Note: Chapter 2 edited! (July 18 04)
Chapter 2 - A Tried Tale
Summer logged off of her computer and jumped onto her bed - it would only be a few minutes now until she could absolutely explode with someone that would completely understand her.
She put her head onto her pillow and scanned the room with her eyes, this time, laying them on the framed picture on her bedside table. A smile creeping across her face, Summer picked the photo up.
It was a picture of School of Rock, taken a couple months ago by some random guy Freddy had asked walking down the street. It was such a spontaneous picture, taken for absolutely no reason. They had just finished practise, and were going to go grab some hot chocolate at Dewey's favourite place at the end of his street.
Summer smiled yet again as her eyes travelled from kid to kid in the picture.
There was Lawrence Tsai, with his cute, little polite smile, standing on the edge of the picture, as he always had. His hair was still parted and gelled as neatly as it always had been, but his personality had changed a little more than his hair style. Lawrence was a lot more open to the kids in the band, and it turned out that he was a pretty funny guy. While he was still pretty shy in school, at band practices he was always putting in his ideas and comments. It was really easy to talk to Lawrence because he always listened, and you never got the idea that he was too busy for you.
Lately a couple of the band members had been telling Summer that Lawrence liked her, and Summer herself didn't doubt it. She and Lawrence were awfully close, and if Marta wasn't available, Lawrence was always the next one Summer would call. She smiled as she thought about all the times her and the pianist spent multiple hours on the phone venting their trivial issues.
Standing next to Lawrence was Summer herself. Looking at herself, she realized she hadn't changed much aesthetically. She certainly didn't look 10 anymore, but her facial features were essentially the same: her lips were still ruby red, her eyes brown, and hair jet black. The picture had been taken the week after Summer had gotten her braces. She ran her tongue over the metal in her mouth, and kind of laughed at herself, as she remembered her elastics were currently black and red. Zack's favourite colours… Summer realized she was hopeless, but she kind of liked it.
To Summer's great amusement, beside her in the picture was Zack himself. Zack has changed a lot, Summer thought to herself. His hair was no longer combed over to the side, or short for that matter. Zack's dark brown hair currently met his eyelashes, which reminded Summer of how she would secretly swoon whenever Zack would toss his head to get the hair out of his eyes. He had gotten his braces in the sixth and seventh grades, so his teeth were practically perfect.
Zack was a lot more outgoing than he had been back when they had met Dewey, which still doesn't say much, thought Summer. He had been super-quiet up until grade 6, and he still was, for that matter. But now, he actually would speak up when he had something to say, instead of other people prying it out of him. Even still, he was the quietest member of the band. Which is SO cute…
Beside Zack was the band's own Freddy Jones, jumping and making a trademark hilarious face. Summer could see his drumsticks, which he carried everywhere, sticking out of his short's pocket. Freddy hasn't changed much either, just a bit more mature now, I guess, thought Summer. He was still rambunctious and the self-proclaimed "class clown," but his jokes were a little bit more mature.
And he's not such an ass to girls anymore
, thought Summer with a snort. Quite the contrary - it seemed Freddy had realized what a treasure the female race was, and tried to get as close to them as he could. While everyone would agree that Freddy was the player of the group, it always amused Summer that he had only been with a couple of girls in the past. His antics, while he thought they were incredibly mature and seductive, mainly made girls laugh in his face. Marta loves it, she can't stand to see him with other girls… Summer thought of her jealous friend, and how she would rather see him suffer than be with someone else…Summer's eyes then travelled to the next person in the picture: Dewey Finn. Summer and the band absolutely adored Dewey, but she didn't know if they could've said that at the end of the fifth grade. While he had been pretending to be their substitute teacher, he was the best. But once the class found out he was a fraud, it took a while to figure out if they trusted him, even if they had picked him up and performed in Battle of the Bands the next day. They realized, though, that he had never meant to betray anyone, and so the band stayed together, all because of him.
He was still as weird and out there as he had been back when they were ten... But what can we say? He brought us together! Summer could help but think of the fact that the group would never be as close, or a band for that matter, if it hadn't have been for "Mr. S."
Next to Dewey was Katie Brown, the bassist of the band. She's probably changed the most out of all of us, thought Summer. Indeed, Katie had not only changed her appearance, as her hair now had more colours than the Care Bear clan and she lived and died by the eyeliner and mascara it seemed, but the girl had really came out of her shell. When the group was ten-years-old, Katie had been the loner of the class, sitting by herself and not bugging anybody. Five years later, though, she was much louder and expressive. She still didn't annoy anybody, on the contrary, she's really nice, thought Summer, and people respected her opinions completely.
Katie was the bombshell of the group, which Summer could respect, and she wasn't a total blonde. Even with all the make-up and hair colour, she was a real natural beauty. Unfortunately for her, though, boys don't seem to like that, Summer thought with a sneer, as she remembered the apparent fixation with Eleni, who acted more fake than canned meat. Even still, though, Katie and Summer had never been that close.
Next in the picture, smiling her pretty smile, was Marta. Marta had never been afraid to speak her opinion, and she was usually crystal-clear with how she thought. This wasn't annoying, however, as she usually brought it across with humour and a good amount of sarcasm. How can I not love her? smiled Summer, as she remembered exactly why Marta's hair wasn't its natural blonde anymore.
Summer recalled that day back when the pair was twelve-years-old, when they realized that they both disliked Eleni. Together, they realized, however stupidly, that the root of Eleni's problem was that she was blonde! Within the next week, Summer and Marta went out and picked out a natural shade of brown to die Marta's hair at the drugstore, and the former blonde had been a brunette ever since.
Alicia was next up in the picture. She's a handful, that one, thought Summer with a laugh, as she thought of Alicia's never-ending attitude. Even back in grade five, when they had first met Dewey, Alicia had never been afraid of dishing out what she thought was deserved. Now, at fifteen, not only was she full of attitude, but she had such a potty mouth that Summer felt like washing it out with soap once in a while, even if it did make her laugh endlessly. Marta had always said, though, that Alicia's attitude would get her in huge trouble…
Alicia looked basically the same, except she had replaced her glasses with contacts, and her teeth were now braces-free. She seemed to have a love-affair with lip gloss, and was never seen without shiny eye shadow. She's scary in the morning, Summer recalled, as she remembered an all-girl sleepover where Alicia hadn't taken off her make-up, and woke up the next morning with a completely silver face.
The smile on Summer's face fell, however, once she saw who Alicia was next to in the picture. Tomika Hassan was standing there, beaming her beautiful smile, holding on tightly to Alicia. Summer had to hold back tears as she remembered the day about a week after the picture was taken, and the bad news that came with it…
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"Umm, guys, I have to tell you something." Tomika interrupted her own vocal solo at band practise with an anxious look on her face.
No one acted annoyed, as they saw the nervousness on Tomika's features. "What's up, Turkey Sub?" Dewey asked carefully.
Tomika sighed, and looked up at the ceiling, trying to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. "I just thought it would be good of me to tell you that you should start auditioning another singer."
"What are you talking about, Tom? Are you quitting? I don't get it!" Katie looked at Tomika expectantly with a shared look of anxiousness beginning to creep across her features.
"Guys… I - I'm… I'm moving to Oregon." Eight gaping mouths hung open at the bomb laid by the band's best singer, the kids and Dewey hardly daring to believe it.
"That's not funny, Tomika…" Dewey started.
"You think I'd joke about something as serious as this?!" Tomika let the tears flow freely now. "My parents are getting a divorce. I'm going to live with my mom, and she's moving across the country to live with my grandma. And there's no way I'm staying with my dad."
The band didn't press on the matter, knowing things were a little rough between Tomika's parents.
"Tom… We love you!" Summer heard herself speak up, as she proclaimed the words that the rest of the band members were thinking. From there, the whole band surrounded Tomika in a blur of hugs and tears, boys included.
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Summer recalled the day about a week and a half after that, when the band accompanied Tomika and her mom the airport. It had been a day full of happy memories and tears, and when they saw Tomika off for the last time, the boys' faces were just as tearstained as the girls'.
And they still didn't have a replacement, to boot. How do you replace Tomika Hassan?! thought Summer incredulously.
"You do love that picture, don't you?" Summer jumped as she heard Marta's voice come from right behind her. "I told you five minutes, and you go and get lost in your thoughts! Geez…"
Summer laughed at her friends fake anger and threw a pillow at her. Marta didn't seem ready for fun and games, however, as a serious look took over the mirth in her eyes.
"So. What's up? Why couldn't I read my email and had to come over right away?"
Summer's eyes widened as she remembered what she had read five minutes ago. "Man, it's a good thing you only live down the street, I don't know if I could've handled you not being able to come over." Summer proceeded to explain every detail of Zack's email and the phone call, ending with Summer and Marta's own Messenger conversation. "And that's when I told you to come over. God, Marta, what do I wear?!"
Marta's eyes had gradually grown larger and larger throughout the explanation, and couldn't help but let out a small squeal once Summer was done talking. "Summer, this is HUGE. Do you realize this could be your chance? A dark movie, then dinner at his house? We need to find you something to wear. Open your closet."
Summer smirked at her best friend's complete and utter understanding of how serious this situation was, and immediately threw open her elaborate walk-in closet.
The pair spent the next hour and half tearing the closet apart, creating outfits and contemplating some of Marta's own clothes, as the girls were both incredibly tiny and could fit into each other's garments easily.
After another hour, plus dinner, of hard work, Marta sighed and stood up. "Okay. I vote for the pink golf shirt with the black jeans."
Summer rolled her eyes. "Marta, that's way too dressy, don't you think?"
"Yes, yes I do. That's why I'm suggesting it." It was Marta's turn to roll her eyes. "Trust me, Summer, you'll look amazing in this!"
Summer reluctantly gave in. "If you say so… I'm telling you, man, if he hates me after tomorrow, it's your head!"
Marta shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, that's how it always is…" The brunette's eyes suddenly grew to the size of saucers. "Oh God, Summer, what if Zack invited Eleni?!"
Summer shrieked at the idea. "She'll be all over Zack!"
Marta scowled. "Not Zack - Freddy! She LOVES him. Oh, God, why is she even alive?"
Summer wasn't even listening. "If Zack invited Eleni, would that mean that he likes her? Oh God, of course he likes her, who DOESN'T like her?"
It was apparent that Marta wasn't listening to Summer, either. "…and then they'll go into a corner and get all cozy… Ooooooh, I hate her, Tink, I hate her!"
"Something we can agree on, finally…" Summer's eyes narrowed. "Well, we'll just have to watch her tomorrow. I mean, she's all hair, nothing between the ears. She can't be smart enough to actually sabotage either of us, right?"
Marta answered, but didn't look too sure. "Totally, Summer… Totally…"
"And…" Summer tried to reassure herself, "we still have band practises with the guys, right? I mean, she can't go to those, it's against band policy!"
"You're totally right." Marta seemed a bit more sure of things. "It's all good, you're right. I hope." She shook her head as if to clear all the insecurities away. "Whatev, you know, Tink? I'll see you tomorrow, I'm heading home. I need to get some sleep."
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As Summer waved to Marta from her doorstep, she couldn't help but believe that all the excuses the pair had tried to make upstairs in her room were just that: excuses. I guess we'll see tomorrow, won't we?
A/N - Hopefully that was okay, it was another boring chapter, a bit of an introduction to all the characters this time… Please R&R!!!
