Notes
Hello, my little faeries! Sorry for the long wait to post Chapter 2. I had to rewrite some of the stuff and split it into other chapters after watching Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 so I had to make some of the changes.
I do want to say thank everyone for the reviews and faves, I really appreciate it.
Just a little warning for this chapter. There will be some swearing and minor drug use(smoking joints which I believe is a weed). I don't support drug use by the way and keep in mind, it was not uncommon for 80s teens past time(I mean if you watch the 80s movies, you'll defiantly see a lot of teens smoking illegal stuff as well as drug use) and fun fact, I never smoke weed nor do I plan to.
By the way, there will be some cameos and references from other stuff that some of you might get so enjoy this chapter! :3
Chapter 2
Morning came after the alarm woke Michael up as he leaned over lazily to hit it off. He rolled back to his bed and thought back from last night's talk with his father about the concert and the agreement. He can't skip any more classes and save as much money as he can. He also will have to take more shifts, including at the new locations. Michael grumbled at the thought but looked at the Scorpions poster that was hanging over his desk, which made him more determined to keep his word. He got up and dressed before heading downstairs to see his family in the kitchen.
"Good morning, Michael," his father smiled as he was looking up from the newspaper he was reading.
"Morning Dad," said Michael as he walked over to the fridge and opened the freezer. He grabbed a box of Ego Waffles, took a couple of them out, and put them in a toaster. He grabbed some blueberries, butter, syrup, and orange juice.
His two siblings were already eating their breakfast which was waffles with fruits on top (Evan's was sliced bananas while Elizabeth's were blueberries) and orange juice. His Dad is eating eggs and toast along with coffee. The kids finished eating then they got up and left the table to head over to the living room. They turn on the TV so they can watch their favorite Saturday morning cartoons.
Michael grumbled as he headed over to the table to pick up their plates and cups to put them in the dishwasher as their dad didn't trust them enough that they'd drop them and break. He grabbed his plate to get his waffles out of the toaster, poured his orange juice into a cup, and walked to the table where his father was still sitting, reading the paper. Michael added butter, blueberries, and syrup to his waffles then cut it up, eating a huge slice. William looked up from his paper and smiled at his eldest son.
"So, Michael," he said. "Are you doing anything today?"
"Yeah," said Michael. "I'm meeting Jeremy at his place to hang out after breakfast."
"All right," his father said. "I'm taking Elizabeth and Evan to a park today. Don't forget your shift starts at four. I should mention that you are going to have to cover Brendan's shift to wear Fred Bear's costume as he won't be in due to a family emergency."
Michael groaned quietly as he hated wearing the mascot's costume although it's not as bad as being in the spring lock version. He much rather do garbage duty or clean the toilets than deal with obnoxious kids and their asshole parents that did nothing to reign them in.
"Yes sir. I won't forget," said Michael.
He finished eating his breakfast then got up to put the dishes into the dishwasher then went upstairs to his bedroom. He walks towards his desk to grab a wallet and house key. He then returned downstairs to pass through the living room where his siblings were still sitting on a couch. He stops for a minute to say goodbye and looks at the TV to see what they're watching. A cartoon shows colorful animals wearing pendants around their necks and having the biggest smiles ever. The cartoon show they're watching is called Smiling Critters.
"S-M-I-L-E EVERYDAY!" The cartoon intro blared out from the TV, which Evan and Elizabeth bounced up and down with excitement.
Michael just chuckled with their amusement then walked towards Evan to ruffle his messy bed hair, causing his younger brother to turn around from the couch and smile at him.
"Hey Mikey. Where are you going?" he asked.
"Hey, little bro. I'm heading over to Jeremy's place to hang out. I heard Dad is taking you and Lizzie to the park later today," said Michael.
"Yeah, Daddy is taking us there and we're going on the playground to play and have a picnic there too," said Evan.
"Sounds fun. Anyway, I'm heading out so see you later, little bro," said Michael. He looked up to see his little sister who was now sitting on the floor, still watching TV.
"See you later, Liz," he said.
She didn't respond as she wasn't paying attention to him as she was still too engrossed in the Smiling Critters cartoon. Michael shrugged and left the living room. He walked past the kitchen, seeing his father putting his coffee mug in the dishwasher.
"Bye Dad, I'm heading out," he said.
"Bye, Michael, and have fun. Don't forget to come home first before your shift," said William.
"I won't," said Michael as he left the house. He went to the garage to grab his bike so he could ride over to his friend's house. Normally he would walk or use a skateboard, but he wanted to go over there faster so he could have as much fun as he could before leaving to work at his father's diner. He rode through the town to get to Fitzgerald's place until he arrived at their destination.
He found the single-story house and got off the bike before walking over. He rang the doorbell and then waited until he heard footsteps and the unlocking clicks. The door opens and he can see his best friend grinning at him. He has messy blonde mullet hair (although it's shorter than Michael's hair), is wearing light blue torn-up denim jeans, a black sleeveless AC/DC t-shirt, and a couple of piercings on his ear. Michael was wearing torn-up denim jeans (although his is darker blue), black finger-less gloves, a couple of piercings on both of his ears, and the grey tank top of Ramones band.
"Yo Mike! What's up?" said Jeremy as he and Michael high-five each other.
"Doing good, what about you?" said Michael with a grin.
"Feeling great!" said Jeremy. "Want to play Intellivision? My uncle gave it to me as he didn't want it anymore along with other games."
"Sure Jere," said Michael as he walked inside.
Normally, they would play Atari 2600 together but never played Intellivision before. He has played his other friend, David's Colecovision, and other consoles like Fairchild Channel F or Pong. So far, there hasn't been any release of new games or consoles because of the video game crash that happened last year. He and his friends were able to buy most of the games from the clearance bins at the shops as the stores wanted to get rid of the games. Michael was hoping the video game console market would bounce back as he and his friends love playing video games. There was a rumor about Japan releasing their console to the USA but there wasn't enough proof of actual release or not.
Jeremy's parents have already left for work, so it'll be just the two of them having the house for themselves. They entered Jeremy's room to see his bedroom walls were filled with lots of heavy metal band posters, a few wall shelves with Transformers, a record player, and a boom box. Underneath the player is a small shelf of vinyl records and cassette tapes. Across his unmade bed, there are two dark blue bean bags and a TV with Atari 2600 and Intellivision.
Michael couldn't help but feel a little jealous of his friend for having a TV in his bedroom and two video game consoles as he only has one which is an Atari 2600. He had to share with his siblings which Lizzie loved to hog the console most of the time. His father did not allow any TV in the bedrooms and should only be in the living room and kitchen.
Jeremy turned on the TV and dragged the brown cardboard box of cartridges for the Intellivision.
"I should warn you," said Jeremy. "The controllers are quite different and some of the games are the same as the Atari games, but they have better graphics."
Michael sat on the bean bag chair, looked at the controller, and frowned. He noticed that it has a numeric keypad and a copper-gold button instead of a joystick.
"Why is it a numeric keypad? This is a video game controller, not a phone. Hell, I could probably call my house like that," said Michael as he put the controller to his ear as if he was talking on a phone while grinning.
Jeremy laughed then leaned over to grab some cartridges and went through with them to pick one game to try. He also grabbed some overlays for the keypad. He picked Tron up and inserted the cartridge into the console, which wasn't easy as it was having trouble inserting in the slot.
"Let's try this game," he said as he handed Michael the overlay.
Michael struggled to play the game, but it was hard as he was not used to playing many buttons vs the Atari 2600 controller. Of course, he got a game over.
"SHIT THE FUCK!" Michael yelled at the screen in frustration, causing Jeremy to laugh. Michael decided to try a different game. He picked the Space Hawk game to play next. As usual, it's still difficult with the controls.
"Uh oh, the bubbles are coming! Gotta find the… UUGGGHHHHH! Mother of fuck!" Michael cried out as the space character died after he got hit by some weird space bubbles.
"Having fun, Mike?" said Jeremy as he was grinning, enjoying his friend getting killed in the game. Michael just glared at him and at the TV.
"It would be so much easier to move if I use the disk. Instead, it's the damn keypad!" said Michael. He then noticed a space alien coming toward him as he frantically tried to remember which button to shoot and was looking for it.
"Uh oh, here comes the space hog! Gotta move, got to move!" he cried out but unfortunately, it was too late as it killed him, making an exploding sound. "DAMN! I wiped my ass on this game."
Jeremy just laughed even harder at his friend's misfortune and was rolling on the ground till his sides hurt. Michael just glared again at his best friend then got up and grabbed a pillow from the bed to whack Jeremy with.
"Ow! Come on Mike! Stop hitting me with my pillow!" Jeremy cried out as he put his hands up to shield himself from Michael from the onslaught of his pillow. "Ok! Ok! You win! Now stop hitting me!"
Michael smirked victoriously as he stopped and tossed the pillow back to the bed then sat back down on the bean bag chair. Jeremy got up and went over to the box to pick up another cartridge and a strange-looking contraption.
"Yo Mike, check this out! This is the Intellivoice Synthesis Module," he said while showing it to Michael.
"What the fuck is that?" asked Michael as he stared at the funny-looking gadget.
"Well, it makes the games talk," said Jeremy.
"No way! Really? It makes all games talk?" said Michael as he was amazed at the thought. That was all new to him as the Atari games never had voice talking, just sounds.
"Well, only a few games can. I tested every game and found few of them that can," said Jeremy as he picked up the game which is B-17 Bomber, and turned it on to show Michael.
"Mattel Electronics presents BBBEEEE SEVENTEEN BOOMMBBEERRR!" said Intellivision's electronic voice and it startled Michael.
"WHOA!" he said. "It really does talk! That is so cool!"
"BBBEEE SEVENTEEN BOOOMBBBEERRR!" Jeremy imitated the electronic voice, causing Michael to laugh as his friend sounded silly saying that.
Jeremy decided to try Bomb Squad which can also talk. The game's goal is to diffuse the bomb and they have only thirty minutes to do that but fail to do so, its game over. Unfortunately, he lost so Michael decided to try it out but he too lost. After that, they played a few more games.
Pretty soon the teens were getting tired of playing Intellivision and decided to eat lunch as they were both getting hungry. They headed towards the kitchen and made themselves ham and cheese sandwiches with potato chips and cola. They sat down at a small table to eat and discuss the Scorpions concert.
"So, Jere, have you heard about the Scorpions concert coming here? They're playing their concert next August at Salt Lake City as they're doing a world tour," said Michael.
"Hell yeah! I saw that on TV last night! I am so going! What about you?" he asked.
"Well, Dad says I can go but only if I stay in school so I can't skip anymore classes to play hooky," grumbled Michael. "I also need to work more shifts at the diner to save money for a year as he won't give me any. But Dad and Uncle Henry are opening new locations and want me to work there. I can probably earn more money quickly in less than a year and plenty of other stuff."
"That's a bummer but hey, with all the shifts and the new locations, you'll save enough for an army," said Jeremy. "I'll have to work hard too so we can all go. By the way, what are the new locations and when is the opening date? I might try to apply there."
"There's two. One is called Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, and the other is Circus Baby place," explained Michael. "I only know they're both opening on January 85, but I don't know which days yet. I'll have to find out."
"Cool," said Jeremy.
The teens chatted more till they finished their lunch and watched some MTV in the living room. Then it was time for Michael to leave to head home to change into uniform and bike over to Fred Bear's Family Diner.
He arrived fifteen minutes early so he can store his stuff in a locker at the employee's break room and clock in. He greeted Jeremy, Vanessa, and other employees before looking at his schedule to see what his shift was. He groaned in annoyance as he had to do the Fred Bear costume to entertain the kids. Sometimes Michael would either be a greeter, busboy, cleaning duties, or helping his father (or Uncle Henry) to fix and repair the animatronics.
Michael had to go to the security room to ask Scott for help to put on Fred Bear's costume as it can be difficult to pull the zipper from the back. He knocked on the wall as he didn't want to startle the security guard.
"Hey Scott," said Michael. "I need some help and I need you to pull the zipper on the back of the costume. I'm going as Fred Bear since Brendan is not here."
"Sure thing, Mike," said Scott as he told his fellow security guard to watch the cameras for him.
They both went to the break room and Scott was able to zip up the back of the costume for Michael before leaving to go back to his security room. Michael finished putting on the head then put on the paw gloves and stepped out, seeing Vanessa outside waiting for him along with Lewis, who was wearing the Bonnie Bunny costume.
"It's showtime guys," said Vanessa.
"I'm so excited!" said Lewis.
"Oh goody," said Michael with sarcasm as he's not looking forward to dealing with a bunch of rowdy kids.
Vanessa led both of them out to a party room while announcing to everyone that Fred and Bonnie were here, causing the kids to scream with excitement and run towards them, nearly knocking both of them over. Vanessa had to reel them back in and form a line.
Michael and Lewis had to spend the next two hours entertaining the kids (thirty minutes in a costume, twenty minutes for breaks and hydrating themselves before going back in) and by the time it was over, he was exhausted. He had to spend the rest of the hours doing cleaning duties such as taking out the trash and cleaning the tables. At least he can clean in peace while listening to his AC/DC music on his Walkman. His shift finally ended so he and the others could go home except for Scott and a couple of night janitors. He stopped by the security room to knock on the wall again to alert Scott.
"Hey Scott, I'm heading home so good night," he said.
"Okay, Mike. I'll see you later and have a good night," said Scott.
"Don't let the animatronics bite," joked Michael.
"Ha Ha, real funny Mike," Scott laughed as he waved him off.
Michael left and rode his bike home. He unlocked the garage door to park his bike there then opened the door to head inside. He walked towards the living room to see his father and his two siblings sitting at a table, eating dinner. William looked up and smiled at his eldest son.
"Hello Michael," he said. "How was work?"
"The usual," said Michael. "Kids nearly knocked me and Lewis over but Vanessa saved us from our certain dooms."
His father chuckled but ushered him to sit down for dinner. Michael sees what they're being served, roasted rosemary chicken, mashed potatoes, green peas, and dinner rolls. He helped himself to a plate and a cup of ice water.
"Oh Michael," said William. "Henry and I will need your help to set up new establishments."
"Like building with wood and other stuff? I don't know how to do that as I can't do wood shop or welding courses next year," said Michael.
"Oh no, not like that," his father said. "I mean just to help cleaning, sort out boxes, organizing, etc. We already have the builders to take care of the hard stuff."
"Okay, got it," said Michael. "When do I do that?"
"Around the late winter, probably December as the buildings are still in the works," said William.
"Daddy!" said Elizabeth. "Does that mean I'll get to see Circus Baby soon?"
"In due time, honey," said William. "As soon as the buildings are close to finish, Henry and I will take care of the building of animatronics, and you will see Circus Baby."
"Yay! I can't wait!" said Elizabeth looking happy with an answer.
They went back to eating their dinner. After they were done, William and Michael cleaned up the kitchen while the other two kids went upstairs to get ready for bed. Michael went to Evan's room so he could tuck him in. He picked up Fred Bear plush and Huggy Wuggy plush and gave them to his little brother as he knew Evan wouldn't sleep without them.
"Hey Evan, how was your day at the park with Dad and Lizzie? Did you have fun?" he asked.
"It was great!" said Evan. "Dad took us to the nature trails to see some birds and squirrels and even saw butterflies. Then we went to the playground to play, and Daddy would push Lizzie high on her swing. He even joined me in riding down the slide. Then we had a picnic and Daddy packed us baloney sandwiches and juice. It was really fun."
"That's good to hear, I'm glad you had fun with them," Michael said with a smile. "Are you also excited for summer?"
"Yes," said Evan. He looked at Huggy Wuggy and his smile falters, which Michael noticed and couldn't help but feel worried.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"It's just I really wish you could come to the Playtime factory tour with us," said Evan with a sad face.
"Oh Evan," said Michael. "It's just not my thing as I'm too old for that stuff. It's more for you and Lizzie and you'll have fun with Dad as he's spending more time with you guys."
"I know, it just doesn't feel right without you," said Evan.
"The tour is what? Two hours? I'll still be around and besides, we're going to have fun this summer," said Michael. "We can hang out at a mall, go to a lake to swim, go to a park, build forts. Lots of fun stuff!"
"Yeah," said Evan. "But there's something that's bothering me, but I don't want to make you angry."
"You can tell me anything, bro. I won't get angry at you," assured Michael.
"I wish you and Elizabeth didn't fight so much. I wish you guys would get along," he said sadly.
"Oh, I see. To be honest with you, I don't want to fight her either as she's my sister and I love her, and will do anything to protect her but," Michael sighed as he combed his hair through his fingers. "It's just that she can be difficult to deal with and isn't making things easy for both of us. I do wish she toned down her bossy attitude. Nothing wrong with that as I don't want her to get taken advantage of, but she tends to overdo it. It doesn't help that Dad almost always takes her side and is rarely punished for her behavior. I just want Lizzie to stop thinking she's a center of the universe less she pushes everyone away."
"Yeah, she can be kind of bossy sometimes," said Evan.
"If she was nicer and easier to get along with, then we'll have a very good sibling relationship like we're having, Evan," said Michael. "But anyways, good night, Evan, and have a nice dream."
He leaned over to ruffle Evan's hair, then left to exit the bedroom before turning off the light switch and leaving the door halfway open as he knew his brother hated the total darkness. He went to his bedroom, took off his uniform, and decided to sleep just in underwear rather than throw on pajamas as he was too tired and lazy. He just crashed onto his bed, turned off his bed lamp, and fell asleep.
He was having a peaceful sleep until he was rudely awakened in the morning when he felt someone was up and down on his bed. Michael knew the only one person who was doing that and it was none other than his bratty little sister, wearing that pink glittery nightgown.
"Wake up, Mikey! Wake up!" she yelled at Michael while jumping on his bed gleefully.
Michael growled in anger at his little sister as he got up and pulled the covers closer to his chest, not wanting her to give more reason to make fun of him in his underwear. He remembered the last time when he was getting changed, Elizabeth barged in to let him know what their dad wanted only for her to laugh and make fun of him in his underwear.
"LIZZIE! Get off my bed! And how many times have I told you to come to my room without knocking?!" Michael yelled.
"Daddy told me to wake you up because you're sleeping in," she said. "And I did knock on your door three times, but you didn't answer so I went in to make sure you're not dead by pushing you and you still didn't wake up so I had to jump on your bed to wake you and it works!"
"You should have knocked harder then because I didn't hear you since you have very weak knocks," said Michael.
"I DID!" shouted Elizabeth as she stopped jumping.
"YOU DID NOT!" Michael shouted back.
"DID TOO!" Elizabeth countered back.
William and Evan were in the kitchen eating breakfast when they both heard the other two Afton's shouting that it was so loud they could hear it downstairs. Earlier, William was about to wake Michael up, but Elizabeth offered so he allowed her to do that as she ran excitedly upstairs. While he was getting breakfast ready (toast with beans and fruit), that's when they heard the commotion. He sighed as he rubbed his temples as he was not in a mood to deal with their kids' morning quarrel. Evan looked worried as he hated seeing his brother and sister fighting again. William set the breakfast dishes on the table and told Evan to stay and eat while he went upstairs and dealt with them.
William opened the door to see Michael and Elizabeth were still arguing on his bed. His oldest son is wide awake but not out of his bed while his daughter is on his bed, standing and shouting at him.
"Kids," William's voice boomed, causing his two kids to stop arguing to turn to look at him.
Michael noticed his father's face as he was in his deep frown, not looking too happy. He knows that a frown is never a good thing.
"I heard both of you shouting from downstairs. Care to explain?" he asked as he crossed his arms, waiting for an answer.
"Well, if you must know. I was sleeping peacefully when I was so rudely awakened by my dear sister who decided to turn my bed into her personal trampoline," said Michael with a scowl.
"Is that true, Elizabeth?" William asked sternly.
"I knocked on his door three times, Daddy, but he wasn't answering so I went in to wake him up. I pushed his arms to wake him up but it didn't work as he wouldn't wake up, so I had to jump on his bed and yell which it worked," said Elizabeth.
"Oh please, you just didn't knock hard enough," Michael snarkily said.
"I DID KNOCK HARD! ITS NOT MY FAULT YOU DIDN'T HEAR ME, STUPID!" Elizabeth shrieked in anger as she jumped off the bed.
"ENOUGH YOU TWO!" William yelled, causing both siblings to jump at his booming voice. "I am not in a mood to deal with your squabbles. I want both of you to apologize to each other. Elizabeth?"
"I'm sorry for calling you stupid and yelling," she said.
"Michael?" said William.
"Me, what did I do? I haven't done anything!" Michael protested while glaring at his sister.
"She was nice enough to wake you up since you're a heavy sleeper and that's not the first time you slept in. You weren't even grateful for sister doing a good thing for you and rewarded her by yelling," said William.
"She could have banged the door hard enough to wake me up. It's not my fault she went in her own free will and screamed at me," Michael argued back.
"If you're going to argue with me one more time and not apologize to your sister, I will ground you today," said William.
Michael scowled as he didn't want his day off to be ruined by his obnoxious sister and being grounded would mean not hanging out with his friends as well as being forced to stay in the same house with her. He had no choice but to swallow his pride(again) for his sanity.
"I am so sorry, Lizzie for shouting and I thank you for waking me up. Do forgive me for being such a rude and ungrateful jerk to you," Michael said with a bit of sarcasm.
"You are very much welcome, and I forgive you, my dear older brother," Elizabeth sweetly said but had a smug look on her face. Michael so badly wanted to take that off her face but knew better.
"I'm happy to hear you two apologize. Both of you need to get dressed then come downstairs for breakfast," said William. He then turned around to leave and Elizabeth followed him behind.
As soon as she was outside of Michael's room, she turned around to grab the door handle before looking at him. She smirked at him and then stuck her tongue out, which Michael growled in anger then picked up his pillow to chuck it at her. She quickly closed the door before it had a chance to hit her, causing the pillow to hit his door which bounced off. Elizabeth opened his door again with a devilish grin.
"Your aim sucks, dummy," she said smugly then give him a raspberry.
"SCRAM!" snapped Michael. His sister just laughed at him before closing his door, finally leaving him alone.
"Annoying little brat," said Michael as he got out of his bed to change into his clothes. He decided to wear a gray Iron Maiden tank, torn denim jeans, and sneakers.
He went downstairs to see his family eating breakfast. Elizabeth is smirking at him, and Michael just glares at her as he's tempted to say something snarky but decides against it. He instead ignores her, not wanting to give her any satisfaction. He sat down and helped himself to some breakfast which he quickly wolfed down so he could leave.
He grabbed his skateboard from the garage and skated all the way to meet up with Jeremy and his friends at the junkyard. He arrived and saw them just hanging out, waiting for him.
"Hey guys!" Michael shouted as he approached them while still skating.
"Yo Mike!" said Jeremy as his other friends; David, Jake, Tito, and Mark greeted him.
"Guys, I bought over some joints," said Mark.
"Sweet!" said Michael. "I needed one so bad due to that crappy morning with my bratty sister."
"Oh, shit man, what happened?" Tito asked.
"I'll tell you once I start smoking a few puffs," said Michael.
"I bought my boom box so we can listen to the Scorpions cassette I just bought," said David as he was showing off his big, silvery boom box.
The guys played music and sat down on old car seats while smoking joints. He shared the morning disaster he had with Elizabeth and almost got grounded for it which his friends sympathized with. They decided to cheer him up by discussing their plans for the Scorpions concert weekend.
"First things first are the transportation," said Michael. "Whose care are we taking? I can't take Dad's car as he won't allow us to use it. Plus, it's too small for all six of us including coolers and luggage."
"We can take mine," said Jake. "My dad gave me the old Dodge Ram Van for my sixteenth birthday. It just needs some fixing, but it has plenty of space for all of us including the luggage and coolers."
"Nice!" they all said. Micheal agreed and wrote it down on the small notepad he brought it along. "Now that's taken care of, what about the place to stay? We do need to find a hotel or motel sot stay in for a weekend."
"We might be able to stay in Motel 6 as it's cheaper and we can share a room there but...," said Jeremy. "There's a good chance that it'll be booked solid along with other hotels. We may need to camp out in the woods or the van with sleeping bags in case it rains. We could bring them along if we can't find any hotels available."
"Good idea," said Michael as he wrote it down.
After they were done discussing the concert they began discussing their plans for summer.
"I so can't wait for school to be over," said Mark.
"Me too," said Jeremy. "So many fun things to do like more time to try out a new bike tricks I wanted to try at the park."
"I want to go the lake to swim and check out all the babes in bikinis. Maybe I'll get a number from them," said Jake with a grin.
"You are such a ladies' man," said Jeremy with a laugh.
"Go to an arcade at the mall and try to set the highest score on Space Invaders to beat that person, BitRyan. He's got the highest score and I'm hoping that this summer, I'll be the one that beats him!" said Tito as he loves arcades and video games.
"I want to see the newest movies that are coming out this summer. Like Ghostbusters and Conan the Barbarian, they look good according to the trailers," said Mark.
"I just want to go to the parties and get high," said David as he took a whiff from his joint.
"Anything I want to do as long as I'm not stuck inside the house except listening to some music, watching TV, and playing some of Atari's games," said Michael. Then he just remembered about his father's promise and grumbled, catching his friend's attention.
"What's wrong, Mike?" Jeremy asked.
"I just remembered the talk with my dad two days ago," said Michael. "I can't skip anymore classes at school when it starts up again. I also had to work extra shifts at the diner during summer and some weekends if I wanted to earn enough money to go to a concert with you guys."
"Oh yeah, you told me that the other day," said Jeremy.
"Aww, that's a bummer," said David. He leaned over to give Michael another joint. "You'll need this more than I do, man."
"Thanks, David," said Michael as he accepted the joint then lit it up to take a whiff.
"That sucks," says Jake. "Your dad needs to loosen up."
"I can still hang out with you guys on my days off, just not as much as we did last summer," said Michael. "There's going to be two more places that Dad and Uncle Henry are opening up which his Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and Circus Baby Entertainment and they want me to help them to do some organizing and other stuff."
"Are they closing the diner?" asked Mark.
"No, it'll remain open. They just wanted to expand their business which means I'll have to work there to help till they get more stuff," said Michael.
"Have you found out about the opening dates yet, Mike?" Jeremy asked.
"No, not yet as it's still too early to tell. I'll try to find out when it's getting closer to the end of the year," said Michael.
"Sweet!" said Jeremy. "I'm hoping to work there too so I can earn more than enough for a concert weekend. It's going to be so rad, you guys!"
"YEAH!" his friends yelled out in excitement.
"But for me to do that, I can't spend too much money or other things like eating out or buying more music stuff," said Michael.
"Can't your dad give you the allowance money instead?" Tito asked.
"Pfft, no," snorted Michael. "He stopped giving me allowance a long time ago since I've been working at a job and getting my paycheck, there's no need for an allowance according to him. So, asking him for that is out of the question."
"So, asking him to buy you concert tickets is a no-go?" said Mark.
"I'm not even going to fucking try because knowing him, he'll just say 'no' and if I want the tickets that bad, I need to get a job and use my own money from a paycheck that I earn," said Michael. "But he can buy my siblings the tickets for the Playtime Co. factory tour with no problem. That is bullshit that he can do that for them but can't do the same for me. So unfair! Sometimes I wish I was a little kid again so Dad can spoil me like he did with Elizabeth."
"Yeah, that is dumb," said Tito while Jake, Mark, and David nodded in agreement.
"You forgot one thing, Mike," said Jeremy. "I understand you're upset, but your brother and sister are still little kids and they're too young to work at a job. You're about to turn sixteen in a few weeks and according to your dad, he sees you as a mature adult. It's not your sibling's fault that your dad is being tough on you."
Michael just sighed as he knew his friend had a good point about the situation even though he didn't agree. Jeremy is always the rational and understanding type which is why he always feels more comfortable venting his frustrations and he listens then comes up with a solution or reasoning. He didn't know what he could have done if it wasn't for Jeremy around. Michael took a final whiff before tossing it aside.
"You're right, Jere," said Michael. "Anyways, let's do something else. I want to try out the new tricks on my skateboard by using the make-shift ramps."
"Hell yeah!" they said as they got up to grab some wooden slabs and place them on the giant pipe. Once they finished setting it up, they stepped away so they could watch.
"Okay guys, ready to see some badass tricks?" said Michael.
"Yeah!" They cheered in excitement.
That was enough for Michael. He then began to skateboard towards the ramps to perform the tricks while their friends turned on the music full blast on a sunny morning at a junkyard.