Revenge Cookies 10 (Chapter 2, Part 4)

While Monica and Thomas were building up something new, I was trying to fix something I had broken. As we walked from the mall, I was still bummed out that I even accused her of something like that, but confident that this plan would win her heart back. My phone buzzed and it was a message from Marriam. I smiled a bit before I opened but, but once I saw it, it shook me. The message was nothing but a large row of frowning purple devil emojis. I didn't know how to respond to that, so I just texted her back, "I'm sorry". 30 seconds later, she texted me:

"Sorry ain't gon help you lowlife jerk. Next time I see you I'm kicking your face in. Coword".

"She misspelled coward," Bell said. I looked back at him sideways.

"Why the hell you all in my phone?" I asked him.

"Sorry," he said, "I just like fiesty text messages".

"You know if this don't work," Jonny said, "You'll have to get a restrainin' order, Mary doesn't play that".

"I know, I know, I know," I told them, "But this band, this band right here is gonna fix it. I feel it in my heart"

"Hey," David said, "I'm just happy to help a fellow brother out"

"But where the hell are we gonna play this at?" Brenda said, "And who's gonna do the singing? All that smoking messed my voice up".

"Hmmm...she has a shift at Fubway in about 15 miuntes," I said, "We're almost there, so we should go".

"Hell yeah," Mike said, "That's perfect"

"And me, Jonny, and Johnny, we got the vocals," I explained.

"That's gonna get confusing," Macy said.

"I know," Johnny and Jonny said at the same time. Macy shook her head

Cooper then remarked, "I didn't know this dude could sing"

"I used to be in the church choir, watch this," Jonny said, then he bellowed out with a low and resounding, "AAAAAAH"

"Close your mouth," Gretchen said, "You're making the ground shake"

"Don't hate because my voice is more powerful than yours," Jonny said.

"Whatever," Gretchen said, "Only reason it got like that is cause you drank all the freakin' water"

"Only way I could put up with you," he replied.

I stepped in and said, "Y'all, chill, this is a group experience , we're supposed to get along".

"Well," Jonny said, "Tell her to stop being a hater".

"Tell him to stop being a baby," Gretchen clapped back.

"She got you man!" Bell said.

"I'll show you who the baby is," Jonny said. He swung for her, but she caught his fist, grabbed his arm and flipped him upside down. On the ground, he kicked her in the shin, making her fall back. Both of them got back up at the same time, picked up branches, and sword-battled with them.

"Yah, take that!" they yelled at each other. Then they started talking smack to each other.

"I'll eat the hair off your head like cotton candy," she said.

"I'l make you eat your nails for breakfast," he Gretchen tried to strike him in the head with the branch, but Jonny jumped in the air, flipped, and swung his foot to the side of her head again. She was floored, but determined. She got up halfway and bit him on the wrist.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Jonny screamed with a higher pitch than Ariana Grande. He stumbled backwards into an antbed, where they devoured his head.

"Aw hell naw this went too far," I said. I helped Jonny up and dusted the ants off his face. He spit out an ant on my arm.

"Hey, watch out man," I told him.

"Sorry, she tripped me up," he said. His voice was a little wonky.

"You can still sing?" I asked him.

"LAAAAAAH". His deep bellow was reduced to a chewy lisp. The ants had swollen his tongue.

"Aww damn," I said, "You sound like you got some gum stuck in your throat"

He tried to act like it didn't matter. "I mean, I could sing in a different pitch"

"Don't worry bro," Bell said, "I got you".

"Hold up man, can you sing?" David asked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Bell said, "Watch this". He cracked his fingers, cleared his throat, and

"EeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEE!"

A deafening screech of a squeak came from his ears. I could already feel myself going deaf.

"Oh wait, I got mucus in my throat, hold on"

Bell hacked up some mucus and it landed right in the middle of Grtechen's shirt. She looked down and gasped.

"You jerk, you meant..."

"Calm down", Jonny stepped in. "Let my brother sing".

Bell cleared his throat one more good time, then he produced an....

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...."

In a beautiful, high pitched voice that would rival Mariah Carey in her prime. My mouth was stuck on open.

"Ladies and Gentleman, we have found a winner".

I walked over to him, patted him on the back, and said, "Bell, how would you like to be a singer in my group?"

He stared at me, shrieked, started to faint, and...

"BELL WATCH OUT!!!"

Jonny's warning was no use, and Bell got a face full of ants and dirt.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...." his marvelous high pitched wail came out again.

"Even his screaming is beautiful," I said, "But we need to get the hell out of here"

Elsewhere in town, Jada went to the local Wal-Mart to pick up some new signage for LaQuinta's dance studio. The current sign was a still of Beyonce with an X on her face and a small quote beneath it saying, "I'm better". She picked up a sparkling new purple sign and some fresh-smelling sharpie markers. Her plan was to write, "LaQuinta's dance studio, pay your dues and we'll teach you some moves". But there were to roadblocks to getting her things out the store; the long-winded that stretched into mulitple isles of the store, and Azyrea, who was in line with a can of Arizona Tea.

"Damn," Jada mouthed to herself,"This line is long as hell! I hope Zey don't see me buying all of this"

"Buying all of what?"

Zey eyed her and already walked to the end of the line.

"Um, these posters," Jada said.

"Why would I give a damn about you buying some posters?"

"I mean, I forgot to get you some scissors the other day, and you told me the hell off"

"I really needed them damn scissors," Azyrea told her.

"And I thought you would do the same thing!" Jada said.

"Whatever," she replied, "But why you all the way back here?"

"Cause....that's where the line starts"

"You know you don't have to wait that long, right?"

Jada turned her head sideways. "For real?"

"Yeah, just watch this"

Azyrea took in a deep breath and yelled...

"HE'S GOT A SPIDER BOMB!!!!"

Shouts and yells spread across the store instantly, with people running and trampling over each other and falling into a pile of chaos. A mischievous smirk appeared on her face.

"Let's go, sis!" Azyrea said. She grabbed Jada by the arm and they pummeled through all the madness, without caring who they knocked over. They were out the door within seconds.

"Damn, thanks Zey," Jada said.

"No problem, so what you got all them posters for?"

Jada's face froze up and her eyes began to dart back and forth.

"Uhhh...I'm just going back to my room, gotta finish a school project"

Azyrea raised her eyebrow and swept some of her dreads to the side.

"You little bitty liar," Azyrea said, "We don't even go to that school no more. Just tell me the truth"

Jada sighed. "You gotta promise not to be mad"

"I can't promise nothin'," Azyrea said, "It depends on what you tell me"

"Alright," Jada said, "You know LaQuinta?"

"Yeah I know her triflin' self"

Jada took another sigh, "Well, I kinda felt bad for her, and...and..."

"Just say it girl!"

"I been helping her out with her dance studio, and I picked up some posters"

Azyrea just sat there with a blank face. Jada tapped her on the shoulder.

"Zey...you okay?"

"I'm cool"

"You sure?'

Azyrea turned around, looked Jada in the eye, and said...

"NO I'M NOT COOL WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU HELP THAT NASTY LITTLE SKUNK?"

"I felt kinda bad for her," Jada said, "I mean, she ain't got nobody and we got all the people"

"That's how it's supposed to be," Azyrea said, "And she went and trashed our whole damn studio, you shouldn't be helpin' her"

"I know, but..."

"Listen, I'll keep it a secret, but you better not get her more people than us"

"Alright, fine," Jada said, "But what happens if I do?"

"It ain't gon happen," Azyrea said, "And if I does, I'mma burn that place down"

Jada looked at herself and swallowed spit.

Meanwhile, Thomas and Monica were laughing, singing, and dancing their way out the arcade. They had several drinks, and once they left, several eyes followed them.

"Che...Check it out boo, I'm a fireman!" he said as Monica's eyes widened.

"I'm on fire baby," Monica said, " Come help me! "

"Oh I'mma help you out baby"

He held a bottle of sparkling grape wine at about waist level, popped it open, and it rained all over Monica like a thunderstorm. She opened her mouth with the craziest "AUUUUUUGHHHHHH!" ever heard.

The onlookers stared on with disbelief, fear, and general scariness. Thomas shot a mean look back.

"What, you guys never had fun before?" he asked them.

"It's a celebration chickens!" Monica cheered, "Lighten up!". She was drenched in grape wine, and ran up to Thomas yelling, "I love you so much honey boo!"

"I love you too Monica baby!" And they ate each others' faces up with a sloppy, barely connecting kiss. When they pulled away, a flavorful trail of saliva emerged.

Monica giggled and said, "Boy you so gross".

"Well," Thomas shrugged a bit, "You started it"

"Nah, you started it girl"

"Boy you started it!"

"I'mma start somethin' alright," Thomas said.

He swooped her up off the ground and spun her around like a tilt-a-whirl.

"Oh my God!"

Monica giggled as Thomas whirled her around. And then...

"WHOOAAAAAA, Tommy!"

He had flung her up in the air and caught her like a Frisbee. Monica looked at him with a smile and disbelief.

"You lowkey scared the hell outta me," she told him, while blushing. "Don't do that junk again, I'll hurt you boy!"

"Well," Thomas looked at her and grinned, "I guess I'm just gonna have to get hurt then"

"Whatever lil boy," she replied, "What the hell should we do after this?"

"I heard they're having a couples thing at the free hotel, we should check it out". Monica rolled her eyes.

"I don't trust that place, they be on some crazy stuff"

"That's what makes it fun, now come on, honey"

"I guess," she said, "There ain't really much else to do"

He looked at her with a smile. "See, that's the spirit"

However, she got a stern look on her face and pointed straight at his nose.

"But if I get caught up in somethin' dumb, I'm whooping your natural born behind til it turns bright red".

Meanwhile, me and the crew finally made our happy face up to Fubway, and we were prepping for the big showdown. Marriam was gonna arrive at work in less than eight minutes, and I was nervous as hell. If this plan didn't work, she would literally serve me my head on a platter. So I had to make sure everything was right.

"Alright, so uh, I guess we gotta do a sound check?"

"Forget that," David said, slowly strumming his guitar. "You know we got it straight, you don't have to check nothing"

Macy chimed in and asked, "Do you not trust us or something?"

"I mean I trust y'all I just gotta do a sound check, make sure everything's good"

But Cooper jumped up and told me, "If you trusted us, you wouldn't have to check for nothin'"

Brenda added, "I can't play if you don't trust us"

I shook my head in my hands and decided that it just wasn't worth it.

"Fine, we won't do a sound check, but let's just run through some vocals real quick"

Bell cleared his throat and screeched, "AAAAAA, EEEEE, IIIIII, OOOOO, UUUUU". I swear I went deaf for a second or two.

"Bell, you wanna tell me what the hell that was?" I asked.

"You said we gotta run through our vowels, so I ran through them. Oh, I forgot..."

He cleared his throat again and belted out, "And sometimes YYYYYYYY!"

Just then Marriam walked in with a mean look on her face, like she was a teacher or something.

"Why does it sound like a retired Opera singer in here? And why the hell are all you punks in my restaurant?"

The room instantly went quiet and everyone looked at her. I tried to feign a smile.

"Hey babe, we were just...."

"Don't even speak you broke-down coward, screw you and everybody in here".

Bell flipped his non-existent hair, smacked his lips and said, "Oh no sweetie, I didn't do a damn thing to you and you wanna be all bad and..."

A second later, he was on the ground. Marriam had grabbed him by the face and slammed him to the floor.

"So, who else wants to talk?"

We all looked at each other, thinking, "I'm not gonna do it".

"Come on, speak up, don't be shy," she said in this faux innocent voice. It took me a second to tell her my plan, but I really had no choice.

"Look, I know I really made you upset, and I'm sorry that I even thought you did something like that. But if you give me a few I can make it up to you".

She rubbed her chin and asked, "How exactly are you gonna do that?"

"I'll show ya". I sent the cue to the The Five Teens to start playing, and almost immediately, a beautiful rendition of "When will I See You Smile Again" flowed out of the their instruments. Johnny and Bell began singing "Ohhhhh..." in the background and to my surprise, their voices actually blended well together. Then I got ready to sing the first verse and put on my best New Edition impression...

"Tears, I see drop from your eyes

Tell me why you cry-yyy

Guilt, I feel when you look at me

Did I let you dooown?"

I was feelin' it, so I got on my knees to sing the bridge. Marriam's face started to glow again as Johnny and Bell continued their smooth harmonies.

"Girl you see that I, I apologize!

Tell me what to do, to get through to you!

Girl it's not the same, I know I was to blame!

Just tell me when will I

See you smile again"

Then we all sung the hook together like a barbershop quartet

"Tell me when will I see you smile again,

Cause I know I messed up, baby

And I know you're fed up, sugar"

While singing, I noticed Marriam holding her heart and a single tear fell from the her eye. Before I could even get to the second chrous, she had rushed up and leaped on me with open arms.

"Joshie! Joshie! I forgive you!" She then gave me a big and quick kiss. It was downright amazing.

"Thank you baby," I said, "I'm sorry"

"Don't worry about it," she said, "Just know that no matter what, I will always love you".

"I'll always love you too, baby".

Bell started crying and wiping tears like he was at a movie.

"Romance always makes me cry, whyyyyy!". He was boo-hoo crying, rolling on the floor, and Johnny just stared. Meanwhile, Marriam and I had moved to the counter.

"I'm really happy you forgave me," I said.

"Mmm-hmm," she replied. "Just don't do nothin' like that again".

"I won't, I promise."

Then we shared a strong kiss while leaning back on the counter. Then she looked at everyone in the room.

"Why y'all still here? Get out!"

Everyone dashed out of Fubway and went on their merry little way...