I have spent the last two periods editing and proofreading the chapters so it better be all good. Okay. Read & Review.

Without Warning

Roger woke up to the sound of loud laughter in the alley next to the window. Roger slowly stood up. The floorboard creaked under his weight. He peeked out the window and saw a couple of young girls.

One of the girls with blonde hair threw her head back and laughed. For a second, Roger swore that it was a young version of April.

"Davis," yelled Roger's drummer Chris Machey. "We're on stage in two minutes get ready.

Roger stood in the bathroom, staring at his reflection. His short blonde hair was spiked up. His black t-shirt was ripped. His jeans had many bleach stains on them. He stared down at his dusty, dirty boots. This was the way he dealt with nerves, he inspected himself. He began playing with his hair. When he was done, he turned around. On the wall was a poster that sponsored his band. He was standing in the center, holding his beloved guitar. His friend stood next to him, holding drumsticks, and his other friend Jack Mortel stood in the background, with a guitar. The three men were friends from High School and decided to put a band together. They only got as far as small bar gigs, but Roger was still having fun. He loved the thrill of being onstage and singing his feelings. Tonight they were going to try out a new song called, "This Girl." It was about this girl that was driving this guy crazy. All that the guy in the song could do was, think about her. Roger never had that feeling, but he knew one day he would. He would always tell himself it wasn't the right time for a girlfriend, not when his career was just about to blossom. Suddenly, he heard the crowd roar and they began chanting his name. He turned on his heel and left the bathroom.

He got onto the stage. The bright lights hit his face, but he loved the warmth of being noticed. The music kicked up and the drums started banging. Roger started playing his guitar in unison with Jack. He was suddenly lost in the music. He would flash the audience a flashy smile every once in a while, but he never really paid attention to the audience. During his solo on the guitar, he looked out at the audience and saw a blonde haired, skinny girl, smiling and staring at him. She was holding a cigarette between her fingers and tapping her foot to the beat of the music.

The song ended as Roger sang out, "I'm talking about this girl……." Roger, Chris, and Jack began to pack up their equipment as half the people made their way to the bar and the other half left. A large group of girls hung around by the stage, offering to buy the band drinks. Roger smiled at them, but made his way to the back of the bar, in search of that girl he saw.

After a good 10 minutes of looking, he sat down in a huff at the bar.

"Exhausted?" said a voice from behind him.

He turned around and saw the girl whom he was looking for.

"Hey," he said.

"April," she said, sticking out her hand, "April Gerhard."

"Roger," said Roger, shaking her hand, "Roger Davis."

"I know," she laughed. "I just went to your show."

"Oh yeah," he laughed.

"Can I buy you a drink?" she asked.

"Sure," he said.

The rest of the night, the spent talking and laughing. There was no way to describe this girl in Roger's mind. He wanted to call her cute, but she had a ghostly look to her. An experienced look and it kind of scared Roger, but at the same time he wanted to know everything there was to know about April. Towards 2 in the morning, the bar began to close. April and him walked out the back door, into the alley.

"Ever done smack?" she asked.

"Nope," he responded. She pulled a needle out of her purse and began to hit her arm with her boney white hand. A purple vein popped up under her pale skin. Roger squinted and saw white powder in the syringe. He wanted to turn away as she injected the needle into her body, but he was so fascinated. She made a loud gasp and began to violently shake. Roger stood up, but she reached out a hand and pulled him down, forcing herself to smile.

"Are you okay," he asked.

"The rush is great," she smiled, sitting down on the stoop. Roger kneeled in front of her and grabbed her hand. April suddenly bent down and kissed Roger passionately. Then she hung her head and rested it on his shoulder.

"April," he whispered. He looked out the window again and recognized the brown haired girl. He walked briskly to the door and pulled on his boots.

He opened the door and stepped onto the stoop. He looked down and saw that the bottom step was blood-stained. He shuddered slightly before creeping around the side of the alley. The sun hurt his eyes, which had been locked in the house for the past week.

"You will learn to like Gordon's replacement," said the blonde-haired one. "He has a really good supply of smack. Gordon will be out soon, this isn't his first arrest. But until then you will learn to like this new guy."

"No she won't," said Roger stepping out from behind the wall. "Maya get inside." Maya just stared at him. "NOW!"

Mimi came running up behind Roger. "Roger, I couldn't find-" she stopped when she saw Maya standing there.

"Maya!" Mimi began talking very quickly in Spanish. She reached forward and grabbed Maya's arm and dragged her into the house.

Roger was left, standing in front of the blonde girl.

"Er…..what…..are…….you……….I mean," Roger gulped. "Were you related to April Gerhard?"

"Yes," Nikole said. "She was my cousin." The blonde girl stocked off. Roger stood there in the alley until dark. He just stared at the footprint's Nikole left in the snow. Nikole was like a ghost to him, a living memory of April. The one thing he was trying to avoid. Now it was someone who lived near him and he wasn't sure if he could stand it.

o o o o o

Mimi came up behind him. She called his name, but he didn't answer. She grabbed his arm and led him inside. The minute they got inside, he went straight to the bedroom. He crawled into bed, to sleep away his pains, despite Mimi's constant pleas for him to eat.

Mimi walked upstairs to the loft. She started banging on the door and screaming Mark's name.

Mark slid the door opened and gave her a weird look.

"What?" he asked sleepily.

"Roger isn't doing well," she said. "All he does is sleep and he hasn't eaten since he fell. I found him standing in the alley, just standing. I really think he needs to get out and do something."

"We should go to the Life tomorrow," Mark suggested.

"You need to help me convince him to get out of bed," Mimi sighed.

"So," Mark said, letting Mimi come in. Mimi sat on the couch as Mark yawned and went to heat up the coffee.

"What time is it?" Maureen asked, emerging from the bedroom.

"11," Mimi said.

Mark picked up his camera. "Typical Mimi," he said zooming in on her. "It is close to midnight and she is wide awake."

Mimi shoved the camera out of her face.

"So," Maureen said. "How is Maya?"

"Well," Mimi said. "I dragged her out of the alley and I was yelling at the chica in Spanish, but the whole time she didn't say one word. I told Tom what happened, but of course, he didn't yell or anything. He just looked at her disappointedly. She then went to her room. That was the end of that."

"Wow," Maureen said. "Did she have any stuff with her?"

"She didn't have a purse and she was wearing dance pants, which don't have pockets. I am guessing that she hadn't bought anything. Anyway, Gordon's replacement isn't that good. He only has second hand, cheap stuff."

Mark stared at Mimi. How did she know so much about drugs? It scared him to think how experienced she was.

"It must be hard for Maya," said Maureen.

"Maya is just trying to be exactly what Mimi is," Mark said.

Mimi looked at him with a shocked expression.

"It's true," he said. "You were the first person that actually talked to her out of all of us. She looked for a dance job, got interested in drugs, she also doesn't like Roger."

"That doesn't make sense," Mimi laughed, "I like Roger!"

"Yes," he said. "But you have been fighting so much and she must be angry at him for fighting with you. She has so much admiration for you. You are her role model. The perfect person in her eyes!" Mark lowered his voice and smiled, "You are actually the role model from hell!"

Mimi swung her arm out at him and laughed.

Maureen began to get restless, because the attention wasn't on her. She got up and walked to her room.

"I should get going," she said. "I don't want Roger to wake up alone." She stood up and put her hand on the door.

"Now you sound like him," Mark laughed. "I know you two love each other and everything, but you have to stop being so caring and over-protective of each other."

Mimi turned and smiled sadly at him. "I think you would act the same way if at any moment one of us could be dead without warning."

With that she turned and left the room.