Title: The History Assignment
Author: Girl Who Writes
Feedback: is beloved if you feel so inclined
Pairing: Angel/Collins, with a little bit of Mimi/Roger and Maureen/Mark, implied Roger/April.
Word Count: 4 550
Rating: PG
Genre: Humour, AU
Summary: The Junior History class is assigned a project, much to the dismay of Maureen, Mark, Roger and Angel, so they plan a study party. With not much studying.
Notes: Okay, this is the end of this particular story - chapters 9 onwards will be posted June 30th. Once again, if there's anything you want to see, just let me know!
Special Thanks: to my beautiful rabbits, Harriet and Blossom, who agreed to guest star in this in exchange for some parsley.
Spoilers: It's AU, so nothing much.
Warnings: Language.
Disclaimer: Rent and the related characters are property of the Jonathan Larson Estate and I make no profit from my fan-based ventures. Hazel Dumott and Mimi's brothers, plus all classmates and teachers are mine.

They decided against driving to the mall – it wasn't that long a walk, and none of them had enough money for gas that they would drive when they could walk just as easily.

The mall was pretty good considering it wasn't the city – the basement floor had a food court and a supermarket, and then three floors of shops. Maureen and Mimi's eyes lit up as they took the escalator down to the food court, catching sight of the new shop displays.

"Ooh," Mimi turned around to Angel. "Did you see the purple jacket?"

"Mimi," Angel nudged her side. "You don't need another jacket."

"I don't have a purple one," Mimi pouted.

"Like you could afford that jacket," Angel shook his head. Mimi shrugged and stood on her toes to see the rest of the displays. She stumbled on the escalator steps and would have fallen if Roger hadn't caught her.

"Thanks," Mimi right herself, blushing. "I don't get to come here much."

"Nah, it's okay," Roger grinned up at her. "My sister comes here heaps, and she's much worse than you."

They claimed a few tables and discussed their lunch options.

"I'm getting a cheeseburger," Roger gazed up at the lit-up menus.

"Ooh, tacos," Maureen trotted off to the taco bar.

"Tacos do sound good," Mark said, Joanne nodding, and both followed Maureen over.

"I'm going to see the noodle bar," Angel smiled up at Collins. "What to come?" And they both walked off, leaving Roger and Mimi alone.

"I might get a burger too," Mimi shrugged. "Might as well."

The burger bar was much faster than the others, and Mimi and Roger found themselves back at the tables with their food before anyone else.

"That looks really bad," Mimi grinned as Roger lifted the cheeseburger to his mouth.

"Yeah, but it's like God's gift to food," Roger took a huge bite. "Want some?"

Mimi wrinkled her nose and shook her head, popping some fries into her mouth. "I didn't know you had a sister," she said suddenly, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, Lindsey. She's younger than me – she's twelve," Roger shrugged. "You have brothers?"

"Three of them," Mimi took a sip of her drink. "There's Tony, Tristan, Exodus and me. Mom's a bit obsessed with musicals and operas."

"Really? I didn't notice," Roger teased her, and Mimi flicked a fry at him. "So, you don't get to come out here much?"

"Nah. Mom and Dad are too busy to take me out anywhere, I haven't got my license yet, and my brothers won't ever give me a lift anywhere," Mimi shrugged. "And Angel feels awkward going shopping in this town. Usually, Hazel – Angel's grandmother – takes us up to the city at the beginning of summer but summer is a long way away."

"Well, if you ever wanted to come out here and, I dunno, shop or see a movie, I could give you a ride," Roger shrugged, suddenly very focused on his lunch.

Mimi blinked, and resisted the urge to clap and grin like a fool. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, it'd be fun."

"What about your girlfriend?" Mimi blurted out and instantly wished that everyone else would come back.

"What?" Roger gave her a confused look.

"April?"

"Oh, yeah. She's not my girlfriend. Just ignore April," Roger shrugged. "She's harmless. I'll deal with her."

"Okay," Mimi offered a smile to Roger and they began chatting randomly about school.

"You think they've had their moment?" Mark murmured to where they all stood, obscured by a stand selling bubble tea, picking at their lunch.

"I think we should've found somewhere else to sit instead of standing here like idiots," Joanne said matter-of-factly.

"Probably," Collins agreed. "Come on, if we don't go back, they're going to guess something is up."

"Took you guys long enough," Roger said, crumpling his napkin on the tray. "What, they have to catch the cow to make the tacos?"

"Ew," Maureen wrinkled her nose, before digging into her food.

"They screwed up our orders," Mark shrugged. "You do realize ingesting that much cheese and meat at every meal will eventually kill you, Roger."

"Eh. I'll leave behind a beautiful corpse."

"Not if you keep eating that shit."

"Oh, and what are you eating?"

"Bean tacos," Mark smirked.

Lunch degenerated into Mark and Roger exchanging insults, and Angel and Collins flicking snow peas from their noodles at each other.

"Can we go upstairs for a moment?" Mimi looked hopeful. "I just want to see that jacket."

"They've got a new shoe display at Cosmo Shoes, too," Maureen perked up. "Just ten minutes, we swear."

To be fair, in the end, it wasn't the girls' never ending pursuits for shopping that made ten minutes into two hours – Maureen had to look at the new shoes, Mark and Collins wanted to look in the electronics shop, Joanne picked up some books at Borders and Angel and Mimi decided to try on hats in the department store.

By the time they got back to the Johnson's house, it was almost six, and no one much felt like writing a history play, so somehow they ended up in the 'screening room', watching movies and flicking the popcorn Nancy Johnson had made them at each other.

"Guys, it's almost nine," Collins stretched and looked around. "We really need to throw together your assignment."

"Uh, I gotta go home," Mimi looked uncomfortable. "I promised Mom I'd be home by nine. Mo, can I use your phone to call home?"

"I can give you a lift home, Mimi," Joanne stood up. "My parents are leaving on a business trip tomorrow morning before dawn, so I should get home and see them off. You guys don't mind, do you?"

"Nah," Roger shook his head. "Mo, we might as well call home and say we're staying here tonight?"

"Go ahead," Maureen stood up. "I'll go tell Mom you guys are staying."

So the group moved the project upstairs to Maureen's room – a white and pink room so huge that Angel could've sworn that his grandmother's kitchen and living room would've fit inside.

"Okay," Mark sat down, "opening scene is Czar Nicholas marrying Alexandra. Mo, you can be Alexandra, Roger can be Nicholas and Angel and I'll read out something about the marriage…"

"Break it into three segments of the fall of the Romanovs, around three minutes each," Collins advised from where he was examining Maureen's dolls. "Jesus, Mo, what is wrong with this doll?"

"That's Nadia," Maureen looked defensive. "What's wrong with Nadia?"

"Other than the huge fucking scary eyes?" Mark observed.

"That doll looks like it just saw someone brutally murder everything it knew or loved in front of her and has nothing left to look forward to other then stabbing you in your sleep with a pair of scissors," Roger shook his head. "How the hell do you sleep in the same room as it?"

"Guys," Angel spoke up. "We really need to write these speeches. And find some king and queen clothes for Roger and Mo."

"Okay," Maureen turned back. "Let's do this."

---

When Nancy Johnson knocked on Maureen's door to wake her daughter up for school the next morning, she was presented with a scene that would have been exceptionally odd if she hadn't seen it a dozen or so times before.

Maureen, Roger and Mark were piled into Maureen's bed, all completely asleep. Maureen had also pulled out the trundle bed, and the other two – Tom and Angel – were curled up together on that. A pile of slightly smudged papers sat on Maureen's bedside table.

"Guys, time for school!" Nancy knocked on the door, a smile on her face.

"Wha?" Maureen sat up instantly.

"It's seven, Mo," Nancy walked across the room to open the curtains. "I'll get you guys some breakfast. Let them know they can use the bathroom in my room, too, honey."

Maureen nodded and jabbed Mark – who had been curled up against her side the whole time – in the ribs.

"Time to get up, guys."

"Oww."

"Mooo," Roger groaned into the pillow. "What fucking time is it?"

"Seven."

"I've been asleep for three hours," Roger tugged the pink and white quilt over his head.

"Mom's making us breakfast. We need to go. History is first this morning," Maureen stumbled towards her bathroom. "Get Collins and Angel up, would you?"

---

Forty minutes later, all of them were showered and slumped around the kitchen table as Nancy made them pancakes and orange juice.

"You guys stayed up too late, talking, didn't you?" Nancy smiled at the exhausted looking bunch.

"Working on the history project," Maureen picked at her breakfast. It had been a long morning – organizing showers and spare clothes for four boys hadn't been exactly easy. Mark had some old jeans he'd left there awhile back, and Roger had some clothes in his locker at school. Collins had shrugged and borrowed a clean shirt of Maureen's father's. Angel had been lucky enough to fit into a pair of Maureen's jeans, and one of her t shirts that didn't look too feminine – it was green with a graffiti design all over the front.

"You'll all do just great, I know," Nancy wiped down the counter. "Your father's at work already, Mo, and I have to race off to help Bethany Gold with the Cancer Research lunch. You guys are okay to get yourselves to school."

"Collins has his car," Maureen pushed her plate away and buried her face in her hands.

"Great! See you tonight honey. Nice having you all here, guys."

"I vote we clean up, and then go and buy coffees and Cokes," Mark stood up, stacking plates.

"Agreed," Maureen yawned. "How the hell are we going to give the presentation when we can barely stand up straight?"

"Coke is practically endorsed by universities and high schools these days," Collins shrugged.

Half an hour later, Maureen, Mark, Roger and Angel piled into their history classroom. Many people had commented to them they looked like walking zombies, which had resulted in Roger flinging a variety of random swear words and threats in their direction.

"I wanna go home," Angel mumbled, resting his head on his desk.

"This is going to go so badly," Maureen wailed from where she had her head rested on Mark's shoulder, but Mark was too tired to truly enjoy it.

"Hello a failing mark in history," Roger said morosely.

"Hi guys!" Mr. Savage, the school's vaguely psychotic English teacher walked in. "Yes, this is your history class. Sadly Miss Mackenzie has been called away thanks to a family emergency today, and your history project presentation has been rescheduled for this Friday, after lunch. Now, there's no one available to supervise this class today, so you all have to go up to the library, and study quietly."

As the rest of the class got up to leave, four figures sat, looking completely dumbfounded.

"This is so not happening," Maureen said flatly.

"Oh, it's happening, chica," Angel moaned.

"Fu-uck," Roger began banging his head against the desk.

"I need sleep," Mark said matter-of-factly, and stood up, almost causing Maureen to topple off of her chair. "You know the old Senior common room?"

"The one they store old drama props and sets in?" Maureen looked up.

"Yeah. The old couches are in there," Mark stuffed his books in his bag. "What do you say?"

"A nap on a smelly old couch has never sounded so good," Roger said. "Lead the way."