Chapter 1: The Mean Six
The world is often a fairly dreary place, filled with struggle, desperation, and greed. Rather than improve it, most of us would prefer to leave it all behind and discover a faraway place. A simple place filled with bright colors, a dazzling sunshine, and good friends - it's what we dream of anyway. Few of us get to imagine such a place, and even fewer get to go there.
"Alright class, please settle down!" Twyla shouted. She slammed a biology textbook down against her desk and silenced the class. It was one of the few ways she'd adapted to an inner city rambunctious class. You had to be firm but tolerant of them in order to maintain control. The class wasn't just a group of curious children, they were a single animal, an animal you had to gain the respect of before they'd let you approach them. It may have only been a few years into Twyla's career but she'd done a good job of mastering the profession, at least she thought so anyway.
There was still that same old group of kids towards the back that would always continue horsing around but if Twyla was to get even a single concept across the rest of the class, she'd have to ignore them until they began assaulting her with spit balls like they did last week. It was a small sacrifice to take, those students would suffer in the long run while the rest of the class would move on to succeed and do better things. It was a fine example of the law of Natural Selection; The adaptable and strong survive while the weak died horrible deaths, alone and in a dark alley somewhere with bad credit, which brought Twyla to the point of her lecture.
She began the hour with a brief history on Charles Darwin, his original yet still immature theory of Evolution, and his early struggles in the field and later into publication. The man had many neigh-sayers, many of which came from the church and the conservative right. Even to this day Darwin rolled in his grave over the religious zealots twisting his words and printing out copies of his book, 'The Origin of Species' with introductions explaining a rather uneducated interpretation of what the word 'theory' meant. Her bias really wanted to go over all of this, but feared the ultimate repercussions of some backwoods overprotective parent, so instead she had skipped the middle man altogether and simply tossed away the 'fair and balanced' chapter of her lesson plan explaining Intelligent Design. It may have risked her career as a school teacher, especially during such turbulent economic times and a host of budget cuts and layoffs, but Twyla respected her students too much to allow such drivel into a serious Biology classroom.
Yet another hour had passed. Twyla had underestimated just how many students of her's that were completely ignorant on the topic of Evolution. She had a variety of contentious questions to sort through from children who just didn't understand that the Earth was older than four thousand years. Eventually a passionate debate had broken out amongst the students themselves and it was around that point that Twyla actually regretted leaving out the bit on Intelligent Design. Sure it would've been an insult to science, but perhaps that one obnoxious student in the purple jacket and stupid green beanie might not have thrown his backpack at the whiteboard demanding that Twyla teach the 'Word of God'. Maybe, just maybe that one kid might not have been such a little brat, and she might not be the next easy victim on the list of budget cuts.
She'd be lucky if all she got was a disappointing letter from her principle the following morning, but she'd have to crucify that demon when she got to it. The copy machine still awaited her and her wallet was going to feel the strains yet again. Only a few more hours until mercy might allow her to clock out she imagined. Hopefully her supervisor would be able to reimburse her the following day, that is if she hadn't gone over her limit, that being if she even still had a job. Regardless, the only thing she was probably going to have for lunch was a soda over a stapler and a stubborn copy machine, yet again.
The rest of her shift seemed especially long, as Mondays typically were. Twyla would've probably forgotten it was her own birthday too if her old pal Piper hadn't filled her cell phone and Facebook wall with birthday greetings and lame pictures of cats wearing birthday hats.
She finally left the staff room with probably too many boxes, books, and papers for a single teacher to carry. It was an hour late, as usual, though fortunately enough the front of the schoolyard had already cleared up so the stroll to her beat up used sedan was at least a straight line.
She had practically made it to her car just before a stack of organized stapled papers had fallen into a nearby puddle. She let out an exaggerated groan and probably too many curses to be heard by any public school. That smarmy-ass supervisor should’ve reimbursed her double the cost for every ruined that helplessly floated in front of her. The thought that she still had even more copies to make, an unfortunate lesson plan to adjust only made things worse. Plus, she still had to swing by the animal shelter and pick up Fiona from her volunteer work later that day. They had plans to go out later that evening with the others.
Piper had 'subtly' invited her to a get together, although the intention was fairly obvious. Twyla had no idea how she was going to manage to fit a silly party of all things into her schedule tonight, but the temptation of a few drinks and some drunken karaoke could hardly be passed up at this point.
“I’m a teacher, and it’s my birthday today, damnit! I deserve better than this!” Twyla cursed in the prime of New York City's finest traffic. She could have cared less of all the stares she was getting from the nearby passengers. The only thing keeping her from leaning over the horn oddly enough was the hairline of rainbow that had caught the corner of her eye.
Aprile machined a slice of apple pie to go with her eggs and sausage. You’d think anyone would've maintained a distinct hated for all things apple after working on an apple orchard for most of their lives, but not Aprile. The family farm was the 'apple' of her eye, so we'll say.
“Want some chicken ta go with that?” asked her brick wall of an older brother.
“Better not be any of that factory raised guff. Them folk don’t know anythin' 'bout maintaining a farm ‘sides profit.”
“Nope, it ain’t.”
“Well then, pass me a couple a drumsticks why don’tcha?”
“Yup.”
“Hope ya' got a good night's sleep there, big Mike. Gonna' be a long day, five whole acres to work out today, and then I got Twyla’s party later on tonight." the thought of a few beers with some of her best friends would normally have put a smile on that freckled southern face of Aprile's, but not today.
“E’yup.”
Aprile sighed and fingered her temples as she stared down at her already packed dish while a sliding piece of chicken breast escorted by a garrison of drumsticks slowly invaded. She sure had a lot on her plate today, no matter how optimistic she tried to sound.
Suddenly the cutest little girl scampered into the kitchen complete with an oversized bow attached to her head and a Dora the Explorer backpack over her shoulder, "Boy am I starvin'!"
Aprile snapped out of her cynical reach at the sight of her little sister, "Mornin' Abbie! You slept alright?"
"Sure did! What's for breakfast?"
Big Mike was a man of few words and answered his littlest sister's request with a plate full of yum, to which the little girl dove right in devouring far more than a typical six year old normally would this early in the morning.
Aprile had repeated this same routine for quite some time now, but no matter how dark things would become for the farm it always filled her heart with sunshine to spend breakfast with her family.
Lovable old Grandma might've slept in like she usually did but they'd be sure to leave her some leftovers.
It was still early in the morning and the sun had barely tipped the horizon, but it was a Monday and there was plenty of work to do.
Grandma was probably still snoozing and Abbie was already on her school bus to a place filled with crayons and construction paper. The day wouldn't have been so kind her older siblings however.
Aprile jumped on her green tractor and keyed the ignition. The contraption rustled to life puffing rowdy clouds of smoke from its exhaust. It jerked and hoisted forth a long arm with a claw at its end, while a team of stewards with baskets in hand stood by to provide assistance.
Aprile swung the arm over and grasped the nearest apple tree in sight. She flipped a wobbly switch and the machine shook the tree violently. Crew members dashed from spot to spot trying their best to catch as many tumbling apples as they could. Sadly enough, this circus was what the farm had come to call efficiency, but its the way they had done it for years and no means of fancy techno-whatsits was going to change tradition.
The process would've repeated itself for many hours to come, but Aprile had a steady hand and flipped the levers and petals with masterful skill. She had to if the farm was to survive. It was a small family business and last quarter’s profit had dipped severely. With so many new industrial corporate farms popping up, it had become difficult to compete. The farm was just barely scratching by this month with its price cuts and bulk discounts. The grim thought of actually having to lay off the loyal workers scrambling around her tractor was still spinning in the back of Aprile’s mind, but the future of the farm would ultimately call for a human sacrifice or two.
Aprile shook the thought away. She wiped the sweat from her brow, adjusted her hat, and jammed forward the lever harder than she’d ever done before. The tractor sputtered for a few feet until a loud pop leveled the engine hood from its lock, nearly throwing everyone off of their feet. It came to a lazy stop and a cloud of white smoke bellowed out of the gasket. A look of dread drew across the workers’ faces.
Aprile leaped out of her seat with a dirty wrench in hand and waved through the smoke. Her face crinkled as she peeked into the engine with the utmost disgust.
“Fer' Pete’s sake!” she wanged the side panel with the wrench, “Blew the darn gasket!” And then the panel fell to the ground. The poor girl's heart crumbled inside as she did her best to keep from tumbling over the engine block. The crew came together and tried their best to console her but not a single one of their helping hands would ever be enough to repair that old rust bucket.
To say that Aprile needed a few Excedrin would've been laughable.Their future was uncertain and as each day went by, the farm was slowly slipping through her fingers. It had been the family business for generations and she couldn’t stand the thought of being the one to have to close it down. She was nearly at the brink of bursting into tears when a far off rainbow broke through her soggy eyes. It was a small and almost insignificant glimmer of hope and was somewhat of a nice picture, for the moment anyway.
A vast applause swept over the crowd as streamers and flyers rained down from above. Hundreds of journalists, reporters, columnists, and outright fans from all reaches of the fashion industry had packed the auditorium to attend the event. Vogue had led a dazzling affair revealing some of the season’s new line of ensembles from some of the fashion industry’s top designers. The event had just concluded with an exciting but teasing speech, just what everyone had hoped for.
Cameras sparkled and crowds cheered around a red carpet as a gorgeous diva in white strolled to her awaiting limousine.
Inside, a name-tag was waiting to shower the woman with praise, “That was simply spectacular Regina! We’re trending all over the web! This is amazing!”
Regina was simply parched from the entire thing and before even making the request, an ice cold glass of Diet Pepsi Zero Next was placed in her hand by an attendant. It paid to have good help she thought to herself before taking a careful sip.
“That definitely went better than we could’ve ever hoped for, but we still have a signing to attend in an hour and a board meeting later tonight.” an attendant reminded her as they squeezed a lemon slice into the star’s glass.
“I’m terribly sorry, but that simply won’t do for me, you see I-”
“Now, now! The board is depending on this, and you have a quarterly report to present! Don't worry though, you've been doing a great job lately, they've been really impressed with your work.”
Regina sighed, it was business as usual. She was an extremely successful columnist for the company as well as a spokeswoman. For some, she was even an idol. Not only was she beautiful, but she also had an eye for detail, a talent and a taste decades ahead of the industry.
Those skills didn't come lightly however. She had adored fashion for as long as she could remember and had always obsessed herself over the latest trends and tastes. Regina had attended nearly every single fashion event in the industry for the last six years alone. Becoming immersed in the passion of fabrics and fuzzes was all a girl could ever ask for. It was a dream come true, but as time went on it was slowly turning into a nightmare.
Regina thumbed her exclusive iPhone 5s in search of a response to a text message that she had sent to her dear friend Piper about Twyla’s party, but no matter how many fan tweets and corporate emails she dug through, a reply never came.
To make things worse, the door to her limousine had suddenly swung open to reveal an invasion of microphones and cameras. Hundreds of slobbering fans were waiting to have their magazines, photographs and books signed. Regina could almost remember when she actually looked forward to such fame. No matter how nice the reception however, the only reward she ever got was a tired wrist.
Somehow, she'd gotten both of her wrists were sore, Regina had no idea how. It hurt just to grab the railing as she boarded her private Learjet. At the very least they’d be flying back home, but not before another meeting and still no word from Piper yet. She must not have paid her phone bill again, Regina thought to herself, or perhaps it was because she was at work and just couldn’t speak?
The anxiety was beginning to get to her. Sure it was just a simple night out with some friends but it had been nearly a month since she’d had gotten any social time. She tossed her damnable iPhone into her Hermes Birkin and climbed aboard her Learjet, followed by a garrison of armed assistants.
Regina threw herself at the farthest point away from it all aboard the aircraft, near the largest window of course. No window would've been large enough for her escape however. Her assistants had far too much information to throw at her and far too many pleasantries to provide. Simply ignoring them all no longer carried any weight.
Her eyes reached out for anything, anything at all across the tarmac or even in the mediocre sky for that matter. A timid rainbow just barely drew her attention out of the distance and maybe out of sheer desperation to silence her subjects, that was enough to satisfy her.
“That’s it! My arms are sore, my throat is parched and please for God's sake one of you get me a pair of flats!" she tossed her heels at some poor yes-man, "I’m absolutely positively done for the day! I have an important social engagement to attend tonight and I shan't spend my evening going over petty numbers and statistics for hours on end!”
“But-but-but!”
Regina pulled over a nametag by the collar, “You call up that snob 'Anna' and tell her that I’m sick or whatever excuse floats her yacht and that I won’t be attending. Do you understand me!?”
The nametag nodded profusely.
“I’m done when this plane lands at JFK, and shut that blasted ‘Twentyone Jump Street’ off this instant! I want whoever decided to play that trash fired immediately!” If there was one thing left that Regina still enjoyed about her job, it was walking down the warpath every now and then.
An old sedan that probably should've been junked a few years ago pulled to the curb of a local animal shelter. The steering wheel had a groove worn into it which was probably from Twyla’s forehead on a day to traffic basis. She hit the battered car horn a couple of times which sounded like a wounded toucan at best.
The yellow stained glass doors opened to reveal a couple of rather large hounds, whom dragged out the daintiest of caretakers, screaming in the softest of voices for help.
“Fiona! Let’s go, I haven’t got all day!” She hadn’t actually seen the slobbering mutts until the car door opened which to her ultimate dismay, had both managed to jumble into her car all at once.
Twyla gasped and tried her best to defend herself with a roll of paper towels and Windex, “What is this?!”
“Oh, I’m so sorry Twyla, but, uhm, you see, I simply have to take these two home with me today. It was rather late notice I know, but it’s been a whole year and well, this is a kill shelter after all.” Fiona whispered and apologized on and on as the car slowly sank in value, “If we could just drop them off at my apartment, I would really appreciate it. Of course, if you don’t mind. You don’t have to, it’s really up to you. Really, I’m so sorry, it’s just that I-” she went on to explain the entire thing all over again in an even softer voice. Even the dogs breathing and drooling carried more tone.
Twyla’s face contorted as Fiona finally worked up the courage to climb into the passenger’s seat and buckled herself in. A terrible fume was beginning to fill the vehicle along with a string of apologies.
“That’s… 'fine', we’ll get them to your apartment and-”
A loud bark made her skip a beat and for once Twyla had wished that she hadn’t thrown out the morning paper.
“I’m so sorry Twyla. Rex is just so happy to finally get a home is all. Did you know that they kept him in a kennel that was only three by ten feet? Outrageous isn't it? The state minimum is four by twelve! Can you believe this place?”
Twyla couldn’t really hear much of her friend’s complaints over the obnoxious huffing coming from just over her shoulder. She sank the petal down into the floor and sped off just in time to land herself back into traffic all over again.
For what seemed like hours but was probably twenty five minutes, Twyla had to deal with Fiona's silent incoherent nonsense over what she thought might've been a parakeet or some iguana that she 'rescued' last week. She tried to put her old album of the Protomen into her half-ass stereo but the Hounds were already breathing down the back of her neck as it was. It was hot, her air conditioning wasn't working again and that stupid rainbow was still in the sky it seemed.
Fiona snuck quickly through the elevator and down the hall. Twyla could hardly help but question the ‘no pets’ sign above and how her friend had gotten away with keeping any pet at all, let alone two enormous dogs.
Fiona opened the door to which three stray cats attempted to escape until they were met by a couple of fierce barking maws and scurried back inside.
Twyla wasn’t very good with animals and she certainly hadn’t made any improvements today, given her friend's complete lack of control. The mutts forced their way into the apartment which led to a series of yelps, hisses, squawks, and crashes.
“Y-You know there’s a sign back there that says ‘No Pets Allowed’, right Fiona?”
“Oh hush, it’s only a few of the cutest little creatures you’ve ever seen. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”
Fiona had to force a few bags of kibble out of the doorway just to get in while Twyla tippy-toed her way through the foyer. There were approximately four bird cages, seven fish tanks, three dog cages, eight cat baskets, and far too many trash bags – and that was only the living room.
“Terribly sorry, Twyla. It’s a bit of a mess today.”
“Today only?! This is a regular zoo! It stinks in here! Where do you even sleep?” Twyla was nearly ready to start throwing trash out the window.
“Oh, this a three bedroom apartment. So I do get a room to myself.”
Twyla dug her fingers into her forehead, utterly at a loss for words. Her friend was too busy with the new introductions to her collection to notice Twyla’s migraine, and yet, the day still wasn’t over.
“And now ladies and gentlemen, opening for today’s performance – The Blue Angels!”
A formation of blue and golden F-18 jets screamed over an excited crowd nearly wing tip to wing tip. In perfect unison they veered up into the sky and divided outwards leaving jet streams of white smoke in their wake.
Two jets curved to the left while two others held the right and flew in opposite directions. They each made a turnabout and the two groups throttled towards each other in a classic game of chicken, nearly tearing each other's wings off at the final moment. The spectators gasped and threw up a cheer once again.
Their stunts were awe inspiring, a majestic balance of grace and power. It was anyone’s guess as to how not a single jet clipped another and caused a horrific accident killing and injuring possible hundreds of people.
The Blue Angels made one final pass over the bay area’s elevated race track and soared off into the horizon.
“And now folks, what you’ve all been waiting for! The Red Bull Air Race World Series!”
The crowd applauded and rooted for the event to begin. For every row there was at least three kids running around with a toy plane in their hand.
“Alright, now we’ve been over this a few times already, but here it is again. It starts off with the main bank, three columns, a barrel roll and a summersault. You should know the rest by now, kid.” The radio buzzed.
“Yeah, yeah, I got it.”
“You’d better. You’ve already lost three sponsors this month. We can’t have any more screw-ups on your end or you just ain’t gonna last much longer, Raine.”
“Pffft, those guys didn’t know squat. I’m a totally awesome pilot, the best one out here and everyone knows it!”
“But you haven’t won a single race in-!”
Raine cut her radio short. She just wasn’t in the mood for any of that crap today. She had gotten a whopping four hours of sleep last night, was filled with all the Red Bull she could stomach and was feeling great despite it all. Her streak of bad luck was ending today one way or another.
That prize money was as good as hers. She could already see herself buying the gang drinks at Twyla’s party later that night and she couldn’t wait. How awesome would it be if she could just pull right up to Twyla’s drive way in her fighter jet to pick her up. Now that would be totally awesome she thought.
Raine throttled the engine and nearly cut off another taxiing jet on the way to the tarmac. She piloted an updated Russian Mig-15, at least updated to what her team’s budget could afford, which was mostly spent on rainbow paint aps and small aesthetic tweaks. At least it was the most colorful stunt plane in the race. It had to match her hair after all.
She made it to the edge of the runway, gave a hoot and let loose. The turbines cried and the booster cooked sending her drifting off into the sky. Raine didn’t have much else going in her life besides her basic knowledge of flight. She was good at taking off anyway. The sky was her high, she just felt so happy and at peace with everything when she was dazzling the crowds and watching the Earth overhead. Nothing could compare.
A giant smile stretched across Raine’s face as she pulled back on the throttle and rocketed straight upwards, meeting a bright rainbow’s peak and slicing right through it. The crowds cheered as she did a barrel roll and sank back into a level.
A blinking red light caught the corner of her eye from the radio console. She knew that it meant she was getting a signal or some instructions from her team, but she was sick of hearing her bossy manager and wanted to get on with the race already. As far as she was considered, she had already won.
A few more stunt planes left the ground to join her, gently circling the winding course across the bay area. The enormous white and red inflatable cones floating below almost seemed to point up towards all the action. Raine was soon leading the pack as they prepared to really get the race underway, and she intended to keep it that way.
The group came to a bend and headed back towards the start of the track. They were coming in hot and the horn finally sounded giving them the go-ahead.
Raine bit her lip and dashed towards the first set of cones like a missile, leaving much of the planes in the clouds. The little rainbow Mig-15 tilted and took the cones right through the center. She could feel the G’s gripping down against her body, her nails biting into her palm as she gripped the throttle, a drop of sweat running down her temple, her heart thumping out of its cage, the sun’s glare leaving just enough for her to see the path ahead. She loved the rush. It was such an intense and almost orgasmic feel. Raine was alive.
She approached the second set of columns and weaved in and out of them with ease before she rolled the craft and perfectly timed the start of her climb for a summersault. She nailed the arc perfectly and came back down like a rollercoaster. There was no way the boss could complain this time she thought to herself. This race was already over.
That stupid com light was still blinking. “Might as well soak in the cheers while I’m getting them.” She flipped the switch.
“You idiot! You blasted idiot! Land that thing right now!”
“Huh?!” the change in atmosphere nearly clipped a wing tip with a cone.
“You have a gas leak! Didn’t you do a checkup before you took off!? I told you to do the checkup! Land the thing now!!”
“What?! Wait, I’m doing so well, I’ve still got some-” Raine checked her fuel gage which had emptied fairly quickly. She was apparently the only one in the entire event who hadn’t noticed the dangling string of black fuel leaking from the fuselage. She gave a yelp to which her ground team responded with even more calls to land.
Almost too conveniently, the plane started to putter and a wing tip clipped another inflatable column, ripping a huge gash in its side. Raine was doing her best to control the stammering Mig but could hardly keep up with the shakes. She clenched her teeth and pulled back hard doing all she could to keep the aircraft from descending any further. The crowds screamed and panicked. It was the first time for as long as she could remember that the plane was actually working against her.
“Get out of there! Bail!!” the radio shouted.
She first had to dump her jet somewhere safe before she could escape. She wasn't about to run off like a kid and let her plane killed a few dozen tourists. Raine gave a grunt and managed to miss a bleacher full of scurrying spectators by mere feet.
All that sat in front of her now was the relieving length of the Bay. Maybe if she could pull off a water landing the damage would stay to a minimum Raine thought. She certainly didn’t have a lot of options.
All she had to worry about now was keeping the plane in control for what was going to be a rough landing one way or another. Suddenly a tad of leftover fuel sparked through the thruster and sent the little jet upwards nearly tearing the thing in half.
The cockpit filled with curses as the jet finally stalled in midair and slowly tumbled back down to Earth. She had hoped she was far enough by now. Damn it all if this wasn’t the most embarrassing moment of her flight career.
“Sorry Spitfire, but it looks like this is the end of the road for us…!” she kissed the console, gave a final salute and yanked the ejection lever as hard as she could. The canopy exploded and her seat rocketed out of the cockpit. The lifeless Mig slowly cartwheeled below. Her heart probably skipped a beat, wondering for a second if she had forgotten the parachute as well, but it finally fired off nearly breaking her neck in the process.
Raine ripped off her goggles only to watch her pride and joy smash into the waters below, but not before taking down an entire section of docking and a boat or two with it. She cupped her forehead in disbelieve, the plane couldn’t have missed its intended target by any wider of a margin. There was nothing left of the little jet but a funneling cloud of smoke, a deck of splintered planks, a single sinking wing tip and a bubbling bank of oily humiliation.
She was sure to be dropped from the team now she thought, barely able to hold back a tear. They’d probably never let her near another plane ever again. Heck, they’d probably ban her from every airport!
Her lonely cockpit seat gently floated between the nearby surrounding buildings of lower Manhattan. She was the laughing stock of the entire city. A pilot who couldn’t even be bothered to make sure her plane had fuel in it, let alone even complete a race. What a joke, she though. It was yet another failure to add onto her ‘career’.
The chair clanked onto the roof of a taxi caught in traffic covering the entire street in an enormous rainbow colored parachute. She unbuckled her safety harness as quickly as she could escape the expletives and did her best to disappear into a crowd.
“Sorry! Excuse me!” Raine accidently bumped into a letter carrier in her panic. A cloud of letters flew into the air while a blonde postwoman fell onto her rump, “Doh-!”
A clipboard slapped against a table top counter, “Piper! Do you have any idea how much frosting you’re using on that cake?”
“Oh you big silly, you can’t ever have enough frosting on a birthday cake!” the abundance of colors were beginning to meld together, “See? This one’s for Timothy. He’s ten years old today! A whole decade! His mommy didn’t have that much money but I’m giving them a courtesy discount today! Heck, if it was up to me, the only payment I’d need would be a couple of smiles!” Piper gave a joyful laugh.
The supervisor couldn’t really believe what he was hearing, “Why in the world are you only charging them $12.99? You should’ve charged them at the very least double that amount!”
“Well at first the cake wasn’t going to be ‘that’ big, but this is for a special occasion!” Piper zipped off and returned with a cup of juicy strawberries, a large enough supply that would’ve lasted the bakery for the entire week. She poured the entire container onto the cake.
“Are you out of your blasted mind?!”
“But he loves strawberries! Imagine how happy he’ll be to see this!” she gave another giggle, “It’s going to be the best birthday party ever!”
The white shirt tried his best to collect himself, “Look, just finish up with that and go easy on the supply.” He snatched away his clipboard, “After that, go clock out for a lunch and when you get back, go help Bonnie with the batch of cookies for tomorrow.”
The only real word that caught her attention was ‘cookies’, “Right-o, roger-will-co!” Piper went right back to work on the inflated birthday cake. She wasn’t exactly sure where she’d have space to write out ‘Happy Birthday’ let alone the lucky little boy’s name with the frosting but that didn’t seem to trouble her too much. She wondered if the strawberries would be stable enough to hold up ten candles.
Piper didn’t mind her job one bit. She didn’t even mind that it wasn’t an original bakery, but just the bakery department of some low end super market. Not even the minimum wage and lack of health benefits troubled her. The smiles of happy customers were all she ever really needed.
She completed the massive cake and whizzed over to the time clock and with a ring she skipped off to grab something to eat. Cheerfully she greeted each and every co-worker and customer alike in the supermarket, which she was fairly infamous for. Many of the customers genuinely enjoyed her company, especially the older folks. There wasn’t a mean strand of hair on Piper’s little pink head and she was always available to help whether it be a compliment or reaching a tall item on a shelf, though she sometimes needed help with that last part.
Her co-workers, although somewhat patient, didn’t always feel the same way. Though enthusiastic about her excellent customer service skills, she was held as being too annoying and typically created extra work for the other employees. It had become all too common to simply avoid her or fear being dragged into unpaid overtime. Thankfully for Piper, she was usually too airheaded or preoccupied to notice everyone else’s rolling eyes.
“Just one and some chocolate milk too, please.”
A food cart attendant handed her a cinnamon cookie and she happily took a bite, “Delicious!” The small morsel was going to have to fill the meals for both breakfast and lunch today, but where most would complain, Piper made due. She had to save as much money as possible for tonight’s big event. She wasn’t sure how she was going to pay the rent this month, but this was far more important. It was going to be one of her best friend’s birthdays and it had to be the very best party she'd ever thrown!
She sat on the street curb outside of the busy supermarket with an apron covered in every color frosting could possible come in. The sky was especially cheerful today and a beautiful rainbow stared down at Piper. There simply couldn’t have been a thing in this world that could wipe that smile off of her face.
Piper strolled back over to her post, punched back in and quickly got back to work. She looked around the bakery, but her coworker Bonnie was nowhere to be found. On her own yet again, which she had no problems with. Piper zipped over to the table where a pan full of dull cookies lay. She picked the order receipt from the board and began.
The order called for bits of yummy raisins and cinnamon. Piper licked her lips, still having a hint of the ingredient in her mouth. She hobbled over a bag cinnamon to the table, “I don’t know why they always call for a ‘pinch’ in these instructions.” She picked a few grains between her fingers, “That’s not nearly enough!” She somehow thought dumping most of the bag over the entire platter was a prudent move, delicious none the less, and one could suppose that the taste would have been the only concern anyway.
“I guess we’re out of raisins again. I wonder what happened to them all?” she seemed to not even notice snipping the last few remaining raisins from a cup and gobbling them up. “Ah! The produce department should have plenty! I’m sure they won’t mind if I use a few. It’s for a good cause after all!” she glanced down at the order, “Mrs. Johnson, huh? Sounds like a teacher. I bet she’s got a lot of smart students who are going to love these treats.” Her face was beginning to ache from all the smiling.
Piper eventually returned with a large bag of raisins to certain rambling obscenities that her innocent mind hadn’t heard in years.
It was clear that Bonnie was trying her best to console the supervisor on his tie-raid but it was no use. Piper stopped in her tracks and so did her happy smile. To be honest, the cursing wasn’t really that bad, but it was enough to break a few windows for the poor girl.
A clipboard nearly took off Piper’s head, “That’s it! I’ve had it with you and your nonsense! I told you to go easy on our supply! That was the only bag we had of cinnamon this week and it’s practically all gone!”
“Bu-bu- bu- bu- bu-but!”
“No! I’m done with this! Go clock out, you’re fired!”
Bonnie gasped.
The bag of raisins hit the floor. Piper didn’t really comprehend the logic at first, but her world soon crumbled, “B-But I still need to b-bake a cake for my friend’s birthday toni-”
“Go home Piper!” the supervisor shouted. He picked his clipboard off of the floor and stormed off without another word.
Bonnie rushed over, “Piper, I’m so-!”
“I-It’s okay… I-I probably shouldn’t have used so much cinnamon.” Piper’s smile wavered but she gave the best smile that should could, “…Really! It’s alright, I-I’ll just get another job.” she stumbled through an awkward chuckle.
Bonnie could practically count the amount of tears being held back, but before she could say another word Piper ran off, “Have a great day, Bonnie!”
Even after she had left the store and dashed through the sidewalks, she couldn’t bear to let a single tear fall. What if it foiled her make up? She’d look terrible for Twyla’s birthday party. Even if she couldn’t bake delicious cakes for her favorite customers ever again, Piper would still do anything it took to make everyone smile.
She wandered into a nearby convenience store. The clerk was a bit puzzled to see someone who clearly belonged in a bakery at such a place in the middle of the day. The selection was less than impressive but time was winding down and Piper had to come up with something quick with the measly twenty dollars she had left to her name. She was hoping on an employee discount earlier but it was too late for that, and there was still a reservation and drinks to worry about on top of bus fare just to get to the occasion. The more she thought of it all, the more the day slowly fell apart.
Piper slinked her way towards the counter with the biggest cake-like foodstuff she could find, which was actually a small ice cream sandwich no bigger than a regular sandwich wrapped in cheap iced over plastic. Her lips quivered and her brow sank. She couldn’t believe that after months of planning that this was going to be the best she could do, “…H-How much?”
“Uhm, that’ll be $3.79. Ma’m... is everything alright? You look a bit pale.”
"Y-Yes." Piper shuttered and gripped the counter as best she could. She was going to need leverage in order to retrieve her wallet.
“Are you sure you’re okay, ma’m?”
Her fingers quaked as she unfolded her wallet, to which about a dozen coins clinked across the table. Many of which rolled onto the floor.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, ma’m, let me get those for you.” The clerk did his best to collect up all the change but it was no use, the flood gates had opened.
The smile finally broke and Piper cried out. Streams of muddy tears rained down her cheeks as she fell onto her knees. The perfect day she had planned for Twyla was utterly ruined. She couldn’t even remember the last time she'd cried so hard.
The clerk scurried over, doing his best to calm the poor thing, but there was no rope long enough to pull her out of the depths of that well.
The sky was going orange and the city was beginning to rust.
A taxi pulled over to the side of the street and the back door opened, “Thank ya' kindly.” Aprile tossed the driver his fare and nearly tripped over a garbage bag before strolling off. It was clearly the garbage bag’s fault.
“Lafayette and Grand? Ugh, I ain’t used to this here city life.” She could’ve sworn the bar Piper told her about was nearby, then again, her friend wasn’t the best at directions, “It’s gotta' be around here somewhere.” A long and redundant trek was about to begin for the poor cowgirl.
Twyla was going to need a new steering wheel pretty soon. Not so much from leaning over the horn but more to do with her concussion. The rest of her car hadn’t fared much better after the animal shelter visit but at least the backseat was bare. The dogs had left some gifts of course which weren’t easily removed but the point was that they were gone.
“Gee Twyla, we’ll never get there at this rate. I hope Piper won’t be too upset with us for being late for your party.” Fiona pointed out the obvious. Traffic was at a standstill although the traffic light ahead was clearly green.
Twyla nailed the steering column into the engine block yet again with her face. There was obviously some moronic accident up ahead, however she bet that it had already been completely resolved to the side of the road and yet the only obstructions left were the dozens of absent minded souls slowing down to gaze in amazement at the cracked tail lights of someone who couldn’t understand the concept of a turn signal, “We’re never going to make it there on time. This is ridiculous, I’m switching over!” She practically snapped off the lever to her steering column while turning on her left turn signal.
“Uhm, maybe I should drive? That is, if it’s okay with you, I mean...”
Twyla forced down her window with the palm of her hand. The turn handle had broken off long ago due to similar circumstances, “Can I please get in!?” The opposing driver waved happily and drove past.
“You ass!” Another driver did the same thing except this time when they waved the majority of their fingers were held down. Twyla snarled and attempted to force her car into the next lane practically smashing into another driver, who countered with another kind gesture and drove off.
“Twyla, I-I really think we should switch, if that’s alright with you anyway. It’s just that, you seem a bit… upset. ” Fiona’s logic wasn’t loud enough to even register.
“I hate everyone in this blasted city!” the car rocked back and forth from the repeated failed attempts to merge.
“T-Twyla, I-”
The poor sedan finally made it into the next lane, but not before cracking the headlight of a rather expensive looking limousine.
“Oh dear, uhm, I think you just-!”
Twyla literally ripped the steering wheel from its column, tossed it into the back and threw herself back into her seat, planting her face into the palms of her hands which just barely managed to muffle a few of the worst expletives her passenger had ever heard.
Fiona frightfully stepped out of the vehicle and idiotically waved to the drivers behind her, who could not believe that there was yet another accident ahead of them. It was a very colorful day to be stuck in traffic.
Twyla rudely stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut. Her insurance premiums were already pretty high. They’d probably just junk the sedan based on worth alone so she gave it a few punches if only to make sure the damnable thing got scrapped. “Gah!” her health insurance was no better.
“Now, now, the street is no place to celebrate a birthday, darling.”
Twyla turned her head away from her smashed knuckle and suddenly her day didn't seem as awful as it did a second ago.
It was Regina who graciously stepped out of the farthest end of the white limousine, “It’s been far too long my dear Twyla. I see you’ve had far better days.” She gave a snobby giggle.
Twyla sighed, “I was born on a Monday you know. I must be cursed, I swear.”
Regina strolled over, which was quite a long ways due to the length of the limo, and took her friend up in a warm hug, “Oh, I missed you dear, I missed all of you. You haven't any idea of how stressful my life’s become. I haven’t the time of day for a single thing!”
“Oh right, your life must be terrible...” Twyla’s brow twitched.
Fiona smiled and waved in the background, to which Regina immediately rushed over to give her a hug as well. Twyla’s hug was replaced by a bill from the driver of the limousine.
“Two thousand dollars?! For a damned headlight?”
“And that of course does not include the labor, madam.” The driver added.
It had really become an inconvenient time of the day to travel by car anyway. The Karaoke bar Piper had picked out was nearby and so the three friends decided to hoof it.
Regina dawned a pair of Gafas de Sol’s as well as a hat that costed about as much Twyla’s salary in some vain ironic attempt to disguise herself from the public.
“I still can’t believe a single headlight could cost more than my cheap car…” groaned Twyla.
“Oh stop it, darling. Don’t worry your cute little head over it.” She attempted to adjust Twyla’s split ends, “I’ll take care of that for you. You must pardon my chofer. It was merely a matter of procedure you see.”
“She’s had a rough day, Regina. She gave me a ride from work today and she also helped me get some of my new pets home.” Fiona did her best to fix Twyla’s hair as well, “I never knew how hard a teacher’s job was before Twyla became one.” A lengthy ramble of a whisper ensued over how important our nation’s education system was while Regina did her best to pretend like she was paying attention.
Twyla muddled over in a slump. She didn’t even care about the party anymore at this point. She just wanted to get home and sleep in her single cot.
Regina stuck her finger into the side of the pitiful school teacher.
“Gah! What was that for?”
“Posture! Don’t walk like such a cad, dear. It’s bad for your back and plus the boys won’t even give you the time of day.”
“Oh, yes I heard about that too. Erm, the part about your back I mean.” Fiona added.
Twyla hadn’t had a boyfriend in years, probably even before her college years. She had become such an egghead that she had no real time for dating let alone a relationship. The binding on her textbooks were her only release.
Regina fixed her posture a second time.
“Quit it!”
A shadow suddenly peeked out of a nearby alleyway. Fiona screamed and aimed a tiny can of pepper spray at the suspect.
“Dastardly scoundrel!”
“Come on out of there!” Twyla was in no mood for unwanted rapes.
“You know that the safety’s on, right Fiona?” a fighter pilot tossed away a lit cigarette and snatched the can out of her timid friend’s loose grip.
“Raine! You made it!” Regina shouted.
Raine was soon consumed in tight hugs.
“Gosh! When was the last time we got together like this?” Fiona practically choked the air out of her.
“Why are you walking around in a bunch of straps and harnesses? You look like you just fell out of a plane!” Twyla laughed, and so did Raine, at least on the outside. That last one hurt a bit.
“To think I had forgotten about all of your endeavors! Silly me, I bet you’re a bona fide Blue Angel pilot by now!” Regina rustled the fallen angel’s hair, but remembered to straighten it out right after, “Remember how we used to go to all of those air shows? They were simply spectacular!”
“Yup..! They sure were pretty cool.” Raine would’ve thought she’d be used to false praise by now. Her heart sank a bit, “T-The guys are great really, …we’re the best out there!” The shower of congratulations was almost a bit too much to take in, “But forget about all that stuff! What’s new with you guys? It’s been a while. What about you Twyla? You an astronaut yet?”
Twyla laughed for perhaps the first time all day, but was cut short by a shout from down the block.
A dark silhouette dashed at them carrying what might’ve been a wallet.
“Stop! That varmint snatched ma' wallet!” It was actually Aprile’s wallet and she wasn’t too far behind the assailant, but couldn’t quite reach him.
The mugger tried to get past the group with an awkward smile, but Fiona was ready and pulled the trigger on her pepper spray. She gave a squeak, having just realized that the safety was still on.
Instead the man was attacked at just about every angle, which was probably more appropriate. Raine landed a swift roundhouse kick to the thief’s gut while Twyla took him up in a vicious sleeper hold before he had time to double over. Regina gave him a couple of swipes from her Hermes Birkin purse but then realized that he probably wasn’t worth anywhere near the twenty thousand dollars that the accessory originally cost. Meanwhile, Fiona was still trying to fire her pepper spray while whispering the mousiest of screams.
Aprile managed to catch up, “Hand it over, ya' bastard!” she adjusted her hat and kneed the now pleading bandit in the gut. He might’ve felt it too had Twyla’s sleeper hold allowed him to. There was a lot of pent up frustration in that elbow grip and damn it all if it didn't feel good.
He gasped for air, unable to really muster an apology and tossed Aprile back her wallet, not a single bill touched.
Twyla released the crook and gave him a swift kick in the rear before he had a chance to gasp for air, “If I ever see you in this part of the city again I’ll have you thrown into a pit of snakes!”
“Wait, uhm, what kind of snakes?” Fiona went into the softest tie raid over the many types of invasive snake species in the city, with a short hint of environmental awareness.
Raine snatched away her pepper spray and finally switched off the safety, “There you go, girl.”
“Oh wow, thank you so much, Raine.” The thief was already well on his way to excusing himself from the entire affair when Fiona doused his face with pepper spray, and of course not without giving another priceless yelp.
The pickpocket screamed and although it was incredibly needless and cruel, it was still pretty funny and the girls got a well-deserved laugh out of it.
The coffee table at the center of the room was beginning to fill with far too many shot glasses and half empty bottles of Vodka.
“That last bit was off key too, drink.” Aprile took another swig and so did everyone else.
Fiona was far from a drinker so she instead made due with the orange juice that was supposed to be used for the Screwdrivers later. Unfortunately for her and her moral compass, Raine made sure those screwdrivers were going down one way or another. She wondered how Fiona hadn’t gotten date raped by now. It was probably all in poor taste but it was literally that easy.
Twyla swayed back and forth with the microphone in her hand, “I love the mountains. I love the clear blue skies! I love big bridges. I love when great whites fly! I love the whole world. And all its sights and sounds! Boom-de-ah-da! Boom-de-ah-da. Boom-de-ah-da! Boom-de-ah-da.”
Regina went over the catalogues, “What song is this again…?”
“Probably some egghead Carl Sagan bit from back in the day or something.” Raine took another shot.
“No! It’s from the…” Fiona paused for an awkward moment, “Histree channel!” She was really starting to feel that orange juice.
“No! No! No! It’s from Discovery!” Twyla shouted.
“That was off key too, egghead. Drink.” And they drank.
“I love the oceans. I love really dirty things! I love to go fast. I love Egyptian kings! I love the whole world. And all its craziness! Boom-de-ah-da! Boom-de-ah-da. Boom-de-ah-da! Boom-de-ah-da.”
Aprile leaned in, doing her best not to tumble over of course, “Say uh, we’re kind of missin' somebody.”
“It’s been on my mind all night!” Regina whined, “We can’t have a party without our favorite little Creampuff! Where the devil is Piper?”
“Where the deviled eggs are my snakes…!?” Fiona was far too gone by now.
“Wasn’t she the one that put together this here hoe-down to begin with? Weird that she'd be late." Aprile scratched her chin.
“I honestly haven’t even heard from her all day. I wonder where the heck should could be? Oh, and uh, drink.” Raine was having too much fun with Twyla’s awful singing.
“I love tornadoes. I love arack-a-nids! I love hot magma. I love the giant squids! I love the whole world. It’s such a brilliant place! Boom-de-ah-da! Boom-de-!”
Before she could finish the last chorus the door swung wide open, slamming into one of the couches.
“We’re a little busy in here, you know!” snapped Raine, and then she immediately regretted having said just that.
It was Piper, who had finally made it to the party almost an hour late. Her eyeliner had drizzled down her cheeks and her bouncy pink hair was far more unorganized than usual. She even still had her work clothes on, even her apron, which had dulled and greyed over the course of the day. In her hand she carried a dripping moist plastic bag which was making quite a mess all over the carpet.
Twyla dashed over, “Piper! What happened to you? You look awful!” She hugged the hopeless girl tightly, although there was a distinct scent in the air.
Piper’s face was pruned from the constant flood storms. She winced and tried her best to hold the wobbly dam together.
“We’ve been wondering when you’d show up.” Twyla giggled, “You must’ve had a long day at work today.” and boom went the dynamite.
Piper leaned into her friend and began sobbing uncontrollably for probably the third time that evening. The others rushed over, each of them at a loss for words. Not a single one of them had ever once seen Piper cry before, not even a single tear.
“Piper! I-!”
“Oh Twyla, it was awful!” she cried, “T-They fired me at my job! I was supposed to get a ride from work but I couldn’t bare to face anyone there after being kicked out. I-I had to spend most of the money I had left on bus fares just to get here. I was going to get you a beautiful cake, but all I could afford was…” Piper tried to dig out the bar of ice cream from the dripping bag of milk, but the only thing left to give Twyla for her birthday was a plastic wrapper. She crumpled it in her sticky hands and tumbled down to her knees, “I-I worked so hard for this day to be special! I really did, you gotta' believe me!”
The girls were overwhelmed. It was like watching a birthday cake being thrown out a window in front a little birthday girl.
Twyla leaned down and wiped away Piper’s eyes before hugging her tightly. She was getting ice cream all over her buttoned blouse but she didn’t care one bit, “Piper, you didn’t have to get me anything-”
“Of course I did! You’re one of my best friends! What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t at least-”
She hushed Piper, “I’ve had one of the worst days of my life, Piper. The only thing that could’ve cheered me up today was seeing my very best friends. Today doesn’t mean anything unless you guys aren’t all here with me, and that includes you, Piper.”
Piper churned inside and bit her lip. She held onto her best friend as tightly as she could, “…Y-You’re the best Twyla.”
“Now come on, I don’t want to see you like this on my birthday. Where’s that adorable smile of yours?” she helped Piper up to her feet and wiped away her soggy face with a napkin. Somewhere under there was a smile she'd hoped.
“Yeah let’s lighten up a bit, Piper.” Raine mixed a rough White Russian and batted it down the Creampuff’s hatchet. If anything was going to revive that smile, a drink would, and it certainly did.
Piper wiped away one last tear from her cheek. These were some of the best friends anyone could’ve ever asked for.
The bottles of Absolut were starting to dry out and Fiona fumbled the microphone away from Aprile after taking shots through most of her own interpretation of ‘Devil went down to Georgia’. The farm girl didn’t mind though and haphazardly collapsed into the couch bellow.
Fiona began singing in slurs and sways, “A heffawump a woozel,~ Is very…kungfazzel…!” these were probably the most audible of the lyrics performed. Not a single one of the girls could help but cackle manically, especially Piper.
Piper grabbed a bottle of dry rum and downed a few heavy chugs, took her dirty apron off and stood up. Fiona slumped into the couch half way through the Disney ballad just in time for Piper to take up the Microphone.
She popped on a top hat and cane and took it away, “Forget your troubles… Come on get happy! You better chase all your cares away…! Shout Hallelujah! Come on get happy! Get ready for that judgment day!” Piper snapped her fingers on ever lyric, “Forget your troubles, come on get happy! You better chase all them cares away! Come on! Shout Hallelujah, come on get happy! Get ready for the judgment day! The sun is shining! Come on get happy! The lord is waiting to take your hand! Shout Hallelujah, come on get happy!” Regina gave a whistle and laughed. The gang clapped on every line as Piper gave a wink and kicked an empty glass bottle against a wall, “We’re going to the promised land!”
the little pastry chef sang them into the wee hours of the night with probably one of the best performances you could ever hope to find at a drunken little karaoke club. Soon enough, the room began to whirl until the entire group simply passed out.
Twyla especially was sleeping soundly underneath a drooling Piper. It was probably one of the deepest slumbers she’d had in years. On a Monday night? On a school night even? A tad crazy by most realistic standards no matter how you sliced it, but at this point she was in no position to care, and neither was anyone else in that spinning room.
Twyla yawned and stretched out her arms. Bon Jovi was playing over the speakers and Piper had been awkwardly chewing on her blouse. Twyla shoved her off and sat up clearing up her face as best she could. In a mild daze, she gazed around the room to see her friends unconsciously sprawled out in the most vulnerable of positions. At least they were getting some rest she thought with a drunken grin. She stood up and arched her back, wondering what hour it could’ve possibly been. Perhaps she’d have time to get some work done before morning. Maybe she’d even get to school early so she could make all of her stupid copies for the day. Seemed plausible but either way, she was going to be dead by the end of the day.
Twyla pulled out her cellphone to check the time only to find a blank screen, “Should’ve brought the damn charger…” She dug into Regina’s purse and fished out her phone, but it was dead also. Her heart was finally began to race and her eyes darted across the room for any answer that she could find. Thankfully, there was a clock on the wall. “It’s only midnight…?” she sighed in relief, “Oh thank Cthulhu…! At least I can get some sleep tonight.” It had been a great night and it couldn’t have ended any better.
She walked over to Regina and woke her up, or at least tried her best to. Regina had to waddle through a few slurs but she eventually came around, as did the others after maybe half an hour.
“Piper, they’re charging us by the hour, come on!” Twyla nagged, “This bill is going to be awful.”
“Oh don’t bother, darling, I’ll take care of the whole thing. It’s the least I could do for you.” Offered Regina, doing her best to wipe away a stain.
“No, no, that wouldn’t be fair.”
“I do insist. Besides, I’d imagine that your wallet is in no mood given the day you’ve had.”
“Well, that’s awfully kind of ya’, Regina. I’ll owe ya’ one!” It had been forever since Aprile had gone out to party, and she was certainly grateful.
“Think nothing of it dear. I’ll just write it off as a business expense.”
Raine grabbed Fiona by the arm and dragged her woozy body off the couch, “Poor thing, I guess she just can’t handle her juice.” she chuckled under her breath.
“Well next time how about ya’ leave the drinkin’ up to her why don’t ya?”
“Relax Aprile, it was just a little harmless fun and she had a great time. Didn’t she?” Fiona unconsciously nodded with a helpless smile and Raine gave a hardy laugh.
Aprile shook her head in disbelief. She was convinced the girl needed a chaperon with her at all times.
Regina patted Piper’s cheeks until she finally came to, “Nap time is over, sweetie, time to head home.”
They eventually made it to the lobby which was oddly enough completely empty, neither a single soul nor sound could be found.
“Did they already close up?” Aprile questioned.
“That’s stupid! Why would they lock us in here? They’d at least go wake us.” Raine stomped almost losing her balance as she carried Fiona on her back, “They better not have locked us in here...”
“If nobody’s here to take our check then I guess this one’s on the house!” Piper snorted before darting off.
“This is just bizzare…” Regina slapped the bell at the cashier’s desk but no one answered.
“Hey, where did Piper run off to?” Twyla asked.
“Over here! Over here!” she had made her way behind the liquor bar, “Anybody want a-”
“That is the absolute last thing we need right now!” Twyla shouted.
“I think Fiona’s down for a few more shots. Ain’t that right, girl?” Raine cackled.
Twyla growled, and then noticed something even more peculiar, “Wait just one second here…!”
“W-What’s goin’ on, Twyla?” Apriled prodded.
Twyla picked up a clock from the lobby desk, “It says 12:01 here, right? But…” she looked out at the window. It was the middle of the day, the brightest day they had ever seen, “This can’t be right. Oh crap. Oh crap! Oh crap! I’m so late and I didn’t even call in sick! Gah I’m going to be canned for sure!”
None of this made any sense to Aprile, “Now just hang on one cotton picken second here!”
“Oh dear! I had moved the board meeting to noon! I’ll never get there in time!”
Regina scampered outside the bar nearly snapping off a heal in the process and the door slammed shut. There was a short pause and then a terrible scream before she dashed back into the bar, her face covered in freight.
Twyla wasn’t sure which question to ask first.
“There’s, uhm…”
Aprile removed her hat over the strange look on the diva's face, “Come on now sug', w-what’s the matter…?”
“It’s, well, i-it’s certainly very colorful out there.”
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*Reads the title* Huh... Well, I'm flattered. Ill stick it in my read later list!
WHOA!
Stay frosty!
~Hazard~
407372
I was about to message you about this, but you beat me to it.
Damn you and your ninja skill.
407464 ʞinda liʞe some sort of squirrel.
407491
Two things:
A) Fuck you and your backwards lettering.
B) I fucking hate squirrels
407496 Aww, I would ʞill for some love right now. You always be hatin.
407500
WHY DO YOU TORTURE ME SO?
You need to put some spellcheck up in this bitch, but I'm liking where it's going.
This is purty gud.
I'm going to be late to work most liekly. My own fault. Good read, I can hardly wait to see how they react.
nice! Ah´ll be awaiting for another chapter ^^
I await the next installment.
I await the next installment.
I love this, awaiting next chapter! Also, creative human names!
Wow, like the world set up so far. Depressing as all hell but great none the less.
798451
Thanks a bunch!
I'll warn you though, it gets a bit worse.
I really like how you made real life...realistic. This is probably how the mane six would live like if they were in NYC
Tie raid? Don't you mean tirade?
....a Mig-15... *winces hard* ouch... really really ouch, damn Raine! Why did you turn your damn radio off?
The scariest part is the bad credit.