Iluvmovies- I'm much better now, thanks! And thank you for the nice nice review!
wyverna- ummm thanks?
t dot chick- Hahaha, thanks!
ashley09- yeah, lol. Thanks for reviewing!
Freddy'sGirl01- OK! Thank you!
hopelesslydevoted12- don't we all :)
BlackSouledButterfly- Thanks!
Swimmerkitti- Thankyou very much!
D/HR SHiPPER- A new reviewer! Thanks and I hope you keep reading!
Scary-Girly- I guess you won't be able to read this, but thanks anyway!
Pyro rock 'n' roll babe- Thanks to another new reader!
Lil-filly007- That's fine, glad you like it and thanks for reviewing!
tmrwspromise- Thankyou so much! That was such a nice review!
Mark of Ctown- Glad You're still enjoying it :)
Sandy-Pandy- That's fine! At least you did review! Did you say you would sue me? I don't get it...
Dedication: - To Dibble (again) for helping me to do my homework!
Chapter 10 : - Testing...testing
Stuck in after a ticket from a show they'd played was a whole sheaf of papers. Katie unfolded them carefully. She knew what they were even before she'd opened them all.
FLASHBACK
'We're having those tests today.' Summer said as she and Katie walked towards their homeroom class. 'I'm really excited. We get interviewed and everything. I meant to remind you to dress well today. I'm so sorry, I must have forgotten.'
'No. You told me.' Katie said with a grin. She knew Summer wouldn't approve of her outfit.
'I did? That's a...nice, um, skirt. Did you rip it yourself?' Summer asked weakly.
Just then they saw Freddy and Zack.
'Hey guys.' Summer said, relieved for the distraction.
'Good morning!' Freddy did a little skip.
'What's up with him?' Katie whispered to Zack, who shrugged and replied,
'He's been like this all morning. Do you think he knows about the tests?'
'Probably not. Can I tell him?' Katie said, a little too gleefully, in Zack's opinion.
'Go ahead.' Zack sped up to walk with Summer.
'Hey Freddy,' she said with a grin.
'Hi. Oh, smart skirt.' He looked at it, surprised. 'What's the occasion?'
'We have those tests today, you know? The ones where they tell you what jobs you should do.' Katie waited for his reaction.
'Ah, I wondered what could have made you dress in a skirt.' He nodded, knowingly.
It appeared he knew about the tests.
'At least we get to dress freely today.' She said, her biggest smile not even half the size of his.
'That's not the best part!' he practically sang.
'What's the best part then?'
'No classes!' He announced.
'But we only miss the first three. After that we go back to lessons.' She said, sympathetically.
'What?' the smile wiped from his face.
'Yeah. Huh, don't you have extra Biology?' Katie asked.
'Osmosis...' he said faintly.
'Ooh,' she winced, grinning inwardly, but trying to look sympathetic.
'Why do you take so much pleasure in my misfortune?' he asked. Apparently she hadn't hid her glee very well.
Katie gave him a 'Who, me?' look. They stopped outside the door to their form room. Just before they walked in, Katie looked at his sad face.
'I was just kidding. We do get the whole day off.' She said quickly.
'Yay!' he smiled, then looked concerned. 'Katie, you're weakening.' Before they had time to argue any more, Zack called to them for backup. The turned and saw him holding Summer off to one side, who was trying to run away from the classroom.
'Summer?' Katie looked her friend in the eye, 'Summer, I thought we agreed. No making a break for it.'
'This could be the single most important day of my academic career.' Summer whispered.
'It probably- isn't.' Katie told her.
'I can't go in, though.' Summer said in a panicky voice, turning her face to Zack.
'Why not, Tink?' Zack asked her quietly.
'I just can't.' They waited. After a minute they heard her, muffled through Zack's T-shirt.
'What if I fail the test?'
'You can't fail an aptitude test, Summer. Nor an interview. And you most definitely can't fail a test with strange dots and blobs you have to see pictures in.' Zack said patiently.
Silence from Summer.
Zack gave a signal. They grabbed her arms and dragged her forcefully into the room.
END FLASHBACK
Of course, that was nothing compared to how Summer had been on the day of the results.
FLASHBACK
'Summer?' Katie was concerned. 'Summer, come out of there.' She knocked on the door of the stall in the girls' toilets. 'What did you do, fall in?'
She heard retching noises.
'Oh no, not again.' Katie muttered. She said, louder, 'Summer, I'm, getting too tall for this!' She went into the next stall and climbed over the partition earning herself a good few strange looks from the girls drawing on the walls. Summer was crouched over in the corner of the cubicle, rocking back and forth.
'Summer! This happens every time we get exam marks back. You need to relax more. Are you done? They'll be giving the results back and you won't get yours at all.'
Summer stood up quickly.
'What are you waiting for, then?' she asked Katie. Unlocking the door, she pulled a toothbrush from her school bag and went to clean up.
Katie sighed and fidgeted as she waited.
Eventually, when Summer was done chewing dental gum and flossing, they left the toilets to go back to their classroom.
On both of their desks were thick brown envelopes. Katie ripped right into hers.
'Producer. Huh.' It may have helped that she seemed to see her bass as most of the spots of paint, and the dots as music notes, but second on the list was Musician, then Stage Manager, and so on, down to Childminder at the bottom.
Summer sat next to her, not opening the envelope, just holding it. Everyone around her was tearing through his or her packs, but she just sat there with it in her hands. The final bell rang, but Summer seemed to not have heard it.
'See you at practice, Summer,' Katie and Freddy left together, while Zack waited behind.
Later, at practice, they were discussing their results.
'Mine said luggage attendant, then garbage collector.' Freddy sighed.
'Mine had them when I did that test, man!' Dewey exclaimed. Freddy made a face and Katie patted his shoulder.
'Although, they couldn't exactly have predicted I would be a revolutionary.' Dewey went on.
'When were you in a revolution?' Marta asked.
'You're so blonde,' Katie laughed.
The Revolution... of Rock.' Dewey made the rock sign.
'Mine said Fed-Ex delivery man.' Gordon said.
'What did I tell you, man?' Dewey cheered.
'Uh...never eat yellow snow?' Gordon asked.
'Other one,' Dewey interrupted.
'You said, 'You'd make a good roadrunner, roadrunner.'' Gordon quoted.
'Right on!'
'So what was yours?' Alicia asked Summer, who had been sitting in the corner being comforted by Zack.
'Actuary.' She was clearly displeased.
'Well done, Summer!' Lawrence exclaimed.
'I'll swap?' offered Freddy. She glared at him. 'No? Good decision.'
'Man, you're lucky. They earn loads.' Katie said enviously.
'Sure beats truck driver.' Billy said in his still unbroken voice, looking at his own sheets.
'And prison officer.' Marta agreed.
'A barmaid is like a waitress, right?' asked Michelle. Everyone gave her significant looks. 'Oh, I thought we were just trading results.'
'It could be fun,' Tomika tried to reassure her.
'You probably wouldn't be able to be one anyway.' Marco said.
'That's not going to make her feel better.' Leonard scolded him.
'If she doesn't want to act, she doesn't want to act.' Marco explained.
'Hollywood is so competitive already.' Eleni agreed.
'It's not that bad.' Zack comforted her. 'Just forget about the lawsuit, ok? You haven't already hired a lawyer, have you?' Summer looked uncomfortable, then burst out,
'But I don't want to be an actuary!' in a very childish voice.
There was embarrassed silence and Summer covered her mouth in shame.
'You know what? Just forget about them.' Summer said, getting up, and going to the window.
'Who cares about these anyway?' she picked up the envelope on the sill, ripped it in pieces, and threw it out of the window where it floated to a stop on the roof of Dewey's van.
'Uh, Summer?' Lawrence said timidly. 'That was mine.'
END FLASHBACK
Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and my one-shot songfic 'Empty Apartment' (Just a little plug there for it!).
Ukgirl:)