A/N: I've totally been meaning to put this little side note in since the last chapter, but I forgot. So here it is; think of this as an AU, where high school is happening now, and the person (or people, as it MAY turn out) remembering all of this is stuck somewhere in the near future.

The bell rings for the second time this lunch hour. It has been for the last day and a few halves; the normal bell, and then somewhere down the line, it starts again for about a minute, like it's a fire drill. It normally would give a toss about it, but when you're right next to it when it starts…Let's just say, when I rule the world with my flaming sword of death in my left hand, that bell will be the first one to perish within my reign…

Enough of that. I'm walking down the busy and overcrowded corridor, where screaming and shouting seems to be the language of choice no matter what. Week-old candy, spilt sodas, and various pieces of crushed Lay's pieces litter the place, leaving a rather wonderful pattern on the bottoms of your shoes if you aren't careful. The stench of BO, the litter, and whatever someone scraped on the floor last week fill not just mine, but (quite possibly) everyone's noses. It gets so bad sometimes that all you can do is started to hurl… hasn't anyone ever heard of trash cans? Noise. Smell. The knowing that soon this will all turn into some sort of mosh pit… everything. This has to be the worst corridor of them all. I don't care what the hockey team tells me about other schools being that much worse… This has to be the crowning king glory of them all. And I'm only half-way through the hallway! Everyone seems to have this massive vendetta against you that they have to push you in the most uncomfortable way possible, and into the most uncomfortable of things. It would be bearable, if it weren't for the fact that both the basketball and football team (plus cheerleaders) are now coming out of their gym lessons… hasn't anyone told them that keeping their arms up like that will be just as painful as if they didn't? It just makes it worse for everyone else!

I finally make it through to the other side of the hallway. I come to the big blue, double-door that is a gateway to my sanctuary. I open it slowly, not just because it is incredibly heavy, but because everyone is still forcing their way through everyone else, therefore having to lean against my door, knocking it back…

When I manage to open it enough, I slide through like some noodle making its way through the other pieces to get to the fork. Seriously, that's me. Damn frat parties…Because of them, I haven't been eating properly. I spend so much time out that I forget about the essay that needs to be handed in tomorrow morning. So, what do I do? Homework before eating properly. A couple of coffees later, and you've finished your coursework, feeling so tired afterwards that you forget to eat something…

I'm in. I'm standing in another hallway, completely deserted apart from myself and the constant smell of sterile stuff and new carpet. The carpet is supposed to be exactly the same color as the rest of the school, but since this corridor isn't exactly popular with the majority of the crowds, it looks virtually new. Whilst the other carpets are a mixture of yucky dark blue, whatever people spilt on them, and just about anything else that found it's way into the school, this one is… Oh, what am I saying? I'm late for where I should be, and I'm stuck here standing like a retard, thinking about carpets… I gotta lay off the booze, to say the least.

☺☻☺♪

'Took you long enough…' I'm lovingly greeted by one of the very people that have been waiting for me for the last ten minutes.

'Hey, KC…' I mutter back. I'm in deep shit, so I try my best to act like I care.

I sit down between Jack (this is one of the few things that he makes sure that he goes to) and a drum kit (or rather, the drum kit). KC sits on the stool behind it, George sitting next to Jack, Rod sitting directly in front of me on the other side of the small room.

'So, my dear Harley-girl, who exactly is this nut…' George starts, in a very sweet and mocking tone (which then turns sour). '…who has been sitting where he is for the past five minutes, after rudely barging in after we tried to keep him out?'

I stare at Rod (who is clearly the subject of George's current ranting). I then stare at George. Then the floor. Then back at George;

'This is Rod…' I'm cut short when Rod shoots me a glare, telling me not to say his proper name. 'He's a person…'

Everyone takes the opportunity to stare back at me. 'Person'? What an intro…

'I said he could come. You got some problem?' I finish, my own tone of voice turning hard as a rock.

Everyone shakes there head. Well, all except Rod; he's too busy staring at the floor, looking equally fascinated with the carpet as I had been a few minutes before.

Jack gets up and heads to the cupboard. When he comes back a few minutes later, he is piled high with instruments.

'You'll break those if you aren't careful…' KC warns him, clearly as worried as the rest of us that he will drop them all.

'Relax…' Jack says, putting them down carefully.

'Sticks…' He says, tossing two red and black drumsticks at KC (narrowly missing his left eye). '…Bass…' He chucks a bass guitar at George (who catches it just before it hits the ground). '…lead…' He goes to throw the lead guitar at me, but I make a dive at it before he can. 'And one for me…'. He helps himself to the last instrument; another lead guitar.

'What about Rod?' I ask, since no one else is taking any interest in him.

'Dunno… You play anything?' Jack asks him. He gets no reply.

I go up to the certain goth in question; 'You play drums?' I ask, purely out of spite of KC, who is currently eyeing him up.

'Guitar…' He replies. Before I can actually go and get one, George makes his mark;

'We've already got too many guitarists…'

Again, I looked at him, inwardly saying 'So?'

'So?' Rod says for me, still looking completely disinterested. Really, does he have to look like he doesn't give a shit? Because quite clearly, he does.

'You gonna stand up for yourself now?' KC shoots back, getting just a little more pissed off.

With another moment of 'looking', Rod comes to the decision to go;

'I'm outta here?' He sighs angrily (yet so passively at the same time).

'Gonna let some girl fight your battles for ya?'

Rod turns back. I turn back. If there was ever a time for a cliché, it would be now; fire was pretty much burning through both of our eyes at that remark. KC had that look in his eyes; the type that a kid gets when he's just insulted a college student, and knows exactly what he's going to get next. Yet, it isn't Rod that lunges first. KC knows better than to insult the fact that I'm a girl that enjoys going around with guys, and that there was pretty much as low as he could sink. It takes a full few minutes before he can stop flinching at punches and kicks, and it takes even longer before the others can actually let go of me because of what I'd do if I wasn't. It's times like these that I seriously consider a sex change (and everyone else considers putting their money together to book me a place at the zoo).

'Bitch…' KC finally manages to say under his breath. With that, they all grab me again to save him. I look at him, and then at the mess I've made with the drum kit. Not exactly what I'd call a Da Vinci masterpiece…

Then the door opens, this time from the outside.

'Took you long enough…' Jack says to the guy that is now walking towards the cupboard.

'You're one to talk…' He quips back. When he comes out, he brings with him the stand for the keyboard. 'Who's the new guy?'

Of course! He hasn't met him yet, has he?

'This is Rodney…' KC smirks, filling as much insult in his answer as he can. The thing is, no one really cares anymore; it's already got too old and too boring.

'This to meet you, Rod…' He says, still panting from obviously running from halfway over the school. He sticks his hand out and Rod shakes it politely. Finally someone is being nice to him. After that, he goes back to the keyboard.

'You're a real geek, you know that, Jon?' Jack smirks, watching his twin brother set up the keyboard on its stand.

'At least I wasn't the one that got grounded for using Mom's credit card on the complete set of Pokémon cards…' He argued behind a turned back. He had already learnt to ignore his brother's idiotic comments back before his seventh birthday. Then you look at me and think how much of a loser I am to still play 'mother' to Jack, so to speak.

The instrument let out a large screech as it turned on, making everyone wince in pain. We should be used to it now, but…we just aren't.

'So, why are you late, anyway? Jack asks Jon again.

'Had places to go…' He mutters, sorting an invisible problem out (which mean that his back has to still be turned)…

'No, you just got detention…' Jack smirks.

'Didn't…'

'Did…'

'Didn't'

Shut up…

'What did you do this time? Set fire to Lacey's hair or something?' Jack grins.

'Nope… She put me up for 'cheating' in the test…' Jon grimly answers.

'So, what is the moral to the story?' He smiles lazily, leaning back into his arms (which are currently behind his head).

'BUT I DIDN'T CHEAT!' Jon shouts back angrily. Talk about your blow-aways… It's never a good idea to make either Rippner brother angry, but when it's one doing it to the other, well, that gives a whole new meaning to the subject altogether…

'No…' Jack says, in an almost soothing voice, like a mother or some shrink. '…the moral is…'

Everyone listens to him, like they where literally on the edge of their seats. Even Rod… jack catches hold of the moment. A sly smile creeps onto his face;

'Never look down a girl's top in a test…' He burst out. Everyone pauses for a moment; did he actually say what I thought he said? Even Jon doesn't seem to have heard it properly.

'But I wasn't…' He whines.

'Then you must have been cheating…'

'I wasn't!'

'Then you were being a pervert…'

'No I wasn't! I wasn't even looking anywhere near anyone else!'

'You talking about guys as well? Dude…'

This whole argument went on for quite some time, until George finally remembered what we were actually here for; band practise. We all agreed that we should get a move on before the music teacher decided to take a stroll into our room and ask what the hell we were doing.

'So. I've got the lyrics' Jon said, holding them up. We didn't actually have a complete song yet, so he had gone and put all our ideas and the tune that we had into a song. All in one night by the look of things. When I actually read them, they weren't too bad actually (taking into account that jack would have had a big influence on the whole song from his ranting when we were all together and the fact that they both lived together).

Can't say remember a lot of the songs that we made up, and that was one of them. All that I can remember was a bunch of random things strung together like what you remember from one of those nights that people say that you don't remember (in a cliché, a blur). Okay, here's what I remember; George was complaining that Jon had changed the lyrics (I think that he must have wanted his motto in the song, but Jack must have come up and changed them just for the sheer hell of it). I think it was something like from 'cock' to 'cog', or something. Another thing that I remember was that the song was one of those sorts that totally took the piss out of society (or, on this case, school). I can still remember the tune, but, in all honesty, I can't seem to remember the words to it at all. The whole thing was pretty immature, but so were we.

But for now, I've got a plane to board. I hate flying, but when you've just been to a funeral, you don't particularly want to stay in the same state as you have been for the past two days (three, if you want to count nights). Besides, what else do I have to do besides just sit here drinking? The guy that asked me to join him is way gone by now, caught up in business. Ah well, back to the rut. Back to the hotel, back to the family, back to the millions of problems that the new secretary has probably caused by now…