Episode 6 - The Crazy Party

Written by: Fun But Shy Girl

Based on Characters Created by: Mark Reisman

Sydney walked into the living room of her home as she saw her daughter Alisha scrolling through her phone with a frustrated look on her face. A curious Sydney sat down next to her daughter as she said, "Hey. Everything okay?" An annoyed looking Alisha then said, "No. Stacey keeps breaking all my records in gym class, along with track and field after school, and keeps flaunting it in my face. So now I'm gonna try to find the most embaressing photos I have of her, post them, and put her in her place." A surprised looking Sydney then said, "Whoa. Now listen Alisha. This girl Stacey isn't your competition. She's on the same team as you. If she does get better, your team does better, and then you do better as well." A frustrated Alisha then said, "Yeah, but I just want people to see how awesome I am, rather than just being known as that person on Stacey's team." Sydney sighed and said, "Alisha... it's better to play a small part in helping people, rather than make a big impact at tearing down others. I had to learn that the hard way when you were little." A confused looking Alisha then said, "Wait. What are you talking about?" Sydney smirked as she said, "Let me tell you about the time I wasn't exactly the greatest parent."

*Nine Years Ago:

Sydney And Harry were at a retro style arcade in a large party room setting up paper plates. As Harry looked around he said, "Man Sydney, you were right. Setting up a party at this retro arcade place was perfect." Sydney smiled as she said, "I know. My dad had so many birthday parties for me here when I was young, and it just felt right to do the same for Alisha too." Then Olive and Emmy walked into the room followed by Sophia who was holding the hand of a six year old Alisha. A smiling Sophia handed Alisha off to Sydney as a smiling Sydney said, "Hey baby. Did you have fun with your Aunt Sophia last night." A happy looking Alisha then said, "Yeah, but this place is so cool! It's got a thousand games and I wanna play them all!" A smiling Olive then said, "Barry does too. My mom is here with us, and she's trying to drag him away from all of the games right now." Then Emmy took Alisha's hand and said, "How about we go find him and you can start playing together."

Then suddenly a large group of adults and children walked into the party room as a confused Sydney said, "Wait. Who are all these people? I don't know them." Then Harry said, "Well this party room holds five tables, and we only booked two. The manager said other groups might come in and take the other tables while we're holding our party." Then a woman with long sandy blonde hair aproached Sydney and said, "Why hello Sydney. I see we both decided to throw parties for our kids the same day I see." Sydney with an annoyed look on her face said, "Hello Monica. Haven't seen you since the last PTA meeting." Then Monica looked at Harry and said, "Oh Sydney. Is this your husband? The one who is a construction worker?" Harry looking unfazed, waved and said, "Oh, I'm Harry, and actually I'm a home designer and engineer. Nice to meet you." Monica with a look of superiority on her face said, "Well, that's nice. Not all men can be star football players like my pro husband: Zack Thompson, or be an incredibly powerful social media influencer like myself. Anyway, guess I'll be seeing you throughout today."

Monica then walked away as an angry looking Sydney said, "Ooo. The nerve of that woman. She used her freaking popularity to take over the PTA even though she misses half the meetings, and now she's trying to take over our party." Olive who had overheard everything, stood next to Sydney as she said, "And to think we both used to like Zack Thomspon when we were in middle school. But after learning he married that woman... uggh, I now see him for the tasteless creep he is." Harry still looking unfazed said, "Come on. Let her have her party, and we'll have ours. I'm gonna go see how Alisha is doing." Harry then walked away, as a sneaky looking Sydney looked at Olive and said, "Or... we could show Miss Monica Thompson that we can throw a way more epic birthday party than she can."

Sydney and Alisha were both throwing basketballs into a small basketball hoop in front of them. Several tickets came out of a machine, and a happy looking Alisha then said, "Yay! We got seven tickets!" Then Sydney saw Monica nearby with her daughter standing next to her who said, "Wow mom. We just for seventy five tickets! You're the best." An angry looking Sydney then grabbed Alisha's hand and said, "Come on baby. We're gonna win some big tickets today!" Then Sydney and Alisha stepped into a tube together, A wind machine turned on and tickets started flying all around them. Sydney then started grabbing tons of tickets and put them in her pockets as she said, "Yes! More tickets! Grab as many tickets as you can baby! Yes!" Then when the wind was turned off, Sydney looked down and said, "How many tickets you got?" Then a happy looking Alisha held up two tickets and said, "I got two tickets mommy. I'm good at this game." Then Sydney looked away and saw Monica with her daughter walking away from another game, as Monica said, "Good job honey. You just scored us another fifty tickets." Then Sydney took Alisha's hand and said, "Come on baby. We got some more serious gaming to do."

As food was being served around a table: Olive, Emmy, and Sophia sat together talking. Sydney and Alisha then walked into the room as an excited looking Alisha then said, "Mom, that was so cool! You wacked those moles like no one has ever wacked before!" Then Sydney held out a plastic bag as she said, "Well, we wound up getting 750 tickets before noon. So I call that a victory." Then Monica walked into the rooom carrying two large trash bags full of tickets, as her daughter said, "Wow mom. Over twenty thousand tickets! You're awesome!" Then a suddenly furious Sydney under her breath said, "Are you kidding me?" Then Olive, Emmy and Sophia all noticed Sydney seemed angry and walked over to her. Olive put a hand on Sydney's shoulder and said, "You okay Syd?" Then Sydney looked ay an empty stage near her and said, "Wait. I have an idea. Miss Monica Thompson might have some better game, but we can put on a better show. Sophia, there's a big costume and clothing store right next door, right?" Sophia nodded her head and said, "Yeah." Sydney smirked as she said, "Good. Cause we need to buy some new clothes immediately."

Many children and adults were eating lunch in the retro arcade party room. Then suddenly the lights were dimmed, as Sydney's voice could be heard over the speakers saying, "Okay everybody. Prepare yourselves to see this party get more spiced up by the best girls who know how to spice things up." Then suddenly a curtain was pulled and Sydney, Olive, Emmy, and Sophia appeared on the stage standing on a wide stair case. Sydney had her hair more curly and was wearing a green tank top and black pants, while Sopia had on an orange tank top and bluepants, while Emmy wore a glittering gold tank top with purple shorts, while Olive wore a sleeveless low cut white dress while having her hair in two ponytails.

Then with determination in her face Sydney yelled, "Yo, tell me what you want. What you really, really want." Then Emmy sang, "So tell me what you want. What you really, really want." Then Sydney sang, "I'll tell you what I want. What I really, really want." Then Emmy sang, "So tell me what you want. What you really, really want." Then Sydney sang, "I wanna really, really, really say happy birthday to Alisha, yeah!" Then Sophia started walking around the stage as she sang, "If you want my future, forget my past." Then a smiling Olive walked around the stage as she sang, "If you want to get with me, better make it fast." Then a happy looking Sydney sang, "Now don't go wasting my precious time." Then Sophia held out her arms as she said, "Get your act together we could be just fine." Then Sydney sang, "I'll tell you what I want. What I really, really want." Then Emmy sang, "So tell me what you want. What you really, really want." Then Sydney sang, "I wanna really, really, really say happy birthday to Alisha, yeah!" Then all four women got onto the stairs again as they danced and sang together, "If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends. Make it last forever. Friendship never ends. If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give. Taking is too easy but that's the way it is."

Then as the song and dance continued, many people in the room began to cheer and clap, as Alisha jumped up and yelled, "My mom and aunts are the coolest ever!" Eventually the song and dance number ended, as there was a nice round of applause. Monica then stood up with a microphone in her hand as she said, "Thank you for that Sydney. That was a wonderful warm up act. But now that we've been entertained by a nice cover group, I'd like to introduce a real musical group I booked just for my little's girl birhtday party. The real actual... Backstreet Boys!" Everyone then suddenly cheered and screamed incredibly loud, as the actual famous boy band came onto the stage. An incredibly annoyed Sydney then saw them take center stage as she said, "Oh come on!" Then as Sydney walked away, a smiling Emmy said, "Oh my gosh. It's all of the names on my hall pass." Olive then grabbed Emmy's hand and dragged her away as she said, "Oh no. I'm not letting anyone take my girl away from me." Then as Olive dragged Emmy away with a firm grip, a dissapointed looking Emmy said, "But... but we can share them."

Sydney, Olive, Emmy and Sophia were sitting around a table looking at a floor plan of the retro arcade. As Sydney was pointing to different parts of the arcade as she said, "So if you three stand at these different points, you can keep an eye on Monica and cause the games she's starting to win to inconveniently lose power for a second, causing her to not gain tickets. Meanwhile, text me which games have been giving out higher ticket counts on average, and I'll make sure me and Alisha hit those ones and..." Then suddenly the four heard Harry's voice say, "What in the world are you four doing!?" Sydney turned around and saw Harry right behind her. As Sydney tried to cover up her floor plan, she said, "Well, I... uh..." Then Harry looking annoyed said, "You four are acting like this is war, but it's not. This is a party for six year olds!"

Then Sydney looking guilty said, "Yeah but... it's our daughter's big day Harry, and Monica Thompson is trying to take it from us." Then Harry sighed and said, "Sydney... it's her daughter's big day too. Sure, it's not completely ideal for us all to share our kids' birthday parties. But it's better if we be polite and just play a small part in making Monica and her kids' day better, versus playing a major part in tearing it down. Now if you excuse me, I'm actually gonna spend time with our daughter on her birthday." Then Harry walked away as Sydney had a guilty look on her face.

Monica stood at the prize counter of the arcade as she said, "What do you mean I'm short on ticketss?" A man standing behind the prize counter said, "Sorry m'am, but you're 300 tickets short." Monica looking frantic said, "But that's 300 tickets short of a prize that's worth 30 thousand. Can't you just give it to me? You're about to close, and it's my daughter's birthday today, and she said she wanted that giant stuffed bear more than any other presents she had already has." Then Sydney from nearby walked over to Monica with tickets in her hand as she said, "Here. You can have my tickets." Monica looking surprised said, "What?" Sydney shrugged and said, "Hey. Us moms have to help each other out." Monica smiled as she said, "Thank you Sydney." Monica then got her prize, and walked away with it.

Sydney sighed as Harry walked over to Sydney. Sydney realizing Harry had just seen everything, rolled her eyes and said, "Go ahead. Tell me I was wrong, and you were so right." Harry smiled as he said, "We're not in a competition Sydney. When you do better, our whole family does better. And speaking of our family..." Then from nearby Alisha ran over to Sydney and excitedly said, "Mom, mom, mom! Jenny's mom recorded you singing and just shared it online! People at school are gonna think I'm so cool because my mom is a super pop star!" Then from nearby Olive, Emmy, and Sophia walked over to the three as Olive held out her phone and said, "Seriously, our performance got three thousand views in just one afternoon." Sophia looking pleased, then said, "We may not be the Backsteet Boys, but we made our part of the party today pretty epic." Then a smiling Emmy said, "And Oive convinced me we should wear our dance outfits to bed tonight for some fun role-playing." Olive then hit Emmy in her side and said, "Emmy, we've talked about sharing too much information." Emmy then with a straight forward tone said, "What? They all already know you dress up as Nick Carter for me on my birthday." Then Olive groaned in frustration as she said, "Lets just go home now!" An excited Emmy followed Olive though as she said, "Oh yeah! Let's go home."

*The Present:

As Alisha sat in front of Sydney she said, "I remember that day. That was like the coolest birthday ever. It was so much fun. I couldn't tell you were frustrated that day. I just had a good time." Sydney smirked as she said, "Well I would've had an even better time if I hadn't spent so much time focused on how much of a better parent I looked like compared to someone else, when I should've just focused on being the best I could be to you. But anyway Alisha, just like I shouldn't have tried to mess with a fellow parent, you can't mess with your fellow team-mates. When one of us suffers, the whole community suffers. It's better to play a small part in helping people, rather than make a big impact at tearing down others." Alisha got up and said, "You're right mom. Anyway, I should get ready for school tomorrow." Alisha then walked out of the room, as Sydney remained where she was and smiled. Then after a moment, Alisha stuck her head back into the room and said, "Oh. You realize the girl I was talking about earlier... that's Monica Thompson's daughter." Sydney suddenly looked surprised and slightly angry for a second. Then Sydney took a deep breath and said, "Monica's Thompson's daughter you say? Well... she's still your team mate and you should still be kind to her... but lets avoid inviting her to any future birthday parties of yours."

THE END