The Springtime Showcase

Springtime was in the air for all the students at Westley School of Performing Arts. Everyone was excited to see all the pretty sights and flowers blooming, and school events. Especially the kids we all know and love: Li'l D, Eddie, Tamika, Philly Phil, Kam, Kim, and Madison. Sunny too. The first year music class entered their classroom and awaited for Sunny's arrival.

"Ooh, I love Springtime!" Madison exclaimed.

"Why's that, Madison?" Li'l D asked.

"We get to see the beautiful flowers bloom, and the smell of Spring is always in the air!" Madison explained.

"Well, it is Springtime, so Spring will be in the air," Li'l D chuckled. "I like the season because of the sights of all the pretty roses on e'rybody's lawns and the drumming competitions held at other schools, and your man Li'l D gets to compete."

There is slight silence.

"I hate Spring because of the stupid flowers it makes me sick, literally," Tamika stated.

"I second that," Kam thought.

"Ahh, my darling but that's what makes it great!" Eddie added. "It's not too hot and we don't need to worry about cold winters no longer!"

"Well, we technically live in the southern part of North America, and it's very hot so we barely get snow, but since we did get snow this time around, I will allow for such a mess up," said Kam.

Tamika just rolled her eyes in disgust to both Kam and Eddie's remarks, but thought, "I love you, Spring. They can't know it, though. I love doing yard work at my house and making it beautiful for all to see. I take pride in my work."

"Aw, well, I love Spring time because Westley holds some cool robot competitions during this season for some reason," Philly Phil chimed in.

"Why not for the Winter and Fall seasons?" Tamika asked.

"These competitions are usually seasonal-themed so that'd be my guess," Philly Phil replied.

''I love Spring because of the coolest of the cool fashion trends," Kim said. "I wonder what style is in season now, casual or not?"

"I'd like Spring more if I didn't have to blow my nose 24/7," Kam stated with a handkerchief in his hand about to blow his nose.

"To celebrate Spring, I brought in a beautiful bouquet of roses, hyacinths, daffodils, and buttercups!" Madison said while holding the bouquet.

"Gee, Madison, those look pretty," Eddie complimented. "May I have a sniff?"

"Sure, Eddie!" Madison said as she handed over the flowers from her seat.

Eddie smelled the bouquet.
"Oh, these flowers are so pretty and smell lovely too, but, ah-ah—ACHOO!" Eddie sneezed.

"Bless you," everyone said.

"Here have a tissue," Kam offered.

"Thanks, Kam," Eddie said.

Eddie took the tissue and blew his nose, and it turned red, after he passed the flowers back to Madison she passed it to everyone else. Everyone enjoyed the flowers too. They were really beautiful.

"Achoo!" Kam sneezed into a tissue as he smelled the flowers. "See? This is why I'm not crazy about the season as much as everyone else."

Sunny had walked into the room, and greeted his students like normal. The man set up his desk: emptied his bag, placed an apple on his desk, and grabbed some spare chalk from the bag.

"Hey party people! This is a wonderful day for Spring, right?" Sunny greeted.

"The best," Li'l D interjected.

"Alright listen people, today's class is going to have a special theme, and by the end of the class today, you'll be able to know what the theme is," Sunny explained. "OK, everyone pick a partner."

Everyone cheered at hearing this and picked partners, but Sunny stopped them.

"Nah, ah, ah, through a basket full of each of y'alls names," Sunny said. "There will be one group of three since there's an uneven amount of you."

Everyone jeered. Sunny called each of his students up and they picked a nametag out of the basket.

"Ok, Madison, you're first," Sunny called out.

"Oh boy!" Madison jumped for joy.

She went to pick a name out of the basket. "Kim!" She exclaimed.

"Alright!" Kim yelled.

"Kam, you next," Sunny said.

He got up from his seat and did what he was told. "Philly Phil", he said.

The two exchanged happy glances.

"Tamika, you next," Sunny said.

"Tamika's in da house," she said.

She went to retrieve a name out of the basket. "Eddie", she read while disappointed and biting her tongue.

"Yes!" Eddie exclaimed.

"OK Li'l D, you're last so you can pick which group to be in," Sunny stated.

"Can I work with you?" He asked Sunny.

"Nope, sorry. I'm off limits this time around, Li'l D," Sunny explained. "Pick one of your classmates instead, please."
"Eh, OK, I'll go with Tamika and Eddie," he answered.

Tamika was mad, but Eddie was happy. Li'l D took notice of Tamika's mean disposition, and teased her. It only made her more annoyed.

Kam raised his hand.

"Yes, Kam?" Sunny asked.

"So, a-choo!" Kam sneezed again. "Why are we in groups?"

"First of all, gesundheit, and second, you are in groups because you will find out the theme better that way," Sunny responded as he handed out a box of tissues to pass to Kam. "I was just going to explain."

"OK, thank you," he said, all stuffed up.

"Never gives a chance for people to breathe...that Kam," Kim thought in sheer annoyance as she passed the tissues to her brother.

"Alright, y'all, I put you in groups so that you find meaning in the theme of this week's couple of classes." Sunny explained. "Can anyone guess it right off the bat?" He said as he placed his hands on his desk.

Philly Phil raised his hand.

"Yes?" Sunny said.

"Working together?" Philly Phil asked.

"Close, but there's more to it than that," Sunny explained. "There is a much deeper meaning to this. Y'all have been kinda slacking a bit on your music assignments lately-"

Before Sunny could finish his sentence, the bell rang for lunch.

"Saved by the bell, I suppose," Sunny chuckled. "Well, y'all will figure it out, you smart."

The kids left the classroom and walked to the cafeteria and were ready to eat whatever disgusting meal was on the menu prepared by Ms. Squattenchowder. The kids sat at the table with their lunches and talked about the aforementioned lunchlady.

"Anybody know when our old lunch lady gonna come back?" Li'l D asked his friends.

Kim took a big bite of her sloppy joe, and looked like a chipmunk as she asked "Huh?" in response.

"Pfft, no," Tamika stated. "She ain't coming back to this place."

"Yeah, I mean that warthog/boar-thing did chase her out of her job," Kam reassured.

Flashback to the beginning events of Love Is In The Hair...Net

We see the lunch lady being chased out by the dishwasher-a wild pig.

"Right," Li'l D recalled. "I forgot about that. I wouldn't be surprised if she brought up a lawsuit."

Philly Phil took a bite out of his sandwich.

"I think the lunch lady's food now has a lot more taste than our old one," Philly Phil interjected.

"Ewwwww!" Everyone yelled in disgust, except Phil, who just shrugged as he continued to eat.

"I can't even remember the last time I ate meat that didn't look oozey," Kim said as she held a hand to her mouth.

Everyone agreed with Kim.

"This school needs more money," Eddie said. "I'd donate money, but my parents are so stubborn, they only donate it to specific charities."

"So, what does everyone think the theme of the class is?" Madison asked.

"Judging by Sunny's last sentence at the end of class before the bell rang, he said that we were slacking off in our music," Philly Phil responded.

"But, how?" Li'l D questioned.

"There's always room for improvement, I guess," Kam shrugged.

"Someone here said that the theme had to do with working together, right?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, I think that was me," Philly Phil said.

"Hmm, I think he means that we are not listening to each other when we play our instruments," Madison added.

"That's actually...an interesting point, Madison," Philly Phil said.

"But, I don't think we lack that skill! Do we?" Tamika said annoyed but then worriedly.

"Nah, Sunny just pullin' our leg," Li'l D reassured his classmates. "Probably due to April Fools Day being on the horizon!"

"Hardly!" Kam interjected. "April Fools is not for another couple of weeks. Sunny's always honest with us, Li'l D. I'm sure he means we do need improvement."

"Well let's show him tomorrow that we can work together while simultaneously playing our instruments," Eddie said.

Everyone finished their drinks and lunch, and was ready for the next class.

Sunny greeted everyone the next day.

"Hey party people," he gave a warm welcome, "come on in."

The kids greeted Sunny and sat down in their seats as usual.

"OK, so now y'all I told ya the deal," Sunny explained.

He wanted to make sure his students learned the best ways to play their instruments. He noticed they were slacking off lately. He left it up to his students to figure ways out to practice playing.

"OK everyone, there is a big showcase coming up at Westley and I wanna make sure y'all are prepared for it," Sunny said.

"Sunny, didn't we just do a showcase last month?" Tamika asked.

"Yes, but now it's time to do another," Sunny explained.

"Oof they are squeezing the juice out of us," Phil remarked.

"Really? I don't see juice anywhere, and I am thirsty," Madison replied.

"No, Madison, it's an expression," Li'l D explained. "He prob tired so he means milk us to death with all these showcases."

"Yes, my bad, milk," Phil corrected himself.

"Y'all are making me thirsty!" Madison yelled.

Everyone just had their mouths slightly ajar and stared at Madison.

"What?!" Madison angrily remarked.

"Girl gone nuts," Tamika whispered.

"OK, OK, OK, come on y'all think…how we gon' play for this showcase?" Li'l D asked.

"Practice," Kam said.

"Yes, practice," Kim added. "But, how?"

"Maybe instead of hanging out and just doing normal homework for all of this week we can practice at school for longer than we normally do and take breaks when needed," Eddie insisted.

"Great idea!" Li'l D replied.

The kids practiced and practiced this coming week and impressed Sunny with how well they were listening to each other play. They were not messing up as much as they did the week before.

"Well, y'all, I'm impressed," Sunny said smiling. "I knew you guys could do it. Y'all are gonna hit it out of the park with this next showcase."

The night of the showcase occurred.

"And now the first year music students!" Principal Luna introduced.
"Start the number, Li'l D," Tamika reminded him.

He gave one last look to Sunny and mouthed "thanks" and started playing the drums. Everyone knew when their parts were and played until the end of the number. The crowd cheered.

"That was awesome!" Kim exclaimed.

"Yeah," Kam said.

Madison, who was somehow still thirsty, finally got something to drink. She walked over to her buddies.

"Uh, Madison?" Tamika asked. "What in the world is in that cup?"

"Lemonade and orange juice," Madison answered.

"Ooh, that sounds good," Philly Phil said.

"It is," Madison sipped her drink. "Y'all wanna try it?"

"Madison, did you check the expiration date on that?" Kam said.

"No?" Madison asked.

"I don't think lemonade and orange juice are supposed to look like that," Kam huffed.

Madison looked at her glass one more time and thought the drink tasted off. Kim tried a sip.

"Ew, this tastes off alright," Kim spat it out. "Offly, watered down."

"The guy said it was freshly squeezed," Madison said.

"Freshly squeezed water," Kim said. "Might as well drink that."

The people at the so-called lemonade stand couldn't offer enough lemons for the entire auditorium so they just gave water only to those that did not buy lemonade.

"First come, first serve" was written in small lettering at the booth.

"Well, I am thirsty so nothing wrong with water either," Li'l D remarked.

Everyone went to drink water from the booth and blah blah blah went back to class and patted themselves on the back. Blah, blah, blah. The end.

Hope y'all enjoyed it. I updated the fic and added it as part of the short stories thing I am doing. I will try to think of more short stories starring our favorite students. Classes hit hard. See ya soon! R&R plz. Peace out.