Chapter 18 - Gen 1 - Lilly

~ Every Breath You Take ~


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by Prelude
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I could not believe the brass neck of the woman  "Mandarin Freeze I've got a bone to pick with you!!"  Walking out of the grocery store I nearly bump into her, there she is as large as life - I could throttle her - where was she only a few hours ago when the band needed her?

"Prelude!!"  She smiled at me like butter wouldn't melt, she's very good at manipulating people, especially our boss, but her rubbish doesn't work with me!!

"What the hell do you think you're playing at??!!  Work - did you forget about it today??"

"Sorry my kid is sick"  That's always her excuse and it's starting to wear a little thin now.

"Your kid is always sick - you didn't even call to let us know - you can't just not turn up for work when you feel like it and this isn't the first time that you have really let the band down is it!!"

"I couldn't just leave him, you have a kid, you know what it's like when they get sick!!" she said  "You have plenty of family and friends to look after your kid - I don't"  How would she know what I've got, its not like I tell her anything about my life.

"That's not the point and you know it, we have an important gig in TWO DAYS and when our lead vocalist just can't be arsed to turn up when we really need to rehearse, it kind of hacks everyone off - especially me!!"  I'm a single parent and I manage, she has a husband, she can't keep using her kid as an excuse.

"I will be there tomorrow, promise!!"  she said flashing one of her sickly smiles at me - like Mandarin's promises are worth jack - she does what she wants, when she wants and doesn't give a damn about anyone but herself!!  She kind of reminds me of the old me.

"Well I'm telling you to your face - I'm putting in a request to have you replaced, you're holding us back and you keep letting us down and I'm not the only band member who feels this way!!"  she just stands there staring at me, I doubt she even cares anyway  "So be prepared - I won't stop till I get you replaced - there are plenty of better singers out there that WOULD give a damn!!!"

"You know what Prelude - you do whatever - bring it on - I'll be the one getting the last laugh and don't you forget that!!"  she turned away then added  "You know Prelude you're quite sexy when you get angry!!"  She started laughing as she walked away.

"Berry Hole!!!!" 

 
Mandarin always get's my back up and she knows it - there is something about that woman that bugs me and I can't quite put my finger on it.


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by Lilly
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Mango and Prelude are sat watching me and Sunny dancing, talking about us like we are not close enough for us to hear what they are saying.

"Should she really be dancing like that in her condition?"  I hear Prelude asking Mango

"No, I've tried telling her, but you know what's she like, she never listens!!  I don't think she'll accept she is pregnant until it starts showing."

"Maybe we should hide the stereo"  Prelude said and they both started laughing 

"I can hear you two you know, I'm not deaf!!" I snapped at them

I still do a lot of dancing with Sunny, even though Cosmic hates it, we tend to do it mostly when he is at work, what he doesn't see doesn't upset him.  It is just dancing.  I don't see why he gets so upset over it - which kind of makes me laugh when he is quite comfortable with Mango being around knowing hes in love with me, but dancing with Sunny is a big No - No.

My phone started ringing so I stopped dancing to answer it.  "Hello"  nothing - there is just silence - "Hello"  still nobody spoke, I looked at my phone it said withheld number, my second call like this today.  I switched my phone off and instantly forgot about it, as a wave of sickness washed over me and I started fighting to keep waffles down that were threatening to land all over Sunny.

I heaved and Sunny instantly jumped backwards falling over the couch.  "Wooow!!! - Ruby has already covered me in puke once today - pregnant women should come with a warning notice!!"  He said as he picked himself up off the floor while Prelude and Mango are laughing at him.

I really am going to hate being pregnant if I have got to suffer this sickness for the next nine months, I am not just getting morning sickness mine is all day and all night sickness and according to Mango there is no telling when it will stop, if it stops at all.

Mango's phone started ringing  "Hello"  he started to look a little confused  "Hello"  he looked at his phone then switched it off.  "Nobody there - withheld number, you know I have had quite a few of these silent calls lately"  he was looking at me.

"That's what I just had a silent call - my second one today."  I said to Mango  who suddenly started looking concerned.

Crimson started crying in the other room where he had been sleeping, Sunny went to get him and as he walked back into the living room he said   "You know me and Ruby have been having silent calls for a few days now, we thought it was one of you lot playing silly buggers, and Alpine had a few when he was round at our yesterday too."

Mango's phone started bleeping again, this time it was a text message.  He stood looking at it for ages without saying anything, a look of shock on his face, then finally he spoke  "I'm watching you nerd"

"What?!"  me and Sunny both said at the same time.

"The text it says - I'm watching you nerd"  he was still stood there just staring at his phone  "You know I've got a really really nasty feeling about this ............. Lime"

"Don't be silly Mango - she doesn't have a clue where we all vanished too!!"  Sunny said  "How could she, besides I doubt after this amount of time ......."  Mango wasn't listening he started talking cutting Sunny's words off 

"There is only one place I have ever been called Nerd - at that school - Lime was the one who always used to call me Nerd all the time - it just has to be her!!!"  He looked at me and Sunny  "It's no coincidence that we are all getting these prank calls - give me another explanation that would make any sense other than Lime!!!" 

I for one couldn't think of any other explanation for it, it could only be Lime, we had all upset her, but I can't imagine how she could have found us here in this town - thousands of miles away from the town where we went to school.

Cosmic came home later that day after work in a really good mood.  He has had another promotion and another bonus,  more money to go towards our house funds which are growing quite nicely, and even though Prelude says we can stay here for as long as we like, we would really love our own space.

Cosmic's phone started to ring  "Hello"  he just stood there listening and staring at me, I knew straight away that he too was getting the silent calls.   "Hello"  he said again.  After listening for a short time he shut off his phone looking pretty mad  "That's the third silent call I've had this afternoon - some idiot must think its pretty damn funny!!"

He was shocked and far from happy to find out he wasn't the only one getting them - that we were all getting them.  Comic's first thought was automatically that it had to have something to do with Lime too.

His good mood now vanished, he is angry, scared that his 'secret' is coming back to get him, he shouted a little then went off to see Sunny and Mango.

The phone calls and text messages just kept coming for all of us.  I am watching them all constantly answering their phones to silent calls and I am also getting my fair share of them.  The text messages that started coming confirmed for all of us, without a doubt, Lime was behind it.  I am once again being called the colourless freak via text - Lime is definitely back to haunt us all and I dread to think what she has planned for us all.

As the months started rolling by it didn't stop. Cosmic and Mango, seemed to be getting the worst of it, why Mango I couldn't quite figure out, if it had been me or Alpine I would have understood that, but Mango - he never actually did anything that day other than stand there and laugh with everyone else. 

Mango thought we should report it all to the police and let them sort it out,  but Cosmic couldn't take the risk of his "secret" being dug up.  This caused Cosmic and Mango to have a right bust up which actually ended up with them fighting, Prelude had to part them.  Things were getting very tense with everyone and they were doing their best to hide things from me.

Cosmic and Prelude always seemed to be having whispered conversations which sometimes grew into arguments, but their conversations always stopped whenever I walked past them.

I suddenly realized they were 'baby sitting' me - there is always one of them around with me, if Prelude and Cosmic were both at work, Mango or Sunny would appear, I was never left alone for a minute.   I'm beginning to think they are up to something, or something is going on that they are not telling me about.

Cosmic didn't want me worrying about anything because of the baby, he tried to convince me that everything was fine and there was nothing for me to worry about - but I just know there is something that he is not telling me.

Their only worry is that she might be in this town, so they have been trying to track her down, without any success.  There is no sign of her in the town where we went to school, Cosmic has contacted some old friends and Ruby has contacted Ice and she hasn't seen her since school, nobody has seen her - it is like she has just vanished.

I'm sure if she is in town one of us would have seen her by now, it is not exactly a huge place, there really are not many places to hide in this town.  Mango has scowered all the medical records and can't see any sign of her, but she could be married, she could quite easily have changed her name - seeing her here is the only way we are ever going to be sure.

"Do you seriously think that she would want revenge for what we did to her??"  I couldn't see that she would go to the trouble of tracking us down and coming thousands of miles just to get her own back on us, when really all we did was make a fool of her.

"Knowing Lime, Yes, but I thought with us moving so far way she wouldn't find us and we wouldn't see or hear from her again."

"Well she has managed to get all of our phone number,  how has she done that?" I asked him, something that has been bugging me, it's not like any of our phone numbers are listed in the phone book, getting one is understandable but not all of them - its like she has been into one of our phones to get everyone's number.

"I don't know I can't figure that one out myself,  but it's been months and she's done nothing - she's just probably trying to scare us, I doubt she will take it any further - I want you to stop worrying and just concentrate on that little baby of ours!!"

"Just promise me Lilly that you won't go out alone, just in case she is in town."

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Song:  "Every Breath you" take by Police