Jem…Chapter 14

Chapter 14

* Three days ago….

“Hajime!”

The call rang out through the floor of the civic center and I circled on the mats in front of my opponent. Bryce Turner came on strong too not a bit afraid of me and his big body moved in this dangerous flow. Bryce was a mixed fighter, really common these days but he was part of the Brasilia-Turner gym. His fathers place and they took something that the Turner family has always excelled at which was boxing and started mixing it with Capoeira. Something from his mother’s side of the family and a hard thing to fight when you’re not trained to fight someone that moves like that.

Oh Capoeira is this dancing based martial art form and one pretty widespread throughout the world. For you gamers out there it’s the martial art used by Eddy Gordo of Tekken and Blanca of Street fighter.

I’m Mike, Michael Sterling and I’m getting my butt handed to me pretty good by Bryce. I’m just not used to his style and he’s really been hitting the gym. I thing he’s going to go pro. Me…My Dad’s a RCMP officer.

In some of the places that I lived that’s reason enough for some kids to not like you and some of them to kick the crap out of you. Most kids were actually okay but there’s this wrong side of the tracks crowd that’ll have a beef with you because of something that happened that didn’t have anything to do with me or…the ones that are I am the shit and automatically assume that they have to put you in your place because they assume that you’re, that I’m going to lord the fact I’m a cops kid over them…because that’s what they’d do.

Either way it’s a really good idea to learn how to defend yourself. Actually that’s just a good idea period.

So Dad enrolled me into martial arts but with his job it was hard to find a consistent teacher so I’ve got a smattering of Judo tossed in with Tae kwon Do and PDT or Police Defensive Tactics…It’s what they teach the RCMP officers and it’s a mixture of stuff like a lot of military fighting/self defence styles. Getting a teacher for that was easy because all the officers that dad worked with would spare some time with me for that.

So I guess I’m a mixed fighter too only I’m not a fighter I’m just me.

So why am I here in the civic center getting my ass beat by this half Canadian American and half afro-brazillian machine? Charity. We’re fighting and the crowds are betting on us all for charity both on the winners but also how many rounds we last too.

Thirty two fighters and each of us are here for different charities and a few of us are fighting certain fights for different charities. I’ve got four…MADD or Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Amnesty International, Heart and Stroke Foundation and The Breast Cancer Society.

Bryce is fighting for two The Haiti Relief Effort and Warchild International.

Honestly I’m doing my best and trying to keep my self from getting ringed out off the mats or knocked out either. I’m not worried about tapping out. PDT has a lot of holds and stuff.

There’s some cool stuff about this too. There’s some of the local kids here that I get to make friends with over this and I’m only a part time student because I do a lot of homeschooling through the internet because we moved a lot. But still this gets me out there and my part time job at Boston pizza was so into this the manager Shelly is catering the deal with free food for us fighters and event staff and selling pizza by the slice to those in the stands. We’re in the old civic center and while there is a concession kitchenette there’s no one to work it.

……………………..Well that’s it I ranked about twentieth over all and I’m sitting outside literally with sweat running off of me and with a bottle of Gatorade in one hand and a bottle of water in another which I periodically just pour out over myself as I’m trying to keep cool.

My cell phone rings it’s the theme song for Magnum P.I. I touch the thing awake and on speaker. “Hey Dad.”

“Hey Mike how’d the tournament go?”

“Still going I might end up in like the twentieth spot though.”

“Hey that’s not bad considering that you’re not with a Dojo or a gym.”

“Yeah well tell me that to console my abused body in the morning.”

“Bad?”

“I’ve had worse but those we’re shit kickings that I’ve taken. Man the thought of someone wanting to do this for a living is just nuts to me. But…I figure I raised about fifteen hundred between all of the charities and stuff.”

“Good man.”

“Thanks dad.”

“Listen, I need your help if you’re game again?”

“What’s up?”

“A friend of mine from back in the day has something going on with his son. Jason sounds like a really good kid but he had to take off because he wouldn’t take some crap off a local rich boy and his family. I said I’d help but there’s only so much that I can do.”

“And you need someone on the inside.”

“Yeah but I’ll be off the books, on vacation time until I can build enough of a case before the CP to open up an investigation.”

“Bullying, it’s a big deal now and stuff Dad the CP will like the “optics” on it.”

“So you’re in?”

“Yeah, I’m not seeing anyone and it’d be nice to get out of town for awhile and see something else.”

* 9:36 PM…………. Current Jem timeline.

It was a long but bust few days getting our place packed up and more or less moved into storage and packing the stuff that we thought that we were going to need and stuff.

I’ve got my kit.

Disposable cell phones, radios, spy store stuff, lock picks, tape, glue and a whole other bunch of odds and ends. I’ve done this before. Helped Dad or just “helped dad” without him knowing that I’ve done it.

The very first girl I had ever fallen head over heels for was Veronica Mars. I was like twelve when I saw the most kick assed girl that I’ve ever seen.

And I was hooked on this stuff, laws and breaking the law, detectives and the whole thing really. If you’re good and most importantly patient and have a plan you won’t really get caught. The trick is to sort of to steer the bad guys into being caught.

Piss off a school principal with a dealer working in the school. Smoke a bit of a joint in his office and steal a few of his things. He’ll be pissed enough he’ll call the police and they’ll bring the drug dogs. Just make sure the guy you want either has some on him or in his locker. Sure enough they bust him for a bit of pot at school it’ll give them the probable cause to get a warrant when they couldn’t before.

And this is why I really don’t get that many dates. I guess I think like this a lot and can’t sit back with the little guy getting the shaft or being doing stupid shit that’ll get other people hurt or worse.

It’s why I’m here.

Harpers Point.

Jeremy Powers is a nice guy if a bit on the skinny side. Five ten or so and maybe one sixty but he works all the time. I mean like all the time from what I can tell of the house and from the way that he’s built. He’s one of those lean skinny guys that’s like all muscle and sinew.

It’s a little odd… him and Dad clasp hands like they’re brothers and I seen prison tattoos on his arms they look pretty old.

Then I notice there’s people watching from this place just aways away, there’s an unmarked car in the driveway too.

The cops are watching this guy?

I shelf it until we get our stuff moved in and I’m staying in his sons room and Dad’s crashing in the den.

…………………… Jason’s room is a mess and it looks like it’s been tossed and hasn’t really been cleaned up. Okay I start cleaning it up and looking at stuff as I do. He’s a fix it person with a bunch of mechanic’s shelving units with a whole bunch of music stuff like for playing and recording things and he’s got everything from CD’s and memory sticks labelled with downloaded stuff to a bank of working tape decks and a working eight track and even a turn table with a nice collection of records and forty fives. There’s instruments here too. Several guitars that are nice and two different acoustics plus a large and a small keyboard.

There’s a respectable comic collection mostly the good titles like batman and detective comics, spider man and daredevil. But a lot, a lot of music magazines running from hard rock to rolling stone and everything in between.

The whole thing just screams musician and songwriter.

There’s some typical teen guy stuff too. A few bits of porn here and there mostly in magazines and then there’s this pile of girls stuff, vanity fair, vogue, seventeen and a few other girl teen stuff mixed in with sheets of papers with kind of girly lyrics on them in various stages of not being finished.

Lots of medical books and journals too. I’m getting the picture of this guy, this kid that’s lost his mom, survived cancer likely falling in love with music while trapped in the hospital and yet he’s got that drive in him to go this deeply into music that shows dedication and a backbone. I can’t play but I’ve known people that did and it takes a lot of sheer determination and love to get to be good as Jason likely is.

A kid like that’s been beaten enough by life that he’s not going to give some rich little douchecanoe the satisfaction of acting like he was better than Jason was.

I mull it over after my stuff’s stowed and I head downstairs and grab something to eat while I’m thinking things over. He left and took off that means there is something going on. There’s an unmarked car across the street at a house that doesn’t look like its being moved into even though the sold sign is up.

“Hmm, wow…seriously good bread.” I smear some peanut butter on what I have in my hand and nuke another slice I cut off and smear it with some too. Oh this is really good, fresh too by the taste of it and there’s nothing like the way peanut butter goes all melty on hot bread.

I rarely have had good home cooking. My Mom divorced my dad when I was young and she moved overseas to teach English in Korea. I don’t hear from her that much and she’s got kids with someone else. It kinda sucks that she’s not that friendly or she’s that scared with me and stuff. I’d like to meet my half siblings some day in person. Lily my half sister is thirteen or will be soon and we talk online and stuff.

I fix the heel of the half loaf I just killed and get my computer set up. It’s time to learn about this guy.

I Google him.

And I get Adam Richard Marshall the Third; AKA "Adam". And there’s actually a bit of a wiki about the family set up of course by the family.

“Uh huh, why am I not surprised?”

It turns out the Marshall family owns Marshall Mining & Forestry and Marshall Pulp & Paper as well as the legacy businesses here in town. Marshall Motors a GM dealership is theirs too and they have contributed several big charities and donated some really big ticket stuff. The town library, A Fire engine for the fire department, Turned over some lakefront real estate for a beach park and have several scholarships and bursaries going.

That’s just the publicized stuff. There likely a lot more stuff they’re into. Big family lots of kids all rich but all over achievers too. That whole we’re in power let’s stay in power mentality.

Adam's, well Adam’s an easier matter to scout out. He’s rich and seventeen and that means he’s all over the place. I use one of my cute girl fake Facebook accounts to friend him and I’m friended pretty quick. Okay… glued to his phone that’s good to know.

Facebook is evil for a lot of reasons the biggest is creeping. I move through his friends list reading and looking at their wall and while I’m at that. “I’m sure this Adam guy’s a whore so I get onto his My Space page. “Eeew this guy’s a fucking skeeze. They should just rename this site My Sticky Space.”

It doesn’t take long to start working up a profile of him and his little sheeple stable of followers.

They also like to bash people online too who aren’t in the popular crowd and that gives me names and stuff to also look up and read what stuff of theirs that I can and even hit a few of the sure things.

I know the name of the school so I go online there and from there I access the yearbooks last years will do most of the people will still be the same. Okay the school paper staff’s always a good choice they’ll talk amongst themselves and the other types that’d like to see things change. They might not be able too with the pull this guys family has with scholarships and stuff but they will bitch about it. Only they’ll stick to AIM or sites like Tumbler and Blogger stuff the sheeple won’t really be into that much simply because it’s not as mainstream.

And then there are the photographers both for the school paper and the yearbook. Nine times out of ten you can find some of their stuff on face book but Flicker and other photo sites.

And bingo there’s tons of pics about them and their school and the best thing there’s often captions too. There’s nothing really incriminating here but it gives me a good look at clothes and names and who hangs with who and who drives what all really good stuff.

I take a good look too at Adam’s house using Google earth and stuff. “Yeah, that’ll work…it’ll be a start.”

I save everything and I go and get a shower. I get dressed; this is important today first impressions and all of that. My best sexy jeans. Yeah I know that’s a girl thing but I’m in good shape and I have these really well worn time thinned supple as silk old jeans that actually show off stuff. An object lesson in sex and selling myself from a gay friend a few years ago. Nice thick sport socks, motorcycle boots but with a quick polish. A thin tight white t-shirt another thing from Kristopher’s wisdom and a few other touches. Nice watch, no rings, pink breast cancer rubber bracelet on the same wrist as the watch. Necklace with a nice cross on it and my SWAT black jacket over my zip up RCMP hooded sweatshirt. Lastly a toque from a skater store with a fanged skull on it.

Yeah, that’ll get looks I think.

I grab my books and my transfer notes for the school here and go out and get into my Mustang and drive around town and stop into Tim’s and get a 4 tray of coffee’s and set them on the back seat snugged up with my other things.

I wait until I see Rick’s car cruising towards like he hasn’t a care in the world in this little convoy of like three other cars.

I time it just right and I cut him off before he pulls into the schools lane and I drive right up and into his parking spot.

He pulls up as I’m getting out. I ignore him and get my things and my papers and then my coffees.

“Hey! Fella you’re in my spot.” He yells.

I look at him then at the front of my car the underneath it. “I don’t see your name on it.”

“That’s my spot.” He turns off the car and gets out. His buddies start to do the same I look at them and I lean against my car and smile at them.

“What’s so funny asshole? I told you to move your car.”

I take a sip of one of my coffees. “And I was trying to be polite, but I guess you just don’t get No, but it’s obviously not your fault.”

“What the fuck do you mean by that?”

“Uhm…this years Mercedes, small town so you’re like king here or think you are around here right? Rich boy, old money…stupid…you’re likely all inbred to hell. Inbreeding, that’s where the stupid comes from.”

I almost laugh out loud as his brain stops and pulls a Cartman’s mom. He’s very likely never been talked to this way in his life.

“What did you say to me? Do you know who I am?”

“Huh, deaf too shame. Who you are? Can’t really say that I care dude. I mean I could but I’d have to actually be paid for it.”

Adam stalks over to me flanked by his buddies and then… wait for it… wait for it and… “Hey Son sorry I didn’t catch you before you headed out.” Dad gets out of our personal truck and he’s in his civvies except for His Official RCMP jacket. The flunkies back right off and look freaked, Rick he’s staring at my Dad like he’s trying to wish him out of existence. I pass dad my tray. “Coffee?”

“Yeah sure here, you need some walking around money and likely some cash for your lab fees and stuff Three hundred enough?”

“Yeah okay.” I shrug like it doesn’t matter and here it comes…

I’ve got a classic mustang, well dressed but not preppy sheeple style, I’m a bad boy and I don’t take shit even from Adam, I’ve got money, not Adam money but more than the lemming boys that follow him most likely and I slowly shove the cash into the front pocket of my jeans and that gives them a show.

And not just the lemming girls are watching but this is high school so there’s a good size crowd watching too.

“I’ll see you later Dad.”

“Yeah take it easy Mike; I’ll see you later for supper.”

Adam looks at me and mostly at my Dad who gets this look in his eyes. “You kids can’t just park your cars anywhere; you should move them you’re other people from using the parking lot.”

There’s mischief in Dad’s eyes but he used his Cop ‘This is not a suggestion’ voice. It’s funny watching them scramble to get out of there and to find a place to park. Adam’s the last and he looks like sonic the hedgehog just decided to give him a colonoscopy.

I make my way inside like he doesn’t matter at all and walk slowly to the main doors timing it so I can hold the door open with a smile to a bunch of the average not so popular girls. “Ladies, it’s a nice morning.”

There’s some blushes and some giggling but there’s some wariness from everyone too.

Oh, that how it is. He’s really leaned on them and his family likely on this town. But there’s still these little gleams and hidden smiles here and there as I head to the office and play prince charming in my own way.

And I’m getting looks from some of the faculty too.

I’m going to have my work cut out for me.

The guidance councillor was very tense and brusque with me and unfriendly until she looked at my listed address.

The Powers House.

“You’re staying here?”

“Yes me and my Dad, he’s old friends with Mr. Powers but he might be looking to relocate here.”

“Why?”

“Officially?”

“Uhm what do you mean by that Mr. Sterling?”

“I mean as you being a guidance councillor you can’t tell personal stuff to other people right?”

“True unless it’s a threat to the student or the public.”

“There might be an investigation about patronage issues here on the municipal level.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah someone’s been bending the rules and stuff and y’know.”

“Uhm.”

I shrug. “He’s just looking into it.”

“Can I ask you something Mr. Sterling?”

“Sure I’ll try to answer.”

“Any word on Jason?”

“Nope, nothing since he took off.”

“Oh…”

“Well thanks for setting me up with my classes I imagine you’ve got a lot on your plate with things here.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m in Jason’s room for now. I’ve looked at his stuff. That kid was about as non-violent usually as it gets. He didn’t assault whoever claimed he did. Oh and given that I got the nicest reception from this inbred twerp in a shiny new Mercedes and his friends I think you’re rather busy with the bullying problem.”

I leave but before I close the door to her office. “Thanks again for all of the help and the talk ma'am. Have a nice day.”

I get my schedule printed off and leave an e-mail account with the office and having kicked all the hornets’ nests that I could today I leave the school grounds and gun my car backing out and leaving two nice sets of black marks on Rick’s parking space marking it.

I head out and decide to drive around and get the lay of the town.

*Elsewhere 10:06 AM

He was rolling a joint at the kitchen table when she came out of the bathroom showered and looking hot. Five five and one thirty five with a set of big firm DD’s and long blonde hair.

Summer was smoking hot. The first thing she grabbed before even a coffee was her friggin phone though and she started on her usual texting crap while she poured herself a coffee and loaded it up with her five sugars and then after a few sips she took the joint from his fingers and she wet it down with her lips in a very, very sucking cock like gesture that had got him hard all over again.

She lit it and walked away into the living room of the kinda nice place the band had been renting and after a few minutes she let out this “Fuck!”

Muzzle or Muzz got up from the chair and walked into the porch/sun room and he looked at her and took a swig from his beer. Yeah he really didn’t do mornings.

“’Sup Summer what’s got you panties in a wad.” He lit a smoke and she gave him the finger.

“Raven, fucking Raven apparently played the Black Cat last night with the band.”

“Thought she was toast the band too?”

“Yeah me too, apparently she’s got a new lead singer.” She showed him this picture from last night on the phone.

“She’s hot.”

“Puh-fuckin-lease, she’s got pink hair for christsakes.” She was staring hard at the picture then at some of the text scrolling up. “Dubbu-tee-eff, those aren’t any of the songs that we used to play.”

“Didn’t you pick the songs when you were lead singer babe?”

“I still pick the songs Muzz, this is MY band remember, I’m the front, I’m the voice.”

“Hey fine by me Summer but I’m jus sayin.”

“Saying what?”

“Maybe this new chick’s running the show over in Butterfly?”

“That don’t matter Muzz, you’re twice the guitarist that Rayne is or Brook, and they show up on our radar and we’ll just have to play them under the friggin table where they belong.”

He shook his head and went to roll another joint. No use talking to her about her ex, it was a serious sore spot that she was considered the singer and not the head of the band because…well because she was smoking hot and had a killer voice but she couldn’t write a song to save her life.

It didn’t take too much talking to convince her that she’s be better off and more respected with another band. Hell he was just drunk enough to talk to this hot lez in hopes of getting his dick wet and she jumped on that idea as fast as she jumped in his bone. Hell he didn’t care if she was like this total narcissistic cunt who thought and said often enough that she was the driving force behind all of Raven’s tunes.

Now the fact she had pretty much given up and hadn’t been seen for so long only added gas to summer’s bonfire.

He heard the coffee cup go smash against the wall as he thought he could hear Soul Sister by train being sung by two female voices over the phone.

One of those voices was the voice of Summer’s ex. Apparently she wasn’t as talentless and broken without her as Summer had thought.

This was going to be a long day. “I need to way more stoned than I am now for this.”

* Angel’s Part…

I’d be a liar if I said that Raven leaving to spend the night with Jessy didn’t hurt. It did and it really sucked. But at the same time Raven is my friend, and as much as I am friends with Brooklyn and with Roxy there is just this thing between us that honestly I hope…no need to be more than me being attracted to her and her to Angel.

Angel not Jason and honestly that’s part of the problem. Brooklyn get’s into the van and drives and I look at her and Roxy. “I’m starving you girls?”

“Yeah sure I could eat.” Brook says but she’s looking at me. Roxy’s got that thinking look on her face and I look back at Brook. “What?”

“You okay?”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’ll get over it.”

“Good it’s not worth it.”

“Huh?”

“Jessy, I know Jessy, she’s a really nice girl and a hell of a lot of fun to party with but she’s from the same neighborhood as I am. She’s damaged goods Ange, she’ll tell you that herself before things get really intimate.”

“So how’s that good, Jesus Brook she sounds like she needs a friend.”

“Jessy has lots of friends she just is never serious about anything more than a one night stand or maybe a weekend.”

“So she’s just using Raven then?”

“No, I don’t think Jessy’s like that. She just can’t handle anything more than that.”

Roxy pipes in with. “I told Raven to go for it”

“What!” That came out of both of me and Brooklyn.

“I told her that unless she really wanted to try sucking cock for the first time with you Angel then she had better take her head out of her ass and look around for a change and see that other people think that she’s special too.”

“You told her to go with Jessy?” Brook shouted at her.

“Yeah she needed to stop what was going on with Jason!” she shouted back at Brook.

“Are you nuts, Angel’s our friend! Jason’s our friend!”

“Yeah I fucking know that! And Raven was hiding from the world by getting into a thing with Angel, she was going to use that as the reason why she couldn’t see other people and she’d have used Jason as the reason why she couldn’t be with Angel! She had to get with Jessy, she needed it.”

I sigh and lean forward my hands on both the front seats and say. “Hey stop it, okay? Brook you’re such an awesome friend for sticking up for me like this, Roxy you’re probably right, I mean if I was as hurt as Raven’s been that’s pretty much exactly what I’d do too.”

Brook sniffles a bit. “I have to be on your side I hit you with my car.”

Roxy sniffles too. “I just wanted Rave to be like better but I didn’t want it to be at your expense y’know. We’re just getting started and that shit breaks bands up.”

I lean over and kiss both of their cheeks. “I love you girls now where should we go?”

Roxy bounces in her seat even with the seat belt on and pulls her hello kitty hat out of her purse and pulls it down over her head. “Burger King!!!, I wans cheeeese-Bughers!!!”

She lost me there.

Brooklyn looks at me smiling. “It’s a LOL Cat’s picture.” Then she looks at Kim. “You fucking Chinese people are weird.”

There’s a squawk of outrage from Kim and she starts to scream and Brook. “Chinese, Chinese? I’m Japanese!”

Brook looks at her like she’s some weird bug on purpose. “Same thing.”

“What!!!” and that’s all I got because all I heard was this steady stream of hyper fast Japanese Being yelled and swore at Brook. Baka? And Bakayaro are swears right?

Oddly all is right with the world somehow like this and they keep it up all the way to the drive through. They both talk over each other first ordering in Japanese. Then asking in bad, bad accents for tofu fries and sushi whoppers but saying whopper; “Wop-pa.”

I’m giggling and laughing really hard and despite everything that had gone on this is really making it better and at the same time I’ve never hung out with anyone like these too.

We get are food and I see Roxy pull out her I-phone and keyed up and app she hit when they both bowed to the girl at the pick up window there was this loud gong that went off.

I laughed for a block before I had to get out and pee. And the girls were highly entertained as I tried to hold it and knock on the window of the self serve. Asshole wouldn’t give me the key until I bought some gas. Man I was pissed and got Brook to pull up so we could put twenty dollars in it and I get some relief and dig a tampon out and a pack of ketchup and soy sauce and some perfume and mix it in the sink and it gets this kinda right but there’s something wrong with you look and ugh…smell.

I sashay out and tap on the window with the key and he does the drawer thing and I toss the tampon in with the key and he grabbed it instead of the key not looking and let out a scream even more girly then I could and jumps off the stool falling.

I giggle my self silly running into the van and take off with the girls who crack up giggling when I tell them what I did. We didn’t get far before we pulled over laughing like a bunch of crazy girls.

We get home after stuffing our faces and I get undressed and pass out in a fast food coma.

I’d like to say my mind didn’t go places that were definitely Jason places thinking of Jessy and the way she danced with me and Raven as she danced with me and then the very, very cliché boy dreams of Raven and Jessy together.

I honestly couldn’t help but to wake up to take care of the problem that had arisen in those dreams. After that and cleaning up there were more dreams, me and Raven and I’m really Angel in those dreams…at least up top…and then there’s dancing dreams and us singing at The Cat together doing Soul Sister, singing at each other and the whole vibe and feel of playing for the crowd.

………………………………....... I’m still groggy awake very much the girl just out of bed thing going on in my Pj bottoms, messy hair and brewing some fresh coffee when I see Raven come in from a cab doing the morning after walk of shame thing.

I take her a cup of coffee as she comes in through the door. “Morning.”

She blushes intensely. “Morning…” she takes the coffee and looks like she’s trying to find the words.

“Told you.” I kiss her on the cheek and there’s this smell to her, sex I think…I’ve never really smelled it before so…but I’m pretty sure that’s it. That and it’s mixed with her perfume and hints of the smell of Jessy’s stuff from last night.

“Told me what?” She honestly looks confused.

“I told you that you’re beautiful just the way you are. You don’t need to diet or anything else to have people interested Raven.”

She blushes and hide-sips her coffee. “Thanks, I just thought that you’d be…”

“I was and yes I know we’re not going to click like that I mean…I’m definitely still Jason as much as I’m Angel.”

“Yeah, I’m sorr…wait huh?”

“What kinda hurt as Angel, was good for Jason.” I smile at her.

“Huh…oh…eeew, Angel!”

I giggle and give her a shove to the stairs. “What do you expect? I’m living in a house with three girls and you’re surprised at that?”

She smiles and hugs me. “Thanks Jason.”

“Raven…”

“Yeah..?”

“I’m hiding out like this, like Angel but you are that awesome y’know it wasn’t just Jason stuff going on up here.” I tap my head. “You got me to really feel this kind of girl falling for a girl thing and y’know that just proves to me at least any girl that gets to be with you is lucky as hell.”

“Angel…” it that kind of aww thing and we hug.

“Yeah, look that being said you’re my best friend. And any girl you end up with better be good to you or she’s going to get a blasting. I’ve got two genders worth of people in me who think you’re awesome.”

“God thank you Angel…it’s just been so long…”

I cut in. “I know, I know but go shower please you really smell like…”

“Oh shit sorry.” she downs the rest of her coffee and gives me this really huge hug. I hug her back and even lifted her off the floor a bit. I set her down and she heads upstairs to get ready to shower.

I’m making breakfast when the Roxy’s stereo kicks in with her drumming out Tom Sawyer again. It’s getting to be normal, abnormal but still cool. Some people jog Kim, she drums. I get the stuff for French toast again but do something I seen on TV for the sweet ones. Crushed cinnamon toast crunch to roll them in before frying them.

It’s actually a good morning as Rave gets ready for work and the girls for school and Raven…I mean Kim was right and we seem to sort of got over this hump so we’re good. Actually I think better than before. Like this whole thing and all the emotional stuff hurt us both in different ways. I know Raven was having a major guilt attack going on but her and I getting stuff resolved just made things tighter. And last night playing and the laughter and stuff was this stuff I’ve always wanted to do.

I’ve always wanted friends to do stuff with like that, crazy teenager stuff and cruising and eating junk food. I though it’d be me and the guys but instead it’s me and the girls. Oh course the whole thing at the gas station gets retold and the Japanese thing at the drive through too and we’re all laughing and I can’t help but feel wistfully-owie-happy at seeing Raven smiling and laughing despite being in her Hell-mart stuff and she looks like someone took a weight off of her.

Yeah I still have some very strong feeling there. Well then I got that part of being a girl right then. Being and emotional tangle.

The girls leave and I clean up and do some work on the computer getting us a band poster with us playing here and use photoshop and tweak and clean it up a bit and use it to be the page background for a Twitter feed/Page and in getting set up there’s people talking about us. I take some time setting up our Face Book page and a page on Blogger and Tumbler and a You Tube Channel for us. I take some of the recorded stuff from our practices and put the best up as videos and the screw ups as out-takes. By the time I’m done the last video we’re getting hits and I get on Twitter and not so much comment about our impromptu gig but about how cool The Black Cat was and how awesome the owners were.

I send e-mails a tweets out to the girls and their Face Book pages. And the links and stuff to the school newspaper of my old school because I still know the addy and this stuff will spread out pretty quickly.

I’m pretty much done so I decide to get some air and print off a bunch of leaflets for the band and put them in the guitar case for one of the acoustics and head off to the old mall downtown on the bus.

Why this one where there’s not a lot of teen traffic? Because here I can play in the mall proper. The other malls I’d have to deal with security and a more uppity class of shops. Here I still will get some traffic and some of the teens and stuff just not all the trendoids.

Fine by me.

I find a good spot after awhile and set up my leaflets and leave my guitar case open and dump some change in it and some loonies and toonies too. I’m pretty close to A&W and a Tim’s outlet so there’s a good chance at getting spare change.

I start playing and singing getting into it and practicing while I’m just getting stuff out.

“Drops of Jupiter” by Train.

“Who will save your soul?” By Jewel.

“Thank you, and White Flag.” By Dido.

And I sing one of my new faves by Jessy J. “Who you are.”

“I stare at my reflection in the mirror…”
“Why am I doing this to myself…”
“Losing my mind on a tiny error…”
“I nearly left the real me on the shelf…”

I hit some heavy strumming… “No, no, no, no…!”

“Don’t lose who you are…!”
“In the blur of the stars…!”
“Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing..!”
“It’s Okay not to be Okay!”
“Sometimes it’s hard…to follow your Heart…!”
“Tears don’t mean your losing, everyone is bruising.”
“Just be true to who you are…”

“Brushing my hair, do I look perfect…?”
“I forgot what to do to fit the mold…”
“Yeah…”
“The more I try..the less it’s working.”
“Yeah…yeah, yeah…!”
“’Cause everything inside me screams…”
“No, no, no, no, no…!”

“Don’t lose who you are…!”
“In the blur of the stars…!”
“Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing..!”
“It’s Okay not to be Okay!”
“Sometimes it’s hard…to follow your Heart…!”
“Tears don’t mean your losing, everyone is bruising.”
“Just be true to who you are…”

“Yes, No, egos, fake shows…Like “Woo” just go…and leave me alone.”
“Real talk, real life, good love, good night…”
“With a smile…That’s my own..that’s my own..”
“No, no, no, no, no…!”

I pound out some serious chords into the song band love the way this is just one of those get it out and just belt the pain and longing and confusion out. It’s also remarkably good on the acoustic guitar too.

“Oh no, no…”

“No, no, no, no…!”

“Don’t lose who you are…!”
“In the blur of the stars…!”
“Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing…!”
“It’s Okay…Not to be Okay…!”
“Sometimes it’s Hard…! To follow your Heart…!”
“Tears don’t mean your losing…everyone is bruising…!”
“Just be true to who you are…!”

“Who…you…are…”

I smile at the clapping from the small gathered crowd and almost blinking in that whoa I’m back to reality thing. I just lost myself in the music. There’s some good amount of change and money there from the passers by and more getting dumped into my guitar case from the people there. Hell there’s a bunch of paper there too fives mostly but a couple of tens. I’m passing out some sheets and thanking them all and I see a twenty and a five get set gently into my guitar case by this guy.

Bluest eyes I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ve never noticed really much how a guy looks or anything other to wish that was me or something but this guy…I notice everything about him…sweat runs in a little trickle down my spine as he smiles at me and…and…

“Great song, I’ve never heard it done acoustically….I’m Mike.”

He takes a leaflet, glances at it the at me through his shiny straight golden hair. “Huh, sounds interesting, maybe I’ll check it out…..?”

“Oh, um Angel…”

“I like it, it fits…Later.” He hit me literally hit me with one last smile before he slipped off into the mall traffic.

Oh..

Oh…what the hell?