"What are we looking at?" Tracy said.
"Wait for it," Ray said.
A mean girl who was friends with Mindy and who was disliked throughout the school walked over and opened her locker. Frank was inside and he swung open the door and screamed at her. The girl's eyes widened and she screamed too, obviously not expecting to find Frank in her locker. She ran away as Frank casually stepped out of the locker and straightened his tie. He walked over to them.
"That was classic!" Tracy said, giving Frank a high-five.
"Totally," Charlotte agreed then said,"Whoa.. look at that."
They turned back to the lockers and saw a member of the football team rapidly putting pill capsules back into his locker.
"You know," Bob said,"Doesn't really shock me..."
"No, not really," Ray agreed.
"So are all you guys going bowling with us?" Tracy said, changing the subject.
"Yep," Bob said.
"Even Ray," Mikey said.
"We're going to have to tie him up and drag him there, but he will be there," Frank said.
"You don't have to go to such drastic measures," Charlotte said.
"But I already went out and bought the rope...." Bob said.
"Well.... you'll have to find some other use for the rope I guess," Gerard said.
"That's legal," Ray added.
"You guys take all the fun out of everything," Bob said.
"Hello," Josie said.
"You just missed Frank hiding in Laura's locker and scarring the shit out of her," Tracy said.
"I did? That sucks... Well, I'll just have to imagine it." She looked at the ceiling and began imagining it. She giggled to herself.
"Lila, three o'clock," Tracy said.
Frank looked behind him.
"Idiot, that's nine o'clock, three o'clock's over there," Josie said pointing over her shoulder. Frank cursed under his breath and hid behind Ray. Lila walked past them and Frank came back into view.
"Lucky for you you're short," Gerard said.
"Lucky for me Ray's got big hair."
"No, lucky for you Lila's a moron," Bob said,"But Ray's abnormally large hair and your lack of being tall did work in your advantage as well."
"We're going to be late for class," Charlotte said, checking her watch.
"Right," Ray said.
"See ya," Mikey said. They all walked off in different directions towards their first period classes.
Ms. Provence gave Gerard his quiz, then moved to Charlotte's desk in front of him and gave her back her quiz.
Charlotte slowly flipped the page over and looked at the grade.
Twenty out of twenty-five.
Gerard looked up as Charlotte sighed in relief. The bell rang and they left the classroom.
"I got an A-!" Tracy said. Punching the air.
"I got an A. Not an A+, not an A-," Gerard said.
"I got a B-," Charlotte said,"Which is so much better then an F."
"But it's almost a C," Tracy said.
"Don't ruin my moment! And it's not a C, so there."
"It's only Tuesday..... feels like it should be Thursday."
"I know, really. English, see you later," Charlotte said, walking into the nearby classroom.
Ms. Provence gave Gerard his quiz, then moved to Charlotte's desk in front of him and gave her back her quiz.
Charlotte slowly flipped the page over and looked at the grade.
Twenty out of twenty-five.
Gerard looked up as Charlotte sighed in relief. The bell rang and they left the classroom.
"I got an A-!" Tracy said. Punching the air.
"I got an A. Not an A+, not an A-," Gerard said.
"I got a B-," Charlotte said,"Which is so much better then an F."
"But it's almost a C," Tracy said.
"Don't ruin my moment! And it's not a C, so there."
"It's only Tuesday..... feels like it should be Thursday."
"I know, really. English, see you later," Charlotte said, walking into the nearby classroom.
"Do we want to know?" Josie said.
"No, but I'm telling you anyway. So there I was in the bathroom, about to leave when I notice that my shoe is untied."
"Okay...."
"And so I bent down to tie my shoe and out of the corner of my eye I see under the next stall... and there's two people in that stall... and one is wearing heals."
"Really...."
"Yes, and the one in the heels kind of..... leaned forward enthusiastically....."
"So.... either someone was getting it on in the bathroom, or there was some guy dressed in drag having a much too friendly conversation with another one of his buddies."
"I didn't stick around to find out," Frank said, tieing his shoe that he hadn't ended up tieing in the bathroom.
Tracy ran over and said,"I just saw Mindy and Pete from the lacross team leaving the boy's bathroom!"
"Well, one mystery solved," Charlotte said,"Doesn't suprise me too much."
"What's up with you and Mindy?" Bob said.
"You guys have never gotten along," Ray said.
"I just don't like her...." She said. That wasn't true, there was more to the story.
"You haven't liked her since you moved here then," Ray said.
"Nope," She said,"Never liked her."
"Not even a little?" Josie said.
"Nope."
They were working on the balcony for Romeo and Juliet which was the play that was being rehearsed.
"What else do we need?" Josie said.
"We need to put some fake flowers on the vines I think," Charlotte said.
"Probably," Gerard agreed.
"I think there's some left over from Alice in Wonderland, I'll go check," Josie said,"You guys finish with the vines."
Gerard climbed back up his ladder and Charlotte went around and up to the balcony and finished attatching the vines to the balcony.
"... Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefor art thou Romeo?" Diane Green, who had been cast as Juliet said from the distance.
"Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or if thou wilt not, be sworn my love, I will no longer be a Capulet..." Charlotte whispered.
"You should have tried out, I bet you would have gotten he part of Juliet," Gerard said.
"No, I have wicked stage fright, I can barely make presentations in front of one class, imagine trying to recite lines in front of the entire school. Besides, I'd make a lousy Juliet."
"Why?"
"Well, for one thing, they wanted a Freshman or Sophmore because Romeo and Juliet are only fourteen."
"And here some people think twenty is too young to get married."
"I know, really. And I'm sure they wanted someone pretty for Juliet, someone that someone could actually fall in love with at first sight," She said, wrapping a vine around the railing of the balcony.
Gerard didn't know how to reply to that. He couldn't agree with her, especially when he thought that she was decent looking and if she got mad at him, it would be all to easy to push him off of the ladder. And if he disagreed with her, she might think that he was lying to make her feel better. So he just kept his mouth shut.
"Found some white and red roses... and some white roses painted red," Josie said as she walked around the ladder with a box in her arms. She climbed up the stairs to the balcony and put the box down between herself and Charlotte.
"Okay, how are we going to put them on the vines?"
"I have a solution for that," Josie said, She dug through the box and got out some clear masking tape,"No one will notice in the audience, and if they do, too bad, they'll deal with it."
"Right, and if they don't I'll hit them with my croquet mallet," Gerard said.
"The almighty croquet mallet," Josie said.
"Fear the croquet mallet!" Charlotte said.
"The croquet mallet shall rule you all."
"All hail the croquet mallet!"
"Didn't Tracy hit someone with a croquet mallet once?" Josie asked.
"Once? Try hitting her ex-boyfriend about five times. They were playing croquet and she kept hitting his shins and once she even hit a little higher then that, and quite literally below the belt...."
"Ow," Gerard said,"Croquet mallets can hurt anyway, but there.... trust me, you can't think of anything that hurts as bad."
"Okay, we'll take your word for it," Charlotte said.
"Just don't go into detail or anything," Josie said as she taped a flower to part of the vine.
"Okay... is that why he's her ex-boyfriend?"
"Partly."
"The other part's a long, messy story that you don't want to hear," Josie said.
"'K."
"You should have tried out too Gerard," Charlotte said changing the subject back to the play,"Remember the fourth grade play?"
"Peter Pan!" Josie said.
"Don't remind me."
"How did that song go again?" Charlotte said.
"I don't want to grow up," Josie said.
"I don't want to grow up," Charlotte said.
"Not a penny will I pinch, I will never grow a mustache, or a fraction of an inch," Gerard sang softly.
"You were such an adorable Peter Pan," Charlotte said.
"I had to wear tights..."
"That was funny," Josie said,"Didn't Mindy play Wendy?"
"Yeah."
"First year at that school, and I go and play fucking Peter Pan... real smart of me huh?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot that you went to that other Elementary School," Josie said.
"How come you don't sing anymore?"
"I don't want to be the weird singer kid."
"You were pretty good," Josie said.
"... Didn't you play Captain Hook?"
"No.... that was Tracy."
"Oh. Why'd she get to be the pirate?"
"Because you tried out for the dude in the green tights and got the part."
"I still don't get it but okay," Gerard said.
Brad had already come home and was taking Buster for a walk. Mikey was stitting across from Charlotte, reading and listening to his music.
The front door opened and Melissa, Charlotte's mom, walked in. Melissa ran the pre-school, she'd replaced an old woman who wasn't nice at all when they moved to town. She remembered every pre-schooler she'd ever taught. Which creeped them out because they didn't remember her.
"Hello," She said as she walked into the kitchen.
"Hi," Charlotte and Gerard said without looking up.
"Hello Mikey!" Melissa said loudly. Mikey looked up and took off his headphones.
"What?"
"I said Hello."
"Oh... hi."
He put his headphones back on and looked back at the pages of his book.
"Is Carly in her room?"
"I guess so," Charlotte said.
"How was your day?"
"Fine."
"What are you doing in Math?"
"Mom, don't make me re-live it."
"Okay, fine, what are you doing in Chemistry?"
"Don't make me re-live anything either," Gerard said.
"Yeah mom, we just finished Chemistry homework."
"When are you guys getting report cards?"
"The next ones are... crap, week after next."
"But it's not the semester report cards so I'm still okay right?" Gerard said.
"As long as you get at least a C."
"Okay... I have a D+ right now."
"There's a test on Friday, if you get a good grade on that it will raise you up to a C. And there's a quiz next Wednesday that will help you out too."
"What about you Charlotte? How's your math grade?"
"It's.... passing."
"Which is?"
"Last I checked I had a C... but it's a high C... and I got a B on the quiz we got back today so that should help, and there's a test tomorrow- CRAP! There's a test tomorrow!"
"You'll do fine," Gerard said,"She gives us loads of time for tests, and you're doing fine on the homework."
"I guess."
"Maybe you should study for another fifteen minutes or so," Melissa said.
"Okay."
Gerard was sitting at the kitchen table eating cereal. He checked his watch, he still had about ten minutes before he had to leave. Donna walked downstairs and said,"Shouldn't you be wearing your uniform?"
"Free dress today," Mikey said, walking past her to get something to eat. He was wearing jeans that were slightly ripped at the bottom with a black t-shirt over a long sleaved red t-shirt.
Gerard was wearing a black Iron Maiden t-shirt and a black jacket with jeans that were ripped at the knees.
"Gerard, do you need new jeans?" Donna asked.
"No."
"But those have huge gashes at the knees."
"I like the huge gashes."
"Fine, whatever."
When Gerard and Mikey got to school it was kind of weird seeing all the students in their street clothes. They'd gotten used to seeing smudges of blue and gray.
"Morning," Frank yawned as he walked over. He had on a plain black shirt with a grey tie and jeans.
"Morning." They walked into the school and walked right past Ray and Bob.
"Fine, don't say hi or anything," Bob said, pretending to be insulted.
"We didn't even see you," Mikey said.
"You'd think that with everyone not wearing the same thing, we'd be able to tell people apart," Ray said. He was wearing jeans and a grey t-shirt, and Bob was wearing a black long sleaved shirt and jeans.
"Yeah."
"No Skirts!" Charlotte said sneaking up on them and making them jump.
"No Heels!" Josie said.
"No- ...! .... damn, you guys took all the good ones," Tracy said.
"Nice shirt," Frank said to Charlotte. Her shirt had Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas on it with the words,"I Dig Scrawny Pale Guys" on it.
"Thanks."
"Scrawny and pale huh?"
"Oh, yeah, they turn me on," She joked.
"Better keep you away from these guys then," Tracy said,"You might just loose control."
"Oh, I'm already loosing control!" Charlotte said dramatically, as she walked over and clinged to Mikey's arm,"I can't help it... so scrawny... so pale...."
Mikey glanced at her for a second, before gingerly slipping his arm out of her grasp.
"Don't scare Mikey," Josie said, adjusting her Green Day t-shirt.
"Yeah, Charlotte, what's your problem?" Tracy joked before hitting her with one of her crutches.
"How are you going to bowl with crutches?"
"I'll manage."
"How?"
"I have my ways. Why? Do you question the almighty ways of Tracy?"
"I didn't know your ways were almighty..." Ray said.
"Of course they are, aren't you?" She said to Gerard and Mikey.
"Oh, you mean us? Yes, we are almighty Ways...." Gerard said.
"I didn't know we were her almighty Ways," Mikey said.
"Oh, I guess you didn't get the memo," Tracy said.
"I'm confused," Charlotte said before she started to walk towards her locker.
"Me too," Frank said.
"Trust Me"