A/N: I didn't get as much as reviews as I hoped =(…but that's OK! At least we reached 100 and over! YAY! THANK YOU! OK, so sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I was sorta looking for inspiration and yes I know that the date is definitely not July 30, 2004, but again, it's for the plot. Heh.

CH 7 – Replaced

Friday, July 30, 2004

[sighs] This has got to be one of the most depressing days of my life. And I know it's only about 2 am in the morning, but I can't help it. I couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard I'm trying too. How can I sleep knowing that this is the day my dad will go under the ground? Literally.

So here I am, sitting on the bed with the lamp on, CD player on listening to 'Life Of A Salesman' by Yellowcard. This song reminds me a lot of my dad – and even though the words are related to those of a son – it brings memories of my dad and me. Makes me cry too. A lot.

Katie paused and felt that familiar feeling in her eyes. Then all of a sudden she heard a knock on the door. Katie jumped in surprised and the door opened revealing Freddy with some Chips Ahoy cookies and a glass of milk. Katie wiped her tears and slammed her journal shut hiding it under her bed.

"What are you doing still awake?" Freddy asked joining her on the bed and placing the cookies on the end table.

"Couldn't sleep," Katie sighed and scooted over to make some room for him, "What are you still doing awake?"

"Same thing, but I found eating cookies with a nice glass of milk helps. Childish I know, but it's what I've been doing since I was a little dude," Freddy said, "Want some?"

"Couldn't hurt," Katie nodded and took one, "I'll go get myself a glass of milk."

"Nah that's okay. Stay. I brought a straw anyway. You can drink out of the glass while I take the straw. Don't worry, I don't backwash," Freddy smiled and Katie laughed. Freddy stared at her a moment trying to make it a memory. He loved it when Katie laughed. She didn't do it so often anymore, but it was rare moments like this where Katie would be completely relaxed and it would make Freddy want to stop time so that her smile would last forever. Freddy grinned because he also had to admit to himself that he really liked the idea of him and Katie drinking out of the same glass.

"So how's the band doing?" Katie asked curious. She missed the band a lot. Though they visited to just watch a movie or hang out, she still missed jamming with them, but she just wasn't ready to go back. Everything reminded her of her dad; especially the band.

"We're doing okay," Freddy said neglecting to tell her about Natalie being their temporary bass player, "Billy actually stopped making outfits."

"What?!" Katie asked in shocked and almost fell out of the bed, "That's new."

"Yeah. Now that he's taking that extra summer course at that community college of cooking, he says that he'll be the caterer. Making our food and making sure we have a," Freddy used his fingers as quote marks, "healthy, balanced, nutritious meal."

"No way! Whoa I bet Dewey is relieved."

"So am I," Freddy chuckled, "But you know, Billy's not a bad cook. He might become the next Emeril one day."

"That'd be freaky though," Katie considered, "Our little Billy turning away from the fashion world and going into cooking."

"You know what's even creepier?"

"What?"

"He has a girlfriend," Freddy said flatly.

"WHAT?!" Katie laughed and this time she did fall out of the bed, "Whoa…head rush."

"Tell me about it. She came to band practice the other day. She's not exactly bad looking either," Freddy said laughing along with Katie but then his laugh started to fade away when he noticed the bulletin board above Katie's head that was on the wall filled with pictures of her father and the band.

"Hey, when did you put that up?" He nodded to the board.

"Only recently," Katie smiled at it, "It's nice isn't it? Looks like a collage. Marta and Tomika helped me with it."

"Yeah it's not bad. I can't believe how many pictures you have, but I have more," Freddy said and got out of the bed, "Hold on."

Katie waited for a minute and Freddy came back from his room with a binder that had photo protector sheets inside and of course, the photos.

"Sheesh, you got a million," Katie said retrieving the binder and noticing how thick it was.

"All the way back since we were babies," Freddy said and pointed to one picture of him and Katie as babies.

"You were so cute," Katie sighed mockingly, "What the heck happened?"

Freddy laughed, "I should ask you the same thing." Katie continued to flip through the binders that had pictures that were mostly of her and Freddy as babies, and then as she continued to go on, it was like time moving too. They started showing pictures of them as toddlers and then as little kids.

Katie stopped at one picture – it was a picture of Freddy kissing her on the cheek when they were about 3. She looked at Freddy who was red as a tomato, "I was THREE! Don't look at me like that!"

Katie laughed and continued to flip through the binder – one picture made her cry. It was of her when she was about 5 or so and she was sitting on her dad's lap, both of them smiling, "Hey Freddy? Can I keep this one?"

"Sure."

"Thanks," she said took the picture and posted it on her collage, "Looks even better."

"Yeah it does," Freddy agreed, "I'll be back. I'm just going to put this plate away."

"Okay," Katie yawned and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. When she came back to her room, she got under the covers and immediately fell asleep.

Freddy came back up and before he could stop his actions, he was under the covers and his arms were wrapped around Katie's shoulders. How the heck did I get here? Freddy looked at Katie who turned around and wrapped her arms around him in return cuddling closer. Then Freddy smiled, not that I'm complaining.

Katie looked at herself in the mirror. Long black skirt, black, lacy, silk blouse. Sarah had curled her hair that day and had convinced Katie to wear little diamond earrings with a matching necklace and bracelet. Katie had only agreed – it was the least she could do at her father's funeral. This was no time to be stubborn.

Katie held back the tears and whispered to her, "You have to be brave. For dad." Katie slipped on some open-toe, black high heels that Sarah had bought for her and went downstairs to find Freddy sitting on the lounge chair staring off into space.

"Freddy?" Katie said.

"Huh?" He looked up at Katie and suddenly felt aroused, but hid it very well, "You look beautiful."

"Yeah. Wrong occasion though," Katie sighed and sat on the leather couch opposite him.

"Hey, you don't need to be brave," Freddy said gently and brought her chin up, "It's okay to cry."

"I've done enough of it," Katie said firmly and wiped her eyes before she started spilling streams of tears.

Katie looked at the man in the coffin and touched the glass that was above him as if she could get pass through the glass and hold his hand for one last time. She could feel her heart crumbling and her knees weakening. She whispered softly, "Dad."

Dewey came up behind her and gave her a good old-fashioned bear hug, "Thanks for coming." Katie said returning the bear hug.

"Anytime. The band is going to be here for you through thick and thin. Remember that," he said and started to tear a bit, "I'm going to miss him. You know, your dad was like the only one who accepted me at first after our first gig when I pretended to be Ned. He was a great guy – I really am going to miss him."

"So am I Dewey. So am I," Katie sniffed and ran before anyone could see.

That night when Katie had returned home, she cried her body, mind, and soul out and Freddy had been beside her, holding her frail body the whole time.

The next morning Freddy and Katie had been watching some home videos – like the Battle of The Bands, birthday parties, and stuff that reminded her of her dad.

"What time is it?"

"Around 11. Why?"

"Oh crap," Freddy said getting up and putting on his jacket.

"What?"

"Emergency band meeting," Freddy said, "Dewey had called earlier when you were asleep. But don't worry, I don't think you have to come. Just stay here and uh…relax."

"Thanks," Katie said and continued watching the movie.

"It's about time," Tomika complained, "We've been waiting for you all morning."

"Sorry," Freddy sighed and breathed heavily from all the running he did at the stairs, "So what's the emergency?"

"We're going on tour!" Dewey screamed and jumped up and down like a hyper little kid, "WE'RE GOING ON TOUR!"

"What?" Freddy asked. He knew what he had just said, but it sounded as if it came from his imagination.

"WE'RE GOING ON TOUR!" Dewey screamed jumping up and down nearly bouncing off the walls.

"Well apparently our first record is starting to sell! Not by much mind you," Summer said, "But just enough that the fans want us to go on tour!"

"And to celebrate, we're gonna have a party later!" Alicia screamed.

"WHOO HOO!" Zack joined in on the fun and started dancing. "This is it, babe!" He took Summer by the waist and started twirling her around, "Our big break!"

"So how long is the tour?" Tomika asked.

"Considering how you guys are on summer vacay, the tour will be only for about three weeks. You gotta be back before school starts though. I've talked to you 'rents already," Dewey said, "But our signing record company says that we have to come up with some new material for the gig."

"No problem. We have lots of it!" Marta said. Everybody nodded in agreement.

"I guess it settles it then: We're going on tour! Starting Monday!" Dewey screamed and everybody started partying.

Katie stepped outside of the car and waved Johnathan goodbye. She took a deep breath and stared at the building she was facing; Dewey's apartment – where the band practiced. After Freddy had left, she and Johnathan had talked and he had persuaded her to go so she accepted the offer and here she was now…practically hypervenilating.

She opened the gate, and climbed up the stairs until she reached a certain door. From the outside, she could hear loud noises – louder then usual and a bunch of screaming and yelling. Are they having some kind of party? Katie wondered.

Katie slowly opened the door and she saw everybody dancing around to the loud music that was on the stereo.

"Hi Katie," Summer said and suddenly the music stopped – the dancing stopped – and everyone just stood still.

"Hi…" Katie said and stepped into the apartment. She felt like a stranger to this place even though she wasn't – and everybody sure was acting like she was a stranger, "Aren't you guys supposed to be practicing?"

"Well we were…" Zack started out.

"But we decided to have a party because WE'RE GOING ON TOUR!" Billy screamed in a high pitched tone.

"Oh," Katie said plainly. Half of her was happy for the band – this is what they've been waiting for but the other half of her was a bit concerned because they didn't bother to tell her or to call her to come to the party. And the top of her worries, don't they need a bass player? Why didn't they tell me? Unless…they got someone already.

"So who is playing the bass?"

"Well, uh, you see," Dewey said, "since you weren't here, Natalie's been playing for you." Dewey pointed to Natalie who was on Freddy's lap and she smiled what would seem like a friendly gesture, but Katie knew better. The smile meant that she won – she got the guy, she was in the band.

"Oh," Katie said again. She was slowly crumbling to pieces…it was like the band forgot about her. She turned to Freddy, "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"Uh…well…I didn't think it was important," Freddy chuckled nervously. He could feel that Katie was hurting real bad and he didn't want to see her cry – he didn't want to be the cause of it. But he could also feel her anger and rage and her feeling of being betrayed in some way.

"Didn't think it was important? I'm the bass player of the band – I think I have the right to know if someone was replacing me or something," Katie said firmly staring deep into Freddy's eyes and then she raised up her voice so everyone could hear, "Why didn't anyone tell me? You all had opportunities to say something."

"Because they didn't want to hurt your feelings," Natalie said in a somewhat snobby voice as she got up off of Freddy's lap and walked towards Katie, "You're not playing in the tour. You don't know the new material. You weren't here when we had practice. It's only fair that I get to play during the tour."

Silence followed for the next few minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. It was like one of those old cowboy showdowns where the two people would just stare gravely at each other for some time before one would make a move.

"I'm outta here," said Katie struggling to follow the instinct to just punch Natalie, but she knew that if she did she would be just as low as her and that was one thing Katie did not want to be.

Katie walked out of the apartment and slammed the door shut behind her. She raced down the stairs and just as she was about to exit she felt a strong pull on her arm, "Just let me go."

"Look, Katie, I – " Freddy said releasing her arm.

"I don't want to hear it. I'll see you at home," Katie said not looking at him and walked out the door.

A/N: OK, part of me is saying that this chapter was corny and crappy. Oh well…I tried. Heh. Please REVIEW! And be honest…but don't be too harsh! Yes, I LOVE reviews!

A/N2: For some reason when I try to seperate different segments in the story, doesn't let me, so I just tried to space them out as best as I could, but that still didn't work. Anyway I hope you didn't get confused! And if anyone has tips on spacing, please tell me! Thanks!

Shout Outs:

Brooke

SiennaR79

Emily

Nishia

Blondie02

Lizzy Clayton

S.S.I.

Pinkpixie

Miss Mills

The Good Girl

Swimmerkitti

Nanners-77: hmm…fruitcake. I like that word – I think I'll use it sometime in the future chapters.

!: Actually the bass and cello have similar fingerings, so it's the same – I should know. I played orchestral bass but switched to bass guitar soon after. Heh. But thank you for pointing that out!

Kate-Emma: But you see, the fact that she does play bass brings drama and we need drama. Lol.

Kevinsbabygirl04: Yeah I don't think he would be such an asshole…otherwise no one would want him. That's my opinion.

Lover Del Dragon: Mini-cooper rocks! I have one – I need it. Living where I live is hard to find parking so yeah it's a necessity.

Sarahlou: The part where she was singing was original? Hmm…that's interesting. I didn't think it would be, but I guess it is. Thanks! =)