Disclaimer: The characters are mine, the plot mine too. All that may happen in this story is product of my imagination. Any resemblance to someone's life is pure coincidence.

Author's Note: Well, I hope you guys like this, I've been fighting with myself whether I should write this story or not, for like 4 months now. My brain won the fight. I was in a writer's block but I've recouped and now I'm back and the story finally has something to tell!

Rating: R, for bad words, situation and sexual content.

Summary: She's a college student, broke as she can get. No job whatsoever and a weird friend who's her 5 years from now. Will she survive in the real world? Will she be able to pay for her next semester? Will she finally stop meeting that guy who occupies her laundry machines?
(Revised on Dec. 28,2007)

Mystery Train

Chapter 1: Walking In The Rain

"I want you guys to write the shortcomings of the article and remember of the writing activity we have next week, it's gonna cost you a whole grade and it will serve as your final, ok? See you all next week", said Professor Willington as the students picked up their belongings and walked outside the classroom.

"What time is it?", said Rachel.

"It's 5:55. You taking the bus?".

"Yeah…you?".

"Yeap, unless it's raining, you in?".

"Let's go".

Jessica and Rachel headed downstairs, for the bus that was going to take them 3 streets away from their dorm.

"Hey, are we on for tonight?", Jessica asked.

"Yeah, I picked up a few movies. You got the popcorn?".

"Yeah… you got the hotties?"

"Well, I got them in mind…", she said smiling a little bit sad. Rachel had a boyfriend, but he lived back in Buenos Aires, so they couldn't see each other much. However they spoke every night, before she went to bed. Sadly for Jessica, she had to hear all of the conversations they had because she was right next to Rachel. The good side of it was that she got payback when Matt called her every Saturday at 11pm and they stayed up late, and Sundays Jessica usually dragged Rachel to church… sometimes she won the battle, other times, she didn't.

"Tell me you at least got a screen hottie for us to see tonight".

"Freddie Prince Jr.'s in your Hottie Scale, so he's in…''

"Alright".

They walked together, once they got to their dorm room, they tried to cook, giving up and had to go down to the cafeteria and bring some crappy sandwiches with some sort of liquidated sugary powdered, if that's a word, juice.

"Got the grub, wait let me get comfy", Jessica, said as she entered the room and found Rachel feeding the VCR the video.

"Brought you a crapwich".

"What's that?

"A crappy sandwich".

Once the movie was done and half the crapwich was thrown to the garbage, they looked at the watch… 9:30p.

"Rachel, this sucks!!! It's still 9:30!!! What are we gonna do! I'm bored outta my mind!".

"Well, we could go out… you know what? We're going out. Get dressed, and try to look flossin' , let's go break sum hearts, Girl".

An hour and a half later, both girls dressed, ready to go and looking hot stepped out into the night and left for the nearest club around, knowing they were at least going to meet someone from their classes. Rachel was wearing some black pants and a sequenced halter-top with a black sparkly bracelet to match it. Her hair, usually straight, she had it smoothed back, making her look elegant and slick. Jessica wore some gray pants and some unusual high heals (she stuck to boots and sneakers) with a black top and a silver necklace with a solitary diamond…fake, but hey! no one knew that. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail, straightened (she was born with curly hair).

After saying 'hi' to a couple of friends of her, Rachel led the way for a table she spotted inside the small room in a corner.

"Jess, I'm going to the bar, whatcha want?", she asked.

"Virgin coke, on the rocks, please…" she answered with a smile in her lips.

"Girl, I told ya I was gonna train you how to drink, now, c'mon. Let me buy you something full of alcohol".

"Let's make a deal, you'll train me how to drink when I am sure someone else is there to make sure I don't go with someone else that's not you or him… ", Rachel instantly knew she was referring to Matt, the only guy Jessica would get drunk with and she wouldn't refuse.

"Deal, but you owe me, remember that, ai'ight?".

"You bet your ass, I'll remember". With that, Rachel left for the bar, Jessica guarding the table, taping her fingers with the beat of the music. She saw this guys with a plastic cup in his hand approaching the table, she didn't think much of it, but she was aware of him.

'Great, here I thought the idiot was going somewhere else, does he really need to share his words with me? Or Rachel for that matter??', she thought as the guy came near her and before he arrived at the table, she could smell him. 'Woo, someone's AWOL at work'.

"Hey, sup!", said the guy with a slur in his words.

"Hey". Jessica acknowledged his presence but not enough to make him think she wanted to keep on talking to him.

"So… the name's Michael… want a drink?".

"No Michael, and the name's for me to know and for you not to".

"Ooh… feisty, I like'em like that".

"Too bad I can't say the same thing about the drunks".

"Anyways… where do you work?".

"Actually, I'm working right now..

"Really? What are you working on?".

"I'm working on getting rid of you".

"God, bitch, what stick crawled up your ass when you got dressed?".

"Piss off, asshole!". And with that Michael and his drink left, Rachel arrived to hear the last words of Michael and Jessica, and looked at her with a smirk.

"Someone's playing on the defense tonight".

"Nah, this assholes bring it out of me… I mean, just because you're sitting alone, perfectly sober and looking around doesn't mean you want them to help you get alcoholically sedated and accompanied. Do I have a sign that says: 'Help me, I'm sober and I don't have someone to hang out with?'. I didn't think so".

"Yo, if ya angry, don't take it out on me".

"Sorry, girl… I'm just a little stressed, finals are coming next week, I have done shit for studying and I have no job whatsoever… I am entitled to a little bitchiness".

"Yes you are, just not directed at me".

"I'm sorry… anyways, we're my virgin coke on the rocks?".

Rachel placed the drink on the table, sipping hers, God knows what it was, and looked about in the room, spotting some guys that looked possibly sober and lonely.

"Hottie with sign that says: 'I'm alone, dance wit me'. Be right back".

"Get your freak on, girl".

Rachel approached the guy, he was reclined against a rail that separated the dance floor from the corner booths. He was about 6'1, brown hair, dressed in a long sleeved blue button shirt and a red tie, and some black Dockers. He was bopping his head at the rhythm of the music and was looking at the dance floor a little too sadly, or at least that's how he looked because he was alone.

She stood next to him and offered him a smile that he returned, a feeble one but one, nonetheless. She got close to his ear and said…

"You wanna dance?".

"Yeah sure!".

She grabbed his hand and dragged him to the dance floor, hip-hop playing and so they began to dance.

"You feel sad?".

"Huh?".

"Are you still sad, now that you're dancing?".

"Why you say that?".

"Because I saw you looking at the other people dancing and you didn't look very happy".

"God, you could tell that?!".

She laughed cheekily.

"Yeah, but don't worry it wasn't the reason why I asked you to dance".

"It wasn't? Then what was?".

"Well, I wanted to dance, and you are a 9".

"Alright, you lost me".

"It's a joke my friend and me have… just keep in mind you're a 9 and that's all".

The guy shrugged and smiled. He didn't know what the girl meant, but a 9 never could mean bad, or could it?

"Oh, hey by the way… I'm Jackson, and you are?".

"Daria".

"Daria?".

"Yes, Daria… like the MTV cartoon. For the record, I was created first".

The guy couldn't help but chuckle at the remark.

"So Daria, you here alone?".

"Nope, my friend's sitting there at the table", she pointed to Jessica.

"Why you leave her alone?".

"Would you rather not dance at all and keep staring at the dance floor's tiles?".

"I retract myself from the last question".

Rachel chuckled, "don't, I was just teasing… I don't know why she ain't dancing… that girl has energy to spare. How about you, you came alone?".

"Actually nope, my friend did the same thing only, he's in the bathroom…well was before you picked me up".

"I didn't pick you up!. I … I… I wanted to ask you something about your hair".

"Something about my hair… Let's hear it then… what do you want to know about my hair?".

"How do you keep it so shiny? What shampoo do you use?".

The guy couldn't help to laugh hard this time.

"Honestly…? I steal it from my roommate, so whatever he buys is fine with me".

In the other corner of the room, Jessica sat in hers and Rachel's table, sipping her drink and looking around, and also trying to avoid the drunk guys… one look and they think you wanna sleep with them.

She sighed to herself and decided that this was not her scene. She got up and grabbed her hand purse and Rachel's hand purse, and walked to Rachel's dancing form with the guy attached to her.

"Farina, I'ma head out, ai'ight?".

"What's wrong? You feelin' ok?"

"I'm fine, I just… I dunno, I'm just not in the mood to party… I'ma catch Friends or something, see ya round".

"Alright, but don't say I don't take you out! Hey, if you don't fall asleep, rec. it for me, k?".

"You got it, bye".

With that, she left the club and started walking, she didn't have money for a cab and besides, the dorms were just a few blocks away, so she only had to walk and it was nice night.

She sang under her breath as she looked around to avoid dark and shadowy streets. Then all of the sudden, rain came pouring down in sheets, and she calculated how long would it take her to get to the dorm. Realizing that she would never get there before she was completely soaked, she took her time and walked in the rain. And just because it was fun, she was talking out loud to herself.

"So Jessica, how long has it been since you had a vacation?".

"I don't know, Dick… gosh… like 3 years. I just can't seem to stop. Vacations to me is going to bed late and waking up later…"

"And how does it feel to win a Grammy?".

"Honestly, it was an honor to be nominated, but I just couldn't believe it when I won. After I won, all I could think about was going back to the studio and doing it again and again".

"Um… excuse me… are you lost?

At that moment, she looked up and realized that she wasn't walking alone anymore and that someone was listening to her. She blushed, not that it could be seen that much with the rain and the running make up in her face.

"Oh, God. Sorry…heheh I… I didn't see you there. How long have you been listening to me?"

"Well, I'm not sure, but you want to share a cab, that way you'll get faster to the studio".

"Oh my God!", she couldn't help but laugh this was just too embarrassing to be true and she knew she would always remember this moment.

"Can't share that cab though…"

"You can't? Why not?".

"Cuz I'm not walking in the rain because I like it… I'm kinda broke".

"That's alright… where you heading?".

"Charleston building, you?".

"Same…what floor?".

"5th, you?".

"21st".

"You got the single penthouse dorm?".

"Well, it isn't really mine, you see… I don't own it".

"Still! Man!! That's like winning the 1 billion dollars lottery!".

"Nah!, so… really, why you walking in the rain in the middle of the night by yourself? You know, it's dangerous for a girl like you to be in these circumstances. Tell me at least you got the crappy pepper spray that everyone's immune to these days".

"The truth or my mental version?".

"Hit me with the mental version first… you know, since we got many blocks ahead and trillions of raindrops to go".

Jessica smiled.

"Well, Dick. I decided that since I wanted to be chased by an unknown masked man with a hook in his left hand and a black raincoat, I needed to walk in a slippery surface, with no guns and in a dark street with high heels. That way when the unknown man comes to kill me, he won't have to go through much trouble. But just because I can't go down without doing something to him, he's gonna let me scream first and ask him questions randomly… like what kind of cheese is he into and where did he buy that nice raincoat".

He couldn't help to smile at the quick wit this girl had. She was fun, and he didn't know her.

"And the truth?".

"My girlfriend and I decided to go bar hopping and she was dancing, didn't feel like getting drunk or hit by guys who can't spell 'OK' and since I was relying on my friend's dough, I decided to walk, unknown to me, the rain had decided to keep me company, and I decided that thinking about my award winning songs was better than muttering under my breath about my bad luck and my empty pockets, and then I was heard by a guy that lives in my building yet, I've only heard about him as the legend of the 21st floor".

He was laughing heartedly now and she joined him.

"What about you? Are you the masked man that wants to kill me with his left hook?".

"Let's put it this way... I'm the guy that tries to protect the girl before he dies, leaving the girl with a gun to kill the bad man".

"And in Truthland that would be...?"

"I gotta flat and I was about to change when I realized that I had no spare so I was walking to the nearest gas station to get one... in the way, I overheard you and here I am".

"Can't you like, call a truck or something...a cab perhaps?"

"Can't... my money's in plastic".

"Oh... well then, let's go to the gas station".

"Nah, that's alright. I'll change it tomorrow... don't feel like getting double wet".

She shrugged and kept on walking. He kept up the pace next to her with his hands in his pockets.

"You cold?", he offered taking his jacket off.

"Yeah... but I don't think that can help me much... you know, since it's wet and all. Like the rest of our clothes".

He laughed to himself and put it back. They kept on walking for a few more minutes and they finally reached the lobby of their building. They got weird looks from the door guard, but they shrug it off as if was nothing. Once in the elevator, the buttons of their respective floors were pressed and the 'ding' of her floor made its presence.

"Well", she said stepping out of the lift and extending her hand and smiling, "thanks for the company. Guess that man's gonna have to climb through the window. Be careful though. He always prays on lone solitary young guys who have a big place for themselves". And with that the doors closed leaving him without a chance to say something back to her.

She walked to her door, opened and started taking her clothes off in one place in order not to get the rest of the room wet. She changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth. She glanced at the clock on the wall. 1:34 am.

'Damn! Missed Friends!'.

A/N:

I've decided to rewrite the story, changing the whole background, so no more Cracker Jack boy. Fortunately, I became obsessed with Bon Jovi, the 80's rock music group. And I decided to re-write the story and the whole love-plot and relationship thing. Don't worry, the story isn't about them at all.

So there you have it. Who is the legend of the 21st floor? Why did Jessica didn't bathe? And is Jackson getting busy tonight? Stay tuned! Flames and reviews are welcomed.

Second A/N: I've realized how many grammar mistakes are in this, so I'm going to be revising it and fixing them. Thanks for reading and your patience while I correct this.