--->Chic-a Cherry University
Literature I: Savage Garden Fanfiction
A Savage Sunday
by Jess
Darren Hayes awoke with a start. He had had a really strange dream in which he and his partner, Daniel Jones, had switched places. Darren hadn’t been able to play guitar or keyboards for their concert and....
Well, it was over now. Darren got up and went into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror...and promptly screamed. His dream wasn’t over-Darren was Daniel!
Daniel Jones woke up and thought about the silly dream he’d just had. In it, Daniel had swapped bods with friend and group member, Darren Hayes. Daniel had become the dark-haired lead singer of their group and all these girls were swooning over him. Meanwhile, Daz had been screwing up the guitar chords and...
Daniel laughed. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. Hang on, he thought, why am I in Darren’s room? I must have been really tired...or drunk... or something. Ah, well...as long as Daz doesn’t mind. Dan got up and went into the hotel room bathroom. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror. Whoa! I’m Darren Hayes! That sure was nice of him, trading bods with me like that. Then Daniel slapped his head. God, I must still be dreaming. Or maybe I’m hallucinating. Yeah, that’s it. I’ll bet it’s from lack of chocolate!! Daniel pulled on some of Darren’s (his?) clothes that were strewn about the floor and went out the door to his (Darren’s?) room.
Darren snatched one of the many shirts and a pair of boxers which were flopped on the chair and dashed back into the bathroom, locking the door. I can’t let anyone see me as Daniel...at least not until I’ve figured out how to be Daniel. Thank God we don’t have a tour concert today! Just then, he heard a knock on the hotel room door. Uh-oh, he thought. I’ve got to say something. "Uh...just a sec!!"
Daniel pounded on the door of his ‘old’ room. "Dar-" he began, then stopped. Oops, that was bad! He tried again. "Jonesy! Are ya up? It’s 9:30 already. You aren’t gonna spend the day in bed, are you?" God, that felt weird. I just gave my own bod a wake-up call!
Ooh. That sounded like, well, me. It’s got to be Daniel out there. He sure can act! Sounds like he’s been Darren Hayes for years-like I have. And I plan on going back to being Darren Hayes just as soon as possible.
Well, I can’t wait here all day for him. A guy has to eat sometime! Dan went to the elevator.
"Hey!" Anna-Maria crashed into Dan as the doors opened.
"Sorry, Anna! Have you already eaten?"
"Nope. I was on my way down, but realized that I’d forgotten my purse! Is Daniel up yet?"
Right here, Dan thought. Aloud, he said, "Yeah, I think he’s getting dressed."
"Okay. See you downstairs!" She bopped off down the hall, and Daniel got into the elevator. Well, that went okay, he thought. Now I’ve got to consider this mess that Darren and I have become tangled up in. I hope it doesn’t last long. Especially since we have a concert tomorrow night! I’ll be alright, but Darren can’t play a keyboard, let alone electric guitar! Hang on-can I still play guitar?! Dan jumped out of the elevator when it reached the lobby and ran to the stairs. I’ve got to get back to my room!! I mean Darren’s room! I mean...oh, forget it!
Darren had finished dressing and was trying to style Daniel’s (his?) hair. This is hopeless! Dan’s hair is way too short. Unfortunately, I’m Daniel now and I can’t do anything about it. Uh-oh...if I’m permanently Dan, then how the heck am I supposed to play Dan’s instruments for the concert tomorrow night? I’ve got to find him now! Darren ran to the door and opened it...and fell backwards as a dark-haired mass flew into him.
"Oof!"
"Sorry, mate. Oh, God!!" This is going to be harder than I thought. It’s impossible to talk to Darren...especially if he’s in my body! At least, I hope it’s Darren in there... "HELLO?! Will you get off me? Then we can talk about this mess." Not that I know what to say-’Hi, Darren, you remember me-your friend, Darren?’ HAH! Oh good-not only am I Daniel Jones, I’m also a nutcase! The two stood up and faced each other. Daniel spoke first. "Uh, you are really Darren, aren’t you?" Boy, that sounded stupid.
"Yeah. Daniel, how are we going to fix this? I can’t play any instruments! All I can do is sing...but not in your body. Everyone will think you-I mean, me-er, um...uh..."
"I get the point-Daniel Jones." God, he sounds even more freaked about this than I am!
"Yeah. Anyway, the fans’ll think we’re nutso. I can see it now-"MEET SAVAGE GARDEN, THE MENTALLY DERANGED BAND FROM AUSTRALIA!!" That won’t go over well." Darren watched as Daniel picked up one of his guitars and began to play TTMAB.
"Whew! Sorry, Daz. I just had to make sure that I could still play. I wasn’t sure if I could."
Darren slumped onto the bed, depressed. "Well, I can’t do anything now. Why don’t you just kick me off the band and...."
"Darren! I could never do that. Come on, sing. It’ll make you feel better."
At the mention of singing, Darren lit up. Daniel strummed the intro and Darren began to sing:
"She’s taking her time making up the reasons
To justify all the hurt inside
Guess she knows from the smiles and the look in their eyes
Everyone’s got a theory about the bitter one..."
Just then, Leonie walked in through the door, which the guys had accidentally left ajar.
Oh, boy. This is not going to go well.
Damn! Leonie, why did you have to come in now?! What are we going to do...what are we going to do...
"Oh my god. Please tell me that I didn’t just see what I thought I saw." Leonie paled and grabbed a chair for stability. What the heck are they doing? Darren does not play electric guitar....or does he? And Daniel doesn’t sing...not that often, anyway. "Ohhhh....." Leonie flopped into the chair, exhausted with all of this thinking.
Daniel looked at Darren with a worried expression. "Um...Leonie? We were just...ah...well..." Like I know! What are we supposed to say? ‘Well, this morning, Daz and I woke up and found that we had switched bodies for absolutely no reason. And we aren’t even sure for how long!’
Darren spoke up. "Well, this morning, Dan and I woke up and found that we had switched bodies for absolutely no reason. And we aren’t even sure for how long it’ll last or anything!!"
IDIOT! IMBECILE! DOOFUS! DUMBBELL! NITWIT! GOOFBALL! BLOCKHEAD! Daniel thought.
Darren looked helplessly at Daniel, as if to say, "Well, what was I supposed to say?" Daniel just glared at him.
"What?! You switched bodies? Yeah, right!" Leonie began to laugh.
"And you have a better theory?" Daniel queried.
"Hang on...lemme think.......uh.....ummmmm.....No," she admitted. Leonie sat upright and stared intensely at the two men. Well, they don’t look different, except for the fact that Darren doesn’t look like he spent any time on his hair, which isn’t at all like him! And Daniel looks like he just stepped out of a bandbox, which I don’t think is really like him, especially on a day off! And maybe the fact that Darren is holding an electric guitar and strumming chords on it....oh, God, I’m going mad!!
"Leonie, are you alright? Because you might be the only one who can help us out." Daniel eyed her as she rocked back and forth with her head in her hands and moaned softly. Yikes, she’s gone off the deep end or something! he thought worriedly.
"Yeah, Leonie. Maybe you could...uh...switch us back?" Darren stopped when Daniel gave him a funny look. Maybe not, Darren thought to himself. "So, Leonie, do you know what we can do?"
Leonie stood up. "Yeah, eat breakfast. I need some food before I contemplate major catastrophes."
The two bandmates looked at each other and shrugged. They all left Daniel’s room and went downstairs.
******************************************
Breakfast went reasonably well, except for a few conversational mishaps where Darren would answer for Daniel and so forth. The trio made their way back up to discuss the body-swapping more thoroughly.
"So," Darren began, "anyone come up with anything? Daniel and I can’t stay like this forever, you know. It’ll drive us nuts!"
Leonie groaned. "Please don’t say each other’s names like that! You guys keep forgetting that I see you differently. It really scares me when Daniel starts talking about himself like you just did....uh, Darren?"
Darren and Daniel looked at each other. We have got to fix this, and soon, Daniel thought. "Ya know," he said aloud, "this reminds me of that movie we saw-Freaky Friday. Do you remember how they solved it, Darren?"
"Yeah-they thought the same thing at the same time."
"Well, I’m sure we’ve done that several times already this morning, so that idea’s out of the question, then." Daniel sighed heavily and flopped on the unmade bed. He reached over and picked up his guitar. "Should we tell the rest of the band? I mean, don’t they deserve to know?"
Leonie darted to the door and slammed it shut. Then she threw all of the locks and leaned against it, breathing heavily. Daz and Dan exchanged a look, totally perplexed.
"Uh, Leonie? What the heck was that for? We aren’t going to escape or any-thing, are we?"
"No," Leonie wheezed. "We just can’t risk anyone else knowing about this. At least, not until we figure out if it’s permanent. Can you imagine how well that would go?"
The two considered it. "Okay, Leonie. You’re right....." Just then there was a knock on the door. Leonie looked wild-eyed at Darren, who was holding a guitar, and Daniel, who was singing softly.
"Put the guitar down! And Daz-or Dan-or whoever-STOP SINGING!" Leonie hissed frantically.
"Hey! Are you guys going to let us in or do we have to break the door down?!" Ben’s voice came through the wooden door as he pounded on it with his fist.
"Well, Leonie? Unlock the door! We’ll be fine," Daniel told her. She did so, letting Ben and Nicole in.
"There’s been a change of plans," Nicole began. "There are a whole lot of fans out in the lobby who want a concert. How about it? The stage is set up already."
Darren, Daniel, and Leonie stared at each other. Then Daniel found himself nodding his head in approval. Darren and Leonie looked at him crazily.
**********************************************
The next thing Darren knew, they were on the stage in front of what looked like thousands of screaming fans. But Daniel was at the mike! Dan glanced at Darren as Darren tried to get a grip on the guitar rather awkwardly. Daz heard the drummer click his sticks together and everyone else began playing. This was his cue. Darren saw Daniel open his mouth and...
Darren woke up, panting heavily and perspiring. He rubbed his eyes and looked around the dimly-lit hotel room. The clock read 2:25. He sighed heavily. Then he heard a gentle knock at the door. "Daz? Are you awake?" "Hang on, Jonesy." Darren slid on a bathrobe and opened the door. Daniel stood there in a shirt and boxers, looking confused.
"Come on in," Darren said. He opened the door wider and ushered his friend in. "What’s up, Daniel? You look like you just saw a ghost!" They sat down.
"It might as well have been. Daz, I just had the weirdest dream. More of a nightmare, really. In it, you and I, well, switched places. Or bodies. Whatever."
Darren looked at him, surprised. "Whoa. Dan, I just had the same dream!"
"You think it means anything?"
Darren shrugged. "Nah. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Just a freak coincidence or something. Maybe the food around here did it!"
"Okay. See ya in the morning!" Daniel smiled at him and left. That was really weird, Darren thought. Oh, well. I’ve got to get some sleep. After all, we have a concert tomorrow!
The End
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