"Christ in Acrimony," Tomika said getting up. "I don't care; all is
forgiven and forgotten."
"Whatever," Alicia said folding her arms. She wasn't one to forget, even when she forgave.
Marta just looked down at the floor. She didn't like fighting. "Let's go sing."
Frankie rolled his eyes at Tomika's stupidity once again. He hated drama.
"Mission: Accomplished," Frankie said walking in, the vocalists following close behind.
"Alrite, guys, let's do this," Dewey said looking around. "Do you ladies know the song?"
"Yeah," Marta replied for them before any more conflict came out.
"Alrite. Freddy, count us off."
BUZZ
"Alrite gals and pals, that would be mi amigo," Dewey said slightly frustrated. "Give me one sec."
Dewey went over to the buzzer and held down the talk button. "Halt! Who goes there?" He called into the speaker.
There was silence when he pressed the listen button.
"Maybe you should try saying 'who is it' for a change, Dewey" Freddy joked.
Dewey made a fake-laughing face and turned back to the sound monitor. "Who is it?" Dewey called pressing the button. He held down the listen button and there was no answer. "Katie, go down stairs and see who it is." Dewey said sounding tiredly pissed.
"I'm going with her," Freddy called throwing his sticks down and getting up. "I don't want her to get hurt."
Katie was about to protest that she could handle herself, but she liked the idea of Freddy going with her. She Smiled. "Thanks."
"Think nothing of it, babe," Freddy replied.
"Don't call me that," Katie said in the same manner as Freddy.
"Okay." Freddy replied helplessly.
"We'll be right back," Freddy called, entering the kitchen with Katie to get to the door.
"Virgins, I hope," Dewey called back.
"Not funny," Katie yelled back at Dewey.
"Yes it was!" Dewey replied, being cut off by the door shut.
After Freddy closed the door behind them, they started to walk.
"What was that for?" Katie asked.
"What?" Freddy asked, confused.
"The Kiss." Katie replied skeptically.
"I couldn't help myself," Freddy replied smiling sweetly at Katie.
'Heart-melt...' Katie thought to herself.
"I know you liked it," Freddy said teasingly.
"Shut up," she came back, walking down the stairs with the drummer by her side.
When they got to the door, Freddy started walking a little slower. He grabbed a wooden block from off the side ledge next to the door to keep it open, so they could get back in without the buzzer. They put the doorstopper on the very front door and walked outside into the courtyard.
"No one..." Freddy said slowly. He led Katie to the Cement archway and to the sidewalk, where no one else was to be seen.
"Um, Freddy?" Katie said shivering a little, and sounding a little scared. The streetlights were on and it was cold.
"Yeah?"
"I'm cold."
"Let's go back inside bab—Katie"
"Sounds good," Katie said racing for the door. Freddy followed. "It's Freezing," she muttered when they got into the first door.
"Yeah," Freddy agreed. "So much for the 90 degree weather we were having."
Katie let out a last shiver. "Yeah..."
"Will you uh..." Freddy said out of the blue.
"What?"
"Get the door?" Freddy recovered quickly.
"...Is that what you really wanted to ask me?"
"No," Freddy answered honestly.
They got up to the apartment door. Katie reached out her hand to get the door and laughed. Freddy put his hand on her arm and pushed it slowly and easily back down.
"What are we going to do with each other?" Freddy asked, unaware of how it had came out.
"WHAT!?"
At this point Freddy realized what it sounded like he just said. "Wow, that came out so wrong," He said hoping he didn't just put up a major red light. "I mean, what are we going to do now that we like each other. Well, now that we both know, I mean."
"I thought we spoke about this at your house?" Katie asked awkwardly, pretending to try to avoid the subject, so she wouldn't seem as pathetic.
"Not thoroughly enough."
Katie let out a quiet sigh. "I don't want to rush into it. We're in the fifth grade."
"I don't want to let this opportunity pass by," came back Freddy.
"I don't want to miss practice," Katie said reaching for the door.
"I don't want Dewey to think I'd ditch him after calling him," came a voice from behind.
Freddy wondered how long the average height, white, brunette, obviously Irish, rocker was standing there. It couldn't have been long, since they had just been outside and didn't see anyone in view. He probably only heard Katie's last line, or they hoped. "Hey,"
Freddy said throwing his hands in his pockets.
"Adam Richards," the man said offering his hand.
"Freddy Jones..." Freddy said returning his offer. "This is Katie. Say hi Katie."
Katie rolled hey eyes and then smiled politely at Adam. "Hi, I'm Katie." She said offered her hand to him.
"Pleasure." He said returning the handshake.
'He doesn't look drunk...' Freddy thought to himself. He then realized they were standing in an awkward silence, while Freddy was examining the supposedly drunk friend of Dewey's. Adam exchanged a glance, trying to be as polite as possible, but was slightly freaked out. "...And on that note, I guess we'll be going inside..." Freddy opened the door, and everyone was standing around. The drummer and bassist didn't realize how long they'd been out. "We're fine...?" Freddy offered.
"Took you long enough, dudes." Dewey said, forgetting to acknowledge Adam.
"Sorry mom," Freddy stated quickly. "But look who we found."
"Hey Dewey," Adam said walking up a little closer.
"Adam, brother! You're not looking to diseas--drunk."
"Yeah that was a stunt... Well it's uh April 4th..."
"Yeah, uh... Friday, in fact...Dewey replied a little confused. Then Dewey felt something similar to a mass shockwave rushed through Dewey's body. "Oh... Shit..."
"It's okay, man," Adam said throwing up his hand as a 'stop' signal lazily. "You have a good 3 days. We're not leaving just yet."
"No... It's not that," Dewey looked a wreck, speaking threw his hands he threw at his face. He threw his hands out. "I have a band now."
"But you left Maggot Death and No Vacancy," Adam came back. "Or so I thought... well, heard."
"I. Have." Dewey said pulling him further into the living room, presenting 13 other children. "A band now."
"Dude you signed the pact and you swore on the Gods of Rock. We all did," Adam suggested, sounding a little annoyed.
Dewey looked like he was about to lose it.
"...Uh, here..." Adam took a pen from behind Marco's ear and jotted something down on the back of a receipt he drew from his pocket. "Call me when you're up to it. Tonight the latest..." He handed Dewey the paper. "I'm gonna take off," he said walking backwards, pointing back to the door. "See ya later dude... little dudes... Katie, Freddy..." he walked out and closed the door behind him. 'Good boy,' Freddy thought.
"...You're leaving us?" Leonard asked in his 'oh, man!' voice.
"Ugh, why, why me?" Dewey asked no one in particular. Shrugs, stares, and whipsers went around the room.
Freddy wanted to come out with a "This is bullshit, Dewey." but he knew that he wouldn't be helping. He actually felt sorry for Dewey. For himself. For the Band that he pledged his allegiance to 4 weeks ago. For Rock 'n' Roll and the disgrace that would be brought to it if they dropped out of the posse now.
"So... Are you gonna tell us?" An anxious Katie asked loudly.
"20 years ago when I was 17, me, Adam, and this kid, Ryan, were in a band called Local Anesthetic. Unfortunately, it was almost September and school would be starting, and that meant Adam was going to Los Angeles, and Ryan was going to go to a prep school 40 minutes away. We could have said we'd keep in touch, but we knew that we wouldn't so we didn't bother. We said we'd call once a year to let everyone know what our status is," Dewey continued throwing his hand as a 'whatever I said back then didn't matter anyway' signal. "On this day we decided we'd all meet up. I swore in at the time because I figured 'Okay, so this is an opportunity to get better at my craft,' but it just didn't work out that way. I don't know, now we're supposed to get back together."
A tear went down Tomika's eye, as she was in shock. Michelle broke down. Marta looked away and tried to count the dimples of decoration in the ceiling. Hopeless. Alicia suddenly wasn't so concerned about Tomika's drama queen act. Freddy's jaw was dropped, and there was no feeling in his face to gain the strength to pull it back up. He couldn't even move without falling out of the chair. Katie covered her face in her hands in complete anger. Zack started playing solo. "Baby we were makin' straight A's..."
"But we were stuck in a dumb daze," Continued Tomika.
Katie broke in with the Bass. "Don't take much to--"
Marta joined Katie. "Memorize your lies..."
"I feel like I've been HYPNOTIZED," Freddy came in crashing down lightly on the drums.
"And then that magic Man had come to town..." Lawerence came in with the keyboard.
Without reference, they all knew they were singing 'School of Rock', the original version, before Dewey had changed around some of the words.
"Whew, he sure spun my head around..." Marco came in with a smile.
"He said recess is in session; that 2 and 2 make 5," Michelle came in smiling.
Eleni joined her. "And now I'm finally alive..."
"And if you wanna be the teacher's pet..." Leonard came out smiling, singing loudly.
"...Well baby you just better forget it!" Billy came in.
"Rock is the reason," Gordon and Frankie came in, nodding at Dewey to go on.
"...R-r-ock is the rhyme," Dewey said with a gulp at the beginning, nodding his head into it, hands in pockets nervously. He was wondering if the band still accepted him.
"You'd better get me to school on time!" Eleni and Summer screeched.
On that note, the fun started breaking out, Freddy jamming harder, Marco handing out some extra mic's he was testing.
"But if you wanna be the teacher's pet!" Zack, Dewey, and Katie belted together.
"Ooh, luh-la-la..."
The whole group belted the song at this point. "Baby, you just better forget it! Rock is the reason,"
Zack went solo, "Rock is the Rhyme!"
"...You'd better get me to school on time..." Everyone finished. At this point they stopped. Everyone was smiling. Even remembering that Adam had come to disrupt the band, they couldn't help but remember what that song was actually about, and smiled uncontrollably.
"So what are you gonna do, Dewey?" Freddy broke in to the good time. Everyone wanted to know but was afraid to break the mood. Leave it to Freddy Jones.
"I swore to the God's of Rock, so I don't know," Dewey said, doing a rather good job of covering up his nervous side.
"They'd understand," Summer said putting a hand on his back.
"Whatever," Alicia said folding her arms. She wasn't one to forget, even when she forgave.
Marta just looked down at the floor. She didn't like fighting. "Let's go sing."
Frankie rolled his eyes at Tomika's stupidity once again. He hated drama.
"Mission: Accomplished," Frankie said walking in, the vocalists following close behind.
"Alrite, guys, let's do this," Dewey said looking around. "Do you ladies know the song?"
"Yeah," Marta replied for them before any more conflict came out.
"Alrite. Freddy, count us off."
BUZZ
"Alrite gals and pals, that would be mi amigo," Dewey said slightly frustrated. "Give me one sec."
Dewey went over to the buzzer and held down the talk button. "Halt! Who goes there?" He called into the speaker.
There was silence when he pressed the listen button.
"Maybe you should try saying 'who is it' for a change, Dewey" Freddy joked.
Dewey made a fake-laughing face and turned back to the sound monitor. "Who is it?" Dewey called pressing the button. He held down the listen button and there was no answer. "Katie, go down stairs and see who it is." Dewey said sounding tiredly pissed.
"I'm going with her," Freddy called throwing his sticks down and getting up. "I don't want her to get hurt."
Katie was about to protest that she could handle herself, but she liked the idea of Freddy going with her. She Smiled. "Thanks."
"Think nothing of it, babe," Freddy replied.
"Don't call me that," Katie said in the same manner as Freddy.
"Okay." Freddy replied helplessly.
"We'll be right back," Freddy called, entering the kitchen with Katie to get to the door.
"Virgins, I hope," Dewey called back.
"Not funny," Katie yelled back at Dewey.
"Yes it was!" Dewey replied, being cut off by the door shut.
After Freddy closed the door behind them, they started to walk.
"What was that for?" Katie asked.
"What?" Freddy asked, confused.
"The Kiss." Katie replied skeptically.
"I couldn't help myself," Freddy replied smiling sweetly at Katie.
'Heart-melt...' Katie thought to herself.
"I know you liked it," Freddy said teasingly.
"Shut up," she came back, walking down the stairs with the drummer by her side.
When they got to the door, Freddy started walking a little slower. He grabbed a wooden block from off the side ledge next to the door to keep it open, so they could get back in without the buzzer. They put the doorstopper on the very front door and walked outside into the courtyard.
"No one..." Freddy said slowly. He led Katie to the Cement archway and to the sidewalk, where no one else was to be seen.
"Um, Freddy?" Katie said shivering a little, and sounding a little scared. The streetlights were on and it was cold.
"Yeah?"
"I'm cold."
"Let's go back inside bab—Katie"
"Sounds good," Katie said racing for the door. Freddy followed. "It's Freezing," she muttered when they got into the first door.
"Yeah," Freddy agreed. "So much for the 90 degree weather we were having."
Katie let out a last shiver. "Yeah..."
"Will you uh..." Freddy said out of the blue.
"What?"
"Get the door?" Freddy recovered quickly.
"...Is that what you really wanted to ask me?"
"No," Freddy answered honestly.
They got up to the apartment door. Katie reached out her hand to get the door and laughed. Freddy put his hand on her arm and pushed it slowly and easily back down.
"What are we going to do with each other?" Freddy asked, unaware of how it had came out.
"WHAT!?"
At this point Freddy realized what it sounded like he just said. "Wow, that came out so wrong," He said hoping he didn't just put up a major red light. "I mean, what are we going to do now that we like each other. Well, now that we both know, I mean."
"I thought we spoke about this at your house?" Katie asked awkwardly, pretending to try to avoid the subject, so she wouldn't seem as pathetic.
"Not thoroughly enough."
Katie let out a quiet sigh. "I don't want to rush into it. We're in the fifth grade."
"I don't want to let this opportunity pass by," came back Freddy.
"I don't want to miss practice," Katie said reaching for the door.
"I don't want Dewey to think I'd ditch him after calling him," came a voice from behind.
Freddy wondered how long the average height, white, brunette, obviously Irish, rocker was standing there. It couldn't have been long, since they had just been outside and didn't see anyone in view. He probably only heard Katie's last line, or they hoped. "Hey,"
Freddy said throwing his hands in his pockets.
"Adam Richards," the man said offering his hand.
"Freddy Jones..." Freddy said returning his offer. "This is Katie. Say hi Katie."
Katie rolled hey eyes and then smiled politely at Adam. "Hi, I'm Katie." She said offered her hand to him.
"Pleasure." He said returning the handshake.
'He doesn't look drunk...' Freddy thought to himself. He then realized they were standing in an awkward silence, while Freddy was examining the supposedly drunk friend of Dewey's. Adam exchanged a glance, trying to be as polite as possible, but was slightly freaked out. "...And on that note, I guess we'll be going inside..." Freddy opened the door, and everyone was standing around. The drummer and bassist didn't realize how long they'd been out. "We're fine...?" Freddy offered.
"Took you long enough, dudes." Dewey said, forgetting to acknowledge Adam.
"Sorry mom," Freddy stated quickly. "But look who we found."
"Hey Dewey," Adam said walking up a little closer.
"Adam, brother! You're not looking to diseas--drunk."
"Yeah that was a stunt... Well it's uh April 4th..."
"Yeah, uh... Friday, in fact...Dewey replied a little confused. Then Dewey felt something similar to a mass shockwave rushed through Dewey's body. "Oh... Shit..."
"It's okay, man," Adam said throwing up his hand as a 'stop' signal lazily. "You have a good 3 days. We're not leaving just yet."
"No... It's not that," Dewey looked a wreck, speaking threw his hands he threw at his face. He threw his hands out. "I have a band now."
"But you left Maggot Death and No Vacancy," Adam came back. "Or so I thought... well, heard."
"I. Have." Dewey said pulling him further into the living room, presenting 13 other children. "A band now."
"Dude you signed the pact and you swore on the Gods of Rock. We all did," Adam suggested, sounding a little annoyed.
Dewey looked like he was about to lose it.
"...Uh, here..." Adam took a pen from behind Marco's ear and jotted something down on the back of a receipt he drew from his pocket. "Call me when you're up to it. Tonight the latest..." He handed Dewey the paper. "I'm gonna take off," he said walking backwards, pointing back to the door. "See ya later dude... little dudes... Katie, Freddy..." he walked out and closed the door behind him. 'Good boy,' Freddy thought.
"...You're leaving us?" Leonard asked in his 'oh, man!' voice.
"Ugh, why, why me?" Dewey asked no one in particular. Shrugs, stares, and whipsers went around the room.
Freddy wanted to come out with a "This is bullshit, Dewey." but he knew that he wouldn't be helping. He actually felt sorry for Dewey. For himself. For the Band that he pledged his allegiance to 4 weeks ago. For Rock 'n' Roll and the disgrace that would be brought to it if they dropped out of the posse now.
"So... Are you gonna tell us?" An anxious Katie asked loudly.
"20 years ago when I was 17, me, Adam, and this kid, Ryan, were in a band called Local Anesthetic. Unfortunately, it was almost September and school would be starting, and that meant Adam was going to Los Angeles, and Ryan was going to go to a prep school 40 minutes away. We could have said we'd keep in touch, but we knew that we wouldn't so we didn't bother. We said we'd call once a year to let everyone know what our status is," Dewey continued throwing his hand as a 'whatever I said back then didn't matter anyway' signal. "On this day we decided we'd all meet up. I swore in at the time because I figured 'Okay, so this is an opportunity to get better at my craft,' but it just didn't work out that way. I don't know, now we're supposed to get back together."
A tear went down Tomika's eye, as she was in shock. Michelle broke down. Marta looked away and tried to count the dimples of decoration in the ceiling. Hopeless. Alicia suddenly wasn't so concerned about Tomika's drama queen act. Freddy's jaw was dropped, and there was no feeling in his face to gain the strength to pull it back up. He couldn't even move without falling out of the chair. Katie covered her face in her hands in complete anger. Zack started playing solo. "Baby we were makin' straight A's..."
"But we were stuck in a dumb daze," Continued Tomika.
Katie broke in with the Bass. "Don't take much to--"
Marta joined Katie. "Memorize your lies..."
"I feel like I've been HYPNOTIZED," Freddy came in crashing down lightly on the drums.
"And then that magic Man had come to town..." Lawerence came in with the keyboard.
Without reference, they all knew they were singing 'School of Rock', the original version, before Dewey had changed around some of the words.
"Whew, he sure spun my head around..." Marco came in with a smile.
"He said recess is in session; that 2 and 2 make 5," Michelle came in smiling.
Eleni joined her. "And now I'm finally alive..."
"And if you wanna be the teacher's pet..." Leonard came out smiling, singing loudly.
"...Well baby you just better forget it!" Billy came in.
"Rock is the reason," Gordon and Frankie came in, nodding at Dewey to go on.
"...R-r-ock is the rhyme," Dewey said with a gulp at the beginning, nodding his head into it, hands in pockets nervously. He was wondering if the band still accepted him.
"You'd better get me to school on time!" Eleni and Summer screeched.
On that note, the fun started breaking out, Freddy jamming harder, Marco handing out some extra mic's he was testing.
"But if you wanna be the teacher's pet!" Zack, Dewey, and Katie belted together.
"Ooh, luh-la-la..."
The whole group belted the song at this point. "Baby, you just better forget it! Rock is the reason,"
Zack went solo, "Rock is the Rhyme!"
"...You'd better get me to school on time..." Everyone finished. At this point they stopped. Everyone was smiling. Even remembering that Adam had come to disrupt the band, they couldn't help but remember what that song was actually about, and smiled uncontrollably.
"So what are you gonna do, Dewey?" Freddy broke in to the good time. Everyone wanted to know but was afraid to break the mood. Leave it to Freddy Jones.
"I swore to the God's of Rock, so I don't know," Dewey said, doing a rather good job of covering up his nervous side.
"They'd understand," Summer said putting a hand on his back.