This came from me being teased at school. Yeah.
Disclaimer: I don't own RENT or the lines to "Another Girl, Another Planet."
Another Girl, Another Planet
By Donna
I think I'm on another planet with you,
I'm on another planet with you
-Another Girl, Another Planet, Blink-182 Cover
Parks were always a trusty use of entertainment. They were always there, most of the time open, and free, perfect for the couple living off a rather unpredictable college professor and a street preforming drag queen. To them, nothing beat a day of walking down the long crooked sidewalk, fingers laced, looking at each other like there wasn't a care in the world. Let's face it, even the homeless guy sitting on the bench talking to himself thought they were crazy.
But it didn't matter to them. Because there were so many things being able to happen to them now. Tom Collins, whom hid behind technology and his intellect in order to avoid most human contact and Angel Dumott-Schunard, who was left to sew her heart back together after being ripped apart from family and lovers, met and their little broken hearts were molded together and became one. Which was the simplistic way of putting it. And for simple reasoning came simple pleasures.
"Look, Tom!" Angel exclaimed, pulling his hand toward the direction of a swingset. "The swings are open! Those greedy little bastards aren't..." She looked at a woman with a stroller. "...Oops... well, they're open! Come on!"
Collins sighed. Sometimes Angel had the mentality of those "greedy little bastards" that constantly took the very few moveable swings in the general area. At least she could share. They waited for hours until those "greedy little bastards" got off those swings, but they never did. So this was entirely a moment of triumph for his girl.
Angel pulled him to the swingset. She inspected each one, inspecting for the notorious bird poo, and sat down on one, smoothing her skirt against her backside. "Perfect," she said, clearly too big for the swing.
Collins tried to resist laughing. "Sweetie, you're too big."
"Yeah, oh well," Angel said, pushing back and forth into the woodchips. "God, I loved these things when I was little. You ever jump?"
"Jump?"
"Yeah, jump. Like you'd pump really hard and when you got high you pushed yourself off the swing and you would land, hopefully. I always got yelled at by the teachers for that. I'm sure you did it once or twice."
"I dunno... the swings were kinda girly in my school..."
Angel made a face.
"Oh... right." He snickered.
Angel began to pump. "Anyway," she said, trying to keep her voice loud enough for him to hear, "I always wanted one. Or a tire. Or something. My dad never got me one."
Collins watched her swing back and forth. "Careful. Don't go jumping now."
"Bet ya I can do it."
"Please... don't."
Angel looked around. She gulped. There was a pair of blonde girls coming their way. They were clearly lost. This wasn't the first time that anyone was lost and misled to anywhere near Alphabet City, and surely not one of the first times Angel contemplated helping these poor, misfortune souls, but they didn't exactly look friendly. At least to the likes of Angel and Collins. It was still brisk out and they stood in itty-bitty mini skirts and heels that could only hold people of their build. Angel stopped pumping and tried to not prejudge. She knew better than to do that, seeing as though she was a victim of it herself, but those blonde women with their c-cups and whale tails always gave her that "don't even try" look that made Angel squirm.
"...you sure this is the right direction!" one of them asked. Angel called her Blondie because of her white-blonde locks.
"What are you..." Collins started.
"Shh!" Angel hushed.
"...that's what that guy said! You know, that creepy one!" the other said. Angel called her Diva because of her bright, glittery top that had "diva" written across it.
"Let's ask someone else!" Blondie begged.
"No! I mean... who?" Diva asked.
"Why not that girl over there? She seems somewhat normal."
Angel smirked. If only they knew.
"Uhm... Helen?"
"What, Joan?"
"That's a guy."
"Are you serious!"
"Yeah... let's get out of here..."
Angel got off the swing and sighed. Time to get into action. "Hey, you need help?"
"Uhm, no thank you," Joan said, talking very quickly, "We... we just need to get... uhm... no!"
"Honey, you're clearly lost. I swear, we won't bite. We'll get you out of here. Promise." She looked at Collins in hope of him backing her up. Collins nodded. "Yeah. Where are you trying to go?"
We were looking for this boutique, right?" Joan said, looking directly at Collins and trying not to look at Angel, "And for whatever reason we just didn't turn at the right place and... yeah. We're lost. You're right."
"What're you looking for?"
"Uhm... what's the name of the place... Ava's."
"I don't know where that is... Angel, do you know?"
"Yeah. Follow me."
It wasn't that far away from where they were and were there in a relatively short amount of time. The girls were thankful, smiling and saying, "Wow... aren't we morons..." They laughed nervously and waved goodbye.
Angel grabbed Collins' wrist and said, "Come on. Let's go."
Collins began to laugh. "Is it me, or are you jealous?"
"Huh?"
"You had that look on your face. You looked ready to slit their throats with their press-on nails. What's up?"
Angel shook her head. "I'm not jealous."
"Even the most pretty and perfect person in the world gets a little jealous of someone. What is it?"
Angel ignored him.
"You can't avoid it. What ticked you off? Their shoes? Those had to have been about a hundred dollars... and their purses... oh, five hundred easily..."
"Are you trying to make me feel like shit!"
"I'm trying to get an answer out of you. What's up?"
Angel grabbed a lightpole and spun around. "I am jealous."
Collins caught her before she spun too hard. "Uh huh."
Angel put her hands over his. "I'm jealous that they have those shoes, those frames, those boobs, those noses, those bags, those eyes... I'm jealous of them. Are you happy?"
"Not quite. Why?"
Angel began to walk across the curb. "Because I want that! I get sick of glueing my shoes together, having my shoulders too big, and being too tall for half the outfits I want. It sucks. Have you ever wanted to be something you weren't?"
"I wanted to be a wolf."
"Collins... be serious."
"I am. I wanted to be a wolf. Because they're nasty sons of a bitches. They could take care of themselves, and if they wanted to they could go in packs and take down some thing twice their size. I don't know if you noticed this, but I'm shy as hell. I studder during class sometimes. I know I talk weird. I know I am weird in general. If I was a wolf, and you gave me shit, I could bite your face off."
Angel sighed.
Collins held her close. "Look, Ang, as far as I'm concerned, you don't need to be like those girls. Besides, if you did you'd lose anything that ever made you beautiful in the first place. Like when we met. If you were one of those girly-girls you won't go off and drum. That'd be 'icky' for you. Getting dirty and being alone on Christmas. Not a girly-girl thing. We'd never meet. And, come on, I'm more fun than mister Macho Man, am I right?"
Angel giggled. "Yeah... I guess you're right..."
"And besides, you are beautiful. Even Mark and Roger get a little nervous when you're around."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. Mark gets red sometimes. Roger's got that scared, 'should I be doing this?' look."
"So they're scared of me."
"No! No! Not at all! Trust me. I've known them for years." He kissed her cheek.
"Those girls really hated me," Angel murmured, "Like... not like Roger or Mark or anyone... they didn't even look at me."
"Because you're different. And different is bad for them. Let's face it. We know they're talking shit about us. Be it because of your shoulders or my speech. But it doesn't matter, baby. I laugh at them."
"Why?"
"Because they may laugh at us for being different, but I laugh at them for being the same."
Angel snickered. "I think you got that from a bumpersticker." She kissed him on the lips. Collins kissed back.
And from what they felt they were thrown on another planet where they were the only ones present. And dammit, it was good.
END