"Yep," Tracy agreed,"And yet we still come every year."
"It's a tradition," Charlotte said. Josie and Tracy were leaning against the wall of the fun house and Charlotte was standing across from them.
"You mean like the scream off?" Tracy smirked.
"Yep, you going to scream with us this year Charlie?" Josie said.
"I guess." Every year, the cheerleaders and some other girls in their class would go on the roller coaster and they'd see who screamed the loudest with the other people at the fair as the judge.
"Why is it that we seem to think screaming louder makes us better?" Tracy said.
"Cause we beat them."
"Oh, okay." Tracy and Josie saw Gerard, Mikey, Frank, Ray, and Bob slowly creeping over. Gerard put a finger to his lips, making it clear that Josie and Tracy shouldn't say anything.
"Have you ever wondered who decided to say,'I'm going to take a track, put a loop in it and carts on it. It'll make millions!' The roller coaster just seems like a weird idea to me, but nothing's weird anymore I guess," Charlotte said as Gerard slowly snuck up behind her.
"Yeah, not in today's society anyway," Josie said as Gerard stood behind Charlotte and started putting his chin near her shoulder so that their cheeks almost touched.
Charlotte turned her head slightly and saw Gerard smiling as creepily as possible. She screamed and jumped.
"Don't do that!!" She said.
Frank took out a piece of paper and wrote something down on it.
"Whatcha writing?" Tracy said.
"I'm keeping a list of everyone Gerard scares at the park today. So far we've got the old lady by the front entrance, the little girl by the sno-cone machine, the little boy by the popcorn stand, the couple by the cotton candy stand, the kid with the lazy eye, that pregnant lady-"
"Dude, was that the lady that went into labor a month early a few minutes ago?"
".... shit I hope not..."
"You scared her baby out of her!"
"Well, in my defense, if she was eight months pregnant, what was she doing in this expensive, dangerous, unhealthy place?"
".. That dude by the tunnel of love," Frank continued,"The clown who was making balloon animals, and Charlie."
"Have you got nothing better to do but make that list?" Josie said.
"I can't go on any rides, my mother has forbidden me. Cause of my weird stomach."
"That sucks."
"Yeah."
"When's that scream off thing?" Bob said.
"Like.... ten minutes."
"Charlotte, are those Mindy's boots?"
They looked down at Charlotte's feet to see the boots that she'd been so upset about when she found out Mindy had them.
"Well, see, I was taking buster for a walk, and I guess she got them on sale so she can't return them. They were in the trash and I figured, why let a perfectly good pair of boots that happen to be my size go to waste?"
"Trash-picker," Ray said.
"Whatever, she only wore them once."
"What are you going to do when she finds out?"
"Nothing, they're my boots now."
"Who do you think is going to win the scream off?"
"Us for sure, if we can keep screaming through an entire concert in the moshpitt, this roller coaster won't be a problem," Tracy said.
They walked towards the roller coaster.
"Are those my boots?" Mindy said.
"No, they're mine," Charlotte said.
Mindy glared at Charlotte for a moment before turning back to watch the people currently on the roller coaster go through the loop.
"Ugh, lots of drops, I hate drops," Charlotte said.
"Just remember, if you scream really loud you can't even feel your stomach churn," Josie said.
Soon it came time for the cheerleaders to get on the ride. They screamed about as loud as they did at any football game. "Pssh, pathetic," Lola said.
"Yep," Said a cheerleader that didn't like any of the other cheerleaders, so she hadn't gone on the ride with them. None of the other cheerleaders really liked her much either though, so it evened out.
"Where'd you come from?" Bob said to Lola, she hadn't been there thirty seconds earlier.
"Well, see, when a man and a woman love each other very very much-"
"That's not what I ment."
"Oh, the fun house."
"Was it fun?"
"No. How much do you think I could get if I sued them for false advertisement?"
"Probably a lot, you know how much they charge to get in here."
"Hm... my dad's a lawyer, I'll talk to him about it."
"Good luck," Frank said in a sing-song voice as the girls got on the ride.
Up and down the first drop and their screams were already louder. The conclusion that the second group of girls had won the scream-off quickly spread throughout the small crowd that had come to watch and they started walking away. Josie climbed out of her seat fallowed by Charlotte and Tracy.
"That was wicked," Josie said, her hair slightly messed up.
"My throat hurts," Charlotte said.
"I need to sit down," Tracy said, looking slightly green.
"You don't usually get so shaken up."
"First time for everything."
"There's a bench over there, c'mon."
They went over and sat down. "So, what are you guys gonna do while you're here?"
"Not too much, everything's so expensive," Gerard said.
"Probably try to win a few cheap prizes, go on the ferris wheel, stuff like that," Ray said.
"Cool, we'll hang out with you guys."
"'K."
"You feeling any better Tracy?"
"Yeah, just give me a few more minutes..."
"I'm gonna name 'em....... Tweedle Dum, and Tweedle Dee."
"You do that," Bob said.
"Hey Charlie, where'd you have to go that day we were studying?" Gerard asked.
"Oh... um... " She muttered something under her breath.
"Huh?"
"Dance lessons..."
"... you take dance lessons?"
"It's not because I want to, it's because otherwise my dad would make me go out for a sport then I'd feel bad because I'm not good enough to get into one."
"Remember when our parents made us take those ballroom dancing lessons in fourth grade?" Ray said.
"Oh, geez, that was fun," Charlotte said sarcastically.
"Which one of us stepped on the other one's foot more often?"
"Gosh, I don't remember."
"Why didn't we get our report cards this week?" Frank said.
"Because there really is a God," Gerard said, despite his improvements, he wasn't looking forward to seeing his Chemistry grade.
"It's cause they aren't done confirming grades yet," Mikey said.
"Oh, okay," Frank said,"Just cause my mom's convinced I hid mine."
"My parents don't give a shit as long as I move out after graduation," Tracy said with a sigh.
"What about your brother, didn't he graduate a few years ago?"
"Ugh, don't get me started with Vance. 'Tracy, why aren't you more like Vance?' 'Oh, Vance is so smart.' 'Oh Vance is so perfect.' He couldn't get a job at McDonalds."
"So, anyone want to hit the ferris wheel?" Bob said, changing the subject.
"Okay."
"Okay, let's take it from the top."
"Okay."
Charlotte pressed her ear against the door a bit harder as the music started up again. She heard someone start singing.
"Well, if you wanted honesty that's all you had to say, I never want to let you down or have you go, It's better off this way.."
Charlotte swayed her head to the music. She thought it was pretty good.
Once the song was done, she started clapping her hands,"Bravo!" She said.
Gerard and Ray lifted the garage door to see Charlotte standing there.
"I didn't know you guys had a band," She said.
"Um.. What band?" Gerard said lamely, putting the microphone he was holding behind his back.
"Um, this band," She said,"You guys are pretty good, I'd buy the CD."
"It's just for fun mostly," Bob said.
"And Gerard, You're still singing? I thought you gave that up after Peter Pan."
"Um... who said I was singing?" He said lamely again.
"Well, you suck at guitar and you're the only one here not holding an instrument," Charlotte said.
"Right..."
"You guys should really try to perform somewhere, bring rock 'n roll back to society. Now it's all Pop and Hip-Hop."
"I don't want to be the weird singer kid again," Gerard said.
"I'm not that great with the bass yet," Mikey said,"I only started cause we needed one for the band."
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm sure I'll be the greatest guitarist of all eternity!!" Frank said dramatically.
"Um,Greatest Guitarist of All Enternity?" Charlotte said.
"Yes, Charlie?"
"Barn Door's open."
Frank blushed, looked down, turned around, zipped his pants then said,"Aside from that, I am still the greatest guitarist of all eternity."
"Okay then..."
"So, Did you really like the song?" Ray said.
"It's awesome, total teen anthem, everyone can relate to it, will you play it again? I'll listen to it outside the garage if that makes you feel better."
"Me garage es su garage," Ray said gesturing to an old couch in the corner. She went and sat down before Gerard and Ray closed the door again.
"It's garaje," Charlotte said, pronouncing the word in Spanish correctly.
"All right, our first performance," Mikey said.
"Charlie, count us in."
"One, two, three, four!" she said.
The guitars blaired and the drums came in. Gerard tapped his foot in beat before singing their only song. Charlotte laughed as Gerard bounced around everywhere while singing it and got up during Ray's solo to headbang with them. Once the song was over she said,"We should put this on tape, and broadcast it somewhere..."
"Like where?" Frank said.
"School intercom," Bob said.
"Yeah! That would be incredible," Charlotte said.
"How would we do that?" Gerard said.
"Put the tape in a tape player, plug it into the intercom and turn it on," Mikey said.
"Oh, good, so you volunteer to do it then."
"What?! I never said that."
"Well, they take pitty on freshmen, and you've got the cleanest record."
"C'mon Mikey, play our jam on the intercom," Ray said.
"All right, I'll play our jam. For the greater good of rock 'n roll."
"For Rock 'n Roll!" Bob said, punching the air.
"Well let's get recording then, got any blank tapes?"
"Just ran out actually," Ray said.
"I do, be right back," Charlotte said, lifting the garage door a few feet then ducking underneath.
"Right. How are you going to distract the principle again?"
"Oh don't worry, just wait until he leaves his office, and he will."
Charlotte ran out towards the pool while Mikey waited in front of the school.
Once Charlotte got there she saw the rest of the band, Tracy and Josie waiting there.
"Mindy here?"
"Checking out the swim team, yet again. I wonder why they're having practice before school..."
"I still can't believe you can't swim," Charlotte said to Gerard.
"Oh, I can, I just told the gym teacher that so that I didn't have to wear a speedo."
"...."
"Are you imagining me in a speedo now?"
An akward silence fallowed by everyone started laughing,"Oh, scary thoughts!!" Josie cried.
"Okay, okay," Charlotte said, trying to catch her breath,"Let's go." She strolled over to the side of the pool and said,"Hey Mindy, checking out the swim team?"
"Checking out my new boyfriend. If only you knew what it was like to have one."
"Oh, that hurt. If only you knew what it was like to feel. You cold heartless bitch."
"Aw, it's cute how you're so jealous of me, too bad no guy thinks it's cute."
"Too bad no guy likes you for any reason besides the fact that you sleep with every one of them."
"At least guys want to with me, no one would with you if they were paid."
"Aw, but when it comes to you, aren't you the one getting paid?"
"How is this gonna get the principal out here?" Frank muttered to Gerard as Charlotte and Mindy continued insulting each other.
"Wait for it."
Charlotte through her bag to the ground and tackled Mindy. They both fell into the pool and started trying to drown eachother.
"Oh! I get it now," Frank said as Mindy held Charlotte's head under water. Charlotte bit Mindy's wrist and she let out a scream and Charlotte came back up for air.
The swim team just watched, too afraid to even approach the catfight in progress.
"Break it up!" The swim coach said before taking out a walkie talkie. "Get the dean and principal down here to the pool now!"
"Hm.. that's a big chair, bet it's comfortable..." Mikey said. He took a seat. "It is... I bet this is where all the tax money goes..." He looked out the window of the door to make sure the clerks weren't back yet before rolling back and forth across the room on the chair. "This is fun, I wonder if this is what Principal Moriss does all day.... Oh! Right, the tape."
He rolled infront of the intercom and put the tape in the tape player and plugged it into the intercom. He hit the switch and sat back for a second before opening one of the drawers. There was some magazines that a school principal... a married, regular church attending, school principal, should be subscribed to. "And this is where all the rest of the tax money goes," Mikey said, slowly closing the drawer and then getting out of the office
"It's all her," Mindy hissed.
"You were both trying to kill eachother."
"Not kill, just critically injure," Charlotte said.
"Don't back-sass me Ms. Miller!" Principal Moriss snapped.
The band, Tracy, and Josie walked behind them, they were there as witnesses to what happened.
Once they entered the halls they were just in time to hear the first chorus.
"I'm Not Okay, I'm Not okay......"
"What is that infernal noise?" The dean said.
"Eww, rock?" Mindy said.
Charlotte grinned and gave Mikey the thumbs-up as she walked past him.
"Great job Mikey," Josie said as Tracy head-banged.
"I'm not okay! I'm not okay!" she sang,"I love the chorus, it's so easy to remember!"
"It could have been so much worse," Charlotte said,"Although, I've never gotten detention before.."
"It's easy, just sit there and count the cracks in the ceiling," Frank said.
"....Okay..."
"Tonight's the performance for drama," Gerard said,"Did you finish hemming that costume?"
"Yeah, it's in my locker, I'll drop it off after detention."
"She'll be gone by then."
"Damn, you're right, I won't have time to drop it off before that."
"I'll drop it off for you."
"Okay, you know my combination right?"
"Right."
"How does he know your combination?" Tracy said.
"After locking Frankie in there the last time, I figured someone else had better know my combination in case that ever happens again."
Josie walked over,"Guess what? Everyone's talking about the 'mystery band'. A lot of people really love your song, aparently rock hasn't died in everyone's heart."
"Really? That's awesome."
"Yeah, well, what's not awesome is that I over-heard Kenneth and some members of the lacross and football team and they plan on claiming it was them."
"No way....we recorded for hours trying to get it perfect...."
"So, we've got our next targets for Revenge?"
"Definantly."
"Trust Me"