A/N: Mobobwe, thanks for your comment. LOL I know, I hardly think that Jessi would know who Evanescence are, either! But I had to make one of them cool/a Goth/etc.

Sorry if some bits are kinda short...

Peace Out and Rock On!!

Chapter Two

Mallory

"Dear Jenny, if you think your boyfriend is hiding things from you then maybe you should talk to him and make it clear that you want things to be more open in your relationship. Signed, Mallory."

Mallory sighed, and shut down her laptop. That should be enough, she thought to herself. She put her note-pad and Walkman back in her bag, and shut up her office for the night.

"Bye, Susie!" She called to Susie Anderson, the Horoscope columnist. Susie waved goodbye to her, and Mallory walked down the stairs, and headed out of the building.

Finally, I can go home and get some rest! Then Mallory groaned. Damn it! Paul will probably be home! And knowing my luck, he'll be drunk, or have some of his perverted friends over.

"Hey, watch it!" She cried suddenly, as she walked into a small figure sitting on the stairs. "You shouldn't sit on stairs!" She told the person. They didn't reply. "Hey, are you ok?" Mallory crouched down beside them.

"No," the girl muttered. Then Mallory recognised her; it was April, the girl who Jill had signed up to be the music columnist. Her long black hair hung over her face; she'd been crying.

"You're April, aren't you?" Mallory asked her quietly. April nodded. "Jill fired you, didn't she?"

"Yeah, and now I don't have a job or anything!" She sniffed. "And I have a daughter to look after, as well! I can't live with my brother forever."

"How old are you?" Mallory asked. She looked pretty young to have a daughter.

"Nineteen," April replied. "And yeah, it's kind of young to have a four-year-old daughter, but, well, these thing's happen." She shrugged. "And, actually, I have to go pick Lizzie up from nursery now. She's gonna be pretty annoyed that we're still living at Uncle Andy's house." She smiled at Mallory.

"Wait a second," Mallory turned to look at her new friend. "You have a four year old daughter. You're nineteen. You live with your brother." April nodded. "And you were upset about getting fired…why?"

"Because I need the money. I have a daughter to support." April said, standing up. "I mean, Andy helps me, but I need to learn to look after myself."

"But what about the father?" Mallory asked, standing up.

April sighed. "He's a friend of mine. But he doesn't know he's Lizzie's dad. We used to be together but…" She shrugged again. "Things happen."

"I guess…" I would never have managed with having a baby at fifteen! Especially with no one to help me!

"Hey, Mallory," April turned to her. "Do you want to come with me to pick Lizzie up? I need to go see my brother afterwards, for band practice."

"Yeah, sure," Mallory grinned. She needs all the love and support she can get. Mallory thought.

Claudia

"Damn you!" Arnold shouted. "You're a crap wife! You never provide for me!" Matthew cowered behind Claudia. All I did was burn the potatoes! Claudia thought. But she couldn't say it. She was scared of Arnold.

"Sorry, Arnold-" She began to say.

"Don't you sorry me, woman!" He raised his arm to hit her. Samuel screamed. Arnold put his hand down. He never hit Claud in front of his kids. He glared at Claudia. "I'll deal with you later," he hissed, then turned to his son. "Hey, little man, come give us a hug!" He held out his arms. Samuel screamed and ran to Claudia. She hugged him.

I wish I had a friend I could talk to about this sort of thing, she thought. But no one knows what I'm going through…

Mary Anne

"So, I heard that they are going out," Jenny finished. She looked excited, and they were only talking about whether Laura and Albert were dating. Emma's phone bleeped, and she got it out her pocket.

"Who's it from?" Mary Anne asked.

"Is it that guy you met in the bar on Friday?" Jenny asked excitedly.

"Nope," Emma said. "It's from my friend, Grace. She says that our friend April, her band are going to be performing next week, and she has tickets for her, me and one of my friends to go and see them. So, Jenny, do you want to come?"

"Sorry, I'm going on holiday. Me and Jeremy are going to Florida," Jenny giggled.

"Okay…Mary Anne?" Emma asked.

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly go. I'm not really rock chick material…" Mary Anne quickly tried to think of a better excuse.

"Mary Anne!" Emma wailed. "Please come! It'll be fun, honest! And if you don't like it you can wait outside…" Emma got down on her knees and pretended to beg. "Grace got the tickets free. It's a pity to waste them."

"I guess…" Mary Anne was easily swayed.

"Yes!" Emma jumped up and down with excitement. "This is going to be so cool!"

Dawn

"This is the class you will be working in," Cheryl opened the door to a busy classroom. "Judith will be working with you." A plump, brown-haired woman, who must have been a few years older than her, looked up from where she was reading a board book to a small boy. "I'll leave you two to get aquatinted." Cheryl smiled, and closed the door behind her.

Cheryl was a nice, cheerful woman. She wasn't ugly or beautiful, who seemed to be good hearted. She reminded her of Mallory.

"Dawn?" Judith stood up. The little boy tottered after her. "Hi, I'm Jude. Would you be able to go an supervise the sand table?" Jude rolled her eyes. "Sand and small children just don't mix."

"Judith, Judith," the little boy grabbed at her jeans. "Read!" He handed her a book.

"Um, yeah, sure," Dawn shrugged, and went over to the sand table. "Hey, kids. I'm Dawn. What are you up to?"

"Castle," a girl with brown hair and glasses pointed to the mound of sand on the sand tray.

"We're making a castle," one boy said. "It's going to be huge!"

"Oh, really?" Dawn pretended to be interested.

"Yeah, and then…"

"So what do you think of the kids?" Judith asked her, as they tidied everything away at the end of the session.

"They're so sweet. Especially Valerie." Dawn grinned, and swung her blonde hair over one shoulder.

"I know. It's the glasses that does it, I suppose. Lizzie must be that age now," she sighed.

"Who's Lizzie?" Dawn asked.

"Oh, my cousin's daughter. April, my cousin, had a baby when she was about fifteen. I've not seen them for ages." Judith looked sad. "I was going to book tickets to see her band in concert, but none of my friends wanted to come with me."

"I'd come with you. I mean, I know how hard it is to loose contact with someone close to you." Dawn sighed, remembering Mary Anne.

"Really? Who have you lost contact with?" Judith asked.

"My step-sister, Mary Anne," Dawn replied.

"Well…do you really want to come with me to see Torturing Alice in concert?" Torturing Alice? Dawn tried to remember where she'd heard them. Oh yeah, they're that trash metal band…not my sort of thing. "Um, yeah, sure. That'd be cool!" Dawn faked a smile.

Judith grinned. "Great!"

Kristy

"Okay, Kristy, scrap all your plans for girly outfits for the party. It turns out that we planned the party on the same day as Torturing Alice's big concert!" Dani squealed.

"Torturing Alice? Aren't they like, Death Metal or something?" Kristy asked.

"Trash. And yeah, not my sort of thing. But Anna, the music columnist, is going to go write a review on the concert, since they're new and all. And she got the three of us back stage passes!" Kristy squealed again. "Isn't that so cool? So, do you want to go?"

Well, it beats the party, I guess. "Yeah, sure."

"Okay, I'll come over tomorrow to sort out outfits. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Kristy replied.

"Okay, see you tomorrow night!" Dani squealed and put the phone down. This is gonna be so great…not.

Stacey

I don't believe it. I've lost yet another job due to Steven. Stacey stared at her reflection in the mirror. She had dark bags under her eyes, a spot on her chin, and her hair needed washed. Damn it, I need a shower. Stacey turned on the shower, and stepped out of her nightdress. I need to leave him. He's only stopping me from having a normal life! One in which I'm not Stacey McGill, super-slut. Stacey looked up at the ceiling. I know what I have to do. I have to leave him. Tonight, I'll go and stay at Dani's.

Stacey turned off the shower and stepped out. For the first time in her life, she knew she was doing the right thing.

Jessi

Jack came to sit with Jessi on the stage.

"How are you, Jess?" He asked, sitting down.

"Fine…where's Andy?" Jessi replied.

"Oh, off phoning his sister. He worries about her so much," Jamie rolled his eyes.

Well, so would you. If you knew that her daughter was your daughter too, Jessi thought. But she didn't say it out loud. Andy said it was best for him not to know that he had a daughter. "Who's Lizzie's father?" Jessi said suddenly.

"Um…I don't know actually, why?" He asked.

"Well, who had April slept with, nine months before Lizzie was born?" She asked. Technically she wasn't telling him. She was just hinting. "Not that you'd know of course…unless it was you…"

"Shit!" Jack leapt up. "Are you trying to tell me that Lizzie is mine?" Jessi nodded. "Fucking hell, I'm a father." He looked amazed.

"She's not answering her mobile," Andy came into the room, looking worried.

"Hey man, don't worry," Jack said. "I'm worried too."

"Why would you be worried…oh, shit, Jess, you didn't tell him, right?" Jessi nodded. "Jess! I told you-" But before he could finish his sentence, April, Lizzie, and a stranger walked into the room.

"Where the hell have you been?"

"April! Babes, why didn't you tell me?"

"Jess? You told him?"

"Who the hell is she?"

"Jessi?"