A/N: WOOHOO! Exams are done and I'm almost done with school! Thanks for reviewing, everyone. You guys rock. This chapter takes place about a month after the previous one (Halloween). It's kinda short, but...yeah. Don't you love our little bohemians in all their kindergarten-ness? Enjoy, R&R please!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own RENT or the song "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter.


Mark Cohen stood at the playground, waiting for his other friends to arrive and for school to begin. He was secretly hoping that this particular Friday would go by very slowly. That coming weekend was Thanksgiving, and that could only mean three things—Tons of food, Grown ups laughing at random things, and, of course, Grandma's kisses. They were what Mark dreaded the most about holiday dinners with his big family. There was always at least one person pinching his cheek and saying, "Oh, Marky, you're so adorable!" every couple of minutes. But Thanksgiving was especially torturous, because of the fact that there was so much food that he would be forced to sit at the table for a while and have people talking to him slowly in high-pitched voices—

"Hey, Mark?"

A voice interrupted Mark's thoughts. He turned to see Benny looking at him.

"Hi, Benny," Mark said quietly. Benny. He was the last person Mark wanted to see at the moment—besides his Grandma, that is. He watched as Benny looked down at the concrete floor for a moment.

"Um...Roger plays with Mimi a lot, right?" Benny asked, looking up at Mark.

Mark blinked. "Yeah. Why?"

"Just...wonderin'." With that, Benny walked away, leaving Mark with a completely confused look on his face. Just then, he saw Maureen being dropped off by her dad and smirked as she skipped over to him.

"Hiiiiiii, Markyyy!" she screamed loudly. For some reason, in all its randomness, Mark kind of liked it when she screamed his name out into the playground.

"Hey, Maureen." No sooner had he said hi to Maureen, Joanne showed up, as did Mimi, Roger, and Tom. When the bell rang, they all headed inside.


The first thing Tom said when they sat at their table was, "Where's Angie?" He looked around at everyone at the table, who resorted to either shrugging or not responding at all.

"Maybe he's just late," Joanne suggested.

"Or sick," added Mimi. "Angel gets colds lotsa times and stays home from school."

"Oh," Tom said quietly, looking down at his pencil lying on top of the table. Mark stared. Tom never got this upset over someone not showing up for school. In fact, Mark rarely ever saw Tom get upset over anything. Mark glanced over at Roger, who was staring at Mimi, who was staring at Benny across the room, who was staring right back at Mimi. Everyone seemed to be staring at someone, and there was an awkward silence amongst the group as they worked on a math sheet that was handed out by the teacher. Mark was fine with silence, but not this kind—it brought about a feeling that Mark couldn't explain...and, even though he wasn't sure why, it sent chills down his spine.


At lunch, Mimi was sulking at the corner of the table, chewing her sandwich slowly. Roger was, from what Mark could see, completely ignoring her.

"You okay, Mimi?" Mark asked. Mimi nodded. "I'm good," she said. Tom held up his Captain Crunch. "Anyone want them?" he asked. "I don't wanna eat 'em."

Mark knew that it was quite unusual of Tom not to eat his Captain Crunch. The absence of Angel was obviously really getting to him. Joanne and Maureen were chattering up a storm, and Roger was staring off into space. Things were really getting weird.


By recess time, Roger Davis was in a very cranky mood.

"What's up, Rog? Did ya take your nap?" Maureen joked. Roger glared at her and she jumped, running behind Mark.

"He's scarin' me!" she whined. She dramatically sighed and walked away. Mark looked over at Roger, who was kicking a pebble on the ground. "How come you're mad?" he asked. Roger said nothing. He simply glanced towards the other side of the playground, where Mimi was walking around with Benny.

Mark understood. "Oh, that's why you're mad. Mimi will probly come back later." Glancing over at Tom, who was sitting down staring at his fingernails, Mark had a feeling that he was the only one who wanted to play tag that day. But he asked anyway.

"Anyone wanna play tag?"

No one answered for a moment, except for Joanne, who said, "Sure! You're it!"

And so the two of them played by themselves.


Tom let out a long sigh, causing Mark to stop looking at Mrs. T as she babbled about words that rhyme. He leaned over and whispered, "What's up?"

"I miss Angie. It's boring without him," he whispered back. Mark felt bad for Tom. He was beginning to miss Angel himself; no one would be able to see him until after Thanksgiving break. He was about to say something else when he was interrupted.

"Tom and Mark, please be quiet while I'm speaking," Mrs. T said. The boys grew quiet and looked back up at Mrs. T and did the usual routine of pretending to pay attention. As Mark stared, he thought about what had gone on in the course of the day. Mimi had stopped talking to Roger and had decided to play with Benny during recess, Tom spent the whole day missing Angel, Roger was mad at Mimi for playing with Benny, and Maureen had just been her usual drama-queen self. Joanne, and of course, Mark himself, had been the only ones in the group who had been in a good mood that day. Mark was wondering why he'd been in such a great mood anyhow.

After all, he was the one who had to get Grandma's kisses.

Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day