Monday, Jun. 05, 2006
chapter 7
The next day at school brought only more pain for the three friends. Robbie walked over to the Cougar Radio booth to see Kim. Seeing her always made him feel better.
"Oh am I glad to see you." He said.
"Hey," Kim said, twirly the ends of her hair, "um, we have to talk about some stuff."
Kim wasn't smiling and wasn't her usual flirty self with Robbie. This scared him.
"Uh, ok. What's up?" Robbie asked nervously. He knew something was wrong.
"Robbie, I love you. You know that right?"
"Yeah... What's wrong?"
"Last night my car broke down at the school. It was late and I needed a ride so I called River. He was the only one I could reach and he gave me a ride home. When we got to my house we... kind of kissed." Kim said in tears, "But it didn't mean anything-"
"You kind of kissed?! How did you kind of kiss?! How could you Kim? What about us?" Robbie asked. He's blood ran cold and he held back tears.
"Robbie please it didn't mean anything. It just happened. I don't know why." Kim begged for him to understand, but Robbie just turned around and opened the door to leave.
"It doesn't matter if you kind of kissed him. It doesn't matter if it didn't mean anything. The point is you didn't think about me and how much this would hurt me, Kim... We're through." Robbie said before slamming the door.
Kim sat there crying. Moments later River came in and held her. He truely cared about Kim.
"I'm sorry Kim. I'm sorry." He said gently.
"Don't! Just go!" Kim shouted.
Principal Waller walked in right after River had left.
"Kim? What's the matter?" He asked.
Kim brushed away tears, "Nothing sir, I'm fine."
"You don't look fine, Kim. Look, you go on the air in five minutes, I can go get River and he can do the morning announcements for you if you want."
"That won't be necessary Sir. I'll do this on my own."
The Cougar radio theme blasted louder than usual.
"Yo and hello Cougars. I have your morning announcments here, but before I get to that I just want to say something."
Robbie was sitting in his homeroom class and he knew what Kim was about to talk about. He listened closely, hoping to hear an apology or something that showed that she still cared because although she had broken his heart, he still loved her.
Kim continued, "I hurt someone I really cared about today. I just want to say that I'm so sorry to that person. I'm sorry he got hurt, but maybe what happened is for the best."
Robbie could not believe what he was hearing he stormed out of class and walked fastly over to the Cougar Radio booth and stared Kim straight in the eye as she read the usual morning announcments.
Kim stared sadly at Robbie. She mouthed the words, "I'm sorry." And then turned to her mic.
"One last thing Cougars," She said, "All RFR petitions are no longer going to be put up in our halls. RFR is no longer the voice of Roscoe High, it never was. It was just radio garbage with a lot of bad indie bands. So if you're looking for a new station to replace that totally lame waste of air waves called RFR, look no further because Courgar Radio is where it's at. Courgar Radio is the voice of-"
"Kim Carlise." A familiar voice interrupted the air waves without Kim knowing that the rest of the school was hearing something completely different, "The voice of Roscoe High is RFR because it is your voice. You actually have a say unlike the limited calling time that Cougar Radio gives you. RFR is about freedom of speech and standing up for what you believe in. Doing what you want and being yourself is all that matters. RFR is still the the beaken of truth throught the radio... smog. We may not have all the answers but at least we know what the questions are."
It was Travis! Just then the whole school cheered in every classroom. People clapped and screamed, "That was Smog! That was Smog from RFR! They're back on the air!" Lily and Ray jumped up and down and ran out of class. They saw Robbie running past them.
"Come on you guys!" Robbie yelled.
And the three of them ran toward the janitor's closet next to the water fountain that Travis used to sneak into to interrupt Cougar Radio broadcasts.
The whole school was in a complete state of chaos. The bell rang and everyone chanted for RFR as they walked into the cafe for lunch.
Lily, Ray and Robbie stood outside of the janitors closet as the door knob turned... Travis walked out, he removed his dark sunglasses and pulled the olive green hood from the top of his head. And with his same mysterious smile and his radio equipment hanging out of his shoulder bag he stared at his friends for the first time in months.
"Hey guys." Travis said.
The three of them jumped on top of him and screamed and laughed. The gang was back together again. In that momment everything Robbie was going through didn't matter anymore, he was just too shocked to feel anything other than happiness.
"Oh my god! Travis! I don't even know what do say! Come here!" Lily said in tears as she pulled him into a huge hug.
"Sometimes there are no words to express certain moments in life. Actions speak louder than words." Travis said, returning her hug.
"Yep he's back!" Ray shouted and hugged his old friend.
"I can't believe this, how long have you been back?" Robbie asked.
"A week now, I was here on the first day of school. I was just waiting for the right moment."
"We thought you moved away without telling us... Oh my god, I can't believe it! Travis! You need to see Parker." Lily screamed.
"I'd never leave and not tell you guys. This time I knew where I was going and I wanted to surprise you guys... And I know, I need to see Parker badly. She's all I've been thinking about lately." Travis said while walking with his friends into the cafe.
Ed and Ted were standing on top of the tables leading everyone in an RFR chant.
"This is insane!" Travis shouted over the noise.
Principal Waller, Kim and River walked in trying to calm everyone down but it was no help at all.
Parker walked up to Lily, "Randi! Can you believe this? It's total anarchy-" Travis turned and looked at her with a huge smile. Without words Parker ran up to Travis and cried in his arms. They embraced for a long time everyone looked at them and smiled. Kim looked at them sadly and then looked at Robbie who quickly turned his head back toward his friends. Everything was going back to the way things used to be.
That night Lily, Ray, Travis, Parker, Megan and Robbie all hungout at Mickey's just like old times. They talked for hours and picked up right where they left off. Everything was perfect. And after the four old friends were left alone, they talked about their plans for the future of Radio Free Roscoe. It was obvious that the show must go on and it could go on now that they were back together.
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waste-away at 5:11 p.m.