Chapter Seven

The rest of the weekend had passed in a blur of total ecstasy for the girls, and so had the beginning of their week. Jo's boss was allowing her to practice teaching specially while she marked papers; observing her and giving tips on how to do certain things. It was helping Jo's teaching abilities improve greatly. Elise had spent the last three days couped up in her room, which had the biggest office, writing non-stop. She had introduced a new character which, after proof reading, the girls could all see resembled the immaculate Danny Jones.
Tilly had been given her new script and was heard practising it continuously – where Jo sung in the shower at the top of her lungs, Tilly recited her lines, adding in different accents according to her mood. She would show the girls each new scene or act, one a night, getting them to act out the other parts with her. It was an endless source of amusement which ended in everyone usually falling on the ground in laughter or complaining of their stomachs and cheeks hurting.
Mel, having an endless amount of music sources, proceeded to look up every McFly song ever recorded and played them over and over and over and over again. Soon, she had every word memorised and, after sharing the music with everyone, the four of them would blast it away, singing and dancing together on the couches in the lounge room.

So Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday passed quickly, as did Thursday when it came around. Friday dawned and the day passed hastily and the girls arrived home, having all knocked off early, bubbly and talking flat out.
"Oh my god I'm so excited-"
"Fuck I can't wait ay, it will be awe-"
"OH MY GOD THEY'RE COMING HERE!"
"What the hell am I going to cook?"
They sat down and discussed what they wanted, each girl contributing. Jo sat down at the kitchen table, going through the pantry, writing down a list of what ingredients she needed for what she was cooking. Mel got the music happening and Tilly and Leise went about, straightening up the house, decorating the table. They all bopped around, talking and laughing at each other from different rooms.
The phone rang. "I'll get it!" Leise screamed, racing to the phone. She picked it up.
"Hello?"
There was a pause as someone else talked. Mel turned down the music as the girls anticipated a conversation from McFly.
"Ah, can I ask who's speaking?"
Another pause as the recipient answered: the fact that Elise had to ask who it was showed them that it wasn't the boys as they expected, so they continued their business.
There was another slight pause before Elise smoothly replied, "Oh, hey. No, sorry, she's not here at the moment – she had to go down town to get some food. Can I leave a message?"
There was only a small pause before Elise replied. "Okay. Bye." She hung up quickly and didn't turn around, choosing instead to think a while. Tilly stood at the door; her interest piqued having heard Elise say that one of them wasn't here. "Who was that?" she asked. Elise turned around and looked at her.
"Where's Jo?" she asked instead. Tilly slyly slid around the corner, poking her head out before coming back to Elise. "She's still at the table, talking to Mel. Why?"
Elise swallowed and looked at Tilly before whispering her answer. "That was Joel."
Tilly stared at her incredulously. "Who? What?"
"Joel. It was Joel," she repeated.
"How the fuck did he get our number?" Tilly asked, anger flaring.
Leise shrugged. "Beat's me. I have no idea. But he wants to talk to Jo."
Tilly frowned. "This isn't going to be cool," she stated. "Come on, we better go tell her."
The two walked out to where Mel and Jo sat.
"Who was that?" Mel asked curiously as she bounced in her seat to the beat. Tilly and Leise stared at them.
"What?" Jo and Mel said at the same time. The two girls sighed.
"Jo, that was Joel."
Jo stared at them. "What?" she asked quietly, despite the fact she had heard them clearly.
"WHAT!" Mel screamed, jumping up. "Joel rang here? What a fuck wit! Doesn't he get it! He's not-"
"It's alright Mel," Jo interrupted.
"No it's fucking not," Mel retorted, rounding on her. Jo sighed and straightened up, interrupting Mel and silencing her with a look.
"I'm not going to worry about it tonight. You're not going to worry about it tonight. We're all going to have such fun because tonight the four greatest boys are going to come around. We're going to enjoy tonight, and not think about Joel. I'm not going to think about Joel."
The girls were quiet at Jo's subtle order. Tilly and Elise hesitated before changing the subject. "We're just going to go to the shops – did you need anything for tonight Jo?" She nodded and gave them a list. Giving her hug before they left, they disappeared out the door.

"What time are they coming over?" Jo asked Mel five minutes later, looking out the window at the rainclouds that were threatening the sky.
"I don't know," Mel answered her. "Tom said they were aiming around five thirty, sixish. Why?"
Jo stared outside for a few minutes. "I think I might go for a run. It's going to rain. Do you mind?"
Mel looked at her closely, stepping forward to give her a hug. "No, sweetie... Go for it. If you're not back by the time there here, I'll text you." Jo squeezed her once in thanks before going up to her room to change into her running clothes. Her phone in her pocket, her hair tied back, her shoes laced up, Jo waved to Mel and walked out the door. It left Mel to listen to music and fume to herself.

"Hey guys!" Elise shouted, opening the door. The boys grinned at her, greeting her back.
"Come on in to our humble abode," she welcomed, standing back to allow them through the door.
"You look amazing, Leisey," Danny said as he walked past her, pausing to give her a hug. She did – that much was true. She was wearing another cobalt blue summer dress which reached her thigh. With a deep 'V' neck it pleated softly to the waist before coming tighter and falling straight. The sleeves reached to her elbows, falling soft and gentle. Her hair was natural, curly and full, framing her face. She grinned at him and curtsied playfully. "So do you, Mr Jones," commenting on his outfit. His hair was curling gently and he wore a plain sky-blue shirt which, much like his last one, accentuated his arms. Black jeans were worn with white skate shoes. Leise smiled at him and he smiled back, his glorious grin setting her stomach on fire. "Come on in! Come on," she said, taking him by the arm and pulling him through the front of the house, following the other boys as they wound their way to the kitchen. "You guys have an amazing house," Dougie commented, looking around at the living room. Their house was more modern than the boys; it was open with lots of windows and contemporary furniture. The room they were in had a chocolate brown feature wall, with mocha coloured walls and a pale white ceiling. The walls were decorated with photos of landscapes and people, featuring their friends and themselves. A huge canvas photograph hung above the latte coloured couch and ottermen, capturing a sunset at their home town's main beach, the corner of the photo showing a whole group of friends sitting around on the headland looking out at the ocean, cokes in their hand as they laughed and talked. It was the favourite of all photos in the lounge room, posed by Tilly and captured on self-timer. The boys stood in admiration as the other two girls came in. "Hey!" they shouted, smiling widely at the boys. The boys stopped craning their necks to look at Tilly and Mel. "Hey!" they responded.
"You have an amazing house," Dougie told them again, and the girls smiled and thanked them. "You guys look awesome!" Tilly said, bounding forward to greet them more. Tom stepped forward to give Mel a hug, and Tilly half tackled Dougie. He laughed and hugged her back. "You guys look amazing too," Tom replied, stepping back to look at them all. He looked Mel up and down, taking in her outfit and appearance. She had a bright sunshine yellow dress on, much like Elise's one she wore on their first dinner. With a flowing skirt with a wavy hem line, it was a halter neck which was shown off by the glittering beads that were sown on it. The centre piece of the dress was the natural loop of the halter. Her hair was straightened and she wore it down, with a yellow ribbon in her fringe. She looked bright and bubbly.
Tilly's dress was as Tilly as it got; unique, fun and cute. Strapless, short and bold, it was a bright but deep purple. It was tight to the waist where it puffed out plainly, simple and stylish. A massive bow was wrapped artistically around her waist to the side, drawing attraction to it. On her feet were her bright green monster feet slippers. "They are the most fucking awesome slippers I've ever seen," Dougie said, pointing down. Tilly beamed. "You think? I love them!" He laughed at her and nudged them with his foot. "I want a pair. I'm going to go find a pair." Tilly laughed and clapped.
"But seriously guys, you do look very spunky!" Tilly complemented again. Mel, Leise and Tilly observed the boys – Tom in his black jeans and white button up, this time with a short dark red tie. He looked very hot mused Mel, grinning at him. He grinned back and wriggled his eyebrows, spinning around on the spot and thrusting like Michael Jackson. Dougie looked very cute and simple, black jeans with a satin-looking grey button up shirt. He looked smart but casual with his bright white skate shoes, his hair spiked up.
Harry wore, too, black straight legs, a stark white belt and a white button up shit which had grey vertical stripes. He looked fit and, again, sporty in a cool way.
"Feel free to sit down guys," Elise said, gesturing to the lounge. "Sorry to say but dinner is going to be a while, but there will be drinks and snackage, so never fear!"
"Where's Jo?" Dougie asked curiously. The girls shared a furtive look, secretly worried – they hadn't heard from her yet and she'd been gone for almost three hours.
"She's gone for a run," Tilly finally answered.
"In the rain?" Tom asked, looking outside. They all looked out the window at the heavy rain that had been steadily pouring down for the last hour. The girls nodded and laughed. "That's Jo for you – she does that sort of thing... loves it. She always runs when it rains."
"Why?" Danny said disbelievingly, shaking his head. "It's wet out there. Like, really wet."
The girls laughed and shrugged again. "I think it has something to do with Africa," Elise said, pulling a face. She wasn't really sure.
"No," Tilly disagreed thoughtfully. "Maybe that's just her." The girls agreed thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
Tilly laughed and shrugged. "We're all different, obviously – everyone is – but, I recon like your band, your differences are an advantage. Together we have the best fun, just laughing at nothing. We don't fight often, because we're okay with one another and we sort them out real quickly-"
"We determine the winner of arguments by pillow fights!" Mel interjected, making the boys laugh.
"But we all do different things, like different things, grew up differently. While Mel and I were dancing after school, Jo and Elise were doing music. We all did yoga together for ages – that was really fun. Then I went to drama, Mel and Tilly took some writing courses and Jo was doing kick boxing. That's just sort of how we roll – we have differences – Mel's a dancer, I'm an actor, Leise is a writer and Joanne's a doer – but we're all united by our similarities – our creativity, love for music and drama, lame sense of humour... lots of simple things that make us closer friends."
"That's how we roll."
The boys thought about it, nodding quietly. "That's what we're like," Tom said, looking at his own group of friends. "You have Dougie, who seems quiet but really is just wacky and weird and because of it, everyone loves him." The boys laughed at the inside jokes. "There's Harry, who is good at everything – which can be annoying sometimes- but he is always doing something. You watch him – he's always moving, always drumming to his own beats. You got Danny, amazingly talented, an awesome entertainer, and he laughs at his own jokes. Then you just got me."
"Tom: he's the serious person - although he does have a fun side -who is always thinking about ways to improve something; always thinking ahead. He never stops."
"Bring us all together and you have one awesome band, one awesome group of friends."
"Plus we're hot," Dougie added, sticking his tongue out and biting it. The girls laughed, pushing him playfully. "We shall go get you drinks and snackage," Mel said, walking to the kitchen. "I'll try Joanne again."

***

Half an hour later the boys and girls, minus Joanne, sat in the lounge room talking about the band, telling them their thoughts on their music, and on others. Mel was just about finished telling them about an interview she had had the day before with new aspiring band, when the front door banged open, the sound of a phone ringing was heard and the door slammed shut. They all stopped talking to hear footsteps squish towards them where Jo appeared, dripping wet; her shoes in her hand at the doorway. "I'm so fucking sorry," she immediately said, dropping her phone at the floor. "I had no idea how far I went – I'm so sorry. I'm going to have a really quick shower and I swear I'll be down in five minutes to cook this for you, and then I'll make the best dessert you've ever had or something to make up for it..." She stopped, bending down to rest her hands on her bent knees, her chest heaving, panting. "Hey guys, it's nice to see you again," she added as an afterthought. They waved and said hello.
"How far did you just run?" Danny asked her curiously. Jo shrugged.
"I got Mel's message saying you were here half an hour ago, so I ran all the way home – I'd say about nine and a half, ten km's. I was already on my way back."
"Bloody hell," Danny said, staring at her. Jo smiled, understanding the look. "Believe me – once I was the sort of person who wouldn't even run twenty meters to save my life. But I had a lot on my mind today so I needed to go-" Her voice broke and she looked at her friends. They knew she had been crying for a while.
"Go have a shower, Jo-Jo," Mel said, pointing to the stairs. Jo smiled gratefully at her and ran up there, leaving the guys in silence.
"Ten km's," Harry said disbelievingly.
Elise laughed. "I'd probably give up after about ten meters."
"Me too," came the voices of six different people at the same time. The musing was interrupted by Joanne's phone ringing again. She had left it on the floor next to the door.
"Ooh, I'm so spaced out today. Ooh, I could have slept all day..."
Elise stood and picked it up, looking at the number. It stopped ringing in her hand and returned to the normal screen.
"They hung up," she said softly, walking back to Tilly and Mel. She showed them the phone.
'30 missed calls' was all it said. After a moment's silence of concerned looks, the girls returned to talk to the boys.