The Ballad of Roxanne Pelligrini
Written by: Craig Phillips
The characters herein this story is the property, copyright © and registered ® trademarks of Hasbro. The characters Jonathan Lawrence Patterson, Christopher Michael, Max Rogers, Edwin Pelligrini, Steve Pelligrini, Tyler McConnell, and Manic Deeds are my creations. The story itself belongs to me and is copyright ©. Reproduction of this story in any manner without prior written consent is strictly prohibited.
One word of warning, I do not believe in censorship of any kind, and therefore what you read is what you get.
Chapter 2 (Trying to Survive)
Saturday morning arrived, but Mary was not a morning person. In fact, as far as she was concerned the day did not begin until at least ten in the morning. Saturday's were her day to curl up under her covers, and have nice…soothing…comfortable…sleep. Of course it didn't matter to others, because they'd always call her at the most inconvenient times. Today was no different. Mary's phone began to ring, and she was startled out of her slumber. Blurry eyed, she squinted her eyes to see the time. It was seven-thirty in the morning!
Mary groaned and growled as she reached for the phone. For a split second she debated throwing the thing across her room. Instead she looked at the caller ID. It read Roxanne. The phone rang one half the full tones before Mary finally answered it.
"Roxanne Michelle Pelligrini do you know what time it is?" Mary said with a touch of annoyance in her voice. Roxanne on the other end of the phone responded.
"Yeah I do!" Roxanne retorted. "And you told me last night that we were heading to Guitar Center to pick out some new gear."
Mary groaned again, "Rox, Guitar Center does not open until ten O'clock," her voice was somewhat muffled due to her placing a pillow over her face. "Now, if you don't mind I would like to return to my wonderful luxurious slumber."
Roxanne was a bit put off by Mary's attitude. After all Mary was the one who wanted to get a new Korg Oasys keyboard, and not to mention Roxanne was gonna pick up a new Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray bass guitar.
"OK little Miss crab queen, I'll let you sleep," she hissed. With that Roxanne hung up her phone.
Mary was already passed out snoring, and didn't even hear the last thing Roxanne said. After a few seconds an automated voice came over the phone. "If you'd like to place a call, hang up and dial again." Mary took no notice of that message and she flipped to her right side.
It had been a crazy month since the girls all decided to revamp The Misfits. Phyllis made it clear that she wouldn't be returning to the group. They needed to have their contracts modified, because she still had a thirty-five percent voting right. This would allow her to have controlling interest in the band. It also meant that if she wanted to, she could invariably tell the others that they could not revamp the band.
This became a huge, messy, and bitter fight for control. Hours and hours of arguing were spent in Rory Llewellyn's office. Riot was the lead singer of the band The Stingers. As the arguing drew on longer and longer Rory tried in vain to calm the girls down. Rory told Phyllis to talk to him in private. She scoffed, but he insisted that she do this. She relented and went into a back office with Rory. He told her that it could be a very expensive litigation if she didn't just sign over her percentage of the Misfits. He also told her that since she technically quit the band this was a fair action the others were taking. Phyllis swore, screamed, and threw a three-thousand dollar vase against the wall. It was totally not in her character to give up, but she really had no other choice.
Unfortunately Phyllis would never forgive the girls for doing this, and they now became her enemies. Even though she had left for her solo project (and to be closer to Riot), she felt the Misfits was her band. She founded it! This was such a betrayal of her former band mates. When she finally came out of the room with Rory there was a signed document in his hands. He handed it to Sheila and said that the deal had been agreed to. Mary, Sheila, and Roxanne now controlled the Misfits and all things associated. As the girls were heading out of Rory's office, Phyllis approached them.
"Hey!" The girls stopped and turned towards their former singer, "I promise you three this!" She ranted on, "you will never be Misfits, and when you fail don't you dare come begging me to rejoin. We are done forever!"
A cold long silence filled the office. The tension was so high that you could cut it with a knife. Sheila, Mary and Roxanne were heartbroken that Phyllis was so absolute with her words, but they were going to continue no matter what. The three girls headed out the large double oak doors. Once they closed Sheila spoke up first, "I guess that's it yanks. Not exactly the way I saw this going," Sheila sighed.
"What did you expect?" Roxanne chimed in, "if she can't have her way, then no one will," she reached up and pushed the down arrow button for the elevator.
"It kills me that she's turning her back on us. I mean she's family," Mary said with a very heavy heart. Roxanne looked at Mary.
Roxanne just shrugged, "look kiddo, we're moving on, and if she don't like it well too bad." At that moment the elevator doors opened, some light jazzy Muzak was playing over the speakers. As the doors closed and Sheila pushed the "P" button to get to the parking lot ramp, she looked at her two friends.
"We're just gonna have to kick some serious butt on our new album," Roxanne and Mary nodded in agreement.
The rest of the month the girls spent debating on whether or not they would continue with Stinger Sound. Their contract ended officially on December 31 at midnight, and with the official release of Pizzazz's solo album, now was the time to make the decision. They did have the option for a contract extension for an additional year. That deadline which was on October 15th didn't leave them much room to debate. They girls were all in agreement, they had to move on without Phyllis.
The girls felt that a new beginning also included the potential of signing to an Indie label. Of course there was one other possibility, and one that would really have to be outstanding to agree to…signing with Starlight Music. A few years ago, this was never going to happen, in fact Starlight Music was the root of all evil to The Misfits. Times change, people grow, and when Sheila, Mary, and Roxanne really looked at it they knew they'd never get ripped off. There would be an ethical work environment, and a fair deal in all of the royalties. No matter what it meant, Indie or Starlight, The Misfits were going to go on.
Sheila had been startled out of bed by a pounding on her bedroom door. She crawled out of bed only in a Misfits night shirt. She opened the door to find Roxanne had let herself into Sheila's townhouse.
"What are you doin here Rox?" Sheila said yawning.
"Hey, I'm just bored. I called Mary, and of course she's still sleeping," Roxanne found her way to the beanbags on the floor. Sheila got back onto her bed and laid on her stomach facing Roxanne.
"I learned the hard way not to call her before ten mate. She chewed me head off for a week," Sheila commented, "by the way love, where on earth did that song come from? I mean, ya never made any mention you could play piano."
Roxanne shifted in the beanbag to get a bit more comfortable, "It just sort of came to me when I went back to Philly. Being alone with my thoughts, and traveling for three days cross country…it just happened I guess," she bit her lower lip.
"What about the piano?" Sheila bent her legs at the knees and crossed them.
Roxanne just giggled, and then allowed a sly smile to encroach her lips. "No one really ever asked Sheila. To be perfectly honest…and this is going to sound strange, but I am more comfortable as a bassist. It's the one instrument that I can go wild on. I don't know how I can play piano, I just can. It's weird I guess."
Sheila was bewildered at her friends' confession. "Rox, you are bloody good at it. It's a damn shame you don't work with Mary on compositions…" she trailed off because she knew that Roxanne still struggled with reading.
"It's not like I couldn't, but think about it. Mary always wrote, arranged, and composed most of the tunes, and sometimes she'd have to work with Phyllis. For me to just waltz up to her keyboard and say check this out…well it would have been weird," Roxanne stretched her body out gently curing her sock covered toes.
"You wanna know a secret?" Sheila remarked. Roxanne just nodded. "I've been a frustrated drummer all me life. Being that I came from…well…humble…well me folks never had money around, they wasted it on horse's and other gambling misadventures," Sheila reached around, grabbed her pillow, and laid her head sideways on it. "I'd rather been a drummer than a saxophonist."
"Well considering how you like to beat on things, yeah I can totally see you as a drummer," Roxanne giggled playfully. Sheila threw her pillow at Roxanne. "Thanks, I can use another pillow.
"'Hey, you can kiss the whitest part of me arse," Sheila playfully smirked and flipped Roxanne off.
They both laughed, and spent a good forty-five minutes really getting to know one another. It was odd, but all those years of being hostile at each other, really seemed like a waste of energy. Had the Misfits spent more time playing music than trying to undermined Jem and The Holograms, maybe they never would have fallen apart. Then again, this new direction was going to be the best thing to ever happen to them.
Back at Mary's home, she finally woke up refreshed and wide eyed. She stretched and rolled out of her bed. Her room had hardwood floors, it was just too cold for bare feet. She slipped on her pink fuzzy slippers she had been given by Craig last Christmas. She then headed to her closet to choose an outfit to wear. She shrieked when she opened the door because there was this creepy spider hanging down from the ceiling. She violently shivered as she picked up a t-shirt and swiped at it. She mashed it up and shivered yet again, and tossed it into her clothes pile for washing.
"Damn spider," she mumbled. Mary selected her favorite black jeans, a blue belly shirt with The Misfits logo emblazoned on it, and her favorite mid-riff boots. Then she walked to her bureau, and selected a black lace bra, her pink panties, and finally a pair of her pink socks. She laid her ensemble the bed neatly, and then noticed that she forgot to hang up the phone. It had been off the hook for two hours.
"Argh! Great I probably missed a ton of calls!" Mary hissed. There was nothing she could do but replace the phone on the charger.
Mary grabbed her bathrobe off the chair and slid out of her pajamas, and wrapped herself in the soft robe. Mary had a very slender build, she was petite, but tone. She was fair skinned, that was the Scandinavian in her genes. She was not much for tanning, because she burned easily. Mary began dyeing her hair blue like her brother when she was seventeen; however, she is a natural brunette. Mary loved working out, she always felt rejuvenating after a good aerobic workout. She had a decent collection of workout videos, amongst a lot of "chick flicks."
Mary had always been a sucker for romance movies, but every so often she'd watch a good scary movie. She and her brother Craig, would stay up late on Halloween and watch either Friday The 13th, or Nightmare on Elm Street. One Halloween, Craig was invited to a party, and wanted to scare Mary. So he and some friends dressed up as zombies and made their way back to Craig and Mary house. She was in the living room watching a movie, when they all burst into the house and started to chase her thought-out. When she found out it was Craig's idea, she was infuriated. She threw her entire bowl of popcorn and her glass of soda all over him. Needless to say it is a memory that still makes Mary laugh.
Mary was making her way to the shower when her phone rang. She ran to her room and grabbed the phone; it was Kimber Benton, keyboardist and song writer of Jem and The Holograms. Kimber was also a very close and personal friend of Mary's.
"What's up Kimberoni?" Mary greeted her friend over the phone.
"Hiya Mary, I've been trying for the past hour to reach you, but your line was busy," Kimber said with a hint of a whine in her voice.
"Yea. Sorry about that Kimber. Roxanne called me before I normally get up on my Saturday. And well I…I sort of fell back asleep, and forgot to hang it up," Mary confessed.
"That's OK," Kimber said. "Anyway, I wanted to tell you that Jerrica wants to meet with you and the other Misfits."
Mary was shocked. Why would Jerrica want to meet with the Misfits? "Kimber, did Jerrica say why she wants to meet with us?" Mary inquired.
"No not really, but she said that it was pretty important," Actually Kimber knew exactly what was going on, but Jerrica told her not to say a word.
Flashback (1979 -1985)
Jerrica Benton, Kimber's older sister and CEO of Starlight Music, was planning on making an offer to The Misfits and sign with her company. Jerrica and Kimber inherited both Starlight Music, and the Starlight Foundation from their parents, Emmett and Jacqui Benton. The Starlight Foundation was established as a foster care for girls, and Starlight Music was established for Jacqui's music career, and to fund the Starlight Foundation. Jerrica, Kimber and the Starlight girls lived in a very large mansion called the Starlight House.
Jacqui Benton died in a plane crash when Jerrica was only ten, and Kimber was eight. Two years later, they lost their father to a rare form of cancer. This was a devastating blow to both girls, not to mention Aja Leith and Shana Elmsford. Aja and Shana were two of the first girls who came to Starlight House. Jerrica and Kimber considered Aja and Shana as sisters.
Secretly, Emmett was developing a holographic imaging super computer, he named Synergy. She was designed to be the the most sophisticated audio and visual computer in the world. Emmett also designed Synergy as part of his healing process after the loss of his wife, but he programmed Synergy to be a motherly figure for Jerrica and Kimber. Emmett's creation of Synergy surprised even him at how powerful she'd become. So much so, he feared that Synergy could fall into the wrongs hands and be used as a weapon.
Emmett purchased an old drive-in theater, where he hid Synergy behind a holographic wall. During the final days of his life, Emmett made a special pair of holographic imaging earrings for Jerrica; this would allow Synergy to project her holograms no matter where Jerrica was. Sadly Emmett died before he could give them to Jerrica. He programmed Synergy to reveal herself when Jerrica turned eighteen. He also knew that both girls were musically gifted as their mother was. Jerrica was talented as a singer and playing guitar, Kimber took to piano like a duck takes to water.
Emmett purchased musical gear for the girls, guitars, basses, electronic drums, a full PA system, lighting rigs, and even impressive stage clothes for them. He even bought a classic car for them, called the Rockin' Roadster. Jerrica and her sister Kimber, along with Aja and Shana created the band Jem and the Holograms. Jem was Jerrica's alter-ego, brought about when she touched her Jem star earrings, and uttered the phrase "Showtime Synergy."
Another move Emmett made after Jacqui died, was hire Eric Raymond to manage Starlight Music. Eric gained majority control of Starlight Music after Emmett died., but this was only supposed to be temporary until Jerrica was twenty-one. Eric never had intentions of letting Jerrica control the company, and he stopped at nothing to undermined Starlight Music and Jerrica Benton. From sabotage, sending out henchmen like Zipper to rob and scare the girls at Starlight House. Of course Zipper panicked as he tried to escape. He ran into Kimber who was holding an oil lantern, and it fell to the floor and eventually burned down their home entirely.
Eric then set out to make a bet with Jerrica that his band the Misfit's could beat her band Jem and The Holograms. A lot was at stake. Control over Starlight Music, a movie contract, and a new mansion owned by Hollywood director Howard Sands. He set up a rigged Battle of the Bands contest for his group, but eventually Jem and The Holograms won in the end.
(Present day)
Through some research, had learned that the Misfits contract was up at the end of the year. She had a gut feeling that after Pizzazz left the band that the others would want to make a change. For years Jerrica knew that the Misfits were a hot act, deep down she had wished that they would be a part of the Starlight Music family. Instead they were rivals…bitter rivals.
Jerrica had believed that this was really on account of Eric Raymond and Phyllis's dictatorship of the group. She also knew that Phyllis had controlling interest of the band, and for her to relinquish that control seemed impossible. When the news broke on the Harriet Horn show that Pizzazz quit the band, and once the three remaining Misfits appeared on the Lindsey Pierce Show to announce their new changes, it only solidified Jerrica's feelings about the band.
In fact Jerrica even went over to Stinger Sound and had a luncheon with Rory Llewellyn to negotiate an early contractual release of the Misfits, and their music catalog. Phyllis was not allowed to attend that meeting, and what a nightmare that would have become if she had. Rory was more interested in signing new acts, and frankly felt The Misfits were out of date. He agreed to release the contracts, and catalog for a mere one-hundred thousand dollars. Jerrica agreed to the deal, and within two hours had written a check to Stinger Sound for the negotiated sum.
"Oh…um…OK Kimber. I'll call Sheila and Roxanne and let them know," she paused for a moment. "What time does she want to meet with us?"
"As soon as possible, in fact today," Kimber could hardly contain her emotions. Not only had Jerrica negotiated their contracts and music catalog, but it also offered a chance for Fire and Ice to produce more projects without conflict of interest. Fire and Ice was the band name chosen by Mary for their first solo album, Back to Back. They had a smash hit in 86 with "I'm Okay" and their album went platnium.
"OK Kimber, I just need to get a hold of them," Mary said, still not entirely sure where this was all leading.
"Outrageous!" Kimber exclaimed. "Oh hey Mary, do you want to go with me tonight, I am heading over to The Scene. The Limp Lizards are playing again."
"Actually, Roxanne and I were going to get new gear tonight, but now looks like we'll have to do tomorrow," Mary tried not sound like she didn't want to go.
"Oh, OK Mary. Wow…I still am not use to calling you Mary," Kimber giggled. "Not that it's a bad thing…it's just…different."
"It's alright Kimber; it was weird for me to drop Stormer. I still might use the name if you and I ever play as Fire and Ice," Mary said, sort of hinting towards her former band mate of the possible future for them.
"OK, well Mary it was great talking to you again. You know, this might sound corny but…you have always been a best friend to me," Kimber said warmly.
Mary turned a bright pink as she blushed. Kimber had taken the time to get to know her long before anyone else did. She felt that Kimber was like a sister, and for sure her musical soul mate. "Kimber, I have always thought of you as a sister."
"Well, I now have two wonderful sisters," she giggled. "Take care Mary, and good luck with Jerrica."
"You take care as well. Oh and you and I will have a night out soon, I promise. Talk to you soon Kimby," Mary giggled.
"Bye…um…hmmm…grrrr, I can't think of a name. I'll make one up," Kimber laughed.
Mary laughed. "Bye."
"Bye Mary," Kimber said and hung her phone up.
Mary placed her phone back on the charger and headed back to the bathroom for her shower.
To be continued in Chapter 3: The Deal