Chapter One - Somebody
Sally didn't know how to feel about moving into the city. It was certainly a new environment, and she liked to think that there were so many people there, no one would give a second glance at a single person. Maybe, with the amount of residents there would obviously be in a place like this, she would finally- finally- find someone worth her time and effort. Not someone who would bring her down, although she would undoubtedly find others like that, too. It only had to be someone worthwhile. A boyfriend, she wasn't sure about, but she supposed that if love found her, she'd go with the flow. All she needed, whether it was in a romantic or friendly context, was for anybody to find her somebody to love.
That wasn't going to be easy, she figured as she stepped off the school bus and took one look at her new vision of hell- Cyber High, the biggest GaGa school in the area. Many of the people who graduated here went on to climb the ranks of Globalsoft and work in high places, sometimes even for the Killer Queen herself. It was a large, looming brick building, and was the sort of place you'd find in the movies. There was everything, down to the beige concrete stairs leading up to the main doors, with many a student scattered outside and hanging around with friends, and the flagpole just outside, bearing the school's logo. Just another high school, she supposed. Now she was starting to make bets with herself (how sad was that?) on how long it would take for her to have to leave this place for good. Somehow, she couldn't wait.
This time, though, instead of making a scene with her entrance and attracting all the comments and laughter, she decided to try and make a better impression. Yes, her clothes were very extreme in the sense that she stuck out like a sore thumb, but if she did her best to keep a low profile and just do her own thing, maybe people wouldn't be so against her. After all, she might as well try it. At least she would be able to find out if it worked, and then, when she inevitably moved schools, she'd know what to do to impress people. Right?
"Here goes nothing," was her murmured pep talk. Deciding not to smile for fear of looking like a maniac, she simply did her best not to frown, kept her head held high, but not too high, and walked. Both eyes were fixed firmly on the doors. Any eye contact could ruin everything for her, and she would rather not be in a particularly bad mood on her first day here. School was bad enough.
Around her, she could hear whispers. Of course she could. Although she tried very hard to block out exactly what was being said, it wasn't hard to tell that people were talking about her- or was she just paranoid? Sally didn't know anymore. With the life she had lead so far, she wouldn't be surprised if they were already plotting ways to make her school days a misery. With the way she looked, they probably didn't even need to plan. Dressing the way she did, acting the way she acted, speaking the way she spoke- it all fuelled the fire and fanned the flames. No wonder she always got bullied out of schools. This just proved her point, the point that all of this hatred she attracted was all her fault.
Oh, pull yourself together, bitch. Thinking like that, you'll only make your first day worse.
There were obvious reactions as Sally began to ascend the stairs, passing many a GaGa girl in the process. Sneers came from the braver ones, yet the bitchier ones turned their noses up in a conceited manner that made the teenage rebel want to slap the living daylights out of them. In a sense, she appreciated the ones that flinched and recoiled in fear; although it wasn't a friendly action, at least they didn't feel the need to show their fucking faces and rub it in that she was a pathetic, ugly little zero. Even the ones that just turned away and gossiped, while she wanted to wring their necks for being so rude, were less annoying than the ones who interacted with her directly.
Still, she kept her cool. She hadn't even been here for five minutes. God knew how badly this would go if she lost her shit already.
After a fair bit of wandering through almost identical corridors, and getting laughed at relentlessly, Sally found the classroom she was looking for. This would be her homeroom, and with less than five minutes until school began, she was glad that she came here relatively early. When left to her own devices, she would sleep for hours. It had been a pain in the ass to have to set an alarm and haul herself out of bed at an hour that was ungodly by her standards for a Monday morning, but at least she had been able to arrive on time, and not make herself look like more of a tosser by coming in late. While she waited, she looked over the posters on the walls; most of it was Globalsoft propaganda, but there was some things worth looking at to mentally ridicule, like an advertisement for Cyber High's Spring Dance. Ridiculous.
Soon enough, the bell rang, followed by a sickeningly synchronised cheer of, "Alright!" Sally simply slinked into the room and reserved herself a seat in the corner furthest away from the door. She sat down, fished her tablet out of her tattered bag, and logged in; while she waited for it to start up, she listened to the rumble of footsteps outside, as well as the buzz of almost identical voices to go with them. The sensation that overcame her was one of furious adrenaline. Somehow, her body wanted to do something vicious, but she didn't know what. If anything, she was probably going to smash her hands down on the desk in front of her and yell about how she was sick of a life of carbon copy after carbon copy of gender, personality, human archetypes, and wanted them all to bugger off and leave her alone. But she held back.
Kids soon started flooding into the classroom, a group at a time. Naturally, that led to a lot of talk about the new girl who looked and acted like a freak. In time, there was a group of students in an arch around her table, who talked at her. There were so many things said that she couldn't comprehend it all, but she did know that she wanted them all to shut their lopsided mouths and mind their own damn business. Right now was not the time to talk to her. Waking up as early as she had to get here had left her grumpy enough, she didn't need this right now.
"Please, just leave me alone," Sally groaned quietly. Her tablet made a pinging noise, letting her know that she was online, and she occupied herself with scrolling through her emails. Nothing from friends, or family, or anyone. Only Globalsoft. There was the occasional read email from her past high schools, but once she had either pulled out or been expelled, the influx from them had stopped. Most of them had been deleted, anyway- she wanted the bad memories to stay behind her, far away, and to be forgotten about. Not like she could focus on any of that, however, because these GaGa kids wouldn't zip it.
"What are you wearing?" one of them questioned, her voice nasal and squeaky. It was like nails on a chalkboard. "It's, like, totally out of style!"
The way she spoke made Sally cringe. It sounded so stupid, but before she could try once more to ask them all to be quiet, someone cut in again.
"What about your hair? Did you put too much dye in it? You don't need that much dye for lilac. That shade of violet is really dark, it's gross!" The second girl made gagging noises.
This time, a boy from the Boy Zone piped up. "You know, none of us boys are ever going to wanna cyberlove anyone who looks like you. I mean, your face is okay, but smothered in all that makeup, and when you're wearing rags-"
"Fuck off!" Sally snapped, slamming her fist onto the table. Yep. She had lost it, even though she told herself she wouldn't.
An almost overly exaggerated and staged expression of hurt spread across their faces. "We were only trying to help-"
"Well, I didn't ask for it, did I? You're actually being ill-mannered old wazzocks- would you like me to give you some advice? Get some sense of individuality, shut those ungodly, deafeningly stupid mouths of yours and get the fuck out of my sight!"
The second girl sneered. "Well, that's just rude."
Putting his arm around both girls, the Boy Zone boy spoke again. "Come on, www-dot-polly-at-the-marlows-dot-com," he said to the first girl, then turned to the second. "Come on, www-dot-vivian-at-the-sharps-dot-com. Let's leave this grumpy-bum alone."
In synchronisation, all three stuck their tongues, and began giggling irritatingly. Sally just stuck up her middle finger, which showed off her chipped purple nail varnish. That seemed to fuel their laughter and they walked off to join their friends again.
Before anyone else could decide they wanted a piece of her, the teacher walked into the room. At this point, Sally switched off; she'd heard all of this before. Sometimes the teacher introduced her, sometimes they didn't, but in whatever case, everyone had already made their judgement, including him or her. The messages would all be the same, too, and everyone's reactions would be identical. Everyone would be excited for the Spring Dance, and for learning the newest GaGa Moves, and for seeing all of their friends, and Sally wanted no part in it. Instead, she turned back to her tablet, and pulled up her lesson notes. She created a blank page, and began to move her finger across the screen. It left blank lines in its path, and she began to doodle. Now, she was no artist, but trying to draw something decent passed the time, even if it did piss her off a little bit when it didn't go right.
All too soon, the bell rang for the first lesson of the day. Another synchronised cheer of "Alright!" was heard, and Sally began to wonder if that was what she was going to hear after every bell rang in this damn place. Honestly, she wouldn't be surprised, attending a school that was so highly ranked in GaGa culture. That was another reason why she had to try to behave- this place had very strict rules. If she went too far with her rebellious nature, she could get kicked out again. Not like she would care, but, well, she was getting tired of jumping from school to school. It was surprising that Cyber High had accepted her in the first place, and it would look good to have attended such a school when she inevitably had to get a job at Globalsoft at some point. Staying here had its benefits, even if it would be difficult. Well, she told herself, she only had the rest of this year and one more year to go, and then she was out of here. For good.
Her tablet was locked and slipped back into her bag. Following behind everyone else and scuffling her feet, she left homeroom, and moved out into the corridors. In a mere few seconds, she wished she hadn't.
"www-dot-sally-at-the-smiths-dot-com?! No way!"
With an anguished groan, Sally scowled in the direction of the voice. Tabitha Miller, one of her bullies from about five schools back. When did she even move here?! Why did fate hate her so much as to bring them back together? Today couldn't get any worse.
"Oh my god, you still look as much like a drowned rat as you did when I first saw you! I mean, you've gotten taller, but you've still got a small chest... pity."
Unable to contain herself, Sally marched over to the girl, her boots clacking noisily against the tiled floor, and she was satisfied to find that she was now taller than Tabitha by a whole head height, resulting in the girl seeming a bit put off. "You'd better not give me any trouble this time around, Tabitha. Remember when I snapped your arm like a twig, back in 8th grade? I won't hesitate to do that again, with any part of your disgusting little body. Remember that." With one last glare, directly into the eyes, she stormed off in the direction of her first class.
Nothing else happened until lunchtime- at least, nothing that concerned her all that much. Time dragged on, but she got on with her work, if only to block out everyone else. Clearly, her temper wasn't playing today, probably because she had woken up earlier than she would have liked, so it was best just to not speak to anyone. That was still the case now; she was looking for somewhere quiet to sit down and eat her lunch, on her own, undisturbed. An empty classroom or something would do- just somewhere she wouldn't be out in the open, at the mercy of the other Gaga kids.
In the hustle and bustle of the corridors, she was being pushed back and forth, and ended up scowling at several people as they knocked her back and forth. People seemed to be enjoying that, laughing at her, and she eventually shoved her way to the side of the corridor, leaning against the wall to sulk. While she waited for the crowds to calm down, she searched for somewhere to go; then she heard something from the classroom beside her. It was one of the most beautiful sounds she had stumbled across in a long time, and she wondered if it was even real, or whether she had reached the point of being so angry that she was starting to imagine things that would make her day just that little bit better. Either way, she wanted to know what was going on in there.
Carefully, so as not to disturb whatever or whoever was making those glorious sounds, Sally turned the door knob and pushed open the door, peeking in.
Suddenly, the sounds flooded onto her. It was singing, and not like GaGa songs. Real live music. No synthesized noise, no cheesy dances, no background music except for the sound of keys being rapidly typed on- just a voice, all on its own, and a very nice-sounding one, at that. At this particular point, it was relatively high in pitch, but it was clear that this was a young man singing. Whoever sang with such passion, such emotion, such a roar of strength and knowledge in his voice simply couldn't be a GaGa kid. And when Sally focused on the figure that seemed to be making these wonderful noises, her hypothesis was proven correct.
Hunched over the round, white, plastic table in the centre of the room sat a boy who appeared to be her age. Tall and lanky, yet somehow still quite muscular, he was typing away at his laptop whilst singing to himself. Judging by the dark circles under his eyes, he hadn't slept in weeks, but he had a relatively handsome face, Sally supposed- even if he was wearing eyeliner. Messy black hair occasionally fell into his eyes, but it didn't seem to bother him too much; it was as if he was in a trance. His clothes were interesting, too. An off-white t-shirt with no GaGa logo in sight hung loosely off his frame, accompanied by a black jacket made of- was that leather? Illegally downloaded leather, at that. Denim jeans, too, and a pair of biking boots... Not bad.
"With your feet on the air and your head on the ground... Try this trick and spin it, yeah..." The boy feverishly slammed on the keys now as his voice increased in volume. It was actually quite an unsettling sight. "Your head will collapse, but there's nothing in it, and you'll ask yourself, where is my mind? Where is my mind? Where is my-"
All of a sudden, he stopped. As if he had just been waken up from a bad dream, he stared straight ahead, directly into her. He seemed to observe her for a moment, then whispered one word. A word that Sally could neither make out nor understand.
"Excuse me?" she questioned bluntly.
"Come as you are, as you were, as I want you to be..." Again, he seemed to be under some sort of spell. Dizzily, he got out of his seat, moved towards her and took her hands, guiding her inside the room. "As a friend, as a friend, as an old enemy..."
"What? Mate, you're out of your mind!" Sally watched in disbelief as she was searched over by the boy. "Oi! Stop goggling at me like I'm some piece of meat! Are you listening to me?! What the bloody hell do you keep talking about?"
The boy looked up at her again, seemingly taken aback by her words, then began to speak rapidly at her. "I-I-I said S-Scaramouche. That's- that's you! Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?"
Sally was baffled. She stared wide-eyed for a moment or two, then regained her stern, moody composure. "I ain't no... whatever the hell you just said. I'm just looking for somewhere to eat. Mind if I sit in here?"
The boy's face cracked into a smile. "Oh, no!" Then he faltered, and became quite nervous. "That is... if you don't mind the voices."
"What voices?"
"The voices," he explained. "In my head. I hear them all the time, you see. Words, phrases, and sounds, and I say things that I don't mean to say. It pops up in my head, and then I say it out loud, and I can't control it. The voices, they're always there, I'm always saying things at the wrong time..." Now he sounded quite distressed as he held onto his head and wrenched his eyes closed. "Darlin' you got to let me know, should I stay or should I go?"
"You know what? Whatever. I'm hungry, I just want somewhere to eat, and you ain't a GaGa, that's for sure. I can cope with a nutcase for a little while." Sally pulled herself a seat and fished her lunch out of her bag; school meals were disgusting, so she often brought her own lunch to keep herself from either being poisoned or starving to death. As she unwrapped the tin foil from her sandwiches, she spoke to her new companion. "So, if you ain't from the Boy Zone, then who are you?"
"Y-you mean my- my G-G-G-GaGa name? Or my real name?"
The girl frowned. "Whatever you prefer to be called."
"Okay, well..." He leaned forward and lowered his voice. "My real name is Galileo Figaro."
Containing laughter, just barely, Sally took a bite of her sandwich. She chewed and swallowed before speaking again. "Poor bloke! Who in their right minds gave you a name like that?"
"The voices!" he cut in enthusiastically. "They gave it to me, in a dream."
"The question was rhetorical," she spoke bluntly, seeming to burst Galileo's bubble. "Well, as I was about to say, you mind if I shorten it? I don't think I can call you something like that without laughing. What about... Gazza?"
The delusional boy pursed his lips. Clearly, he didn't like it very much- perfect.
"Alright then. Gazza it is. Maybe Gaz, when it rings better." Proud of her new nickname, she tore another bite out of her sandwich.
Suddenly, Galileo seemed to snap again. His slumped shoulders were lost as he sat dead upright, his sheepish expression became almost blank with a vague hint of surprise, and he stared at the far wall for a moment or two before bursting out into song again and continuing to type on his laptop.
"Splendour in silver dress, velocity possessed, the world was hers again, it fell apart again- I don't need anyone to hurt me, no, not anyone at all, 'cause my so-called friends have left me, and I don't care at all, leave me alone, leave me alone- leave me alone!"
Surprisingly, the song ended in Gazza's yelled, desperate plea as he hid his face in his hands, panting heavily. Then, without lifting his head, he let his fingers drifted to the keyboard and typed again. "Scaramouche... Scaramouche... will you do the fandango?" he repeated slowly.
Meanwhile, Sally was sitting there, feeling like she was pinned to her chair. It almost scared her to sit here and watch a terrified young man get possessed by the voices in his head, doing things involuntarily, and being so frightened of himself. Almost reluctantly, she shuffled off her seat and moved around to look over his shoulder at the laptop.
The document was hauntingly named 'THE VOICES . TXT', and it seemed to be scarily long. On it was typed a load of nonsense, everything his mouth had just blurted out and more. At random, she picked out a chunk of text to skim read; it was repeatedly asking if Annie was okay, and informing her that she had been hit and struck by a smooth criminal. What did that mean? Almost as if he had sensed her desire to voice such a question, Galileo began to explain.
"I write it all down... what the voices tell me," he explained solemnly. He sounded so exhausted. "I hope that, if I keep a record of it all, I'll be able to find the answers to it one day. I've read through some of the ancient texts, the words from the past. But they don't answer everything."
"Gazza, mate... I don't know if you've noticed, but you're batshit insane," she spoke, groaning when the bell rang again. "Fuck... I didn't even get to finish my sandwich. Ah, well, time for class..."
"Please don't leave me."
Sally froze, alarmed. She turned back to Galileo in shock. "I... I'm sorry?"
Galileo looked like a smacked puppy. "Please, Scaramouche, don't go. I've been looking for you for so long, I-I-I've had dreams about you all my life! N-not you, you, b-but I've heard your name so much, and the voices- they told me how I'd know when I found you, a-a-and now I have! A-and I can't go to class when I'm hearing the voices. S-S-Scaramouche, c-can you just stay with me? Th-the voices, the voices scare me, I-I don't wanna be alone. And- and you can finish eating, too!" He paused, then deflated. "I-I'm sorry. You can go, if you wanna."
Scoffing a little, Sally sat back in her seat. "Nah. I'll stay. It's not like I'm going to miss anything important, anyway."
Galileo grinned. "Oh, thank you, Scara! Um... you... don't mind if I call you that, do you?"
"Not really," she commented offhandedly. "Scaramouche is better than bitch."
The boy grinned sympathetically, then began to sing again, much more cheerfully this time. "Uh-huh, make me tonight... tonight, make it right, uh-huh, make me tonight..."
Once again, she began to eat. Now she wasn't quite so startled by his singing, or his typing. At least, not until he turned to her and burst into song.
"Well, you had me from hello, I felt love start to grow the moment I looked into your eyes, you won me... it was over from the start, you completely stole my heart... and now you won't let go... I never even had a chance, you know, you had me from-" Desperately, he clapped his hands over his mouth. His eyes were wide, and his face was red. Only when he was sure the singing wouldn't continue did he remove his hands, and make a desperate apology. "I-I-I'm so sorry! Th-that was the voices, not m-me! Please don't be uncomfortable..." Quickly, he turned to his laptop and typed furiously, muttering under his breath.
Sally wasn't paying any attention. Her chest felt like it was imploding in on itself, and she was getting tingles all over. That had been unbelievably awkward to sit through, yet... the meaningful way he had been singing, even though the song was clichéd and horrible, and even though it was clearly one of his strange delusions... it made her feel all warm and fuzzy. Despite it being one of those possessions, the fact still stood that it had been the first time anyone had ever said anything so meaningful to her. She couldn't get over that.
"Scara? You're okay, right?" he asked, and Sally shook herself out of her thoughts.
"Y-yeah... I'm good." To mask her vulnerable state, she pouted and punched him in the arm, even though her face was still rather pink. "Don't sing anything like that to me ever again."
Galileo nodded. "S-so... you see now why I can't go to class like this?"
"Honestly, I'm surprised you're even outside when you're prone to that behaviour."
The two of them sat there for the rest of the day. Nobody seemed to care that they were skipping classes. Sally was actually surprised that nobody caught them skiving when Galileo was singing, because he was pretty loud about it- either no one was around to hear them, or they just didn't care. Either way, the girl wasn't bothered. She was actually starting to like Gaz- sure, he was an absolute nutter, and made her kind of uncomfortable sometimes, but he wasn't a GaGa kid. Plus, he meant well. When he wasn't hallucinating, he was nice. It was just too bad that she wasn't.
"Scara... Are we friends?"
Sally looked up. "Friends...?"
"Yeah... F-friends. I-I-I'd like to be friends with y-you, Scaramouche... I really would."
There was a pause in which the girl debated her options. "I... I don't know, Gaz. I've never had a friend... and I'm not the nicest of people. I'm a huge bitch most of the time, and I don't want to upset you or anything like that... You're a nice bloke." That was enough opening up for about a month, she resolved as she avoided eye contact with him. But at least he knew now. He couldn't say that she didn't warn him about her sting.
"Well, that's okay... I-it's not your fault. You're only like that because you're s-s-scared that you'll let your guard down, and someone will say something n-nasty and hurt your feelings. That's what's always happened... R-right?"
Sally was blown away. "How did you...?!"
"The voices," Gaz reminded her, and for the first time, the girl began to wonder if these things he said he could hear in his head weren't delusions at all. At first, she had put him down as being some sort of schizophrenic, but now that he seemed to be told things that no one knew about her...
"That, and it's sort of easy to figure out."
"I'm not sure whether I should be offended by that or not."
"Well, anyway," Gaz continued, ignoring her point, "I don't mind. I mean, maybe making a friend will help you loosen up a little. I promise, I'll try not to get mad at you, i-if you try and tolerate me, too. How about that?"
There was one last, silent ponder, and then she nodded. "Fair enough... sounds good. I have a... friend."
The final bell of the day blared out, making both of the oddly-dressed rebels cringe. "Alright!" cried the GaGa kids, and Sally growled under her breath. That had grown old after the second time.
As Galileo packed his things away, he looked up at her. "W-w-would you like me to w-walk you home? Maybe the GaGas will be a bit more intimidated i-if there's two of us..."
"I don't think that's true," she commented, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "Only come with me if you live my way. I don't want to drag you away for nothing."
"No, it's okay. I can't go home until it's dark, I have all evening."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sally quizzed as she waited for Galileo, and when he stood, she realised how much taller he was than herself. It pissed her off somewhat, and she folded her arms.
Galileo shook his head. "Nevermind. Maybe I'll show you one day. If you wanted, you could always stick with me for the evening."
"No, I'll pass. Today worked me up, and I've got more unpacking to do at home."
The pair of them slinked out of the empty classroom and made their way down the halls. The GaGa kids were still leaving their lessons, so they made the most of their newfound space and got the hell out of school as fast as they could, at which point Sally began to lead them in the direction of her home.
"So, Scara... Do you want to do that again tomorrow? B-because the voices are less scary when you're there."
Sally shrugged passively. "If it gets me out of GaGa Dance, sure thing."
Galileo's face spread into a smile again. "Thanks, Scaramouche. I knew I could count on you. God, I'm glad I finally met you."
Idle chatter followed. It was only silence filler, in Sally's opinion- nothing of particular significance. Somehow, though, it kind of was important, because she'd never had anyone to have small talk with before. It felt good to just mindlessly chatter with someone, even though it would be occasionally cut off by something Gaz said that made absolutely no sense. Still, it seemed to be calming down a bit now; they were just mutters, and that was a lot easier to ignore than the anguished cries and songs from before. By the time they reached her apartment block, she was quite calm, and she bid goodbye to her new friend before heading inside to go home.
Sally stalked through the corridors, ignoring the weird look she got from the pink-haired receptionist as she moved straight over to the elevator. Those planning on getting in before her moved out of the way to give her the elevator all to herself, and she rolled her eyes. Adults in GaGa land were ridiculously immature. As if they wouldn't share a lift with a teenager just because of what she was wearing! Still, she couldn't complain, because now she didn't have to suffocate on cheap perfume or burn her eyes out on the bright colours. She took satisfaction in marching right through the tiny, parting crowd, standing alone in the elevator, jabbing a finger onto the fourth floor button and watching the goggling neighbours disappear behind a pair of metal doors.
Up, up and away... The elevator began to ascend, and Sally huffed in annoyance at how enfuriatingly painful the muffled music that played was to listen to. It was a basic instrumental version of the latest release from Globalsoft Music Corporation; the girl didn't know what it was called, but it sounded the damn same as every one of its predecessors. It was all the same sort of tempo, the same note scales, even the same instruments. The only thing that ever seemed to change were the words, and even then, the meaning behind them was always the same. This world was driving her to insanity. Everything was the same!
Once the lift rattled to a stop on the fourth floor and the doors opened, she strode down the corridor. Corridors were a constant theme in her life, it seemed- at least this one was more pleasant than the ones at Cyber High. After all, nothing could be worse than anything at that damn place, especially not when there was a home at the end of this path. Not an ideal one, of course, but it was better than nothing. It was a roof over her head, and there was food and drink, even if it wasn't very tasty.
Sally fished out her keycard from her bag before she even reached the front door, so it was ready to scan when she got there. As usual, there was a soft bleep, and the lock clicked open, allowing her to open the door and stomp inside.
Living life as a latchkey was good, in her opinion; her current foster parents were often still at work for a long while after she got home from school. That gave her a few hours' peace to relax, and not be reprimanded about her rebellious ways. After all, they worked for Globalsoft, and it was only really the image she reflected onto them that they cared about, not the fact that their adoptive daughter was bullied every day of her life and had become terribly insecure because of it. Oh, she couldn't stand either of them, and having a while on her own to make herself something she wanted to eat for dinner, get some homework out of the way, and cool down after simmering all day was a blessing.
Another thing she didn't like, though, was the girl she called foster sister. The bitch's name was Dolly, and she thought she was so high and mighty because she was two years older, and already of age to go to whatever GaGa college she was flouncing around in right now. Sally was grimly reminded of the girl when, from her bag, her tablet made another bothersome pinging noise. Knowing it would be that stupid sister, since she was the only one who ever emailed her, she kicked the apartment door shut and tossed her schoolbag onto the ugly, neon green couch. Then she unzipped the top and pulled out the device.
"Dolly to Sally," came that adenoidal, grating voice that sounded more electronic than usual coming from the speakers. "Pick up, slowpoke!"
Rolling her eyes, Sally pushed her finger down on the flashing blue envelope on the screen. Up popped an image of the young woman; her blonde hair was cropped and streaked with pink highlights, her face was coated with eyeshadow and blusher and glittery lipgloss, and she was chewing noisily on some gum. Dolly looked very bored as she stared at the screen, and it took her a second to notice that her call had been answered.
"Oh. There you are. Took you long enough."
"Oi, shut it, gobby," Sally snapped. "What do you want?"
Dolly's brow furrowed further. "Calm down, crabby. Mum just told me to call you. They're gunna stay at work for an extra hour or so, so don't wait up for them. As for me, I'm going to Tequiri tonight, so you'll have to survive on your own until Mum and Dad get back."
The younger of the girls sighed at the mention of the newest nightclub in town. "Whatever. Go ahead."
"Oh- also, order me a pizza for when I get home at eight. Make sure it's cheese and tomato with anchovies- that's the latest trend right now. Keep that in mind, you're gunna need it."
Sally scowled. "No! Get your own bloody pizza, you lazy cow. If that's all you've got to tell me, then scram."
Dolly considered that. "Oh! Yeah, there is one more thing. You look like a transvestite in those rags. Get a fashion sense, loser."
"Fuck right off, you-!" Sally was cut off by the pop of gum, and the sound of the call ending, taking her back to the homepage of her tablet. Screaming in frustration, the girl all but threw it back onto the couch, not caring how dangerously close it came to bouncing off and shattering on the floor. That brainless, stuck-up GaGa girl thought she knew it all. She could think again.
The teenager took a deep, slow breath. Calm down, Sally, she told herself, then cringed at her horrid GaGa name. Now that she thought about it, she should start calling herself something else... something better. Something that didn't make her feel horrible and trapped in a world full of identical people who were shaped rather than being able to shape themselves.
In that moment, there was an echo in her mind.
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?
Scaramouche... Galileo's new name for her. It was odd, she had to admit, but it sounded almost anarchic. Almost like something that, once upon a time, could have been called... a tune. How terrible- she was starting to admire the crazy man's freaky delusions, but she had to admit, it was a pretty cool nickname. Maybe she could use it, just for now; a private name between Gaz and herself, just to escape from Globalsoft's virtual reality for a little while. That made her feel a bit better, and she kept focusing on that as she headed to the kitchen.
"Alright, Scaramouche," she said to herself. "What are you having for dinner?" As she walked over to the fridge, she opened it and wrinkled up her face. Nothing interesting... Pizza it was, then. Maybe she could mess with Dolly like this. That would teach her not to push around a girl with such willpower and cunning. Leave the empty pizza box on the table with the lid shut, and bam- instant payback, right there. Snatching up her tablet again, she browsed through the web and found her favourite pizza place's website; their pizzas were the ones that tasted least like plastic, cardboard or rubber. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing. After a few minutes' worth of consideration, she chose a pepperoni pizza with extra onion, ordering it swiftly and waiting.
In the meantime, she sat down and opened up her emails again. To her surprise, there was a message waiting in her inbox; it was from a boy called Gordon Jones, and she scoffed. Great. Probably a chain mail from one of the GaGa kids. Everyone knew that some people were players, and would send mass emails to attract several people on the same date and cause a scene. Scaramouche herself had recieved a fair share. Usually, she would brush it off as either some sort of joke or a randomly chosen contact to send the message to, but she would still read them, just out of curiosity, and for her own amusement. So, she opened the email, and was surprised when the page loaded.
Hey, Sally!
"Oh, great... It's Gazza," Scaramouche muttered, but she couldn't help feeling pleasantly surprised. This was the first genuinely friendly email she had read in a long time, and she had only seen the first two words. Leaning back against the sofa, she pulled her legs up and rested the tablet against her thighs whilst she continued to read.
Did you get home okay? Listen, my... family and I are planning a party, and I wondered if you wanted to come? Don't worry, it's not a GaGa party. I-
Galileo's voice reading out the letter in her head was interrupted by a knock at the door. She placed her device to one side and moved over to the front door; upon opening it, a Boy Zone boy stood at the door, dressed in the delivery company's uniform and grinning ecstatically. That smile quickly morphed into a look of utter shock at the sight of her, and he seemed to freeze; she just snatched the pizza off him, swiped her card into the machine that he was holding to pay for the meal, and then slammed the door in his face. She was busy- she didn't have time for GaGa pizza boys. The only credit she could give him was that the delivery was quick.
With a sigh, Scaramouche dropped heavily back onto the couch. Her tablet found its way back into her hands, the pizza box replacing its position beside her on the couch; she lifted the cardboard lid, took a slice and took a ravenous bite off the end as she continued reading.
I'll tell you more about it at school tomorrow, and you can think harder about it tonight and tell me then, if you want. You're welcome to join us, if you want to, but you certainly don't have to. Anyway, I gotta go- let me know soon if you're going to come. Enjoy your evening, I guess.
- Gordon.
A family party? How dorky was this kid? Scaramouche couldn't help grinning wryly at the screen, but she still took note of the ellipsis in front of the word of her amusement. It was strange that he had typed out what ultimately would have been a hesitation in real life. Did he intentionally do that to make her laugh, or maybe to show her that it wasn't entirely the truth? One thing she couldn't help cringing at was the use of her real name as well as his in the email, but she understood why he had done it- Globalsoft tracked every email sent by anyone, to anyone on Planet Mall. Using their nicknames for each other would be risky, and if they were concerned enough about a pair of teenagers using individual thought to give each other new names rather than genuine criminals, they could be arrested.
But, going back to the point, Scara considered the offer. It didn't sound too bad, come to think of it. Sure, it would be bad if Gazza's so-called family was anything like him, but what was the worst that could happen? The girl was inconsiderate enough of other's feelings to march right out of there if she didn't like what was happening; her no-nonsense attitude would mean she felt no remorse. Besides, she'd never been to a party before, and something told her that this man wouldn't attend a GaGa bash for the life of him.
Once again, Scaramouche sighed. She pulled her legs up again, not caring that she would be severely scolded if anyone saw her with her boots on the sickeningly brightly-coloured sofa, and glanced out of the window. It wasn't much of a different feeling to staring straight at the blinding white walls of the apartment, which reminded her of an asylum building. There was more colour outside, admittedly, but the city was like a prison to her. This landscape was what trapped her, and she couldn't even admire the architecture of it all. She wanted something new, something grittier and more exciting. Hell, even having a dustbin for a home was better than this. Someone just needed to get her out of GaGa Land, before she exploded.
The pizza long forgotten, Scara scoffed and hugged her knees. The whole damn planet was caught up in this life of marketing and propaganda and lies. Where would she go otherwise? If she left this city, no matter how many miles she walked, there would always be another one waiting at the end of the road. That made a lump form in her throat, even though she tried desperately to hold it back, because if she didn't fit in in Globalsoft's empire, and that expanded across the entire world, where did she belong?
At least she had Galileo, she concluded. That was something, at least. Yes, he was a maniac, and he wasn't the perfect companion, by any means. But, she reminded herself, he wasn't a GaGa kid. That still stood for something. As well as that, he was an outcast; she'd never met another one, like herself. Before today, of course.
Right now, she decided, she didn't need to belong anywhere. Yes, she'd like to, but it wasn't such a desperate situation anymore now that she had Gaz. The current of life that she had been swept through and almost drowned in had slowed down to a steady stream, and her new friend was the stranger that had helped her onto his raft, allowing them both to float contentedly downstream. She was happy to let that be so for a while.
In the silence of the apartment, Scaramouche took a deep breath. Though she didn't feel particularly bad right now, while she was by herself, she decided to busy herself with some self-sympathy, away from prying eyes. For comfort purposes, she kicked off her boots. Then she took one of the repulsive neon pillows from beside her, rested it on her knees, and hid her face in it. Whether she was going to cry or not, she didn't really know, but just sitting like this was enough to calm her somewhat. As she was dwelling on her own problems and determined that she was strong enough to get by without shedding tears, she listened to the buzz of the city outside, and wished with all her might that, even though she was fine with not being welcomed with open arms for now, she could get out of this city- that she could be anywhere but here.
Author's Note: Whew! That one took a while to write. I'm liking this, though. I'm not really sure where this is going to go, I'm pretty much making it up as I go along- I hope it doesn't lead to any plot holes or anything like that.
Right now, Chapter 3 is well under way! I'm not sure if anyone's reading this fic, but I'm certainly enjoying writing it, so while it's always nice to get some R&R, the main thing is that it's fun, right?
Next chapter is packed full of stuff; Bohemians, drama, and some hints at romance. I'm looking forward to posting it. If anyone is, thanks for reading!