Disclaimer: Do not own Ant Farm

Chapter 15

Chyna was going crazy by the day of the wedding reception. She felt thinly stretched, between hanging out with Fletcher to keep him from seeing Janice, to avoiding Lexi and Paisley who she kept almost randomly bumping into at random corners, to trying and divide her time between the Ants and Olive, whom Skidmore wouldn't let out of her sight.

There was also Cameron, who kept bugging her to talk with Maddie. Maddie was good friends with London, so he figured, with enough convincing, she would be able to get the famous heiress to meet with Cameron.

Chyna wanted to be nice, so she kept trying to meet with Maddie. But it turned out that Maddie was a very busy girl. She was very hard to find, and Chyna could never reach Maddie by phone. In a hotel as large as the Tokyo Tipton, it was a tall order to find the blonde.

And throughout the whole time looking for Maddie, she would bump into random hotel-goers who happened to know who she was.

"Oh! You're the girl that performed the Toriyama wedding!" They'd exclaim. If not that, they'd chatter excitedly in loud Japanese to her, of which she didn't understand a single thing. But it was all the same.

None of them would leave her alone until she performed an impromptu musical performance; sometimes they'd pester her to perform at their wedding, which was in a few hours.

She did three weddings so far. And she was sure if she didn't leave soon, she'd have to do more.

It never ended! She didn't know going on vacation was so exhausting!

It was bright and early still; it was going to be hours before she'd have to think to dress for the reception. But her eyes were already twitching, and she had a tic that made her right shoulder shoot up randomly every now and then.

She didn't want to look in the mirror, but she'd imagine that she had dark bags under her eyes. Not exactly the perfect picture of health to show Daddy when she came back home.

She lumbered along the hallway now, not exactly searching very hard for Maddie. It was more like random walking and hoping that she'd bump into her. If not, then it was just too bad for Cameron.

She made to turn the corner when two girls nearly took her head off. They were walking so fast.

Normally, she would've had good enough reflexes to balance herself after the near collision and continue right on walking. This time, she slipped and fell because she was tired to the bone.

The taller girl stopped and turned. She gasped. "Oh my god, Chyna! What are you doing here?" She walked right over to help Chyna up.

It was Paisley. "Are you all right?" She asked sweetly.

Chyna nodded tiredly. "Yea, I am. Thanks."

Paisley seemed to remember something. It took a few seconds for her to work it out, but then she looked to her friend who stood coolly as she watched the whole spectacle, "Oh! Right! Sorry, this is my friend—"

"Janice," Chyna finished for her.

"Oh wow!" Paisley's face lit up in wonder. "That's right! Chyna, are you a psychic?" She asked innocently.

Chyna laughed. "No, Paisley. We've met."

Janice was still eyeing the whole accidental meeting with a cool look.

Chyna was wondering to herself how much Janice was working out.

"Oh wow! You know each other! That is so cool! Chyna, you've got to hang out with Janice, me and Lexi. It'll be lots of fun!"

Alarm bells rang out in Chyna's head. She took hold of Paisley's shoulders with both hands. "No, Paisley. That's a bad idea. Very bad idea."

Lexi was genuinely confused. "Why would it be?"

Finally, Janice spoke. "It's a great idea, actually. We're all going to be at tonight's wedding reception. It's supposed to be the biggest gala this hotel has ever seen. You're coming. Aren't you, Chyna?" She raised a single eyebrow at Chyna, as if to dare her to say no.

Chyna sighed. She felt like she was being cornered. "Sure, of course, why wouldn't I go?" She said.

Janice nodded as if to say I thought so. "Paisley, I'm wondering if Chyna and I could have a few words in private."

Paisley looked to Janice. She didn't see why not. "Ok," she said brightly and walked off to leave the two alone.

After Paisley left, Janice's voice took a whole different tone. "So I see you know Paisley, AND Lexi. Small world. And tonight, it's going to get all the smaller."

Chyna smiled and took a deep breath. "Ok, maybe we can work something out. See, my friends and I are here on vacation, only we're not supposed to be. If Lexi finds out, it's going to be major trouble for us."

Janice looked like she had expected everything that Chyna just said.

"I'll invite Fletcher to the reception," Chyna continued, "but you got to promise to keep Lexi away. Please," she added the last word after a second.

Janice's smile bristled Chyna. "Ok, I think I can manage that."

Janice's promise did not convince Chyna, but it's not like she could've done anything about it. The ball was completely in Janice's court. If Chyna had said no, then what would've stopped Janice from spilling the beans to Lexi, right now?

So Chyna made up her mind. She definitely had to tell Fletcher, and while at it, she might as well invite the rest of the Ant Farm crew. She had no idea how much longer they were all going to stay in Japan. And the reception did sound like the party to be at.

She made her way for the West Wing to tell her friends, when she heard excited voices call for her. She looked. Oh joy, she thought sarcastically. More of her new fans that wanted her to take a picture with them, or maybe sing for them, or play the piano at weddings…

Her friends were just going to have to wait.