9"Hey, Megs." Tommy greeted with a false smile. It'd been a while since the two had been on good terms. Especially after the fight in the cafeteria.
"What's up with you?" Megan adjusted the books in her hand.
Tommy shrugged. "Nothing. Hey, have you seen the new weight room?"
"What?" Megan raised an eyebrow. She knew they had a new gym, and a weight room should be expected with that, but why was Tommy trying to show her?
"Oh, okay. You gotta check it out." Tommy insisted, practically dragging Megan down the hall. "It's really great."
"Okay." Megan sighed, following her former friend.
"So how's that whole band thing working out for you, anyway?" Tommy pretended to care.
Megan faked interest as well, "Yeah, it's great. Um...What are you up to?" She nearly tripped on one of the stairs. "Seriously, I don't have time for your games." She turned to see Logan, seated at one of the many benches, a girl stood before him. She wore his letterman jacket - something he'd told Megan not to do - feeling his arm with a small smirk.
"Can you tell I've been working out?" Logan didn't seem to notice Megan, though.
Tommy got his attention, with a simple. "Hey, Meg. You know my sister Tuppence, right?"
The second they made eye contact, Megan darted back down the stairs. "No, wait, Megan." Logan called after her, going to follow her.
Tommy, however, stopped him. "Let her go. Whoa. She's made her choice." He pat his best friend's shoulder calling a sarcastic, "Hey, good luck tonight." To Megan.
The room was filled with students and teachers alike in costume. There were some superheroes, some funny ones. Someone even dressed as Edward Cullen, far-off look and all. But backstage was a different story though, since Young Justice was supposed to be on already, and their sound check wasn't finished (due to Tommy's lovely interference), and they were missing their lead singer.
"He promised he'd be here." Artemis sighed, seated between Connor and Megan.
Connor tapped on his thigh. "Maybe he just got held up."
"We're on in ten minutes." Megan adjusted her jacket for the umpteenth time.
"Oh. Guys," Wally ran toward the three band members, trying to catch his breath. "I can't find him anywhere."
"I don't have time." Tim frantically tried to fix the sound, adjusting wires and unplugging different chords as fast as possible. "Those Mudslide jerks wrecked my setup before sound check. I'm telling you, it's sabotage."
"Doesn't matter. We can't go on without a lead singer." Megan gestured towards the group, almost to show that Dick wasn't there.
"Who, Dick? He ran through here a couple minutes ago." Tim plugged in a chord to check if it was the right one.
"What?" Artemis rose, along with the rest of the group.
He pointed, "That way. Looked like he was gonna hurl."
"Are you in here, Richard?" Connor called, checking the stalls in the (thankfully) empty bathroom.
"Dickie?" Wally looked around nervously, opening a stall to reveal a different guy dressed in a chicken costume. "Oh, sorry, James."
"Found him. He's in there." Connor gestured toward the stall.
"I'm going in. Okay, we- I'm going. We're coming in." Artemis insisted.
"We can't go in the boys' bathroom." Megan exclaimed as Artemis pushed the two of them in.
"How you feeling, Dick?" Wally leaned against the stall door, nervous.
"I'm great." Dick replied, breathing deeply. "Super."
"Ah! That's my boy!" Artemis laughed triumphantly.
"That's great." Connor agreed.
"But it's probably not the best idea for me to actually go out there." Dick tried to stop hyperventilating. "You know, physically."
A guy in a toilet costume tried to enter, but Megan (who was by the door) just waved him off. "We got plenty, thank you. Maybe next door. Sorry."
"Richard, we've rehearsed these songs a million times." Artemis pushed. "We've put everything we have in these songs."
Dick nodded, answering with a quiet. "I know, and I'm scared."
"Look, we're all scared." Wally sighed.
"We have like six minutes." Artemis whispered.
"What are we gonna do?" Connor whispered back.
"I don't know."
Wally sighed, pulling out something he wanted to save for after the bash from his coat pocket. It was a small plush elephant. Dick had mentioned loving elephants. Honestly, Wally was just hoping this would work.
"Dick." Wally handed the small elephant to the boy behind the door. "Look, we believe in you, okay?" He paused, adding more quietly. "I believe in you."
There was a pause, filled with silence. The band looked on nervously as the stall door opened revealing their lead singer.
"I'm ready." He confirmed, hugging the stuffed elephant close.
"Yes!" Artemis cheered.
"Yeah!" Megan laughed.
"Now we're going out there." Connor lead the group to the stage. The sound was all set up, and as the band filed into the stage, the lights turned on. The crowd booed (which was expected since most students were fans of mudslide crush).
"Hey, nice costumes." Tommy called, "Oh, you're not wearing any?" A few people snickered.
"Hey, come on. Quit it." Logan talked his friend down.
The band started, the crowd stared on.
"Trying hard to fight these tears,
I'm crazy worried.
Messing with my head, this fear,
I'm so sorry."
Tommy yawned.
"You know you gotta get it out,
I can take it.
That's what being a friend's about."
The soft music quickly picked up, along with the small lightshow the AV club had set up for them.
"I, I wanna cry.
I can't deny,
Tonight I wanna up and hide
And get inside
It isn't right
I gotta live in my life
I know I, I know I, I know I gotta do it
I know I, I know I, I know I gotta do it
Gotta turn the world
Into your dance floor
Determinate. Determinate
Push until you can't
And then demand more
Determinate. Determinate
You and me together
We can make it better
Gotta turn the world
Into your dance floor
Determinate. Determinate
Hate to feel this way
And waste a day
I gotta get myself on-stage
I shouldn't wait or be afraid
The chips will fall where they may
I know I, I know I, I know I gotta do it
I know I, I know I, I know I gotta do it
Gotta turn the world
Into your dance floor
Determinate. Determinate
Push until you can't
And then demand more
Determinate. Determinate
You and me together
We can make it better
Gotta turn the world
Into your dance floor
Determinate. Determinate
It's Wal, and I'm heaven-sent
Music like a veteran
Renegade lemonade. Use it in my medicine
Go ahead and try to name a band
We ain't better than
Reason why the whole world's picking us
Instead of them
People need a breather
'Cause they're feeling that adrenaline
Stop
Now hurry up and let us in
Knock
'Cause we're coming to your house
People keep on smiling
Like a lemon's in their mouth
I'm the real deal
You know how I feel
We're not in it for the mill
We're just in it for a thrill
Get down now. I ain't playin' around
Put your feet up on the ground
And just make that sound like
Gotta turn the world
Into your dance floor
Determinate. Determinate
Push until you can't
And then demand more
Determinate. Determinate
You and me together
We can make it better
Turn the world into your dance floor
Be quiet.
Determinate. Determinate
Come on and, come on and
Come on and get it going
Come on and, come on and
Come on and get it going
On the dance floor. On the dance floor
Come on!
Dance floor
Determinate."
"Looks like we got some competition
at Rising Star, man." Logan smiled at the performance.
"Huh? You know, they're not that good." Tommy muttered.
"No, man." Logan nodded toward the stage. "They're great."
"Okay." Dick spoke for the group. "Well, we're Young Justice." The crowd cheered as Artemis grabbed a mic. "And now a few words from our lead guitarist, Artemis Crock."
Several different responses followed. Some booed, some cheered. Artemis didn't seem to mind either way.
"We'd like to shine a light on a recent change that affects us all." Artemis smirked. "We'd like to talk about this school, it's treating certain people like they matter more than others. Little things like the fact that funding for sports is more important than a music program." A few cheers. "Or a school newspaper, or any one of us."
"Do you know about this?" Mr. Wilson glared at Miss Lance, who shrugged.
"We all deserve to be treated like we matter." Artemis called the ought the gym. "Because, ladies and gentlemen, we do matter!"
The music started again, and soon most members of the band were singing.
"Be heard, be strong, be proud.
I wanna make some noise.
Stand up, come on, be loud.
We're gonna raise our voice.
Come on, come on, come on
You gotta hear me now
You gotta hear me now
You gotta hear me now
Hey now
We no longer wait around
My team's stronger like weights now
Keeps on growing
Our muscle keeps on showing
We came here to make a change
We came here to rearrange
We came here 'cause we believe
We came here 'cause we achieve
While I got the microphone
Make sure how I feel is known
All for one, we rock the zone
How I feel to each his own
All my people, treat 'em right
We reserve the right to fight
For what we want. For what we need
To the front, we shall proceed
Here we come
And we're ready to go, go, go
You better run
'Cause we don't take no, no, no
Come on
Be heard, be strong, be proud
I wanna make some noise."
"Artemis, stop it!" Slade called through the crowd only to be ignored.
"Stand up, come on, be loud
We're gonna raise our voice
Come on, come on, come on
You gotta hear me now."
Wilson threatened. "Megan, I will call your father."
"You gotta hear me now."
"I said we're tired of this." Artemis called through a megaphone.
"Wally, what are you doing?" The principal called.
"We're gonna stand up for what we believe in." Artemis encouraged. "We might be on our own, but we are one. Everybody ready? Let's go!"
"Be heard, be strong, be proud
I wanna make some noise
Stand up, come on, be loud
We're gonna raise our voice."
Slade bumped into Tim, who was running the sound. "Shut it down! Shut it off!"
"You gotta hear me now
You gotta hear me now
You gotta hear me now."
The lights all went out as Mr. Wilson pulled the fuse to stop the rebellion in his school.