Chapter 10
When Maddie and Janie finally got to the small apartment, Maddie's nerves were completely frayed. The walk home had been the longest 10 minutes of her life, and she was starting to wonder how long the rest of the night was going to be. Maddie unlocked the door and Janie walked in, silent for a moment as she was taken aback by the nice furnishings in the small apartment. Then she ran over to the leather couch and flung herself on it, sobbing her little heart out. Maddie shook her head and went over to the phone, taking it out onto the balcony and closing the door so Janie wouldn't be able to hear.
"Hey Mom, is it alright if I have Janie over for the night? She's had a really shitty day and I don't want her to be alone." Maddie asked. She paused as she listened to her mother. "Yes, that Janie. And we do so get along!." Another pause. "I know that you've got the red-eye shift and that Dad's out of town, but I promise we won't get into trouble... Thank you!" Maddie smiled and hung up the phone. She could hear Janie crying through the glass door and sighed sadly. She went inside and locked the door behind her because the last thing she needed was for Janie to try to do anything from the fourth floor balcony.
"Everything's going to be okay Janie." Maddie assured, throwing a bag of popcorn into the microwave. "Tonight we're going to watch chick-flicks until I bawl my eyes out with you, and we'll have junk food galore. Doesn't that sound good?" She gave a half-hearted smile, but Janie still didn't respond. "Janie...?"
"What do you know about lost love?" Janie sobbed. "At least you have Jared!"
"Woah, what now?" Maddie asked.
"You heard me. It's so obvious about you and Jared. Have you seen the way you two look at each other?" Janie asked.
"I swear to God Janie, you are the most delusional person I've ever known." Maddie snapped. "I hate the dumbass and only give him lessons because Mr. Johnson said I have to. Trust me, I would avoid him otherwise. And besides, he's a Stonewall kid, so he'd never like me like that in a million years. Got it?"
"Whatever you say Maddie." Janie replied sarcastically. For a brief, wonderful moment, everything was silent. Then Janie began crying again. "Oh Zach!" she wailed. Maddie shook her head. It was going to be a long night indeed.
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Jared quickly took a step back after seeing the destroyed equipment, and tripped on a lone drumstick in the floor. His head slammed into the ground with a loud thud, and he hoped that all this abuse to his skull wasn't going to cause any permanent damage. Rubbing his head, Jared got up and glanced at the clock.
"I've got 3 hours left until Mom is supposed to pick me up." he muttered. "Might as well do something useful while I'm here."
An hour and a half later, the drum heads on all the equipment were replaced and tuned thanks to some funds provided by Jared (who had gone to the music store on a rusty scooter that he found in the storage room). Now his attention was turned toward the ugly blue 'smurf' written on the deep purple back wall. "Ammonia cleans stuff off, doesn't it?" he asked himself. After coming up with no better solutions, he set out to find some. He quickly found the janitors closet, which was open as if begging him to come in and find what he needed.
Jared walked into the small closet, and immediately found what he was looking for. "Sweetness." he said, tucking the clear plastic bottle under his arm. To his right was some bleach, and he decided on taking that also, figuring that if he combined the two products it would become a super-cleaner. Before he closed the door behind him, Jared noticed extra paint cans on a shelf. He pried one open with a screwdriver and saw that it was the same color as the band room walls.
"Perfect!" he shouted, dropping the two bottles he had on the floor and grabbing two of the cans. He grabbed a paint brush and went back to the band room, and soon enough the wall was as good as new (if not better, in his opinion). Now that the huge projects were done, Jared's attention turned to the cymbals, which still lay broken on the ground.
"Goodbye college fund!" he laughed, riding off to the music store to buy six pairs of new marching cymbals.
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It had to be past midnight now, and Janie still was crying. No matter how many Johnny Depp and Heath Ledger movies Maddie had put in, Janie still refused to shut up. Maddie had even sucked up her dislike of "The Notebook" and put that on in hopes that Janie would run out of tears. "Janie, please, we have drumline practice again tomorrow." Maddie begged. "Go to sleep."
"Mark!" Janie moaned, "Zach!" She slammed her head on the coffee table and immediately regretted it. "Shit, that hurt!" she shouted.
"Janie, the neighbors are going to kill me if you don't shut the hell up!" Maddie shouted. Seeing Janie rub her reddened forehead, Maddie had a burst of inspiration. She ran into the bathroom and came back with a bottle of PM Advil. If Janie wasn't going to cry herself to sleep, then Maddie sure as hell was going to drug her to sleep. She handed two of the pills to Janie. "Take these," She instructed, getting her a drink of water. Janie followed orders, and almost immediately it seemed to have an effect on her.
"I'm tired." Janie said dreamily.
"Take a seat here." Maddie sat, patting the couch, "And rest your head on one of the pillows, if you want."
"Thanks Maddie." Janie said in the same tone. Within five minutes, she was asleep.
"Thank God." Maddie groaned, spreading out a sleeping bag on the floor. She crawled inside, and ventured off into dreamland.
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Janie was surrounded by a thick fog that prevented her from seeing anything more than an arms length away. She was scared, but still ventured blindly into the fog without any clue of where she was going. Still, her footing was sure, as if some invisible force was guiding her. She ground sloped up into a hill, and Janie could vaguely make out the figure standing at the top.
"Mark!" she cried, running up and throwing her arms around her dead brother. He wrapped his arms around her protectively and then evaporated into thin air. Janie fell to her knees, and began sobbing.
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Maddie and the rest of the Eastwood were on the floor in UD Arena with the other lines, anxiously waiting for their results for WGI finals. It was down to the top two in the class: Eastwood HS and Stonewall HS. She grabbed Jared's hand and squeezed it, along with Janie's. He gave her a shaky, nervous smile in return.
"In second place... Stonewall high school!" The announcer boomed. Maddie gasped, completely confused. They had to have read the placement sheet wrong, there had to be some mis-
"And I'm proud to announce that our 2011 Scholastic A Champion is Eastwood High School!" There was a split second of silence, and then the crowd jumped to their feet, cheering at the top of their lungs as Zach and Max stepped forward to get the giant trophy. Maddie squealed with delight and turned to hug Janie. Then she turned to her right and gave Jared a hug. He grinned, and then planted his lips on hers. Suddenly the crowd disappeared, and there was nothing but the two of them and the stadium floor under their feet...
Maddie sat up, panting as though she had a bad dream. "What the hell?" she muttered, shaking her head. "Stupid Janie, putting these damn ideas into my head." She lay back down, and fell back into a dreamless sleep.
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Jared walked toward the band room the next day, not sure why exactly he was choosing to end his life in this manner. One step inside that door, and BAM! Zach would beat him to a pulp. Nevertheless, he opened the door, cautiously peering around inside. To his surprise, everyone brightened up when the saw his face.
"Jared!" They all called, all tension from the day before obviously gone. Jared grew confused. Was this some kind of a cruel, sick joke? Maddie's eyes sparkled, and she ran over to Jared.
"Hey sweetheart!" She said, throwing her arms around his neck, smiling. Before he could shake her off, her lips touched his. Suddenly the rest of the drumline disappeared, and there was nothing but the two of them and the band room floor under their feet...
Jared tumbled out of his bed, his head rapping against his bedside table with a loud crack. He quickly got up, rubbing his aching head. "Stupid..." he began, trying to think of something to blame his dreams on. Nothing immediately came to mind, so he climbed back into bed, grumbling to himself as he fell back asleep.
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There was a fine mist everywhere, causing Zach to see nothing that was farther then an arm's length away from him. Being pulled by an invisible force, he wandered blindly into the fog, his arms held out in front of him for protection. He felt the ground slope up a little, and finally saw a dark figure on top of what he assumed was the hill. "Janie...?" he asked hesitantly. He saw her head raise up, and his heart ached when he saw Janie's red, puffy eyes; she had obviously been crying. But he didn't run to her and hold her in his arms, like he normally would have. She had cheated on him, and he wasn't ready to forgive her.
"I swear, I didn't do anything with Jared." She sobbed, exactly what she had told him earlier. "I would never do anything like that do you... How could you think such a horrible thing of me?"
Zach lost his temper. "Because of your previous history!" he shouted at her. He could see that she was trembling, but ignored it.
"Please, just trust me." Janie begged. She kept repeating this as she slowly faded away. Suddenly Zach panicked and reached out toward her to keep her where she was, but it was too late. Zach was now all alone.
He woke up and went into the bathroom, splashing cold water from the sink into his face. "What a crazy dream." Zach muttered, shaking his head. He went back into his bedroom, and fell back asleep. He was going to need the rest for Sunday morning's practice.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Jared was being an idiot. Never, EVER use bleach and ammonia together. It it NOT good, and you'll end up dying from the toxic fumes.
So... a quick explanation. Janie's brother died in Janie's Got a Gun, which was the unintentional prequel to Elemental. I would say check it out if you get the chance but I'd like to edit it first before anyone rereads it.
Thanks for reviewing all my stories! You guys rock!
~The Sound of Drums