Darrell Moriarty was sitting in her room. While that would seem quite a normal thing to do, let it be known that Darrell was also sitting amid a load of blankets and cushions.
She had created a blanket fort.
And now, all she had to do was wait for her best friend, Amanda Watson, to arrive.
She was sitting in silence, staring at the watch she'd placed on the floor.
5...4...3...2...1!
The doorbell didn't ring.
She sighed, and headed downstairs.
Opening the door, she mock-glared at her best friend, who looked a bit surprised.
"Darrell, I haven't even rung the doorbell yet."
"You're late!" Darrell announced. "Now, quick, come in, come in, I'm hungry..." She said in a creepy voice.
"Well, you're not eating my brains." Amanda said, walking in, smiling before turning around and attempting to carry in-TWO huge ginormous suitcases.
Darrell stared.
"What?" Amanda asked, seeming confused.
"Amanda...you're only staying for-"
"Two weeks! Maybe longer. So, yes, I do need all this stuff. I mean, what would I do if I didn't have enough books to read?"
"Am, you know very well I have just as many books as you."
Amanda just smiled, and struggled to pull her suitcases through the hallway. Darrell took one of them, and, in silence, the two of them went upstairs.
"Wait." Darrell said. "I'll take the suitcases in, you wait here." She said, smiling at her surprise, and taking the suitcases one at a time.
Then she came back out, grabbed Amanda's hand and said, in a spooky, hushed, voice.
"Close your eyes...close your eyes, my dear...enter the world of what you've always imagined...Enter..."
And Darrell pulled Amanda into her bedroom, to behold the wondrous, amazing-blanket fort.
Amanda looked amazed.
"You've...made a blanket fort?" She asked. Darrell nodded, grinning widely.
Amanda joined in the grinning. Darrell's entire bedroom had been transformed into a blanket fort. It was amazing!
"So, we'll be sleeping like this for two weeks, then?" Amanda asked.
"Yup! It's really comfy. And, tonight-we're having a HUGE midnight feast. And breakfast in bed. And quite possibly lunch as well, and then another midnight feast tomorrow night."
Amanda laughed. This was going to be quite an adventure.
Almost 8 hours later, both girls were laughing at a joke of Darrell's.
Amanda looked at the clock. "Twenty minutes to go. Rel, can't we just start eating twenty minutes early? That chocolate looks so...tempting..." She said, looking at it wistfully. "I mean, Rel, if we're not allowed to eat it until midnight, its a bit unfair to have it out where I can see it."
"Hey, I'm getting tempted too!" Darrell laughed. "I should have hidden it, but oh well. I guess...well, I don't know, but hey! Only twenty minutes, Mand, so, it's not that long. We can survive. If we stick together..."
Amanda groaned. Great, Darrell was going into her 'We can survive this treacherous adventure' mode.
"We WILL succeed. If And if we can do this, we can do anything. We can survive even the worst thunderstorms and we can WIN! WHO'S WITH ME?" She yelled.
Silence.
Then:
"Amanda, you're meant to cheer, and yell, 'I'm with you' or whatever. Come on!"
"Yay, whatever, I'm with you, blah, blah..."
Darrell glared at her. Amanda stuck out her tongue, grinning.
"Oh, look at that, the speech took twenty minutes. Time to eat!" Amanda said quickly, reaching for a chocolate bar, but Darrell knocked her hand down.
"Not so fast! I can see the watch too, you know, and we still have 17 minutes till midnight."
Amanda looked at the watch doubtfully. "Are you sure it's working? The hands don't seem to be moving..."
"Come on, Mand! It's not that much of a wait. Anyway, I'm sure we can think of something to do for 17 minutes."
Both of them were silent for a moment, trying to think of something.
"No, I don't think I can think of anything. We'll just have to start eating early, such a shame, but what can you do, right?" Amanda tried to convince her friend half-heartedly, knowing she'd say no. And knowing that, knowing Darrell, she'll have thought of something to do.
"Let's play...Truth or Dare." Seeing Amanda's face, she continued, "Come on! At least it's something to do, and, hey, it'll be fun! We'll learn facts about each other, do fun dares-"
"I'll get incredibly embarrassed by a dare." Amanda muttered. She could still remember what had happened last time she played truth and dare.
It had been horrible, and she hoped Darrell had forgotten-somehow, she doubted she had, and she also doubted Bree had, or any of the others involved. But it was, in a way, a comforting thought, or hope, or whatever.
"I'll ask you first. Truth or Dare, Amanda?" Amanda opened her mouth to protest, but Darrell stopped her. "Now, now, less enthusiastic always goes first."
"That's not true, and you know it."
"Fine. Youngest goes first. That's still you."
Amanda sighed. "Fine." She paused, thinking. No, her last dare had been way too embarrassing. She wouldn't do a dare.
"Truth."
Darrell mock-pouted. "Not fair, Am."
"Well, still, my choice. So there."
Darrell sighed. "Fine, fine. Hmmm..."
Amanda glanced at the watch, hoping that it would be time already. No such luck.
"GOT IT! What's your most embarrassing moment?"
Amanda went red. "Do I have to?"
"Yes!" Darrell said quickly, nodding hard. "You can't upset the wonders of truth or Dare."
"Last time we played this, and you dared me."
Darrell laughed; and Amanda glared at her. "It wasn't funny-it was horribly embarrassing." She said, going red.
"Oh, no one remembered it!"
"You did. I did."
"No one else! Probably. Except Peter."
"It was horrible!" Amanda said, glaring again at Darrell.
"Well, I'm sorry, it was a good dare. And the look on Peter's face when you went over to him and started saying cheesy pick-up lines. And Bree couldn't keep a straight face; when you said that one about 'u' and 'I' being together in the Alphabet she was hysterical."
"Yes, I know. Can we stop talking about it?" Amanda pleaded. "Please?"
"Fine, fine. Come on, then, ask me." Darrell smiled.
"Truth or Dare?" Amanda asked, bored, and she wasn't surprised when Darrell replied,
"Dare."
Darn it, now Amanda would have to think of something really good. Something that would embarrass Darrell as much as Darrell had embarrassed her.
"Um..." She said, stalling.
She couldn't think of anything good at all. "Darrell-"
"Nuh-uh. I can't give you any ideas. It wouldn't be fair."
"But, Darrell..."
"No."
Amanda gave her the puppy dog eyes look.
Darrell didn't cave.
"Ok, I've got one." Amanda said, finally-she'd thought it had been at least 7 minutes by now, but no, there were still 13 minutes left.
"You have a video camera, right?"
Darrell looked at her warily. "Right..."
"Give it to me, and then when I say go, you have to pick up that amazing muffin there with the huge load of cream on the top, shove it on your face, rub it round, jump up and down singing and playing air guitar WHILE wearing this on your head." Amanda said, handing Darrell a purple bag.
Darrell grudgingly got the video camera. "What are you going to do with the footage?" She asked, worried.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm just going to show it to all our friends, put it on Youtube, then watch it a million times so the viewing figures go up and more people will watch it."
Darrell looked worried now.
"Going to back out?" Amanda asked sweetly.
Darrell shook her head. "I'm not a coward, Am. I said Dare-I'll do the dare."
Mandy smiled. "Ok. We'll have to leave the blanket fort, and film in the remander of the room." Darrell climbed out of the blanket fort, Mandy following.
Amanda readied the camera.
"Ready, Steady-Go."
Darrell glared at the camera, then placed the purple bag-stylishly? If that was possible-on top of her head, before taking the creamy muffin, and shoving it in her face-or to be specific, shoving part of the muffin in her mouth, and taking a bite. Then, the cream having been eaten by her now, she rubbed it around her face, then rubbed off the crumbs with her sleeve.
"Which song?" She asked.
"Ummm...Under Pressure by Queen. From the musical." Mandy answered, knowing Darrell knew all the words.
"Pressure! Pushing down on me
Pressing down on you, no man ask for
Under pressure," Darrell began, dancing-but not in an embarrassing way. It didn't look that bad, even with the jumping up and down.
"That brings a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets" She sang loudly, prancing around. It was hard keeping her in view of the camera, but then again, she really didn't have that much room to move around, what with the fact there was a blanket fort and all.
"Um ba ba be
Um ba ba be
De day oh
Ee day oh" She sang, spinning in a circle, and jumping as high as she could, before landing, flashing a smile at the camera and contining;
"That's okay
It's the terror of knowing what this world is about
Watching some good friends screaming"
She pointed at Amanda, who laughed, and joined in for the one line,
"Let me out!"
Darrell sang on, alone,
"Pray tomorrow gets me higher
Pressure on people, people on streets
Day day de mm hm
Da da da ba ba" She took a breath,
"Okay.
Chippin' around - kick my brains around the floor
These are the days it never rains but it pours
Ee do ba be
Ee da ba ba ba
Um bo bo
Be lap
People on streets - ee da de da de" She smiled, and repeated the line.
"People on streets - ee da de da de da de da"
Back to the chorus;
"It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends screaming"
Both of them chorused, "Let me out!"
"Pray tomorrow gets me higher and higher
Pressure on people, people on streets" Darrell sang quietly.
"Turned away from it all like a blind man
Sat on a fence but it don't work
Keep coming up with love but it's all slashed and torn
Why - why - why?
Love love love love" She sang, twirling again in the air.
"Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking
Can't we give ourselves one more chance
Why can't we give love that one more chance?" She asked, spreading her arms wide as she jumped up as if asking a question.
"Why can't we give love, give love, give love, give love
Give love, give love, give love, give love, give love" She sang out, picking up a random hairbrush for good measure and singing into it,
"'Cause love's such an old-fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And loves dares you to change our way
Of caring about ourselves
This is our last chance
This is our last dance" She sang, dancing wildly as if emphasize the last line.
"This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure"
She stopped, did a ninja roll despite the limited floor space, and stared into the camera.
Amanda stopped filming, smiling.
"That was good. I should have guessed you'd make it not look stupid. I'm not entirely sure that doesn't count as cheating, but fine."
She laughed, and they headed back into the blanket fort, Amanda glancing at the watch.
"I can't believe it!" She exclaimed. "After all that, we still have Nine minutes. Are you sure this watch isn't broken?"
Darrell glared at the watch, obviously also hungry.
"Your turn again, Mandy. Truth or Dare?" Darrell asked.
"You know, Darrell, you have an awful lot of nicknames for me-Am, Mand, Mandy, Amand, Mad..."
"Just answer the question." Then she added, "Plus, you forgot Amandalia."
'Amandalia' sighed. "Truth. Again."
Darrell mock-pouted. "Seriously? Again?" Amanda nodded.
"Fine. Which fictional character would you want to meet, more than anyone else, and would you actually still want to meet them if you were trapped just in their world with no one else from this world, other than say, two friends?"
Amanda looked at her. "I'm sure I don't actually need to tell you the answer."
"But you do!" Darrell whined. "I can't figure it out! Seriously, Ammie-that's another nickname you forgot-I need you to tell me. Plus, you have to-it's the rules of Truth and Dare."
"You can't work it out? Darrell, how long have you known me?" She asked, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Just TELL ME!" Darrell half-yelled.
"Fine, fine," Amanda said, holding her hands up in surrender. "Gosh. It's Erik." She said.
Darrell looked at her, to continue.
"Erik, The Phantom, and as long as one of those friends wasn't as annoying as you, I'd be fine with it!" She said, glaring at Darrell, who put on a mock hurt expression.
"Aw, Ammie, that's really quite mean of you."
"Oh, really?" Amanda said, "The rules say you have to be truthful." Then she sighed.
"Ok, fine. I lied. One of the friends would have to be you: having to deal with your sanity helps keep me sane." She admitted, laughing.
Darrell smiled in triumph.
Then her eyes widened, and she burst out laughing.
"Amanda..."
"Yes..."
"You know you asked if my clock was slow?" She said nervously.
"Yes?" Amanda questioned.
"It actually is. I'd forgotten."
"HOW SLOW?" Amanda asked. "How slow?"
"Um...we have about a minute left. And, um, I've got an idea! You know those wish biscuits you said you'd cooked?"
"Yes." She said, annoyed.
"Well, I was thinking: to make things more fun, lets get them out, eat them at exactly midnight, and make a wish!"
She looked eagerly at Amanda, who just stared at her emotionless.
Darrell's smile turned into a frown. "Ammie!"
"Fine! Fine. You get them out, though."
After finding them quickly, and taking one each, they watched the second hand of Amanda's clock, which she'd taken out, waiting for it to strike midnight.
"5...4...3...2...1!" Amanda counted. "Eat!"
She took a big bit of her 'wish biscuit', closed her eyes, and wished.
Darrell did the same. Unknowing, both wished the same thing.
I wish we could both be stuck together in the world of Phantom, and meet Erik.
Both of them felt a sudden jolt and opened their eyes.
The blanket fort slipped to one side-on one side-and both girls fell against the side, screaming as the blanket fort rolled over.
"What's going on?" Darrell yelled.
"I don't know!" Amanda replied, "But I don't think blanket forts normally do this!"
Suddenly, it felt as if the blanket fort was flying upwards at top speed, and both girls looked at each other, confused and scared.
As it rose higher, they wondered still what was going on.
Then it stopped.
"Am?" Darrell ventured. "Do you think it's-"
The blanket fort fell downwards, cutting off Darrell's sentence, and both girls screamed as they plummeted to their doom!
A/N: Okay, probably a rubbish first chapter. Hopefully, it will get better! Yes, I know, this has been down before, yada-yada, whatever. Some people like reading them. I certainly like writing it, and strangely enough, I want some advice on my writing. If no one reads this, well, darn.
So, I hope you enjoyed it! Please review? It would make me very pleased, indeed.
Disclaimer: I do not own Phantom. The characters, my imagination owns. Seriously.
Thanks!
Adyna.
OH! By the way: Just a warning, but I have no idea when I'll have time to write the next chapter. I'm working on a really hard project for school at the moment, and although school only just started again, I have tons of homework! But I'll do my best, I promise. :)