After taking a quick dose of Aspirin to take care of my Rhenda-Related headache, I ran to my room to get dressed. After all, I probably didn't want to go meet the boys wearing my silky bunny pajamas and matching slippers. I decided on a mid-thigh-length pink skirt with a wooly pink-and-purple-striped, sleeveless turtleneck top. As I slipped on my favorite white Two and Three-Quarter-Inch-Heel pumps, I ran a comb through my hair.

"Dangit!" I exclaimed as my hair stuck up in all directions. I put some water over the unruly, static-y strands, but my thick, blonde hair didn't usually behave…even when wet. I groaned and swept it all back into a ponytail. Okay. That looked even more demented than the first try. I let it all back down and attempted to tie up the loose strands in a ponytail over the rest of my hair. Nope. That looked stupid. Finally, I just gave up and tied a white bandana over my hair and looked hopefully into the mirror.

"Not bad," Rhenda smirked from my doorway.

"I don't want to hear a word from you, missy," I growled, pointing my comb at Rhenda as if it were a lethal weapon. "You are the one who got me into this." Rhenda shrugged.

"Just helping out," she laughed over her shoulder as she walked away.

"Yeah! GREAT JOB ON THAT!" I shouted after her.

(-)(-)(-)

After driving to the park, I parked in the empty lot and climbed out of the car. I scouted around for the boys.

"BOO!" someone shouted behind me. I screamed and jumped around to see my attacker.

"God, guys! Don't do that," I groaned, letting out all my breath.

"Sorry, Reggina," Peter apologized.

"No. It's okay. Rhenda does that to me all the time," I laughed, still out of breath.

"Relax, Peter," Davy grinned. "Besides, you can't take the blame for Micky's idea, now can you?" Micky stiffened up. I looked at him and smiled.

"Your idea, huh?" I giggled. "Pretty well planned." Micky grinned at me, but didn't say anything. I pulled Mike aside. Out of all the guys, I felt the most comfortable talking to him. "Does he talk?"

"Who? Micky?" Mike asked. I nodded. "Oh yeah! Sure! In fact, he sings all the time in our band!"

"So he's not a mute?"

"Nah! He's just feeling awkward about hanging out with you. He really…admires you," Mike said, choosing his words very carefully.

"'Admires' me, huh?" I smirked.

"Yup," Mike shrugged. We walked back over to the others.

"So what do you have in mind for today?" I asked, cocking my head. Micky looked like he really wanted to say something, but was keeping it all in. I shrugged it off.

"Well, considering it's a park, we figured we'd do park things," Davy smarted off. Every time that British boy opened his mouth, I had the strange feeling that he was making fun of me or doing something else to make me look stupid. I didn't much care for it.

"Like what?" I returned sassily. Davy pointed off to a playground situated by a duck pond.

"Brought some bread," Peter grinned, cradling a loaf of whole wheat bread in his arms.

"Why whole wheat?" I asked.

"Don't want the ducks to get fat," Peter explained. I nodded in understanding. Micky was already starting to bolt off toward the playground where he promptly disappeared. Davy went running after him. Peter shot off to the duck pond and began throwing little bits of bread into the water. Mike was the only one who stayed behind to walk with me.

"So how long have you been singing at the bar?" he asked as we strode down the well-kept green hill.

"Gosh…I don't know. Maybe about…four years?" I guessed.

"Long time," Mike sighed. "I don't think the guys and I have been playing for that long."

"Do you guys have a band?"

"Yeah. We're called 'The Monkees.'" I giggled behind my hand. "What?" he asked.

"Seems appropriate," I smirked teasingly. Mike raised an eyebrow at me before chuckling a little.

"You're good," he smiled. "I almost didn't catch that." I laughed too. I had a feeling that Mike was kind of like the brother I never had…thank God. If I ever had another sibling like Rhenda, the whole world would be in trouble. Just as I was about to make another remark, there was a high-pitched scream from the playground. Mike closed his eyes and looked pained.

"What was that?" I asked in shock.

"Micky," Mike groaned. He ran off to find the source of the scream. Not wanting to be left alone, I ran after him. I turned a corner to find... Micky was stuck in the swings. The seat part of the swings was wrapped around his stomach and the chains were tangled around him, tying him to the post keeping the swings up. The most unbelievable part of this whole sight was the fact that Micky was upside-down.

"How'd you get yourself into this?" Davy asked, laughing. Micky looked up at him helplessly. Mike ran over and began tugging at the chains.

"Man! You're stuck in there pretty tight, Mick," he exclaimed. Peter, who was now noticing the scene from the duck pond, yelled out something about pulling the seat. I reached out and gave the seat a stiff yank.

Before I knew what was going on, I too was stuck up against the pole. I had no idea how I got there or how I was going to get down. All I knew is that I was so close to Micky that there wasn't an atom of space between us…and that there was a draft. I knew I shouldn't have worn a short skirt!

"Whoohoo!" Davy hooted. He was laughing so hard that this came out choppy and loud. Mike was trying to hold in his laughter by holding his hand to his mouth, but he was still smirking. Peter ran up, out of breath.

"I told you…not to…pull…the seat," he panted. If my arms had been free, I would've smacked my forehead. I wriggled instead. "Don't do that!" Peter exclaimed. "That'll just make it worse."

"And how do you know this?" I asked, irritation creeping into my voice.

"You have no idea how many times this happened to me as a kid," Peter grimaced. "I wasn't the most popular swinger in school." Peter set to work untangling the chains. I was still vividly aware of my now-showing underwear…and the two pairs of eyes that were staring at them.

"Mike, Davy," I whined imploringly. "Please stop staring! I'm embarrassed enough without knowing I gave a really good show today." Davy laughed, but Mike turned away to look at the ducks. "Thank you, Mike," I breathed. Mike looked over at Davy and smacked him in the arm.

"Owww!" Davy complained. "What?" Mike grabbed Davy's shoulder and turned him around to look at the pond. "Oh," Davy shrugged simply.

It wasn't long before Peter had Micky untangled. He fell to the sand with a THUD. Micky got up and dusted himself off before taking notice that my underwear was showing. He whistled and turned away. Peter untangled me and helped me back onto my feet. I smoothed out my skirt, blushing like a tomato with sunburn.

"There you go," Peter smiled. It seemed like he didn't even notice my "little show." If he did, he sure didn't show it. "How does that feel?"

"Like I'm Alice back from Wonderland," I sighed in relief. Davy started laughing again.

"More like Alice back from Underland," Davy chuckled. Mike slapped him in the arm and Davy silenced himself. I looked over to see that Micky was insanely blushing too. He smiled at me apologetically.

"You okay?" I asked quietly. Micky looked like a deer caught in headlights: panicked, yet hypnotized at the same time. He nodded his head before turning away and grabbing Davy. They ran off somewhere, probably to talk about the latest ordeal.

"Mike, that was so embarrassing," I whimpered, running over to him. He put his arm around me.

"It's okay, Reggina," he mumbled. "Tomorrow, I'm sure that no one will remember it…Okay. Maybe Davy will." My face paled. "But, I'm sure it'll only be a vague memory," Mike said hurriedly.

"Y-Yeah," I stuttered, not quite sure what to believe. After all, I had only met the boys last night. How was I supposed to know how they remembered things?