Chapter Twenty-One

Two days later...

I looked over at the clock. It was 6:27 pm. The sky was darkening..."I have faith in you, baby. Just call your mom and help her schedule the funeral."

Johnny had been sitting in the living room the whole day debating on if he was ready or not to call his mother to make funeral arrangements for his father. "I...don't know if I'm ready, Angie. I just don't know-"

"You are, John. You're ready. Just call her. I'm right here with you."

Johnny finally sighed, got up and walked over to the phone. A couple of clicks sounded, then..."Hi, mommy."

I tried to stifle a grin. I thought it was sweet that he still called his mother "Mommy".

"Mommy, I got your letter...yeah, I got it. Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't call sooner, I was just shocked. I miss him so much, mom...yeah, I know. I know. 'Kay, so does Thursday sound good? Yeah, I can definitely make it by then. Okay...I love you too, mommy. I will. Bye."

"What did she say?" I walked up to Johnny and held him by his waist.

"She said that she has everything set, but she just needs me to come to the funeral." He paused and looked into my eyes for a moment. "Will ya come with me?"

I shook my head. "No, honey. This is something very private between you and your mother. I'll stay here and keep everyone else in order while you're gone."

"Alright." Johnny sighed, then pushed his hair back. "Please, don't let anything get outta hand. You gotta treat these guys like children, sometimes. Especially Dee Dee."

I laughed and nodded. "Yeah, don't worry, John. I'll have them under control. They're grown men though, so it shouldn't be that bad, right?" I snickered when I saw Johnny's reaction to my question.

He chuckled. "Yeah well…the Ramones are different. They really do act like children."

"Does that include yourself?" I smiled at him.

"No, not me."

"Oh yeah right. Sure, okay." I playfully shoved him. "You know you're just as bad as the rest of them sometimes."

He shrugged and said nothing else. "I'm gonna go buy a tux for the funeral-"

Suddenly Marky ran into the living room. "Guys, we gotta go now!"

"What happened, man?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, what's goin' on?" Dee Dee was swaying back and forth. He was completely out of it. "Are we gonna have a party?" He laughed and twirled around like a ballerina.

"Nah, man. We ain't gonna have a party. There's gonna be a fuckin' riot here in a couple of seconds."

"Marky, whatya talkin' about?" Johnny became furious. "What's goin' on?"

Marky walked to the door. "Oh no. They're comin'."

"WHO'S COMING?" Everyone said in unison.

"Fans! Crazy fangirls!"

I could definitely relate to those girls who were bound to be here any moment now. I could have been one of them, but I wasn't anymore. I do admit though, I sometimes still miss those days of obsessing over Johnny through the TV and "Rock and Roll High School". Those were the days when I was still a virgin and had a mind like spreading fire. I was a wild child back in those days. But actually being with Johnny now and actually seeing both the wonderful and terrible sides of him has probably calmed me down a little...

I heard screaming and stomping, like a herd of elephants were approaching the door. "Oh no! What's gonna happen? What are we going to do?"

Johnny ran over to the window and opened it. "Guys, there's a ladder. Let's go."

One by one, we all climbed out of the window and down the ladder. Marky went first, then Joey. Johnny made me go down first, then he went after me. He had to carry Dee Dee down because he was so high that he had no idea what was going on.

When we got to groundlevel, the fans were already running out and screaming. So…we made a run for it. We were literally running for our lives. I knew the fangirl world. And I knew exactly what they did to groups that weren't prepared. They would tear them to shreds. And girls…we have nails, and those can easily scratch and injure if we used them the right way. In some ways, fangirls were worse than groupies. MUCH worse.

Johnny grabbed my hand and we ran into a small alley and hid. He was panting like crazy.

"Does this happen often with you guys?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nope…nope, usually everything's under control."

From a distance, I could see Joey and Marky being chased by a small group of girls. Joey tripped and fell, hurting his knee. Marky ran off to look for Dee Dee, and the girls swam over Joey like a wave and were upon him.

"I don't even know how the fuck those girls knew where we were. I mean, it was a pretty secluded area…sort of."

"John, come on! We have to help Joey. He's being attacked."

Johnny reluctantly ran close behind me. I tried picking Joey up and getting him away from the girls.

"Hey, come on cut it out! Joey isn't a fucking toy, get off of him!" I finally got Joey up from the ground and dragged him behind me, trying to get him away from those crazy, blood-thirsty fans.

"Who the fuck are you, bitch? You aren't his girlfriend," one of the girls said, chewing her gum loudly and crossing her arms.

"Excuse me…" Joey put me behind him this time. "But she just happens to be one of my good friends. So treat 'er with some respect, alright?"

The girl stared in astonishment at Joey, his tall figure looming over her, intimidating her. Her attitude immediately changed. "I…I'm sorry Joey."

"Thank you. And please, no more followin' us. 'Kay?" Joey began running the opposite way, probably to find the others. Johnny and I weren't far behind him.

We found two girls licking Dee Dee's face over on another street. And he was sleeping in the process. Johnny scoffed. "Get lost, whores."

"John! Don't say that!" I hit him in the arm. "What's the matter with you?" I turned to the girls, their eyes expressing awe and pain at the same time. "Listen, I'm sorry about my boyfriend. He can be a little-"

"Wait, you're his girlfriend?"

"Yes, I sure am. And I'm sorry about his rude behavior." I looked over at Johnny who was rolling his eyes and sniffing snootily. I sighed. We were definitely going to have to work on his politeness. "But this is very important. Can we please have Dee Dee back?"

The girls gave Dee Dee to me reluctantly, then walked away. Mission accomplished.

"Hey, Angelaaaa…" His voice was slurred. "What's happenin'?"

"John, can you take care of him for a while?"

Johnny groaned. "Do I have to?"

"Please, honey?"

He shrugged and placed Dee Dee's arm around his shoulders. "You okay?"

"John, come on man. Let's party!" Dee Dee's eyes rolled back and he started humming some unrecognizable tune.

"No! We ain't gonna fuckin' party. We gotta find some way to get away from here."

Marky ran towards us. "I think we got rid of 'em all, but we should leave before they all come back."

"You're right," I said. "Who has a car?"

The guys looked at eachother. It was obvious neither of them had a car. And Johnny had the tour van parked by his house.

"We're gonna have to take the subway," Joey said. All of them sucked their teeth and got upset. Except for Dee Dee, who seriously had no idea what the hell was going on…see, I wasn't from New York, so I didn't know why the others got so mad at the idea of taking the subway. I never took it my entire life! So I guess I'd just have to see what all the fussing was about, and if it was really worth it...

We went down an underground entrance for the train. On the walls were graffiti and there was a mentally unstable person pacing back and forth and doing weird gestures with their hands. My heart tensed and I began to get uncomfortable. I suddenly felt a warm soft hand grab my cold, sweaty, shaking one. I turned to see that Joey owned that hand.

"Don't worry Angela. It'll be alright. Stick with us, and you'll be okay down here. We'll protect you."

Now I understood why taking the subway in New York was such a drag…it wasn't even close to being safe. God, just when I thought I was out of the woods…something else always comes and gets in my way. I sighed and held Joey's hand tighter, putting my trust in him.