NOTE: Wow, so I've been on vacation so it's taken awhile to update, and I
haven't been able to keep up with reading and review others stories and
such, but I swear I'll catch up at some point.
Now for the fun news. This is the special INTERACTIVE chapter. Yes, you heard me right, interactive. Not only are there words in this chapter, but if you merely enter a few web addresses you will actually see PICTURES for your viewing pleasure. Like a movie, but much lamer. Haha, Just to add a taste of entertainment and interestingness to the story. Also, it's the only way to give at least a tiny idea of the Half Steps to those of you from outside VT. I hope this enhances your reading experience - and much thanks to KP and the Half Steps for inspiration.
OH! All the links have htt p: // hometown. aol. com /staringatmyshoe/ at the very beginning of them, before the html part, just without all the spaces in the words. Sorry! That's a bit annoying and confusing, I know, but that's the only way ff.n will let me have it. So to recap, you put in that bit up there (without and spaces) and then add the html codes found in the story to the end of it and you can see the pics! Ah, I apologize for the confusingness. If you cant figure it out, but desperately want to see the pics, email me and I can send you the real addresses in full. Anyway, enjoy either way!
~
"Seeing as there are only four girls here, G-Tent will be joining D-Tent in group until further notice," Pendanski informed the group. This came as a surprise to no one seeing as they were already in the room together. They looked around comfortably in their lazy circle.
"First Off, I'd like to ask the girls how they're doing with their digging?" Mr. Pendanski aimed the question at them.
Frances, who had only just finished her first hole earlier that day, moaned with exhaustion, which kept her from being her normally cheery, chatty self. She wished she were back in Canada with all the little kinds in the freezing water at disgustingly early hours in the morning.
Laney and KP, who were of course sitting next to each other, simply shrugged, "Well, at first it was a bit difficult to get our bodies back into shape for digging..." Laney began.
"But now that we're back into it, it feels pretty natural," KP completed.
Mr. Pendanski raised his eyebrows curiously, so Laney clarified, "Oh yeah, back in the day we helped reroute this river to an ocean. Had to dam up the whole thing, and dig trenches and stuff. Good for the land, and saved the homes of a whole slew of bird species."
"Of course it was a bit different cause we were working more *in* the water that without it..." KP continued
"But it still gave us the general feel for it," Laney finished. Laney and KP looked over at each other, lost in the memory of their environmental day. (To see a picture of this life enriching experience, take a trip to digitwater.html. By the way, I added and extra "m" on the word dam accidentally, but I'm too lazy to fix it. Hooray for typoes!)
Mr. Pendanski scowled noticeably, wondering briefly if this former interference was getting in the way of their character building.
But Q tried to reassure him, "Oh, but I still can't dig. If the stupid shovels weren't as tall as, say, Charlie Conway on top of Adam Banks, and I wasn't as small as Peter Mark on his knees, then *maybe* the stupid hole could get dug, but as it is..." she trailed off.
Not surprisingly, this rant did not make Pendanski feel much better, but rather made him stare for just a moment with his jaw slightly open, before clearing his throat and turning back to the rest of group. "erm...eh... well, glad to hear it. So let's see where we left off last week. Zero, ready to talk to me yet?" but Zero just looked at him coolly and kept his mouth shut. "Too stupid for a single word I suppose." Stanley seemed like he was about to make a comment to this, but Magnet held him back. "Well, have the rest of you boys been thinking about your crimes and the error of your past ways?"
They all nodded of shrugged, and Laney whispered out of the side of her mouth to Magnet, who had to suppress his snickers, "Dude, he sounds like a priest."
"We haven't discussed any of the girls and their crimes yet," Pendanski began, but The Hotness interrupted him.
"Crime," she said, "no S." When he again looked at her confused, she explained, "Well, we're all in here for the same thing aren't we?" and all the other girls nodded their agreement.
"Well, why don't you tell us about that?" Pendanski prodded.
"OK, well..."
******CUE FLASHBACK******
Q, Frances, KP, Laney, and many others who will not be named at the moment for confidentiality purposes (after all, they haven't been caught yet) were all from a quaint little town called South Burlington, Vermont. Quaint being a euphemism for the fact that there was *nothing* to do, so the group had to make its own fun. Namely, their fun came from last-minute DDR parties, and Q's obsessions. Her obsessions varied constantly from Mighty Ducks, to Harry Potter, to Macaulay Culkin, to Newsies, to Bob Dole, to Nightmare before Xmas, to Holes (ha!), to Connor, etc. etc. etc. (If you're more of a visual learner, you can view Q's obsessions at obsessions.html )
The particular day in question started out no more special than other day. In fact, it started off rather dull, and monotonous - with a biology lab.
Laney and someone who shall not be named (for secrecy) were lab partners, and for this lab had to research VT's land use history. Now THAT sounds interesting. But the someone had the bright idea to go to the school library to get books to help with the task, as it was walking distance from Laney's house.
Once they were there they found not only books to enlighten them to the memoirs of Vermont dirt, but they also ran into Q, who was scanning fanfiction.net (go figure =) ) She offered them a ride home, which they accepted gratefully, and the three set off to the parking lot, not knowing what fate had in store for them on the way to the car.
They first saw the four boys milling about behind the school, in the parking lot. They were dressed up in nice suits, but other than that had no particular qualities. Laney looked at them quizzically for a moment, trying to figure out why on earth they looked so familiar.
"Oh my gosh!" She suddenly realized, running up to them, "I've seen you guys perform before. You're amazing!"
They flashed her with their gorgeous, and yet distinctly dorky smiles, "Thanks"
"Will you sing a song for us?" she inquired farther.
"Well, we are warming up anyway," the boy with the longish, flipping, poofy hair thought aloud. (To see this particular boy, simply go to billy.html ).
"Yeah, sure," a boy with short hair and rosy cheeks agreed, "have any particular favorites?" (If you wish to view (a kind of awkward) picture of this boy, go to sam.html ).
Laney shook her head no, "Anything."
They boys huddled together for a moment in consultation, and finally seemed to come to a conclusion.
"You just want this one cause you get to sing lead most of it," the boy with the nice wide smile (Who can be observed at drew.html ) aimed at the poofy haired boy.
"I wouldn't be complaining; basses almost never get the lead," the boy with the darkest hair, and facial hair, spoke back. (He can be visited at joel.html).
They all laughed lightly, and walked into proper formation. The flippy haired boy started to sing "In the Jungle" in a stunning falsetto, as the other three boys made animal sounds around him, before proceeding into their chords.
The three girls died. Well, almost.
It was the most beautiful sound they had ever heard. The voiced intertwined and mixed to produce the perfect blend, a noise which was more than pleasing to the ear. It was heaven. And if the voices weren't enough, the boys had a whole skit to go along with it, but it bouncing up and down, jumping around, acting like animals, or pretending to punch each other. The overall effect was too much to handle - amazing.
A barbershop quartet.
Unknown to them, the four boys had just brought about their own ill fortune. And Q, to her over-energetic, stalkerish delight, had just found her newest obsession.
As the song came to an end, the boys informed them, "Oh yeah, by the way, we're the Half Steps." (If you would like to see the Half Steps in all their glory, go to hsgroup.html though it is to be warned that pictures could never do them justice as their voices, as well as "dances", are completely endearing, and completely impossible to get from a picture ;).
The girls released all of their biology notes, land use books, and other notebooks and allowed them to flutter to the ground as they erupted in applause, a small glint noticeable in Q's eyes behind the glasses.
And that was how it all began. From there on in it was a series of concerts (it is to be noted that the Half Steps and a quartet of local High School boys, and therefore never had concerts very far from their home, making them quite accessible), photo taking, and autograph signing. Q's favorite autograph would always be the first she received, written on the flyer which was the first Half Steps flyer she had ever stolen. The flyer "The Half Steps" boldly on top, and underneath was a swirly picture of the four boys, as well as four signatures, and notes from both Sam and Joel which told Q she was their truest, and #1 stalker. They didn't realize how true the words were.
They learned fairly quickly the names, and parts, of each member. The flippy haired boy was Billy, the tenor. The short haired boy with rosy cheek was Sam, the baritone. Drew was the boy with the wide smile, and he filled the part of the lead. And last, the dark haired boy was Joel, the bass.
But one fateful day, it all had to come to an end. The Half Steps announced that their next concert would be their last, as college was looming up ahead for them in the fall. Q was not one to take this news lightly. After all, the Half Steps were her one obsession that she actually new in real life! Well, that and Connor, but let's not torture the poor boy more by discussing that one. I'm sure he's had enough to deal with, what with all the sickness.
She called all her friends over to her house under the pretense of a movie marathon, but she had something much more devious in mind. OK, so it wasn't really her house, it was actually Katie's house, but as she lived there it seemed to be a good place for the meeting.
When people showed up with their favorite movies in hand, Q quickly tossed the movies away, and informed them that, "We have a much bigger issue on hand," before revealing before them the plot in its entirety.
You might think that it would be difficult to convince people to take part in a underhanded, criminal act, but when you take into consideration the "quaintness" (*cough* dullness, monotony, tedium *cough*) of Vermont, it's really no surprise that people jumped on the idea of something exciting and rebellious as soon as it jumped into their laps.
When the night of the final concert arrived, Q, Laney, KP, Frances, and the rest of their crew arrived at Essex High School auditorium, fully prepared. They happily watched the first half of the performance, and then snuck out of the theater. They found the back entrance which led to the side stage.
They took the pints of ice cream out of their bags, as well as they ice cream cones, and began to scoop. They placed the ice cream cones on the floor about 3 feet apart from each other on the floor, leaving a line trailing out the stage door, through the back hallway, through the outside door, and into the back of their truck.
They finished just in time to hear the Half Steps concluding "Coney Island", which they repeated the end of numerous times to the audience's delight. All the South Burlington kids hid quietly inside the folds of the curtain, and inside the truck, holding their breaths waiting. It was up to the Half Steps to make the next move now.
"You guys! Ice cream!!" Sam called out as he walked off stage, bending down to pick it up, and spotting the one father off, "and more!"
"What? Ice cream! Hey, don't hog it all, Sam!" Billy came off stage after him, and ran ahead, trying to scoop up all the cones he could on the way.
"I want some! Wait up!" Drew called out after them.
Joel appeared from the rear, "Leave some for me!"
And so the plan of Q's worked, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She had heard the Half Steps joking around before that they would be happy to "sing for ice cream", but she hadn't been sure if they had been serious. Luckily, it seemed that they had.
The doors of the truck slammed closed behind the oblivious boys, who turned around at the noise, realizing, all to late, what fools they had been. Back inside Essex High School a slew of fans and friends waited for the boys to emerge from back stage to sell their upcoming CD. But the boys never did appear.
~
The boys weren't treated too badly, considering the circumstances. They were kept hidden in the basement of one of the gang's houses. This basement is like the video game central. The computer, though falling apart and pieced together from the owner's masterful technology skills, is filled with a mass of video games, the most often used of which was Dance Dance Revolution (as the computer held hundreds, if not thousands, of songs). Also, the room recently got the addition of a mame cabinet, or atleast the controls. Now, this is like the ULTIMATE game machine, and has every video game from the 80s to present day or something crazy like that on it. (to see the room where the Half Steps were held captive, go to basement.html)
So the boys never got too bored, for there was much to entertain them in the basement. Not to mention the bright red paint on the walls was fairly enjoyable for the eyes. They were also fairly well fed, and Q, KP, and the rest of them were all to happy to give them ice cream to their heart's content under one condition. They sang whenever asked, whatever asked. Having their voices admired was nothing new to the group, though usually under slightly different circumstances, so they were willing to oblige. They did love their ice cream.
Surprisingly, the Half Step boys were able to keep in fairly good humor, after the initial shock. They even fell into their normal, wacky, spontaneous selves after the first few days had passed. ("Joel is my hero. I want to be just like Joel when I grow up!" - Billy, after drawing a beard on his face with a black marker.)
Actually, things were going better than planned. The police had investigated, but found nothing other than melted ice cream pools leading out the doors. Their conclusion had been that the boys had merely been afraid of college, and in hopes of living out their childhood dreams of friendship, ran off together to try to make a living by singing. The cop had told the families that they would come to their senses in a few weeks, and return home sheepishly. Thanks to this reasoning, all investigation and searches had been done loosely and carelessly, and for the first few weeks nothing had turned up at all.
That's when Laney had made her mistake. She and Q had been sent out on ice cream duty, and failed to notice the police officer sitting at the table behind her. She took out 15 pints (those boys could really eat!) and walked up to the cash register while humming "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" slightly off rhythm. One of the Half Steps trademark songs, where they sing the song, always one beat ahead of where they should be. She also just happened to be wearing her "Half Steps Groupie" shirt which she had purchased from them.
The police officer was fast. She had had to listen to the Half Steps CD countless time for the investigation, and noticed the song easily. She called Laney over to her.
"That's a nice song your humming, but isn't the beat off a bit?" she asked. "No, that's how it's supposed to be sung. Well, this version," Laney replied.
"You mean the Half Steps version?"
"Yeah," Laney paused, starting to see her error, "I mean no. I mean, yes, I was listening to the CD on the way over here." She tried to regain herself.
"And what might you be needing all that ice cream for?" The officer inquired further.
"Uhm... er..." Laney fumbled, "I'm, uh, having a party tonight. Yeah, that's it, a party."
The officer looked at her suspiciously. She had been in the business long enough to be able to tell when someone is lying. Needless to say, Laney never returned to Q with the ice cream that day.
******END OF FLASHBACK******
"Well, that was how I got here," Laney said, "I guess you guys must've made some slip ups too," and they all nodded that they had.
They looked around the room, and waking up their minds which had slipped into the past they noticed everyone was staring at them with wide eyes. Some even had dropped jaws.
"You... you guys are stalkers?" Magnet asked, looking a bit worried.
"Not just stalkers, kidnappers too," Zigzag added.
"Well... yeah. But it was just for fun," KP responded. At this comment the boys all turned to one another and exchanged concerned glances.
"I think that about brings us to the end of our time tonight," Pendanski broke the silence, not sure of what else to say, "Bedtime!"
***********
The next day's digging continued as normal, though only after an eerily quiet breakfast. Throughout the morning, the girls began to notice that the boys were whispering to one another, which was usually followed by laughter. There were countless fingers pointed in their direction, and ever more eyes darted towards them, and the quickly away.
At the first break of the day, the girls walked up to the boys who were sitting clumped together on the ground.
"Would you guys stop being immature?" KP scowled at them.
"Yeah, I'd listen to her. I hear she's got vicious skill... with ice cream! Haha," Squid commented, to the laughter of all the boys.
"Jackasses," Laney was looking at Magnet now, trying to catch his eye, but he made a point to look away, "Grow up."
"What are you going to do?" Zigzag teased, but not in a friendly voice, "Stalk us?"
More laughter from the boys. Laney and KP did not find this very funny, and stared down at the boys angrily. (Go to digit.html see what they looked like. *Cough* disregard the fact that they are not in their regulation jumpsuits, heh heh).
"Or how about their 4 foot tall leader," Armpit, who towered well above that height, shot at Q.
Her eyes began to water as she replied quietly, "4'10."
Frances was the only one not subjected to direct ridicule, as the boys were not yet comfortable enough with her to supply it. But she had seen enough, and as she walked away with KP, Laney and Q by her side she said very matter-of-factly, "Gee, people here are really mean!"
~
NOTE: phew, ok, so tell me if you enjoyed that I guess. Haha, I hope the pictures added to the experience a bit, if you could figure out how to get them =P. Love, ice cream, and barbershop quartets to all my reviewers - the loves of my life.
Oh, and for a bit of free advertisement for the Half Steps, you can go to www.thehalfsteps.com/ if you feel so inclined. I think you can even hear them sing there. Hooray! =D
Now for the fun news. This is the special INTERACTIVE chapter. Yes, you heard me right, interactive. Not only are there words in this chapter, but if you merely enter a few web addresses you will actually see PICTURES for your viewing pleasure. Like a movie, but much lamer. Haha, Just to add a taste of entertainment and interestingness to the story. Also, it's the only way to give at least a tiny idea of the Half Steps to those of you from outside VT. I hope this enhances your reading experience - and much thanks to KP and the Half Steps for inspiration.
OH! All the links have htt p: // hometown. aol. com /staringatmyshoe/ at the very beginning of them, before the html part, just without all the spaces in the words. Sorry! That's a bit annoying and confusing, I know, but that's the only way ff.n will let me have it. So to recap, you put in that bit up there (without and spaces) and then add the html codes found in the story to the end of it and you can see the pics! Ah, I apologize for the confusingness. If you cant figure it out, but desperately want to see the pics, email me and I can send you the real addresses in full. Anyway, enjoy either way!
~
"Seeing as there are only four girls here, G-Tent will be joining D-Tent in group until further notice," Pendanski informed the group. This came as a surprise to no one seeing as they were already in the room together. They looked around comfortably in their lazy circle.
"First Off, I'd like to ask the girls how they're doing with their digging?" Mr. Pendanski aimed the question at them.
Frances, who had only just finished her first hole earlier that day, moaned with exhaustion, which kept her from being her normally cheery, chatty self. She wished she were back in Canada with all the little kinds in the freezing water at disgustingly early hours in the morning.
Laney and KP, who were of course sitting next to each other, simply shrugged, "Well, at first it was a bit difficult to get our bodies back into shape for digging..." Laney began.
"But now that we're back into it, it feels pretty natural," KP completed.
Mr. Pendanski raised his eyebrows curiously, so Laney clarified, "Oh yeah, back in the day we helped reroute this river to an ocean. Had to dam up the whole thing, and dig trenches and stuff. Good for the land, and saved the homes of a whole slew of bird species."
"Of course it was a bit different cause we were working more *in* the water that without it..." KP continued
"But it still gave us the general feel for it," Laney finished. Laney and KP looked over at each other, lost in the memory of their environmental day. (To see a picture of this life enriching experience, take a trip to digitwater.html. By the way, I added and extra "m" on the word dam accidentally, but I'm too lazy to fix it. Hooray for typoes!)
Mr. Pendanski scowled noticeably, wondering briefly if this former interference was getting in the way of their character building.
But Q tried to reassure him, "Oh, but I still can't dig. If the stupid shovels weren't as tall as, say, Charlie Conway on top of Adam Banks, and I wasn't as small as Peter Mark on his knees, then *maybe* the stupid hole could get dug, but as it is..." she trailed off.
Not surprisingly, this rant did not make Pendanski feel much better, but rather made him stare for just a moment with his jaw slightly open, before clearing his throat and turning back to the rest of group. "erm...eh... well, glad to hear it. So let's see where we left off last week. Zero, ready to talk to me yet?" but Zero just looked at him coolly and kept his mouth shut. "Too stupid for a single word I suppose." Stanley seemed like he was about to make a comment to this, but Magnet held him back. "Well, have the rest of you boys been thinking about your crimes and the error of your past ways?"
They all nodded of shrugged, and Laney whispered out of the side of her mouth to Magnet, who had to suppress his snickers, "Dude, he sounds like a priest."
"We haven't discussed any of the girls and their crimes yet," Pendanski began, but The Hotness interrupted him.
"Crime," she said, "no S." When he again looked at her confused, she explained, "Well, we're all in here for the same thing aren't we?" and all the other girls nodded their agreement.
"Well, why don't you tell us about that?" Pendanski prodded.
"OK, well..."
******CUE FLASHBACK******
Q, Frances, KP, Laney, and many others who will not be named at the moment for confidentiality purposes (after all, they haven't been caught yet) were all from a quaint little town called South Burlington, Vermont. Quaint being a euphemism for the fact that there was *nothing* to do, so the group had to make its own fun. Namely, their fun came from last-minute DDR parties, and Q's obsessions. Her obsessions varied constantly from Mighty Ducks, to Harry Potter, to Macaulay Culkin, to Newsies, to Bob Dole, to Nightmare before Xmas, to Holes (ha!), to Connor, etc. etc. etc. (If you're more of a visual learner, you can view Q's obsessions at obsessions.html )
The particular day in question started out no more special than other day. In fact, it started off rather dull, and monotonous - with a biology lab.
Laney and someone who shall not be named (for secrecy) were lab partners, and for this lab had to research VT's land use history. Now THAT sounds interesting. But the someone had the bright idea to go to the school library to get books to help with the task, as it was walking distance from Laney's house.
Once they were there they found not only books to enlighten them to the memoirs of Vermont dirt, but they also ran into Q, who was scanning fanfiction.net (go figure =) ) She offered them a ride home, which they accepted gratefully, and the three set off to the parking lot, not knowing what fate had in store for them on the way to the car.
They first saw the four boys milling about behind the school, in the parking lot. They were dressed up in nice suits, but other than that had no particular qualities. Laney looked at them quizzically for a moment, trying to figure out why on earth they looked so familiar.
"Oh my gosh!" She suddenly realized, running up to them, "I've seen you guys perform before. You're amazing!"
They flashed her with their gorgeous, and yet distinctly dorky smiles, "Thanks"
"Will you sing a song for us?" she inquired farther.
"Well, we are warming up anyway," the boy with the longish, flipping, poofy hair thought aloud. (To see this particular boy, simply go to billy.html ).
"Yeah, sure," a boy with short hair and rosy cheeks agreed, "have any particular favorites?" (If you wish to view (a kind of awkward) picture of this boy, go to sam.html ).
Laney shook her head no, "Anything."
They boys huddled together for a moment in consultation, and finally seemed to come to a conclusion.
"You just want this one cause you get to sing lead most of it," the boy with the nice wide smile (Who can be observed at drew.html ) aimed at the poofy haired boy.
"I wouldn't be complaining; basses almost never get the lead," the boy with the darkest hair, and facial hair, spoke back. (He can be visited at joel.html).
They all laughed lightly, and walked into proper formation. The flippy haired boy started to sing "In the Jungle" in a stunning falsetto, as the other three boys made animal sounds around him, before proceeding into their chords.
The three girls died. Well, almost.
It was the most beautiful sound they had ever heard. The voiced intertwined and mixed to produce the perfect blend, a noise which was more than pleasing to the ear. It was heaven. And if the voices weren't enough, the boys had a whole skit to go along with it, but it bouncing up and down, jumping around, acting like animals, or pretending to punch each other. The overall effect was too much to handle - amazing.
A barbershop quartet.
Unknown to them, the four boys had just brought about their own ill fortune. And Q, to her over-energetic, stalkerish delight, had just found her newest obsession.
As the song came to an end, the boys informed them, "Oh yeah, by the way, we're the Half Steps." (If you would like to see the Half Steps in all their glory, go to hsgroup.html though it is to be warned that pictures could never do them justice as their voices, as well as "dances", are completely endearing, and completely impossible to get from a picture ;).
The girls released all of their biology notes, land use books, and other notebooks and allowed them to flutter to the ground as they erupted in applause, a small glint noticeable in Q's eyes behind the glasses.
And that was how it all began. From there on in it was a series of concerts (it is to be noted that the Half Steps and a quartet of local High School boys, and therefore never had concerts very far from their home, making them quite accessible), photo taking, and autograph signing. Q's favorite autograph would always be the first she received, written on the flyer which was the first Half Steps flyer she had ever stolen. The flyer "The Half Steps" boldly on top, and underneath was a swirly picture of the four boys, as well as four signatures, and notes from both Sam and Joel which told Q she was their truest, and #1 stalker. They didn't realize how true the words were.
They learned fairly quickly the names, and parts, of each member. The flippy haired boy was Billy, the tenor. The short haired boy with rosy cheek was Sam, the baritone. Drew was the boy with the wide smile, and he filled the part of the lead. And last, the dark haired boy was Joel, the bass.
But one fateful day, it all had to come to an end. The Half Steps announced that their next concert would be their last, as college was looming up ahead for them in the fall. Q was not one to take this news lightly. After all, the Half Steps were her one obsession that she actually new in real life! Well, that and Connor, but let's not torture the poor boy more by discussing that one. I'm sure he's had enough to deal with, what with all the sickness.
She called all her friends over to her house under the pretense of a movie marathon, but she had something much more devious in mind. OK, so it wasn't really her house, it was actually Katie's house, but as she lived there it seemed to be a good place for the meeting.
When people showed up with their favorite movies in hand, Q quickly tossed the movies away, and informed them that, "We have a much bigger issue on hand," before revealing before them the plot in its entirety.
You might think that it would be difficult to convince people to take part in a underhanded, criminal act, but when you take into consideration the "quaintness" (*cough* dullness, monotony, tedium *cough*) of Vermont, it's really no surprise that people jumped on the idea of something exciting and rebellious as soon as it jumped into their laps.
When the night of the final concert arrived, Q, Laney, KP, Frances, and the rest of their crew arrived at Essex High School auditorium, fully prepared. They happily watched the first half of the performance, and then snuck out of the theater. They found the back entrance which led to the side stage.
They took the pints of ice cream out of their bags, as well as they ice cream cones, and began to scoop. They placed the ice cream cones on the floor about 3 feet apart from each other on the floor, leaving a line trailing out the stage door, through the back hallway, through the outside door, and into the back of their truck.
They finished just in time to hear the Half Steps concluding "Coney Island", which they repeated the end of numerous times to the audience's delight. All the South Burlington kids hid quietly inside the folds of the curtain, and inside the truck, holding their breaths waiting. It was up to the Half Steps to make the next move now.
"You guys! Ice cream!!" Sam called out as he walked off stage, bending down to pick it up, and spotting the one father off, "and more!"
"What? Ice cream! Hey, don't hog it all, Sam!" Billy came off stage after him, and ran ahead, trying to scoop up all the cones he could on the way.
"I want some! Wait up!" Drew called out after them.
Joel appeared from the rear, "Leave some for me!"
And so the plan of Q's worked, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She had heard the Half Steps joking around before that they would be happy to "sing for ice cream", but she hadn't been sure if they had been serious. Luckily, it seemed that they had.
The doors of the truck slammed closed behind the oblivious boys, who turned around at the noise, realizing, all to late, what fools they had been. Back inside Essex High School a slew of fans and friends waited for the boys to emerge from back stage to sell their upcoming CD. But the boys never did appear.
~
The boys weren't treated too badly, considering the circumstances. They were kept hidden in the basement of one of the gang's houses. This basement is like the video game central. The computer, though falling apart and pieced together from the owner's masterful technology skills, is filled with a mass of video games, the most often used of which was Dance Dance Revolution (as the computer held hundreds, if not thousands, of songs). Also, the room recently got the addition of a mame cabinet, or atleast the controls. Now, this is like the ULTIMATE game machine, and has every video game from the 80s to present day or something crazy like that on it. (to see the room where the Half Steps were held captive, go to basement.html)
So the boys never got too bored, for there was much to entertain them in the basement. Not to mention the bright red paint on the walls was fairly enjoyable for the eyes. They were also fairly well fed, and Q, KP, and the rest of them were all to happy to give them ice cream to their heart's content under one condition. They sang whenever asked, whatever asked. Having their voices admired was nothing new to the group, though usually under slightly different circumstances, so they were willing to oblige. They did love their ice cream.
Surprisingly, the Half Step boys were able to keep in fairly good humor, after the initial shock. They even fell into their normal, wacky, spontaneous selves after the first few days had passed. ("Joel is my hero. I want to be just like Joel when I grow up!" - Billy, after drawing a beard on his face with a black marker.)
Actually, things were going better than planned. The police had investigated, but found nothing other than melted ice cream pools leading out the doors. Their conclusion had been that the boys had merely been afraid of college, and in hopes of living out their childhood dreams of friendship, ran off together to try to make a living by singing. The cop had told the families that they would come to their senses in a few weeks, and return home sheepishly. Thanks to this reasoning, all investigation and searches had been done loosely and carelessly, and for the first few weeks nothing had turned up at all.
That's when Laney had made her mistake. She and Q had been sent out on ice cream duty, and failed to notice the police officer sitting at the table behind her. She took out 15 pints (those boys could really eat!) and walked up to the cash register while humming "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" slightly off rhythm. One of the Half Steps trademark songs, where they sing the song, always one beat ahead of where they should be. She also just happened to be wearing her "Half Steps Groupie" shirt which she had purchased from them.
The police officer was fast. She had had to listen to the Half Steps CD countless time for the investigation, and noticed the song easily. She called Laney over to her.
"That's a nice song your humming, but isn't the beat off a bit?" she asked. "No, that's how it's supposed to be sung. Well, this version," Laney replied.
"You mean the Half Steps version?"
"Yeah," Laney paused, starting to see her error, "I mean no. I mean, yes, I was listening to the CD on the way over here." She tried to regain herself.
"And what might you be needing all that ice cream for?" The officer inquired further.
"Uhm... er..." Laney fumbled, "I'm, uh, having a party tonight. Yeah, that's it, a party."
The officer looked at her suspiciously. She had been in the business long enough to be able to tell when someone is lying. Needless to say, Laney never returned to Q with the ice cream that day.
******END OF FLASHBACK******
"Well, that was how I got here," Laney said, "I guess you guys must've made some slip ups too," and they all nodded that they had.
They looked around the room, and waking up their minds which had slipped into the past they noticed everyone was staring at them with wide eyes. Some even had dropped jaws.
"You... you guys are stalkers?" Magnet asked, looking a bit worried.
"Not just stalkers, kidnappers too," Zigzag added.
"Well... yeah. But it was just for fun," KP responded. At this comment the boys all turned to one another and exchanged concerned glances.
"I think that about brings us to the end of our time tonight," Pendanski broke the silence, not sure of what else to say, "Bedtime!"
***********
The next day's digging continued as normal, though only after an eerily quiet breakfast. Throughout the morning, the girls began to notice that the boys were whispering to one another, which was usually followed by laughter. There were countless fingers pointed in their direction, and ever more eyes darted towards them, and the quickly away.
At the first break of the day, the girls walked up to the boys who were sitting clumped together on the ground.
"Would you guys stop being immature?" KP scowled at them.
"Yeah, I'd listen to her. I hear she's got vicious skill... with ice cream! Haha," Squid commented, to the laughter of all the boys.
"Jackasses," Laney was looking at Magnet now, trying to catch his eye, but he made a point to look away, "Grow up."
"What are you going to do?" Zigzag teased, but not in a friendly voice, "Stalk us?"
More laughter from the boys. Laney and KP did not find this very funny, and stared down at the boys angrily. (Go to digit.html see what they looked like. *Cough* disregard the fact that they are not in their regulation jumpsuits, heh heh).
"Or how about their 4 foot tall leader," Armpit, who towered well above that height, shot at Q.
Her eyes began to water as she replied quietly, "4'10."
Frances was the only one not subjected to direct ridicule, as the boys were not yet comfortable enough with her to supply it. But she had seen enough, and as she walked away with KP, Laney and Q by her side she said very matter-of-factly, "Gee, people here are really mean!"
~
NOTE: phew, ok, so tell me if you enjoyed that I guess. Haha, I hope the pictures added to the experience a bit, if you could figure out how to get them =P. Love, ice cream, and barbershop quartets to all my reviewers - the loves of my life.
Oh, and for a bit of free advertisement for the Half Steps, you can go to www.thehalfsteps.com/ if you feel so inclined. I think you can even hear them sing there. Hooray! =D