Disclaimer: I do not own POTO or Simple Plan's Shut Up!
Working at Bojangles is a lot harder than I thought! It never fails; people always order what you don't have ready! The main reason I didn't update sooner was because of a certain reviewer. When I first read the reviews, I was a little ticked, but then I realized that they were right. So after watching POTO again, obsessively reading TwistedMind's You are not alone, and many cinnamon biscuits later, I have decided to give a lot more thought to each chapter, such as adding more details. Anyway, here is the next chapter!
'I guess this is it.'
It was after school and Christine was following Erik's car to Andre's house for practice. Calling it a car was a major understatement though. His "car" was a brand new 2006 BMW Z3, black of course. Christine was very careful to stay a little farther away from it than necessary; she really didn't want to think about how much the damage repair costs would be, even for a fender bender.
She parked in the street in front of Andre's house, just behind Erik and got out to get a closer look. It was your typical two story brick house in your typical middle class neighborhood, with red shutters and doors, surrounded by various shrubbery and trees, obviously very tenderly cared for.
It was obvious because Andre's mother waved merrily at them while tending to a very beautiful magnolia tree.
"Hello Erik, dear!" she called, in a very motherly sounding voice.
"Hello Mrs. Kilgore," Erik replied politely.
She beckoned for them to come over, dropping her pruning shears and taking of her slightly dirty gardening gloves.
Close up, Mrs. Kilgore clearly belonged in the typical American neighborhood as a typical American housewife, dressed in her colourful gardening outfit decorated with potted daisies and little shovels. Her sun hat even matched! Christine could tell that Andre was her son from the wavy blond hair, fair complexion, and bright green they shared.
"Well Erik, who is your friend?" she said, looking at Christine and smiling kindly.
"This is Christine Day. Christine, this is Mrs. Kilgore," he said, introducing them.
She eyed Christine for a moment, which made her feel slightly uncomfortable, making her wish that she had left the fishnet gloves and her Trigun t-shirt, complete with Vash holding up a gun, in her car. This passed, however, as Mrs. Kilgore smiled again and held out her hand which Christine accepted.
"Hello, Mrs. Kilgore," Christine said, matching Erik's politeness, "it is very nice to meet you. This magnolia tree is beautiful."
Christine gestured to the full white blooms, slightly knocked senseless by their strong fragrance.
Mrs. Kilgore smiled widely at her.
"It's a pleasure to meet you my dear! She's very polite," she said to Erik.
Erik laughed at little and smirked at Christine, who gave him a look.
"Well, we'd better meet Andre for practice," Erik said, looking at the garage where Andre was peaking around the brick wall, looking at them curiously.
"Well, okay dear, come back anytime!" Mrs. Kilgore said sweetly, giving them one last wave before setting back to work on the Magnolia tree.
When they were an ear shot away from her, Erik started to laugh.
"What!" Christine yelled, slightly frustrated.
"You," he said simply.
"Whatever!" Christine retorted, rolling her eyes. She turned her head to look back at Mrs. Kilgore, content with her gardening.
'I wonder if she's really happy…' Christine wondered to herself, turning back around to behold Andre, eyes narrowed.
"Dude, you don't have to be nice to her," he said, gesturing to his mother.
"I know," Erik said moving past him to the open garage, "I like to."
'You don't know how lucky you are Andre,' he thought to himself, a scowl settling in his expression.
Christine glared a little at Andre and followed Erik into the garage. Andre's garage had been turned into what you would basically expect from a garage band set up; a drum set, which looked rather expense, an old, worn in couch, obviously from his parent's college days, a musty garage smell, and several posters, ranging from bands to famous female porn stars. Christine's eyes narrowed into slits as she noticed these and gave a frustrated sigh. She suddenly felt someone beside her and turned to find Erik looking in disgust at the previously mentioned posters.
"Don't worry," he said pulling her closer to him, "those were all Andre's doing…"
At that moment, the other band member entered the garage and after exchanging a few brief "dudes!" with Andre, walked over to Erik and Christine, who were previously engaged. They pulled away from each other, reluctantly of course, and Christine turned to meet the other band member.
She blanched a little as she recognized him, Devon Whitman, to be one of Raoul's Halo 2 playing buddies. Devon smirked mockingly at Christine as he recognized her too.
'Why didn't I notice him before!' she thought furiously to herself.
She smiled weakly as Erik introduced them, oblivious to the fact that they had met before under different circumstances.
"Well, dudes, and Christine," Andre added in an undertone, "Let's get to jammin'!"
Andre emphasized his point by furiously banging on his drum set.
'He actually remembered my name…' she said raising her eyebrows as she watched his progress.
"Oh!" Erik said in a strangely surprised voice, "I forgot my guitar at my house. I'll be back in a second. Give me a second, Andre!" he yelled as Andre glared at him, frustrated.
Erik gave Christine a quick kiss on the cheek and walked swiftly out to his car, his black coat flowing out behind him. Andre watched him exit, sighed, and continued randomly banging on his drum set.
Devon smirked at her again, making Christine feel extremely uncomfortable. He ran a hand through his short red hair.
"So, I saw Raoul the other day, yeah, with Carlotta at my LAN party, we had so much fun," he said, his brown eyes gleaming maliciously, "Raoul and Carlotta left early though, they were all over each other the whole night."
Christine broke eye contact with him and looked to the concrete floor.
"Why should I give a fuck what he does with Carlotta?" she said angrily, picturing a happy Raoul and Carlotta laughing and carrying on in her head.
"You care, everyone knows it, even Raoul," he said starting to circle her, "he keeps going on about how glad he his he broke it off with you and how happy he is, fucking Carlotta."
"Yeah, she would let him," she said a little strained.
"You would know all about that, wouldn't you?" he said stopping his path to touch her shoulder.
Christine jerked away from him and walked to the couch, sitting down, trying to make her body as small as possible.
Devon followed her and sat down beside her. He scooted right next to her and put his hand on her knee. Christine looked up to Andre, still obliviously playing the drums.
'Andre…' she thought frantically, wishing for once that he was there being his annoying self.
"Christine," he said leaning in to whisper in her ear, "don't act all innocent. I know what you did with Raoul. He told everyone."
Christine forgot her fear for a moment as it was replaced by a feeling of blind anger.
"No doubt all he told you was false," she said, looking him determinedly in the eye.
He chuckled a little and moved his hand to run his fingers through her hair. Christine started to shake slightly.
"No, I think he was telling the truth," he said his fingers now stroking her cheek, "and since he's done with you, it's my turn now. I normally don't take sloppy seconds, but, I'll make an exception in your case. Come on, ditch Erik and have some fun with me."
His hand moved again to her knee and was slowly creeping up her leg. Christine struggled to keep this new feeling of nausea and paralyzing fear at bay.
"Stop…" she whispered timidly.
"Oh Christine," Devon said heatedly to her, "you're such a free spirit, I know you want to. You're so…erotic."
Christine closed her eyes fearfully as Devon forced her to face him. His hand had reached where he wasn't wanted and Christine let out a shaky cry.
"Erik!"
Christine's eyes popped open as she heard Andre greet Erik. She pushed away from Devon and flew off the couch to meet him, hugging him tightly and burying her face in his chest.
"Hey! Christine!" Erik said a little shocked at her actions, "I didn't know you'd miss me that much!"
Christine continued to hug him, holding on for dear life until Erik separated from her a bit. He lifted her chin up so he could look at her. He was puzzled to see her fearful expression and tears starting to form at her eyes.
"What's up?" he said gently, looking into her blue eyes with his grey ones with a worried expression.
Christine glanced over Erik's shoulder to see Devon looking very threateningly at her.
"Nothing!" she said, smiling widely at him, "nothing at all!"
"Chicks!" Andre said shaking his head.
Erik glared at him and looked back to Christine. Her smile had faded and she looked fearful again. He looked at her skeptically.
"Are you sure you don't want to go home?"
Christine moved her hand to stroke his unmasked cheek. She felt so much better with him around.
"Yes," she said assuredly, "Actually, I know what song I want to sing."
"What?" Erik asked.
Christine smiled and whispered a song title to him. He nodded and got his guitar out of its case. While Erik was busy with his guitar, Christine glared at Devon and turned to walk confidently to the microphone.
Erik and the other band members started to play.
'This goes out to you, bitch…' she thought smirking evilly ahead.
There you go
You're always so right
It's all a big show
It's all about you
You think you know
What everyone needs
You always take time to criticize me
It seems like everyday
I make mistakes
I just can't get it right
It's like I'm the one
You love to hate
But not today...
So shut up, shut up, shut up
Don't want to hear IT
Get out, get out, get out
Get out of my WAY
Step UP, step UP, step UP
You'll never stop me
Nothing you say today
Is gonna bring me down
Christine forgot everything around her, but the music. All of her fears and troubles melted away with each passing verse.
There you go
You never ask why
It's all a big lie
Whatever you do
You think you're special
But I know & I know & I know & we know
That you're not
You're always there to point out my mistakes
And shove them in my face
It's like I'm the one you love to hate
But not today
So shut up, shut up, shut up
Don't want to hear IT
Get out, get out, get out
Get out of my WAY
Step UP, step UP, step UP
You'll never stop me
Nothing you say today
Is gonna bring me down
(Shut up, shut up, shut up)
Is gonna bring me down
(Shut up, shut up, shut up)
You'll never bring me down
She turned to glance at Erik. He snapped out of the trance he was usually in when he played music to smile at her. She smiled broadly at him.
Don't tell me who I should be
(Don't tell me who I should be)
And don't try to tell me what's right for me
And don't tell me what I should do
I don't want to waste my time
I'll watch you fade away
So shut up, shut up, shut up
Don't wanna hear IT
Get out, get out, get out
Get out of my WAY
Step UP, step UP, step UP
You'll never stop me
Nothing you say today
Is gonna bring me down
Christine completely lost herself in the music and began dancing to the beat. Her energy was contagious as the rest of the band gave it their all.
Shut up, shut up, shut up
Don't wanna hear IT
Get out, get out, get out
Get out of my WAY
Step UP, step UP, step UP
You'll never stop me
Nothing you say TODAY
Is gonna bring me down
Shut up, shut up, shut up
Don't wanna hear IT
Get out, get out, get out
Get out of my WAY
Step up, step up, step up,
You'll never stop me
Nothing you say TODAY
Is gonna bring me down
'This is happiness,' she thought euphorically.
Bring me down
(Shut up, shut up, shut up)
Won't bring me down
Bring me down
(Shut up, shut up, shut up)
Won't bring me down
Shut up, shut up, shut up
The song ended to Andre's loud cheering.
"Awesome dudes!" he said happily.
Erik and Christine glared at him and he rolled his eyes.
"Okay! Christine," he said seriously, "I officially name you the leading Dudette of Mask and Black Rose!"
The phone started ringing in the house after Andre's proclamation, which Mrs. Kilgore answered.
"Andre! Sweetheart!" she called lovingly from the kitchen.
"What!" Andre said, whining like the little kid that his mother treated him like.
He stomped off to see what his mother wanted as Erik laughed and rolled his eyes at Christine.
"It's not like he has any say in anything," he said chuckling.
"What?" Christine said playfully to Erik, "you don't want me to be the leading Dudette?"
Erik pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead.
"You were wonderful," he whispered to her.
Christine smiled happily and, completely forgetting about Devon, who had sulked into a corner, and stood on tip toe to kiss Erik.
"Dude, Dudette! Will you stop it for a minute?" Andre yelled incredulously.
They laughed as they pulled apart to look at Andre. He rolled his eyes and huffed.
"Well, I have good news!" Andre said jumping up and down like Christine, "We got a gig!"
"Good," Erik said nodding in approval, "where?"
"At Rafter's," Andre said, looking a little disappointed that Erik wasn't as excited as he was.
Christine, however, was thrilled.
"When?" she asked excitedly.
"Saturday," Andre replied, happy that at least someone was looking forward to it.
Christine looked nervously at Erik.
"Do you think I'll be ready?" she asked, wringing her hands.
"Oh yeah," Erik said smiling down at her, "With a performance like that, we'll get a record deal in no time."
Christine smiled happily at him.
"But," Erik continued, "We should practice more."
"Sure!" Christine replied, all too eager to feel that music high again.
And with the excitement of the coming performance, Mask and Black Rose rehearsed furiously into the night until they were chased out of the garage by the typical American neighbors, who wanted their typical American sleep.
How was that? I spent about three hours just now, typing it, so I hope it is better than the other chapters. I think it is more descriptive…maybe? Well, last time I checked, we were up to 49 reviews, so please review so I can go to work with the thought of 50 reviews to keep me going! Love and Peace! Kupo!