Chapter 8
(Jude)

I watched with good humor as Tommy nearly bitch-slapped himself in the head with his free hand. I had no idea what was going though that head of his and I wasn't so sure I wanted to know. With a sigh, I felt my buzz slow, just a fraction. Good. I was starting to drive myself crazy. And that's a horrible thing. I (relunctantly) detached myself from Tommy's arm and sat down. I looked at him and he looked slightly worried.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'mfine." Damn, my speech wasn't up to par with my brain yet.

"You sure?"

"Nope,butit'snothingyouneedtoworryyourselfwith."

I grabbed a piece of sheet music and mapped out a key signature and hummed a few notes and wrote them on the appropiate lines and spaces. Hey, it was actually sounding decent. I surprise myself sometimes. I heard Tommy banging on the door and looked over. He seemed to be haveing a fight with Kwest on the other side. Good for him. After I had a few measures down, I found a normal keyboard in the pile of electronics in the corner. I took it out and turned it on. I glanced up at Tommy and he was still fighting with Kwest. I smiled, shook my head, and looked down at the keys. I began to play it and Tommy stopped and looked over at me, shock on his features.

Then I opened my mouth and began to sing.

Of course, just because I got out two notes of the song, from deep inside my pants pocket, my cell phone rang playing "Dance,Dance". It was Kat! Yay! Tommy whirled around so fast I thought he was possesed and was tempted to call an old priest and a young priest and start yelling: "The power of Christ compells you!" He stalked over to me and glared down at me. Oh, shit.

"You had a phone the whole time."

"...No?"

"JUDE! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T USE THAT BEFORE. FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" he yelled.

I just smiled and heard Kat's voice through the speaker. "That was lovely, Tom! Thank you for clearing that up for me."

"What's up, Kat?" I asked. YES! I CAN SPEAK!

"I was wondering where you were...lemme guess, your in the studio."

"Try trapped in the studio."

"Trapped?"

"Add one troll-ish manager plus a faultly power source and what do you get."

"Trouble."

"Bingo."

Tommy yanked the phone out of my hand, said "She'll call you back after I kill her." and shut my phone with a sharp snap.

"Meanie." I pouted.

"Live with it, cupcake." he said absently while he dialed.