Rockin' Christmas for the Children, Part 1

Jem and the Holograms are copyright of Sunbow Productions and Hasbro. I'm just borrowing their wonderful creation.

Flipping through the pages as fast as she could, Aja scanned over each one, her anticipation surging. Finally, she found the page she was looking for.

"Look here," she said, smiling. "Show magazine has an article for our upcoming Christmas concert."

Kimber rushed over. "Outrageous! It's just what we need to promote it."

"Not only that," Jerrica stated, picking up the remote control for the television. "But Lindsay Pierce said she would talk about the concert on her show tonight as well."

"With all this publicity, we'll have no troubles raising enough money for the children," noted Shana.

Everyone huddled together on the sofa to watch. Jerrica clicked on the television to Lin-Z TV.

"Today I have British pop idol Sean Harrison on the show. As I explained earlier, Sean, you'll be taking part in a multi-group benefit concert on Christmas Eve."

He nodded. "That's right, Lindsay. Me and the boys were thrilled when we got the invitation from Jem and the Holograms to perform a benefit concert for kids with poor families. It's a shame, but there are a lot of families that just can't afford to buy presents for their children."

"And Jem and the Holograms are just one big name in, well, quite an impressive list of celebrity rockers."

"You bet! Luna Dark, Roland Owens, the Blue Bloods . . . and maybe we'll even snag Eric Clapton to guest sing with us."

Lindsay chuckled. "Sounds like it'll be a Christmas blast!"

"Absolutely, Lindsay. It's for a good cause to help lil' kids out, and to celebrate the holiday season."

"There you have it. Get ready for the hottest event coming this Christmas!"

Clicking off the television, Jerrica stretched out her arms and cheered. "That was a great interview. Leave it to Sean to get out the word."

Kimber folded her hands together and blushed. "Oh, he's so dreamy."

"This is all fine and dandy," Shana said. "But we need something to perform for the concert."

Aja nodded. "She's right. We don't have a Christmas song."

"I know." Jerrica sighed. "Well girls, we'll just have to get to work."

Eric took a step back to examine the wreath he just placed on his office door. He moved it a little to the right, trying to get it just perfect. His concentration was interrupted by the sound of clicking heels fast approaching.

"Eric!" yelled an all-too familiar voice.

"Now what," he said under his breath, then turned around. "What can I do for you girls?"

In front of him was Pizzazz, Roxy, and Jetta. He noticed Pizzazz had a magazine clenched in her hand.

"Look at this!" Pizzazz exclaimed. "Jem and those twerps are having some charity concert on Christmas Eve."

"And that matters to me why?"

She growled. "Because they're getting a ton of publicity for it. And look," she continued, holding out the magazine right in his face. "They have a whole crew of celebrities playing with them."

"Not to mention Sean Harrison is playin' with them yanks as well," said Jetta.

Roxy folded her arms. "We can't let them get ahead of us like this. Nobody will care about us."

"And don't we sell more records during the Christmas season, Eric?" questioned Pizzazz, glaring at him.

"Yes, yes, girls, calm down." He shoved the magazine out of his face. "How are those new songs coming?"

The three Misfits looked dumbfounded at each other. "About that . . ."

He groaned. "How am I supposed to promote you over Jem if you don't have any new material?"

"Come on, you can think of something," Pizzazz sneered.

"Alright, fine. I'll take care of Jem's little Christmas party."

"Good boy."

"Now get back to the studio and finish those new songs, although I don't know how you're going to do that when all the Misfits aren't even here!"

Roxy looked around. "Where did Stormer go?"

"I ain't seen that lil' wimp here all day," said Jetta. "I wonder where she is."

Sitting with her legs crossed, Kimber strummed a few chords on her acoustic guitar. She was more in the mood to waste time than to create songs. The time on the clock kept her in constant distraction as she glanced in its direction about every other minute. As time went by, her strumming became quicker and more impatient until she finally put the guitar down and paced around the living room.

"Where could she be?" she asked herself.

By the time the words left her lips, a knock sent her racing to the door. When she opened it, her friend Stormer stood there, keytar in hand, and a smile on her face. Kimber threw her arms around her.

"I'm glad you made it, Stormer!" she exclaimed.

Stormer laughed. "Me too. It was hard trying to slip away from everyone else. They're probably wondering where I am."

"Let them wonder. Come in!"

Kimber led Stormer inside Starlight Mansion and opened the door to the studio just as Jerrica was transforming. Slamming the door shut, she turned to Stormer and smiled nervously.

"What's wrong?" asked Stormer.

"Oh, well, they're still getting things set up in there. Do you want something to drink?"

"Sure."

Kimber was relieved that she didn't give away Jerrica's identity. Not that she thought Stormer wasn't trustworthy, but she was still in the Misfits—even though Kimber thought that was a shame. Regardless, she wouldn't give up Jerrica's secret to anyone unless her sister wanted it to be.

Soon Jem walked into the kitchen. "Hi, Stormer."

Stormer waved. "Hey, Jem. How are you doing?"

"I'm pretty excited, to be honest. I think everyone's set up, so let's go make some music."

Stormer fetched her keytar and followed Jem and Kimber into the studio room. The warm greeting she received from Aja, Shana, and Raya made her blush. It wasn't something she was used to.

"Okay, so how should we begin?" asked Aja.

"We could work from the bottom up, or the top down," Jem suggested.

Kimber looked over at Stormer. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Well, sort of," she replied. "Want me to play it for you?"

Jem smiled. "Go ahead."

She played a few lines of melody on her keytar, then waited for the group's reaction.

"That's not half bad," said Raya.

Aja agreed, "We could make a start with that."

"Really? I'm glad." Stormer smiled. "I thought maybe we could use that in a slower song. A tranquil, cheery tune to celebrate Christmas."

"Sounds like a plan," said Jem. "Do you have any lyrics to go along with the idea, Kimber?"

Kimber scratched her head. "Kinda. I have a few thoughts jotted down I was working with earlier. Maybe Stormer and I can come up with something later on tonight."

Flashing Kimber a smile, Stormer loved the idea she would get to write a song with her friend again. She still felt a little out of place since she was a Misfit, not a Hologram. Not intending to give in, she doubled her efforts to keep her focus. It took less time than she expected to become comfortable playing with the other girls; the music came together almost effortlessly. Stormer reveled in the sonic textures they were creating—much smoother and softer than the usual makeup of a Misfits song. It was hard for her not to envy Kimber, and wish she could switch places with her.

While Shana and Raya were coordinating their parts, Stormer sat down. Before long, she drifted into sleep, happy to be in such a loving group of friends.

After a while, Kimber waved her hand in front of Stormer's face. "I think she fell asleep."

Jem chuckled. "Raya and Shana must be really boring."

Aja shrugged. "I'm a little sleepy myself."

"It's already passed nine," Shana noted. "Maybe we should to call it a night. Someone ought to wake Stormer."

"No, don't do that," Kimber contended. "Don't we have a spare bed for her? Look at her, she's so peaceful right now."

"She does look rather happy. It'd be a shame to wake her up," said Jem.

Carefully Kimber lifted her friend from the chair and carried her upstairs into an empty guest room. Tucking her under the covers, she couldn't help but giggle at the funny expression on her friend's resting face. Kimber turned off the light and shut the door.

Jerrica was waiting outside the room. "Did you get Stormer into bed okay?"

Kimber nodded. "She's still sound asleep."

"I guess we wore her out."

"I don't see how we're any more tiring than dealing with the Misfits on a daily basis." Kimber looked back at the door to the room. "At least she seemed to enjoy herself."

"I won't lie, I wasn't particularly enthused by your idea to have her join us. But she's very talented, and did help us out a lot. She's a nice girl."

Kimber winked. "I could've told you that much."

Jem rested her hands against her hips and smiled. "Well miss know-it all, you'll have to come up with some killer lyrics for us tomorrow then."

"You bet!" cheered Kimber. "We'll come up with the best Christmas song lyrics ever!"

Rolling over, Stormer peeked open her sleepy eyes. Though the curtain blocked most of the morning sunlight, a beam of it poured over her face. She groaned and rolled onto her other side to shade herself from the sudden bright light. Slitting open an eye, she spied the clock sitting on the stand next to the bed.

When the realization of the time clicked in her mind, she gasped and sat up in bed. "Oh no, it's already ten o'clock. I gotta meet the others."

Stumbling to get out of bed, she left the room and made her way downstairs.

"Good morning, Stormer," greeted Jerrica, who was sitting in the living room.

Rubbing her eyes, Stormer waved. "Morning, Jerrica. Sorry I slept here for so long. I don't even remember when I fell asleep."

"It seems you dosed off during practice."

Stormer bowed her head. "I did? Oh . . . tell Kimber I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Everyone was having fun, including yourself I hope."

Smiling, she nodded to Jerrica.

"The band will be practicing again this afternoon," said Jerrica.

Stormer hesitated. "I won't be able to join everyone. I should get back to the Misfits. I'm already late meeting with them as it is."

"Do you want to get ready here?"

Stormer shook her head. "No thanks, I'll take a quick shower at home. I should go."

"Alright, take care. Hopefully we'll see you back again."

"Really? I mean, I had a lot of fun. Please tell Kimber and everyone else thank you for me."

Stormer left the Starlight Mansion and hopped into her car. She wondered just how upset the rest of the Misfits would be with her since she disappeared. More unsettling, she wondered what they were up to while she was gone.

Roxy groaned, tossing her guitar to the ground. "This is going horribly!"

"You said it," Pizzazz agreed. "We're never gonna get this record finished at this rate."

"I say it's this crummy recordin' studio," complained Jetta. "It makes me saxophone sound bloody terrible."

The door to the studio whooshed open, and Eric Raymond stepped in.

"So girls," he said. "How is everything coming along?"

Pizzazz rolled her eyes. "Just . . . lovely."

Eric sighed. "I thought as much. Luckily I already have a plan to come up with the perfect song for your Christmas single."

"And what would that be?" questioned Roxy.

"Why, we'll use whatever Jem and her brats are cooking up."

Jetta brushed back her hair. "And just how will we be doin' that? They ain't just gonna let us into their house ya know."

Eric cackled. "We won't need to go inside. We'll simply pick it up from across the street."

Pizzazz laughed. "Oh, will we? You've had some bad plans, Eric, but this might be the worse one yet. How do you expect to record them from across the streets?"

"With a little help from our friend, technology," answered Eric, then he motioned out the door. "Come in here, Techrat."

Hesitant to be dragged into the studio, Techrat entered, with a small metallic gadget in hand. He groaned when the Misfits approached him, staring adamantly at his creation.

"What does this toy do?" asked Pizzazz.

"It's not a toy," he said. "It's a long-range sound recorder. The specs are far too advance for you to comprehend."

"Is that so?" Pizzazz got up in his face. "Why don't you try me?"

Techrat stepped back. "All you need to know is that it can tell you everything you would want to know about the music it records, from the key and time signatures, to the individual notes and rhythms being played."

Roxy grinned. "So it'll pretty much tell us how to play the song we record, right?"

"Precisely!"

"Then why don't we help ourselves out—" Before Jetta could grab the recorder, Eric stepped in her way.

"Just let us handle the dirty work, girls. Stay here in the studio and work on the songs you're writing, so there are no catastrophes."

"Catastrophes?" barked Pizzazz.

Eric quickly shuffled Techrat out of the studio before the Misfits could conjure up any more protest. The two drove to Starlight Mansion. Eric peered at the mansion, greedily eying it up. He turned to Techrat.

"Alright, can your little machine pick up any sound?"

Techrat flicked a few switches. "Just a moment. Let me calibrate it."

After a few beeps and sizzles, the sound of muffled voices emitted from the device's speaker.

"Can you make that any clearer?" demanded Eric.

"Yes, yes, give me a second," grumbled Techrat.
As he fiddled with the dial, the static dissipated. Soon they could hear the conversation going on inside.

"How are those lyrics coming, Kimber."

"I think they're more or less done. Are we ready to give it a go?"

"Yeah, let's try it out."

Eric chuckled. "Get this all, Techrat. Here comes the Misfits' new hit."

Hustling up the stairs, Stormer entered the recording studio. She was positive the rest of the Misfits would be irate that she was hours late for their rehearsal, not that they were usually interested in serious practice.

When she entered the studio, Pizzazz and Roxy were fiddling with a stack of papers.

"There you are, Stormer," said Pizzazz. "Just where have you been?"

"Um, well . . . I've been decorating my house. Sorry I'm late."

"No problem. In fact, we're almost done recording our new song."

Stormer looked at her in awe. "Y-you are?"

Roxy nodded. "We're just that good."

"We just need you to play this part for us," said Pizzazz. "And we'll be all finished."

Stormer looked at the sheet of music. It looked professionally written, and fairly refined, much more than she knew Pizzazz was capable of.

"Who wrote this?" she asked.

Jetta put her arm around Stormer. "This is all me."

"I didn't know you knew how to write music."

"Oh, I'm full of surprises, love. Now why don't you sit down and record this on your keytar. Will you make it sound pretty for me?"

Stormer took the keytar Roxy handed to her, still a bit baffled. "Uh, sure thing."

She recorded her part without a problem, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she heard this song somewhere else before.

Scribbling down a few more notes on her staff paper, Stormer grinned to herself. This little blurb of music would be a perfect addition to the song she was working on with the Holograms. She knew they'd love it. Since she had extra time to work because Jetta had apparently sprung compositional talent, she had been able to create an extra song for her friends. At the very least, she believed, it would make for a nice B-side.

Collecting all her papers and notes, she sat them on the passenger's seat of her car and drove to Starlight Mansion. Knocking on the door, she felt a tingle go through her body from the excitement. Shana opened the door, then grunted at Stormer.

"Of all the nerve," she growled. "I can't believe you actually came back here."

Stormer gasped. "W-what do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, we figured out what you did!"

"Who is it?" asked Aja.

"It's Stormer."

"What? You're kidding?"

Hearing Aja's angry voice too, Stormer burst into the mansion. "What's the matter?"

Jem entered the room, soon followed by Raya and Kimber from upstairs. Both Jem and Raya stared at Stormer like she was a criminal. Kimber looked deeply hurt.

"How could you?" accused Jem. "I thought you were better than this?"

Stormer shook her head. "Better than what? Please, tell me what I did?"

Raya clicked on the radio. "Hey cool cats, take a listen to the Misfits' new single. It's a rockin' Christmas tune that'll jive you into the holiday spirit!"

The song was hardly on before Stormer realized that it was almost identical to what she and the Holograms had been working on. Though it was sped up a little, and the playing wasn't nearly as sensitive, she was positive it was the same song. It even had the same lyrics Kimber was scribing.

Raya clicked off the radio. "Thanks for selling us out, Stormer."

Stormer was so surprised that she dropped the papers in her hand. "Wait, no. I didn't even tell them I was doing a song with you guys."

"Then how do you explain the song?" asked Jem. "It sounds almost identical to ours."

Shana sighed. "And now we can't put our version out. Everyone will think we just copied them."

"But it wasn't me," said Stormer. "Really it wasn't."

"Stop lying!" Kimber exclaimed, her eyes tearing up.

Stormer whispered. "But I'm not lying."

"There's no way they would've been able to take our song if you didn't give it to them," Kimber shouted, wiping a tear from her cheek. "I thought our friendship meant more to you than this."

"It . . . does . . ." Stormer couldn't stop herself from crying.

"Just go, and don't come back again!"

For a moment, Stormer looked at her friend pointing to the door through her watery eyes. She wanted to tell her she didn't do anything wrong—she wanted to shout her plea, but it didn't matter. She ran from the mansion and into her car where she cried.

Driving recklessly to her home, her eyes flooded with tears. In her bed at home, she buried her face into her pillow.

She was done with music.

Flakes of snow floated in the air. A taxi stopped by the curb, and Craig Phillips exited, dragging out his suitcase with him. A chilling breeze made him wrap his coat tighter around himself. Stepping to the door, he knocked, waiting for his sister to answer. When no one did, he knocked again.

"I hope Mary is at home. Maybe I should have called first," he said to himself.

Then the door opened, and Stormer poked her head out the door.

"Craig! W-what are you doing here?" she asked, shielding her face from the door when she realized who it was.

He replied, "I'm here to play at Jem and the Holograms' Christmas concert. Sorry I didn't call ahead of time, but my flight got delayed."

Stormer didn't say a word. An instant concern came over him. He could tell something was bothering his sister.

"How are things with you?" he asked casually.

Shrugging, Stormer wiped her face. "Is there anything you want to eat?"

"No, I'm fine. Hey Mary . . . are you alright?"

For a moment, Stormer looked at him, her eyes watering. Then she burst into tears and ran into Craig's arms. He hugged her.

"Mary, what's wrong? What has you so upset?"

She sobbed. "I don't know what to do. I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't."

After some time, he calmed his sister down and got her to explain her dire predicament.

"So you're telling me that you were working on a song with the Holograms and somehow the Misfits released the same song without you knowing?"

She nodded. "It's true!"

"Don't worry, Mary. I believe you."

"At least you do. They didn't, and now I can't go back. Kimber . . . she hates me now."

Craig clenched his hands into fists. "I bet Eric Raymond has something to do with this."

"Eric? How would he be able to steal the song?"

He grunted. "A weasel like him is capable of just about anything. Don't worry, I'll get to the bottom of this."

Craig stomped to the door. Stormer darted after him. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"It's time I paid a personal visit to Eric Raymond."

I forgot to mention this . . . but stay tuned for Part 2!