It was a late afternoon at the P*lace, and Gloria, Ryan, Renee, Kid, and Stacy were taking their final break for the afternoon. They had been performing an immense amount of songs already, and they were only one tune away from being complete for the day.
"Thank heaven for downtime," Kid said smugly, leaning back in his chair.
His best friend and "partner-in-crime" Stacy shot him a sly look from her position at the table. "We only have ten minutes, Kid" she reminded him with glee in her voice.
"I know", Kid replied hyperbolicly. "Hardly enough time to prevent our voices from becoming raw!"
Everybody laughed, except Gloria. Gloria was sighing unhappily. Renee noticed this and went over to talk with her. "Is there something wrong, Gloria?" asked Renee in a motherly tone. Gloria replied sadly, "Well, Renee, my high school dance is in a few days, and I still haven't yet found a date." Renee replied curiously, "Oh, hasn't anyone asked you yet?" Gloria said, "Nope, nobody has asked me yet." Renee then inquired, "Well, do you plan on asking any boy yourself?" Gloria then replied, "Well, no, Renee, because I'm afraid if I ask them, I'll look foolish if they say no." Renee then put her hand on Gloria's shoulder and said, "No need to worry, Gloria. If they say no to you, then it's their loss." Gloria smiled and replied, "You're right, Renee." Renee smiled and said, "Why don't you ponder it when we head home for the night?" Gloria replied, "I will, Renee."
The next day, Riley was opening up the P*lace, when he saw someone approaching the building. At first he was confused who would be there at this time, but as the figure grew closer he immediately recognized who it was. "Mickey?", he said astonishingly. Mickey approached and smiled. "Yes, Riley, it's me." Riley couldn't believe it. Mickey, who had founded Kids Incorporated before, and had to move away abruptly, which necessitated Ryan to join, had now returned. "I don't believe it, Mickey", he said. "I thought you had moved away." Mickey replied, "Well, Riley, my father got a transfer here, so, here I am, back to reconnect with all my old friends." Riley then said, "Well, that's good, because there's someone I know who would be very delighted to see you." Mickey smiled. "I bet I can guess who it is", he said slyly.
Later that day, the members of Kids Incorporated all arrived at the P*lace to perform their next sets when they saw someone strange sitting at the counter chatting with Riley. At first, they didn't recognize who it was, but as he turned around in his stool, some of them smiled and couldn't believe who it was. "M-Mickey?", said Gloria astonishingly. Mickey nodded. Gloria then ran over to him and gave him a big hug. "Oh, Mickey! I can't believe it! You came back!" Mickey smiled and said, "Indeed, I have and I can't wait to reconnect with all of you." They both took a long look at each other. Mickey noticed that Gloria had grown a few inches and they both could now look at each other directly, meeting each others gaze. She looked beautiful, absolutely stunningly beautiful, practically taking his breath away and making the others seem distant. They soon broke the glance and motioned the rest of their bandmates to reconnect with Mickey. Pretty soon, Renee, Kid, and Stacy also ran over to Mickey and embraced him as well.
Ryan then asked Riley in a puzzled voice, "Um, Riley, who is this guy?" Riley smiled and replied, "This is Mickey, he was the one who founded Kids Incorporated." Ryan then replied, "I can't help but notice that Gloria is particularly excited to see him." Riley then said, "Well, Ryan, Mickey and Gloria are actually sweethearts. They realized they loved each other almost just before Mickey had to move to Connecticut, so it's understandable that they'd be excited to see each other again."
Later on, Gloria told Mickey about her predicament, and Mickey then said, "Well, Gloria, now that I'm back, would you like to be my date for the high school dance. Gloria exclaimed, happily, "Oh, yes, yes. A thousand times, yes!" Mickey, then said, "Gloria, I promise I will never leave you again." Gloria and Mickey then looked at each other and leaned in to kiss each other, knowing that they would never be apart again.