Mars? Yeah Right!

Chapter 9

9

The disco was already packed and in full swing when we got there, even though it had only started twenty minutes ago. The Zone was a popular club, partly because of the great venue, excellent live music and leniant staff but mostly because it was the only place around for miles.

I turned to Teresa, frowning. "Are you sure we'll get in here?" I asked. "It looks pretty full to me." Teresa laughed and nudged me with her elbow. "Of course we'll get in! We came at exactly the right time. If we'd arrived any later then I'd be worried."

From the front seat, Teresa's dad, Pat (he wouldn't even let me call him Patrick, let alone Mr. Cunningham) chuckled loudly. "My daughter the party animal! Just make sure the pair of you give me a ring if ye don't get in alright? I don't want you girls hanging around outside."

"Will do Dad," Teresa replied, leaning forward to peck him on the cheek. "We'll see you at two, okay?"

Pat sighed."Eight to two. Such a ridiculous time for an underage disco!"

Teresa grinned and rolled her eyes at me. "Yeah yeah! Come on Aine, let's go."

She got out one side and I got out the other. I paused, still holding the door handle. I didn't have to do this. I could say that I had a headache or a cramp and Pat would take me back to Teresa's. I dithered for a moment, unsure.

"Aine!"

I jumped and looked up to find Teresa glaring at me. She gestured behind her impatiently. "Will you come on?! It's freezing out here!"

Sighing, I slammed the door shut, waved goodbye to Pat and followed Teresa to the club entrance. We moved up the line easily enough and were soon at the top. After we'd paid and the bouncer stamped our hands, Teresa looked back at me and grinned.

"Ready?"

Wishing with all my heart that I had stayed at home and read manga for the evening, I returned the smile hesitantly and nodded.

"Ready."

Inside it was cramped and noisy. The heat was unbelievable and the smell of sweat mixed with Lynx and various overpowering perfumes was enough to turn my stomach.  Fighting the incredible urge to run away screaming, I swallowed my discomfort and turned to Teresa, unsure.

"Now what?" I asked, shouting to make myself heard over the deafening noise of the dance tunes blasting through the speakers.

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Now we have fun!"

With that in mind, the pair of us spent the next hour or so dancing like banshees on the squashed dancefloor. This was easier said than done as everywhere you turned you ended up bumping into someone or risked getting stood on by a stilletto-clad foot. Twice I lost Teresa in the crush.

Having said all this, I did actually manage to have fun. The music wasn't really to my taste but it was excellent to dance to and despite my earlier worries I was soon having as good a time as anyone else around me.

After a while, both Teresa and I got tired and went in search of a drink. I couldn't believe the prices.

"Three euro for one bottle of Diet Coke!" I exclaimed as we headed over to an empty table with the drinks.

"At least you remembered to bring money!" Teresa replied as we sat down. "I forgot the first time I came! You should've seen the head on me at the end of the night: I was half dead with sheer dehydration!"

 I laughed and opened my mouth to reply, when suddenly the music ground to a halt and a voice boomed out over the speakers.

"Ladies and germs, for the first time ever, The Zone is proud to present...Silent Rain!"

As if on cue, a volley of screeches went up from the female half of the room as the band mounted the stage. Beside me, Teresa joined in with the shrieking, doing irrepairable damage to both of my eardrums.

As if this wasn't bad enough, she reached out and grabbed hold of my arm as she bounced up and down in her seat, her long nails digging into the soft flesh of my forearm.

"OW!" I complained loudly, yanking my arm out of her grip. Teresa didn't even notice. She was too busy looking at the stage where the objects of her obsession were currently making there way into their respective postions. The last person ready was the singer. He strolled into position, then stood there glaring moodily at the crowd. At the sight of him, my lip curled in disgust.

Eamonn Daly, king of the douchebags. 

He was the reason the club was so full tonight. Almost every girl in town was in love with him, though I wasn't entirely sure why. As far as I could tell, the only thing he ever did was lurk in dark corners and scowl.

He could sing though, I'd give him that much and there was no denying that he was extremely goodlooking with longish black hair, piercing green eyes and tanned, almost hispanic looking skin. Shame he had the personality of a wet tea towel.

Without even adressing the crowd, he turned and nodded to the others and the guitar sounded, loud and confident. I recognised the opening chords as I being You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison, by My Chemical Romance. So they played.

And Eamonn sang.

They were good, that I had to admit. All of them were excellent musicians and Eamonn's voice was perfectly suited to every song they covered, as they moved from MCR to Lostprophets to Black Veil Brides with practiced ease. Everything they played was by one of my favourite artists. It should have been a masterful performance.

 But it was ruined by the cocky way the band moved about the stage, the staged exaggeration of every note and the ridiculous, tortured expression Eamonn insisted on putting on while he spat out the lyrics like they were poison.

In short, the whole thing just screamed pretentious. 

Apparently, I was the only one who thought so, seeing as the rest of the club were lapping it up. They even loved the ridiculously depressing, emo rock songs the band had cobbled together themselves. Only one of them -Vindictive, I think it was called - was actually worth listening to.

An hour and a half later, as I watched them angst their way through Mona's Shooting The Moon, I decided I'd heard enough. I tapped Teresa on the shoulder and she turned reluctantly towards me, not having spoken a word to me since Silent Rain had started playing. I swear,Teresa is a sensible girl, but mention these guys to her and her brain takes a backseat while her inner fangirl does the driving.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," I said. I planned on hiding out there until it was over.

She nodded vaguely in response, then returned her attention to the prats onstage.

Sighing, I slipped out of my seat and proceeded to fight my way through the frantic screaming fans. I had almost made it across the dancefloor, when suddenly an elbow shot out of nowhere, smashing hard into my face. I didn't even have time to throw my hands out to save myself. My head cracked against the edge of the raised stage with a sickening thud.

I was vaguely aware of the music screeching to a halt and of someone shaking me by the shoulders and shouting at me to stay awake, asking me what my name was. I tried to answer, but my tongue felt heavy in my mouth.

Then everything went black.

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Ooh.......

That's an interesting turn of events, eh? Even I want to know what happens next, so I'm definately uploading the next chapter as fast as humanly possible!

Today's song was actually mentioned in the chapter. Yes my friends, it's MCR's You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison, one of my absolute favourites by this band.

Well, it's been nice chatting with you people, but I have to go do something vaguely useful now, so until next time: Vote/Comment/Fan!