R&R
Mike was not having a good day.
After having to babysit his neighbor's baby for what he thought would be an hour, he ended up watching the baby overnight. And just his and Jewel's luck, the baby had colic, so it didn't stop crying; meaning he and Jewel spent the entire night, and most of the morning with the screaming baby mouse. And after the parents finally came home, and took it off their paws, he had to go to a gig, which he got screwed over on. It wasn't even a paying gig; it was the birthday of a fellow Sinatra fan, and the old giraffe's wife wanted the crooner to sing happy birthday to the guy; a gig that should have been simple...but yet, it resulted in him getting thrown out of a five story window, and landing right into a hippo's butt crack. And if that wasn't bad enough...the hippo farted on him, and he nearly suffocated to death, had he not crawled his way out of his death chamber. Then, just to make matters worse, he got splashed by a car zipping through a puddle on the street; so after going home to change, he went to rehearsals cranky and pissed off.
"What happened to you?" Ash asked, plucking a string on her guitar.
"My neighbors left their colicky baby with me overnight, and I got zero sleep; I got screwed over on a gig and ended up in a hippo's ass, and I got splashed by a car on my way here," he said. "And this was just this morning."
"Hey, did you talk to Jewel about her possibly teaching Leo English?" Spencer asked. "Because it would be nice to know what he's saying when he speaks."
"Yes, I did. But she can't teach him in time for the show," he said.
"Well, it looks like we're screwed," Charlotte said.
"Hey," Reese said. "Don't go saying that. Leo might not speak good English, but that doesn't mean he can't perform. He can just sing the song in French."
"Yeah, like that's going to do us any good," she said. "You saw how badly he bombed the song yesterday at rehearsals."
"Charlotte," Leona said. "Leo may not be able to speak in English, but he can still have his feelings hurt."
"Like he's going to know what we're saying," Charlotte said.
"Dude," Astrid said. "Just because someone doesn't know how to speak English, doesn't mean they don't understand the language. Shut your mouth or the next thing you'll see is my fist in your face."
"Astrid!" Rosita scolded.
"Hey, where is Leo anyway?" Meena asked.
"Oh, he's upstairs with Moon and my brother," Astrid said, plucking a string on her guitar. "Apparently, someone decided it would be a good idea to go on an anonymous rant about him not being able to speak English on social media, and call him some pretty nasty things. And now Leo's thinking of dropping out of the show."
"What?" Rosita said, as the door to Buster's office opened upstairs, and Leo came downstairs.
"Tout va bien (Is everything okay?)?" Astrid asked in French.
"Vis de vous tous (Screw you all)," Leo said, walking out of the theatre, as Lance and Buster came downstairs.
"Listen up everyone," Buster said, his tone serious and disappointed. "Due to a post made on social media relating to Leo's language barrier. Leo's forfeiting the show, and the show itself will be postponed until we can find a replacement."
"What?" Mike asked. "Moon, you cannot be serious."
"Lance, tell us he's kidding," Astrid said, looking at her brother.
"He's not," Lance said, shaking his head and looking out at the rest of the crew. "Guys, this is serious. Unless whoever made that post comes forward now; the show's cancelled."
"That's not fair," Spencer said. "Can't we just do the show without him? What's one less act going to hurt?"
"Quite possibly the reputation of the theatre, and everyone associated with it," Lance said.
"Well, whoever it was better be proud of themselves. Because they just ruined the show for everyone," Ash said.
"Buster, please tell me you're kidding," Eddie said.
"I'm not," Buster said, turning to go back upstairs. "I'm going back upstairs. Anyone who wants to come forward, feel free."
Hearing him go back upstairs, and back to his office; all eyes went straight to Astrid since she was the only one standing there looking completely calm about the whole situation.
"Well?" Charlotte asked. "What are you waiting for? Go turn yourself in?"
"What?" she asked, looking up from her guitar.
"Oh come on Spikey, we all know it was you," Charlotte said.
"Hey," Eddie said. "Don't go accusing people of something they didn't do. As far as I'm concerned, all of you except for Rosita, Ash, and Meena are all suspects in this."
"Oh, here we go," Charlotte said. "Those who think the real bully here should turn herself in and just go back to a life of flipping burgers?"
Seeing Spencer, Reese, and Leona all raise their hands; Astrid just rolled her eyes, and got up.
"You know, I love how you guys act like you're nice people," she said, packing up her guitar. "But if you guys are really going to blame this on the new girl, who has no problem with Leo speaking in French because she knows the language. You guys are no better than Tyler, or the person who made that post. Come on Lance, let's go."
"Oh, is this how you're going to respond?" Charlotte asked. "You're just going to speak to us like we're dirt, and walk away."
"Hey!" Lance said before Astrid turned to face the cheetah wearing the blue and green basket ball uniform.
"Let me make something clear," she said, looking out to the other three. "I only state facts. And if those facts say that you four are bullies, not only should you guys be happy I'm walking away. Because if I weren't, not only would I smash my guitar over all of your heads so hard you'd probably end up with amnesia, or worse. But, I'd tell Johnny about what you guys all said and did, and he would probably drop all of you guys as friends because he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to associate with people like you. So yeah, I'm going to talk to you like dirt. Because that's exactly how you're talking to me, and it was exactly how you were talking about Leo not two minutes ago. So either do us all a favor, and turn yourself in; or shut your freaking mouth before smash your teeth in."
Biting his lip to both hold back a chuckle, and keep from going 'Damn' because it would only make things worse, Mike watched as two of the four porcupines in the theatre walked away, and found all eyes on him.
"What?" he asked, quickly realizing they were going to blame him; which made him heave a heavy sigh. "Okay, look. I know this would be something I would do. I admit that. But if it was me, I wouldn't have spent half an hour of my life trying to talk Jewel into teaching him English last night."
"Well, someone had to make that post," Leona said. "And it wasn't me. Leo was my partner for the show, I can't go on without a partner."
"You can go on with Reese," Charlotte said.
"Actually, I was looking forward to going on stage by myself for once," Reese said shyly, rubbing her arm nervously. "But since Mr. Moon cancelled the show..."
"Look, I don't care what Moon says. We're doing this show," Charlotte said.
"And how exactly are you planning to do that?" Rosita asked. "There's no way Buster's going to approve of that."
"Don't worry," she said. "I have my ways. And if you all really cared about Johnny, you'll join me. Come on guys, let's blow this joint."
Seeing Reese and Leona both mouth 'sorry' to everyone else while Spencer walked awkwardly behind Charlotte out of the theatre. Mike finally spoke his mind, and said what everyone was thinking.
"Charlotte's a bitch."
Let's hope Leo comes back. R&R
