Okay! Here is the fourth installment...
MissLkid and Killslay: I want to thank both you for keeping up with my story! I really hope this next chapter doesn't disappoint...
Starstruck: Thank you so so much for taking the time to read my songfic and responding to it! Like I told Jkb, it's so great to have someone read your stuff and feel it. It's so great some people can understand the meaning behind your work. I really hope you will have the time/passion/etc. to continue with stranger steve stared cause there ain't nothin else on fanfiction.net like it!
Jkb: I can't thank you enough for reading both this story and my songfic:):) Im glad you like my Mary Sue, and you totally understand the message I'm trying to put through with this story. I really hope you like this chapter, and if you don't, by god, tell me! Writing can only improve if you open up your eyes sometimes, or have someone do it for you. Thank you honey:)
Any review is greatly appreciated! yes yes yes, haha.
Oh man, it was sunny and hot outside just a few minutes ago and now its dark and the rain is pouring down. I don't understand the weather in my area...
Oh! sorry, back to the story. I am going to post two chapters at once. At first I was going to post it as one long chapter, but then I loaded it on there and I was like "man this is long, people's attention spans are gonna go haywire and the words are going to blur..." so I decided to give y'all some breathing room and post it as two chapters.
Tell me whether you guys like shorter chapters or really long chapters.
Just as a reminder: whenever something is in italics, it's a flashback.
And also, I'm not sure when disney world opened in orlando, I tried to look it up but i couldn't find it out. Im sorry if it's inaccurate LOL.
On to the story....
Light peeped through the drawn curtains and summoned her to waken. One dark blue eye struggled to open as a high voice reverberated throughout the petite house. Summer rolled over and pulled the sheets over her head.
"Summer! It's time to wake up and go to school. Get your clothes on. I have your books ready, they're sitting by the front door!" The irritation verbalized all in one breath. Summer lazily pushed the heavy, white flowered sheets off her body and groaned from the night of sleep-or lack of it- that she had had. Before she knew it a piece of toast had been shoved into her mouth.
"Honey, you need to have a breakfast. It's not healthy to go without a good, strong energizing meal to get you started in the morning." Her aunt gazed inquisitively at Summer as her eyebrows furrowed into a question mark. "It seems like you really need it dear," she stated briskly as she ran to prepare for the day.
Summer took the piece of toast and removed it from her mouth. After enveloping herself in the clothes that hung behind the highly decorative double doors of the closet, she went into the bathroom. The hard, crusty piece of bread was thrown into the toilet and flushed away. She turned to the huge mirror that hung off the pastel wall. It was amazing, just how nontoxic the reflection was that bore back into her eyes. Ha. Little did they know the lifelessness that consumed the nucleus of her insides. How do you live, just how can you go through life, when you don't even feel comfortable in your own skin? The smooth skin that blanketed her interiors showed little struggle, no sign of resistance. 'But you didn't resist,' she told herself. 'It was all you, you wanted it too...' But did she? Did she really want it, was she really thinking with her own mind, or was it that sickness doing the talking? The sickness that had traveled through her body the first time that night, almost like the journey she was making from childhood to adulthood. But it was a rushed journey, reminiscent of the times when she had gone on trips with her Mommy and Daddy.
It was her first trip to Disneyworld, and Summer peeped out the window of their shiny silver car as they made their way through Florida. It was going to be fun, taking a trip to go see Mickey Mouse. Mommy and Daddy had exactly 18 hours to make it back before another really important political assembly. Summer had to go potty, really really bad. But she couldn't, if they stopped just for five minutes, or two, or even one, Mommy and Daddy would be off schedule. That wouldn't be a good thing, so Summer sat patiently in the car, gritting her teeth and holding her stomach. After an hour of agonizing postponement, they finally arrived to the thriving, vibrant theme park. While in the huge park she could finally go potty because Mommy said the bathroom was right in the path of the next ride. After the bathroom Summer spotted Mickey Mouse and pleaded to Mommy to go see him.
"No honey, I'm sorry. We have to get into the lines as early as possible, or we'll have to wait longer for the rides." Mommy grabbed a sack of cotton candy from a man selling it in the street, and shoved it into Summer's arms, as she wailed, tears forming in her eyes. "Here you go sweetie, cotton candy! That's better than Mickey Mouse, yes it is! You don't really want to see Mickey Mouse, do you?" Summer's eyes dropped to the candy, and she dug her hand into the soft pink mass that lay in the bag.
"I guess not..." she replied, the sweetness delving into her tastebuds. They rushed from ride to ride, skipping lunch in a restaurant and devouring peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead, while waiting in line for one of the rides. With exactly three hours to go Daddy headed the two of them back to the car, accelerating through the beautiful Florida landscape, making it just in time for Daddy to change and head to the political event. Summer never got to see Mickey Mouse. She never wanted to see Mickey Mouse anyway.
Summer ran her hands through her long shiny hair as she observed her reflection. Yes, she wanted it all along. Or did she? Summer didn't see the thread that was beginning to unwind. It hung from her elegant shirt. She couldn't see it through the mirror.
Johnny rose out of bed and pulled on his soiled black shirt. He grabbed the black jeans that had been carelessly toppled across the sole scrap of furniture in the room. Well, it was one of two pieces of furniture in the room, if you considered the worn-out mattress laying atop a squeaky frame and four quavering metal legs an actual bed. The vanity had become dull and faded because it lay right in the path of the sun that leaked through the window. Morning light seeped through the window, and as he pulled on his slacks and t-shirt his big black orbs gazed into the reflection that lay before him. He hadn't slept since that night at the Curtis'. His hair was disheveled, a single piece drooping from above his forehead, stabbing into the big white part of his eye. He had bags creeping along under his eyes, but that was not as apparent as the huge purple sphere that was now a stain on his skin. The white scar, as bright as the sun seeping through the window, contrasted with the darkness of the bruise and of his ruffled clothing. Little did he know that a thread had become loose on the back of his shirt. A thread is so minute, so insignificant compared to the dirtied, tainted features of his clothes and of his own body. Yet a piece of thread, once it breaks the bond and hangs freely, will continue to unravel. The thread has no end.
Summer impatiently scribbled in her notebook. She was stuck in chemistry class. Her eyes glided over those in the classroom, and she spotted a pretty red-head writing notes with a short-haired brunette sitting next to her. Like all the other students she hated the class and couldn't see at all how it pertained remotely to anything in her life. How did the people in her class even relate to her? They didn't know anything, they were all stuck in their little worlds of milkshakes and pompons. 'Just like I used to be,' she thought to herself. Could you really blame them for worrying over such trifling matters? What was so bad about that, I mean, isn't it so fun? Instead of walking the cracked, urinated black streets to school, you would simply walk out the door and jump into the new shiny car your parents gave you. You got it because you had worked oh-so-hard on getting that "A" in English. The day before you had come home from a really, really hard day at cheerleading practice, your fiery red hair tied up into two little pigtails, cause that was the way to go nowadays. Last week's fashion trend of wearing your hair in a braid was so over with. You would gasp in surprise as you run to the car, and hop into it, forgetting to thank Mom and Dad for buying you the gleaming, glittery, cute little red car that was now yours. You would speed down the road, the top of the convertible down, pigtails and all blowing in the wind. While you cruised down the perfectly leveled, smooth and shiny cement, you repeatedly affirmed to yourself, "I so deserve this, I so deserve this."
But Summer knew that there was more to it than what people saw, when the shiny red convertible whirred by them as they sweated on the roofs of one of the white picket-fenced houses, sore from carrying heavy loads up a ladder, working oh-so-hard hard to get money that barely paid the rent. Make just enough money so that the social workers wouldn't deem them incapable of taking care of their little brothers.
Summer knew that's how the roofers perceived her when she was younger, hanging in the house by herself because Mommy and Daddy had gone to another really important political assembly. She would listen to the rock and roll tunes on the radio, her only happiness coming from the excitement and the passion she felt as the lurid rhythms and melodies seeped through the household. The music drowned out the hammering that continued above as the roofers' backs and foreheads turned red from the intense rays.
Soda perched the hood up to test the oil pressure of the car. He just kind of forgot to put the gauge on the oil pressure tester. His smooth brown eyes darted back and forth as he tried desperately to concentrate on the task at hand. The other guy that was helping Soda sat in the car. It was his first day on the job, and Soda wasn't exactly having the best luck with the sixteen year old...
A few freshman girls had just walked down to the DX on their lunch break from school. The girls, while laughing and gibbering, had managed to settle themselves on the curb of the street opposite the gas station. Their attempt to stay inconspicuous wasn't quite working well, perhaps for the fact that they giggled simultaneously at every movement Soda made. Soda kept his head down and attempted to keep himself from grinning. He secretly enjoyed the attention he was getting, although he pretended to be completely oblivious to the chattering that could be heard throughout the neighborhood.
Two-Bit, Steve and Pony sped down the street and rounded the corner practically on two wheels.
"Yee-Haw!" Two-Bit screamed, flashing a crazy smile as the car dipped into a huge pothole. His car had broken down the day before, but he had managed to magically appear with another one just in time for lunch. Halfway to the Dingo Two-Bit suddenly remembered something.
"Shit! I forgot about Soda!" he shouted as he hit the screeching brakes. Pony and Steve slammed into each other in the backseat as Two-Bit turned the wheel and headed back to the DX. They pulled up to the garage just in time to see Soda yell as a fountain of oil sprayed from the car and blasted him in the face.
"Jay...when I'm testing the oil pressure you don't turn the ignition key..." Soda said through gritted teeth, trying to be a good sport with the newbie.
"Gee Soda...sorry about that!" Jay apologized, a resisted smile breaking onto his face. Steve, Pony and Two-Bit howled with laughter, and the line of girls sitting on the curb snickered quietly amongst themselves with amusement. Soda, after staring straight ahead in shock for a few seconds, grabbed a rag and wiped the oil that was now dripping from his face. He watched as Steve climbed out of Two-Bit's so-called car.
"But wait, didn't you forget to put the gauge on?" Jay hesitantly questioned. Soda peered into the car again, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips.
"We obviously know what Soda got hired for," Steve teased as he nodded toward the line of girls on the street. Soda leaned coolly against the car as he cocked an eyebrow, acting out for the audience that was enjoying the show. Once again they all giggled in unison.
"Well, well, well, lookie who's here, the three little school boys!" Soda taunted as Two-Bit and Pony soon followed Steve, a grin finally erupting on Soda's still-blackened face. Two-Bit's hand hovered around his back pocket, and he took a stance as if he were preparing for a fight. His eyes leveled Soda's as he asserted menacingly,
"At least I ain't got a ton a filthy grease on face." He reached into his back pocket…and pulled out a comb. "I save that for my head!" he cackled as he ran the comb through his shiny, slick hair. Soda took a step closer to Two-Bit.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I save this fist especially for you. All the better to punch you with!" he threatened, waving his fist in the air.
"Oh yeah?" Two-Bit threatened.
"Yeah. And I mean it! I gotta protect myself from these filthy, rotten, lowlife hoodlums always stealin' my candy bars…" Steve looked on with an exasperated expression on his face, and let out a sigh.
"Y'all, I think it's bout time we headed to the Dingo. Those lines get filled up pretty quick at lunchtime." Pony's stomach growled as a testament to Steve's words.
"Yeah I'm pretty hungry you guys," he stated.
"Ain't that the truth," Steve responded. Soda went to the bathroom to wash up as Jay took over. Two-Bit, Steve, and Pony combed extra grease through their hair. They wanted to look especially greasy for the Dingo. After Soda came strolling from the bathroom, they all jumbled into Two-Bit's car and headed off for milkshakes and hamburgers.
MissLkid and Killslay: I want to thank both you for keeping up with my story! I really hope this next chapter doesn't disappoint...
Starstruck: Thank you so so much for taking the time to read my songfic and responding to it! Like I told Jkb, it's so great to have someone read your stuff and feel it. It's so great some people can understand the meaning behind your work. I really hope you will have the time/passion/etc. to continue with stranger steve stared cause there ain't nothin else on fanfiction.net like it!
Jkb: I can't thank you enough for reading both this story and my songfic:):) Im glad you like my Mary Sue, and you totally understand the message I'm trying to put through with this story. I really hope you like this chapter, and if you don't, by god, tell me! Writing can only improve if you open up your eyes sometimes, or have someone do it for you. Thank you honey:)
Any review is greatly appreciated! yes yes yes, haha.
Oh man, it was sunny and hot outside just a few minutes ago and now its dark and the rain is pouring down. I don't understand the weather in my area...
Oh! sorry, back to the story. I am going to post two chapters at once. At first I was going to post it as one long chapter, but then I loaded it on there and I was like "man this is long, people's attention spans are gonna go haywire and the words are going to blur..." so I decided to give y'all some breathing room and post it as two chapters.
Tell me whether you guys like shorter chapters or really long chapters.
Just as a reminder: whenever something is in italics, it's a flashback.
And also, I'm not sure when disney world opened in orlando, I tried to look it up but i couldn't find it out. Im sorry if it's inaccurate LOL.
On to the story....
Light peeped through the drawn curtains and summoned her to waken. One dark blue eye struggled to open as a high voice reverberated throughout the petite house. Summer rolled over and pulled the sheets over her head.
"Summer! It's time to wake up and go to school. Get your clothes on. I have your books ready, they're sitting by the front door!" The irritation verbalized all in one breath. Summer lazily pushed the heavy, white flowered sheets off her body and groaned from the night of sleep-or lack of it- that she had had. Before she knew it a piece of toast had been shoved into her mouth.
"Honey, you need to have a breakfast. It's not healthy to go without a good, strong energizing meal to get you started in the morning." Her aunt gazed inquisitively at Summer as her eyebrows furrowed into a question mark. "It seems like you really need it dear," she stated briskly as she ran to prepare for the day.
Summer took the piece of toast and removed it from her mouth. After enveloping herself in the clothes that hung behind the highly decorative double doors of the closet, she went into the bathroom. The hard, crusty piece of bread was thrown into the toilet and flushed away. She turned to the huge mirror that hung off the pastel wall. It was amazing, just how nontoxic the reflection was that bore back into her eyes. Ha. Little did they know the lifelessness that consumed the nucleus of her insides. How do you live, just how can you go through life, when you don't even feel comfortable in your own skin? The smooth skin that blanketed her interiors showed little struggle, no sign of resistance. 'But you didn't resist,' she told herself. 'It was all you, you wanted it too...' But did she? Did she really want it, was she really thinking with her own mind, or was it that sickness doing the talking? The sickness that had traveled through her body the first time that night, almost like the journey she was making from childhood to adulthood. But it was a rushed journey, reminiscent of the times when she had gone on trips with her Mommy and Daddy.
It was her first trip to Disneyworld, and Summer peeped out the window of their shiny silver car as they made their way through Florida. It was going to be fun, taking a trip to go see Mickey Mouse. Mommy and Daddy had exactly 18 hours to make it back before another really important political assembly. Summer had to go potty, really really bad. But she couldn't, if they stopped just for five minutes, or two, or even one, Mommy and Daddy would be off schedule. That wouldn't be a good thing, so Summer sat patiently in the car, gritting her teeth and holding her stomach. After an hour of agonizing postponement, they finally arrived to the thriving, vibrant theme park. While in the huge park she could finally go potty because Mommy said the bathroom was right in the path of the next ride. After the bathroom Summer spotted Mickey Mouse and pleaded to Mommy to go see him.
"No honey, I'm sorry. We have to get into the lines as early as possible, or we'll have to wait longer for the rides." Mommy grabbed a sack of cotton candy from a man selling it in the street, and shoved it into Summer's arms, as she wailed, tears forming in her eyes. "Here you go sweetie, cotton candy! That's better than Mickey Mouse, yes it is! You don't really want to see Mickey Mouse, do you?" Summer's eyes dropped to the candy, and she dug her hand into the soft pink mass that lay in the bag.
"I guess not..." she replied, the sweetness delving into her tastebuds. They rushed from ride to ride, skipping lunch in a restaurant and devouring peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead, while waiting in line for one of the rides. With exactly three hours to go Daddy headed the two of them back to the car, accelerating through the beautiful Florida landscape, making it just in time for Daddy to change and head to the political event. Summer never got to see Mickey Mouse. She never wanted to see Mickey Mouse anyway.
Summer ran her hands through her long shiny hair as she observed her reflection. Yes, she wanted it all along. Or did she? Summer didn't see the thread that was beginning to unwind. It hung from her elegant shirt. She couldn't see it through the mirror.
Johnny rose out of bed and pulled on his soiled black shirt. He grabbed the black jeans that had been carelessly toppled across the sole scrap of furniture in the room. Well, it was one of two pieces of furniture in the room, if you considered the worn-out mattress laying atop a squeaky frame and four quavering metal legs an actual bed. The vanity had become dull and faded because it lay right in the path of the sun that leaked through the window. Morning light seeped through the window, and as he pulled on his slacks and t-shirt his big black orbs gazed into the reflection that lay before him. He hadn't slept since that night at the Curtis'. His hair was disheveled, a single piece drooping from above his forehead, stabbing into the big white part of his eye. He had bags creeping along under his eyes, but that was not as apparent as the huge purple sphere that was now a stain on his skin. The white scar, as bright as the sun seeping through the window, contrasted with the darkness of the bruise and of his ruffled clothing. Little did he know that a thread had become loose on the back of his shirt. A thread is so minute, so insignificant compared to the dirtied, tainted features of his clothes and of his own body. Yet a piece of thread, once it breaks the bond and hangs freely, will continue to unravel. The thread has no end.
Summer impatiently scribbled in her notebook. She was stuck in chemistry class. Her eyes glided over those in the classroom, and she spotted a pretty red-head writing notes with a short-haired brunette sitting next to her. Like all the other students she hated the class and couldn't see at all how it pertained remotely to anything in her life. How did the people in her class even relate to her? They didn't know anything, they were all stuck in their little worlds of milkshakes and pompons. 'Just like I used to be,' she thought to herself. Could you really blame them for worrying over such trifling matters? What was so bad about that, I mean, isn't it so fun? Instead of walking the cracked, urinated black streets to school, you would simply walk out the door and jump into the new shiny car your parents gave you. You got it because you had worked oh-so-hard on getting that "A" in English. The day before you had come home from a really, really hard day at cheerleading practice, your fiery red hair tied up into two little pigtails, cause that was the way to go nowadays. Last week's fashion trend of wearing your hair in a braid was so over with. You would gasp in surprise as you run to the car, and hop into it, forgetting to thank Mom and Dad for buying you the gleaming, glittery, cute little red car that was now yours. You would speed down the road, the top of the convertible down, pigtails and all blowing in the wind. While you cruised down the perfectly leveled, smooth and shiny cement, you repeatedly affirmed to yourself, "I so deserve this, I so deserve this."
But Summer knew that there was more to it than what people saw, when the shiny red convertible whirred by them as they sweated on the roofs of one of the white picket-fenced houses, sore from carrying heavy loads up a ladder, working oh-so-hard hard to get money that barely paid the rent. Make just enough money so that the social workers wouldn't deem them incapable of taking care of their little brothers.
Summer knew that's how the roofers perceived her when she was younger, hanging in the house by herself because Mommy and Daddy had gone to another really important political assembly. She would listen to the rock and roll tunes on the radio, her only happiness coming from the excitement and the passion she felt as the lurid rhythms and melodies seeped through the household. The music drowned out the hammering that continued above as the roofers' backs and foreheads turned red from the intense rays.
Soda perched the hood up to test the oil pressure of the car. He just kind of forgot to put the gauge on the oil pressure tester. His smooth brown eyes darted back and forth as he tried desperately to concentrate on the task at hand. The other guy that was helping Soda sat in the car. It was his first day on the job, and Soda wasn't exactly having the best luck with the sixteen year old...
A few freshman girls had just walked down to the DX on their lunch break from school. The girls, while laughing and gibbering, had managed to settle themselves on the curb of the street opposite the gas station. Their attempt to stay inconspicuous wasn't quite working well, perhaps for the fact that they giggled simultaneously at every movement Soda made. Soda kept his head down and attempted to keep himself from grinning. He secretly enjoyed the attention he was getting, although he pretended to be completely oblivious to the chattering that could be heard throughout the neighborhood.
Two-Bit, Steve and Pony sped down the street and rounded the corner practically on two wheels.
"Yee-Haw!" Two-Bit screamed, flashing a crazy smile as the car dipped into a huge pothole. His car had broken down the day before, but he had managed to magically appear with another one just in time for lunch. Halfway to the Dingo Two-Bit suddenly remembered something.
"Shit! I forgot about Soda!" he shouted as he hit the screeching brakes. Pony and Steve slammed into each other in the backseat as Two-Bit turned the wheel and headed back to the DX. They pulled up to the garage just in time to see Soda yell as a fountain of oil sprayed from the car and blasted him in the face.
"Jay...when I'm testing the oil pressure you don't turn the ignition key..." Soda said through gritted teeth, trying to be a good sport with the newbie.
"Gee Soda...sorry about that!" Jay apologized, a resisted smile breaking onto his face. Steve, Pony and Two-Bit howled with laughter, and the line of girls sitting on the curb snickered quietly amongst themselves with amusement. Soda, after staring straight ahead in shock for a few seconds, grabbed a rag and wiped the oil that was now dripping from his face. He watched as Steve climbed out of Two-Bit's so-called car.
"But wait, didn't you forget to put the gauge on?" Jay hesitantly questioned. Soda peered into the car again, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips.
"We obviously know what Soda got hired for," Steve teased as he nodded toward the line of girls on the street. Soda leaned coolly against the car as he cocked an eyebrow, acting out for the audience that was enjoying the show. Once again they all giggled in unison.
"Well, well, well, lookie who's here, the three little school boys!" Soda taunted as Two-Bit and Pony soon followed Steve, a grin finally erupting on Soda's still-blackened face. Two-Bit's hand hovered around his back pocket, and he took a stance as if he were preparing for a fight. His eyes leveled Soda's as he asserted menacingly,
"At least I ain't got a ton a filthy grease on face." He reached into his back pocket…and pulled out a comb. "I save that for my head!" he cackled as he ran the comb through his shiny, slick hair. Soda took a step closer to Two-Bit.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I save this fist especially for you. All the better to punch you with!" he threatened, waving his fist in the air.
"Oh yeah?" Two-Bit threatened.
"Yeah. And I mean it! I gotta protect myself from these filthy, rotten, lowlife hoodlums always stealin' my candy bars…" Steve looked on with an exasperated expression on his face, and let out a sigh.
"Y'all, I think it's bout time we headed to the Dingo. Those lines get filled up pretty quick at lunchtime." Pony's stomach growled as a testament to Steve's words.
"Yeah I'm pretty hungry you guys," he stated.
"Ain't that the truth," Steve responded. Soda went to the bathroom to wash up as Jay took over. Two-Bit, Steve, and Pony combed extra grease through their hair. They wanted to look especially greasy for the Dingo. After Soda came strolling from the bathroom, they all jumbled into Two-Bit's car and headed off for milkshakes and hamburgers.