Yes, I've actually posted a multi-chaptered Rent story. Let me say though, this was not written entirely by me. This is a partnership effort with WontYouLightMyCandle. This is a roleplay plot of ours that as we started doing we decided to edit into a story. So ta-da.
I supposed I should now explain said plot. This is not another Rent!highschool fic. The originally idea was to take the plot of Rent, as well as everything we know about pre and post Rent, and merge it into a single year of high school. Which eventfully means that it's Rent, but everybody's younger, and there's parents, teachers, classes, adn things of that sort as well.
Now, because of this it is slightly AU. Characters may meet earlier than intended to, they may have a different type of relationship than depicted. But in the end, everything works out the same. Also, because this originally was/is a roleplay, the plot does not move extremely fast. No large time skips or anything. We start with when people arrive at school and end when they go home. But here's the thing. If you've ever gone to school, you'd know that something interesting happens each and every day.
This is a semi-prologue. We needed to introduce our characters, clear up couples, and get a hang of roleplaying them. Which means, nothing major happens, and people may seem slightly out of character. (This may also be due to the fact its pre-rent.) Future chapters will be much longer as well.
Also, updates may not be consistent. I'd like to do so often, but because this is based off a roleplay, we need to roleplay it first, and thanks to time differences, this is getting immensely hard. Do bear with us though, because we will continue with the story.
If anyone cares, anything written by or about Roger, Collins, Benny, Joanne, or Angel was done by me. Anything about or by Mark, Maureen, Alison, Mimi, or April was done by Jenny. (WontYouLightMyCandle)
DISCLAIMER: We don't own Rent. We rent.... Isn't it obvious?
(And on a side note: I am NEVER leaving this long an authors note again. Ever! Seriously, I'm sorry, but i had a lot to say, so yeah. No more.)
CHAPTER ONE – CONNECTION IN AN ISOLATING AGE
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Don't breathe too deep
Don't think all day
Dive into work
Drive the other way
That drip of hurt
That pint of shame
Goes away
Just play the game
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"Marrkiiiii I'm bored," Maureen pouted, nudging her boyfriend. "And besides who does homework during lunch?"
Mark glared at her, "Someone who forgot last night 'cos he was with you."
"Oh yeah..." Maureen laughed and took a mirror out of her bag, starting to re-apply her scarlet lipstick.
"Seriously," Mark sighed, "In the lunch room?....Why can't you do that in the bathroom like every other girl in this place"
"'Cos that's where the junkies are" She whined, putting her lipstick in her bag again. Just as she was starting to make sense to Mark she added, "And anyway, I'd be depriving my public of Me."
Mark rolled his eyes and went back to his math homework. Sometimes he didn't know why he dated her.
Roger was pacing around the lunch room a bit away from them. He was bored, tired, hungry, hadn't done any homework, and really needed a hit. In other words, he was not in a good mood. Finally he hesitantly joined his friends.
He wasn't able to think up a sarcastic remark about the odd things they chose to do during lunch, so he just kind of nodded. "Hey guys."
Maureen instantly felt bad about having gone on about junkies in the bathroom earlier. "Hi" she replied, suddenly very interested in something on the other side of the room.
Mark shot Roger a sympathetic smile and followed Maureen's gaze.
April arrived with an uncharacteristic amount of color in her cheeks, having most likely been running. "Roger! There's a spare classroom on the second floor. I got the key from the teachers lounge."
Roger gave her a hesitant look and the other two pretended to be completely oblivious to the girl's plan.
"Lines!" Maureen shouted, diving into her bag and pulling out a book. She flipped to a random page and started reciting a passage from Romeo and Juliet.
Mark shook his head, muttering, "Wrong book…"
"What?" Maureen looked at him questionably, not getting it. She followed Mark's 'subtle' hint and looked down, realizing she had in fact gone in his bag and pulled out a Math book.
Roger almost laughed. He was convinced only Maureen could do something like that. He walked next to April, glancing at Mark almost apologetically. "I"ll….uh….see you around." He said before placing a hand around his girlfriend's waist and heading off with her.
Collins joined the couple as Roger and April left, and he shook his head at them discreetly. He took a seat at the table. "What's goin' on, bitches?"
"Yeah Mark, what's going on?" asked Maureen, who somehow managed to keep a straight face despite herself.
He glared at her as she obviously knew. He'd only said it how many times now? "Homework, I don't get any of this shit!"
"He was out with me," Maureen stated, looking smug.
"What you want a cookie?" Mark rolled his eyes.
"Yes...Gimmie!"
Mark ignored her and looked pleadingly at Collins "Would you mind?" he gestured to the pile of papers in front of him.
Collins chuckled and moved the pile in front of himself, glancing quickly over the papers. He nodded slightly and wrote down some things before handing it back to Mark. "Make sense now?"
"Thanks Collins" Mark sighed, shoving the papers in his bag uncharacteristically.
Maureen whined, "That was BORING....lets do something fun!"
"Like what?" Mark asked with a raised eyebrow. Collins nodded and waited for her answer.
She smiled back at them, a devilish glint to her eyes. "I'll think of something."
Again Collins found himself laughed. "Mo, that look can only mean two things. And I don't think I want to be around for either of them."
"If you think we're doing that you've got another thing-" Mark was cut off.
"Pookie I didn't mean-" This time it was Maureen who was cut off to Collins' amusement.
"Since when do you call me Pookie?"
"Since I felt like it!" she snapped and pulled out Romeo and Juliet and started to reach Juliet's last speech very dramatically.
"So Collins what class you got next?" Mark said turning his back on the diva.
"History." Collins replied. "How about you?"
"Math…" Mark replied gloomily.
Maureen broke off from her monologue and interrupted. "It can't be that bad. I mean, I'M in your class."
The pale skinned boy only sighed and muttered to Collins, "It's also 'cos of her I can't hear what the fucking teachers going on about."
He received a nod in response while Collins attempted to imagine a class with Maureen…
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Meanwhile, Roger let April lead him to the classroom. In his opinion it took far too long for them to finally get there.
April fumbled around with the lock and key. She was starting to get some withdrawal symptoms. In frustration she threw the key against the wall and started to cry. "Wrong key…"
Roger merely put an arm around her shoulders and held her close before kissing April's cheek gently.
"I'm sorry" April muttered, appreciative of his touch. If it wasn't for Roger she'd be all alone. "It might be unlocked..." She said, wiping tears from her eyes.
She knew it was silly but she wasn't thinking straight. It had almost gotten to the point where she wanted to take her hit there and then.
Roger tried the door which, as expected, was locked. "You okay?" he asked. He'd gone quite a while without a hit himself, longer than he would have preferred by far, but he needed to know if April was alright.
"I'll live" April laughed. Roger was so brave; her protector. She looked up at him," Don't leave me Rog..." she took his hand and leaned against his shoulder.
"Never," Roger promised.
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Back at the lunch room Benny first emerged from the halls, having been held up in a previous class.
Mimi immediately spotted him and flung into his arms. "BENNYYYY I missed you!" It wasn't hard to see that she was high as a kite.
Benny, though a bit surprised, embraced her. He didn't like her when she was high. But, she was Mimi. His Mimi; and this is who she was. "Me too." he replied.
"I'm going to be a dancer...a pretty, pretty dancer" Mimi giggled, spinning around "A ball-a-reeeeennnaa". She fell to the floor and couldn't control her giggles. Everybody was staring but Mimi didn't seem to care. She waved "Helloooooo, everyone!"
Benny picked Mimi up and hugged her, before placing her in a seat. "That's nice Mimi." he responded, sitting next to her.
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New girl, Alison Grey, arrived in the cafeteria just in time to see Mimi's episode. She veered away from that area and looked on. She considered going over to Mark and Maureen but decided against it.
She then noticed a darker skinned girl that looked a few years older than her sitting alone. Alison walked over to her. "Mind if I sit here?"
Joanne looked up from the novel she was reading and nodded shyly. "Sure." She then figured she should introduce herself. "I'm Joanne." She put in a bookmark and slipped the reading material in her backpack.
"Alison," was the response, and she smiled at Joanne. "First day." she said simply, as it excused her for not having friends to sit with. For the sake of making conversation she pointed out, "This place is huge."
Joanne nodded. "Nice to meet you Alison." She glanced around, remembering her first day. "Yeah, I guess it is. It doesn't take to long to figure out where everything is though."
"I guess..." Alison said sounding unsure. The place was ridiculously big to her, maybe not so much to everyone else though.
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"Hey Pookie, when's the bell gonna ring?" Maureen asked.
"Why Pookie? Anything but Pookie!" Mark was visibly annoyed. He looked down at his watch though. "And minu-"
The bell rang and Collins rose. "See ya guys." He then added to Mark, "Good luck."
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"Shit" April muttered. She and Roger had been unsuccessful in finding a free class room. "I'll be a moment...Just head up without me..." she said, pausing by the door to the girl's room. She hated taking a hit alone but she was desperate.
Roger nodded a bit reluctantly and started walking towards their next class. He would have gone to the boy's room, but there were some guys there, much stronger ones than himself, that really wouldn't appreciate it, and he was not going to test them.
April locked the door and found the needle in her bag. Suddenly things didn't seem so bad. She would have to miss English, but since when did that matter.
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Joanne gave the younger girl a reassuring nod. "Well I've got to get to class." she pointed out, standing up and gathering her things. "Do you know what you have next?"
"I think so..." She rummaged around in her bag and drew out a time-table "Science...Thanks for letting me sit with you." She turned to leave but quickly turned back.
"Do you know where it is?" Alison asked.
Joanne looked at the room listed on her card. "Mhm. Go down that hallway and it'll be the hallway and it will be the third door on your left." She pointed to where she was stating.
Alison mumbled a thanks and went off to find her class.
