To someone out of the rock business, Tripp's statement of whether or not accept Tatiana in the band, would've sounded pretty crazy. 'She fought with them, why would they still want her in their band?' people would ask…but in the music business, it's different. It didn't matter if, at first, a new member would not get along with one or more band mates, because it was known that once the new coming person is talented and has what he needs, in time he would get along well with the others. Many rock bands had similar situations, so Tripp's argument wasn't crazy at all.
Derek, Burger and Ash took a good look at Tatiana, who was just staring back at them after taking a new piece of gum and began chewing it, and then Derek motioned to the rest of the boys to gather around him so they could talk in silence. After about two minutes in which the guys were whispering and a few of Ash's stupid remarks were turned down by Derek smacking him across the head annoyed, Tatiana got bored of waiting for them and said getting between them and breaking them apart.
"Oh, c'mon guys…is this decision so hard?" she asked, but because she didn't get any answer, she continued "The answer was 'no', because it's not! I mean why wouldn't you want me in the band?" she began cockily "I'm talented…obviously! I'm pretty…obviously! I'm modest…"
"Obviously…" Derek, Burger and Ash said in one voice annoyed by the girl's behavior.
"There's no reason why you shouldn't want me…So c'mon Tripp tell me that I'm in the band and let's go talk to the owners of that house for rent!" Tatiana added full of confidence looking down at the teen.
"Actually Tatiana…it's not my decision…it's his!" Tripp said pointing to Derek who was standing right behind the girl.
Tatiana turned to face Derek who was staring back at her in an extremely irritated and superior way. With the corner of his eye he could notice Ash and Burger, who were standing behind Tripp, shaking their heads and mouthing 'no, no, no' all the time. Even though Derek didn't like her at all, he had to admit that Tatiana was a pretty good singer, but he still didn't want her in the band for the audacity she was showing. But knowing that Tripp wouldn't accept the fact that the girl won't be let to join the band only because of her personality, Derek came up with another idea. After the two spit-fire personalities stared each other in the eyes for a few moments, Derek looked to Tripp and said:
"She's under probation"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tatiana asked cocking an eyebrow.
"This means that if you make even one mistake…and I mean just one little, tiny mistake during this probation period, you'll pack your bags, book a ticket to the soonest plane and head back to the Carpathians!" explained Derek.
"Cool…" she said after popping another bubble with her chewing gum "Looks like I'm in Iron Weasel now!" she said turning to Tripp "Let's go talk to the owners of that house Tripp!"
"I mean it!" said Derek in a cold, icy tone that made the young woman turn to face him once again "One mistake and you're out!"
"Got it sweetheart! Let's go Tripp!"
"Ok, but before we go…" said the teen grabbing a long, loose, grey coat from the pile of clothes next to the washing machine "I'll think you want to put this on!" he added holding it in front of the woman.
"Don't worry! It is mum's so it's clean!" Tripp said when noticing that Tatiana began sniffing the coat a little.
"Okay then…" she said while taking the cloth and putting it on her shoulders "Let's go!"
"No…wait!" Tripp added before starting to button up the woman's coat till every part of her body was covered except for the hands and head "There! Now we can go!"
Tatiana then reached for the top buttons so she could unlock them and leave at least her chest at sight.
"NO!" Tripp said desperately while grabbing her hands.
"It's ok, Tripp, I'm not cold" Tatiana said.
"Yeah, I know! But Mr. Johnson has heart disease…If you get what I'm trying to tell you" explained the boy.
"Oh…"
"Let's go!" said Tripp opening the door of the garage for Tatiana.
"Tripp…" Derek called out in a very serious tone when Tatiana was out the door and out of his sight "One mistake…and she's out!" The teen nodded his head and exited, closing the door behind him.
"Dude, why did you do that?" asked Burger upset.
"Now we'll never get rid of her and she'll put us clean the entire house, bro…Why didn't you just tell her she can't join the band?" also added Ash in the same manner.
"Relax guys…" said Derek throwing himself on the couch and putting his hands under his head relaxed "There's no way she'll resist more than a week! She'll be out here in no time after she knows us Weasels better…"
"Yeah…" Burger and Ash agreed happily, sitting back on the couch next to the lead singer.
"And besides that, I'll make sure she messes something up before the week is out!" he added confident and with an evil smirk plastered on his face.
A dead silence then fell over the garage, the three men all sitting back on the couch to rest for a little while.
"So…what do we do now?" asked Burger bored.
"I know…" Ash began "how about we trash back the place the way it was!"
"Yeah!" the two agreed in unison.
After talking to the two owners and seeing the house inside, Tatiana decided that it was satisfactory. It was already furnished with everything one would need, and that made Tatiana really happy, knowing that she wouldn't have the money to buy stuff for the house. She couldn't tell if the rent was too expensive or too cheap, being totally new with American dollars, but thanks to Tripp who came with her, she understood that it was quite a decent amount of money. After a long while of talking, in which the owners told Tatiana a few ground rules and explained her how the appliances worked in the house, the Johnson couple agreed for her to be their tenant, considering her a very decent looking person (thanks to Tripp's disguise of course), and gave her the keys.
Afterwards, Tatiana and asked Tripp to take her to a supermarket from which she could buy herself a few things for her new home, such as groceries, toiletries and cleaning products. They also stopped at a small boutique from which Tat bought herself a short skirt which she started wearing right away. When they returned at the young woman's new house, she remembered that her luggage was at Tripp's place, so she crossed the street with the teen to retrieve it. It was late dusk.
"We're back guys!" said Tripp as he entered the house followed by Tatiana.
"Shh…" the three rockers said from the living room where they were sitting comfortably on the sofa, watching their favorite TV show and not wanting their attention to be taken away from it.
"Ok, I got it!" said Tatiana who quickly entered the dining room, where her luggage was standing, and grabbed it.
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then Tat…' whispered Tripp in order to not disturb his friends once more.
"Yeah" she smiled stopping in front of the teen "If you need anymore help with your Weasel friends I'm right across the street!"
"Well actually…" the teen began "there's a show tonight I've been waiting to watch for a long time and…"
"And you want them to get away from the TV…" Tatiana assumed and Tripp nodded "Ok then…" she added dropping her luggage to the floor, which landed with a noisy thud.
"Shh…" the three once again said in unison, motioning with their hands.
"It's late!" she said loudly descending from the stairs next to the doorway and walking closer to the couch "You three should go to bed…Right now!"
"Yeah sure…" said Burger sarcastically while the Derek and Ash chuckled a bit.
"BED! NOW!" she yelled from behind Burger which made him scamper off scared to the bath, so he can brush his teeth before sleeping.
After watching Burger running off, Tatiana shot Ash, who was sitting on the opposite side of the couch, a fierce glare which also made him run away to get ready for bed. She then looked over at Derek, who was staying in the middle, who just gazed back at her with his usual arrogance and placed his feet on the small coffee table, signaling that he's not impressed by her glare.
Tatiana the came up with another plan: She walked past the couch to the coffee table and grabbed a random magazine.
"Do you mind if I sit down next to you?" she asked smiling.
"What do you think?" he replied sarcastically, removing his legs from the table and placing them on the couch so that he would occupy all the free space.
"…Yes?" she responded before going to the couch and sitting down in Derek's lap, knowing that that would surely make him want to move his legs.
And it did: she didn't even get to sit for two seconds for he immediately took his feet from the couch and placed them back on the coffee table, disgusted. Tatiana, who was kind of forced to get back on her feet through Derek's movement, sat back down next to him afterwards and the lead singer moved a bit to make a little space between them, saying annoyed:
"This is harassment, you know! I could press charges madam!"
"What, why?" she asked trying to look surprised "I'm not harassing you Derek. I'm just trying to read this article about…" she stopped to think a little after she opened the magazine at a random page "…sleep deprivation!" she made up.
Derek looked like he didn't care, watching the show that was on TV and fully ignoring the girl next to him. So Tatiana began pretending to read, while she was inventing by the moment, taking glances from time to time at Derek.
"Experts say that sleep deprivation is the number one reason of brain alteration, and if we stay on the computer or watch TV at night instead of sleeping it can get much worse" she stopped a bit to look with the corner of her eye at Derek "The consequences for spending a big amount of time watching TV during the night are: premature aging, yellowing of the teeth" she stopped to take another glance at Derek who seemed, even though he didn't take his eyes away from the TV, to listen carefully at what she was 'reading', a bit concerned "massive wrinkling and even…hair loss!" she then closed the magazine and looked at the now obviously scared man next to her.
"Hmm…Who would've thought Derek?" she asked in a manner so the man could think she was pretty surprised of what she 'read'.
"Oh…wait a second…" said Derek after a few moments of silence "How could I not realize till now? This show is a re-run!" he stated turning off the TV "Oh…and it's so late!" he yawned a bit "I'm going to sleep right now!"
Derek then went to bed convinced that he made Tatiana believe every word that he had said. But it was painfully obvious for both Tat and Tripp that the only reason why he left was because he was afraid of the 'yellow teeth, wrinkles and hair loss".
"Tell him how to stay young forever and you have him wrapped around your finger!" she said looking at Tripp smiling.
"Well…thanks!" Tripp said heading to sit on the couch.
"Don't mention it!" she replied getting up to her feet and pulling her skirt lower a bit, for it rose when she sat down "I'm off! See ya' tomorrow!"
"Bye!" Tripp responded turning on the TV.
When she wanted to exit through the door, something stopped Tat in her tracks. She could hear noise from the guest room where the boys were sleeping. She rolled her eyes and headed to the room.
"I'll go check on the guys!" she said.
"Yeah…I think you should!" Tripp agreed, also bothered of the noise.
When she opened the door, Tatiana found the guys in their beds, all dressed in their pajamas and ready for sleep, only that they didn't look like they wanted to go to sleep any soon, for they were chatting and laughing. When noticing the young woman, they all stopped, their smiles fading from their faces immediately and Derek said cocking his eyebrow:
"A woman must knock before entering a gentleman's room" he said referring to himself exclusively.
"Yes, it's true, but I see no gentleman" she said walking deeper in the room "Why aren't you three sleeping?"
"Oh c'mon Tat…we're not sleepy!" explained Burger.
"Yeah, and after a day of trashing back the garage we're like to pumped up to sleep" Ash added.
"Ash!" Derek and Burger shouted from underneath, enraged by their friend's stupidity.
"You what?" Tatiana whispered in shock before closing her eyes and rubbing her temples "Oh my goodness…" after just one day, Tat was tired dead by the three.
While Burger and Derek started arguing with Ash, Tatiana pulled herself together and went to cover Derek with his blanket singing, which made the three silent:
"Hush my little weasels, that's what I'd like,
Tat's gonna buy you a brand new mic!"
The moment Derek heard that Tat would 'buy' him a mic, he placed his head on his pillow in silence, and after she finished covering him, Tatiana climbed up a bit to cover Burger with his blanket as well, while singing:
"And if it turns out that you can't sing,
Tat's gonna drive you to Burger King!"
Burger was also happy with what Tat promised she'd do, so he rested his head on his pillow. Afterwards, the girl climbed even higher, to cover Ash, and sang:
"And if you like nothing till now
Tat's gonna buy you a…" she stopped to think a little what she would get Ash "…flying cow!"
She improvised having no idea what Ash would like, but when noticing that he was also happy and silent, Tatiana breathed with ease. She wanted to step down, but when doing so, she noticed that Derek was peeking a little under her skirt, so she added one more verse from where she was standing:
"And if you want me not to cuss, hit or hurt
Then you'd better stop looking under my skirt!"
Derek then placed his head back in the pillow quickly and pretended that he was asleep, so that Tatiana wouldn't do any of the things she had mentioned in her songs. She then stepped down and headed to the door silently.
"Good night!" she whispered before shutting the door, but she was stopped from doing so by the three rockers sitting up, and asking one by one, revolted:
"Hey! Where's my mic?"
"When are you driving me to Burger King?"
"Where's my flying cow?"
"I SAID GOOD NIGHT!" Tatiana yelled out madly, scaring the three and making them get back in their sheets quickly.
She then closed the door quietly to let the three rockers rest after one surprising day.
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