Hey guys! Sorry its taken a while, I was super busy at work and at life really!
Anyway, here is the next chapter, I wanted to flesh out some backstory a bit more to give various characters a bit of life and their reactions to the story's events so far.
Starting next chapter what I'll do is be putting a timeline of Max's events so we can see whats currently going on with him at the stage in the movie that we all know and love.
You reading this story makes it worthwhile, please consider leaving a review as I want to do the best job I can.
Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Party Planning Posse Assemble!
The sun rose in the sky over the still sleepy town of Spoonerville, and on the street of Sunset Drive was enjoying a rare quiet morning that was broken only by the cry of a rooster. Some people on the street might have had the opinion that this was because Goofy and Pete weren't causing a ruckus with their usual nonsense and shenanigans, but regardless it was just good enough to be able to wake up to peace and quiet.
Roxanne was having breakfast in the kitchen having some toast, the sun was shining through the and the birds were chirping. It still seemed so impossible that the events of the last twenty-four hours happened, but it did, she was still basking in the warm feeling it gave her when her dad walked into the room.
"I'll be out all day today sweetie, we have dinner at Pete's today so we'll need to leave here by 5. Any questions?" he said.
Roxanne looked over at him, he was dressed up far more nicely today, which was most unusual, her father rarely dressed up in anything other than shorts and a singlet, even a shirt was reserved for work hours only.
"Okay daddy, but why are you all dressed up so…." She paused with her finger over her mouth "…tidy? Do you have a date?" she added a bit bluntly.
"A date? Hah! No." he laughed, he then stood up proudly with his hands on his waists.
"The boys and I are off to the horse races today, I'm not going to do much drinking there though, can't be missing the BBQ tonight" he chortled.
Roxanne felt herself be a little disheartened, it would have been nice for her father to go out and meet people and get him out the house for a good cause. Then again, it's not like she was going out and meeting guys every other weekend and it can't have been easy raising a teenage daughter by yourself while working a very manual job for most of the day, so she cut him some slack.
"Oh. Okay" she replied, struggling to relate – it's not as if she was drinking. "Have fun?"
Roxanne's dad didn't hear her, he was already on the way out of the house and shut it after giving her half a wave, there wasn't a sound in the house except for the birds outside. Roxanne focused her attention back to breakfast and took her time to enjoy the quiet that was around, she still had another hour or so before she was heading to Alice's house with the rest of the girls, so there was no need to hurry.
About an hour later, Roxanne had just got dressed into her usual jean shorts and green shirt when there was a knocking on the door. To her surprise, Stacey was there when she answered the door, smiling and carrying her schoolbag.
"Hiya Roxanne, ready to go?"
"Hi Stacey, uh, what are you doing here? I thought you were going straight there?" Roxanne enquired.
"Well, I was gonna, but like, it's a nice day, and your house is on the way so I thought, hey, why not drop by so we can walk together?"
Roxanne smiled, typical Stacey.
Roxanne stepped outside and turned to lock the door, as she did so she looked over at Stacey.
"What's in your bag? You know schools over right Stace?"
"Don't be silly Roxanne, of course I know that" Stacey said dismissively.
"So, what's in there? Roxanne questioned.
"You'll see at Alice's"
Shrugging at the vague answer Stacey gave her, Roxanne joined Stacey and the pair of them left the house and started walking down the street, chatting about the school year and Max. Max was Stacey's favorite topic but Roxanne suspected there she was going to be asked more closely at Alice's since Stacey just asked about how he was rather than any probing questions.
So instead, they walked in silence – a rarity from Stacey – until after a few blocks when Alice's house hovered into view, it was a hard house to miss as it was at least twice as big as Roxanne's and with a fresh coat of white paint which made it glare so much that the pair of them winced and shielded their eyes.
Roxanne and Stacey made their way up the stairs and was just about to knock when the door opened before she could do so.
"Roxanne! Stacey! Good to see you!" Alice exclaimed as she threw open the door to greet them.
Like Roxanne, Alice had her own signature look, today it was a yellow sundress and her hair tied back in a ponytail with a gold band keeping it in place, blinding Stacey.
"Oops sorry Stace, sunny day and all" Alice giggled as Stacey squinted elsewhere temporarily impaired of her vision.
"Well come on in!"
Roxane and Stacey followed Alice inside – although Stacey was still blinking rapidly – and got to her room which was covered in Powerline posters, and fully covered too, no inch of her walls was untouched and it climbed nearly to the roof of her A-frame. She even had a carboard cutout of him in the corner of her room.
Stacey whistled.
"Yeah, and I thought I was a fanatic" Stacey remarked.
"What I wouldn't give to go to his concert" Emily said dreamily as she walked into the room "Hey Roxanne, hey Stacey."
Alice swerved around. "I know right! I saw on one of the posters he's only doing the one show in California though"
"Only for this leg, he's going worldwide then back for the rest of America" Stacey said matter of factly.
"You think?"
"I've got one of the posters here" Stacey said as she knelt down to open up her bag, taking out a large rolled up package.
"Where did you get that?" Emily asked.
"Music store, I got on the way to school yesterday when the person there mentioned they had spares, so I asked for one – its going to be decoration for the party"
"Is this why you brought on your bag" Roxanne said, finally understanding.
"Exactly. Now let's have a look" Stacey replied.
The three girls kneeled down around the poster that Stacey had carefully unfurled, on the poster Powerline was in his signature move with his hand in the air and below him, was a picture of the world with a dates and names.
Stacey pointed at Los Angeles first.
"In a weeks' time he plays in L.A, but from there …" Stacey shifted her hand to Europe. "…he plays in pretty much every major city in Europe for a few weeks"
Alice shifted on the floor and looked closer at the dates.
"He goes to a few other random places… looks like the final show on the tour is in Auckland, New Zealand."
Alice looked up.
"So, the last chance we can see him is in New Zealand?"
Emily scoffed.
"No. For starters its on the other side of the world, no chance we would be able to go there, can you see our parents letting us do that? Secondly, there's this" Emily pointed at the bottom of the map
Roxanne leaned in, at the bottom of the poster was some white writing smaller than the rest of the text.
'US DATES COMING SOON'
"Well, we can only hope he comes out our way" Stacey sighed.
"Yeah, wish we could go to Cali for it" Alice repeated.
The three girls sat in a dreamlike state, each of them running through their own imagination that they were able to go to what would be the concert of the century. Roxanne hadn't said too much during the conversation as she was battling some sort of internal debate, should she tell them that Max was going actually going to the concert? That he was going to be on stage for Powerlines final number? Roxanne made up her mind, she took a deep breath.
"Guess what?" Roxanne spoke up
The rest of the girls raised their heads to look at her.
She took another deep breath.
"Max is going to California for it, he's going to the concert and told me yesterday that he's going on stage for the final song because his dad knows Powerline from when they were younger and in school."
Roxanne paused.
"So, he's not coming on Saturday to the party, he'll be at the concert" she added on as an afterthought for Stacey.
The girls stared at her. This was not the reaction Roxanne thought she would get, she had expected them to scream and make a big scene about it considering it concerned not only Max, but Powerline as well.
"What." Alice addressed her bluntly.
"He..uhh.." Roxanne stammered, put on the spot suddenly
Alice silenced her by putting her hand up in front of her and closed her eyes as she spoke again.
"Are you telling me, that, all what you just said, is happening?" Alice asked pinching the bridge of her nose, and then opened her eyes.
Roxanne looks from Stacey, to Emily, to Alice, and nodded.
What followed – shocked her.
"OH MY GOD ROXANNE!"
"HE'S GOING TO POWERRRRRRRRLINEEEEEE!"
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US THIS AT THE START?!"
All three girls exploded and nearly deafened Roxanne.
In spite of her shock, Roxanne couldn't help but raise her hand to her mouth to hide a giggle, especially at Emily who had completely lost her cool and was actually pacing around the room. Of course, because they were making such a commotion that Roxanne couldn't actually tell what any of them were saying. Eventually they calmed down enough to be capable of coherent speech, although Emily had reached a level of indignation that had rendered her incapable of communication.
Stacey went first.
"Okay! Okay. This changes EVERYTHING" She emphasized the last word to prove her point. "People will have to know, this is like, the biggest thing that will ever happen this year and it'll be at MY party this is perfect! This is going to be the best-"
Alice cut her off.
"This is sooooo exciting Roxy! Can you imagine how jealous everyone is going to be? Ughhhh, I already am. Wish I had a boyfriend that did this sort of thing for me."
Roxanne felt the heat rush to her face. Boyfriend?
"Whoa, okay he isn't my boyfriend, he was just going to come with me to the party and be my date for that" Roxanne feebly explained.
Emily gave her a withering look.
"OH, come ON! Who else would do that?" she demanded
"Could he be?" Alice asked thoughtfully.
Roxanne did not answer. The possibility had entered her mind, but she was careful to not get swept up and carried away in the excitement of it all. After all, yesterday morning she didn't even know who Max really was.
Still, she remembered the knot in her stomach during his Powerline reenactment, and the way that she had that feeling whenever she saw him thereafter. Not to mention that every other thought was about Max and yet she knew so little about him…
Luckily for Roxanne, Stacey wasn't particularly interested in this topic for the moment, Max going to be on stage would be the highlight of her party – although there was no doubt it would be brought up again at a later time. The only reason Stacey wasn't pursing this was thing with Roxanne and Max were going well so far, at least from her view.
"Well let's talk about that later. Now! Let's talk about this party, party planning posse assemble!" Stacey happily said as she took her bag and turning it upside down spilling its contents onto the floor.
The rest of the morning and most of the afternoon flew by. Stacey was in her element and being very thorough in her plans – she had the reputation of a good host at parties to uphold – but the temptation of the clear blue skies pulled them out at lunch and made the most of the good weather by going down the road to grab some ice-cream and then lazily like down on the front lawn.
It wasn't until four o'clock that Roxanne finally said goodbye to Alice and Emily and started heading back home, she had to get ready for the dinner party, Stacey didn't need to though, but decided to join Roxanne anyway in walking home. The reason why Stacey decided to accompany Roxanne home became clear to her when she walked quickly in front of Roxanne, turned around, put her arm on a wooden pole, blocking Roxanne's path, and wore a frown on her face.
"What?" Roxanne asked nervously
"Don't 'what?' me. How could you have possibly forgotten to tell me that Max was going to see Powerline on the way over? It's not exactly a small thing, is it?" Stacey accused.
Roxanne looked at Stacey blankly for a couple of seconds and started laughing, Stacey also couldn't help but laugh with her. Stacey drummed her fingers against the pole and the unblocked Roxanne's path joining her at her side slinging her arm over Roxanne's shoulder as they walked on.
A couple of minutes later they reached Roxanne's house and after waving off Stacey, she got back inside, reached her room, and slumped onto her bed. What a day, she thought as she lied there, she was strangely tired despite not having done much physically today, she reasoned that the events recently had drained her.
She didn't know how long she was lying there, it could have been a minute or an hour, until a voice downstairs floated up reaching her.
"Home sweetheart?" her father voice called from the lower levels.
Roxanne gave a start
"Yes daddy" She called back, and reluctantly got up from bed into a sitting position at the side of her bed. He sounded like he was in a good mood, the races must have been good to put him in this state.
Good. We have to leave in an hour to get to Pete's just so you know"
He paused
"I….er…. can't drive today, so we'll be walking, it's a few blocks away so no need for heels if you had a mind to, it's only a BBQ"
Roxanne smiled to herself, so he had a bit to drink at the races, did he? Her father wasn't shy when it came to drinking, although he was very responsible and made it a point to never go too far when it came to Roxanne.
Roxanne went to her wardrobe to have a look of what to wear, after surveying her outfits she decided to go with a black shirt and a pink skirt, it wasn't what she would normally wear but she had to make a bit more of an effort for tonight, although she wouldn't bother with getting her hair done, it was too much effort to even bother with that.
"Time to go! You ready?"
Had it really taken an hour just to get ready?
Roxanne walked down the stairs where her father was waiting, he was still in the same outfit as he had for the races although slightly more disheveled from the day's events.
Roxanne's father gave her an affectionate pat. "Looking good sweetheart, let's get going!"
Roxanne was bored.
There wasn't a single party she knew of well enough to talk to – although she did see Max's friend that had given her a thumbs up yesterday as he walked by her class and helped Max down after the stunt at the auditorium – and the amount of people her own age could be counted on one hand. Her father was talking to Pete, possibly about past high school glories in football, as he was turning over the steaks, although Max's friend – who was also standing there – looked faintly bored as well.
It struck Roxanne that this could be a good opportunity to get to know not only Max's friend and also to learn more about Max himself, so making her way over to the BBQ she thought of various open lines to introduce herself.
"…and this here is my daughter Roxanne" her father finished saying as he saw Roxanne come over, and gestured towards her.
Roxanne didn't know what to do so tried to be as polite as she could be and raised her hand in greeting "Hi!"
Pete casually looked over.
"Hiya Roxanne, pleased to meet ya" he flipped one of the steaks over.
"Your dad has been with me for a while now, how come I'm only meeting you now?" Pete continued, not addressing Roxanne but her father, who shifted in his place slightly.
"Well, not many chances I suppose…"
Pete gave a hearty laugh and flipped another steak over
"Just messin' wit ya, this is my boy P.J"
PJ gave something of a smile and waved at her, which Roxanne returned.
"Why don't ya have a chat amongst yourselves while we finish up on this here BBQ? PJ! Show her around"
Giving half a shrug, PJ took Roxanne and started walking away towards the house, Roxanne wasn't sure how to bring up Max in a direct way since her father was about, so instead she settled for asking more about PJ herself.
"Soooo…nice to meet you Roxanne" PJ said, turning towards her and offering out his hand.
Roxanne took it. "You too, PJ your dad said? Is that short for anything?"
PJ shrugged.
"It's PJ. Pete, but most people think its Pete Junior, which makes more sense too I suppose"
Roxanne smiled.
"I saw you help bring Max down from on stage yesterday, you must be really good friends."
PJ laughed at this.
"Oh man! How good was that? I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but Max pulled it off so well, he was incredible. I heard about you two as well, so it worked a charm" he winked at her.
Roxanne felt herself going red, she was still not used to getting such a large amount of attention from people telling her these sorts of things, the public eye was not really for her. She looked away shyly, twirling her hair, a surefire response to getting nervous as usual.
"Well," she began
PJ looked at her eagerly.
"I mean I did say yes" PJ fist pumped the air. "I did say I was going to go to Stacey's party with him, at least until he said her was going to the concert"
PJ paused in mid celebration and frowned at her.
"He told you he was going to the concert?" he questioned
"Yes, why's that?" she asked curiously, something about his response made her uneasy.
PJ had an odd expression on his face before smiling, the change was so subtle that Roxanne might have imagined it.
"Well yeah of course, what other reason would he have otherwise to not go to Stacey's party? Going to be the talk of the town, I can tell him afterward that we made it" PJ said
He paused.
"He will be anyway, I'm off camping tomorrow so I won't be there either" PJ sighed
"Oh, are you not going?" Roxanne asked.
"Nah, Max wasn't the only one who got in trouble" he laughed nervously.
"My reward for having a hand in this was to be dragged away camping for about a week with my dad, at least the RV will have the kickass TV so I can still watch the show."
Roxanne gelt pity for him, she didn't consider that Max's friends also got in trouble for their part in the stunt, but it cheered her up considerable that he had such good friends willing to go through the trouble for him, goodness knows how inseparable Stacey and herself were for these things. It was good to know that Max had equally good people around him.
"That sucks! I'm sure Stacey will be disappointed that one of her invitees isn't coming" Roxanne consoled.
PJ waved this off
"Doesn't matter, camping won't kill me and with Bobby going she'll have her work cut out with him"
Roxanne laughed at this, she didn't know who Bobby was very well but she had heard from Emily that he had an extreme fascination with cheese and was quite the oddball.
The rest of the evening seemed to go by a bit quicker now that Roxanne had someone to talk to, she spent the evening chatting to PJ about various things like music, school, hobbies, and by the time she left with her father – who was quite tipsy from the day and evening drinking – that she felt like she knew PJ well enough.
Yes, it seemed Max did have some good friends around him she thought as her father clumsily attempted unlocking the door at the house to get inside, or at least the ones she met anyway.
Her father bade her goodnight and started snoring moments later from his room.
Roxanne washed her face and looked in the reflection, and instead of seeing her reflection she saw Max beaming back at her. Smiling back in the mirror and splashing water over her face again she looked up and saw herself.
It had been two days and she couldn't get him out of her mind.
