Beacon High and what changed me

Chapter IX

"We're the epitome of our kind, we are the perfect youth, but our minds are poisoned, poisoned by love, poisoned by free will, poisoned by the truth..." Writing away at a new song, I don't even notice Dib Vasquez having another fit about how 'The Author' has 'forgotten him' and that 'he is going to feel the wrath of Dib Vasquez' once he breaks out of his 'awful teen fiction prison' or something. Yeah right. You just keep being insane, I'm sure one person will believe you one day. Mr. Garcet tries to calm him down and fails, calling for people to help take him to the illness room at our school. Not sure if putting a plaster on your head cures insanity but that's all the school's illness place can do in the way of medical procedures. Mr. Garcet carries on with our usual exercise, and the bell rings. Me and Chloe walk down to our usual table in the cafeteria and debate whether we should take the other bands serious. "I mean," Chloe says, "The Disco Girls are the only real threat. Tracey Bebe and LaShawna can't possibly be as threatening as Amelia, and whoever the hell these 'fef' people are, they don't seem like they could be a serious opponent. I mean, who calls their band 'fef'?" She shakes her head. "Doesn't make any sense." I laugh. "Please, we're going to beat them. I've been working on a song that touches all of our generation. And it isn't based on fads!" Chloe smiles. "Good!" We stare over at Lyle. "Lyle, not talking today? Being the quiet one you usually are today?" He smiles a very weak smile. "Yeah, sorry, kinda zoned out there for a moment." Mysterious. I wonder what could possibly be on his mind. "So anyway, let's ignore Lyle's inconsistencies for a moment. How many songs did we even write?" Skyler flips through the songbook. "About twenty or so." Chloe dramatically spits her smoothie out. "What? We wrote THAT many? Wow, you never notice that when writing!" I look at my watch. Nearly home time, just this next period. "I really hope the bands thing goes well. I mean, what happens to us after the battle of the bands?" Dib Vasquez screams at me whilst running past. "THE AUTHOR WILL END THE STORY AND WE WILL ALL PHASE OUT OF EXISTANCE, ONLY TO REPEAT THE SAME PAGES AGAIN!" I roll my eyes. "Not the answer I was asking for, but then again I didn't ask Dib."

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Final Period over, off to the bus! "I hate it when we have to wait for the bus. Even if it is just like two minutes." Chloe nods. "I know, right? And if the bus comes late, then I get so annoyed. Funny thing is, it's such a minor thing." As if the city transit company had heard us, the bus arrived and we hopped on. A few stops later, Chloe gets off and waves goodbye as the bus leaves Herculaneum Street. I stare out of the window and watch the bus stops pass by as the bus finally gets to Trousseau Street. It feels like a long time but to be honest it was probably something like 15 minutes. I get into the house, throw my stuff into the corner, switch my laptop on and turn on my TV. As Cartoon Network announces something as the next show, my computer plays the usual jingle it plays. I log into AIM and lo and behold, my ex sent me a message. I groan and send "Sorry, but I've been looking for another you, and I've found one." back. Then I notice Lyle is online and is typing. "Hey Penelope :3" I start typing. "Hey Lyle, what was up today?" I stare at the TV and see a CN bumper play. "Well, it's kinda hard to talk about... scared what the others might say or something." I type. "Go on, tell me. I won't tell anybody, promise." Lyle is typing. And typing. And typing. Ba-dink! New message. "Well, it's kinda... a very mild thing to... sorta do with you. You know how you're dating Brendan? And Chester Meffield beat him for football team captain? Well... I kinda may have helped that." I raise an eyebrow. "So? Where's this going to go to?" Lyle types. And types. I stare at the TV and watch whatever's running. As usual. "Well... it's kind of a long story between me and Chester. I'll give you the TL;DR version: We were a couple and I encouraged Chester too much. He became gloaty and even took pills to beat Brendan. To cut a long story short, we broke up because he started to scare me with what he became..." I read through the message twice. Should I have hard feelings? Not sure, Lyle didn't do anything to me specifically or to people I hold dear. It was Chester that did that stuff. Ba-dink! "Still there?" I sigh. "Yeah. Well it doesn't matter tbh, because nothing really terrible happened." Lyle Is Typing. Ba-dink! "Please don't tell the others though, ok?" I nod. "Yes. I won't." I switch off the TV and click on Windows Media Player. I select a playlist and lie down on my bed. I stare at the couch under the window. A sofabed, mom bought it in case we get guests. Above it, the window to the outside world. I stare as several 33 buses pass by. Sometimes life can be so very boring. My phone buzzes. A message from Brendan. "Wanna go meet in town?" I smile. "Of course." I get my self ready, leave a note on the mirror in the hallway and leave for the bus stop.

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There he stands. Feet, don't fail me now! "Hey Penelope!" How can you resist a hot footballer, that on top of that is all hot and sweaty and you can clearly see his abs even if it is real cold outside? "Hey Brendan, how was football?" He smiles. "It was brilliant. Wanna grab something to drink?" We nod and head off to Dunkin Donuts. So many things to choose from. Filled, iced, flavoured, decorated little pastry puffs line the side of the wall behind the counter. Large, lit up boards advertising coffee for a few dollars. Brownies by the side. Oh goodness, what to choose? How on earth do people who stop here on their way to work know what to have! "Penelope! Still there?" Well this is embarrassing. "You kinda zoned out there big time. What can I get you?" I shake my head. "No. This time, it's my treat. What would you like, Brendan?" He smiles. "I'd like a Double Chocolate Donut and a medium coffee, please." He sits down and I go up to the counter. I order something and wait. And wait. And. Wait. God, she's slow. "Here ya go, honey!" I take my order and the woman smiles at me. Probably took a few weeks of training to get that fake smile so genuine. They probably get their personalities physically beaten out of them, save for a few mannerisms and speech patterns, until they become a human script. A lot like McDonalds if I think about it. "Here ya go, Brendan!" He takes a sip of his coffee and burns his mouth. "Brendan, are you serious?" He nods with a cheesy smile. "Yeth." We both laugh. I take a bite of my donut and watch Brendan try to cool down his tongue that he just burned. Suffice to say he isn't succeeding. "Blegh, remind me to never drink hot coffee again!" I hand him a bottle of water I keep in my bag and he takes a sip. "Better?" He smirks. "Why yes, it is, indeed, better." He gives me back my water bottle and eats his donut. "So I hear that the transit company wants to construct a small streetcar system downtown just in time for Christmas." I shake my head. "How are they going to do that?" Brendan tilts his head. "Apparently it'll be a one-directional loop with five or so stops. Shouldn't take long at all considering it shall run in the pedestrian zone." I smile. "A sort of Christmas present if you will." Brendan nods. "Yeah, sorta. You know, they stopped football practice for the colder months, maybe I can take you home after school." My heart beats like crazy. "Sounds nice, but I kinda already take the bus with Chloe, and I don't want to make her sad. And lonely on the 33." He shakes his head. "Well, it was just an offer." He leans back in his seat and I smile at him. "Do you want to tip over backwards?" He shakes his head. "Not really on my to-do list, if I'm honest."

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"Ladies and Gentlemen, Students and Teachers, Children of all ages, I'm proud to present, the annual Beacon! High! Battle! Of! The! Bands! And in the first round, our first act, ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together foooooooor... The Disco Girls featuring Chester Meffield!" Amelia and her posse walk up, with a Chester in tow. How exactly they got him to agree to this, I don't want to know. Amelia points to the left side of the stage and some pop music starts playing. Amelia grabs the microphone and starts to sing. "I work for my money so I get gold, Monday to Friday ooh, I work for my money so I get gold, because I never have enough!" Chester chimes in. "Damn, the way she moves is incredible, ain't like no other girl you ever seen before." Amelia again. "Try to find some words to describe me, boy, without being disrespectful..." Chester takes over slightly. "You's a sexy chick, ooh, yeah, a sexy chick..." The background singers kick in. "Yeah, a sexy chick, ooh, such a sexy chick..." Why am I not surprised that Amelia wrote a song that basically praised the shit out of her? "Ya think she'll win?" I turn to Chloe. "Never in a milliom frickin years. I mean, how much did she have to pay for Chester to take a role in her thing?" Chloe shrugs. "I don't know. And frankly I don't care. As long as she doesn't win, she can do whatever she wants. For all I care, she could burn down the school hall." I shake my head. "Ridiculous." A lot of clapping later, we see the band named 'fef' come on to the stage. To say they looked strange was an understatement. All of them had completely opaque bodysuits, sort of like a leotard but instead covering everything, even the face and head. They start to perform to some dubstep that transforms into classical musik, then into rock and then into pop. Lyrics? None. A strange experience indeed. As they finish, Chloe, Lyle, Skyler and I go behind to get ready for our performance. In my mind I can already hear the principal shout our band name. It will probably be the fake one but nevermind. Tracy Bebe and LaShawna walk past us as the princilal shouts that we shall put out hands together for The Scissors. I still wonder how they got into the battle of the bands in the first place.