1Goth Pirates

chapter two - "Sheena, The Punk Rocker Who Got Away"

Richard loaded his belongings onto the train. Then he went in himself carrying his brown barn owl, Arienette, safely in her cage, in one arm and his acoustic guitar in its case in the other. As he boarded the train, that awful kind of dread that you get when you realize that there's a full year of learning ahead struck him. So, he went off to find himself an empty car to be alone with his thoughts for a while. After walking through the whole train and having to say "hello" and "how was your summer?" to every few people that he knew along the way, Richard finally settled in the last car. He placed Arienette up in the rack, he took out his guitar, and put the case under his seat. He began to strum a few chords and slowly turned it into a soft, haunting tune. The sound traveled out of the compartment because he had forgotten to close the door and he was starting to play rather loudly. This lead to his friends finding him quickly.

"Hey, Rich!" said a very girly type of voice from outside the compartment.

"Hi, Shenna. How's it goin?" replied Richard as he put down his guitar and got up to give her a hug.

Shenna was a punk rocker. She loved all of her local underground hardcore bands and went to every concert during the holidays. Shenna became Richard's first friend when he began school. She was a year ahead of him and said that she only put up with the embarrassment of being friends with an "emo boy" because he did like some of the bands that she loved. Shenna was thin with very short hair that was a different color every month. She would usually wear torn jeans, a t-shirt, and a leather jacket when she wasn't wearing school robes. But even wearing the black Hogwarts robes, Shenna still stood out most. She made rips in her school robes and close them with safety pins. She was also very opinionated and voiced her views very loudly. Shenna would of course get in tons of trouble because of how she behaved and looked.

"Alright. It would be better if you wouldn't run off and hide from us like you always do. You know we should get started on that Taking Back Sunday contest. You were the one who wanted to do it. We don't all like your bloody bands," Shenna answered in an angry voice when she pulled away from the embrace.

"Sorry. Didn't feel like having any company at the moment. Where are the others?"

"Oh they've already started collecting signatures for the contest. They sent me to go look for you."

"Okay. I'll start in a minute. Can you do that spell on my ipod first?"

"Yeah, alright. You're lucky you know a genius like me to come up with these spells for you."

"Thanks, you're the best."

"I know I am."

With that, Shenna took the ipod from Richard's hands, flicked her wand, muttered some words, and gave it back. Shenna had a talent for coming up with all these spells, especially the ones that could help break the rules at school. The two then went off together to go around the train asking people to sign up to get Taking Back Sunday to play at their school this fall. However, this proved to be harder than anticipated. A few people shot disgusted looks when the band's name was mentioned and commented they would rather have a good band like The Weird Sisters come instead, but signed up anyway. Some thought it was a religious thing, to actually take back Sundays somehow. Most people gave confused or worried looks and declined. By the time the lunch cart had made its way through the train, Richard and Shenna managed to get around 50 signatures. Also by this time, they got hungry and decided to take a break and continue when they were settled at the castle.

Another thing about Richard and Sheena is that they had gone out on a few dates with each other the previous year. Sadly, Sheena found Richard to be too introverted and quiet about how he felt. So, she broke up with him. Richard was heartbroken and still hadn't quite got over her yet. He had liked her very much. In fact he told her that he loved her on more than one occasion. Sheena assured him that it was merely infatuation every time. However, this was one of those times when Richard spilled out feeling without saying a word.

"Will you please cut that out," said Sheena with a start. She shot him an angry look and quickly turned away, blushing.

"I didn't do anything," replied Richard with a shrug and a too innocent face.

"You're staring at me like you always do again. I've told you a million times to go find someone else. I'm not going to one day suddenly fall for you just because you stare at me," she blurted out in a high rapid voice that showed she forgot who she was talking to.

"I know. I'm sorry. I can't help it"

Small, steady tears rolled down from his eyes as Richard buried himself in his knees. Sheena went over to try and comfort him.

"Look, I'm not trying to be mean. Just I want you to be happy and that's just not going to happen with me. You know I care about you. I just don't like you in that way. Cheer up. There's plenty of girls out there. I'm sure you'll meet a new one this year."

Sheena carried on with this pep talk, not actually noticing that Richard stopped crying. She was actually looking at the floor while talking because, she could never stand looking at him while he was in such a messy state. Just when Sheena was about to go on about how she thought that those girls that they talked to in the first few cars seemed to like him, Richard swiftly turned her head to kiss her. And two seconds after their lips met, Shenna pushed him back, gave him a hard slap across the face, and called him a jerk. She then stormed out of the compartment, while Richard was massaging his face, that now had a reddish hand mark on the left cheek and a partially satisfied look.