Hey! Kora here. My friend Kelly and I present Forever and Beyond, our first joint-work story.

Right now we just wanna give some serious props to the totally awesome Jel, who in her super

cool kindness has allowed us to write this story. See, our story uses the storyline from her two

fantastic stories: "A Revealed Secret" and "Act Naturally." If you haven't read those two yet, go

read them! Scoot! Then come back and read this. Now, Jel's writing is just totally amazing, and

she inspired Kelly and I to write something, we did, got her permission, and now you see

"Forever and Beyond" here before you. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: All the characters in this story except for Meredith Sydney and Julianna McConnell

belong to Disney. Please don't sue us, we have no money, though I do have bunches of sugar

*grins*. Meredith belongs to Jel, and Julianna belongs to me'n Kelly. Oh and the song "hanging

by a moment" that's in the one letter is written by/belongs to Lifehouse. Please don't sue us for

that, either. Thanks!

Now go read and review, pwease?

Forever and Beyond

By Kora and Kelly

Gerry, Alan, and Julianna grew up together. Their parents would sit on a back porch and talk

while their children ran around in diapers in the backyard. When school started, they sat on the

bus together and next to each other in classes. There was nothing that could tear the three apart.

Julianna may as well have been one of the guys, for she was a tomboy. This was most likely due

to the fact that she was an only child whose mother had died when Julianna was about a year old,

due to complications from childbirth. So it was no wonder that Julie, as she was called during her

youngest years, soon insisted that she be "J", making her name sound no different than one of the

guys'. But this isn't where our story begins. Our story begins a little over ten years later, the

summer when it is declared that the schools are to be integrated into T.C. Williams.

By then, J was Alan and Gerry's younger sister, of whom they were fiercely protective, especially

Gerry. From first glance, you knew that J was a different girl. It was 1971 and J's wardrobe still

consisted of many tie-dyed shirts and bell bottom jeans. She let her hair hang loose, wild, and free.

Others called her hippie—she called herself Californian. J loved Californian culture—she absorbed

it. She loved the music, the food (she became a vegetarian at the age of 12) and it was her dream

to one day ride the backs of the Pacific Ocean waves.

J was a very musical person, able to play instrument, her favorites being the (acoustic) guitar and

the piccolo. She wrote and played her own music, and forced anyone near to listen to her newest

composition. J was no stranger to sports, either. Often you would find J over at the Yoast's house

with the rest of the guys, screaming at them while they tackled each other and almost always

joining in the tussle, even if uninvited. Yes, J loved football as much as the other guys. This must

have been part of the reason why Sheryl (Yoast) looked up to J so much. In J, Sheryl saw whom

she wanted to be when she was in high school. But enough of that. We still haven't gotten to the

actual story yet.

***

After Gerry was done on talking on the phone to Emma one night, he got in line next to Alan.

"You calling J?" he asked.

"Yeah," replied Alan. A smile tugged at his lips, "who else am I gonna call, my dad? You know

that he and I aren't on the best of terms. And all of my friends except J are here. You wanna talk

to her?"

"Of course. Gotta see how little sister is doing." Alan laughed. By then, it was his turn at the

phone. He absentmindedly punched in J's number.

"Hey," he said when she picked up.

"Alan! Hi! How you doing? Gerry's standing right beside you, isn't he?" Alan laughed again,

"Yeah, he is. Wanna talk to him?"

"Sure." Alan handed the phone to Gerry.

"Hey lil' sis,"

"Hey big bro! So Gerry, you just get off the phone with Em-mma?" J drew out the girl's name

teasingly.

"Yeah, you wanna make something of it?" answered Gerry jokingly.

"I think I do! Meet me in the back lot at 5 and we'll settle this."

"Alright, 5 it is. Be there not a minute later and prepare to get beat down."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Okay, okay, kids, that's enough," Alan took the phone from Gerry just as Gerry managed to

shout,

"Bye J!" into the phone.

"See ya soon, Gerry," J giggled. "Alan, you're such a party-pooper." Alan could hear the fake

pout in J's voice. Her tone quickly turned mischievous, "you wanna help me beat Gerry? I could

do it on my own no question, but it'll be fun!" Alan rolled his eyes but grinned,

"You're worse that Louie."

"Louie? A new friend from the team? Cool! I gotta meet him. Got any more new friends? I wanna

meet all of them. So how's camp going?"

"Ugh, Coach Boone's running us ragged. And now he's converted Coach Yoast to his Camp of

Pain method."

"Aww, poor baby. I'll bet it's not that bad, either. It's a good thing Sheryl's there, she's supposed

to make sure all you guys are kept on your toes for me. If I was there, I'd show all you wussies

what football players are supposed to look like."

"Oh yeah, you'd overshadow us all," quipped Alan.

"Aw, shut up. You're just saying that because you're bored because I'm not there." Alan laughed,

"Alright, I get it. I miss you too. And I've gotta go because there's a line of guys waiting for the

phone."

"Oh, I see how it is. You can't take any more criticism, you just wanna get rid of me. Well, I love

you too, Alan."

"Haha, love you too, J. Bye." Alan hung up the phone with a click. He trudged back to his room

and flopped on his bunk with a weary sigh. He gradually drifted off to sleep trying to get J out of

his mind.

***

After the "coming together" of the team at football camp, Gerry, Alan, Julius, and the other guys

would talk a lot about their lives "back home." Julius, Rev, Petey, and later Sunshine, were

subject to hearing story after story, praise after praise, about the third half of Gerry and Alan's

trio: J. Seeing as how Alan and Gerry unwittingly never described J using words such as "she" or

"her", everyone who didn't know McConnell—as she was occasionally called, since it was her last

name—was in the dark as too who, precisely, J was.

When the bus pulled into the parking lot as the team was returning from camp, J was there

waiting. Alan and Gerry promptly pointed her out to the others, who immediately exclaimed,

"Jay's a girl?"

***

Ronnie liked her from the moment he saw her. Stepping out of the bus, he caught sight of a girl in

wide-mouthed jeans and a purple tie-dyed t-shirt. Her shoulder length auburn-red hair had a

natural perm that most of the girls he knew in California longed for. When Ronnie found out

exactly whom the girl he saw was, he liked her even more, for now he knew about her

personality.

J loved sports, music, and was quick to accept other cultures and new things/ways of thinking.

Unlike Emma and most of the other girls in Alexandria, J was glad to meet Julius, Petey, Rev, and

her two "brother's" new friends from the team. 'She's just like the girls back home,' Ronnie

inwardly sighed.

***

It was right when the football season started that things got really bad with Fred Bosley and his

son. The abuse got even worse when Alan was benched. Alan never let on, though. He thought no

one noticed, but he was wrong.

One night, Alan was hanging out with the others at a restaurant. He was sitting in a booth with his

sketch pad and a pencil, creating a near-exact image of J, who was unbeknownst of the fact that

she was the subject of her best friend's creativity. Truth was, she had been the center of his

portraits for awhile now.

J was sitting out of Alan's earshot with Sunshine, though she was watching Alan.

"Does he draw a lot?" Sunshine asked.

"Yeah."

"He any good at it?"

"He's awesome. At least, the stuff that I've seen has been amazing. He used to show me

everything that he did. But recently…" J trailed off. After a pause, Sunshine quietly questioned,

"Something going on between you two?" J chewed on her lip, her hazel eyes troubled.

"Not really. But that's the problem. We don't hang out as much anymore. Neither do me'n Gerry,

but that's 'cause Gerry's hanging out with Julius a lot, and I don't mind that. I'm hanging out with

other people a lot too. But it's not just that with Alan. Lately, I feel like he's been drawing away.

Not just from me, but from everyone. I know something's going on, I can feel it. But he just tells

me that everything's fine. Why doesn't he tell me what's really wrong? He's my best friend. We're

supposed to tell each other everything; we used to tell each other everything." J broke off and

studied the floor intently. Sunshine put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly, showing his

support as her friend.

From the other side of the room, Alan put the finishing touches on J's picture—a portrait of what

she had looked like a little earlier. She was in mid-laughter, nose slightly wrinkled in amusement.

He looked up to see her with Sunshine's hand on her shoulder. He felt his heart wrench in pain.

Gerry glimpsed over to see Alan's finished work, then glanced up and saw the anguished look on

Alan's face. "You really like her, don't you?" he commented softly. Without taking his eyes from J,

Alan answered,

"No. I love her."