Pause

by CJ Adler

  Grams narrows her eyes at him. “Shut it! And stop giving me those bedroom eyes of yours!”

  “What!?” Laiken splutters in shock. “I wasn't—”

  “Tut, tut!” Grams cuts him off from saying anything more.

  Laiken falls quiet as a result, a deadly frown on his face, as he backs down, being wise for once.

  “I'm scared,” Bells whispers to me.

  So am I.

  ***

  “More spiky,” Grams reprimands Ramos as she pulls at Laiken's hair.

  Laiken lets out a yelp of pain before glaring at her, failing to hide his hatred.

  Grams forced Bells to get Ramos to come over. Ramos' job is to style the hair of those who will be in the play. Seeing as Laiken is now Goku, Grams needs Ramos to spike his hair up to 'Super Saiyan' style. Grams also has Laiken wearing an orange jumpsuit that resembles the outfit Goku usually wears. All in all, she's doing a great job; Lai could easily pass off as Goku.

  Ramos rolls his eyes at Grams in pure irritation. She's been on his case the entire morning. I, however, am just glad that someone can put Ramos in his rightful place every once in a while.

  “Zie boy's hair can no more spiky. Enough spiky! No, no, no spiky!” Ramos argues, knowing no better.

  Grams acts and steps forward to grab him by the collar of his shirt. “More. Spiky,” she replies through clenched teeth. Ramos gulps in fear and nods obediently. Satisfied, she smiles sweetly and releases him.

  “Yes, Ma'am,” Ramos answers as he gets back to it, using more hairspray on Laiken's poor hair.

  However, I have to stifle my own laughter when I see how hard Laiken's hair has become from all the hair products. “Sharp as knives,” I remark as I touch one of the tips of his spikes.

  He glares at me in return, infuriated.

  What's even funnier is Max being stuffed into Gramp's over-sized green onesie. Max is Leonardo, the leader of the Ninja Turtles. Unlike Laiken, Max looks nothing like his character. Gramps ran out of money for props when he used all his money on his director attire. The consequence, for Max anyway, is wearing cheap garbage.

  Grams notices Max and his sucky costume. She sends Gramps a flat look. “Howard, you utter udder-face! You spent your half of the money on your outfit and now you don't have enough money for props. You inbred! Don't you plan? You're terrible with finances! Money is money! You won't find a diamond in the ground!”

  The ground is exactly where you'll find a diamond.

  “Relax, Grams. I think Max looks better than usual. It's an upgrade to his appearance,” I try to reassure her before Gramps is murdered in front of us all.

  Max shoots me a scowl for that one to which I just smile and wave.

  It's not my fault Gramps covered Max in countless of pillows before forcing the onesie over him. Instead of Max looking like some muscular turtle, he just looks like a fat, green slug. It's hilarious.

  Grams, who'd just been eating her baby food with a spoon, steps in front of Gramps with a menacing growl. She points the spoon directly at him, unintentionally spraying some food in his face as a result. “I will shove this spoon so far up your backside that you will taste metal until the day you die.”

  I cringe at her words. That's a nasty image imprinted into my brain. Grams can be so graphic in her threats sometimes. She's the only human being who truly scares me.

  “It's fine. If I'm dead I will be free from you!” Gramps shouts as they start their bickering yet again. “I'm actually looking forward to death,” he concludes in conviction.

  Jay enters then, with his impeccable timing, and just so happens to hear Gramps say that last part of his rant. He stills, blinks, and then offers my gramps a genuine smile. “I like you,” he decides then and there.

  Of course, Jay would like him for that! Jay is a pessimistic guy. A statement like 'I'm looking forward to death' boosts you right up to Jay's number one list of people he admires. He's cynical like that.

  “What are you doing here?” I ask Jay, surprised. He hasn't really been talking to me lately. “It's after school,” I remind him.

  “Just checking in.” He shrugs, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. “I heard about the commotion. We were bored. Just finished a race.”

  “We?” I arch an eyebrow, puzzled.

  As if on cue, in walks Grey.

  I sigh aloud, disgruntled. “You know how I feel about this play. You are not to come and support tonight, understand? I already know that it's going to be a disaster. So, you and Grey are not to come. Okay?” I clarify as Grey takes his sweet time in approaching us.

  If Grey hears anything about tonight, he'll be the first to arrive with a whole news station in tow.

  “Whatever you request,” Jay agrees, a smirk on his face as he wanders over to Max. “What are you supposed to be? A bush?” I hear Jay ask him. To say the least, Max is not happy.

  “Lawson,” Grey mutters in greeting just as he reaches the point on stage where I'm standing.

  Oh, how I've missed him!

  I put on my best grin for show. “Ah, Grey, my love!” I exclaim, overjoyed to see my soon-to-be husband. “My favoritest person!” He scowls. “'Favoritest' is not a word.”

  I defend my word. “Well, that's rich considering you just used it in a sentence.”

  “I said it to prove a point but it seems your thick head is acting up again,” he openly insults me.

  I laugh, amused. “Oh, Grey, someday you're going to make one unlucky girl very, very, very unhappy,” I tease him, playfully pushing his shoulder.

  He swats my hand away. “Don't touch me,” he growls, already annoyed. “Drowned rat, why don't you stop flirting and give me a hand here?”

  Melinda shouts at me but closes her mouth upon seeing Grey.

  Grey chuckles. “Did she just refer to you as 'drowned rat'?” I nod. “She doesn't like me very much.”

  Grey sends her an appreciative grin. “I like you.”

  I roll my eyes. He and Jay are one in the same.

  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Grey tells Melinda before frowning in my general direction.

  Melinda blushes bright red at his words, looking shy all of a sudden. “Who's your enemy, Aqueela?” She asks upon getting her voice back.

  So now she uses my name? I'd be so much happier if she were mute.

  “My fiancé.”

  My future depends on them never having a relationship. Ever. Never ever. Ever never. Ever never never!

  “Hey, Lawson!” Laiken calls out to me, breaking me from my thoughts.

  Grey seems taken aback that he's not the only one who refers to me by my last name. I grin up at him knowingly. “You didn't really think that you were the only one who hated me, did you?”

  He shakes his head. “In actual fact, I was expecting more.”

  “Liar! Liar! I'll burn your house down with fire!” I chime before joyfully skipping over to Laiken. “What do you want, Lai?” I ask harshly, responding to his numerous whines.

  “Can you give me a hand in the sound room? Your Gramps played around with everything and now nothing is working. I asked Max but he's still 'busy' with his costume,” he elaborates. “So what about you? Can you help me?”

  “No,” I reply casually.

  “Why?” he asks, confused. “Also trying to come up with an excuse on the spot? Or are you 'busy' too?”

  I shake my head. “Neither,” I answer him truthfully. “I just don't want to. Simple.”

  He laughs at this. “At least, you're honest.”

  I end up helping him anyway. I can be nice when required of me...and if I feel like it. Jay interrupts us, saying goodbye to me as he and Grey leave.

  I walk back to the stage to see them all practicing for tonight's performance. Max takes his place on stage in his turtle costume. Laiken reluctantly joins him. I walk closer to hear what they're saying as they read their lines from the script.

  “I can't defeat Cell on my own. I need reinforcements and
you, mutant, can help me, the alien Saiyan, save the world as we know it,” Laiken reads his lines with a confused expression dancing across his face.

  Max reads his lines next. “What of Vegeta and all the others?”

  “They died in a meteorite shower,” Laiken explains. “I'm surprised you don't know? It was all over the news. It happened in New York because you know that's the place where all bad things happen. So, will you help me, Leo? Will you untie our forces?” He stops and looks to Gramps for guidance.

  “Did you mean to say 'unite'?”

  “It's 'untie', you damn amateur!” Gramps snaps and then motions to Max to carry on.

  Max throws in one of his fat, green arms and nods at Laiken. “I, Leonardo, will be honored to lend you a hand. My brothers will help save the day too.”

  In comes Bells as Donatello, Melinda as Raph and–

  “Cut! Cut! Cut!” Gramps roars cockily through the megaphone for the billionth time today as he paces down the bottom of the stage like a raging wild man. He's having fun. I can tell. “I'm not feeling the emotion of your characters! I want your characters to be the half shell heroes of the play, not you! And Laiken, you're doing the worst!”

  Grams smacks Gramps and steals the megaphone from him before yelling into it, “Don't listen to him, Laiken! You're doing fabulous. You're the star of the show. It's you, Max, who is stuffing up! I have half a mind to kill off your character!”

  Max groans, “Please do. Actually, just kill off the real me too. There's no bouncing back from this.”

  ***

  “Lights! Camera! Action!” Grams blares at us through the megaphone as the audience begin to pour in through the halls, taking their seats that they had booked beforehand. The evening is here but our play is so not.

  Gramps is the first on stage as he welcomes everyone like an MC before getting us started. “Be prepared to be amazed!”

  The heavy curtains slowly open to reveal the opening act. It starts off average and then jumps back to just plain garbage. Max, who had been such a big mouth on stage during practice, has now just discovered that he has stage fright.

  Bell has just slipped on stage over some baby food that Grams had messed earlier.

  In one scene, the curtains get jammed and don't come down properly until finally, they cascade right down onto Melinda, basically smothering her. I'm not complaining.

  Laiken, as a Super Saiyan, has to fly, but the wiring holding him up also gets jammed, leaving him suspended in the air for the entire play. He gets bored and starts flexing for his fangirls halfway through the play, taking away all the attention from Max's scenes.

  As for me, I didn't learn any of my lines and just make up stuff as we go along, intentionally disrupting the non-existent flow. At least, I have the audience laughing.

  The play eventually comes to a close. The sad part is when no one claps for us as we, all the actors, come up stage for a final bow. Some people in the audience even 'boo' us and demand for a refund.

  However, out of nowhere, someone stands up and begins to clap and cheer

  for us. “Whoo! Encore!”

  I would recognize his voice anywhere. I search the audience until I find him. He's in the front row, having come despite me telling him not to. Beside him is Grey with a tripod, recording everything. Blubber, Simo, Benley and Oog have also tagged along. They all stand up, the exception being Grey, and begin to cheer and clap too, following Jay's lead.

  The rest of the audience don't join in, not that I expected them to.

  Chapter 39

  Bubbles

  “Remind me why we're doing this again,” Bell says as she finishes painting her nails a vibrant purple.

  “Because Jay is at a race right now, which means I can do whatever I please with his house and I please a karaoke night,” I explain.

  “Oh, yeah! Karaoke night! Right on!” Max cheers, his fists in the air.

  “Shut up, Max! The grown-ups are talking about revenge,” I reprimand, effectively shutting him up.

  “Revenge for him supporting you in a play?” Bell lifts an eyebrow, puzzled. “I just don't get your relationship with Jay. You two are so weird.”

  “There are at least thirty people in Jay's house right now,” Max comments, pushing past the crowds. “Jay is gonna end you.”

  I ignore him and glance over at all the people I've invited, ranging from Benley to Oog, FeeBee, Gland, Jam, Simo, Blubber, Dylan and even Bex. They, of course, invited more people. Fortunately, I got a hold of Jay's card and spent it on food, drinks, a makeshift dance floor, gigantic speakers and what not.

  It's a few minutes later when Jay gets back with Grey. He's surprised, at least, I think he is until in comes Xavier, Boss Man, Landon, Emma, Melinda, Laiken and a million other people behind him.

  “Literally everyone I know and don't know is here,” Max adds. “I feel like there's no place to move without suffocating or brushing up on someone by accident.”

  “That will be your excuse when you run into a cheerleader, right?” I nudge him, only teasing.

  “I'm a taken man now,” he reminds me, flashing his girl a grin before disappearing into the crowds.

  Jay, in his usual black leather jacket, casually makes his way over to me. He's rocking aviators too, resembling a supermodel with his perfectly styled hair. He's got a victorious grin on his lips as he stops directly in front of me, clearly in a good mood.

  “What's going on?” I motion to all the extra people he brought home with him. “Why so upbeat?”

  He shoots me a cunning smirk as he removes his shades, only to reveal his playful blue eyes. “Heard about a karaoke night, was even more surprised to hear that it's taking place at my house. Funny. How coincidental? So, I thought to hell with it and invited more people. Why not expand it into one hell of a rocking party that will make history books, right?”

  My mouth falls agape in surprise. “You cannot be serious.”

  He winks at me, ruffling my hair before purposely knocking my shoulder with his as he moves past me, done with this conversation.

  I glare after him, burning holes through his head. He's always one step ahead of me. I'm losing again.

  “Told you this was a terrible idea,” Bells, 'Ms. Know-it-all', annoyingly points out.

  “Oh, shut up,” I groan, running a hand through my loose curls as I try to block out the loud music and flashing lights. “If Jay wants a war, he'll get one.” I pull on Bell's wrist. “Let's go have some fun.”

  “I'm going to die tonight, aren't I? I just have that gut feeling,” Bells mumbles unhappily.

  “I can't guarantee that you won't.”

  ***

  I follow Bell as she marches through all the people in the direction of the karaoke stage where Max is currently dancing and singing for his supposed fans. I can tell by the way he's slurring his words that he's already drunk. He's just swaying about to his own voice.

  “Where did he get that?” I ask Bells upon seeing the colorful, party hat on Max's head. “I want one!”

  “Whoever knows where Max gets anything from,” Bells replies, just as clueless as me.

  I wince. Max's singing is still as atrocious since Aqueela's Entourage. He hasn't improved…at all. In fact, I think he's got worse, if even possible.

  Bells charges onto the stage and grabs the microphone from him. He pouts at this but doesn't try fighting her on it. He values his life.

  At seeing the most popular girl on stage, people begin to fall silent in curiosity.

  “Yo, everybody!” Bells shouts into the mic, the shot she took now getting to her. “Let's get some real tunes pumping in here!”

  She basically just insulted Max.

  The DJ, who just happens to be Benley, starts playing something cool, shooting Bells a thumbs-up.

  “Let's get the real party started! No holding back! Go crazy!” Bells shouts into mic and tosses it into the crowds. The people go wild at her words; Bell owns them. It's not often she exercises her popularity b
ut when she does, people immediately listen.

  “Stage dive!” Max yells at the top of his drunk lungs, trying to make himself noticed again. He runs forward and dives directly into the crowds.

  As expected, the crowds disperse. Max, not popular like his girlfriend, ends up hitting the floor with his entire body. First injury of the night and, of course, it's Max who starts it off!

  “Max!” Bells shouts out in concern as she jumps off the stage and rushes to his side.

  “Ouchie!” he complains as he sits up and rubs his entire body as if pained all over.

  “Take him to my room, let him sleep it off,” I advise Bells.

  She nods and helps Max to his feet, leading him upstairs.

  Bored, I walk over to Benley. I grin at him and lean against his side to watch him work. “I didn't know that you're a DJ.”

  “Me neither,” he answers, sending a flirtatious wave to the group of girls staring at him. They all giggle and wave back in response. “They love me,” he tells me in triumph, bragging about his sudden jump to fame.

  He sure does love his female attention.

  “Can't possibly imagine why,” I tease him before leaving him be.

  My attention soon focuses on a girl screeching at Blubber as she slaps him through the face. “You're only thirteen! I let you kiss me! You said you were in college!”

  Blubber merely chuckles as she runs away, clearly repulsed.

  I 'tsk' him aloud and shake my head at him, feigning disappointment. “Are you harassing the female species again?” I kid around.

  Blubber rubs his red cheek. “I suppose. Perhaps. What's it to you, goddess of the females?”

  “I thought you had a girl your own age, the one I set you up with,” I remind him, confuzzled. I've never met such a persistent kid before. He doesn't take 'no' for an answer.

  He shrugs. “She wasn't my type. Too young.”

  “She was your age,” I point out to him in exasperation. “Exactly.” He grins cheekily. “I like my women mature.”

  I scoff. “You're such a disgusting, little boy. You shouldn't even be at this party. You're way too young. Underage.”