The Millennium Gloucestershire Hotel Lobby

"You look beautiful, Roshni," the head girl of Latymer told her passed by the black leather settee where her she, "I'm so glad you could come tonight."

Roshni blushed and glanced down at her black velvet outfit, but gave her a shy smile in return, "Thanks"

The head girl briefly smiled once more before she wafted back into the chattering mass of suited and dressed up school students. 

Everyone was standing in the swanky lobby, and while some Latymers were buying alcohol with their fake IDs at the bar most of the student body were waiting by the big doors into the large hall to be let in. She thought it was amazing how different everybody looked when they cleaned up for prom. . Meanwhile Johnny had gone in search of the prom committee to see if he could change the seating arrangements and sit with another group, for he didn't want to sit through a three course meal with his old friends anymore as had originally been planned.

Whenever she could sense eyes on her from classmates and some teachers who walked past it made her feel exposed. She couldn't tell whether or not it was because she was the only girl in the room wearing trousers, or because of what had happened in the drama suite with Mrs Jacobson earlier that day; news travelled fast after all.

"I wonder where Adam and Brandon are?" She thought yet again, also looking out for them anxiously , "They probably think I'm an idiot anyway... but I bet Brandon looks handsome in a suit and tie-"

"Sorted!" Johnny reappeared, flopping himself down beside her, "Our table is number eight now"

Roshni snapped out of her daydream, "Really? Good! Anyone we know?"

"Well, they placed us with some other people who didn't have anyone else to sit with. I hope you don't mind"

"Oh, that'll do I guess," she adjusted the wire of her mother's velvet embellished bustier that was rubbing into the skin near her underarms, "I think this is too small for me, I wish I brought plasters"

"Nah, your boobs are just too big for it," Johnny smirked, "After all, dad always says that you inherited the Bulsara Bust" 

"No need to remind me" she shuddered.

"Take it as a compliment" he teased.

Roshni didn't respond to him, for she swore that she saw Mrs Jacobson's prune-like face bobbing amongst the heads of students, almost like a hawk on the lookout for prey.

"You okay sis?" Johnny asked.

Mrs Jacobson disappeared out of sight, and Roshni nodded wrapped her embellished lilac saree that she was using in place of a shawl around her bare arms and shoulders to block out the chilly draught. 

She liked her mother's initial suggestion of an Indian dress, and decided to use incorporate part of her heritage into her outfit. She even wore a bindi on her understated made-up face with only false eyelashes, some pink blusher on the apples of her cheeks and a slick of nude lip gloss. As for Johnny he didn't bother ironing his black suit and tie or polishing his smart leather shoes, but the unkempt look suited him in his own way, much to Freddie and Monica's dissatisfaction.

Moments later the wide doors into the grand hall swung up, and the hotel staff held them open. Johnny and Roshni instinctively stood up, and followed their school mates spilling into it one by one.

Roshni's expectations were completely changed, and it was so much a "moron convention" as she initially thought it would be. 

The large hall was breathtaking, with windows for the walls and sloping roof, ceiling lamps tied to the beams that gave the room and white satin tied to the dining chairs and tables a magenta hue, and palm trees decorated with strings of fairy lights. There was a small platform in the centre of the white marble floor with a grand piano and microphone that served as the stage for the venue and speeches.

"Sarah would've loved this..." she thought aloud in awe.

"Poor her," Johnny said flatly, then held out his crooked elbow, "Now are you glad that you came?"

Roshni nodded quickly, and slipped her arm into her brother's.

And so, they weaved their way around the multiple tables on the lookout for number eight. Roshni hadn't seen Brandon anywhere so far, and it left her feeling a little disheartened. What if he decided not to come after all, she thought.

Johnny felt as edgy as he did. His old gang of friends, Stew, Thomas and Doug were glaring at him from a distance. Not once did they come to say hello either, but he saw that as a good thing.

"Ah, number eight, I see it now!" Johnny announced.

"Where?" Roshni's eyes followed his finger pointing to the table in the windowed corner of the room.

A familiar stout boy with dark hair and a fetching royal blue dinner jacket with a powder blue tie was already standing behind one of the several seats at table eight. Meanwhile beside him was a taller, slimmer boy with golden hair who looked very dashing in his plain black tuxedo. In fact he was one of the few people wearing one.

"It can't be... this has to be a fluke" Roshni thought to herself apprehensively as she locked eyes with Brandon across the hall.

Johnny couldn't have known about who her crush was, could he? Dad bragged about it to embarrass her when throughout the day when they were getting ready, but he never said his name.

"Uhh, hi, we were positioned at your table last minute. Hope you don't mind" Johnny introduced awkwardly, Roshni dragging herself slightly beside him.

"Ah, I think this is the table for people with no friends. No offence" Adam replied jokingly.

"None taken, believe me," Johnny looked at his ex friends sitting down at their table, then looked at him again closely, "We were in junior form together, weren't we?"

"Why yes, we sat next to each other in physics," Adam answered, "Hated it"

"Me too," he snickered, "Shall we take our seats?"

Brandon stared at Roshni like a gaping fish as they sat down beside each other. She thought from his expression alone that he was annoyed or surprised that she turned up.

 But what she didn't know was that Brandon was awestruck by the way that she looked.

Meanwhile Adam certainly seemed pleased to see her, "And Roshni, you came after all! I say, that's a fabulous jumpsuit"

"Trouser suit actually!" She stood back up again briefly and showed the seam of her bustier to show him, "Mum was wearing it whenever she met our dad" 

"So you two owe your entire existence to it then? Interesting" Adam mumbled ostentatiously.

The four of them sat in silence a minute in, with chatter and buzz swarming around them and filling the air. 

Johnny could feel the eyes of his gang burning holes into his back.

"What if they glare at me all night? What if they try to approach Roshni to annoy me?"

But he was determined to show them that he could have a good time and move on from his ex girlfriend without them.

He turned his attention back to his table and began, "So, do any of you watch Father Ted?" 

"I love Father Ted!" Adam exclaimed.

"Really?" Johnny smiled, feeling a bit more at ease, "What's your favourite episode?"

Roshni watched on as they continued their conversation, not noticing Brandon lean closer to her and breaking the peace between them:

 "It looks like those two are going to be as thick as thieves by the end of the night"

A little stunned, Roshni responded with a shy smile, "An unlikely pair of friends? Yes"

After all, Adam was theatrical and Johnny considered himself to be a rocker.

Brandon then cleared his throat, mustering up the courage to say, "...You look nice." 

Roshni joked back clumsily, "Thanks, do you think I look mean when I'm not dressed up?"

Brandon nervously tittered, and floundered, "No, I just mean-"

"That was a bad attempt at humour, I'm sorry," Roshni quickly apologised, and waffled onto what she finally wanted to say, "and I'm sorry for running out of class like that earlier" 

"Don't be, I'd get out of the room too if a teacher spoke to me that way. If I brought my camcorder with me I would've filmed the whole exchange" he reached over for his glass of coca cola and took a sip.

She approached the elephant in the room, "You don't suppose there were rumours about it at lunchtime?"

"Not many, or at least nothing bad," Brandon answered, and leaned forward, "Pity you had to quit drama though. You earned respect from the rest of our class, people think you're awesome!"

"Really?" Roshni asked meekly.

Brandon nodded and smiled, lifting his glass of coke, "Let's have a toast to quitting drama"

She lifted the empty water glass on the table and clinked it against his."Cheers, to quitting drama" 

Roshni blushed a little and smiled to herself as she set it back down when they were done, feeling like tonight wasn't going to be such a bad night after all...

Garden Lodge

"Ohh Fred, this one was taken in Montreux, the morning we were packing up to go to Geneva... or at least I did the packing" 

Freddie and Monica retired to the piano room and were both curled up on the 18th century french settee with some of the cats in front of the fireplace, looking though the box of Johnny and Roshni's baby pictures sitting on the coffee table. They'd been doing so since shortly after Phoebe left early to go home. And when Johnny and Roshni were getting ready to go to prom throughout the evening it reminded Monica that not only were they growing into beautiful young adults, but mostly that she may not have had much time left with them. As for Freddie, any hobby was a distraction from the turbulent day that he had and to keep his mind from wondering back to The Sun front page.

Monica held the Polaroid towards Freddie so that he could see it, and childishly he pointed at her large stomach and creased up.

She scoffed and ignored his large teeth and dimples as he giggled at her in her heavily pregnant state, playfully smacking his arm, "You did nothing to help me that morning, you just stood at the door and snapped photos on that polaroid of yours!"

Freddie caught his breath, "Somebody had to take photos of your journey-oh don't put it away, I want to look at it properly!"

He took it off of Monica before she could slide it back into the box, and leaned over to the table  lamp beside him to focus on it properly:

The quality was a bit grainy as the master bedroom was unlit, but the snowy landscape of Lake Geneva was crisp and clear out the large, spacious window. He could see Monica's blossomed figure in the middle of the room, wearing a lavender babydoll night dress. That was back when she kept her wavy brown hair longer and a little more straggly, and it made her look more youthful and innocent too. She had her hands near her lower back to ease the pain of carrying two in her womb at at once. And her girlish face was in deep, muddled thought as she stared at her suitcase in front of her that was stuffed with clothing and presents from well-wishers for the newborns.

He recollected, "Life together was much more promising and hopeful back then... or at least, that was how it felt"

Monica interrupted his rosy, nostalgic thoughts as she lifted another gem out from the pile, "Oh... and this was several hours after they were born":

"I do miss when they were small enough to hold," Freddie cooed, "My god, those years went by so quick"

"It was around that time when we were deciding names for them as well, remember?" she almost whispered, handing it to him, "You named them based on their noses."

"Mhmm?" he sounded.

"You said that Johnny had a nose as cute as a button and you wanted to name him something that ended in 'ie' or 'y' because you thought it'd sound cute" 

Freddie giggled, "And then he turned out to be a little terror"

"Oh, give him a break!" Monica sifted through more photos, "You said Roshni was going to have your nose so you had to give her something Persian."

He didn't respond, but observed the picture in his hands again. 

Neither of them could remember which twin that they were holding in it, but Freddie wasn't so focused on that but rather the expressions on the parent's faces. Monica looked so sure, as if motherhood was what she wanted and she was ready for it. Himself, on the other hand, looked focused on the baby in his arms as he was learning to bottle-feed, at the same time determined to be a good father. 

Monica had gone quiet next to him, and had stopped rummaging through the box.

"Darling?" He lowered the photograph.

 She was staring vacantly at the flickering flames in the fire place, "Maybe I should have told them about the screening today"

Freddie set the picture back down and gently slid his hand into hers as the telephone rang on the side table, as did the rest throughout the house.

Monica expected him to break away immediately as he normally would whenever Phoebe wasn't home to answer it, but he refused to budge.

"You should answer it," she swallowed, "It's probably important"

"No," Freddie lifted her chin with his other hand, "Wait until you get the results, then you can tell them"

She affectionately squeezed his hand and nodded, willingly blinking away the tears in her stinging eyes as he stood up and headed to the phone on its cradle, hoping that he wasn't going to take long.

She listened as he groaned, and answered, "Hello?"

"Now Fred, please be calm and patient," Jim Beach pleaded without greeting him, "I have more on The Sun"

The man's tone sounded more hopeful and less serious than it had all day, so Freddie turned to Monica, "Darling, how do I make this loud?"

She stretched over from the settee to take the handset from him, and pressed the loudspeaker button.

"You listening?" Jim sounded, "They got back to us! According to the seller it was found at a car boot sale"

"A car boot sale?! How on earth did it get into a car boot sale?" Freddie exclaimed.

Monica furrowed her brows, leaning forward on the arm rest as she listened on. Out of all the places a car boot sale or second-hand drive was the least place either of them would've thought of.

Jim described, almost robotically as he read from the fax, "Well, the seller says that he found it in a tin canister which was inside an almost empty Super 8 camera leather bag" 

Monica cupped her hands over her mouth in dreadful realisation, for she owned a Super 8 and it was the only possible explanation, "Oh god no..."

Freddie put the phone down and turned to her, "What?

"My old camera bag, I gave it away to charity when I got a newer one," she flapped "I must've thought that it was just an empty tin, I should've looked!"

She was prepared for Freddie to become exacerbated and unleash all hell on her.

But the damage was already done. He breathed in sharply and brought the phone back up to his ear, resuming the conversation, "Anything else?"

"The Sun also provided a rather vivid description of what's happening in the video, which we also requested a copy of"

"Go on?" Freddie murmured with bated breath.

"You're shouting at the camera and there's music playing in the background... it appears to be that your privacy was breached by whoever was-"

"What is the music?" Freddie pressed.

"Why are you asking that?" Monica whispered, only to be shushed by her husband.

"It's that song Jump, by that black girl group from the mid 80s," Jim went on, "And there were also laughter out of shot-"

"Laughter? Who was laughing?" he interrupted again. "No wonder I look so bloody mad in it"

"Yes, and it sounded like the laughter of small children," Jim continued to reveal, "The camera is also very shaky and the frame is tilted... so we think that it was filmed by children"

Freddie felt a growing sense of Deja Vu, then it hit him. 

He rushed into the kitchen and picked up the printed copy of The Sun front page still sitting on the counter surface.

Monica threw the box onto the coffee table and followed behind quickly, "Freddie, what is it?"

"Fred, you still there?" Jim called out from the speaker.

Freddie briefly studied the photograph of himself again, and he was brought back to one mortifying morning in the early eighties when Johnny and Roshni where still mischievous small children. 

"I think I know what it is," He looked at the photograph again closely, and the steamed-up black tiles of the shower walls, "Why yes, those are the old tiles of the bathroom upstairs! It's a home video!"

Monica took the fax from him to look, "Why yes... that is the bathroom upstairs!"

"Are you absolutely sure?" Jim asked firmly.

"Yes, yes! They borrowed Monica's Super 8 camera and sound recorder and snuck into the bathroom when I was having a shower one day!" Freddie answered frantically.

"So you're saying that your two children, Johnny and Roshni, filmed you when you were naked and singing and dancing?"

"Obviously! This is so silly, I mean really! It was taken by my children when they didn't even know what they were doing!" Freddie paced back and forth, riled up yet alleviated and triumphant.

Monica was also relieved that it wasn't stemming from any lewd behaviour like she'd thought at first glance, but she still felt pitiful that Freddie's privacy had somewhat been breached and felt as though she was partly to blame.

Nonetheless Freddie at least had some confidence in its origins, "The press are making it out to be less innocent than it actually is just because you can see my... me, you can see me naked for a split second!"

"Then all you have to do is make a statement saying that it was a home video! Much more formally, of course" Jim assured him.

"Alright, alright, I'll do it," Freddie was unusually determined to get the truth out, "Anything to shut them up-"

Beep-beep-beeeep.

The intercom on the wall interrupted him at such a bad time, but he went back to muttering on the phone. Monica dutifully went to answer it, thinking that Phoebe had left something behind. 

"It can't be Johnny or Roshni, they would've telephoned... or at least Roshni would anyway" she thought.

She lifted the handset and quietly greeted whoever was over the gate, only to receive a loud, shrieking response from a woman's voice, "What's going on? Somebody open up and answer me right now!"

Monica looked to the monitor in correspondence with the CCTV camera tied to the wall, and the showing a familiar figure was standing outside on the pavement. 

The quality wasn't very clear and the street lamp didn't illuminate her very well but Monica could still tell from the woman's voice that it was Denise Aldred, Sarah's mother, who only lived several streets away.

She screeched again, "Your son left my daughter waiting at home when she was meant to be at prom one hour ago!"

Monica felt alarmed and stuck, and she couldn't get Freddie to intervene now that he was already discussing business with Jim. 

But she wasn't in the mood for much more trouble, so she replied to Denise steadily, "Well it can't be as bad as your daughter breaking my son's heart, can it?"

"Well, she'd been dating somebody else but that's not the point!" Denise spat into the microphone with no sympathy or considerations for her daughter's infidelity, "She was too good for Johnny anyway, she's a busy, hardworking young woman!"

Monica felt her fist clench and her back teeth grind against one another. Johnny was not perfect, but nobody talked about her children that way.

"Busy doing what?" she quizzed with her own comeback, "Screwing her co-worker behind his back? She certainly takes after her mother"

Denise's kohl-lined eyes widened on the monitor, and she started banging on the green gate "How dare you! My daughter was left at home crying, you-you-"

Monica's ear felt as though they were about to bleed as she watched Denise's fuzzy figure in the camera reaching down to take one of her black pump shoes off with the intent of scoring the gate with her pointy five inch heel in rage. 

Then suddenly she felt someone yank the intercom receiver out of her hand. Freddie must've heard Denise's loud screams from the speaker.

"Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see..." Her husband sang a line from one of Queen's best known hits into the receiver, then spoke, "A little bit to your right darling, yes that's it!" 

Denise dropped the shoe in her hand and looked directly into the CCTV camera in horror at being caught.

Monica tried to to laugh as Freddie cheered, "Smile, you're on camera!"

The woman spluttered, "B-But-"

"This is Freddie Mercury speaking," He announced calmly, but then crossly barked, "Vandalise my front gate and I'm calling the police"

The woman then roared, "You can't do that to me, my daughter is-"

"Yes we can, and we will," Freddie snarled, "Now fuck off home to your slag of a daughter, you wrinkly old c***!" 

Monica cowered behind him in awe as he slammed the handset back onto the intercom cradle, jaw to the floor.  

She wanted to mention how Denise could attempt to crash the prom if she knew the hotel in which it was being held at, but refrained as Freddie stood looking at the intercom with impassiveness as he took a few seconds to regain control of his temper. 

Mr Beach's voice was still left on loudspeaker on the telephone left sitting on the marble counter, "Hello? ...Hello Freddie, are you still there?"

Freddie huffed, and picked it up before saying, "Sorry Jim, I'll discuss the statement with you tomorrow. Have a good night"

 He handed it to his wife so that she could hang up for him, to which Monica closed, "I'm sorry, Freddie has spent the day burning through so many emotions."

She also felt too overwhelmed, and curtly ended the call as Jim was about to say goodbye.

The only sound to be heard was the bell of Delilah's collar as she hopped up onto the counter, butting her head against Monica's arm for attention as she put the phone back down.

She tried to lighten the mood but sarcastically joking, "Cats have the best timing, don't they?"

But Freddie replied, "A car boot sale, eh?"

"I'm sorry Fred, I didn't think that it would end up in the wrong hands-"

He lifted his arm to silence her, and ambiguously suggested, "There's another bottle of bubbly in the fridge"

Monica didn't even question her husband's excessive spending habits, but rather his health, "You got absolutely shit-faced last night, shouldn't you be giving your liver a break?"

"Oh come on dearie, why don't we crack it open and celebrate the mystery being solved at last?" he urged, a little more exuberant, "I've had it with being an awful tart today, let's have an early night"

"...And what do you mean by an early night?" she let her lips curl.

Freddie sauntered closer to her, purring, "What do you think I mean?"

Monica knew exactly what he meant when he had a lustrous ogle in his brown eyes, then he put his hands on her waist and started kissing her neck.

"Oh, you-you mean that..." she faltered under his touch, "You do mean after we collect the kids from prom, don't you? I'm not drink-driving"

"Of course, there is that..." Freddie pulled away a little.

She suggestively reached the top button of her white silk blouse, "I'm not arguing with an early night though"

And Delilah sat on the counter watching as her daddy swept Monica off her feet within a trice, and carried her out the kitchen door and upstairs...

The Millennium Gloucestershire Hotel

Prom night was nowhere near over. The DJ had arrived only half an hour before and set up their control deck on the other end of the hall, and most of the Latymer students were now on the dance floor doing the routine to the Macarena by Los Del Rio underneath the disco lights. 

Johnny, Roshni, and Brandon stood by the sidelines and watched as Adam stepped forward, shouting to them over the music, "Anyone up for a dance?" 

"Maybe in a bit," Brandon shrugged, "I'll wait a bit for my stomach to digest that three course meal"

Adam looked to the Bulsara twins, "What about you two?"

Johnny tipped back his (illegally purchased) flute of champagne, "Yeah, I'll come!"

Roshni watched on in surprise as the two of them moved, or more correctly, skipped into the crowd.

She turned to Brandon and spoke loudly over the music, "He isn't normally like this, he had his heart broken today"

"Oh... Do you think they know what the lyrics mean in english?" he asked.

Roshni shook her head, "I can't hear you!"

Brandon, who happened to do A-Level Spanish, signalled her closer and took her wrist, "I'll tell you outside, come on!"

"Wha- where are we going?!" Roshni laughed as he allowed her to lead her away.

Brandon took her out of the noisy dance hall and into the quietness and the light of the lobby. There were about a dozen already students there, some drunk, some heartbroken, some just introverted and scared of crowds. Rosnhi could still feel them stare at her as Brandon took her to one of the free leather sofas, but she didn't feel as naked as she did before. 

 He sat beside her, leaned into her ear and whispered the true meaning of the song, and Roshni giggled, "Really? That's disgusting!"

"And there are primary school-age kids dancing to it, can you believe it!" Brandon shook his head as he cracked up.

She nodded and crossed her legs as she thought,"Oh god, the way his face crinkles up when he laughs and smiles is so dreamy!"

They listened as the Macarena playing in the great hall ended, and the next song that started to play was Lovefool by The Cardigans.

"I'm gonna miss you in Drama," Brandon blurted out quietly, and went on to admit, "You know, if I knew that you were going to prom I-I would've asked you to come with me."

Roshni felt butterflies in her stomach as her cheeks grew hot, "Really?"

"I'm-I-I-I like your... company" Brandon nervously stammered.

"Oh, you do?" She heard herself squeak bashfully. 

"When you left the classroom earlier I couldn't stop thinking about you" he gushed.

"What could that mean?!" Roshni felt her insides jumping up and down.

When Brandon noticed that she was looking away and tightening her saree around her bare shoulders he apologised awkwardly, "Oh, am I making you feel uncomfortable? I'm sorry"

"No, you're not! I just can't handle compliments very well, that's all" Roshni tried to assure him.

"I am making you feel uncomfortable! Oh god, I knew this would happen!" he scolded himself, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Knew what would happen?"she listened on keenly.

"Never mind, I'm just making myself look like a fool" he stared at his feet, shuffling awkwardly.

Roshni could feel where it was going, for the air in her lungs grew thicker and her heart began to race.

"Brandon?"

He lifted his head shyly.

Monica always encouraged her children to try to be calm, be herself and speak their mind in front of their crushes. And in this case Roshni had to ask him, and she was ready for the answer to be yes or no. 

She took a deep breath, and began, "Are you... are you trying to tell me that you like me?"

Brandon looked at Roshni's expectant face, but her emotions were unreadable as she tried to keep composed.

"Yes, I think I am" he gave a half-suppressed laugh.

"Good, because I couldn't stop thinking about you all day, like a silly school girl crush," she mumbled on, and her nerves from the internal excitement made her want to throw up, "wait, I am a silly school girl! What am I saying?" 

The both of them giggled gently in relief, and waited in anticipation for each other to say something next.

"So, y-you free on Saturday?" Brandon suggested.

"Sure, what for?" Roshni asked.

"Uhm, I was hoping that we could go to the zoo?"

Roshni was half-expecting him to come up with something food related for a date idea; she always thought that dates involved food. At least that's how it was for Johnny and Sarah... with Johnny paying, of course. 

"Like a day out? I was going to say go for a coffee, but-" 

"Oh, we can do that if you prefer then" he comprimised.

But Roshni had a quick solution that would please them both, "Okay, if the weather on Saturday is nice how about we get the bus to Regent's Park, bring a packed lunch with us and have it on Primrose hill, and we go to the zoo after?"

Brandon nodded, "Sound's better than what I could ever come up with"

"Good, so it's a date!" she held her hand out.

He took it to shake on their deal "Sure, it's official"

It was the first time they held each other's hand in some way. Unanimously, their hand-shaking slowed down.

"I'm having a really good night" was all she could think of saying.

"Me too" Brandon murmured.

His eyes glanced down to her lips, and Roshni felt her heart beating faster. Could he be thinking what she was thinking?

They leaned closer, going in for it, and little did they know that they had somebody watching and listening most of the time:

"That's the best performance I've seen from you all term, Miss Mercury" 

Mrs Jacobson was angrily marching across the hotel lobby to the both of them, the beaded fringes of her black frock clanking and clip-clop of her shoes drawing attention from other students sitting in the room.

"Oh fuck, I spoke too soon" Roshni muttered to Brandon, and got up onto her feet.

"How dare you walk out of my classroom!" her ex drama-teacher hissed, "Detention, tomorrow after school!"

A few students nearby looked over.

"That won't be necessary, miss," Roshni folded her arms, "I am quitting drama, I collected a form from the school office. Dad signed it, and you'll have to-"

"Not this 'lighting rubbish' again! You can't quit!" Mrs Jacobson rebuked shrilly, grabbing Roshni's wrist, "You're no good for anything else, I refuse to sign it!" 

 Other people sitting in the hallway gasped.

Brandon sprang to Roshni's defence, "Mrs Jacobson-"

"Yes I am, and if you don't sign it my family can legally challenge you," Roshni continued to have the courage to stand up for herself, "In several months time I am not going to be attending Latymer anymore. Even if you won't let me do the lights now it doesn't matter, I will still find ways to learn and do the things I love."

The woman mumbled in outrage, "I beg your pardon! You have absolutely no right to speak to me that way!"

"Well neither do you, and you can't expect me to help out in your little vanity parade either," Roshni pulled her arm out of the woman's grip, and wrapped her shawl back around herself, "Oh, and it's Bulsara, not Mercury. Try not to confuse me with my dad"

Her words had knocked the wind out of Mrs Jacobson's sails. 

The woman stood in a stunned silence as Roshni turned around and casually walked away, Brandon in tow. Neither of them looked back as they headed back to the hall. 

"Shall we look for the other two?" he asked.

Roshni looked back over her shoulder anxiously to see if Mrs Jacobson followed them, and nodded, "Yeah, lets"

They weaved their way through the crowd to number eight, thinking that Johnny and Adam had gone to sit down.

But her brother's voice through the speakers had halted them:

"Can Roshni Bulsara please come to the front?"

She froze, as did Brandon.

 Everyone standing nearby turned to look at her, muttering among themselves.

"Do you know what's going on?" Roshni turned to him, in utter disbelief at this point.

Brandon replied, shaking his head, "I am just as clueless as you are"

"Come on sis, we haven't got all night!" Johnny's slightly slurred voice sounded throughout the hall.

Clueless, she obeyed and inched closer to the centre stage with growing suspense. All her classmates were stepping back to allow room for her to walk through and smiling. 

As more cleared away she saw Johnny and Adam on the centre stage platform where the open mic was set up. Her brother was playing an improvised tune on a borrowed electric acoustic guitar as he waited for her, his face a little red from all the alcohol he'd consumed, meanwhile Adam was downing a glass of water. There was a spotlight placed directly above the both on them on the stage.

"Everyone this is for my sister and the first flatmate I ever had, even if we only lived together for nine months," Johnny rambled on, and everyone in the audience except Doug, Stew and Thomas laughed, "Roshni, you may not be prom queen tonight but you're a queen to me"

Roshni blushed and smiled as everyone around her clapped. 

"And accompanying me tonight is the amazing Adam!" Johnny presented his backing signer, and went on to see, "Adam, I must take you home to meet my dad"

Everyone laughed again and wolf-whistled as Adam went along with Johnny's joke and winked back at him.

Finally, as he started to strum the guitar gently the laughter also died down. Not knowing what was coming, Roshni waited apprehensively... 

Johnny started to play a coherent and familiar tune, finally mastered the fingerpicking opening of the song he'd been practising, then Adam joined him, "My lovely, lovely, lovely horse"

"Oh my god, they're singing Father Ted!" Roshni recognised it instantly as everyone else in the hall hooted in excitement.

Johnny sang as he played a whimsical, slow version of the spoof song, with Adam doing the accompanying harmonies with his baritone voice "My lovely horse... Running through the fields"

"Where are you going with your fetlocks blowing in the wind" The whole room, or at least the most who knew it, sang along softly and swayed side to side.

"I wanna shower you with sugar lumps, and ride you over fences..." Johnny and Adam sang, "Polish your hooves every single day... and bring you to the horse dentist"

Then it got to the dreaded saxophone solo, which Johnny and Adam replaced with some la la las that gained even more hurrahs from the Latymer students. And despite being a little tipsy at this point into the prom night Johnny managed to retain vocal control.

Roshni felt tears growing in her eyes as the song reached an end, her cheeks starting to hurt from beaming at her brother on the stage endlessly. She had always received attention from classmates at school, but she never received this much in one night. And what made it even more perfect was that Brandon was standing by her side, holding her hand.

Johnny and Adam received a round of applause when they finished playing, to which they both humbly stepped forward and bowed.  

Adam then used one of his favourite film quotes, "Johnny, I think this the beginning of a beautiful friendship"

Feeling exhilarated from the praise that the audience gave him, Johnny reached over and took Adam's arm, swinging it up and bowing one more time to share the moment with him. It was where they both wanted to be, on stage performing.

At the same time Roshni and Brandon gazed into each other's blue eyes. Time was slowing down as they leaned closer to one another, and this time nothing was going to spoil their first kiss...

Epilogue, around 2:30am

"FUCK!" 

Monica was jolted awake by a frustrated, loud groan beneath her.

"What on Earth..." she felt for Freddie beside her to wake him up.

But he wasn't there, and there could only be one explanation.

"For heaven's sake Fred" Monica sighed and sat up, slipping her feet into her slippers.

Freddie wanted to stay up a bit longer after Johnny and Roshni got home from prom and went up to bed, but it was clear that he hadn't gone to bed yet and whatever he was doing it was keeping him awake.

She tied her kimono-style silk dressing gown as she walked down the corridor and followed the sounds of her husband's muttering and other electronic sound effects coming from the minstrel gallery, then ultimately the piano room below.

When Monica got to the mahogany rail of the minstrel gallery she looked down where Freddie was sitting on the settee with Miko the fluffy brown cat curled up on his lap, still in his mismatched tracksuit as he aggressively played on the Bop-It. There was an open container of chocolate brownies and an empty bottle of Moët & Chandon sitting beside him on the coffee table.

She couldn't stay mad at such a comical sight. Instead, she cleared her throat gently.

Freddie paused and looked upwards, as did Miko. The American voice in the Bop-It screamed out as he lost the round.

Monica knowingly smirked, leaning against the wooden rail, "What was that you said about the Bop-It in the morning, Freddie? 'It'll never catch on', was it?"

"I, well..." he looked back up at her, blushing slightly, "Oh, Monicaaaa? You made me lose!"

"It's not like you to have a midnight feast either" she remarked the open container of chocolate brownies sitting on the coffee table.

"But they were just sitting there in the fridge and they looked good," Freddie garbled, for he was also a little intoxicated, "They taste good too, you're an excellent baker you know" 

"I didn't bake anything this week," Monica said peculiarly as she turned around, sauntering out of the minstrel gallery as she called after him, "Come to bed soon" 

Freddie bit his lower lip as he looked at the outline of Monica's posterior under the silk of her dressing gown, giggling to himself as racy thoughts entered his drunken mind again for a second time that evening.

But alcohol wasn't all that was in his system.

He set the Bop-It down on the table, and once again the mouthwateringly delicious brownies caught his eye. He had to have another before he went upstairs. What could be the secret ingredient that made them taste so good?

Freddie lifted the container and smelt it as he went to scoff another slice.

But instead of the rich chocolateness that he was expecting there was something else, something that smelt bitter and biological.

He got a whiff of an all too familiar smell from the late 1960s when he sniffed it again, "Marijuana?"

He wasn't a smoker of it himself, but he accidentally drank several cups of jasmine tea infused with the substance during his early days and hasn't consumed it since... until tonight when he was all of a sudden feeling unnoticeably relaxed and light-headed, much more than he usually would be after a few glasses of champagne.

In a search for the culprit that drugged him he looked around the container, and noticed that the side of it had a label stuck onto it. 

In scrawled handwriting that belonged to none other than Johnny was written,"dope brownies".

Freddie looked out the door, face turning furiously purple as he opened his mouth to scream for his wife...

"MONICAAAAA!"