Dramedy chapter 1. Meet Pam and Darren

Outside the town church Pam hid in the bushes, wearing the most expensive Vera Wang dress she could convince her soon to be husband to buy for her. She knew standing in these bushes she was probably ruining her Prada heels and messing up her dimond necklace that was stuck on a bush, and her hair that took over three hours just to style, but she didn't care.She knew that she was supposed to be inside the church over fifteen minutes ago. She was just hopeing that after everything was over, that everyone else in her life would forgive her. That no one would care that she married a looser, that they might actualy believe her that she married him for the right reasons.

Part of her realized that going threw with this wedding would mean a lifetime of pain and misery (thought she wouldn't ever admitt it), and going through with this, would she really be having the fun she always wanted? Did she really want to be "Mrs. Florence Shoe"? She actualy laughed when she heard that in her head, "people are going to think I married girl! I never met a guy named Florence until I met Flo! It's not even a young girls name, it's an old lady's name!" She began to cry, and she hadn't any idea why, except for the little voice in the back of her mind telling her that she made the wrong decision, and she was going to end up hurt and alone.

She reolised that Flo had alterior motives as well, he felt as if he had to proove something, that that if he married a nice girl like Pam it would proove to the world he wasn't a complete screw up. Pam even wondered if she loved him anymore, or if she just loved the stuff he bought her that kept her around. She wasn't completely sure, she just hopped that some of friends would even show up to this wedding. She had burned so many bridges in the past, she wasn't sure if any were left standing. She thought to herself, if Darren shows up then I'll go through with this, if I can have his support thats all I need.

                        *  *  *  * **three years earlier** *  *  *    *

"Darren!" Pam called from the long halls of her High School, she waved and ran over to him grinning, "Guess what?" she cooed. Darren looked at her placidly,

"Hm? Flo said you could talk to me today?" He gave her a dirty look, just yesterday she had blown him off to hang out with Flo and his group.

"Damnit Darren! Get over it! I already told your machine I was sorry, if you had answered then maybe you would have known this!"

"No, I got the message...Pam, you can’t keep doing this to me! You blow me off; you push away all my friends! I get stuck at home with my crazy family. You know how retarded it was for me to be sitting in the living room waiting for you, my best friend, only to find out you were off getting high or drunk or who knows what with Flo and his group?!"

Pam shot him a glair, "You have no idea what I was doing!"

"And I don't want to know" interrupted Darren, "I really don't care what your excuse is this time. Just give me some space and leave me alone, you had no problem leaving me alone last night! So leave me alone now!" With that, Darren stormed off down the halls heading to chem. class.

This was Pam's and Darren's last year of school, after that they were planning on attending college together. Eighteen years of being best friends. Their parents were friends when they were pregnant, and when their mom's were about to pop out the babies, they jumped on a maternity ship, and gave birth on the open sea. Darren was one of four babies, a miracle sense before this, the mother was sterile. Darren was the only one of the group of babies that Pam bonded with. They were born only five day's apart. They grew together, they both were sort of screwed up in their own individual ways, and even though they were, they both were still the most normal person in their families, which is probably what made them so close.

Pam then headed to the auditorium early to get ready for the graduation assembly. In the locker room she began changed into her cheerleading uniform, "how could Darren say that? What the hell is his problem?" she though to herself. If it wasn't bad enough not hearing her out, he then had to lay accusations on her that just because she was hanging out with Flo again, meant that she must have been doing something illegal or wrong. She had made mistakes in the past, but this time it was totally different! How could he call himself so self ritchious! Pam felt that, Darren would have done the same thing if he were in her shoes, but sense Darren was never accepted by Flo or his group, he was never invited to parties, and never had the opportunity to get into trouble.

Just then she heard someone coming, knowing she was supposed to be in class, she ducked into one of the bathroom stalls and climbed on the toilet so they couldn't see her.

"Jenna, know what I heard? That lipgloss on problem areas can reduce the appearence of cellulite." Pam looked through a crack in the stall and realized it was just one of her team mates on the cheer squad and some friend of the girl on the cheer squad that Pam didn't know.

"Staci, I highly doubt it, and besides that's gross, and I don’t have cellulite!" Said the Jenna girl.

"We should give it to Pam, ha ha, that would be so funny. We could be like, oh my god, I heard you were having problems, rub this on your ass! She probably would too!"

"Wouldn't matter, she doesn't have cellulite either, she looks like a crack head! Flo's Crack whore! Why hasn't she been kicked off the team yet?"

"Don't know, why hasn't she been expelled yet? Why hasn't she been locked away in prison yet? It's one of those questions that no one really knows the answer to!"

Pam felt her face getting red. That two face bitch! What the hell? Was this attack Pam day? Just then she felt a bit dizzy, trying to keep from falling she adjusted her foot, but it was too late, swoop! She fell out of the stall and on the floor right in front of the two gossiping girls.

"Oh my god! Pam what are you doing here?" said Staci, "That must have hurt, want me to help you?"

"No thanks." Pam glared.

"You heard that whole thing Hun? Guess that shows you shouldn't skip class to go and hang out on the toilet." Staci smirked.

Jenna grabbed her stuff, not really wanting a confrontation, "Staci I got to go, I'll call you later!" Jenna left, and headed out to the assembly in the gym, the bell was going to ring for it in eight minutes.

"If you want more respect Pam Cakes, try being a little less cheeky, you shouldn't be on this team, for some reason the cheer coach thinks your okay. I just don't get it, Cheerleaders are supposed to be beautiful, smart, sexy, but not trampy, dumb, and criminals?" smiled Jenna.

"Oh, really?" Mocked Pam, "Then why the hell are you on the team? You've been to just as many parties as I have? You've done a lot worse thing than me! I've seen you there!"

"Yeah, but I'm not dating the ring leader. There is so much more to him than even you or I could ever know. I actually feel sorry for you, because when it's all over, and your a pregnant, dumb slut, he will leave you alone, and you will sit there and go, "Damnit, I'm screwed arn't I?"

"You don't know anything about Flo! No one does!" screamed Pam. "How do you get off being so cruel to people! I never did anything to you!" tears were streaming down her face, and Staci just snickered.

Just then the intercom went off, "Attention all band, Flag team and cheerleaders, please head to the auditorium to get ready for the assembly, all band, flag team and cheerleaders head to the auditorium for the assembly, thank you."

"Well, I'm ready to go out there and perform my popular ass off, so I'll see you out there, hm!" Staci flipped around and trotted out grinning ear to ear.

Pretty soon the locker room filled with girls, and feeling crowded, Pam headed out to the hallway to get some air.

Meanwhile, back in class, after hearing the intercom Darren grabbed his obo and got up to head to the auditorium. He was tiered of Pam's stupid excuses, but he wasn't really as mad as he put on earlier, he mostly wanted to prove a point, and hopefully next time they have plans, she wouldn't ditch them to do something else. His mind drifted away from those thoughts immediately when he looked up and realized that right in front of him was the girl of his dreams, Samantha. Being wishy washy, he had his whole life planed out with her years ago, he would marry her, give her five to eight children and she would take care of him as he pursued his career as a rock star. He ran up to her, "Hey, Samy, mind if I carry your flute?", she looked at him blankly,

"I don't mind, just give it back." She teased.

"Well, I don't have any reasons to steal it! Don't worry Samy, I'm not a thief, if I was though, I wouldn't steal from you, you're too nice of a person, and I wouldn't steal a flute, I like flutes though, I just know how to play them, but I'm not a thief.."

"I know you’re not a thief Darren, I was kidding, if I thought you were a thief I would not have let you carry my flute." She looked at him, he shrank, he was an idiot, why would he say something like that? He felt small. 'No wonder I have no friends!' he thought, 'maybe Pam's right, she didn't push away my friends, I did?'

"Come-on Darren, keep up! If you don't, I'll have to carry both you and the flute." He picked up the pace and followed her, He loved her dark brown hair, he loved her outfits, he loved everything about her, they had been going to school together sense the second grade and sense the second grade, he always secretly loved her, (and unknowingly to Darren, Samy secretly knew he loved her as well).

When they got into the auditorium, Darren followed the band up the stairs and headed into a lookout above the basketball court, he sat next to his brother Stephan. The cheerleaders were beginning to assemble, Darren whispered to Stephan, "Hey, where is Pamy? I don't see her?" Knowing Pam was usually one of the first cheerleaders out on the court.

Stephan looked, "I don't thee her?" He said in his Stephan way. He had a small lisp due to hearing problems early in life, and because of this he seemed innocent and approachable, "Thath thort of thrange? Oh darn it! Thee's hot in that outfit too!"

"Shut up Steph, she'll never be interested! Where could she be?" Darren said again, worried that what he said earlier might have made her upset, and now she wouldn't even be able to cheer, or stunt or dance or whatever she did out there. "Shit Steph, hold my spot and watch my obo, I'm gunna try to find her."

"Uh huh, I will" said Stephan as Darren ran off.

When Darren got into the hall he finally found Pam, Flo was sitting on his knees in front of her talking to and trying to comfort her. Pam's face was beat red, it was obvious she had been crying. Darren hesitated at first to approach her, he was worried that Flo would be pissed at him for making her cry, and do something rash like injure him or something along those lines, Darren knew he didn't stand a chance against Flo. He only tried to fight him once, and that was in the eith grade, and he lost- never again would he try to fight Flo, or anybody. Eventually he pulled himself together and walked over to Pam and Flo.

Flo was talking to her, "Babe it's, ok, just go out there and do what you got to do, don't listen to that Bitch, I wont invite her to any more parties and niether will Jon! I only invited her before because I thought you two were friends, I am so sorry this happened to you. I'll find a way to humilliate her!"

"Don't do that! It will only make it worse! You have to stop doing stupid things Flo! That's why within a year's time I have become the laughing stock of the school!
They think you're playing me!"

"You know that's not true, and that’s all that matters, what you know and believe. Don't listen to people, people are stupid. We dated a long time before anyone found out, and back then we were fine.."

"Excuse me" Interrupted Darren. Both Flo and Pam looked at him, Darren paused to see if he should run from Flo or not. Flo just looked at him, his face didn't show anger, "Do you want to talk to Pam? She could use your support, she had a hard day, one of the girls on her squad verbally attacked her. It was that crazy bitch Staci! Pam Babe, don't worry about her anyways, her mom's on med's and Staci's brain is probably just as screwed as her mom's!"

Flo walked by Darren and looked at him, "Hey Darren, sorry 'bout taking your girl yesterday, don't get pissed, if you let her explain you'll understand. She wasn't partying or anything. She really needs your friendship right now, your better with emotions than I am." Flo walked off.

"Hey Pam, I'm so sorry about earlier. My comment probably didn't help you with the Staci situation, I am so incredibly sorry. This might not be the best time, but I am kind of curious, why did you not show up yesterday?"

Pam whipped her face, "It was going to be a surprise, you know how Flo has lots of money and connections?" Darren nodded, "Well, I used his connections and resources to get in touch with a few major labels. Right before I left to go get you they called Flo, then Flo called me and we rushed to go meet with them. I should have called, but I was so excited it slipped my mind. Anyways, I played them your demo track and they seemed to have interest, but they would have liked to meet you, but they weren't sure if it was a waste of their time or not if they did. Well, Flo gave them a deal that if they would be willing to meet with you in a few weeks, he would pay them for their time, and they agreed. And tonight I was planning this as a surprise."

"Oh my god, I am so sorry I yelled at you! When and Where?"

"It's going to be at the Blue Diamond Inn." Pam said, looking a little bit happier.

"Oh my god, that place is ritzy! How did you get a place there?"

"Flo booked it. He's awesome, isn't he? He did this for me. For you and me, it's sort of a graduation gift to you for putting up with him all these years." Pam smiled.

"Where does he get all this money from?" He looked at Pam. Pam looked at the clock.

"Never mind that, just accept the gift graciously, and thank him, I better get out there, I can tell they are about to start the routine, and the band is probably all ready for you as well."


She headed out to the center of the floor, over the years Pam had eventually some how (amidst the chaos of her squad) become the cheer captain. She wasn't compleatly terrible though, she was passing all of her classes, and she skipped class a lot less that freshman year. She was just glad the coach chose the captain and not the girls. If it had been the girls who had control, she knew she would have been crucified years ago.

Pam didn't feel she was that bad of a person, and for most of her HS years had convinced herself that everyone secretly wanted to be her, it wasn't until the last six months that she realized she had it all wrong. Flo had made her into a joke, not intentionally, but she was sort of the used-to-be-prep made guilty by association (and location). That's not saying she was completely innocent, but most students made her out to be this terrible person: mean, vindictive, jealous, angry, liar, junkie, slut, stupid, crazy emotional bitch. And like mentioned before, she wasn't completely innocent, she was kind of and emotional bitch at times, but not intentionally. She may have kissed a lot of guys like Flo or friends of Flo, but she never slept with them. She may have partied too long tried too many things that got her into trouble, but she wasn't a junkie, she wasn't addicted to drugs or alcohol, what she was addicted to was Flo, and thinking she could some how make him into a decent person..

Every time she would get close to him he would use her or cheat on her. He did love her, the best way he could, but love wasn't the easiest thing for Flo either. Flo was put into foster care at a young age, he never even knew his real parents. He was bounced back and forth, house to house until he finally ended up in Eastwest town. This was at the age when Darren and Pam were about to begin their JR high years. Pam was immediately smitten for the "poor abused Flo", and she thought to herself that she would always take care of him. Though, it was hard to understand, Darren couldn't, he didn't care that Flo was abused, that Flo never knew his parents. To Darren, Flo was a mistake of nature that aught to not be messed with.

The sad part of it though was Darren’s growing distrust for Pam. She would say one thing and do another (which was her own fault). It got to the point though that Darren made up his mind about her, that, "she's a liar, she loves Flo and there is nothing that I can do about it".

When the music started she danced around as usual, trying to look up into the middle row to see if Flo was watching. She couldn't tell, she knew though, that he always liked to watch the stunts, she was a flier, which made it even more entertaining for Flo. She was going to do a twist up retake and then basket toss.

They had practiced this for several weeks and had perfected it, "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and", she twisted up perfectly, and then back down, turned to the side, "and 7 and 8 and", perfect re-take, she could tell Flo was watching, "3 and 4 and" and then for the basket toss, her favorite because she loved to be tossed. She stepped up into the air, she had enough momentum for a toe touch, and she hit it. She began to come down, and for a split second she saw a grin in Staci's face, their eyes met, Stacie was one of Pam's sides, and then SMACK! Down on her back! Pam was out for about a minute, when she came to, her coach was staring at her, on her cell phone calling an ambulance, Darren had ran down from the Band section and was holding her hand, and Flo was down in the corner yelling at Staci.

"Pam, don't worry, everyone will get what they deserve, we'll talk to your coach, you know it was on purpose." said Darren trying to reassure her. Then she went out again.

"Is someone coming?" Screamed a frightened Darren. Students were trying to get out of the auditorium as fast as possible, creating an over crowded environment. "Is someone going to help her?!" Yelled Darren over the noise. He then began to cry.

"Shut up Darren!" Yelled Flo, "You’re not making things any better! Stop crying!" Darren began crying at full force, tears streaming, "Darren, stop it!" Flo then hit Darren trying to get him to sop crying, this only made Darren cry even more, and even louder.

"Flo, why are you hitting me? Stop hitting me!" Wailed a scared, confused and emotional Darren, "She's my best friend, maybe you aren't crying because you don't have a soul, Flo! You're evil and don't care like I do!"

"I'm not evil you idiot! Just shut up! Stop being such a baby! This is why you have no friends! No one wants to around a gay emotional baby!" Hissed Flo.

"Stop it! I'm not gay! And I'm not emotional! Why are you picking on me?" Screamed Darren, "I just care about Pam!"

"So do I! And crying doesn't help anything! Has anyone called 911?" said Flo, and just then an ambulance drove up with a stretcher.

"Is he in injured one?" they asked pointing to a crying Darren, "He looks like he's in a lot of pain?"

"No, the girl on the ground is who you need to help. He cries like this often, so don't mind him." Said the coach. With that, they picked Pam up, put her in a stretcher and carried her away. Darren looked on helpless.

In class, Darren sat alone, feeling depressed, he had let Pam down, he should have protected her. But what would he have done? If he tried to do anything, everyone would have laughed at him, and Pam would become even more embarressed. The depression went away instantly when he saw Samy again with her dark dark brown hair, and her awesome thick rimmed black glasses, that were a combo of emo/punk/glam and all the above, she had good taste! She sat down by him. He began to shake, then, he couldn't breath! Crap, his asthma! He quickly pulled out his inhaler and began to try to breath. Sammy looked at him, "Am I really that hot?"

"Huh?"  Squeaked Darren as he looked at her.

"Well, as soon as I sat down you looked like you were going to pass out, and then you needed your inhaler, I figured either I was really hot, or you are scared of me?"

"No, ha, not scared! It's not that your hot!" Blurted out Darren.

"So, I'm not hot Darren? Are you saying I'm ugly?"

"No, crap, of course not!" He said shuddering.

"So let me get this straight, your saying that I look like crap?" She glared at him, his face went as pale as a ghost, she then smiled,  "C'mon Darren, I'm only just playing. Why do you always take me so seriously? I talked you into a hole!" she giggled, he took another breath off his inhaler.

"Yeah, I guess you did, heh." Darren smiled, wide eyed.

"Darren, you know, you can be kind of creepy at times, you know that?" Said his crush.

"I'm sorry, I'll try harder not to be." Said Darren in his sad voice.

"No it's okay, it's kind of funny!" Said a quieting Samy as she turned to watch the instructor.