Chapter 11 - Nighttime Antics

Summer sighed in frustration as she turned over in her bed. Looking at her bedside alarm clock, she noticed the time: 1:32am. She shifted onto her back and stared blankly at the white ceiling. 1:30 on a school night and no sleep. Exactly what I need.

Summer didn't usually have a problem going to sleep, in fact, most of the time it was just a matter of turning off the light. This time, however, the lights were off, yet Summer was wide awake.

She really couldn't blame herself, though. It wasn't as if that day had been exactly normal.

After Summer had finally admitted to Zack that she could play guitar, he had shown her some original material that he swore he hadn't shown anyone yet. It was as though he was keeping them secret just to spite Dewey, Summer thought with a smirk.

Zack had told Summer that he didn't have any lyrics other than for the first song she had heard, but she had a feeling that he had just been too embarrassed to say anything about them.

Summer smiled in the dark as the afternoon flashed through her mind once again. Zack and his mom had stayed at the Hathaway's almost until dinnertime. Summer's mom had extended an invitation to stay for supper to the pair, but Mrs. Mooneyham declined, saying her husband would be wondering where they were.

Although Summer had thoroughly enjoyed her evening with Zack, she knew it was a bit of a bittersweet contentment. Eleni hadn't come up in conversation once, and Summer had barely thought of her at all since she went downstairs to see Zack. The two guitarists had hung out as if nothing had come between them, like they would have back near the beginning of their summer vacation.

It hurt Summer to know that the next day, or rather, in a few hours, things would go completely back to normal once they stepped back into school: Eleni would cling to Zack as if he were life support, and Zack wouldn't do anything about it. Summer would not only feel hurt, but out of place, and she knew that she wouldn't talk to either of the couple if she could avoid it.

Marta had completely agreed with Summer when the raven-haired girl had called her best friend right after the Mooneyhams left her house.

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"I wonder if he has such good times with Eleni…" Marta wondered out loud over the phone.

Summer groaned. "I don't even want to think about what they do in private."

Marta snorted. "Oh, pah-lease, Tink, don't be such a gross-out. You see how he acts around her at school. You'd think if they were doing… Stuff… He'd be a little bit more affectionate with her," Marta said. "…Unless, of course, she completely sucked at it all…"

"Marta!" Summer scolded, laughing in spite of herself. "Shut up! And how would you know, anyway? From experience, I'm guessing?"

"Well…"

Summer grimaced. "Okay, I wasn't ready for that. Maybe on a day my stomach can take it, we'll talk about you."

Marta laughed, but changed the subject. "I'm really happy for you, you know that, right? It's just… Well, don't be surprised if he acts like nothing happened tomorrow. I mean, even though he doesn't shower her with kisses, Eleni has Zack wrapped around her ugly little finger."

Summer sighed. "I know."

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Even still, though, Summer couldn't help but think about Zack. She had always thought that the boy was incredibly good looking… But today, he was just immaculate. Summer had a thing for polo and golf shirts, and she had never seen Zack where one before. Looking back, it was a good thing Summer could keep a firm hold on herself, because the boy of her dreams suit the style really, really well.

After a couple more minutes filled with feeble attempts at sleep, Summer looked at her clock again, and when she saw that it read "1:47am," she decided to take action. She grunted as she pulled herself out of her bed, and headed downstairs, ever so quietly, to the kitchen.

Thank God for quiet technology, Summer thought, as she stuck her glass of milk into the microwave.

When she was younger and hadn't been able to fall asleep, Mrs. Hathaway had always come into Summer's room with a glass of warm milk, and for whatever reason, it always did the trick. Warm milk hadn't been needed since the second or third grade, but, alas, desperate times called for desperate measures.

Summer grabbed her warm glass once it was done heating, and slowly crept up the stairs, as quietly as she could. She was almost all the way to her bedroom when she heard someone moving behind the door to her parents' bedroom. Shit, Summer thought as she froze on the spot, hoping to God that whoever she had awoken didn't come out of the room.

Just when Summer was about to let out a (quiet) sigh of relief, the bedroom door slammed open, and Mrs. Hathaway ran to the bathroom. Summer was frozen once again, this time out of shock. She quickly got over it, though, and put her glass down by her door before making her way over to the bathroom.

Summer waited until she heard the toilet flush, and stepped back to let her mother out. When she did, Mrs. Hathaway looked quite pail and unsound.

"Mommy?" Summer said tentatively.

Mrs. Hathaway gave a slight jump, obviously oblivious to Summer being there. She turned around, saying, "Oh, sweetie, I didn't know you were there - what are you doing up?"

Summer ignored her mother's question. "Are you okay, mom?"

Mrs. Hathaway gave a small smile, comfort showing in her eyes. "I'm okay, love, I'm just feeling a bit below the weather, you know? I'll be perfectly fine." She paused, giving her daughter a hug. "You, on the other hand, will not be fine at school tomorrow if you don't get in your bed within ten seconds!"

Summer laughed. "Gotcha, mom, I was just about to go straight there," she whispered, and with that, she said goodnight to her mom, and made her way back to her bedroom.

Summer sat on the edge of her bed, slowly sipping on her milk. It troubled her somewhat that her mom was sick - her parents never got sick. Which means to them that I can never get sick either, seeing as I'm never allowed to miss school, she thought with a small smirk.

After another couple minutes of sipping, Summer shook her head, trying to clear her mind of any thoughts. She'll be fine, she decided, and laid back down to fall asleep.

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What the HELL is going on?! Summer groaned into her pillow. Afraid to look at her alarm clock, she tentatively raised her eyes towards her bedside table. I can't believe this. 2:39am and zero minutes of sleep. Summer punched her pillow in frustration.

Summer wouldn't classify herself as the type of person who believed it was against the law to be awake past midnight, but there came a point where still being awake was a bit ridiculous.

Summer looked around her room, stopping at her computer. The stupid screen may make me sleepy, she thought half-heartedly. She got up and made her way over to her computer chair, turning the machine on, rubbing her hands over her eyes.

Once the computer had loaded all its settings, Summer logged onto the internet, deciding to check her email. She yawned as the page loaded.

Once in her inbox, Summer realized she hadn't checked her mail all day, and was proven right when she saw seven new emails waiting for her: two forwards from Katie, one from Freddy, some junk from E! Online, an email from Tomika, and one from Marta.

Clicking on Tomika's email (which was addressed to everyone in the band, as well as Alicia and Dewey), she sat back to read.

hey yall

was sap? hows everyone doin? im here at my grammas house… its where me n my mum r staying for now before we find r own place. im going to dis public skool called Latchman High… so gay. ive made a couple friends but nothing special…nothing like u guys, u no? the place is really centred on sports… theres one choir and it sux ass, so my mum said that maybe ill be able to join a choir outside of skool but it depends on how much money it costs.

im sending dis to alicia and dewey too cause theyre still part of da band in my eyes… alicia and marta, u guys no that ur fite was stupid n if I was there it wouldve never happened rite? don't let stuff like that get between yall cuz itll just tear yall apart

anyway ill talk to yall lata, tell me where u guys r practicing n maybe ill fone during a practice or something aight?

luv tom

Summer smiled. She knew that nothing bad would've happened between the two back-up singers if Tomika had still been in the state. Not only did she have tonnes of common sense, but she had the ability to sniff out a bad situation five minutes before anyone else could realize. But even she couldn't have done anything to avoid Dewey's situation. Summer decided to call Tomika later in the week to tell her about the letter the band had written to him.

Still happy to hear from Tomika, Summer clicked on Marta's email.

The happiness wasn't there for long.

omg tink u wont believe this

Spaz sent this to me... he said it was addressed to michelle, zack, freddy, lawrence, katie, gordon, billy, frankie, alicia…ya in case u were counting, that's THE WHOLE CLASS EXCEPT US… he still sent it to me tho n he told me to send it to u too… anyway ill talk to u about it tomorrow morning… shes such a bitch, summer!

twinkle

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From: whackemhard

To: ilovetosing

Subject: none

hey lovely whats goin on?? well i just got sent this from eleni n i thought id sent it to u since u weren't on the list... send it to tink to cuz shes not on it either... we'll crash this stupid thing!

ttyl love spaz

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From: iluvbeingblonde

To: cutiepatootie, nexthendrix, whackemhard, lawrencetsai, ramoneschick, techtroid3000, billyfalduto, crusher28, scorpiochick

Subject: BIRTHDAY PARTAE!!!!

hey everybody!

how r u all doing?? i just wanted to invite u guys to my HUGE SUPER COOL BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!! its gonna be a BLAST and i hope u guys can come!! its september 30 at my house... my birthdays actually the 29th but were havin it the day after! it starts at 6 and goes till whenever and all the girls can sleepover!! i was gonna have the boys sleep over too (lol zack ;) ) but i wasn't allowed and it would be too complicated, so sorrrrry!!!!

Anyway, don't tell anyone that's NOT on the list cuz if theyre not on the address list up there then theyre not invited!! tell me if u can come at school, cya!

eleni

Summer laughed. How stupid could Eleni be, sending that email to Freddy, and thinking he wouldn't send it to his own girlfriend? Indeed, Summer was furious, but the lack of brains in the blonde was to laughable to act mad. Of course I'm going to go, just to show her up. Her and Marta were going to make big, big plans for this party.

Summer made sure to save the email before turning off her computer. She was surprised at her own reaction to the news: anyone in their right mind would've thought that someone in Summer's situation would be absolutely furious. Nevertheless, the raven-haired girl felt like laughing. Does she actually believe that everyone likes her enough to not tell us? I bet two or three more people tell us tomorrow about the party.

Although Summer knew she should be really happy with Freddy that he thought of both his girlfriend and his best friend, the boy's gesture could only remind her of how Zack hadn't sent anything at all. He may be Eleni's boyfriend, but he was friends with us first. Summer sighed. It hurt to know that Freddy cared more about her than Zack seemed too.

Summer shook her head to once again clear her mind as she climbed back into bed. The email was enough to make her extremely tired, like the final event of the day that made her exhausted.

As Summer rested her head on her pillow, finally ready to fall asleep, she couldn't help but smirk and say, "Now it's my turn, Eleni Afflerbach."

A/N - Wow, this chapter is really, really slow, and I apologize for that. There's not much action, but believe me, it's an imporant chapter nonetheless. Thanks for all the awesome reviews, from everyone so far, and the support and all that - I will be doing a sequel to this story once I finish up!! I'll do a personal thanks next chapter! So, in the meantime, why don't y'all review again?? lol Thanks guys!