AN: Hallo again! Yay, I am finally resurrected! And am not a zombie! I am sick, though, so I'm not sure how good all that is… blergh… anyway, CHAPPY THREE!!!!!!! wOOt. I apologize for any discrepancies in the last chapter, I just reread it and noticed about a bazillion typos and crap like that… also, the timing issues… bleh, I am an unobservant moron… anyway, to explain why Rachel is still in school in the middle of May: she failed several classes, mainly due to her lack of a decent study environment, and she has to retake them (AKA German, Math, and Physics). She's in summer school, which will be explained in the chappy ahead, but I wanted to give y'all a heads-up. You're welcome! Anywho, on with the disclaimer and the chappy!!!! (btw, yes, I am a born-and-raised southerner… so, yes, I will end up saying "y'all" a lot… get used to it)

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TOKIO HOTEL OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT EXISTS IN REAL LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (sad face. T__T) HOWEVER, I DO OWN RACHEL, REBECCA, AND LAUREN SUMMERS!!!!!!! STEAL THEM AND DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (actually that's a lie… I don't like Rebecca or Lauren, so…. Never mind, you still can't have them…)

Previously: Maybe there was some way to get rid of her… Rebecca picked up the phone and called one of her friends who was going to the concert as well. She picked up, and together they planned out how to keep Rachel away until they were ready to see her.

4 P.M. EN ROUTE TO RACHEL'S HOUSE

Rachel strode along the well-beaten path leading from school to her home. She lived about two miles from the school, but the buses didn't operate during the summertime and her mother and sister sure as hell weren't going to waste time picking her up. So she was stuck walking two miles along some old, long-forgotten shortcut-that-wasn't. Her summer-school books felt like they weighed a ton though they were no heavier than during regular school. They probably just felt heavier because they reminded her of her senior year failures. She sighed, pushing those thoughts aside by turning the volume on her MP3 up so loud she could no longer hear them.

Tokio Hotel's "Ǘbers Ende der Welt" blared through the earbuds. Her feet hit the ground in time with the music as her head bobbed slightly with the beat. Her lips moved silently as she formed the German words as they rang through her ears. After a while though, she stopped listening to the words and started focusing on the background music. This song was her favorite, after "Rescue Me", mainly due to the guitar and drums in the song; they were beyond fabulous. Excluding the fact that the guitarist also happened to be her favorite member of the band, the way he played was still incredible. Same for Georg's bass playing and Gustav's drumming skills… they were all incredible. Rachel sighed again, wishing, not for the first time, that she would have the chance to tell them that… not that it would ever happen, or that they would actually listen to her… The music built up, leading into the bridge and the final chorus. She felt her mouth curve up in a smile. This part was the best, in her opinion. All other thought drained away as the music slowly faded into the end of the song.

Dark grey eyes slowly refocused on the path beneath her feet as another, quieter song began. Rachel rolled her shoulders under her backpack, feeling the pull of her Physics, German, and AP Statistics books. She grimaced as she was reminded again of the fact that she'd failed German second semester. She'd taken it for three years, was nearly fluent, and she failed out on the last series of tests and the final, thereby failing the class. Physics and Stat. weren't all that surprising; she'd been retaking Physics anyway, and she had no idea why she'd taken AP Stat. to begin with. Probably something to do with getting into a good college… not that that'd be happening now, what with her failing three classes her second and final semester of senior year. 'Whatever. Nothing to be done for it now, I guess,' she thought as she trudged up yet another hill. One downside to living in the foothills of the North Georgia Mountains was the hills. One could barely walk three feet before he or she discovered a hill. Breathing hard, with a slight stitch in her side, Rachel crested the hill and tried to ignore the sweat that was forming on her forehead and down her back. May was too hot a month to walk two miles of hill with a twenty-odd-pound backpack on.

As she grumbled to herself about the heat and summer school, she finally approached the road her family's house was on. She cautiously made her way up the lawn to the front door; her sister barged out as she was coming up. Rebecca, her brown-black hair just brushing her shoulders, brushed past Rachel, sparing her only the barest of glances. Rachel was about to slip in the door when Rebecca's voice stopped her.

"Check the table before you do anything."

"Why?" Rachel wanted to know, her voice softer than normal.

Rebecca sneered at her and headed for her car, calling, "Just do it," as she went.

"Fine." Rachel muttered something about rude older sisters, entering the Summers residence as quietly as she could. She headed straight for the kitchen, noticing the note on the table. She walked over to the table; the note was written in her sister's distinctive handwriting. Rachel picked up the note and dragged her backpack and tired self upstairs without her mother being aware she was even home. Once in the relative safety of her bedroom, Rachel plopped down on her bed, turning her attention to the note in her hand.

I won tickets to that Tokio Hotel concert this Friday. Mom doesn't want to go, so I'm stuck taking you. Don't give me any crap about "panic attacks". We both know you're lying, so don't even try.

Rachel read the note twice before what her sister was saying really sank in. There was a Tokio Hotel concert this Friday, and she was going. She glanced back at the part about the panic attacks, wishing they were really the crap her sister proclaimed them to be. Sighing, she pulled her German notebook out, yanking lyrics out from behind a bunch of busywork worksheets. She stared down at them for a second, feeling a sudden flash of fear as she thought of Friday night. Rock concerts… pep rallies at school almost caused her to black out. She could scarcely imagine how much worse a rock concert would be. Even if it was her favorite band. Even if it meant she could see Tom live. Slowly, she slipped the lyrics back into the folder and set about doing her Stat homework. She would worry about the concert later.

After several hours struggling through math homework (she still had no idea why she hadn't dropped Stat. second semester), Rachel went downstairs to scrounge for dinner. Dinner was always an iffy subject in the Summers' household. Lauren rarely went shopping for serious food, and Rebecca was always with friends or eating out. Rachel didn't have friends to hang with or extra money for takeout, so she typically just made whatever happened to be in the pantry.

"Let's see here," she muttered under her breath, digging through the mess on the shelves. "Instant Ramen, macaroni, spaghetti… hot dogs… Good Lord, why do we have week-old spaghetti in the pantry? That should've been in the fridge… ah, well, looks like ramen tonight…" She dug out a bowl of beef ramen, stuck it in the microwave, and took it back upstairs to her room. Once there, she ate ramen and stared at the posters all her spare money had gone to. A signed poster of Tokio Hotel, a poster of them covered in mud, and at least three others. As Rachel studied them, she again started fretting about Friday. There was no way Lauren would let her stay home, and Rebecca wouldn't let her get away with not using the extra ticket. She drained the last bit of broth from the Styrofoam bowl and flopped back on her bed. The picture of Tom she'd had the guy at Kinko's print out poster size grinned down at her from the ceiling. She made herself smile back at it then grinned for real, realizing that she was smiling at a poster of a guy she had no chance at all to ever meet.

Without getting up, she threw the ramen bowl at the trash can, smiling grimly to herself when she heard it go in. She turned to look at the clock on her bedside table, amazed to find that it was nearly eleven. She'd been struggling with Stat since five. With a sigh and a soft curse, she stood up and dug around on her floor for a few minutes to find her pajamas, which basically were a pair of soft sweatpants and a cami. Changing quickly, she glanced one last time around the room at her posters. She then turned the lights off and made her way back to the bed with the sureness of intensive practice and made sure her alarm was on for another day of summer school torture.

Within minutes, she was asleep. And as she slept, she dreamed.

Rachel floated. Nothing weighed her down; there was nothing to hold on to. She drifted through utter silence, struggling to move. Something held her arms at her sides and bound her legs together. A similar band lay across her mouth, rendering any noise she made inaudible. As she floated aimlessly, she became aware of sounds around her.

Loud music, a buzzer like at a basketball game, screams, shouting, laughter; all pressed at her, feeling almost like a wall of sound forcing itself on her. She looked up, hoping to see the night sky above her, something that had always helped to calm her when she was little. However, all she saw were hands grasping at her, covering any view she may have had of the only thing that could keep her feeling safe. She felt hands grasping at her and tried to fight back to no avail. The invisible bonds kept her helpless. But still she tried.

What felt like hours passed, and still she drifted, thrown from one set of hands to another; she could do nothing to stop them. As she felt another hand grasp her elbow, she finally screamed, though no sound emerged.

All of a sudden, the hands grasping her disappeared and she bumped against what felt like a wall. It wasn't. Strong arms wrapped around her, secured her. Rachel twisted around, trying to see who this person was. All she could tell was that it was mal, and he was holding her against his powerful chest. She buried her head against him, her hands grabbing fistfuls of his shirt. He either didn't care or didn't notice; he watched the grasping hands as they began to disappear. An aura of calm spread from him, causing the noise around her to fade as well, until all they were left with was a calm, peaceful silence.

Rachel finally dared to raise her head. Her savior was looking down at her, and she could almost see his concerned expression and the slightest hint of a proud smile on his face. She had to grin in return, and his expression, she just somehow knew, changed to one of pure joy. Joy that she was safe and pride that he had made her that way. She tried to thank him, but the band keeping her from speaking was still in place. That, combined with the finger placed on her lips, told her talking was not allowed here. She nodded once in thanks instead, and the man put her down. As she turned back to him, she finally saw the sky, clear and star-filled, with the full moon right behind his head. She stood by him, feeling calmer than she had since her father had left; he stood by her, not quite touching, but close enough that she knew he was there.

Eventually, he turned to her and held out his hand. She knew that her moment was ending, that it was time to go home. Staring up at his hidden face, she placed her hand in his, trusting him to lead her safely home.

5:30 P.M. FRIDAY AFTERNOON

The days after her sister's announcement flew by. After her dream, she had blown through the crap from her sister and mother, school, and more crap from her mother and sister with the kind of calm that she felt in her dream. It wasn't until this morning that she'd started realizing what was about to happen.

All day during school hours, Rachel had bounced between being beyond excited and completely terrified of tonight. But now, here she was, at 5:30, getting dressed to go.

Rebecca was jabbering on about something or other in the bathroom down the hall as she fixed her hair and makeup. Rachel ignored her, or tried to, as she slipped into a pair of black jeans, an orange tank top, a black three-quarter-sleeve cropped black denim jacket, and the tiger's-eye necklace her father had given her for her eighth birthday. On her feet, she wore black and orange skater shoes. Her hair she brushed until it shone like a raven's wing, and she left it down, falling to her hips and swaying as she walked.

She paused to grab her MP3, as well as the ticket she'd been given on returning from school, and stuck them in her pocket and darted out of her bedroom to wait for Rebecca by the door. As she waited, she glanced at the hallway clock. It was 5:50. Her sister wouldn't be ready for another few minutes, so she stuck her earbuds in and turned on Tokio Hotel. Their song "Sacred" blared from the buds. Her head started bobbing in time to the music, her hair swooshing over her shoulder as she did.

At 6:05 exactly, Rebecca came tearing out of the bathroom, her brown-black hair spiked out in a crude parody of Bill's patented "lion mane" hairstyle. Her eyes were lined in black and she had purple eye shadow on, apparently trying to bring that color out from her blue eyes. Unfortunately, she didn't have any purple to bring out, but the color did emphasize the blue. She was wearing a strapless purple top with a black leather jacket, black jeans and combat boots, all in parody of Bill. Rachel sighed. Rebecca was six years older than TH's lead singer, and here she was trying to dress like him to freaking impress him! 'There is something seriously wrong with her…' Rachel thought, watching Rebecca run around getting all her stuff together. Finally at 6:15, she was ready.

Rachel sighed as Rebecca shoved her out towards the car. "Don't give me that; I was ready almost half an hour ago."

"Shut up," Rebecca demanded imperiously. "I look better."

"Sure, sure." Rachel ran ahead, and was already climbing into her sister's Honda before Rebecca could respond. "Come on, we might miss the opening," she called, mainly to get her sister moving. She would make them late and try to blame it on Rachel. Her ploy worked: Rebecca sprinted to the car, almost falling flat on her face in the process.

Thirty minutes later, they were on the MARTA en route to the Tabernacle, the place where most rock concerts took place. Granted, most of them were screamo bands who didn't know the meaning of good music. Rebecca was practically bouncing with excitement, completely ignoring Rachel's annoyed look. Rachel had kept her earbuds in and now turned the music up until she could no longer hear the noise of the train.

Finally, they ended up at the Tabernacle. Rachel stared at it, noticing the large outer lobby and the hundreds of people filling it. She figured there'd be more inside the actual stage area. She found herself shivering in foreboding. So much could happen in there: she'd heard the stories of mosh pits from rambling boys at school. Someone like her was more than likely to end up there and getting crushed.

'Come on, Rache. Get it under control. Everything's gonna be fine, don't worry. Stick with Rebecca and you'll be fine.' She closed her eyes, going through this mantra a few times. Minutes passed until she finally was able to open here eyes and rationally study her surroundings. As she did, she noticed something that made her blood turn to ice.

Rebecca was gone. She was alone.

AN: wow, that's a scary thought… a panic-attack prone person alone at a rock concert…. *shudders* all righty then!!!! Yay chappy three done!!!!!! *pats self on back* I win! Anyhoo, what will become of Rachel? Where did Rebecca go? (obviously) Who will step in and rescue our little damsel in distress? (again, that should be OBVIOUS if you've been paying attention…. Which you should've… anyway… That little green button wants a click!!!!!!! Make it and TwinSwords extremely happy and REVIEW!!!!!!! And you'll get cookies!!!!!!!!!

TWINSWORDS OUT!