Face The Music
Moving to a new place can be a good opportunity to reinvent yourself. Many of Kids Incorporated's members came from different places and knew what it was like to start over with new friends.
Several months had passed since Ana was the last to join. She had tried so hard to impress that she nearly alienated her cousin Robin in the process. Little did they know she was fudging a few details of her celebrated past life. Only Robin really knew how tall her tales were.
Today, though, Ana was in a great mood, whooping along with the crowd as the band finished a dance number.
The boys slipped past her in their hurry to the counter. "So, that's 5 for me." said Eric, holding up one hand. "And you, my friend, just finished your fourth."
"Yeah, but I took two sips out of the fifth one." insisted Kenny.
"Can't you two think of anything better to do with your time than to make yourselves sick?" Robin rolled her eyes.
"What's going on?" asked Ana.
"Kenny and Eric are trying to see who can drink the most malts in a day." Haylie explained.
"I'm winning!" smirked Eric.
Before he could continue to gloat, Kenny held up a finger. Then he managed to slurp down the last of his malt. "Ahh. Five!" he said triumphantly, sticking his hand in Eric's face.
"Well, that settles it," said Robin. "It's a tie - you're both full of it." The girls laughed.
"No way!" Eric declared. He smacked the counter. "Flip!"
"Hey, you guys about done? Because I'm running out of malt here." Flip asked.
"So, what does the winner get?" Ana asked.
"Besides a stomachache?" added Robin.
The phone rang as Flip was mixing. "Hello, The P*lace. Oh, yeah." He handed the receiver to Ana. "It's for you."
"Hello? Oh, hi, Mom. What? No way! When is she getting here? Great. I'll meet you at the house." Ana hung up and squealed.
"Good news?" asked Kenny.
"Sammy's coming for a visit!" said Ana.
"Hey, we finally get to meet your buddy." said Eric.
Ana nodded. "I'm so excited. We hardly ever get to talk to one another. And I can't wait for you guys to meet her."
"When's she getting here?" asked Haylie.
Ana looked at her watch. "I have just enough time for our next number." she replied.
Ana's enthusiasm was evident to the audience while she was on stage. When the song ended, she quickly went to pick up her friend.
The boys continued their competition. "Okay, on three," Eric was saying, "we'll both start drinking. Ready? One..two..."
"Hey, wait a minute!" complained Kenny. "You have two straws!"
"Three!"
"Have you ever met Sammy?" Haylie asked Robin.
"I don't think so." said Robin. "We never visited that much. There didn't seem to be a lot of kids around when we did, either. It's funny," she continued, "the way Ana talks, they were always together."
"Done!" Eric beamed triumphantly.
"You cheated!" Kenny complained. "You had less malt! Flip, you gave him less malt!"
"Whoa!" Flip threw up his hands. "I'm impartial, okay? If I gave either of you any more or any less, it wasn't my intention."
Eric made a clucking noise. "Such a sore loser." he said, shaking his head. He patted Kenny on the shoulder. "Don't feel bad, Ken. You did good. It's not everybody that can down a malt in under a minute." As he got off the barstool, he stopped and gripped his head. "Whoa!"
"HA HA!" laughed Kenny. "Ice cream headache!"
"But I didn't even have ice cream!" Eric whimpered.
"Looks like Eric's a 'sore' winner!" Flip joked. Everyone laughed.
"I think I'll go lie down until Ana and her pal get back." said Eric.
"Now maybe you'll stop." said Robin after Eric had left.
"No way! If I know Eric," said Kenny, "he's back there coming up with another pointless contest he can beat me at."
"Just tell him he won." Haylie suggested.
"Yeah, he'd love that."
Robin rolled her eyes. "And they say girls are always trying to outdo each other!"
"You're awfully quite back there." Ana's mother called from the front seat of their car. "Nervous?"
"No." said Ana. "Well...maybe a little."
"I was surprised to hear Sammy wanted to come visit you." Ana's mother continued. "I didn't think you two were that close."
Now Ana began to look nervous. "Maybe she realized after we left how much she missed me."
From the rearview mirror, she could see her mom pull a face. "Okay," she laughed.
Neither of them said another word until they reached the train station where Sammy was due to arrive.
"Do you see her?" asked Ana as she craned her neck to catch a glimpse of the petite strawberry blonde she was expecting to see.
"Isn't that her over there?" said Ana's mother, pointing. A girl with fiery red hair was waving.
"No." said Ana. As the girl got closer, however, she did look a lot like Sammy. She continued to walk towards them.
"I figured you'd be late!" she said when she reached them. "Wow, Ana, you haven't changed a bit."
It took Ana a minute to find her voice. "Sammy?" she croaked. "You've...definitely changed!"
"Like it?" asked Sammy. "Everyone's doing it. I wanted to go for purple, but my mom would have a cow! You wanna get my bag?" she said without pausing, thrusting a claim stub in Ana's face.
"Oh." said Ana. "Yeah...sure."
By they time they got back home, Ana was wondering why she had been so excited about Sammy. She didn't seem impressed with anything they pointed out to her. She kept up a full stream of conversation with Ana's mother and didn't seem to remember Ana was there at all.
"...and she was totally playing him so he would give her a ride. But he was dating Missy's sister Amanda." she babbled on. "You know Amanda, right?" she called back to Ana.
"Um...I don't think so." said Ana.
"She used to go out with Dave. I thought you knew Dave?"
"Nope."
"Pssht! Who did you know?" Sammy tossed her head and went back to her one-sided conversation. "Anyway, all's she wanted was for him to drive her around. But he was all, 'I'm going with Amanda', and she's like, 'I saw that girl back with Dave again', and..."
Ana's mom didn't even turn the car off as they pulled around to The P*lace.
"I thought you said you had a club?" Sammy asked with a sneer as they got out of the car.
"It's not a club." replied Ana. "It's The P*lace. It used to be called The Palace, but the "A" burnt out years ago. A whole bunch of famous people have performed here."
"Like a jillion years ago?"
"C'mon. Wait until you meet my friends."
"You said you were like, famous or something?"
"Well, we were on TV once." said Ana. "And everyone knows who Kids Incorporated is around here."
"Who?"
"Our band, remember? I told you all about them in my last letter."
"Who came up with that name?" Sammy sneered.
"Um...I don't know. They were already called Kids Incorporated when I got here. But they're really cool. You'll see."
Unfortunately, Sammy didn't see, because Kids Inc. was in the middle of a group of kids chanting "Go! Go! Go!" as Eric and Kenny were wolfing down French fries like there was no tomorrow.
"Oh, yeah." Sammy said flatly. "Cool."
A cheer went up as Kenny finished his last fry and leapt up in victory. "Ha! I beat you! I finally beat you in something!" he said with his mouth full. "Oh, hey, Ana!"
Ana winced as the crowd turned around to face her. "Hi, Kenny. Congratulations."
"We were getting bored waiting for you to come back." Haylie explained.
"You guys, I want you to meet Sammy." said Ana. The kids greeted her enthusiastically.
Sammy was oddly silent. "How's it going?" she said, forcing a smile.
Ana grabbed the nearest hand to hers. "This is Robin."
"Little cuz!" said Sammy.
Robin frowned. "You can call me Robin." she said. Ana grimaced.
Kenny saved her the trouble. "Hey, I'm Kenny. Ana's told us all about the fun you guys used to have."
"Really? It was so long ago, I guess I don't remember it." Sammy replied, shooting Ana a look.
"Have you met Michael Jordan?" asked Haylie. "Or Bill Cosby, like Ana did?"
"Uh...sure...yeah, we're all best pals." Sammy managed to say.
"Haylie!" Ana scolded. "We'll have plenty of time to talk about that later. You'll have to forgive Haylie." she said to Sammy. "She's a little impatient. Oh, and this is Eric."
Eric went to say hello, but burped instead. "Sorry." he said sheepishly. "French fries."
"So, what do you do for fun around here?" asked Sammy. "Besides stuff yourselves."
"You like music?" Robin asked her. "We have two new songs to rehearse."
"Right now? Sammy just got here." Ana complained.
"Are you chickening out?" teased Sammy.
"No."
"What's the matter? Aren't you any good?"
Eric was insulted. "Good? We rock!" The others echoed him.
"C'mon, Ana, let's show her!" said Kenny.
Ana sighed. "All right."
It was a pretty good rehearsal, aside from Ana constantly watching Sammy. She sat at a table looking as if she was watching paint dry. How can anyone be so bored? thought Ana.
When the song was over, she at least managed a smile and some polite applause.
"Now what do you think?" Eric asked.
"Not bad." said Sammy.
"You must be tired after your trip." Ana said suddenly. "Why don't we head back to my house so you can call your parents and unpack?"
"What's the rush?" said Sammy. "I'm here for a good time! Unless you don't wanna show me one."
Robin could see that something was amiss. "Oh, you know Ana. She just wants to take care of everybody. Hey, why don't we show you around town?"
"Mind if I powder my nose first?" said Sammy. She headed around the corner to the restrooms.
"Ana, what's the matter with you?" Haylie asked.
"I don't think Sammy's having such a good time." said Ana. "What do you guys think of her?"
"She seems all right." said Kenny.
"A little stuck-up." Eric added.
"Eric!" Robin scolded him.
"Okay, okay!" he replied. "Maybe we just came on a little too strong for her."
"How long have you two been friends?" Robin asked Ana.
"Since we were young." said Ana. "Why?"
"I just thought she'd be a little...friendlier, that's all."
"She's just nervous." Ana insisted. "I'll have a talk with her. You'll see."
But all Robin and the others saw was that Sammy never seemed to want to be around Ana at all. She continued to be perpetually bored as the kids attempted to show her a good time that day and the next few days.
When Ana showed up for a rehearsal alone, no one was surprised.
"Hey, Ana." said Eric. "Where's Sammy?"
"Beats me." Ana said glumly.
Robin couldn't stand watching her cousin feel foolish. "Is she a late sleeper?" she said. "'Cause I always used to be. Some people just don't like to get out of bed that early."
"Robin." Ana tried to stop her.
"I'll bet as soon as she notices what time it is, she'll be right here-"
"ROBIN!" yelled Ana. Robin stopped short, and she and everyone else just stared at Ana.
"You don't have to make excuses for her." Ana continued. "Or me."
"What are you talking about?" Kenny asked.
Ana took a deep breath. "When I found out we were moving here," she began. "it was just about the worst thing that could have happened. Mom was always upset, and she'd spend all day looking for a job. I didn't know anyone here, except Robin."
"It's hard to give up the great life you're used to and start another one." said Eric.
"It wasn't such a great life." said Ana. She continued. "You guys took me in and made me feel really welcome, but...I wasn't sure if you were just letting me hang around because I was Robin's cousin. I felt like a real fifth wheel. I thought I could impress everyone with all of my autographed pictures, and it got out of control."
"You never met any of those people?" Haylie asked.
"No." Ana hung her head.
"And Sammy?"
"I wasn't lying about Sammy. We were friends...until the rest of her friends came along. I only saw her every now and then, when she couldn't find anything else to do. I've been writing her letters since we got here, but I never thought she'd actually come to visit me."
"What did you tell her?" Kenny quipped.
Robin went to defend Ana, but Eric beat her to the punch. "Cut it out, man." he said. "We all do stupid things in the name of friendship."
"It was stupid." Ana agreed. "And I hope you can forgive me."
"Of course we can." said Robin. She looked to the others.
"I just hope you realize we like you for who you are, not who you know." said Kenny.
"Thanks, Kenny." Ana said gratefully. "I just wish Sammy did. Where could she have gotten to?"
Ana would have her answer, but she wouldn't like it. As she and Robin were walking home that evening, they heard sirens.
"Wow, something big must be going down." said Ana.
"It sounds like it's close to home." Robin observed. They sped up.
Ana's mother and Robin's parents were standing on their front walk with a police officer and a plainclothes detective.
"Mom?" Ana called.
"Oh, thank God!" Ana's mother said as she attempted to smother the girls.
"I told you they'd be fine." Robin's father said, smiling and shaking his head.
"What's going on, Dad?" asked Robin. "Is everything okay?"
"It appears that Ana's friend here has gotten herself into trouble" said Robin's dad.
"Well, as I was saying, it's just going to go on her record." said the tall police officer who was consulting his walkie talkie. "But she might be facing juvie if she's got any priors."
"What's that mean?" asked Ana.
"Sammy could end up in a juvenile detention center." Ana's mom explained. "It's where they keep kids who break the law."
"But Mom!" said Ana. "Sammy's not a troublemaker! Someone must have made a mistake."
"Were you with her this afternoon?" the officer asked Ana.
"No. I only saw her once this morning." she answered. "We asked her if she wanted to come with us, but she said she wanted to go sightseeing on her own."
"Officer," Robin asked, "what has Sammy done?"
"She was in a nightclub with a few other kids." he answered. "We were called out to investigate some violence and when we ran ID checks, she didn't have one."
Another officer came over to the group. "We're going to go ahead and release her for now, but if I were you, I would strongly advise her to keep her nose clean." he said.
The adults continued to talk as Ana went over to the squad car. Sammy was curled up on the backseat. She'd been crying; there were black streaks of mascara running down her cheeks.
Once again, Ana found herself at a loss for words. "Sammy?"
"This guy said I was cute." Sammy sniffled. "Said he knew all the hot spots around here. I told him I didn't know how to get back to your house, but he promised they'd take me home later."
"I don't get it."
"He was a really cute guy, okay? You'd go with him too, if you saw him."
"No, I mean, why are you here, Sammy? We're not best friends. I only saw you maybe once a month before I moved. I've written you like 10 letters, and you never wrote back."
“I wanted a change of scenery.” Sammy said simply. She laughed. “You think this is the first time I ever got busted?” My dad said he’d ship me off to a private school if I didn’t straighten out." She sat up straighter and lowered her voice. “I didn’t know what to do, so I told them you asked me to come visit you – that I’d go be a good little girl with the good little girl from across the street.”
"So you lied."
Sammy didn't say anything to that.
Ana thought about how Sammy had played with her feelings by not telling her the truth. She wanted to tell her off, but then she looked back at Robin and realized that she and Sammy were more alike than either of them had realized.
"We all do stupid things in the name of friendship." said Ana. "And we all deserve a second chance."
From behind her, Robin smiled. "The police said you can come with us now." she said to Sammy.
"Thanks, cuz - Robin." Sammy said gratefully.
Robin just smirked as she walked away. "No prob...Sam."
From then on, Sammy made a conscious effort to get to know Ana better. Ana's mom and Robin's parents had a long talk with her, and thankfully decided that they wouldn't tell her parents about her run-in with the law - if she promised to keep out of trouble.
Ana came clean with her friends about all the fibs she told when she first moved to town, and while they were a little disappointed, they agreed that Ana was a good friend and they were willing to overlook it. They even began to accept Sammy - all except Eric, who was bummed that she won the malt-drinking contest.