Yay we had a good amount of reviews after the last update. :P Glad to see you guys are enjoying the story.
Thank you Classic Vision, StillSomeone, jhwlgh, Mia for reviewing.
VintageVixen66: So I know the name Vito was only mentioned once in the series, however I'm not so sure that there was a name change. Vito was mentioned in a season 4 episode; "Prince Randall" Before that Joey had been mentioned several times, to change the name after so many mentions seems kinda odd. But who really knows. I personally like the idea of her having two brothers because The Spinelli's are Italian and I can picture them being the stereotypical Big, loud, close-knit Italian family. Anyways that's just my opinion. I hope that despite our differences you enjoy the story anyway. :)
"Mom, Dad! I'm heading out!" Mikey shouted from the front door of his home.
"Oh Mikey! Hold on a second!" Mrs. Blumberg poked her head out of her bedroom. "I almost forgot, you got a few things in the mail today."
She pointed to the kitchen, Mikey's face lit up and he ran back inside to the table which held a stack of five thick envelopes addressed to him.
His mother handed him a letter opener and stood quietly behind him. "Come on open it!"
Mr. Blumberg embraced his wife and looked at his son proudly. Well what're you waiting for?"
Mikey tore the first envelope open and pulled out the contents. He chomped on his nails while reading the material. After skimming through the first page he placed the envelope back on the table and picked up the next envelope and repeated the procedure again and again. After finishing through the contents of the third envelope he dropped everything.
His father looked over at his mother looking for an explanation, she just shrugged. They stood by idly waiting for good news, bad news, any news at all, but instead Mikey excused himself citing that he was going to be late for the dance.
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"HEY MIKEY!"
He heard someone shouting his name and turned around to find Vince chasing after him.
"Hey nice costume man, very festive." Vince admired the details of Mikey's Michigan J. Frog costume.
He bowed and tipped his hat to Vince. "Why thank you old chap. The original intent behind the costume was celebrate the success of the protest, but now it holds a different statement. Now it says you can't keep us down! The cause lives on just like stolen frogs!"
"Awww yeah that's the spirit man!" Vince high-fived Mikey. "Nobody can keep you down big guy!"
"So who are you supposed to be?
Vince opened his mouth in shock. He was about to explain to Mikey which professional basketball team mascot he was dressed up as but stopped when he saw Gus get dropped off in the school parking lot. Gus stepped... errrr tripped out of a long black Hummer SUV with tinted windows and chrome rims. Another passenger slammed the door shut on Gus and the driver sped off.
Mikey and Vince exchanged confused glances. "When did Gus's parents get such a tricked out ride?"
"HEY MIKEY!"
Mikey turned to see Tj and Spinelli running up to him. "Uh-oh."
"What's wrong? I thought you guys were good now?"
"Well I didn't actually forgive them."
"Are you going to be okay? Want me to tell them to leave you alone?"
"Shhh No I'll deal with them." Mikey whispered as Tj and Spinelli reached them. "Oh hi guys." He said shyly, avoiding eye contact.
"How are you doing big guy?" Tj gave him a quick pat on the back.
"Ummm I'm fine I guess." He wasn't quite sure what to say to them so he looked down and pretended to be really interested in his shoes.
Thinking that the big guy was just day dreaming about Winger Dingers, Tj tried to bring him back from his daze by waving a hand in front of his face. "So what was that trip to the Principal's office about? Is everything okay?"
Mikey looked over at Vince hoping for an answer or advice but Vince too was pretending to be preoccupied by drawing some football plays into the dirt with a twig.
Spinelli took note of her former friends awkward behavior and realized what they were doing. "You're still mad at us aren't you?"
Mikey looked back down at his feet and rubbed the back of his neck. Vince stopped his drawing and turned to Mikey. "Come on we're supposed to catch up with Gretchen at her locker."
Mikey simply nodded and followed Vince, leaving Tj and Spinelli alone and dumbfounded.
"This is ridiculous! How is he still mad at us?" Tj shouted once they were out of earshot.
"Seriously!" Spinelli kicked Vince's dirt drawing erasing his plays. "We were the biggest supporters of his protest and we did all that work for him! How could he possibly hate us?"
"Oooh do I smell trouble in paradise?" Randall snickered as he snuck up from behind slightly startling the friends.
Spinelli lunged towards him. "You're not going to be able to smell anything when I'm through with you!" Madame Fist was locked, loaded, and aimed at the snitch's nose but Tj caught her before she could make contact.
"Spinelli stop let's just go inside and enjoy ourselves. We'll worry about the gang later." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her towards the Gym. "Tonight is just about the two of us."
Spinelli shot Randall a terrifying death stare, but quickly calmed down as her friend embraced her and pulled her away.
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"So... uh... why are you still mad at them?" Vince asked Mikey as they walked away from their ex-best friends.
Mikey shrugged and sighed. "I don't know. I was starting to forgive them. They seemed to have been trying hard to win back my trust, and they did almost have it."
"So what changed?
"Nothing changed... Except well... I finally started to get responses to the performance art schools that I applied to."
"Mikey that's great! Congrats! Which school..."
"I didn't get in." Mikey cut him off.
Vince stopped dead in his tracks. "Whaaaa?"
Mikey sighed and nodded his head and continued towards the school until Vince pulled him to a halt and into a brief man hug.
"Thanks."
The two reached the entrance to the school and realized they were late to meet up with Gretchen.
"It's fine guys, really I was reviewing a few formulas in my head anyways."
"Oh man..." Vince turned to Mikey with a large grin. "My brother Chad says that when girls say 'It's fine', it really means 'you're going to regret not wearing a cup today.'"
Even Gretchen couldn't help but laugh at this.
"Shoot I started leaving my cup at home when I stopped being friends with Spinelli." Gus announced when he arrived, receiving another round of laughter from the gang.
Hey Gus glad you made it." Vince wanted to confront Gus about his mysterious ride to the dance, but he still had some unfinished business with Mikey. While Gretchen and Gus went to get some punch, he pulled Mikey off to the side of the Gymnasium.
"My permanent record seemed to have scared them off. My recent suspension for cheating on the math test made the admissions office concerned that I'd be a bad gamble."
"I see. I'm really sorry man." Vince sat down on the bleachers. "This school year really whomps."
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"Ew why is Menlo like staring at us?" Ashley B asked her friends as they danced along to their favorite Nsync song.
Ashley A shrugged. While her friends weren't looking she gave Menlo a dirty look alerting him that he is too close to her personal space. He scooted back to be precisely 15 feet away from the Ashleys, once settled in his new position he winked at their leader. Ashley A. rolled her eyes. "Anyone hear from Ashley Q? She's like more than fashionably late."
"She called me from the car. She had a nail emergency, she'll probably be here soon." Ashley T informed them.
"So did you two dig up any dirt from the Tylers or the Brittanys?"
Ashley T. shook her head and Ashley B. apologized. "Were you able to get a hold of the Country Club's sign in sheet Ashley T?"
She bit her lip and hesitantly pulled the records out of her purse.
"Wait just a minute!" Ashley A. shoved her friend and surveyed the area around them. She pulled a tissue from her purse and began to yank at an object sticking out of a rolled up gymnastics mat. "Like get out of here Randall!"
Randall cursed under his breath when his not-so-secret hiding spot was uncovered. While climbing out of the mat it started to unravel under his weight causing him to fall on his face. The face to floor contact created a loud bang drawing the attention of the crowd to him. The DJ stopped spinning and all eyes were on Randall. His peers began to laugh and point, but he was more than used to being publicly humiliated so he just walked it off.
When he thought he was alone his lips curled up into an evil smile and he rubbed his hands together. "This weeks edition of the Spiro T. Ag-news is going to be extra moist."
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Tj and Spinelli sat side by side at the table closest to the snack buffet table for obvious reasons. Quiet moments were rare between the two; They usually always had something to talk or joke about, but tonight they were oddly quiet. They almost seemed shy.
Tj watched Spinelli twirl a lock of hair around her fingers as he thought about what he could do to break the silence.
They haven't spoken since they sat down 15 minutes ago.
"Think of something... Talk about the gang? No that'll upset her... or make her angry I can never tell anymore... Ask about her dance class... nope Mikey is in her dance class can't bring that up... Ask about her brother... nope... cheerleading... nope... Ugh is there any non-touchy subject to talk about?" He looked over and saw the Ashley's dancing together. "We can make fun of the Ashleys' costumes perfect."
He looked over at her again, she was still in a trance. "I have to go to the bathroom." Tj nearly smacked himself when that sentence fell out of his mouth. That was not what he meant to say at all.
Spinelli nodded and pulled at another strand of hair.
"What was that? I finally found something to talk about and I ruined it by excusing my self? And why is she staring at me like that?"
"I thought you had to go to the bathroom?" Spinelli asked.
He realized he was still sitting in his seat and had showed no signs of moving. "Oh yeah, I'll be right back." He stood up and continued to mentally reprimand himself.
"Boys. They're so weird." Spinelli laughed to herself. When Tj was out of sight she pulled out a compact mirror and inspected her reflection. She nervously patted down the flyways in her hair and wiped away the cookie crumbs from her mouth.
"Oh man what am I so nervous for? I'm hanging out with Tj, we've been best friends since Kindergarten. God I sound like a prissy little girl, being all shy when their crush is around. This is like the Jhonny V. thing all over again, apparently I just can't function around boys. Ugh"
She stopped cursing at herself when Tj returned to the table. When he sat down she smiled at him.
"Hey did you see..." Both Spinelli and Tj started to say, they stopped when they noticed each other trying to speak.
"You go first." They said in unison.
They laughed. "I was going to ask; did you get a load of the Ashleys' costumes?" Tj finally spit out.
"That's what I was trying to say!"
"What are they even supposed to be? Ashley A is clearly wearing cat ears but her tail looks like it belongs to a squirrel."
"Ashley T. looks like a cross between a grizzly bear and a penguin."
"I can't even tell what animal hybrid Ashley B. is."
Tj and Spinelli found themselves falling back into their old groove, what did they have to be shy about anyway? The music suddenly stopped and a loud thud gained the attention of the entire gym. Randall seemed to had fallen on his face and the crowd was going wild over the incident.
"Ha serves the little weasel right!"
"I know he's been extra annoying this year. Remember when we came back from our suspension and he tried to get everyone in our math class angry at us?"
"How could I forget! You were about to punch him, I was the one to hold you back."
"Man I'm glad we had witnesses, nobody would ever believe me if I said that Ashley Spinelli stopped a fist fight."
"I have a hard time believing it myself." Spinelli smiled, Tj chuckled.
A Destiny's Child song wraps up, Tj and Spinelli roll their eyes at the sight of the Ashleys cheering for one of their favorite bands. The music fades out and the annoying electronic beats are replaced by an epic guitar solo.
"Alright Metallica!" Spinelli shouted.
"Hey Spinelli..." Tj was now standing in front of her chair.
"Yeah?
Tj gulped. "Do you wanna dance?" He felt heat rise to his face and his heart was pounding. "With me that is."
Spinelli blushed. "Sure Teej."
He took her hands into his, pulled her to her feet and escorted her out to the dance floor.
