A/N: I know the last chapter was a little boring, but I'll try to promise you that this chapter will be a little more exciting, and the chapters here on out. Thanks for the reviews for those of you who did. Especially Truth Reeper! Wow I got approval, made my day...and speaking of days, Happy Valentine's day!
Ch. 2: Vacancy
Homework, RFR, Phone, Read, Brush teeth, Sleep. This was my usual after-school routine. You see, when I first moved here from Hong Kong I was a loner, I didn't care, but I was. They gave me a chance, Ray, Lily, and Robbie. We created an underground pirate radio station. It was a revolt against the schools, Henry Roscoe Highs, radio station known as "Cougar Radio." I had the transmitter so I helped them out, they helped me out. Friends. I didn't have much of those in Hong Kong.
I entered my vacant house. My parents both worked and usually didn't get home until later. That was fine with me, it did get tedious here and there, but eventually we learn to just get in a rhythm of things. Rhythm, I liked that word, it was one of the only words that didn't include a true vowel in it. Language is something really mind boggling if you think about it. Babies learn to speak at an early age by picking it up from older people around them. And most of just think of it as English, but babies all over the world pick up languages like Chinese, Japanese, German, etc. People dream in different languages, think in different languages, and we never really realize this. I sat down at the dining room table and unlatched my back pack.
"Let's see..." I muttered to myself, pulling out my binder and various notebooks. I started jotting down notes from the book we were assigned to read. I found the book pretty boring, but that's school for you. I looked at my watch, 3:45. How had time gone by so suddenly??? I immediatly head out the door. I had to be at RFR before 4'o'clock, I was always so early, but today I would be late.
"Sorry I'm late!" I said, slamming the metal, freezer-like door behind me. I quickly got into the tech-booth and was able to start the show on time.
"You're listening to Radio." Shady Lane -- Lily's alter-ego -- said.
"Free." Question Mark -- Robbie's DJ name -- continued.
"Roscoe!" Pronto -- obviously Ray -- finished.
"Hi, I'm Question Mark, and I'm wondering.." Robbie always started the show like this, he sat with the gold microphone loosly limped in his wrist as he spoke into it. "Why do we have to have things in such order? Such as time. If we're late for a class or for school, we're punished. Well maybe it's not always our fault we're late. Maybe it's someone elses. It's like they make bounderies for us, and if we don't obey, then to Waller's we a-go." Robbie stated.
"Well yeah, but without time limitations, there would be havoc." I usually didn't speak up on our broadcasts, but today I thought I should.
"Good point, Smog. Callers... What do you think?" Lily said. A caller had called in, I wrote down their name in chalk and held up the small black board to the trio sitting around the table. This is how Radio Free Roscoe usually went, we had some callers, we talked about topics, Lily sang and played guitar. Why did we do it? We wanted to be heard, I guess. I liked doing it, even though I didn't get paid for it. Self-expression was something we all wanted, needed. This was our way to express our selves. Suddenly Lily spoke up again, awaking me from my thoughts.
"And that's a good time for a song! Play it Smog." She said to me. I loaded in some random CD and heard the music glare over as the rest took off their headphones.
Things went smoothly after that.
I came home, tired, I hadn't had a chance to have some Tea that morning. That was ok, I would just lay on the couch and rest my eyes for a second..
Suddenly the phone rang, startling me in the empty house. I let it ring twice before answering it.
"Hello?" I said groggily. I looked at my watch. Damn, I fell asleep.
"Seven days.." An eerie voice whispered, but then bust out into small giggles. "Hey Travie, sorry I was just kidding. I'm watching The Ring, and I'm a little lonely, do you want to maybe... come over?" Audrey asked.
"Even though I prefer the japanese version, Ringu, being with you is better than any movie." I said, putting on a little sarcastic charm.
"Aww.." She spoke softly, "Well come over anytime. Love you, bye." She hung up. Forget homework, I thought to myself. Wait, forget homework? This wasn't like me. Women cause men to do very strange things, but hey, I would finish my homework later tonight. It's not like I had a whole lot of it anyway.
I arrived at Audrey's house at around 6:27, She gladly opened the door, she had obviously been expecting me. I walked in and followed her upstairs to her room.
"I'm so glad you came over!" She said. "I know we usually don't hang out that much on school days after school, but hey, I'm home alone for once."
"You do know that my house is almost always empty, right?" I asked her.
"Yeah, but my parents wouldn't let me go over there on a school day anyways." She changed topics, "So... have you seen the american version of this movie?"
"Yes, I wanted to compare and contrast the two. You know me." I said, going along with her new topic. I sat on her bed and she sat down next to me.
"Travis.." She had an almost tremble in her voice. "W-what do you think about.. about sex?"
--
Ch. 2: Vacancy
Homework, RFR, Phone, Read, Brush teeth, Sleep. This was my usual after-school routine. You see, when I first moved here from Hong Kong I was a loner, I didn't care, but I was. They gave me a chance, Ray, Lily, and Robbie. We created an underground pirate radio station. It was a revolt against the schools, Henry Roscoe Highs, radio station known as "Cougar Radio." I had the transmitter so I helped them out, they helped me out. Friends. I didn't have much of those in Hong Kong.
I entered my vacant house. My parents both worked and usually didn't get home until later. That was fine with me, it did get tedious here and there, but eventually we learn to just get in a rhythm of things. Rhythm, I liked that word, it was one of the only words that didn't include a true vowel in it. Language is something really mind boggling if you think about it. Babies learn to speak at an early age by picking it up from older people around them. And most of just think of it as English, but babies all over the world pick up languages like Chinese, Japanese, German, etc. People dream in different languages, think in different languages, and we never really realize this. I sat down at the dining room table and unlatched my back pack.
"Let's see..." I muttered to myself, pulling out my binder and various notebooks. I started jotting down notes from the book we were assigned to read. I found the book pretty boring, but that's school for you. I looked at my watch, 3:45. How had time gone by so suddenly??? I immediatly head out the door. I had to be at RFR before 4'o'clock, I was always so early, but today I would be late.
"Sorry I'm late!" I said, slamming the metal, freezer-like door behind me. I quickly got into the tech-booth and was able to start the show on time.
"You're listening to Radio." Shady Lane -- Lily's alter-ego -- said.
"Free." Question Mark -- Robbie's DJ name -- continued.
"Roscoe!" Pronto -- obviously Ray -- finished.
"Hi, I'm Question Mark, and I'm wondering.." Robbie always started the show like this, he sat with the gold microphone loosly limped in his wrist as he spoke into it. "Why do we have to have things in such order? Such as time. If we're late for a class or for school, we're punished. Well maybe it's not always our fault we're late. Maybe it's someone elses. It's like they make bounderies for us, and if we don't obey, then to Waller's we a-go." Robbie stated.
"Well yeah, but without time limitations, there would be havoc." I usually didn't speak up on our broadcasts, but today I thought I should.
"Good point, Smog. Callers... What do you think?" Lily said. A caller had called in, I wrote down their name in chalk and held up the small black board to the trio sitting around the table. This is how Radio Free Roscoe usually went, we had some callers, we talked about topics, Lily sang and played guitar. Why did we do it? We wanted to be heard, I guess. I liked doing it, even though I didn't get paid for it. Self-expression was something we all wanted, needed. This was our way to express our selves. Suddenly Lily spoke up again, awaking me from my thoughts.
"And that's a good time for a song! Play it Smog." She said to me. I loaded in some random CD and heard the music glare over as the rest took off their headphones.
Things went smoothly after that.
I came home, tired, I hadn't had a chance to have some Tea that morning. That was ok, I would just lay on the couch and rest my eyes for a second..
Suddenly the phone rang, startling me in the empty house. I let it ring twice before answering it.
"Hello?" I said groggily. I looked at my watch. Damn, I fell asleep.
"Seven days.." An eerie voice whispered, but then bust out into small giggles. "Hey Travie, sorry I was just kidding. I'm watching The Ring, and I'm a little lonely, do you want to maybe... come over?" Audrey asked.
"Even though I prefer the japanese version, Ringu, being with you is better than any movie." I said, putting on a little sarcastic charm.
"Aww.." She spoke softly, "Well come over anytime. Love you, bye." She hung up. Forget homework, I thought to myself. Wait, forget homework? This wasn't like me. Women cause men to do very strange things, but hey, I would finish my homework later tonight. It's not like I had a whole lot of it anyway.
I arrived at Audrey's house at around 6:27, She gladly opened the door, she had obviously been expecting me. I walked in and followed her upstairs to her room.
"I'm so glad you came over!" She said. "I know we usually don't hang out that much on school days after school, but hey, I'm home alone for once."
"You do know that my house is almost always empty, right?" I asked her.
"Yeah, but my parents wouldn't let me go over there on a school day anyways." She changed topics, "So... have you seen the american version of this movie?"
"Yes, I wanted to compare and contrast the two. You know me." I said, going along with her new topic. I sat on her bed and she sat down next to me.
"Travis.." She had an almost tremble in her voice. "W-what do you think about.. about sex?"
--