Thank you BlackoutHart for your constant dedication. And yes, I would like to talk to your Slade-ish brothers.

Chapter 14:

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."- Roald Dahl

"MCARTHUR!" shouted Taty.

West looked over at her. "What?"

"YOU ARE DEJECTED, UNDERSTAND? You're the PHANTOM and Christine loves RAOUL not you! Now act sad! You're not conveying your emotions to the audience!"

Sarah threw a look at West. Ignore her.

West threw one back. Will do.

"Kaplan!" Taty continued to roar, "Start again!"

Sarah rolled her eyes and smiled quickly at West. Then she looked over at Paul. He stood there.

West watched as she tapped his shoulder. West looked at Paul. "I think it's time for you to start."

"Oh, right," Paul said hurriedly. He stood straight up next to Sarah, and put on a convincing face of concern.

No more talk of darkness,

Forget these wide eyed fears.

I'm here, nothing can harm you…

My words will warm and calm you.

Let me be your shelter,

Let daylight dry your tears

I'm here, right her beside you

To guard you and to guide you…

Sarah looked at him with her huge clear eyes and West felt like someone had punched him.

He had to tell her… now.

They finished off with:

Love me -
that's all I ask
of you…

And then they kissed. Sarah kissed Paul this time. West felt like dying. Only it was his turn next, and he knew exactly how the poor phantom felt.

I gave you my music…
made your song take wing…
and now, how you've
repaid me:
denied me
and betrayed me…
He was bound to love you
when he heard you sing…

He had to tell her. Soon. Now. It didn't matter, but she had to know.

"Perfect!" Taty yelped. "You're amazing West! You captured the emotions perfectly! I told you it was in you!"

I didn't want to know it was in me… he thought. I could have gone on without knowing it. I love her.

One thought kept on coming back in his mind. I even thought I had a chance.

Practice was over, but West didn't seem to realize this until almost everybody was gone. Everything seemed hazy and rushed, like a dream, only this time he wasn't in it.

He managed to pull himself together and got off the stage, following Sarah's blonde head.

He tapped her on the shoulder. "Sarah," he started. "I need to tell you something."

xxx

"Hey," Alek said, quickly waving at Bay, who was sitting at his counter. He was used to having her around now; Mrs. Murray, Alek's mother, had hired Bay as a baby-sitter, "she's such a cute little girl!"

Not as if Bay needed the money or anything. Her dad was the millionaire. But she seemed to need something to do—and money wasn't going to buy it.

It didn't take Alek too long to realize what it was. Friendship, love. Bay needed friends. She needed to be loved. It seemed almost ironic to Alek, (whose family was sort of dirt-poor), that although Bay seemed to have everything, he had more than she did.

Mr. Lohemann never spent any time with her, while Alek, his mother, and Nikki spent a whole lot of their time together. Alek had always taken it for granted, seeing that his mother always said, "Family comes first."

Sure, sometimes he wished they had a little more money, but Mr. Murray already worked hard enough, and Alek didn't want to be ungrateful. He realized that he did love spending time with his family more.

He wanted more family time, and he realized that was the reason he had even signed up at the ice cream shop in the first place.

Bay was making Nikki an ice cream sundae, which she promptly grabbed and threw at Bay's face. Alek tried not to laugh, but he couldn't help it, and pretty soon he was pounding his fist on the table in laughter.

Bay turned around and dropped the rest of the ice cream from the container on Alek's head, and he didn't think it was so funny anymore. Pretty soon, they were all throwing food around, (Nikki included), until Mrs. Murray came in and started screaming at them. She set them all to picking up stuff, (even Bay: "I don't care if you're the daughter of a millionaire! You caused this mess!"). Alek threw a quick smile at Bay, and she smiled back.

She's not bad, he thought. She's not bad at all.

xxx

Jorge got out of bed and pushed his hair out of his eyes. He flexed in the mirror, imagining what his friends would think.

Jason would laugh, Alek would challenge him, flexing too, and West would call him, "b-e-a-utiful."

Jorge pulled on the traveling jacket and headed down the stairs. Julie was back, and Jorge hadn't asked her about her dad. She's probably be too nervous to talk about it. And sad for that matter.

"Hey Jorge," Connor said, a silly, floppy looking grin on his face, "I'm taking Julie to her hockey game. Do you want to come?"

Jorge felt a pang of sadness. He played hockey, and his dad had never taken him. Why was he taking someone he barely knew? Julie threw Jorge a sympathetic but pleading look and glanced at Connor with disgust. I want you there, her eyes seemed to say. Please Jorge.

"I guess," he muttered. He'd go for Julie's sake. Not for Connor's. For Julie's.

It was awkward in the car. Extremely quiet, and Jorge hugged the jacket closer to him. Connor looked like he was going to ask him what it was about, but he decided not to, after the angry glance Jorge threw at him.

They finally reached their destination—some rink, where Julie climbed out of the car, followed by Jorge, who was followed by Connor.

Julie got all her equipment on, and climbed into the rink, deftly skating away. She was good, Jorge noticed. It was sort of surprising. Julie didn't actually look like the person built for hockey. She was stocky, but she had this weird wiry way of moving… a sort of weird rippling, skating-looking style, even off the ice.

Jorge turned to Connor to ask what position Julie played, but it was almost obvious as she reached the goal. Goalie.

He watched as the other team advanced, and Julie managed to deflect all of the attempted shots. She was good.

A man sitting on the bench next to Connor turned and asked, "Which one's yours?"

Connor looked even more nervous than usual. He paused, and finally said, "Julie. The goalie."

The guy looked at Connor. "She's a great player."

Connor shrugged, as if embarrassed to show too much about how proud he was. The exact portrait of a parent. "Thanks."

Jorge felt hiding in a corner and never coming out. He hated this. He hated being ignored more than anything else. He felt like he didn't exist, and he didn't want that. He was tired of it. He didn't want that anymore.

Luckily, he and Julie were still carrying out their little plan to give him exactly what he wanted. Because Jorge always got exactly what he wanted.

xxx

Jason was avoiding Becky at all costs. The bad thing was that she kept on appearing out of nowhere. It was actually extremely freaky.

He was leaving breakfast, and she would jump out of nowhere. He would come back from the rink with his skateboard, and there she was in the doorway of the building. He'd be walking with Pat, and she'd come out from behind a wall.

Then one day, he walked out of the boys' room, and she was standing there as if minding her own business.

That's when he started to think she was a stalker.

"Would you please just leave me alone?" he asked her one day. Straightforward, that was the only way Jason knew how to do things. Either straight out, or hiding it—where no one took him seriously.

"Why?" she asked in that dangerous tone of hers. "I think I really like you Jason."

"I don't really… I don't really…" Jason hated himself for being such a coward, but he couldn't tell her that he hated her, could he?

"You're going out with Frankie," he finished lamely.

"Well, I like having more than one guy," she said simply. "And you're one of the ones I like."

And before he knew what she was doing, she had grabbed him and pressed her lips hard against his. He tried to push her away, but was afraid to hurt her.

She continued to kiss him until she was suddenly pulled away, and all Jason saw was a fist.

"Escalante. You're going to pay," muttered an angry Frankie, dragging his protesting girlfriend away.

Great. Now he was going to die.

Dear Jason,

Here's the jacket. I hope you're not dead yet.

West told me about Becky. Your friend, right? Yeah, sure.

Well, nothing's happened much except for my dad being stupid and Kathy being stupid and Julie's friends laughing at me and calling me cute. Don't worry. I'm not interested in them.

So, I bet you'll do a great job with this jacket… better than I did at least. Don't say no, I know you are.

Yeah. That's it. Call me if you need anything.

Love you,

Jorgie

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