Sal here.  This chapter was supposed to be much longer and include all three of our heroes' voices, but Danny is a blabbermouth, and his part went on too long (and besides, he's way too much fun to write for), so the next part will be a two-POV one, with F and J, respectively.  I do apologize for how many parts this story already has, and there's still so much more to come... XD

Danny

"Walking feet, please!" some teacher yells from somewhere, but I don't listen- and since Lauren is trying to keep up with me, neither does she.  I have to get to art class as early as possible.

I love art almost as much as I love choir.  Part of the reason is that we're just working on a new project from now till Friday.  I won't have to take an actual test in it tomorrow, which will be the last full day of school before Christmas Break starts.   Man, there's going to be so many church rehearsals starting tomorrow- one for every day after it until Sunday, the performance night.  But I don't want to think about that right now.  Too scary.

The other part of the reason is that Lauren's in art with me.  Jamal, I'll see at lunch, and then we can all take on Ms. Rydinger together.  But most of the reason is I get a new Japanese word from the best teacher ever, Ms. Yamaguchi.

"Konnichiwa, tomoyo!" she greets me when I walk in.  Lauren rolls her eyes as she plops down at one of the tables.  But she's just jealous, because she knows I'm definitely Ms. Yamaguchi's favorite; she doesn't say that to anyone else in my class.

"Konnichiwa!" I reply, creeping up to her desk and holding out my hand for her to take it.  I haven't kissed her hand since Friday when I got in trouble for it, but this time, I do. 

And she loves it.  "You are such a funny boy, Daniel-san," she giggles.  "Always make me smile."

"So do you," I begin- and then I stop.  For the first time, I recognize the music she has playing right now.  Well, not the music, because I've never heard this song before- but now I know the voice.  I grin like a nut, which makes her laugh all over again.

"What is it?" she asks.

I point at the hidden overhead speakers.  "Is, uh- is that Queen?"

"Ah, yes!" she nods.  "A very old song, it came out many years before you were even born."

"All the music I like is from before I was born," I tell her, one ear still listening in.  The music itself is way more techno-y than most Queen stuff I've heard so far- it's almost like a Prince song except without as much going on- but it's Freddie all right, sounding just the way he did yesterday: "I've got to break free/ God knows/ God knows, I want to break free!"

And then I remember, there's a track on the second disc of Mr. Adams's Queen music that's called "I Want to Break Free."  This is it!   Wow, even the second disc stuff is good!  Not even Prince can say that.

"Did Freddie write this?" I ask.

Ms. Yamaguchi shakes her head.  "No, that song was written by, uh... what's the name... Dean.  Yes.  John Dean.  He was the bass player."

"Oh," I nod.  Makes sense.  This song isn't nearly as nuts as "Bohemian Rhapsody"- or "Bicycle Race," that one's crazy, too- so Freddie couldn't have written it.

"Do you know," she goes on, "my aunt worked in a Japanese bath back in the eighties- and one of her, ah- co-workers, she actually met Freddie Mercury."

I have to bite my lip to keep from spilling the beans.  "Cool!  What- um, what was he like?"

Her eyebrows make wrinkles in her forehead while she thinks.  "She said he was really rather quiet," Ms. Yamaguchi replies. 

"Quiet?"   

She shrugs.  "If I remember correctly what she told me, he would make little jokes and things, very sweet-natured man, very kind.  But he didn't really say very much overall, not even to the man he came in with- he was just rather shy, is all.  He wasn't the same person on stage, though.  He was wild then." 

"Did you ever see Queen?"

"My father did, a long time ago, when they came to Tokorozawa-" she cuts herself off, her eyes widen, as if she just had an idea.  Then she pulls out a sticky note and starts writing on it.  "What's this sudden interest in Queen, Danny?"

I blink.  "Uh- no reason.  Just- um..."

"I mean, it's not just you, it's some widespread thing, everyone on Facebook yesterday was talking about them-"

"Yeah, yeah!  It's 'cause of the pictures,"  I nod quickly, and point over at Lauren.  "She started it."

"Ah!" Ms. Yamaguchi says, but I don't think she's really listening, she's writing too much on the paper.  More people are coming into the classroom now, two minutes till we start.  Has she forgotten my word?  I'll ask.

"So what's the word of the day, sensei?" I joke.

"I'm writing them now," she answers, "just... ah!  There."  She hands me the pink note, and I peer at the characters that are written there.

手をとりあって

I have to smile.  Japanese Kanji is so pretty to look at- and even more fun to say.  "What's it mean?"

"Literally, it means, 'hold your hand,'" she explains. 

I frown.  "That's kind of a weird one."

"Not really, you can always use it on Lauren there."  And she winks at me, laughing while I wrinkle my nose and shiver.  "Besides, it's the title of a Queen song, and what with the Queen frenzy happening all of a sudden, it's not as, ahem- spontaneous as it seems."

"It's a song?"

"Oh, yes.  I grew up hearing that song many times, one of my mother's favorites.  Now, the way it's written isn't exactly correct Japanese, but I think in this case we can make an exception."

Cool!  Something else I can ask Freddie about; he probably wrote it, he knows so much about Japan.  But first I want to hear it.  I'm going to have Lauren look it up as soon as I find out how it's pronounced. 

So Ms. Yamaguchi writes the English letter version down and then has me repeat after her, "Te o."

"Te o."

"Tor-ee-ah-teh."

"Teo Torriatte?"

"Right.  Now, hurry back to your seat, we're starting soon."

"Hai." 

As soon as I plop back down next to her, Lauren has to tease me.  "Danny and Ms. Y, sitting in a tree-"

"Shut up, hermit crab," I whisper, and she nudges me.  "Quick, I need you to look up something real quick on Youtube.  It's a song-"

"No!  No Prince!  I'm so done with Prince, that's all you like!"

"No, I don't.  Anyway, it's not even Prince, it's Queen, and it's a Japanese song."

"Oh, Queen?" Lauren brightens up.  "Japanese?  That's cool.  What's the name?"

 I show her the sticky note.  So she pulls out her old smart phone and opens up YouTube, moving fast because almost everyone has arrived and we're running out of time.  My phone can't really pull up videos and media because it's so old and the graphics are so bad, so I have to rely on other people's phones to show them funny pictures and videos.

On the home page, where her recommended videos show up, I notice how many Queen music videos appear. I guess she's decided she doesn't mind some of their stuff besides "We Will Rock You."  I would gig her about it, but I'm focused.  I push my glasses further up my nose, squint at one of the pictures, and see it's for the song "Don't Stop Me Now."  Freddie is sitting there in front of a microphone with his mouth open, like he's in the middle of a song.

"I don't like his teeth," Lauren murmurs.

I roll my eyes.  "They're just teeth."

"His hair's nice, though," she goes on softly, scrolling further down past other videos where his hair is much longer, and he's in this big fur coat- and I could be wrong, but as she slides past it, I think I see his nails are polished!  I can't help but giggle.  Freddie, you look so strange!  What's with the Pharaoh eye makeup? 

I look at the time- which is pretty much up, but Ms. Yamaguchi is still getting her stuff together.  "Come on, Lauren, let's get on with it."

But she's still drooling over his hair.  "Nice and fluffy.  I want to touch it."

Girls.

With a sigh, I begin, "Can you please just pull up the song and- WAIT! GO BACK!"

Lauren looks up, frowns.  "Huh?"

"Go back!  I saw someone!" I cry.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think so.  I gotta see again.  She slowly scrolls back up, up, up, until I say, "There it is!  Hold it!"

And I stare at the thumbnail- but not for very long.

Ms. Yamaguchi claps her hands.  "Ohayou, my friends!  Let's put our phones away now, we've only a few more days together this year, let's make them special!"

Lauren tucks her phone back into her bag- but I reach in to pull mine out.  I gotta tell Mom. 

It was a video for a song that I remember is also on the Greatest Hits I'm borrowing- "The Invisible Man," I think.  I listened to it this morning while getting ready for school.  It sounds an awful lot like the Danny Phantom theme song, except no rapping, but the bass is almost identical, and the part where Freddie goes "I'm the invisible man" sounds just like the hook line "Gotta catch 'em all, 'cos he's Danny Phantom."  Weird, right?

But I'm not thinking about the song itself, I'm thinking about the man I saw in the thumbnail.  It was somebody in a black cowboy hat with a big nose, graying curly hair, and kind of small, hooded eyes.

I swear, he looked just like Uncle John.  It's crazy.

I keep rummaging around in my bag, but I can't find my phone.  I must have left it at home again.  Oh, well.  I'll just tell Mom tonight, when we go to see the Star Wars thing with Dr. Preus.  Hopefully Freddie's coming, too, but if he was being serious in what he said in "Bicycle Race," he probably won't.

"Teo torriatte," I whisper to myself, rolling the r's a nice long time.  As a joke, I turn to Lauren and say, "Will you let me teo torriatte?"

She blinks.  "Uh... okay."

"Cool."  So I grab her hand and hold on tight.

"Danny!" she cries, tearing her hand away from me. 

Ms. Yamaguchi looks our way.  "Danny, stop flirting with Lauren and pay attention, please."

And of course, everyone says "Ooo" and giggles like the silly people they are.  Lauren and I scoot our chairs as far away from each other as we can, blushing, Lauren's freckles blending in with her reddening face.  I wasn't flirting with her, she's not my girlfriend.  Everybody here says that, but they're wrong.  She's my friend, the way Mom and Freddie are.  They're just old friends.  At least, that's what Mom keeps saying. 

Weird friends, though.  They keep on looking at each other so funny, especially whenever their backs are turned.  All last night, while we were decorating the tree, and even this morning, I saw them giving each other these sad looks, but as soon as Mom or Freddie turned back around, they looked away.  Lauren and I don't do that.  And the way they talk to each other- I don't know.  There's just a weird feeling whenever they are together.  I'm not sure what it means, and I don't know if I like it or not.

I don't sulk for much longer, though; there's a project to start, and this is a good one.  Thanks to Freddie and his band, I know just to do.