Milo woke up the next morning. Despite being still plagued by that nightmare from yesterday, he managed to sleep soundly.
Today was a Monday, meaning he had to go to school. Now, he and Amanda had already planned out to do their tango practices after school, alternating the place to practice between his house and hers, like in the past weekend. He had no idea how Melissa and Zack would practice on school days, but he guessed it to be something similar to their plan.
Milo carefully packed his backpack for the day, before he joined his parents and sister at the dinner table for breakfast. After his bowl of cereal, he noticed it was time to go, and left to the bus stop, waving his mom, dad and big sis goodbye 'til later. He also took the time to do the same with Doofenshmirtz and Cavenpus, and of course he wished his pet dog Diogee a good day as well before leaving.
He met Melissa at the bus stop.
"Hey Milo", Melissa greeted. "Excited for today?"
"Well... you could say I'm a bit nervous", Milo admitted.
"Makes sense, you said you messed up the last two times", Melissa stated. "However, I have something in mind that will give us more time to practice, but I will have to negotiate with Principal Milder first."
"That's understandable", Milo said.
Then, Zack joined Milo and Melissa at the bus stop. "Hey guys, what's up?"
"The sky", Melissa replied nonchalantly. Milo chuckled at the response. "In all seriousness", Milo told Zack, "Melissa just told me she wants to negotiate with Principal Milder to give us and Amanda more time to practice the tango."
"The tango? With Milo? That can only end in disaster."
That condescending response, spoken in such a haughty tone, could've only come from Bradley Nicholson, who also just arrived at the bus stop alongside Chad and Logan.
"Oh, what do you know, Bradley?" Melissa spat back, clearly unamused by Bradley's statement.
"I'm just saying how it is. Everything goes wrong around him, after all", Bradley defended, holding up both his left hand and what should've been his right hand, but had ultimately become a pistachio tree's root tendril by the end of last fall (long story). "Why do you want to practice the tango anyway, Milo?"
"Well, there's a tango competition at the Danville Dance Hall next week, and since Amanda always wanted to dance the tango, she and I signed up for it", Milo explained.
"Then, Anthony and Ashley, those two contestants at Cake 'Splosion Milo and Amanda were on, showed up and signed up too, because they're apparently expert tango dancers and want to be the best of the entire Tri-State Area", Zack added.
"And they then wanted to hold a bet that they're better at the tango than Milo and Amanda, because they were clearly bitter about losing at Cake 'Splosion despite the fact that they were cheating the whole time", Melissa continued. "We doubled down because they were too stubborn to want anything else, so Zack and I signed up too."
"Uh, you sure that's a good idea?" Logan asked.
"Yeah, I mean, they're experts at tango. You're likely to lose the competition AND the bet", Chad assessed.
"Which makes it all the sweeter when those pompous cheaters lose against a bunch of tango noobs like us", Melissa grinned. "And believe me, we tried talking out of it. They wouldn't budge."
"Yeah, and they also did that whole spiel about if we didn't want to participate, we'd admit that we only won against them because of a fluke... Amanda and I were practically cornered", Milo added.
"Well, I'll wish you good luck", Chad nodded.
"Yeah, good luck, Milo", Logan agreed.
"Yeah... good luck... you're gonna need it. Lots of it", Bradley finally added. "And I should say the same to Amanda too. After all, Murphy's Law makes you quite the liability."
Milo winced at that word, 'liability'. And the way Bradley said his good luck wish didn't seem nearly as sincere as the good luck wishing from the other two students. Milo wasn't sure whether Bradley genuinely wished him well but didn't believe he'd win, or if Bradley really wanted him to lose like Anthony and Ashley did. Considering Bradley had always held a bit of contempt towards Milo, it was hard to tell.
Milo didn't have the time to ask whether Bradley was being sarcastic or not, as the bus arrived shortly. The six students boarded the bus and took a seat. In Milo's case, he sat next to Amanda, who already boarded the bus at a previous stop.
"Hi Milo", Amanda greeted Milo.
"Hey, Amanda", Milo greeted back, his cheeks slightly tinting pink. "Bradley wishes us good luck at the tango competition... I think. It's hard to tell with his preppy accent. And he thinks I need a lot of good luck, too."
"Eh, don't worry about it, Bradley never really liked you", Amanda comforted Milo. "Is there anything else I should know?"
"Well, Melissa wants to talk with Principal Milder so we can have more tango practice", Milo added. "I wonder what she has in mind..."
Before anything else could be said, the bus driver, one Margaret Decker, announced through the speaker: "Next stop: Jefferson G. County Middle School!"
The bus was about to drive away, when a sudden BANG was heard outside, putting the vehicle on halt.
"Uh, actually, it may take five minutes before we leave", Margaret then announced, "I think we just sprung a flat tire."
"Yep", Bradley sighed in his lonesome seat, "a liability..."
Several hours later, during the school's first free period, Milo, Zack and Amanda met with Melissa in the school gymnasium.
"So, Melissa, what did you negotiate for with Principal Milder?" Milo asked.
"Yeah, and why did you ask us to meet here of all places?" Zack questioned.
"This place has something to do with what I negotiated for, Zack", Melissa answered. "You guys remember that Milo managed to get the music classroom during free periods for our band rehearsals? Well, I managed to convince Principal Milder to let us use the gymnasium during free periods for our tango practice!"
"Wow, Melissa! How did you do that?!" Milo asked in elated surprise. "I had to promise to never walk past her office again, but what do you have to do in return?"
Melissa smirked as she reminisced back one and a half hours ago.
"Principal Elizabeth Milder, if you refuse to let me, Zack, Milo and Amanda use the gymnasium for tango practice, I will leak the contents of this entire folder on the internet", Melissa demanded, holding up a folder chock full of documents and photos, to a suddenly coldly-sweating Elizabeth Milder. "It contains juicy information with photographic evidence of both of the Krem-Hai Incidents (that's the teacher convention in Seattle and the school trip with the S.S. Indulgence), the unsolicited purchase of the S.S. Indulgence itself from the school's budget, and you driving through a red traffic light. And you know what happens when the superintendent sees this..."
"Y-you're bluffing! Let me see that!" Principal Milder stammered, attempting to stay cool-headed.
The actually cool-headed Melissa, smirking like a Mafia boss, slid the folder across the desk, allowing the principal to examine its contents thoroughly. Elizabeth opened the folder, and with each closer look on the words or image details, a new drop of sweat formed on her forehead, inadvertently confirming to Melissa that most, if not all, of the folder's contents are genuine. The more Milder frowned and sweat, the more Melissa smirked.
"No bluffing after all, hm?", Melissa grinned. "Imagine if all of it got leaked on the internet..."
"Fine", Milder then said, closing the folder and shoving it back to Melissa. "You win this time, Chase. You're lucky you're one of our top students with an excellent track record."
"Told ya I'd make an offer you can't refuse", Melissa said. "You won't regret it, Milder."
"My question is, how did you get all this information in the first place?" Elizabeth asked.
"A little trade secret", Melissa replied, reminiscing back to a few weeks ago, when she made one of the juiciest purchases of her entire life, finally being put to good use today.
April 20th, 8:00 PM. Melissa just walked into an alley. But not just any alley...
Okay, it WAS an ordinary alley, but she had an appointment at this specific alley.
Normally, it would be unwise for a girl like Melissa to just walk into a random alley in the evening, but Melissa had an appointment with a person she trusted.
Also normally, appointments in dark alleyways would be with dealers selling stimulants of illegal kinds, but this person had juicier stuff.
Also, this person kind of resembled Coach Nolan Mitchell, as Melissa approached the mysterious man.
"You got the goods?" Melissa asked.
"Right here", the dealer responded, showing her a folder chock full of documents and photos.
Melissa picked up the folder and examined its contents, using a flashlight to actually see the details while in the dark.
"Ohoho, now this is juicy!" Melissa grinned, elated as if she just won the jackpot. "And it's all legit? It better be."
"I swear it on my lassoing skills", the man replied. "Now then, you got the dough?"
"...Eh, good enough", Melissa accepted, forking over 1500 dollars. It was part of the reward money she got from various people she, Milo and Zack had helped, such as Tobias Trollhammer and Clyde Rickenbacker, and for the longest time, she had no idea what to do with her share... until now.
The man checked each bill of the wad of cash he had received. "Alright, t'is legit. The goods are yours."
Melissa felt extremely giddy. She just bought dirt on the school principal! Surely, this ought to be useful later, for when she ever needed a favor to be done! Melissa quickly waved the man goodbye and ran straight home, before her dad wondered where she was or before some creep would catch up to her...
"Melissa? Melissa? MELISSA?!"
Melissa was put out of her thoughts when Amanda kept yelling her name.
"Oh, uh, sorry", she apologized. "Must've zoned out a bit while having a flashback inside of another flashback."
Zack questioningly glared at Melissa. "Ooookay then. Y'know, I just wonder why the music room wasn't good enough."
"It's too small for dancing, Zack", Melissa replied.
"It seemed pretty big enough to me..."
"The average ballroom is much larger than this gymnasium, and the gymnasium is the largest room we have at school."
"But we only need 4 square feet per person, I feel like the music room can cover that."
"Well maybe, but the bigger, the better. Plus, you're not even taking Murphy's Law into account-"
"Guys, guys, that's enough" Milo intercepted, pulling Zack and Melissa apart. "Shall we just get started instead?"
Amanda pulled out her phone and opened the KazooTube app, this time picking a different tango song to dance to this time, a peppy ditty known as El bandoneón de la reina. Constantly using the same song to dance to won't expand anyone's skill that greatly, after all.
She joined Milo and said: "This is the first time we're dancing against another pair. But since we're both inexperienced, I think it would be unwise to try to out-perform them, and focus on our own dancing first and foremost."
"Good idea", Milo nodded.
Melissa overheard the two as she joined Zack. "You heard that, Zack? Better not try to one-up our opponents."
"And concentrate on our own dance, got it", Zack affirmed.
Soon enough, the two pairs got to tango. Milo tried his best to focus on himself and Amanda, but occasionally stole a few glances at Melissa and Zack, curious on how they're doing. And honestly, they've been doing pretty good! They had a different idea how to dance on this specific track compared to him and Amanda, but Zack and Melissa were on rhythm and made impressive passes.
Both of them made the occasional misstep, but he only counted three so far.
Now as for himself, Milo noticed he hasn't been doing badly, either. Not a single misstep so far, they were on rhythm as well, and the figures they made seemed great and flawless as well. Maybe he will it off this time-
"And Murph being your burden!"
Ashley's mean comment popped up in Milo's mind yet again. He had expected it by now, but it still threw him off a bit. He almost stumbled, but quickly recovered, and tried his hardest to focus on his and Amanda's dance despite the statement looping in his head.
"And Murph being your burden!"
"And Murph being your burden!"
"And Murph being your burden!"
"Go die in a hole and farewell, you jinx!"
Nightmare Amanda's spiteful remark suddenly took its place in Milo's mind, again throwing him off, this time making him actually stumble. But before he and Amanda fell, Milo tried shaking off the thought and put his two feet on the ground to prevent them from falling flat on their faces.
Milo stole another glance at Melissa and Zack, noticing they're staring back at him with cocked eyebrows. Milo grinned back sheepishly, embarrassed, before putting his focus back on himself and Amanda.
Milo begun dancing again with Amanda, and again tried his hardest focusing on the dance. Despite that, he was clearly struggling due to the mean comments swarming his thoughts.
"And Murph being your burden!"
"Go die in a hole and farewell, you jinx!"
"And Murph being your burden!"
"Go die in a hole and farewell, you jinx!"
"And Murph being your burden!"
"Go die in a hole and farewell, you jinx!"
"After all, Murphy's Law makes you quite the liability."
It was Bradley's questionable word suddenly popping up that got to be the straw that eventually broke the camel's back. Milo stumbled out of sheer surprise, and he and Amanda fell... right against Zack and Melissa, all of them falling on the floor.
Lying down under a heap of his friends, Zack admitted: "Okay, fine, maybe the music room is too small."
"Told ya", Melissa spoke, holding up her hand, as Zack begrudgingly laid a fiver in it.
Before any of them could've gotten up, the gymnasium's door opened, revealing Mort.
"Er, um... free period's over", Mort announced.
Most of the day was pretty uneventful. Mrs Murawski still adored her desk to an endless degree, Mr Drako was still suspected to be a vampire by Chad, et cetera. Most that Milo noticed was odd was that Principal Milder seemed more nervous than usual, especially around Melissa, making him wonder what had happened between the two during her negotiation. But all Melissa said was "Not important".
As for the tango dance practices up ahead... well...
The one in the second free period went the same way as in the first period. The session began all good and well, but ended in disaster as Milo stumbled several times and eventually fell down, dragging Amanda along. This time, Zack and Melissa managed to avoid being fallen upon.
After school was over for the day (with thankfully no homework), Milo and Amanda practiced the tango for another hour at Milo's place, with Cavenpus watching along. And it was... eh.
On the one hand, Milo was getting better and more daring with the figures. On the other hand, he kept messing up with the much simpler steps, as he stepped several times on Amanda's toes, or tripped over them.
At least Cavenpus now understood better what a tango is supposed to be.
"You know Milo, I would advise you to not get overly daring and keep practicing the simpler stuff first", Amanda began after the session, "but it almost looks like you're doing much better with the harder figures than the easier ones! I don't really understand."
During the entire session, Milo was constantly plagued with the same mantras. Burden, jinx, liability. Burden, jinx, liability. Burden, jinx, liability. Burden, jinx, liability...
Yet, Milo still told Amanda: "I guess it's still Murphy's Law acting up."
At this point, Milo wasn't even sure it was Murphy's Law anymore. Amanda's squinted eyes also seem a bit doubtful about his explanation.
Milo wasn't really looking forward to the rest of the week if these tango practices continued at a rate like this.
"AAH!"
The middle of that same night. Milo just woke up from that same awful nightmare about Amanda dumping him and Anthony and Ashley humiliating him yet again. This time, the shriek he made was heard, as soon after, his mom made a visit to his bedroom.
"Milo, are you alright?" Brigette asked her son. "Your dad and I heard a yell coming from your room."
Milo was wondering how he should reply to that question. He obviously didn't want to lie, but he didn't like to go in excruciating detail about what happened in his bad dream. That alone made him realize he didn't even have to go in detail to begin with.
"I was having a nightmare, Mom", Milo answered.
"From the sound of that scream you made, it must've been a pretty awful nightmare", Brigette realized.
"You don't know the half of it", Milo responded. He was kind of hoping that his mom wouldn't take it as some kind of hint to keep pressing.
"Oh, you poor thing", Brigette cooed, approaching Milo and embracing him. "I hope you won't get any more awful dreams soon."
"Me too, but you never know for sure", Milo murmured.
"That's why you gotta stay strong, Milo", Brigette spoke. "Good night, honey."
"Good night, mom."
And Brigette closed the door, leaving just Milo in his bed.
Milo tried to sleep again. He really, really hoped that the rest of the week would fare much better compared to Monday.
Author's Note: I really enjoyed writing those flashbacks of Melissa. Something just tells me she would absolutely do something like that. |
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