Thank you everyone who read, and I'm going to try and update as soon as I can every time. This chapter is designed just to introduce most of the cast, so the story won't really go anywhere. The story might be slow like this in the beginning few chapters, but it'll pick up.
Papersak: Thanks for being the first to review. The whole Evil-Zukin thing is definitely something I might think about. As for Alice, she could be upbeat, but I didn't really go into much detail about her personality. Thanks for your suggestions, and I hope you enjoy the story.
Paul: The story's chapter titles are songs from the mix or mixes corresponding to the part (or season) of the story that I'm on. The titles of the songs, the lyrics, or the overall tone of music (sad, happy, ETC,) would tell a reader how it fit together with the story. Now, I'm not going to use every song title, or I'd be looking at a story of over two-hundred plus chapters, not to mention about eight of them involving the Paranoia remixes. Thanks for reading and taking the time to review, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter Two: Let's Get Down
The sun was bright on what seemed to be a great day. A few people were even in line for an ice cream thanks to the weather. It wasn't really hot, but the warmth still made people crave it. The streets weren't that crowded due to the fact that most of the kids were still in school. It was a shame that a warm day like this wouldn't be seen again for a very long time.
Tracy, a young girl who was just out of high school last year was walking down the street. Her shoes made a clack noise on the cement as she walked, and she held a handbag in her left hand. She was wearing an outfit that very few people could pull off, (a green vest-type shirt that was unbuttoned and went down to her knees, a rainbow headband, a top of the same color, and a skirt with the pattern repeating) and her hoop earrings might have been considered out of style if they weren't on her.
The bag in her hand began to vibrate, and Tracy opened it to grab the source of the noise. A sleek cell-phone was flicked open and placed against her ear. A deep voice called out from the other side, and she recognized it immediately.
"Hey!" Tracy said cheerfully. The caller responded with something that only Tracy could hear (she wasn't the type to keep her phone loud for no reason), and she responded. "Of course I can be there! Eight, right?"
A few more words were exchanged before Tracy smiled and hung up the phone. It looked like tonight was going to be fun. She was going to meet up with a few people, and finally do something. It had been at least two weeks before the last time she'd gone to the club.
Zippering her handbag again, she continued to walk down the street, enjoying one of the last warm days of the year.
A young woman sat on a fine white couch in her apartment. She hadn't had the place for long, but it already felt kind of crowded with everything she owned. She was sliding on one of her knee-high boots. A little bit above those, a white long sleeved-shirt that cut off at the thigh wrinkled as she bent. She wore hoop earrings, and a small bandanna tightly tied to keep the hair in place.
A little while ago, she had gotten a call on her cell. It was a voice that she recognized well, and that person had told her that they were going to the club that night. She had agreed, and was getting ready early. Since it was a Monday night, there wouldn't really be any young kids. They were kind of annoying. Always trying to show off their moves and impress everyone else. Why couldn't they just be relaxed like herself?
The woman grabbed her cell phone and pushed it into a secure pocket. A quick look in the mirror revealed her beauty, and the fact that her hair was still perfect. Smiling, Janet grabbed her keys and left the apartment, closing the door behind her.
A man with a large purple afro ended the conversation he had just had with his girl, Tracy. He smiled a little, and held a wine-glass full of a fizzing soda in his left hand. He sat in a grey-leather chair, and wore a purple suit.
"Hey, Boldo, le' me call Janet with your phone."
Boldo, who was smiling as usual, stared at the person sitting next to him. Another man around his age, though probably younger, with tied hair and sunglasses held out his hand.
"Why do you never bring your own phone?" he asked. But he wasn't expecting an answer, and handed the man who called himself Dread-Snake the phone. Boldo watched as he punched in the numbers, and waited for him to finish his call. From Dread-Snake's look, Janet had said yes too.
Boldo grinned again and took a sip from his glass. Looked like they were all going to be at the club tonight.
Emi walked towards the sidewalk in front of the school from a cement walkway leading away from the school. As to avoid another accident, a certain binder was held in her hands instead of inside her backpack. School didn't let out for another two hours, but she was sick. Unfortunately, the only way for her to get home at this time was to walk.
There was another sound. It sounded like someone running behind her. Emi turned around, and felt instantly nervous. Rage had gym today, and she just had to leave while he was outside.
Emi wasn't avoiding Rage for any negative reason, but purely for the fact that she thought she had made an idiot of herself on Saturday. Now he was running towards her. What if he asked about the way she acted that night?
"Hey," greeted Rage, finally standing next to her. "Teacher thinks I'm getting a drink. So, what's going on?"
Emi would've loved to respond with something smart, while keeping her cool. Instead of the words she searched for coming out, a cough filled her throat. Rage smiled a little. Well, not really a smile. It was more of a half-hearted look. In honesty, he looked kind of depressed.
"Well, I was going to invite you to the club again tonight," Rage stopped for a second to let a fit of coughs from Emi pass by. "Guess we can always go some other night. I'll see you later," He sprinted back towards his gym class, and Emi just stood there.
Now she was depressed. Rage was actually asking her out again, and she was sick. "Stupid immune system," she muttered. She turned to leave, thinking that she had seen Rage glaring angrily at her binder.
"Here you go, and thank you for choosing Ultra Pizza!" The speaker gave the routine smile that was due when talking to a customer. The customer, in turn, dropped a coin in the cup labeled 'tips'. The original speaker kept smiling, but opened her eyes, so as to know when the customer finally left the pizza place. She picked up the cup.
The girl had long green hair pulled down on two sides by a hat with the word 'pizza' in italicized print. Most of her clothing was silver, and the remainder was green, excluding the few yellow buttons higher up on the sleeveless one-piece outfit. A tag near her chest read 'Hello, my name is Charmy'.
This wasn't her actual name, but who wanted everyone to know that long thing? So whenever she introduced herself, she was Charmy.
Charmy bit her upper lip in aggravation. "Thanks!" she muttered, staring at the new dime in the cup. She didn't have a rude or negative personality, but seeing only a dime in the cup got her angry. The customer might as well not have even left anything!
Normally, Charmy worked the outside lot, and brought pizzas to customer's cars by rollerblade. As surprised as she was when she found out that places still did this, it surprised her even more the two times she had fallen while bringing an order. She was pretty good at rollerblading. The first time she fell was from her having to use the store's uneven skates because she forgot hers at home. The second time, she could swear she was tripped, but only the snot-nosed kid leaning near a car would know for sure.
School let out about forty-five minutes ago, and she had a shift right after today. She was sixteen, and a junior at a high school a little ways down the road. She started this job a few months ago, shortly after she turned sixteen. The job itself, though, was really boring when she wasn't on rollerblades, and the total tip of one fifty-two didn't help things.
Oh well. In about two more hours, she could get home and grab a few things before meeting her friend at the club. Astro, as he called himself, wore an outfit that, together, made them look like some kind of space patrol team. In fact, that was what they called themselves whenever the club held a partner dancing competition.
Just a little while longer, and she'd be having fun.
Izam threw on his headwear, and bent over to lace up the work boots he was wearing.
"Are you ready yet?" asked a girl near the door to his house. Her name was Ni-Na, and she had been going out with Izam for a while now. She was wearing a bandana that tied her deep blue hair back, a blue top, and off-white pants with a pink sweater tied around her waist.
The two had met at the club several months ago. Ni-Na was sitting with her friends from school, and Izam noticed her as he was sitting at a table a little to the right. As he walked towards Ni-Na's table, one of her friends pointed him out, and must have said something funny, because they were all laughing.
They hit it off, and now they were where they were today. They were getting ready to go to the mall for Ni-Na to look at cloths, and then to the place where they first met. Izam's parents weren't going to be home for a while, so they wouldn't know the difference of him going somewhere on a Monday.
Izam grinned when he finished the other boot, and stood up. He walked over to Ni-Na, who started a staring match, and then lost when she started laughing. They walked out of the house, locking the door behind them.
Tracy sat in the back seat of a black sports car. Next to her, Boldo was occasionally giving directions to the driver, Dread-Snake. In front of her was Janet, looking like she was loaded.
Tracy was staring out the window to her left, and smiling. Going out was always exciting. Especially when it was Dance Dance Revolution. There were always so many unique people at this place. Every style of people and personalities assembled here. This was probably thanks to the practically random music mix.
The car finally pulled into a spot, and they got out. Tracy left her handbag in the car. She didn't want to be carrying it inside a club, and there was always the chance of loosing it.
There was a crowd standing in front of the club. Why people would wait outside when the music and everything was on the inside confused her, but she didn't give much thought. Hell, the others didn't even notice.
The sound of a heavy beat filled Tracy's ears when she entered the club. Definitely not one for her style, or any of the others. Sitting at the closest table, they ordered a round of drinks, and waited.
Charmy walked into the club smiling. She hadn't been here in a while, and it felt great to get back together with a few friends. Her first objective was to find Astro. A quick surveillance of her environment told her that he was sitting at their table.
This was one of the tables that most people didn't sit at because they were darker and kind of shoved in a corner. That was fine. This way, they always had a place to sit. Astro already had a half-empty drink in front of him. When he noticed Charmy, he waved her over.
Charmy took a seat in front of him. "How was work?" he asked, and laughed at Charmy's expression. "That bad, huh?"
"You have no idea," she responded. Charmy stuck her hand in a small pocket on her side, and came out holding about two dollars in coins. In response to Astro's 'what's that?' look, Charmy spoke. "This is every customer I had today's idea of a tip," Astro laughed a little, and motioned for her to sit down.
They talked for a little bit, trying to decide whose job was more aggravating, and when it looked like Charmy was going to win, Astro changed topic. "Need a drink?" Charmy thought for a little.
The only thing she really had to drink since lunch was a soda she stole from the fridge at her work. Nodding, she watched Astro get up to head over towards the counter. To Charmy, his voice was inaudible, and anyway, listening to him would be pointless. He knew her favorite drink and would let the people know if they didn't order the right thing.
As the beat of the song slowed to a slower pace before its end, Charmy's ears seemed to pay extra attention to the music. When another genre came on that she didn't care much for, she decided to just wait a while longer. Some time tonight they had to play music she wanted to hear, and all she had to do was wait.
Izam came into the club right when a song he particularly liked was playing. Wanting to go straight to the dance floor, he was depressed when Ni-Na dragged him towards one of the few open tables left.
The club was kind of crowded for a Monday, and that was a little aggravating, but still, at least he was here. And with Ni-Na. Speaking of which, she was sitting down at the table and had pulled out a small mirror. She was using it to help her apply some red lipstick.
Izam decided not to bring up the topic of why she only put it on when she was here, and instead, listened with depression as his favorite song came to an end. Some of the people who had been on the dance floor were getting off, while others continued to move about despite the lack of music.
Smooth R&B came on, and several other people came on to the floor, and a couple of people looked like they were getting ready, and others rolled their eyes at the music choice of the DJ. Izam figured they had showed up too late for him to have fun on the dance floor, and instead ordered a round of nachos. Ni-Na smiled, and reached for a chip.
"Now hold on," started Izam, trying to look serious. "Are going to pay for half? Or just eat the majority and leave the bill on me?" Ni-Na answered by staring back just as seriously, and eating another chip. Izam sighed a little, and grabbed a few for himself. Well, at least he could spend time with Ni-Na.
Ni-Na lived on the other side of town, and with how their schedules worked, they rarely both got to go to the club. It was nice when they did though, excluding the bill. Izam smiled, and Ni-Na struck up a conversation.
Janet smiled as the new type of music started to play. R&B. It was time for her to move. She walked up to the dance floor, entirely aware that her friends were watching her intently, waiting to see her dance.
Janet's style was as smooth and fluent as the music, and every move seemed to blend together with the rest, and soon some of the other dancers stopped to watch her go. She was definitely a good dancer. No one could argue against that.
By the time the song was coming to a close, over half the club was watching. Janet finished up her routine and moved calmly back towards her table. She became confused by her friend's expressions, and when Tracy finally pointed behind Janet, she turned around. Seeing the crowd, Janet said only one thing.
"Damn," she said, watching them watch her. Tracy laughed a little, and went back to her drink. Janet laughed a little as all her friends started to laugh. She checked her watch. In a few hours, it might be smart for her to go home, but not until then. She was having too much fun.
In turn, when Charmy and Astro got their chance to dance, everyone watched them. Izam was practically the only one who had missed out on his chance. As the hours counted by, the club started to clear out.
Charmy and Astro were the first to go. Shortly after, Izam and Ni-Na decided to grab an ice cream (store hours allowing), and Tracy and friends left last out of the entire club. It was getting late, and they decided to just drive home.
Rage was sitting in his house, wondering why he had decided not to go to the club. Trying to hold in a yawn, he glanced at the clock in his room. It was near midnight. Maybe he had better get to sleep.
Why hadn't he gone to the club just because Emi couldn't go? He had only been on one date with her. Why was she even on his mind right now? At the very least, he did have to admit she was interesting.
Rage slowly drifted to sleep with his mind on the girl he went out with on Saturday, and his dreams were occupied with her too.
There's another chapter! And only one day later then the deadline I set for myself. The story will definitely move faster as I get along with the chapters.
Please Review!
Sorry this chapter wasn't as long as the first. The next chapter should be up in one week by the latest. It's not like I can forget, I have people in my school that will attack me if I take to long! See you next time!
