Author's Note: Okay, so I decided that it really wasn't necessary to put everything that happens between the movies and college, so I'm breaking that down. Also, when they get to college, I decided not to include a lot… well, you'll see why.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. It's all the property of Jonathan Larson.
The months leading up to graduation went very smoothly. The four of them were inseparable. Maureen wasn'tkicked off the squad but decided that she was too good for them anyway,and resorted to spending all of her time in drama or holding school riots. April and Roger formed a band called the Well Hungarians, which became even bigger than Waltz. Mark became organizer of the Film Club. Everything was running perfectly (except that Roger and Maureen were always fighting) until they had to think about college.
"I'm going to Brown. I was perfectly content with a SUNY (A/N: State University of New York), but my mother said it had to be Ivy Leagues or nothing."
"But Pookie! That's in Rhode Island! I want to go and be on Broadway!"
Roger snickered. "Maureen, you have no shot."
"And you have no shot of making it big either, you rock star wanna-be!" she screeched.
"I'm better than you ever thought of being!"
April kicked him from under the lunch table. "Stop it, you guys! I'm so sick of the two of you always fighting! Now, I'm going to SUNY Purchase with Roger. Mo, you should really think of actually going somewhere in case Broadway doesn't work," she offered.
"Well, I got into WCC (A/N: Westchester Community College), SUNY Albany, and SUNY Purchase!"
"You need to pick somewhere soon. Deadlines for applications are coming up."
"Yeah, I know. Maybe I just won't go to college."
"You're going to college," April commanded.
She growled. "You're not my mother, April!"
"Fine. Piss away your future. I don't care," she retorted.
This caused Maureen to burst into sobs. "You don't mean that! You do care, don't you?"
She sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. I just want you to do well."
"I know. Maybe I'll just go to WCC or Purchase. I don't care." This earned an eye roll from April.
Maureen got the lead in Jesus Christ Superstar that year, the Well Hungarians won Battle of the Bands, and Mark's film was a smash. They all graduated and went their separate ways for that first semester of college.
The first semester for April and Roger seemed to be a string of sex, pot, booze,and parties. April was getting tired of it. "Rog, I'm hating college. We can do so much better in New York City."
"Yeah we could, especially if the band takes off. I wonder how Mark and Maureen are doing."
The four of them met up at the pizza place in Scarsdale a few days before the end of the first semester.
"April and I are dropping out and moving to the city. What about you two?"
Mark fidgeted in his chair. "I was thinking the same thing. My mother will probably never talk to me, but this isn't working out. It's too much. And I can take classes inNYC if I need to. Maybe I'm just not ready for college. My roommate Benny and I were both planning to drop out and maybe room together. The rent would be cheaper that way. How about you, Mo?"
Maureen sat there, smiling this huge smile and practically bouncing up and down. "I told you so! I told you that college wasn't good and we should've never wasted our money in the first place! I was right and all of you were wrong! I knew it! None of you listened to me! And April, now we're all going to ruin our futures, right? Huh? Right? I told you so!"
Roger scowled at her. "Okay, Maureen. We get it. Now," he looked at Mark and April, "what do we do?"
"Start looking for an apartment?" offered Mark.
"Yeah, I'm agreeing with Mark on this one. We should look for something affordable. How about in Chelsea? Is that affordable?" April asked.
"I used to have a girlfriend known as Elsie. With whom I shared assorted rooms in Chelsea..." Maureen sang. Then, at the glares from her friends, she added, "No way! I'm not going to live in Chelsea! Upper West Side!"
Mark interrupted them. "I was thinking of the East Village. The other two I think are out of our price range."
"Fine. Deal?" Roger asked his friends.
"Deal!" they all said, even though Maureen was still mad about not looking in the Upper West Side.
The next day, Mark's roommate, Benjamin Coffin III, met them. He was a good looking black man whose ambition in life was to become rich. April, Roger, and Maureen all liked him a lot. They all agreed to start looking for an apartment in the East Village.
April scanned the paper, looking for an apartment ad. "Guys! Guys! I've got it! Listen to this!" They all crowded around her as she read. "Apartment up for rent… looking for roommates. Two bedroom industrial loft, on the corner of 11th Street and Avenue B. Please call Professor Thomas P. Collins!"
Maureen squealed and hugged Roger, who pushed her off. "Pookies! It's perfect! Let's call!" She grabbed the phone and called the number listed. "Hi, is this Thomas Collins?"…. "Yeah, I'm Maureen Johnson and my friends and I want to rent the apartment"…. "You'll be living there? Awesome! The more the merrier!"…. "Okay, we'll all meet you there tomorrow at noon. Bye!"
"Um, Maureen?"
"What is it, Marky?"
"There are five of us, plus him… six people in two bedrooms?"
April thought about it. "Well, Rog and I can take one, and you and Mark can have the other, and then we can turn the living room into 2 bedrooms! And if there's an overly large closet, well, we could use that too."
They all murmured their agreements and called it a deal.
The five of them walked up to the dilapidated building, hoping that the inside was better than the outside. Next door, there was a vacant lot. A black man with glasses, who appeared to be a few years older than them, was standing outside.
"Are one of you Maureen Johnson?"
"It's meeeeeeeeeeeee!" she screeched.
"I'm Tom Collins, but you can call me just Collins. I teach computer-age philosophy at NYU. I'm glad you all called. I've been waiting for awhile for someone to answer the ad." His voice was very deep. "Do you want to see the place?"
They followed him inside. Paint was cracking all over, and it seemed to be colder in there than outside. "No heat?" April asked.
Collins laughed, though no one else found anything funny. "We're all struggling artists, I guess you could say, living here. We can't afford heat or AC. New York is a lot more expensive than where you're all from."
Maureen looked at April, shocked. "April!" she hissed. "How will we survive?"
"Don't worry," Collins told her. "It's not that bad. Just have a lot of warm clothes during the winter."
He stopped at the top of a staircase. "Here it is!" he announced and pushed open the door.
It seemed pretty big. There was a spacious living room with a tiny kitchen. A wood burning stove sat near the window. There were four doors surrounding the room: two were bedrooms, one bathroom, and one storage closet. All of the paint was chipping and the furniture was old. Every electrical appliance was plugged into one thick extension chord that snaked its way out the window.
Roger was the first to speak. "We'll take it!"
"We will?" Maureen croaked. "But it's cold and everything is so beat up!"
"You're such a princess! Some of us didn't grow up in a giant house with a maid and gardener!" he snapped at her. He turned to April, Mark, and Benny. "Well? What do you think?"
April and Benny nodded. Mark, however, felt the way Maureen did. "Um, it's a little run-down, don't you think?"
Roger gave him a death stare. "You are such a snob, Mark! The rent will be low, and we've got space. We'll be fine! And it's in New York City!"
"Center of the Universe!" Collins added, hoping like hell that they'd agree to move in.
He sighed. "Fine. Let's get it."
Maureen pouted. "But… but…"
"Go find your own place if you don't like it," Roger informed her. "You don't have to be with us."
She glared at him. "I… I'll do it."
Mark hugged his girlfriend. "Okay, Collins. When can we move in?"
There you have it! Please review? More to come: our favorite Bohemians get jobs and one of them finds something that'll change all of their lives.
godessofwisdom- Thanks very much for your review! I'm glad you liked my Mark/Maureen explanation.
SaoirseGreene- Thanks again for your reviews!