both the most excited about this event, of course both of them had completely different reasons. Of course, Harry was excited because he would finally get a break from the pressures of high school. And Maggie was excited because she was going to sing a big solo piece for the Springfield Holiday Concert tommorow night. However, their excitement turned to panic in an instant when one of the senior girls got high and went on a destructive holiday rampage.

That morning played out like a normal morning for them. Harry got up at 5:30 a.m. and, being a cartoonist for the school newspaper, he was working on the final draft of his artwork. Maggie got up at 6:00 a.m. and, being a top reporter for the school newspaper, she was editing her final draft of her latest article. By 7:00, they were ready for school. They said good-bye to their parents, who were just getting out of bed, before heading out to the bus. They sat in their usual seats and the bus pulled back onto the road. Harry pulled out his guitar and started practicing for the concert tomorrow. Maggie took out a paper with lyrics written on it and practiced her singing for her big solo for the concert. The two junior girls sitting in front of her heard her singing and were absoultely amazed. One girl faced her and said, "Oh Maggie, that was beautiful!" Her friend faced her as well and said, "Yeah, you have such a beautiful voice!" Maggie blushed slightly and replied, "Oh well, thank you." They said together, "Melt some hearts, girl!". Meanwhile, Harry's guitar playing had caught the attention of the two sophomore boys sitting behind him. One boy said to him, "Hey Harry, you've got some mad skills!" The other boy said, "Yeah, man. If that was a rock song, you would have destroyed that thing!". Harry turned to them and replied, "Gosh, thanks guys." They said together, "Rock on, dude!". By that time, the bus was just pulling into Springfield High's bus loop and stopped in the precise spot of the sidewalk leading to the front of the school. The kids stood up and got out of their seats. Maggie folded her lyric sheet and put it in her bag and casually got up and walked off the bus. Harry, on the other hand, struggled to put his guitar back in its case. He grumbled, "Damn guitar case!" as its zipper got stuck and he had to use much of his strength to zip it closed, then, carrying his guitar with him, he hightailed it out of the bus, nearly tripping over the sidewalk as he got off. He thought, "All I have to do is survive until 2:45 and I'll be home free for the next two weeks. Thank God!".

The bell which started school rang at exactly 8:15 a.m. Harry ran off to room 123 on the first floor for biology which was his first class. Maggie ran off to room 246 on the second floor for world history which was her first class. Neither class was doing much today, as both of their classes watched a film related to their subject and were asked to answer questions about it. Second period was not much different. Harry's algebra class was just doing a few extra credit "brain teaser" questions. Maggie's english class was just going over a quiz that had been taken last week. It seemed that nobody's classes were doing the day before vacation. Lunch period began at around quarter after eleven, and was divided by levels (1st: 2nd level, 2nd: 1st level, 3rd: 4th level, 4th: 3rd level). This period, Harry was in the jazz band and Maggie was in the select chorus, both were in the same room on the ground floor, and both classes were holding their final rehearsal before the concert tommorow night. Just before noon, the band and the chorus was released to the cafeteria also on the ground floor for about a half-hour. During that time, most of the ground floor students talked about many different things, such as holiday break, the concert, and a lot of other stuff. Meanwhile, Harry and Maggie were just talking about family things. After the students got back to the band/chorus room, they performed their parts. The jazz band went first, then the chorus went. After both groups finished, Harry pulled out his guitar and started playing. A few seconds after that, Maggie walked up to the microphone and started to sing the song that she would perform tomorrow night. The teacher and the rest of the students who were watching from the bleachers watched in absolute amazement at the emotional power of her voice. The girls were on the verge of tears, and the boys stood there, frozen with their mouths half-open, totally mesmerized. Even Harry, who knew a lot of things, could not believe what was happening and he stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the song, once he could clearly hear Maggie's beautiful soprano voice. She concluded her song with an operatic high note that vibrated throughout the room was easily heard in the hallway, and could even be heard in classrooms up to 25 feet away from the music room. Everyone in the room applauded wildly, then the music teacher ran up to her and exclaimed, "Margaret, that was absolutely brilliant!". Everyone voiced their approval of her performance. Maggie smiled and said "Thank you, everybody". Then Harry said, "Maggie, that was totally awesome!". Just then, the school principal knocked on the open door and said, "Hello everyone, I hope I'm not interrupting anything". The music teacher said, "Oh, not at all, but you did miss a beautiful performance by our young Margaret here". He replied, "Anyway, I have some incredible news. I have just recieved confirmation that this year's concert is going to recorded live and shown on none other than TRL". Everyone in the room exploded with excitement. All of a sudden, the bell signaling the end of third period rang. As everyone walked out of the room, the music teacher called out, "Okay, that's all for today, class. I hope to see you all tommorow night, and don't forget to practice!".

The last period of the day for both Harry and Maggie was study hall, which was held every Friday during fourth period in the auditorium. It was back to everyone pretty much doing nothing, so they asked the teacher if they could go to the library for the period. He said to them, "You two might as well go, no one's doing anything here". He then signed their passes and the two started to walk to the library. As they were walking, they heard a series of loud bangs. Maggie asked, "What on earth is that noise?" Harry replied, "I don't know, but it sounds like its coming from the end of the hallway." They rushed over there to see what was happening, and were both quite shocked to see one of the senior girls smashing a row of lockers to bits with a baseball bat. Harry looked at Maggie and said, "Okay, why is she doing that?" Maggie answered his question with "I am not sure, but I am going to find out. You go and get help." His reply was, "Okay, but please be careful". She then ran over to the girl, put her in a headlock, and demanded, "What the hell do you think you're doing?". The girl's reaction was to hit Maggie in her left knee with the bat as hard as she could to get her off. Maggie screamed and fell onto the floor, and the girl slammed her bat into her left shoulder a couple times, then into her arm three times. The girl then saw that Maggie had somehow gotten up and was trying to escape, but she stopped her with two brutal blows to her right leg. She screamed again and fell back down. Meanwhile, Harry, who had barely gotten halfway down the hall, heard Maggie screaming and, deciding that he no choice but to go back and save his sister, sprinted to the scene. The girl simultaneously had managed to hit Maggie in her right knee two times and in her left leg two times. Harry finally got to the scene and charged at the girl. She was so busy attacking Maggie that she didn't even notice him until it was too late. He jumped in the air and gave the girl a karate kick to her abdomen, which made her fall onto the floor, but she was still conscious and still very much mad. He still managed to grab her by the shirt and pull her up and he punched her face a few times, then bashed her head into the wall, which finally rendered her unable to fight anymore. He dropped her on the floor and yelled at her, "I don't know who you think you are, but you better listen to me and you better listen good. If you ever, and I mean ever attack my sister the way you just did again, I will track you down, and I will do to you what you did to her! Do you comprehend that?" The girl lifted her head and said, "All right, all right, I get the point, just stay away from me.", before passing out. Maggie, who had been watching the whole encounter, gasped in shock.

Right after this happened, Harry rushed over to Maggie and was truly horrified by what the girl had put her through. She was sprawled on the floor, her legs contorted in different directions and clutching her arm. When he got a closer look, he could see the tears literally pouring down her face. He realized that she needed help, so he went pounding on every classroom door he could find and at the same time, "Help, somebody help!". About 150 people came rushing out of the classrooms and they saw Maggie and rushed over to her. Harry shouted over the crowd to his sister, "I'll be right back, I'm going to call an ambulance. Everybody keep an eye on her!". Luckily, the office was only a few yards away, so he got there in exactly one second. In his panic, he accidentally ran into the door, forgetting to open it. He noticed this and opened the door and charged in. The principal who happened to have his door heard Harry run in. He came out and asked "Harry, is something wrong?". Harry's reply was, "Yes, something is very much wrong! One of the senior girls just attacked my sister!". The principal asked "Did you try to stop her?" Harry responded, "Yes, in fact I was so mad at that girl that I knocked her out myself to get her off my sister." The principal looked at him again and then turned to the secretary and said, "Call the hospital. Tell them to send an ambulance, stat!". He turned back to Harry and said, "Now, I'm going to call your parents to inform them about what's happened." However, he responded with "It's okay, sir. I'll call them, besides it's easier for my parents in general to listen to someone familiar." His response was "Well, all right, if you know what you're doing." Then the principal walked back to his office and mumbled, "Boy, what a way to end a week." Harry ran back to the hallway and got to the scene. The crowd by this time was so compacted, that he had to battle his way through to get back to Maggie. Then Harry stated to her, "Don't worry Maggie, they've just called the hospital and an ambulance is on the way". However Maggie, her voice quavering from her sobs, asked, "But what if that girl wakes up and she attacks again?" To that, he replied, "If she does, which I highly doubt, I'll knock her out again." Just then a spasm of pain hit her and she let out a wailing cry. Everyone was talking over each other, all of them were wanting to know what was happening. Suddenly, people heard a most welcome sound. One of the junior boys said, "The ambulance is here." Then one of the sophomore girls said, "Hey, you're right." Harry, of course breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Oh, Thank God. They're here! And in record time!". The paramedics rushed through the double doors, bringing down the stretcher with them. The crowd made way for them to get through. Then Harry moved out of the way so they could get to Maggie. All three of them along with about five other people carefully lifted her into the stretcher and secured her in so she wouldn't fall out by accident and cause more serious injury. On the way, she asked him in the same quavering voice, "What about the family? They don't know what happened yet." To that, he replied, "I'm going to call them as soon as we head off." They wheeled her into the ambulance, and he closed the double doors behind him. Then they speeded off. By now, it was 1:45 p.m.

Part 2

Right after they pulled out onto the road, Harry pulled out his cellphone and dialed the number 357-2468. He waited anxiously for an answer. Meanwhile, at 848 Redwood Fairway, the home of Bart Simpson and Lisa Simpson, the two oldest Simpson children, the phone suddenly started ringing. Bart was spread out on the couch, and using the TV remote to try to find a good show to watch, while Lisa, fighting a bad flu virus that was spreading around town, was laying down in her room. When the phone rang, he decided not to disturb her and answered the phone with, "Hello, who may I ask is this?" Of course Harry, who was on the other end responded, "Hey big brother, it's me." Bart replied, "Hey man, how's it going. Anything going on in school right now?" To that, Harry in a rather panicky voice stated, "Well Bart, it's kind of funny you should ask." With this response, Bart got the notion that something was up and asked, "Harry, what the hell is going on, and where are you?" Of course with this, Harry went into freeze mode. Maggie saw this and lifted her head, then said, "Let me handle this". He moved the phone near her head and she asked, "Bart, can you get Lisa on the phone for a minute. I have to tell her something important." Bar said, "Well, all right little sis', I'll put you on her speaker phone." He then put the phone down for a second and shouted, "Lisa, someone's on the phone for you. I'll put it on your speakerphone." She said rather groggily, "Okay, thanks.". Then she, still laying down, pressed the speaker button on the phone on her nightstand and answered, "Hello, who's this." On the other end, Maggie answered, "Hi, sis.". Lisa responded, "Oh Maggie, it's you. What's wrong." Maggie's answer was, "Yes, one of the senior girls was high and she was bashing in the lockers with a baseball bat" As she continued, the pain she had been suffering through got worse, and over the other end, Lisa could definently hear the tears creep into Maggie's voice. She continued "I tried to stop her myself, but then she got her weapon and she attacked me." Lisa gasped in shock and said, "Oh My God! Are you all right?". Maggie's response was "I don't know how badly I've been injured yet." Then Lisa asked, "Well, where are you now?" Maggie said, "Right now, I'm on a stretcher in an ambulance on my way to the hospital." Lisa said, "Okay, we'll meet you there.", then hung up. She rushed out of her room, and said to Bart, "Come on Bart, we're going to the hospital". Bart obviously didn't understand at first. He asked, "Lisa, would you mind telling me what's going on?" Her response was, "We have to go. Maggie has been attacked and she's on her way to the hospital right now!" He said, "Oh, God! It's happening again!". As Bart said this, the memory he had of the day Lisa was attacked right before junior high graduation in June of 1994 re-entered his mind. But somehow that seemed to make him more determined to get there as soon as possible. They both rushed to the car and they pulled out and drove away almost as fast as a lightning bolt.

It was only about 10 minutes before Bart and Lisa reached Springfield General Hospital. As soon as they got out, the memory of that day managed to re-enter Lisa's mind as well. She looked at Bart and said, "God, this place sure brings back memories. The only problem is, they're not exactly good memories". He looked her in the eye and responded, "I know, it certainly does. But we don't have time to dwell on that right now." She answered back, "You're right, we have to find out what happened to Maggie." They charged in through the automatic doors, ran up to the front desk, and unwittingly said together, "We're looking for Maggie Simpson's room." The receptionist said, "Fourth floor. Room 482.". They said at the same time, "Thank you.", and rushed to the elevator. They reached the fourth floor and ran down the hall only to run right into Harry, who was just running down the hall to meet them, and all three of them fell onto the floor. Harry got up and said, "God, am I glad to see you two!". Then Bart said, "Same here, I guess. Anyway what's the damage?" To that, Harry responded, "We don't know yet. Maggie's just getting her X-rays done now. Then Lisa said, "Oh, dear. How long does that take?". Harry answered her question with, "I think a few minutes. Anyway she should be back in her room now. Come on, I'll show you where." Then all three of them ran down the hall to room 482 and they all tried to enter at once, but they all fell through the frame and landed on the floor once again. Maggie, with her face streaked with tears and her arm and both of her legs now in splints, managed to lift herself up and ask, "Are you all okay?", before yet another spasm of pain hit her and she fell back down onto the bed. Both Bart and Lisa answered her question with, "Don't worry, we're all right." Then Harry asked her, "More importantly, are you going to be okay?" Maggie answered his question by saying, "I really don't know. They told me I'd find out when the X-rays are done being developed." Not long after that, the doctor came in and attached the X-ray paper on the lighted board near the door. Then Bart and Lisa walked up to him and asked at the same time yet again, "What's the assessment, doctor." Harry cut them off and expressed his annoyance of their speaking at the same time by saying, "No offense guys, but that talking together is just weird." They glared at him and looked at the X-rays and they both were in shock. He moved in between them and looked for himself and he gasped and whispered, "Dear God." Maggie lifted herself up again and asked, "What's wrong?". The doctor looked at her with a grave expression and he said, "Well Maggie, I'm afraid I have a lot of bad news for you." Her response was "Oh, dear. Well what's the assessment of the damage?". He said to her, "Well, your left shoulder is dislocated, your lower left arm is broken in three places, both your kneecaps are severly sprained, and both your legs are broken in two places". She sighed and asked, "Are you serious? That girl did all that?" He said, "I'm afraid so.". Then she asked, "What do we do now?". His response was, "We'll have to put your arm in a cast and then put a sling around that to help your shoulder heal. Then we'll have to put a cast on both of your legs." Then Harry cut in and asked, "Excuse me doc, not to rush you, but how long will this procedure take?". The doctor looked at him with a somewhat annoyed expression and said, "Usually, the time it takes to go through a complete cast application on someone is about 20 or 30 minutes. But in this case, it could take an hour or more, if there's only one person working on the casts." Bart asked, "Is the "casting room" busy today". The doctor said, "Actually, we've had only 2 or 3 people in there today, and none of the patients are in there now." Lisa responded, "Oh, okay then, so this could be a bit faster than we thought". Harry looked up and asked, "Is it all right if I take my sister to the casting room?" The doctor's response was, "Well, I don't see why not. Let me just grab a wheelchair so you can take her." Then he said, "It's all right doc. I have one right behind me." Then he carefully lifted his sister out of the bed, gently placed her in the wheelchair, and wheeled her into the "casting room". There were actually 3 doctors in there so they would possibly be able to finish within a half-hour. As the doctors worked on Maggie, she turned to Harry and said, "Listen, I never thanked you properly for saving my life this afternoon." His answer to this was, "Well Maggie, you don't have to. I just felt that I had to, because...because... I love you and I don't want anything bad to happen to you." She replied, "Oh Harry, I love you too, and I really appreciate that you tried so hard to save me". He responded, "I just wished that I could have stopped that devilish witch of a girl sooner, then maybe you wouldn't have been hurt so badly." She merely answered, "Well, you tried your best and that's all that matters". As soon as the doctors finished, they hugged each other and he lifted her into the wheelchair, and they went down to the waiting room and out to the car where their parents were waiting. He carefully lifted her into the car, folded the wheelchair, put in it the trunk, got in, and they drove away. By now it was 4:00 p.m.

The next morning, Harry sat at the table and was reading the newspaper, when he heard Maggie come in in her wheelchair. He turned to her and said, "Good morning, sis. How are you feeling today?" She said, "Well, I'll tell you, I'm feeling much better than I did yesterday." Then he asked her, "Yesterday was quite a day, wasn't it?" She responded, "Yes, it was.". Neither one of them had slept at all last night. They were both too exhausted to say much. He said, "You know, I've heard that the concert might be cancelled because of what happened." Her response was, "Oh, I hope they don't do that. I mean all the practing we all did, it would go right down the drain." Just then, the phone rang. Harry picked it up and answered with his custom call of, "Simpson Manor, Harold speaking." It was the principal on the other end. He answered, "Good morning to you, sir. I just wanted to let you and your sister know that after an all night debate, the concert is still going to go on as planned. Is she there right now." His response was "Sure, hang on a second." then he put the phone down and called out, "Maggie, you have a call." She picked up the phone on the table and asked, "Hello, who is this?" The principal said, "Good morning, Maggie, I just wanted to let you know that the concert's still on for tonight. But don't worry, if you don't feel like you're well enough to perform or even attend, we'll all understand." But she was determined not to let something as simple as being attacked stop her from coming. She said, "I'm sorry, sir, but if I don't go, I'll feel like I'm letting the entire school down. I am going, and that is final!" She hung up the phone, a liitle too hard and a spasm of pain went up her arm. Harry, who had been watching this, stood there in astonishment. He asked, "So I guess this means that you're going to the concert then." She turned to him and said, "Definently yes. Now come on we have to practice before we head down to the Civic Center." as she wheeled to the music room, which had been converted from the old playroom that had been built back in 1990.

A few hours before showtime at the Springfield Civic Center, the TRL crew was setting up the cameras and the members of both the band and the chorus were going through last-minute rehearsals. With people playing music or singing over each other, it was rather chaotic. The music teacher came out and said to everyone, "I am thrilled that all of you actually showed up this year." But then he noticed that not everyone was there. He asked, "Where are the Simpson kids?" One of the boys in the band said, "Oh, they're going to be a little late". However, the teacher, who did not like it when people did not show up on time, asked, "Well, can someone tell me the reason why they are going to be late?" Then one of the girls in the chorus said, "Sir, didn't you hear what happened yesterday?" He asked, "No I have not, what happened?". She answered "Maggie was attacked by one of the senior girls, right after rehearsals yesterday, and she had to be rushed to the hospital." To that, the teacher said, "Oh, my. Well, I didn't know that." All of a sudden, the door opened. Maggie pushed her wheelchair down the ramp while Harry, now carrying his keyboard, followed not far behind. The teacher ran over to her and said to her, "My dear lady, I just heard what happened to you yesterday. Are you all right?". She responded with, "Well, if I wasn't all right, would I be here right now?" Then her brother said to her, "Yeah, right on!". At 8:00 p.m. on the dot, the cameras turned on and the concert began. The concert began on a high note and only got better from there. The band kept perfect time while the voices of the chorus were as healthy as ever. Then the final act, came Maggie's big solo sequence in the form of the song "My Heart Will Go On". As with yesterday, Harry started off with the music. Then Maggie wheeled over to the microphone and started singing. The audience, seeing her with all the damage she had obtained from yesterday, but still having the courage to perform the song, just immediately felt their emotions melt. In fact, it seemed that the further into the song, Maggie's already angelic voice became increadibly even more beauiful, by the amount of emotion that naturally came bubbling up in her as she sang. Just as yesterday, she concluded her piece with an operatic high-note, but this one was even more powerful than the one she had delivered yesterday and it continued until the music faded out. Everyone in the room, including the camera crew, their faces all streaked with tears, stood up and exploded with applause. One of the cameramen said to his partner, "Oh man, that was amazing." His partner said, "You bet it was amazing." Harry walked over to Maggie and said to her, "Once again, sis. You have exceeded my highest expectatations." They hugged each other and went over to the other performers who were joined hand-in-hand and they joined in. Everyone gave a bow and the audience kept on applauding, and they continued for over ten minutes before it finally died down.

Epilogue

The next morning, Harry and Maggie were both looking at the entertainment section of the newspaper, when they spotted some of the reviews that the concert had recieved. Every reviewer, from New York City, Los Angeles, California and Chicago, Illinois to Denver, Colorado, Dallas, Texas, and Washington D.C. praised the concert for being more family-friendly than any before, and the brilliance of the performers in general, especially Maggie. Then they noticed the column that stated that the concert had drawn in record viewers for MTV. Harry said, "Well, it looks like the concert was a huge success." To that, Maggie responded, "Yeah, a overwhelming success both in the ratings and in critic's reviews." MTV could not have made a better choice than Springfield for that year's concert. In fact, the ratings were so high, that MTV got TRL to record Springfield's next three holiday concerts, all of which were just as successful as the 2004 holiday concert. And it is that amount of success that gives this story a happy ending.