Glad to hear you like it, Dizuz. Don't worry—"Mondler" is coming soon. I really need to come up with my own couple names for my characters. "Mondler" doesn't exactly work for two characters named Monty and Chandie. If you have any ideas for couple names, please share them.
Sorry for taking so long to update. It took me forever to think of something crazy for Phoenix to sing about. I'm not exactly the best songwriter in the world, considering I've never written a single song before.
Also, just a heads-up: the song is terrible—absolutely terrible. Brace yourselves.
"Monty, Chandie," Phoenix addressed the both of them as he continued to mindlessly strum his guitar. "I'd love for you two to be the first to hear my first song: Ode to a Staple."
Chandie and Monty exchanged a nervous look. What had gotten into Phoenix? One minute, he had been sulking around the house like a sloth. Now, he was writing songs?
Monty interrupted her thoughts by whispering into her ear. "Ode to a Staple?"
Chandie simply shrugged in response. She figured they might as well give their friend's song a listen. What could it hurt?
"And we'd love to hear it," Chandie said in delayed response to Phoenix's statement.
He smiled and began to sing.
You're shiny and silver and come in a stack.
When punched into papers, your stapler makes a "clickity-clack."
Chandie's eyes widened. She figured, based on the title, the song would be strange, but this was just plain bad. The strumming of the guitar was completely off from the rhythm of the lyrics, Phoenix's singing was highly pitchy, and he seemed to be looking for any rhyme he could find, whether or not it made sense, the rhyming lines in question were even close to the same length, or if it sounded anywhere near good.
She decided to keep listening just in case she was making too quick of a judgment. Ignoring Monty's glares that told her he was not too happy with the current situation and wanted this song soon to come to an end, she plastered a fake smile on her face to convince Phoenix she was enjoying the sound. She noticed out of the corner of her eye Monty doing the same.
The singing continued.
Without you, all papers would be separated.
You are highly unappreciated.
But from me, you are venerated.
Maybe she had not been making too quick of a judgment, Chandie realized sadly. She did wonder what the word "venerated" meant and decided she would look it up later.
In offices you can be found.
In cubicles you are all around.
You're probably made of steel, which I think is a compound.
Chandie had to glance at Monty on that last line. He shook his head. Steel was an alloy, which was a mixture, right?
The more important question was why Chandie was focusing on that aspect of the song.
It was at this point that Phoenix's singing began to slow down dramatically, initiating—Chandie hoped—the end of the song.
When you enter paper, you do that folding maneuver.
His singing was now slowed to such a degree that it took several long seconds to get out the very last painfully pitchy line.
When it goes wrong, you are removed with a staple-remover.
He smiled broadly with self-pride and finally let go of the guitar after giving it two hard strums. Looking up at his two-person audience, he gave them both a quizzical look. "What do you think?"
Another glance at the boy next to her told Chandie that she would be the first to speak. Monty looked plain speechless.
"That was . . . wow," Chandie said, smiling what she could only hope did not appear to be a sarcastic smile at her crazy-looking friend.
"You really liked it?" Phoenix's eyes lit up with anticipation at Chandie's upcoming response.
"It was interesting," Chandie replied, unable to say it was good because she couldn't manage to lie to her friend's face, but at the same time not able to say it was bad either. Luckily for her, Phoenix seemed to take it as a compliment.
"Thank you," he said. "Thank you so much! You have no idea how great that felt, the writing and the singing. And you, Monty, what did you think?"
"Oh, me?" he asked nervously. Phoenix nodded. "I—I liked it. No, not like. I loved it," he corrected.
Sure, Chandie couldn't lie. Sure, Monty could. But he was still terrible at it. Despite that fact, however, Phoenix believed him.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," he said quickly. "You guys really have no idea how much better I feel now than I did earlier today. This day really is great. Happy birthday, Chan."
Monty had a concerned look on his face. He glanced at Chandie for a moment before his eyes quickly darted back to Phoenix. "What happened earlier today?"
"Noth—nothing," Phoenix stuttered, glancing repetitively back and forth between Chandie and Monty. "I just mean, uh . . ." His voice trailed off, obligating Chandie to fill in for him.
"What Phoenix meant is that he not only felt good earlier, but he's feeling even better now." Chandie took at quick glance at a relieved Phoenix. "So, basically, it's been a pretty good day." She smiled to try and prove her point.
"Oh," Monty said in a brighter tone. "Good. I'm glad you're glad, Phoenix."
"I'm glad you're glad I'm glad," Phoenix mused.
"And I'm glad you're glad I'm—"
"Please don't do this," Chandie interrupted, making both boys laugh.
Phoenix looked down at his wrist as if there was a watch there. Chandie could clearly see there was not one, but Monty wasn't really paying all that much attention to Phoenix at the moment.
"Well, I should be going," Phoenix said. "My—uh—my parents are probably waiting for me to get home."
Chandie gave her friend a sad look, carefully directed so that Monty would not see.
"Okay," Monty said, looking up at Phoenix and smiling. It made Chandie sad to see Phoenix lying and Monty so unaware of the situation. "See you at the pizza palace tomorrow?" It sounded more like a question to Chandie. Tomorrow would be the weekend, and the group didn't always go to the pizza palace on Saturdays and Sundays, as they generally headed there after school.
"I'm not sure," Phoenix said with the slightest pain in his expression that only Chandie would take note of. "My—my dad planned for us to go to a movie tomorrow, but something, um, came up." He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "So, I'm not sure at this point whether the plan is still on or not. My best guess is no."
Chandie gently laid her hand on Phoenix's shoulder. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see," she said quietly. She removed her hand when Phoenix began to head out of the room. Before he left, he turned around to face Chandie, locking eyes with his friend.
"Happy birthday." With that, he spun on his heel and exited the room. Chandie soon heard the front door to the house open and close, signaling that he had officially left.
Before either Chandie or Monty could speak, there was another sound of a door opening. Into the kitchen came Monty's father. He noticed Chandie there and spoke. "Oh. You're still here. Sorry about that, Monty. I thought everyone was already gone."
Chandie looked at Monty, confused.
Sensing her confusion, Monty explained. "I made a deal with my parents that they would stay out of the party until it was over. I decided I wanted to run it all by myself."
"Oh. I guess that makes . . . sense," Chandie said awkwardly. "I was just about to head home anyway."
"Oh. Okay," Monty said, looking almost the tiniest bit sad. "See you tomorrow or Monday or whenever. Happy birthday."
"You too." She paused. "I mean the 'see you' part, not the 'happy birthday' part. It's my birthday, not yours."
Monty laughed—what a wonderful sound. Chandie loved knowing that she could make people laugh, even if it was purely through how dorky and awkward she could act at times. Laughter was what fueled her. It was the very reason for her existence. She was put on this planet to make people laugh, her five best friends especially.
Chandie headed out of the kitchen and into the living room. She approached the front door, and, as she opened it, she heard a voice speaking. It was Monty's father. It was hard it tell what he was saying, so Chandie strained to hear, unsure why she so badly wanted to know what this man was saying. She had heard on several occasions, from both Rose and Monty—and even Richie at times—of how brutal Monty's father could be to the boy. Maybe that was why Chandie was listening—to become that primary source and see first-hand just how brutal this man really was. She closed the front door to make it sound as if she had left.
"Monty, why is this room such a mess?"
Chandie heard the loud accusation almost immediately after shutting the door, proving that Monty's father had been waiting for the house to be cleared out before yelling at his son.
"I haven't had a chance to clean it yet," Monty said simply and respectfully. "I—I was just about to start."
Chandie let out a silent sigh. That had to be reason enough.
"You could have been cleaning while you were talking to the boy with the horrible singing voice and your girlfriend," he countered.
Chandie was taken aback by that statement. Did she seem like Monty's girlfriend? She wasn't sure whether that would be a good or bad thing.
"She's not my girlfriend!" Monty shouted defensively.
"If that's true, then you better be getting one soon. Rose has a boyfriend."
"Rose is almost a year older than me!"
"She's been with Carl for well over a year now, almost two. They seem very serious."
Monty let out a loud, frustrated breath. "Why are you so concerned with my love life anyway?"
"Well, you obviously aren't worried about it," he answered bitterly.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Monty questioned, sounding very much offended.
It was at this point that Chandie began to feel as though she was intruding. She reopened the front door slowly and carefully, trying her best to keep it quiet. She froze, however, at the next words that came out of Monty's father's mouth.
"I'm just saying, you aren't even trying to get girls to like you."
That statement made Chandie almost want to run back into the kitchen, slap that man across the face, and tell him that Monty was a wonderful boy, that he should stop being so tough on him—that she liked Monty. Chandie finally allowed himself to accept that fact: she liked Monty. She had tried so hard not to develop a crush on her friend, but it was hard. Monty was just so . . . great. Chandie smiled inwardly just at the thought of them together.
Grabbing the doorknob from the other side, she stepped outside and eased the door shut.
Finally! Crazy, fun, flaky Phoenix and Chandie/Monty. I've been waiting so long for this. This stuff is pretty darn fun to write about. I can't wait to bring Chandie and Monty a little closer.
Once again, if any couple names come to mind—not just for Monty and Chandie, but for any combination you can think of—I would love to hear them.
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I doubt you guys enjoyed the song though. It was my first crazy song, so I honestly wasn't expecting it to turn out very well. Maybe I'll write more songs for Phoenix throughout this story and improve my crazy-song-writing ability. ;)