:wow I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I first had writers block for a couple of weeks, but then after that I've been having trouble with my internet access. So, Allie, I will be visiting a certain forum again soon! Back to the fanfics, I like the way this one is going now, I've rewrote my 'plan' because my original gave me a block, so I'm very happy about the way I want to take this story now. Please review and give a reaction. This is a longish chapter to make up for not being around lately.:
Life Starts Here
Chapter Four – she is suffering
Ross stared out of his bedroom window, gazing at the stars seemingly winking at him in the clear, dark sky. His Astronomy Club teacher had warned his class there might be a meteor shower that night, but for once, Ross didn't have the heart to witness it. He turned his head back to his desk, lit only by his portable lampshade, and looked down at his revision book. Since finishing dinner earlier that night, he had worked solidly to try and finish his math problems before going to bed. It was now 2am though, and out of the 20 questions he needed to get done he had only answered 3 of them.
Ross had prided himself on being an intellect. The physical parts of school – Gym and sports – had never appealed. He had always come top in most subjects, especially Science, but there had always been one non-physical subject that Ross secretly struggled in and it was a secret he had harboured since the Freshman year. He couldn't do Math.
He wrote a sum in his notebook, trying to assure himself he didn't have a problem – 450 + 450 = 900. No problem. Hesitantly, he changed one of the 450's into 897. He drew a blank.
Everybody suffered the woes of Mental Arithmetic, but Ross was sure that 17 year old High School Seniors could add up 897 + 450 without using a calculator or a notebook. He couldn't though, and that wasn't the only problem.
"Long Divison? Basic Algebra? Discreet Math?" he asked himself, slamming his revision book closed in disgust. "Forget about it. You're not going to pass the mid-terms Ross, so just give in."
There were people in school that could help him, Ross knew that, but he wasn't going to admit that he even had a problem. He was going to be Doctor, a PHD in Palaeontology!!!
"Palaeontologists don't fail math," Ross said determinedly, "I can do this. I…can…do…this." He gritted his teeth and opened the book again, letting the night pass by him.
****
Monica stood in front of her homeroom teacher's desk, trying not to look guilty and ashamed. She knew what was coming.
"Monica," Bob paused and sighed softly, the disappointment evident on his young face, "what on earth possessed you to miss a math test yesterday morning?"
Monica shrugged, trying to show off the carefree attitude that seemed to come so easily when she was around Chandler. In front of her homeroom teacher and the school's councillor, however, was a different matter. She knew it, Bob knew it.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you a detention," Bob said quietly, handing Monica a small white slip of paper, "be in Room 224 at 3.30 today."
****
Phoebe Buffay took a deep breath and walked through the front entrance of Lincoln High. She wasn't due in for another week, but Bob's encouraging words to her the previous day seemed to have put a spark in her. She walked along the empty hallways, hearing the distant sounds of noisy students in their classrooms.
This was where she belonged. How could she have been so stupid to miss it all?
She breathed in the scents of newly sharpened pencils and chalk-dust. "I'm back," she whispered, smiling, "And I'm not going away!"
The sound of giggling and pounding footsteps stopped Phoebe in her tracks and she turned around. A group of girls all dressed in impossibly short navy blue gym skirts, green sweatshirts with the letters L.H.C.S emblazoned on the front ran past her along the hallway. They didn't stop to glance at her, not until one of the girls dropped her book and Phoebe picked it up.
"Here you go," she said shyly, smiling at the thin, pretty, brown-haired girl.
The girl stared at Phoebe for a moment, making her feel uncomfortable. She knew that her hair was a bit of a mess and her clothes looked like they belonged to a rag-doll compared to this girl's perfectly styled layers and fashionable heeled shoes.
"Um…thanks," the girl nodded curtly, seemingly trying to hide a smirk at the corner of her mouth. She turned on her heel and chased after the rest of the girls.
"Come on Rachel!" they yelled at her, "Mr Rafferty is going to do his nut in if we don't make it to homeroom!"
Mr Rafferty? The name made Phoebe's eyes light up. If she followed these girls, maybe she'd find her way to the right classroom.
A few minutes later, the group of girls stopped outside the closed door of a classroom and barged through it.
"Sorry we're late Sir! We just got a bit delayed!"
"The time just flew!"
Bob Rafferty rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and motioned for the girls to sit down. "ok, ok, just sit down at your desks and don't let it happen again."
Phoebe tried to sneak over to an empty desk at the back of the room, but was stopped in her tracks by Bob's voice behind her. She turned around sheepishly.
"Phoebe! Welcome back!" he said genially, "I wasn't expecting you in this week."
Phoebe shrugged uncomfortably, feeling a red flush creeping up her neck. She caught sight of Joey staring at her open-mouthed at the side of her and she nodded at him in acknowledgement.
"Sit down at the desk near Monica," Bob told her gently, staring at her in understanding, "I was just about to do roll call."
She nodded and sat next to the eager looking brunette in the centre of the room.
"Hey, welcome to Lincoln." Monica greeted her. "You'll be fine once you've settled in. Just let me know if you need a tour or anything."
"I know that. I've been here before; I don't need any help." Phoebe replied shortly, taking out her notebook. She tried to ignore the hurt and confused look on the girl's face, and knew she should apologise for her abruptness, but all Phoebe could see was the look of disgust on that cheerleader's face in the hallway before. Who said that Monica would be any different in the end?
****
As Phoebe sat down at her table at lunch, Ursula walked by and paused by her chair.
"On your own weirdo?" she sneered.
Phoebe scowled. "Joey is on his way down. Anyway, I don't see you with anybody either!"
Ursula flopped down in the chair opposite Phoebe and rolled her eyes. "I'm on my way to cheerleading practice," she pointed out stonily, "I don't need an escort to get there. I'm not a loner like you."
"Trouble Pheebs?" Joey said airily as he shoved Ursula out of the way to sit in her seat.
"None at all," Phoebe smiled at him and then turned back to Ursula. "Don't you have meeting with some frivolous girls right now?" she asked sweetly.
Ursula tossed her hair and walked away from the table.
Joey shuddered. "She's worse than the Green sisters," he muttered.
"Who are the Green sisters?" Phoebe asked, laughing.
"Rachel, Amy and Gill." Joey explained, munching on a giant sandwich, "Rachel's in our grade, but Amy's in Sophomore Grade and Gill's in Freshman. Rachel isn't too bad but her sisters give me a pain in the neck."
"I think I know Rachel," Phoebe said quietly, looking down at her plate.
"She's the cheerleader with some dodgy bangs but she's got a great new nose…" Joey said, grinning.
Phoebe looked at him sharply. "You don't like her do you?" she asked, shocked. "Didn't you hear what she did to me at the water fountain half an hour ago?"
"Oh, that," Joey waved his hand dismissively, "I'm sure that was just a misunderstanding."
"She accused me of tripping her up!" Phoebe exclaimed; "she yelled and screamed at me in front of her friends. It…it was humiliating!"
"Whoa…whoa Pheebs, it's ok!" Joey exclaimed, taking her hand, "I'll fix it, don't worry."
"You'll 'fix' it?" Phoebe asked incredulously, "Are you 'in' with her little gang or something?"
"No," Joey said, irritated, "but I know Rachel pretty well so I'll tell her to lay off you, ok?"
"I don't need any favours thanks!" Phoebe snapped, standing up and picking up her tray, "I can cope with this on my own!" She walked off.
"Sure you can, sure you can." Joey muttered, biting his sandwich angrily. He stared after his friend worriedly as she stormed out of the cafeteria.
****
"Room 224…" Monica muttered as walked along the hallways at the end of the day. She stopped outside the correct room and walked in. It was almost empty apart from a couple of freshmen sitting at the back talking quietly.
"So you got caught too huh?" a familiar voice said, making her whirl around. She saw Chandler grinning at her sheepishly.
"Well, hey, I wonder why you're here," Monica greeted him sarcastically.
"Did Bob yell at you?" Chandler asked as they both sat down.
Monica sighed. "No, he just looked disappointed in me. I think that's worse in a way. Mr Rafferty is a nice man and I don't like to let him down."
"You got off lucky," Chandler scoffed, "Alison DeWitt exploded at me when she gave me my detention slip. She said that if I was going to survive at Lincoln, I had better clean up my act fast."
"Well, I just can't wait for Senior Year," Monica muttered, "Miss DeWitt sounds like a tyrant."
"That will do Monica," a stern voice said at the doorway. Bob glared at her and walked into the room. "Don't let me catch you saying things about Miss DeWitt or any other teacher like that again, do you understand?"
Monica blinked at him in surprise. "Sorry Sir," she muttered. She glanced at Chandler and widened her eyes at him.
Bob sat down at the desk facing the front of the room. "As punishment for your truancy, you will both stay in here for a whole hour. Use that time to get your homework done." Bob opened up a book of his own and started to read.
"So, what work have you got to do?" Chandler whispered to Monica.
"Nothing." Monica whispered back, grinning. "It's all in my locker."
"So I guess we just keep talking in whispers until our time is up!" Chandler glanced at Bob, who had become absorbed in his book. "What's eating him?" he asked, "he looks upset. And I heard that when Bob does detentions he usually lets the students go after about ten minutes! But a whole hour for us?!"
"Maybe he's just had a bad day," Monica suggested.
"Hmm…" Chandler looked thoughtfully at Bob. "You know, Miss DeWitt only gave my detention slip to me a few minutes before I had come here. I know she can be strict, but her lecture to me was way out of character even for her. She was fine at homeroom so what has bothered her between then and now?"
"So, both our homeroom teachers are in bad moods," Monica shrugged carelessly, "that's not exactly unique."
"Hey, guys," Chandler and Monica turned around to the voice and saw the nervous freshman called Dave staring at them. "Nina and I know what's up with Mr Rafferty."
"Yeah?" Monica asked sceptically. She didn't trust this year's freshmen at all; they all seemed to spend their time hanging out in the hallways causing fights and cutting classes all the time.
"Yeah, apparently he had a huge bust-up with Miss DeWitt earlier in the day." Dave explained, grinning, "they were really going for it in the teacher's lounge. Something about Bob's soft attitude towards his Junior class." He stared pointedly at Monica, who flushed. "Nina heard the whole thing. That's how we ended up in here; we were eavesdropping on their conversation."
"Interesting," Chandler murmured, "thanks kids; that helped a lot." He turned back around to the front of the room and leaned in closer to Monica. "That makes a lot of sense," he whispered to her.
Monica frowned at him. "What do you mean?"
Chandler grinned at her. "That's for me to know and you to find out sweetheart."
****
An hour later, Chandler and Monica left the detention room and walked contentedly together down the hallway. "That was a pretty cool detention," Chandler commented, stopping outside the exit doors.
Monica laughed. "Yes, when you started singing Tears for Fears I think Bob had just about enough of us for one day."
"Speaking of whom, I've got a session with him in about 10minutes from now." Chandler murmured, checking his watch. "I'd better not keep Romeo waiting."
"Romeo?" Monica choked out, laughing, "since when is Mr Rafferty a Romeo?"
Chandler winked at her. "I really must not say," he told her mysteriously, "hey, I may be wrong about what I'm thinking…" he shrugged.
Monica folded her arms. "Ok, spill," she ordered, "what is it about Bob Rafferty that you know that I don't? What's he done?"
"Well, he actually hasn't done anything," Chandler explained, "but he sure as hell wants to!"
"What?"
"Oh my god, Monica, open your eyes! The next time you see Miss DeWitt and Mr Rafferty together, you come back to me and tell me what you think."
"Wait a sec, are you saying…" Monica widened her eyes.
"No, they're not, but I think they want to. My last meeting with Bob was kinda strange. I started telling him about some of the complimentary stuff Miss DeWitt had been saying about him and he got kinda…flustered." Chandler chuckled and rolled his eyes.
"So Bob Rafferty is in love with Allison DeWitt?!" Monica shrieked.
"Yeah, that's why he's all upset about this fight he's had with her today! And Miss DeWitt is just the same; they obviously crazy about each other."
Monica shook her head. "Well…you just never know what happens in schools these days."
Chandler grinned. "It's going to be interesting watching those two now that we know. I think we'd better keep this to ourselves though, yeah?"
"Definitely." Monica checked her watch and gasped. "Oh crap! I'm late home! My mom is going to kill me." She quickly reached up to give Chandler a quick kiss on the cheek and rushed through the doors to outside. "I'll see you tomorrow!" she yelled back at him.
"Um…see you!" Chandler spluttered, touching the place on his cheek that Monica kissed.
He walked outside slowly and watched as Monica dashed up the sidewalk, chasing after a bus that has just passed her stop. He laughed as she almost tripped over.
A happy feeling spread all over his body and he felt as light as air as he walked back inside to meet Bob in his office. He had never enjoyed a detention before, but this one had been unique. As the pair had their hushed conversations over their childhoods, relationships and interests, he had found himself wanting it to last for more than an hour. As he touched his cheek one last time, the faint smudge of Monica's lipstick rubbed against his fingers and he sighed.
Then he stopped dead in the hallway, realising something.
"Oh no…" he moaned.
****
"So, you're in love with this girl you know?" Bob asked slowly, gazing at Chandler seriously.
Chandler nodded worriedly. "Yes, I…I think so."
"I don't think I need to ask who this 'girl' is, do I?" Bob continued, smiling wryly.
"Is it that obvious?" Chandler whispered.
"In each of our sessions, you mention Monica at least once. I've just spent the last hour listening to you and Monica talking in what was supposed to be a silent detention room." Bob explained, rolling his eyes. "I'm not deaf. You were giving each other your life stories. In the end, I didn't have the heart to stop it."
"So…what do I do?" Chandler panicked, "I've never felt this way before, it's freaking me out Bob!"
"Does she feel the same way?"
"I don't think she does." Chandler said miserably, "I've seen her staring at this Joey guy in the cafeteria sometimes. I've got this feeling she likes him."
"Ahh…Joey Tribbiani," Bob mused, "A bit of a character, that boy."
"Wonderful," Chandler muttered sarcastically.
"Being a character doesn't mean he's 'good' all the time Chandler," Bob pointed out quickly, "Joey has got his faults; being a terrible academic student among them. He needs to be taken aside and shown the error of his ways, especially on how he treats the females around here."
"If he hits on Monica I'll…I'll…"
"There'll be no jealous fights in this school;" Bob said firmly, "Apart from the detention today, your track record at Lincoln High has been good so far. Let's keep it that way, ok?"
"Ok," Chandler grumbled, "but it doesn't mean I'm going to let guys like Joey Tribbiani use Monica."
Bob sighed. "Ok, let's just leave that for now. How's the tennis going…"
****
Monica walked as fast as she could back to her house. She couldn't believe the time had flown as much as it had. She glanced up the road, checking for another bus, but none came. Just ahead of her, she noticed two familiar people walked along together on the sidewalk.
"Joey and Phoebe," she whispered.
She watched as Joey and Phoebe stopped walking, continued to talk for a while and then parted ways at the end of the block. Phoebe walked on ahead, Joey turned a corner into a private neighbourhood. Monica hurried to catch up with Phoebe and tapped her on the shoulder. She'd had a tiny crush on Joey since he had joined her homeroom a few days ago and now she was curious about how Phoebe knew him.
"Hi," Phoebe glanced at Monica and continued to walk on.
"Hey…um…how was your first day back?" Monica asked casually, falling into step beside her.
"It was ok," Phoebe said woodenly.
Monica stared at Phoebe strangely. There was something about this girl that intrigued her; she definitely knew that Phoebe did not have a good day.
"I would just ignore Rachel's ways if I was you," she suggested hesitantly, "the two of us have grown up together on the same block of houses for years. She really isn't all that bad…"
Phoebe stopped dead and, to Monica's shock, glared at Monica ferociously. "Why does everyone I've spoken to think that spoilt brat isn't 'all that bad'?!"
Monica opened her mouth then closed it again, letting Phoebe speak some more.
"If you're a friend of hers, why are you speaking to me?!" Phoebe continued, tears filling up in her eyes and spilling down her cheeks, "she's…she's horrible!"
Monica wrapped an arm around Phoebe's shoulders and let her cry. "I haven't spoken to Rachel in days," she tried to explain, "she's been too busy with her other friends to pay attention to me. You're not the only one who feels out of place."
"You're not out of place," Phoebe sniffed loudly and wiped her nose with a tissue, "Everyone likes you. You're the envy of every girl in Lincoln High right now."
Monica laughed. "Where did you get that idea from?!" she asked, shocked.
"You've started hanging out with that Senior from St Washington's, haven't you?" Phoebe asked her, sounding like it was obvious.
"Do you mean Chandler?" Monica looked at her, confused, "I've hung out with him a couple of times, but what has that got to do with my popularity?"
"It just shot up by a 100%," Phoebe smiled ruefully, "I've only been back a day, but I can already tell who the 'guy of the moment' is alright. All the young Freshman girls hang out at the tennis courts every lunchtime to watch Chandler Bing play."
"You're kidding me, right?" Monica asked laughing, "You mean, I've become the envy of everyone at Lincoln because I'm friends with some kind of stud?"
"That's exactly what I mean."
The pair walked on in silence. Monica's head was spinning. Was there something about Chandler that she had missed?
Sure, his physique on the tennis court had impressed her, and his eyes shone a lovely blue, and his smile was contagious…but was that supposed to be endearing or something?
She decided the next time she saw Chandler, she would check out these qualities more carefully.
They stopped outside Monica's house and she touched Phoebe's arm. "Hey…um…do you wanna come in for a drink?" she suggested, "you might know my brother Ross, you was in his grade a couple of years ago."
"Yeah, I know Ross Geller…" Phoebe hesitated, "are you sure you want me to come in?"
"Of course I do!" Monica exclaimed. She looked at Phoebe with curiosity. "You haven't been to many friends' houses, have you?" she asked carefully.
Phoebe flushed and looked down at the ground. "I guess I've been too occupied to have friend's recently." She admitted.
"Well, maybe now is the time to start having some friends." Monica hinted, nodding towards her house.
Phoebe looked at her and grinned. "Ok then, I'll come in…but just for a short while."
"It's a deal."
*****
End of Chapter Four