DANNY Chapter 48 by Roberta J. Cabot This is a story about Daniel, a guy with a unique talent and an even more unique problem: A great singing voice and the looks of his gorgeous sister. And how he and his family deal with his having breasts. And how he ends up as the female lead singer for a high-school cover band as well as a radio DJ. Danny and Nikki had another wonderful time when they checked into another Holiday Inn, although it ended all too quickly because they had to meet up with the guys for their day in town. Although they ended up shopping. Again. So, is there really never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang?

  Chapter Forty-Eight: Men's Stuff

***** (Danny) *****

Asking some of the salespeople, they said that the men's section was on the floor above. So Nikki and I hopped on the escalator.

Nikki and I talked about Mongo and Dale, and we thought of what kind of image they should be projecting in their outfits. Instead of Danielle, who's approach to the girls' outfits were instinctual and seemed to be able to zero in on the girls' essence and expressing them in their attire, we didn't have that skill, so we had to approach this in a more logical way. So we looked at who Mongo and Dale was to us.

Nikki asked me what I thought of the two. After all, playing with them in the band all this time, I should have a sense of who these guys were. So I said what I thought.

"Well, both of them are very talented," I said.

"That's not what I meant!" Nikki giggled. "But I guess what I'm asking is, what're your impressions of them. As people."

"Ahhh..."

I thought about my two friends.

"Well, I guess, when you look at them, it's like they're opposites. You have Mongo - tall, dark, brooding, intense... and then you have Dale - also tall, but friendly, approachable and outgoing. And the thing is, the two of them are best friends."

I thought about that. I never thought to parse the relationship between the two that way. But it was true nevertheless.

"You know," I said, "Mongo's mom told us he rarely leaves the house anymore, and is always taking care of her, and he's been like that ever since his dad passed away. He takes care of her completely now, and is totally devoted to her. They've been struggling a bit to make ends meet, and it's largely Mongo who keeps them afloat financially by keeping their little paper and stationery shop running."

Nikki looked at me. "That's very touching, Danny."

I nodded. "You never would have guessed it by just looking at him. He's actually a sweet guy, and his friends Dale and June are very protective of him. I doubt if he'd have survived his dad's passing without them."

Nikki looked at me. "Don't tell him, Nikki," I said, "but I'm gonna be there for him, too, if ever he needs me."

Nikki kissed me on the cheek. "Of course you will. I know it."

I kissed her back.

"They're lucky to have you," she said.

"Actually," I said, kissing her again to sort of apologize for contradicting her, "I'm the lucky one. For having them in my life. I'm lucky to have all of you. You especially."

I grinned when I saw her face flush. I can read my Nikki real well now. And I knew that I hit her heartstrings just right.

"Well..." Nikki said, and cleared her throat.

After a while, we were soon trawling the shelves as rapidly as Danielle, and Nikki was picking stuff left and right.

We had a bit of a slow start since we didn't know Mongo's and Dale's sizes, but this was easily fixed with a quick call to Tracey. And all Tracey needed to do was to place a call to the wardrobe master for the TV concert and get Dale's and Mongo's measurements.

Nikki was on a roll. Seems she knew just what to pick now, and it was like Danielle was reincarnated. I occasionally commented when I thought the combination she picked just didn't work, but that was rare.

After we had a big bunch of outfits picked out for the two, with a few things for me-as-Danny, Nikki tried calling Tracey that we were almost done, but she wasn't answering.

I had a kind of sixth sense or intuition or whatever, and I ran for the escalators.

I barrelled through the people standing around. When I made it to the escalator, I couldn't get through the crush of people, and I started to physically shove them, or lift them and move them aside.

"Hey!" a big, six-foot two guy exclaimed, surprised by both the fact that someone was touching and lifting him aside, and that it was a tiny girl that was doing the moving.

I cut through the people on the escalator as it moved us down, but I was chafing at our slow progress.

I moved to the edge of the escalator and peeked down to the floor below. I scanned as best I could and heard, above the ever-present din of the people in the store, a few screams. It sounded like Mel and Drew, or maybe June.

My girls were in trouble. I couldn't stand it and levered myself over the escalator's rubber railing and jumped down.

People exclaimed when I did that, but I didn't care, not when my girls were in danger.

I was thinking that my choice of the Chuck Taylors really helped. I might not have been able to land properly if I was wearing the heels Nikki originally picked for me, nor be able to sprint to the girls. I probably would have broken my ankles with my jump.

As I ran, I saw two girls lying on the floor. It was Betsy and Drew - they both weren't moving.

"Betsy!" I cried, and continued to run towards my friends. I saw Joanne holding what looked like Janet, as she struggled to get to Fallon, and I felt a cold wave of anger sweep through me.

Janet was able to wrest one of her hands free and swung it around. Her fist connected with the side of Joanne's head and the bigger girl was knocked down.

"Joanne! No!"

As Janet got free, Fallon, with fear in her eyes, backed away.

"Fallon!" I called as I raced to her. "I'm here!"

Fallon and Janet looked my way, Fallon with relief and Janet with some expression I could not identify. Fallon turned to run to me, but Janet reached out and grabbed her arm preventing her. Fallon slapped her, and Janet was shocked and let go. Fallon ran into my arms and I held her close.

I saw Betsy and Drew, still on the ground, and a few feet away, Joanne, and my anger grew more. I put Fallon behind me and walked towards Janet.

"Stay away, Danny," she said as she held a hand towards me.

But I continued to walk closer to her.

Later, I would remember noticing some things, like Janet was looking very haggard - not enough to make her look disheveled, but it was like she hadn't slept in a while though she was trying not to show it. And though she was wearing makeup, it wasn't applied as precisely as I remember her applying it before. And her clothes didn't seem to hang right. I didn't know why.

But right now, I was more concerned about her hurting more of my friends. I was holding on to my anger, but just barely.

"Stop, Janet," I said. "Stop what you're doing."

"I can't, Danny," she sobbed, "not when you're not with me."

"Janet..."

"I'm so lonely, Danny..."

When I was close enough, I quickly reached out and grabbed her by the wrist. When I did, she screamed like a banshee.

That surprised me, but I held on.

She continued to scream, and it unnerved everyone around us, but I held on.

Store detectives and security guards were running towards us, and we both saw them.

Janet's continued screaming went up an octave, and, using her whole body, was able to twist around even as I held her.

For whatever reason, it was like she was electrified. She used her other hand to pry herself from my grip. I could feel the nervous strength in her, and it was like she was willing to chop her hand off just to be able to get away.

As the security people got closer, despite my grip, she was finally able to get my hand off, and as she did, she quickly ran away towards the escalators.

She pushed and knocked people away from her, and escaped down to the floor below.

I was about to give chase, but Fallon stopped me.

"No, Danny," she said. "Let the guards take care of her. Don't leave me."

I turned and hugged her as the security people rushed past us.

As they got further away from us, a sense of relief swept through me and Fallon. I could feel it.

I turned us both and looked to Betsy and Drew. They were still out but Tracey, Mel and June were there with them now.

As for Joanne, she was sitting on the floor looking woozy, but fine other than that. Danielle was with her.

Nikki ran up to me. I hugged her with my free arm.

"Check on Joanne, Nick," I said. She gave Fallon and I a quick kiss and ran to Joanne.

"She's gone now, Fallon. Shhh..." Fallon started crying. Guess Fallon wasn't as tough as we, or even she, thought.

***** (Fallon) *****

What a nightmare. There we were, having a good time and then this crazy woman comes up to us and slaps Drew, strong enough to knock her down.

Brave little Betsy ran up to interpose herself between Drew and Janet, and Janet slapped the Betsy across the face, also strong enough to knock her down. June screamed.

The other girls looked at Janet in shock, and didn't move. And then Janet started moving towards me.

Normally I would be one of those helping to protect girls like Betsy and Drew, but Janet's crazy eyes just scared me, and she started to walk towards me.

"You took my Danny from me," the crazy looking girl said, and reached out towards me. I screamed - I couldn't help it.

Joanne ran over and pulled Janet back and away from me by her hair, and Janet struggled with the taller Joanne.

From there, Danny appeared and things changed. Janet hit Joanne somehow, but, I don't know how or why, but I knew Danny would fix things. Somehow I knew that.

An hour later, we were in the Manager's Office, and they got statements from Betsy, Drew, Joanne, Danny and myself. Danielle, Tracey and the other girls were just outside along with the boys, who were alerted by Tracey to what just went down.

Kelly was also there to represent our security people, and were probably worried about losing their jobs. After all, it was they who weren't able to stop Janet from getting close.

The thing was, Danny asked all of us to downplay what happened. None of us girls wanted to, but Danny said that something was clearly wrong with Janet. I didn't know Janet but the others said she wasn't like that before. Unsurprisingly, June, Dale and Mongo also wanted to sweep the whole thing under the rug.

"She needs help, guys," Danny insisted, saying Janet wasn't really being herself - that she was really a good person. "Ask the others."

Reluctantly, the others confirmed it, Even Betsy, Danielle and Joanne agreed.

"Then why was she like that, Danny?" I asked.

"Something's wrong with her Fallon. I don't know - a stroke? Drugs? Some kind of chemical thing? But it's clear something's wrong."

"Then, maybe we need to tell the authorities that," Morgan said.

"Maybe," Danny agreed.

But the story that we told the authorities was that Janet was a former member of our band, and that she quit because of some kind of argument with the other members, and we believed that this incident was connected to that.

Although Janet was over eighteen, the rest of us that were involved in the "altercation" - Betsy, Drew, Joanne, Danny (as Danielle) and me - were all under eighteen - technically minors. Because of which, the authorities decided to keep it quiet, and to contact our parents. (They didn't need to do that with my parents, though, but I'll explain why later.)

On the phone, our folks insisted on talking with Danny or Danielle, and the twins explained that Janet was just acting disgruntled for not being part of the band anymore - just a girl thing, and we weren't really hurt.

Nevertheless, our folks insisted that we go home right away, and that included Betsy's mom and Mrs. Piper. And, under orders, I assume, our bodyguards insisted as well.

Danny reluctantly agreed.

The store administration, keen on not having any bad publicity, agreed to keep it quiet.

As a sort of apology, the store's people facilitated processing all our purchases, and had all our stuff delivered to our hotel at no extra charge. Danny called the hotel, and though they've checked out already, because our cars were still there, he got them to agree to accept and hold our stuff until we come for our cars.

And, though our morning was mostly ruined now, Danny still insisted on our going to the Rockrgrrl and PIMA stores. Our hearts weren't in it anymore - the shine was gone from the day, but Danny insisted.

At the store, Dale, June, Mongo, Danny and I couldn't help geeking out on the guitar paraphernalia and sound boxes and amps while Betsy, next door, was ooh-ing and ahh-ing at all the violin stuff.

Danny's enthusiasm was very infectious, and the rest of the guys started browsing around as well while the other girls geeked out on all the musical accoutrements. I guess that was Danny's plan all along - get our minds off what happened, and start enjoying our little outing again.

Danny himslef didn't buy anything, but she did get lots of brochures. I looked over her shoulder and saw that tthey were all brochures of electronic musical instruments. I guess Danny's looking to buy some new toys. Hmmm...

After we used up all of our vouchers, Danny insisted on going for lunch. Mel suggested a place she and her family went to regularly when she was a kid called Big Daddy's, and the bad taste that Janet left us was soon banished.

Danny had asked the department store's first aid people about Betsy, Drew and Joanne, and I heard her quietly telling Nikki the first aid people thought they were okay - Janet didn't hurt them as badly as we originally thought. For me, aside from a few light bruises on my wrist, I knew I was fine.

Soon after that, we started making our way to our cars, and were soon on our way back home.

I guess the trip wasn't really as fun as we thought it would be, but I thought it was fun enough, especially because of the sleepover.

By the end of our trip, our van, or rather Joanne's van, was fairly rocking, and we hardly noticed the three hour drive back home. And I'm almost sure the other guys had fun, too. Our security flanked our three cars all the way home, and we were all escorted to our houses.

As I got home, I waved to my new friends, and sighed. Despite what happened in the store, I really was grateful. In a way, I wish Janet wouldn't come back to the band. I wanted to continue being part of the band, and part of my new gang. I was so grateful for Danny. Maybe it's because I haven't really had friends before, and because I thought my life just changed for the better.

I sighed. My folks probably heard me coming in, and they'll probably be over in a while. I unlocked my door and went in.

- - - - -

Days later, the repercussions of Janet's "attack" was felt. Our security was put on notice that what happened must not happen again, while the parents of the other girls who were hurt had half a mind to ban them from going with the others. But since Betsy and the others weren't really hurt much physically, and the stories their folks were given were a bit sketchy, the parents just let it go with a warning to be careful, and that curfews were going to be reinstituted otherwise.

As for my folks, there wasn't much of a problem. A year ago, when my aunt died and I inherited a bunch of money, I made moves to get emancipated legally. My folks didn't agree but my threat to run away made them change their minds. So I was mostly independent now, but because the trust fund won't become fully mine until I was twenty-one, I still lived in the same house with my folks. Anyway...

So I still hung with my new gang, and continued to play with the band. Our popularity continued to grow, and we had hopes of making the band more than just a small-town garage band. And with Danny around, we were all blithely confident that we'll make it eventually.

Danny also got me to stay with the Glee Club, and my days suddenly became very... musical, and not so alone anymore.

I didn't mind. I thought it was fun and I got to hang with a bunch of cool kids. Especially Danny.

to be continued...

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