So, another three months between uploads? Again? Yeah, yeah, I know. This one really shouldn't have taken so long. In fact, I was actually planning on finishing it back in DECEMBER. Unfortunately, other real world stuff came up and I decided to take off for the holidays and a few months after. But I don't wanna waste too much space talking about this. By now, you guys know I'm not good with deadlines. Instead, I wanna talk a little bit more about the chapter you're about to read.

This chapter is based around the episode "Group Hug," requested by a guest reviewer. Now, here's something that I should probably tell you guys that may or may not be news to you: I do not like this episode. It is one of my least favorite episodes of the whole show. Not my absolute least favorite, that one's coming up later, but it's definitely a close second. This episode has a lot of problems that really do bug me. The pacing moves too fast, good characters are getting tortured for no reason, bad characters get rewarded despite learning nothing at all. But the biggest problem for me is with Kate and Allie. This is their creepiest appearance by far. Don't get me wrong, they've always been a little too open about their obsession with Grojband, but they were at least tolerable in those other episodes. This episode completely DESTROYED their character (and yes, I use that word singularly because they have the exact same character). This whole episode goes out of its way to make these two as unlikeable as possible. From kidnapping the band, to knocking them unconscious multiple times, to even tying up and gagging them at one point. It's very uncomfortable to watch. And in the end, they don't even get punished. Instead, they get exactly what they want, keep the band in their garage despite getting what they want, and the worse they suffer is getting scared by Mina. Just wow. If there's any episode that I could accurately describe as 'character derailment,' it's this one.

Needless to say, while writing this chapter, I did the best that I could to fix this episode's flaws and thus, it's probably the most different from my other episode chapters. I don't know if I can definitively say that all the episode's flaws are absent here, but if not, I think they're at least more tolerable. Keep in mind as we move forward, if there is an episode I am writing about that I do not like, I WILL go out of my way to make it as different from the original episode as possible. And this goes for any future fanfic that I write, not just this one. It's going to come into play a LOT with my Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy fanfic. Well, that's all for now. Enjoy!


Chapter 91

Fair Weather Fans

It was a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon. Jackie's garage was completely decked out for a very special occasion. An occasion that until now, had never occurred before, because the gang had just decided it should be a thing. Laney hung up one final pair of balloons over the stage.

"And…done!" she announced.

"It was so nice of you guys to come up with Grojband Fan Appreciation Day." Jackie said to Corey. "Kelsey and Alyssa are going to be ecstatic to see your garage up close for the first time."

Corey shrugged. "Well, the fans have always done stuff for us. Figured it's about time to return the favor. Hey Kin? Think we have enough spray cheese?"

At the other corner of the garage were dozens of cans of spray cheese. Kon was lying on the floor, guzzling multiple cans at once and Kin was trying and failing to retrieve them.

"Not for long!" Kin panted. "They'd better get here soon!"

"I'm just sorry there's only going to be two guests." Jackie mentioned. "You guys deserve more fans."

"No sweat, Jacks. This is only the first Fan Appreciation Day we've had. The guest list will grow once we get big. Anyway, you're wrong, because we actually have three fans attending the party today."

"Really? Who's the third?"

Corey booped Jackie's nose. "Duh! You!"

"Me?"

"Why are you surprised?" Laney commented. "You are our number one fan, after all."

Jackie blushed. "Gosh, you really think so? That's such a big title. I don't know if I deserve it."

Kin gasped and let go of the spray can Kon was holding, hitting his twin in the face. "Are you kidding? You don't just deserve it! You've earned it! You're the greatest fan any band could wish for!" he hugged Jackie tightly.

"Aw, I'm nothing special. Really. Certainly no better than any other fan."

"But you are!" Corey stood up on stage. "Cause you're more than just a fan! You're our friend and our manager! You don't just stop at cheering us on at our gigs. You actually make them happen! And even when we're not performing, you make sure we have what we need. You're the most supportive fan ever!"

"Not to mention the most loyal." Laney added. "Any normal fan would probably lose interest in us after a while, but you've always stuck with us no matter what."

"Exactly!" Corey agreed. "Anybody can be a fan, but it takes a lot to be a number one fan. It takes passion, devotion, and most of all, a kind and selfless heart."

Kon raised his hand. "Ooh! And soft hands for giving belly rubs, right Corey?"

Jackie giggled and rubbed Kon's cheese-coated tummy.

"There's no doubt about it, Jacks." Corey continued. "You'll always be our number one. Nothing can ever change that."

Jackie smiled. "Thanks guys. I really appreciate it."

Just then, a banging sound came from the garage door.

"Showtime, gang!" Corey adjusted his beanie and opened the garage, revealing Kelsey and Alyssa eagerly standing outside. "Welcome fans of Grojband!"

The girls squealed. "Number one fans, you mean!"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say 'number one fans.'"

"Huh? But Corey I thought Ja-" Kin tried to say until Corey covered his mouth.

"Shh! Just play along so we don't hurt their feelings." he turned back to the groupies. "So, let me show you ladies around. This is where-"

"Decided you were a vegan band?" Kelsey finished before pointing to a mark on the floor. "And this is where pirates abducted you! You can see the anchor marks." she snapped a picture with her phone.

Alyssa had somehow climbed on top of the speaker hanging from the ceiling.

"And this is where you'll probably lose your timing to an evil garden gnome on the second New Year's eve!"

"Wow. Not even I know you guys well enough to predict your future." Jackie claimed. "Maybe they should be your number one fans."

"Don't be silly, Jackie." Kin replied. "Foreknowledge isn't a criteria for your title. Besides, there's one thing you know that they don't. And that's our secret on how we write lyrics."

Kelsey overheard them. "A secret for writing lyrics? How come we don't know about that?"

"If we're their number ones, then we should totes know about it!" Alyssa chimed in. "So what is it, huh? How do you come up with those amazing song lyrics?"

Corey stammered. "Uh…well, we definitely do not steal them from Jackie's sister's diary! That's for sure! Heh, heh!"

The rest of Grojband gave nervous smiles. Kelsey and Alyssa exchanged awkward glances before bursting into laughter.

"You're so funny, Corey!" Kelsey giggled.

"Yeah, good one!" Alyssa guffawed.

Relieved, Jackie and Grojband started laughing too.

Meanwhile, up in Tracy's room, Macy was hard at work, building a trap for Tracy's latest evil scheme.

"There!" she said. "I'm finished, Tracy! One enemy hole!"

Tracy looked away from the pocket mirror she was holding. "About time! Bottomless holes take forever for me to make you dig! I can't wait to use it…"

The wicked teen imagined herself pushing Jackie into the hole and falling to her doom.

"EEEEE!" two voices came from downstairs.

"What the-? That's not how I imagined Jackie's death scream would sound! C'mon!"

Both teens left the room and headed for the door to the garage. They opened it slightly, so as not to be spotted, but wide enough so they could see and hear what was going on. Corey was holding a jar up to his mouth.

"Kelsey…Alyssa…" he whispered.

Kelsey happily took the jar, put a lid over it, and handed it off to Alyssa, who was carrying three more.

"Now we can hear you say our names whenever we want!"

"EEEEE!"

Seeing this was enough to overcome Tracy with disgust. She stormed back up to her room and Macy followed behind.

"Like, what is this madness? Fromojband has two groupies and I only have one?!"

"Groupie?" Macy felt a bit hurt.

"If you can even call yourself that. When's the last time you squealed at anything I did?"

"This morning."

Tracy ignored the answer and went over to a lever on her bedroom wall.

"That's it! If I can't have more or better groupies than my sister's grody band, then I'm so not going to have any! Macy? YOU'RE FIRED!" she pulled the lever, opening up the enemy hole.

"NOOOOOOO!" Macy screamed, even though she wasn't anywhere near the hole to fall in it.

"Ugh! Don't make me push you in, you doofus!"

"Oops. Sorry." Macy stepped over the hole and screamed as she fell to oblivion.

"Too late to squeal your way outta this one!" Tracy called. "I don't need some annoying groupie anyway. Real popularity means looking good without anyone's help! Now where was I? Oh yes!" she pulled out her pocket mirror. "On a scale from a perfect 10 to an even perfecter 10, how pretty am I?"

Tracy waited for a response, but all she heard was the sound of a cricket chirping.

"Like what? I'm supposed to be getting an answer right now! Someone's supposed to say that I'm a perfect 100!" she stomped on the cricket in annoyance.

Back in the garage, the groupies were running all over the place with some laser scanning device Kin gave them.

"Uh, why are the girls scanning my garage again, Kin?" Jackie asked.

"They said they wanted to create an exact replica of it so they can relive today over and over. You're okay with that, right?"

"I guess so…but, I've never scanned any of your stuff before. Are you sure I'm your number one fan?"

"Of course!" Laney answered. "In our book, a number one fan shouldn't be obsessed with someone to the point of being creepy."

"Yeah, don't worry about it Jacks." Corey concurred. "No one can ever replace you. Now let's go get some sodas for our not-number-one-but-still-as-important fans."

Jackie grinned and followed her friends inside, which gave Tracy an opportunity to enter their garage. She stormed up to Kelsey and Alyssa and swiped their scanning devices.

"Hey you two! Pay attention! I wanna ask you something! What do you think is so cool about my uncool sister's uncooler band?"

"Wait, you're Tracy Matthews!" Kelsey realized.

"Oh, so you've heard of me!" Tracy gloated. "No surprises there."

"Of course we've heard of you!" Alyssa nodded. "You're the sister of Jackie, the manager of Grojband!"

"We're their number one fans!"

Tracy scowled. "'Ooh…we're their number one fans or whatever. They're so cool and stuff.' NOT! Grojband is lame! Why do you think you're the only fans those losers even have? I'm the one who you should be fawning over. Someday, I'm gonna have a whole army of fans! And you'll be all like: 'Tracy is totes the best! Who the heck is Garbojband anyway?'"

"Well, maybe Grojband will have an army of fans someday too!" Kelsey hoped.

"Yeah! But…they wouldn't forget about us, right?" Alyssa worried.

"Are you kidding? They'll forget you in a heartbeat!" Tracy retorted. "You're nothing special to them!"

"That's not true!"

"We're their number one fans!"

"Yeah, according to yourselves. I've lived with these nerds long enough to know that my stupid sister is the only one who'd they call their 'number one.'"

"You mean…they like Jackie best?" Alyssa clarified.

"I know, right? Only an ugly nitwit could like her. Like that keyboard geek. Always going on and on about how 'pretty' she is. Barf! No nerd ever calls me pretty on a daily basis!"

Kelsey looked down. "We're…not Grojband's number one fans?"

"Not even close. NOW TELL ME I'M A PERFECT 10!" Tracy screamed.

Once again, she waited for a reply. But the two girls were too frightened to answer her.

"Hm…the scared looks are familiar." Tracy observed. "But I'm not sensing any undying loyalty. What's missing?"

As the bratty teenager thought this, her former minion was attempting to climb up the 'bottomless' hole she dug.

"Wah!" she slipped and hit the ground for the umpteenth time. "Ow…good thing I lied to Tracy about this pit being bottomless…"

DAY TO NIGHT TRANSITION!

Later that evening, the Matthews residence was in a peaceful slumber. All four Grojband members were dozing on their couch in the garage. Corey was laid out on the far end, but he was having a harder time sleeping than the others.

"Mm…man, I'm thirsty…" he got up. "I wonder if Mrs. Matthews bought any chocolate milk at the store yesterday."

The band leader got up from the couch, left the garage, and entered the kitchen. It was too dark to see anything, so he flipped on the nearest light switch. As soon as he did however, he nearly had a heart attack when he saw two girls with big smiles on their faces standing near the fridge. For some reason, they had clothespins over their noses.

"Kelsey? Alyssa?"

"Hi Corey…" Alyssa was on top of Kelsey's shoulders, holding a glass. "Here's your milk…"

"We warmed it just how you like it…"

Corey accepted the glass. "Aw, how sweet! Also, very, very creepy. But mostly sweet."

The two fangirls' smiles grew wider.

"On second thought, it's mostly creepy. But oh well." Corey drank the whole thing. "Ahh…"

"Calming?" Alyssa asked.

"Very." Corey looked around the room some more. "Hey, what's with the candles and the noseplugs?"

Kelsey lifted up a candle. "These? They're aromatherapy."

"Slumberberry scented." Alyssa wafted the smell into Corey's face. "Guaranteed to soothe you straight to dreamland."

"Mm…smells like-" In a matter of seconds, the front man was conked out on the kitchen floor.

"Aw, he's so cute when he's asleep!" Kelsey cooed, holding a piece of rope. "And awake too! What kind of knot should I use on his legs?"

Alyssa held out a huge bag. "Surprise me!"

The next morning, Corey awoke to see two creepy faces staring him down.

"Morning sleepyhead!"

Corey sat up and yawned. "Huh? You two are still here? I would have thought you'd have gone home by now."

"We are home!" Kelsey explained. "And you are too! Welcome to our shrine to Grojband!"

Corey took a look at his surroundings to find that he was no longer in Jackie's kitchen, but instead a bedroom loaded with Grojband merchandise. Even more than what Jackie had in her own room.

"Oh…cool, I think…so, just out of curiosity, why did you bring me here without my consent?"

"Because, we know what you're hiding." Alyssa claimed. "We know your secret."

Corey gasped. "My secret?! How'd you find out?"

"Tracy told us." Kelsey informed him.

"Okay, look. It's not as bad as it sounds. Lyric inspiration has to come from somewhere and-"

"No, silly! We know that you don't consider us to be your number one fans!"

"Uh-huh! Because you like Jackie better than us, don't you? To you, she's your number one fan, isn't she?'

Corey froze out of nervousness.

"What? That's absurd! She's just a manager! A manager would never qualify to be a fan, let alone a number one fan." he lied. "Besides, you two are way more avid when it comes to Grojband. You know more about us, you have more of our stuff, and you even try to copy our style! Yessir! You're the biggest Grojband fans I've ever met!"

"Hm…we wish we could believe you Corey, but we don't."

"If you want to get out of here, you're going to have to prove that we're your number ones. And to do that, you'll have to write a song for us!"

Corey looked down and became even more horrified when he realized his foot was in a shackle chained to the room's radiator. "Wait, you want me to write a song? And I'm a prisoner?!"

"Yep!" Alyssa held out a plate of homemade waffles. "But we made you breakfast!"

Corey drooled. "Ooh, waffles! I mean, no! I won't eat your captivity waffles!"

"They're blueberry…" Kelsey sang.

"Really?" Corey took the plate and started eating. "Fine! But just because you make good blueberry waffles doesn't mean I'm gonna stay with you forever! My friends will be here any minute to rescue me!"

"Oh we're sure of that, Corey. But if I were you, I'd start writing that song fast." Alyssa advised him. "Because if it's not done by the time your friends get here, they won't be leaving either…"

"I'll make more waffles just in case!" Kelsey promised.

CREEPY GIRLS TRANSITION!

At home, Jackie and the rest of the band were getting ready to start rehearsal. However, it didn't take them long to realize that something was missing.

"Uh, guys? Where the heck is Corey?" Jackie wondered. "He always knows when we have rehearsals and he always shows up whenever there is one."

"Honestly, I have no idea." Laney responded. "We haven't seen him all day. He wasn't in the garage when we woke up and he wasn't in the kitchen when we ate breakfast either."

"Corey's not here for practice? IT MUST BE THE END OF THE WORLD!" Kon panicked.

Just then, Tracy burst in. "Would you freaks keep it down?! I'm trying to reassure myself of my good looks because I don't have anyone to do it for me anymore! And I can't concentrate with your rock 'n' roll racket!"

"We're not even playing anything." Laney corrected her. "Corey's gone missing and we can't rehearse without him."

"Oh, so Beanie Boy ran away, huh? Guess that little idiot finally figured out how much of a failure his band is and quit!"

"Corey wouldn't do that!" Jackie insisted. "He loves all of us and would never leave us behind!"

"I know. That's why I called him an idiot. BAM!" Tracy paused. "…what? Where's the backup? Where's the 'bam indeed'? How am I supposed to know what I said was a good insult if nobody says 'bam indeed'?! Oh Macy! Why did you have to get yourself stuck in that hole?!"

Jackie and the others just awkwardly stared at her.

"…Well she did!" Tracy slammed the door behind her.

"…Right…" Jackie cleared her throat. "Anyway, back to this whole 'Corey is missing' situation. Does anyone have any ideas on where he could have gone?"

"Maybe he was abducted by aliens!" Kon theorized.

"Ooh! Ooh!" Kin raised his hand. "Or maybe he got eaten by a werebeast!"

"Or…he could have stumbled upon a portal to an alternate dimension and got stuck there!"

Laney rolled her eyes. "I think she meant 'reasonable' ideas, guys."

"Oh c'mon! Like none of that stuff has ever happened before?" Kin reminded her.

Jackie looked down and noticed a few puddles leading out of the garage.

"Hey, what's that blue stuff on the floor?"

Kon got down on his knees, touched one of the puddles, and examined the liquid between his fingers. "Hm…looks to be a fruity candle wax." he tasted it. "…slumberberry! The one candle that puts the 'nap' in 'kidnap'!"

"Wait, are you saying Corey's been kidnapped?" Laney clarified.

"Oh no!" Jackie cried. "That's awful! Who would do such a thing?"

"Only one way to find out!" Kin declared. "We've gotta follow this candle wax to its source! Think you can sniff it out, Kon?"

"You bet, bro!" Kon saluted.

Laney joined them. "You better stay here, Jackie. Just in case Corey comes back."

"Okay, but you guys be careful out there. I don't want something bad to happen to any of you."

"Aw…just like our number one fan to be concerned." Kin sighed passionately. "We'll be okay, Jackie. We'll let you know if we need help. Just make sure you do the same."

"She's not into you, dude." Kon whispered.

Kin put his brother on a leash. "Bloodhounds don't talk. Now sniff."

Jackie waved to her remaining friends as they stepped outside and followed the wax trail. Kon sniffed the ground and stuck his head out like a real dog.

"You should always follow strange trails!" he claimed, speeding down the sidewalk.

Kin took Laney's hand. "They lead to fun!"

"Whoa!" Laney felt herself being forcefully pulled by both twins.

The three of them continued to follow the blue path until they reached a house a few blocks away from Jackie's.

"It stops here!" Laney noted. "This must be the place where Corey is!"

"Yeah, but who even lives here?" Kin scratched his head. "I've never seen this house before."

"Me neither. Let's just hope they left their garage door unlocked."

Kon opened the garage and the trio were shocked to see what looked to be the inside of Jackie's garage. There was a stage with instruments that were identical to Grojband's, the band's initials were printed everywhere, and there was even a car parked inside that matched Tracy's. The only thing different was that everything in the garage was reversed, so it felt like the gang was staring into a mirror.

"What the-? This looks like our garage!" Laney observed. "Did we go around in circles or something?"

"I don't think so." Kin took a step further. "Tracy's car is usually parked on the other side. And our symbols look like they went through a mirror. And more importantly, Jackie isn't here."

"Of course she's not!" a voice chirped before the garage door slammed shut behind the three. "But we are!"

Laney and the twins turned to see Kelsey and Alyssa smiling.

"Do you like our replica of your garage?" Alyssa asked. "It's totally 100% accurate! Except we reversed everything."

"Yeah. An exact copy would be creepy." Kelsey nodded.

"Yeah, good thing you didn't go too far." Laney stated sarcastically. "Hey, by any chance is Corey here?"

"Shackled to a radiator upstairs? Totes!" Alyssa gave them a dead-eyed stare. "And you can all join him…"

Before the other band members could even react, they heard three clanking noises and found shackles attached to their legs.

"I guess trails sometimes lead to traps." Kin concluded. "Might wanna remember that."

"You guys make yourselves comfortable." Alyssa said as she and Kelsey exited. "We'll be right back!"

"With waffles!" Kelsey added.

Once they were gone, Laney moved her foot and learned that her shackle was only attached to her boot and therefore, she could escape by taking it off. A foul smell emitted from the boot, making Kin and Kon gag.

"Put it back! Put it back!" they begged.

Laney ignored their whining. "I'm gonna go find Corey. You guys text Jackie and tell her we need her help! Hurry before they come back!"

"Got it!" Kin got out his phone as Laney left. "Okay, text Jackie. Oh, but what should I say to her? Um…'hey Jackie, it's Kin. Hate to bother you, but we're being held hostage and-'. No, no that's not right. 'Jackie? If it's not too much trouble, we could use some help…' No, no, no, too indirect. How about-"

Kon groaned and swiped Kin's phone. "Jackie! Trapped! Psycho groupies! HELP!"

Kin tugged on the phone. "No, don't send that! I can't let Jackie think I have bad grammar!"

"Who cares about Jackie's opinion of you at a time like this?!" Kon tugged back. "It doesn't matter what we write, just that Jackie gets the message!"

"Fine! You can send it from your phone then."

"Gladly!" Kon reached into his pocket. "Huh? Where is it? I thought I had it right here?"

"Looking for this?"

The brothers turned around and saw Alyssa was back and holding Kon's phone.

"Oh, and I'll be taking this one too." she snatched the phone out of Kin's hand. "You won't be needing them. We'll send Jackie a text for you. But first…"

Kin and Kon shuddered as the younger girl stepped closer and closer.

Upstairs, Corey was trying and failing to come up with a song.

"This is my groupies' song. I'm chained to a wall and it's wrong. I am so scared, so terribly scared. I hope that I'm not here for…too much more time?" he crumpled the paper and tossed it into a pile of more crumpled papers. "Ugh! This is hopeless!"

Suddenly, a banging sound came from the door and Laney burst in holding a crowbar.

"Gah!" Corey jumped. "Oh! I mean…Laney! Am I glad to see you! Can you believe it? The groupies have-"

"Kidnapped you?" Laney finished as she began attempting to cut off Corey's chains with a saw. "We know. They got us chained up too. You're lucky my shackle was around my foot instead of my leg or else I wouldn't have gotten up here. So, why do they want you? You know, besides the obvious creepy fangirl reasons."

"Apparently, they're jealous because Jackie is our number one fan instead of them, and they said that the only way they'd let me go is if I prove to them they're number one by writing a song! Can you believe it? They want me to write them a song! Me!"

"Wow. That is bad. Why don't you just tell them the truth?"

"What? That we drive our manager's sister crazy and she writes in her diary and we steal it to get lyric ideas? We'd lose the only fans we do have!"

"They're not the only fans, Core. Remember? We still have one more back at home. The fan who actually does know our secret of how we get lyrics and still likes us. The fan who's always been there since we came to this place. The fan who would never give up on us no matter what happens. But most of all, the fan who happens to be our number one. And she's always going to be number one no matter how many songs you write for the other fans. It's not worth staying here, Core. These two are way in over their heads. If forcing their idol to write a song for them is their idea of being a number one fan, then they're not worth it."

Corey took a moment to process Laney's speech. "…You're right, Lanes. They're not. C'mon. Let's get outta here and go back to the one we love most."

But before Laney could continue sawing off Corey's chain, a familiar scent came into the room. Laney sniffed.

"Weird…smells like berries…" the redhead fell into a deep sleep.

Corey yawned. "Oh no…here we go again…" he fell asleep next to Laney.

A short time later, Corey was woken up by someone poking his eyeball.

"NO MORE WAFFLES!" he screamed.

Kelsey and Alyssa were standing beside him with their usual creepy smiles. He was no longer shackled to the radiator in the bedroom and instead was shackled to the coffee table in the garage.

"Hey, where's my band?" he demanded.

"Over there." Alyssa pointed to the stage where Laney, Kin, and Kon were tied up and gagged. "One of them got out, but we promise that won't happen again!"

"You'll never get away with this! Jackie will eventually know something is up when we don't come back and come looking for us!"

"Oh, don't worry!" Kelsey took out her phone and started texting. "We'll make sure that she gets here."

Meanwhile, Jackie was pacing back forth in her garage, waiting for her band to return.

"Where are they? They've been gone for way too long! Oh, when am I gonna learn? I should have gone with them to make sure they didn't get into trouble! Well I'm not gonna leave them behind this time! I'm going after them!"

That's when she heard a beeping noise from her phone and noticed a text from Kelsey.

"'Hey Jackie! Me + Alyssa r having a Grojband party at my place! The band's already here, but u r invited 2! C U l8tr!' A party? If there's a party, why couldn't the band tell me about it themselves? That settles it! I'm getting to the bottom of this right now!"

And so, the peppy brown-haired manager stormed out of her garage and across the street to Kelsey's house. Once there, she opened the garage door and was utterly shocked to see her best friends all being held captive.

"Jackie!" Corey wailed.

"Guys! What in Tranquil Town is going on?!"

"Jacks…you gotta get outta here. Right now!"

The other band members agreed through their taped mouths.

"What? Why? What's with the chains? Where are Kelsey and Alyssa? Why did they tell me there was a party going on? What kind of party is this?!"

"Jacks…please…leave before they see you."

"Before who sees me?"

The garage door slammed shut once again.

"Hello Jackie."

Jackie turned around and the groupies were right behind her.

"Girls? What's the meaning of this?"

"We told you, it's a party!" Kelsey beamed. "How do you like our shackle and rope decorations?

"Don't worry." Alyssa smiled. "We're not gonna shackle you. You're not a part of the Grojband collection."

"What do you mean 'Grojband collection'? Why are they all tied up?"

"Oh! Because we kidnapped them!"

"WHAT?! Why would you do that?!"

"So they'll think we're their number one fans! Duh!"

"Okay, I'm confused. Why would kidnapping them and forcing them to stay in your garage make them think you're their number one fans?"

"Well, they call you their number one fan and you force them to stay in your garage, don't you?"

"No! I never forced them to stay anywhere! They chose to live with me because they like me!"

"Well maybe they can grow to like us by living in this garage! That's why we're not letting them go until they admit that we're number one!

"Are you seri…fine! Corey, tell them they're your number one fans so we can go home." Jackie requested.

"No, no!" Kelsey interrupted. "Telling's not good enough! They have to write and sing a song for us!"

"Maybe now that they're all together they can do it!" Alyssa hoped.

Corey hung his head. "Kelsey? Alyssa? I have a confession…I can't write you guys a song because…I…I…I'm a total fraud."

Kelsey and Alyssa became sympathetic.

"Aww…"

"What do you mean?"

"I can't write song lyrics." Corey went on. "I steal them from my manager's sister's diary. I can't write anything without it. No matter how long you keep us here…"

"Uh…yep! That's right!" Jackie attested. "He's completely hopeless! You must really hate him now and think bringing him here was a big, fat waste of your time. So, we'll just be going no-"

"Hate him? We could never do that!" Alyssa disagreed.

"Yeah! Every great band has its 'thing'!" Kelsey air-quoted. "Song lyrics from a diary is sooo cool!"

Corey was surprised. "Really? You still like us?"

The girls hugged him. "We're still your number one fans!"

"So you'll let them go?" Jackie asked.

"Nope!" Kelsey answered. "Cause they still have to say the same thing in song form!"

"Ugh…fine. I'll just go home and get Tracy's diary so this nonsense can finally be over."

Jackie headed for the door, but the groupies blocked her path.

"Thanks Jackie, but as the future number ones, we should be allowed to get the band what they need."

"Yeah, you stay here with them. Oh, and don't try to escape or anything. The garage will be on lockdown until we get back."

The two stepped out and immediately the garage door slammed itself shut. Jackie tried pulling it open, but it wouldn't budge.

"Oh c'mon! This is ridiculous!"

She went over to the tied up band members and removed the masking tape from their lips.

"Oh well, at least there's an easy way out of this. All you guys have to do is write a song about your new number one fans and we can get outta here."

"But Jackie, you're our number one fan." Kin informed her. "You're more deserving of a song than they are."

"It's true, Jacks." Corey mentioned. "And besides, if we sing a song about Kelsey and Alyssa being our number ones, we'd be giving away your title."

"Who cares about a stupid title at a time like this? I just want you guys to be safe and more importantly free! So just do what they want so we can all go home, okay?"

The band was touched by Jackie's concern. So touched, in fact, that they were having second thoughts about writing this song. As much as they wanted to go home with her, they knew that after what Kelsey and Alyssa had done, they didn't deserve to be called by Jackie's ranking. And after all the actions Jackie showed them, they knew that she did deserve it. Sure, they could still write the song for the groupies and say to Jackie afterwards they didn't mean what they sang, but even that felt too painful to do. It was then they had to make a decision. They could either sing untruths and give the groupies what they wanted so they could go home to their true number one, or they could sing how they really felt and most likely never see her again. To you, this may seem like a no-brainer, but the band took their number one fan spot so seriously, that they weren't sure if they could bring themselves to lie about it.

As they had time to think it over, Kelsey and Alyssa were already over at Jackie's place. Tracy was in her room, lamenting over Macy's absence. She held a flower in her hand and she was plucking the petals off one by one.

"I'm cute. I'm sorta cute. I'm cute." she reached the last petal. "I'm sorta cute?! Ugh! Why isn't this stupid flower growing another petal to reassure me that I'm cute?!"

The selfish teen went over to her enemy hole which was covered by a rug.

"Do I like, need Macy? My one and only fan?"

Macy, meanwhile, was still trying to crawl out of the hole. She could hear Tracy talking from above and smiled at the positive things she was saying about her.

"And without her dull, holey face next to mine I can't look as pretty as I really am?" Tracy went on.

Macy frowned at the first part but cheered up at the mention of Tracy needing her to shine brighter. It was enough to give her extra motivation to climb up.

Before Tracy could continue however, she noticed a smell in her room that had come out of nowhere.

"Is that…" she sniffed. "Slumberberry?"

Immediately, she was knocked out and dragged out of her room, just as Macy had finally escaped the enemy hole.

"Oh Tracy! You do miss me after all!" she looked around. "Tracy?"

The nerdette spotted a trail of slumberberry wax leading out of her best friend's window.

"A trail? But trails always lead to traps! Which means…Tracy is trapped!"

The door to Jackie's house fell over from Macy forcefully kicking it down.

"I'M COMING TRACY!"

SLUMBERBERRY GO BOOM!

As her ex-friend set off on a rescue mission, Tracy awoke to the sound of muffled screaming. She opened her eyes and found herself in what looked and felt like her car.

"Huh? Like, what's going on? How did I end up in my car?"

Corey peeked through the side window.

"Oh, it's not your car. Or your garage. It's a shrine dedicated to Grojband. The groupies made it. And they kidnapped me!" he showed off the shackle attached to his leg.

"What?! This can't be! Jackie's band really does have fans obsessed with them?"
"Crazy, right? But then again, it's only happened once. I'm sure it happens to you way more."

Tracy's eyes filled with tears. "No…it's never happened. Nobody's ever shackled me before. I'm truly alone…with zero fans…and my sister's band is more kidnappable…than I am…"

Tracy let out a whimper as she slowly rose out of the car. Her eyeshadow dripped onto her cheeks as flowers, shackles, and slumberberry candles circled around her. She grabbed her diary and wrote storm clouds across the pages. Outside, it had begun to rain and the candles in the shrine room upstairs were blown out by the wind. Finally, Tracy finished writing, tear drops dripped from her pen, and she landed back in the exact replica of her car. Corey caught her diary as it fell down to earth.

"And pow!"

"Finally!" Jackie sighed with relief. "Now, let's get this over with so we can all move on with our lives."

"Yay!" Kelsey cheered. "This is so exciting, Alyssa! It's about time we got our own song and about time we earned the spot as Grojband's number one fans!"

"Yeah, but don't take it too hard, Jackie." Alyssa suggested. "Second place isn't so bad. And we won't judge you if you start crying because the song's not about you. I wouldn't be surprised if we started crying tears of happiness, huh Corey?"

Corey looked down sadly. "Yeah. It's a sad one all right. And I can promise tears will be shed once it's over."

Kelsey and Alyssa proceeded to untie the other band members (but still keeping them shackled so they couldn't escape) and gave them their instruments. Corey spoke into the microphone.

"Well, this song is…a real special one. And I gotta say, it's definitely going to be heartbreaking for at least one person in this room. In more ways than one."

The band started playing.

Each day we're getting bigger but we ain't big yet

And when we reach the top we will never forget

The fan that started fanning when we didn't have a flame

When all we did was rehearse

Our number one always came first

When our direction took a turn for the worst

Our number one always came first

Our number one always came first

Jackie wiped some tears away. "OMG…that was so beautiful, you guys."

"Yeah, it really was." Kelsey agreed. "But…is it just me, or did he sing 'number one' and not 'number ones'?"

"No, it was definitely singular." Alyssa confirmed. "But I'm sure it was just a slip of the tongue, right Corey?"

"Uh…" Corey struggled to speak.

"I doubt it. Considering he said it three times."

"You know, now that you mention it, it is kinda weird how he did that." Jackie claimed. "Corey? What's going on?"

"That song was meant for us, right?" Alyssa questioned him.

Corey had a sad expression on his face. He looked down at the guitar still in his hands as he attempted to hold back tears.

"Core?" Jackie was concerned.

Finally, Corey sighed. "Kelsey? Alyssa? I can't do this anymore. If I said that song was for you…I'd be lying."

"Huh?" all the girls went.

"The reason I used 'number one' singularly in the song is because it was only meant for one person. Our true number one fan…Jackie."

Jackie gasped, but it was more out of horror than shock.

"I'm sorry, girls." Corey continued. "But Jackie really is the only one worthy of being Grojband's number one fan. Nothing has changed since you kidnapped us. And I don't know if it'll ever change."

"Gee, that's too bad Corey." Kelsey sighed.

"But not too 'too bad'!" Alyssa perked up. "Because now the band has to stay with us for as long as it takes before they change their minds!"

"Yes!" Kelsey squealed.

"No!"

Jackie scurried over to a corner of the garage and started sobbing. Corey frowned as tears streamed down his own face. The other band members were crying too and unsurprisingly, Kin was crying the hardest while hugging his brother. The girls however, had no reaction to this.

"Better get comfortable, guys!" Alyssa chirped. "Because you've got yourselves a new manager!"

"Two of them!" Kelsey finished.

"Yeah! Cause if we're both your managers, we'll also be your number one fans!"

This made Jackie cry even more and finally, finally, the groupies took notice.

"Aw, it's okay, Jackie. Don't be sad."

"We know it's hard to lose not just your band, but your titles as 'manager' and 'number one fan' in one day. But don't worry! You can still come over and see them. During visiting hours of course."

Jackie's tears continued to fall.

"You girls don't understand!" she bawled.

"We don't?"

"You really think I care about losing my titles? I wouldn't care if the guys considered me their second-favorite fan or their third-favorite, or even their one hundred and thirty-sixth-favorite! I wouldn't even care if they didn't live in the same house as me! All that matters to me is that they're free to make their own decisions! That they have the ability to come and go as they please! But from the looks of it, you're making decisions for them and you're not allowing them the freedom they deserve! And you're surprised that they don't think of you as number one fans!"

Jackie covered her face and continued to cry.

"…Gosh, we really did take this whole 'number one fans' thing too far, didn't we?" Kelsey realized.

"Yes you did!" Jackie wailed.

"Wow. We're sorry, Jackie." Alyssa began. "We were only trying to get Corey and the guys to spend time with us because we felt jealous that they spent all their time with you."

"And we figured the only way to get them to do that was through brute force."

"But I guess we got so caught up in getting what we wanted, we didn't think about what you or the band wanted."

"Yeah. I think now we understand why you're their number one and always will be. Being someone's number one means more than just squealing at everything they do. It also means being able to respect their wishes and boundaries."

"And that's something we're gonna do from now on."

The two went over to Corey and using a key, they unlocked his shackle.

"Corey? You and the others are free to go."

Corey beamed. "Whoa! Really?"

Jackie brightened up as well. As soon as the other band members were freed, all four ran to Jackie and hugged her. Kin made it to her first, of course.

"Oh Jackie! Hear that? We get to go home with you!"

Jackie cried tears of joy.

"I know…" she sniffled. "I've never been happier…"

"Aw, just like our number one fan to cry over us getting our freedom back." Corey wiped his own tears away.

The girls stepped forward.

"Guys? We really are sorry."

"We understand if you don't want us to be your groupies anymore."

The band thought for a minute.

"Well…you did chain us up in your own house…" Laney recapped.

"And you tried to steal our manager's title…" Kin continued.

"And forced us to eat captivity waffles!" Kon finished. "…Wait, actually that wasn't so bad."

"But, even with everything you did, Grojband doesn't have the heart to turn away any of its fans. Even ones that kidnap them. You guys can consider yourselves…our 'number two fans.'"

Kelsey and Alyssa gasped excitedly.

"EEEEE! They called us their number two fans!"

"It's not as good as being their number ones, but any number Grojband gives us is awesome!"

"Glad you girls are happy." Jackie grinned. "And hey. Since you seem to have learned your lesson, I think you deserve a little something special. Come over to my place and I'll tell you all about it."

The girls were about to follow the gang, but then suddenly, Macy came in through the garage and pounced on both of them.

"WHERE'S TRACY?!" she demanded.

"Check the car!" they begged for mercy.

Macy proceeded to break the window of the replica car and pull Tracy out.

"Ugh! Finally, Macy! I order you to rescue me sooner next time! Also, I thought I told you to make that pit bottomless!"

Macy carried Tracy out of the garage. "I'll start digging tomorrow, Tracy. It's so good to be back together again, huh?"

"Whatever…"

Once Jackie, Grojband, and the groupies made it to Jackie's garage, Jackie presented the groupies' surprise.

"So, for every month, we get to pick a day where Grojband gets to spend all of their time with us?" Kelsey clarified.

"Uh-huh!" Jackie nodded. "Provided you don't shackle them to anything, of course."

"Can you believe it, Kelsey? 12 days out of the whole year we get to hang with Grojband!" Alyssa shrieked.

"I know, right?"

"EEEEEE!" both cried.

"Um, are you sure this is a good idea, Jacks?" Laney questioned the manager. "What if they pull a stunt like this again? We could be stuck with them forever!"

"Aren't we all stuck somewhere, Lanes?" Corey intervened as a spotlight shined on him. "In a rut? A backwards garage? Or maybe even our own heads? And who's gonna rescue you from your own head? If they try to break you out, they'll only end up busting your head! And your head is more than just a place to keep your face. It's who you are. And that's…a pretty special thing."

"Ya know, if you toned down the random, those would make some pretty good lyrics." Laney commented. "Might wanna remember that the next time you're kidnapped."

"We'll see you guys on the 12th!" Alyssa waved as she and Kelsey left the garage. "We've got some really, really special plans!"

Both girls giggled in a creepy manner.

"Which hopefully won't be any time soon…" Laney worried.

"Thanks for coming out everyone!" Corey shut the garage door.


6 original scenarios left!

Yes, as you can tell, I switched Kelsey and Alyssa's dialogue because as I've learned recently, Kate and Allie were being called by each other's names this whole time. In fact, if you watch this episode, at one point Corey points to each of them while he says their names individually so, that's a mistake on not just my part, but everyone's part it seems. I'm not going to go back and switch the rest of the dialogue though, because honestly, I don't think it matters in the long run. They're both the same character anyway.

I'm going to keep doing the best I can to get chapters up at a decent time, but I will say I am taking classes right now so that kind of stuff needs to come first. Summer should be an easier time for me to get some writing done. Hope you all had a fantastic holiday and happy new decade!