Tumbling down


When Rachel entered her boyfriend's apartment, Brian safely locked up in her arms, she immediately knew something was off. Tyler was sitting in the kitchen, eating his waffles while a girl was trying to get his attention by telling some weird story, which included a lot of hand gestures. When she saw Rachel entering, she immediately switched all her attention away from Tyler.

"Oh, hi! I'm Katie, Reid's new girlfriend! Who are you?" Rachel's eyes widened before they turned to Tyler, silently begging him for an explanation. He looked a bit tired.

"That's my girlfriend, Rachel and our son Brian." He muttered, before getting up from the table and wrapping an arm around the girl he just introduced. "Sorry, Katie, I promised Rachel I'd take her into town today. You can show yourself out, right?" Katie, who had looked a bit funny when Tyler had said the word 'son', gave the couple a mega-smile.

"Sure! But I think I'll just wait for Reid to get up. Or, better yet, I think I'm going to bring him some breakfast on bed. He'll like that." She almost skipped towards the refrigerator while Tyler and Rachel shared a knowing look. Waking up Reid before twelve on a Saturday was not a good idea.

"I think he'll love that." Rachel said with a sweet smile, before turning to Tyler and whispering in his ear. "Let's go, before he actually wakes up." Tyler grinned softly and followed his girlfriend out of the door.

"Nice meeting you!" They heard Katie behind them. Neither one of them turned around.

"Seriously?" Rachel hissed as soon as they were out of earshot. "Would it kill him to at least wait a few weeks before finding a rebound?" Although Rachel had never been able to fully blame either Reid or Lizzie for the trouble their fight had caused within the Covenant, she would have liked the idea of them at least trying to make it better. Instead, they seemed to be engaged in some sort of fight of who could find the most hook-ups, and when they were together they made a sport out of turning every line into an insult. It was tiresome for Tyler and Rachel, since they were usually the ones who had to break the two up, which immediately leaded to the accusation that they were picking sides.

"Don't worry." Tyler consoled his girlfriend. "She won't last long. Actually, I think that he will probably throw her out of the window when she tries to wake him up." Rachel grinned for a second, before realizing this was actually a realistic possibility.

"Maybe we should have warned her." She mumbled. "After all, we can hardly blame her for this, right?" Tyler didn't answer, thinking about the conversation with the girl, in which she had tried on multiple occasions to get some information about Lizzie, of who Reid had apparently told her.

"Right." He muttered, knowing Rachel liked seeing the innocent part of people. "But she'll survive. As long as he likes the food she brings him." Rachel laughed and rolled her eyes.

"We really got to find ourselves some normal friends." Tyler laughed, not even bothering to deny that statement. Sometimes he felt like they were caught up in some sort of soap opera.

"Let's just forget about that for today, alright? I just need one quiet day for ourselves.

Surprisingly enough, they actually managed to reach that. Reid and Lizzie stayed far away, although no one except for themselves knew exactly where they were, and for ones nothing crazy happened. By the time Rachel's rehearsal for the musical started, she was actually feeling a bit relaxes, something that hadn't happened in a very long time.

"Rachel!" Rachel grinned when she saw Michael waving to her, and she quickly moved towards him.

"Hey Michael. How did it go?" Michael was one of the dancers, which meant he had to practice before the actors like Rachel.

"Great. How's Liz doing? I haven't seen her in a while. I heard she quit school?" Rachel frowned and then nodded.

"Yeah. She's having a bit of a hard time. She and Reid had a messy break-up." Michael stared at her in surprise.

"They broke up? I thought they were engaged." Rachel shrugged, not really in the mood to talk about it. Luckily for her, someone called Michael over so the boy had to run. She took the time to look around, taking in the people she was currently working with. The school had a kind of special way of working, which meant that people where judged on talent for the first two years. That's how Rachel and Lizzie, who was actually a class above her, ended up in the same year during their dance classes. The musical was produced by everyone who could have something to do with it and was in year one or two. That meant that the art-students made the décor, the dance students danced, the actors and singers played the roles and the directing was done by the film-students. It was both fun and a huge part of their grade. Rachel, who had experience with musicals since she had played in a few in high school and who could also dance and sing, had managed to score the female-lead.

"RACHEL! Get your ass on that stage!" The director, Sam, yelled at her. Rachel quickly rushed to her spot. "The rainbow song!" Sam commanded, and immediately everyone obeyed. The music started playing, the lights moved towards Rachel, or Mary, as her character was called, and she took a deep breath.

The musical was about dreams and nightmares, about what happens when you're so focused on how it supposed to be, you completely forget about reality. It had sort of been inspired by Britney Spears 'Lucky'. The rainbow song was basically the center of the musical.

It were my dreams that led me here,

that brought me were I am today.

It were my dreams that changed my fear

into strength to ignore what they say.

When they tell me I am falling,

That I soon will hit the ground,

Then I say this is my calling,

That I can't ignore this sound.

Yes, I am a star, and soon you too will see,

Yes, I am everything that I could ever dream to be.

I am standing on top of the rainbow,

And when I look below:

I only see the things I want

And that makes my life so bright,

Since I earned it I can flaunt,

So I will step into my own light.

This world will soon be mine,

I can see the love in your eyes.

I am feeling o so fine,

But I wish you could see through my lies.

Yes, I am a star, and soon you too will see,

Yes, I am everything that I could ever dream to be.

I am standing on top of the rainbow,

but when I look below:

Those people seem so full of joy

As simple as their lives may be

`cause in all my strength I am a toy

Of what they want to see.

No, my life is not a rainbow,

That shines bright in the sun,

But still I always play the show,

Since it's too late now to run.

Yes, I am a star, and soon you too will see,

Yes, I am everything that I could ever dream to be.

I am standing on top of the rainbow,

But from here I can only go below

Rachel smiled to herself as the music died out, but didn't have any time to celebrate. Since their planning for the play wasn't very realistic, they had a small problem with the time. To avoid total defeat, they had agreed to continue as soon as something went right.

"Mary! What are you doing? The show starts in two minutes, and we still have to do all your make-up!" Rachel turned around, wiping the tears out of her eyes and smiling like a kid who was caught with his hand in the cookie-jar.

"Sorry. I was just…" She hesitated, unable to come up with a lie. The guy who had just entered the stage was Mary's agent Tom. He rolled his eyes and roughly grabbed her arm.

"Stop talking, start getting ready. What the hell are you wearing? You can't wear that during a concert! Do you have any idea how big of a deal this is? If you screw this up, you're gonna end up in the streets, you hear me?"

Mary nodded quickly, moving of the stage. Tom rolled his eyes, turned to the public and was about to say something when… his phone rang.


"CUT!" Sam yelled angrily. "Andy, how many times do I have to tell you guys: TURN OFF your cellphone when we're working!"

Andy paled as he grabbed his cellphone and then frowned. "I'm sorry, but I have to take this." He said, before jumping off the stage and running to a quiet corner. Sam glared at him, but he didn't seem to notice.

"What's his deal?" Emily, the girl in charge of the special effects, asked anyone who was close enough to hear her question. Rachel pricked up her ears when she heard Thomas, Andy's best friend, answer.

"His mom is in the hospital. It's probably his sister to give him an update."

"So that's why he was acting so nervous all day." Brianna, another co-actor of Rachel, muttered.

"Stop the gossip!" Sam called. "Brianna, Thomas, Levi, you're up! Act two, scene four!" The three hurried to the stage, knowing it wasn't wise to keep Sam waiting when he was like this. Rachel couldn't remember when Sam hadn't been like that, though. She jumped off the stage, wanting to see the scene like the public would for once. When she landed on the ground, she saw Reid and Tyler standing in the door opening and she hurried to them.

"Hey!" she greeted them happily. "What are you doing here?" Tyler smiled and pecked her on the lips.

"Sam mentioned a problem with the set of Mary's apartment, so I thought I'd come by to talk to him about what he does want." Tyler was one of the artists who had made the backgrounds. "Plus, I thought it would be nice to see my girlfriend again."

"So adorable." Reid grumbled, causing Rachel to turn to him.

"And what are you doing here? Did you want to complain about your early wake-up call this morning?" Reid narrowed his eyes.

"You knew about that? And you didn't try to stop it?"

"TYLER! RACHEL!" Rachel spun around to see Sam running towards them. "Rachel, Dana wants you to try on your costume. Tyler, great you could come. Let me show you what I meant. I think some idiot spilled some chocolate milk on it or something."

"Who is stupid enough to do that?" Reid asked, once again shocked by other people's foolishness. Rachel rolled her eyes at him.

"You didn't happen to stand close to the set in the past few days, did you Reid?" Reid glared at her for implying it was his fault. Tyler grinned.

"Don't you have a dressing room to run to, Rachel?" Sam cut in. Rachel grinned and ran away.

"What is she mad at me for this time?" Reid asked confused. Tyler simply patted his friend on the shoulder before following Sam.


"Rachel!" Lizzie called her friend in a sing-song voice. Rachel lifted her eyebrow as she followed the sound to the kitchen. She had just picked up Brian from the day-care centre and now the boy was fast asleep in her arms.

"Hey, Liz. What's going on?" Lizzie grinned up at her friend and then moved the pizza box across the table.

"I thought you could use a relax-night, so I ordered pizza, bought a few good movies and brought out our girls-night kit." She sent Rachel a cheesy grin and the other girl couldn't help but laugh and drop down next to her.

The girls-night kit consisted of a manicure-set, a few facial masks and a lot a different colors nail polish. All in all, it was pretty much all any girl could need for a nice, relaxing evening.

Two hours, one movie later, the two girls were finally over their 'idiotic' part of the night, which consisted of a lot of laughter, silly jokes and lame movies, and had moved on to the 'serious' part.

"You heard about Katie?" Rachel asked Lizzie carefully, after the other girl had given a long rant about men and how quickly they move on. Lizzie nodded, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah. I met her. But, hey, I didn't slap her or anything, so that's a plus, right?" Rachel nodded, a sad smile on her face. Lizzie missed her ex, that much was clear. "But the weird thing is that, even though I know he is a jerk, I still wished I would be the one underneath his arm." Rachel hesitated, not quit ready to ruin the night, but not fully capable of letting her friend bash her other friend.

"It was a bad idea to push two of your friends to start dating." Rachel grumbled. "You never know what you will get messed up in when they start fighting."

"Hey!" Lizzie complained playfully. "You didn't push anything. We did it all by ourselves." Rachel laughed, shaking her head.

"Right… Like you two would have ever start talking to each other if it hadn't been for me."

"Coincidence. There's no way you planned that out."

"Hey, I'm just smart like that." Rachel grinned.

"Don't laugh like that. It makes you look like Reid." Lizzie's grin disappeared as fast as it had appeared. Talking about Reid was one thing, mentioning his name without adding an insult was very different. Rachel took her hand, rubbing it soothingly.

"He misses you too, you know." She whispered. Immediately, Lizzie pulled her hand free and jumped up.

"Can I have the last slice?" She asked, already extending her hand to the pizza. Rachel sighed softly, then nodded.

"Sure. Although, now you quit dancing you might want to watch the calories."

"Shut up!" Lizzie was laughing again. "So which movie do you want next? 27 dresses or the Princess bride?"

"Princess bride." Rachel replied immediately, deciding she never really did like the serious part of their evening. Lizzie settled down next to Rachel and both found a comfortable position to watch the movie.

"I don't understand why she's crying about him." Lizzie grumbled, right after princess Buttercup heard that Westley, the love of her life, was killed by a pirate. Rachel rolled her eyes, starting to realize that love stories might not be the best choice for the moment.

"She loved him, Liz. Of course she would cry about him."

"But he left her!"

"To make enough money so that he could marry her, Liz. That sounds like a pretty good excuse to me!" Rachel realized that she was getting worked up while defending a movie character, but she liked Westley. He was…sweet. He reminded her of Tyler.

"That's no excuse! She had all the money they could possibly need. I mean, she's a bloody princess! But no, being the man he is, he just had to make his own fortune. Bloody idiot." Rachel realized she wasn't the only one who was starting to take it a bit personal. She didn't know why, maybe because Lizzie had tried to bash one of her favourite movies of all times, or maybe because she had held her anger back a bit too long, but suddenly she was starting to feel really, really pissed off.

"Reid wasn't the one who left, Lizzie." She snarled. "You cheated on him. And what's worse, you didn't even have the nerve to apologize. You just ran off, leaving me to deal with the mess. And even when you came back, you still tried to make everyone believe Reid was the bad guy. Well, guess what: You ran off. You ruined everything you two had. So don't you dare blame this on him."

If Rachel had thought she would stun Lizzie into apologizing, she was wrong. Lizzie hit back just as hard.

"You think that I don't know I might a mistake? You think I wanted to leave it all to you? Well guess what, Rachel, I didn't! I didn't want to leave, I didn't want to break up with Reid, but when he goes around sleeping with every single whore he meets…"

"YOU were the one who cheated, Lizzie! You two were over before he kissed another girl!"

"Oh, sure you believe that. Innocent, naive little Rachel couldn't possibly know about what her friends are doing behind her back, could she now? Well, I hate to bring it to ya, princess, but you are about as blind as a mole! Reid started cheating on me long before I ever even thought about leaving him!"

"That's not true! Reid would never do that to you!"

"Sure he wouldn't. It's not like he hasn't done it before, right? `Cause he was so pure when we met, our innocent little angel, wasn't he?"

"He is my friend, Lizzie." Rachel hissed, emphasizing every single word. "He is my BROTHER!"

"Yeah? Well, sorry, my bad. I forgot the rule about never telling you the truth because you're to damn scared to handle it! This world doesn't revolve around you, and it certainly won't change for you! So suck it up, life isn't easy. It never will be. And the ones you love the most will stab you in the back as soon as they get the chance!" Lizzie jumped up from the couch, running to the door. Just before she slammed it close behind her, she turned back to Rachel, tears evident in her eyes.

"I was your friend first, Rachel. Or did you forget that?" Her voice was weak, like she was betrayed or something. As soon as the door fell close behind her, Rachel buried her head in a pillow and cried.

A wail rose up from Brian's room, but for once, Rachel was just too tired to get up.


Sorry for the Lizzie-Reid fans out there, it just needed to happen. I suppose I should apologize about the delay (one week later then planned) again, but this time I'm blaming it on YOU *pointing finger at random person in audience* Honestly, how hard is to review? Just press the little button underneath the page!

Alright, so after that little rant- I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and will have an even better New Year. My change at the latter is hanging around the zero, since my grades aren't as good as hoped. Is there anyone out there who can explain to me why Ovidius has to be so complicated? And why didn't I learn for my English test? Why? WHYYYYYY!

As you might have guessed, I'm having some issues, but they will be dealt with... JUST PLEASE REVIEW!

Oh, right, I was a bit mean after chapter 6... I promised to expose one of my ideas to the reviewers, but I only had one review I could respond to, and that wasn't enough for the idea. Anyway, I thought it'd be fun to share a story... Everyone writes a chapter, we pick which one is the best, then we work on chapter two, etc. The funny thing is that you never know how your story is going to end, plus you might actually learn a thing or two about writing (Is learning a plus?). But I'm going to need some assistance for this, so if anyone is interested, please PM me! And if you could, please send the message to other writers. They don't have to be a fanfiction member. Please? I'd really like to do this one time one fanfiction. I do it all the times with my brother, and we always end up with the most amazing endings. The guy you thought would be the prince who saved the damsel ends up being the dragon... one time he even ended up being the damsel.

I actually had an idea for the story, even though it is pretty lame... I think it can be something nice with enough fantasy added.

At fifteen Reid slept with a girl, a good friend of all four of the sons, who moved away after he broke things off with her. In their senior year, she returns, refusing to talk about why she left and avoiding the sons and their girlfriends. She hardly talks to anyone, doesn't go to parties and refuses to live at the dorms. Reid can't even find out where she lives. What's going on?

So, anyway, a review would be nice, a volunteer for this story even better... Other ideas are, of course, welcome. Critic on this one too, I've laughed about the lameness of it myself a couple of times.

Also I was considering writing a parody of the covenant and the many fics out there who all basically have the same idea (mysterious girl shows up, she has a secret; one of the boys has a sister who's having some trouble of her own, blah-blah) Please, before you get offended: Read my other fics and understand they are pretty much the same, so I'm bashing myself just as much as everyone else :) If you would like to help with this one, it would be appreciated.

The next chapter should be up in about a week. Or two. Or three...

Sorry, I think I had too much sugar (if there is such a thing)... or maybe I've just lost my mind?

Mwah, sanity is overrated.