Our music teachers - all nine of them - arrived a little early to the classroom. James was still in the midst of a geography lesson about the different types of rock that exist in the world. Well, the lesson had descended into somewhat of a singsong. Someone had suggested that one of the most prominent types of rock in Britain in the seventies was 'punk rock' and James had immediately responded by blurting out a few verses of the Ramones song, 'Sheena is a Punk Rocker'. This had led through Joan Jett's rendition of 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' and Elvis Presley's 'Jailhouse Rock', all the way to 'Goofy-goobers Rock', which was sung at the climax moment of the Spongebob Squarepants movie.
"I'm a goofy-goober, ROCK, you're a goofy-goober, ROCK, we're all goofy-goobers, ROCK, goofy-goofy-goofy-goober, ROCK!" James had his eyes lying shut and was head-banging as he sang.
He noticed Tom Fletcher of McFly mouthing the words from the doorway and giggled.
"Sorry about that. I'll, uh, just be getting going now." James chuckled.
"No, no, not at all." Dougie Poynter shook his head. "Wrap up in your own time."
James nodded and clapped his hands together then realised he had very little to say. He nodded again, shot the four of us - Hanien, Annisa, Eliphia and I - a pointed glance and trotted out of the room, nearly skipping.
The members of the two groups shuffled in and lined up along the front wall of the room. They looked awkwardly between each other and eventually it was the curly-haired one from One Direction who began to speak. The one that went out with Taylor Swift ... Harry Styles! That's his name. He began to outline the music course that we'd be undertaking this year and I'll give him that he was very enthusiastic about it. In fact, I'd probably have been sufficiently interested if I hadn't been constantly comparing him to the musical delights of James singing songs from beloved children's movies.
Since there were five tables and nine teachers, it was decided to split the teachers between tables. We were assigned Tom Fletcher and Liam Payne.
"So, any questions?" Tom asked.
"Do you like Chameleon Circuit?" I asked, "You know, the Trock band."
"The what?" Liam spluttered.
"Trock. Time Lord rock," Tom explained, "My sister is best friends with the man who invented it and I'm a massive Whovian so yes I am very excited by Trock."
"Wait," Annisa murmured, "Is that Doctor Who music?"
"Absolutely," put in Isaac. He and Tom, at the head of the table, could barely contain their laughter at Liam's bemused expression. "Actually, Annisa, Chameleon Circuit is that band that was on in the bus. Remember, the one me and Joanne started singing along to?"
Annisa nodded and Liam still looked befuddled so we continued on to more traditional ground.
"Do you know any of our stuff?" Tom asked, gesturing to himself and Liam.
Tom and I both replied that we'd been big fans of McFly since childhood but weren't so well acquainted with One Direction. This seemed satisfactory to both of them and the teachers began to discuss what we were about to start work on.
"Basically, we're making an album," Tom explained, "We need people taking on all the different roles. Liam and I will be producing. All the music is going to come from you. Okay, two people to sing and play rhythm guitar, someone to play lead guitar, someone to play drums, someone to play bass and sing backing vocals and someone to play keyboard and sing backing vocals."
A few minutes of deliberating and we had our band.
I was nervous suggesting myself to play lead guitar but I reckon keeping my voice out of the spotlight was a viable way of not seeming conceited. Plus, I had a year to improve the skills I'd been growing to fairly little extent over a year of guitar classes and I had Tom Fletcher to help me do it. To be honest, this really was helping take our minds off whatever James was planning.
My mind, however, was sucked back to the subject of James when he appeared like a spectre in the hallway towards the end of the lesson. He cleared his throat and we excused ourselves from the class on the grounds that there were 'a few things left to take care of' in the matter of resolving our 'row'. Of course, James actually needed an update on if we'd managed to make contact with Jan or Tara yet but it seemed a good idea to stick to our cover story.
He led us back to the same office room we'd been in earlier and we all took our places at the table. This time, James had carried in a chair which he placed at the edge of the table and sat himself down on. He tapped his foot on the ground for a few moments then agitatedly cleared his throat and set his hands face down on the table's surface.
"So, Eliphia, Joanne, any contact with Jan or Tara?" James muttered.
"Well... " I glanced at Eliphia as I started to update him, "... we commented on something they posted in your fan club on the open day and we didn't get any reply but, an account called P. Z. Proseguard. We remembered that Paul's initials are P. Z. and Proseguard is a combination of the words 'prosetic' and 'guardians'."
"What did he say?" James squeaked.
Eliphia answered, "He said to message him. Which we did. On private messaging he told us that he was in fact Paul and he revealed to us what he wanted."
"Why didn't he make his demands known before?" James wondered.
"He wanted to communicate to you, James, directly. Of course by this point we'd explained that we were at the Internet School so he realised he could reach you through us," Eliphia explained, "What he wanted was for the school to immediately shut down. He said in exchange, Jan and Tara would be returned."
"Or else?" James prompted.
"Or else he would keep them locked up and they'd know for the rest of their lives that their idol, James McAvoy, had abandoned them," I finished.
James crossed his arms on the table and lay his head in the diamond created. He made a groaning sound and we could actually see him quivering in frustration. We each lay a hand on his balled up fists which formed a sort of canal gate that let his hair flow through in tufts. We patted him in consolation and he raised himself up to full height in the chair.
"We are not letting this school close. We are not letting him hurt Jan and Tara," James declared.
"But what can we possibly do?" Annisa asked.
"I don't know yet. I only know that those are two things we can definitely not do. What about Twitter, Annisa, Hanien?" James turned to each of them, both on either sides of the table. "Anything to report about Paul's companion?"
"Nothing much," Annisa reported, "Just normal, mundane status updates. What we did find was the Prosetic Guardians main Twitter account. There are a couple of admins and one of them mentioned something about Mogul Ziemkoll."
"Who's Mogul?" Eliphia asked.
"It's a term for somebody important, the leader of something," Hanien explained, "We think Paul may be a Mogul in the Prosetic movement."
"Okay... " James ruffled his hair. "What kind of accounts did you make? Did you make contact with anyone on Twitter?"
"The accounts are kind of like Paul's on Facebook," Hanien explained, "I am H-Canon. Annisa is H-Guard. We didn't talk to anyone but we favourited a couple of that account's tweets and got followed by some of its followers."
"Okay." James shuddered in a breath. "Well done, very well done. And thank you, all four of you."
James gestured for us to stand up and gather around him. He wrapped his arms around all of us and his head sank into a massive group hug. As he ushered us out to go ahead of him to P.E., his voice was starting to crack and I could see his jaw set in an attempt to hold back tears. He did well and when he appeared in the P.E. hall ten minutes later in an X-Men t-shirt, he was as cheery and charming as ever, I even heard him slip out a few lines of the goofy-goobers rock as he surveyed our badminton games around the hall.
"I'm a goofy-goober, ROCK, you're a goofy-goober, ROCK, we're all goofy-goobers, ROCK, goofy-goofy-goofy-goober, ROCK!" James had his eyes lying shut and was head-banging as he sang.
He noticed Tom Fletcher of McFly mouthing the words from the doorway and giggled.
"Sorry about that. I'll, uh, just be getting going now." James chuckled.
"No, no, not at all." Dougie Poynter shook his head. "Wrap up in your own time."
James nodded and clapped his hands together then realised he had very little to say. He nodded again, shot the four of us - Hanien, Annisa, Eliphia and I - a pointed glance and trotted out of the room, nearly skipping.
The members of the two groups shuffled in and lined up along the front wall of the room. They looked awkwardly between each other and eventually it was the curly-haired one from One Direction who began to speak. The one that went out with Taylor Swift ... Harry Styles! That's his name. He began to outline the music course that we'd be undertaking this year and I'll give him that he was very enthusiastic about it. In fact, I'd probably have been sufficiently interested if I hadn't been constantly comparing him to the musical delights of James singing songs from beloved children's movies.
Since there were five tables and nine teachers, it was decided to split the teachers between tables. We were assigned Tom Fletcher and Liam Payne.
"So, any questions?" Tom asked.
"Do you like Chameleon Circuit?" I asked, "You know, the Trock band."
"The what?" Liam spluttered.
"Trock. Time Lord rock," Tom explained, "My sister is best friends with the man who invented it and I'm a massive Whovian so yes I am very excited by Trock."
"Wait," Annisa murmured, "Is that Doctor Who music?"
"Absolutely," put in Isaac. He and Tom, at the head of the table, could barely contain their laughter at Liam's bemused expression. "Actually, Annisa, Chameleon Circuit is that band that was on in the bus. Remember, the one me and Joanne started singing along to?"
Annisa nodded and Liam still looked befuddled so we continued on to more traditional ground.
"Do you know any of our stuff?" Tom asked, gesturing to himself and Liam.
Tom and I both replied that we'd been big fans of McFly since childhood but weren't so well acquainted with One Direction. This seemed satisfactory to both of them and the teachers began to discuss what we were about to start work on.
"Basically, we're making an album," Tom explained, "We need people taking on all the different roles. Liam and I will be producing. All the music is going to come from you. Okay, two people to sing and play rhythm guitar, someone to play lead guitar, someone to play drums, someone to play bass and sing backing vocals and someone to play keyboard and sing backing vocals."
A few minutes of deliberating and we had our band.
My mind, however, was sucked back to the subject of James when he appeared like a spectre in the hallway towards the end of the lesson. He cleared his throat and we excused ourselves from the class on the grounds that there were 'a few things left to take care of' in the matter of resolving our 'row'. Of course, James actually needed an update on if we'd managed to make contact with Jan or Tara yet but it seemed a good idea to stick to our cover story.
He led us back to the same office room we'd been in earlier and we all took our places at the table. This time, James had carried in a chair which he placed at the edge of the table and sat himself down on. He tapped his foot on the ground for a few moments then agitatedly cleared his throat and set his hands face down on the table's surface.
"So, Eliphia, Joanne, any contact with Jan or Tara?" James muttered.
"Well... " I glanced at Eliphia as I started to update him, "... we commented on something they posted in your fan club on the open day and we didn't get any reply but, an account called P. Z. Proseguard. We remembered that Paul's initials are P. Z. and Proseguard is a combination of the words 'prosetic' and 'guardians'."
"What did he say?" James squeaked.
Eliphia answered, "He said to message him. Which we did. On private messaging he told us that he was in fact Paul and he revealed to us what he wanted."
"Why didn't he make his demands known before?" James wondered.
"He wanted to communicate to you, James, directly. Of course by this point we'd explained that we were at the Internet School so he realised he could reach you through us," Eliphia explained, "What he wanted was for the school to immediately shut down. He said in exchange, Jan and Tara would be returned."
"Or else?" James prompted.
"Or else he would keep them locked up and they'd know for the rest of their lives that their idol, James McAvoy, had abandoned them," I finished.
James crossed his arms on the table and lay his head in the diamond created. He made a groaning sound and we could actually see him quivering in frustration. We each lay a hand on his balled up fists which formed a sort of canal gate that let his hair flow through in tufts. We patted him in consolation and he raised himself up to full height in the chair.
"We are not letting this school close. We are not letting him hurt Jan and Tara," James declared.
"But what can we possibly do?" Annisa asked.
"I don't know yet. I only know that those are two things we can definitely not do. What about Twitter, Annisa, Hanien?" James turned to each of them, both on either sides of the table. "Anything to report about Paul's companion?"
"Nothing much," Annisa reported, "Just normal, mundane status updates. What we did find was the Prosetic Guardians main Twitter account. There are a couple of admins and one of them mentioned something about Mogul Ziemkoll."
"Who's Mogul?" Eliphia asked.
"It's a term for somebody important, the leader of something," Hanien explained, "We think Paul may be a Mogul in the Prosetic movement."
"Okay... " James ruffled his hair. "What kind of accounts did you make? Did you make contact with anyone on Twitter?"
"The accounts are kind of like Paul's on Facebook," Hanien explained, "I am H-Canon. Annisa is H-Guard. We didn't talk to anyone but we favourited a couple of that account's tweets and got followed by some of its followers."
"Okay." James shuddered in a breath. "Well done, very well done. And thank you, all four of you."
James gestured for us to stand up and gather around him. He wrapped his arms around all of us and his head sank into a massive group hug. As he ushered us out to go ahead of him to P.E., his voice was starting to crack and I could see his jaw set in an attempt to hold back tears. He did well and when he appeared in the P.E. hall ten minutes later in an X-Men t-shirt, he was as cheery and charming as ever, I even heard him slip out a few lines of the goofy-goobers rock as he surveyed our badminton games around the hall.
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