The Chronicles of James Pete Smith and Alysia Urie-Ross

Jimmy took a sip from his twelfth coffee of the morning, rolling his eyes and rubbing at the dark circles under them. "Why the hell did you drag me out here at ass o'clock in the morning? Why the hell are you dragging all of us out here at ass o'clock in the morning?" He looked up at the clock, his eyes making out 11:34 AM on the tired analog clock behind the counter. The cafe was certainly homely and old timey. Jimmy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe that's why no-one's here."

"Oh, shut the fuck up." She took a sip of her own cappuccino and rolled her eyes. "You complain too much, and you're really impatient. They'll be here."

"I'm sorry." He sighed again and looked down, resting his elbows on the table. "Ugh. I was up all night last night with that stupid fucking algebra homework. I can't do math." Jimmy raised a hand and signaled to the guy behind the counter, beckoning him over. "Another cup of the same, please." He put some money down on the table--enough for the drink, plus a bit of a tip. The guy, Anakin W. by his nametag, grabbed the cup and put the money in a pocket of his apron.

"Anything else for you?" he asked Ally, shaking auburn hair out of his face.

She nodded. "Yeah, more, please." She put out a few bucks and smiled at him. As if she knew something.

Anakin pocketed the cash and walked back to the kitchen, preparing more coffee for them. Jimmy watched him as he walked away, something in his eyes that Ally had never seen before. He sighed softly, tracing circles onto the surface of the table. Ally raised an eyebrow at him.

When he noticed, he looked up at her. "What?"

"You're being strange."

"I'm always strange." Jimmy grinned and folded his arms on top of the table, showing off the tattered elbows of his old grey hoodie.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She pulled on the sleeve of the striped sweater she was wearing and sighed.

A few minutes later, Anakin was back out with coffee. He gave them theirs and retreated back to his station, messing around on his phone or something. Jimmy watched him for a moment or two, his fingers absently twisting his hair. Part of him was thinking that he'd let his hair get too long again, that Donna would certainly make him cut it off. Another part of him was concerned entirely with Anakin.

Ally gave him a knowing look and took a sip of her coffee. "Do I need to make a mean comment about how you're looking way out of your league, or are you good?"

"Shut the fuck up, a boy can dream." He sighed again and looked down at the table. "I've never seen a cuter guy in my life," he muttered, smiling a little.

"Aw, that's cute," she gushed, and he couldn't tell if she was joking or not.

"You're an asshole." Jimmy leaned back in his seat and stared at the door. "Can't you text your friends and tell them to hurry up? I'm gonna drive my dads into bankruptcy from all the coffee I'm buying today."

"Sure, sure," she said, pulling out her phone and pushing out a mass message. A really impatient sounding one. That may or may not have contained curses and death threats.

Jimmy looked at his phone as he received the text. He grinned and looked up at all. "I officially retract the asshole comment, you're awesome."

"Who are you waiting for?" Anakin W. asked from across the room after a few minutes, sensing a dip in the conversation. He was leaning over the counter, tapping his fingers on its top.

"Um." she thought for a minute. "A few friends." Yeah, a few. More like ten or fifteen people.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking up at the window behind Jimmy. "Looks like more than just a few people."
Jimmy turned around and looked out, seeing faces he knew walking in from the street, biking down the perpendicular boulevard, and a couple of people getting dropped off in front of the cafe. They piled in, finding Jimmy and Ally and surrounding them.
"That's one hell of a meeting you've got there," Anakin said while he could still see the cousins.

"Yeah. You could say that."

"Mind if I join?" He grinned and stepped out from behind the counters, walking over to the corner. He was taller than most of the kids gathered around. Tall and awkwardly lanky.

Ally's earlier thoughts had been confirmed, and she had to stifle a snorting laugh at Jimmy. "No, that's fine." she grinned.

Jimmy raised an eyebrow at her and then looked at Anakin. "I'm Jimmy, by the way." He stuck out a hand, hoping that it wasn't clammy or anything stupid like that, and Anakin shook it. "Jimmy Smi-- Wentz." Anakin just raised an eyebrow and looked at Ally.

She gave him a toothy smile. "I'm Ally Urie-Ross." She put out her hand for him.

He shook her hand, too. "Explains why you're hanging out together. I'm Anakin Way." Jimmy's jaw would have dropped if he hadn't been taking a sip of his coffee, then. And if he'd been in a bad comedy, he would've spit out the coffee. But he did neither.

Ally smirked triumphantly. "I thought so."

"Yeah, I look like my dad."

The people that were coming in stared at them for a minute, then met Ally's eyes and figured it out. Chairs were dragged over and drinks ordered--much to Anakin's delight--and the flow stopped at around twenty people. Jimmy glanced at Ally, his eyes asking, 'should I start?' She nodded and looked around. Nice turnout.

Jimmy stood up, shakily stepping on to the chair, and tapped a spoon against his coffee cup. He took a sip and looked out at all of the people gathered before him. "Welcome," he said, a speech he'd memorized over the course of the week. "I'm Jimmy Wentz, and my friend here is Ally Urie-Ross." A small cheer erupted and he tapped his mug again before continuing. "As we all know, the Dark Lord Biebermort has been gaining in power for over a decade, now. As long as we've been alive, he's been a force trying to get us on his side." He took another sip of coffee. "A side of brutality and dishonesty, selling sex and lies for power over us!" There was a ripple of booing, softer than the cheer, but still present. "And today, we gather here to fight that. How many of you have had friends who were turned into mindless zombies, carrying out Biebermort's tasks?" A few, tentative hands raised. "And how many of you used to be under the influence of this so-called 'Bieber fever' and have now broken out of that?" A few more tentative hands. "And this is why we are here! My friends and followers, I welcome you all to the first official meeting of the Believers!"

Cheers rang out through the room, standing ovations and clapping, one of the loudest things you'd probably ever hear--and it was only 20 people in a cafe.

"Remind me to let you write my graduation speech," Jimmy muttered to Ally as he sat down. "C'mon, your turn."

“I didn’t think you’d have it in you,” she whispered, a quiet laugh at the end. Jimmy just glared at her.

Ally stoop up, not needing the chair for presence. “We need a record of anyone who's interested,” she said, looking out at the small crowd gathered around her. “I can't tell you that it was cursed or anything--I'm no Hermione and this isn't Harry Potter. But if you go running to the Dark Lord himself, I might be tempted to harm you.” A murmur spread around the teens. Ally laughed and smiled. “Don't worry, though. I trust you.” Her eyes fell on two people in particular—a skinny, bleach blond guy in a BODTF shirt and his nervous petite brunette girlfriend. “At the next meeting, whoever shows up will get a method of contact to discuss meeting times. Anyone who writes their name on this list will be notified about that meeting.” She grabbed her bag, pulling a clipboard and a pen out of it. Then, she looked at Jimmy and nodded at him. He stood once more, but didn’t climb onto the chair.

“Any questions you have can be asked now.” Jimmy scanned the crowd. The blond guy raised his right hand—and Ally immediately noticed the scotch tape wrapped around his middle and index fingers. She frowned a little. Jimmy picked up on that, but met the guy’s eyes and nodded. “Yeah?”

He stood up, almost glaring at Jimmy. “Yeah, um, how the hell are we supposed to be fighting Biebermort?” he asked, raising a thin eyebrow. “I mean, he has, like, magic powers and connections to everyone in pop music for the past twenty years, you know?”

“Not Gaga,” someone commented—Val. Ally smiled and watched her as she spoke. “Gaga’s neutral.”

“You think I don’t know that?” the guy spat, glaring at Val.

“You’re a leader, act like it, Jimmy,” Ally hissed.

“Shut up,” Jimmy said, a commanding tone in his voice. He folded his arms over his chest. “What’s your name?”

“Connor,” he answered, shaking his head to fix his bangs. “Harley.”

Jimmy made a mental note of the name before replying. “Alright then, Connor. We—me and Ally, I mean—have more than a few connections at our fingertips. I mean, don’t you know who my dad is?” A small ripple of laughter broke out in the group of teens surrounding Jimmy and Ally. “He’s Pete fuckin’ Wentz, and he knows everyone.”

Connor shifted his stance and shook hair out of his eyes again. He folded his arms across his chest, as well, and looked at Jimmy. “And if it comes to a battle? There’s no way we could beat Lord Biebermort, Cyrus, or any of his Generals! Not to mention, the Brothers…”

Silence fell for a moment as Jimmy struggled to find a response to something like that. However, before he could say anything, a deep voice rang across the small café from the back of the crowd. “I think that I could take all three of the Brothers at once.” Someone stood—a tall guy, maybe 17 or 18, and Jimmy could vaguely remember him walking the halls of Valleysky High School—and glared at Connor. Every eye in the room was on him, and he cleared his throat. “Those motherfuckers haven’t got nearly what I’ve got. And Biebermort? He’s a fucking toothpick. I mean, look at him, he still looks like a fucking 15 year old.”

Connor looked outraged at what the other had said.

“Jack,” Ally said, smiling. “I think you’ve got a point there.”

“I still think that it’s worthless.” Connor sat down and Ally nodded at the guy in the back, whom she’d referred to as Jack. He sat down, as well.

"I think that Jack's point stands," Jimmy said, after clearing his throat. "And, I think that we could benefit as a group from martial lessons from him, if he would teach us."

Jack's deep voice boomed from across the room: "It would be an honor." Jimmy smiled and nodded at him.

"We'll speak afterward, then. And if those are the only questions--"

Connor huffed. "You still didn't address the issue of magic, though." Everyone turned to glare at him and he sunk back into his seat, trying to hide from the angry, judgmental stares. Suspicious or not, he wasn't wanted there.

"Well, you know," Ally answered after a moment of contemplation. "My uncle William knows magic. Just a little, but it's better than nothing, is it not?" There was a small, collective gasp around the room as they realized who she was talking about. One girl may have come close to passing out. "I'll ask Dad to call him tonight--and we'll discuss the issue of magic lessons at the next meeting."

"And, speaking of the next meeting," Jimmy picked up, "we need to pass around the sign-up sheet." Ally nodded and passed it to the person in front of her. The clipboard snaked around the room and ended with Anakin, who had moved to the back. He scrawled down his contact and walked back to Jimmy and Ally.

"Great turnout," he said, smiling. Anakin handed the clipboard to Ally, who quickly scanned it. She made a mental note of the contacts for Connor and his girlfriend, Suzanne, who had signed after him. Then, she saw Anakin's listing. Ani Way, and he hadn't just put his name and email address, but his cell phone number as well. She sneaked a look at Jimmy and put her clipboard back into her bag.

"The first meeting of the Believers is hereby adjourned," Jimmy announced, hitting the side of his mug with his spoon again. "Feel free to talk amongst yourselves. Remember, all of this is top-secret."

Everyone nodded and stood. Anakin retreated behind the counter and started making coffee for the caffeine-starved teens crowding around him. Jimmy and Ally stayed at their table until they could see through the crowd--at which point, Ally beckoned Jack over.

He seemed even huger up close. He had to be at least 6'5", and even that seemed a little short. He smiled warmly at Ally and held out a hand for Jimmy to shake. Jimmy--who had notably small hands for a boy his age--shook Jack's hand and felt less intimidated once he felt Jack's gentle grip.

"Hello, Jimmy," he said, sitting down in a vacated seat across from the cousins. "I'm Jackal Howlnemesis."

"That's the most badass name I've ever heard," Jimmy replied. "It's nice to meet you, Jackal."

"Please, you can call me Jack." He smiled. "And I think that martial truing would greatly benefit the Believers. Magic... can do a lot, but nothing proves a point better than a broke arm." He laughed, and Jimmy could swear that it rattled the window behind him.

"Oh, show him your tattoos," Ally said, grinning. Jack grinned back.

"Which ones?" he asked. Ally gave him that you know what I'm talking about smile. "Those ones?" Jack curled his hands into fists and showed them to Jimmy.

Both sets of his knuckles had been tattooed. His right tattoo read "MUSIC" and the left read "MISERY."
"I've named my fists, the Music and the Misery. After the song, of course."

Ally hummed it as she took another sip of her coffee. Jimmy smiled. "That's wicked!" he exclaimed.

Jack nodded. "Thanks. I've got to go, but you can get my number off of Ally and we can arrange these motherfuckin' fighting lessons." He nodded and stood, walking out of the Watergate Café.

"We should leave, too," Ally said, standing up and grabbing her bag. Jimmy followed suit and they walked out, going down the street to their neighborhood.

"Good first meeting?" Jimmy asked, allowing his shoulders to droop and exhaustion to come through. Being around large groups took a lot out him--especially if he had to address them. Somehow, he'd managed.

"Yeah, it really was!" Ally beamed. She ran a hand through her hair. Her mood darkened a little as she started her next sentence, however. "Except for those two. You know. Connor and his girlfriend, Suzanne?"

"I got a wicked weird vibe off of them," Jimmy mumbled, trying to walk straight again. "I don't think we should invite them to the next meeting."

"Neither do I," Ally agreed. "Even if they weren't spies..."

"They were assholes!" Jimmy laughed. Ally chuckled, too, ad stopped as she reached the front steps of her house. "I'll text you when I get to my place," he said, waving goodbye to her. Ally nodded and ran up the steps, waving back.

Jimmy kept on down the street, trying not to let his tiredness get to him all too much. Fifteen minutes later, he was ringing his own doorbell--seeing as he'd forgotten the keys. The Smiths thought that he was studying with Elaine, and she was nice enough to keep up the lie.

Most of his weekends were spent at his dads'.

Pete answered the door not half a minute later. Jimmy couldn't help but notice the dark circles under his dad's glazed eyes. He'd been losing sleep from the worry. Jimmy made sure to hug him tightly as he walked in.

"Don't worry, dad," he said as he started up the stairs. "We're going to defeat him. I promise."