Surprised, I raise a brow when finding Kelly slumped over a goblin dog truck, leaning against her looking sadly at the discarded half eaten and mostly wasted goblin dogs on either side of her.
"Hey, Kelly. Uh... where's Tad?" Sweetly, Star greets the girl.
"Tad and I broke up. There's a bald spot on my head where my heart used to be." Sadly, Kelly shows us her bald patch on her head as she then curls in on herself and lies on the ground.
"Oof. That's, like, real sad. In worse news, they are closing the Bounce Lounge!" Ponyhead tells her.
"And we're getting the crew back together to save it." Smiling, Star informs her.
"Why not? I can be despondent anywhere." Saddened, Kelly shrugs spitting out a goblin dog not doing the same high she had once craved like it had for us as I help her up, allowing Kelly to join the group.
"All right! Let's go, Kelly!" Cheering, Star celebrates.
"Who's next?" Marco asks her.
"Johnny Blowhole, the party dare extraordinaire!" Smiling, Star points to the dolphin as she takes out her dimensional scissors and we follow her.
"Girl we don't have time for this we won't make it in on time if we don't…" Annoyed, Ponyhead scowls at the time on her mirror phone.
"I know but we just need to find Michael and…" Patiently, Star begins.
"I can find him." I offer.
"You know where he is?" Surprised, Kelly raises a brow.
"She is dating him," Marco smirks only to hiss as I kick him in the arm making him flinch away from my harsh glare.
"Yeah...I'll meet up with you guys later…" Tired, I take out Marco's scissors.
"Where did you?" Surprised, Star blinks.
"Butter fingers," I shrug passing them back to her as I lunge into the portal finding myself in…Michael's rooms. Bored, my yellows scan the ruby red walls and carpet noting the black patterns of thorns and roses around the patterns. I enter, finding an amplifier that no doubt, Marco had borrowed alongside an electric guitar, noting a soundproof room, making me smirk. I glance down at Michael's small band it isn't much but sometimes he had told me he would make songs or music videos or even do covers and record them, mixing the cover music too with some of his friends, though…sadly, my brow furrows when seeing his tail hidden in the pictures, using a hat to hide his horns too.
"So, mind telling me what you're doing here? You know it's one of my study days…" Tiredly, I am greeted by the harsh slam of a book making me turn to face Michael, pushing himself off his study desk to face me.
"I can see that I was just wondering if you'd like to take a break." I offer.
"What do you want?" Warily, his eyes narrow.
"Wha…what do you mean?" Innocently, I chuckle.
"What's going on?" Concerned, he questions me making me sigh bowing my head as I note him reach out to my arm only for me to quickly reel it back.
"Fine the bounce lounge is closing, Ponyhead's crying I think we can use her tears as paint." Sternly, I confess to him.
"Oh we can." He confirms.
"You did?" Surprised, I raise a brow.
"Yeah it's pretty useful but had to make a self-portrait of Ponyhead it wasn't easy. Still I was wondering when Milly was going to close it…she did look a bit off last I saw her." Fascinated, Michael leans back in his seat, rocking him back and forth as I note him biting the lid of his pen lightly.
"What do you mean?" Curious, I lean against his desk.
"Well remember that time I was there where we met?" He asks me.
"Yeah." I nod my head.
"It was for my final check, but she wanted practically begged me to do a jig, so I did I saw the numbers diminishing." Casually, he informs me.
"Well Ponyhead and Star are bringing the band back together what I don't understand is I thought you didn't know Star." Intrigued, I point out.
"Not necessarily its more along the line of we were in the same group, but we didn't spend time together. She was the complete opposite of me while she liked pop, I liked heavy metal. Just because we were in the same group doesn't mean much, I mean I got along with Kelly fine." Simply, he answers.
"But you like pop." I point out.
"I do but…I was just trying to make a comparison." Tiredly, he sighs at me.
"Alright so you in?" I ask him.
"I have studies." Frowning, he glances at the books, my eyes widening at the tall tomb stack presented before us.
"Come on its just one break…" I drape my arm over his, on my tippy toes as he chuckles raising a brow.
"Fine…if I do then maybe we can talk; you've been distant lately." Worried, he whispers placing his hand on my hips.
"I've just bene busy is all…" Tightly, I smile gently pushing myself off.
"Alright…let's go…" Strained, he smiles as I sigh, and he gets out his scissors as we both lunge inside heading to the bounce lounge.
"We still need more!" Sighing, Maroc reveals from his booth as we arrive.
"Don't mind if I join in?" Smugly, Michael approaches high fiving Marco as he makes his way to the booth.
"Michael!" Relieved, Kelly, Star, Maroc and the bounce crew greet him.
"DJ Firebolt is in the house!" Loudly, he calls out on his booth.
"How did you even do that? Not even I could…" Impressed, Kelly approaches me as I shrug sheepish, a part of me feeling guilt as I smile a tight one and join in on the fun.
"We were passing by outside and got sprayed. The Bounce Lounge is back!" Happily, Marco collects even more money in the sacks. Scared, Star appears before him hanging upside-down.
"Now?" Hopeful, Star asks.
"We need one more partier!" Marco tells her.
"One more? But that's everyone!" Star gasps horrified. Shocked, Star sees three bills of money fall into a sack.
"Tad? How did you?" Surprised, she and Marco look up at Tad.
"I made a call, Tad my man!" Smoothly, Michael calls out.
"Mikey hey you seen my girl!?" Tad calls out to him as he points over to the dancefloor where he approaches the dancing Kelly.
"Tad? What are you doing here?" Flabbergasted, Kelly turns to Tad on the dance floor.
"Don't you remember, baby? This is the first place we ever broke up. Want to get back together?" Tad offers.
"Yeeeeaaaah!" Joyful, Kelly smells outstretching her arms out as jovial, Tad plants himself on top of Kelly's head, now having finally reunited.
"Did we make enough?" Desperate, Star carries the sacks of money over to Milly Sparkles.
"One, three, fifty, eleventy-thirty... Hmm. Nope. We're short 650." Milly counts.
"But I thought we had-" Saddened, Star begins.
"Wait!" Proudly, Marco holds up a fistful of money bills. He goes up and drops 650 dollars in a sack.
"Oh-ho-ho! I've never had more fun in my entire life!" Brightly, Maroc rushes over to us on the DJ stand.
"Why is it always 650 with you?" Lost, I question him.
"It's my lucky number!" Simply, he shrugs.
"Want to have a go dude?" Michael offers.
"Can I?" Hopeful, Marco smiles.
"Don't see why not." Simply, Michael shrugs.
"Wahoo!" Pumped up, Marco beams as I smile at the two, Michael teaching Marco the basics as we party all night long until…
"Yes! We did it! The Bounce Lounge lives forever! Now let's party!" Grateful, Star hugs Marco as we celebrate our win until…
"Star, wait." Surprised, drops Marco on the floor making him groan.
"Thank you, all of you, for what you've done. But I've been partying for over 5,000 years. It was never about the mortgage. I'm closing the lounge because I just really need to stop partying. Like, right now." Saddened, Milly removes her sunglasses and moves her feathered fan away to reveal her very wrinkled face. Magically, Milly's floating lounge chair transforms into a motor scooter.
"Aww! If this is the last night of the Bounce Lounge, let's make it the best night ever!" Smiling, Ponyhead declares as the crowd cheer in agreement but….
"No! The party is over." Strictly, Milly dictates as the disco ball lowers from the ceiling and turns into a wrecking ball that starts demolishing the Bounce Lounge. Horrified, my eyes widen as I feel Michael's arms around me as we both dive out of the way of the booth, tarrying the customers.
"But we saved the Lounge." Feebly, Star whimpers.
"Nothing lasts forever, princess. But thank you for the party." Grateful, Milly puts her sunglasses back on and rides her motor scooter into the clouds as my brow furrows at her words, nothing lasts forever huh…
"The Bounce Lounge is gone." Sadly, Star sighs as we sit in Marco's room, Michael leaning against the wall while I am sat on the bed.
"At least I have you, piece of gum I scraped off a table, to remember it by." Fondly, Star smiles as she steals the gum from under the tables making me dry heave. Concerned I feel Michael's hand on my back as I groan.
"Yeah. I got a chip of the dance floor. Or someone's tooth." Unsure, Michael furrows his brow.
"That's a chip." Michael confirms.
"Aww, you guys are lucky. All I got is this photo booth!" Disappointed, Ponyhead sighs only to smirk when she reveals the Bounce Lounge photo booth next to her.
"Photo booth! Photo booth!" Happily, we all celebrate as Michael grabs my hand as I am dragged into the booth, his arm draped over my shoulder. I wink in the camera as with us, Star, Marco, Pony Head, Kelly, Tad, Johnny Blowhole, Headphone Jones, and Lady Scarfs-a-Lot take a group photo with the words "BOUNCE CREW" on it only then to leave, leaving us to take a few photos for ourselves. My eyes expand at the last photo. Stunned, I blink taken aback, blinded by a bright white light as I feel a certain pair of lips touch my cheek, making my eyes widen and my heart to ache, not sure how to feel about everything as next thing I know I shove Micheal back, his stunned hurt brown and reds meet my startled alarmed yellow, staggering back as he steps forward just as I step back and dart away, far, far away from him, from all that he is and represents...leaving the dejected demon alone.