We're Going Down, Down in an Earlier Square?

.:Pete's P.O.V:.
Samantha and I made our way from Walden's Bookstore to the food court. Once again, every teenage girl in the room, turned to stare at us, "What do you want to eat," I asked.

"Um," she answered, looking at our limited choices.

"Taco Bell?" I offered.

"Sure." she said.

I could tell that the whispering around us was getting to her, and instantly, I wished I had brought my glasses, but it was too late for regrets now. Walking over the the cash register, we both looked at the menu, and we placed our orders. Mine was a cheese cesadilla and hers was chicken. We waited against a wall for our food, me leaning against it, and her leaning against my chest with my arms around her slim figure. I could see all of the girls shoot mixtures of sorrowful, and hate filled glances in our direction.

"Number 218," asked the young girl from behind the counter. We both came up to her, and she stared for a while, "D-Do you n-need a-anything else? S-Sir," she asked.

"No thank you," I said, giving her a smile. She smiled back, and nodded, trying to find something that will get her back into her working process.

Walking over to a section of the court that wasn't used at all, we sat down, and tried to eat our food in peace. But eventually, all of the girls started to gather enough courage to come over and ask for autographs, and asked questions. Eventually, but not fast enough, the mall security guards started to heard the girls away, allowing us to eat, and giggle slightly to each other. We could still hear the girls whispering, and some of their statements kind of got on my nerves.

"Are they together," one girl asked.

"I hope not," someone answered, "It would be a shame if Pete was dedicated to one girl, and was never single again." I raised my eyebrow at that, and looked to see if Samantha had heard it. And of course, she had.

"Do you want to leave now," I asked.

"No," she answered, "I'm actually having fun listening to all of their conversations," she said this a little louder than necessary, and most of the girls that were standing close enough, started to blush, and backed away into the crowd.

"What are we going to do after this," I asked, taking a huge bite out of my meal.

"I don't know," she said, "Oh! Jared's birthday is coming up."

"Jared?"

"One of the boys who stays in our house...." She said.

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah, so it's going to be his 24th birthday," she continued, "We could always find something for him."

"Sure," I smiled, "You can pick out the gifts though."

"Why?"

"I suck at gift giving," I answered sheepishly.

"Oh! Well, then, I guess musicians aren't always as perfect as their cracked up to be," she said with a small laugh at the end.

"Yeah.... Shut up," I smiled, "Are you finished?"

"Yes," she answered. We stood up, and made our way to the trash can and emptied the tray.

"Let's just look around," I said.

"Or, we can go see what they have at Spencer's," she said, pointing out a store.

"Ha, yeah! We could go there," I wrapped my arm around her waist and hooked my finger around one of her belt loops. I heard a disappointed moan coming form the food court, but that only made me smile.

.:Normal P.O.V:.
.:Jared's birthday party (two weeks later):.

Happy birthday dear Jared!
Happy birthday to you!

We all sang at the top of our lungs, Jared smiled, and blew out the twenty four candles on top of his cake.

"Okay," yelled Stacy, "We're ready to open the presents," everyone gathered in the living room, of our house, and Jared sat down in the middle of a pile of presents.

"Okay, here's mine," Joe said, stepping forward and picking up a fairly wrapped present.

"Okay...." Jared took the package, and opened it, "Aw! Dude," he pulled out a football, "Sweet! Thanks man! How did you know I needed one?"

"Oh, come on," Joe said, "It's not like you've been pouting over your popped one for ever." Jared gave a shy smile, and set the ball aside.

"Okay, this one's from me," Jordan said, handing a large package to Jared. He opened it, and it turned out to be a microphone.

"Sweet! Thanks bro," he smiled at Jordan and examine the box for a moment, "This is exactly what I needed," Jordan smiled in triumph.

"Here's mine," Patrick said, it turned out to be a guitar stand.

Stacy gave him a pair of radio head phones. At first I thought this was odd, but when I remembered Joe telling me that they had a radio station, it all seemed clear to me. Andy gave him at least thirty different Cd's. Of course Jordan and Stacy were thrilled about this gift too, for they claimed that the listeners were demanding these songs out of them forever. Rea gave him the tee shirt in Hot Topic that he kept looking at for the past year, but never had enough time to buy. Next came the gift that Pete and I got him. We ended up find something at a different store that could be used for Jared's enjoyment as well as the rest of the house mates.

"Here it is," Pete said, handing him a heavy box. Jared eyed it, and then ripped it open.

"Oh my God," he exclaimed, "A Karaoke machine!" The rest of the house all said the same thing.

"Now we can all see everyone's singing talents," Patrick said with a laugh.

"Sweet," exclaimed Jordan, "Do you want to hook it up now?"

"Hell yeah," Jared said. We all headed into the other room, and the boys, Jordan, Jared, and Pete all started to work on setting up the machine.

"Here are the Cd's," I said, "We got you some more in case you didn't like any of the songs that came with it."

"Thank you," Jared said. He put in a CD that consisted of mostly rock/alternative tracks on.
We each took turns. First was Jared, then Jordan, Stacy, Rea Patrick, Joe, Andy, and then Pete. When Pete's song was done, everyone turned to me, and smiled.

"It's your turn Sammy," Pete said.

"I think I have some homework upstairs," I said. I started to head up the stairs, but Jordan wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Come on," he said, "We all sang."

"Yeah! And now it's your turn," Stacy said.

"But-"

"It's my birthday," Jared said, "Please sing for me," I tried to think of something to do that would get me out of this, but nothing came to mind.

Pete came forward and pulled me in front of the screen. He handed me the microphone, and pressed random.

The drum part for Sugar We Going Down came on, and I started to sing.

Is this more than you bargained for yet?
I've been dying to tell you every thing, you want to hear,
'cause that's just who I am this week.

I sang the song, closing my eyes to feel a little better about my surroundings. Like I said before, I'm not comfortable singing in front of people. When I finished the song, everyone demanded that I sing another. So I did. Then when it came to the fact that they all wanted me to sing the entire CD, I didn't think I could take it anymore.

Dropping the microphone, I ran upstairs, and into the bathroom, closing and locking the door.