Here's the next chapter. Enjoy! I don't own Lost.

Chapter 33: These Days

Where did my angels run and hide?
Where are the guys with lucky eyes?
Where do the strangers sleep at night?
Sleep this night, how can I?
This is one of these days
This is one of these days
This is one of these days
That everything is fucked up – One of These Days by Najwa Nimri

.. ..

There are days. Days which test your ability to move on, to not breakdown. Days that tell you once and for all if you will be able to stand this life. Days which contains much hardship, much anger, much tears.

Days like today.

.. ..

'Start the car, I know a whoopee spot, where the gin is cold, but the piano's hot. It's just a noisy hall, where there's a nightly brawl and all that jazz!' Ziva belted out, not believing that she was actually taking Maddyson's place in the first show.

A flurry of activity was going on backstage, most of it by Miss Chandler, who was close to having a fit.

'where are they?' she grabbed Erin's arm as she passed.

'what? Who?' Erin asked.

'who do you think? Maddyson, Darren, Leo, Lila, Jen, Raz, Roma, Sin and Jack?' she demanded.

'sorry, Miss,' Lila said as she entered backstage with Jen and Raz on either side of her. 'I just got back from my chemo,' she said.

Miss Chandler nodded. 'are you okay to go on?' she asked, hoping for a yes.

'yeah, of course,' she said.

'good. And would you know where the others I mentioned are?'

'uh, yeah...' she trailed off. 'they're at the hospital. Lea went into labour.'

There was a pause.

'so...what you're telling me,' she began slowly. 'is that I don't have a male lead, my second female lead, three of my dancers and Erin's murder victim?'

'uh...yeah,' Lila said regrettably.

Miss Chandler stared at her. 'Erin, get on stage, Ash, get on too, the show must go on,' she said. Ash had replaced Jack at the last minute, and wasn't too confident, but he listened to her.

'everyone else,' Miss Chandler said. 'convene in the main backstage part.'

A few minutes passed and everyone was there.

'everyone,' Miss Chandler said. 'Leanne has gone into labour, and many people are there. Austin, you ready to be Billy Flynn for the night? Lila, as well as your job as Mona, I'd like you to be Kitty Baxter, you know your lines, right? Somebody, go through Roma's lines with Rosemary. And-'

'sorry, Miss,' Leo entered with Sin and Dak behind him.

Miss Chandler sighed. 'Sin, Leo, got ready for your Cell Block Tango roles. Everyone go. The show must go on.'

They all left her and she looked at Dak, who was one of the last to go.

'is Leanne okay?' she asked.

'yeah, I think so,' he said. 'we were all kicked out, but the other three are still with her.'

Miss Chandler sighed.

.. ..

'oh my God!' Lila screeched as she ran her hand through her hair. 'what the fucking Hell?'

Jen, Raz and Ash joined her at her mirror to see her holding many tangled strands of her in her hand.

'what's wrong?' Jen asked.

'what's wrong? What's wrong?' she shrieked. 'my hair is falling out already!'

'it's...not the end of the world,' Ash said.

'what?' Raz asked Ash in disgust.

'oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,' Lila murmured.

Jen hit her on the shoulder.

'snap out of it! We'll help you out of this mess.'

.. ..

'I WILL FUCKING MURDER YOU!' Leanne shrieked at Darren and almost broke Roma's hand in the process of a painful contraction.

'I know,' Darren said, quite bored at the repeated threat.

'no, seriously-' she let go of Roma's hand and blindly pulled Darren towards her. 'I will kill you,' she hissed.

'I know,' he said earnestly.

'what if I can't do this?' she asked suddenly, letting go of him. 'what if I suck at being a mother? What if I'm not cut out to be a mother at sixteen? Sixteen!' she scoffed. 'we should be out, partying, not sitting in here with me in labour! I don't want to stay in a dead end job because I didn't get a degree because I have a child! I want to backpack across Europe and be in a new country every week, and with a new man every night!'

'uh, what?' Darren interrupted.

'And it wouldn't even matter if I never see them again, but I've always thought if I fell in love, then I fell in love, and I never thought I'd care if I fell that deep that I wouldn't be able to get out, I just wanted unbelievably hot passionate sex and have fun for the best fucking years of my life!' she exclaimed, wincing again at the end.

'but,' she continued softer than before. 'I can't do that anymore. I wanted to experience so much. I wanted to go out partying with my friends instead of being forgotten because I'm a parent, I wanted to live in every continent, I wanted to learn many languages, I wanted to have the ultimate college experience, complete with a lesbian experience.'

'parlez-vous français?' Roma asked suddenly.

'oui,' Lea said.

'Habla usted español?' Maddyson asked.

'sí,' Lea said.

Roma and Maddyson turned to Darren.

'I got nothing,' he shrugged. 'I only speak French and English.'

'holy fuckity fuck!' Lea clutched her stomach in pain. 'I'm gonna DOUSE YOUR BODY IN ACID!'

.. ..

"And that was the day that I promised, I'd never sing of love if it does not exist. But darling, you are the only exception, you are the only exception,' Mallory sang softly as she read Medea and listened to her IPod.

She felt a presence behind her and waited for a few moments, until she was sure he was just going to stand there for awhile. She blindly reached behind her as she continued reading and pulled Bo's head down so she could see him out of the corner of her eye.

'what do you want?' she demanded.

'are you going to tell her?' he wondered.

'that you slept with the slut?' she asked.

'yeah,' he confirmed.

'no,' she sighed.

'why not?' he wondered.

She let go of Bo and actually turned to him. 'because your brother asked me not to, okay?'

For the first time, Bo smiled, realizing something about their relationship. He jumped over the back of the couch and conversationally put an arm above her, not actually coming onto her, just doing so casually. 'huh.'

'what?' she sighed, and he saw a flicker of her being nice. Scary.

'you are so in love with him,' he grinned.

'shut up,' she crossed her arms over her chest, but couldn't bring herself to scowl at him.

'you're in love with him,' Bo repeated. 'you're in love with him. You're in love with him. You're in lo-'

It was at that point that Mallory slammed her book down and took her IPod out of her ears, tackling him off the couch and onto the ground.

'always knew you wanted me,' Bo smirked at her and she lividly hissed.

'if I ever wanted you, Bo, I would've gone for you,' she told him angrily. 'but I didn't.'

'Mal, you have got to stop attacking people now,' Nadine said in exasperation as she entered the common room with Radovan.

'...why?' Mallory asked.

Nadine and Radovan sighed, and decided not to go into it as they pulled Mallory off Bo. Mallory composed herself and picked up her belongings, leaving quickly.

'what did you say to her?' Radovan asked, but before waiting for an answer he followed Mallory out, and Bo and Nadine witnessed Mallory putting her arm around Radovan's waist and him putting his arm around her shoulder before kissing the top of her head. Their public displays of affection where rare – if only because Mallory didn't feel comfortable with everyone staring at them.

'what did you say to her?' Nadine asked.

'oh, I just realized how in love with him she is,' he shrugged. 'and she gets pissed at me for saying that. Don't know why.'

'Mallory doesn't like showing emotions. She thinks it's a weakness,' she explained.

Several people entered the common room, many of them complaining at how shit the first performance had been, with half the cast filling in for other people.

Shannon who had been talking earnestly with Krystel was so caught up in her conversation, she didn't realize she walked straight into Nadine and Bo.

'Bo!' she exclaimed before her eyes darted to Nadine, who she had heard was back. 'Nadine...' she took a step back, after all, she knew Mallory's reputation, and sure, Nadine was meant to be the Good Witch, but as the three year old well known quotation over the school went: "Hell Hath No Fury Like A Roux Scorned".

'Shannon, hi,' Nadine said kindly.

'uh, hi, Nadine,' Shannon said nervously. 'look, I'm sorry.'

She looked puzzled and was about to ask what Shannon was on, but Shannon continued.

'I didn't know you were going out to Bo when I slept with him!' Shannon exclaimed. 'I'm sorry, so sorry.'

Bo looked awkwardly between them.

'wait, what?' Nadine asked. 'hold up,' she turned to Bo. 'you slept with Shannon? When?'

'uh...New Years,' he muttered.

'that was, like, two months ago!' she shrieked, and she could have easily hit Shannon, but she went for Bo instead, punching him square in the face.

The shriek from Nadine attracted people, among them Mallory and Radovan.

'guess she found out,' Radovan muttered.

'really, Einstein?' Mallory asked as Nadine tackled Bo to the ground. Mallory rushed forward and began pulling her off, and Nadine struggled against her, accidently elbowing Mallory in the stomach. Mallory recoiled and Nadine, Bo, Radovan and Jen all realized what Nadine had just done as Mallory touched her stomach in pain.

There was stillness in the room, and suddenly the five of them left.

'uh...' Shannon said. 'what just happened?'

.. ..

'Mal, I'm sorry,' Nadine said as they followed her to her dorm room.

'yeah, I'm okay guys, I'm okay,' Mallory reassured them. 'it's not like she punched me. Like I'm gonna punch Bo,' she added on the end.

'did you know about this?' Nadine demanded, suddenly, realizing many people didn't look surprised at the Nadine punching Bo thing.

'I'm sorry,' Mallory said sincerely.

'we tell each other everything,' Nadine said.

'most things,' Mallory corrected. 'I seem to recall that you didn't tell me you were going out with Bo.'

'mistake number two then,' she said. 'because you know, mistake number one was going out with him.'

'yeah, still here,' Bo rolled his eyes.

'why?' the two asked in unison.

Bo left and Nadine turned around and slapped Mallory, albeit lightly.

'feel better?' Mallory laughed cruelly.

'yes, I do,' Nadine said.

Mallory slapped her back. 'good. So do I.'

The sisters hugged.

'what the Hell?' Radovan asked.

.. ..

Ziva, Penny and Ana Lucia entered their dorm later that day to hear laughs coming from the bathroom. They heard the sound of an electric razor and cautiously walked over, pushing open the slightly ajar door.

Sitting on a chair in the middle of the bathroom was Lila, with Jen sitting on the bench holding Lila's hand and painting her fingernails, a very un-Jen thing. Raz was sitting on the floor, painting Lila's toenails, and Ash was behind Lila, shaving off her hair for her.

The four siblings were talking in Arabic and only Ziva understood, but not at the speed they were talking.

'what's going on?' Penny asked.

'my hair's falling out,' Lila said cheerfully. 'so we decided to shave my head, so I don't get depressed about it like last time.'

The three girls nodded like they were crazy, and they backed away slowly.

.. ..

'push, Leanne, push!' the doctor urged. 'just one more push!'

'you said that ten minutes ago!' she exclaimed in pain.

'I can see the head,' the doctor told her. 'push!'

Mallory gripped Roma's hand and Darren's hand tightly, and pushed like there was no tomorrow.

And then she heard a cry, and it didn't matter anymore, how much pain she was in. She was just glad her baby was okay.

It was all that mattered.

'you have a healthy baby girl,' the doctor passed the baby to her and Lea stared into the blue eyes that were exactly like Darren's.

'Harmony,' she whispered happily. 'Harmony Eden,' she continued.

'she's so beautiful, Lea,' Roma said.

'isn't she just?' Lea smiled brightly. She tore her eyes away from the miracle in front of her, and looked up at Darren. 'she looks so much like you,' she said.

'has my eyes, that's all. She's just like you,' Darren said and he cautiously leaned down and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

Roma and Maddyson clapped quietly, happy for them.

Lea looked down at her baby again.

'Harmony Eden Morgan-Shephard,' she smiled.

.. ..

'here's the thing,' Miss Chandler said. 'tonight's show was pretty shit. But we can't let it get us down. We had to deal with unforeseeable events, and we dealt with them pretty well. We'll do better tomorrow. Okay?'

There was a murmur of agreement as everyone left in pretty bad moods.

Miss Chandler sighed.

She had tried her best to convince them.

.. ..

Lea and Darren stared down at Harmony, who was asleep in Lea's arms. Maddyson and Roma were sitting on the side of the bed, staring at her too, and Jack was at the end, also staring.

'what you were saying before,' Maddyson began. 'about this not being what you wanted...'

'this is everything I need,' Lea interrupted.

'but...we won't forget you, Lea,' Maddyson said. 'we'll still be friends.'

'you can still get degree, but maybe wait a few years,' Jack said.

'you can still have unbelievably hot passionate sex,' Darren winked at her and she let out a small laugh.

'you should backpack when your older, not as naive,' Roma said.

'you can still live in every continent, when you're older,' Maddyson said.

'you can learn heaps of languages, get some of the other people at the school to teach you, between everyone, that's a lot of languages,' Jack said.

'you can still have a great college experience,' Darren told her.

'and as for your lesbian experience...' Roma trailed off, smirking as she stood up and moved closer to Lea.

'what are you doing?' Lea asked nervously.

Roma leaned down and kissed her deeply.

They broke apart and Roma tilted her head to the side. 'I prefer guys.'

'me too, but thanks for the experience,' Lea said, somewhat sarcastically, but when Roma hugged her, she rested her head on her arm. 'you're the best.'

'I know.'

.. ..

Nadine casually walked around the school, trying to blow off some steam. Surely she would kill Bo if she saw him, and she couldn't deal with a death on her conscious right now.

Nadine's eyes widened at something on the wall.

She saw the faded blue paint from the words "LEANNE SHEPHARD IS A PREGNANT WHORE". Underneath the words, there was still wet red paint with an arrow pointing to "PREGNANT" and words in several different handwriting, words that made Nadine sick that people hated others that much.

First there was:

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.

And then there was:

EAST IS IN FOR SOME TROUBLE.

And of course, the one that spelt it out for those too dumb to know what it meant:

MALLORY ROUX IS A PREGNANT SLUT.

.. ..

I know, I know. Oh, I'm so original with the pregnant whore graffiti. And Lea had her baby! Harmony Eden Morgan-Shephard.

And that lesbian kiss I talked about awhile back was featured.

Lila getting rid of her hair was a favourite part of this chapter for me :)

New accepted Sophomore OCs:

Fernando "Fed" Moreno – the Brazilian guy who just moved to Australia.

Prescott Jones – the extremely shy boy with a heart of gold.

Two more? Three more? However many you got? Only male though.

And being the irresponsible person I am, I have to go to sleep so I can be at school in a few hours :)

Reviews?