Freak
Chapter 4
By: Makena
Jeremy leaned over her work during English and tried to think of things she wanted for Christmas. Sure, Christmas wasn't a ways off yet, but she figured it was never too early to make a wish list. Besides, the class had been given a small work sheet about some kind of grammar usage and she had already finished - and she still had thirty minuets until class ended.
"Hey." Jeremy looked up and noticed Bruce, pulling a chair up to her desk so that he was sitting on the opposite side of the table from her.
"Oh. Hi."
Jeremy continued adding to her wish list.
*Bass/Bass lessons
*Hot Topic Gift Card
*Books
"Isn't it a little early to be writing a Christmas wish list?"
Jeremy shrugged and looked up at Bruce. "It's never too early for a Christmas wish list," she said with a small laugh.
"That guy you were at the mall with yesterday..."
"Benji," Jeremy broke in.
"Yeah - Benji... are you guys serious?"
Jeremy gave Bruce a half smile and shrugged. "I think so," she said. "He's a great guy - I love hanging out with him." Most of what she had said about Benji was true - she loved to hang out with him and he was great. "Why?" she continued. "What did you see?"
Bruce shrugged and flipped through the magazine he had been looking through. "A little tongue action, but not much else other than that."
Jeremy grinned - so he had seen. And he was jealous. Perfect...
"Jeremy?" her teacher said. "Jeremy! You have a note..."
Jeremy looked up and saw her teacher with a white slip of paper in her hand. The office took messages for students from parents and relatives if they had something important to tell the student. And it looked like Jeremy had one.
'It better not be mom, saying something dumb about dinner tonight,' she thought, standing up and walking to her teacher's desk to grab her note.
She skimmed it and laughed. Written in the secretary's need hand writing was a note from - uncle Benji.
Note From: Uncle Benji
To: Jeremy Winn
Hour: 5th period AP English
Message: Meet me today after school outside - I can't get you in unless
you're with me. If you have any questions, call me on my cell phone at
883-6760. If your uncle Joel answers, talk to him instead.
Jeremy laughed. Uncle Benji huh? She slipped the note into her pocket and returned to her seat where Bruce was still flipping through his magazine.
"Going to the Good Charlotte concert tonight?" he asked, although he thought he already knew the answer was no.
"Yep."
Bruce frowned and looked up at her. "How'd you get tickets?"
"I didn't."
"Mind explaining it to me?"
Jeremy shrugged. "Not really."
Bruce rolled his eyes and flipped through a couple more pages before pausing and looking up at her as she made additions to her wish list.
*lap-top for writing & internet use
*cash
"Jeremy?" Bruce said, blinking down at a picture.
"Yeah?" she responded, looking up.
Bruce flipped his magazine upside down so that Jeremy could see what he had suddenly become so amazed by. On the page was a picture of Benji and the rest of Good Charlotte, posing for a picture.
"You didn't tell me he was THAT Benji," Bruce said. "I mean... jesus! You're dating Benji Madden from Good Charlotte!"
"Shhh!" Jeremy commanded, frowning and looking around to see if anybody had heard anything. "Shut up!"
"What? Why?!"
"Good Charlotte has a huge 12 year old girl fan base and I don't want people to know I'm with one of them."
"The rep thing, huh?" Bruce asked.
"No, it's more like the "I'd like to stay alive" thing. Do you know how many people would hate me if they knew who I was dating?"
"People hate you anyway," Bruce pointed out.
"But SO many more people would hate me."
Bruce shrugged. "Whatever," he said, taking his magazine back. "It's your thing."
---
Jeremy managed to get out of her 6th hour Ancient World History class in order to call Benji from one of the pay phones the school had by the front doors. She deposited the 35 cents she borrowed from her teacher and dialed the cell phone number Benji had given her.
"Hello?" Benji answered quickly.
"Uncle Benji?" Jeremy questioned with a laugh.
"Ah... my favorite niece, Jeremy. What can I do for you, kid?"
Jeremy hesitated. "It's about the concert tonight."
Benji laughed slightly. "We're gonna have so much fun tonight," he laughed. "Have you ever been to one of our concerts?"
"Benji, I don't think I can go to the concert tonight," Jeremy blurted.
The line went silent for a moment.
"Why not?" Benji finally asked.
"Don't get me wrong, I want to go - I mean, I really, REALLY, want to go. But... Bruce seriously thinks we're together."
Benji tried to stifle a small laugh. "And?"
Jeremy sighed. "Knowing Bruce, it won't stay "secret" for very long."
"Is there a point to this, because I'm supposed to be at sound check?"
"Bruce figured out who you are in English," Jeremy spat out. "He knows you're Benji Madden from Good Charlotte."
Benji didn't seem to mind, though. He shrugged and cleared his throat. "Tell him not to tell anyone, then. And if he's at the concert, just - pretend we ARE going "together.""
Jeremy smiled and didn't say anything for a moment.
"Jeremy? Okay, what's wrong now?!"
Jeremy laughed. "Nothing. It's so cool that you're trying to get me to one of your concerts is all. I mean, even if I couldn't go, you'd find a way to get me there."
Benji laughed slightly. "Sure. Why not? I'll see you in front of your school at three then?"
Jeremy nodded, but quickly realized that he couldn't see it and replied with a "sure."
"Okay," Benji laughed. "Bye!"
Jeremy smiled, said good bye, and hung up. She whirled around and began to walk back to her class when the bell rang and the halls were soon flooded with people.
"Jeremy! I heard about you and your boyfriend!" a girl Jeremy hardly ever spoke to called out. "That's so cool!"
Jeremy frowned and tried to scope Bruce out - he was going to get it this time.
"Hey, Jeremy! You and that rock star?" a boy called out, and Jeremy recognized him as someone from her own grade. "Excellent."
Jeremy frowned and kept walking towards her locker so she could gather her things for 7th hour. She was intercepted by many more people, who either flat out told her it was awesome she was dating a rock star, called her obscene names for "taking my precious Benji!", pointed and whispered to their friends, so asked if they could be hooked up with Joel.
"Enough!" Jeremy shouted after a freshman girl asked if she could get some free tickets for that night's concert. "Shut up! All of you!"
The freshman girl, a little scared, backed away and hurried down the hall.
"Touchy, touchy," a boy said from behind Jeremy.
"Shove it, Bruce," Jeremy said, finally reaching her locker and spinning the combination. "I don't like you right now."
"You never like me."
Jeremy shrugged and looked up at him after she had gotten her locker open. "I said DON'T tell anyone - and that included EVERY ONE."
Bruce shrugged. "I didn't know other people were listening, and I definitely didn't know they were going to tell."
Jeremy rolled her eyes and grabbed her book before slamming her locker shut. "Whatever," she said. "I'm gonna kick your ass at the concert."
Jeremy walked outside, hoping nobody was following her or even aware that she had left. Unlikely, considering her fan base had grown quite popular since 7th hour and she couldn't seem to shake them off. Desperately clutching her book bag strap, Jeremy hurried out through the front doors and hoped nobody had followed. She noticed Benji, trying to hold a cab there while he went to find somebody.
"Benji!" Jeremy hollered, but quickly learned that yelling his name across the school yard wasn't such a great idea and had to hurry across to him.
Some girls had looked up and her followers were starting to make a mad dash for him. She cursed under her breath for drawing attention to him and rushed up to him.
"Hi," she said.
She didn't let Benji reply. Right after she had uttered the two letters, she pressed her lips against his. She knew people were watching, but she some how wished they would just leave.
"Um... hi," Benji said with a small laugh. "What was that for..."
"I'll explain it in the cab," Jeremy said hurriedly, trying to push Benji inside. "Just get in or you're going to be trampled by a bunch of high school morons."
Benji nodded and slid over to the far seat as Jeremy sat herself down and closed the cab door. The cab took off, noticing the teenagers that were quickly approaching the vehicle and muttered something under his breath.
"What was that all about?" Benji asked again.
"Bruce found out," Jeremy said. "We were in English..."
"I thought he was a year younger than you?" Benji asked, cutting her off.
"It's AP English," Jeremy explained. "We were in English and he found a picture of you in his magazine, and I just let him pretend that we're "together" like you said I should, but... he told so now I have my own fan base and I think I should be home schooled from now on."
Benji laughed. "Breath," he said.
"Don't you think this is a slight problem?" Jeremy asked.
"What? High school kids? Naw. Teenies that just don't seem to die... yes."
Jeremy laughed and let out a large sigh, sitting back in her cab seat. She watched the building's go by for a while before reaching in her bag and pulling something out.
"Here," she said, handing it to Benji. "I forgot to give it back."
"Oh," Benji said, taking his hoodie back. "Thanks. I forgot to ask for it back, so I guess I probably wouldn't have missed it until we reached some other state."
The cab stopped and Benji paid him, letting Jeremy climb out first. She noticed a grocery store across the street from the concert hall and her stomach growled slightly.
"I'm gonna go get something to eat," she told Benji, pointing to the grocery store.
"Okay. Oh, here..." Benji paused and dug out a back stage pass and his cell phone. "If you have a problem getting back there, just call Joel on my phone. Don't lose the pass... it's mine."
Jeremy laughed and nodded, putting the pass on around her neck and tucking it into her sweatshirt. The cell phone she dropped into her back pack and trotted off towards the grocery store. Once inside, Jeremy browsed the isles and finally bought a container of Pringles, a soda, a disposable camera and a plastic toy dart gun with suction cups on one end.
"I don't even want to know what these are for," the clerk told her with a small laugh.
Jeremy grinned and swept her items into her back pack, except for her dart gun, which she opened and placed inside her hoodie pocket where it would remain unseen by people.
Jeremy found her way back at the concert hall and didn't have too much trouble getting inside. A man held her up some and wouldn't believe that she had Benji's phone or his back stage pass, so she had to look Joel's phone number up on Benji's list of numbers and call it. Benji had to come and get her then, and made the security guard a little pissed.
"Here," Jeremy said after she had laughed about the security guard incident. She took the pass off and handed it to Benji, along with his cell phone.
"Oh, thanks," Benji said, taking both back. "I'm just about done with sound check if you want to watch or whatever."
Jeremy shrugged and walked into the nearly empty concert hall. There were some tech people, some security guards and some roadies, but other than that the hall was pretty much deserted. She took a spot on the floor and began to munch on her snack as Benji finished tuning his guitar up and making sure the speakers worked. She didn't see Billy or Paul, but Joel was there, messing around with one of the microphones. He saw her and smiled, waving to her before returning to whatever it was he had been doing before. Finally, Benji finished and showed off a little before Joel yanked the cord out of his guitar and turned his amp off.
"Whoo!" Jeremy clapped, putting her food back into her back pack.
"Doesn't he suck?" Joel asked through his microphone.
Benji tackled him to the stage floor and Jeremy laughed, standing up with her back pack.
"If you don't mind," Jeremy said, hopping up on stage. "I would like to set my things down some where."
"Oh, right."
Benji stopped wrestling his brother and got up, leading Jeremy towards the back to put her things down. In the back there was a couch and some plants and some other things for "lounging" before a concert. There was also a Paul and a Billy.
"Pretty!" Jeremy called, setting her things on the couch and walking towards the two.
Paul looked up at Jeremy, surprised to see somebody there.
"What the hell..." he muttered.
"Can I have a Paul hug?" Jeremy asked.
Paul laughed. "Sure," he replied, giving Jeremy a hug. "By the way - what the hell is a Paul hug?"
Jeremy shrugged and randomly gave Billy a hug. "I want a Billy hug, too," she said, adding a laugh.
Benji laughed and joined the three. "This is Jeremy," he said. "I met her at the mall yesterday. She used to be a fan."
Jeremy shrugged. "Teenies," she explained, seeing the confused look on Billy and Paul's faces. "They ruin everything."
They laughed and had to agree with her as Joel's voice could be heard. Quickly, Jeremy ducked behind the couch and waited for Joel to enter the back stage area.
"What the hell are you doing?" Benji asked Jeremy.
Jeremy put a finger to her lip and waited until she could hear Joel speak from the room.
"Hey," Joel said. "Where'd Jeremy go?"
Jeremy jumped up, whipped the dart gun out, and shot it at Joel's head. A dart flew out and Joel ducked. It was too late, though, because a dart had attached itself to his forehead. Benji, Paul and Billy roared with laughter and Joel tried to force it off.
"Hey," Jeremy said, looking down at her plastic toy. "These things really work."
Joel got it off his forehead and tried to throw it at Benji.