Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and anonymous2, I'm sorry but I had removed the name Sirius before I made the last chapter, and now it just says 'the sad thing that happened at the end of book 5', so I don't know what exactly you're talking about since you reviewed after I made the changes (by a request from Harriet). Nevertheless, I'm very sorry to both of you. I really didn't mean to spoil it for anyone; I guess I just didn't think about that. Once again, extremely sorry. Thank you for reviewing though. I decided to update sooner this time because, yay, I had time to. Oh and please note that today will be Monday in the story, all right? And I guess I've made quite a few changes from the facts we know about high school, or even maybe their ages… it's all stuff I'm not so sure about, but please bear with me. Phoebe doesn't go to school; she dropped out. Ross and Chandler, in case anyone forgot, came here for vacation so they don't have school now. Joey, supposedly, goes to a college but he also has vacation now. So only Rachel and Monica are going to school right now. They've got proms coming up too. And Rachel's friends, since I don't know their real names except Mindy, are going to be Leana, Melanie and of course Mindy. Ok, that's all for now, please read on. See how I complicate things *grins evilly *.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The six had gone to sleep soon after everyone congratulated Ross and Rachel last night. And now, it was early in the morning and Rachel and Monica had to get up to go to school. Phoebe had dropped out of school a while ago, she'd told them yesterday; all of the guys were in college but they were on summer vacation already so they didn't have to go anywhere either. So they worked out this plan, the four: Joey, Chandler, Ross and Phoebe, would hang around Central Park (or Perk) and meet Monica and Rachel on the school grounds after it was over.
Quickly eating a breakfast made of leftover pizza from last night, the two girls hurried off to school, and the other four left in the opposite direction to the park.
"So what are you gonna do about Chandler?" Rachel asked as her and Monica were walking.
"Well what can I do?" Monica blushed.
"Talk to him… Flirt with him… Get him to ask you out. Y'know?" Rachel said cheerfully. She couldn't seem to stop smiling since Ross had asked her out yesterday. She also seemed to have gotten over her crush on Chandler for Mon's sake.
"I don't know Rach, I mean it's easy for you to say. I'm not like you. I'm… fat." Monica said.
"Mon, you've lost so much weight already! You have to stop thinking so negatively about yourself! You're a great person and you're very beautiful, and you're not even overweight."
"Anymore." Monica finished for Rachel.
"Hey come on, you can't just sit around and do nothing. This guy may be your soulmate, as Phoebe said, you have to do something about it."
"Yeah, right." There wasn't any time left for them to argue right then though, because they had reached the school and were getting their books from their lockers. "Do we have any classes together first half?"
"No, not today."
"All right, I'll see you at lunch then." Monica said, taking her things and shutting her locker.
"See ya." Rachel waved and Monica headed off down the hall. Rachel checked her schedule and was just about to close her locker when Chip, a handsome and popular boy in her year, walked up to her.
"Hey Rach." He said nonchalantly, leaning against the locker next to her. Usually, Rachel would have been bursting from excitement that he came there but not today. She's had a crush on him for a long time, and he liked her too but today things were different.
"Rachel. And hi Chip." Rachel said. She didn't like anyone except her closest friends using her nickname.
"Well hey, do you wanna go out Friday?" He asked.
"Uh no, I have plans. Sorry Chip." She found she wasn't sorry at all. Friday was the day her and Ross were going to go on their first date and she was looking forward to it.
"Really?" He seemed taken aback, as if no one had refused him before but he soon regained his composure, "well that's all right. See you around Greene." And he walked off.
Rachel shook her head slightly, closed her locker and almost bumped into her three friends, Mindy, Leana and Melanie.
"Hey Rachel!" Mindy exclaimed, hugging her. "Long time, no see. How was your weekend?" Rachel's classes in her first half of the day were the same as the other three's so they walked down to their first class, French Literature, together. "Wait, wait, first tell me, what have you got to do so important that you won't go out with Chip Matthews?" She squealed excitedly. Obviously, the three had heard Rachel's little conversation with Chip. (A/N, Matthews IS his last name, right? Sorry, I don't know for sure)
"Well um, you know Ross Geller?" Rachel asked.
"Ross Geller? Isn't he that geeky older brother of that fat girl, what's her name, Monica?" Leana asked in disgust.
"Hey! Monica's my friend, and she's lost a lot of weight. And besides, Ross isn't that geeky." Rachel snapped and the three just rolled their eyes.
"I don't know why you hang around with that girl, Rachel." Melanie noted. "People can see you with her, you know." Rachel rolled her eyes and ignored the comment.
"Well anyway, Ross, he kind of asked me out last night…" Rachel began.
"What'd you tell him?" Leana interrupted, chuckling.
"Of course she said no." Mindy rolled her eyes at Leana with a 'DUH!' expression.
"Well I know that, but how'd you break it to him, Rachel?"
"Did he cry?" Melanie laughed. Rachel stopped and looked at them.
"I said yes." She said slowly. The girls all stared at her for a moment, then, as one, started laughing.
"You almost had me there for a minute!" Mindy said after calming down.
"Yeah, that was funny!" Melanie said. Rachel looked at them seriously.
"You are kidding right?" Leana asked in disbelief that she might not be.
"No. I'm going out on Friday with Ross Geller." Rachel said firmly.
"You—you're what? I mean, it's bad enough that you hang around with that social outcast Mona—"
"MONICA" Rachel interrupted Mindy, getting angrier by the second. "For your information, she was my best friend long before any of you guys and that is staying that way!"
"Fine. Fine, you wanna choose them?" Mindy half yelled, getting angry too. "Rachel, we made you into what you are. You're like an idol to these people, to everyone. They envy you. You can't just throw that away." Leana and Melanie stood behind Mindy, nodding their heads once in a while but not participating in the conversation.
Rachel stood there for a moment; staring at the people she'd considered her friends. Had she never noticed how ignorant, stupid and just bitchy they were? "Watch me." She said quietly, turned around and walked into the classroom without turning back to them.
"Rachel. Rachel! You don't realize how much you're giving up! Rachel! You're going to be begging for us to be your friends!" Rachel, however, did not turn around at Mindy's yells. Furious, Mindy turned to her other two friends. "Well then, let's make her life hell." She smiled evilly at them.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The day went by as usual, but Mindy, Leana, and Melanie were completely ignoring Rachel, as she was doing to them. She mentioned nothing about the incident to Monica and it was taken off her mind completely by the time school ended. She found herself eager to see Ross again and the two were hurrying as fast as they could when the bell rang to dismiss students for the day, to meet the others.
"Hey guys." Rachel smiled, acting casual even though she'd just gotten out of the school in record time to meet them and Monica was tired from being almost dragged out.
The four greeted them and the friends set off to Central Perk.
"Hey, I finished writing Smelly Cat today!" Phoebe suddenly said, excited. "Chandler helped me out." She hugged Chandler. And then again. And again. And—
"Whoa, Pheebs, calm down, I only helped you with a couple of words." He said, laughing. Monica was watching them jealously.
"Yeah, well." Phoebe said vaguely after finally letting go of Chandler. "I'm going to play it too, in front of the customers. Carl let me." She beamed at her friends. "He's in a good mood today."
They entered the coffee shop, and again, no one looked up but there was more chattering going on, so that was an improvement. Phoebe headed off to order drinks and talk to Carl while the rest got seated. Ross and Rachel sat beside each other on the sofa; Chandler sat on the other side of the sofa. Joey was in one of the loveseats and Monica was in the other. Phoebe finished talking to Carl and went up to the small stage beside the front doors of the shop.
"Hey everyone." She tapped the mike to make sure it was working, and then got her guitar in position. Quite a few people looked up; apparently Phoebe played a lot in here and they knew her. "I'm going to play a new song today, it's called Smelly Cat." And she sang Smelly Cat, the full version of it that we have come to know and love now.
"Smelly cat, smelly cat,
What are they feeding you?
Smelly cat, smelly cat,
It's not your fault
"They won't take you to the vet,
You're obviously not their favourite pet,
You may not be a bed of roses
And you're no friend to those with noses
"Smelly cat, smelly cat,
What are they feeding you?
Smelly cat, smelly cat,
It's not your fault"
She finished and people clapped loudly, especially the group. She thanked everyone and went to sit down between Rachel and Chandler on the sofa. Sometime during the song, Rachel leaned back on Ross and she was now resting her head on his shoulder and he had his arm wrapped around her. Everyone thought that was cute but didn't say anything so they wouldn't get embarrassed. Meanwhile, Phoebe decided to follow suit. She rested her head on Chandler's shoulder and put her hand on his arm. He jumped lightly from the sudden contact but she didn't seem to notice.
"Wow, you must work out." She said, looking up at him.
"I-I-uhh" Chandler was at loss for words. And Monica was glaring at Phoebe in disbelief. She was outright flirting with Chandler when she knew that Monica liked him!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
That night, the group separated. Phoebe had gone to stay with Joey as, apparently, she did often, Rachel went home, and Chandler, Ross and Monica went to the Gellers' home. Ross and Monica's parents weren't going to be home that night anyway. But Rachel needed to study so she couldn't come along. Ross went to sleep early, acting as if he was on cloud nine ever since his and Rachel's actions at Central Perk. Chandler went upstairs to talk to Ross about something and Monica stayed downstairs, alone with her thoughts.
Phoebe had been flirting with Chandler the whole night, and he was even flirting back. And just after she'd told them how much Chandler meant to her! Monica looked through her kitchen and found a bottle of something that she didn't recognize but knew was alcoholic. She sat down and drank from the bottle, trying to drown out her thoughts. Soon enough, the bottle ended and Monica saw two identical looking guys with strange hair walk into the kitchen and look down at her in concern. Then she did a double take.
"Mon! Mon, are you ok? What'd you do?" Chandler's voice echoed in her ears.
"I—I—you have pretty eyes, you know that?" She smiled at him, looking really… drunk.
"Yeah ok Mon, let's get you to the sofa, all right?" He said, trying to get her to walk towards the sofa.
"I'm not drunk!" She yelled angrily.
"I never said you were."
"But I am" Monica grinned at him. "I'm so drunk!" She laughed and collapsed into his hands. "I love you." She said sweetly, looking up at him.
"Mon, come on, don't—" Chandler began but was interrupted. Monica shot out of his hands and started yelling; sobriety showing in her eyes a bit now.
"You don't believe me? I'm not just saying that cause I'm drunk, you know. I like you! A lot!" She shouted. "Guess why I'm drunk anyway?" She then giggled. He didn't say anything. "Phoebe was flirting with you in there. And I told her that I like you a lot, and she still did it. And, and, and… your eyes are so pretty" She said, smiling at him again. "I really, really like you. Did I tell you that?" She leaned in to kiss him and to her surprise, he leaned in too. Their lips almost touched when Monica fell forwards into his hands, passed out. Chandler swore quietly and got her to the sofa.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There. Done. That's your beginning of C&M, kinda. Hope it satisfies your standards! A quick note, I've never been drunk (not that I want to), so the only thing I know about it is that you start saying whatever's on your mind and you get a headache afterwards. So if I seem very amateury in the whole drunk seen, I am. And yes, I know Monica is under legal drinking age but she just found the bottle. Don't be mad. What to look forward to in the next (few) chapter(s): Ross and Rachel's first date; Chandler and Monica's post reactions to what happened up there today; Mindy, Leana and Melanie's plans to ruin Rachel's life; did Phoebe really mean to flirt with Chandler; where Joey fits in; why the fic is named Choices, if you haven't figured it out yet; etc. (not necessarily in that order). Please review and see ya next time in Choices (lol). Oh and yay me, I got through about half a page in my plot outline now! Things should be much more to the point from now on.
