TITLE: Until Midnight

AUTHOR: Jos Mous

Email: wotan_anubis@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: I own none of these characters, I'm not making any profit, blahblahblah.

RATING: PG-13 for implied smut that would have been explicit smut if I actually had a talent to write it.

PAIRINGS: George/Harrison; Nicole/Carmen; Josh/Sugar Daddy; Lily/Mary Cherry; Sam/Brooke

It was a fairly normal day at Kennedy High. At least, that was what Sam thought until she reached her locker. Because, standing in front of her locker, were two people heavily making out with each other. Sam coughed politely.

"Excuse me? Could you move aside please?"

The couple broke apart and Sam's mouth fell open.

"Harrison?" she said. "G-George? Wha- what's going…?"

"Sam, it's not what you think," Harrison said.

"So you weren't kissing my ex-boyfriend?"

"No," said George. "That's not it. What my love here tries to say is that we're not experimenting."

"Excuse me?" Sam asked, feeling that she had just lost track of the conversation.

"Well, you know how kids all over the place are experimenting with homosexuality," Harrison said.

"We're not," George added. "We're the real deal."

"Oh," said Sam. "Well… I… I hope you'll be very happy."

Sam quickly opened her locker, grabbed her books and then legged it in the opposite direction. Harrison pouted a little.

"I was hoping she'd take the news better than that."

"Don't worry," George said. "She just needs time to deal."

Sam needed to talk to someone. That much was obvious. So she made her way over to the Novak, hoping to find one of her friends there. She found one. Carmen. She also found Nicole. The two of them were sitting on the plush red couch. They were also very much feeding each other little titbits of food and kissed quite a lot.

Sam quietly turned around and left, feeling rather disturbed.

Sam walked through the hallways rather hurriedly, trying to ignore the boys that weren't interested in girls and the girls that weren't interested in boys. Unfortunately, she had developed the habit of picking out the voices of people she knew in a crowded room. So instead of not registering the numerous declarations of love she registered the following.

"Dude, I've got something to tell you."

"No, wait, Suge, let me first."

"I'm sorry bro, but it really can't wait. You see, I love you, man."

"Oh Sugar. I love you too."

At that point, Sam decided to run to the nearest classroom.

Her run was cut short when she turned the final corner into the home stretch. At that point, her brain froze. Seconds after that, it shattered into a billion pieces. And finally, whatever remained of it was blasted away by an army of flame-throwers.

She saw Lily.

And Mary Cherry.

Lily's partly undressed state did not include the top part of her.

Mary Cherry was wielding a razor blade.

This was not good.

"Surprised?"

Sam whirled around, mostly because she didn't want to look at Mary Cherry or Lily in that specific position ever again. She looked into an unknown pair of blue eyes, hidden behind a pair of glasses and set into a face with blonde hair.

"Who are you?" Sam asked.

"I'm Q," said the young man. "Well, not really, actually, but it helps understand who I am a lot sooner."

"You make gadgets for the British Secret Service?" Sam asked.

"Not that Q. Q from Star Trek. I don't want to say that I'm all-powerful, but I'm pretty damn close."

"I take it you caused… all this."

"Do you like it?"

"Not really. Undo it. Now!"

"And what would be the fun in that? I didn't just put a spell on everyone simply to break it again. I want to have a little fun."

"I'd say you've had your fun. Time to go look for it someplace else."

"Ah, but Miss McPherson, don't you understand?" Q said. "I made everybody on Kennedy High gay and took away their inhibitions. The sole reason why you weren't affected is simply because you were born gay. Isn't that right?"

"Well…"

"So that is why I want you to break the spell," he continued happily. He handed Sam a piece of paper covered in writing. "The top part are the ingredients. You'll find that all the ingredients can be found in any common household here in America. The lower bit is the incantation. You don't have to understand what it all means, you just have to say it."

"And that will break the spell?" Sam asked, looking up from the paper.

"That will break the spell," Q said. "However, you will have to do it before… oh… let's say midnight. Midnight sounds like a good time don't you think? You have to break the spell before midnight. If you don't, the effects of the spell will become permanent."

"No problem," Sam said.

"We'll see," said Q. "Oh, and take this watch. The clocks around here are all a little imprecise. If this watch strikes twelve, it will be midnight exactly," he took out a small round watch on a chain and handed it to Sam. "Well then, good luck."

Q disappeared in cloud of black smoke. Sam looked at the paper and started walking towards the exit of the school. Skipping a few classes in order to save everyone from some spell wasn't such a bad thing, after all.

Because Sam was looking at the paper, she didn't notice Brooke running up to her. She only noticed the cheerleader when she tackled Sam, straddled the brunette, kissed her passionately and told her that she loved her.

Sam was staring at the ceiling. She wasn't exactly sure what time it was. She was aware of the fact that it was dark. She was also aware of the fact that Brooke was naked and lying next to her, asleep. And finally, she was aware of the fact that she was happy.

The rest of the day, Brooke hadn't left Sam's side. They had been holding hands, had shared a multitude of quick little kisses and had confessed their love for each other over and over again. And when they had got home, they had went to Brooke's bedroom and hadn't left.

And that, really, was what Sam wanted in life. She had found out she was gay at the same time that she had found out that she was in love with Brooke. And now, Brooke loved her. Even if the love wasn't really real.

Sam quietly got out of bed. Rummaging through her clothes, she discovered the watch. It was almost midnight.

"Sammy…?" a sleepy voice asked from the bed.

"I'm here Brooke," Sam whispered. "Go back to sleep."

"I love you."

Sam closed her eyes as hurt swept through her and she tried not to cry.

"Love you too, Brooke," she managed to whisper.

<<I have to break the spell,>> Sam thought. <<I have to. It's the only right thing to do.>>

The brunette got dressed and walked towards the door. She briefly looked back. Brooke was asleep again. All she had to do was wait a few minutes. Just let time tick away a few mere minutes more and she could be with Brooke for the rest of her life.

Sam sharply turned around. She couldn't think like that. Wouldn't think like that. Biting down the hurt, she opened the door and headed for the kitchen.

A new morning dawned and when Sam headed for her locker she saw George and Harrison talking to each other awkwardly. They were looking quite embarrassed and soon parted ways. Sam half expected to see the same sight over and over throughout the entire school. She opened her locker and took out her books.

"Sam?"

"Hi Brooke," Sam said, looking straight at her locker.

"Sam, look at me."

Reluctantly, Sam closed her locker and looked at the cheerleader.

"About last night…" the blonde started.

"It's OK," Sam said. "It was just a spell."

"A spell?" Brooke said.

"Yeah," Sam said. "None of it was real."

"So… you don't love me."

"No."

"I see… well… I… I do love you, Sam."

At that point, Sam experienced another brain freeze. Brooke misinterpreted her silence, turned away and ran. A few moments later, Sam managed to form thoughts again.

"Brooke!" she yelled. "Brooke, wait!"

Q looked at the brunette, running after the blonde. Saw her catching up with her. Saw, but couldn't hear, the explanation. Smiled as the two of them shared a tender kiss.

They say the Devil sometimes dresses up as an angel to get what he wants. However, nobody really believes that the opposite might also be true.