DANNY Chapter 21 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 deals with getting turned on by his would-be girlfriend. And how he ends up as the female lead singer for a high-school pop band as well as a radio DJ. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Twenty-One:  Lights, Camera, Talk!

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

I looked at the camera, headset on my head, one hand near the controls, and the other hand still clutching the sheets of paper.  Time seemed to stretch as my senses went into overdrive.  In the back of my mind, I reasoned that this was like someone finding himself in an emergency and, because of the pumping adrenalin, my perception of time started to stretch. Fight or flight? Well, it has to be fight, this time.

From the time the cameraman finished counting down to when the camera's red light blinked on, it felt like it was a minute or more - more than enough time to compose myself and to think of what I wanted to say.

I couldn't do my regular spiel and go, "hey-hey-hey!"  So I looked into the camera and gave a small and personal smile.  "Good evening, folks," I said pleasantly into the camera in my best Nighthawk voice. From my headphones, I heard my voice as well as the sound of a peppy little tune that I didn't recognize. Tracey was playing some theme I haven't heard before as my music bed.

"How're you doing?" I said. "Welcome to an unusual evening here at KRPQ Radio, which is apparently the, ahem! home of yesterday's, today's and tomorrow's hits… don't worry, guys, we'll think up something else."  I couldn't help but giggle. "I am, in fact, broadcasting from the new KRPQ studios where all the fun happens.

"But first, a big hello and 'thank you' to Talia, Harry and Sally for holding down the fort, and thanks to that great new band, Unlimited Bandwidth, for visiting us here at the studio. And a big hello, too, to the viewers of KRPX.  If you don't recognize me, that's 'coz it's my first time on TV.  People call me the Nighthawk, and I am one of the regular DJs of KRPQ Radio.  Pleased ta meetcha."  I gave a small finger-wave, the kind that looked like you wanted to give someone's itch a scratch or something.

I decided to amp it up a bit. "Welcome to our RockrGrrl Evolution Concert special, and if you're not excited, well I am! Whooo!"

The cameraman gave me a signal.  "And I hope you keep me company and keep us tuned in for the next few hours or so. In the meantime, let's break for a little commercial."

The cameraman gave me the high-sign that meant we were off the air for the moment, and I breathed a sigh of relief.  Just behind our cameraman/director, Tracey had set up a large TV, so anyone coming in the booth would be able to watch what was going out on the air (it was angled slightly to the left, I suppose so that the glass wouldn't reflect the glare of the TV picture).  It was on a thirty-second delay, in order to allow someone to catch any gaffs on my part, or pull the plug if needed.  I gathered later that a thirty-second delay was pretty generous. Unprecedented, really. I suppose it was a concession to my being a TV virgin (as I am in many other things, heehee) and my not being savvy with all this on-air stuff yet. I suppose the ones who could pull the plug would be Mrs. Piper, Mr. Taylor, our cameraman-director, and the producer over at the TV station. But I resolved not to fumble and give them a reason to.

"Okay, miss," my cameraman-slash-director said. 

"Call me Robin," I said.  I still wasn't too used to the new handle, but I guess this was as good a time as any to get used to it…

"Okay, Robin," He smiled.  "You can call me Joey."  He listened to a wired walkie-talkie-like radio in his hand.  "Listen, you have maybe a minute or two to relax.  I'll signal you when it's about time."

"Thanks, Joey."

"Anyway," he clicked his radio off, "the station said that they're sending something to the email address your producer gave us."  He nodded in the direction of Tracey, who was in the producer's booth.  "I guess it's more instructions.  Sorry about that.  All of this was a bit of a surprise.  But I think it'll be okay."

I smiled at his effort to make me feel more relaxed, and nodded.  "Tracey?" I said, thumbing the in-ear intercom.  "I'm supposed to get an email sent to me."

"No problem, ahhh, Robin."  Tracey giggled.  Sheesh. Tracey's a space case. "The computer in there's all set up," she said.  "Just use your Gmail address."

Gmail address?  "Ummm, okay, Tracey, thanks."  What Gmail address?

I swiveled around and booted up the PC to the right of me.  I clicked the browser and moused on over to Google.  In Gmail, I clicked the scroll on the User ID window and saw "Nighthawk1234" as one of the user IDs.  I clicked that and guessed the password to be "nighthawk1234" as well, and it turned out that I guessed correctly. Wow, Tracey's pretty good.  I decided I'd change the password later, opened my inbox instead, and saw a new email message.

Attached was an Acrobat file and a hotlink.  I clicked the file open and then clicked the link.

Apparently the link was a chatroom link, and the computer logged me on as well as popped open a chat window with three other users already there: a MizzPiper, Tracey and someone named "TeeVeeBoss."

I keyed in "hi?" and everyone responded immediately.

"Hello, Robin," Mrs. Piper said, and Tracey responded with a "hey, boss," and a tongue-sticking-out emoji.

TeeVeeBoss had more to say.  "Hello, Robin.  I'm your TV executive producer, Mike. Your producer set up this little chat window where we can give instructions or comments, and you can ask any questions you like.  We won't bug you too much so as not to distract you, nor bug you with voice. The key is to relax and to pay attention to Joey and to your producer.  Okay?"

"Thanks, Mike," I typed.  "Appreciate it. But why a computer?"

"Oh, we can communicate by audio if you really want to - you can switch on the PC's mic and speakers. But it might interfere with your board so your producer set it up this way for the moment. Don't worry, I'm sure she'll improve on it later."

"Okay."

I looked over the sheets of paper and looked at the sequence of events.  "Seems like these will be pretty easy to manage, but I haven't done anything like this before."

"No problem, Robin," Mrs. Piper typed.  "Mike and I talked about it.  Play it any way you like, and as fast or as slow a pace as you like. They'll adjust on their end - we block-timed four hours' worth just in case, so you have a free hand.   But do try to follow the sequence of activities as they're listed, otherwise we'll lose our place and we might not be able to play the commercials properly."

"I thought commercials have to go out at specific times?"

"We've taken care of that," Mike typed.  "Whenever you feel like playing them is fine. The benefits of a small-time local operation hahaha. Seriously, though, Mrs. Piper has vouched for you with the sponsors, and if this works, we'll talk over how to do more of these things later.  Just take your time for now, and be natural."

"If you say so," I typed.

I suddenly had a thought. "Mike, Mizz Piper - is it all right if I take some listener calls? My radio program is known for that."

"Of course, Robin."  Ms Piper typed. "Perhaps after the concert video, though."

"Ummm, Robin?"  I heard Tracey over the headphones.  I looked up and saw her gesturing to the camera.  I saw Joey signal and he started doing a ten-count. 

"Back to work," I typed quickly. I tried to squash my rising panic, looked at the sheets of paper in front of me, and then looked back up at the camera and put an expectant little smile on my face.

At Joey's signal, I waited a beat before running my spiel.

"Welcome back, folks. You're tuned in to WKRPX-TV, and you're watching our simultaneous-transmission KRPQ-KRPX Post-Evolution Concert Special. And, speaking of the simulcast, if you're watching this on KRPX-TV, I suggest you turn off the sound, turn on your home entertainment's radio, tune in to KRPQ, and then put all the channels of your mixer or tuner to zero. Our sound magicians have mixed the sound to give you the best audio experience possible. But it'll only work if your audio channels are on zero.

"So. Assuming you've done as I asked, lie back and enjoy the ear candy.

"Now. Back to the program."

I smiled even more. "About the Evolution Concert - the concert was designed to be a venue for unpublished and amateur musical groups - that is, groups that don't have contracts with any recording company nor have any songs commercially available - and give them a chance at getting air time and be heard. The featured bands had to submit audition tapes, and they had to be female bands, of course, as the sponsor was RockrGrrl. For this event, Rockrgrrl defines 'female band' as bands with at least 50% of its members as female. Rockrgrrl is, after all, makers of arguably the best guitars specifically designed for girls and women. This will change in future, of course, but for now, Rockrgrrl will accept any band so long as half of the members are girls."

I paused for a bit. The material needs something more, so I ad-libbed a little and tried to recall as many girl groups as I could.

"Over the years," I said, "the popular music scene has been as much dominated by female groups and singers as male ones, such as acts like Girls Aloud, TLC, Pussycat Dolls and Destiny's Child." (I tried to think of old popular pop groups, deliberately skipping the current ones, of course, but only a few seemed to be coming to mind.)

"Most of the female groups that get exposure," I continued, now quoting from the paper but with a little bit of ad-libbing on my part, "at least in the pop scene, are mostly vocal groups. I guess for those that also play their own instruments, there aren't a lot. There are female groups, though, that were critically acclaimed but, compared to the men, didn't have the same level of mainstream success. The successful ones include the Runaways, the Indigo Girls and Luscious Jackson. But, of course, there are the two iconic girl bands of the eighties which did have a lot of mainstream success - The Bangles and The GoGos, and Ann and Nancy Wilson, of course, the duo that represented feminine pop in the late seventies - Heart. Although they only fronted their band. That's my mom's favorite band, by the way." I waved at the camera. "Hi, Mom! No need to check up on me - I'm here on TV, see? Heehee.

"Anyway, as I was saying - there are very few new ones in the mainstream music scene that are all-girl bands AND play their own musical instruments. And that's where RockrGrrl's focus lies.

"There are, however, a lot more groups where they are just front-lined by girls, such as Courtney Love of Hole, Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp of The Wreckers, and Heart, of course. So, to insure more participants, the creators of the Evolution Concert decided not to limit it to completely girls bands. Just so long as half or more of the band are girls, and it's led by girls, it's okay."

As I spoke, out of the corner of my eye, I saw messages being displayed in the chat room window on my computer screen. "Slow down, Robin," Mike typed. "Our graphics people are trying to cope here. They're having a hard time matching video to what you're saying. Slow down the spiel. And get the pre-recorded stuff out."

I stopped myself from nodding at that, as the people out there in TV Land would see, and would wonder what the heck I was nodding at. I glanced down briefly at the pre-printed notes, made it a casual kind of move and tried not to make it look like I was trying to find my place.

"Fortunately," I continued, largely quoting from the paper, "lots of excellent female talent were unearthed by the concert. Let's look at some of the auditions. Roll the video, please, Tracey?"

After the video started running, Joey gave me a thumbs-up. "Okay, Robin - we're out for the moment." I nodded at that, but stopped myself from letting out a "whoop!" when Joey made patting motions. "But try not to break character, though. We'll keep on shooting video just in case something happens to the tape and we need to cut back to you."

I looked at Joey, puzzled. "So what do I do?"

"You know when Diane Sawyer or Lester Holt sort of shuffle papers and talk to their co-anchors, or chat with the director while the credits are rolling?"

Ahhh! "Okay, Joey - got it." I thumbed the intercom switch. "Tracey? Can I ask for a glass of water or something? My throat's gettin' a bit dry. I think it's nerves."

"Right, Boss," I heard Tracey's voice, and, in a few moments, she was back with a big cup from Coffee Bean she had delivered. Obviously she was briefed since she was keeping in character. She even had a costume of sorts - big headphones hanging around her neck, a clipboard tucked under her arm, and a cute, chic pink-and-white jacket with silver piping, and with the station's new logo on the back. She looked like the epitome of a radio station producer. And I just noticed - she had make-up on, which went well with her expensive now-impeccably-cut-and-brushed hairdo. Very nice, and it made her feminine and cute.

"Wow!" I exclaimed. "Tracey, you must be some kind of mind reader. Thanks! And you look great, by the way!" I took the big paper cup, took the plastic bubble-lid off and noisily slurped the coffee. Ahhh!

Tracey blushed at the compliment. She handed me a paper napkin and I wiped some foam off my lip. She gestured, and I wiped foam from the tip of my nose as well. She belatedly handed me the straw, which I turned down. "Well," she said, "I knew you liked caramel coffee, so I ordered one. I was just waiting for a chance to bring it to you."

I ignored all that and focused more on her and her look. She was so desperate to please, and to pass as a girl. "Did you go to a salon today?" I asked . "That's a pretty style. Suits you. And the make-up. What can I say?"

Her blush deepened. "Yes, I did," she dimpled. "Joanne brought me to her mom's hair salon. But I did my own make-up. Is it okay?" Most of the girls had Joanne or her mom take car of their hair. Joanne's a genius when it came to hair.

"Totally. Subtle, and very elegant. I especially like the subdued lipstick. Most would have gone for the over-the-top bright red."

"Julian gave me some advice - I told him I might be going on TV tonight."

"Julian? Over on the island? Danielle's stylist?" Tracey nodded. "Did he show you pictures of his poodle?" We sniggered at that. "I love the jacket, too. Can I get one, as well? Although, I'd like one that's not in pink..."

"Mom had you included in the list for jackets. She got Danielle included in the list, too. But, I'm sorry Da... I mean Robin - I think it's pink, too..."

She saw my disappointed expression. "Don't worry," she said, "I'll fix it."

She switched tacks and was all business. "Listen," she said, and referred to her clipboard. Seems the clipboard was more than just a prop, "as you saw from the list, we've got several video clips scheduled. A little video from RockrGrrl - something called 'How RockrGrrl Guitars are Made,' some live crowd shots, video clips of the finalists, plus MTV-style trailers of the top three, the awards, the encore song, and a little speech from the RockrGrrl chairman of the board. All in all, that's a little over thirty minutes of video, plus about five commercial breaks - that's a total of about forty-five minutes. Gives you about fifteen minutes of microphone time to make an hour show, not including the concert itself. But, given that you're gonna be doing phone-in calls, they're ready to pre-empt the next show if you need more time."

"Whoa!" I said. "Ain't that a big deal, Tracey? And what about the other programs?"

"I guess, but RockrGrrl sez that's what they want, and they're willing to pay for our airtime. Mom sez we need the sponsors. The KPRX guys say they need the sponsors, too. Plus, RockrGrrl sez they might want to air this in other syndicated markets. If it goes well, that is."

I started getting nervous... I mean, more nervous than I already was. "Jesus, Tracey..."

Tracey reached out and gave me hug. "You'll do fine, girl. Believe it."

"'Kay..." I let the girl reference pass.

"'Kay," she agreed. "Now, I'm gonna leave you alone, and don't stop mugging for the camera!" We both giggled. "Hope you don't need to go to the bathroom."

I looked at her. "Wish you hadn't said that... I have this urge to go pee, now..."

She giggled, waved to Joey, and left the booth.

"I'm being serious!" But she had already left. I guess I had to hold it for an hour or so, then. Arrrgh!

The RockrGrrl Infomercial was up next and then the first third of the video of the actual event would follow. I went through the available notes that Tracey had popped up on my screen, and tried to think of some interesting spiels to add to the material.

I watched Joey out of the corner of my eye. When I thought he was about ready to start, I faced my computer's monitor. I was in quarter profile, and faked typing something. Joey did his five count, and as he reached one, and I heard the station jingle play in my headphones, I turned towards the camera.

"Welcome back folks." I did the girl-wave again. "We'll be starting the Evolution Concert in a bit, but before that, let's find out a little bit about the company that made it all possible."

(Over my headphones, I heard Joey. "They're playing the RockrGrrl intro,'" he said. "Sound is on standby. Aaand... Go, Robin!")

"The founder of RockrGrrl, Isabel Hargraves, the American socialite wife of the British industrialist and electronics magnate, Sir Richard Hargraves, found the inspiration for RockrGrrl in their daughter Katherine, a classical music prodigy whose talents have been compared to the great classical as well as contemporary masters.

"At the age of nine, doctors discovered that little Katherine Hargraves had a tumor in her brain which necessitated surgery. It was not cancerous, and it was not an unheard-of condition, and the operation to remove it a tried and tested one. The little girl recovered but, because of the operation, her physical growth was stunted. Even with artificial growth hormones and other medical therapies, young Katie never reached more than a height of four and a half feet, which was near her height prior to the operation. Though technically a dwarf, her body was appropriately proportional. And, with her ability, everyone was so impressed by her classical musical talents, widely acknowledged by music scholars to surpass any of those of her generation, that her condition was usually ignored or overlooked.

"Still, though mentally and physically capable, the young lady found it difficult to indulge her art because most musical instruments didn't fit her small hands and stature. Her mother had to have special instruments handcrafted to suit her size."

As I read the words on the monitor, in the little PIP box on the upper part of my screen I saw a picture of little Katie Hargraves as she was today. She seemed like a very pretty young woman, except that she was the height of a tall eight-, or maybe a twelve-year old, at most. And she was twelve years older than me.

The little PiP box showed the exact video feed they were airing on TV, though delayed. It was actually a little distracting and it was messing up my rhythm, so I minimized it to a less distracting size but with the pictures still discernible. I looked back (casually) at the notes and continued my spiel.

"And she was where Lady Isabel found her inspiration. Along with little Katie, Lady Isabel founded the RockrGrrl line of guitars, specially made to fit the smaller hands and stature of young musicians, especially girls."

"Hold it, Robin," Joey said through my headset. "They want you to pause here for some video. I'll cue you in."

I nodded almost imperceptibly, and waited. In the little PiP window, I saw some cute kids with RockrGrrl guitars making believe they were a rock band.

"Go!" Joey said after a while, and I continued on.

"So was born the RockrGrrl line of guitars. The name itself was thought up by Katie's teacher and later boyfriend, the well-known European performance artist, Lars De Groot. He found the inspiration in the Spice Girls, which was the most famous pop music girl group at the time." (Later on, I would recall inadvertently raising an eyebrow at that. I hoped no one saw that. And who ever heard of Lars de Groot? What a name, huh? Maybe he's a refugee from The Guardians of the Galaxy...)

"Over the years, the new company established a solid reputation with many female musicians and artists in the pop music industry for producing reliable high-quality guitars, but the company largely went unnoticed by the general public."

A rousing, fanfare-type theme (reminiscent of a disco-ized version of, maybe, the Star Wars theme - hokey, sure, but it seemed to work) interjected itself, and I heard Joey tell me to pause again. In the little PiP window, I saw a splashy title sequence roll, and in glitzy American Idol-style graphics, the words "The First RockrGrrl Evolution Concert" flashed on the screen.

Tracey (or someone else) reduced the volume on the music bed, and Tracey cued me this time.

"To promote RockrGrrl's revamped line of guitars, and to help discover new female musical talent, RockrGrrl launched the Evolution Concert Festival." At which point, the music rose to a crescendo and the graphics exploded in the little PiP screen.

I continued. "Planned as a regional music competition with, initially, three concerts spaced three months apart, the Evolution Concert will select three winners, one per concert, with a fourth concert pitting these finalists against each other." I paused a bit - this was news to me. Jeez, I need to talk to the guys, and quick.

But I shook my head (not too obviously, of course) and continued on with the job at hand.

"And, tonight, simulcast over KRPX TV and KRPQ Radio, we bring you the First Evolution Concert, East Coast Finals!"

I took a peek at the PIP window, and saw the beginning of the concert video.

"Okay, Robin," Joey said, "we're off for the next fifteen or twenty minutes, then you have to break for a commercial. You can relax for a bit."

Fifteen minutes? Wow... "Bathroom?" I asked. Joey grinned and nodded. I pulled the headset off my head and made a beeline for the bathroom.

As I got there, one of the KRPX guys (the KRPX tech in charge of the electricals, I think) was coming out of the men's room. He smiled at me and I smiled back, hopefully in a polite way instead of nervous or guilty-like. Good thing he stood in front of the men's room door so I couldn't go in, which reminded me in the nick of time. I veered to the left, and towards the ladies'.

"Hiya," I said as I passed him. The guy continued to smile, and nodded pleasantly. I recognized that type of smile, having seen it a lot when I was in Dannie mode. I nervously hurried through the door.

I let the door close behind me and breathed a sigh of relief. Arrrgh! Need to pee! I randomly picked a stall, got in, shut the door, scootched down my skinny jeans and underwear, and sat. (It was a bit inconvenient to have to sit first, but after experiencing a few awkward moments before when girls noticed me standing, I tend to sit down now every time I used a stall.) I whizzed what felt like gallons and, afterwards, wiped the "splash-back" off of my butt with some tissue. At least, after having done this a few times, I knew what to do now. When I had the pants up most of the way, I adjusted my junk so that it was mostly in between my legs, pulled the thong gaff up, and then the pants over everything. I still didn't push my balls into my abdominal cavity as I was still scared to do that.

So I did the best I could, zipped and buckled up, and then ran my hand over the front. No telltale bump so I think I'm okay. But even though the jeans were a bit stretchy, I couldn't take long strides coz the pants would still, ummm, pinch my, ahhh, delicate parts. So I ended up walking in that mincing kind of way that's so stereotypically girlie.

I stepped out of the stall, walked up to the sink and washed my hands. As I finished washing, I heard a flush and another girl came out of one of the other stalls. I never heard anyone else come in. It was Sally Marshall, the cute "news reporter" of the station. Yeah, this operation needed a reporter like a fifth wheel on a car. But who am I to criticize?

I tried to act nonchalant, but I couldn't help notice how cute she was. She was even cuter than during the interview.

"Hey, Sally," I said. "I thought you already left the station."

"Hi, Robin," she said, and stepped up to the counter to wash her hands as well. "Actually, I was about to. I just finished up some paperwork - reimbursement forms, et cetera. How's the show going?"

"Pretty okay," I said, "though I don't mind telling you I'm scared to death."

She giggled. "Oh, don't worry about it. I talked to Tracey a few minutes ago while you were doing your thing with the camera, and she said you were doing real good."

"You seem to know your way around the camera. Have you been on TV before?"

"Well, not exactly," she said as she dried her hands. "I've done several TV commercials and magazine ads before doing radio. Y'know, for jeans and such. I did learn one thing from my modeling, though - when you're in front of the camera, just relax and you'll be fine."

No wonder! "Wow, you're a model?" I stood there and watched her brush her hair. Which reminded me. But... ahh, damn! I forgot my purse and the all-important brush. I keep on forgetting the purse. But Sally noted my predicament and lent me her brush. As I learned later, no girl readily lends her comb or brush, and no girl would readily use someone else's. Thinking back, I could only assume that she liked me, and felt comfortable around me.

She smiled modestly and answered my question. "About a dozen campaigns - just local stuff back in my hometown. You probably never even heard of it."

"Where's your hometown anyway?"

"Just a no-name little burg way out in the northwest called Spiral. The tallest building we have isn't even ten floors high."

"And I thought our town was bad..." Both of us giggled.

"Nahhh, it's great here. But my town's nice, too. I love the people and the place. It's just that I wanted a little more excitement than Spiral can give. "

"Is that what made you want to visit us?"

"I wanted to get out of Spiral for a while, and when I heard my aunt was being sent here by a company she did some work for, I decided to come along. Truthfully, I didn't really care where - I just wanted a change. And while I was here I saw an ad for a radio DJ, and here I am."

"What does your aunt do, anyway?"

"She's a biochemist, specializing in nutrition and physical therapy for the Kinkaide Community Clinic back home. Right now, she's working on this thing for a big pharmaceutical company. She was assigned here for a while, but she's had to go to a specialist facility in the west coast with the facilities she needed in order to continue her work."

Hmmm. "You'll be leaving us soon, then?"

She smiled. "We'll see. Aunt Eleanor said I could stay if I wanted."

I looked at Sally in the mirror as she fixed her makeup. She really was very cute.

"I've only done one national commercial," Sally continued, "and I was just one of several girls that time. When I was auditioning, Mizz Piper recognized me from that commercial, and asked me to be part of this radio station gig. How about you? Any thoughts on doing commercials yourself?"

"Me? No!" I was mortified at the thought.

She giggled. "Ain't nothing to it, honey. Yes, you're a little less tall that most models, but a girl as gorgeous as you will do well, I'm sure."

I shrugged, feigning casualness. "Well, in any case, I don't think I'll have an opportunity..." I handed her brush back, unobtrusively making sure there was none of the hair coloring stuff on it that Joanne applied.

She put her arm around my shoulders as we walked out of the bathroom. "Leave it all to me, girlfriend."

Oh, no...

Sally decided to go to Tracey's production booth and I went back to mine. I put on my headphones and waved to Joey. I pointed to my wrist, asking how much time we had left.

"Plenty of time, Robin," Joey said in my ear.

I snuck a look at the little PiP box in the monitor, and the video was still running. It was showing Jo's and Astrid's band - the girls we met in the dressing room at the concert. I double-clicked the PiP window to maximize it.

Jo was playing her guitar, moving around the stage. The tassels of her black leather jacket swung as she moved all over the stage. She looked awfully sexy in her white tank, jacket, high heels and skin-tight black leggings. She sang and played pretty good, except for a few off-key spots. If this was the old American Idol, Randy Jackson would probably be saying she was "pitchy," but on the whole, she was pretty okay. And pretty sexy, too. After a bit, her bass player, Astrid, stepped up beside her in a duplicate outfit and laid down a mean accompanying backbeat with her four-string bass.

After they wrapped up the song, Jo started up a new one - an updated and sexier version of Lee Aaron's "Whatcha Do To My Body." If it weren't for her, ummm, "pitchiness," it would have been perfect. I didn't catch their singing at the concert nor in the DVD Tracey lent me. I couldn't help but whistle. "Wow!"

"Robin?" I heard Joey in my headset. "Just to let you know, the video is just about to run out. Best to start getting in character now."

I nodded. "Right." I restored the PIP screen's size, looked over the notes and started getting ready. I clicked on the intercom. "Tracey?" I called, "Joey said we're about to be starting again soon. What am I supposed to be doing?"

"Ummm, lemme check." After a moment, Tracey clicked back on. "Boss, you just need to segue us into the next commercial No big."

"Okay, thanks!"

"Good luck!" I heard Sally call out. I looked up and saw Sally sitting beside Tracey waving at me. I grinned back and waved.

"Here we go, Robin," Joey called. "In five, four, three, two..."

I swung around to face the camera. "You have been watching the RockrGrrl Evolution Concert. We'll be taking a short break, but be sure to stick around for the second half. Seeya in a bit!"

"And we're out!"

"Hmmm," I said. "Seems there's really nuthin' to this TV thing..." I heard Tracey give me a razzberry. I laughed. "Just jokin', Tracey."

When we were back on the air, I introduced the next segment, an infomercial on RockrGrrl, and how their guitars were actually made, with lots of behind-the-scene segments that showed the company's shop floor somewhere in New Hampshire (of all places) and actual guitars being put together. Little tiny Katie Hargraves did the tour. She looked really small, especially when she was walking around the shop floor next to regular-sized people, but she was so totally unselfconscious about it. The factory people seemed to genuinely like her as they waved to her. She looked very pretty, actually - like a very pretty pint-size hottie with boobs. And when she turned in profile, it was clear that she was no child, especially how the form-fitting blouse, bright leggings, tight skirt and high heels outlined her sexy though tiny (but proportional) curves. Her height actually looked normal when she was in a tight shot on her own.

At the end of the infomercial, Lady Isabel, Katie's mother and the owner of RockrGrrl, took over and explained the company's mission and vision, and she ended it with contact details, how to order their products, and the company's website address.

I then came back on and introduced the next part of the concert.

This second to the last part of the concert went just as smooth as the previous part - with Tracey, Sally and I not having to do anything while the video played. (I was a bit nervous, though, coz my band and I were the last ones to play in this part of the video.) Will the people watching connect me, in my Robin persona, to me as Dannie? I tried to submerge that fear and we chatted while we waited for Joey to signal me back on. Joey was clearly busy talking on the headset with someone from the "OB van," whatever and wherever that was, and we left him to it.

Tracey was getting worried, though - while she, Sally (we had decided to include Sally in the show) and I planned how we'd handle the end-part and I continued play-acting in front of the camera, Tracey would often break off in our conversation to handle the increasing number of telephone call-ins.

"Ummm, Robin, there are a lot of callers piling up."

"Just be cool, Tracey, and tell them to call back after the concert video. Just like the others."

"If you say so."

"Don't worry, we'll manage. Right, Sally?"

"Sure, Robin," Sally said, and she gave Tracey a little hug. "Don't worry, Tracey. I'll help manage the calls later."

"So, what's next on the schedule," I asked Tracey.

Tracey consulted her ever-present clipboard. "Right after the Unlimited Bandwidth part, there's gonna be some behind-the-scenes shots from the concert, so you're gonna have to ad-lib the voice-over. Mike from the TV station will be texting some cues over the chatroom, and then some backstage shots of some of the finalists."

"Jeez, Tracey! Ad-lib? Oh, no!"

"Don't worry, Robin," Sally said. "It's no worse than on the radio. We'll get you through this. Be cool."

I took a deep breath. "If you say so, Sally. How about you help me with the ad-lib for the behind-the-scenes stuff?"

"Wait, Robin," Joey interrupted, apparently listening in. "That'll be a problem. We only have the one camera."

"Hmmm," I thought that through. Joey's right - how do we manage that? "Well, Joey, how about we do this - after a length of video footage you cut back to me, right?"

"Right…"

"Well, how about Sally and I take turns? After one cutback, it's me, and then the next cutback it's Sally, and then me again. And as the video plays, Sally and I can do some ad-libbing. You know? That way, there are no jarring camera pans and zooms."

"Hmmm. You've done this before, it seems. Okay - that sounds do-able. But you realize, though, that you'll have to limit your on-screen interaction."

"That's okay. We'll limit our chats to off-screen."

"Why limit our chats to off-screen?" Sally asked.

"Joey can't pan between the two booths, Sally," I explained. "so we have to take turns being on TV."

"Well, lemme fix that." She unplugged her headset, stood up, picked up a duplicate set of my "script," kissed Tracey bye-bye on the cheek, and promptly walked over to my booth. I buzzed her in and she sat in the seat in front of me. Grinning big, she held out her headset jack and I plugged her into my board. She gave me a wink and started going through her script.

"Okay, then. Lemme clear it with the bosses." Joey turned away and talked to someone via his wired walkie.

"That reminds me," I said. "Tracey? Maybe we need approval from your mom as well?"

Tracey nodded. "Already taken care of, Robin." She was just hanging up on someone she was talking to on the telephone from inside the booth. "That was mom. She approved Sally's overtime, and your plan."

"Huh?" Sally said. "But, Trace, I wasn't asking for…"

Tracey gave her a wink. "S'okay, Sally. Mom insisted." Tracey then turned to me. "Although she said, in the future, she wants to be consulted first before you make program changes like that."

I blushed in embarrassment. Yes, I should have…

Joey closed his wired radio. "Girls, Mike, our station manager, also approved the change. He says to leave it all up to Robin." He turned to me. "Robin, all Mike wants is that you follow the sequencing in the original script, and that you make room for the commercials in the appropriate sequence."

"It's all in the script, Robin," Tracey said. "How 'bout you, Sally? Are you set?"

Sally gave her a high sign.

I took a deep breath. "Okay. Guess we're as ready as we can ever be. Sally, don't forget to help in the ad-libbing."

"Especially when you have to ad-lib stuff for the Unlimited Bandwidth portion," Tracey giggled.

Sally looked at Tracey inquisitively. I turned back to my producer. "Tracey..." I said in warning.

"Sorry heehee. But, after that, it'll be clear sailing." Tracey looked like the proverbial cat that ate the canary. "It'll be the announcement of the winner," she continued, "and then a commercial from RockrGrrl, the awarding, the final song, and then you wrap it up."

"Wrap it up?"

"Take it easy, Robin. Take a look at the last few pages of your notes."

I agitatedly pawed through the pages in front of me. Hmmm. "Okay, Tracey," I said. "Found 'em." I showed the page to Sally and she nodded.

"Cool," Tracey said. Wait for Joey's cue, 'kay?"

"Yep." I also looked through the stuff they sent through via email - a duplicate of the printed pages. I went to the bottom part. At the top of the section called "Wrap Up Notes," there were parts underlined, and a notation saying that these parts were to be "read exactly as written."

"Yikes..." I muttered. I proceeded to change the font so that the text on the screen was bigger (and therefore clearer), and adjusted the view to "draft" so the paging didn't break in the middle of a sentence. That would make my monitor like my own personal teleprompter.

"Robin?" Sally asked. "Anything wrong? We're about to start again…"

"I'm cool, Sally. Joey, don't forget the countdown to warn me when I'm about to go on."

"No problem, Robin," Joey responded.

I deliberately turned away from the camera to stay in profile, pretending to look at my monitor, and waited. Sally giggled at my mugging. *Sigh.* And after a bit, Joey started his count.

"Here we go, girls! And five! Four! Three! Two!..." He pointed to me.

"And there you have it, kiddies," I said over the music bed Tracey had snuck in. "All ten of the Evolution Concert finalists. Cool, huh?" My mind flashed to my own band's performance and felt the pride I had for my band swell, but I tried not to think too much about it.

"And before we get to the awarding, some of the RockrGrrl folks took some behind-the-scenes footage. And here with me to help with that is Sally Marshall. Say hi, Sally."

"Hi, Sally," she said, and giggled.

"Ignore her, folks."

Sally stuck her tongue out at me and giggled again. I suppose it was just her vamping for the camera. Still, I found it very cute.

"Hello again, everyone," Sally said. "It's me again. How do you like the show so far?"

"I'm sure they love it, Sally," I said, clapped my hands once and started rubbing them together in anticipation. "And I'm sure they're gonna love it even more 'coz in a little bit, we're gonna go to the the announcement of the winner, but for those who already know, don't spoil it for those who don't, all right?"

I turned to my new co-host. "I was there, Sally," I said, "and it was a heck of a concert. The organizers did a real great job, and that's not counting the contestants."

"I believe you, Robin. I heard that the bands did a lot to prepare for their moment in the sun." She turned to face the camera. "As you guys may know, all of the bands had an opportunity to pick their three songs, on a first-come first-serve basis, meaning who requested for a song first got to reserve it. And once they had their songs lined up, all of them prepared. Prepared a lot! And the Evolution Concert staff went around and checked up on them while they did." A video-graphic replaced our images while a music bed played, and Joey started to explain.

"Okay, guys they're ready to roll the video," Joey said over our headsets, "but your audio is still live. Get ready to do your voice-overs, but stay in character in case they need to switch back to you."

Sally and I looked at the PiP screen in my monitor, and as soon as the first of the behind-the-scene clips came on, we looked at our cue sheets.

"The first of the ten bands that got through the auditions is called 'Eloquence,'" Sally began. "Here they are practicing their songs in the Jubilee Center, on the week of the Concert. It's headlined by Jo and Astrid, the group's lead vocalist and bass player, and they were the ones who selected their group's songs - rock classics by Lee Aaron, The Who, and Kansas. Pretty eclectic tastes, wouldn't you say, Robin?"

"Yes, indeedy, Sally. I hear their bass player's some sort of heavy music aficionado. I wouldn't be surprised if Astrid really did the picking." We listened to the music a bit. Too bad Jo wasn't in costume this time.

"Who did you get to talk to?" Sally asked.

Ooops! "Ummm, some of the people from the other bands, I think. I can't remember..." We watched some other clips of Eloquence practicing. Sally didn't bring it up again. Whew! Close call.

Using the little factoids in our cue sheets, we talked about the members of each band as their pictures were flashed on the screen, and, on the fly, we ad-libbed - we talked about our impressions of the band members, like how they were dressed, what we liked about each one, what we liked about their performance and so on. If we had something we didn't like or took exception to, we just kept quiet about it, per improv and radio announcer rules. In the end, we ended up saying only positive things about everyone.

With our band, Sally was so effusive, especially about me, I mean Dannie... She gushed over Dannie's friendliness, her looks, her singing, her hot outfit, and so forth. I agreed with her, of course, but in an off-hand sort of way. I did my best to steer away from talking about my band and to talk about the others instead. Apparently Sally also liked one of the other bands as well - one of the more girly acts that featured an all-girl lineup, whose songs were from Tori Amos, Geri Halliwell and Taylor Swift.

"So," an off-camera person asked Jo, their lead, while the band rested between songs, "how do you feel about your band being selected as one of the ten finalists?"

"I feel grateful to the people from Rockrgrrl for selecting us. We're pretty proud of our band, and we're grateful for the chance to perform for everybody on TV."

"It was inevitable, really," Astrid said off-camera.

The camera swung around and focused on her.

"Why do you say that," the faceless interviewer asked.

There was Astrid, her face glistening with sweat that had also seeped through her cotton jumper. She looked awfully sexy.

"It was inevitable that we'd become finalists simply because we are one hundred percent awesome," she said deadpan.

"Whoa!" the rest of the band, and the camera crew reacted. The camera panned again and caught some of the girls laughing, and giving each other high-fives.

"Here's a couple more of the other bands," Sally continued. We went through the rest of the clips and saw them all in action.

"This rili is super," Brittney (can you believe it), the blonde lead for that all-girl band that Sally liked, said. "It's like totally unbelievable?"

She and her band had on outfits that were more like the stereotypical outfits that dancers would wear when they were working out - tights, leg warmers, leotards and terrycloth wristbands and sweatbands. Except, of course, for the high heels. It was like they were refugees from some eighties exercise video.

"People are sooo lucky they will finally get to see us perform? I can't wait for the other bands to *bleep* up so that we win the contest already?" Guess the censors had gone over the tape beforehand.

If, ahem, "Brittney," smiled when she said that or something, then it would have been funny. But she was serious when she said that. As it was, the interviewer tried to laugh and sort of cover that up, but I think he failed. To get past that awkward moment, He asked her to introduce the other members.

Whatever I thought of their band, I had to admit they were all gorgeous. I guess the big problem was that they all thoroughly knew it, too.

The other bands and members were also shown, and the video featured them practicing in Jubilee Center, or just goofing around.

For my band, the organizers weren't able to film us practicing. Sally explained that since we... I mean the band... were last-minute qualifiers, it was too late to give them a practice timeslot at the venue. So we... ummm, "they," just practiced in our usual place. What the producers did was they spliced together some video that our sound mixer from Mario's took of us, plus some of our practice sessions in Mongo's garage (someone made sure to make the shots look generic enough that no one would be able to track down Mongo's house or Mario's place. From the shakiness and the general quality of the video from the garage, I assumed they were home movies that Mongo's mom took and not Joanne.

"That's not from the Jubilee Center," Sally remarked.

"Yeah," I said. "That looks like home movies. I think I recognize where the first video was taken - that was from Unlimited Bandwidth's regular gigs." I didn't mention Mario's, keeping in mind the injunction against freebie adverts.

Mostly, they showed little bits of us singing songs either at Mario's or at Mongo's garage interspersed by some clips of the band fooling around with each other during breaks in the garage, or Janet or I interacting with the audience at Mario's. Mostly me, actually.

Each of our pictures were flashed, and Sally talked a bit about each of us, although that only amounted to our first names and some inconsequential details, like our preferences in music, what our hobbies were, et cetera. Just like the other bands. She didn't say anything about us winning the event, although, given the previous show, that seemed a little silly.

"Isn't Dannie absolutely gorgeous?" Sally enthused instead.

"I guess," I said. On screen was a little bit of our gang's usual antics, with Janet dousing me with a bottle of water, and and then me chasing her around the garage as everyone laughed. That was a good time, I remembered.

"Here's Eloquence again," Sally said and we saw Jo tuning her guitar and Astrid conferring with their drummer. "They look real serious."

"They sure do," I said. "No wonder they played so well. Actually, everyone did well, I think."

Our cameraman made a small gesture.

"That's it for our little behind-the-scenes segment of the RockrGrrl Evolution Concert," I said. "In a few minutes, it'll be the announcement of the winner, so stay tuned." We heard the station jingle play in our headsets, and then we heard our camera man.

"Aaand, we're clear!" Joey said in our ears. "The commercial's running. You guys can relax for a bit. Great job, by the way. Have you guys done this kind of thing before?"

"Well, I haven't, but Sally has."

Sally looked down in false modesty. "I've done a few TV commercials."

"Well, I think you two did great. I think you guys can even do this kind of thing regularly."

Sally was about to get a drink when Joey signaled. "Stay put, Sally. I need you ready and in character, please. We'll be back in just a while. They're saying that they aren't playing any more commercials, just one of RockrGrrl's and then the station ID."

"Darnit!" she said and comically snapped her fingers. "And I needed to go, too."

"You're telling me!" I said, and theatrically squirmed in my seat.

"So you thought doing TV was easy, huh?" Tracey cackled.

"Ah, shut up, Tracey," I said mock-angrily.

The commercial was over quickly, and Sally and I continued with our spiel, relying heavily on our crib sheets, explaining the criteria used to score the contestants, and then giving short bios of the judges while their static pictures were flashed. There were eight of them, which included three Grammy awardees and nominees, a well-known pop music songwriter, a professor from some hoity-toity music conservatory I didn't know, two well-known television and movie producers, and Katie Hargraves. Heavy credentials all around.

In the event of a tie, Sally further explained, Katie Hargraves would be the deciding vote - her vote to be counted twice, if needed, but we told everyone that it was unnecessary as there was no tie.

On the screen, the night's master of ceremonies climbed up the stage - some unknown official from Rockrgrrl that fancied himself as some sort of TV presenter (to be fair, though, he did the MC-ing competently).

He introduced each band by name, giving each a chance to bow or curtsey. The editors didn't take out the part of me showing off (I had fired off a lick from my little imitation junior Strat when it was our turn). That also highlighted the fact that I had changed out of my leggings and into a short pouf skirt.

He then went over the prizes, which were small cash prizes for all the finalists, limited-edition guitars for the runners-up, and for the winners - a ten thousand-dollar cash prize, RockrGrrl guitars, a chance to compete in the grand finals and - the real prize - a limited contract to perform at some concerts and a one-year "on spec" recording contract with one of the leading recording companies.

A drum roll started playing. Eloquence was announced as the runner-up, and everyone applauded. And then it was our turn.

"And the winner for the East Coast Finals of the First Evolution Festival Concert is..." the drum roll went interminably long... "Unlimited Bandwidth!"

Yes, I was there, but I didn't remember the audience going almost berserk. I guess I was a bit shellshocked at the time. The audience applauded long and hard. Sally clapped as well. Keeping up appearances, I clapped, too.

Janet and I, or rather Janet and Dannie, were invited to say a few words. All I could remember at the time was that I mumbled some forgettable words, and then being lifted onto my guys' shoulders. This time around, I couldn't look at the me on the screen, so I still didn't see or hear what I had said this time.

In any case, they wrapped up the show with us singing our encore song, confetti raining down on all of us finalists, and then they had the credits rolling down over the video . Sally and I in the studio said a few farewell remarks, told everyone about the post-show program coming up, and signed off. Sorry for being so blasé about it, but I've gotten over the whole thing already.

Joey, the TV techs and Tracey (who had walked in) applauded and, grinning, Sally and I stood and took our bows.

"Great work, guys," Joey said. "Really great work."

"Thanks, Joey," I grinned. "What's next?" I popped in a pre-recorded cartridge which is supposed to have several songs and commercials, which gave us time to reset the booth.

"Well, I don't know about you," said Joey, "but me and my guys are gonna break down our equipment and get out of your hair as quickly as we can. You got another one after?"

"Uh, we're almost done for the night except for that one after-program, and then Dennis Oldfield, the nighttime deejay will come in for his program, and then it's back to regular programming."

"Okay. We'll try and be quick then."

"Oh, yeah," Tracey said. "Dennis is just in the lounge. Should I go fetch him?"

"Just tell him to go have a break and we'll call him when we're done with our phone-in show, Tracey."

Joey gave instructions to his techs and they started taking out their TV equipment and props. It hardly took any time, and before I knew it, my booth looked like nothing happened, except that there were KRPQ posters still hanging.

The whole time, his people were sneaking looks at me and Sally. I took my cue from Sally, tried not to take it personally and just pretended not to notice. But old men leering at you is a little creepy.

"Listen," Joey said from inside my booth after all his people had left, "sorry to have to run, but I just wanna say it was great working with you guys." He shook Tracey's hand, then Sally's, which made me the last one.

"And if you wanna get together or something," he said to me, slipping a business card in my hand, "just gimme a call."

With that, he left.

"Oooh!" Sally squealed. "'Just gimme a call!' Oooh!"

Tracey giggled.

"Oh, shut up, you guys," I groused. "He's old, and he isn't even my type!"

"Tall, dark and handsome isn't your type?"

"I'm taking a break," I huffed, and mock-marched out of the booth and into the bathroom.

Sally and Tracey hugged each other and laughed their heads off.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 22 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, his family and friends deal with it. And, after he's gone on TV in his female DJ persona, the charismatic and sexy radio celebrity Robin a.k.a. the Nighthawk, and hosted a radio-TV program promoting the band called Unlimited Bandwidth, whose lead singer is his other persona, Dannie, the talented and sexy teen pop singer, he finds his life fragmenting more and more. It's enough to make anyone schizophrenic. Still, life goes on, though a little more strained for our intrepid hero (or is it heroine?), as he starts confronting Dannie's and Robin's fans.

 
Chapter Twenty-Two: Relaunch

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

The KRPX camera guy was a little creepy, but lots of people seem to be... extra attentive when they're around me. Courtesy of my 'mones, again, I suppose. Dammit...

Sally made an idle comment that maybe I should report him or something. After all, he was old enough to be my dad. I said never mind and that he was probably harmless.

After doing an extra-long call in radio show, Tracey and I decided to wrap it up since we were already inching close to our allotted fourth hour. Sally had said her goodbyes about an hour before, and it was just me that had to say goodbye to the fans. In fact, Mrs. Piper and the rest of the office staff (except for the radio engineers), had gone home already.

Most of the callers complained about our show not being on TV anymore but I explained that the arrangement between our radio station and the TV station was just for the concert. Most asked if there'll be more of that but I didn't know the answer.

But like my other call-in shows, this one was super-fun, and with Sally in there, and Tracey making the occassional jokes and quips, this one was by far the best. The fact that it followed the pre-show and the concert show probably had a lot to do with it and, looking at everything afterwards, I wouldn't mind doing something like this again.

After more than four hours in front of the mic, I definitely needed a long bathroom break. I didn't want to leave the booth unmanned so I was back quickly. But it seemed that it was unnecessary to rush - a lot of commercials were still left over to play (and Tracey took care of it), and that was what was being played on air as I came back in.

"Dennis still not in?" I said into the intercom.

"Oops, I better get him," Tracey said and left to fetch him.

Per the office's DJ rules, I sat down and waited for my reliever to take over for me. I didn't have long to wait, though, so I didn't need to do anything.

"Thanks, kid," Dennis said as he bustled in and sat down. "I got this. You go home and get some shuteye."

"Thanks, Dennis. Seeya later."

As I was about to follow Sally out of the booth, Dennis touched my arm.

"Oh, and Danny... I mean 'Robin…'"

"Yeah?"

"Good work tonight."

I grinned. "Thanks, man."

Dennis gave me a friendly sock on the shoulder and shooed me out of the booth, smiling. "Go on, you J.D. Leave, already."

I laughed. "I'm going, I'm going! And I'm a DJ, not a JD!"

- - - - -

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

The following Monday, I turned over the last of my time cards I was required to turn in to the school counselor's office. I had accumulated more than enough hours that I had more than fulfilled all my extracurricular requirements. So, as far as the school was concerned, I was done.

Of course, just because I've fulfilled my extracurricular requirements didn't mean I had to stop being a DJ.

After I dropped off the cards and was walking to class with my guys and Danielle's gang (by now, this had become our regular morning routine), I looked around. Everyone was openly saying hi to us - the generally acknowledged geek gang in school. What's happening to the world? Were we suddenly transported to the Twilight Zone or something? But truthfully, I didn't care so long as I had Nikki with me. And, truth be told, there were more girls starting to look me over, too - after all, if Nikki was my girl now, there must be something to me, right? Heheh.

But despite Nikki being there, I was feeling grumpy. Mom and Dad told us over breakfast this morning that we might not be able to visit our maternal grandmother Rosemary, or Nana Marie, or just mhamo, in Belfast.

The original plan was that our family and Mom's brother's family would share the cost and stay in Ireland for a couple of weeks. But Uncle Nathan said he couldn't get away. Mom said that it might just be they couldn't afford the trip, and Uncle Nathan just didn't want to admit it.

Dad said that, with the cash settlement from the pharmaceutical company, and because they didn't need to save for our college fund anymore, they could actually pay for both families. Mom said she'll find a way to tell her brother this in some polite way that saves face, and would let us know as soon as she can.

That was great, but I was still grumpy at the thought that we might not see Nan or get to go to Ireland. It was our first time to see mom's home country, and meet our grandmother and cousins face-to-face. Mom and Uncle Nathan always had fun stories about the Cassidys, and Danielle and I have had lots of phone calls and Skype calls with them. Nan was totally adorable, especially with her cute Irish brogue. Good thing she and the whole Cassidy Clan was fully fluent in English. I wasn't sure if the Irish were fluent in English in general. It may just be my family. (Hey, sue me - I haven't been to Ireland before!) It's like we knew her already, and we so, so wanted to see her.

Anyway, my mind switched back to school stuff, and started to wonder if me and my buds were still the social pariahs that we used to be. You know - the usual.

Well, truthfully, though, I don't know what our social status was now that Danielle and her friends were part of our gang. Or maybe we're part of theirs. Anyway, we weren't exactly at the bottom of the totem pole anymore. Still, it was a little out of character for everyone to go out of their way to say hi to us. Or more appropriately to Betsy.

Then I had an 'aha!' moment - the TV show! People saw Betsy in the TV show! Good for Bets. She deserved some attention. Clearly delighted, Betsy said 'hi' back, giggled and preened a bit. One little Freshman girl even asked for her autograph.

But it made me worry. Is the jig up? Have people guessed? People seemed to be glancing over at Danielle and me an awful lot. Mostly Danielle, actually.

I looked over the ones who came up to say hi, most of them girls that knew Danielle, and I noticed them sporting scarves or other similar things tied to bangles, bracelets and wristbands. I chuckled when I saw one of the more sporty girls wearing silk hankies threaded through those Livestrong silicon wristbands, or maybe they were those Nike energy bands (it's old news so the girl probably hasn't heard the truth about the bands, and about Lance Armstrong...)

Anyway, seems Danielle's gimmick ideas were starting to pay dividends. She and I gave each other one of those significant, semi-psychic looks of recognition. She smiled delightedly. I just stuck my tongue out at her, which just made her laugh.

I also noticed that most of the girls were wearing similar hair styles this morning - they had their hair in long, loose curls, with a long curling lock hanging over the left eye, which most of them kept pushing daintily away with the back of their hand. If it bothered them so much, why didn't they just pin it back or cut it off altogether?

Danielle sidled up to me and elbowed me in the ribs. "What'd I tell you?" she half-whispered to me. "Pretty soon, your scarf thing will be as legendary as Snuggies, iPhones, Facebook, Jennifer Lawrence and even Jennifer Aniston's do!"

"You think?" I said sarcastically, eyes wide with mock excitement.

"Sure! And look at that!" She pointed to the lockers we were passing, and I followed her gesture. "You're a genius, Danny!"

She was pointing at a bunch of girls, the type I used to be so intimidated by - the type that looked and acted like Danielle and her girlfriends - confident and intimidatingly pretty in their sexy clothes, so shiny and coiffed and so unattainable. Or at least I used to be intimidated by them until Danielle and Nikki and the others became regular fixtures around the gang.

Anyway, these girls were leaning against their lockers chatting, all of them sporting bright, pastel-colored bangles on their wrists, with shiny silk, chiffon, lace or satin scarves or handkerchiefs tied to them. I thought that was what Danielle was referring to until I noticed that they were all wearing the same hairstyle - the big curls, with one curl over the left eye. I recognized one of the girls, and I was pretty sure she had a short-cut pageboy-style do last week. Given how long it was now, she was probably wearing a wig or maybe hair extensions. Could be Danielle was referring to the hair?

And then, the tallest among them, a blonde (probably the leader or something), used the back of her left hand to push away her overhanging lock of hair, and moments later, the others did the same gesture with their own locks of hair. Like it was a... Wait...

My mind flashed back to when we watched the show on Tracey's big, flat-screen TV at her place, and I recalled seeing me involuntarily make the same gesture several times when I was wearing the extra-long red wig Joanne styled. Oh boy...

"How'd you ever thought of making that move?" Danielle asked. "And I thought my scarf thing was brilliant."

I sighed and just shrugged nervously.

And then I looked at the girls and noticed Drew and Mel with scarves tied around their wrists. And Drew now had a lock of her suddenly-long hair hanging over her left eye.

"What!" Drew said, and glared at me.

"Nothing!" I said.

- - - - -

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

We reached my classroom, which was the signal for the gang to break up and go to his or her own class. As usual, Nikki gave me a big kiss before she went, which made everyone go "oooh!"

Morgan and I walked in (we shared the same homeroom) and sat at our customary places.

The classroom was a little crowded so Mr. Wilson was having a hard time controlling the class - one of the teachers took a few weeks off because of an emergency appendectomy or some other not-so-deadly condition, but she would be out for at least a month so a substitute teacher was assigned to her classes. However, at the new teacher's request, a few of her more difficult students were temporarily farmed out to the more seasoned teachers, which included our own Mr. Wilson - Mr. Wilson had a reputation among the teachers for being an instructor with a firm hand.

So our class now had a handful of new classmates. Unfortunately, one of the temporary transferees was Tom Hennessy.

"So," one of the guys said as we sat down, "I hear you guys are pretty tight with Betsy Haley." He had a muffled, snuffly kind of voice. He had the cold that everyone seemed to have nowadays. Flu season and all.

"Huh?" Morgan said succinctly.

"You know? Betsey Haley? The hot, sexy violinist for Unlimited Bandwidth?"

"Funny," I said. "Most of us know her as the class president."

"Shut up," the guy said, turning to me. "No one's talking to you. Urk!" The guy stopped short, flailed around a bit and pulled at his collar as he tried to get a breath in despite his collar being pulled back tight against his Adam's apple. Mr. Wilson was conveniently writing something on the board and didn't notice anything.

Tom Hennessy leaned forward as he tightened his grip on the back of the guy's shirt.

"Now, be nice, okay?" he said into the guy's ear. "Otherwise, I just might have to hurt you." The guy nodded frantically.

After a moment, Tom let go, and the guy let out a ragged breath. He jumped up and turned around, ready to fight, but when he saw it was Hennessy, he turned around again and meekly sat back down.

Mr. Wilson took notice. "What is it, son?" he asked.

"Ummm... nothing, sir."

"Thanks, Tom," I said, a little lost for words.

Tom just nodded sagely, silently. For the rest of the class, he sat quietly like a sphinx, eyes forward and listening to Mr. Wilson attentively. I still didn't know how to read the guy, ever since that flower incident a while ago. Actually, I sort of preferred Tom being the bully. At least that way I knew what to expect.

As the class progressed, most of us got involved in school stuff, and I sort of forgot about Tom. Truth was, it didn't really register that he was around anymore until after class.

English was the usual. The class wasn't rowdy as in other classes, but most of the people's minds were mostly on last night's program and were pretty excited to talk about it. Mr. Wilson didn't shush us kids much, and as we went though the day's lesson, we could hear a lot of whispered talk about the show swirling around the room. I again noticed a lot of the girls wearing bracelets and bangles with the scarves, and many of the guys were wearing blazers in either electric blue or electric green, and some of them wearing tie-dyed t-shirts underneath. Felt like I was in a John Hughes revival. I caught Mr. Wilson's eye when he noticed me noticing everyone. He smiled at me and shrugged, and gamely tried to continue on with the class. Wonder what that was about?

Anyway, seems like Unlimited Bandwidth was a hit in school. Hope that this is the extent of it. Otherwise, if this escalates further, we, or rather, I, may be found out.

When we stood up after class and turned around to leave, I noticed Tom again. "Oh, hey, man," I said.

"Dude," he said, nodded and left.

I looked at Morgan. "What's with him?" I asked.

Morgan just shrugged. "Who knows. Let's get outa here."

Same problem all throughout the day, especially during lunch. There were a lot of people quoting me from last night, and there was a big clot of people near one corner of the cafeteria. Apparently, there was this nerdy-looking girl who brought her guitar to school, and it was the spitting image of my acoustic guitar... ummm, I mean Dannie-the-singer's guitar. So I eavesdropped a bit, and it turned out the girl's guitar was a RockrGrrl guitar.

Some of the more geeky guys were asking her to play some stuff and she played the refrain from one of the four songs from the concert - it was an arrangement that allowed her to play the music from the Meja song all by herself. She sang the song as well - quite competently, in fact.

"It's funny how circumstances take control, taking you places with your mind and soul," she sang.

And, one of the girls standing around sort of sang and harmonized with her. "Like springtime makes me feel better, taking me higher, feeding my fantasy. And it feels so good!"

"Yeah, it feels so good!"

Then they harmonized again.

"Giving you luxury. It comes naturally. So, baby, don't thank me - I thank you. And it's plain to see who's giving you luxury."

I had to smile at the scene. Everyone was enjoying themselves and, what the heck, if what I did gives someone a moment to be other than what she usually had to look forward to, I'm happy.

"What she had to look forward to..."

That made me think of things, and where I was now. Was I even nerdy anymore? Ever since I started high school, it was a label that I thought I wouldn't be able to escape. But with everything that's happened, I wasn't that anymore, I think. If so, then why wasn't I happy? I think I was, especially now, but I wasn't sure.

Nikki and the other girls walked into the cafeteria. She waved and I gestured to our table. She nodded and they got in line with the others.

Looking at Nikki as she chatted with our friends while getting some lunch, I couldn't get over how pretty she was. That made me think. And, I guess I was happy. I went over and held her tray for her. She leaned over and gave me a kiss. Well, that's why I offered to carry her tray, after all.

If I was happy, then what was I missing?

Danielle caught my eye.

"Hey, Dan! Mrs. P wants to meet up tonight at her office. You game?"

"I guess? Should I be worried?"

"Probably not. Hold on, I'll text Tracey and say we can make it tonight."

"Okay. Be sure to text mom as well." I tried to snatch some of her fries but she slapped my hand away. I looked at her tray as well as the others - Mel's, Joanne's Drew's and Nikki's trays only had salads and half a sandwich, as usual (although Nikki's also had a big banana boat full of fries which, I'm sure, was for me), but Danielle's had enough for three people. Same as mine, actually, but I'm able to take care of both Nikki's and my trays.

We went back to our table, and the entire gang was there for a change. Naturally, the topic of discussion was the show. As expected, everyone wanted to know about Sally. We couldn't talk as freely as we wanted because of all the kids, but we could talk well enough.

Befitting my current status as the newest media sensation, I was superciliously casual about it until Morgan jokingly hit me on top of my head, and Nikki started giving him the evil eye…

"Unlimited Bandwidth is definitely a hit!" Mickey said enthusiastically. "I heard that some people have posted clips from the TV show online, and they're trending!"

"Yeah!" Mel said. "I heard the same thing, too. Who has a phone?"

Everyone pulled their phones out and googled "Unlimited Bandwidth" and "Evolution Concert," and they got several hits on youtube.

"Look at this one from the concert," Joanne said, showing me her phone. "It's already up to a thousand hits, and it's not even ten minutes up!"

"How about this one from the TV interview," Jerry said, "it's almost at fifty thousand!"

"Which one's that?" Joanne asked excitedly.

"The Paul McCartney song with Betsy!" Joanne looked to Bets. "No wonder…"

Mel giggled. "You guys are a hit! Have Janet and the others said anything, Danny?"

"Haven't had a chance to talk to them since Saturday," I told Mel.

"I'm sure they're pretty excited about it all," Nikki said.

"I'm sure they are, but they're probably feeling pressured just about now."

"Huh?"

"Instant fame has its drawbacks. Just look at Betsy."

Betsy gave me a razzberry.

But Morgan gave me a funny look. He and Danielle were the best at catching my moods. "What's wrong, Danny?"

I sighed. "It's nothing, Morgan."

"Is it because they don't know it's you…"

"No! … it's not that. I don't mind that people don't know. I prefer it, in fact. I guess it's because we got some bad news this morning: we might not be able to go to Ireland this year..."

Morgan shook his head. He knew me so well.

"It's not just that," he said. "What is it? Really."

I shrugged helplessly. "I guess I just wish that all this hiding wasn't needed… all these kids talking about Dannie and Robin, and I'm just here. I feel like a fake. Like a liar."

I pointed to the girl that had the guitar earlier - she was just walking out of the cafeteria with a bunch of other people.

"See that girl with the guitar?" I asked. "She was playing our Meja song, and she was having a great time with a bunch of other girls. Just singing. And I wanted to join in and have fun, too. But I couldn't, of course…"

Danielle reached out and held my hand. "Everything will work itself out, Danny. You'll see. We'll find a way eventually, and you won't need to hide."

I sighed again.

"So," Mike said, breaking the silence for a while, laughing and doing his best dirty-old-man imitation, "Tell us again about Talia and Sally. Are they as hot face-to-face as they are on TV? Mweheheheh…"

Drew hit him on the head. Not really hard. It was more for show, and for a laugh. Everyone knew that he was just trying to change the mood. Sometimes we take Mike for granted. But he's not as clueless as he wants people to think he is, and I was grateful to have him as one of my buds. My friends are great.

- - - - -

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

After classes, Danielle and I left the gang and drove on to Mrs. Piper's office. When we arrived, Tracey was already there.

Danielle and I gave her hugs and we shook hands with Mrs. Piper.

"So." Mrs. Piper said as she gestured for us to get comfortable, "how are things?" She brought out a couple of caramel macchiatos and handed them to us. Tracey already had hers. I smiled and nodded my thanks.

"Well," Danielle giggled, "nothing much since Saturday, Mrs. P. How are things with you since Saturday?" She grinned. "Anything new?"

"Actually, there is," she grinned as well, appreciating Danielle's gentle humor. "Folks from KRPX and I met over lunch yesterday afternoon. On the success of the show last Saturday, I made a decision on something I've been contemplating. The formal launch of the FM station will be happening within the month, maybe in two weeks' time. Since we moved to this new place, the station has been on test FM broadcast, simultaneously broadcasting with our AM station. In a couple of weeks, however, we need to formally launch the FM station. By that time, we'll have ALL our licenses and permits from the government."

"How can you do test broadcasts without the paperwork?"

"Temporary permits from the FCC."

"Ahhh," Danielle said. "So, what's the decision you had to make, Mrs. P?"

"Well, my dear," Mrs. Piper said, "I wanted to make a big splash with the formal launch, and I finally came up with an idea - we'll be partnering with KRPX again, and doing what we did last Saturday, but this time to cover our own live concert! I've block-timed over an hour on the station two Saturdays from now, and we'll do a simultaneous broadcast through both our AM and FM stations, as well as KRPX TV.

"Now - what I need from you is to help conceptualize and plan the entire thing. Our station's salespeople are coming in a little while as well as some people from KRPX, and I got a few people from PiperCorp's promotions team arriving soon, and Talia, Sally, Harry and all the other on-board guys will be coming in as well. It's all hands on deck tonight. Otherwise, we won't make the schedule."

"But, Mrs. Piper…" I pointed to myself.

"Ahh. That's not a problem. Tracey will bring you two over to our place. Tracey has our living room fully wired, and I'll tell everyone you'll be dialling in via Google Hangouts, and we'll be teleconferencing."

"But…"

"All you have to do is to switch off the video on your side so all we'll get here is just the audio."

"How sure are you that no one can hack out a video feed?"

Tracey giggled. "Oh, I know a way. It's a very complicated procedure. What you do is you tape a piece of paper over the webcam…"

The three of us laughed while Mrs. Piper just smiled and shook her head indulgently.

"Anyway," Mrs. P continued, "I'll definitely need your inputs. The meeting may last all night. I'll smoothen it out with your folks and tell them you'll be sleeping over at my place if we go overtime."

"But we didn't come prepared for an overnight…" Danielle said.

"I'll take care of it. I do own my own department store, you know. Tracey will take you to the department store. Get whatever you need for a sleepover. Get some takeout for dinner at the food court, too, and then go on to our place. I'll start as soon as the others arrive, and you guys catch up when you're set."

"Well… okay."

"Good. Now, scoot. The others will be here soon and we don't want them to catch you here."

So we scooted.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 23 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 deals with getting turned on by his girlfriend. Life got even more complicated after his boss, Mrs. Piper, convinced him and his sister to make his band part of the official launch of the station's new FM channel. It'd be the band's first real concert, if ever. But how would they be able to manage that and still keep Danny's true identity secret? ... Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Twenty-Three: Brainstorming

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

We went with Tracey to our little town's mall - it was the mall where Fallon and I tried to hide from Tom Hennessy before. We followed Tracey to one of the new, more exclusive places on the third floor and she asked us to look around for clothes we thought we'd need for school tomorrow, as well as whatever else we needed, and Danielle took Tracey in tow to the ladies section. I went to the men's section and picked out a shirt and pants. I then went to the toiletries section and got Danielle and I some soap, shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste and, of course, a couple of toothbrushes. It's a good thing I knew Danielle's preferences.

I decided to get some underwear and socks for me (which included t-shirt bras lately). However, I had to move to the ladies section since I get all my underwear from the ladies section nowadays. In the rare moments when salespeople recognize that I'm a guy, I just say it's for my sister or something, but since people haven't been questioning it lately, I didn't need to say much anymore, and I was able to find the stuff we needed without being bothered. They probably did think I was a girl. I just shrugged and thought to myself, what can you do? That's life. Buying new stuff for school, though, coz we didn't want to be late - that's new.

- - - - -

Waking up in time was a real worry for me. Not the usual thing about being in time for school, but for work. To be fair, it's not all the time - just on the weekends.

Ever since Mario moved our gigs to Fiday nights, I've had to learn to do with less sleep on Saturdays. I had my Nighthawk Saturday morning program, which started at six AM. So, after our Friday night gigs (we'd finish our last set by around midnight, so we'd be home by around two), I'd just have a short nap and get back up by four - five at the latest - in time to get ready for my radio program.

The schedule change was murder, but Mario said that we weren't pulling in enough customers (patently a lie), but since my folks only allowed me to play one night a week, he decided to move us permanently to Fridays, so that he could compete with the other places in town for a bigger slice of the bigger Friday night crowd (My folks didn't protest much - it was on a Friday, so my schoolwork wouldn't be affected at all, so the 'rents agreed without too much protest).

However, Mario changed our fee from a flat fee per set to a percentage of the night's take on orders, thinking he could save a few bucks by doing it that way.

It turned out that we did pull in more clients, so we ended up getting paid more - at least twice our normal fixed-fee. This made Janet and the others happy.

Mario tried to weasel out and put us back on the old scheme, saying he couldn't afford the new one. But, acting as our sort-of manager, Danielle said that he was doing more business because of us so, if he did, the band won't play for him anymore.

Mario made a counter-offer, and said he could raise our standard fixed fee. Janet got it upped to three times our normal fee, and Mario instantly agreed.

We congratulated Janet for our new windfall, but then Danielle said she was suspicious because Mario agreed so quickly. She went and had a private talk with Mario, and she was able to up our fee to five times our usual.

Danielle said that she suspected we were being lowballed, and she was right. She also said that she actually thought we were still being lowballed - that Mario was really raking in the money on Friday nights - but trying for more might be pushing it, so she thought it best to leave the matter for now, and just try for something better later. Besides, five times normal was still pretty good. Especially for Mongo, who really needed the extra cash.

This was partly why Danielle suddenly became our new "business manager," much to Janet's displeasure.

That Saturday, instead of band practice, we celebrated, and the entire gang went out to dinner and dancing.

- - - - -

Back in the department store... while I was in the ladies' section, I bumped into Tracey and Danielle. Their cart was piled high - mine only had a handful of stuff.

I looked at Danielle disapprovingly for taking advantage, but she just looked back innocently. Casually, she mentioned that this was almost all for Tracey, and inside, I went, "ahhhh…" I felt slightly chagrined and guilty for thinking that of Danielle. I should have known better. She was actually helping Trace pick out stuff (Trace definitley needed some help in the fashion department), and who better to help her with fashion-related stuff than Danielle, the walking clothes horse. Heheh...

At the counter, Tracey just signed for our stuff, and asked if we could leave them there.

The saleslady seemed to know what to do, and just smiled at Tracey and said, "I'll take care of it, ma'am."

We then went to the food court and bought a couple pizzas, some burgers & fries, as well as other stuff, to go - not the healthiest but they were the quickest. Tracey looked at the ginormous amount of food we got, but she knew better than to comment on it.

On the trip to the Piper's condo, we got to know each other some more. We got so engrossed that it was only Tracey bringing out her house keys that made us realize we were already standing outside the door of their place. (Though their condo occupied the entire floor, their elevator didn't open directly to their place, as one would expect with fancy apartments like theirs. Instead, one still had to go through a hall and unlock a door. Tracey said that their condo was actually just several remodeled apartments whose adjoining walls had been knocked down, hence the old elevator, hallway and fire escape were still there.)

Danielle had about the same reaction to Tracey's and Mrs. Piper's place that I had before. Talk about luxurious.

All the stuff we bought we found piled neatly on the living room table. Except for the food, Tracey moved everything to her room so we'd have space, and we soon got down to business.

"Wait…" Tracey said, "this meeting is liable to take a long time. What about homework?" Tracey really was too straight to be part of our group. That'll change in time, of course. Heheh.

"I don't know about you guys," I shrugged, "but I don't need to work on anything that's due right away."

"Me neither," Danielle answered around a mouthful of hamburger.

"Okay, then," Tracey responded. "Lemme set up things, and I'll dial up Mom's office." She grabbed another slice of pizza, went to her room, brought out her Mac, connected it to their living room's entertainment system and, as she said she would, she taped over her Mac's webcam with a tiny piece of paper.

Soon, we linked up to Mrs. Piper's office computers. Tracey had obviously set up her mom's office beforehand since we connected instantly, and could see Mrs. P's office in two angles in a split screen on their panoramic big-screen TV: one at an angle shot from over Mrs. Piper's shoulder, and one from the opposite angle, allowing us to see Mrs. Piper in full. Obviously, Tracey connected to two computers, or a computer with two cameras.

After we were able to connect, Mrs. Piper said hello.

"How are you guys doing over there," she said.

"We're doing fine, Mom," Tracey said.

"Who's there with you, dear?"

Danielle and I couldn't respond since our mouths were full of food.

"Robin is here," Tracey answered for us, "as well as Danielle, Dannie's manager." (Danielle and I dutifully mumbled "hi" through our food.)

"Dannie who?" someone asked.

"Dannie Fairchild?" Tracey responded. "From the Rockrgrrl band?"

"Wait... one is named Danielle and the other's name Dannie?"

Mrs. Piper chuckled. "Yup."

"Okaaay..."

"Ladies and gentlemen," Mrs. Piper said, "I asked the girls to join us, given we're planning on using, ahhh, Robin to cover the launch event, and using Dannie's band as the featured entertainment."

"I've seen Dannie and her band," someone I didn't know said, "and I've listened to the Nighthawk's program on the air several times. Good choice, ma'am. It's a pity it's audio only - it would have been nice to see them as well…"

"Sorry about that," Tracey said. "The bandwidth here's not big enough to have good video." Danielle and I giggled.

"We'll manage, dear," Mrs. Piper said. "Now, can someone summarize what we've agreed on so we can update the girls?"

Someone to Mrs. Piper's right dutifully read out the minutes, and we found out that, so far, they had agreed on a poster design, and that the people from PiperCorp promised to have several prototypes printed up and ready for approval by Mrs. Piper and the KPRX people, and then have at least a few thousand of the approved design printed up in a few days. The intention was to put up the posters in the mall, in popular retail spots, restaurants and fastfood places, and in the four schools in town. Mrs. Piper's having some people do it for her.

They also put together an outline for two commercials - a TV one and an audio-only radio one, to be aired on KPRX and KPRQ. And the idea was to have both Robin and Dannie do the voice-overs, and the people from PiperCorp to do the actual production. That rankled a little bit - why them?

Announcers from both our station and the TV station would then plug the event, using the material from the posters as their talk-points.

"Can I say something?" I asked in my best Robin voice.

Most of the people in the meeting were a bit surprised. I suppose they were assuming we'd just listen and be quiet.

"Of course, dear," Mrs. Piper said.

"Well, I was thinking that we just make one TV commercial, and we'd just play the audio over KRPQ as our radio commercial. That way, we save a few bucks, and we have one recognizably single commercial."

Everyone grew silent.

"Hmmm…" Mrs. Piper said. "We should have thought of that…"

"Also," I continued, "maybe we can have some of your copywriters write some press releases to go in the local papers, and to have it posted in the stations' websites and in some of the social media sites, like maybe facebook and instagram and so on. Or maybe just use the poster so it'll be uniform."

Mrs. Piper glared at some of the people in the room as if saying, "why didn't you think of that, too?"

"Go on," Mrs. Piper said to me.

"Well," I continued, "do we even have websites in the first place?"

"I'm sorry, Robin," Harry said, "I think KRPX has a basic site but ours is nothing more than a splashpage."

"Oh, no… well, that can't be helped. And I don't think we can do anything about it in two weeks…"

"Well," Danielle said, "nothing to be done, then. Let's just make sure a digital copy of the poster is posted on the sites. What do the guys from KRPX think?"

They shrugged. "Sounds good to us," someone from their group said. "We'll do our best to help."

And so the discussion continued.

And as the discussion continued, another fly in the ointment was discovered.

On Danielle's very strong insistence despite everyone's saying it was probably not a concern, Mrs. Piper called the Rockrgrrl people to see if Unlimited Bandwith's participation in KRPQ's launch would affect their standing in the Evolution Concert contest. If they say it does, Danielle said the band won't want be part of their event.

So, because of this, well, ultimatum, I suppose, despite the relatively late hour, Mrs. Piper contacted Rockrgrrl. She was apparently close to someone high up in the company, and was able to get through right away and explain the situation. However, no one she spoke to wanted to take responsibility. So it got bumped up and up through the company's hierarchy and she ended up being put through to Katie Hargraves herself.

Katie said it wasn't a big issue for her, but she needed to get the consensus of the other judges. And, after about twenty minutes of tense waiting, Katie called back and Mrs. Piper put her on speakerphone.

Katie said that it was all right with the judges. "However," she said in her kid-like voice, "Legal said there may be some problems since this constitutes a professional assignment, and their status as an amateur band may not hold anymore. And since the contest is only for amateur bands…"

"What?" I exclaimed. "You must be kidding, Ms Hargraves."

"Who's that?" Katie asked.

"I'm sorry, Katie," Mrs. Piper said. "That's Robin, one of our on-air announcers. You might have heard of her - her radio name is the Nighthawk."

"The Nighthawk!" Katie enthused. "I caught some of her radio shows! She's great! Pleased to meet you, Robin."

I couldn't help but blush. "Ummm, thank you, Ms Hargraves."

"Please call me Katie," she said, and asked about me and my show, and we got to talking a bit until Mrs. Piper cleared her throat.

Katie giggled and said, "sorry! I got carried away, I guess."

"You were saying, Robin?" Mrs. P asked.

"Well," I said, "I was just thinking that it's ridiculous that we, I mean, the band can't do this. Using that argument, then technically speaking, Unlimited Bandwidth was already a 'professional' band even before the concert, since they've had several paying gigs already. And almost all the other bands have regular gigs as well."

"Good point, Robin," Katie said, "but Legal said that 'amateur' in this case is taken to mean bands not having played in any major venues. It's in the rules. And an event like this, which is to be televised, is definitely a 'major venue.'"

This made everyone stop talking to consider her words.

"Well," Danielle said, "it's just local TV. And what if I can sell it to the guys not to accept payment for the KRPQ thing? Will that mean they keep their amateur status?"

"Who's that?"

"Oh! Sorry, Ms Hargraves. I'm Danielle - I'm the band's manager."

"Hello, Danielle. Well, you do make a good point, but such rationalizations might not cut it. To be frank, our concern is really with the upcoming contestants of the other two upcoming finals - future contestants might make an issue of having to compete with a, quote, professional band."

"Well, if you follow that logic, that practically means that my guys can't do gigs until the contest is over. Which will be in - when? - eight to ten months' time? That's close to a year of not playing anywhere! Are they supposed to give up their little gig at Mario's, too? That's not right."

"I agree. I wish I could help, but I can't commit to anything right now. Personally speaking, I don't think it's a problem but, officially, I don't know yet. I guess I need to check with my mother as well as get some more legal advice. I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

This was greeted with silence.

"Well," Mrs. P. said after a bit. "You've given us some food for thought. Thank you for your time, Ms Hargraves. I guess we need to make plans. And please contact us as soon as things have been clarified."

"Sure thing, Mrs. Piper. Good night. And glad to have met you Robin."

"Thanks, Katie. 'Night."

Everyone in our video feed looked at Mrs. Piper. You could feel the tension.

"Danielle?" I said, hoping that my sister had an idea.

"Well…" Danielle began, "I don't know how to continue with the meeting now…"

"Yes," Mrs. P said. "That kind of takes the wind out of our sails."

"Ummm, Mrs. Piper," one of the KRPX TV people said, "so what do you want us to do now?"

"My heart's still set on Unlimited Bandwidth," she responded. "They sound good, they have a following, specifically with our listeners - can't do better than that - and I like them… Danielle?"

"Yes, Mrs. P?"

"Do you think the band would still go for it if it meant giving up the Evolution contest?"

"Gee, I don't know… Probably not. I'll have to ask them."

"Okay, you ask them. When do you think they can let us know?"

"Well, given we only have two weeks, I'll ask them first thing tomorrow, and try and get an answer for you then."

"Good, good. For now, though, let's proceed as if they're going to say 'yes.' But just in case, let's talk about a substitute band. What do you guys think?"

"How about the runner-up from the contest?" someone suggested.

"Ummm, boss," Lou Jefferson said, "I don't think we can get any of the bands from the contest. The fans will ask, why them? Why didn't we get UB? And don't the contest rules also apply to them?"

Sally, Talia and Harry agreed with that while Dennis nodded sagely.

"Why couldn't it be that it's because we already featured them and we're giving the other bands a chance?" someone said.

"Doesn't matter," someone else said. "The rules also apply to them. So they might not want to do it, either."

The others looked at that guy with raised eyebrows until someone interjected, "well, the rules don't matter to them - they didn't win."

"You're right, of course, except for the runner-up - they have to remain eligible otherwise they can't take over for UB if UB gets disqualified or has to pull out for some reason. And if they can't then the next one in line can't, and so on and so on."

Everyone looked at him.

"That's just a thought," the guy said, and scooched down the couch in slight embarassment.

"What about getting some A-list performer?" someone else said. "Like…"

Mrs. Piper shook her head. "I don't think we can afford an A-list band."

"How about a no-name B-lister?"

"I don't think so," I said. "Remember how the people who organized the presidential inauguration were criticized because they only got B-listers in their event? And besides, our station's a small one and wouldn't attract a star. Betcha they wouldn't want to come and perform even if we could ask them, even a has-been act. Especially since this is just going to be a local program."

"Then who would you suggest?"

"Well, it definitely has to be local, and has to have a good rep…"

"I think I know one," Harry said. "There's this little vocal group I know - four girls that sing in that little coffeehouse at the college in the next town. The place is called the Juke Joint."

"Hey, I think I know them," Talia said. "I know Jenna and MacKenzie - two of the four girls. They're no Unlimited Bandwidth, but they're fairly good."

"Local girls?" Mrs. P asked.

"Yes."

"Okay. I'll trust your word. So, for now, they're our substitute band in case UB can't do it. Contact them. We'll know by tomorrow if UB will do it, but still keep your eyes peeled for other local bands or groups."

"But Boss, what if…"

Mrs. P rubbed her temples. "We'll think about that when we cross that bridge, Talia," she mumbled. "One problem at a time. Okay, let's continue…"

- - - - -

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

At around two in the morning, the meeting was more-or-less over, with everyone clear about their responsibilities. And a significant chunk of it was heaped on the three of us: Tracey would be the main driver for the advertisements on TV, radio, print and the Internet, while I was to make sure that the people on-stage would be prepared. Danielle was to prevail on the band for ideas for the actual show, which she needed to coordinate with the PiperCorp and KRPX people as the ones who would actually produce and cover the show. Also, one of the other major chores I had was to actually select the music. Not a small responsibility, actually. I planned to solicit the help of Morgan and the band, of course. And then I had to pass on the list to the PiperCorp guys to get the appropriate license payments, clearances and permissions.

Of course, everything that we'll be doing was dependent on whether the band would be willing to take the risk and still do the KRPQ launch event even if they lose their chance to participate in the big Evolution finals. So Danielle and I decided to tackle that one first thing.

So I texted all the members of the band asking if we could meet after school.

"Gosh," Tracey said after she had logged us out. "This has grown to be a complicated thing. Hope we can pull it off."

"Gosh?" I repeated and giggled. "Really? 'Gosh?' Gee willickers!" Tracey needed to stop hanging out with old people.

"Oh, shut up!" Tracey exclaimed, and giggled as well.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 24 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 deals with getting turned on by his girlfriend. But life for Danny got more complicated after they and Mrs. Piper ironed out the details for the upcoming concert that he and his band will be participating in. It's confusing, to say the least. The question now was, will they be able to pull it off without things blowing up in their faces? Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Twenty-Four: A "Professional" Band

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

The following day, we had gone on to school in the clothes Tracey got us.

Tracey's mom was still asleep when we woke up, and we decided we wouldn't bother her. Tracey said she got in at around five, so she was obviously beat.

We were all able to take showers without taking turns - the Pipers had six bathrooms in their condo. And after quick showers, we had a quick breakfast of cereal, milk and fruits. Not exactly what Danielle and I were used to - usually, mom would have something more, I guess substantial is the word - so Danielle and I decided to heat some of the leftover pizza, and have a couple of slices. Or five. I guess that'll have to do, and just have a quick snack at school later.

I had some trouble picking the right clothes at the mall last night (the fact I knew I was having trouble picking clothes showed I was spending too much time with Danielle and her friends, and wearing girls' clothes). Men's fashions are so close-fitting nowadays, so with my little babies, I didn't know what to pick for a shirt. No trouble with the pants - I just picked the first pair of Levi's I found in my size - but for shirts, I had to pick one which was a couple of sizes larger, on account of my boobies. But I didn't account for the sleeves. The sleeve cuffs hung lower than my wrists. And, besides, they didn't fit right - it was like I was wearing a clown shirt.

So Danielle gave me one of the tops she picked for herself - a nice "untuck" button-front blouse. This one didn't have any darts so it didn't unduly emphasize my boobies. And if you didn't know, I looked like I was just wearing a regular loose shirt, aside from the fact that I looked extra ripped, with a very buffed-out chest. So long as you didn't touch, of course lol. I could have used one of the padded muscle shirts mom got me before.

In any case, with my jacket on, I think I looked pretty normal.

Danielle insisted I wear the sneakers she got - they looked like regular indigo-colored rubber-soled canvas shoes - so I just shrugged and put them on.

I lucked out this morning - Danielle usually didn't do well picking guys clothes.

As for Tracey and Danielle, they wore extremely similar outfits, differing only in the choice of colors.

Danielle had on a blouse with a vivid floral pattern, ruffles at the neckline that wrapped around the arms and continued on the back. It had a v-neck with wide straps that gave the impression of capped sleeves except the shoulders were bare.

She matched it with skinny jeans in the traditional medium blue wash, with patched details and a whiskered faded finish.

Over the blouse, she put on a vintage double knit Amelia Jacket in a rosy, tweed-like fabric. With elastic and shirring at the small of the back, it gave the jacket a sleek, bomber silhouette which went well with the classic collar and the gold and silver buttons.

She then sat on the bed and put on a pair of high-heeled cork sandals with dark-brown straps.

Turning around, I noted Tracey wearing the same outfit, but in different colors. Immediately, I thought of the kind of razzing the girls would get in school, but then I remembered that Tracey didn't go to my school, so it wasn't a problem.

I was a bit dismayed by this internal monologue of mine. There was a time I wouldn't know about Amelia Jackets or what shirring was, and I wouldn't have cared.

I definitely needed more bro time with the guys…

Anyway, we went to school - Danielle and I to our school and Tracey to her fancy private one.

Tracey said someone should take down the minutes of the meeting, but I said neither Danielle nor I were good at taking down notes, so Tracey went to her room and got us a pen-like device - she explained it was a high-tech voice recorder. I pocketed it and we went on our way.

For whatever reason, Danielle and I were not too tired but I think it was more because we were worried about what my bandmates would say in our meeting later.

When we got to school and met up with the gang, the girls were all praises for Danielle's outfit. As for me, I didn't get much reaction from the guys. In fact they were oddly quiet. That made me worry.

During lunch, we gave the gang a blow-by-blow of our meeting last night, and everyone was excited about the upcoming event. For Betsy, looking at her expression, she was clearly torn between excitement and worry. I could identify with that. But I told them we had a meeting scheduled with the band, and so she didn't comment one way or the other until the band could weigh in.

Most of the gang couldn't figure out how the issue of being a "professional band" was important, but they did understand the repercussions - that, depending on what Rockrgrrl said, it could mean that UB (I'm starting to like calling the band "UB" as well) might not be able to be part of the Evolution Concert finals if they participated in the radio station's launch.

It all hinged on what Katie Hargraves decides. Therefore, the band had to decide whether to risk it or not.

"Which we'll find out later in the meeting," Danielle said.

"Can we join you guys?" Jerome said.

Mike elbowed him. "'Course not," Mike said. "It's just for the band." He turned to me. "But you guys'll tell us what happens, right?"

I nodded.

"Where will the meeting be?" Nikki asked.

"Remember that Italian place where I first told you guys about Danielle and me?"

"Why there?"

"It's one of the places where Mrs. Piper has an open tab. She called ahead and made a reservation, and arranged for one of the function rooms for us."

Mike and Jerry had that look, and I had to laugh. Clearly, they remembered the tasty food from that place.

"I'll get you guys some takeout, okay?" And this was greeted by loud protests from the others. It ended with Danielle and I promising takeout for everyone. Well, I guess I can put it on my company credit card. Betsy suggested for all of us to meet at her place afterwards.

- - - - -

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

After school, Danielle, Betsy and I went straight to Mrs. Piper's favorite bistro.

"Buon pomeriggio, signorina," the maitre d' said to me as we stepped in.

"Ummm… good afternoon," I said. It seemed my guy-mode wasn't running. "We have a reservation? Under Mrs…"

"Ovviamente," he nodded. "Signora Piper's secretary called ahead, and we have one of our small function rooms ready. Perfavore sequimi..."

And with that, he led us to a small closed dining room with ten place-settings already laid out.

"Would le signorine like something to drink while they wait for their party?"

I ordered diet coke for the three of us, and asked him to make selections from the day's specials, good enough for ten people, and have them on the side so we could dish them up ourselves - I told him we wanted to be alone.

"Ten people?" Betsy Asked. "Why ten people?" And than she looked at us. "Ahhh…" She giggled.

"Ti capisco, signorina," The maitre d' answered, and he snapped his finger. The waiters around us pulled our chairs for us and we sat down. Another waiter put cokes in front of us brimming with ice.

I felt something in my pants pocket and brought out Tracey's recorder pen. I thought it would be muffled in my pocket and thought a bit. I decided on putting the thing in the breast pocket of Danielle's girly new jacket. For good measure, I turned it on so I wouldn't forget. I doubt Danielle noticed because she was totally engrossed in chatting with Betsy while we waited.

But we didn't have long to wait - the others started coming in one at a time. The first to arrive was Mongo. Among the four, he was the most available since he wasn't working. Actually, all four of them had agreed to take off at least a year while they tried to see if our musical careers would take off.

So, as UB did their gigs and Janet did her thing to try and get the band signed and stuff, and Mongo helped his mom around the house and took care of their little mom & pop stationery shop when he could. Dale and June, the next to arrive, were taking some classes at the junior college while they did the band thing - just accumulating a few college credits that they could put in their transcripts and use when they eventually left for "real" college. At worst, if things didn't improve, though, they were thinking of going to the college in the next town - it had a nationally well-regarded music program.

As for Janet, she was also taking some classes, but mostly singing and acting classes, and did her little meetings to push her own career. And the band's, too, of course. Nothing much had come of her efforts, though, except for the gig at Mario's, and, truth be told, she hadn't had any meetings with anyone for months now - at least nothing she's told us. Actually, the biggest break we've gotten so far was the Rockrgrrl thing - a fact that irritated Janet greatly. That and, I suspect, my increasing influence on the band was causing her to resent me more and more. That's probably why she's been harder and harder to get along with.

Anyway, now that she's arrived, I guess we could start with the meeting.

- - - - -

***** (Janet) *****

I finally got to the restaurant. Betcha everyone's there already. Can't be helped - I didn't have any clean clothes. Mom wasn't done washing our clothes yet. I had to get some from the new pile and had to wait while she ironed them. Didn't she know I had a meeting?

Anyway, I dropped Danny's name and followed the waiter to a little dining room separate from the main restaurant area, and the entire band was there. Including her.

She was seated between her sister and Betsy, and, as usual, she overshadowed everyone in the room, even her lookalike sister. I never understood that, really, but it's something we've come to expect. She's so beautiful. I mean "he!"

But I tried to play it cool.

"Hi, guys!" I said, and hi-fived Dale and Mongo. I then hugged the girls perfunctorily, but was able to sneak a kiss on Danny's cheek at least.

"Whoa! Fast service!" I said as a waiter put a small plate of pasta in front of me while I sat down.

"There are other selections, if you prefer," he said, and pointed to a side-table piled with several other kinds of dishes.

"No, this is fine. Thanks."

He nodded and the wait-staff left us alone.

As I dug in and made some small talk, I looked at my friends. They were all enjoying themselves, and talking excitedly, as per usual.

And Danny at the center of it all… As per usual.

I remembered the time when I used to be the center. But when Danny came along… Used to be I was the one who called meetings. And what's her sister doing here? She's not part of the band. And we didn't used to be so hoity-toity, having a fancy dinner while we "meet." But… I needed to find out what this was all about.

The girls were giggling at something Mongo said. That's unusual - Mongo never did talk much before, but over the months, Danny had taken him out of his shell. Nothing short of a miracle, really. He was even making jokes. OMG.

"So, let me in on the funny," I said as they giggled.

"Go ahead, dude," Danny said to Mongo. "Tell her what happened."

"I was telling the guys," Mongo said, "that I bought a guitar last night…"

"You bought a guitar!" I exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah," he answered. "Dale and June convinced me to try playing the guitar, too I've always wanted to try, and since I had some money from my account now, I got myself a guitar."

"Well, that's cool. Good for you."

"So I asked the guy in the music store to show me their selection and I picked the one that I liked best. Cool matt-black finish, a super-wide strap in psychedelic colors. The clerk asked me if I was sure, and given how nice the guitar looked, I said I was sure.

"So he strung it up for me, tuned it, and I brought it home. I brought out my chordbook, and was excited to try playing some chords. I first tried a simple E and it sounded terrible!

"I then tried a C, but it sounded worse. And I tried all the chords and riffs you guys showed me but it was no use. I tried to tune it but that didn't work either. I decided that the guitar must be defective so I returned it to the store. And it turned out that it wasn't defective. It was just a left-handed guitar! You know - for left-handed people? With the strings in reverse order?"

Everyone laughed at that. Me included. It wasn't particularly funny, but when Danny's around, everything seemed better.

"Guess that was why he asked if I was sure…"

"So," I said, getting down to brass tacks right away, "what's up, Danny?" I knew I was being a bit of a buzzkill but I thought it best to skip all the nonsense that Danny encourages, and get to the important stuff right away.

Danny gave me a look but didn't make any comment.

"Well, okay," she said. I mean he. "Down to business. So Danielle and I were called to a meeting with Mrs. Piper last night…"

And she told us about what Mrs. Piper wanted, and what the problem was. She was very thorough and gave us all the details from their meeting last night, including what they asked her, her sister Danielle and her new friend Tracey, and the things that they asked Mrs. Piper and her people.

When she was through, I summarized.

"So," I said, "you're saying we can do this gig with KRPQ, but if we did, we could be taken out of the running for the Evolution Concert finals? On acount of our new standing as a 'professional band?'"

"In a nutshell, yeah. And that's what we need to decide on - do we take the risk and do the KRPQ launch, or do we pass on it?"

"When will Ms Hargraves let us know again?" Dale asked. "On whether it would be allowable for us to do this, I mean."

Danny shrugged. "I got the impression that she'd let us know at the end of the week. And by that time, we need to be committed one way or another."

"What do you think we should do, Danny?" Dale asked.

Danny looked uncomfortable. "Ummm, I don't know, Dale. I think I shouldn't say anything yet, until everyone has had their say."

"Why?"

She looked in my direction. I mean 'he' looked in my direction.

"Well," he said, "I currently have that DJ job at the station - so you might say I'm biased. I'd feel better if you guys go first."

"Well," June said, "we all know that. I think we can forgive you if you are, but I don't think you'll be biased. So. What do you think?"

Danny shook her head… his head.

June sighed. "How 'bout you, Bets?"

Betsy shrugged. "However Danny decides, I'll follow."

"I think that's Danny's point, Betsy," I said. "Sh… he doesn't want to influence us so he wants us to have our say first."

"I get that, Janet," she said. "But it's not that. For me, I'm not really into the whole band thing. The only reason I joined was because of Danny." She looked my way. "It's been fun, of course, and I like you guys. But I'm not in it for the long haul. You guys accepted me, and I'm grateful. I'm also grateful to be your friend. But I'm only sticking around so long as Danny's in."

She looked at me a little worriedly. "No offense, of course. I hope we're still friends?"

I was a bit disgusted by that, but she was just being honest. I couldn't fault her for it.

"I think I'd go with Danny, too," June said. She looked at me. "It was she that got us this far, and she hasn't steered us wrong yet. And I trust her. I mean him."

"You've always been a follower," I said with a bit of contempt. "Can't you think for yourself, June?" I said.

Clearly, my words were hurtful. I could see tears brimming in her eyes. But I couldn't seem to stop my words.

I turned to Dale and Mongo. "How about you two?"

"I want to go for the concert finals," Mongo said.

"… And?"

"And that's it."

We had to laugh at that. Classic Mongo.

I then turned to Dale.

"I don't know," Dale said. "Janet, we agreed to postpone things until we can make a genuine try at being a real band. It's been over a while now, with eight more months to go, and, aside from the Evolution concert, nothing has really happened. I don't know if I can keep on postponing things. So unless our situation changes a lot, I'm inclined to do this radio thing instead of waiting eight months to a year. I need to get on with my life."

"But, Dale, if we get to go to the Evolution finals, we're guaranteed a recording contract!"

"No, we aren't, Janet. Even if we win, all they're guaranteeing is that we get to have an audition. Again."

I looked away. Talk about frustrating…

"You!" I pointed at Danielle. "What about you? What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Well… I'm supposed to be the band's manager? I'm here to find out what you guys decide, and I'll go to bat for you with Mrs. Piper and the Rockrgrrl people."

"Go to bat for us? Ha! That's a laugh! Obviously you're here for Danny, too!"

Danielle's eyes went round with fury. It's the first time I saw that expression on her. I felt a shiver run up my spine, and wanted to step back instinctively. But Danny put her hand on Danielle's shoulder, and she stopped herself from saying anything further.

I looked at Danny and felt her anger, too. The blank emotionless mask of hers that she used to cover her anger was even scarier than Danielle's mad look. I could feel the emotion, and it made me want to run away and hide. Why was Danny this scary?

"Janet," Danny said, in a very controlled, icy voice. "I don't know where this is coming from. You've been like this for weeks now. Something's going on with you."

"Nothing's going on with me!"

"Danielle's been nothing but supportive, Janet. You know that."

"Never mind."

"Janet…"

"Never mind, I said! Now, it's your turn: tell us what you think we should do."

She took a deep breath. She was clearly mad and was doing her best to control herself. Oh, how I wish I could take back my words. But I couldn't seem to stop myself.

"Here's the thing," she began, "it all goes to what we want at the end of all this. All of you have taken the year out to see if you can make it as a band. But I guess it doesn't matter if we get there via the Evolution contest or some other path, right?

"So, what if I talk to Mrs. Piper? She owns PiperCorp. Maybe she can pull some strings for us and get us an audition with one of the music companies, so winning the contest would be academic. Will that make you agree to doing the radio launch?"

Rebelliously, I looked at Danny. I couldn't help but think she was tricking me into agreeing.

"Can you guarantee that?" I asked.

"Well, no, but Mrs. P knows a lot of people, and it wouldn't cost her anything."

"But why would she do it?"

"Because she's a good lady. And maybe we can say we'll forgo any payment for doing the gig so long as she agrees to get us an audition with a recording company."

"I won't stand for us doing a concert and not getting paid!" I said. "We work hard, so we deserve to be paid! We're profess…" I suddenly realized what I was saying and I trailed off.

She looked at me ironically. "Yep. Isn't that exactly the problem?" she said. "But then, you were willing to not do the gig at all just to remain eligible for the contest. So not getting paid isn't the issue, if there's a chance at a recording contract. Right?"

But I still had a stubborn streak in me that didn't want to give in, and it must have shown.

"If that doesn't pan out," she continued, "well, we're starting to get hits on Youtube. Did you know our Paul McCartney song has gotten about fifty thousand hits, and that's just over the weekend? I'm sure, with your connections, you can parlay that into a recording contract."

"What! I told everyone not to put any videos on the net!"

"Simmer down, Janet! No one posted anything. The people who watched the concert and the TV shows did it - not us."

I knew I was acting like a diva, but I couldn't seem to stop myself.

"And besides," Danny continued, "our dad's best friend is a lawyer. I'm sure he can make a case out of us not getting gigs for eight months just so we can keep our amateur status. That's totally unreasonable."

"You're tricking me. You just want your way…"

"Janet!"

I looked up at the sharpness in her voice and saw her eyes. I couldn't stand her looking at me like that. But I couldn't stop. I looked away.

"No one's tricking anyone," she said. "I'm just laying out my point of view." The deliberate lack of emotion in her voice made me feel cold. I mean "his." What have I done?

"You can decide whatever you want, Janet," she said. "I just think the right move is to do the radio launch.

"What if I say I don't want to do it."

She shrugged. "You're allowed, of course."

I looked to the girls.

"So, Betsy? June?"

"Sorry, Janet," June sadly said to me, and Betsy looked at me and shrugged apologetically.

I turned to the boys. "Dale?"

"You heard my decision already, Janet," he said, "so I guess it's a four-to-two majority."

I stood up and got my purse. "Fine! You people do what you want! Let's go, Mongo."

I started walking to the door, but Mongo wasn't following.

"Mongo? What're you doing? Let's go!"

Mongo remained seated. "But, it's a majority, Janet."

"Screw the majority! We don't want to do it, and they can't make us!"

Mongo looked at me and folded his arms. "No."

"What do you mean 'no!'"

"I'm not leaving. Danny's right. You've been acting weird for a while now. Everyone's had their say, and the majority wins. So we do the radio launch."

"I don't care! This is my band, and you guys do as I say!"

"Your band! It's not 'your' band! We're here 'coz we choose to be here. We're not your puppets!"

I went to him. "Dude - no one can force you to do anything," I whispered to him. "You said no to the radio thing coz you want to be part of the Evolution concert. So, let's go!"

He pushed back from the table and away from me. He looked at me, arms folded.

"Then I change my mind," he said. "I say we do the radio thing."

I looked at him, aghast. "What did you say?"

"You heard me."

I couldn't believe it.

After what felt like a long time, I straightened up and looked at all of them

"All right! Fine! Do the radio thing! You're all sellouts! Where's your artistic integrity?"

I leaned down, put my knuckles on the table and and leaned forward towards Danny.

"But you can do it without me," I whispered savagely.

I stood up and started walking towards the door. "No one takes my band from me and gets away with it!"

I turned around again and looked directly towards Danny. "No one."

I saw the table to the side laden with all sorts of food and other things. I reached out and yanked the tablecloth, and everything crashed to the floor.

Plates broke and cutlery scattered, and the food splattered on the floor.

I then walked out.

- - - - -

***** (Danielle) *****

The silence was thick in the room, and we looked at each other in shock. Slowly, June crumbled into tears, and Betsy hugged her.

Dale stepped out and fetched some waiters to clean up the mess.

"What's happened to Janet?" Mongo said sorrowfully. "What…"

"I don't know, Mongo…" Danny said.

But Betsy and I shared a look. I think we have an idea. In school, we were doing the classics, and I got some reading assignments. From all that reading, I remembered a quote from Oscar Wilde that went, "plain women are always jealous of their husbands. Beautiful women never are. They are always so occupied with being jealous of other women's husbands."

Someone's clearly jealous.

I looked at Danny, and I prayed I don't become like Janet.

"What'll happen to the band now?" June mumbled into Betsy's neck.

"I don't know, honey," Betsy said. "We'll figure this out."

Mongo got up and walked to our side of the table. He put a commiserating hand on Betsy's shoulder.

"So," Mongo said to Danny, "is that it for Unlimited Bandwidth? Are we disbanding?"

"Why do you say that?" Danny asked.

"Well, I guess now that Janet's gone…"

"Yeah, but we can still go on."

"Danny - it's Janet's band."

"We all heard what you said to Janet, and you're right. We're here because we choose to. So we can still go on if we want to."

"Danny's right," Dale said, having come back. "We should push on. We'll only be short one vocalist and guitarist. That's all."

"Yeah…"

One of the waiters came over. "Excuse me…"

I gestured him over. "At least this one's not Italian," I giggled.

"Thanks so much for cleaning up the mess," I said to him. "We had a bit of an accident."

"It's not a problem, Miss. We'll manage. I just wanted to ask if you want us to…"

"I don't think anyone's in the mood to eat anymore."

He nodded. "But maybe we can freshen your drinks and maybe set you up with some desserts or snacks?"

"That may be a good idea." I took the menu from the waiter and picked a bunch of things that looked nice, and he went away to take care of it.

I then went back to the guys' conversation. It seemed that they did want to go on with the gig, Janet or no Janet. But could they even continue playing on without her?

"What would Mrs. Piper do if we decided not to go on?" Mongo asked.

"They would go with a little vocal group they know that sings in that café at the college," I said. "I think the place is called the Juke Joint."

"Juke Joint?" Dale said. "Hey, I think I know that place! They have great nachos, though they don't serve anything alcoholic. And I think I know the girls you're talking about. They're good, actually, though a little older than us. But they're just a singing group." Not surprising Dale knew them. He had some classes at the college, after all (our junior college sometimes send students there for some pre-req classes).

"I know the place, too," June said. "And you're wrong - they do serve alcoholic drinks there."

"I've tried ordering there before, and they…"

"College bars don't serve minors liquor, unless you insist on being carded. And you, dude, definitely look underage."

Dale laughed. "Tell me if I should give you the finger or to thank you."

June stuck her tongue out at him.

"So," Dale said, "did you ever catch the group?"

"That's the band with the tall blonde lead, right? The girl named Jenna? I'm not sure but she might be a waitress there, too."

"She is? Cool!" No doubt he was thinking of passing by the Juke Joint now.

"Okay, Dale," Danny said. "Enough. Let's keep our eyes on the prize. Stop talking about the replacement band and let's think up a way of doing this. That is if we still want to do it."

"Of course we do," Betsy said, and Dale and June said "yes." As for Mongo, he sighed. "This has to go through, Danny," he said. "Otherwise, losing Janet will all be for nothing."

Danny reached out lightly punched Mongo's shoulder in a gesture of sympathy.

"I'm sorry about all this, Mongo. Are you okay?"

"I'm cool. But we have to make this work. And you have to push through with all the things that you promised."

"Promised?"

"Talking to Mrs. Piper and setting up an audition with a recording company for one, talking to your dad's lawyer-friend about making sure we don't get booted from the contest for another, and since Janet's not gonna do it anymore, you and Danielle need to be the ones to work on getting us a recording contract."

"Of course we were gonna do all those things, Mongo…"

"Mongo," I said and echoed Danny, "we're gonna do all of that. I promise."

"That's more than good enough for us," Dale said. "Right, Mongo? June?"

They nodded.

"But can UB even play with just one rhythm guitar and one vocalist?" Danny asked.

"'UB?'"

"That's what we're calling the band."

"Ah. That's cool."

"So. Can… UB still do it without Janet?"

Mongo shook his head. "No. We need two rhythm guitars. But I'm assuming you guys can get us a temporary replacement. And I do mean temporary - I'm going along with this only if we will try and get Janet back."

"Mongo…"

"I'm serious, Danny. Unlimited Bandwidth is Janet's band - she started it and got us together and got us going. She has to be part of the band."

She looked at me, and she, I mean he, was nodding to that. Okay. So I gotta get her back somehow.

But for now, we need a temporary replacement asap. Besides… the fifty percent rule of the Evolution contest is still in effect. If Danny's disguise remains intact, then they're fine. But if we can get another girl in… even if they count Danny as a boy, UB will still be in compliance. I think Danny's disguise is perfect, actually, and I didn't think anyone can break it, but it's in my nature to want to make sure.

I looked to Danny and nodded.

"Mongo," she (I mean he) said, "I'm not scheming to take over the band. Please believe me. I'm just a late addition. I got no right, much less any interest, in taking away the band from anyone."

"We believe you, Danny," June said. "So who will lead the band for now, while Janet's, ummm, away?"

"Let's go by seniority," Danny said. "After Janet, who's been with the band the longest?"

"June. Well, in that case, does that mean June is our band's leader now?"

June shook her head. "Nuh-uh! No way am I gonna be the leader!"

"Simmer down, girl!" Danny made a patting-down motion. "Who's next in line, then, after June?"

"That would be Dale."

"Then, are you guys okay with him ?" I asked.

June and Mongo nodded.

"How about you, Danny?" I asked.

"Fine by me. Betsy?"

"Whatever you say, Danny."

"Why are you asking her?" Mongo asked.

"Dude, she's as legitimate a member as me. Besides, she's officially listed with the Evolution contest people as being part of the band."

Mongo looked at Betsy guiltily. "You're right Danny. Sorry Bets - I just had to ask."

"That's okay, Mongo. No offense taken. I know I'm just a member in name only."

Dale cleared his throat. "You're wrong, Betsy" he said. "You're a real member. But, anyway, we still have the problem of a replacement. Ideas?"

After a minute or so, Danny cleared his throat. "I think I know someone. Her name's Fallon. She's from my school's glee club. She's a decent guitarist and has a nice set of pipes. Plus she knows about me and the band already." Everyone reacted to that but she waved us down. "I know, I know, but she's okay - I promise. I'll talk to her and you guys can audition her tomorrow if you want."

I looked at Danny. "You're kidding, Dan. The redhead goth girl? From that thing with Tom Hennessy?"

"She's a good kid, Danielle. And she plays real good. I know that for a fact."

Dale groaned and gently banged his forehead on the table over and over.

"What's wrong, Dale," June asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, June."

"Then what's wrong?"

"It's just that… it's another redhead. Oh. My. God."

All of us laughed, and Danny just gave us an exasperated look.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 25 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 deals with getting turned on by his girlfriend. But after telling his band about the upcoming concert, Janet goes crazy, and actually quits the band. There's one hope though - maybe Danny can get his friend Fallon to sub for Janet. But... That would mean three out of four girls in the band will now be redheads... Oh, no! lol. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Twenty-Five: An Audition For Fallon

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

So we got a mess of takeout food from the Italian place and started for Betsy's for an impromptu dinner thing. It was the best we could do on short notice and, after a quick call to her folks, Betsy said it was cool to have dinner at their house. Dale and Mongo took Dale's big F150 while the girls all rode with me in my Mustang.

I asked Danielle to fish out my phone from my pants pocket and to dial Fallon's number.

"No funny business!" I said when she giggled as she slid her hand into my pocket.

As I drove, I talked to Fallon via speakerphone.

"Hey, Red," I said.

"How's it hanging, Red," Fallon replied with a giggle.

"Oh, stop it already!" June said in mock exasperation.

"Who's that?"

"That's June Bright, our band's keyboardist," I said.

"From Unlimited Bandwidth? Cool."

"Speaking of which, I know it's super short notice, but can you meet us for dinner?"

"By 'us,' you mean…?"

"By 'us,' I mean me and the band."

This was greeted by silence.

"Danny?" she replied, "what's this about?"

"Just come over. I'll text you the address. We'll expect you there in about an hour? And bring your guitar."

"Guitar! What…?"

"Bye!" I grabbed the phone from Danielle and touched the button to hang up before anyone could embarrass me with Fallon. By anyone, I mean Danielle.

"Mwahahahahah," I laughed, like the bad guy in a 'B' movie. "Too late!"

"You're mean, bro," Danielle said, smiling.

"I am sure I do not know what you mean, young lady," I said in my best imitation of Mr. Wilson from homeroom. Danielle and Betsy, who were from my school, recognized the voice and giggled, and June smiled quizzically. Betsy explained while I drove up to the main gate of Betsy's house.

"I've forgotten how big your house is, Betsy," I said after we went through the gate. "Is Walter around?"

"He should be. My folks left this morning for a project in upstate New York. So Walter's in charge of the house."

"Huh? How come a butler's in charge?"

"You're right. Since mom and dad are away, then I guess I'm in charge since I'm Walter's boss. Temporarily his boss, that is. Ahhh! Power! Mwahahahahah! ... What... doesn't work?"

I shook my head, giggling. "I'm sorry, Bets, it doesn't. You still sound like a kid."

"Ahhh, shaddap!"

"Okay. Where do I pull up in this ginormous castle of yours?"

"Just around this bend, turn left, and then turn right at the next bend, and then another bend, and there are a bunch of open carports there. Take any empty one."

"Hmmm. So bend, left, right, bend and then bend again? You're kidding."

Danielle hit me on the shoulder. "Shut up, Danny," she said. "Just follow her directions."

"Okay, okay. Cool it, sis." I dutifully followed the directions and pulled into one of the open garages. There must have been fifteen of them. God, Betsy's folks are filthy rich!

Once we'd parked and I set the brake, people we didn't know opened our doors.

"Good evening, Master Daniel," the guy in a nice gray casual suit that opened my door said, and I saw it was Betsy's butler.

"Walter!" I said. "It's good to see you." I reached out and shook his hand.

"Good to see you as well, young sir. I see that you have brought the gang?"

"Yep!" And I grinned my best grin. And I could just glimpse a little smile flitting around his mouth.

He helped Betsy out of my car, as well as June, He then snapped his finger and another person relieved them of the containers of food they were carrying.

"I have put your other friends in the main living room, Ms Elizabeth," Walter said. "Is that all right? Or should we move the venue to the dining hall?" He indicated the food.

"No need, Walter," Betsy said, and led the way. "The living rooom's fine."

Dale parked in the carport beside ours and he and Mongo joined us as we all followed Betsy.

We ended up in a big, fancy living room where the gang was already lounging around.

"Food!" Jerry and Mike screamed when they spotted us, and Nikki rushed over to give me a kiss. One of the butlers wheeled in a couple of large, wheeled tables, and all the food we brought was quickly transferred from their cardboard boxes into fine china.

Betsy didn't bat an eye - she seemed used to it - and waved us closer to the table.

"Well, dig in!" she said. She herself got a little plate and put a couple of pieces of cannelloni on it.

Hugs, high-fives and fistbumps all around, and we dished ourselves some food.

We then draped ourselves over the Haley's furniture and told everyone what happened.

Betsy broke away for a while, pulled Walter aside and had a whispered conversation, and Walter and one of his guys left the room.

"What was that," I said, with my arm draped over Nikki's shoulders.

"Oh, nothing," Betsy said, coming back to the couch. "I just told Walter to be ready for Fallon when she arrives."

So, after looking at the guys and getting a go signal, I told my gang everything. It was a big surprise to everyone, but what was most surprising to them was Janet's leaving. Joanne became silent for a while - we knew she had a little thing for her - but after a while, she shrugged.

June and Drew moved aside to a corner of the living room, and Morgan followed. Morgan put his arm over Drew's shoulders and I smiled. I'm happy that my best friend finally found someone.

By the buffet, as usual, Mike and Mel were arguing, but they weren't being too loud about it so I didn't bother to shush them. Besides, with Jerry there to ride herd on those two, it shouldn't be so bad. In fact, I think Mel and Jerry were starting to become an item. Who'da thunk?

Dale, Mongo and I, along with Danielle, Nikki and Betsy, sat on the extra-big couch and continued to speculate about Janet's meltdown.

I just rode the chat and munched on some of the food we brought. I took time to call Tracey, and told her what happened. As expected, she was shocked by Janet's sudden departure. More importantly, however, I told her about the commitments we made to the band. Tracey said she'd bounce it off her mom as soon as she can, but she said she was sure Mrs. P will help, especially if it would guarantee our being part of their kick-off slash launch party.

I also told her about Fallon being Janet's possible replacement and she said she'd get to work on it and let the Evolution Concert people about the substitution in the official members list of UB. I told her to wait for my text before she made it official, though - the decision about Fallon wasn't final yet, but we'll know one way or the other tonight.

I also invited her to Betsy's, but she begged off - her mom won't let her leave this late. It wasn't really that late but I didn't bother to argue. Best not get dragged into a mother-daughter thing.

After a while, Walter came back and announced Fallon.

I jumped up and gave Fallon a hug.

"How're you doin', Red," I said.

"Doing okay," she replied. She wasn't in her goth look, which was surprising. "So what's happening here?"

I introduced her to everyone. Nikki and those that were at Nikki's house during that thing with Tom Hennessy recognized her right away. As for the others, I gave some more details, explaining that Fallon and I were from the same glee club in school.

"Ohmigod!" Dale said. "The great Dannie Fairchild is in the glee club?" And he and my other bandmates dissolved in laughter.

I looked at Fallon and sighed.

"Well, Danny," Fallon said, with hands on hips, "I hope you have a good reason for dragging me over here."

"Well, Fallon…" I then explained about Janet's temporary departure from the band, and we suddenly found ourselves with an opening. "Would you consider being our sixth bandmate?"

After a few moments, she shrugged.

"This is a big surprise, to say the least," she said. "I don't know, Danny. Is this a…"

"Yes, this a real request, and no, it's not a permanent position," I said, cutting her off. "But if you and the band want it to be permanent, I'm sure we can do that."

"What do I…"

"Basically we need another rhythm guitar and vocalist."

"What kind of…"

"Basically an all-around one, but mostly in the alto range. Which is exactly in your wheelhouse."

"Is there a…"

"No, there isn't a contract," I said, "or rather no 'real contract,' but because of the contest, and the possibility of getting a recording deal, all the members of the band needed to sign something." I raised a hand to forestall any follow-up question. "Danielle made up a simple agreement, and all of us have signed one. Basically, it just says you can't join another band or sign any recording deal without the consent of the other bandmembers."

"Sounds very…"

"…boilerplate? Yes, it is. So I assume you're okay with that?"

"Stop it, Danny!" Danielle giggled. "You need to…"

"That's such a trite old phrase." I said - "'I need to let you get a word in edgewise?' And, no, I'm not doing anything."

"You gotta…"

"I'm totally calm, Danielle," I said. "I'm just excited that Fallon's here. Besides, I'm not..."

"Doing it deliberately?" Betsy interjected. "Yes, you are, Danny."

"Stop it!" Danielle said.

"Must be a redhead thing," June said to Drew as they looked at the four of us.

"Yeah," Drew answered. "Most probably."

"Yep," Morgan chuckled. "Most definitely."

"Jeeze," Nikki said. "It's hard enough with Danny and Danielle and Betsy. Now, there's another one." She shook her head, giggled and hugged us around the neck.

"If I didn't love you…" I said, turned in her arms and just kissed her on the nose, and everyone went, "awww…"

"Ahem!" Fallon said. "What about this?" She held up her guitar and shook it.

- - - - -

***** (Dale) *****

At first, the new girl, Fallon, couldn't believe that she still had to audition. I mean, who wouldn't be mad? I knew I would. But Danny explained that she, I mean he, knew that Fallon had the stuff, but the rest of the band didn't. It was just a formality as far as he was concerned.

It sounded reasonable, I guess, but more because it was Danny saying it that made it sound reasonable.

So Betsy had Walter set Fallon up with one of the heavy straight-back chairs from the dining room, and he put it in front of their massive 110-inch TV, as well as two microphones on stands hooked up to the Haley's sound system, one set low enough for her guitar.

And with all fourteen of us on the sofa, couches, recliners and other chairs facing her, she sat and started plucking on her acoustic guitar her version of "The Power of Two."

"Now the parking lot is empty," Fallon sang, "everyone's gone someplace. I pick you up and, in the trunk, I've packed a cooler and a two-day suitcase."

Fallon had a pretty voice, and a pitch and tone that was right on key. It felt like she had a classically-trained voice, which went against her look - despite not having a painted face, overly-done eyes, contacts or black-dyed hair, she still looked somewhat like a goth girl with the straight hair and black-on-black long-sleeved attire.

"'Coz there's a place we like to drive way out in the country," she sang, "five miles out of the city limits, we're singing and your hands upon my knee…"

She sang in a spare but sweet way, and I can just imagine her harmonizing with Danny. I gestured for Danny to get in there but she was shaking her head. So I took her hand, pulled her next to Fallon and stepped back. I gestured for her to go on, and she shrugged as if saying, "whatever…"

She put her face right beside Fallon's to be near the mic, and they started to sing in harmony.

"So we're okay," they both sang, "we're fine. Baby, I'm here to stop your crying, chase all the ghosts from your head. I'm stronger than the monster beneath your bed, smarter than the tricks played on your heart. We'll look at them together and then we'll take 'em apart - adding up the total of a love that's true, multiply life by the power of two…"

Their voices meshed in a way that Danny's and Janet's never did, and I just bet the band will be better than ever.

Fallon then started her solo again, and the contrast between the duet chorus and just her was very pronounced, emphasizing the qualities of both kinds of singing. And then their switching back from Fallon's solo to their harmonizing duet was more than either could have managed alone. And the counterpointing, where in a certain part of the song, the two sort of took turns singing, only made the quality of their voices when separate and together more obvious.

Then, I had another brainstorm.

I went to where June, Drew and Morgan were and dragged June to Fallon as well, just in time for the final chorus. I stepped back.

"So we're okay," the three of them now sang, "we're fine. Baby, I'm here to stop your crying, chase all the ghosts from your head. I'm stronger than the monster beneath your bed, smarter than the tricks played on your heart. We'll look at them together and then we'll take 'em apart - adding up the total of a love that's true, multiply life by the power of two…"

And as Fallon played them out, my jaw literally dropped. The combination of the three was something else. I would have pulled in Betsy as well, but the song had already wound down.

For me, Fallon had passed her audition with more than flying colors. Looking at Danny and June, and then at Mongo and Betsy, I knew they felt the same. I sighed a small sigh of relief, that Janet's leaving won't mess up the band. In fact, it might have ended up being a good thing

In the silence that followed, I cleared my throat.

"I guess there's no question, right?" I asked. And the roar of approval was unanimous.

- - - - -

***** (Dale) *****

The rest of the night was more upbeat and, though there was a touch of melancholy, especially with us bandmembers, we didn't feel like the band was over anymore. I guess I had a touch of Janet's suspicion, thinking that Danielle and Danny sort of engineered this, but listening to Fallon and the others talk, it was clear this was a surprise for Fallon as well, plus the fact that Fallon clearly wasn't part of Danny's original gang. But, like we were, Fallon was game to join our growing band of friends. Danny just had that thing about her that made you want to be part of her gang. I mean his!

Over the rest of the evening, the band, plus Morgan and Danielle, planned out the things that we needed to do.

First off, we asked Betsy to get her "contract," copy it and print one out for Fallon. Betsy had Walter do it. It was just another reminder of how rich the Haleys were.

Fallon looked over the one-page agreement. All it said was that Fallon agreed that she was now part of the band until a majority of the band, or she, wants her out, and that she was not to join any other band nor participate in any other "music-related event, activity, agreement or contract" without the unanimous consent of the other members.

The only difference between Fallon's contract and ours was that her contract was only in effect until the Evolution Concert contest was over, with an option to continue to renew the contract with everyone's consent and agreement.

After a quick read, Fallon signed it right away.

As was expected, Fallon asked about the money and the band's schedule. Mongo took it upon himself to explain, and in his patented monotone, he explained that any income the band makes is split equally seven ways.

"But there are only six of us," Fallon said.

"The seventh is deposited in a bank account, and the band uses it for expenses and bills."

"Ahhh! Smart thinking. Now, what about the schedule?"

"Well, the band has only one steady gig at the moment - a once-a-week thing at Mario's. You know that fancy Italian bar-and-restaurant at the south side of town?"

"I've heard of it, but haven't been."

"That's where we play on Fridays, so that means your Friday nights are pretty much shot."

"But doesn't Danny have a Saturday morning show at the station?"

"Well, she… I mean he basically just gets a short nap after the gig and goes straight to the station early in the morning. And we usually meet up with him after his show and have a late breakfast, and then we practice in Mongo's garage for the rest of the afternoon."

"That's a very full Saturday."

"Well, we knock off at around four or five, which leaves Saturday night, and the whole of Sunday all to ourselves."

She then asked about the music we played and Mongo explained things. I couldn't participate much 'coz Danielle pulled me aside.

"What's up, Danielle?" I asked.

"Dale, When Fallon asked about the money, I just realized - what about that seventh bank account?"

"Danielle," I said, "you can't be serious. Janet wouldn't screw with…"

"And she wouldn't have done what she did this afternoon either, right?"

That made me pause.

"You have a point. Let's find a computer."

Betsy brought us to her room, and her desktop computer. Her room was so big, it was five times the size of mine. But I ignored all that and went directly to her study table and her computer.

I immediately logged onto the bank's system and checked out our band's bank account. And I found that the account had been emptied out.

Looking at the account details, there used to be close to twenty thousand in that account. Now, it's all gone.

"Danielle!" I called, and she rushed over.

I pointed to the screen.

"That bitch," she said.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 26 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 deals with getting turned on by his girlfriend. After her impromptu audition, Fallon's playing convinces everyone about her skills, and everyone thought she was a worthy replacement for Janet, even Mongo. Besides, it may just be temporary. But, then, they found out Janet cleaned out the band's bank account that same day... What the...!?! Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Twenty-Six: Aftermath

***** (Betsy) *****

It didn't have the same impact to me - the amount I saw in their account, or rather was in their account, didn't seem much, but I never did have a feel for money. But, over the years, I've learned not to voice out my comments about money, otherwise, I'd just perpetuate my poor-little-rich-girl image.

I knew enough not to offer to replace the money that they'd lost, but how else I could help? But I also knew one other thing - I knew how it would feel to be betrayed.

We all trooped back to the living room where Danielle broke the news.

Of all the bandmembers, the most affected was Mongo. Clearly, he felt a degree of loyalty to Janet that the others didn't. Hence, he felt the most betrayed.

He looked so forlorn, so shellshocked. It looked like he was about to cry.

June went to him and gave him a hug.

"Why, June?" he asked. "I don't understand…"

"Shhh…" she said. "It'll be okay…"

"Of all the people…"

Danny went to him. "I'm sorry, dude," she said. "I don't know what happened. If I could take it all back, I'd wish I didn't even bring up the radio thing and kept all of this from happening."

"Not your fault, Danny…" he said. "Janet just wigged out or something."

"Besides, Danny," Dale continued, "she's been acting weird for a long time, now. It's like Janet was on drugs or something. Even if you didn't, It was probably just a matter of time."

"Could that be it, June?" Mongo asked. "You know her best. Do you think Janet's on drugs?"

"I don't know, Mongo."

Mongo cleared his throat. "Well… I guess there's no chance now of our group going back to how it was anymore."

"Don't think that, dude," Danny said. "You never can say."

"I know you don't think that, Danny."

"No," he said finally. "I don't."

"Do we call the cops on Janet?" June said. "She stole our..."

"No!" Mongo exclaimed.

"... Well..." he said after a moment, a little abashed by his reaction, "what I mean is, the band isn't really feeling the pinch of losing the money from that account... and we wouldn't really have that money if it weren't for Janet..."

"I don't necessarily agree with that, Mongo," June said. "One sixth of that money is mine. But we agreed we'd pool our money in case the band needs it for whatever. But if the band doesn't get to use it anyway, then I want my share back. She stole it, Mongo!"

"June..."

"And if you're saying we wouldn't have had the money in the first place if it weren't for Janet - that's a lot of bull, and you know it. The band's all of us. Sure, we wouldn't be here without Janet, but that goes for all of us: we wouldn't be here if it weren't for you or Dale, or me or Betsy and Danny!"

"I didn't mean..."

Danny went to the two and hugged them around the necks.

"Stop it, you two!" she said. "It's only money. We can't be fighting each other because of money! We're friends!"

The two relented and apologized to each other. Danny gave June a kiss on the cheek and mockingly whapped Mongo on the back of his head.

"You guys..." she smiled.

"So," Morgan said, "what now?"

"There's no 'what now.'" Dale said. "We just push on, I guess. What do you think, Danielle?"

"Let's make Janet's leaving official."

"Danielle!" Mongo reacted.

"Wait, Mongo!" Danielle said. "Lemme do this before you say anything. I promise it'll be clear. I'll need Betsy and her computer. Take a look at what we bring back, and then you can react."

Danielle and I went back to my room and did some research, and about thirty minutes later, we went back to the living room, where an impromptu karaoke party was currently in progress, care of Danny, Fallon and Fallon's guitar. I just bet Danny instigated it to break everyone out of their funk.

Neither Danielle nor I wanted to break up everyone's good time. Nevertheless, Danielle cleared her throat to get everyone's attention.

We showed them what we were up to - we printed up a kind of document that said that the members of the band were letting Janet go temporarily because of conflicting priorities, but were willing to take her back at a later time if and when all the members, including Janet, agreed. That way, things wouldn't be ambiguous, which was especially important for the people at Rockrgrrl.

Mongo nodded, and said it was completely reasonable, and everyone signed multiple copies, as well as signed the conforme portion for Fallon's agreement document. Danielle promised to have them notarized and get everyone copies of the two documents (Janet's copy of the document about her leaving would be Fedex'd to her house).

"Is that even legal, Danielle?" Mikey asked. "I mean, Janet didn't sign..."

"It's called a 'fiat accompli,'" I explained for Danielle. "If it came to a court thing, it depends on which side you're on. But the point is, what's done is done, and majority rules since there was no paper contract beforehand. And even if she raises a fuss, what can she do? Five against one. If it's put to a vote, she wouldn't win. But then, I'm no lawyer - I could be wrong."

Mongo nodded. "Thanks, Betsy, Danielle. I understand now. Thank you."

As for the bank account, everyone in the band agreed to table it for now, and they'd wait until they got to talk to Janet. But for now, they'd just open a new bank account with Dale, and me as the new signatory, to sign for any withdrawals. Mongo suggested me because he thought I'd be the least likely to run away with the money.

That's true. After all, I had a hundred times what was in that bank account Janet cleaned out, and that didn't even include my trust fund.

I promised to take care of setting up the new account (actually, I'd be getting Walter to work on it).

Since the following day was a schoolday, Danielle ended the evening relatively early. As expected, Nikki and Danielle rode with Danny, while June rode with Dale and Mongo in Dale's Ford. The rest of the gang - Morgan and Drew, plus Mel, Mike and Jerry, rode with Joanne in her mom's van. Fallon, having ridden an Uber going to my house, rode with the girls in Danny's Mustang.

I felt a little bit disappointed since I couldn't go with them, but I was going to see them tomorrow, anyway. That'll have to be enough.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 27 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 deals with getting turned on by his girlfriend. And how he ends up as the female lead singer for a high-school pop band as well as a radio DJ. After they've made Janet's replacement by Fallon official, the gang looks forward to an uncertain future for the band. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Twenty-Seven:  Musings

***** (Nikki) *****

Seems lots of things were happening with Danny and her band. I mean his band.

All of us were preoccupied with helping the band prepare for their first solo TV concert, and Danny and Danielle were constantly in marathon phone meetings with Mrs. Piper and her people. It's all pretty exciting actually. But very frustrating for me.

And in all these things, I felt there was a distance that was developing between Danny and I. And I was not gonna let that continue.

In the morning, at school, I saw a tall man in a suit accept an envelope from Danielle. Danielle explained later that it was someone from Mrs. Piper's company who was supposed to get the papers from last night notarized. I was sooo suspicious until Danielle explained what it was about.

And then Danny told us he couldn't hang with us after school because he and Danielle needed to work on stuff. When I found out that Betsy was going with them, my reaction was a big glow of jealousy. But then, of course, Betsy was going with them - she was part of the band. But he explained he was afraid we'd just get bored if we tagged along. Guess what? We tagged along.

I knew I shouldn't feel this way, but that was how I felt. In my mind, I knew I could trust Danny, but what I couldn't trust were other girls. Even Danielle and Betsy. In my mind, I had to wonder why I couldn't trust them despite knowing them so well. In my heart, I debated with myself - what has changed? Why was I so suspicious of them now? Why don't I trust them anymore?

Still, whatever the case may be, I was gonna do something about it.

I asked Danielle for Tracey's number and then called Tracey at lunchtime. I asked if Danny had anything to do the following day. Tracey said there were lots to do tonight but there was nothing scheduled tomorrow, so I asked her if she could make sure nothing will come up since I was planning a date. Tracey giggled and said she'll make sure, making me feel like we were co-conspirators or something.

I made some excuses to Danny, Danielle and the others after my call, and said I had to take care of something. I gave Danny a kiss and went to the almost-deserted library, pulled up the local Holiday Inn site on my phone (actually, our little town didn't even rate a real Holiday Inn - only a Holiday Inn Express) and booked a room. I had a driver's ID that stated I was Nikki "Smith," and was twenty-one years old. It was pretty good since Drew's older brother Jim got it a couple of months ago using his connections in the DMV. It could even stand up to an ID check - if it was nothing too rigorous, of course, and if it was just a regular check, then I'm good. I could even use it for driving.

Jim did suggest to keep the name close to my real one, but I said, wouldn't that make it easy to track me down, but he said that wasn't the purpose of the card.

"The driver's license you'll get will only be good for when you get carded," Jim said, "or when you want to get into a club, or to check into a hotel or something. It's no good if you're trying to hide from the FBI or anything like that, or if you're caught stealing or something. So it doesn't really make sense to change your name completely. Just change the last name. That way, no one would make the mistake of calling you by your name instead of your fake name while you guys are out bar-hopping or something."

In that case, I just picked the last name "Smith," and kept everything the same. And that was why Nicolette Anne Smith has the same name as Nicolette Anne Anderson. lol

Using my new ID, I was able to get an AmEx Bluebird prepaid debit card under the same name. I withdrew some money from my bank account and put it on the card. I also top it up whenever I can. By now, it had a couple of thousand on it.

Crossing my fingers, I typed in my debit card's number for my hotel booking, hoping that a prepaid card would be accepted, and booked a room for two for tomorrow. To make them less suspicious, I typed in the comments window that I'd be accompanied by my cousin Danielle, and that we just needed a room for the night coz we were waiting for our bus ride to Bethesda the following day (I knew that there was only one bus that passes by Bethesda, and it leaves the station daily at 9AM). Hopefully, those details would take away any assumptions the Holiday Inn people might have made when I booked a room with a king size bed.

I had my fingers crossed and was relieved when it was confirmed. Whew! And I'm sure "Nicolette Anne Smith's" driver's license, and "Danielle Louise Fairchild's" bus pass would be good enough when we check in at the front desk tomorrow (I had to find a way to get Danielle's bus pass!).

I pulled up the check-in and check-out times - 3PM check-in, and 11AM check-out the following day - which was excellent. I typed in the comments of my registration that we'd be checking in between 4 and 5PM, and were leaving before 9AM the following day.

Anyway, I finished up and went back to join the guys. Lunch was almost over by that time but I didn't mind. I'll just mooch off Danny later - he always has munchies. I held Danny around the waist and whispered in his ear.

"Just found out you're not gonna be busy tomorrow after school," I said, wagging my eyebrows. "Wanna hang out?"

"Sure!" he said. "Let's tell…"

I gave him a kiss to stop him talking. Why would I want to invite the others?

"How about just the two of us?" I said. "We haven't hung out for a while when it was just us."

He looked delighted, and gave me a kiss. "Sounds great!" he said.

Later, I pulled Mel aside and asked if it was okay with her if she covered for me, and tell folks I was staying at her place tomorrow night. She asked what was up, and I said I had something going on with Danny tomorrow.

She gave me a somewhat hostile, jealous look, but after a moment, Mel sort of blinked, smiled and agreed. She said she'll want details afterwards, and we both giggled. Whatever that look was, it was gone so quickly, I hardly noticed.

Even though Danny and I weren't talking much, Danny was always in the center of our gang's activities. Plans for tonight were mostly set and we talked about it - hanging in our town's own "coliseum," the Arclight, while the band, the producers and the floor director worked out the program, the band's moves and their blocking. The costume director was also going to be there as well as all the other technical people. Morgan was part of it as well since he was officially the guy who would be building up the band's playlist (with the band's input, of course), and Danielle was there as the band's manager, making sure the band was represented and got what they needed.

Morgan had an incredible idea for the event's theme song. I didn't know where he dug up that old song but everyone agreed that it had the right tone for radio, and it had, as Danny and Morgan said, all the right retro hooks… whatever that meant.

We liked it. A little too disco for my taste, but Morgan said that was just what was needed.

As for us, we'd just hang out with Danny and the band as Danny's, well, entourage, I guess. Not that we felt we weren't doing anything, or were just hangers-on. For example I was Danny's sort of gofer girl, or as Mrs. Piper called it, her Girl Friday (whatever that meant), and Mickey and Jerry were there geeking out. There wouldn't be too many pretty girls around this early in the planning, Danny said, but there were lots happening to keep the boys' minds occupied. Joanne, too, actually - she was into that kind of thing as well, I guess. As for sexy ole Drew, she was Morgan's Girl Friday. And Mel would probably just be sitting and watching everything with a contented smile on her face - she was the self-admitted concert geek, and to be backstage in an event like this must be close to heaven for her.

However, Danielle stressed that we would be working on school stuff before everything starts at six, giving everyone a little under three hours to do their school assignments. Normally, no one would have paid attention to that except that Danny had an agreement with Mrs. Piper, aided and abetted by the Fairchilds, that required him to maintain a minimum B-minus grade average, so everyone just went along with group studies since Danny had to. Most everyone always went along if it was with Danny. Truth be told, though, I wouldn't complain - I was doing better than I ever did at school, and I suspect the others were as well. And I got to spend more time with Danny, which was the whole point.

Danny had asked his guitars to be stored at the venue last night, and the rest of the band followed suit, as usual. Danielle said someone from PiperCorp passed by their house early this morning and picked up Danny's stuff, and it was the same with the others. The only holdout was Fallon, who didn't want her stuff to stay there, so she would be bringing her guitars herself every night.

I couldn't care much about that, since I was all excited for tomorrow. My excitement was almost all-consuming. In fact, my classes for that day didn't go well - I was too distracted. And I counted the minutes when school would be over and I would be with Danny again.

After my last class for the day, I shot out of the room and made a beeline to Danny's class. I got there just as the kids were walking out of the classroom, and when I saw him come out, I felt a visceral kind of relief. I was a little confused by that, but that disappeared when I got to hold him and give him a kiss.

- - - - -

***** (Nikki) *****

At the Arclight Coliseum, we found a bunch of tables pushed together in front of the orchestra pit for us. Mrs. Piper came bustling in with Tracey, her daughter. She said the tables were supposed to be the gang's personal space, where we could stay or do whatever we wanted.

"And where we'll be out of the way and not bother anybody," Tracey mock-whispered. No one said anything, but after a beat, everyone broke into laughter.

"Tracey!" Mrs. Piper said. "How could you say that!" Tracey giggled and stuck her tongue out at her.

Mrs. Piper sighed theatrically. "Ignore her, kids. Anyway, I'm gonna leave all of you and will come fetch the band in a few hours." She pointed to the side. "The craft service table is there, and the bathrooms are beyond that. Make yourselves at home."

All the guys jumped at the invitation, while the rest of us just started to pull out books.

The boys came back with various munchies, and Danny came back with an apple, chips and a diet coke - my usual snack, and a big plate of stuff for himself. The other guys put big plates of assorted stuff and bottles of water in the middle of the table, and we started to picnic.

"Guys?" Danielle waved to her books. The guys groaned and started on homework.

From time to time, Mrs. Piper would grab a piece of fruit or a bottle of water or something from craft services, and pass by our table, checking up on us, apparently. Because of which, Tracey also stayed with us to work on her homework as well. Despite looking older than us, she was actually our age, apparently, and though she studied in the private school just outside of town, her books and stuff seemed much like ours. She was awfully nice and so well-meaning. It was a shame she wasn't prettier.

But as I looked closer at her, I realized something.

I whispered into Danny's ear and she, I mean he, confirmed my suspicion - Tracey was actually a he, or rather, she was transgender. Her shoulders were a trifle too wide, and she didn't have the hips that you'd expect. And her voice, though quite feminine, was just a touch off. And though she no doubt had work done on her face, it was just enough to let her pass. You'd probably not notice if you didn't know, and just assumed she was just a homelier kind of girl than the rest of us, and was just a trifle too tall.

But she was Danny's friend, which meant she was my friend, too. So I'm not gonna hurt her, and the first one to say anything mean to her will have me to face. And besides, with a little bit of help, I'm sure we can make her quite cute.

Unsurprisingly, Danny and Danielle were the first ones to finish their school stuff, and they helped out the rest of us. Danny, of course, was my personal tutor. Heehee. I took that time to let Danielle know I was planning a date with Danny after school tomorrow. After a moment when she gave me some undefinable, slightly angry look (it disappeared so quickly, I wasn't sure if it happened at all), she gave me a hug and said she'll make sure everyone was off our backs.

A close third to Danny and Danielle finishing her homework was Tracey. She packed away her school stuff when she finished but stuck around to help the others. Particularly, she helped Mike more than the rest, and it was obvious Mike was flattered. All of us grinned at each other, and gave each other knowing nods and wagging eyebrows. I had a fleeting idea about telling him Tracey's secret, but I thought about it and decided not to. There was nothing to worry about, and no use hurting Tracey, or Mike for that matter, but if it progresses beyond being friends, someone has to clue Mike in (if Tracey doesn't). Not because of anything, but only because Mike had a right to know. Anyway, it was still academic at the moment, so I think we'll just cross that bridge when we're there.

Betsy missed much of the by-play because she was constantly texting people. Class president stuff, no doubt. And it's a wonder that she was able to do all her homework. But she was the smartest among us, I think, and it's no wonder she was at the top of our class.

Fallon, Dale, June and Mongo arrived eventually, and Mrs. Piper called the band in when they did. Morgan and Danielle went with them as well and they started "working on sort of important things," as Mongo would say.

There was no singing or anything. The work was all a lot of planning and technical talk about music, song lengths, blocking, lighting, and a lot of work with the floor director and the choreographers. It was a case of all hands on-board, and everyone was busy. Including me. I ended up fetching things for Danny and other errands. I didn't resent it in the least, and was pleased that I got to do important stuff.

One of the bigger topics of discussion were their outfits, believe it or not, but Danielle was there to smooth things out, making sure the guys had final approval for anything the costume director decided on. As for Morgan, he had his hands full, too, talking to the band, the director and Mrs. Piper, and explaining his ideas for the music. The music director wasn't too happy having to consider suggestions from a teenager, but Mrs. Piper insisted.

The main director also complained about this being such a rush job, and having to do things on the fly, but with Mrs. Piper breathing down his neck, he eventually accepted the state of things, and made everything happen.

By the end of the night, they had a more-or-less solid plan for the program. Mrs. Piper's decision for doing this planning at the venue was right-on, as it would never have gone as smoothly as it did if it was just done at the office. Being at the venue itself allowed them to confirm their plans immediately since they had the place itself to confirm lighting, spacing, music & sound levels, logistics and crowd control plans.

They also turned up some things that they needed to work out, one of them being they needed more people - like backup singers - and Fallon suggested recruiting the glee club from school. Mrs. Piper was all about hiring professional singers, but Morgan said that Fallon's idea was so much better. One of the things UB was known for was that they were just an amateur band made up of kids. So having a bunch of kids as backup singers would just add to that vibe.

Mrs. Piper said these kids better be good, and Fallon and Danny stepped up to vouch for them. Mrs. Piper reluctantly agreed, and only did so with the provision that, if they didn't perform up to expectations, she was going to get professionals.

She then called her legal people to find out how to get kids in the program.

It was just as well, Mrs. Piper said, that they couldn't start right away on practicing - they'd need all of tomorrow just to prepare things. So there'd be nothing scheduled for them tomorrow, and they'd just resume work the following day. (I cheered silently - that meant my date with Danny could push through with no hitches.)

Of course, that meant someone needed to contact the glee club's adviser and arrange things. Danielle and Fallon promised to take care of that tomorrow, and that was that.

I could tell that everyone worked real hard tonight. But for us - not so much: we were eventually reduced to just staying out of the way and watching all the frenetic work around us.

Later, over dinner, Morgan said that most of his song and music suggestions were accepted, and they were designing the show around them.

"Well, duh?" Mickey said. "Of course, they will! What else?"

"Shut up, Mickey!"

Betsy did ask if someone could find the sheet music for the songs (we all knew Betsy preferred having the sheet music since she never played by ear), but Morgan said that the music director promised those would be available day after tomorrow.

With that, Morgan brought out his Android phone, turned up the volume to maximum, and used his VLC app to play all the originals of the songs to be used in the show. Everyone, even Mongo, agreed that the playlist was great, and we all enjoyed the music while we enjoyed our dinner.

At the end of the meal, everyone was singing along to the songs until our waiter said some of the other patrons were complaining. It was just as well that we were done.

"High fidelity, high!" everyone sang at the top of our lungs as we walked on the sidewalk to our various vehicles.

As usual, I rode with Danny, with Betsy and Danielle at the back (Danielle had long ceded the front seat to me, and I appreciated it). And, as usual, she, I mean, he, dropped Betsy off first and then me.

I gave Danielle a farewell hug and "accidentally" hooked her purse. It fell on the ground and the clamshell lock popped open, spilling her purse's contents on my driveway. Dutifully, I helped her put her stuff back in her purse but I surreptitiously pocketed her bus pass. She rarely rides the bus anymore, so she probably wouldn't miss it.

I turned to Danny and reminded him about our date tomorrow, and that it'll just be the two of us. And after a long kiss, she got in her car, and drove away. I mean he! Dammit!

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 28 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 deals with getting turned on by his girlfriend. But, apparently, Nikki more than reciprocated his feelings, and has hatched a scheme: just as they started preparing for the concert, Nikki put her own plan for her first night alone with Danny into motion. Indeed, there never is a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Twenty-Eight:  Before Date Night

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

Driving home, Danielle remarked that I was oddly silent. I shrugged.

"Betcha you're thinking of your date with Nikki tomorrow," she said and pinched my cheek.

"Quit it, Danielle!" I said and knocked her hand away.

She chortled some more.

I couldn't help but smile a little bit.

"I guess I'm a little nervous, Danielle," I said. "This'll just be the second time Nikki and I will be alone. And this it's all night. And how did you know about it, anyway?"

"Nikki told me," she dimpled.

I gave her a little moue of irritation.

"Don't worry, li'l bro," she said. "I'll make sure you're not bothered by the gang, and you can spend the rest of the day tomorrow making sweet, sweet love to the beautiful Nikki." She made little kissy sounds.

I harrumphed half in irritation and half in amusement.

Truth be told, I was very excited. And this could be, as uncle Nathan would say, "target of opportunity." And after tomorrow, my virginity may be a thing of the past. My thoughts were pleasantly lecherous all the way home. At least Nikki and I were both over sixteen so it won't be illegal, heheh. No underage sex here!

Danielle asked why I was chuckling, and I just waved it away. "Oh, nothing," I said.

Besides, I thought, it'll probably just be dinner out and maybe a movie. Still, I was unreasonably hopeful.

Heheheheh.

"Be sure to bring protection, just in case," Danielle said with an evil smile. "Heehee…"

My sister is one big buzzkill. Sometimes this twin pseudo-mind reading was a pain.

Later that night, I called up Nikki and tried to find out where we were going tomorrow, but she said it'll be a surprise. I asked if we're going dancing or something, or if I should be dressed in any particular way.

"It's a surprise!" she giggled. "You don't need to bring anything except your sexy little bod, babe."

I laughed at that. Nevertheless, I decided to spruce up a bit just in case. I didn't realize how nervous I was about this lousy date until I found myself knocking on Danielle's door and asking for some help with my outfit for tomorrow.

- - - - -

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

In the morning, I drove to Nikki's to pick her up, all alone. Danielle had decided to ride with Joanne for a change this morning. I, of course, didn't assume it was a setup. Not… (ugh! That's so ten years ago, I laughed to myself.)

When I drove up their house, I found her waiting at the curb with two wheelie bags.

She had a finger over her lips in a shushing motion.

"Keep it down, Danny," she whispered fiercely after giving me a kiss when she leaned into through my car window. "Mom doesn't know."

"Doesn't know what?" I asked.

She pointed to her wheelie bags. "She doesn't know about these."

I got out and took her bags and put them in the trunk.

"I thought we had a date today. Are you going on a trip?"

"No!" she said. "It's for the date later."

"Huh?"

She then explained her plans for us - checking into a hotel and... other stuff.

I was surprised. It wasn't like Nikki to be this forward and aggressive. But I liked it. And to have Nikki all to myself was something I've been dreaming of for the longest time. In fact, I brought a backpack of spare clothes and stuff myself, just in case it'd be something like this.

"So?" Nikki said.

I was worried about what our folks would say if they ever found out. I wasn't worried about the guys, though - if they don't know about it yet, I'm pretty sure that they eventually would. Nikki's already told Danielle, and even if she doesn't tell, the fact that Nikki and I weren't with them would make them assume things.

So I weighed things - if it was worth the risk, I mean. But with Nikki smiling at me with a smoky, sultry smile that I haven't seen on her before, I started getting way turned on as I thought of the possibilities.

So I nodded.

She rushed me, and I banged my head against the car as she started to kiss the shit out of me.

Despite us being out in the street, Nikki was like a wild woman. It was like she wanted to eat my face off the way she had her lips all over me. If I let her, she'd probably have had my shirt off, and maybe more, and maybe we wouldn't make it to the hotel room anymore. I found myself straining against my pants, and would have let things go farther, but reason and logic took hold.

Though I didn't want to, I fended her off, in the gentlest way I could.

Somehow, she got the message and let me go.

"We gotta get to school, Nikki," I said, breathing hard.

"I don't know if I can wait that long, Danny!"

"I know what you mean, but we have to."

She nodded. We both got in the car and started on our way to school.

"So," I said, "are you gonna tell me about those bags?"

"Like I said, that's for later," she replied.

"Nikki…"

"Okay, okay," she pouted. "So I got us a room, right? But so that it'll be easier to check in, I decided to say that you were my cousin, ummm, Danielle…"

Oh, no…

"So…" I said, "What're in the bags are…"

"Clothes?" she answered tentatively, "For you and me?" She had a look that was halfway between crying and being worried.

My first reaction was anger, and I was about to explode at her, but when I saw her face, I couldn't.

I turned back to face the road, and drove on silently, thinking about that. I guess I wasn't really surprised. She never said she preferred me as a girl, but it was obvious - a fact that I've never really completely acknowledged until now.

But then again, so did the gang… Also something I never fully acknowledged 'til now. And then…

And then I thought of Danielle.

Sure, she liked me dressing up like a girl most times, but she said she never really thought of me as a girl. And whether she said that for my benefit so as not to hurt me - I don't really know.

But she's been consistent. Sure, there was always some confusion about what pronoun she used with me, but it wasn't like she wanted me to be a girl. It was like she didn't care if I was a guy or a girl - that she didn't really prefer me to be one or the other.

But then, whether she preferred me as a girl or not, she did like me to dress like one. But, after thinking of that a bit, I changed my mind. In the beginning, she did like me dressing like a girl, for her own reasons. That gave me the creepy thought, that she liked me as a girl in that way. I guess that's been on my mind the whole time, but I had never really faced up to it. I don't think anyone could blame me for that.

But, over time, that had seemed to fade, that she probably got used to how I was and our dynamic reverted back to brother-and-sister. Except that she still thought I looked best dressed as a girl, and tried to get me to dress like one whenever she could, but only if we could get away with it. But did that make any sense? That she thought of me as her brother yet wanted me to dress like a girl? How did that fit into a normal brother-sister dynamic?

The answer, as I thought it through, was that it didn't.

But was that necessarily a bad thing?

I knew my sister loved me, and she was totally supportive of me. And I loved her, too. And I knew I'd never do anything, or allow anyone, to hurt her.

Maybe she just wanted me looking good, and it didn't matter whether I was dressed as a guy or a girl. The big difference was that it just so happened that I looked better when I dressed as a girl. And I guess, to most of the others, I suspected they thought I looked better as a girl, too.

So, getting me dressed as a girl might just be the same thing when she helped her girl-pals to dress up or shop for clothes. But then she would help me, too, when I wanted to get all duded up. In fact, my current guy ensemble was all largely her idea.

Truth be told, though, girl clothes, with the exception of high heels, felt better: the fabrics were softer, the cut more form-fitting, the choices more varied, and if I really did want to dress like a guy, there were girl outfits that looked like guy outfits, too. I've heard and read about girls complaining how uncomfortable their outfits were, and that it was hard to move in them et cetera, but by and large, they mostly weren't. Girls just liked to complain, I think. Except for the heels. Those really were uncomfortable.

But did Nikki prefer me as a girl? I guess, deep down, I thought so. I mean, here we were, Nikki scheming to have me in girl clothes and spending the night with me, but as a girl. But dressing up like a girl in the band all these months - did that even bother me anymore?

I guess it did.

But didn't Danielle start out that way? And if so, would Nikki eventually get used to me enough that it wouldn't really matter to her if I was a guy or a girl? Just like with Danielle?

I just need to give her time, I guess.

And as for the gang, I guess I'll just stick with them and give it time for that to happen with them, too.

I looked at Nikki.

"So?" she repeated, her worried look now bordering on panic - that I would say no.

I gave her a smile and nodded. She smiled just like a little girl on her birthday, and hugged me around the neck, peppering my face with little kisses. Good thing traffic was light today, otherwise my swerving around might have gotten us in an accident.

- - - - -

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

We talked about how to get the others to cover for us, so she said she told her folks she'd be sleeping over at Mel's. She'd already asked Mel and Danielle to cover, and they'd confirm to our folks I was with Mel. For me, I said I'd tell our folks that I'll be sleeping at Morgan's.

"You should have told them last night," Nikki said. "It's pretty short notice. Do you think they'll be okay with it?"

I shrugged. "I think so. They've never said no before, when I tell them I'd be sleeping over at Morgan's, or with the other guys. I'll try and catch Morgan later and tell him to cover for us."

When we got to the school parking lot, and I parked in my usual spot, the rest of the gang was there waiting. As usual. We were slightly behind, so after the usual hi's and hellos, we walked directly to class with minimal byplay. Mel and Danielle were practically sending out morse code to everyone that Nikki and I had something going on later. The gang was curious but didn't know how to ask us.

When the others left for their classes, and just before Mr. Wilson arrived, I explained to Morgan, and he agreed to cover for us. That meant that he'd have to be near the phone the whole night to intercept any calls, but that was nothing new - he'd done it before, as did all of us.

I was distracted for the rest of the day, and most of my teachers commented on it. What the heck, I was distracted.

Over lunch, Fallon came over to say hi, and she took Danielle over to the faculty room to have a chat with Mrs. Sparks, the class adviser for the high school glee club.

The guys then talked a bit about what to do given that Mrs. Piper canceled work tonight. Joanne suggested a movie but Betsy begged off because she had lots of class-president stuff that she had been letting slide.

As for Mel, she said Nikki was spending the night at her place to help her work on a school project. And then Morgan said I was going to help him with the playlist over at his place. Everyone gave each other knowing looks and smirks, and Mikey elbowed me in the ribs. Nikki grinned at me and gave me a big kiss. Talk about transparent secrets…

That reminded me. I gave Mom a call.

When lunch was halfway over, Danielle and Fallon came back. I had to say that Fallon was looking pretty good. Aside from the all-black outfit, she wasn't at all goth-like, and she looked real pretty and, ummm, normal. She wasn't wearing her trademark jewelry as well.

And with the over-abundance of redheads, our group was starting to attract more attention than usual, which delighted the girls, and got the boys primping.

Danielle had taken down notes from their meeting with Mrs. Sparks, and referred to them. She told us Mrs. Sparks said she was excited for this opportunity for the club, and she wholeheartedly supported us. She'd have to talk with the parents and get them to sign the required permission slips, and Mrs. Piper needs to agree to some limitations. Fallon showed us a sample of Mrs. Sparks' form, with lots of scribbled-down notes on it.

So, provided Mrs. Piper can insure that Mrs. Sparks' requirements were complied with, the backup singers were a lock. Danielle was going to call Tracey later and see if she and Fallon could meet with her and Mrs. Piper tonight.

Joanne offered to drive them, so that just left Mike and Jerry.

A little timidly, Mike asked if he could tag along with them to their meeting with Tracey and Mrs. Piper, which started another round of good-natured ribbing, this time with Mike - with the implication that he was sweet on Tracey.

It ended with Jerry tagging along as well, which meant things were set for everyone.

That was a relief, because that meant everyone was distracted from what everyone already knew of Nikki's and my plans.

After classes, to keep up the flimsy pretense, Mel rode with Nikki and me, and Morgan went home on his bike, where I supposedly was to follow. And the rest of the gang, plus Fallon, went on to Mrs. Piper's. Hmmm. Looks like we have another new member for our not-so-little gang.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 29 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 deals with getting turned on by his girlfriend. And how he ends up as the female lead singer for a high-school pop band as well as a radio DJ. Danny, is more than excited for his first night alone with his gorgeous girlfriend, and is hardly able to sit still in his excitement. They really didn't fool anyone, though - the gang knew what they were planning. Nevertheless, they aided and abetted the two, and covered for them with the parental units. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang. (Warning: Explicit content ahead.)

 
Chapter Twenty-Nine:  Check-In

***** (Mel) *****

When we got to my house, Nikki asked if they could come in to change, so I waved them in.

"Mama!" I called, stepping into the house, "I'm home!"

"Hi, Mellie," she responded. "I'm in the kitchen." She was busy so she didn't come out and just yelled. Ohmigod. So embarrassing...

"Nikki and Danielle are here," I said. "I'll just bring them up to my room and then I'll come down and help you."

"Hi, Nikki!" she called. "Hi, Danielle! Do you girls want to stay for dinner?"

"Hi, Mrs. Chisholm," Danny called back with a voice uncannily similar to her sister's voice. I mean his!

I frantically waved them on up to my room before mom decided to come out, and she and Nikki went up with one of Nikki's wheelie bags.

All this shouting… I sighed, embarrassed. Just another typical day at my place. I went to the kitchen.

"Stop with the shouting , mama," I said, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You're embarrassing me."

"Hi, dear," she giggled. "Are the girls staying? Invite them to dinner."

"Nikki has plans, mama," I said, "and Danielle has a meeting about that thing she's helping organize for that band of hers."

I thought a bit. The cover! "But Nikki will be back later," I added belatedly. "Would it be okay if she stayed overnight? She's gonna be helping me with some school stuff."

"That's too bad. Maybe next time. Sure, Nikki can stay, if it's okay with Mrs. Anderson. I'll give her a call later. Just keep the noise down. I know how you and your girlfriends get when you're together. I'm gonna need my sleep - I have an early shift at the hospital tomorrow, you know. In fact, I might be leaving at around four in the morning so I probably won't see you until after school." She looked sad. "… as usual…"

"I know," I said and sighed, and kissed her on the cheek. "You need some help with anything?"

"It's all right, dear. Go keep your friends company."

"They're getting changed so I'll give them some time. Lemme help with dinner."

When we were almost done, and I was finishing cleaning and cutting up the leafy greens for the salad, the two came out.

I had to whistle. Both of them looked very clean-cut and gorgeous. Nikki was looking so pretty in a grown-up and sophisticated way. So was Danny. But… ohmigod. Both were wearing our regular kind of clothes but they were looking a little older and more sophisticated. But even in regular clothes, Danny was… Ohmigod... I bet even if Danny wore a tatty old sweater, she'll still look like she was strutting down some fashion show runway. Better than Danielle, even. Ohmigod…

"Well, girls," mom said, "you're dressed real nice! What's the occasion?"

"I have a date with Danny," Nikki dimpled. When she said that, Danny looked a little alarmed, like, is Nikki giving her away? So Danny didn't speak and just tried to smile.

"What about you, Danielle?"

I could see Danny sigh with relief - Mom didn't see Danny but only Danielle.

"Ummm…" Danny said, "I have a meeting with Mrs. Piper, the owner of the radio station where Danny works."

"That's why she's in corporate mode," Nikki said. "Sorry we can't stay for dinner, Mrs. C."

"That's all right, dearie," mom said. "Maybe next time. Now, don't keep your young man waiting. Go, go!" She shooed them out, and they left giggling.

"See you later tonight, Nikki!" I called. They waved goodbye and Nikki gave me a wink before stepping out.

"You have very pretty friends," mom said, "but not as pretty as my Mellie!" she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I blushed.

"Danielle in particular - I haven't seen her looking so pretty. It's a shame she doesn't have a boyfriend."

"Well, Morgan said she might be interested in Jim Logan?" Which was true - Danielle really had her eye on Jim, our school's hunky star soccer player. Drew was, in fact arranging a date.

"Who's Jim Logan?"

"He's Drew's brother. You know, the soccer guy from school?"

"Wait - Drew's that busty friend of yours?"

"Mama! God, you're embarrassing. Good thing they aren't here."

"Don't you know, honey? Embarrassing your children in front of their friends is one of the perks of being a parent." She giggled.

"Hmmmph!"

I continued to help her prepare dinner, and as we worked, I had to wonder. I know Danny's a guy. But I was getting off on her looking like a girl… Lesbian tendencies?

- - - - -

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

Nikki said she didn't mind if we both changed in Mel's room, but I decided to change in the Chisholm's bathroom. I quickly got out of my guy clothes and folded them into the smallest package I could, and put on what Nikki handed me. The size of the bralette was right on, and it seemed brand-new - these were definitely not hers. So was the underwear - it was a pair of Versace men's thong briefs, and it felt very close to the women's thongs that Danielle sometimes had me wear except it had the pocket in front, and was very comfortable. I knew enough that, with the cut, the material and the closeness of the fit (it was a size smaller than my usual size), it wouldn't show in the pants that Nikki provided, but I was still worried that I might… come out. Wish I brought a pair of my thong gaffs. I guess I'll just be careful how I… arranged myself down there.

I went back to Mel's room and handed Nikki my guy clothes and shoes. She was also almost done, but stopped to put my my clothes in a used shopping bag, put it in her wheelie, and put my shoes in another bag. I took a peek in the wheelie.

I couldn't believe the stuff Nikki had in there. She clearly had a plan, but looking at the stuff in there, I started to worry.

The outfit she had me change into was a collarless burgundy cropped blazer with the stretchy, cropped bralette underneath that had crisscrossed cords on the front, a surplice V-neck and scallop-edged floral lace that went down to a sheer hem. It had adjustable spaghetti straps and a Y-back. Of course, this was all hidden by the blazer, which made it look like just a lacey blouse under it. Nikki liked the fact that my tummy was bare, and poked me there. It didn't help that the blazer's long sleeves emphasized the open-front silhouette, though the angled hem gave it a streamlined finish - all-in-all, it made me look more sophisticated and older. Nikki also paired it with faux leather leggings with zippers for the front pockets. For shoes, she had me in white faux leather ankle boots with a round toe and an ankle-high shaft with cut-outs on the sides. It had wrapped ankle straps and buckles at the sides and a faux stacked heel that was about two inches - not too high to make it difficult for me to manage my 'stang's pedals.

When she handed me a black patent leather clutch with a strap, my outfit was complete. As I waited for her to finish dressing, I got my stuff out of her bag and transferred all the stuff that were in my pants pockets into the little purse, including a pack of condoms I got before I went to Nikki's, just in case. The box didn't fit, though, so I put them in the blazer's pocket instead.

For herself, Nikki had picked a chic white open front blazer with vertical magenta stripes. The notched lapels and cuffed three quarter sleeves gave it a slouchy boyfriend silhouette but the faux pockets were totally useless. Underneath, she wore a sheer, shiny hot-pink collarless top with a boat neck and spaghetti straps, and she paired it with a very sexy pair of designer slim-fit skinny jeans and tan high-heeled, tooled cowgirl boots that the jeans tucked into.

When I looked at Nikki and myself in Mel's full-length mirror, I had to admit we were looking pretty mature and sexy.

Listening to my inner monologue, I now knew I've really absorbed Danielle's tutelage when it comes to women's fashions. I wondered if it'll ever become more useful than just cataloguing the clothes that my sister or girlfriend make me wear.

Anyway, Nikki definitely got us nice outfits, but they weren't that over-the-top. These outfits, though sexy, would probably pass muster in school (except for my bare midriff). But their intention was to make us look older as well - at least college-age. So more than making us look sexy, they made us more adult-looking and sophisticated than girls our age. Which was the whole point - so that we won't have problems when we check in.

What got to me was the other stuff she had in the bag. Maybe I can talk Nikki out of me changing into them later.

After we had said goodbye to Mel and her mom, we stepped out of their house and went to my car.

I put the wheelie back in the 'stang's trunk and Nikki just dumped my dirty old sneakers in the backseat's footwell, and then we drove off.

Our ride to the hotel was full of omens and portents. Good omens, of course. We held hands as I drove.

I wasn't talking as I needed to concentrate on my driving. As it was, I was having a difficult time focusing on the road when all I could think of was Nikki. I was in physical pain, actually - erections and tight women's leather pants don't go together - but it was, paradoxically, helpful: the pain was more effective than someone pouring a bucket of ice water on me, and I was able to calm down enough, and it went away. Well, mostly.

We pulled up to the hotel and I popped the boot. No one came out to help us with our luggage, but it was just a Holiday Inn Express, after all. I got out her two wheelie bags from the boot, took all of our school stuff as well as my overnighter from the back seat and dumped them in the boot (Nikki said I wouldn't need the overnighter). Someone eventually did come up, gave us a valet parking ticket, and drove our car into the underground parking.

It wasn't bad, as far as cut-rate hotels go - in fact, it was pretty good. Nikki and I looked around as we each took a wheelie and walked to the front desk. I artfully hung my little purse around my neck in such as way that the purse covered most of my crotch and hid, or distracted from, any evidence of my, ummm, excitement.

"Hi!" Nikki chirped and a friendly desk clerk came up.

"Yes, ma'am," she said pleasantly. "How may I help you?" She was hardly older than us, and she had on some scarves tied to her wrists. Oh, no - a fan…

"I have a reservation?" Nikki replied, and brought out her credit card and driver's license. I didn't even know she had a driver's license.

The girl dutifully checked it out.

"Here you are," the girl said. "Miss Nicolette Anne Smith. You're on the fourth floor, room four-twelve, a deluxe room with a king size bed." She looked at the entry. "So, is this your cousin? It says here you two have a bus ride to Bethesda tomorrow?" She handed Nikki a hotel room card.

"Yes, she's my cousin," Nikki replied. For good measure, she brought out a bus card - wait, that's Danielle's bus card…

The girl looked at me. Then at the card. Then back at me. Her eyes went wide.

"Ummm. Thank you. Well, ladies, ummm, just let me know what else I can do for you. Just give me a call. My name's Jennifer. My phone's extension twenty-two." She handed both of us business cards.

"Thank you, Jennifer. We will."

We turned to pick up our wheelies.

"Let me get someone to help you with your bags..."

"No need, we can manage. Thanks!"

"All right, ma'am, " Jennifer said. "Have a pleasant stay, Ms Smith. Ummm, you too, Ms Fairchild."

The guy who parked our car came back and handed me my car keys, and I smiled my thanks.

We then went to the elevator. As we walked away, Jennifer ran to the back room.

"Sylvia?" I faintly heard her say to someone. "Guess who just checked in…"

I started to become alarmed, but when Nikki impatiently pulled me towards the elevators, I forgot about it.

- - - - -

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

"Here we are," Nikki said unnecessarily as she opened our door. "Sweet Holiday Inn room four-twelve!"

I laughed and parked the bags at the foot of the bed. As I did, Nikki cannoned into me and we both fell on top of the sheets.

She started kissing me all over, wet kisses on my face, the sides of my neck and behind my ear.

"Oh, God, Nikki," I said. I arched against her when she snuck her hand inside my top and on my breasts. With her other hand, she unbuttoned my pants and she cupped me.

The tightness of the pants made it little uncomfortable but nothing I couldn't handle. Not so long as she was doing what she was doing, as well as continuing to pay attention to my breasts. And to think I didn't want boobies. I was so wrong.

Her fingers caressed me and my eyes rolled back into my head. So close. The strength of what was building was staggering. Mind-blowing. My body was going to be blown to bits. If she stopped, I might die. I would do everything so she wouldn't stop. I came, groaning, every muscle drawn taut. It was almost too much. Almost.

Nikki looked at me as I started to come, with eyes so round, not with shock but with amazement.

"Don't stop!" I cried, and that sort of woke her out of whatever it was.

She moved down, her mouth replacing her hand. I couldn't stop. But it was like she didn't care, and she continued, massaging me with her hands, her lips and her tongue.

I held her head down, running my hands through her blonde hair, and though I didn't intend to, I sort of kept her there. And after an eternity, I was done and she finally stopped.

I felt a little guilty. After all, that probably wasn't fun for her.

But as I was starting to come down, I felt her hug my waist and she started trembling. Was she crying? Oh, no!

I was wracked with guilt. Why did I? How could I?

When she had stopped trembling, I leaned down and lifted her up, or tried to. But she had fainted… Just like Betsy at her first band practice with us.

As I struggled to lift her, she woke up.

She was sticky and messy. I was messy, too - I was sticky, covered from the waist down, but not like Nikki. The top of her outfit and most of her face was almost totally covered.

And as I was almost crying in shame and confusion as to what to do, she shook herself fully awake.

When she had come back from unconsciousness - she had only fallen unconscious for less than thirty seconds, but I still panicked - she looked a little lost, like she didn't know where she was. But she focused on my face and, slowly, recognition came back and she remembered where she was. She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tight.

When she let go and leaned back, I could see how messy she was.

"I'm so sorry, Nikki…" I said shamefacedly.

"Whatever for, Danny," she asked. And she saw the mess on my cheeks. She touched her face. "Oh!"

I looked down in shame, but she put her finger under my chin and lifted my face. "It's okay, Danny. Let's go get cleaned up." She gave me another kiss and we went to the bathroom.

- - - - -

***** (Nikki) *****

I led Danny to the bathroom where we took off our sticky clothes and dumped them in the sink. Fleetingly, I was thinking that my clothes were ruined, but I didn't really care. I was with Danny.

I then led Danny to the bathtub to rinse ourselves off in the shower, and as we soaped each other down, I had to think about what had happened. I wasn't as experienced as, say, I heard Joanne was, but I wasn't a virgin either. But I still couldn't believe it.

Danielle told me a sketchy story about her walking in on Danny once, and I guess she wasn't lying. It's hard to believe it. We've all seen Danny in various states of undress, and we all had an idea how well built he was down there, especially seeing him during the sleepover, but I've never seen him at, ummm, full mast.

And, oh, my, god. Now, I know how Betsy felt that time.

Sex ed, and the few guys I'd been with gave me more than an idea about what happens during sex with men, but Danny was different. I never knew a guy could come like that. And I doubt if a condom would be helpful. I giggled. Good thing it wasn't that time of the month for me, and that I was on the pill besides, so I was safe.

"What's so funny," he asked.

"Oh, nothing," I said, and soaped him up.

Danny had such soft, smooth skin, and the slippery soap just made it so silky.

I started soaping up his boobies. They felt incredible. Danny looked so much like his sister, but there were many differences, and having known Danielle all my life, it was easy to see them. And though Danny's boobies looked the same size, they're actually bigger than Danielle's. It's just that Danny had wider shoulders that made them look smaller on him. I should tell Danielle - the bras she'd been getting him were probably a touch too small around the band and probably pinched.

As Danny rubbed my back, I started to get turned on. And, feeling his boobies, I knew Danny was getting turned on, too.

"Let's do it, Danny," I whispered in her ear.

"Here? Why not in the bedroom…"

"I can't wait anymore, honey…"

"Nikki…"

"Don't worry," I said, "I'm on the pill."

"But Nikki…"

"Really, I am," I said, "But if it makes you feel better, it's okay if you wanna wear a rubber, but Danny, I didn't bring any…"

"Hold on." He let me go and walked to the sink, dripping, and got something from the blazer I loaned him. He came back with a box and fumbled one of the little packets out.

His hands were a little wet and had trouble opening it. He wiped them on one of the folded towels and finally ripped it open.

"You know," he said, "this is the first time for me to put one on…"

I giggled. "I know how." I switched the water off.

He looked at me and giggled as well. "You do, do you?"

"Stop laughing, and get me one of the towels."

He pulled down the top one, and I used it to dry my hands. I knelt in the tub and started to dry Danny down there as well. He wasn't at half mast anymore, and I fairly goggled. I've seen bigger ones - not in real life, but in movies - but Danny's was the biggest I've seen so far IRL.

As I dried Little Danny off, or should I say Big Danny, heehee, I gave him a little kiss. Big Danny twitched.

"Nikki…" Danny moaned, and I decided to stop.

I was about to roll the condom over him, but…

"I don't know if it'll fit you, Danny," I said. "Next time, get bigger ones."

"There are sizes?"

"Of course, there are sizes."

"But they stretch, don't they?"

I sighed, and just rolled it on him without another word.

Danny wasn't complaining, but it sure looked tight.

After I had him, ummm, dressed, I couldn't wait anymore.

I grabbed him, and, despite him and the tub being a bit slippery, I was able to jump up and wrap my legs around him.

Danny sure was strong because he was able to keep me up. We pushed up against the tile and inadvertently turned the water back on. Cold water poured over us but I didn't care.

"You're mine," I growled, and kissed him again.

Maybe he was getting tired, but he was able to lay me down onto the bottom of the bathtub gently.

"Now, Danny," I demanded.

Clearly, he was new at this so I had to guide him in.

But, feeling him at my entrance, I was suddenly afraid. What if he was too big?

But I guess he couldn't wait anymore so he thrust in, violently and without finesse, and pain shot through me. I gasped.

And he kissed me.

He pulled out and I hissed. The pain and the partial vacuum made the feeling sharp.

And he kissed me.

He pushed back in again, and there was pain again as I was stretched beyond normal, but at least not enough to damage me, I think. I wanted to scream and tell him to stop. But I wanted it to continue, too.

He kissed me again.

He then pulled back out and then back in, again and again, and I wondered if I can continue taking the pain. But as we continued on, things changed somehow.

I've read in books about things like this happening, but mostly when couples were having anal sex, or when the girl lost her virginity. We weren't doing that and I was no virgin, but, somehow, like in those books, the pain slowly changed or was transmuted somehow.

Yes, there was pain, but there was pleasure, too. I grabbed him around the neck, kissed him and licked his face, his ears, his neck, and wherever I could reach him.

I brutally squeezed his beautiful breasts, as if I was trying to pay him back, but that wasn't it. It was more like I was beside myself with excitement, beyond control now, and Danny hissed in pain, but I knew it was welcome pain.

Yes, as he continued to thrust, it still hurt, but I felt the pleasure grow, too. We increased the pace. In a minute, I was answering his thrusts with counterthrusts of my own, and it made it into a dizzyingly wonderful mix of pleasure and pain.

I reached down and grasped his sexy butt, and pulled him towards me more with each thrust, increasing the suction effect when he pulled back out. By then I was moaning continuously, and maybe my vagina had adjusted to him because the pain had mostly disappeared and had become mostly a wonderful feeling of fullness or tightness. I felt my heart triphammering in my chest as both of us approached orgasm.

He continued to grunt with each thrust, pumping into and out of me, the length and level of his arousal brutal. I grabbed the back of his head, pulled him close and kissed him savagely.

"You're mine," I swore.

He released my mouth, put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me down into him hard. I reached down further to find a better hold of his ass and helped him thrust into me more fully. He didn't stop me, nor slow the movement down, giving me full, hard thrusts, my breasts bouncing and rubbing against his. I looked to the side and I could just see above the tub's edge the mirror above the sink, giving me a view of us together - Danny, his copper hair darkened by the water and plastering it around his face, and me - I could just see enough that I could see myself staring at my mirror image, hair wet and darkened, mouth open, with a wild expression I have never seen on my face before. His reflection pulled at my hair, tilting my head back, and I looked back to him.

"It's happening again, Nikki," he said.

"Do it, Dan! Let it happen!"

And I felt his engorged head and shaft pulse and pump into me, his orgasm finally happening.

Like lightning, my own orgasm followed, and my hips bucked, almost in time with his pulsing.

He continued to pump, and it was like I was paralyzed, my hips bucking involuntarily. I squeezed my breasts, squeezing them hard as I shook and shook.

It was like it lasted forever. Maybe it did, but it didn't last long enough for me.

After a couple of minutes, maybe three, me spasming in continuous ecstasy the entire time, Danny finally collapsed on me.

As I held onto him as he came down from his high, little mini-orgasms still kept on firing sporadically through me, and I hugged him close. I bucked and shook as the little orgasms tapered down. I just let him stay there, accepting his weight and just basked in the afterglow. At least I didn't faint this time.

- - - - -

***** (Nikki) *****

I don'tknow how long we stayed there, with the water cascading over us, but when we started feeling too cold to be comfortable, we shook ourselves from our indolent tiredness and he sat me up.

We looked into each other's eyes, trying to find out what each other was thinking, and all I could think of was how gorgeous he was, and how much I loved him. And by how he looked back at me, I guess he felt the same.

I looked down, a little afraid of what I'd find, afraid that I might have hurt myself and see blood on the porcelain, but there wasn't any. All that was there was a lot of cum. Not that much, really. Maybe a half a cup's worth, but there was enough that even the water hadn't washed it all away yet. Obviously, there was so much of it that it had overflowed Danny's condom and leaked back, even through the rubber ring at the back. Wow...

I didn't think other guys came like that, but I didn't care. I reached down and took hold of his penis, pulling Big Danny from me, and gently pulling the condom away.

I was right: the condom was full - very full. Maybe several spoonfuls worth was still inside, and I dropped it on the tiles outside of the tub. The condom was less than useless. Thank goodness it wasn't my time yet, plus I was on the pill just in case.

I reached down and felt my thighs and the tub, and my hands came away a bit sticky. I felt myself, too, but besides being sticky and a tiny bit sore, I guess I wasn't really hurt.

"Well…" I said, bringing his head down for a kiss, "I guess we need to shower again…"

Danny laughed.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 30 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. Tonight was the first time for Danny to make love with Nikki. Indeed, it was his first time. Period. And it was incredible, to say the least. Danny was no virgin anymore, and it remains to be seen how this would impact his relationship with Nikki but, needless to say, their night together was just the start of a new world for him. Things were looking up for Danny. There never is a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Thirty:  Dinner with Autographs

***** (Nikki) *****

After some cajoling, I got Danny to agree to dinner. He wasn't too keen, saying he was pretty tired, but I was full of energy myself and was pretty hungry.

"I heard they have a pretty nice buffet downstairs," I said.

He thought about it.

"Come on. It's all you can eat until nine."

"Okay," he said suddenly.

I had to giggle. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. And it was literally true for Danny.

We couldn't wear our outfits again tonight since I had rinsed them and they were currently hanging from the shower-curtain rod in the bathroom drip-drying, so I picked some other dressy outfits from my bags.

For Danny, I picked a nice, shiny, long-sleeved, tight, creamy-yellow blouse, and a dark, above-the-knee pouf-skirt. Actually, it was the pouf skirt that Danny wore in the contest which I had asked Danielle for, saying I could probably recycle it. I guess this counted as recycling heehee.

The white ankle boots went well with the outfit so I had him wear those again.

As for me, I picked a nice above-the-knee sleeveless sundress with a repeating pattern made up of tiny sunflowers all over it, a bolero jacket and a pair of two-inch high sandals.

I spritzed both of us with some perfume, combed and styled our just-dried hair, got our purses and stepped out of the room, pulling a reluctant Danny out with me.

When we went to the restaurant, we noticed it was fairly busy and roughly three-fourths full.

Danny looked at me with that expression I had come to recognize, and I nodded permission. He gave me a kiss and made a beeline for the buffet. I sighed. Danny and his appetite…

I went and got us drinks and found an empty table by a window facing the street.

After a few minutes, Danny came back laden with plates. He did me proud, coming back with a kind of sampler plate for me, with little spoonfuls or cuts of the dishes that I liked. For himself, he had a couple of big plates full to the brim, as usual. It was a wonder he was able to carry all of it.

Thanks to Danielle's tutelage, he didn't go after the food as I knew he wanted to, but nevertheless, I got one of the extra table napkins and tucked it into his blouse's collar.

Actually, he looked pretty cute like that, and I watched him enjoy his food.

"Danny…" I said tentatively.

The tone sort of alerted him.

"Yes, Nikki?" he asked with a little worry.

"I… enjoyed it. Tonight, I mean."

He looked at me with a delighted face. "Me, too. Do you think, you know, we can do it again…? Maybe later?"

I giggled at his eagerness. "We'll see."

"Nikki? …"

"Yes, honey?"

"It was my first time…"

I looked at him. Reaching out, I held his hand. Did I hurt him?

"I know it was, my love. Are you okay?"

"I'm more than okay. I guess what I'm saying is, I'm… you know… I'm glad my first time was with you. It was beautiful. You're beautiful."

That made me start tearing up.

Mindful of the people around us, I leaned forward and gave him a chaste kiss on the forehead instead of the kiss I really wanted to give him.

"I'm glad, Danny. I love you."

"I love you, too."

I smiled.

"So… can we, again, later?"

I laughed. Just like a boy. "Like I said, we'll see. For now, let's have a little break and enjoy our dinner."

- - - - -

***** (Nikki) *****

Of course, Danny went back several times, which I didn't mind. It was actually nice just watching him eat while I sipped a nice iced tea. We already knew all the important things that we needed to know about each other, so our chat was interspersed with a lot of companionable silent moments.

Our cellphones beeped almost together, and I checked mine. I giggled.

"What?" Danny asked.

"Danielle and Mel are asking how the date is going." I showed my phone to him.

He chuckled. "Yeah, Morgan, too." He showed me his phone, and we laughed.

"So, what should we tell them?"

"I know!" He typed up his answer to Morgan and showed it to me. I laughed.

I typed up the same thing, and we sent our texts to Morgan, Mel and Danielle at the same time.

While Danny chomped away, I thought of what we just did.

It was heavenly, even if it was a little rough in the beginning, but I didn't mind. Danny didn't know any better, and for some reason, the roughness actually made it better. In fact, it was the best I've ever had. And I'm sure he'd get even better after a few more times. Practice make perfect, after all heehee.

I had to wonder, though. From everyone I knew, and from my own limited experience, there were no boys who came for that long, that strong, and come that much. When I was giving him head, he came so much that it spilled everywhere. There was so much of it, I think I even swallowed some of it. And it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I never did that before, but I just wanted to. I guess it made me feel sexy, and thinking about it got my engine running again. But, whatever, I didn't care, so long as he was mine. And besides, it was the best thing I had ever done. Having sex with Danny was like an uncontrollable high that one just couldn't pass up.

But yet…

I looked at him as he started to work on his third plate of the night. He grinned at me as he started cutting into his steak cutlet, and I had to giggle at him.

Even without the incredible sex, he was an incredible boyfriend. So talented and so kind. And so beautiful. And I knew that he loved me.

I watched him as he ate. Though he rarely stopped, it wasn't like he was being his old, gross self. Instead, he ate with a fastidious and a feminine grace, almost just like Danielle. In fact, Danny seemed very gracious and poised - the epitome of feminine table manners, and no one would have noticed he was actually putting away half his bodyweight in food heehee. Danielle's positive influence on him could clearly be seen.

But even if Danny acted like some gross boy, I wouldn't really have cared. He was still my Danny, and he was all mine.

Yeah, Danny looked like a girl. And in many ways, Danny and Danielle looked and acted very much like each other - they sometimes behaved so much like each other that people got confused. But I could still completely tell them apart. Probably no one else could, but I surely could. I guess the confusion for me regarding what he was, wasn't there anymore. Even though he sometimes dressed and acted like a girl, and looked like the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, he was a boy, and he was all mine.

I was starting to look forward to doing it again, and started feeling the heat rising in me. But for now, I was mostly sated, so we just ate dinner and enjoyed ourselves. We had all night, after all.

I thought a bit of the... I guess the word that best matched what I was thinking was "mechanics." I was thinking of the mechanics of our lovemaking.

Danny was... well-built, in fact the most well-built boy I knew. But he wasn't freakishly big, like I've read in some of the dirty books I sometimes found in my mom's dressing cabinets, where the members of the leading character's amorous partners were always described as "built like a horse." At least Dan wasn't this way. He was just... big. But just right, if you know what I mean. I mean, if he was any larger, I doubt if he'd be as... pretty down there. As it is, he was just the right size of big. Any bigger and he would probably be a little bit gross for me. And I'd probably not be able to accommodate him anymore.

But, like they say, size isn't everything. In fact, if Danny was actually... less built, I would still think he was fine.

Later in the evening, four hotel clerks approached us. I recognized the girl who checked us in.

"Good evening, ladies," the girl said, "we just wanted to see if you were enjoying the evening, and if you needed anything."

"Good evening, Jennifer," I said, remembering her name in the nick of time. "Everything's great. We were just having an early dinner before the place got really full." The hotel's restaurant, one of the few Holiday In Express hotels that even had a restaurant, was a popular dinner spot in our little burg.

"I hope you're enjoying the food."

"Oh, everything's yummy. Right, Danielle?" I asked.

Danny, in mid-chew, just gave Jennifer a thumbs-up instead.

The girls giggled.

"Anyway," Jennifer continued, "we were hoping to ask a favor…"

"Can we get your autograph?" the girl beside her interrupted. The four were looking at Danny hopefully.

Hastily, Danny swallowed. "My autograph?"

"Yes!" the girl said excitedly. "we saw you in the Evolution Concert, and you and your band were the best. We also saw the TV show. I think you're just great!"

"Ummm…"

"So, anyway," the girl had one of the little hotel notepads that they gave guests, "I was hoping I could get an autograph. I'm Sylvia, by the way."

"Ummm, Sylvia, I think you have me mixed up with someone else."

"Oh, no, I don't think so. You're Dannie from the girl band! You have the same name, and you look exactly like her!" The four of them giggled.

"I'm afraid I'm not, Sylvia."

She frowned. "But…"

"It's probably some coincidence," he said.

They looked at each other.

"Well," Sylvia said, "maybe you can still give us an autograph? As our new favorite guest?"

"I guess that's all right…"

"Yayyy!" She then handed Danny her notepad, and he obliged. The other girls had notepads of their own, and Danny scribbled on them, too.

"And maybe a last one? For all of us?" Jennifer said. She saw the empty table nearby and grabbed one of the placemats.

She handed the placemat to Danny, the blank side up, along with a Sharpie, and Danny scribbled something as well as all of their names on that side.

"Can we also get a picture?" Sylvia said, lifting up the camera she had in her hand. It had a lightweight gorillapod attached to it.

Before we knew it, they had the two of us facing the camera, which they put on top of the adjacent empty table, with all four of them behind us, and the camera flash fired when the timer ran down.

"And then maybe just Dannie?" Sylvia asked.

Before either of us could respond, Jennifer had moved the camera and little tripod so the camera would only catch Danny and them.

They again posed behind Danny, and had Danny hold the placemat, displaying his scribbled message and the girls' names.

Click!

"Oh, thank you so much!" Sylvia said, and gave Danny a quick kiss on the cheek. "We're so sorry for disturbing your meal. We really appreciate it!"

"Have a good night!" the others called, and walked away, giggling and continuously waving back to us as they walked away.

We looked at each other, bemused, and, after a beat, broke out laughing.

"Can't take you anywhere," I said, still giggling.

Danny playfully hit me on the shoulder. "Stop it!" he said, giggling as well, but sobered almost immediately "But, Nikki… that means we're not so anonymous here anymore."

"I think we're safe, Danny," I said. "Our folks probably wouldn't be coming here anytime soon. And even if they did, how would they know we've been here anyway?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"We're safe, Danny."

"You're right, I guess, but how about…"

One of the people from the nearby table, an older gentleman in a suit who was there with what looked like his wife, leaned over.

"Who are you kids, anyway?" he said in a slightly peremptory way. "Are you kids famous or something?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, mister," Danny said, a little offended by the man's tone. "Just a couple of kids waiting for our bus ride tomorrow."

"Then why did…"

"They got us mixed up with some other people," Danny interrupted.

"Harry!" his wife said, and pulled him back. "Stop bothering those girls."

"I just wanted…"

"Hush! Now, eat your soup." She turned to us and smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that, girls."

"It's all right, ma'am," I said, and made a point of going back to our dinner as if nothing happened. Danny followed suit.

The older couple finished their dinner after a while, and the wife waved at us before walking away.

We waved back, and after they left, we felt we could talk more freely.

"What do you think?" Danny said. "Betcha this Dannie sighting in the wild will start spreading by tomorrow."

"You're probably exaggerating, Danny," I said.

"I don't think so. Just look around."

I nonchalantly looked over the room, trying to appear that I wasn't. And I did note that most of the patrons were looking at us. But in that way, you know, where they're trying to appear not to be looking?

"I see what you mean," I said. "But, Danny, we'll be out by tomorrow. This will just be one of those rumors." I giggled. "I kinda like the idea that we're going to be like some kind of urban legend."

Danny laughed at that. "Hardly an urban legend. But, Nikki, what about those girls? I betcha they'll start their own rumors."

"Like you said to them, Dan, they mixed you up with someone else?"

"But, Nikki, they have pictures, and it's a fact you and Danielle are Betsy's friends. They'll eventually definitively connect me to the band…"

I shrugged. "Danielle and I have been at your gigs since the beginning. No one's made the connection yet. Why would they make the connection now?"

Danny shrugged. "You may be right, but I have this feeling…"

I leaned forward and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Stop worrying, Danny!"

Danny frowned a bit, but nodded and settled down. He began eating again.

I sat back down, finished my tea and cleared my throat.

"So… You want to go upstairs for some after-dinner dessert?" I waggled my eyebrows at him.

He wiped his mouth, tore off his bib, wiped his lips and stood up. "Let's go!"

I giggled.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 31 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-schoo cover band as well as a radio DJ. When they decided to go down to have some dinner at the hotel restaurant, some of the hotel staff made the connection between him and the singer in the band, Unlimited Bandwidth. He and Nikki protested that it was a case of mistaken identity, but the girls who recognized him still insisted on autographs and pictures. Oh, well. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Thirty-One:  Morning After

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

Yes, I did end up wearing and modelling all the nighties and negligees that Nikki brought that night. How could I say no to her?

Besides, it really got her hot and bothered when I wore her sexy lingerie.

Needless to say, we did it several more times that night, and once more in the morning. I was game for more but Nikki said she was getting too sore, and that there were no more sheets for the bed.

I never knew sex could be so messy. In the movies, it wasn't like this. Maybe I was doing it wrong or something. I mean, we went through five bedsheets! All that was in the room's linen closet!

We did it one last time, though, while we were in the shower. At least it minimized on the mess. But because she said she felt sore, I decided on an… alternative. Some guys I know said they don't do it since it was gross. I don't think so. And it was still fun for me, but, of course, it was more fun for her. Heheh.

Afterwards, though, a grateful, though tired-sounding Nikki noted a problem, and it would hardly be possible for us to leave the hotel with me in this… state. So Nikki reciprocated.

At least we were in the tub so it was easier to clean up.

So after cleaning up again, I rinsed down the tub yet again. As for the bedclothes - before sleeping last night, Nikki rinsed all the sheets we soiled and wrung them out by hand. Squeezing them only removed the water so much, so they were still quite damp. So we just folded them up while only semi-dry, and left them in the bathroom for housekeeping.

Trying to be helpful, I tried looking for any used condoms but I couldn't find any. For example, I distinctly remembered Nikki leaving one by the tub, but it wasn't there.

So I looked inside the trashcans, and I couldn't find any of the condoms we used. Maybe Nikki flushed them down the toilet or something, so that there wouldn't be anything embarrassing left for housekeeping to see.

I also took down our now-dry clothes from last night that Nikki had rinsed out, and Nikki put them away.

As before, Nikki picked out our outfits for this morning. She seemed to have prepared for everything. But the tight miniskirt she was intending for me to wear was too… form-fitting, and couldn't properly hide you-know-who. We therefore reverted to the pouf skirt from last night. She had me pair it with an off-white cotton-spandex sleeveless (and backless) top but with a full front, a mock turtleneck collar and stiletto heels over white, ankle-high bobby socks with a satin trim, ala-Madonna from the early nineties. With the backless top, I couldn't wear a bra, but the top had a built-in bralette. Anyway, I was lookin' pretty smokin' hot, if I do say so myself heehee.

Nikki, of course, picked a new outfit for herself, too, this time a sleek, three-fourth-sleeve powder-blue bodysuit paired with one of our school's letterman jackets and black slim-fit jeans (which were actually jeggings) and her "school-friendly" platforms. We were both at least three inches taller than normal when we stepped out of the room, and looking quite older and more sophisticated.

Walking to the elevator, someone wolf-whistled at me. I looked back but couldn't identify which of the handful of guests that were in the hallway whistled. I shrugged to myself and just ushered Nikki into the elevator.

Nikki said part of the reservation was complimentary breakfast. So I was in a hurry to go. We left our packed-up stuff up in the room and proceeded to the dining area. We easily found seats in the semi-empty room and were promptly served by friendly hotel people, all of them smiling and very friendly, indeed, especially the male wait-staff. My initial confidence in my sexy attire evaporated a bit in the face of all this attention, but I tried to be nonchalant. Although my back and shoulders started to get cold.

The waiter who first served us said that they had our breakfasts upgraded to a Gold Reservation at no charge, which meant we could order anything from the ala carte menu, or go to the buffet line. But Nikki said, since we already had our "continental" breakfasts on the table, we should just stick to the ala carte menu.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I ordered some extra servings of everything for myself, and got each of us extra drinks. I knew Nikki liked smoothies so I got her a mango breakfast smoothie, and a strawberry-banana one for me.

Most of the servers served us ahead of the other customers, which made the other patrons wonder who we were, but I made a point of saying to the waiters that we were fine, and they should take care of their other customers, so there was a sudden flurry of people going to the kitchen and bringing drinks and other things to the other guests.

I heard one of the diners at a nearby table ask the waiter who we were.

"The girl over there," the waiter pointed to us, "is an up-and-coming singer, ma'am. She came out on TV last week."

"Well, they're definitely more than pretty enough to be on TV," the nice old lady said very loudly. She was probably a little hard-of-hearing. "Which one is the singer?"

"The redhead, ma'am."

"Oh! She's quite pretty, especially in that outfit."

With my ears burning, I waved that waiter over.

The waiter excused himself and went over to us.

"Yes, miss?" he asked.

"What have you been telling the guests? Who do you think we are, anyway?"

"Well, ma'am, aren't you Dannie from that group Unlimited Bandwidth? The one featured on the TV show on KRPX?"

"I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm not that girl."

The waiter was surprised. "You're not? But…"

"I'm sorry."

"But…"

"Seriously - I'm really not."

"Ummm, okay…"

"Please do tell that nice lady that you were mistaken. I wouldn't want her to get the wrong impression."

"But, miss…"

"Please. I'm really not her."

His eyes flew open, thinking he finally understood what I was saying. "Ahh! Gotcha!" He gave me a big wink. Oh, no… I don't know if I made it worse.

He went back over to the other table and he had a short whispered chat with the old lady.

"Oh, that's a shame," the lady said very loudly. "And I was so hoping that we'd get to meet a celebrity."

She looked at me and smiled.

I looked at her and smiled a disappointed kind of smile, and gave her a shrug.

She nodded and waved at me.

"That's all right, dear," she called to us, and nodded. "It's not your fault. You and your friend are quite lovely, and should be on TV."

I smiled at her and mouthed "thank you."

She gave us a final wave, and then continued enjoying her early breakfast with her friends.

I guess the word started to spread in the dining room, and even those who didn't notice us actually took notice. And I didn't know if what we told the waiter was helpful. Oh, well.

We just continued with our breakfast like everything was normal.

Nikki was busy on her phone and I asked what she was doing.

"I'm looking for any mention of us in any of my news feeds, the social media platforms, and I'm using the usual search engines..."

"Google?"

"And Bing, and et cetera."

"And?"

"And, so far, nuthin.' Looks like Jennifer and the other girls from last night haven't posted anything yet."

"That won't last."

Nikki shrugged. "You never know."

She continued surfing, so I decided to surf as well, but first, I texted Danielle that she and Betsy were on their own getting to school this morning.

"I knew that already," she texted back. "That's why I'm going to be riding with Betsy in her limo today." And then she followed it up with a tongue-sticking-out emoji.

I laughed and showed the text to Nikki.

"Well," she sighed, "at least she has a ride today. Which reminds me, are you done? We need to go, or else we'll be late for school."

I nodded and had a final few bites. "Just about."

"'Kay. I'll get the bill already."

She signaled a waiter and asked for our bill. Now that we've told everyone we weren't celebrities, the complimentary upgrade was probably not going to be honored, but the waiter went -

"Oh, no need, miss," the waiter said. "It's part of your hotel reservation."

"But we're not…"

He chuckled. "Of course, miss," he said, and gave us a wink. "You're not."

Nikki and I sighed.

"Will you be staying with us a while more, or will you be checking out?" he asked.

"We'll be checking out," Nikki said. "We have a bus to catch."

"Will you ladies be needing a car to bring you to the station?"

"Ah, no need. We… borrowed her brother's car so we'll be okay."

"Very good, miss."

We got up and went back to our room.

We did a final sweep of the room to make sure we didn't forget anything. I found one of the teddies I wore last night on the bed under the bedclothes (the only ones that survived us lol).

Nikki grabbed the teddy from me, and hurriedly stuffed it into the larger bag without opening its zipper all the way.

"Ummm, Nikki?"

"Heehee, sorry, honey. That's where I stuffed all the dirty clothes."

I chuckled. "Okay." I gave her a kiss, grabbed the bag she just stuffed the teddy into, and started for the elevator, leaving the smaller wheelie for her.

We stepped out of the elevator arm-in-arm and started walking to the front desk.

Most of the staff seemed to be out and they all greeted us "good morning" as we walked up to the front desk.

"Hey, Jennifer!" Nikki said. "It's us again."

"Yes, miss," she giggled, "it's you. So did you and Dannie have a good stay?"

"Very restful." Nikki didn't bother to check the bill and just handed over our room's keycard and her AmEx card, and Jennifer processed it.

After a few moments, she handed over our receipt and Nikki's card back.

"That's it, then," Jennifer said. "You're all set. Would you need a transfer to the bus station? It's no charge…"

"Ah, no need," I said, and brought out my car keys.

One of the people hanging around, presumably the hotel valet, zoomed up and grabbed the keys from my fingers.

"I'll take care of your car, miss!" he said, and fairly ran out the front doors.

Jennifer gave me an embarrassed kind of look, and shrugged.

"Guess Sid's had too much coffee this morning," Jennifer said. "heheheheh…"

"Well, then," I said, "I guess we'll go out and wait for Sid."

"Thank you for choosing Holiday Inn!" Jennifer said. "We hope we'll see you again soon!"

I waved goodbye to her and the other people, grabbed Nikki's hand, grabbed my wheelie, and started walking to the front doors.

When Sid arrived with my 'stang, I jammed the two wheelie bags in the footwell between the back seats and the back of the front seats since they wouldn't fit in the boot with my overnighter. Sid politely turned down my twenty dollar tip so I just smiled my thanks and drove away.

"Can you believe all this?" I said to Nikki. "If this is fame, give me anonymity any day."

"Well…" Nikki said, "you wanna hear something interesting?"

"Like what?"

"You know those pictures Jennifer and Sylvia took last night?"

"Yeah?"

"Well," she giggled, "I noticed they blew up one of them, and hung the picture over the front desk along with other celebrity pictures already hanging there."

"What!"

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 32 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. The night he and Nikki spent together was everything they hoped for, but when they checked out, they noticed that two of the pictures that the girls from the hotel took of them during dinner were now mounted on the wall above the reception counter, together with pictures of other celebrities. Oh-oh... Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Thirty-Two:  Pulling The Trigger

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

So, when we were almost at school, we just realized - I was still dressed like a girl. We were doing this too often, we didn't even thing of it… oh, no. Good thing we caught it in time, but one of these days we just might make a mistake and blow my cover. Dammit!

We were about to be late, so now what do we do?

"Wait, Danny," Nikki said. "Don't panic. Let's find a quiet place so you can change."

The best I could do was to park under a tree in a secluded area. Nikki and I tried to step out to go get my overnighter from the boot but lots of cars started passing by. Kids we knew were all rushing to school. It was a steady stream. Some of the kids that knew us beeped when they saw us parked.

"Dammit, we can't step out of the car," I said. "People will see us with your bag and my outfit, and people will start talking…"

"Wait!" Nikki said. "I have an idea." She turned and reached back to her bags in the back.

"What're you doing?"

"Hold on!" she grunted, and after a minute of struggling, she finally said, "Got em!"

She sat back down and held out my dirty sneakers. They were under the bags.

"I don't think that'll go with my top and skirt Nick," I said sarcastically. "I think people would notice…"

"Ha ha ha… Very funny." She looked around then slid off her heels, lifted her butt off the seat, unbuttoned her jeans and started scootching them down.

"What're you doing!"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking off my pants."

"Why?"

"We're exchanging clothes! Now, get those heels and skirt off!"

So I took them off.

"Won't somebody notice we're sitting here without pants?" I asked nervously.

"No, unless they actually stop and actually peek in. Look, no one has even noticed you're wearing a sleeveless top!"

"Nikki? Would I even fit in your pants?"

"I wear pants larger than Danielle's, actually… something I really hate about her." She giggled. "But that means, these'll fit you fine."

"But they're girl pants, Nikki!"

"Don't worry - you'll be able to pull it off. Now give me your skirt and put on my pants!" I chuckled, thinking of what the phrase "getting into a girl's pants" meant, and I was thinking that I have gotten into into my girl's pants figuratively, and and I was about to do it literally, too.

But there really was no other option I could think of, so I pulled them up. Thank god they were tight and long enough that the lace edging of my bobby socks were hidden.

Meanwhile, Nikki adjusted the pouf skirt around her hips and waist. She then lifted her leg one at a time, folded them across her lap and put her stilettos back on.

"Put your sneakers on," she ordered, so I slipped on my dirty sneakers and tied them. So that I didn't have to bend over, I just followed her example and folded my legs one at a time to tie my shoes.

Nikki was looking at me.

"What?"

"Ummm… you're pretty flexible, Danny."

"For a guy, you mean," I laughed.

"Sure. For a guy," she said.

I laughed again. "You're surprised? Even after last night?"

We both giggled.

"Okay," she said, and took her school varsity jacket off. "Now put this on and don't take it off until after classes."

I shrugged it on, and it was a pretty good fit.

"Okay. Let me see."

I turned to her.

"Hmmm…" she said. "How about this?" She zipped the jacket halfway up. "There! That should provide enough camouflage, and they'll keep your boobies hidden, too," she giggled. "Actually, you look like a pretty sexy boy like that." She artfully combed my hair into a semblance of my usual Danny style. She didn't do it as well as Danielle could have, but it would do.

"Well." I said, "speaking of sex, how about… you know… later tonight?"

Nikki grinned. "Sorry, my love. But I need a little time to recover. I'm a little too sore, yet."

"Oh! I'm sorry…" I felt like a stupid, selfish…

She must have seen the look on my face. "Oh, honey, it's okay. I want to, too. But I need some rest. Soon - I promise."

Then she pulled me towards her and kissed the shit out of me. "Besides," she said, "we can do other stuff in the meantime..."

"Ooooh!" someone said. We looked and saw Joanne and Mel leaning out of Joanne's van. They had stopped beside us. "Someone's in looove!"

"Oh shut up, Joanne!" Nikki giggled, and we drove the few remaining blocks to school, with the girls trailing us in Joanne's van.

- - - - -

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

Nikki's little wardrobe adjustment really did help, and when Danielle helped with my "do" and made it more like my usual, long and messy dude cut and low dude ponytail, no one seemed the wiser about what I was really wearing.

The mock turtleneck was a little unusual, though - I never saw any guy in school wear a turtleneck sweater or anything similar - and I got some grief for it, especially from some of the jocks, but the girls seemed to like the look, and told me that they thought it made me look classy. In fact, some of the guys in my class overheard and asked me where I got it. And, thanks to the jacket, the fact it was a sleeveless and backless girl's top didn't become obvious.

I guess that was the problem - I was getting more attention than normal. Girls kept on watching me, which irritated the guys - that a geek like me was getting all the attention.

"Hey, Danny!" someone from the cheer squad, I think her name was Cheryl or Sherry or something like that, waved from across the hall. "Looking good, kid!"

"Thanks," I nodded a little sheepishly

Nikki gave me a catty, sour look, and I shrugged.

"What can I do!" I protested.

It was like that most of the day, and I just couldn't help but strut a little bit.

Getting attention wasn't too unusual for me nowadays, but what was different this time, I guess, was that I was getting attention for being just plain, old Danny. People were always noticing Dannie the singer, or Robin the Nighthawk. But this time they were noticing me - Danny.

Morgan and Jerry made a comment that there was something new about me, that for some reason, I reminded them of Coach Kleats.

Coach Kleats was the high school's boys' PE teacher, and was considered the most masculine among all the male teachers yet was also considered the most fair and most respected among them. I suppose it came from his very masculine demeanor, and the fact he had muscles up the wazoo helped. Yet, he rarely lorded it over the other teachers and never played favorites among his students. He was respected and well liked. And though he looked like a rock, he was considered one of the most attractive of the teachers by the female student body.

I couldn't help but be flattered by the comparison, but I sincerely hoped they didn't mean my looks.

I guess there really was something new. I can feel it. After last night, I felt much more confident. I don't know - like I was more of a man, like I was more of a take-charge kind of person. That all my outward cool-guy strut and ambivalence was actually just my accepting that I was indeed a man now.

The women's clothes didn't bother me much anymore. And I guess, fundamentally, I know what I am now. Whatever others may say or do to me, whatever I wore, I know who and what I am, and that I like who I am.

I will forever remember last night - in many ways, it helped define me, and I will forever be grateful to, and forever be in love with, Nikki. Nikki's my soul and my reason. Now more than ever.

- - - - -

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

After classes, we went to the Arclight Coliseum, and like two days before, we had our own table just in front of the orchestra pit, and no one started real work until around six, which was when Dale, June, Morgan and Fallon arrived. This allowed us to finish most of our school stuff.

During that time, Mrs. Piper sat with us and chatted. She made a real effort to get to know everyone, and Danielle and I appreciated it.

When the others arrived and everyone was all together, Mrs. Piper started work on the show.

She had a bunch of the final posters brought to her. We looked them over and they looked real good.

It featured a "cartoonized" early morning silhouette picture of our town as the sun was rising, with the station's round logo in place of the rising sun, just peaking out over the horizon. The clouds in the sky were in various psychedelic solid colors reminiscent of Beatles-era art. A four-inch bubble was included in the blah-blas below. It had pictures of each of us in the band, like a collage. I looked at the pics and they were in a grainy black-and-white style, like they were blown-up pictures from the newspaper. Very stylish. And they had the added advantage of making the pictures blurry enough that our features became a bit indistinct. That was one of Tracey's excellent suggestions to keep my identity safe. Also, they only had our first names (Janet was still there, as suggested by Tracey, but now Fallon was included, too).

Still, the fear of connection was there now more than ever. Fallon and Betsy could be traced to our school and were known to be our friends, and that Dannie the singer was already identified as "Dannie Fairchild" during the contest itself even though everywhere else, she wasn't identified as a Fairchild. Still, it was just a matter of time.

So it was time to put the plan we thought of in motion. I guess I'll bring it up with the gang during dinner later.

I went back to the other details of the posters.

As per a discussion we had earlier, we found it weird that we hadn't really thought of our group's "logo." I guess you could say that, after all this time, it's funny that we hadn't settled on that yet.

Again, Tracey had a suggestion - our band name was written in a font called "felt marker" and was in a bright red. If this goes over well, then I guess our band name will always be printed this way.

I read the other blah-blahs, and they seemed fine. The title of the concert, of course, still remained controversial to the group, with everyone having their own points of view. The best the group could come up with that Mrs. Piper sort of approved was "A New Sun Rising!" which was what was used in the poster. Below that was the tagline "Be there or be square!" (No one really liked that very tired and trite tagline, but Mrs. Piper insisted… Oh, well.)

The big detail that scared our production team was the situation with the tickets. As the poster said, "listen to the following KRPQ programs and win free tickets!" Beside it in boldface was the label, "tickets not for sale." That was the thing.

The worry was that not enough people might be listening to the programs and therefore it would be difficult to give away enough tickets. So Mrs. Piper decided to plan small. The Arclight Coliseum was a smallish concert-style venue of about 15,000 square feet for seating, with capacity of between 2,000 to 10,000, so the objective was to give away about 1,500 tickets (there were 500 more tickets but they were reserved for VIPs and guests). It was decided not to max out the venue because no one was confident of being able to fill up all the seats.

Anyway, that meant that a hundred tickets a day was the target. That still seemed like a tough sell so we'd need each and every day we could get to be able to reach the target (the stations had the option to give more tickets to the winners if they should ask for more than what they won - that way, the quota would be met more quickly).

So it was essential to get the posters out asap, and the KRPX and KRPQ announcers had to start plugging the concert asap, and the newspaper and social media ads had to be out asap.

That was the bulk of the next discussion.

In the end, the plan was to arrange to have posters put up in the public bulletin boards, parking areas, gyms and cafeterias of the four schools in our little town. I said we needed to include the "private school on top of the hill" - that was how the one private school in town was referred to by everyone. That, or just plainly, "the private school," or the "school on the hill." Most kids felt that those that went to that school were a little snooty, and were they weren't welcomed by the other kids in most places in town. So these kids from "the private school" usually keep the fact that they studied there a secret. I for one didn't really take it against these kids, even though a lot of them really had superiority complexes that made them difficult to deal with. Even so, I suggested that they not be excluded.

Tracey looked a little embarrassed since that was the school she went to, but I gave her a hug and just let the discussion run on. Nikki and I stayed close to Tracey, to let her know we're on her side.

Mrs. Piper had the connections so it was decided she would take care of getting permission to put them up at the schools and the other places. As for the people that would take care of making sure they were posted properly, the gang, plus Tracey, were conscripted for that, and the PiperCorp people were tasked to hang the rest of the posters all over our one mall, and in all of the favorite kids' hangouts in town, which we pointed out on a map for the PiperCorp guy. These included most of the fastfood places and restaurants, the few clubs and the two parks in town, specific places in the mall like the skating rink and the public courts, and the area surrounding the community swimming pool. This excluded those places that were more adult-focused, like Mrs. Piper's favorite Italian restaurant, but it did include Mario's place. (We made sure Mario got half a dozen spare posters, which we signed.)

Fallon then talked about her and Danielle's meeting with Mrs. Sparks, the glee club's adviser, and she had promised to help fill out the form and make sure to get her kids to get their parents to sign. By tomorrow, the forms should start trickling in and Fallon thought most of the club members will join.

Mrs. Piper said, however, that the school won't allow her to really pay them anything since it was through the school that they were recruited, but she could at least guarantee a generous allowance or stipend.

After those details, the discussion shifted to the actual nuts and bolts of the show, and we spent the rest of the evening working on actual concert stuff.

- - - - -

***** (Betsy) *****

I've never worked so hard in my life! But I enjoyed it.

As Morgan promised, someone got us the sheet music for the pieces we were going to play in the proper key, and, when Morgan played the songs on his phone, we easily got the nuances and the timing. "Roughing it out" was how they called what we were doing, and after a few runs, we weren't so rough anymore. LOL

Some of the guys had doubts about Fallon, but she clearly was very talented, and sang very well, better than Janet ever did IMHO. She was almost as good as Danny, but without Danny's almost magical sense for musing, her almost-magical sexy tones, her ability to sing something by ear, and a talent for changing her voice, of course, so Fallon couldn't sing on command or sing a song like Danny could.

I also thought it would be difficult for the new girl to be accepted so quickly, but since she was Danny's friend, everyone was more than willing to give her a chance.

And Fallon did turn out to be a good band mate and more than kept up with all of us. Good thing, too, since we didn't have time to break in a newbie. (Heehee. Listen to me. And a few months ago, no one but my folks ever heard me play.)

Playing straight for an hour was real hard work, and pretty soon, we were all sweating (should have thought of wearing the proper outfit), so we were all mopping our faces and necks with towels some stage person handed us. Danny was the most affected, so she doffed her jacket somewhere in the middle of our first set.

There was a moment of silence as everyone noted Danny's outfit. Without the letterman jacket, we finally noticed she was wearing a stretchy, form-fitting sleeveless and backless white mock-turtleneck top, which showed off her figure spectacularly, which went well with what looked like a form-fitting pair of slim-fit jeans, which all the girls knew were a pair of girl's jeggings.

As Danny handed her jacket to the same stage person who handed us the towels, she finally noticed the silence.

"Oh, wow…" the stage guy said.

"What!" Danny said, and everybody suddenly got busy and tried to avoid meeting her eyes.

The next run-through started out a little tentatively, but as soon as we got over Danny's sexy outfit, we got back into the rhythm of things.

Like I said, by the second run-through, we were playing pretty good - good enough that the director said we could start blocking and doing the necessary spiels and moves that the choreographer wanted us to do. So the third run included practicing some of the stage movements. Nothing much to practice, really - we just needed to know what our spiels were and where to stand. To help, Morgan stood in for the announcers and did his vocal imitation of Harry, Sally and the other announcers to help us with our cues. Not like the way Danny could, of course - but Morgan did his best to match the announcers' intonation, sentence structure and idiosyncrasies.

According to the script, we had about fifteen songs in total, which made us wonder why there were more than that in our list. The director clarified that not all of the songs were going to be part of the show - the extra songs were there only to allow the band some leeway to pick and choose in case some substitutions would be needed somewhere down the road.

So Danny suggested that, since Mrs. Piper had booked some extra time, we should also practice the extra songs, too.

"But, Danny," I said, "we're only scheduled to use the Arclight until ten…"

"Yeah, Bets, but Mrs. P's booked the Arclight 'til midnight. We can get in two more hours of practice if we wanted."

"How about tomorrow? I'm pretty beat." The rest made the same kind of noises.

Danny gave me a little, affectionate kiss on the cheek. "No prob, Bets. We can do it tomorrow." (What a relief!)

When we were through with practice, we then went on to dinner, where Danny broached a topic.

- - - - -

***** (Betsy) *****

Danny and Nikki spent the night at a hotel, and Danny said something happened…

Most of us reacted to that - not that something happened, but that they spent the night. It's not as if we didn't know their intentions going in - it was practically an open secret, after all. But when they openly admitted it, there was still a long and tense moment of silence.

And during that silence, I experienced a long, intense moment of resentment and jealousy. I resented Danny's not picking me, and jealousy that Nikki got to be the one Danny was with. I, in fact, wanted to physically hurt Nikki in some way, and I think some of the others felt that as well.

But after that very short moment, I guess my thinking brain started up again because I realized how… twisted it was for me to think of hurting Nikki for spending the night with Danny. I felt unbelievably guilty. And Nikki was her girlfriend - it was Nikki's right. Why did I even think I should have been the one?

I tried to change the topic, or rather the train of thought I had been following.

"So, what happened, Danny?" I asked.

And everyone started to giggle and snigger. "That's not what I meant!" I protested. Seems that intense moment of whatever-it-was had passed, and everyone was sane again.

So Danny talked about being recognized by the hotel staff, and one thing led to another, and they got their pictures taken with some overzealous fans that wouldn't accept the idea that she wasn't the singer from the Evolution Concert, even with her and Nikki vehemently denying it. One of these pictures was now apparently hanging over the front desk of the hotel.

All of us looked at the pair with big shocked eyes.

"But, Danny…" I began, and everyone started in as well.

"Wait, wait!" Nikki said and held her hand up. "In our defense, we didn't know that those people that asked for pictures were going to put them in the hotel lobby! How could we have known!"

Morgan sighed. "And because we're going to use the kids from the glee club, and everyone knows about Betsy, and that, from the concert, UB's lead vocalist was named 'Dannie Fairchild,' the connection is going to be obvious…"

"Right." Danny said. "So I've decided to pull the trigger on 'The Plan.'"

Essentially, Danny wanted us to start up that plan we thought up before, where we'll make it seem Dannie-the-singer was actually Danielle. Tracey even commented that it was a pretty smart thing to have that contingency plan.

So we stated threshing out what Morgan said was the "logistics" of "The Plan."

There was a lot of back and forth in our little group as we thought it through. But, basically, "The Plan" didn't entail a lot because nothing would really change except for a few things. And they seemed to be easy stuff.

For example, when Danielle would be in "Danny mode," we would need to learn to call her "Dan" (not "Danny" because that sounded exactly like "Dannie" and we wanted to distance Danny-the-guy from Dannie-the-girl-singer) and we definitely couldn't use "Danielle."

Confusing, huh? Oh, and Danielle needed to dress up in Danny's outfits, while Danny dressed in Danielle's (we were worried that fashion-plate Danielle wouldn't agree to this, but, surprisingly, she didn't complain).

As for the rest of us, nothing should really change, except we all need to remember to refer to Danielle as "Dan" when she was "in costume."

Joanne did add a twist - that, if we were asked a direct question, whether Dannie-the-Singer was indeed Danielle, we were not to answer, but yet still give the impression that we were hiding the fact that Dannie was indeed Danielle.

Danielle and Danny nodded.

"And," Morgan said, "to add to that, though Danielle needs to wear Danny's outfits, and Danny, Danielle's" - he looked at them - "you need to change into fresh clothes after school, different from what you were wearing, before you get to the Arclight."

"Well, duh!" Danielle said. "Who would want to wear Danny's dirty, sweaty clothes!"

Danny waved her down. "Wait, Danielle. What's the point, Morgan?"

"It's to confuse things, Danny," Morgan said. "That way, people won't be one hundred percent sure that Danielle is Danny, and vice versa, although we'd behave that they were. If you were to show up with the oufit Danielle wore in school, then the connection is soldified. If you show up with a different outfit, it'll add another layer of plausible deniability."

"Sounds good," Danny nodded. "Here's a different question: do we have to bring anyone else into 'The Plan?'"

Danielle thought about it. "Actually, no one else. Except maybe Mrs. Piper and mom and dad. They need to know. As for others… well, some people will get plenty mad in the end, but it's not necessary to tell them anything, except to admit that Danny is actually Danielle."

Tracey cleared her throat. "Ummm… I'll tell my mom about it. I'll make sure she'll agree."

Danny went to her and gave her a hug.

"Thanks, Trace," she said.

Tracey grinned and then shrugged. "No big. What're friends for?"

"Okay," Danielle said. "and we'll take care of our folks."

- - - - -

***** (Betsy) *****

So, that's how it went for the rest of the days until the actual concert - we would go straight from school to the Arclight Coliseum, do some homework and then practice, practice, practice. Danny, Danielle and Nikki would go the Fairchild's first, though, to allow the twins to change their clothes. That was okay since the glee club kids would only arrive at around six or so anyway.

I myself had taken a two week leave from the Student Council, and my VP took charge, but, even so, I would occasionally be late since Ellis sometimes needed help with something or other.

As predicted, all of the Glee Club parents agreed and Mrs. Piper arranged for a PiperCorp-provided minibus to pick the kids up from their houses, bring them to practice, and bring them back to their houses after. Per the terms, though, the kids were only picked up at around five-thirty, and should be back by ten (with school permission, this was later changed to midnight), and if the academic performance of any of the kids went down or their health was affected, that kid was out. That wasn't an issue, though, since all the kids made sure not to do anything to hurt their being part of the concert. Also, they all knew about Danny, too. We worried about how they would react, or even if they'll believe it when "The Plan" takes effect, but we agreed to cross that bridge when we get there.

As predicted, some of the kids in school sort of started to get suspicious, and a few brave souls did ask the gang the question we didn't want them to ask, but "The Plan" seemed to be working, that though our non-answer answers didn't directly confirm their suspicions, our manner more than confirmed it. Danny and Danielle themselves, in all their dealings with everyone, didn't admit it one way or the other, but they let their manner confirm the kids' suspicions. In any case, though no one was really 100% sure if it was Danny or Danielle who was part of Unlimited Bandwidth, a consensus was starting to grow that Danielle was really Dannie-the-Singer despite Danielle's very bad reputation for singing. So even though they weren't 100% sure that Dannie was Danielle, at least they were 99.99999% sure. Lol.

To be fair, though, the only reason they even thought that Danny was Dannie-the-singer was because Danielle was notorious for having the worst singing voice in school. Plus, of course, the fact that Danny had the same name as the singer.

Another question came up a lot, which was, what happened to Janet? Everyone in the gang fell back to the line that we agreed on - that there was nothing wrong but, because of personal reasons, Janet decided to take some time off from the band. Of course, some people persisted, and we agreed to the fallback answer, which was to tell them to ask Janet herself. As to where she was now, we'd just shrug and say we didn't know.

- - - - -

***** (Betsy) *****

With the posters that were all over town, and the commercials on local TV and radio, and the ads in the local newspapers (at the time, there were still a handful of local papers still surviving in town), almost everyone in town knew about the concert. Joanne, Mel, Mike, Jerry and Tracey had made sure that posters were put up in all the schools, and everything else was taken care of by Mrs. Piper's people, so all the kids knew about the concert.

It was actually the kids that started the groundswell, and, soon, it felt like everyone in town wanted tickets. Tracey told her mom about the hubbub in her school and ours (though we were sure that it was the same in the other schools, too), so Mrs. Piper made some changes, such as arranging for more tickets to be given away, and to arrange that the entire coliseum's seating to be used. In fact, the tickets were going so fast that Mrs. Piper had to be strict that the tickets should only be released to the winners one pair at a time. They were therefore able to make the contest last until the day before the actual concert, with KRPQ giving out tickets to callers avery 15 minutes.

A ticket claiming booth was actually set up at the ground floor lobby of KPRQ's building. Mrs. Piper even cut the VIP seats down to two hundred just so that there would be an extra three hundred tickets to give away. In the end, more than the ten thousand target was given away.

- - - - -

***** (Betsy) *****

By that time, it was a foregone conclusion that Fallon and I were indeed the kids that they knew from school, and that we were in the band. And because of that, the identity of the other band members were quickly traced. And the rest of the gang was linked to the band as well. That included Danielle, too, although some still persisted that it was actually Danny who was in the band.

Most of the kids were also able to trace us back to our gigs in Mario's, which made Mario happy, of course, but not that happy because we had to cancel our gigs for a while, at least until after the concert. But then Mario had the bright idea to rent a big projection screen again, and asked us to sign posters that he had printed up (with Mrs. Piper's permission, of course) inviting everyone to a live "virtual concert" on his big screen at the restaurant on the day of the show (all he intended to do was to put the TV broadcast on his ginormous TV), with reservations and a cover charge, just like a real concert. And since it was still days before the show, he ran a video every day, with clips from our interview, our gigs, the Evolution Concert and our shows in Mario's. In fact, super-groupie Mel, with the assistance of Jerry, made a nice chunk of change from Mario for putting together six two-hour-long videos that Mario showed alternatingly. Mario, of course, made sure that he had official permission from the band and Mrs. Piper.

Mario was pissed off, however, that the posters were stolen as soon as he put them up. So he just had us sign a few more, and he put those behind plexiglass displays firmly screwed down in the front bulletin board-marquee of his restaurant.

Our "virtual concerts" at Mario's were a big hit, we heard, and Mario kept his place open up to the wee hours until he ran out of food and drinks. (Being the consummate restaurateur that he was, Mario was, however, quick to restock, and was able to open for business at the usual 4PM opening time.) Mario even had Mel and Jerry make some more videos using more clips, and he ended up having enough videos that he could run them all one after the other without actually repeating any clip more than a few times.

With the influx of more young people, even during regular days, he was making money hand over fist. But, also because of the kids, he did start to get more attention from the authorities. To allay fears, he had given his wait staff strict instructions, and had signs put up that said "Alcohol will strictly not be served to anyone below twenty-one: be prepared to be carded when asked. Any minor caught drinking alcoholic beverages will be asked to leave - Mario's reserves the right to refuse service to those who do not cooperate." Also, undercover cops posing as customers confirmed that Mario wasn't selling anything he wasn't supposed to be selling, so he was totally fine.

- - - - -

***** (Betsy) *****

Some kids were truly obsessed and still wanted to know if Dannie-the-singer really was Danielle, but their persistence was all to no avail since none of us confirmed it one way or another. And no one, not even the people who were part of the upcoming show, or from the Evolution Contest or from the school, could help since all they knew was "Dannie Fairchild" was the one who was part of the band, and whether that was Danny or Danielle, no one was sure. Besides, only a few even casually entertained the thought that Danny could be Dannie-the-Singer. For various reasons, though - no doubt the people asking were thinking about LGBTQ and discrimination issues - none of them wanted to ask her directly. Or was it him? No one wanted to be smeared and blocked in social media. I had to laugh. Who ever thought that such a thing would be something to worry about in our little town.

Amazingly, however, no one discovered Danny's official affiliation with KRPQ, but it was just a matter of time. This had to be managed. It was actually more touchy since it could be assumed Danny's radio program was somehow deliberately influencing the popularity of "his sister's" band - a case of conflict of interest. However, since Danny had officially terminated his internship in KRPQ months ago, the official connection was over and the likelihood of it coming out was small. However, there was still a chance, so Danny had to be in disguise as Robin when doing the show, and that the gang would need to come up with a plan to bury Danny's internship at KRPQ permanently.

But when we were discussing this, Mike and Jerry looked at each other. Jerry nodded, and Mike said, "We'll take care of that. And, before you ask, Bets, don't - it's best not to know. Plausible deniability, you know."

We all looked at each other, and then at Mike and Jerry. I shrugged. "Whatever you say, Mike." Morgan started humming the theme from Mission Impossible and we all laughed.

- - - - -

***** (Betsy) *****

By that time, lots of kids had started to hang around our houses (especially at the Fairchilds') or at our cafeteria table during lunch, or outside our classrooms. And we suddenly became the most popular kids in school, with everyone trying to be our friend.

We tried not to let all this affect us and give us swelled heads. Thanks to Morgan and Joanne, we were kept our egos grounded and didn't put on airs: we've had our fill of their lectures and Joanne's scary presence over my shoulder everytime I started getting too full of myself.

A bigger complication for the twins was Tom Hennessy, who had never really believed in our subterfuge. Given his experience with Danny during Halloween, and that thing in the mall and at Nikki's with the rose, he knew Danny was Dannie-the-singer - nothing would change his mind about that - and that he was still hung up on Danny (even though he would never admit that to anyone, nor to even act on it).

But Tom wasn't making waves, and was actually helping us - along with his JD buddies, he was helping run interference for us with the more persistent kids, including the kids from the other schools who started visiting our school after classes. No one knew this, of course, but I anonymously paid Tom and his guys a kind of allowance - nothing major: I just paid for gas or fast food takeout or things like that, just to show them that we appreciated what they were doing for us.

Anyway, there were always some kids hanging around at the Fairchilds', and Tom and his buds acted as the twins' unofficial bodyguards, allowing them to get to school without being accosted.

Truly, this could really have gone to our heads, but not with Joanne and Morgan knocking some sense into us, especially into Mike lol. And the glee club kids, too, though it was Fallon that kept those kids in line.

Working on the show wasn't too bad, really, because we only had to endure this for two weeks. What was hard, though, was the repetition, and the walking around while playing and singing, and in high heels and in outfits (although THAT was only during the dress rehearsal). And did you ever try playing a violin while moving AND dancing AND singing AND doing all that in high heels?

But what was really tough was when Janet showed up two days before the concert.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 33 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. Practicing for the concert continued, and Danny's and the band's fans continued to grow, so much so that it took Tom Hennessy and his friends to keep everyone in line and things bearable. Yep, Tom Hennessy. The gang also started the ball rolling on "The Plan," i.e. letting everyone think that it was actually Danielle who was Dannie-the-singer. It seemed to be working, but for how long, nobody knew. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Thirty-Three:  A Showdown

***** (Danielle) *****

It was a hectic two weeks as we got ready for the concert, but everything went well for the most part.

Naturally, just like the folks of the other kids, Mom and Dad had a lot of questions. Danny and I did our best to explain, because, if they didn't agree, then we couldn't continue on. Thankfully, though, they agreed. Eventually. We had to be super-detailed with our explanations, though, and in the end, they were, grudgingly, for it, so long as we were being careful. I doubt if they would have agreed, though, if Danny didn't ask. Mom and Dad always did have a soft spot for Danny.

As to the security aspect, I explained that we could request for a car to bring us to and from the Arclight if we wanted, and we could have guards and everything. We explained the schedule, though, which meant that we'd be getting in at midnight, or even later, for the next two weeks but, curiously, they didn't really complain except to say they'd feel bad not seeing us much.

"Don't worry, Dad," I said. "It's just for two weeks."

To that, he just nodded, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. They also said that they'd be out of town during the concert because of a business meeting of dad's. But we promised to get a copy of the video for them.

We wondered why mom had to join him on his business trip, but the looks they were giving each other made it obvious. Danny and I gave each other winks and nudges, and Danny waggled his eyebrows at dad, and mom and dad looked so adorable as they blushed.

Anyway, Danny and I thought this was too easy. Something must be up. And we only found out later that Mrs. P already had a long talk with them earlier, and had ironed things out already. Grrr…

So, everything went smoothly.

Except when Janet showed up.

After school, Danny, Nikki and I would rush back home, shaking the kids trying to trail us. Some even tried cutting us off, but with Tom and his guys escorting us in their cars, that didn't really work. And once we were home, we were safe.

We'd then get ready for the night's rehearsal, and mom and dad would see us out the door.

The routine was, first, I would pick out our outfits. Danny gave me full access to his cabinets, drawers and dresser, and I was able to pick out my outfit from the stuff he had, and allow me to play-act as Danny. As for his outfit, that was easier to do, and I'd always pick functional but chic ensembles from my stuff that I myself would wear. But given his slightly more... voloptuous dimensions, it would always be totally sexy.

I was shocked, however, to find out that my tasteful clothes sense didn't translate well to boys' clothes. But with the both of us collaborating, Danny and I were able to come up with ensembles that passed muster with Nikki, who turned out to be a better judge of boys' clothes - after all, she was Danny's girlfriend, and it was to her interest that her boyfriend looked good.

This had the salutary effect of teaching Danny how to dress better as a guy, and we put together outfits out of his existing clothes that he could mix-and-match as needed, thereby quadrupling the number of outfits he could wear. From then on, Danny started looking pretty spiffy whether as a girl or a guy.

As for "Dannie," it wasn't as difficult to pick out her outfits, since they were just my regular outfits, except that we'd pick out two outfits instead of one everyday - one for "her" to wear to the Arclight and to practice in (so that was more like an exercise outfit, like leotards or sweatshirt & shorts, but with heels, which she'd cover up with a jacket when travelling from the house to the Arclight), and another to change into after practice.

Danny argued against that, saying he didn't need two outfits, but I used my veto - I basically said, because I was a girl, I knew better. So I won the debate by default.

So Danny would go to the rehearsal sessions outfitted in my best workout clothes, which I had to say, made him look oh, so sexy, with a spare set of clothes he could change into after rehearsal. As for me, I got duded up in Danny's clothes, and played my role as Danny, Nikki's boyfriend (one detail I had to change in our plan, though, was that Danny was now the band's manager, as well as Dannie's and Robin's).

Danny already had my voice down pat, but as for me - surprisingly, I didn't have a hard time mimicking his voice: his normal speaking voice was relaitvely high, to begin with, and all I really needed to do was to speak in a slightly lower register, and though it was far from perfect, it was good enough, especially when I matched it with Danny's normal cadence and intonations, which I knew back-to-front. After all, I grow up with him so I knew his voice well.

Anyway, once ready, we'd proceed to the Arclight.

After a hairy encounter with some fans, Mrs. Piper decided to hire some drivers for us for the duration of the preparation for the show, as well as a nondescript car: the new routine was that one of the drivers would take Danny's Mustang and conspicuously drive it to the Arclight while another would pick us up at the back of the house in the nondescript car, and would make our way to the Arclight via a circuitous route. The kids would easily trail the Mustang but would never catch it - the driver was a professional stunt and safety driver, after all - and would eventually get to the Arclight's underground parking entrance (where people not on Arclight business were not allowed to enter) long after we had gotten there: while they were chasing the decoy, we would arrive at the Arclight's loading dock entrance twenty or thirty minutes ahead of my mustang.

As for after, eating out (and getting home) was not easy, so most of the time, Mrs. P would order takeout for everyone, and we'd eat in the Arclight's employees' lounge-slash-cafeteria before going home.

Sometimes, though, because the Glee Club kids couldn't stay late too often, the size of the group was small enough that we felt it okay to eat out instead. We'd concoct a plan where our two drivers would use Joanne's van and my mustang to lure the fans away. Someone would let us know when the coast was clear and we'd take one of the PiperCorp minibuses and we'd look for a nice place where we can have dinner. But wherever we did have dinner, we wouldn't be able to eat at that place again for the duration of our practice period.

We'd then be driven back to our houses but using alternate routes so as to avoid attention.

- - - - -

***** (Danielle) *****

On the Wednesday before the concert, when the Glee Club kids had long gone home and we finished practicing our "alternate set," we decided to have dinner at this out-of-the-way pizza-and-pasta place that Mel knew about, and when "my" drivers had lured away the bulk of the crowd, we then took one of the buses and made the short drive to the restaurant.

We settled down at a spot in the middle of the empty place. The waiters then took our orders and we gorged on the breadsticks while we waited for our orders.

As I laughed at yet another joke from Jerry and Mel (they had grown to be quite the couple) and chewed on my breadstick, our minibus driver came up.

"Ummm… Mr. Fairchild," he said, trying to get my attention. I almost didn't respond. He wasn't let in on "The Plan" so he thought I was Dan while I momentarily forgot who I was supposed to be.

I got up and we had a short discussion away from my noisy friends.

"What's up, Fred?" I asked. I didn't have the voice-imitating skills of Danny, but I think I do a fair imitation of Danny's boy-voice. It wasn't perfect, but thank god Danny's regular boy voice was fairly high-pitched.

"I think someone was successful in following us." Fred gestured to the parking lot outside.

I groaned. "Fans," I grumbled. "Why can't they leave us alone?"

"It's actually just the one. I think the decoy cars worked well enough, but this one was able to see through our little trick. Anyway, I saw this one car parked in the Arclight Coliseum's parking lot pull out and start following us the same time we left. I thought I was able to give it the slip, but then I saw the car parked just outside. I guess I wasn't too successful. Sorry 'bout that."

"Not a problem - you did your best."

He led me to the front window, and we peeked through the curtains. In the empty parking lot outside, there were only two vehicles - our minibus and a nondescript station wagon.

"That the guy?" I pointed to the car.

Fred nodded. "It's a girl, actually, Mr. Fairchild."

That piqued my interest and I squinted through the window, trying to see who it was. "Ohmigod! It's Janet!"

I turned to Fred.

"How long has she been out there?"

"I don't know," he said. "I wasn't looking at the lot the whole time, so she could have been there since we went into the restaurant. Maybe twenty minutes."

I rushed back to our table.

"Danny!" I called, and he came over, along with Nikki.

"What up?" he said. I mean "she." Heehee.

"Janet's outside the restaurant," I said without preamble.

She and Nikki looked at each other.

"Where, exactly? What's she doing?"

"I don't know. She's just sitting in her car outside."

"But she knows we're here?"

"Yes - she followed us all the way from the Arclight."

"Danny, I thought she didn't want anything to do with the band anymore," Nikki said.

"We don't know that, Nikki. She just stormed off when we were talking about the KRPQ concert that one time. Sure she said what she said, but shew might have been carried away by her emotions and didn't mean it."

"She did say she wanted out."

Danny shrugged. "She thought we were sort of taking away the band from her. We weren't, but things were changing a lot. I guess that's why she felt the way she did."

"Why doesn't she come in then?"

I shrugged. "What do we do?"

"I guess we need to invite her in…" Danny said.

"Do you think that's wise, Danny?" Nikki asked, worried.

"I don't know, Nick. But regardless of what happened before, she doesn't deserve to be all alone in that parking lot while we're all inside having dinner." She looked at me. "And, maybe we can clear things up. Maybe she might want to come back, and we need to give her the chance to come back. It's her band, too."

"What about Fallon?" I asked.

"Well, whether Janet decides to come back or not, Fallon will be part of the concert. After all her work, it's only fair."

I nodded. "So… we go out and fetch her, then?"

"Yes."

"I'm nervous. Fred? Can you come with us?"

He nodded. "Not a problem, Mr. Fairchild."

We stepped out of the restaurant. I shivered in the cool night air, and Nikki came over and we hugged each other around the waist against the cold.

Danny walked ahead of us towards Janet's car while we followed, and Fred, our bodyguard-driver trailed all of us.

We stopped about ten feet away from her car and just looked at her. Clearly she noticed us since she was staring back.

Danny tentatively waved, and she rolled down her window.

"Hey, Janet," she said.

"Hey," Janet replied mildly. I saw her red-rimmed eyes and it was obvious she had been crying.

"We're just about to have some dinner. You wanna join us?"

She looked at Danny and burst into tears.

Danny came over and opened the door. Janet practically fell out and into Danny's arms.

Danny caught Janet and allowed the tall girl to sob on her shoulder.

"I missed you," Janet whisper-sobbed into her ear. "I love you."

Danny nervously looked around, especially at Nikki, but she just shrugged. Knowing Danny, though, I knew she probably sighed in relief.

"We missed you, too," she said diplomatically, and just continued to hug her. "So - are you hungry? There's pizza and stuff…"

Janet's pretty big, compared to Danny, but Danny didn't seem to be troubled by practically carrying the taller girl.

Janet pulled back and grabbed Danny by the back of her head and crushed Danny's lips against hers.

"Hey!" Nikki cried and rushed to them. I was about to do the same thing but Nikki beat me to it.

Nikki pulled Janet away from Danny and stood between them.

"Stop!" Nikki said. "Keep away from him!"

"You b…" Janet was about to backhand her but Danny's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"No, Janet," she said. "I can't let you do that."

Janet tried to wrench her arm away but Danny wouldn't let go. By the way Janet's arm trembled, I could see how hard she tried. And we all knew Danny was pretty strong.

Danny stared into the tall girl's eyes, and she was able to stare Janet down despite the half-foot height difference between them.

"Stop it, Janet," she said. "Now."

Janet sighed and nodded. "That's all you had to say, Danny."

"Janet, one of these days, we're gonna have to talk about things. You're not being yourself."

She frowned at Danny. "What do you mean?"

"You're hurting your friends."

She scoffed. "They're not my friends. They took my band away from me."

Danny looked down. "If someone took your band from you, it was me. Don't do this to the others."

"No, it's not you. It can't be you." She reached out and touched Danny's cheek. Nikki bristled at that.

"Hey! Don't touch him!" Nikki swatted Janet's hands away. Janet glared at her but Danny again interposed herself between them.

Janet looked at Danny, and then at Nikki, and sighed.

"You don't know how lucky you are Nikki. I only wish…"

"You only wish what," Nikki asked.

Janet started crying again.

- - - - -

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

"You only wish what," I repeated Nikki's question.

"I wish I was the one. Your one."

I've seen that kind of look before. From Danielle and Betsy and Nikki and, ohmigod, even from Morgan and some of the guys. I wasn't any kind of stud, but I knew enough to recognize that look.

But Danielle and the others never acted this weird. She seemed like one of those crazy-obsessed people on drugs you see on TV shows.

"My one?"

"Dammit, yes!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some movement behind me: seems the guys have come out and they were all behind me.

"I'm sorry, Janet," I said carefully. "You're one of my best friends, but that's all it is - I don't feel the same way about you."

"But I love you!"

"I'm so sorry, Janet."

Her expression grew hard and backhanded me across the face. I flew back and fell on the parking lot's asphalt.

The others started to move in, but she jumped back into her car.

She screeched out of the lot, almost running me and Danielle down, but before she escaped out onto the street, she hit our minibus near it's driver's side headlight. It was stong enough that the bumper was half torn off, the fender wrecked and the left front tire ruined.

"Janet!" I cried and ran after her car.

She just stopped in the middle of the street, just beyond the parking lot entrance.

I stopped at the curb and looked at her. From the car, she stared back at me.

"Bye, Danny," she said, and sped away.

- - - - -

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

Hours later, all of us were back in our houses, and a report was filed about the minibus. However, Mrs. Piper decided not to file any charges. She explained that the concert couldn't afford to have any bad publicity.

I also didn't file any charges personally, which surprised everyone.

"Why, Danny?" Betsy, the most logical among all of us, asked. "She almost ran you guys over! She's dangerous!"

"Betsy's right, man," Morgan said. "She's out of her head. She could hurt someone."

"I know, I know," I said. "But she didn't."

I looked at them. "Clearly, something's happening with Janet, but she's our friend. We gotta find out what, and at least try and help her first."

"But…"

"We just need to be careful."

"We need to find her first."

"The logical place to start is at her house, right?" Betsy said.

"We can try," I said, "but she won't be there, I almost guarantee it."

Morgan shook his head.

"I think you're wrong for not filing charges, man," he said, "but whatever…"

I clapped him on the shoulder.

"Thanks, dude," I said, and Morgan just shrugged.

- - - - -

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

The following two days went back to normal, or as normal as it ever was, and the remaining practice nights went just as well as the other nights, except that we did two repeats of the routines each time, and we had Harry, Sally and the others there to practice with for a change.

All throughout, we had to contend with our fans, but with the help of Tom Hennessy and his friends, and Mrs. Piper's people, we managed.

The thing was, we kept on seeing Janet, usually in the crowd that hung outside, and sometimes around our houses, but before we could confront her, she'd disappear into the night.

We called up Janet's folks, and they said that she left a note that she'd be out with her band for a while, practicing for a gig. But she came home sometimes to grab a change of clothes and such, or to borrow some money, but other than that, they hardly saw her.

We didn't bother to correct Janet's... mis-statement, and just left word with her folks to tell Janet that she should contact us.

It was worrisome, but what else could we do?

Anyway, we finally became proficient in our routines enough to satisfy our director and choreographers - we reached that point where we thought we couldn't be more ready.

Guess it's time.

- - - - -

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

On the day before the concert, we had our final dress rehearsal. Before going to school. Mom and Dad took their leave as they left for Dad's weekend business conference, and we were on our own. In the old days, when the parental units were out of town, Danielle would probably be arranging a party and I would be hiding in my room, or spending the night at Morgan's, but at the moment, all we were concerned about was the rehearsal.

"We're trusting you kids," Dad said, The veiled warning was hard to miss.

"Oh, Dad," I said, and sighed. "You know you can trust us!"

Dad grabbed me in a bear hug. "I know it, Danny. So." He grabbed Danielle, too, and squeezed us both. "Good luck with the show tomorrow, okay?"

- - - - -

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

Our final, full-dress rehearsal went almost flawlessly. We just did one run-through and after which, Mrs. Piper told us all to relax and get some rest.

All of us said good night, but, per Nikki's request, Danielle and Betsy rode in our camouflage car, and I drove Nikki to her house.

And, when I was about to drop her off at her place, she insisted I drive my 'stang into their garage.

I followed her into the house, and found that her family was out for the night - her folks were spending the night with some friends, and she had bribed her siblings with tickets to the concert to stay with friends as well.

She dragged me to her room, and started taking off my, or rather Danielle's clothes, not even waiting.

Not that I'm complaining.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 34 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. As he and his gang worked hard to practice and prepare for the concert, Janet showed up, acting crazy, and hit their minibus with her car. They didn't know why she was acting like that. Was she on drugs or something? Anyway, Chapter 34 is one of the special concert chapters. It's going to be a musical night tonight - lots of rockin' and rollin' here! And be sure to check the jukebox! Yup. there is never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Thirty-Four:  High Fidelity

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

I was so turned on after yet another faint-inducing, toe-curling kiss from Nikki - the latest in a whole series of kisses and… other things. Good thing I was wearing a dress with a relatively long skirt (down to the middle of my thighs this time) instead of tight pants or something, so I could afford to wear just regular thong briefs instead of a gaff. Otherwise I'd be walking like a cripple by now. Men's thong briefs to be sure, but at least my... stuff... wasn't that squashed down. Well, not too much, anyway (Danielle insisted on stretchy ones a size smaller than my size). And even though it was a tight dress, I'd had enough practice... arranging myself down there, and it was tight enough that there won't be any telltale bumps despite my... friskiness.

One thing, though - my gang always had problems with pronouns when it came to me - calling me a "she" more than they call me a "he." But since the night that we spent at the hotel, Nikki didn't have that problem anymore. I assumed that something about me changed, but I had surreptitiously been probing the others for the past few days, and they said that I was the same person. And I thought so, as well. Besides, why was it that Nikki was the only one who was consistently getting my pronouns right?

So was it Nikki who changed? But she was the same person, too. I think.

Anyway, to get ready, I went to the ladies' bathroom, double-checked for, umm... bumps, tied the two silk handkerchiefs Nikki gave me to the outfit's chunky red bangles at my wrists for my "trademark" scarf thing, and then went to the dressing room assigned to us.

I sat down and started gluing on the false nails with the bright-red polish, and gave Fallon a quick hello. She waved back at me and sat down by a make-up table as well.

Fallon was in a simple white tanktop-style bodysuit, which was matched up with a sparkly miniskirt that looked like it was covered in gold glitter, and a wide black belt. She wore gold bracelets and maybe half a dozen thin chain necklaces. She started putting the last touches on her makeup with a small powder brush. Thankfully, she's not doing the goth thing. Lol.

June came in a little late. She wasn't in the best of moods since she was late and had trouble putting on her own outfit - a sexy, tight brown dress with dark, metallic green shoulder and back straps that looked like they were covered in green glitter, and a plunging neckline. She grumpily pushed Fallon away from the dressing table, sat down and started putting on the final touches on her own makeup. Fallon looked at me and I made a patting-down gesture. Fallon shrugged and sat down by another mirror to finish her makeup.

People hired by RockrGrrl picked out our outfits (as well as the other outfits we'd be changing into later) and did most of our makeup, but we insisted on doing the final touches. They wouldn't be around to help us later, though, so we'd be all alone later and would have to make do - we couldn't have strangers around, after all, especially when Danny and Danielle would be doing switcheroos.

All of us looked pretty good, but with our over-the-top for-TV makeup, we all looked so much older, so much more mature. Far too mature for my taste. Next time, I'll insist on picking our own costumes and outfits... Wait... next time? What am I thinking!

But I guess the TV people knew what they were doing. Fallon's metallic gold skirt, the metallic green highlights of June's dress, and my own metallic red dress made us match. Not even Danielle could have done better.

We joked around as we waited to be called, and June apologized to Fallon for being so rude, which went a long way to sooth Fallon's hurt feelings. Among us three, Fallon was the newest and therefore the most nervous. June sort of been taking Fallon under her wing and tried to give her pointers and advice. I had half a mind to warn her that Fallon was into girls but decided not to. June would find out eventually. Wonder what Morgan would do if Fallon did make a move. Would their trio become a quartet? Heehee.

After a while, someone fetched us and we made our way to the stage.

I climbed up to the dimly lit stage with relative ease, barely no discomfort at all, except that the movement of my upper legs were a little restricted by the dress's skirt.

It was the vampiest outfit I've worn so far. Not risqué at all, actually, but only just - it was just this side of slutty. I would have said trashy, but I saw the price of the duplicate outfit Danielle bought, and it was too expensive to be trashy, if you know what I mean. Haute couture trashy, I guess - bright red with glittery stuff all over. With its plunging neckline (and I DO mean plunging) and nonexistent back, I wouldn't have had the guts to wear it, but Danielle said this was the only dress she could find in the "pre-approved" list of outfits that had an easy-to-get-out-of zip, and the only one which the mall had in stock. Well... at least one of the stores in the mall still had it in stock and in our size. And with the just-cleaned long wig, the over-bright lipstick, red bangles and the white silk hankies tied to them, well, I looked lots older and just trashy enough that I could walk the streets later and not be out of place among the, ummm, professional girls, yet still be okay to attend one of Betsy's black-tie family soirees.

At least June and Fallon were in the same mode as I was so I didn't feel too bad. I gave them hugs when they came over before they took their places on the stage. Mongo and Dale came over and we high-fived each other. Dale was about to give me a thump on the back as well but reconsidered. He settled for patting me gingerly on the shoulder instead.

When Mrs. Piper told us the people from RockrGrrl wanted us to do edgier numbers than what we're used to doing - well, I guess this was the best we could do outfit-wise, without departing that much from our clean-cut image.

And we did a little last-minute change-around in our songs. Thank God for our alternate playlist. Mikey and Morgan wracked their brains thinking up which of the alternate songs were appropriate to use, but Danielle vetoed the songs that they chose.

What were left were some eighties songs mixed with some from movies, some from TV, and some 70s, 80s and 90s songs. And talk about squeaky clean songs... Even the Bruno Mars song sung by CeeLo Green they picked got swapped out for the G-rated version that was featured at the Grammy's. Anyway, I hope this satisfies the sponsors. But Betsy got her licks in, too, and our repertoire now included some cutesy stuff by Michael Bublé, can you believe it (I made the mistake of reading the guy's name wrong once and said Michael Bubble, and Bets didn't want to talk to me for the rest of that day), plus some others we would not have considered before. But who can say no to Betsy? Not me, that's for sure. But at least she found the music sheet for that old Donna Lewis song that was just perfect for Danielle. It still remains to be seen if we can play all the songs we picked out.

Betsy was supposed to join us after the first song (the first song didn't have any part suitable for her violin), so she elected to get ready on her own. She sat with the guys in the audience for now, all dressed up and ready for her part. She was a little out of place in the front row, though, with her sexy club clothes and high-fashion do. I saw her sitting with Nikki, Tracey, Joanne and the others. I waved to them, but it seemed the crowd thought it was for them, too, so everyone waved back and roared & clapped their approval. Dammit! Why does that keep on happening?

A stage hand climbed up the stage and handed me a wireless white microphone and gestured to the side of Mongo's drum set. I saw my candy-pink electric, my white-top bass and my mint-green acoustic on stands there, undoubtedly tuned up, wirelessly wired up and ready for me. I nodded at the guys and they all got set. Although Fallon was totally nervous (I could tell), she was doing her best not to show it. I gave her a little wave and she nodded and gave me a big smile and a thumbs-up. I knew how it felt to be the new one, but she still had agreed to be Janet's substitute singer with hardly any time to get used to it, and I was grateful. I still didn't know what triggered Janet's whatever-it-was - it couldn't really be all that junk that she spouted before about selling out, or about artistic integrity, et cetera et cetera, but now's not the time to dwell on it. I just hope she'll be fine later after all of this, and that she'd be okay with my friend Fallon.

The guys from the Glee Club were all set as well and knew the new sequence of the songs, excited at the chance to sing in front of a real audience. And even if there was another change-up, I was confident the guys would be able to cope. They weren't getting paid much - just a token amount - but that was all that the school was allowing, though the parents wouldn't have minded if Mrs. Piper paid more. But that wasn't the point - the kids wanted to do this regardless.

A week ago, we were in danger of actually not having any backup singers since some of the parents left it to the very last minute to sign the performance permission and waiver slips, but in the end, we had our do-wop guys and girls.

They were all laughing and giggling, and waved to me from their place on the right side of the stage. I waved back.

I stood with my back to the audience, feet as far apart as my tight little outfit would allow, and felt my whole back go cold. The backless, short-skirted, high-heeled outfit just wasn't built for the air-conditioned auditorium but I resolved to tough it out.

As soon as they clicked on the floodlights, the whole place exploded in screams and cheers. I waited for everything to die down, and when everything was relatively quiet, I raised my arms, started clapping over my head in a steady rhythm, and counted the guys in. The crowed clapped and cheered. After maybe several dozen counts, Mongo followed my claps with a drum riff. Over the sound, I heard a girl scream, "I love you, beautiful!" Oh, oh. Shades of the Jubilee Center concert. Hope that's not the same girl.

I continued to clap over my head, and the people got more and more into it. After a few more counts, June started with the five melody chords, with a little synth overdub in the background. Very seventies and early eighties! Dale wiped his hand over his bass's fret and made it squeal, and June repeated her chords on a higher key with Fallon doing a two-finger accompaniment on her lower frets. They repeated the whole sequence a couple of times, amping up the crowd more and more, and me looking sexily down over my right shoulder as I clapped in time, my scarves flying, excitement and anticipation building in me. God!

And, on cue, I spun around and started singing my cheesy lyrics.

- - - - -

***** (Betsy) *****

As soon as the lights came on, the crowd roared in delight and anticipation. Danny was in the middle of the stage, her bare, flawless back to us, sexy arms raised and scarves trailing down. Her hair covered her back a bit but we could glimpse more of it every time her mane of red hair moved as she started clapping in steady rhythm. And the audience just ate it up!
Mongo got in the act first, and then June with her over-synthesized playing, and then Dale with his bass guitar. And as soon as the new girl, Fallon, started playing, Danny spun around, hair and scarves flying, and she started to sing.

As soon as she did, a palpable wave seemed to wash over everyone - it was like an almost physical thing. Danny's so gorgeous!

The crowd cheered but soon quieted down a bit as they listened to her golden tones. Never mind the corny lyrics. It's Danny!

"Other boys may turn me on but I let temptation slide..." Danny sang and danced to the eighties beat like a reincarnated disco queen, and continued.

"Used to be so plain to see the hunger in my eyes. But now I'm buyin'..." and the kids from the glee club, acting as her backup singers, sang in counterpoint, "buying..."

"Tryin'..." and then the glee club again - "trying!"

Danny had somehow danced closer to them and when she was beside the tallest backup glee club singer, she and the glee club singers started singing together:

"High fidelity, high!" (high, high, high...) "High fidelity, high!" (high, high, high...) - keepin' it light, keepin' us tight! All right!"

Danny then rushed to the middle of the stage, left arm straight up and fist high. "High fidelity......" she sang, keeping the last note going for what seemed like a long time, but what was actually just a few seconds. Wow!

"Quadrophonic sound, stereo desire coming to you loud and clear!" Danny sang.

One of the klieg lights installed by the TV people snapped on and illuminated the new girl, Fallon, as she played a short riff, and then Danny sang.

"Like a brand-new, fine-tuned radio. And I'm so glad you're here... Someone to lie with..." (lie with), "fly with..." (fly with!)...

"High fidelity, high!" (high, high, high...) "High fidelity, high!" (high fidelity...)

"High fidelity, high!" (high, high, high...) - keepin' it light," (keeping it light) "keepin' us tight! All right!"

Again, that signature pose - left arm straight up and fist high. "High fidelity..."

She then crooned into her mic. "Oooh!"

Who would have thought that would be so sexy?

Mongo hit a triple-base hit, and Danny sang the refrain as Fallon and June spiraled the music up and up!

"Is it real or is it synthesized? Maybe I'm hypnotized." (Aaaah!) "I need you baby, my feelings are true. I'm saving my love for you!" (You!)

And then the glee club kids sang the next lines.

"You're in my dreams and in my heart, on my frequency..." As they sang, Danny was in the middle of the stage, dancing to the beat like an ultra-sexy, redheaded female Justin Timberlake. The kids did a finger-snapping kind of move the way the backup singers from those old Motown bands did, and continued to sing in harmony. "I'm the number one song on your chart. It's where I want to be!" they sang.

And then Danny took over again. "Someone to lie with," (lie with... fly with...) "fly with.." (fly with!)

"High fidelity, high!" (high, high, high...) "High fidelity, high!" (high fidelity...) "High fidelity, high!" (high, high, high...) - keepin' it light," (keeping it light!) keepin' us tight! All right!"

They re-did the line again, and the crowd went wild. "High fidelity, high!" (high, high, high...) "High fidelity, high!" (high fidelity...) "High fidelity, high!" (high, high, high...) - makin' it light," (making it light!) makin' it light! All right!"

And then Danny and the glee kids went into a three-part harmony.

(High fidelity!) "High fidelity..." (high fidelity...). (High fidelity!) "High fidelity..." (high fidelity...). (High fidelity!) "High fidelity..." (high fidelity...).

And then all together: "High Fidelity!"

The music snapped off, and everyone - Danny, the glee kids, the band - they all lifted their left arms straight into the air.

It was like a gunshot, how it snapped off so cleanly, and slowly the applause rained down. Though I was there when they practiced the entire thing before, I was just as overwhelmed, and I clapped and cheered just like all the others.

All throughout that less-than-three minute performance, which felt more like twenty minutes, a big rear-projection screen suspended from the ceiling showed all the on-stage action so everyone in the Arclight Coliseum could see what was happening. But I and the others were close enough that we didn't need the screen.

As everyone on stage took their bows, I only had eyes for Danny. Danny blushed so prettily as the band and the glee kids turned and applauded her. Mongo and Dale pulled her to the front and she shyly waved to everyone, which started another wave of applause. Nervously, Danny did that thing with her hair again and brought her mic back up.

"Thank you, everyone!" she said. " My name is Dannie, and this is our band, Unlimited Bandwidth." Danny had to pause to let the new wave of cheering die down. "Welcome to the formal launch of KRPQ-FM, as it transitions to its new Digital FM channel and station ID. Let's hear it for hi-fidelity, ninety-nine point three! Hi-Fidelity FM!"

The applause thundered down and Danny grinned from ear to ear. That was the cue for the prop man up in the rafters, and glitter and multi-colored confetti slowly rained down. A little bit of confetti landed on Danny, but what was most noticeable was a small, thin powdering of glitter that landed on her cheeks, eyelids and eyelashes, as well as in her red hair. As the camera flashbulbs fired, the light reflected off the glitter. It was like Danny was covered with little twinkling lights. But she was oblivious to this and the effect this had on the crowd, and continued with her spiel. It made her look like an angel had just come down from amongst the stars.

"And I'd like to introduce your hosts for tonight," she continued. "From ninety-nine point three, Sally Marshall, Talia Roberts and Harry Seavers!"

From the side, Sally, Talia and Harry leaped out and onto the stage, all of them carrying their own radio mics and dressed to the nines. A decision was made by the director early on, which Mrs. Piper agreed with - he decided to use handheld microphones instead of those headset things. Though a little more difficult, hand mics gave the performers an extra prop to work with, and was more visually satisfying. ("Besides," he said, "those headset things just ruin the look of the girls, don't you think?" All of us shrugged - we didn't care.)

Harry let out a rebel yell, and Sally and Talia made a beeline for Danny, and commenced hugging the stuffing out of her.

"Let's hear it for Dannie and Unlimited Bandwidth!" Harry said, raising his voice to be heard over the din of the crowd. Harry raised Danny's microphone arm like a prize fighter's, and everyone cheered. Someone in the crowd snapped a photo of that moment, and this was the picture that got on all the papers - Harry raising Danny's arm as they were surrounded by Sally and Talia, June, Fallon, Dale and Mongo, and the ten kids from the Glee Club, and me - the guys had waved me in at the last second, and I snuck in there, got in the pic, and then scurried away as soon as the pic was done. It was one of the most memorable moments of my life, as I'm sure it was for the others, too. I was so proud of Danny. Right then and there, I decided that it was true - I loved her, innocently forgetting about Nikki. But I guess I could be forgiven for that one short lapse. I love Danny, and I think I always will. I shivered in happiness.

Harry continued - "let's hear it for Hi-Fidelity, Ninety-Nine Point Three FM!" and everyone just cheered their heads off.

Eventually, the applause died down, and as it did, Danny and the band faded to the back of the stage. Talia and Sally took up the spiel. "Let's not stop the fun for tonight, Harry," Talia said.

"Right, Talia," Harry said. "What do you say, Sally?"

"Absolutely, Harry!" Sally responded. "Ladies and gentlemen, the rest of the ninety-nine point three crew!"

Two other people, wearing the station's jackets and colors as well as big, bright-colored headphones over their ears walked on stage.

- - - - -

***** (Lou) *****

From the wings, Dennis and I heard Sally say our cue. Goodwin, our faithful night security guard who accompanied us, clapped me on the shoulder. He was wearing the station's new jacket, just like us.

"Time to go, old hoss!" Goodwin said, and pushed the both of us onto the stage.

I sighed. Clearly, Dennis got off on the attention as he jauntily waved at the cheering crowd. Actually, I did, too, but never would I deliberately seek this out. It was Danny's fault, I said to myself, fondly thinking of the kid. That kid...

I smiled. I was so overwhelmed by the bright lights and large, boisterous crowd that I hardly paid attention to what Harry, the new announcer, was saying. Imagine - all of this - all of this because of that kid.

I guess I had started to develop a soft spot for her. Or is it him... Ahhh, it didn't matter. I guess I owe him this - reviving the station and thereby securing my employment, as well as saving my life when I had my heart attack. But more than that - as my old dad would say, she's a good egg. (Goddammit! I meant "he"!)

Harry had just introduced Dennis, and Dennis did his little smart-alecky little spiel, and everyone just ate it all up. And then Harry introduced me. It was my turn.

I leaned down and spoke into Harry's mic. "Hi," I said in my usual low and gravelly voice and - I couldn't believe it - everyone exploded! Huh? All I said was "Hi."

Dennis clapped me on my shoulder and the two cute girls, Sally and Talia, bussed me on both cheeks. What did I do?!? What did I do!?!

Anyway, Talia took over, and started talking about the newly-revamped station. I looked around and I saw Dannie in the red dress. I couldn't get over how beautiful that girl was, but I was old enough to be her dad. I sighed. She saw me looking, and she gave me a big smile and cheerily gave me a small salute. The little hankies she had trailed her arm. Dammit, "he!"

- - - - -

***** (Lou) *****

A couple of weeks before, Mrs. Piper brought us into her office for a talk. With her lawyer present, she explained how crucial it was to the station's plans that Danny's alter ego be kept secret, but more than anything was that Danny asked us to. Dennis, Goodwin and I would not give the kid trouble by willingly spilling the beans - all three of us liked the kid, even though Dennis thought he was a poof, but Mrs. Piper insisted. And I owed him my life, just as much, actually more, than I did Goodwin, I think.

Mrs. Piper handed us some papers to sign, and in them she spelled the penalty for breaking our word, even accidentally. That momentarily took my breath away. I was about to tear it up until I figured out that, for keeping our word, we'd be given a twenty thousand-dollar bonus, as well as a ten percent raise and a renewable five year employment contract.

With my present financial problems, I signed right away, as did Dennis and Goodwin. However, after we did, Mrs. Piper laid another bomb on us - we found out that the lead singer in that band we just featured at the station - it was Danny as well!

Dennis, Goodwin and I got to talking after that, over drinks (nowadays it's just Diet Sprite for me). We got four Danny's - Danny the kid, our Danny (the DJ), his sister Danielle, and now this Dannie singer. Dennis and I thought this secret won't hold, even if we didn't say anything. I mean, all of them "Danny," and all of them redheads? Good grief! What are the odds?

But then, Goodwin corrected us - Danny-the-DJ was now officially a brunette named Robin, and Danielle was, in reality, Danny's real-life sister. Besides, the various Dannys acted as differently from each other as night and day - there was Danny, the boy who acted just like any other nerdy kid I knew, there was Danny-the-leather-jacket-wearing-brunette-DJ (I mean Robin) who was like a cerebral genius tomboy-type girl, and Danielle, the bright but bubbly cheerleader type who was actually Danny's real-life sister. And then there's this Dannie-the-singer. Among the four, Dannie-the-singer was physically the taller one on account of the skyscraper heels she kept on wearing, as well as the more blatantly sexy, but, oddly enough, she exuded a feeling of shyness and coquettishness which was at odds with her rocker image and sexy look. It's all a mystery to me, actually.

I shook my head - listen to me, talking like they were all different people. I looked back at Dannie-the-singer as she cheered whatever Talia said, and was amazed. I felt a headache coming on.

Sally, the other cute girl took over.

"Y'know, Talia," Sally said, "it's too bad our team isn't complete."

"What do you mean, Sally?" Talia feigned innocence. "Do you mean, not all of the Hi-Fidelity Ninety-nine Point Three FM Deejays are here?"

"Yep!" Sally continued with the shtick.

"But, all the guys - you, me, Dennis, Lou and Harry are here. Whatever do you mean?" It was so campy, the audience laughed.

"Yes, Sally," Harry said. "Whatever do you mean! With you, Talia and us, aren't we all here?"

"No, Harry, we're missing one."

I gasped in mock surprise. "You mean we are missing one Deejay?"

Sally giggled. "Yes, Lou, that's exactly what I mean!"

"Ahh!" Dennis said. "You are probably referring to..."

"That's right, Dennis," I said in my gravelly voice, taking the cue. "Live from our studio downtown, iiit's the Nighthawk!"

Everyone cheered at the top of their lungs, and clapped uproaringly.

"Hey, hey hey," Danny's pre-recorded Nighthawk voice from the live-radio signal was fed into the speakers. "This is the Nighthawk, transmitting from the Ninety-Nine Point Three studios downtown. Thanks, guys!" On the big projection screen hanging above us, they had a picture of Danny - the same picture that was hanging in the station's lobby.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't be with you folks there at the Arclight Coliseum, but someone needed to hold down the fort over here." ('Course, the one really holding down the fort was no one, really - the booths were locked down: no one was in there. But that's okay. I think, aside from those of us who knew Dannie to be Danny, everyone really thought that "The Nighthawk" really was at the station.) "Anyway," the pre-recorded Danny continued, "I hope you all enjoy the party!"

"Thanks, so much, Robin!" Sally answered. "We will! Now, on to the show..."

- - - - -

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

I clapped and cheered after Talia got through explaining the new changes at the station, and clapped and cheered some more when Dennis Oldfield and Lou Jefferson took another set of bows and made their way on stage. And then, as planned, my pre-recorded voice came on-line. After my short lines as the Nighthawk, Sally took over again. But just as she did, the stage lights suddenly clicked off. There was a roar from the crowd, in expectation of something. But all of us on stage were shocked. This wasn't expected at all! The entire stage was suddenly cast in darkness. Beside me, in the dark, I heard Fallon swear suddenly.

"Hey, Red!" I whispered. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Danny," she said a little irritatedly. "I just stubbed my toe on something. Dammit! Who turned off the lights!"

"Be careful, 'kay? Don't trip on anything."

"Yeah, yeah..."

After about half a minute of nervous anticipation, a stage hand came up the stage with an old-fashioned microphone. He dragged the mic's wire across the stage as he made his way to Harry and the others. After my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I was able to see the stage hand and Harry whispering to each other. After a bit, the stage hand handed the microphone to Harry, and stepped away. As soon as he did, a spotlight hit Harry.

"Ummm, ladies and gentlemen," he said, "ummm, we have had a small technical emergency here. Seems power is off up here in front. And, ummm..."

There was a restless kind of murmuring that started to come from the crowd.

"Please hold on as we try and fix the problem..."

The murmuring started to become louder, mixed with a few boos. I stopped the stage hand. "Is it true? Power's off?"

He shrugged. "Yes, ma'am. Afraid so. The electrician is trying to find out the cause. He's saying it must be some breaker somewhere, but because of all the patch cords and stuff, he's having a hard time finding it."

"But there's power to the rest of the auditorium!"

"Yeah, it's just the stage and the radio mics that lost power."

"That's weird!"

"That's what he said. It's like it was done deliberately. But he said he'll find it soon. It's just a matter of finding out where the fault is."

Ohmigod! It's Janet! Got to be!

"What do we do in the meantime, then?"

"Don't know - the director said to try and stall for time..."

"God...." I tried to think a bit. "Okay, man. Can you try and get a couple of microphone stands, as well as a couple of extra mics like the one you brought up?"

"What're you gonna do?"

"Never mind! Just do it, okay?"

The stage hand nodded and, before scurrying away, he handed me something. "They said for you to wear this," he said. It was a little in-the-ear earphone with receiver.

As I was putting it on, Fallon walked over. "Danny?"

"There's a big problem, Red. No power to everything on the stage."

"No shit?" she said sarcastically.

"No shit. But I'm trying to think of something we can do to buy some time. Can you grab my acoustic? It's somewhere back there." I gestured vaguely to the back of the stage.

She nodded and made her careful way back towards Mongo's drums.

I looked around and tried to find a good spot at the front of the stage where there weren't any stuff to block the view of the audience. Seems just a bit to the left, near the glee kids' spot. I moved there, and Fallon came over and handed me my guitar. I put the strap over my shoulder.

"Thanks, honey. Can I ask another favor? Can you get everyone to the side, or somewhere out of the way?"

"But..."

"Please trust me!"

In the dark, I can just imagine her expression. "Okay," she said, nevertheless. "Even those guys?" I saw her arm gesture towards Harry, Talia and the others.

"Yes, even them."

"Okay..."

As soon as she had almost everyone herded to the back of the stage and was going for Harry and the other announcers who were making nervous excuses to the audience, the stage hand came back. "Sorry, miss, no stands, but I have one microphone."

I grabbed the mic from him. "Get a couple of those stands over there," I said, pointing to the microphone stands with radio mics over at the backup singers' section.

He went and got a couple of them. "Okay, you keep these," I said, taking off the useless radio mics from the stands and handing them to him. I then proceeded to lower one of the stands, attaching the wired microphone in my hand to it's clamp. "Now you go over there and get me the mic you gave to Harry." I pointed to the other side of the stage.

Although he was a bit rebellious, he went to go get the mic, but he didn't need to - Harry was walking over to me, and the spotlight followed him.

Harry held the microphone to the side, so that no one could hear him. "Whatcha doin' Dannie?"

"I'm sorry, Harry. But I need you to give me that mic and to get off the stage."

"But...."

I gave him a kiss on the cheek in apology - something I now do to get my way with the girls, which seemed appropriate now somehow. "Do as I say, Harry! Please!"

He was taken aback, but after a bit, in the flood's white light, I could see him smile. "Okay, Sexy. Good luck."

He turned around and faced the audience. Before, the unrest was growing, but they were quiet now, having followed his every move in the spotlight, as well as on the big projection screen above. And when I kissed him, everyone became silent.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, in a very somber, low voice, "Mizz Dannie Fairchild." Taking advantage of the situation, the fink kissed me back on my cheek, and then handed me his mic before walking to the back of the stage, and everyone tittered. Sally and Talia followed him off the stage.

In the silence, I busied myself with fixing the mic to the other stand. I aimed one of the mics so that it would pick up my guitar, and I raised the other so that it was comfortably near my lips. And I started playing one of my favorite songs by Train (which I thought was appropriate for Janet), with just me and my guitar.
My initial chords echoed in the almost-silent coliseum, and as I started to sing, the crowd roared and applauded.

"Now that she's back in the atmosphere," I sang, "with drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey..." It was lonely being here - just me in the darkness without anyone to help me or back me up. Nevertheless...

"She acts like summer and walks like rain, reminds me that there's a time to change, hey, hey...

"Since the return from her stay on the moon, she listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey..." I tried to be faithful to the nuances of the original, but it was a little difficult since I was all alone, but I did my best.

"Tell me," I sang in a plaintive way, "did you sail across the sun? Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded, and that heaven is overrated?

"Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star - one without a permanent scar, and did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?"

I didn't notice at the time, but Betsy had come up on stage, carrying a tambourine and a shaker. She waved to Fallon to come close and handed her the tambourine. As I had finished the first stanza of the song and came to the bridge, she started moving the shaker in rhythm, and it made its distinctive sound in synch with my playing.

I had to smile at Betsy's quick thinking, and I continued on with the next lines.

"Now that she's back from that soul vacation, tracing her way through the constellation, hey, hey... She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo, reminds me that there's room to grow, hey, hey..."

With my friends now around me, I sang more confidently, and gave in to the semi-melancholy words of the song.

"Now that she's back in the atmosphere, I'm afraid that she might think of me as plain ole Jane; told a story about a man who is too afraid to fly so he never did land."

Seems Fallon got it. She moved to my other side and started shaking her tambourine in rhythm. And all three of us started playing in synch.

"Tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet? Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day and head back to the milky way? And tell me, did Venus blow your mind? Was it everything you wanted to find? And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?"

As the three of us played the bridge, we looked at each other and smiled delightedly. All too soon I had to sing again.

"Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken, your best friend always sticking up for you... even when I know you're wrong.

"Can you imagine no first dance, freeze dried romance, five-hour phone conversations, the best soy latte that you ever had... and me..."

Betsy, Fallon and I paused, and after a beat...

"Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet? Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day, and head back to the milky way?

"Tell me," I sang, "did you sail across the sun? Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded, and that heaven is overrated?

"Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star - one without a permanent scar, and did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?"

In the bridge, the three of us sang: "nananananana, nananananana - nahananana..."

"Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day?"

"...nananananana, nananananana - nahananana..."

"Did you fall for a shooting star! Fall for a shooting star!"

"...nananananana, nananananana - nahananana..."

And then I sang the final line: "and are you lonely looking for yourself out there..."

After the briefest of interludes, the applause rained down. I slid the guitar onto my back, took Betsy and Fallon by the hand and we walked up to the edge of the stage, the spotlight following us. We bowed in unison, and smiled.

"Mizz Fairchild, hello?" I heard someone speak in my ear via the little receiver. "Mizz Fairchild, if you hear me, nod your head subtly."

I tried to look around, yet trying not to appear that I was looking around. Far to the back of the auditorium, I could see someone waving in the control booth. I nodded.

"That's a relief," the voice said. "Hi, my name's Maurice. I'm the lighting director. Good job, by the way. Anyway, we found out the cause of the outage. Seems someone threw the master breaker to the stage lights and electronics, and then cut some power cables. It was deliberate sabotage."

Even as he was talking, Betsy, Fallon and I continued taking bows. Who did it? Could it really be Janet? It wouldn't really be hard to believe if someone told me it was her. I mean, who else?

"We got everything licked," Maurice continued. "Pickups to your instruments and all the sound equipment are hot, but our electrician is still splicing the wires for the floods one at a time. But as soon as one bank of lights is electrified, we'll switch it on until we have all three banks going. Nod if you understand."

I nodded, as a stage hand came up and took my acoustic guitar and traded it with my pink electric, plugged the electric into the electronic box velcroed to it and put a microphone stand in front of me, with a wireless mic already attached.

"Okay," Maurice continued. "So all we need from you now is to hold on for a little bit until we've completely lit up the stage."

A little bit... But I thought of something better. I pulled the stage hand closer. "Tell them when they light up the stage, I want them to light up the front part, wait a while and then to light up the middle, and then then wait again and then turn on the rest. Give about fifteen seconds in between each."

"Huh?"

"Just tell them," I said, and waved him away. He cupped his hand around the boom mic attached to his headset and spoke to someone, Maurice probably. I then turned to Betsy and Fallon. "Guys, I'm gonna play 'Here Comes the Sun.' Be ready."

"You mean, like in Glee Club, Danny?" Fallon asked.

"Yup." I nodded, and then turned to Betsy. "You know the song, Bets?"

"You mean the George Harrison song? The guy from the Beatles? Yeah, I know the song. It's in our alternate song list."

"That's a relief. And remember, we're doing Sheryl Crow's version."

She looked puzzled. She didn't really care one way or the other so long as she had her sheet music.

"You know! From the Bee cartoon!"

Her eyes lit up in recognition.

"Yup - that one!" I gave her a hug. "Now you two get ready with the band. 'Kay?" The two scurried off.

I heard Maurice's voice in my ear again.

"Mizz Fairchild, Kenny told me what you want. You're saying we should connect and light up the front of the stage first, then the middle and then the back. Is that right?"

I nodded.

"Any particular reason why, and when do you want each bank lit?" I shrugged. "Ahhh, stupid me. Of course, you can't answer. Okay, Mizz Fairchild. we'll do it your way. Good luck on whatever you're planning. I'll keep an eye on you. Nod your head when you want each bank lit, okay?"

He clicked off, and I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. Yep, I definitely will need a bit of good luck.
I stood there facing the crowd, and started playing the opening chords. I kept repeating the opening chords, waiting for the first lights, and while I did, the people slowly recognized the iconic Beatles melody. A slow wave of sound started to build up, becoming louder and louder. I nodded my signal, praying that they saw it, and as soon as the first bank of lights was switched on, bathing me in bright, white light, I started singing. I couldn't have timed it any better. And the building murmur in the audience exploded into loud cheering yet again.

"Here comes the sun, doodndoodoo..." I sang, singing softly in the beginning, getting stronger as I sang further, "here comes the sun, and I say it's all right." I nodded, praying they'd see my signal again, and they did. The audience roared in delight at the appropriateness of the lighting, and June and Mongo segued in, June making her keys sound like an old sixties-style electric organ.

I did the semi-complicated riff with them as everyone started clapping to the beat, and I started singing again.

"Little darlin', it's been a long, cold, lonely winter... Little darlin', it feels like years since it's been here. Here comes the sun, doodndoodoo... here comes the sun. And I say it's all right... Little darlin', the smiles returning to the faces... Little darlin', it seems like years since it's been here...

"Here comes the sun, doodndoodoo... here comes the sun and I say it's all right." I nodded my signal again and the next and last bank of lights was switched on. Maurice seemed to have gotten what I wanted, as the timing was impeccable. The audience clapped and hooted.

June, Dale, Mongo and Fallon played the bridge. I decided to let Fallon take the rhythm lead since we really hadn't practiced this much so there was a real risk of my guitar's and Fallon's clashing. Still, they had fun with the simple melody, and that was good enough for me.

The girls from the backup sang the refrain with me, repeating the line five times, with mongo and the others playing a truncated riff in between repetitions. "Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... Sun, sun, sun, here it comes... Sun, sun, sun, here it comes..." That was great!

I took over for Fallon in the next bridge, spiraling up the rhythm.

"Little darling, I feel the ice is slowly melting..." June's organ sound shifted to something more peppy. "Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear... Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right... It's all right..."

We repeated the last line. "Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say it's all right... It's all right..." And we wound it down, with Mongo doing a fast flourish at the end. And as the applause rained down again, everyone in the band and the backup singers gathered around me in a big group hug. It felt so good. I can do this forever...

I was about to say my usual line when the band got into one of these clinches - that I couldn't breathe - when June gave me a sloppy kiss on the cheek. "Oh, shut up, Danny!" she giggled. It's like she read my mind.

But we didn't have much time for that, as Maurice reminded me in my ear, we needed to continue with the show.

I gave all the girls quick kisses and the guys some tight guy-hugs, and then we started with our next set.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 35 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. The KRPQ concert started well, with Danny singing a reeeally old 80's song, but the audience ate it up. But as they prepared to start their second song, disaster struck! Someone sabotaged the lights! Still, Danny was able to improvise and keep the concert going. Whew! Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Thirty-Five:  Sabotage

***** (Janet) *****

From my vantage point up in the rafters, I watched the guys as they played. Using my dad's Steiner military binoculars, I could see everyone clearly. I zoomed in on Danny, and I couldn't help but sigh. She looked so close in the binoculars, it was like I could reach out and touch her cheek. The band played flawlessly as usual, which I took pride in, and then I saw the new girl, my so-called temporary replacement. She acted so cocky. Go ahead, bitch. But you'll be out soon, if I have anything to say about it. With each flubbed chord or wrongly-plucked string, I couldn't help but snicker at the new girl. Sooner or later I'm sure everyone else will notice how badly she plays.

Everyone was enjoying themselves so much, I couldn't stand it. I zoomed the focus back to Danny again, and saw her angelic smile. Danny was the one who was enjoying herself the most. I just had to giggle. But I remembered our fight from a couple of weeks ago. She took my band away from me! How dare she! But then, I could have talked it out... I could have...

As the band played their hearts out, I sighed and looked at their happy, glowing faces, wishing I was down there with them, soaking up the energy and the applause. I saw June bump hips with the new girl as they played. I remembered we used to that a lot. And there was Mongo. Ohmigod, Mongo was actually smiling! I giggled again.

As they finished the first song, I heard several little boxes around me go "bang!" and then glitter, confetti and things that looked like streamers from party favors rained down. I looked down and saw the bulk of the stuff fall to the front of the stage, but enough got wafted back to the stage that I saw Danny get hit by a small cloud of glitter. She said a few lines, but I didn't hear her words - so caught up was I with her image, her essence. And then the radio station's announcers bounded onto the stage.

After a short spiel, I heard Robin, the Nighthawk, come on "live" from the station's studio in town. Ha!

But that was my cue. It was time.

I made sure the diagram I hand-copied a few days before was in my pants pocket, and then carefully made my way down to the backstage, making sure no one saw me. All the scaffolding and dangling ropes made it confusing for me, but I eventually got to where I was supposed to go. I took out and unfolded the little diagram and started tracing wires. I found the fusebox I was looking for, took a deep breath, and threw the switch. "Take that, Danny!" I muttered.

The entire stage was plunged in darkness. Immediately after that, I threw the switch of the next fusebox. "Bitch!" I said. "You and the guys deserve this!"

I then took out my little flashlight and brought out my dad's large fishing knife that I borrowed from the garage. Using the light from my flash, I traced the cables coming out of the two switched-off fuseboxes. I knew it would have been useless to take out the fuses from the old-fashioned fuseboxes since they undoubtedly had spares so I hacked the knife across the cables. I then folded back the wires to make sure there was no spark-gap. If Dad ever had a boy, he probably wouldn't have taught me anything about things like fuseboxes and spark gaps. Sure I wanted to sabotage Danny's little party, but I didn't want to hurt anyone, or burn down the coliseum.

As I was doing so, I heard someone.

"Hey!" a security guard with a flashlight yelled. "Who's there? What're you doing? Hey! Stop!"

The guy probably saw my flash. I put away my stuff and high-tailed it outa there.

"Hey! Stop, goddammit! Stop!"

I ran on and on, down gangways and little suspended crosswalks, and eventually I hit the backstage floor and ran out onto the street, coming out pretty near the box office. Thank God no one saw me. I went to the alley behind the place, stopped and caught my breath.

I knew I couldn't make it back to my perch now so I brought out one of the complimentary passes Danny left with my folks. I made my way out of the lot. Knowing I might be searched, I took off the coveralls I was wearing and wrapped it into a ball, with Dad's knife and my flashlight inside, and stashed it in an out-of-the-way corner instead of inside my little pack. That left me in a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. Very dressed down, sure, but I looked totally different, which was the whole point. I noticed the latex gloves at the last minute, ripped them off and pocketed them.

I had to stop a little bit, to blow away the adrenalin and attention. "What am I doing," I said to myself. "I must be going crazy." I heard a loud cheer coming from inside and I wondered what was happening.

I went to the front box office and was about to give my ticket so I could get in, but I seemed to have lost it. Good thing I had another. The two tickets were supposed to be for Mom and Dad. At least they're not going to go to waste.

"I'm sorry, Miss," the guy in the booth said. "There aren't any more seats except in the upper bleachers."

"Whatever," I said, and he stamped my ticket with a seat number. I forgot that it was a first-come-first-serve, by-reservation event. As I went through the turnstile, an alarm went off. Good thing I left Dad's knife outside. I surrendered my backpack without being asked, and all they found were my binoculars.

I went in and looked at my seat number. I followed the signs to the upper seats, and when I got there, I found myself virtually alone in my row Which was fine with me. I literally WAS the farthest seated. If I were to stand and reach up, I could have touched the ceiling. I settled down and got comfortable, and snorted at the lemmings who were leaning down at the very edge of the rail. What a bunch of stupid groupies.

From the speakers around me, I could hear Danny and the band singing "Here Comes the Sun." Where'd they get that?

I was about to bring out my binoculars but I saw a big LED screen maybe thirty feet from me, and there was Danny, clear as day.

As she moved around, small flecks of glitter on Danny's hair, cheeks and the tip of her nose twinkled in the just-switched-on lights. I looked at her face, and felt tears on my cheeks. It was like stars in her hair. In my mind, I could imagine her silky tresses brushing my face, their wonderful musky scent surrounding me. "Oh, Danny," I wept quietly.

I didn't think I could stand it anymore and decided to leave and make my way home.

- - - - -

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

It was amazing how everything sort of fell together. Now that the lights were back on and everyone was back on track, we continued our show as planned.

After my improvised set, and then followed by our first "real" songs, Talia, Harry and Sally got up on stage and, the consummate professional spin doctors that they were, they spun my improvised number like it was all part of the program.

"Whooo!" Harry said, "how about that! Here comes the sun is right!"

"Yeah, Harry," Talia continued. "It really IS the dawn of a new day for KRPQ. Thank you guys! Everyone, let's give it up for Dannie, Unlimited Bandwidth and friends!"

I couldn't stop myself from snorting. Talk about trite. Good thing no one saw and no camera was on me. But I couldn't blame Talia with the cornball script. We've all had more than two weeks of getting used to their spiel, and the concert was all about promoting the new station, after all.

I held hands with June, Fallon, Mongo, Dale and Morgan, with our six "do-wop" glee club singers immediately behind us, and all twelve of us bowed to the crowd, which was greeted with thunderous applause.

We ran off the stage and the three DJs, plus Lou and Dennis, our other two announcers, started talking about what people could expect, as in what was the new lineup of shows, et cetera. Truth be told, though, the three could manage, but Lou and Dennis were there to provide additional "camouflage" - the other three were kept in the dark about the next thing because they didn't know about who Robin really was.

We all disappeared into the four available dressing rooms - one for the glee club guys, another to the glee club girls, another for Dale and Mongo, and another for June, Fallon and me. The difference in our dressing room was that someone was already in ours.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 36 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. Janet, the former bandleader of Danny's rock band was apparently the one who sabotaged the concert, but it's unclear why. She seems to be in the middle of some psychotic breakdown. As for Danny and the band, they successfully recovered from Janet's sabotage attempt, and they, plus their Glee Club "do wop" backup singers, retired to their dressing rooms to prepare for their next set. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Thirty-Six:  Pinch-Hitter

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

As we entered our dressing room, I was shocked to see Danny already in it. But then I remembered. It was actually Danielle wearing a duplicate red dress to Danny's, with her wearing the same hair style as Danny's, with the hair-extending half-wig, shoes, accessories, scarves at her wrists, and, well, everything. I guess I can't be blamed for my confusion at seeing two of Danny - this was all still new to me, after all.

I grinned at the two mirror images. "This is cool," I said.

I gathered from Danny that the blah-blahs happening on stage was partially to give us an excuse to go to the dressing rooms where we could do the substitution.

Danielle grinned at me. Actually, she looked rather nervous.

"Don't worry, Danielle," I said. "You'll do great."

"I don't know if I can remember all the lyrics, though."

"Danielle!" all of us reacted violently.

Danielle giggled. "Kidding! Kidding!"

Danny frowned at her. "That was mean, sis."

She hugged Danny. "I know. But I couldn't resist." She turned to the rest of us. "Okay girls - we have less than ten minutes. Do what you have to do - bathroom break, fix your makeup, whatever. Come on! Chop chop!"

June and Betsy went to the en suite bathroom while I sat down in front of one of the makeup mirrors to touch up my face. I was one of the lucky few who seemed to not need to go to the bathroom that often. I picked up the bottle of water on my table and took a swig.

"How 'bout you, Danny," I asked.

"I'll go later," she said. "I need to change out of my outfit. Danielle? Can you help me?"

Danielle nodded and brought Danny behind a changing curtain with some clothes in her arms. I didn't have the heart to tell them, however, that I could still see them from one of the makeup mirrors - its angle was such that I could completely see Danny as they took off her dress. And I had to stop my urge to whistle.

Everyone knew that I was into girls, but no one had anything to worry about from me. I've always resented that people thought of us that way. I mean, do people immediately assume guys are always out to attack women? But that was how it was. I've learned not to mind such things. But, to be fair, these people haven't shown any of that. They're some of the few kids that treated me like a regular person - how can I betray that? But… looking at Danny undressed, with only a thong and high heels between me and her, she was definitely a temptation. But, wait - wasn't she really a boy? But she has boobies! Sexy boobies, too… and… she looks too good to be a guy!

Was someone playing me for a fool?

But then she turned in profile, and I saw… a big bulge in her thong. It clearly wasn't a girl's thong, otherwise, Danny would have… spilled out of her underwear. That bulge! But she has boobies, too!

I stood up and walked rapidly to them. I grabbed the changing curtain and pushed it aside.

"Hey!" Danielle said. "What…"

Danny went, "eep!" and covered herself the best she could with her hands.

"What gives, Danny?" I demanded. "You told me it was all just a costume.That you were actually a guy!"

"Well, I am! Now, will you let me get dressed in peace?"

"But… but…" I gestured to her boobs in confusion.

"And what about my breasts!" She put her fists on her waist. It reminded me of Wonder Woman striking a pose. That is, if she was a redhead, was naked and had boobies larger than Gal Gadot's, and with scarves trailing from her wrists instead of metal vambraces.

I shook my head and went back on topic. "How can you have boobs!" I exclaimed.

And, with that, Betsy and June burst out laughing. I didn't even notice that they came back in.

Danny and her sister couldn't stop themselves and started giggling, too. I guess Danny saw my expression, so she took pity on me.

She went to me and pulled me into a hug. "Don't worry, Red," she said into my ear. "I'll explain everything. But later, okay? I promise. We just don't have time right now."

I couldn't help but hug her tight, and that's when she belatedly noticed that she was undressed. I didn't mind, though.

"Ummm… I think I better finish dressing now… What do you think?"

I giggled and let go. I did give her a little kiss on the cheek, though, before allowing her to go behind the changing screen again. Though sorely tempted, I tried not to take a peek at Danny getting dressed anymore.

"Fallon, you flirt," June grinned as she sat down to do some touch-ups on her face.

I shrugged. "I was just…"

She made patting-down gestures. "I know, I know," she said, "but let's get through tonight first, and we can talk about it after."

I nodded.

"'Kay," Danny said, "I'm all ready."

We turned and looked at her.

And, looking at her now - it was enough to make me go hetero. Or at least bi.

She wasn't wearing anything really fancy. She had on a form-fitting, short-sleeved, off-the-shoulder, sleek bodysuit in white or maybe more cream or ivory given it had a kind of subtle tone to it. It had a knitted-in, sheer-opaque effect on the shoulders and fancy edging at the neck. And given her generous, C-size boobies and super-sexy bod, I couldn't stop myself and wolf-whistled.

She also wore a pair of shiny, belted black-leather leggings (a big silver buckle on the belt) that disappeared into black, knee-high, thin calfskin riding boots. Although real riding boots didn't have stiletto heels, as far as I knew.

All-in-all, her entire ensemble was super-form-fitting, super-sleek, and super-super sexy. I didn't notice I was slack-jawed until June humorously pushed my jaw up to close my mouth. Everyone laughed and I blushed.

Somehow, though, the outfit's color was a little off given Danny's bright red hair. But they seemed to have that covered - Danielle took off Danny's half-wig that she wore to make her hair longer than normal, and give it more body. She then braided and then piled Danny's hair on top of her head then retrieved a long shiny black wig from a form on one of the makeup tables. Danny put on a net, put the wig over it, put in some hairpins and started combing and smoothing her new raven hair down. To do so, she had turned profile to me, and I sighed, admiring her beauty. And though she was actually a boy (which I didn't completely believe yet), I still kept calling her a "her." Wishful thinking, perhaps.

That thought did remind me of her gender, so I took a quick peek at her package while she was in profile, and I saw the barest of bulges. I knew some girls who had more prominent pubic mounds than Danny's bulge atm, so I don't think Danny would be found out. And at least she didn't have a camel toe - something most girls had problems with when wearing shiny tights or leggings that fit like a second skin, like Danny's leggings did. Anyway, Danny knew how to "dress" down there.

"Pssst!" June whispered to me. "What are you doing, Fallon?"

My eyes snapped up, embarrassed to realize I was staring. I blushed and shrugged at June. "Sorry," I said.

I was relieved that the twins didn't notice - they were busy fitting Danny's wig on, and in moments, Danny brought her head up and, like magic, she was suddenly a perfect brunette!

Danielle started working on Danny's makeup, wiping off what she had and darkening her brows and lashes to match the wig as well as renewing her face with a different palette. While she was doing that, Danny replaced her dangly earrings with big, gold wire hoop earrings. The hoops stuck out through her brunette hair, giving her a touch of an eighties slut vibe, and it pumped up the sexiness of her look. Not that she looked slutty, but the retro touch was edgy enough that it enhanced her dark hair and looks.

The next thing Danny did was to dip her fingers into a little bowl filled with a milky-colored solution, and the false nails she was wearing just peeled away.

"Danielle?" she said while she rinsed and dried her hands. "Do I put on nail polish?"

Danielle shook her head. "No time, Danny. That's a problem, though - without any polish, your hands are not gonna look nice."

"Can I make a suggestion?" I called out.

"Yeah, Fallon?"

"Just wipe her nails with a bit of baby oil or petroleum jelly or something to get them shiny. I got some here." I held up a bottle of mineral oil I found on my table as well as a little container full of cotton balls.

Danielle went over, gave me a big kiss on the top of my head (I'm sure she did that so that she wouldn't mess up our makeup) and grabbed the stuff from me. I had to smile.

Someone knocked on our door.

"Two minutes, ladies," one of the stage hands called through our door. "Two minutes on stage!"

All of us wrapped up what we were doing and started for the stage, but with Danielle instead of Danny with us.

"Guys!" Danny called and we looked back at her. She had put on a punk-rock style vintage slim-cut, fitted leather biker jacket over her white bodysuit top and she looked even sexier. Instead of bulking her up as jackets tended to do, the slim cut of the motorcycle jacket actually emphasized her figure.

"Good luck out there," she said.

We smiled, waved back and walked out of the dressing room.

It was a real shame she wasn't a real girl, I thought.

- - - - -

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

I watched them all file out but, despite my smile, I was worried. Not for the band but for Danielle.

We drilled and practiced a lot, and I think Danielle was as prepared as she could be. We even picked the best songs we could that fit Danielle's range. The thing was, though, I've heard her sing at home before, and she was no singer. Hopefully, our song selections will help.

Well, we're committed. Can't back out now. Time for me to make my way to the "secret room."

The "secret room" wasn't any kind of fancy thing - just an unused storage room in the basement level of the Arclight.

I knocked on the locked door.

"That's not the secret knock!" Tracey said.

"I forgot the secret knock!" I replied. "Lemme in, Tracey! Before someone sees me!"

Tracey opened the door and I slipped in.

"Wow!" Tracey said. "Danielle was right! Less IS more! You look incredible, Danny. Ahem, I mean Robin." She giggled.

I waved her down. "Chill, girl," I said. "Is the set ready?"

"See for yourself," she said and waved to the setup inside the room.

To say I was gobsmacked was an understatement.

Inside was a duplicate of our broadcast booth, complete with control board and the shelf of stuff and equipment on the faux back wall. True, the equipment on the shelves weren't powered up, and the control board was mostly made of painted balsa wood, posterboard and fake lights and switches, but, looking through the viewfinder of the camera Tracey had set up, it looked authentic. The one false note was the chair - the chair was a regular office swivel chair instead of our booths' chairs.

No one was in the room, of course - it was just Tracey and I. I asked her about details. "You made all of this?" I asked.

"Yep," she said. "Took me almost a week. The magic of duct tape, posterboard and spray paint. Nothing works on that board, of course," Tracey said. "And don't put any weight on it. Don't touch it, even. Coz it's liable to collapse. As for the shelf behind you, that's all real - the shelf itself is actually the shelf from your booth, as well as all the tapes and cartridges and equipment, arranged in the same way as in the booth.

"So what I'll have you do is to have you standing in front of the shelf instead of sitting by the board. That way, no one will have too much of a chance to notice the fakeness of my fake board. Whereas the stuff on the shelves are one hundred percent genuine.

"No one is here to help me with the camera, of course, so the camera will have to be static. That means you have to stay there and not move too much so you can stay in the shot. I also got the streaming black box set up. I can split-screen you with a video from my computer for callers that go Skype or Google instead of by phone or cellphone."

She gestured to her tripod-mounted camera. "That's my Sony MILC. It's connected to my Apple Mac, which, in turn, is connected to the video feed to the production booth. The audio feed from the wireless mic also goes into the Mac. I guess we're all set, technically speaking. And with my headset, your headset, my relay telephone switch and a T1 Internet connection, I guess there's nothing to do anymore but to do it, as my mom would say."

"Gotcha. But, Trace, I think it's important to have me seen at the board. Y'know - so people will believe that I'm in the booth."

She thought it over. "I think you're right. So. How about this: I'll get an initial shot with you from the side, sitting in front of the board, and you can fake fiddling with some of the fake controls. Then you can stand up and walk to the shelf, and I'll track you with the camera. And then you stay there until we're done."

"But why should I stand up and walk to the shelf?"

"Ummm… How about because you're gonna look at your clipboard, which is on the shelf." Tracey picked up a clipboard with the station logo, clipped some papers onto it, and put it on the shelf. She made room for the clipboard by taking down some of the cartridges.

"That's pretty smart, Trace. Okay, sounds good." I looked and noted that the papers were actually programming notes that I could refer to. Cool.

So, while Danielle and the band started getting ready to climb up the stage, Tracey and I started doing some blocking. Tracey put a wireless microphone on a mic stand in front of my chair, the stand's height adjusted so it was at just the right height for me while sitting down.

She handed me a pair of wireless headphones, and we did a couple of tests of me facing the camera, unclipping he mic, standing, walking to the front of the shelf, picking up the clipboard and then standing there, all the while Tracey practiced tracking me with the camera. After I had the clipboard and the mic in-hand, Tracey would lock the tripod down.

I noticed that only the half of the fake board that was facing the camera was complete. The part that couldn't be seen was missing or incomplete, which was probably part of why Tracey couldn't be too fancy with the camera angles.

She sighed.

"What's wrong Trace?"

"Well…" Tracey began. "I know we had to minimize the number of folks who knew about the substitution and the fake booth, but it would have been nice to have some other people to help. Even just one extra person."

"I know Trace, but it'll just be for a short time. We can manage."

"You're right, I guess. So, listen, I'm gonna try and squeeze in ten callers later, but let's have a minimum of five - two or three after each commercial break."

"All right. So, we're set?"

"Yep - we're set."

"'Kay. While we wait, how about we watch what's happening on stage?"

Tracey nodded. She got a small monitor, put it on top of a little card table beyond the range of the camera, switched it on and tuned it to KRPX. And we got to see a little of Danielle singing with the band, after all.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 37 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. So a major part of the plan for the concert was revealed - Danny was going to do his Robin-Nighthawk program from the Arclight! And Danielle was going to substitute for him on stage! Whether that would work, all will be revealed tonight. Tonight's chapter is also going to be another musical chapter - not the full-on concert, but just a taste. This just goes to show, there's never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Thirty-Seven:  Substitution

***** (Mrs. Piper) *****

Up near the rafters, Mike from KRPX and I were watching everything from the coliseum's observation booth, or skybox, which was just above the control booth. It wasn't really a booth since it was about a thirty-by-thirty room. All the seats were empty except for us and a few KRPX technicians.

All around us, except for the back of the room, were glass picture windows, which allowed us to see everything.

KRPX had also installed several projection screens hooked to several camera feeds. We had shots of the backstage, roving shots of the stage itself, and roving shots of the crowd. There was also a static video of the stage, with the entire stage in frame.

There was also a small TV set tuned to KRPX, picking up what was being transmitted over the airwaves. And this was what we concentrated most on.

So far, Mike and I were ecstatic with what's been happening. For Mike, I'm sure he was thinking of the ratings and the commercial fees he'd be getting on subsequent re-airings of the show, which, perhaps, might improve the ratings of his other programs.

As for me, I was happy about that, too, of course, but I was happier for the fact that my radio station was getting a good kick-off. And as soon as Tracey finishes school and university, I'm going to pass the station on to her in good shape. She doesn't know that I will, of course, but by the time I do, it'll be just a formality since I was fairly sure she'll be completely running it by then. So far, she'd taken to being a radio program producer like a duck to water. And I've never seen Tracey so dedicated and inspired by anything before, and if this station really is his thing, I mean her thing, then I'm gonna encourage it.

I knew it was all because of Danny. If not for Danny, this radio station thing wouldn't have been something Tracey would have been interested in. So, I have to make sure to protect Danny and not just the station until Tracey can take over. Once she does, then I know she'll be okay.

A worry, of course, is that radio, as a medium, is not exactly a growing one, and is in fact considered a sunset industry by many experts. But I'm sure, between Tracey and I, and Danny and his gang, we'll at least keep our station relevant and, maybe even profitable.

That was all for the future, though. Right now, I needed to concentrate on tonight's show.

When we lost the lights at the beginning, Mike and I almost had heart attacks, but when our lighting director, Maurice, said that Danny had an idea, I was relieved. And because of Danny, it was like what happened was just part of the show. Hey, I'm not proud - I'll take it. And since then, the show had been going well. I had fingers crossed that nothing more will happen.

At the moment, Talia, Harry and Sally were doing a long plug for KPRX and KRPQ - an informercial. No wonder Mike was so engrossed with the TV.

Danielle, disguised as Dannie, was about a half a minute away from going on-stage to sing. I remember her doing well during the rehearsals, actually. I hope that she does equally well now. She was going to sing an old nineties song by someone called Donna Lewis. Tracey played it for me once and told me it was a Top Forty song back then, but it wasn't exactly like the other songs UB liked to play. The song was a bit too laid back. It was also easy to sing. Which, I suppose, was the point, so Danielle could manage it. In fact, during rehearsal, Danielle's singing voice was pretty close to the singer's wispy style.

No one but the band, Lou, Dennis, Tracey and I knew about the substitution. Not even the other DJs, my production people or Danny's friends knew. But it was the only thing we could think of to allow Danny to be in two places at once: as soon as Danielle was through with her song, it would be Danny's turn as Robin the Nighthawk to take some calls from fans, and after that, Danielle would come back on stage with the band and sing another song, allowing Danny time to sneak back on stage and take over.

It seemed complicated but Tracey had rightly pointed out that if the Nighthawk didn't come on, some fans would find it suspicious, and a lot of them would actually resent the station for not allowing her to participate more, especially since most of of them thought, and rightly so, that the Nighthawk was responsible for resuscitating the almost-dead station. So we had no choice.

Also, because of the Nighthawk's growing popularity and the buzz around the show two weeks ago, there have been some calls from people interested in KRPQ that were thinking of expanding its reach and maybe taking it nationwide. Not really our goal, though. Furthermore, I've also heard from the other deejays and the office staff that there were calls coming in for the Nighthawk. No doubt people hoping to hire her away from us. It was only a matter of time before they try and contact "Robin" directly. It's something I needed to talk to Tracey about.

I put all of that in the back of my mind for now and concentrated on the show. I turned my attention back to the TV.

It was hard to ignore the odd echoing from the TV because of the five-second delay between the action and the transmission. For the hundredth time, I asked Mike to turn down the TV's volume since we could hear the live show from the outside anyway.

Talia, Harry and Sally finally finished with the KRPX-KRPQ infomercial. In the nick of time, too, as the audience was starting to get antsy.

Talia made a humorous reference about that, and said it was therefore time to go back to the music. "Ladies and gentlemen," she said in a quiet segue, "again, here's Unlimited Bandwidth."

The lights were brought down and Danielle started singing.
"Feels like I'm standing in a timeless dream," she sang in a melodious and wispy voice. The whole coliseum fell silent. All throughout the show, as well as in all of her previous appearances and performances, Danny had been subtly changing her voice to suit her songs. Many of the band's songs were guy songs, but Danny was able to adjust so she made them female versions but still preserving the nuances and tone of the original. And, still, all throughout, her voice was immediately recognizable.

But Danielle's voice didn't have… whatever quality Danny's voice had. It therefore felt a little off - it was perfectly good; it just wasn't Danny-good.

"… of mists, of pale amber rose," Danielle continued as the lights were slowly brought back up. "Feels like I'm lost in a deep cloud of heavenly scent," she sang. She was okay, but somehow she didn't genuinely sound like Danny.

As the darkness slowly disappeared, we could discern the band. A spotlight was on June as she played a slow accompaniment to Danielle.

"Touching - discovering you…"

At that point, Dale and Mongo started a slow base beat and June added a slow, synthesized tambourine.

"Those days of warm rains rush back to me," Danielle continued, "miles of windless, summer nights…"

Betsy and Fallon slowly segued in, and Danielle continued. "Secret moments shared in the heat of the afternoon… out of the stillness, soft spoken words…"

A big spotlight hit the middle of the stage, illuminating Danielle, and the audience erupted in cheers and applause.

Danielle smiled and waved, scarves flowing and waving, and the crowd roared. The voice finally connected with the image of Dannie, and whatever felt off with Danielle's voice sort of disappeared.

"Say it, say it again," the Glee Club girls whispered, and Danielle answered in song: "I love you always forever, near and far, closer together. Everywhere, I will be with you, everything, I will do for you. I love you always forever, near and far, closer together. Everywhere, I will be with you, everything I will do for you."

In an unrehearsed move, Danielle moved to the edge of the stage and, as she sang, she reached out her hand and the ones closest reached back (the orchestra pit had been covered). She couldn't get close enough, though, and was only close enough to touch fingertips, but even so, the roar of the crowd's approval doubled.

If Danielle and Danny didn't quite sound the same, they were close enough in all other ways. They were practically twins, including their hearts. And whatever difference there was didn't matter. I laughed in delight.

"You've got the most unbelievable blue eyes I've ever seen," she sang. "You've got me almost melting away. As we lay there under a blue sky, with pure white stars - exotic sweetness - a magical time…"

"Say it, say it again," the Glee Club girls again whispered, and Danielle again answered. "I love you always forever…" And, with the girls harmonizing, repeated the refrain.

After the refrain, Mongo made a base hit.

"Say you'll love me," Danielle sang, "love me forever! Never stop, never whatever! Near and far, and always and every…"

Mongo hit the base again and Danielle repeated the bridge four more times. And as the song started to fade, Danielle and the Glee Club girls repeated the refrain over and over until they faded out the song into silence.

In the silence, like a gathering storm, the applause rose, and Danielle, with Betsy and June on either side of her, and Fallon, Dale and Mongo on the outer edges, held hands. Together, they bowed and the applause continued.

A big projection screen descended from the rafters in front of everyone, giving them the opportunity to step off the stage.

On the screen, a long-view of the stage was projected, and in moments, the video on the screen was shown on TV. At that point, the TV video replaced what was coming out of the projection screen. In effect, the big screen became like a big TV.

The video faded into black, and then a new one with Danny as the Nighthawk faded in. She was in what looked like a leather jacket costume, and wearing a big pair of wireless headsets, and was seated in front of her booth's console. The shot was in profile, with her fiddling with something on the board.

Have to hand it to Tracey - her cardboard console looked like the real thing. The one jarring note was that Danny was using a wireless mic on a stand in front of her instead of the booth's boom mic.

"That's Unlimited Bandwidth, folks," Robin, aka the Nighthawk, said in her sexy contralto, "and I promise you, there'll be more of that later." She smiled into the camera. "Hello, everyone, I'm the Nighthawk. Hope you're having a good time."

"Robin" unclipped the mic and stood up, mic in hand. "But first," she said as she walked to the shelf behind her, "I think we have something else scheduled. Let's see…"

She picked up a clipboard that was conveniently lying on top of some tape cartridges. "Seems we've scheduled some callers," she giggled, "which, I guess, means it's time out for the Nighthawk Show."

We had a good view of Danny as Robin, aka the Nighthawk in her new outfit. Underneath the open jacket, she was wearing a sheer, smooth white boatneck bodysuit that smoothly tucked into leather leggings that disappeared into stiletto riding boots. She also had a gold chain around her narrow waist (loosely knotted instead of buckled with a snap or buckle), the silver belt buckle of her leggings riding lower below where her bellybutton would be. Huge retro wire-hoop earrings peaked through her long, shiny brunette hair, and her outfit was finished off with the fitted leather motorcycle-type jacket. It was cut to show off Danny's figure, and the fact it was open tended to show off how… well-developed she was, as well.

She was the right mixture of beauty, sexiness, toughness, smarts and approachability. Danielle (I assumed it was Danielle) picked just the right outfit, as usual, for the Nighthawk's second outing on TV, and since Tracey had her in a full shot, I knew Tracey knew it, too. I have to give my baby props - she had smarts I never knew she had. I guarantee we'll have all the teenage boys and girls tuning in, if they weren't already.

"So," Danny, I mean Robin, said in her Robin-voice, "as usual, before we get back to the concert, we have our main line open for callers. Call in now, and we'll try to get you on the air. The number's 555-2878. You can also connect via Skype or Google Chat if you prefer - our ID is KRPQ'S NITEHAWK." Danny dutifully spelled it out.

"Remember that there's no apostrophe before the 'S' and 'night' is spelled N-I-T-E, okay? These contact details will be continuously flashed on your screens, or announced between commercials for those tuned into KRPQ Radio.

"Speaking of which, here are some of them - commercials, I mean. Heehee. Start dialing and seeya in a bit!"

A commercial for Cowgirl Jeans started playing, so I tuned out the TV in my head and waited until Danny was back on. In the meantime, I accepted a caramel frappe from one of the techs. You know, I think I'm starting to like this. Have to thank the kids for turning me on to these things though all the sugar's liable to make me diabetic.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 38 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. The gang sucessfully got Danielle on-stage as Danny's substitute, and no one noticed. Whew! Danny, now Robin, started his Nighthawk show, and prepared to get some callers on the air. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Thirty-Eight:  The Nighthawk Show

***** (Tracey) *****

As the commercials ran, I mentioned to Danny that there were about five blocks of two and a half minutes worth of commercials slated - which was most of the allotted commercials for the entire show. Mom had decided to blow most of it on this one section of the concert show.

And then, as I was explaining, I heard Mom over my headset telling me to arrange for Robin to close out the program. Another one of Mom's last-minute brainstorms. I mentioned it to Danny.

"What!" Danny exclaimed, "that wasn't in the plan!"

"I know, I know!" I said. "I just found out about it myself, Danny." I poiinted to my headphones.

"So, does that mean we have to do this substitution thing again?"

I shrugged. "Seems Mom was impressed with Danielle's performance, and…"

"Well, I'm not doing this again! Does Mrs. P think this was easy?"

- - - - -

***** (Tracey) *****

Danny and I brainstormed a bit, and decided that we'd try to record an extro during the next commercial break. But right now, we had to take care of business.

The control booth counted us down, and I relayed.

"Here we go, Danny! And in five! Four! Three! Two!" And I pointed at her.

"And, I'm back, cats and kitties," Danny said. I barely cringed this time. For whatever reason, hackneyed references like that worked for the Nighthawk.

"We got several people on the line at the moment, and we've picked people at random. I'm sorry that we can't put everyone on. Anyway, right now, we have someone named Rodney on the line. So, what up, dude!"

And it was just like it usually was, just like in the booth.

Danny was in rare form and took care of business like never before. It was like being on TV has made her more hyper and more chatty than normal. And the callers reacted to her energy.

We had started with a phone caller, and I put up the station's logo in the PiP, with the name "Rodney" superimposed on the logo, and Danny, or the Nighthawk, chatted with her usual wit. She only spent a minute with Rodney, though, and Danny asked me for another caller.

This time, I selected a Skype video caller, and the novelty of us seeing the caller in the PiP box made for a more interactive and fun call. It didn't hurt that the girl, Nina, was pretty cute. Just wished her bandwidth was bigger - we could have skipped the jerky video.

Still, we went a little overtime with Nina, which I signaled to Danny before I put through another Skype caller. This time, it was a cute little nine-year-old girl named Suzy, and Danny got her to open up. By the end of two minutes, the girl was giggling helplessly, flattered by the attention Danny was paying her.

After that was yet another video call, this time a teenager that seemed familiar to me. As Danny chatted with the girl, I eventually identified her as a schoolmate of mine. I didn't know her personally, but I kept seeing her around my school. She seemed nice. Maybe I'll introduce myself when I see her in school. Hopefully, she won't be weird about me and my… "condition."

In my headset, I heard that they were ready to break for a commercial so I made the overhead crossed-arms sign.

Danny subtly nodded and wrapped up her latest chat. We then broke for yet another block of commercials, and after I made sure that we weren't transmitting, I queued up my Photobooth app, and over the next three breaks, we did a couple of short twenty-second commercial breaker clips as well as one hundred-and-fifty-second one, with a few seconds of the empty "booth" as the clip's "tail." This longer one was the exit video mom wanted, and I made sure to get Danny on the left half of the screen only. This would give the people who were going to make the credits room to roll the text on the right.

These were all on the fly since we had no time to prepare. Hopefully, they'll be good enough for mom. I made sure that the form factor was the same as the video feeds, and made sure that the audio was crystal clear - no noise and no distractions. I named the file "for ending - feel free to add b/g music."

It was easy to fake the spiel for the clip since we knew the segments coming up, and Danny play-acted like we'd already seen them. After thanking All the deejays, and the members of UB by name, Danny, as Robin, also mentioned me and the gang individually by name, as well as all the Glee Club members. Lastly, she thanked KRPX TV, Rockrgrrl, Cowgirl Jeans and some of the other major sponsors, and then said that she'll be seeing everyone on her regular Saturday show. I then cut to several seconds of the empty booth, and that was it.

That was nerve-wracking, to say the least. Good thing, too, since we were like thirty seconds away from another round of calls. Danny asked for a paper towel and gingerly wiped up her neck and brow, careful not to smudge her makeup. For me, I didn't care, and just mopped my entire face and neck.

The storage room wasn't very well ventilated, so thirty seconds into the first call of the third block, Danny, feeling warm, doffed the jacket. I was too late to warn her not to do that. I mean, pitstains and all. But Danielle had luckily picked her an outfit that didn't show stains. And though she made taking off her jacket a casual thing, the fact that she had that bodysuit underneath made it a sexy thing.

Just clad in her off-shoulder white boatneck bodysuit, shiny leather leggings and stiletto riding boots, Danny nonchalantly swept her brunette tresses back and continued talking. She just didn't know how beautiful she was. With my meds, I hardly reacted to such things anymore, but I felt some stirrings this time. After all these months, I was sexually aroused. There was just something in the air whenever Danny was around. But I shook off Danny's aura, followed her example and just continued working.

This final batch went just as good as the others, except, in this one, the last caller turned out to be a bunch of girls spending the night in one of their friend's houses so they could watch the show together.

This last call was hilarious since none of the girls allowed anyone to go uninterrupted, all of them excited to be on the air, which got Danny and me laughing.

One of the girls asked who was there with me.

"Oh, that's my producer, Tracey," Danny called. "Say hi to the girls, Tracey."

I snuck my hand out in front of the camera and waved, my fingers seen on screen.

And the girls went, "Hiii, Tracey!"

I snuck my hand out in front of the camera and waved again. Giggling, the girls waved as well. And with that, Danny started wrapping up the call.

With a few more words about her coming back later, she turned the feed back to the show.

"That's it for the Nighthawk," she said, "but I may be back later. Thanks for spending time with me, and I'll look forward to talking with all of you guys again during my regular Saturday morning radio show. For now, I return you to our favorite band, Unlimited Bandwidth and the show currently in progress.

"So, here's UB, with Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks' 'Whenever I Call You Friend.'"

I got the signal in my headset. "Aaannnd, we're out!" I exclaimed.

"Yayyy!" Danny waved her hands in the air and cheered.

"Okay, now to get you dressed," I said.

"Dammit, Trace! Can't I even get a little break?"

I brought out the big bag that Danielle had packed for her.

"Nope!" I said and chortled like a Nazi torturing someone.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 39 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. As Mrs. Piper watched Danielle singing, she contemplated her plans for the station, and how Danny was so essential to them. As she watched the show, behind the scenes, Danny did his Nighthawk program from the fake booth that Tracey set up. Chapter 39 is yet another musical chapter. Be prepared! Truly, there never is a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Thirty-Nine:  Sneaking Danny On-Stage

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

Danielle's song was great - simply because it was pretty easy and light, and wasn't too tiring. We needed a break, and the song was a great way to gear down. But what really helped was Danny's Nighthawk call-in program afterwards, because it gave us a chance to really rest.

When that big projection screen started coming down, I felt nothing but relief. And when it was down, we all tried to appear we weren't rushing to our dressing rooms.

"Oh, dear!" Betsy said as we entered the room, "my feet are sooo tired!" She plopped down into one of the chairs.

"Me, too, kid," I said.

All of us draped ourselves over our chairs in various stages of pooped. Ahhh! It's so good to be off my feet! I bent down and took off my heels. Whooo!

"Danielle?" I called. "Can you get me a bottle of water, please?"

I plucked the bottle Danielle threw to me out of the air, and finished it off in nothing flat. "Can you get me anoth…" Anticipating it, she threw me another one before I even asked. "Oh! Ummm, thanks!"

Danielle gave me a wink, and handed the others drinks as well, too.

Each of us took turns in the bath. Jeeze, I must've peed a gallon. What I wouldn't do to get some sleep or something. Someone had left some snacks on our makeup tables - there was an apple, a banana and a sandwich on mine. Just enough to get me to the end of the show without making me sleepy, plus a couple more bottles of water and a Gatorade.

Of course, the break ended all too quickly. We could have rested a little more but it was time for the mid-program costume change. I've always thought those costume changes those big stars made in the middle of their shows were so… I guess the word I was looking for was "showbiz," If you know what I mean - a big star wanting to glam it up.

But I found out that costume changes were actually necessary. I don't know about other performers, but I've practically soaked through my outfit. And I caught myself almost slipping in my shoes several times because of sweaty feet. Whatever the case may be, I really needed a change.

So we all changed into new outfits.

June had switched to a simple yellow tanktop bandage minidress - from the front, at least. It totally didn't have a back. Wow! She also switched from her shoes to white patent-leather high heels. She caught me looking at her, and gave me a giggle and a wink.

As for Betsy, she picked a hot, sexy bandage minidress as well. The top was like a tight, long-sleeved collarless closed-neck sweater, the front part and right sleeve in white, and the left sleeve and back in satiny black. From below the breast down, though, it was like a tight, stretchy black miniskirt outfit with wavy cuts going down covered in stretch black mesh. And you knew she wasn't wearing underwear because you couldn't see any waistband from any underwear through the mesh.

She also caught me looking at her, too, and giggled.

For Danielle, she wore a sexy, floral two-piece bandage party dress in white lace. It was like a cross between lingerie and a prom dress. The top was like a lace crop top bustier with lace spaghetti straps, the bottom part ending in lace. It was still cut high enough that her midriff was mostly exposed. The bottom was basically a super-tight lace overlay over full-panty style stretchy-white briefs.

Wow.

As for me, I had picked a simple backless, bandage mini LBD, except that the straps looped around my neck creating a peekaboo kind of panel that showed off my cleavage. At best, I was a large B or a small C, but I think I had more than enough up top to make it work. My outfit was the most conventional but the peekaboo panel made it the sexiest, I think.

After renewing our makeup, we waited for our call.

The dressing room was silent, with all of us just soaking in the cool air-conditioned air and resting. We all had our shoes off and our tootsies up.

"What do you think of the show so far?" Betsy asked me in hushed tones, as if she was afraid of breaking the stillness.

"So far?" I said in the same hushed tones. "So far, I think it's been great. And, I'm sure the fans are over the moon. And I wanted to say…"

"Yeah, Fallon - what is it?"

"I wanted to say thank you. To all you guys. For making me part of this. You had no reason to, except for Danny vouching for me. And it's been the most incredible thing to happen to me in my life so far."

Betsy reached out and held my hand.

"You're welcome," she said.

After a bit, we heard June starting to snore, and we all started to giggle.

That woke her up. "What," she mumbled, "what's happening?"

"You better not fall asleep, kid," I said. "We might be called up soon."

And true enough, we heard the inevitable call.

"Two minutes, ladies," the same guy from before called from outside our dressing room. "Everyone on stage in two minutes!"

Everyone groaned. No one wanted to move.

I sighed. "Time to get up," I said. Still, no one moved.

After maybe ten seconds, June finally responded.

"You first."

And everyone laughed.

- - - - -

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

It was the first time for me to see what Danielle had picked out for my second outfit, and to say I had some misgivings about it would be an understatement.

After all, the top was nothing but a glorified bustier and the skirt was like an extra-large lace handkerchief!

But then, what can I do? No doubt Danielle was already on stage parading around in this… costume. I turned Tracey's little TV on, and, yep. I was right.

So I used a big towel and scrubbed my face clean of all makeup. I rinsed my hands in an astringent solution and stuck on new red, self-adhesive nails.

"Turn around, Trace," I said, and without waiting for her to respond, I took off my boots, leggings, bodysuit and men's thong briefs. I then wiped myself down all over, and powdered myself with baby powder down there, as Danielle taught me, and pulled up a white full panty-style gaff, adjusting myself appropriately, of course.

I then fitted the bustier-style top around my babies, and zipped up - the zip was in front but was hidden - and wrapped the lace skirt around my gaff that looked like panties.

I then took off the brunette wig, took out the pins as well as the hoop earrings, put on the dangly ones in the bag, and fluffed up my regular hair. I then got the half-wig and put it on. Now my hair was down to my butt again.

I did my face in the style the make-up people did originally. As a final touch, I tied the white, lace scarves I founf inside the bag around my wrists and stepped into the white heels, also in the bag.

I looked in Tracey's little TV and… Oh, no! The band was already halfway through the song!

"I gotta go, Trace!"

"Leave everything, Danny! I'll take care of this! Go! Go!"

I gave Tracey a quick kiss on the cheek, and rushed out.

Tippy-toeing through the hallways, I made sure I wasn't seen and heard. Soon I was in position.

- - - - -

***** (Dale) *****

I was the one who suggested Kenny Loggins' song, actually. I was a Kenny Loggins fan. But the real reason I picked the song was because it was a duet between Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks.

Although Stevie Nicks was one heck of a pop music star, and was one of the sexiest seventies singers around, her voice was also one of the most limited in range. No one can doubt it especially if they've heard any of her songs. And, because of this, it might just be the ticket for Danielle. I confided in Danny about this, and he agreed, in secret.

I sold the idea of the song to the guys as a classic seventies hit and didn't even mention Stevie Nicks, and when they listened to it, they agreed. But their problem was it was a duet between a guy and a girl, and if this was one of Danielle's songs, then she couldn't do the Kenny Loggins part. She'd fall apart.

The band had Mongo and I for male vocals, and it was clearly closer to my range and style than Mongo's. Everyone had looked at me suspiciously then. They laughingly thought I suggested it so I could sing the lead on TV, which I pooh-poohed. Still, they said yes, whether they believed my denial or not.

So, here we were.

We were all set up behind the projection screen, waiting for our cue. The lights were down to maximize the quality of the projected images, but there was enough light coming through the screen's fabric so we could see.

Everyone had changed outfits. Mongo and I were wearing leather vests over silk button-down shirts, leather pants and boots. My shirt was maroon while Mongo's was dark-green.

Even the Glee Club kids had changed outfits. The guys had switched to crisp, white, long-sleeved button-downs, slim-fit jeans and solid-colored unbuttoned vests (one of the guys in a neon-blue vest, one in dark red, and the other in neon green) while the girls were in sleeveless white minidresses with sheer mesh covering the v-cut neckline - the mesh in a different color for each girl, too.

As for June, Betsy and Fallon, they all wore different dresses, in black and white. June was in yellow, but it all seemed to match.

Center stage was me and Danielle standing in front of mic stands with the attached wireless microphones. It was our song, after all, so we stood in the middle in pride of place.

The stage had also been dressed a bit. The back stage was covered by a black canvas with a starfield painted on it. There was a large billboard-size canvas poster just behind it. The idea was, at the proper moment, the black canvas would be dropped to uncover the poster. What that poster was I didn't know - guess we'll find out when it was revealed.

As for the rest of the stage, several four-foot wide cloth panels hanging from the rafters like curtains had been dropped down. The cloth panels were black with what looked like star streaks, comet tails and other similar bright things painted on them.

The panels were randomly distributed through the stage, and there was at least one panel on either side of each of us, and it made the essentially-empty stage feel decorated.

I looked to Danielle and she looked really nervous.

"Hey," I said to her. "You did good before. You'll do good now. Just do it like we rehearsed."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Thanks, Dale," she said.

"No prob. Okay, here we go."

- - - - -

***** (Danielle) *****

We could see Danny, as Robin the Nighthawk, through the projection screen, reversed, of course. And over the coliseum's speakers we could hear her. And then we heard her introduce us.

The video faded out and, in the silence, we heard the very faint whine of electric motors as they raised the canvas projection screen up and into the rafters.

The audience roared in anticipation, and clapped and screamed.

But the house lights were down and all that could be seen were Dale's and my silhouettes.
We waited for the applause to die down, and as soon as it was quiet enough, Dale and the Glee Club kids started to hum in harmony.

And then a spotlight hit Dale, and he started to sing.

"Whenever I call you 'friend,'" he sang, like Kenny Loggins, or maybe more like Robbie Williams. Regardless, the audience ate it up.

"… I begin to think I understand. Anywhere we are, you and I have always been forever and ever…"

And then a spotlight hit me, and I started harmonizing with him.

"I see myself within your eyes," we sang, "and that's all I need to show me why. Everything I do seems to take me home to you…"

And the Glee Club guys sang. "Forever and ever!"

With Mongo laying a backbeat, the house lights were brought up. Dale and I took turns singing.

"Now I know my life has given me more than memories," Dale sang, "Day by day, we can see…"

and then I sang. "In every moment there's a reason to carry on!"

And then the two of us again. "Sweet love showin' us a heavenly light. I've never seen such a beautiful sight. Sweet love glowin' on us every night. I know forever we'll be doin' it… Sweet love showin' us a heavenly light…"

"I've never seen such a beautiful sight," Dale interjected.

And then the two of us. "Sweet love glowin' on us every night…"

"And then Dale. "I know forever we'll be doin' it right…"

It was my turn now. "Whenever I call you 'friend,'" I sang, "I believe I've come to understand. Everywhere we are, you and I were meant to be forever and ever…"

"I think about the times to come," Dale took over, "Knowin' I will be the lucky one, and ever our love will last. I always want to call you 'Friend!'"

"… friend!" I harmonized with him, and we continued together. "Sweet love showin' us a heavenly light…

"I've never seen such a beautiful sight," Dale sang.

And then the two of us again. "Sweet love glowin' on us every night…"

And then Dale. "I know forever we'll be doin' it…"

Then Betsy took over with her violin, playing the part of the saxophone in the original. The audience exploded again, and Betsy hammed it up a bit, to the delight of the fans.

After Betsy's interlude, I took over. "Now I know my life has given me more than memories," I sang.

"Day by day," Dale sang, almost in a scream, just like Kenny Loggins. "We can see…"

"In every moment there's a reason to carry on," I followed.

And then the two of us again. "Sweet love showin' us a heavenly light…"

"I've never seen such a beautiful sight," Dale sang.

And then the two of us again. "Sweet love glowin' on us every night…"

Then, Dale - "I've never seen such a beautiful sight."

Us again - "Sweet love flowin' almost every night. I know forever we'll be doin' it, doin' it… Sweet love showin' us a heavenly light…"

Then me - "I've never seen such a beautiful sight."

Then us again - "Sweet love flowin' almost every night. I know forever we'll be doin' it, doin' it, doin' it…"

And then us and the Glee Club kids sang over and over in harmony until the song faded away - "Sweet love… Sweet love… Sweet love…"

It was yet another of those amazing moments, and we basked in the glow. I felt relief, because I knew my bit was done. But then I felt sad as well, since my time in the limelight was over now…

Dale signaled us and we all bowed at the same time. He signaled again, and we bowed a second time. No wonder the guys loved this. I waved and threw air-kisses to everyone.

Though I wanted to bask some more, it was time. Otherwise, I might not leave the stage at all. Waving, I started walking to the side of the stage where Danny's and Dale's guitars were. To get there, I had to walk behind a couple of the hanging panels. Oh, boy. Here we go...

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 40 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. In the last chapter, Danielle was able to get through yet another song, as she substituted for her brother, and sang as Dannie. What a relief! At least Danielle won't be doing that with the rest of the songs in the concert (Fair warning - Chapter 40 is yet another musical chapter!). Indeed: never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Forty:  Not Exactly Fan Service

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

When the song was almost done, I stood on the designated equipment lift platform and switched off the light - otherwise, the light will be seen by the crowd. The platform was one of three that allowed backstage people to bring equipment up to the stage. I reached up to the low ceiling (actually the bottom part of the stage floor) and moved an access panel aside (or a part of the stage floor). The panel was hastily added just a few days ago. With it, one didn't need to open up a big part of the floor just to get to the stage.

I stepped on a button on the platform and it started rising, and me along with it. I rose through the panel I opened up. In seconds, I was on stage, and conveniently behind one of the hanging cloth panels so the audience wouldn't see me. Cool.

From my vantage point, I couldn't see much, but, by the same token, no one could see me as well.

I listened to the last parts of the Kenny Loggins song, and I had to say Dale and Danielle, hell, the entire band, sounded great together. Maybe Danielle could sub for me more often.

And then the applause started raining down. Better get ready…

Here comes Danielle. I turned so that I was facing the same direction she was walking in. I reached my arm back, and as soon as she was obscured by the curtain, we touched hands and I started walking in the same direction while Danielle stopped walking.

"Good luck, Danny," she whispered.

I nodded and walked out from behind the cloth panel, and straight to the guitars. From the audience's point of view, it was just me walking past one of the curtains as I made my way towards the guitars. Penn and Teller couldn't have done better.

I had to giggle at our little magic trick.

I reached out, grabbed one of my guitars and walked back the way Danielle came. I passed the curtain Danielle disappeared behind, and Danielle wasn't there anymore. Looking down, I saw that the access panel was back in place. "Good girl, Danielle," I thought and went back to where Danielle's mic stand was.

I grinned at Dale and I mouthed to him, "yep, it's me."

Dale smiled at me, turned to the audience. "So you want some more?" he screamed.

"Yesss!" the crowd yelled back.

"Then here we go!"

I clipped on a capo way up my guitar's fret and started playing.

It sounded like a yukelele, which was the whole point, and I started playing the opening to that Meghan Trainor song in the Peanuts movie.
"Mmm, ehey" I hummed, and the audience cheered.

"Hey!" Kalista from the Glee Club exclaimed, and I started singing the song while Fallon and I played our guitars.

"Don't think about it. Just move your body. Listen to the music, sing, oh, ey, oh!"

Mongo laid down a beat and Dale played counterpoint.

"Just move those left feet. Go ahead, get crazy. Anyone can do it, sing, oh, ey, oh!"

With the Glee Club girls and Fallon joining, we started the chorus.

"Show the world you've got that fire!" ("Fire!" Kalista exclaimed in counterpoint.) "Feel the rhythm getting louder! (Hey!) Show the room what you can do, prove to them you got the moves. (Hey!) I don't know about you -"

Then I went solo.

"- but I feel better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah - better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah… And we can do this together. I bet you feel better when you're dancing, yeah, yeah…"

The whole group went full-tilt Jamaican, and we all went "pa-pa-ra-pa-pa-pa-da-da-la-la-la-la-da-da-pa-pa-da-da!"

The whole group then went quiet, and, in quieter tones, I sang. "When you finally let go, and you slay that solo, cause you listen to the music. Sing, oh, ey, oh!

"'Cause you're confident, babe, and you make your hips sway. We knew that you could do it, sing, oh, ey, oh!

"Show the world you've got that fire (fire, baby). Feel the rhythm getting louder. Show the room what you can do. Prove to them you got the moves! I don't know about you…

"- but I feel better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah. Better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah… (oh, oh!)"

And then we all sang together. "And we can do this together! I bet you feel better when you're dancing, yeah, yeah! Pa-pa-ra-pa-pa-pa-da-da-la-la-la-la-da-da-pa-pa-da-da!"

By that time, most of the audience were on their feet and dancing.

Rocko went, "Come on!" and we all did another round of… "Pa-pa-ra-pa-pa-pa-da-da-la-la-la-la-da-da-pa-pa-da-da!"

And then, the Glee club girls went, "oh ey oh! Oh ey oh!"

I then took over. "I feel better when I'm dancing. I'm better when I'm dancing, aye, oh ey oh! Feel better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah! Better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah… Don't you know…"

And then the group went, "we can do this together. Bet you feel better when you're dancing, yeah, yeah… Pa-pa-ra-pa-pa-pa-da-da-la-la-la-la-da-da-pa-pa-da-da! Pa-pa-ra-pa-pa-pa-da-da-la-la-la-la-da-da-pa-pa-da-da! I feel better when I'm dancing, I'm better when I'm dancing, hey! Feel better when I'm…"

And in the silence, I go, "yeah, yeah…"

And as the applause swelled and swelled, to not let the dancy kind of vibe from going away, we went directly to the next song, this one from the movie, "Trolls." This was our big dance number - which was also our only dance number, too. I so wish our choreographers weren't watching.
With Mongo and June playing the cymbals and background chords, we all arranged ourselves according to our rehearsed places. Dale, Fallon and I slid our guitars on our backs by their straps so we could dance with our guitars but move more freely, and our background-slash-Glee Club singers on either side of us.

I wasn't the best dancer, unfortunately, but since I would be singing the lead, I was the lead dancer. I did my best to start channelling Justin Timberlake somehow.

And, to Mongo and June's playing, and everyone's synchronized finger-snapping, we all got down.

"I got this feelin' inside my bones," I sang, "it goes electric-wavy when I turn it on. All through my city, all through my home - we're flyin' up, no ceilin', when we're in the zone."

I had seen Michael Jackson's eighties "Thriller" MTV, and I think we got that one beat. We continued gettin' down.

"I got that sunshine in my pocket," I sang, "got that good soul in my feet. I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops."

Gus, Frank and Rocko from the Glee club went "ooh!"

"I can't take my eyes up off it, movin' so phenomenally. Come on, rock the way we rock it, so don't stop!" And everyone, like in Simon Sez, froze.

"Under the lights when everything goes," I sang, and everyone resumed dancing. "Nowhere to hide when I'm gettin' you close… when we move, well, you already know. So just imagine…"

"Just imagine, just imagine," Beatriz, Edna, Kalista, Ramona, Valentina, Phylicia, and Eileen - the Glee Club girls - harmonized while Betsy played a single climbing note on her violin. And then Mongo fired a base hit.

"Nothin' I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance, yeah," I sang. "Feel the mood creepin' up on you, so just dance, dance, dance…" ("Come on!" Rocko exclaimed.)

"All those things I shouldn't do, but you dance, dance, dance," I sang. "And ain't nobody leavin' soon, so keep dancin'!"

"Can't stop the feelin'!" Kalista sang in a high falsetto, and I responded, "so just dance, dance, dance…"

"I can't stop the feelin'!" Kalista sang again, and I repeated, "so just dance, dance, dance…"

"Come on!" Rocko exclaimed again.

Everyone started snapping their fingers and danced like those guys in that gang scene from West Side Story. "Ooh, it's something magical," I sang. "It's in the air, it's in my blood, it's rushin' on…" ("Rushin' on," Gus echo-sang.)

"I don't need no reason, don't need control…" ("Need control," Gus echoed.) "I fly so high, no ceiling, when I'm in my zone. 'Cause I got that sunshine in my pocket, got that good soul in my feet! I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops!"

Gus, Frank and Rocko again went "ooh!"

"I can't take my eyes up off it, moving so phenomenally! Come on, rock the way we rock it, so don't stop!" ("Stop, stop, stop…" Gus echoed.)

Again, with synchronized snapping and moves just like in West Side Story, the guys danced and I sang.

"Under the lights when everything goes, nowhere to hide when I'm gettin' you close, when we move, well, you already know… So just imagine…"

"Just imagine, just imagine," the Glee girls harmonized again, and Betsy played a single climbing note on her violin. And then Mongo fired a base hit again.

"Nothin' I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance, yeah," I sang. "Feel the mood creepin' up on you, so just dance, dance, dance…" ("Come on!" Rocko exclaimed.)

"All those things I shouldn't do but you dance, dance, dance," I sang, "and ain't nobody leavin' soon, so keep dancin'."

"Can't stop the feelin'!" Kalista again sang, and I responded, "so just dance, dance, dance…"

We repeated that a couple more times, and Dale swung his bass guitar up and started playing a base beat accompanied by everyone's finger snapping and dancing.

"I can't stop the…" I interjected, and then Fallon added a guitar rhythm beat.

"I can't stop the… I can't stop the… I can't stop the -"

"I can't stop the feelin'! Kalista again sang,

"Nothin' I can see but you when you dance, dance, dance, yeah," I sang. "Feel the mood creepin' up on you, so just dance, dance, dance…"

We did several repeats of the refrain, and it got the audience finger-snapping and singing along with us, it was so amazing! And when we ended the song, the audience exploded! It should have been old hat by now, but I don't know if we'd ever get tired of that.

Again, we took our bows, and again we couldn't stop the audience from clapping.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 41 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. The rockin' and the dancin' continues in Chapter 41, coz there's never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Forty-One:  Bribes

***** (Mike) *****

I looked at Dannie and the kids dancing and singing. It's amazing to see. It reminded me of the Michael Jackson concert that I attended back in high school, crossed with that movie from ten years ago - "High School Musical." But when I looked at the screen with the roving shot of the audience, the rabid kids reminded me more of this 80s movie I saw about the Beatles called "I Wanna Hold Your Hand."

I can't believe the goldmine Melody had unearthed. I was a little jealous, actually.

When she broached the idea of putting together a concert-type show to kick off her radio station's reboot, she said she wanted us as a partner or sponsor simply because we worked together on that Rockrgrrl show, and she needed a TV station. But I wasn't too keen on it. I mean, radio? I, in fact gave my people who attended Melody's planning sessions a stern talking to - why did they so blithely assume it was already a done deal?

Truth be told, though, everything turned out okay - none of the things they committed to went to waste since we still ended up partnering.

The reason I wasn't too keen on her new show was because we didn't have a big sponsor running things this time, like Rockrgrrl, to fund us, and, listening to Melody's plan, even in our provincial little burg, her new show would cost more than a million to put up - something unusual around these parts. And that didn't even include on-air costs.

Melody needed a Friday or Saturday primetime slot, but I said I had all my Fridays and Saturdays fully booked already. The only way I would agree is if she bought out the advertiser's spots. She didn't agree, of course - she wanted me to give them up, saying that would be my station's investment in the show. In return, she said all the advertising spots on her show could all go to KRPX - the income from all the advertising would therefore go to me. I mean the station.

Nevertheless, I wasn't too keen on the risk. I mean, who would buy spots for a show promoting a radio station?

I told her exactly that, plus I said I wasn't sure if the network would even allow me to pre-empt shows they've already booked with us.

But she clearly had done her homework: later, I found out that she had checked with the network, and the network was amenable to pre-empt the 9PM to 11PM shows for the Friday or Saturday she wanted (maybe even up til 1AM. She had also checked with my bookers, and found out that the advertisers were fine with changing the programs they advertised on. And for those that didn't want changes, they all had one-week cancellation windows in their contracts. So she bought their contracts from us (the already-booked advertisers actually didn't mind much and gave them up without much fuss). After which, she then booked her own ads and commercials to replace them. I hear that she didn't actually lose any of the station's money, and actually made a bundle

She then lobbied the network to "allow" my station to give up the slot, and, if the rumors were true, she essentially paid the network off. Probably not for a lot - the income from these particular syndicated shows weren't big at all.

So, in essence, KRPQ became a block-timer of the station. Which was fine with me - since she bought out the spots, and since we were also able to charge her a fixed fee for the spot regardless of how her show performed, I believed we came out ahead.

A week later, however, I found out that Melody was able to book the maximum number of commercials she could, most being big advertisers like Rockrgrrl (this time Rockrgrrl was just a regular sponsor, not the show's owner). She was probably able to charge rates similar to the major markets… well, probably not. But I'm sure her show will earn more than enough to cover all of her expenses and then some, and if you included income from the sponsors' commercials on her radio programs leading up to the concert, and the spots she was able to squeeze into some of my own shows, plus placements in the show's posters, I'm sure she'll come out more than ahead.

I regretted my decision. I really should have tried to be a partner. As it was, all I got were my block-timer fees. So when she started shopping around for a video production crew, I decided to offer my station's services gratis. I mean, if it got around that one of the most popular and profitable shows in the history of my station was aired without our involvement, that could affect the station's reputation and marketability. And I might find myself out of a job.

So, for the privilege of the station being billed as a partner and sponsor, we provided all of the show's coverage work for free. We outfitted the skybox-slash-observation deck, as well as her production crew, with all the video equipment they needed, fielded three camera teams and an OB truck, leaving me with no news crews left in the station except for an in-studio skeleton crew for the nightly news.

So, from the outside, it appeared to the world that KRPX was an integral part of the production, which, I hope, was how it would also look to my immediate bosses, too. Hopefully, though, they won't realize that we didn't earn much hard income, and the halo effect from the show's success will help hide this fact.

All of this equipment and people… this is costing me a lot. I'll have to look at the books later and see if we actually lost money on this.

So, here I was, brown-nosing, hoping against hope that Melody Piper would give us a cut, or at least partner with us for her future projects. So I swallowed my pride and made small talk as we watched the show from the Arclight Coliseum's observation deck, or skybox.

And to Melody's credit, she acted very friendly and civil. Whether that's just her playing politics, I don't know. But I'll take it at face value and assume that this sucking up wasn't in vain.

- - - - -

***** (Mike) *****

We watched the show as the the kids cavorted and danced on stage, and we shared a drink. Melody didn't drink much and nursed her one glass of champagne. For me, I was already on my fifth glass.

Feeling more than mellow, I said that the show was going to be a hit, and that I'll make sure to get her a copy of the preliminary ratings numbers tomorrow.

She indulgently smiled at me, and I realized that I was more than a bit drunk. I decided not to finish my current glass, and just watched the show with her.

Around me, my people were doing their jobs well so I didn't have much to do. Melody didn't either, but she did get reports from her people constantly, her smartphone beeping occasionally or a person would come up to her from time to time. So I decided to text my assistant and gave him some makework that would necessitate him sending me back some texts. I then texted my OB crew and asked that I be given a printed copy of transmission statistics every fifteen or twenty minutes. I'm sure they didn't understand why I needed them, but a few minutes later, someone came up to the skybox and gave me a little slip of paper. On it was what to me were just random numbers and figures. I didn't really care but at least I could appear to be busy.

"So, Mrs. Piper," I said, "what are your plans after this?"

Melody shrugged. "Oh, nothing major. My daughter and I need to start building up the station, and start building up a base. That means fine tuning our programs and start accumulating listeners."

"Any more plans for shows like this?"

She shrugged again. "I don't think so. Definitely not this soon. This was a lot of work, and it was quite expensive as well."

"Well, if you think of something, KRPX is here to help."

She smiled at that. "Well, we'll see. I wouldn't want to put you in hot water with your network and your advertisers again."

Inwardly, I winced at that tittle tweak. "I think we can work things out, if ever there would be another opportunity to work together."

She nodded. "Thank you. Tracey and I will talk it out."

"Tracey?"

"My… daughter. I think you met her? She's the one that produces the Nighthawk program?"

"Ahhh. Yes, I did. A charming young lady. She is…?"

"I'm hoping she will eventually be running the station, and perhaps start the PiperCorp communications division."

"Communications division!" I exclaimed. "My goodness! But does PiperCorp even have a communications division?"

She laughed. "Well, that's just a notion at the moment - nothing but an idea. We'll see."

I nodded. Hmmm. And she's the daughter, too. This Tracey is someone I have to get on the good side on. I should talk to my secretary later, and send her something.

"Well..." I continued, "if ever we're able to work together again, I'm sure I can guarantee preferential advertising rates."

"Ahhh…"

"And you will get the signup bonuses, of course…"

"Well, thank you."

"By the way, I'm thinking of placing some commercials in KRPQ."

But I seem to be overdoing the sucking up since she sighed. "Let's talk about all of this later," she said. "If you really want to talk about this, give my assistant a call, okay? She will set a meeting."

Ooops, I guess it was too much.

"Oh, no," I said to her. "Not at all. No rush." I guess I've over-indulged with the champagne, and this miscalculation was the result. I decided to suspend the strategy.

I turned to the main screen which showed the entire stage from the static camera. The details weren't very fine but it gave a good picture of all the action - which was the sole purpose of this particular camera.

After their dance number, the band had followed up with a couple more high-octane songs, and then broke for another commercial break. I've covered enough concerts to know that the commercial break was the last one for the show, and it was meant to give the band a short rest period prior to the final push. And after the commercial would most likely be the show's last one or two songs, where each one from the band will be able to take a sort-of bow and then the MC, or in this case, the three MC's, would close the show.

It was a perfect concert, so far as I can tell, and a follow-up concert would be the best. The timing for the follow-up would be important, of course - not too early after this one, but not too long after that the concert would have lost all of its buzz. If I can be the one to run it, I'd be able to virtually guarantee that the tickets would be sold out on the first day, maybe even get national coverage, too. In other words, it'd be a freaking gold mine.

So I have to be in on that.

I turned back to the TV and noted that the band had slowed things up with a love song.

Mistake, I thought… Although it turned out they knew better. Damn...

- - - - -

***** (Tracey) *****

I was missing a lot of the action as I was hurrying to break down everything in the fake booth. I did have the little TV running so I was at least able to hear the concert.

The first I packed up, of course, was my precious Mac, MILC camera and all of the attached equipment in padded carry cases.

I then packed up all the tape cartridges and equipment in crates. After that, using my X-Acto knife and several rolls of tape, I broke down the fake control board and packed them into big cardboard boxes, which I had reinforced with several strips of tape. They were all going to be thrown away, anyway, but I had to make sure they were taken away and disposed of in some other place so there'd be no evidence.

I ended up with about five steamer trunk-sized cardboard boxes, eight plastic packing crates, two empty shelves and two overnight-bag size camera cases. I taped a number on each box, crate and shelf - seventeen in all. As for the KRPX equipment, I disconnected and packed all of them in the boxes they came in. I checked them against the list they gave, and everything was there.

I took a peek at the TV and the guys were already playing the Meghan Trainor song, which means they were about to break for a commercial soon. Whew! I was just in time.

Though I desperately wanted to watch, I had to clear out. On my phone, I called my mom's assistant, and she said she would be down in minutes. I changed my sweaty top and stuffed it, my bra and my jacket into my slouchy bag. I re-combed my hair and put it into a messy high ponytail, sort of like Danny's usual ponytail after their Saturday practice sessions.

With no makeup, I had a totally different look. I looked really close to my old male image. I felt sad. All the work I put in... Mom promised that she'd allow me my FFS operations on my seventeenth birthday, and that can't come soon enough. After that, on my eighteenth birthday would be my SRS or GRS. After that, I hope I'd be as close to the real me as I can be.

I sniffed back some tears. "Enough," I said to myself. "Time to get a move on." I stepped out of the room, closed the door, made sure that it wasn't locked, and left it to my mom's assistant to get the seventeen items trucked back to the station, and return KRPX's video equipment to them. For me, my goal now was to leave the station and not be seen.

The way out of the coliseum was practically deserted and I had no trouble getting to the parking lot. I found my Toyota FJ Cruiser with no problems and started driving to our condo-apartment. I got there in fifteen minutes flat. That will give me enough time to get ready for the after party at Betsy's.

- - - - -

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

I really was super-tired. At least the others had that twenty-minute break earlier. For me, no breaks.

At least there were only two more songs. We hung around the back stage - none of us wanted to go to our dressing rooms. All of us got bottles of water and other drinks. Following the advice of our directors, I picked a bottle of some sugary juice drink instead - we needed the kick from the sugar rush to get us over our low energy levels. We'll just handle the sugar crash later.

Danielle came over and gave me a hug.

"You guys have been great, Danny," she said, and renewed her hug. I was practically covered with sweat but she didn't care.

She had changed into a nice, silk men's button-down shirt, men's slim-fit jeans and construction boots, and covered it up with the station's silver-and-sky-blue jacket. She looked pretty fresh in her Danny-mode attire. God, I wish I could change out of my sweaty clothes!

"It's the home stretch now," she said to everyone. "Hang in there."

I nodded and took another swig of my drink. "Yup. Just two more songs."

One of the stage people signalled us, and we sighed.

"Here we go." I gave Danielle a kiss on the cheek and followed everyone to the stage.

"And, here we go!" we heard Talia on stage say. They had just finished their final spiel and it was our turn. "Here they are! Dannie and Unlimited Bandwidth!"

I waved as we took our positions on stage while Talia, Harry and Sally stepped off.
In the silence, I played my acoustic with a gentle strumming rhythm along with June's keyboard playing. The audience didn't pick up the song until Mongo started singing Take That's 1996 version.

"I know your eyes in the morning sun," Mongo sang in a surprisingly sweet tenor, "I feel you touch me in the pouring rain…" A spotlight hit Mongo, and the audience, shocked that it was Mongo, erupted in applause.

"And the moment that you wander far from me," he sang, "I wanna feel you in my arms again…"

And then Fallon took over. "And you come to me on a summer breeze," she sang, "keep me warm in your love, then you softly leave. And it's me you need to show! How deep is your love?"

And then, our backup singers - the Glee Club kids - sang in chorus. "How deep is your love, how deep is your love? I really need to learn, 'cause we're living in a world of fools - breakin' us down, when they all should let us be. We belong to you and me…"

This time Dale took over. "I believe in you - you know the door to my very soul."

And then Betsy's turn. As soon as the light hit her, she sang in a sweet soprano voice.

"You're the light in my deepest, darkest hour," Betsy sang. "You're my savior when I fall." The crowd went wild. It was one of the few times they even heard her sing.

And then, I took over.

"And you may not think I care for you," I sang, "when you know down inside that I really do. And it's me you need to show! How deep is your love?"

And then our backup singers. "How deep is your love? How deep is your love? I really need to learn. 'cause we're living in a world of fools - breakin' us down, when they all should let us be… We belong to you and me…"

Betsy then took over in a short interlude, using her violin to sing the words for her. It was sweet and poignant, and I saw some of the girls in the front row sighing. I can just bet she has more fans than ever before now.

"You're my light!" I interjected, and after a few bars, Mongo sang, "you're my light…"

And the backup guys sang, "when I fall…"

And then, after the violin interlude, I took over again. "You may not think I care for you," I sang, "when you know down inside that I really do."

After a pause, the band sang and harmonized with me " And it's me you need to show! How deep is your love?"

And then, all of us, including our backup singers this time, sang in chorus. "How deep is your love, how deep is your love? I really need to learn, 'cause we're living in a world of fools - breakin' us down, when they all should let us be. We belong to you and me…"

Our backup singers then went and did a Motown kind of step, snapping their fingers as they went, "Dudn-doo-doo-doo…" and they repeated this over and over until they faded out the song.

And in the inevitable rain of clapping and yelling, we all went to the front and took a bow.

As the applause settled down, we all went back to our positions and started our finale - our Doobie Brothers number.

On his sticks, Mongo counted us down. "Four, three, two, one!"
June and Mongo went into that signature Doobie Brothers four-fourths beat, with Dale making a few bass counterpoints. The audience picked up on the beat right away, and, on the fourth or fifth repeat, I sang.

"You don't know me but I'm your brother," I sang, trying to sound like a female version of Michael McDonald. "I was raised here in this living hell. You don't know my kind in your world. Fairly soon, the tide will turn…

"You! Telling me the things you're gonna do for me. I ain't blind and I don't like what I think I see!"

Then the background kids and I took turns singing the refrain.

"(Taking it to the streets) taking it to the streets. (Taking it to the streets). No more need for running! (Taking it to the streets)…"

Then it was me again. "Take this message to my brother. You will find him everywhere, wherever people live together, tied in poverty's despair.

"Oh, you, telling me the things you're gonna do for me." Fallon and I included our own guitar rhythm playing, and I continued to sing. "I ain't blind and I don't like what I think I see…"

And then the background kids and me again. "(Taking it to the streets) taking it to the streets. (Taking it to the streets). No more need for running! (Taking it to the streets) Taking it to the streets. (Taking it to the -)"

Then it was Betsy again, making believe her violin was a saxophone. The people went wild and cheered and cheered Betsy on.

And, after her interlude was done, I took over. "Oh, you! Telling me the things you're gonna do for me…. I ain't blind and I don't like what I think I see…"

And then the background kids and me again. "(Taking it to the streets) taking it to the streets. (Taking it to the streets)…"

We repeated it over and over again while June kept spiraling it up and up, adding ad libs and electric organ riffs. It was amazing, and the energy just kept pumping and pumping up and up and up. And after I don't know how long, we snapped our song off.

The audience went absolutely berserk, and we took endless curtain calls. For the people in the coliseum, that was the end of the show, but they didn't want to let us go. So we stayed and waved to our fans.

Fallon, the Glee club kids and I hugged, and with our arms around each other, we waved to our fans. June and Betsy flanking us, with Dale and Mongo, the tallest among us, standing in the back.

We stayed there and posed for pictures, and as we did, several people threw bouquets of flowers. The girls and I picked one up each, and the audience roared again. The Glee Club kids got bouquets, too, I know courtesy of Mrs. P.

"Mongo!" a girl from the audience screamed, and then threw a biiig bouquet. It was probably three dozen roses in that one bouquet. It landed with an almost-thud on the stage floor, and everyone stared at it. Grinning from ear to ear, Mongo made his way to the front and gathered his bouquet. He stood and gave the girl a flying kiss.

As we took our bows, we whisper-debated whether we wanted to sing an encore, but I nixed the idea. We were just too wiped out, I said, and we were liable to mess it up. Best to leave things on a high. Everyone agreed, and we just continued to take our bows.

In the end, everyone, including the boys, ended up with at least one bouquet, except for me, who had about four or five, and Mongo, of course, with his ginormous red, white and yellow bouquet of roses.

A few daring fans threw other things, like little boxes of personal items like jewelry. Some didn't think it through and we ended up dodging the projectiles, otherwise we'd probably need stitches. Some realized what was happening, and decided to throw their little gifts at our feet instead.

As for some of the others, they threw articles of clothing and other personal items. Our director warned us about this, and we were advised not to touch any, especially in this day and age of AIDS and other diseases. They had even indicated that the flowers might also be a danger, but when I impulsively decided to stoop and pick up one of the bouquets, the others followed suit and picked up their own bouquets.

Some in the audience were desperate and actually hurled their shirts, bras, underwear, whatever, directly at us - directly at me, actually. And I had to dodge them. Hopefully, I wasn't hurting anyone's feelings by dodging them. I giggled and made a joke of it, and everyone laughed (I still had my mic). Whew...

And, eventually, we were able to escape into our dressing rooms, with Mongo and I struggling with our bouquets. Later, when we looked at the raw footage, we learned that, after we left, one of the floor directors came up on stage and explained that everyone's gifts were going to get to the band., but they had to be checked over first for security purposes. Explaining this to the audience was something that wasn't really done, but they did this at the insistence of Mrs. P. Which, I think, was appreciated by the fans who threw their gifts on-stage. But that little bit, of course, never got on TV.

On TV, though, the producers finessed the ending a little bit.

On TV, they ran Tracey's and my pre-recorded extro, and filled the right-hand side with selected excerpts from the show. On top of these excerpts were the credits, leaving my image, from head to just below the knees, free of any text. Everyone said I looked super-sexy in my white boat-neck bodysuit and shiny leather leggings. I agreed - hey, what can you do? If you got it, you got it. Lol.

In the background played a muted, musak-style instrumental-only version of Takin' It To The Streets. But, far from sounding hokey, it gave my dry clip just the right musical note.

"There you go, folks," the Nighthawk (me) said in her white bodysuit sans leather jacket, "the formal launch of the new KRPQ radio. And I'd like to thank you for staying with us for the entire evening. Starting tomorrow, you can tune in to us at our new FM channel, and hear your regular favorite programs with Talia, Harry, Sally, Lou and Dennis. As for me, my early Saturday morning program will still be on at its regular Saturday morning slot." (It was strange for me to think of "her" as a different person, but I think I can be forgiven for that).

"I'd like to say thank you to our on-air crew - Talia, Harry, Sally, Lou and Dennis, and of course to my producer Tracey, and our boss, Mrs. Melody Piper. Thanks as well to our Do-Wop guys and gals - Gus, Frank, Rocko Beatriz, Edna, Kalista, Ramona, Valentina, Phylicia, and Eileen, and, of course, the amazing Unlimited Bandwidth - Dannie Fairchild on lead vocals and rhythm, June Bright on keyboards and vocals, Elizabeth 'Betsy' Haley on the violin, Dale Rappaport on bass and vocals, and Julius 'Mongo' Kaufman on drums and backup vocals. Janet O'Hara, the band's lead vocals and rhythm guitar is temporarily not with the band, so taking over for her was Fallon Walsh.

"Thank you, too, to all our sponsors, especially our loyal friends from Rockrgrrl and Cowgirl Jeans, and of course our friends from KRPX TV, and all the wonderful people from our production crew. This is indeed the beginning of something great for KRPQ, the…" and then she, I mean, I, crossed my eyes. "'the home of yesterday's, today's and tomorrow's hits.'" I had inadvertently chuckled at that. "Like I said, we'll think up something nice to replace that later, folks."

I looked straight into the camera.

"But for now, we will all say good night, and hope to see you again soon." I waved to the camera, and they faded out my recording. They replaced it with a new montage of clips from our rehearsals, including all the funny little moments and behind-the-scene bloopers someone had edited together (someone was really on the ball), overlaid with the rolling credits. The muted elevator-style music was muted even more, so that all of our funny little quips, asides and laughter from the blooper clips could be heard clearly.

All-in-all, it was an appropriate ending to a wonderful show.

I wondered if we'd be able to make another one. If this was the life that Dannie the Singer would be leading, I'd sincerely want it to come true. At that moment, I made a big life decision: singing would be my career now. I just needed to find a way to make it happen, and find a way to do it as me and not as Dannie or Robin.

I then realized that there was going to be an after-party, with all the parents and parent-types. God, I was so tired, I wondered if I could last that long.

I sighed. "The pitfalls of fame," I giggled.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 42 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. The band's first real concert was a complete success, and, with all the planning involved and their flawless execution, the identities of Robin, Dannie, Daniel and Danielle were fully cemented. What was next for everyone - no one knew. But one thing's for sure - there's never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Forty-Two:  Mission Improbable

***** (Valerie) *****

Since I met Danny and Tracey, my life had changed. I wouldn't say that it was all sunshine and light, but it was so much better than how it was before.

Sure, I'd find myself still arguing with my dad a lot, with mom usually ending up as our referee, but we would also make up afterwards now, and we'd have wonderful family moments, when before we virtually had none. Dad had made it a point to stay home every weekend now, so that I could come home and spend time with them. And, slowly, we had started to heal whatever it was that had to be healed.

Saturday mornings were my time with my therapist, and I dutifully went (So there'd be no chance I'd miss it because of my doctor's appointment, I would record Danny's program so I can listen to it in the evening).

On the second Saturday, though, my therapist suggested that my mom and dad should join me, and when I brought it up to them, my father agreed right away. Mom looked at me then, and gave me a wink and a laugh, and, though our new "family sessions" were never easy, it was something that we went into with hearts and minds open, especially my dad.

He was still as stiff as a board and a stick up his ass, but his sincerity couldn't be doubted. Slowly, he had opened up and I started to understand him. Sure, he still acted like he had a stick up his butt, but that was okay.

And we were putting closure on my sister's death.

A few times a week, Danny or Tracey would call, or I'd call them, and we'd have a chat about nothing at all, and almost by accident, we'd end up talking about how it was with us. The girls were happy for my family's progress, slow though it may be, and I, in turn, was so fascinated to hear what was happening with them.

And that's how I heard about the concert-show. I, of course, was offered tickets. I had to turn them down, though, because I had our therapy session in the morning and our family Saturday & Sunday dinners at home. Though I wanted to see the show, my priority was my family now.

Danny and Tracey didn't push, though, and I was grateful for that. They did, however, get me a bootleg copy of the concert that some enterprising kid had DVR'd from the TV and uploaded as a torrent file in Piratebay. I could have downloaded it myself, but Tracey had done it for me, giving me a blueray-playable disk and as an MKV file in a little thumbdrive.

So I gave the folks the disk and I kept the thumbdrive. Dad said we'd make the following Sunday night Video Night, complete with popcorn and stuff, and I made sure I would be home for that.

That weird Danny-slash-Danielle-slash-Dannie-slash-Robin thing still fascinated me, and was worried it would all come crashing down eventually, but they seem to have it all under control. I did offer my help if they needed anything, and that was how Danny ended up calling me up a couple of weeks after the concert.

She needed my help, she said. She was reluctant to bring it up over the phone, so I invited them to the house for Saturday lunch. Mom and Dad were happy to finally meet them, and made sure to have something nice ready.

So Danny and Tracey came over in Tracey's FJ Cruiser, and we had a pleasant lunch. Dad had "interrogated" the two (I had warned them that this might happen) and was pleasantly surprised to hear that Danny was in the Honors Section and Tracey's mom was Melody Piper, the head of the PiperCorp conglomerate.Dad had already respected the two, but it was clear that the two had gone several notches up in his personal rating with this added bit of info.

After coffee (Dad's coffee was Irish while ours were just regular), Danny, Tracey and I retreated to the garden outside to talk.

I pre-empted the two's questions by saying I haven't seen the concert, though we were planning on watching it the following night on Dad's ultra-wide TV. I, in fact, invited them.

"Thanks for that, Valerie," Danny said, "but I hope you don't mind if we take a raincheck. After our gig at Mario's last night, and my show this morning, plus our usual practice session later, I really just want to go home and get some shut-eye."

"No problem, Danny."

"Val…" Danny said hesitantly, "we need your help on something."

"Something not so… legal," Tracey said.

"Let me hear it first before I agree," I said.

"Well…" Danny continued, "you know about my situation, right?"

"You don't need to worry, Danny - I haven't mentioned it to anyone. I…"

Danny waved it away. "We know we can trust you, Val," Danny said. "That's not it. It's this…"

They explained that the Danny-Dannie thing had sort of come out already, but they engineered it in such a way that Danielle ended up being Dannie-the-singer, which meant Danny would act as if he was his sister Danielle when he was singing, while Danielle masqueraded as Daniel, who was also their supposed manager.

So, that meant Danny, while in Dannie-the-singer-mode, would disguise himself as Danielle, and Danielle would disguise herself as Danny - Robin's and the band's manager. They went into detail on how they would manage it and I was fairly sure they'd be able to make it work somehow. Sure it sounded screwy, but the way the two explained it made it seem totally reasonable.

The issue now was Robin-the-Nighthawk.

Danny would also continue to be Robin, but the worry was, because of the high visibility the band and the station now had, if someone were to do some research, it would come out that Danny had done an internship with KRPQ as an announcer, and that would pose problems for her. I mean, him.

He didn't need to finish the internship since his school changed its mind and he was made to sign up for the Glee Club instead, but it was still in the records that he had done several hours interning at KRPQ.

But, as luck would have it, Mrs. Gortner, their high school's counselor, would be retiring in a couple of weeks and would move to some place abroad to be with her daughter and her family. She was the one who approved the internship: no one else knew. So, since Mrs. Gortner was leaving, that little piece of info - of Danny doing a radio production internship at KRPQ - was more-or-less safe. But there was still a chance it might come out.

So what they needed was a way to erase any references to KRPQ in Danny's records inside Mrs. Gortner's files, and no one would be able to backtrack KRPQ to Danny at all.

"We decided to ask you because you know computers and, maybe, you can help, ummm, alter Danny's records?" Tracey said.

I looked at them. And after a minute of silent contemplation I shrugged. "Is that all?"

The two of them looked at each other and broke out laughing.

- - - - -

***** (Valerie) *****

Tracey then pulled out a folder from her bag, and, inside the folder were several eight-by-ten glossies.

"These are pictures of a bunch of our friends, so, if you need help, these guys can help you." Eh? Pictures? What?

She started with the first one.

"This is Morgan, Danny's best friend," she said. "He's a sporty kind of guy and was part of their school's basketball, baseball and soccer varsity teams. He decided to leave the teams because of the demands on his time. Also because they never really won any game. Heehee. He knows his way around the school as well as many of the teachers, and can help you navigate."

She brought out the next one.

"This is Joanne. She's one of Danielle's best friends. The reason we included her is because she has access to her mom's minivan, and is a pretty good driver. She can be your ride today. Joanne said that she already made excuses with her mom at the salon already so you can use the van for the entire afternoon." I was told later that Joanne liked to work at her mom's beauty salon when she can, and that she was a pretty talented hairdresser in her own right.

Tracey then brought out the next picture.

"This is Jerome, or Jerry to his friends. He's not exactly the quickest nor the most versatile in our group physically, but he's our closest to a tech-nerd. If you need an extra hand that's computer-savvy, chances are he's the person that can help you the most."

Then the next picture.

"This is Mike, or Mikey or Mickey. He answers to any of them. He's very dexterous and agile, and if you need someone to squeeze into tight spaces or whatever, this little guy's your man."

And then the last one - a girl this time.

"And this is Melanie. Or Mel. She's one of Danielle's friends."

I looked at Tracey. "And?"

Tracey shrugged in embarassment. "Well… She's very close to Jerry."

"Huh?"

"Sorry, Val. Mel insisted that she wanted to help."

I looked at the two and exploded in laughter.

The two looked at me, and laughed as well.

"You know, this all feels like an episode of Mission Impossible, and I'm Jim Phelps."

"Jim Phelps?"

"From the TV show? Anyway, think Tom Cruise's character instead."

"Ahhh…"

So. At around three that afternoon, the guys came in Joanne's minivan. Tracey and Danny weren't around anymore so being shown pictures helped. Ahhh! So that's why Tracey showed me their pictures.

There were handshakes all around, and Morgan outlined the plan they had thought up. It seemed reasonable enough. We all got in the van and started for the high school.

We parked about a block from the school, and put on our "disguises."

Since I wasn't part of their school, I wasn't in any of the school records. So my disguise only consisted of sunglasses and a baseball cap.

For the others, their disguises were a bit more elaborate.

All of the guys wore wigs - just cheap, synthetic women's wigs that they hacked chunks off from the bottom to approximate men's hair. They all wore jackets, as well as sunglasses and caps or hats that they borrowed from friends or other people ("so people won't associate the jackets with us," Mike said in a conspiratorial whisper. Really, dude?).

As for Joanne and Mel, they just wore sunglasses. After all, they're just staying in the van.

Jerry handed out thin latex gloves - not the colored kind but more like the neutral-colored kind used in hospitals. If you didn't stare, you'd probably not notice them.

"Best to be sure," he said.

Mike led us, and told us to walk where he walked. So we followed him as he walked on the parts of the sidewalk where there were lots of overhanging trees. And, instead of walking through the main gates, he walked along the perimeter of the school's outside wall.

He then led us to a little gate and opened it.

"Jerry picked the lock before so we could get into the campus through here, and there are no CCTVs covering this gate," Mike explained. Mike pointed to one of the CCTV cameras and we saw it hanging by a wire.

"We knocked that out with a rock just a couple of days ago, so the school's maintenance people haven't gotten the chance to fix it yet."

We then walked through and started walking to the main building. Mike said there were no CCTV cameras covering this part of the school so we were safe to walk directly to the main building. Morgan said for us to walk normally, so if we missed a camera, at least we didn't act suspiciously.

Mike led us up to an access door with the padlock conveniently taken off.

From there we basically walked until we got to the corridor leading to the Counselor's Office. Mike pointed to an old-style CCTV camera and watched it as it slowly swiveled around. Jerry handed Mike a key. Mike timed it in such a way that the camera was facing away from him, and then he ran along the wall and then stood directly underneath the camera.

When the camera was facing away again, Mike ran for the counselor's office, unlocked it with the key Jerry gave him, and stepped in, while I sprinted to the camera and stood under it just like Mike did. When the camera had moved around again, I sprinted for the door. I knocked once and Mike opened the door for me. Jerry then did the same thing, until all three of us were inside. Morgan remained outside to keep watch.

Jerry was sure that there were no CCTV cameras inside the office, except perhaps for the computer's Internet camera.

First thing's first - I covered the lens of the computer's camera with a bit of tape, switched it on and waited for the linux sign-on screen. Normally, it would be Jerry doing this, Morgan had explained, but Jerry didn't know linux at all.

Anyway, since I did, it wasn't that difficult, especially since Jerry knew where Mrs. Gortner kept the system passwords.

Using a paperclip, Jerry jimmied the desk drawer's lock, and found a little index card with User IDs and Passwords. So I used Mrs. Gortner's ID and logged on.

It wasn't too complicated - I just looked for Danny's files and found the relevant records.

The transaction headers for the records I needed just said "Internship - radio station announcer, KRPRQ" and then followed by the address.

In the approval field, all it said was "M. Piper - Supervisor," followed by a telephone number.

Other than that, there were no other traceable pieces of information. So, in the header, I replaced it with "Internship - Technician," with no company name nor address, and in the approval field, I just replaced it with "approved by supervisor." As for the telephone number, I put in "number not supplied."

There were several transaction records - over twenty in all, so I basically changed their details just like the first one. And when I was done, I then logged out, logged back on with the super-user ID, erased the access entries for the day, and changed the date and time-modified stamps of the records. I also fiddled with to the date- and time-created date and time stamps.

While I was doing all that, Mike and Jerry looked through all the paper records in Danny's file. They found the time cards. Each card was taped to a piece of typewriter paper. They took the sheets out of the folder and used Mrs. Gortner's printer-scanner to make photocopies.

Jerry had artfully covered the name of the company with a little slip of paper, as well as the printed name of Danny's supervisor. They did that with each time card.

And, instead of trying to replicate the time cards, they just basically scanned the entire paper in black and white, and just put these in the folder, pocketing the original cards. And since they were black and white, the covered up portions didn't look like they were covered up and just ended up blank. Jerry explained that if we were to fake them, it would just look more suspicious.

They went through the rest of the papers and found the official application form. So they did the same thing and just made a scanned copy, covering up names and telephone numbers with little bits of paper.

So, it was all done in less than an hour. I shut down the computer, turned off the printer-scanner and looked for any stray bits of paper. Jerry pocketed all the original paperwork they replaced, locked the cabinet and checked to make sure everything was okay.

When the computer was powered off, I then took off the little tape over the camera.

"I think we're set!" I whispered.

Mike nodded. He called Morgan.

"Dude," he said, "we're set. Signal us when the camera's in the right position."

"Okay," he said. "Okay… whoever's first - get set, and go!"

Mike signaled me and I sprinted out the door and stood directly underneath the camera. After a few moments, Morgan signaled and I sprinted towards him and out to the bend. I was then followed by Jerry and then Mike. We then went back out the way we had come, but this time locking the padlocks in the access door and the gate.

We then walked back to the van, again being careful of the cameras.

As we slid into the van, Joanne turned to Morgan. "Mission accomplished?" she asked.

Morgan pointed to me and Jerry.

"Well?" she asked us.

"Yep," Jerry said, and we high-fived each other.

"Yeah!" Mike echoed. "Nothin' to it. Slicker than snot!"

"Ewww!" Me and the girls went.

After a few minutes, as Joanne drove away from the school and back towards downtown, Mike cleared his throat.

"Say, Val?" he said. "You know I have some problems with my English grades… you don't suppose…"

"Mike!" Joanne reacted, and Morgan hit him on top of the head.

"What did I say!"

No one said anything after that. Which made everything a little awkward.

To break the awkwardness, I hummed the Mission Impossible theme.

"Dum-dum-dumdum-dum-dum-dumdum…"

And everyone laughed at that.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 43 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. A couple of weeks after the concert, the gang recruited Valerie, a friend of Danny's, to help alter Danny's school records so that there wouldn't be a trace of him doing any internship at the radio station. That way, Robin's true identity woud be safe. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

 
Chapter Forty-Three:  When The Cat's Away

(note: Except for the first three paragraphs, chapter forty-three is actually chapter nine of the story "Playing The Part: Counterfeit Crusader." This chapter is the bridge between the two stories. It's up to you, however, whether you want to assume the events in Counterfeit Crusader are real events, or just a a fever-induced hallucination of Nikki's. There are a few changes, though necessitated by the events in the previous chapters here. Hope you guys don't mind.)

***** (Nikki) *****

It had been weeks since the kick-off concert for the new FM station of KRPQ, and their "mission impossible," and things had gone back to how things were before, except, of course, everyone now believed Danielle was Dannie, and none of us would try and change that point of view as it gives Danny a way of covering up his connection with the band. Of course, Danielle had to be part of the, ummm, subterfuge, now. But, as she said, it was a small price to pay.

In any case, things were running fairly smoothly, except that there were now kids hanging around our houses almost everyday, especially at Danny's. But it was something that everyone had learned to cope with.

A few weeks ago, I had caught the flu that was making the rounds in school, but that wasn't the problem.

- - (start of excerpt) - -

Danny had been disappearing after school a lot, ever since I got back from the flu. Danielle told me he'd been coming home late these days, like around midnight or sometimes even later. I told Danielle I was worried that he'd found another girl. Danielle shook her head and said that she would know if he did. I knew how close the twins were, and since I trusted Danielle implicitly, that settled my mind a bit. I then had this thought.

"What if it wasn't another girl?" I said. Danielle looked at me, a question evident in her eyes. "What if... Danielle, what if it was a guy?"

We looked at each other, thinking of the possibilities and the ramifications of Danny cheating on me with a guy...

"Nikki,..." Danielle began, and faltered. "Nikki, I don't know if that's even possible." Danielle shook her head like she was trying to shake away an image in her mind that she didn't like.

"But one thing's sure," she said, looking me in the eye, "I would know if he was cheating on you, whether it's with a girl or with a guy. Believe me, I'd know. And he's been head over heels in love with you for a long time - don't you know that?"

I sighed. "I guess I'm just being paranoid."

Danielle touched my cheek in understanding, just like Danny would. Sometimes it's like they were the same person. "But, Danielle," I took her hand. "If it isn't that, then what's he up to?"

She looked out the living room window, with an expression of both worry and fear. "I don't know, Nikki, and I'm worried."

His bandmates were worried, too. Danny had said he couldn't join the band for their usual Saturday practice this afternoon, as well as the gig tonight. Dale was beside himself, but Danny told him he cleared it with Mario and he said Mario was fine with it. Dale tried to find out what he was up to but couldn't get anything out of him. In the end, he and the others had no choice, and they went ahead and played without him tonight. Danny suggested they get Fallon to fill in, and Dale agreed.

Mel and the others were there. It wasn't the band's best gig, she said, but good enough that Mario wasn't too mad, even though she said there were a lot of disgruntled people, pissed that they wouldn't see Danny. Actually, that's why I was here at Danielle's sleeping over tonight - I mean, what's the point of watching Unlimited Bandwidth if Danny wasn't there?

Everyone assumed it had something to do with Janet, and the recent troubles with her, but no one wanted to bring it up. I'm sure everyone thought so, too, but pretended like it was because of something else.

Anyway, long after the show, and everyone had gone home already, Danielle and I caught him sneaking in through their kitchen door.

"So where've you been!" I huffed, hands on my hips. "We were all worried sick!"

He looked down, chastised. "Ummm, just out. And did a few errands. The bank to, ummm, pay my credit card bill." He did that sometimes when the station wasn't able to pay his company-issued credit card's bill on time - He'd pay it himself so he could avoid the late payment charges.

He looked down at his shoes, scuffing the floor like a guilty little boy, making me smile at how cute she was, I mean 'he' was. I couldn't stay mad at him when he acted like that. "We'll talk about it later then," I said. "go to your room and get washed up. I'll come check on you in a bit."

Danny nodded and picked up a shiny black box that was by his feet, roughly two feet by two feet by one. It looked like a big, shiny, black ceramic bento box stood on its side, but without any designs painted on it.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing," he said nervously. He tucked it under his arm and ran up to his room. I noticed a slight limp. Have to ask him about that later, too.

I turned and saw Danielle giggling.

I wasn't in the mood. "What're you laughing about, little miss smartypants?"

"You sounded just like our mom," Danielle said, and continued giggling.

I just had to giggle at that, too. "Yeah, I guess I did." I gestured up towards Danny's room. "Did you notice he was limping a bit? And what was that he was carrying?"

Danielle shrugged. "We can ask him later. And that thing's probably some computer thing, or maybe an amplifier for his guitar, or something like that. You know him and his toys."

"Yeah."

After maybe twenty minutes, we knocked on Danny's door, and found a freshly-showered Danny in socks, a freshly-laundered un-ironed oxford shirt and what looked like Bermuda shorts. And no telltale limp. I looked around and found the box standing beside his candy-pink guitar propped up against the wall. Danielle was right, probably just an amplifier.

And, as was typical, Danny was able to charm me out of my misgivings and we never did get to talk about his disappearing act. He polished off the big bowl of popcorn I made in nothing flat. Typical. And since he started acting normally again, as well as in the following weeks, (no more unexplained nightly disappearances, I mean) everyone forgot about the whole thing.

Later, when Danielle left us to go to bed, she reminded Danny that Dad said to keep his door open. She giggled and winked at me, shaking a finger at the both of us.

I stuck my tongue out at her, trying not to giggle myself. When she left, having pointedly left Danny's door wide open, I snuggled with Danny on the bed, staying on top of the covers. It would have been too much of a temptation otherwise, and we were expecting Danny's folks to come home anytime soon.

As we lay there quietly watching TV and wrapped around each other, I couldn't help but wonder what Danny's disappearances were all about. He said it was just some stuff for school and the glee club, and I took that at face value, as we almost always did Danny's explanations. But I promised myself to look into it. But later - right now, I was enjoying myself too much.

- - (end of excerpt) - -

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 44 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. Nikki and Danielle wondered about Danny's frequent disappearances. What could Danny have been doing? But since Danny eventually stopped doing that, they didn't worry about it anymore. Still... What could Danny be doing when he disappears? Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang, huh?

  Chapter Forty-Four:  A House Call

***** (Dr. Roberts) *****

Over the months, I've discovered several things about Danny's and Danielle's conditions. The source of their unique conditions was the same even though the effect on them was different - the mysterious chemical that we have yet to track down that Eleanor Marshall, Danny's company-assigned dietician, liked to call "Batch 14," since the chemical we're looking for was the final batch of a fourteen-batch run. But the effects on these two kids were totally different from each other. We tracked the previous thirteen batches down but they didn't seem too unusual. We have, in fact, synthesized them and all that we've found was that they were just like all currently-available dietary supplements on the market today. They were dead ends. But we remained clueless about number fourteen.

The one curious thing was that all the active components in all thirteen batches were synthetic, so the fourteenth was probably the same. Actually, that was the only major similarity. The formulation of each batch was totally different from each other.

In fact, one would have wondered why they were filed as batches from the same formulation anyway - they weren't. Which frustrated me to death. If this was the normal output of the defunct pharma company's R&D, no wonder the company folded.

Still, Eleanor continued to chug along, using components from the thirteen batches, experimenting with the make-up of Batch 14, and adding or subtracting or changing the ratios of the components. I told her that it was useless to guess, and it would be a million to one that she'd be that lucky - actually, more like a billion to one - that she would hit the right combination. Furthermore, she would need to give the solution to a pregnant woman and see if the newborn child is affected. That's not just impractical but unethical in the extreme. And what if the kids' genetics had to do something with the effect?

The other alternative was to use animal test subjects as human analogs. But since these were analogs, the results were, at best, approximations. And besides, her animal tests haven't shown results as yet.

But she had more experience than I did in this area, given her background as a biochemical specialist in the Kinkaide Institute, so I let her do what she wanted, short of anything illegal or unethical.

I'm afraid the company will be pulling the plug on our project soon though - our bosses won't stand for us wasting time and resources this way any longer.

But until then, I'll continue running my experiments with the samples we get from Danny and Danielle.

Danielle's samples turned out to be completely normal. No new information could be gleaned from her, and nothing came out of any experimentation on her samples. Danielle was in the peak of health, but totally within normal parameters. She just had an optimal metabolism. Yet another dead end.

As for Danny's…

All of his samples had traces of the same chain of molecules I've been interested in since we first discovered the twins whereas Danielle had none. And the chemicals were indeed analogous to pheromones, as I originally concluded all those months ago. I'm surprised that Danny hadn't been buried under a whole gaggle of girls by now. Or boys for that matter - the "pheromones" affected the olfactory senses of both genders.

I tried synthesizing the compound artificially but my concoctions didn't seem to work. I couldn't understand it - my version was totally the same, chemically, but they didn't work at all. I was therefore reduced to working with Danny's samples directly.

I developed a method of concentrating the samples (basically evaporating 70% of the samples' water passively without heating them), and had been doing my own personal… testing with the material. And it had been quite effective, to say the least.

Based on animal tests, I've found that it also had an effect on non-human mammalian olfactory senses, with the effect that, the closer the animal is to the human emotionally, such as that of a pet to its master, the stronger its feelings of loyalty and other similar feelings, although it didn't cross over to... sexually-related emotions. Of course, these are expressed differently from species to species, so it wasn't too easy to identify. The easier to identify, though, were those of the primate and canine species.

I just bet Danny would have the most devoted pet, if he ever had one.

But the testing I did with human volunteers were also very telling. The effects were many, and many were difficult to map, especially since my experiments weren't according to protocol since I had to do it without the company's knowledge. I had no choice: I had reached a dead end, and human testing wasn't allowed, at least not at this stage. So I had to continue on using unwitting volunteers as the main subjects - all without letting them know they were test subjects.

The thing was, I was being affected myself, and the only way I could make sure I wasn't affected was to temporarily deaden my sense of smell using various chemicals I concocted. Not completely, though - just a specific "spectrum" of smells that were beyond what people consiously detect, and only temporarily. And this did the trick.

Over the months, though I wasn't closer to understanding how it worked, I hit upon a formula that was able to reduce the pheromone effects to manageable levels - in essence, they caused it to metabolize or chemically break down more quickly until my chemical was all used up. But then, all one had to do was to apply more.

However, I did discover something else, and decided to tell Danny. So I made an appointment to meet with Danny and Danielle right away.

Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild assumed that something was wrong so they agreed immediately. I told them the reason for my visit was just a regular checkup. The parents were relieved to hear that, but they still decided to schedule my "house call" right away.

And that's why I hopped on a plane "right away," and was now in an Uber driving towards the Fairchild's little town.

My Uber driver let me down right in front of their house and I walked up to their front door as he drove away.

Obviously, I was expected. I didn't even need to ring the bell. Mrs. Fairchild opened the door as I stepped up to it.

"Doctor Roberts!" Mrs. Fairchild said, shook my hand and gave me a welcome hug. Her enthusiastic greeting made me smile. And she was looking as lovely as before.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Fairchild," I said. I glimpsed her husband inside so it was good that I limited things to the handshake and hug. Not that I intended to make any moves on her.

"Good afternoon, doctor," Mr. Fairchild said and shook my hand. "Come on in."

I was ushered in and offered a drink. "Any chance of a beer?" I asked, smiling. "It was a long drive."

Mr. Fairchild grabbed us a couple of cold beers and we chatted while the three of us waited for the twins to get home from school. Mrs. Fairchild assured me they knew about the visit and should be home any minute.

While we waited, we had a nice visit and didn't notice the time.

Eventually, the kids arrived and, after some hugs, the parents excused themselves to allow me to do my checkup properly.

Before stepping out of the Uber earlier, I had used my special smell-numbing formula, so I knew I wouldn't be affected by Danny's "special charms." So I wasn't worried when I started the "checkup."

The twins looked even more closely like each other than before but, truthfully, despite the clothes, Danny looked the more feminine of the two. That was something I wouldn't tell them, of course, and spare him the embarassment, and her the indignation.

"It's been a long time, kids," I said while I set up. "So what's new with you?"

"Oh, nothing much, Doc," Danny said in false humility, "same ole same-old."

Danielle playfully hit him on the shoulder. "Ow!"

"Don't listen to him, Doc. Yeah lots of things have been happening."

"Oh?"

"But nothing you'd be interested in."

"Your mother has been telling me you guys have been busy in music?"

"Oh, yeah…" The two looked at each other, and Danielle abruptly changed the topic. I didn't mind so I just let it ride.

As we visited, I did a thorough checkup of both. These two didn't insist on being alone as I did the checkup. Just like identical twins.

Not having Eleanor around to help made it a little more cumbersome to perform the examinations, but I gamely pushed on. I noticed Danny now wore bras - no wonder, given his… very feminine chest. But his attire disguised them quite effectively.

Both knew that part of their checkups included physical measurements, so neither made a big deal of it. Danny passively let me measure him around the chest, waist, breasts, et cetera, like he was used to it, as did Danielle.

However, he did did insist we go to the bathroom so I could check him out in terms of his… sexual development. I understood. There were limits to openness even between brother and sister.

Danny was a very well-developed young man. Not the biggest according to the textbooks, but he was definitely very well developed. But other than his... generous endowment, he was totally okay.

Danny was beet red from embarassment when we stepped out of the bathroom, but I acted professionally, made nothing of it, and continued with my checkup.

Their parents returned as I was finishing up their medical interviews. I had collected a fair amount of samples from both as well, of course, and this should give me enough material for weeks of testing and whatnot.

"So," Mr. Fairchild said, "how are my kids, Doc?"

"Oh, they're totally fine, Mr. Fairchild," I said. "Totally healthy."

"How about…" he trailed off.

"I'm afraid nothing really has changed with Danny's condition," I said sadly. "But other than that, he is completely healthy. And Danielle is completely healthy as well."

"Well… I guess that's good then."

"Well, Doctor," Mrs. Fairchild said, "I hope you can stay for dinner."

Not having had home-cooking in a long while, I gladly accepted. And over a dinner of Mrs. Fairchild's wonderful version of spaghetti bolognese that the kids called "crunchy spaghetti," homemade French bread, caesar salad, and Irish-style meatballs on the side, I enjoyed myself and got to know more of what Danny and Danielle had been up to ever since I last saw them.

The family seemed reluctant to talk about some things, though, and only talked in generalities. I didn't push and just let them lead the conversation.

On my side, I tried to tell them about what I've been doing myself, telling them that Eleanor and I were trying to break a medical mystery, and trying to piece together enough information that could help us rediscover a formula that could help people. I couldn't be more detailed than that, otherwise Danny would definitely know that I was talking about Batch 14. On second thought, he probably already knew, actually - Danny was a very sharp young man.

I was looking for an opportunity to get to talk to Danny alone, but dinner ended eventually and it was time for me to go.

Even as I made my goodbyes, I was still looking for an opening. But before I could call up an Uber, Mr. Fairchild offered to run me back to the airport, which was right beside Franklin State U in the next town. Maybe a twenty-minutte drive.

"No need to trouble yourself, Mr. Fairchild, but, you know, I'm sure Danny can take me. That way, I can check out his Mustang that I've been hearing so much about."

I looked at Danny and gave him a look.

Danny saw it and picked up on my signal.

"Ummm, yeah, Dad. I can run Doctor Roberts to the airport. No problem. So - you ready, Doc?"

I nodded, gave Danielle and Mrs. Fairchild farewell kisses on the cheek and shook Mr. Fairchild's hand.

"Thank you for a wonderful dinner, and I will send back the results of the tests as soon as possible."

Danny got a jacket and we went to his car. The night was a little nippy so I put on my coat as well.

As soon as we left Danny's little suburbian neighborhood, Danny turned to me.

"So, what's up, Doc?" he said.

"I'm glad you picked up on my signal, Dan," I said. "I needed to tell you something that I'm sure you'd rather your family not hear."

So I started to explain, that, over the months since I started to regularly receive their samples, I noticed a gradual change in his, and said it was undoubtedly because of his being a growing teenager.

"Remember the 'pheromones' we talked about, Danny?" I asked.

"Yes," he said as he drove. "Something's changed?"

"There could be," I said.

I explained that I've been laboring to separate the particular components of his sweat and blood that contained this pheromone, but I couldn't. Danny's samples were completely normal, except for the level of female hormones and other slight anomalies.

Naturally, I concentrated on these differences, but I wasn't making much progress. I suspected it's not any one component but a combination of components that only occured in him. I told him I was basically going through a process of elimination as I broke down the components of his samples, and recombined them. It might take a long time, or I might not be able to find the answers I was looking for at all, but I carried on.

As I was doing my work, I did notice a change in the effects of his so-called pheromones in the subsequent samples they sent.

"How were you even able to test for effects," Danny asked. "Are you telling me you had volunteers?"

I knew Danny was smart.

"Well something like that," I said, glossing over his question. "The point is…"

I explained that the strength of the effects of his pheromones had been growing as time went on, and there might come a time when they become detrimental to both him and to others.

"What do you mean 'detrimental?'" he asked.

"Imagine how it would be if you had a bunch of obsessed, infatuated girls after you all the time," I said. "Imagine how they'd react to other girls who were as equally obsessed. Imagine how these girls would fight over you, and how they might not want to be out of your sight. Imagine how these obsessed girls would be if they couldn't be around you every second of every day."

Danny grew white as a sheet as he thought that through.

"But you're saying I'm not yet at that point?" he asked.

"I don't think so, but I need to do more tests."

He was silent for a while. I picked up on this, and a thought occurred to me.

"Have you been having encounters with these kinds of people?" I asked. "Unstable people? People not behaving normally?"

"Well… not exactly," he said, dodging me. "So the effect is basically like the people are, ummm, 'over-infatuated,' I guess?"

"Mostly," I said. "Actually, it's more akin to an addiction. We keep on calling it a pheromone. But it's really not. Its effects are like a pheromone, but who can say what will happen to those affected, especially at the levels that I'm expecting to see soon."

"Any guesses, at least?"

"Well… conceivably, extreme irritability, aggression, extreme changes in behavior to those exposed to it. These are all the usual effects of addiction. But these are all guesses, like I said."

He looked at me. "Addiction…" he murmured. He looked like what I said hit something.

"You're acting like you've already encountered…" I said.

"No!" he said. "Well… I'm not sure."

"Well, as I said, the strength of your so-called hormones is growing. But eventually, it should level off, maybe even taper down. But - "

"But, in the meantime, the people around me will grow more and more homicidal?"

"Well, I wouldn't use that word…"

"Oh, God…"

"I may have a solution." I reached into my shirt's breast pocket, took out a small, folded piece of paper and handed it to Danny.

"What is it?" he said, and unfolded it.

"I suggest you read that later instead, so we don't hit anyone with your car," I laughed. "Or I can tell you what's on it."

Though he looked like he really wanted to read it, he nodded and slipped it into his pocket.

"That's basically a list of several common kitchen and bathroom products, plus instructions how to mix them up properly and how to apply the resulting concoction."

"How to apply…"

"It's basically something you apply to the hollows of your neck, your armpits, your wrists and your groin, and what it will do is basically - I guess 'dilute' is the best word to use - basically dilute the effect of your pheromones."

"But you said my pheromones are changing and becoming stronger. Does that mean I have to put more and more of this stuff?"

"The, ah, ratios of some of the liquids need to be changed regularly to insure its efficacy. It's all in the instructions. But even without this, the people who're regularly exposed to your pheromones will likely develop a sort of immunity or resistance. Its effects on them will probably not go away completely, but constant exposure will mean they won't be as affected as others. Sort of like people developing a resistance to certain antibiotics."

Danny drove on in silence.

"What are you thinking," I inquired.

He sighed. "I guess I'm just sad. I thought we had a handle on my situation already. But it turns out that we didn't."

"Hopefully, with this new solution, you'll be back in control."

"I hope so… Doc? Can I tell you something?"

"Of course, Danny. Anything. And you can be sure I won't share it with anyone. Doctor-patient confidentiality and all that."

And then Danny started telling me about an amazing story - a story about a little boy that grew up to look like his sister, and became the most popular female radio disk jockey in town and, on top of it all, to be a lead singer for a popular girl band.

And though we had already reached the airport and pulled up to the curb near my boarding gate, he continued his story. I asked him if he knew a nice place nearby that served coffee. Maybe we could have some coffee and talk some more.

We ended up in a little greasy spoon a few blocks away, and I listened some more while we sipped coffee, and Danny had several slices of pie.

I knew I was here just to give Danny the background about his condition and the formula for my little concoction, and maybe he'll be able to continue with his life without worrying about love-crazed girls trying to kill him. But now, I found myself listening to a high school kid telling me about his extraordinary life.

The results of the little experiments that I've been doing were indeterminate - no completely definitive or quantifiable results since I couldn't do as much experimenting as I needed because I didn't have the authority nor the resources to do it properly. But little Danny's experiences were proof positive of all of my assumptions.

His play-acting as a girl DJ and a girl rock-star was incredible to hear - that he could convince so many people that he was a girl. And, apparently, he was even able to convince people on TV. I think I'm gonna want to see that show. And, if they stream it, maybe I can listen to his Saturday morning radio programs, too.

Having examined him and knowing his physiology, I knew it was totally possible. As for his voice, according to him, an operation he had when he was a kid probably had something to do with it. Actually, I vaguely remember that from his medical history. He may be right, but I bet his condition had at least a little to do with it, too - that maybe his condition interacted with the physical changes resulting from his operation.

Actually, his psychiatrist, Dr. Jessup, had told me some of it, but I never did get the full picture - what with patient-doctor confidentiality and all - she wasn't inclined to share much even if both of us were working with the same teen, since she probably assumed Danny's problem wasn't physiologically based. So I didn't really have much information about it until now.

Damn. This will change the scope of my experimentation. Again.

I was also interested in his friends, his bandmates, his family, his classmates in school and the people he works with at the radio station as well, and how they were affected. From what Danny said, it seemed that his friends and family weren't too affected. At the beginning, when he was just starting to get his breasts, he said his family and friends were acting a little too "friendly and clingy" as he put it. But over time, things seemed to have calmed down. However, there were some exceptions - some kids at school, a couple of guards at the office, and the new deejays in the station. Danny said they weren't that problematic because he didn't interface with them all that much, anyway, but it troubled him enough that he told me about them.

However, the latest trouble he was having with Janet, one of his bandmates, was the one that worried him the most.

Danny said the girl was very argumentative at times and then overly conciliatory and sweet in others. Danny didn't like how it was affecting her relationship with him and his friends.

And then the events just before the concert show happened. I listened with growing alarm.

"Danny, maybe you should tell the police," I said.

He was reluctant, though, I suppose because he was worried about his being found out.

For me, though I wasn't a psychiatrist like Dr. Jessup, it sounded very familiar - it was like some teenager with an obsession. And obviously, she was obsessed with him. But when he talked about that meeting they had that resulted in her leaving the band, what she did at their concert, and what Danielle and the others said Janet's been doing since, it seemed that her condition was worsening, into somethig like borderline personality disorder - like a teenage version of Fatal Attraction. Accordinng to Danny, she wasn't like this before - she was totally normal before. The natural conclusion was that it was because of the hormones.

"What has she been doing now?" I asked.

It seemed Danny's friends and bandmates have been seeing Janet creeping around and spying on them. They weren't sure, though, but someone from the band - Fallon - had been getting some letters left in her locker. They didn't say anything major - more like "you bitch!" or "I have my eye on you," or "I don't know how you can stand looking at yourself in the morning." Danny said, since Fallon essentially took over Janet's spot in the band, it was obvious to them who wrote the notes.

"No emails or posts in twitter, facebook or other social media?" I asked. "That's unusual."

"No, nothing on social media, but that's not too surprising, actually." Danny explained: "Janet was a little paranoid about being traced," he said, "or spoofed or spammed, so she's rarely on social medial. And she knew my friends and I were fairly Internet savvy so it would be easy for us to trace things back to her, especially since she's such a dweeb about the net. So she just stays off the net."

"Does the school administration and the police know about the letters?"

"Ummm, no," Danny said. "We wouldn't want to make a big deal of it and mess up Janet's life. After all, they weren't really threatening, and we aren't sure it's her..."

"Come on, Danny - you're sure, aren't you?"

Danny reluctantly nodded.

"You are a loyal friend, Danny."

"I'm afraid I'm too loyal for my own good."

He played with the remaining piece of pie on his plate. "Doc," he said, "can I ask you what you think?"

"Think, Danny?"

"What all this means for me, for my family. What will we need to face because of me? I don't want to put those close to me in danger. And all because of my screwy…"

"Stop, Dan. Just stop."

I sighed. "First thing you must realize," I said, "is that this is not your fault. This is just one of those things that families have to face together."

"Really?" he said incredulously.

"Well, you know what I mean. Other families have other things to worry about. This happens to be your family's."

"But, Doc…"

"Dan. Yes, your hormones and everything else has made it difficult. But just look at you - look at what you've done! Dr. Jessup says you're doing great in school. Top Ten in your class, in fact. You are on your way to carving a bright future for yourself. And your mom and dad are so proud of you. And your sister and friends think very highly of you.

"And even with everything fate has saddled you with, you do the best you can for everyone, using it to start promising careers for them and yourself.

"And this new thing - the changing quality of your pheromones - it's not irreversible. Or rather, it's not unmanageable."

I put my hand on his shoulder, and I felt him tremble a bit. Perhaps it was a kind of relief that was coursing through him now. My words seemed to have given rise to some hope. It was time to shore up that hope somehow.

"Do you have that piece of paper I showed you?"

He brought it out.

"Read it, please."

He took it out, read it and looked at me in askance.

"What's this?" he asked.

"They're basically things you can find in the house - acetone, rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer, liquid hand soap, a ladies perfume, shampoo, and several others."

"With specific brands, too."

"Oh, yes, that's important - the brand. You have to get those specific brands as well as the amounts specified, otherwise the chemicals will be different enough that they won't work: specific brands of liquid soap, detergent, astringent, rubbing alcohol, bleach, two different men's colognes, one specific women's perfume, and several other things.

You're supposed to put them in a bottle in the amounts specified, and shake it vigorously until the color changes until it's transparent, like water. And then you're supposed to put some on the hollows of your neck, your armpits, the inside of your wrists and in your groin."

He was looking at me a little unbelievingly.

"My groin?"

I chuckled. "Yep."

"How about the amounts I should put on?"

"Doesn't matter - it's up to you. A couple of drops, or you slather it on - it doesn't matter. You'll be good for a couple of hours. Afterwards, you have to put on some more."

"And when I do, my pheromones won't affect anyone anymore?"

"Oh, it still will. But it won't reach the levels that will make people go crazy in love with you, or start getting violent, except perhaps for those who've already gone over."

"But you also said that my hormones were changing."

I nodded. "Yes. And this is the way around that. What you do is you get fresh litmus paper, both the blue and red kind. Wipe a piece on your neck or wrist. And then put some drops of the solution. If the paper doesn't change to red or blue, or at least pinkish or bluish, then the solution isn't right anymore. That means your pheromones changed enough that the solution isn't effective anymore."

"Then what…"

"You add a little more of the women's perfume in the list, shake it again and then do another test. If the paper's color doesn't change, then there is either too much or too little of the perfume. So you change the amounts until the color change happens."

He looked at me with hope.

"As I said, Danny, you can manage this new twist to your thing."

"What did you mean when you said people will go crazy in love and get violent?"

"My scans of the people I tested with your, ummm, extracts showed increased electrical activity in the brain, specifically the amygdala, especially the hypothalamus and the ventral tegmentum."

"What're those?"

"The Amygdala are two almond-shaped parts of the brain's lymbic system and are present in most vertebrates. It's the part of the brain that processes emotions. Subjects exposed to your pheromones show an immediate increase in activity in the amygdala, mostly in the left amygdala.

"Also, as exposure continues, the activity concentrates more in the ventral tegmentum."

"Sorry, Doc," Danny said, "but…" He made a gesture with his hand, like a plane just went over his head. "This is all too much like medical gibberish."

"Sorry, Dan. It's like this - the amygdala is responsible for processing emotions in general, and the ventral tegmentum is in charge of emotions like love, and how the person feels pleasure. So, you see the connection?"

Danny looked at me and nodded.

"Eleanor and I also found that more frequent exposure makes the effect last longer. Not necessarily a bad thing, but, in some people, the effect also increases after each exposure. The emotional pleasure is therefore ratcheted up in intensity.

"But, in the newer samples that we've gotten from you, in some people - about one in three hundred - activity seems to have increased in the right amygdala as well. And the right amygdala is more about sadness, fear and anger. See the connection?"

Danny looked a bit shocked as he connected the dots.

"What's the implication of that?" he asked.

"In those that had increased activity in the right amygdala, we found an increase in mood swings, feelings of abandonment, intense and unstable relations with people, impulsive and dangerous behavior, self-harming behavior, anger and lots of other things. And this behavior seems to increase as they get exposed to the newer versions of your pheromones.

"But, like I said, most people aren't affected that way - the effects on the right amygdala don't occur in most people. But in one in three hundred people, exposure to the newer versions of your pheromones trigger these negative effects, and then the cycle of increasing effects start. Needless to say, as soon as this started to happen to our test subjects, I discontinued the experiments with these specific people."

"So people around me become psychopaths?"

I shrugged. "One in three hundred," I corrected. "And these aren't psychopaths, Dan. At best they are troubled people that need help and understanding."

Dan's shoulders slumped. "And I'm the one who makes them that way…"

I had some more bad news, so I pushed on, thinking it best to tell him all of this now instead of stretching out the agony.

"There's more, Dan," I said. "These one-in-three hundred people who we continuously exposed to your pheromones developed a kind of dependency, like an addict, always looking for their next fix. And if they don't get their fix, they experience withdrawal - flu-like symptoms, anxiety, depression, tremors, and mostly a desperate need to get their next fix. But then, they don't really know that their fix is your pheromones. All they know is that they feel better when they get it."

He looked at me, forlorn.

"But, like any addict, if the person is able to avoid exposure for long enough, the symptoms go away.

"Then what about my folks? My friends?"

"Well, you're always around them so they don't experience any withdrawal. But I doubt if they're part of the one-in-three hundred - if they were in the one-in-three hundred group, the symptoms would have shown up long before now. Since they haven't, then they're safe. And because of the constant exposure, they would have developed a tolerance by now, unless they're one of the one-in-three hundred folks, like I said. I am fairly sure anyone who's been regularly dosed with your pheromones won't be affected by them much anymore, just like someone developing a drug tolerance to antibiotics as I said."

"So that means, if people get exposed enough, they'll be okay?"

"Until they become desensitized, you mean."

"When do they become desensitized? How will I know they've been desensitized?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe a couple of weeks to a month of daily exposure should do it."

"Then when overexposed, they would be immune? And my pheromones won't work on them anymore?"

"Sort of," I said. "The left-amygdala effects will remain regardless. The effect on those who've been overexposed are greatly reduced, of course, and there's no extra escalation of the effects. They'll still be affected, but only mildly, and only the left-amygdala effects . As for my concoction, it will stop the effect on the right amygdala. So at least no one goes psycho."

"What about someone who's already gone psycho?" Clearly, he was thinking of his friend Janet. I haven't thought of a scenario like that.

"Well… I suppose if she gets concentrated exposure to your hormones for, say, seventy-two hours straight or thereabouts, she should be immunized from the right-amygdala effects. She'll still have the left-amygdala ones, though, just like anyone, but if there's continuous exposure, the left-amygdala effects should become milder, like with everyone."

"God… How could I even do that for those who're affected? Seventy-two hours..."

"Sorry, Dan," I said. "I had to be honest."

"Not a problem, Doc," he said. "I appreciate it nevertheless."

But, looking at his face, he seemed to have something else on his mind.

"Okay, Dan," I said. "Spit it out."

He took a deep breath and started to tell yet another incredible story.

My jaw literally dropped, and listened with rapt attention. Danny said he couldn't really prove it, and would not have said anything to me if it weren't for the doctor-patient confidentiality, and the fact that he needed advice. What he said to me sounded like one of Eleanor's tall stories about her hometown of Spiral, but I had half a mind to believe this one.

With everything he told me, assuming it was all true, I had to say that nothing fundamental had changed in my point of view, and there was nothing I could add. To that, Danny just nodded. In my mind, though, I couldn't help think how appropriate Danny's… "powers" were. It couldn't be true, could it? Either he was lying or he probably imagined all of it.

But there were people in history that seem to have this kind of... power. For example, Rasputin comes to mind.

Maybe I can ask someone to research this, and look for these people. Oh my god. What was I thinking?

I looked at my watch.

"Ohmigod!" Danny suddenly said as he saw me looking at my watch. "Your flight…"

"It's long gone, Danny," I said. "Don't worry about it. I'll catch a later flight. It's good we were able to spend time talking. I doubt if we could have talked openly like this in front of your family. So it was worth it missing my plane. And there's always another flight, like I said."

"I'm really sorry, Doc…"

I waved it away. "Not a problem, Danny. I'll just book another flight, and I guess I'll stick around the lounge until it gets here."

Danny giggled. "Sorry, Doc. Our little one-horse airport doesn't have any kind of lounge. You have to go to the big one in... oh, wait - There's a waiting room, though…"

"In that case, I guess I can check into a motel and try and book a new flight..."

"There's a motel right beside the airport. I can bring you there?"

"That'll be great. Thanks!"

With my bag, the precious vials of samples from the twins in my doctor's battery powered sample box, and my coat, Danny left me at the curb by the motel.

"Thanks, Doc," he said, and shook my hand. "I really appreciate your help."

"Not a problem, Danny. You're a special kid. Don't loose heart. You're doing well. Just keep on fighting. And give me a call anytime you want. Eleanor and I will be available. And you can always talk to Dr. Jessup, too."

Impulsively, he gave me a hug, and I just realized how good a person Danny really was. He deserves a break. I didn't mind helping him.

And after he stepped back into his car and drove away and I contemplated these thoughts, I had the sneaking suspicion that maybe my nose-numbing formula had stopped working…

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 45 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 had a lengthy talk with Dr. Roberts, the man who first diagnosed his condition, and it seems the Doc discovered new things about him - alarming things. Wonder how it will go with Danny now. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang.

  Chapter Forty-Five:  Not Quite Back To Normal

***** (Tracey) *****

The effect of the KRPQ kick-off couldn't be underestimated. All of our new station's programs were hitting mom's mandated maximum in ads and commercials, which was fifteen minutes per hour, at rates comparable to the prime regions. No limits were really mandated by the government, but mom wanted ours to be a conscientious operation. So mom imposed a reasonable quota. For the lower-rated 1AM to 5AM shows, though, mom was willing to go thirty minutes. And, though we thought that the graveyard shift wouldn't get too many ads, Dennis and Lou's programs were actually exceeding their quotas.

Many advertisers were desperate to advertise on the station, and lobbied my mom to allow more advertising minutes, especially for Danny's Nighthawk show. But mom was adamant to maintain the 15-minute maximum per hour. I thought mom was just being her usual pig-headed self, but it turns out it was a strategy, and it paid off. KRPQ became the radio station with the highest per-minute rate in the region, and that advertising rates for Danny's show being among the country's highest.

As a result, we found our P&L totally in the black - it was, in fact, so far out of the red that, in the new station's first three months, we had such a big revenue surplus that mom joked we could run the rest of the year without any more advertising.

That's an exaggeration, of course, but it seemed that we were doing very well, indeed, and everyone was busting our doors down to advertise with us.

As for our crew - Talia, Harry and Sally found themselves the newest media celebrities. Just in our burg, only, of course, but that might change soon since many stations from the surrounding areas had been inquiring about syndication possibilities for some of our primetime shows, especially the Nighthawk show. As for Dennis and Lou, it seemed that they had uncovered a new commercial demographic - the late-night 65-to-75 demographic - a demographic made up mostly of older single or widowed listeners. It was amazing to discover that this was a very significant and active commercial demographic, and Lou and Dennis seemed to have cornered it.

As for the Nighthawk - her 6AM-10AM Saturday program was the most popular program around, and became mandatory listening for the kids in town, and after the Jackson Residential Building fire, I don't think it was possible for our ratings to go any higher, unless we discover a population of tweens and teens living in caves. And after Val's "Mission Impossible," we weren't worried about the Nighthawk's real identity being discovered anymore, which allowed Danny and the station to just continue with business with no fear. Mom, of course, wanted the Nighthawk to have other programs, but Danny and Danielle weren't too keen on it. Mom didn't push, of course, and just said she'd be open to the idea if Danny or Danielle ever thought it was something they wanted to do.

As for the band, their status had been cemented further.

Hardcore fans had been able to track down all of the members of the band, and security had become problematic. To help the band out, Betsy had prevailed on her parents to provide security for the guys. Her folks didn't mind since it just meant reassigning a few of their people. Betsy herself already had security, courtesy of her folks, but the other five were assigned three security people each, in alternating eight-hour shifts - all-in-all fifteen full-time security people were now dedicated to protecting the band - what it amounted to was each had a full-time bodyguard around them .

Most of the kids in school eventually came to recognize the bodyguards, even though they were shuffled around from time to time, or were sometimes replaced after a week's duty. Standard practice for bodyguard-protection, I eventually found out.

The bodyguard that should have gone to Danny went to Danielle, of course, since, to the world at large, the singer known as "Dannie Fairchild" was actually Danielle Loiuse Fairchild, while Daniel Lewis Fairchild was just her nerdy brother.

But in keeping with "the plan," and unbeknownst to Danielle's bodyguards, when Danielle was in Mario's doing their show, or when she was practicing with the band in Mongo's garage, they were actually guarding Danny in disguise. (This didn't last long, however, and the guards would eventually discover the truth, but Betsy said they could be trusted not to tell anyone, not even Betsy's folks and Walter.)

The upshot of it was that Daniel was left alone and without bodyguards most of the time. Which was just fine to everyone, especially Danny.

But then, Danny had to have his own security, too, since he was, after all, the lynchpin to the whole KRPQ operation. However, so as not to make it suspicious, Mrs. Piper hired the security for Danny, and it was made up of three specially-briefed guards especially picked because they looked like kids close to our age, and were required to remain inconspicuous at all times.

As for the band's regular gigs at Mario's, that still continued except that Friday night dining there was now a by-reservation affair, with appropriate cover fees and menu and drink prices. The band didn't like that, but what could they do.

Also, the guys actually started having trouble getting to their gigs, but Joanne's and Dale's vans - the band's de-facto transportation, flanked by their bodyguards' cars providing the much-needed interference, were able to manage.

The schoolkids had quickly adjusted to the celebrities in their midst, as did most people in town. Sure, the half-life for being a celebrity was fairly longer in little towns like ours (but not by much), but in a month, the band became just another fixture of regular teen life. More or less. And, so long as there weren't new stuff happening, most kids just left the band alone. In fact, after a month, we were all thinking that the bodyguards were unnecessary.

What was troubling was that we kept on seeing Janet around. Though she wasn't really making herself known to us, we couldn't help but notice that she was always around.

Today, for example, as Danny and I had our first post-progam brunch in the building's lounge with Danielle and the girls, we found Janet sitting at a corner table.

During the week, the building's lounge served the managers and executives in the building, but on weekends, the lounge was opened up to the public, otherwise the concessionaires would have just closed up for the weekend since the building was practically deserted.

I suggested that the lounge could be our new Saturday brunch place after Danny's morning radio program. With the new popularity of the band, the station and Robin, we'd been having a difficult time finding a place to eat without being pestered by fans and other hangers-on trying to ingratiate themselves into our little group. So this out-of-the-way place was ideal.

This wouldn't last, of course - sooner or later, the kids will find out about this place... But while they haven't yet, we can get a little privacy.

We settled down to a nice brunch. Mel and the others thanked me for the nice meal since it was on my mom's tab today. And though the choices available weren't as many as what they usually had during the week, they were still pretty okay.

As usual, Danielle had a big breakfast - three gourmet breakfast burritos, a cesar salad, a couple of virgin mimosas, a milanese mac & cheese, a big mug of coffee, and an apple. Danny, in a Danny-Danielle version of sibling rivalry, came over with a stack of whole-grain buttermilk pancakes, a couple of spinach and ham and egg mini quiches, a couple of country ham French toasts, a big tumbler of ice-choked orange juice, a steaming mug of hot chocolate and a banana.

Danielle was dressed as Danny - we were on the way to the band's weekly practice, after all, and there might be some fans there. Hence, the disguise. Joanne looked at Danielle's champagne glass with a raised eyebrow. The champagne glass that her virgin mimosa came in didn't go with the outfit - it was like a grungy boy trying to look all refined. But who cares, right?

Of course, Danny himself was in his Robin-the-Nighthawk persona. No one would probably see him, but since we just came from doing our Nighthawk program, per "The Plan," Danny did the show in full Robin regalia.

Danny wore a sexy, fitted girl's leather jacket over a super-tight white middie tee, slim-fit jean-jeggings, gray suede buckled ankle boots and her extra-long shiny, brunette wig. Somehow, the tough-but-sexy image went well with the mountain of food on her tray.

"And what do the judges say?" Joanne asked, and Nikki, June, Drew, Mel, Betsy and Joane herself cheered and started clapping. June and Drew raised a couple of napkins with the number ten written on them, like judges at an ice-skating competition.

"Whooo!" Joanne cheered. "We have a winner! Robin by a nose!"

"Huzzah!" Betsy cheered and giggled.

"What winner?" Danielle asked.

"Of the one with the biggest tray of food!" Joanne laughed.

"That's mean," Danny said.

"Gimme one of your pancakes, then, Robin," I said.

"Get your own pancake, you mooch!" she answered predictably, and we all laughed.

"How about you, Dannie," I said. "Gimme your apple."

"Get your own, you mooch!" she said.

"Yep," Joanne said, "that proves it - they're related." And everyone laughed.

Danielle and Danny looked at us, in offended shock, but after a beat, they stuck their tongues out at each other. We all laughed, relieved they weren't hurt by our joking.

Because it was a Saturday, centralized air-conditioning was off in the building, so Danny doffed her leather jacket leaving her clad only in her white tee and jeggings, settled down and sat between Nikki and Danielle. She wore a pair of suspenders - just as accents to her outfit, because her tight jeggings didn't need suspenders. The suspenders did bring attention to her boobies, though. We all got quiet as we looked at her sexy sexitude, but she was clearly oblivious to our reactions and just got busy with the important work of eating. After a beat, the rest of us resumed chatting away about everything and nothing.

A few minutes into the meal, Mel seemed to have noticed something.

"Hey," she whispered conspiratorially. "Pssst… Hey, guys!"

"Why are we whispering," Joanne whispered back, in a repeat of an old running joke.

"I'm serious, guys!" Mel continued, still whispering. "The girl sitting alone in the corner - it's Janet."

We all looked, and it was indeed Janet. She had her head down trying to hide her face, and eating a bowl of soup.

Danny looked over. "Janet…"

"She's always hanging around," Mel said. "It's creepy. She should just come over and stop all this spying and creeping around. Call the cops, Danny!"

Instead, Danny stood up and went over to her.

"For God's sake, Janet," she said.

Janet looked up at Danny and, after a moment, started sobbing.

"Janet…"

She suddenly stood up and ran out of the lounge.

"Janet!"

- - - - -

***** (Tracey) *****

After brunch, and after a futile search of the floor for Janet, we all went to the elevator and pressed the button for the KRPQ office's floor, where Danny switched to an outfit Danielle brought with her. So Danny went from tough-as-nails-sexy-Robin to Dannie-the-glamorous-singer. I grinned. This will never get old.

We were all getting ready to go to Mongo's house for the band's usual Saturday rehearsal when mom called me on my cel - it turned out she needed to meet with Danny, Danielle and me.

"But, mom," I said, "it's band practice today, and they can't afford to miss it again."

"Well, all right," she said. "Would it be okay if I just meet with you and Danielle at least?"

"Hold on," I said, and told the others.

Dan and Danielle agreed, so while Dan and the others left for Mongo's, Danielle and I would go to my place in my PT Cruiser. Thank goodness Joanne brought her mom's minivan. I doubt they'd all fit in Danny's Mustang.

I gave Danny the bag that now had his Robin stuff, and they left for Mongo's.

When Danielle and I got to my place, I unlocked the door and stepped in right away, ushering Danielle into our condo. Danny's bodyguard unobtrusively stayed in the hallway. (The guy knew it was Danielle, but, per instructions, he continued shadowing "Danny" since the real Danny was now being guarded by Danielle's security.)

"Mom!" I called, "we're here!"

She came out and gave Danielle and I kisses on the cheek.

"I'm so pleased that you came over right away, my dears," she said. "I'm sorry to disrupt your day. It's just that someone has come over that really needed to talk with you. Come with me to the living room."

They walked over and saw what looked like a little girl sitting in the living room.

But when she turned towards us, we recognized her. It was little Katie Hargraves.

"Ms Hargraves," I exclaimed in complete surprise. "What are you doing here?"

She stood up to her full four feet six inches, and went to us, her hand outstretched.

"Good morning, Ms Piper," she said in her sweet little-girl sort of voice, and shook my hand. "And this must be Daniel Fairchild. Good morning." They shook hands as well.

"Good morning, Ms Hargraves," Danielle said in her version of Danny's voice (since Danny's natural voice was quite girlie, Danielle had it easy imitating him). "Is this something about the band or the Evolution contest?"

"Yes. Both, actually."

"Sit down, everyone," mom said, "I'll get us some coffee."

Danielle and I sat in the couch in the sunken section of the living room, and Katie Hargraves sat across from us. We looked at her in some fascination - she looked like a stone-cold fox, but was so tiny: her feet wouldn't even touch the floor.

Katie looked at us with a subtle little smile. We realized we were staring and looked away in embarassment.

"That's okay," Katie said, smiling. "I don't mind. People are naturally curious."

"I'm sorry, Ms Hargraves," I said. "We know all about the…"

"It's all right," she said, "and please call me Katie."

"Thank you. I'm Tracey and this is Dan."

"So is anything wrong, Katie?" Danielle asked.

"Everything's going well, thank you, Dan," she said. "Rockrgrrl production is keeping steady and sales are up."

"Good to hear," Danielle responded.

"So!" mom came back with a tray. "Coffee, anyone?"

As we got busy serving ourselves coffee, Katie continued.

"I'm sorry for bothering you on a Saturday," Katie said, "but I've finally gotten word on Danielle's question… Pardon me, but Danielle's actually the one in the band?"

Danielle nervously cleared her throat. "Ummm, yes, she is."

"Then who have we been negotiating with?" Katie asked.

"That was actually me," Danielle said, a bit nervously. "I'm actually the one managing the band as well as Robin Tibbles, the radio announcer everyone knows as the Nighthawk." (The family name, "Tibbles," was selected by mom - I don't know where she got it, but Danny didn't mind being a "Tibbles." So Robin was now officially "Robin Tibbles.")

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but how old are you, anyway, Dan?" Katie asked.

"My, ummm, sister and I are both sixteen, turning seventeen this year."

"Ahh, I see. But if you're not even eighteen…"

"Yes, that's right - we aren't able to sign contracts and such. My position as the manager of Unlimited Bandwidth and Robin Tibbles is an unofficial position. I mostly advise, arrange things and help negotiate, so the 'manager' thing is appropriate. But I don't really get a salary or anything like that: I do this as a favor to my sister and my friend Robin - they want me to represent them and be their advocate: they don't do anything without checking with me.

"As to the legality of things, many in the band are over eighteen already, so they can basically sign their own contracts. Except for Betsy Haley and my sister, everyone's contracts are their own. For Betsy and Dannie, any contract-type documents are co-signed by our parents, and all of their contracts are within the legal requirements for minors. As for Fallon, she and her folks had her emancipated when she turned sixteen, so she signs her own contracts."

Mom nodded at that. "I can vouch for all that, Ms Hargraves," she said.

Katie nodded. "You seem to have thought this through," she said. "We actually knew most of that. Except for that thing with Fallon. But I'm confused - why were we led to believe that you were actually Danielle Fairchild?"

Mom, Danielle and I looked at each other. Time for our story to kick in.

"Well, actually, it started out as sort of a goof," Danielle-as-Danny explained. "My, ahhh, sister didn't want to be identified with the band. I guess out of some misguided idea of modesty, she didn't want to sing as her. To reinforce that, I play-acted as her sometimes, and that's how you got to know me as 'Danielle.'"

"But as time went on," I said, "it became more and more complicated to continue with it when people discovered the truth - that Dannie was actually Danielle. Not much of a secret, really - I mean, she wasn't fooling anyone."

"But we in Rockrgrrl had her signed up as…"

I shook my head. "She signed herself as 'Dannie' - no pronouns - and all of the paperwork was properly signed by our folks. So legally speaking, everything was in order, and all of us has agreed we're supporting that."

Mom shrugged. "Yes - paperwork-wise, all totally and literally legal, I assure you," she said.

"You are okay with all this?"

Mom shrugged. "Actually, not completely. But when the kids explained it, I sort of understood. And I had my people check everything as to their legality. Everything checked out. There was no misrepresentation, both legally and otherwise. Any confusion as to Danielle's real identity was not their fault, legally speaking."

Katie looked at mom. "Well… if you're allowing this, and you say there are no legal issues, then I guess we'll accept it, as well. We'll still do some due diligence, and have our lawyers do their own vetting."

We nodded. Danielle-as-Danny and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Was that the reason for your visit, Ms Hargraves? I mean, Katie…"

"Well, not really. The reason I'm here is because we've finally gotten some feedback from our lawyers regarding Unlimited Bandwidth's status in the Evolution Concert contest, and their continuing eligibility."

Danielle and I took a deep breath. Here it comes!

"Well," Katie said, "our lawyers are fine with the situation, and we feel we haven't been remiss in any of our responsibilities to our contestants. The agreements you and your folks signed were all totally satisfactory. But with what you brought up, certain, ummm, concerns have been highlighted. And we've come to certain major policy decisions."

"Yes?" mom asked.

"First, though the concert is for amateurs, their amateur status upon entering the contest is the only main consideration. If they're not amateurs anymore after their regionals - it will not be an issue. After all, it would be unfair for our contestants to put their musical careers on hold.

"But given the rationale for the selection of the participants, the rule that a band must be at least fifty percent female must be for the duration of the contest, and as a compromise to the amateur status thing, they can't have any music recording contracts with any organization or company - only limited performing contracts will be allowed.

"And, lastly, since the point of the concerts was to promote our company, until the last Evolution concert, the contestants, to retain eligibility, can't do anything to put the company in a bad light, nor have any professional association or relationship with any of our competitors."

We all stopped to think that through.

"Competitors?" Danielle asked.

"Other companies that make or sell musical equipment, or are running similar contests or events."

"How about 'bad light?' What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, you know - the usual: no gambling, no drinking, no risque photos in the tabloids…"

We nodded at that. Of course...

"So, you're okay with this?" Katie asked after a minute or so.

"I guess," Danielle said.

"Good. We've added all that to our press statements and materials, and have sent out a memo to the finalists. You guys should get your copies of the memos soon via registered snailmail."

"So, with all this, what about UB? Are they okay?"

"UB?"

I grinned. "That's what we call the band."

She smiled at me. "I like that." She turned to Danielle. "Well, Dan," she said, "to answer your question, our legal people had to rush these determinations given your band's decision to push on with Mrs. Piper's concert."

"Katie - please call me Melody," my mom said.

Katie nodded her thanks."… Melody's concert… Mother wasn't too happy with your band, actually, Dan, since they've made things complicated, and she was all set to stick it to them, no offense, and kick them out of the contest. But, after watching Melody's show, she had a change of heart. She said that they were very talented, and had a very deft way of connecting with their fans that could really help the Evolution concerts, especially Danielle. It would be a shame, she said, if we were to lose UB, so mother and I made sure that no one would be able to use their participation in Melody's show to challenge their eligibility in the contest."

Danielle and I hugged each other in relief.

"That's so, so wonderful, Katie," mom said. "Tracey and I were so worried that we had put their status in jeopardy. We had even arranged it that they wouldn't be paid for their participation so their status as an amateur band wouldn't change."

"Oh! We didn't know! You didn't need to do that…"

Mom turned to me. "Tracey, given this information, let's draw up papers so we'll be able to pay the kids the original fees we intended to give."

"I don't know, mom. That'll complicate the papers we've already had them sign. I'm going to have to take them all back and replace them."

Mom nodded. "You're right. That's a lot of work. Okay, let's make it more simple - just call them bonuses, that, because the show did so well, we're giving them these bonuses, and let's type up a boilerplate conforme for the parents that need them, to sign."

I nodded. "Okay, mom."

"Pardon me, Mrs. Piper," Katie said.

"Please, Katie - Melody."

"Of course. I was wondering, Melody, what's Tracey's official position in your company?"

"Well, officially, Tracey is the producer and director of our early Saturday morning Nighthawk program, which is our most successful program, and she's deputy for station operations. I assure you, my companies are all compliant with child labor laws, and her position, title and responsibilities are in compliance."

"Good! But those are pretty heavy responsibilities."

Mom nodded. "Tracey has a good head on her shoulders, and I trust her implicitly. And I make sure she has enough time for schoolwork and gets all the rest she needs. I'm very proud of her."

I felt teary-eyed hearing that come from my mom. She pulled me close and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"That's excellent, then!" Katie exclaimed. "Because one of the things mother asked me to do was to ask you about the Nighthawk program."

"Oh?" mom asked. "What do you think of our program? Do you ever catch it where you are?"

Well, actually, we don't really get it back home, but I have staff who's from here, and he's been asking his folks to record them for him. He gives copies to me - you should consider streaming it, by the way. I like it. It's actually one of my favorite radio shows."

I couldn't stop myself and clapped. I realized that I just did that, and I couldn't stop myself from blushing.

"As you see, Katie," mom chuckled, "Tracey's pretty proud of the program."

"And she should be," Katie smiled. "In fact, Rockrgrrl would like to send you a proposal to sponsor the entire show."

Mom and I looked each other, ecstatic.

"We'll pick up all the advertising spots for the show, and buy up whatever contracts you already have, and we'd like to call the program the Rockrgrrl Nighthawk Show, and start converting it to a national program."

I looked pretty happy with that. Mom, too. But when I looked at Danielle…

Katie also saw her expression.

"Dan?" she asked. "You don't look too enthusiastic."

Danielle shrugged. "I'm not too confident with that…"

"What do you mean?"

"Mrs. P?" Danielle looked to mom. "What do you think?"

She shrugged. "I can't say. It's your and Robin's program, Dan."

Danielle turned to Katie. "Well, I think Robin won't go for that. She'll probably think that it'll make it sound that she's sold out. No offense, of course…"

Katie waved that away. "Not at all, Dan. No offense taken. Please go on."

"I'm sure you can see my point, Katie… I'll still ask her if you want, but knowing her, I'm pretty sure she won't agree."

"What if we don't get all the spots? What if we allow other sponsors?"

"I guess that would help, but, to be frank, Katie, it's the name…. 'The Rockrgrrl Nighthawk show...' you know?"

"Ahhh…"

Danielle shrugged. "Sorry, Katie."

She reached out and held Danielle's hand. "No worries, Dan. I completely understand. I'll talk to mother and see what we can do. It could be something like 'The Nighthawk Show, sponsored by Rockrgrrl...'"

Mom deftly changed topics and the discussion changed to something lighter. "We'll figure something out," she said. "How about some more coffee?"

An hour or so later, little Katie took her leave. Two very big men in suits that reminded me of Walter, Betsy's butler, met her outside our door. Danielle's bodyguard was there as well, but, after a signal from Danielle, he backed off.

"Oh! Before I go…" She signaled one of the men and whispered something. The guy handed her a couple of envelopes, and she came back in and handed one to Danielle. "Can you make sure you give those to the band and your backup singers? They're vouchers that you can use in any Rockrgrrl and PIMA store. PIMA's our top-brand Spanish music store - you know: acoustic guitars, spanish guitars and such. I know there are no branches here in your town, but we're considering putting some up. But I'm sure you can find one. And I have a few extra vouchers here…"

"Would you have five more?" I said, and blushed.

Katie giggled. "Sure!" She checked the last remaining envelope. "There are ten more here, so you make sure everyone gets one, okay?"

"Thanks so much, Katie."

She waved that away and handed me the extra vouchers. "It's nothing, honey. Anyway, I'll talk things over with mother and will contact you guys by tonight or tomorrow."

She waved goodbye again, and left.

"Pretty classy lady," Danielle said.

"I never realized how short she was…" I said, and turned back to mom and Danielle to discuss things over some more.

- - - - -

***** (Mongo) *****

Some of the guys started trickling into my garage at about one PM or so, but it took a while for everyone to get in. With all the fans that surrounded the house, that's not surprising. My mama didn't come out anymore because of the crowds, so she brought in the cooler with our usual drinks earlier, as well as several grocery bags of chips.

Since the show, the news that we had these weekly practice sessions had somehow spread, and though we've only had a handful of them since the show, people started coming to see if they can watch our practice sessions. They were mostly keeping their distance for now, but it was just a matter of time.

Having established a routine already, the bodyguards got together and organized a kind of cordon around my house with yellow rope and used their cars to block people, so the "fans" couldn't get close much. Per their "bodyguard SOP," they also informed the police, and they sent a couple of police cars and officers to keep the road open to traffic, and their conspicuous presence helped to keep people away. Just in the nick of time, too, since the size of the crowd had been growing.

Since Dale and Fallon weren't in yet, Danny, Nikki, Betsy, June and Drew, took the time to go into the house and say hi to mama. I really appreciated that. Mama, as well.

Mel and Joanne stayed behind to help me and the guys set up. That wasn't an unusual thing - all of us would usually use the time to help set up June's keyboards, my drum set, the speakers and wires, and mama's folding chairs until everyone was ready.

Morgan and Jerry started opening the garage windows to get rid of the stuffiness while Mike swept away the week's accumulation of dirt and dust. Jerry had to unlock the padlocks that mama and I installed - some folks try to jimmy the doors and windows of the garage at night, so I put some locks on the doors and windows of the house and garage.

The others had the same problem at their houses, too, actually, even at Morgan's and the others' who weren't really part of the band. Maybe we all needed some security cameras or something. Betsy's house was fully protected already, and Danny's dad had them signed up with a security company, but the rest of our houses didn't have anything like that.

"Ahhh, the perils of popularity," Mike said while he helped open the windows, which merited the usual shot in the head.

Any more talk had to wait, though, when Dale and Fallon finally arrived.

After a quick setup, we started our rehearsals.

It didn't go as smoothly as we hoped it would since everyone outside started singing along and bopping to our beat. And, though we asked nicely for them to allow us to practice in peace, and to be more considerate of our neighbors, it didn't do much.

After the second song that we couldn't get straight, Danny waved to us.

"Stop! Guys, stop!"

The song slowly petered out, all of us a little pissed. From the outside, we heard everyone go "awww!" in disappointment.

"This is just not working, guys," Danny said in barely suppressed frustration.

"Yeah, dude," Dale said. "The afternoon's shot."

"So, what'll we do?"" June asked.

After a minute or so, Fallon strummed her guitar.

"Screw it," Fallon said.

"Fallon?" Danny said.

"I said, screw it, Danny," she replied. "We can't practice under these conditions."

"So what do we do?" June said.

Fallon looked back at us, waggled her eyebrows and grinned.

After some talk, we got set. Mike pressed the garage switch and the garage doors slowly rumbled upwards. The kids outside held their breath, and when it was fully up, the kids all cheered.

As we planned, June started playing the opening chords to Van Halen's "Jump."

And the people outside went crazy.

- - - - -

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

After three songs, we wound down things.

"Thanks, everyone!" I said. "That's it for today. This'll be the the last of our garage practice sessions, unfortunately. Thank you for coming!"

The guys and I went to the cordoned-off area and high-fived and shook hands with our fans. Some of the kids there were people we knew, or at least recognized, from school. The Glee Club kids weren't there, though - not too surprising 'coz Fallon and I see them at least once a week at the Glee Club meetings, and they probably didn't really feel the need to see more of us. Oh, well.

Glee Club days were special, though, since we get to have lunch together in the cafeteria and an after-school thing at the mall with the gang. A few times, June, Mongo, Dale and Tracey came over, which made us complete. And with twenty-five kids all together, it was better to reserve a place. Not a problem with Tracey's mom's connections at the mall. I was looking forward to the next Glee Club Day, actually.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 46 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. The famous Ms Katie Hargraves of Rockrgrrl paid Mrs. P a call, and she told her that the band's eligibility was secure. Wow! Katie Hargraves really was that short! Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang. BTW, watch out for cameos in this one - there's a bunch of em!

  Chapter Forty-Six:  Road Trip

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

As we shook hands et cetera with the kids that came over to watch our garage practice, we also accommodated those who proffered pens and pieces of paper, and signed autographs. Actual autographs! Cool. Eventually, the audience started to thin out, a lot of them disappointed to learn that this was the last of our band practice sessions. With the new prices and reservation fees at Mario's, most of the kids couldn't afford to watch us there anymore. So, for most of them, it meant that our garage practice sessions was the only way they could see us play. Gotta find a solution for that.

These things were sidelined for a bit since Danielle, disguised as me, and Tracey arrived.

"What kept you guys?" I said, and gave them hugs.

"Guess who we just had a meeting with," Danielle said, while I gave her a sisterly kiss on the cheek.

"Duh! Mrs. Piper, of course."

"No, no! Not just Mrs. P! Guess who else?"

I shrugged. "I won't even try."

"Dan!" Tracey said, and made a shushing motion. Apparently, it was a secret. And we were outside surrounded by people.

I was about to instinctively reply, so it was a good thing Danielle beat me to responding, and therefore kept our disguise intact: "Right, Trace," Danielle, as "Dan," responded. She led us all in the garage and closed the doors.

It wasn't a totally soundproof structure, to be sure, but at least it gave us enough privacy that no one would be able to overhear.

While we were packing stuff away, putting away Mrs. Kaufman's folding chairs, and snacking on Mrs. Kaufman's generic drinks and chips, Danielle explained about the meeting.

Wow.

Once we were done moving all of our equipment and stuff into Dale's van, we sat around the now-empty garage in various stages of pooped, and continued to discuss the new information from Rockrgrrl.

Danielle explained to us again about the new policies for the contest. Anyway, the long and short of it meant we were in the clear - that our status in the Evolution Concert was safe, and, although there were things we couldn't do, it also meant we were free to do other things.

For example, although we couldn't sign up with any recording company, we could do shows, concerts, TV and other things.

It also meant that Mrs. Piper felt safe to release performance fees, although she was calling them "bonuses" instead of salary or whatever, just so we could get them now instead of having to wait.

After things were talked through, Danielle handed out little five hundred dollar vouchers to Rockrgrrl and PIMA, one apiece to everyone. She handed Fallon a bunch of extra ones, saying it was for the Glee Club and for Mrs. Sparks, their adviser. Fallon promised to pass them on.

"PIMA?" Mikey complained. "What the hell is a PIMA?"

"It's a musician's term, doof," Morgan said. "It's also the name of a chain of high-end music stores that sell upbrand musical instruments and equipment, mostly classical Spanish and acoustic guitars, and string instruments."

"Damn. Musical instruments again…" Mike complained.

"Well, it's from Rockrgrrl, after all."

I gave mine to Nikki, of course, and she gave me a big kiss - which, to be honest, was ninety percent of the reason why I gave her my voucher in the first place.

And we all cheered when Tracey started handing out envelopes to everyone - our "bonuses."

In the envelopes, the guys from the band got a memo letter from the "General Manager of KRPQ Radio" and a check for four thousand dollars each. Morgan also got the same memo, but only for a couple of thousand. In the memo line of his check, it said, "for services rendered as musical director." Danielle also got a letter and two thousand dollars, too, but the letter referred to a "D. Fairchild" instead, and the check was made out to "CASH," with the note in the memo line that said "to D. Fairchild, for marketing services rendered."

I took a peek inside my envelope and, instead of a check, it was a deposit receipt, which showed that ten thousand dollars was deposited in my employee bank account, along with the same memo letter, except I got two - one addressed to "D. Fairchild" and another to "Robin Tibbles." And the receipt was dated two days after the concert. What…

So the ten thousand was a fee for both Dannie and Robin. But even so, even if it's divided into two, the fees would have been five thousand to the band's four. In any case, I thought it prudent not to tell them how much was mine, that I had already been paid whether or not Rockrgrrl confirmed the band's status. I needed to talk to Mrs. P about that.

The others also got memos and checks but only for five hundred dollars each, and made out to "CASH", with a note that said "a small token of appreciation - Melody Piper."

Tracey said that everyone needs to send back copies of their memo letters signed by our folks, except for Mongo, Dale, June and Fallon. They can sign the letters themselves.

"Why are they exempted, Trace," Morgan asked.

"That's coz you guys are still silly little minors, little boy," Dale grinned at him, "and your mommies and daddies need to sign for your allowances, whereas we..."

"Ah, shaddap," Morgan laughed.

Tracey wasn't done yet. She went to Dale and handed him a check for six thousand dollars.

"What's this, Tracey?" he asked. Instead of answering, she handed Dale a handwritten letter on a sheet of memo paper from Mrs. P's desk.

- - - - -

"Hi, everyone," the letter began. "Tracey has told me about your custom of getting a portion out of your income and depositing it in a separate bank account for use in case of a rainy day. That is highly commendable. But since the band wasn't paid as a band, and everyone was paid individually, this may make things a little more complicated than usual. So...

"This amount is equivalent to one sixth of the income everyone's made. Since the amount was an odd number, I rounded it to the nearest thousand. Rounded up, Danielle, so don't give me that look ha-ha-ha!

"This way, you don't have to take out anything from your individual checks. I know this doesn't completely cover what you guys lost, but it's a start to building it back up again.

"Anyway, from Tracey and I, thank you - you made the KRPQ Kick-Off a success, and you more than deserve it.

"With love, Mrs. P."

- - - - -

I looked at my happy and excited friends and wondered what I could do for them. Then I had a thought.

I pulled out my phone and googled the nearest Rockrgrrl and PIMA stores. Oh-oh. I checked Google Maps. It's like a four-hour drive away - maybe three if the traffic was light enough.

Mike peeked over my shoulder.

"What is that," he asked. "A four-hour drive? To where?"

"Guys? I asked "You game for a road trip?"

"What did you have in mind, Danny," Nikki said.

"How do you guys feel about a three- or four-hour drive?" In my mind, memories of our trip to the Evolution Concert contest flashed in my head - with us in my 'stang, Dale's big black van trailing a U-Haul, and Joanne's minivan, and the rollercoaster events of the contest, the trip to Foxtail's and the subsequent trip back (which I barely remembered). I'm sure this little road trip won't be that momentous, but I had hopes.

"Why?" Jerry asked.

"That's where the closest Rockrgrrl and PIMA stores are," I said. "There's actually a PIMA story in DC, which is only a thirty-minute drive away, but there's no Rockrgrrl store there. Still, we can't go there tonight - it's too late already. If we go now, it'll be closed by the time we get there."

"Eh?"

"Our vouchers, Jerry! So we can use our vouchers!"

"Ohhh… I didn't think of that…" Mike hit Jerry on the head for a change. "Ow! Quit it, Mike!"

"Dumb…" Mike said, so Jerry hit him in retaliation. "Ow! Quit it, Jerry!"

"But, Danny," Mel said, smiling while ignoring the two, "a music store?"

"They sell other good stuff, Mel, not just musical stuff."

"I like it," Nikki smiled and snuggled against me. "Sounds like fun. Let's go tomorrow. How about you, guys?"

"I'm game," Betsy smiled. "I've always wanted to check out the stuff they have at PIMA. I hear they have the newest Stentor models." Just as Mike started to ask, Betsy explained. "They're a brand of violin." Jerry cackled so Mike hit him on the head again.

"I like it," Drew echoed. "Maybe they'll have new adapters for your synthesizer, June. How about you, Morgan?"

He didn't say anything and just nodded and grinned. Nowadays, Morgan would just say yes to anything Drew suggested.

Pretty soon, everyone had agreed, even Mongo.

"But, Danny," Mike said, "it's a four-hour drive."

"You can sleep on the way, as always," Jerry said.

A slap-fest ensued, and none of us bothered to stop the two.

"Mel?" Nikki said and gestured to the two guys.

"Ahhh, they're wusses," Mel said, pooh-pooing the fake fight. "Those two do that all the time."

Nikki grinned and, following Mel's example, ignored them."Where is it exactly," Nikki asked me and leaned in to look into my phone. I was momentarily distracted by the feel and smell of her beautiful hair.

But everyone else leaned in to check the map, too. I had to push them all away. "Dammit!"

"Empire City!" Morgan exclaimed. "Woohoo!"

- - - - -

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

It seems the actual drive was a big thing after all, since everyone started wondering about how to get there early enough and still have time to look around. Joanne brought up parking, since parking was close to impossible there. Leaving early in the morning was the answer, of course, but that wasn't an easy proposition given our gang.

Predictably, the girls suggested a sleepover, so we can all be ready together, leave early together, and arrive in the city early enough to avoid traffic and allow us to do some shopping and sightseeing. Betsy offered her place for the sleepover, and all the girls started giggling already.

The guys were all for this, too, but their joining the sleepover was shouted down. The idea of a girls-only sleepover was a big disappointment to the guys.

"Girls only, dude," Fallon said, trying not to grin. Later, she would tell me she was very flattered and happy to be included. It would be her first sleepover. Goth girls, even semi-goth girls like her, never got to be invited to sleepovers, much less be inclined to accept invitations to them. She was very pleased to be included, but only because it was our friends.

But an argument ensued. Initially, it was one of those stupid things that we would usually just laugh off, but it seemed that the guys weren't backing off. I tried to mediate but, surprisingly, the guys weren't willing to be waved down.

"But, guys," I said, "this is a sleepover! It's a girl thing!"

"Fine," Dale said. "We can have our own sleepover." He turned to Joanne. "And you chicks can't come. How about that?"

"Fine!" Joanne said.

"Fine!" Dale responded.

"Come on, girls," Joanne said, "let's plan our sleepover." And she started flouncing out.

I found myself standing in between the guys and the girls, trying to keep the peace.

Nikki went to me. "Danny," she whispered, I "don't want to spend the night with the girls. I want to spend time with you!"

"But what can we do?" I whispered back.

"I don't know…" she looked at me, worried.

I thought about it.

"Will you go to the girls' sleepover?" Nikki asked, whispering. In my little world, such a question was actually a reasonable one.

"Hey!" Joanne suddenly said to Nikki and I, "are you guys are coming with us to the…" and then Joanne realized her snafu.

I had to smile a little sadly at that. "… I mean, are you walking us to the minivan, Danny?" she continued lamely.

"What are you saying," Mike said to Joanne. "Danny's going with us to our sleepover! ... I mean, I mean, well, you know what I mean… That right, Dan?"

I leaned back toward Nikki, and whispered. "I have an idea, Nick. Follow my lead, okay?"

Nikki kissed me on my cheek and nodded.

"I don't think so, Mike," I said, and the girls cheered.

"And I'm not going with you guys, either," I said to the girls.

"What!" Joanne exclaimed.

"This is supposed to be a fun trip, Joanne. Why can't it just be about that?"

"Tell 'em, Danny," Dale said.

I turned to Dale. "But I said I'm not going with you guys, either."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Dale, I said I'm not going with you guys to your sleepover, either."

"Danny, it's just so we can leave early and get there without wasting time."

"Yeah, Danny," Joanne said.

"Guys," I said, "if we can't be civil about this, then I don't…"

"Come on, Danny," Morgan said, "don't be a spoilsport."

I shrugged. "We'll go on the trip tomorrow. But I'm not gonna sleep over with either of you guys. Nikki and I aren't choosing sides. We'll drive to the city by ourselves and just meet you there." I looked at Nikki, "Right?"

She nodded and gave me a kiss.

"That's stupid," Morgan said.

I faced Morgan, I used my eyes to gesture towards Nikki, making sure no one but Morgan could see.

"Oh…" Morgan said under his breath.

"Danny…" Mel whined, but Tracey backed me up.

"It's okay, Mel," Tracey said. She seemed to have caught on. "If Danny and Nikki want to go on their own, then they do." She shrugged. "No big, right?"

Mel looked a little disappointed. "I guess…"

"'Kay," I said. "Seeya. I'll text you guys the address where we can meet in the city."

I turned to Mongo, who was sort of watching things outside.

"Coast clear?" I asked.

Mongo nodded.

"Let's go, Nikki," I said, and we both stepped out of Mongo's garage. "See you all tomorrow."

- - - - -

***** (Joanne) *****

A little abashed, we left Mongo's - Mike, Jerry and Morgan going with Dale in his Ford F150, semi-full with guitars and June's equipment, while the seven of us rode in my van.

"Well…" I said, "that was a little bit of a letdown."

"Yeah," Mel said. "So, are we still having a sleepover?"

"Up to you girls, I suppose. Do you still want to?"

"Well…" Drew said, "betcha Danny and Nikki are still gonna have some fun," she giggled. "And since Morgan's not around, I got nothing happening, so why not…"

"In that case, me, too," June said. "Bets?"

She shrugged.

"Oh, come on, girls!" Fallon said. "Why the Gloomy Guses? Aren't sleepovers supposed to be fun?"

"I guess…" I looked at her. "'Gloomy Guses,' huh?" and giggled.

She grinned at at me, and then turned to the others. "So, how about a smile? C'mon." She reached out and pulled the corners of Betsy's lips up into a cartoony grin.

Betsy slapped Fallon's hands away, giggling.

"Quit it, Fallon!" But she continued to giggle. "… silly…"

"So, do we still have a sleepover?"

The consensus ended up being a unanimous yes. As I drove, we made plans. The first thing was that everyone wanted to pass by a bank and cash our checks for a little pocket money. Five hundred bucks wasn't a lot, but even a little bit will help when we check out the shops. Tracey said that the bank in the station's office building was open on a Saturday, and there was more than enough time before they close to encash our checks. "Also, Joanne," she said, "keep the gas receipts - I'm sure I can get them reimbursed."

The checks were a little unusual, but we were told Mrs. P didn't have time to make the usual arrangements, or to withdraw enough money to give us cash instead. In fact, Tracey said Mrs. P just wrote the checks in front of her an hour ago. Otherwise, we would have gotten them sometime near the end of next week instead. So I didn't mind, and I'm sure the others didn't as well.

As we got our checks cashed over the counter, everyone called up their folks to arrange things. Their folks wanted to talk to me or Danielle, to confirm things, and that it was just all girls and so forth.

After the bank, I passed by everyone's house so they could give Mrs. Piper's letter to their folks and to allow everyone to get their stuff, and then we went to Betsy's for the sleepover.

About the sleepover - truth be told, I was a little bit worried about Tracey. She seemed to be a nice enough person, but she was TG, and therefore "she" was actually a "he." Though I wasn't sure about the gender labels. And I didn't know how to feel about it. I'm afraid we had a bit of a small-town point of view about these things. But then again, our town was an actual small town.

Some might also say I was being a bit prejudiced, small-minded, even ignorant. But I'm a small-town girl - literally heehee. But, truly, I didn't really understand it as well as I wanted to or should have. So far, I've been taking my lead in how to relate to Tracey from Danny, as we had all been. But Danny wasn't going to be with us tonight. I had no choice but to just continue dealing with Tracey just like we've been dealing with her.

Truth be told, I felt more comfortable with Fallon, and she's a goth. No offense to goths, of course. It's just that I never knew how to act around one. But then, there weren't any goths who liked hanging with the likes of us. But it wasn't too big of an issue. I guess, with fashionistas like Nikki, Drew and Mel in our group (and I suppose me, too), to others we were probably as bad as the cheerleaders. Even so, I knew more about goths than transsexuals.

Will we be okay with Tracey without Danny to keep an eye on him? I mean her?

I felt small for having such thoughts. How can I be a such a hypocrite? I looked at Tracey seated beside me as she chatted animatedly with the girls at the back. And if you didn't know the truth, Tracey looked and behaved just like any girl. She wasn't as pretty as any of us, though. Sorry for sounding too full of it, but in all humility, our group was one of the best-looking little gangs in school, and Tracey, though not that bad-looking, stood out because of that fact.

I returned my attention to the street. In the rearview mirror, I could see three cars trailing us unobtrusively. The only reason I spotted them was because I knew what to look for. These were the bodyguards assigned to Danielle, Fallon and Betsy. Nowadays, we don't really notice them anymore - they were just a part of everyday life now.

Danny, one of our best friends, was actually a guy, and we've accepted him into our ranks. So how can we discriminate against Tracey? I didn't know enough to understand her situation, though. Yep - this hick was a clueless hick.

But, you know, Tracey was Danny's friend. So, Tracey couldn't be anything but a good person. Sounds so incredibly naïve, huh? Maybe. But I didn't care about that.

And, besides, since she was Danny's friend, then Tracey was my friend, too, regardless. (In the back of my mind, I wondered why that was.)

I listened while Tracey explained to her mom over the phone about the sleepover, the trip to the city, and that she was asking permission. She was so excited.

Tracey handed me her phone since Mrs. P asked to speak with me. She actually asked to talk to Danielle first, but since she was on her phone at that moment, Mrs. P looked for me instead.

Mrs. P didn't try to to confirm the details of our sleepover, and didn't even ask who was going to be there, or if there were going to be guys with us (the usual questions moms ask about sleepovers). Instead, she was more concerned about letting us know that Tracey was a good girl, and there wasn't anything to worry about with her. She was so desperate for her child be accepted.

I couldn't help but feel sympathy for Mrs. Piper. In our little burg, like I said, there weren't really a lot of transgender people, let alone transsexuals, so none of us really knew much about them except the basics. On cable, I occasionally saw an episode of that reality TV show about that transgender teen as she went through her transition. But seeing a few episodes of that show was too shallow a basis for understanding transsexuals.

But Tracey was Danny's friend. So that meant Tracey was my friend, too.

"Oh, we know, Mrs. Piper," I answered. "Tracey's been a total angel. I'm sure everything will be fine." I looked at Tracey and gave her a wink.

"Thank you, my dear," Mrs. P said. "Please do take good care of her, and if there's a problem, any problem at all, call me on this number anytime."

"We will, Mrs. Piper. Thanks!"

"Thank you again, my dear," Mrs. Piper said. "Hope you all have fun on your trip. Say hi to everyone!"

"Sure thing, Mrs. Piper. Bye!"

- - - - -

***** (Betsy) *****

Everyone called their folks to ask permission about the overnight thing and the road trip tomorrow, and after the parental units confirmed the details and checked if there would be any boys at the sleepover, they gave permission.

A few asked to talk to either Danielle or Joanne, though, to confirm the details, and they just accepted the girls' word. I guess the two were considered the "responsible ones."

As for me, mother and father agreed without too much protest and offered the guest rooms for our sleepover (which was great since it saved me from asking). I then called Walter and explained what was going to happen, and if he could let the house security people know. He said he'd take care of it and get the Green Room and the adjoining Blue Room ready (they were the two largest guest rooms in the house).

Joanne brought all of the girls to their houses individually so that they could get changes of clothes for tomorrow, as well as sleepover stuff.

Danielle took time to change her look before going into their house. She changed into the jean jeggings and the boots that Danny wore when he was in Robin mode earlier (we had Danny's bag). Except for Fallon and Tracey, we were used to that by now, but the two just kept quiet even though they couldn't stop their eyes from goggling.

As a final touch, Danielle knotted the tails of the loose boy's shirt she was wearing above her tummy, recombed her hair into her usual sexy style and applied some makeup. So it was Danielle that stepped down from the van instead of Danny.

She was fairly quick and came out with a small overnighter, and we drove away waving to Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild.

Danielle said she had also made excuses for Danny as well, saying he was doing something with the guys, and that they were joining us tomorrow for the road trip. At Danielle's suggestion, I brought out my phone and texted Morgan to give them a heads-up (Danielle was busy sorting out her hair).

The last was to June's dorm at the campus, and then we made our way to the house. June noted that her keyboard was back so that meant the boys had been there already and dropped it off.

So by the time we were on our way to the house, it was already about nine and was already dark out.

After Joanne parked in one of the guests' carports, our security people's cars zoomed past to park by the estate's staff house. I guess they can make an early day of it since they wouldn't be needed until tomorrow. It'll depend on Walter's instructions.

I led everyone to the guest rooms that Walter prepared, and I told them to keep all of their stuff in there, and then to congregate in the main living room when they're ready.

I left them for a while to go to my own room, drop off my violin and other things, change into something fresh and more comfortable - a loose blouse and capri-length leggings - and grab my little Fuji MILC camera. I'm gonna get pictures this time!

When we had gotten back to the living room, the first order of business was dinner - we were all hungry by then. I could have asked the kitchen to prepare something but I decided not to suggest it since everyone had decided on a mess of Chinese food, Indian food, pizza, KFC chicken, burgers and other stuff.

My diet wasn't so much into junk food or takeout, but I guess it's okay to indulge once in a while. The girls were all very careful about eating healthy, but it was a tacit agreement that diets were suspended for things like this.

As soon as the deliveries came, Walter's staff took care of them and brought them over to the living room on wheeled serving carts and trays. He had also taken care of paying for them, and the girls appreciated that.

He had also supplemented them with several bottles of soda, juices and bottled water (nothing alcoholic, of course, but the girls didn't seem too disappointed by that), and then, upon some instructions from me, he and his staff left us alone. I mean, I don't think it would be a real sleepover if there was a butler hanging around. He did borrow Joanne's keys before retiring, though - he was instructed by mother to get her van washed and gassed up.

Danielle asked about my folks, and I said they were away again, so that meant we were on our own. That suited the girls just fine, and we settled down for a good nom.

- - - - -

***** (Betsy) *****

"It's too bad Danny's not here," Mel said and giggled. "Remember her first sleepover with us?"

"Wait," Fallon said, "Danny's had a sleepover with you guys?"

"Yeah!" Drew, Mel and Danielle pulled out their cellphones and showed her pictures from that night.

Fallon and Tracey crowded around us and marvelled at the pictures.

"You're pulling my leg," Fallon said. "That can't be Danny. You sure that's not Danielle?"

"Nope!" Mel said, "That's totally Danny." She pointed at Danielle, who was also in the pictures. She also pointed at Danny's pants, and the bulge of her package, I mean his package, could be seen a bit.

Tracey stared at the pictures. "Danny's so gorgeous!" she said.

Danielle nodded. "She is a total babe," she giggled. "My little brother!"

"That's something I can't believe." Fallon said as she got a paper plate, speared a KFC drumstick with a fork and absolutely drenched it with KFC gravy.

"You know, not that I'm saying you guys are lying, but I saw her changing in the show," she said, "and, sorry, but I have doubts that she's really a guy."

"Oh, no," Joanne said. "Danny's a guy."

"Yeah? Then why do you guys keep on calling him a 'her?'"

"Well, duh!" Joanne showed Fallon a picture of a sleeping Danny in a henley-type pajama snuggled with Nikki and Drew, and June and Mel on either side. "Would you call her a 'him?'"

"Besides," Mel said, "it's not intentional - I guess it's involuntary."

"Exactly," Fallon said, "so maybe she's not really a 'he.' If he looks like a girl, then maybe he is a girl. Walks like a duck, talks like a duck, y'know… I mean, have you ever seen his… seen his…"

"You mean, if we've ever seen him in the 'altogether?'" June giggled.

"Exactly!" Fallon said. "In the altogether!" She thought about the word a little bit, and turned to June. "Now, where in hell did you get that?"

June shrugged. "My mom?"

"Well," Fallon said, turning back to Joanne, "have you?"

"Well, no…" Joanne said, "but the boys did."

"The boys!"

Joanne shrugged. "Morgan, Dale and the others. It's a long story."

"You're changing the subject! Have any of you seen his you-know-whats?"

"I seem to recall we were about to at that sleepover," I said. "She was already in her underwear, but she didn't go all the way. And it was obvious from her underwear that she was... pretty, ummm, well-endowed. But we didn't push beyond that. She was feeling humiliated enough."

"Yeah…" Mel said glumly.

Fallon wondered at that. "So no one's seen?"

"Well, there's me and Nikki," Danielle said.

A mischievous gleam was in her eye. "Oooh! Do tell!"

So Danielle told us some stories. Nothing too detailed, of course, but Fallon was convinced eventually.

"I did see her in a thong, though," Fallon said thoughtfully.

It became absolutely silent.

"You did?" I asked in the silence. "Where?"

"At the show. When she was changing into her Robin outfit."

"And?" Drew said impatiently. "Dammit, girl…"

"I didn't actually see much, actually," Fallon replied. "Like I said, she had a thong. But… I did see a big bulge…"

The girls booed her. "That's nothing!" Drew said. "We've seen her like that lots of times!"

"But… is she, you know… built just like it appears she is?" Fallon gestured to her waist, aping a guy's…

Danielle was nodding sagely.

"Ohmigod!" June said. "Really? I mean from what we've seen, it looked like…"

"Have you really seen her?" Drew asked. "In the 'altogether?'" She giggled.

"We're brother and sister," Danielle said. "Of course, I have."

"I mean, not just when you were kids!" June said. "That doesn't count!"

"Nikki's seen, too, of course," Danielle said.

June and Drew giggled. "That little drama of theirs…" Drew said.

"So transparent…" June agreed. "I don't think they really thought we fell for it."

"Well," I said, "I don't think they really meant for us to fall for it. It was just an excuse for them to get together, and to not let their folks know."

I looked at Drew. "Anything wrong, Drew?" I asked.

She looked a little startled. "Huh! Oh, no, Betsy. I'm fine. I was just thinking of Morgan and the guys… Wonder what they're doing now?"

"Oooh!" Joanne went. "Drew's missing Morgan!" Everyone tittered, and Joanne got a throwpillow in the face.

- - - - -

***** (Morgan) *****

I sat up front in Dale's van, with Dale at the wheel, and Mike and Jerry in the back. Mongo stayed back at his house, so it was left to us to bring all of the equipment to the guys' houses. The guitars were not a big deal but June's keyboard and other stuff were at least a two-man job. I suggested to go to June's first.

"Okay. How about a drink after?" Dale said. "There's a little place in the campus called The Juke Joint…"

"At the junior college?"

"No, in Franklin campus, in the next town. How about it?"

I looked at the rear-view and saw Mike and Jerry look at each other. Our little gang wasn't really a drinking kind of gang, but far be it for us to wuss out.

"Sure," I said, and tried to sound casual about it. "But after we drop off the stuff."

I also spotted a car trailing us. It was the bodyguard assigned to Dale. Nothing to worry about.

The first place we went to was to June's apartment. June didn't live at her folks' anymore but had an apartment near the junior college - something her folks didn't like much. We were already known in the building so we didn't have much trouble and we let ourselves into June's tiny apartment with the key June gave me.

We set up June's keyboard in the same spot where we got it, and left. Next was to Fallon's to drop off her guitar. Knowing how much she didn't trust anyone to handle her guitar, I was careful with it when we dropped it off.

Her parents seemed nice and normal enough - something we really didn't expect given Fallon's goth-like style. They walked me over to a little room or apartment attached to the side of the house via a separate entrance.

Mrs. Walsh explained that this was the best arrangement given that Fallon wanted to be on her own. As the executors of her trust, her folks thought this was the best compromise - she gets to live on her own in a way, but it allowed them to be nearby, literally just a door away.

"Trust?" I asked.

"Yes," Mr. Walsh said. "Fallon inherited most of my sister's estate when she died - my sister was quite rich. Fallon was my her favorite, and since my sister didn't have any kids, Fallon inherited most of her estate. We're the court-appointed trustees until Fallon turns eighteen."

I stepped into her apartment. It wasn't as messy as I imagined it would be, but it was far from neat. Still, it wasn't bad. No goth posters, at least, but the color pallet was mostly black and white - mostly black.

I put her guitar on the guitar stand by the closet door and turned to leave.

"So. You're a friend of Fallon's?" Mrs. Walsh asked.

"Ummm, yes, ma'am. I work with the band that Fallon's a part of."

"Oh! That's good. We saw that TV show about a month ago. She was good. Ummm, the band was good too." She giggled at her little snafu, and I laughed with her.

"Fallon told us she's staying over at someone's place tonight?"

"I think it's a sleepover over at Betsy's. Ummm, that's Betsy Haley, the violinist from the band?"

"Oh?"

"Betsy's also our class president. Her folks are the Haley's? They own several real estate and housing developments."

"Ahh!" Mr. Walsh said. "I think I know them. They own that new row of houses on Cloverlane."

"Yeah, I think so," I replied.

"Fallon rarely tells us anything anymore. We were a little bit surprised that she bothered telling us about tonight."

"Does that bother you?"

"Well, it does, but what can we do? She petitioned to be emancipated on her sixteenth birthday and she threatened to run away if we didn't allow it. Legally, she doesn't have to answer to us anymore, and can actually leave anytime she wants. Except for the trust fund. So we try not to push much. We might not see her again if we do…"

"Oh." Seems that it wasn't too peaceful in Casa Walsh. I didn't want to pry, though, since this didn't sound like any of my business.

"Are Betsy and Fallon…" Mrs. Walsh asked timidly. Seems they were aware of Fallon's sexual preferences.

"Oh, no, no,no!" I chuckled. "They're just friends! And other girls will be there, too. It's a sleepover, Mrs. Walsh, you know?" I raised a hand, pre-empting her. "And, no, it's all girls."

"Oh." Fallon's folks sighed in relief. "But, you know she's…"

"Yes, we know that, but I think the girls aren't in danger or vice versa." I grinned. "There are seven of them, so…"

"Seven?"

"Yes."

"That's very surprising. Fallon has always been a bit of a loner. It's good to know she has friends now."

I nodded. "Have to go now," I said. "The guys are outside waiting for me…"

"It was a pleasure to meet you Morgan," Mr. Walsh said, and shook my hand.

"It's good to know our Fallon finally has some nice people around her now," Mrs. Walsh said. "We've been so worried about her…"

"My dear," Mr. Walsh said, "we shouldn't bother the boy." He shook my hand again. "It was good to meet one of Fallon's friends. Come by again. Bring your friends."

"Pleasure to meet you, too, Mr. Walsh, Mrs. Walsh."

I walked out to their driveway and got into Dale's van.

"Everything okay?" he said as he pulled away from the curb. "Where to next? Danny's?" Dale waved to his security guy through his window, and the guy flashed his lights to let us know he saw Dale.

"Those poor people," I said. "It's like they haven't seen Fallon in a year. Did you know that she has her own place?"

"What do you mean," Jerry asked from the back seat.

"She has her own apartment. I mean, she has her own room separate from the house. With her own entrance and everything. It's like she's living separately, but in the same house."

"That's unusual," Dale said.

I told them what her folks told me.

"That's a lot of complex shit," Mike said.

"So, where to, now?" Dale said, changing the subject.

"Well, I was thinking of going to the bank," Jerry said. "Cash my check? I could use some money for tomorrow."

"Good thinking," I said. "Tracey said the bank at their building's open 'til five on a Saturday, and she made arrangements so that we can cash our checks there today if we wanted."

"'Kay," Dale said. "Bank and then Danny's to drop off his guitars."

"And then drinks!" Mike said.

"How can I forget," Dale laughed

- - - - -

***** (Morgan) *****

My cellphone beeped and I checked. "Betsy texted to say that Danielle told her folks Danny's gonna be with us tonight and tomorrow," I said.

Dale nodded. "Good to know. We might have said something wrong without the warning."

In a few short minutes, we were at Danny's.

Mike and Jerry helped me to bring down Danny's guitars - his old 3/4-size fake Strat, his jury-rigged bass, his candy-pink Rockrgrrl electric, his white-top Rockrgrrl bass and his mint-green Rockrgrrl acoustic, a mess of wires and his portable Marshall amplifier.

We saw Danny's bag in his room so we knew Danielle's just been there. Mike and Jerry put the guitars on the stands against the wall beside Danny's bed, and I put the amplifier and wires in their usual place beside his desk. I noted this plain, shiny black box, about two feet by two feet by one. It was the first time I noticed it. I wondered what it was. Maybe another more portable amplifier? But we wanted to get out of the house right away to avoid any questions from his folks so I didn't bother with it anymore and followed the others down.

We were lucky enough not to have to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild except for a quick hi and hello, and were able to escape back into Dale's van without having to answer awkward questions.

We then drove away from the Fairchild's place. "So, what next?"

"I thought we're getting a drink?" Mike said.

I laughed. "Of course. How could I forget." So I made for Franklin State U, which was just at the border between our town and the next. Just a fifteen minute drive via the high street.

Eventually, we turned into University Drive, a long four-lane road lined on both sides with tall trees, their banches hanging overhead and making the drive almost like a tunnel. It would have been very picturesque except that the gathering darkness made it feel a bit foreboding.

We passed a cute girl wearing a leather jacket and riding a fancy Aprilia RS50 Rossi moped going the other way. Too bad - she turned off from University Drive right away, and onto a street called Elm Street. She wasn't wearing her helmet and the little light left glinted off highlights in her hair, making it hard to tell if she were a blonde or a brunette. "Markie!" I faintly heard a girl call out to her, and in the rearview, I saw a pair of tall girls waving at her.

"Hey, Kris, hey, Nancy," the girl, Markie, replied.

But we were past Elm Street very quickly, and I couldn't see or hear anymore. Too bad - all three were lookers, too. Ah, damn.

We passed by a big granite structure that looked somewhat like the Library of Congress in DC, although the Thomas Jefferson Building was two thirds larger.

"That's the college library," Dale said.

I nodded. The imposing building was impressive, but in the half-light, it made me feel a bit... I don't know... apprehensive. In front of the library's steps, there was a beautiful pale blonde girl standing in the otherwise-deserted forecourt, and looking at us as we passed. She was in what looked like a black cocktail dress, and she had a black shawl or scarf covering her shoulders. I shivered. For some reason, she scared me.

Dale turned onto what turned out to be Partridge Road, and then pulled up to a cozy little place with a sign outside that said it was "The Juke Joint." Dale's bodyguard also pulled up and parked a few slots away.

"No one seems to be around," Jerry said, as we stepped down.

"It's Saturday," Dale said. "Most people are probably still recovering from Friday night partying." He waved to his bodyguard.

Mike nodded sagely at Dale's statement, as if he knew that already. The poser. I chuckled and had to stop myself from reflexively hitting him on the head.

As we were walking to the door, two gorgeous blondes - a tall one and a shorter one with big hooters - stepped out. The tall one was holding the shorter one by the wrist.

"Dammit, Bia, we have to go!" she said.

"But I don't wanna go yet, Cassie!" the shorter one said.

They got into an SUV and we couldn't hear them arguing anymore. "Wow, this campus is sure full of hot babes," I thought.

Stepping into the place, it was hard not to notice that it was pretty empty. So we decided to get one of the tables away from the main door and near the picture window that faced into the road. Through it, we could just see Dale's van, and his security guy standing outside, innocuously smoking and leaning against his car.

A tall waitress came over.

"So you found your own seats fine, I see," she smiled. "Hi, I'm Jenna What can I get you?"

"Can you get us four beers?" Dale said.

She gave Dale a look.

"Dude," she said, "I don't even need to card you, you know."

We looked at each other.

"Cokes all around, then," I said. "And nachos."

Jerry and Mike looked at me sourly. I shrugged.

"Hey," Dale said. "You're the singer, right? I recognize you. You and a bunch of other girls sing here."

She grinned. "Hey, thanks for recognizing! You a fan?"

"A little bit. I have some classes over in the Arts and Sciences building. Pre-req classes. I caught some of your songs. You sing good."

"Yeah?" She grinned. "Thanks!" She wrote our order on her pad. "Too bad the KRPQ guys didn't think so."

Oh-oh… "What do you mean?" I asked. I had a bad feeling about this. I think I know what she was referring to.

"Someone from KRPQ - you know, the new radio station with that Nighthawk babe on Saturday mornings? Anyway, someone from that station called and said they might want us to sing for their station launch show - the one from last month?"

She sighed. "Turned out they picked another group. The band they picked was okay. But I think me and my girls could have done better."

Mike and Jerry started laughing.

Jenna faced them, hands on hips. "What's so funny?"

Mike pointed at Dale and continued to laugh.

"What!"

"Ummm," I said, "you know that band you were talking about? Guess who their bass player is?"

She looked at Dale. "You're kidding…"

"Nope," I grinned.

"No! Shut up… No…"

Dale shrugged. "I'm afraid so."

"Listen, I'm sorry for that crack I made. I think you guys are incredible! Really! … Ummm, excuse me, I'll get your drinks and your nachos right away."

She went to the back and disappeared behind some swinging doors.

We all chuckled. Dale was still looking to the back, apparently waiting for the girl.

"Hmmm… I think you like that girl," Mike said, grinning. "She's no Danny, you know, but…"

"Shaddap!" Dale growled.

"Here you go, guys," Jenna said and brought our cokes, a big plate of nachos, and four glasses full of ice. "Sorry, we don't provide straws. Restaurant policy."

"Hey, Jenna?" Dale said.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry that the TV gig fell through. The boss really did want us in the show, but there was a problem, so she wanted to look for possible replacement performers, just in case."

"But the problem was fixed, I take it."

"Yes. I'm sorry."

She leaned down and gave Dale a kiss. "It's all right," she said. "It was no one's fault. We were told that it was just a possibility. We shouldn't have gotten our expectations up."

"Ummm… you sing here all the time?" Dale changed the topic, blushing furiously.

"I sing here Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, from eight to ten PM. The rest of the time, I'm one one of the weeknight waitresses."

"Sounds like weeknights are pretty jam-packed for you."

She shrugged. "I'm studying full-time here, and my student loans barely cover my tuition. I need the work."

"How about your friends?"

"Oh, they don't sing with me regularly. They only do it for fun. We sing together only a few times - maybe once or twice a month. They're all students here as well. Scarlett and Vivienne are in pre-med, and MacKenzie is studying literature and art. Mac's also my roommate. Hold on…"

She reached into a pocket of her skort and brought out her phone.

"Take a look at this." She showed us a picture of her and three other girls wearing costumes.

"I know that costume!" Jerry said. "You're wearing plugsuits from that anime, Neon Genesis!"

Jenna giggled. "Yep!"

"Cosplay?"

"We were hired to sing in that cosplay event for MTV81 last year. Naturally, we had to be in costume, too."

We passed the phone around. Jenna looked pretty hot in her tight, red costume. Her friends were pretty hot as well.

"I know that anime con!" Jerry said. "My family even had tickets for it. But a storm shut everything down and we couldn't go."

"I know - we were trapped there for a couple of days coz of the weather. There were no planes. Eventually, we were able to get home via bus. Even so, it was a lot of fun."

At that time, another bunch of kids came in. "Customers," she said. "Excuse me. Just let me know if you want something else."

"'Kay," Dale said. "Seeya later." Which caused another round of teasing.

After we teased Dale a bit more, we enjoyed the big plate of nachos that Jenna brought. Dale was right - they had pretty good nachos here.

It was great to be hanging with Dale. We got to know him more, and in that way, we got to know Mongo, June and Janet as well, and I suppose, he got to know our own gang in the same way. Despite the many months since we first met each other and became friends, we haven't really hung around each other without Danny. And, you know what? He's okay. If I had an older brother, I think I'd like him to be like Dale.

But he IS a couple of years older, and he's already in college. … well, junior college, anyway… I don't know if our worlds are exactly the same anymore. I thought it'd be like how it was with June - with June, she fit our little group to a 'T' despite the age difference. Maybe it's a girl thing, or maybe her friendship with Drew made the difference. Or maybe it's June herself that made the difference.

As for Mongo, he wasn't really around much and was a mystery to most of us.

In any case, it was great to have Dale around.

We talked about all sorts of stuff while we enjoyed the nachos.

"Hey," Dale said, "I've always wanted to ask - about the concert..."

"Yeah?" I replied.

"You know that part where Danielle subbed for Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering - why didn't Danielle just lip sync her songs instead of actually singing? Seems to me a big risk given Danielle doesn't really sing."

"Why didn't you bring it up?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I guesss I was just following Danny's lead, just like everyone."

"Have you heard of Milli Vanilli?"

"Ummm... is it a new ice cream flavor?"

I laughed. "No! it's a singing duo. They had a string of hits in the late eighties, but, people found out that they were lip syncing their songs 'coz the music they were lip-syncing to at a concert started to skip."

"Wow. That's embarassing."

"Yeah. And someone came forward and said they were actually the ones who wrote and sang all their songs. And Milli Vanilli never came out with another song again. They even had to return a Grammy that they won. It was a big scandal then."

"Ahhh."

"Well... Ah! Do you remember that scandal with with Marriah Carey during the Dick Clark new year's show a couple of years ago?"

"When she was caught lip syncing and ad libbing to a couple of her songs? Yeah! God, that was real bad."

"Well, Dan and I thought that, yeah, it was a risk to have Danielle sing, but it was a bigger risk if she flubs the lip syncing, and it would be the end for UB and all of us. Imagine the scandal! Imagine the kind or scrutiny that we'd get! But! If Danielle just sang badly, then it's just bad singing. You know? And when Danny took over, she'd probably be able to help gloss that over."

Dale thought about it. Slowly, he nodded. "You guys were right."

"Besides, we drilled Danielle to death, you know, and we picked the easiest songs for her. And she can do a crazy-good Stevie Nicks, too. You know?"

Dale nodded. "She did crazy-good, actually. But, hey, just in case we need to do that again, maybe we can look for more songs for Danielle. Expand her repertoire."

I nodded, thinking that over. "You know, I'm scared that you might be right. We need to talk that over with the twins soon."

'Course, we didn't talk shop the whole night. We didn't have any major show lined up.

From time to time, Dale would order something from Jenna or just chat her up. After a while, he had ordered most of the items in the Juke Joint's appetizer menu, and our table was getting crowded. Clearly, he was attracted to the girl. I never thought someone like Jenna was Dale's type. She was attractive enough but a lot of drop-dead gorgeous girls have been throwing themselves at the band. I would have thought Dale would have gone for one of those.

I don't know, maybe it's that she was closer to Dale's age instead of the teeny-boppers that have been UB's main demographic.

For her part, Jenna didn't turn his advances down like you'd expect, and chatted with us (but mostly Dale) about the band, about singing and about school. By that time we were now up to a couple of personal-sized pizzas and buffalo wings.

In hindsight, it wasn't surprising. After all, both of them were in bands, had regular gigs, and were taking the same kind of college courses. Jenna was surprised that Dale wasn't studying full-time. Dale explained that he couldn't take a "real" course as well as the required class load given the band's schedule.

"We're trying to establish ourselves," Dale said. "We gave ourselves a year. If things don't change, I guess I'm gonna go for a 'real' school."

"Sounds reasonable," Jenna said. She saw some girls come in and waved them over. "Hey, guys!"

The three came over and gave Jenna hugs.

"Hey, kid," the one in the lead said and gave Jenna another casual hug. She was wearing a hipster kind of outfit - a long-sleeved tartan shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the shirt-tails knotted at her midriff, short-short denims and combat boots. Still, she was extremely cute.

The other two who followed wore very expensive-looking ruffle-shirt dresses and heels similar to each other's. Not only that - these two were identical twins. Very cute identical twins that dressed alike. Among the four, Jenna was the most-plain looking one, but all of them together made for a very attractive group.

"Girls," Jenna said, "I'd like to introduce you to Dale, Morgan, Mike and Jerry. Guys, these are my best friends, the ones I was telling you about. This is MacKenzie, and those are Vivienne and Scarlett. Or Scarlett and Vivienne. It's hard to tell, you know, since they're twins." Jenna giggled.

We could tell Mike was about to give them his standard "what's a girl like you" line and Jerry gave him a hit on the head.

"Don't even try it," Jerry said.

"What?!"

"Dale's the bass player for Unlimited Bandwidth," Jenna explained. "You know that band from that radio thing on TV last month?"

Their eyes went wide at that. Clearly they were impressed, but MacKenzie played it cool.

"Oh, yeah," she goes, practically yawning, and they continued on into the restaurant. Jenna followed and looked back to us shrugging apologetically.

"Hmmm…" I said.

Dale shrugged and we went back to talking. Or rather we tried to. We were more than a little bothered by that. Although we saw from the corner of our eye Jenna having an earnest whispered discussion with her friends as she delivered their drinks to them. It looked like the beginning of an argument.

"Well…" Dale said, clearly feeling a bit awkward. "How about let's blow this popsicle stand?" he quoted.

Dale waved to Jenna and asked for our check, and if she could doggy bag our food. We started bringing out wallets but Dale waved them away saying it was his treat.

Jenna came back with our check and a huge doggy bag, and Dale handed her some bills.

"Guys, I'm real sorry," she said. "Mac can be a bit of a bitch, you know. But that's just her trying to be cool. You shouldn't let it bother you."

"No big, Jenna," Dale said.

"Well, it was great meeting you. I hope you come by again. Bring your friends."

"We will. Maybe we can catch you on the stage some time."

"That'll be cool."

"Well. Seeya." And we all stepped out of the place.

"Now what?" Mike said when we were all in the van. We pulled out, and Dale's bodyguard trailed us.

"I don't know," Dale said. "We can go to my place if you guys want to hang."

"Maybe we can call Mongo?" I said. "He might want to join us."

"Probably not," Dale answered. "You don't know his mom."

"Huh?"

"His mom, Morgan. Ever since his dad died, it's just been the two of them. And Mongo's been very protective of her. He rarely leaves the house now."

"Oh," I said. "Well… no harm in asking, you know."

"I guess." He handed me his phone. "You're welcome to try. Mongo's phone is in my directory."

"Well… Okay." I clicked the directory, scrolled down until I found "Mongo" and dialed his number. I turned the speakerphone on.

"Hello," a female voice answered.

"Oh! Good evening, Mrs. Kaufman"

"Hi, Mrs. M." Jerry and Mike called out, with "M" for Mongo, presumably.

"This is Morgan," I said. "Is, ummm, Julius around?"

"Hi, Morgan! Hi, kids! Good to hear you. You can call him Mongo, though, it's all right," Mrs. Kaufman chuckled. "He's just taking care of some of the last customers in the stationery shop and then closing down for the day."

"Oh. I'll call again later."

"Oh, no need. He should be done in about a minute. So. Julius, I mean 'Mongo,'" she chuckled, "told me you guys are going on a little trip tomorrow?"

"Yes, ma'am. The KRPQ guys gave us some vouchers, so Danny suggested a road trip tomorrow so we can use them."

"That girl," she sighed. "I so like that girl. And her sister, too. So pretty and nice and talented."

"Ummm, we were hoping to see if Mongo wanted to go out with us tonight and have a bite?"

"Oh! Absolutely. Let me get him."

The phone clunked down on the table and she went to fetch him.

"Julius!" we heard her tinnily as she hollered to him. "It's Morgan on the phone!"

"Just closing up, mama!" he called back.

The three of us had to chuckle hearing the two yelling.

"They're asking if you want to go out tonight!" she hollered. "I think you should go!"

"But ma…"

"Honey, I'll be fine! You need to go out and be with your friends. I'll be fine."

We heard a door open and then close. Mongo had obviously entered the room.

They weren't yelling anymore but they were obviously standing over the phone because we could still hear them.

"Ma," we heard Mongo say, "It's okay. Besides, I'll just be a downer for them."

"Nonsense!" she said. "They're your friends, honey. Don't say no."

"But ma…"

"I'll be fine, dear."

"Ma…"

We heard his mom sigh.

"Well," she said, "if you don't want to go out tonight, how about you invite your friends here?"

"We don't have the room, ma."

"Well, how about you use the garage? Ever since we sold your dad's car, it's been empty, except when you and your friends use it for your rehearsals. Good that it gets used. You can bring out the sleeping bags - use your's and your dad's sleeping bags, and we have that inflatable mattress, too. You can plug in dad's little fridge there and maybe even put in the old TV. You can also ask them to stay overnight, and you can start on your road trip from here!"

"Well…"

"Let me tell them."

His mom picked up the phone. "Hello? Are you boys still there?"

"We're still here, Mrs. Kaufman." I answered.

"Well, as usual, Mongo doesn't want to leave me alone in the house. So, how would you boys like hanging out here? And you can sleep over and start your road trip tomorrow from here!"

"Mrs. Kaufman…"

"It's just you boys, right? I won't stand for it if you have the girls with you."

"Oh, no, Mrs. Kaufman! It's just us guys."

"Ah, good! It's settled then. We'll be expecting you boys soon."

"Ummm, we just have to pass by our houses and get some clothes and…"

"Take your time, my dear. No need to bring towels and such, okay? You can have a shower here."

"Yes, ma'am."

"All right. We'll see you soon."

I hung up, and looked at the guys in amazement.

"Wow," I said. "Mongo's mom is like a force of nature."

"Yeah," Dale agreed. "I never knew myself. You know, I've always thought it was his mom that keeps him at home. I guess it's the other way around."

"I can understand it," Mike said. "My cousin used to pal around with us a lot. But when his dad died, he sort of disappeared from our group. I think he felt a little guilty for not being around when his dad died, and he decided to be the one to take care of his mom from then on."

We thought of that a bit. I was surprised by that - we usually never hear Mike being that insightful. We never give him much credit, I'm afraid.

"'K," Dale said. "I'm going to make a quick pass at everyone's houses, and you guys grab a change of clothes, okay? Who's first?"

So we decided to go by who was closest: my house first, then Mike's, then Jerry's and then to Dale's apartment, where he dropped off his bass. We then passed by M&N's Pizza, one of our favorites, and got a couple of our favorite pizzas, and an order of their popular Greek Salad for Mongo's mom, and we went over to Mongo's.

When we got there, the bodyguard assigned to Mongo was there and waved us to the side of the garage, and made us drive over Mongo's yard (he said it was okay with the Kaufmans). With the shoulder-high hedge, Dale's van was fairly camouflaged, especially since the sun had already gone down and Dale's van had a dark blue paint job.

We got out and Dale had a chat with Mongo's bodyguard and his.

"Hey, guys," Dale said, and shook the two bodyguards' hands. "How's it going tonight?"

"Hey, Dale," one of them said. "Seems to be quiet tonight. No one seems to be out here. Anyway, Jim and I will be out here to make sure no one bothers you guys."

"Appreciate it, man. Hey, we got you guys a pizza and some sodas."

"Thanks, kid," the other security guy, Jim, said, "but Mrs. Kaufman has us set up for the night." He held up a six-pack and a cooler full of some nice munchies, I'm sure.

"Well, I'm sure a pizza will go down well with the brews." Dale handed the top pizza box over, and we went on to Mongo's garage.

"Thanks, guys!" the two called out.

I knocked and Mongo opened the garage's side door.

"Hey, guys," Mongo said, and let us in.

"Dude," I said, and we high-fived. "We got some munchies." I held up our huuuge doggy bag, and Jerry brought in the pizza and sodas.

"Nice," Mongo said, got the food and put them on a folding table he'd put in the corner, "but ma also got us some snacks." He pointed to the table on the opposite side, and it had a bunch of McDonald's takeout.

"Your mom didn't have to," I said, knowing how tight money was for them. "Where is she, by the way?"

"She's just inside. I think that's her now."

"Hello, boys," she said, coming over.

"Hi, Mrs. Kaufman," I said, and gave her a hug and a buss on the cheek. "Thanks so much for tonight."

"Oh, it was nothing, Morgan," she said. "Thank you for being such good friends to my Julius. I mean, 'Mongo.'" She giggled.

"We got you something," I said and handed her what we got from M&N.

"Oh! Thank you so much! Well, I got you something as well." She handed us two six-packs of Bud. "I know you boys must have been looking for some of this." She grinned. "But you have a trip tomorrow, so not too many."

She turned on Dale. "Dale, take it easy on the suds, all right? You'll be driving tomorrow."

Dale grinned and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Will the girls be going with you on the trip tomorrow?"

"They'll be making their way there on their own - I think Joanne will be driving them in her van - and we'll be meeting them there."

"Ah, I see." She turned to leave us alone. "Good night then, and if I don't see you tomorrow, I'll just assume you've gone on your way."

But before she stepped back into the house, she turned back.

"I'm so happy that Julius has such good friends, and so talented, too. Especially those twins!"

"You mean June and Drew, Mrs. Kaufman?" Jerry asked.

"Ah, no, my dear," she said. "Those two aren't twins, although they look pretty similar, especially with the…" and she gestured to indicate large breasts. We all laughed.

"No, I'm talking about Dannie and Danielle. Such pretty girls. Though I don't understand what their folks were thinking, giving them almost the same name. And Dannie's such a tomboy. But I'm sure she'll settle down when she finds a boyfriend."

"Oh-oh," I thought. "Has she seen through us?"

"And you've helped our little business, too," she continued. "Since that show last month, we've been getting lots of walk-in customers in our little paper shop. And they all want to meet Julius, too!"

We all went, "oooh!" and Dale playfully elbowed Mongo in the ribs.

Mrs. Kaufman chuckled. "But, you know, more than that, you kids are all good kids. God bless you all, even that new one with the, ummm, unusual dress style..."

I grinned. "You mean Fallon?"

She nodded. "Yes. Fallon. But I haven't seen Janet for a while…"

We looked at each other. "Ummm, I'm afraid…"

"She wigged out," Mike blurted. Jerry elbowed him pretty sharply, and he went, "ooof!"

"Ummm," Dale said, "Janet's been having some personal problems, Mrs. Kaufman. So she's taken some time off from the band. And time off from everyone, too, I guess."

"That's too bad. But, you know, though Janet was mostly all right, I was a bit worried about that one. I know she's your friend, but mothers have a sense about these things. How is she?"

We looked at each other. Mongo answered for us. "Actually, ma, we haven't talked to her in over a month. We're worried, actually."

"That's too bad. I hope she gets herself straightened out soon."

She clapped her hands. "Okay! I'll leave you boys to your sleepover now. Bathroom's the first door after the kitchen, and towels and things are in the cabinet just outside the bathroom. Good night, then."

We said good night to Mongo's mom, and got settled in.

"Mongo?" I asked, "did you tell her about Janet?"

"No, actually," he answered. "I haven't mentioned her ever since she… wigged out. That's all her."

"Your mom's pretty sharp."

"Yep. Scary smart, actually."

And that turned the talk to something other than Janet. And we ended up having a good time chatting, telling jokes and learning about each other. Even the arguments weren't bad since, in the end, we were cool with each other. And even if we only got a couple of hours of sleep before we had to get ready, I had fun.

Some time in the night, I took it upon myself to text Joanne.

"Hey, Joanne" I texted her, "I'm really sorry about tonight. It was a stupid argument. The guys are sorry, too. Please tell the girls. Friends?"

Joanne answered a minute later. "You beat me to it," she said and followed it with a laughing emoji. "I wanted to apologize as well. The girls feel bad, too. Of course - friends forever."

"That's a relief," I replied. "Seeya tomorrow morning, then."

"Empire City!" she texted back. "Whooo!!!"

I laughed and showed the guys our texts.

Our target was to leave by five or six AM so we can get there by nine or ten. Dale and I set our phones' alarms to four-thirty, and I told him that I can spell him if he ever got tired while driving.

I don't know - even if we ended up not going on our road trip, I wouldn't mind: this guys' sleepover was cool.

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

DANNY Chapter 47 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. So, the famous Katie Hargraves gave the gang a bunch of Rockrgrrl and PIMA vouchers, and everyone thought of going to the nearest branch to use them, but the nearest ones were over three hours away. So they thought of making road trip of it. But since it was late already, they decided to have a sleepover first, and get an early start the following Sunday. Never a dull moment with Batch Fourteen, and Dan & his gang. (BTW, be warned: this is one of those rare chapters with very explicit sexual content.)

  Chapter Forty-Seven:  Empire City

*** Danny ***

We passed by Nikki's house first and she told her folks about the overnight thing. Mrs. Anderson confirmed with Mrs. Haley over the phone, and our story was verified. We were petrified, though, that she might call Danielle, especially since "Danielle" was right in front of her. Thank god she didn't!

Selling them on the trip tomorrow, though, took some doing, but when Nikki showed them her vouchers, they believed us. She explained that it would be the whole gang that would be going, so they relented.

They asked me if I would be joining them. I, in my Danielle disguise, nervously cleared my throat, and, in my best Danielle voice, I said that I was.

Nikki also showed them her check and Mrs. Piper's letter, and Mr. Anderson made the expected comment about it being so small before he signed.

Anyway. Nikki packed an overnighter with just a couple of outfits, some comfortable cute-booties-for-walking, some sleeping essentials and other things, and ran out with "Danielle" in tow. "Bye, Mom! Bye Dad!" she called.

"So, what's next, Nikki," I asked as I pulled into the road. I drove leisurely towards town.

"Maybe we can go to your house and get you some of Danielle's clothes, for our own sleepover?" She giggled.

"That might not be a good idea." I said. "Dale texted earlier that Danielle passed by the house already, and picked up some stuff for their sleepover. And…" I gestured at my current Danielle outfit.

"Oh, no… well, at least she got you cleared already. Your folks think you're staying over at Morgan's?"

"I'm officially 'staying out with the guys.'"

As I drove, I thought about it some more. "How about we start for the trip already, and just go now?"

She giggled at my obvious excitement. "Hold your horses, tiger," she giggled. "We need to make some preparations."

"What preparations?" I asked. I made a u-turn and started to make for the I-95.

"Well, we need to make some reservations, you know. And to do that, I need to top up my card."

"Well, we can pass by a Walmart then. There's a twenty-four hour Walmart on Brook Road. You can top up your Amex card there, and we can even have a bite, and do our reservations and stuff."

"Sounds good." She leaned over and gave me a kiss. "Okay."

I pulled out my phone and dialed my bodyguard's number.

"Hi," I said. "This is Danny, or rather Danielle heheh… Oh, it's you, Tyler. How're you doing? Good. Oh, everything's fine. Listen, We're driving out to the city and staying overnight. Yeah, with the guys. So, if you want to knock off for the night, it's okay. I don't think I'll need you. Oh... Oh, okay. Where will we be staying? I don't know yet, but probably at a Holiday Inn. I'll text you the hotel and room number. Oh! We'll be making a stopover at the Walmart in Brook Road. You know where that is? Good. Okay. See you later, dude."

"Who was that?" Nikki asked.

"That's Tyler, one of my bodyguards." I pointed to my rearview, and we saw his nondescript Toyota. I waved out the window and he blipped his lights.

"He's gonna follow us all the way?" she asked with a bit of worry.

"Don't worry, Nick. We can trust the guy."

"If you say so."

It took us an hour or so to get to Walmart so it was about nine, and the sun had completely gone down. I got a text from Tyler, and apparently he got to Walmart ahead of us. He texted to say that someone else will be taking over and he was passing on the phone.

So, as soon as I pulled up in the parking lot, Tyler honked and took off . He pointed to yet another nondescript Toyota - his replacement, and I waved acknowledgement.

We went into Walmart and it wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. Sure, there were some, ummm, unique individuals doing some late night shopping, but it was mostly okay. The ones I noticed were the more… unusual ones, like this girl who was walking around in a one-piece bikini and high heels as if she was just in a regular dress (I wouldn't have minded if she were pretty and not, like, two hundred pounds overweight, but…), a guy dressed like an Indian from a cowboy movie complete with a headdress and warpaint, someone who was wearing a suit minus the pants (he was wearing shorts so he wasn't picked up for indecency or anything), a guy who reeked of alcohol, a girl who shouted at anyone who got close, and a guy who wasn't talking and was just giggling.

But no one bothered us except for the inevitable curious looks. We were a couple of hotties after all.

The first thing we did was go to the Money Center and top off Nikki's Amex Bluebird card with a couple of thousand. Nikki protested that I didn't need to put that much money in, but I shut her up with a kiss. That got us more attention but I didn't care - any excuse to kiss Nikki, you know.

We then went to the Walmart Snack Bar and ordered a couple of meatball subs and some cokes. Nikki just had a bite and gave the rest of her sandwich to me.

While we ate, I used my phone and popped up the Holiday Inn Express site. While I was doing this, Nikki made some excuses and walked toward the cash registers. I wasn't paying much attention to her, though, since I was concentrating on my phone.

I checked all the Holiday Inn Express hotels near Fifth, and the closest one with available rooms was the one on Sixth. But the only rooms available were singles. The site suggested the one in West 29th and that one had several larger rooms available. I picked the best one they had, and typed in Nikki's name (the name on her Amex debit card, of course: Nicolette Ann Smith instead of Nicolette Anne Anderson). And since she was already in their system, there was no trouble making the reservation.

I then checked if there was a parking level in the building, and there was, so I reserved a slot, as well as a couple more for Dale and Joanne. And since it was a metered parking facility, that means our slots were reserved for a full twenty-four hours per day, which starts from the moment it was reserved and ends when we leave or when our time runs out (I reserved us for two full days, leaving our cars' makes, models, colors and license plate numbers).

After I clicked the last button, the site confirmed the reservations and I screen-capped the confirmation page.

Well, that was easy.

I then went on Yelp and checked for some nice brunch places nearby. I picked a place called The Cookshop, simply because it was open in the morning and the prices weren't too high, called and made a reservation for fourteen. Good thing it closed at eleven so someone was still there to accept our reservation.

Gee. And I thought this would be more difficult.

The next thing I did was to text Dale, Tracey and Joanne the hotel's address and our parking slot numbers, as well as attach a file of the screencap. The city was so notorious for its traffic and lack of parking so this was like a mandatory thing. I also said that we were going to meet for brunch at ten in the restaurant I picked on West 18th, with the reservation under the name of "Nikki Smith."

I then texted my bodyguard and told him the same details. He texted back to let me know he got it, and that was that.

When I looked up from my phone, Nikki was there looking at me and sipping on an iced tea. I was so engrossed, I didn't notice her come back.

"So?" she asked. "Are we set?"

"Totally." I showed her the confirmation page. I noticed a couple of shopping bags. "What're those?"

"Well, you can't go shopping in smelly day-old clothes! So I got you some stuff. Did you know they have Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Donna Karan here? Who'da thunk?"

"But we're going shopping tomorrow…"

"Oh I only got a couple of on-sale outfits and some sleeping stuff. Just enough to tide us over."

Well, that worried me a bit. As usual. But it was too late now.

Anyway, I got the receipts and told myself to top up Nikki's card with the same amount later.

So we left Walmart and went on our way.

- - - - -

***** (Nikki) *****

It was a long drive, but since we were together, it wasn't bad at all. Plus the anticipation was keeping Danny and me hyped up and looking forward to tonight.

The city wasn't that full of cars and all that. But then again, it was almost midnight when we got in.

Parking and checking in wasn't too difficult either. At least there were no awkward moments and rabid fans. Thank god we weren't in the boonies anymore.

The both of us were quiet as we held hands while we rode in the elevator. I kept sneaking looks at him, and he kept smiling when he caught me doing so. We were both consenting individuals, even if not exactly adults. But we came prepared. At least I was. And, us being sixteen, we're not going to be doing anything illegal (though that technicality probably won't make it okay with mom and dad).

It wasn't a secret what Danny and I were about to do - the guys knew all about it, or intuited it, and, after a bit of resistance, the girls texted and asked me if I was sure. I told them I was sure. Besides, we've done it before. We were both over sixteen, so it wouldn't be underage sex, and I was on the pill, too.

We didn't have trouble getting a room - Danny was right to pick the Holiday Inn Express again. Besides the price, at least our previous stay was in their records and no further checks were required. The girl who checked us in looked fairly bored, and she totally didn't recognize Danny. I mean, why would she? Our little TV show wasn't aired here, and the Evolution Concert probably didn't rate much here, unlike in our little town where it was such a big deal.

All that, plus the fact that it was midnight and there weren't too many people in the lobby, I couldn't blame her for looking bored.

Of course, checking in at midnight didn't change our check-out time. We still had to check out by one PM, but that was okay - we were planning on leaving by nine AM anyway.

We were traveling unusually light. Besides my wheelie and our purses, we weren't carrying anything else (I put the stuff I bought for Danny in Walmart inside the wheelie).

I was a bit worried about how we looked. After all, we were in the Big City. But I think we passed muster. The outfit and look that I picked, and Danny's Dannie-the-Singer outfit were pretty okay, and no one we passed reacted badly. There was one girl we saw - she was extremely pretty, and was dressed to the nines - smiled at us as she rode the elevator with us. And only after passing several floors did I recognize her - she was the star of this Disney show a few years ago but hasn't been seen much since. That's a shame. I liked her in that show. But regardless, she still looked fabulous, and she smiled at us politely when she saw me looking.

Unfortunately, our floor was on the nineteenth and she was going all the way to the top floor, so we got off before her. Well. Hopefully, we'll see more celebrities tomorrow.

Anyway, when we got to our room, my hands were shaking so much with excitement, I had trouble sliding in our room's card into the door's slot. But when I finally got it open, I pulled Danny through and slammed the door closed.

I pushed him onto the bed, straddled him and started kissing his face all over.

Danny restlessly ran his hands over my sides, and I shivered. The silky material of my dress rubbed against my skin in a way I've never felt before.

I couldn't stop myself anymore - my anticipation of tonight had been building ever since this afternoon. I pulled my shirt-dress over my head and threw it into a corner, leaving me clad only in my bra, panties and heels. I then reached down and tore Danny's borrowed blouse open. You know that cliché when the character in a romance novel tears the woman's top open and the buttons, like bullets, pop and fly away in all directions?

I grabbed him around the waist and pulled him towards me, our breasts mashing against each other. But our bras were in the way.

Impatiently, we attacked each other's bras, and in moments, we were free of them. Savagely, I pressed and rubbed Danny's smooth, soft and oh, so sensuous flesh, and he did the same to me. On my leg, I felt him as I rubbed my leg on his crotch, his erection unmistakable despite the gaff. I giggled and felt around for the snap on his skirt. I undid the snap and pulled the zip down. I then pushed his tight gaff down and he sprang up, in full attention.

Not waiting anymore, I took off my sheer panties and impaled myself on him.

I remembered him from before, but I didn't care. I hissed in combined pain and pleasure as he stretched me to my limits again. I growled, like my pain, a barrier to my being with him, was something I had to beat up or kill, and and I savagely pumped up and down, not allowing my pain to stop me.

"Nikki!" he said, breathlessly. "Protection!"

"I'm on the pill, Danny," I said, panting, and increased my pace. The pain was substantial, but I wouldn't let it stop me, and continued on. My hips trembled like they were on the edge of a cramp, or something momentous, and I continued, willing it to be momentous.

After a minute of my savage attack on his erection, I felt the pain rapidly fade, to be replaced by waves and waves of growing pleasure. I was trying to move so fast, my thighs trembled in what could be a cramp, but I kept at it.

"I'm coming, Danny!" I cried, and my hips started to tremble. On their own, my hips bucked and bucked, and I moaned as my orgasm raced through me, but Danny still hadn't.

For what felt like minutes, my hips bucked and bucked, and my vagina contracted in pulses, but Danny still hadn't cum.

I started to cool down, and scooched up to kiss Danny's face, neck and behind his ear, but he still hadn't. I was prepared to relax on his chest in post-coital bliss, and Danny just held me around the waist, seemingly rested, too, but I felt him. He still filled me, and still stretched me to my limits. So that meant he still hadn't cum.

For whatever reason, I felt that I had cheated Danny somehow, and though my clitoris and vaginal opening was so sensitive, I gritted my teeth and resumed. I felt like I couldn't take this but I pushed through. I couldn't cheat Danny.

I hissed in pain brought on by my oversensitivity, and frustrated anger at my overly-sensitized flesh, and pushed on, and, for some reason, the sensitivity transmuted into an orgasm immediately, and I couldn't stop it. In less than thirty seconds, with no rest, I found myself in the throes of yet another orgasm. My hips bucked again without my conscious control, and my vagina contracted over and over, and for whatever reason, the orgasm kept going.

I've read this sort of thing happening, but I never really thought it was even possible in real life. I found myself cumming over and over again, with mere seconds between orgasms, and my eyes literally rolled up. It was savage and powerful and so intoxicating.

In what must have been my millionth daisy-chained orgasm, I finally felt Danny cum as well. I felt him splash my insides, coating me completely, but it was too much, and it leaked out.

I was totally helpless as I continued to cum, unable to do anything but orgasm, and I felt my thighs covered in his cum.

Eventually, I felt him calm down and the deluge abated. And I felt my unending orgasms start to diminish.

My orgasms became shorter and shorter until they eventually stopped. I collapsed on Danny, totally spent. I couldn't move, though my hips still bucked occasionally and without my control. I felt the fever break, and I took slow deep breaths as I fell into a sated stupor.

It was so incredible and so beautiful, I found myself crying in complete and unbelievable, amazing joy and wonder. Could it be anything like this with anyone else? But I knew in my heart that this could only be possible with Danny.

I hugged Danny around his neck, and inhaled deeply, surrounding myself in his special scent.

Danny held me and whispered in my ear, wondering if he had hurt me. I shook my head no even as I struggled to remain conscious. And when I couldn't stay awake anymore, I faded into a wonderful dream-filled slumber.

- - - - -

***** (Nikki) *****

I woke up in the dark. I didn't recognize where I was, but I felt Danny and I calmed down immediately. Things came back as I remembered what we had done.

Surrounded by his wonderful scent as well as the escapable smell of sex in the air, I smiled in recollection, and stretched in wonderful, indolent relaxation. I was so relaxed and loose. Just call me elastagirl. I felt so wonderful, I wriggled in joy. Giggling, I wrapped myself around Danny. I felt Danny was wearing the sheer teddy I bought for him, and I noticed I was wearing my own ivory babydoll that I brought from home. Clearly, he had put it on me.

I checked and the bedclothes were dry. I also checked myself and I was dry as well. I loved Danny for taking such good care of me. I continued feeling myself, checking myself out. I seemed to be fine, although I seem to be more sensitive now. Actually, maybe sensitive wasn't the word. I seem to be, I guess the word I am thinking of was that I seemed to be primed now, like I was on a hair trigger and ready to explode at any moment. The touch of my own hand got me fired up and I twitched in a little mini-orgasm.

But I looked at Danny, and he was sleeping so deeply, my twitching didn't wake him. His eyelashes lying so beautifully on his cheeks. It was like I was sleeping beside my very own angel. I sighed. I guess I won't wake him, and wait for the morning instead when he's awake and feeling it, too.

I sighed in contentment, gently put my arms around him so I wouldn't wake him, closed my eyes and floated back to dreamland.

- - - - -

***** (Nikki) *****

I woke up again and Danny wasn't beside me anymore. I panicked a bit.

"Danny?" I called.

"I'm here," he answered. In the gloom, I saw him sitting on the chaise lounge facing the picture window. He was wearing the shorty, gauzy robe that came with the teddy.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm okay, Nikki," he said. That voice… it was his regular voice. That voice was something we never hear anymore. In fact, the last time I heard it was before Danny joined the band.

It still sounded somewhat like his regular Danny voice, with the same Danny inflections and tone, but it wasn't Danny. Nor was it Dannie-the-singer: it was in a slightly higher register, as well as with a special, unidentifiable quality that made you want to hug him or something. If you didn't know who was speaking, you'd have thought it was some beautiful girl. It was so smokey-sexy - sexier than even Dannie-the-singer, or Robin-the-DJ, or even Danny himself. At least to me. And I felt sad that he didn't use it often anymore.

I got up and grabbed the thin wrap that went with my babydoll - Danny had draped it over a chair nearby in case I wanted to wear it. I went to Danny thinking he was feeling down or sad or something, but when I got close, he was just sitting and looking at the skyline, looking peaceful and content.

We weren't as high up as the other buildings in the city - we were just on the nineteenth - but by some wonderful serendipity, the surrounding buildings immediately around us were all below our vantage.

"Wow," I said as I snuggled against Danny. The skyline was so pretty, with lots of lights in reds, blues, greens and yellows. Like a christmas tree.

"Pretty," I said.

"Yeah," he said. "It is." His voice sounded so magically, sexily feminine.

I just snuggled under his arm, happy.

"What're you thinking?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking how things have shaped up for us. For me."

"You okay?"

"I'm okay. I guess I'm okay with things. It's been fun at any rate," he chuckled.

"Especially tonight," I said.

"Oh, Absolutely. Speaking of which… are you okay? I was afraid I had hurt you or something."

I giggled. "Danny, I'm okay. I'm more than okay. I loved it! And I want to do it again."

Danny chuckled again. "Maybe not right at this moment? Let's just sit here for now?"

He hugged me and gave me a kiss. "Okay," I sighed in happiness. I draped his arm around me and just stayed there and watched the lights.

And as I was about to drift back to sleep, I was accidentally nudged awake. "My love?" I said sleepily.

"Sorry, honey," he said. "I was reaching for the phone. I was going to order something from room service. Do you want anything?"

I giggled. Danny and his appetite... We asked Mrs. Fairchild about the twin's bottomless appetites once, and she said it wasn't anything to worry about - they'd been checked out by the doctors and she said the two just had a higher-than-normal metabolism. Nothing to worry about - just don't go out with them to dinner unprepared.

"Can you maybe get me something to drink?" I said.

"Okay," Danny said, and called downstairs.

About thirty minutes later, the knock on the door woke me up.

Danny turned up the room's lights, stood up and went to the door. He hesitated a bit, suddenly realizing that he was just wearing a teddy and a gossamer shorty robe. I was looking at him with a grin.

He looked at me and chuckled. "It's nothing these guys haven't seen before," he shrugged. He made a quick adjustment to make sure he wasn't showing anything unusual in his pants, knotted his robe's belt and opened the door.

The bellboy at the door just looked at Danny, mouth open. He didn't move, except for his eyeballs, and just stared at Danny. "Ohmigod!" he murmured.

"So, are you coming in or not?" Danny asked with hands on hips.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Sorry…" He pushed a cart into the room.

He parked the cart in the middle of the room and just stared at Danny.

Danny looked at the guy. "Well?"

"Oh, yeah…" He reached into his pocket and brought out a booklet with a receipt.

I was curious about what he ordered. "What did you get, Danny?" I said, and got up to check what was under the cloches.

The guy turned and saw me. "Ohmigod… there's two of them!"

I giggled at that and peeked under the dish covers (Danny said they were sometimes called "cloches"). There were a couple of paper bags with the name "The Meatball Shop" in red emblazoned on them, plus several bottles of mineral water and something called Swamp Pop Soda. I gotta try some of that.

Danny reached out and plucked the pen and little booklet the guy was holding while he looked at the both of us slack-jawed. "Ohmigod," the guy repeated.

Danny signed our receipt, pulled off our copy and tucked the pad and pen in the guy's shirt pocket. Danny had to inadvertently get near the guy to tuck the pen and pad in his pocket, and the guy had an eyeful of Danny's satin-covered boobies.

"Oh, wow!" he said.

Danny growled in impatience and resorted to pushing the guy out the door.

"Wait!" the guy said, finally shaking himself out of whatever trance he was in, but he was too late, and the door slammed in his face.

"Can you believe that guy," Danny said.

"I don't think he was acting, Danny," I said.

"Sure, sure," he scoffed and turned to the cart.

"So, what's this?" I asked. "You ordered take-out?"

"Yeah. The hotel doesn't have room service, apparently, so I had food delivered to the hotel. Anyway, I heard of the place and thought we could order some sandwiches."

"What's this Swamp Pop?"

"It was the only thing on their cocktail menu that could be delivered. Apparently, anything alcoholic can't be delivered door-to-door. Besides, I read about it on the net. It's supposed to be very good."

"I'll have one, then."

I went back to the chaise, and Danny pushed the cart nearer the window. I snuggled into his side and took occasional sips from my Swamp Pop and enjoyed the city lights.

- - - - -

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

Nikki was so insatiable this time. Not that I'm complaining. But I couldn't help but think that my newly-discovered "condition" was what was affecting her. After Nikki slept, I sneaked away and tested a bit of Doctor Roberts' magic solution. The litmus paper I brought discolored the way he said it should, so it should be working. So what was it?

Anyway, it didn't matter. At least not tonight. I gently wiped Nikki (and myself) down with a wet washcloth from the bathroom, took off her shoes and the soiled sheets, put her into this babydoll nightie that I found in her bag, replaced the sheet and brought the soiled ones into the bath.

Like before, I rinsed out the sheet. At least I knew what to do now. I wrung out as much of the water from the sheets as I could, and hung the still-damp sheets on the curtain rod.

I could just as well have left it to the hotel to clean up after us, but I guess I was a bit embarrassed. I even thought of bringing our own blankets next time, and had to laugh at how ridiculous that was.

Anyway, I took a quick shower, put on some of Doctor Roberts' solution in the predetermined spots, and looked for something to change into.

I found the bag of clothes Nikki bought in Walmart and fished out a teddy and matching underwear. I sighed resignedly and put them on.

I went to the bed and Nikki was lying there sleeping so sweetly, fresh and clean in her pretty little nightie. I was amazed that she hadn't stirred through the whole operation of cleaning her up and changing the sheets. I guess I tired her out, I thought proudly, and giggled.

I slid under the blanket, snuggled against her and slept.

I found myself waking up at around three and unable to sleep, so I got up.

I looked through the picture window and marveled at the pretty lights. Gosh, I was such a country bumpkin, I thought, but I didn't care. I sat on the chaise, and contemplated the city's pretty lights.

Later on, Nikki joined me and we just laid there for the rest of the night, watching the lights and enjoying a light late-night snack.

- - - - -

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

Eventually, though, we stirred ourselves awake when my phone's alarm started beeping.

We didn't exactly get the full eight hours of shuteye recommended, but neither of us were complaining.

We took a shower together, and would have finished quickly if Nikki didn't insist on doing some… rigorous calisthenics. Because of which, we found ourselves behind schedule. At least I didn't need to rinse any more blankets this time, but we did have to shower again.

After drying off and blow-drying our hair, I disguised my application of Dr. Roberts' solution as part of my putting on deodorant and perfume, and then I allowed Nikki to apply makeup on me.

I then got dressed in one of the two outfits Nikki bought for me, first putting on the new underwear she got. The underwear was a strapless T-shirt bra from Fruit of the Loom (I bet Nikki never bought Fruit of the Loom in her life until now - I'm afraid she, Danielle and their friends were clothes snobs) and an abbreviated pair of stretchy, tight, short-short bike shorts from Body Glove. The size was smaller than my standard size so they were pretty snug - that made them ideal for keeping my, ummm, profile hidden. I guess this was Nikki's compromise to my usual gaffs - I doubt if Walmart carried gaffs heehee. I said I could have easily kept on wearing what I was wearing but Nikki made a face and shook her head vehemently.

Nikki then dropped the dress over me. The dress was a pretty nice, kelly-green Lord & Taylor tiered mini halter-dress, and the shoes were a nice pair of three-inch heel slip-on pumps from Calvin Klein. Trust Nikki to find high-end brands in a Walmart. But I spied some white high-top Chuck Taylor sneakers she also got, and I decided to switch to those. Nikki shrugged. She did pick up a pair of sheer, white bobby socks-high stockings, and I slid those on before I put on and laced up the sneakers. Knowing there's going to be a whole lot of walking today, I thought three-inch heels might not be too comfortable.

After Nikki finished getting ready herself, we then packed up and dropped off Nikki's wheelie in my car. We noted that Joanne's van and Dale's F150 were parked on either side of my 'Stang now.

"They're already here," I said.

Making sure I had all my essentials in the little purse Nikki gave me, we put Nikki's wheelie in the boot, and we went down to the front desk to check out. Everything went smoothly and there were no problems unlike before like in the Holiday Inn back home. I did make sure that our parking spaces would be available to us the full forty-eight hours, and the girl said it would be, so it was no trouble for us to leave our cars there. But when I noticed her staring at me in dawning recognition, I quickly said thanks, pulled Nikki along and stepped out of the hotel.

The temperature was a little nippy, especially in my halter dress, so I slipped on the casual full-sleeve soft-denim jacket Nikki got me, and Nikki slipped into a shirred solid-colored pink blazer.

We walked in the bright morning sun and made our way to The Cookshop. We wouldn't have known where to go but for Google. Thank god for Waze and Google Maps.

Like provincials, we gawked at all the hustle and bustle yet tried not to appear that we were - that we belonged. At least we didn't appear to be dressed out of step with everyone.

Pretty soon, we were at The Cookshop, and found the gang all there.

"Hey, Danny!" Mike called. "Over here!"

We sat and were regaled with stories from their sleepovers. There were no big revelations or any unusual happenings, but it was fun listening to everyone trying to talk over everyone else. At least Fallon and Tracey (especially Tracey - I was worried about her given her... condition. But since they could accept me, I thought it was a fair gamble and allowed Tracey to sink or swim) were getting along fine with everyone. And, knowing what goes on in the girls' sleepovers, I'm fairly sure these two didn't have any major secrets to hide anymore. I was so pleased for my two newest friends that I couldn't stop myself from giving them kisses. I was a little uneasy though because Fallon and Tracey were looking at me so intensely. By the same token, I probably don't have any secrets from these two anymore. Oh, well. Hope whatever pictures the girls showed them weren't too embarrassing.

I saw our different bodyguards spread out in the restaurant, enjoying a bit of brunch themselves - they were being as unobtrusive as possible. My own bodyguard turned out to be Kelly this morning - a girl that looked like she was our age despite her being fifteen years older than me.

I nodded at her and she nodded back, and continued with her breakfast.

After breakfast, we decided to go to the Rockrgrrl store later, and broke up into two groups to do some sightseeing and window-shopping first, the guys towards Madison Square and the girls towards Fifth Avenue. I wanted to go with the guys but the girls wouldn't take no for an answer.

- - - - -

We were walking by this fancy (and expensive-looking) department store when Danielle had a brainstorm.

"Guys," Danielle said, "maybe we can get some stuff for the band? Seems to me, it's a little difficult to be outfitting the band at the last minute everytime, and it's a little difficult to find nice looking clothes and things back home. Since we're here, maybe we can get some stuff, and maybe get some for us, too."

"But we don't have any new gigs coming up, Danielle," Fallon said, "much less KRPQ events."

"You never know," Danielle giggled. "Lemme text Mrs. P."

After a bit, her phone beeped. "Okay," she said and read the text message. "Mrs. P agrees, but she gave us a budget."

"How much?" June asked, and she and Drew took a peek, The two whistled.

"Wow," Drew said.

"Can I see that?" Tracey asked, and read the text.

"'K," she nodded. "I'll take care of things on that side, or rather Mom's card will," she giggled. "Now where do we go?"

Danielle led us into the department store.

- - - - -

****** (The following 22 paragraphs are from Chapter 17 of the story, ******
***** "Drew Nance, Girl Detective Book 1: The Secret of the Old Clock") *****

"Thanks a lot, Lisa! See you later!" (Drew Nance said.)

The girl (Lisa) put her clothes in shopping bags and her shoes in the NineWest shoebox, gave her (Drew) the tags stapled to her receipt, and escorted her out so the store detectives won't bother her. "So, will we see you again?"

"Totally, and thanks!"

As she was riding down the escalator, a bunch of girls were riding up in the escalator opposite hers. They were talking loudly. When she was still Andy, that would have irritated her a lot, but she has had a sea change about such things ever since she started living as Drew.

The one in the lead was a simply gorgeous redhead.

"Hey, Nikki!" she called down. "Make sure Danny doesn't sneak away! The whole point of this trip is to get some stage outfits for June, Betsy, Fallon and her. If we don't, Mrs. Piper will never forgive me."

A blonde girl near the bottom had yet another redhead in a headlock. Given how they were both giggling made Drew realize they were just playing.

"No prob, Danielle. I got her, and I'm never letting her go." And then she gave the redhead in her arms butterfly kisses."

"Ewww! Nikki, quit it!"

Drew smiled at their antics.

"Oi!" Yet another redhead exclaimed. "You guys behave. You're making a scene."

"Sorry, Fallon," the girl, Dannie was it? Dannie responded.

They were almost parallel to her now. Drew casually looked over and was surprised to see that Dannie was a twin of that other girl, Danielle. Cool.

"Hi," Dannie said when she saw Drew looking at her.

"Hi, Dannie," Drew said. She embarrassedly smiled at the girl.

"Do I know you?"

"Ahh, no." Drew shrugged. "I'm Drew."

"Hi, Drew. Funny, I have a friend named Drew, too."

Drew grinned and nodded. "Well, have fun shopping."

She made a face. "Clearly, you haven't met my sister."

Drew giggled and waved bye-bye.

"What a funny girl," Drew said. Her good mood was just reinforced and she jauntily stepped off the escalator. "Three redheads at the same time. Well, that's unusual."

***** (end of excerpt) *****

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

Apparently, we weren't as inconspicuous as we thought. That girl in the escalator clearly recognized us. But I was told the TV show was only a local program. Did that mean she was at the concert?

I looked down the escalator and saw the blonde walk out the store. Too bad. She was very, very pretty.

"Hey!" Nikki said and playfully swung my head around. "Eyes on me, okay?"

I chuckled and gave her a kiss. "Always, babe," I said in this sexy voice that Morgan and the others called my "Brad Pits" voice. Nikki giggled.

Hand in hand, we followed Danielle and the others.

- - - - -

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

I remembered my little impromptu shopping spree with Danny, although Danny didn't really buy anything that time, and I only bought a couple of things, so I don't know if you can really call that shopping. I know these girls wouldn't.

What we did then definitely didn't compare to what we were doing now.

I really didn't have too many friends before. Well, no friends, really. And then I met Danny. And then his sister in that "thing" with that bully, Hennessy. And then I met his other friends. He even got the Glee Club kids to be more friendly to me.

And then he made me a part of his band, even if it was just a temporary gig.

A far cry from the school's favorite loner, huh?

And now I'm hanging with girls that seem to like me. And though they think of shopping as a competitive sport, I didn't mind much - you can't have everything after all.

I don't know if I'm just older and therefore wiser (hah!), but, yes, I didn't seem to mind all this. Much. A few months ago, I'd probably be making snide remarks at girls like them, but here I am, actual friends with them. My dad once said, "not understanding others comes from ignorance." I used to make fun of that - that it sounded trite and stupid. "Not understanding others comes from ignorance…" duh! Of course! Isn't that what ignorance is? Not knowing?

But being around Danny, I now find myself trying to make the effort to understand others instead of being judgemental.

It's the sentiment behind dad's saying than the actual literal meaning of the words. And, as much as I hated to admit it, Dad was right. Dammit!

So here I was shopping with these girls. And it ain't so bad.

Of course, I didn't actually do any of the actual shopping myself. I think shopping can be fun, too, but I prefer to do it by myself. This group shopping thing was a little too… I guess the closest word I could think of was "complicated." What really helped me though was Danny - with another one in the group that wasn't as into this thing as I was, we had fun looking at other things or just chatting, and watching the girls do their thing.

Of course, we had to go to the girls to try out the stuff they picked for us, but that was just occasionally. Most of the time, Danny and I were just chatting. And the girls were right - Danny was a great guy.

Up close, she really was as gorgeous as I remembered. I mean "he." I couldn't help myself and snuck looks down his dress. I mean "her." I mean… oh, dammit.

Anyway. I also noted - no telltale bumps. He was probably wearing his special underwear that Danielle told us about.

From time to time, Nikki would come to fetch Danny or me for a fitting, but she was very understanding and only fetched us when absolutely needed. And it's so amazing that Nikki "allowed" Danny to hang out with me. I think Danielle and the others were totally wrong about Nikki's jealous streak.

"Falloooon!" Nikki went to us. "Time to try on another outfit!" She grabbed me by the hand and pulled me along to the changing rooms.

"Call the police if I'm not back in ten!" I said to Danny, and she laughed. I mean... Ahh, shaddap...

- - - - -

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

I grinned at Fallon. She was being very game about all this even though she told me this wasn't her kind of scene. I'm glad she's meshing so well with the group.

My phone rang and I brought it out of my purse. It was my bodyguard.

"Hey, Kelly," I answered. "What's up?"

"Danny," she answered, "one of the other bodyguards spotted that girl, Janet, in the store…"

"Janet? Ohmigod, are you sure?"

"We're sure."

"What do we do?"

"Well, actually, nothing. She hasn't done anything so we can't very well have her arrested."

"What about what she did at the Arclight? Or the damage she did to Mrs. Piper's minibus?"

"Well, we couldn't prove the sabotage in the Coliseum was done by her, and Mrs. Piper didn't file any charges about the minibus."

"Oh…"

"All we can do is just keep an eye on her, and stop her if she tries to do anything."

"If you say so."

"I suggest you don't tell the others so there's no panic. In fact, the only reason we told you was because we think you're her target, and we need you to be alert."

"Okay, Kelly. Where is Janet now?"

"We lost her at the ground floor lobby…"

"Lost!"

"Sorry, Dan. We're trying to locate her now."

"Okay. I'll keep an eye out. Let me know when you find her, okay?"

"I'll call you right away."

With that, she hung up.

"Hey, Danny," Fallon came back. "You look worried. Who was that?"

"Oh, nothing, Fallon," I said. "Just a call from a classmate. Our book report is due next week."

"Book report? Bleh. You're on your own." She stuck her tongue out at me and giggled.

I gave her a razzberry.

Nikki came over. "Hon, we're moving to the next floor to look at some other clothes, shoes and stuff."

I gave her a kiss. "Lead on."

- - - - -

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

Instead of staying away and trailing them, I decided to get closer to the girls and pulled Fallon along with me. That meant we were fairly clustered together as we moved to the next floor, and Janet can't target any single one of us.

I tried to look around, but casually, and didn't see Janet.

The girls trailed Danielle in this shopping expedition. As usual. But then Danielle was this gang's expert when it comes to women's fashions. And as they perused the shelves of clothes and shoes, Danielle started picking out stuff. And it was a foregone conclusion that the stuff she picked were in the exact sizes of the girls in the band. However, she was unsure of Fallon. That meant special attention for Fallon and was given a special fitting session by Danielle.

Danielle stood Fallon on her own and started looking her up and down, literally sizing her up.

"What's this?" Fallon asked.

"Quiet, my dear, and allow the master to work," Joanne said, and giggled.

"Hmmm..." Danielle said, with her hand on her chin. She walked around and around Fallon. "I believe you're about five feet four, about one hundred fourteen pounds, thirty-four - twenty-two - thirty-two. You're a b-cup, and wear a size seven shoe." She grinned at Fallon. "So, how'd I do?"

"Oh. My. God..." Fallon and Tracey said, and everyone laughed.

"Believe me, honey," Joanne said, "all of us have had the same feeling."

From there, Danielle continued her trawling and picking, with two more converts following - namely Fallon and Tracey.

"But, you know, Danielle," Tracey said, "what about the guys? I mean, shouldn't they get nice outfits, too?"

Danielle looked at Tracey a little sheepishly. "Ummm..."

"Ahh!" Mel said. "You have discovered Supergirl's kryptonite!"

"What do you mean?"

Danielle sadly looked down. "I'm sorry. I'm not too good with men's clothes..."

"Is that why you didn't suggest to get some outfits for the guys?"

Danielle shrugged embarrassedly.

"No problem, Supergirl,"Nikki giggled. "Let Batgirl help you out. Come, Robin. Let us away to the Batcave!" She said to me.

Everyone burst out laughing as she pulled me with her.

As the two of us left in search of the Men's section, I heard Fallon. "Is she really good with guy clothes?" she asked.

"Who do you think picks Danielle's outfits when she's in Danny-mode?" Joanne said.

"Ooohhh!"

to be continued...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.

 

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...

 

click here to read my old Working Girl Blogs, click here to read all of my blogs, click here to read my stories in BCTS, and click here to see my profile & know more about me.