(A/N: Its here! Sorry that took a while!)
"So anyway, Josh came out, Julie took off, Matt's flunking gym, Carrie's got a new nose, and Tim was sent to LoserVille. So, basically, nothing out of the ordinary happened since you moved." Alex said as she took some of Brent's fries.
"Hey!" he objected, reaching over to take them back.
"Mine!" Alex shouted before stuffing them in her mouth.
Jo laughed at the sight.
"Would you like my soda with that?" Brent asked.
"Actually, yes I would!" Alex grinned and grabed his coke.
"Hey, Hey, HEY!!!!" Brent grabbed it back. Alex laughed, as did the others. Then she slinged her arm around Jo's shoulder "Ah, just like old times, eh?"
"Yes" Jo smiled.
"So how long are you staying, Alex?" Marco asked.
"Not TOO long…" Brent said.
"Well, if you're going to be snippy, Brent…I'll just have to lengthen my stay." Alex grinned. "Y'know…to add into the next two MONTHS!"
"Oh no…"
"Oh YES!" Alex rubbed her hands together with an evil glint in her eyes.
"Well I'M happy you're here!" said Jo as she hugged Alex "Things may finally look up for me."
"Things HAVE been looking up for you, hun." Paige said.
"And now you can kiss the sky!" said Alex "She's right, you've always had so much going for you."
"Yes but the past few days…" Jo stopped.
"Hm?"
"Jo, if its Spinner you're worried about, forget him!" said Marco
"Yeah, he's just being a jerk!" said Ash.
Alex was beginning to worry slightly, sounded like somebody was giving Jo a whole lot of crap. "Ahem…'Spinner'? I hope that's not his REAL name…"
"Uh no…" said Marco.
"He has ADD and if he doesn't take his medicine…heh, well need I say more?" said Paige.
Alex chuckled "No, no, I get it. So, Mr. ADD is buggin you, Jo-chan?"
"He's been quite the dork towards her" Paige said before Jo could say anything "and I don't know why…"
"Yeah, well…" Jo suddenly found it much harder to breath.
'Uh-oh.' Alex could sense her uneasiness 'So she hasn't told her new girlfriends yet…'
"Wait a minute" Brent said "Jo, who is this guy?"
'Uh-oh, angry big brother to the rescue…' Alex thought.
'God, me and my big mouth, I should never I have brought up my troubles…' thought Jo.
'Is she feeling ok? I hope she's not sick…' thought Ashley.
'If I find out who this dude is, and if he's hurting her, I'm going to raise him right off the-'
"So!" said Marco, interrupting everyone's thoughts "Have you guys figured out a song for the show yet?"
"Ooo, a show? Let's hear all about it! Tell me out!" Alex smiled.
"It's a Talent Show, no biggy…" said Jo.
"Hugey!" said Paige "Its going to be great! Me on guitar, Ashley on keyboard and our fabulous lead vocalist!"
Jo sipped her cola.
"Yay!" Alex clapped her hands "Well I'm jealous! I haven't been on stage for like…EVER!"
"You didn't do 'Fiddler on the Roof'?" Jo asked.
"Nope. Waiting for Peter Pan."
"Well to answer your question, Marco, no we haven't come up with a song yet."
"Yeah," Ash sighed "I've seemed to have lost touch with my muse lately…"
"Can I help?" Alex asked.
"Sure can!"
"And the costumes are finally finished!" Marco announced.
"Ahh!" Paige hugged Marco "I love you!"
"Yup, I know."
"Jo the show will be awesome!" Ashley smiled. Jo smiled too.
"Any ideas Alex?"
"Hmm…well, first I'd like to see what you three can do…but I have an idea."
"The gym is probably open, we can set up and show you after we're through here." said Jo. "Mind dropping us off Brent?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"No."
"Ok then."
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Brent drove them to up to the school and Alex hopped out first. "Wow…niiice."
"You girls be home, around 5!" Brent called out from the car as they all went up the steps.
"We will, luv you Brent!" Jo called back and they all went inside, and Brent drove off.
For the time being Jo decided she was going to forget her Spinner problems completely and concentrate on Alex, her friends and her music. So far she's proved to be a very relaxed, confident person. The last thing she wanted to be was a whiny worry wart. So they went into the gym where they started to set up the instruments. Alex helped Ash with her keyboard, Jo put up the microphones, Marco set up the speakers and Paige tuned her guitar.
"Hey, mind if I try something?" Alex asked Ashley as she turned on the keyboard.
"Sure, be my guest." said Ashley.
"Hmm…let's see if I remember how to do this…can you change the pitch to sound like an organ?" Alex looked at all the buttons.
"Yeah, this button here…" Ashley pressed it.
Alex pressed a few random keys, hearing the sounds of a great organ and smiled. Then started playing the theme to "The Phantom of the Opera".
Jo stopped what she was doing. Oh how she missed that music. As Alex continued to play, she started humming the words. Everyone else stopped to listen.
"The Phantom of the opera is there…" she gave them a crazy wild eye as she sang the last line in a really creepy way "…inside your mind…"
Jo giggled and smiled. Alex then made a gesture to Jo "Sing for me, my angel of music!" she said.
"He's there…the Phantom of the Opera…"Jo sang then started to vocalize.
"Yes, sing!" Alex was having a grand old time at the keyboard. As Jo continued to sing, Ashley was thinking. Paige was too "Ashley come here…"
"Isn't she great?" Ashley said as she stepped over to the guitarist. "This music is awesome!"
"I know…" Paige said.
"I was thinking, Paige…we haven't come up with a song and we don't have much time."
"Yeah?"
"And ya know what would be interesting…" Ashley looked over to Jo who was coming to the climax of the song.
"Well the music would need a little tweak but…" Paige grinned. And they both stepped over to the keyboard where Alex was still playing. Jo laughed "I haven't heard this in such a long time! I really miss it."
"I like it!" said Ashley.
"Its from the musical "The Phantom of the Opera" one of the best shows!" said Alex and hit a few more keys.
"Ya know what Jo?" Ashley asked.
"What?"
"I think we found our song…"
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That evening Jo lay awake in bed. She still had a lot on her mind. She sighed.
"Don't bother trying to keep quiet luv…" said a voice on the floor "If your gunna stay awake, we might as well talk."
Jo turned over on her side. Alex was lying in her sleeping bag on the floor, she hadn't slept either but not for any reason, she just chose to stay awake. Alex propped herself up on her elbow to face her redheaded friend. "What's on your mind."
"Paige." Jo said simply, with no shame. Alex never had a problem with Jo being lesbian so she always trusted her.
Alex smiled, though Jo couldn't tell in the dark. "You gunna go for it?"
"You have no idea how much I want to…"
"What's keeping you then?"
"She's straight." Jo sighed "Pitty…"
"Heh, want to show her a wild time, don't ye?" Alex chuckled.
"Shut up!" Jo laughed and tossed a pillow at the brunette. "Oh but she's soooo cute!"
"Eh…not bad for a girl." Alex lay back down. "But about her being straight, are you certain?"
"She has a boyfriend, Alex…"
"Yeah but are you sure? I've seen how she looked at you earlier…"
"What do you mean?" Jo leaned in closer.
"When you were singing, she was looking at you like you were indeed an angel." Alex said, her tone more serious than usual.
"Really?" Jo laid back and stared at the ceiling. "Wish it were true…sometimes when I'm around her…I just felt so close…I could almost kiss her..."
Alex sighed "Well Jo this is a dilemma."
"I know, I don't know what to do…my mind just…tells me to back off." she couldn't explain it in words.
"…and your heart? What of that?" Alex asked.
Jo had no words for her.
"Sometimes, Jo, you've just got to go for the kill." Alex turned over and said no more.
Jo closed her eyes, and let sleep take over, Alex's last words still lingering in her ears.
(A/N: Don't bash me! I know this took forever! I'm sorry! But I did it! And the next chapter is swimming in my head as we speak! Review! I love you all and thank you so much! Your encouragement means the world to me! )