"Okay guys, let's try this again. And this time Brian, try not to laugh!" Fatima cried, clapping her hands. "And five six seven eight and--" We began again, without the music. "Now walk, two three four and jump. Alright! Let 'em down boys, and five six seven eight and--no no no no NO! Brian! STOP LAUGHING!" Kristin walked back up to Brian and started to cat-slap his arm. We all busted up as Brian grabbed her and put her over his shoulder, then carried her off and threw her on a couch in the corner of the studio. Kristin got up and walked back over to him and ruffled his hair.
"Maybe if we stuck some duct tape on his mouth," I suggested. "That might work..." Howie chuckled.
"Ya know what, take a break. And when you" (Stupid Brock, that is) "are ready to start practicing seriously, we will, okay?" Fatima gave in. "And Steph, can you stay here so we can go over some choreography together?" I said sure, as I walked over to a corner to get my water bottle. Everyone said their goodbyes and walked out to take a trip to a smoothie place nearby.
I grabbed my lunch and walked over to a chair Fatima was sitting in.
"Have you gone over that stuff we talked about over the phone?" she asked me.
"Oh yeah! Got it down pat!" I told her.
"Would you mind showing it to me? I wanna see how it would look from one of you guys." I obliged to Fatima's request and walked back out to the middle of the wooden floor and got in position.
"Okay. And five six seven eight. And walk two three four, arm around and pull in the knee and in out in run - in - a - circle and a padabureu turn and lean and double pirouette and land - on - the - ground! And pull in and out -yeah arm up - and cross over and turn around and up arms out and on the heels and pull in the arms and jump to face the front and arm around the head and point
- out," Fatima mumbled to herself, while I performed the section. "Great! Now, remember, when we do all the arms, hands are jazzed, right?"
"Yeah, I thought it looked better that way. I experimented with fists and jazzed hands and jazzed looked a lot better...except during the parts where we don't need it," I explained to Fatima. "And for the pirouette, I tried with the arms in front, then with them clasped over my head--like I showed you--and I thought it looked better the way I showed you." She agreed. I felt so...up there, being a co-choregrapher. Never in my life did I think I could help Fatima Robinson (my hero) choreograph a dance. And the best part was that she respected my opinion when it came to any dance, and often took what I had to say into consideration.
"Now, about that B-Rok of ours..." Fatima started off again.
"Let's just replace him with Sleepy. Kick him out of the BSB. We don't need him anyways," I joked. Fatima laughed. "Stupid Brock ruins everything!"
"Doesn't he? We oughta seriously beat him down," she sarcastly told me.
"Naaah...we'll just bring in Amanda and he'll straighten up," I made her realize.
"DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!" Fatima cried, slapping my knee excitedly, while she bounced up and down in her chair. (I was now sitting on a director's chair, next to her.) I borrowed her cell phone and dialed up 'Manda's number. Luckily, she was sitting around at home with Amy, so both the girls took Amy's car and left as soon as we hung up.
The plan was to have the boys come in and the girls be sitting there in the couch to surprise Bri and Nick. Fatima brought her little videocamera that she always used to tape us dancing if she ever needed to go home and make up corrections. So, when Amy and Amanda showed up at the studio, we set up the videocamera on a stool in the back of the room, by the stereo.
A few minutes later, the boys walked in. Brian began to walk over to me, holding a smoothie I had asked him to buy for me, when his head immediately turned toward the couch and he cracked up. Fatima and I screamed out with laughter and gave each other a high five. Brian shoved the smoothie into Kevin's hands and ran over to Amanda, who stood up and gave him a hug, laughing herself. Nick sauntered over to Amy and wrapped his arms around her. The couples shared a few passionate kisses and separated so that the boys could try the jumping routine over again.
"Okay Brian, here's the deal. You can't seem to act mature enough to practice one simple little move that doesn't even suggest anything nasty, so we've decided to bring someone along to set you straight. And Nick, the boy who can't get the beat right...you're in trouble if you can't do this right? Deal?" Fatima explained to us. Kevin, Howie, and AJ began to laugh even harder.
"HAHAHAHAHA! You're dead you're dead you're dead you're dead!" AJ chanted. Howie was laughing nonstop. He clapped his hands together a few times and told me it was such an awesome idea.
"Now, we're gunna try this a few times, then Steph and I will go over new moves with the girls. Then, we're gunna put it all together and try it with the music. So, blow kisses to your girlfriends, wave goodbye...do whatever you do, and get your asses in your spots!" Fatima instructed. Brian blew a few kisses to Amanda, then got in his place.
"You drop me and you're dead," Kristin warned Brian, then she stuck her tongue out at him, playfully, and got in her place. Fatima counted us in, then we started the part. We girls walked four steps, jumped into the guys' arms, looked at them, ruffled their hair, then they let us down. We walked around them, landed down on our right hands, sat down, then the boys grabbed hold of our hands and pulled us up from between their legs so that we were standing in front of them, facing them. Then, Nick and Tae made dumb faces at each other, Niki looked at Howie and gave him a cheerful hi, Nef grabbed J's earrings and lightly yanked on them, Brian and Kristin stuck their tongues out at each other, and I rubbed Kevin's goatee with my hands.
"I like it!" Fatima cried. Amy and Amanda were clapping. "Now, if we can incorporate that last part into the dance..." She began to think. "CONGRATULATIONS BRIAN!!! You didn't laugh!" Brian took a bow. "Now for the part right before that. Steph, get on over here. You're gunna help me teach this to them." Fatima pulled me over. All the guys clapped and hollered at me. I took my cowboy hat out of a duffle bag and sat next to Fatima. Amanda had brought a camera with her and she took a picture of me and Fatima in our matching hats.
"Okay. Boys, go do whatever you want. We don't care. Just don't interrupt anything. Go sit on the couch or whatever. And shut up," I instructed. As if they had planned it, all the boys jokingly hung their heads down and 'sulkily' walked over to the couch.
"We're being yelled at by our best friend!" AJ cried in this whining, shakey, almost-in-tears voice that was completely fake. Fatima and I walked over to the mirror, the girls following us.
"Ok. So the first thing we do is a really low hitch kick. Punch forward and cross your wrists. Like this," I said, showing them.
"Then four walks. Right arm winds up backwards and punches over your left knee. In out in with your knees. On the ins, wrists are crossed. On the outs, they are out. And hands are jazzed."
"Let's put this together and try it right now," Fatima interrupted, before I went any farther. I turned around so that I was facing the mirror and Fatima counted us in. Then, she shouted out the instructions as we did it. The girls asked their questions and we tried it again.
"Okay. Next, you run in place in a circle, hands flexed. Then padabureu in a circle. Lean into your right leg and pull up into a double pirouette, with your arms above your head. Wanna try that with the first part?" I asked, after teaching them the next 10 counts. We went over it again.
"Hey girls! We're gunna go outside for awhile, get some fresh air, ok?" J called from the couch. Then they all filed out the studio door.
"Okay. Now the tricky part. Double pirouette and land on the ground sorta in the splits. Be careful you don't land on your knees, cuz they'll get all banged up," I instructed. Then I showed it to them. The girls winced a little, but they were used to doing that type of stuff. "Then pull yourself up tight, balancing on the balls of your feet. Then kick your feet out, holding yourself up with your right arm and your heels. Your left arm is up. Then cross your left leg and arm over and turn to face the back, hunched over. Wanna try that?" We did it. The girls asked their questions, then we continued.
"From the back, you pop out of the ball. Your arms are out, hands jazzed. Stand on your heels. Then pull yourself in. Your arms are pulled into your chest. Then, you jump around, right arm goes around head and then points. Wanna do it all together?" I asked. Tae, Nef, Kristin, and Niki all said yes, so we put it together. Then, Fatima turned on the song: "If You Want It To Be Good Girl (Get Yourself A Bad Boy)." Then we did it to the song. The girls all got it, so I explained to them that this was where we hopped on the boys. So, they knew the part, right up to the kick where we caught our leg.
Fatima nodded her head at me and I walked back over to my duffle bag and pulled out five of my caps.
"YES! A HAT DANCE!!!!" Tae cried. Her favorite type of dance was one where we used hats or chairs. I gave each of the girls one of my caps and they stuck them on their heads.
"Okay. Three step-digs, and your arms go up and down. Then, your hand slides across the bill, grab it, flip it around in a circle around your head--your hips circle, too--and put it on backwards--" I began to explain, showing them step by step.
"OH YES! THIS IS SOO CUTE!" Tae screamed with excitement. We all laughed.
"Okay Tae! I'm glad you like it!" I answered. "Now, next, you do four walks in a circle, and your arms switch from front to back. Next, you reach out with your right arm, to the side. Stick your butt out! And pull in, pulling your butt in. Then arms punch up - and - around. That's basically all we have right now," I finished. Fatima flicked on the music and we did the dance three times, so the girls would get it.
After we finished doing it the last time, we heard a bunch of clapping and shouting. The boys had come back in and, miraculously, Danielle was with them.
"Take a bow girls!" Fatima cried. So we girls all simultaneously did the "As Long As You Love Me" bow that the guys always do at the end of the dance. This only made laughing matters worse. I ran up and gave Danielle a hug, saying hi to her. I completely caught her off-guard. She didn't expect someone she hardly knew to run up and wrap their arms around her.
Laughing, Danielle mumbled, "Uh, I love you too Steph!"
"Ready to practice with them boys?" Fatima called from across the room. The boys said goodbye to their 'women' and walked over to the side of the studio that had a mirror. Fatima got comfortable in her chair next to the stereo, we girls adjusted our hats, and we got in our places. Fatima turned on the music and we took off. The guys lip-synched the song while we danced to what we knew. When we were done, our audience 'appreciated us.' We thanked them kindly, then the boys decided they were 'tired' and left us to discuss what the girls had just learned.
When the boys were not far off, Nef asked me about the kick up, where we were supposed to grab our calf for a split second. I was demonstrating for her when BAM! I was on the ground, in a great deal of pain. I had landed wrong and twisted my ankle. Almost instantly, Howie was on his knees, next to me. Tears welled up in my eyes as I sat there, trying to ignore the throbbing in my left ankle.
Everyone quickly jogged over to the two of us and hovered over as I sat there with my left leg outstretched so as not to add any pressure.
"Are you okay Steph?" Howie begged to know in a worried tone.
"Not exactly. I don't think I can walk," I said, choking back tears. Fatima and Kevin examined my ankle, which had begun to swell a little, and Nick put one of the ice-cold water bottles next to it. Howie scooped me up and carried me over to the couch, where he actually sat next to me while the others had to go over some other dances. I practically insisted that he leave, because I had Danielle, 'Manda, and Amy to stay with me, but he only insisted even more that he stay with me.
"Geez Howie! You're worse than Brian!" Danielle jokingly mumbled, without even realizing what she was implying. Amanda looked at me wide-eyed from her spot on the opposite end of the couch where my foot was in her lap and she was holding the water bottle up to it. She had realized it too. This was not a joke any longer. I closed my eyes and rest them on Howie's shoulder, and quickly fell asleep.
When I woke up, I was on my bed and Amanda was sitting at the end, indian style, flicking through a magazine.
"Oh hi! Hey Howie! Dani! She's up!" Amanda yelled. Danielle and D walked into the bedroom and said hi to me.
"How's your ankle?" Danielle wanted to know.
"I guess you could say it's better. I don't...ow!...nevermind," I started to say, but felt a sting of pain and quickly changed my answer.
"Fatima said you should stay off it for at least a month," Howie told me.
"Oh no! I'm gunna get fat!" I lightheartedly commented. The three of them laughed a little. Dani, who was holding my chihuahua, let him down on the bed. Muchacho ran across the bed to me and started licking my arm. I grabbed him and held him to my face to give my little black dog a kiss. He licked my nose in return, his tail wagging vigorously. I set Chachi down and he stepped onto my stomach and made himself comfortable. "Dumb dog," I mumbled, stroking his back. "How long have we been here?"
"Not too long. Maybe a half hour. You were asleep at the studio for an hour, then Howie borrowed Nick's car and drove you back. Dani and I drove the Mustang back. We left Amy there to hang out with the boys and support Nick so he'd dance right. Howie took the Durango back and got here a few minutes ago," Amanda explained to me.
"Catching up on all that sleep I've lost..." I said to myself, repeating Howie's words from the previous day. He smiled at me, recognizing his exact words. He handed me my smoothie I hadn't finished. It was somewhat salvaged, but sticking it in the freezer didn't save it much. I thanked him and drank some.
"Someone please turn on the music! It's too quiet in here!" Amanda walked into my living room and turned on the stereo. Suddenly
"Please Don't Go Girl" was blaring through the speakers on my ceiling. I looked at D and blushed, as we both laughed softly to ourselves.
"What?" Amanda wanted to know when she came back in.
"Back in the day when I was 8, Howie would sing this song to me because it was his favorite. I thought he was stupid because Joey Joe could sing it a lot better and Joey Joe was soo much cuter...though I had my eye on Danny the whole time. And Howie vowed to me that he would get as buff as Danny and as cute as Joey Joe and he'd sing and be just like them one day..." I trailed off.
"Well, looks like he kept his word!" Danielle spoke up. Howie smiled at her. "Didn't you used to want to be in the New Kids on the Block, Howie? AJ told me something to that extent." D laughed to himself.
"Yeah yeah. I had my heart set on becoming the sixth New Kid, but it never happened. Oh well. I guess you could say it was for the better," Howie confided in her.
"No it wasn't! You promised me that once you got famous, you'd let me meet Danny and that never happened!" I cried out.
"Hey! But I let you meet Joe, didn't I? And Jordan?" Howie argued back.
"Yeah but Joe's not that cute anymore. And I never liked Jordan that much to begin with. And I heard Danny's married, anyways, so it's no use..." I explained. I sighed. "You guys don't need to stay here and watch me. I mean, I don't want to hold up your plans or anything. I'll just sit here and rest. Get my sleep."
"I guess there is no point in our being here anymore. Wanna walk back to the studio, Dani?" Amanda asked. Danielle agreed to, so they said bye and left. I looked up at D.
"You don't need to stay here D. I'll be fine by myself. Really," I told him.
"No. I'll stay here with you. It's better if you stay off your foot as much as possible, so that it can get better. I scheduled a doctor's appointment for you tomorrow, so you can get an x-ray on it. Kev wants to make sure it's not fractured," Howie exclaimed. I couldn't have been less thrilled. I thanked him for going through the trouble, though.
"Well, I still wanna get my sleep, so if you want, you can pop in a movie or watch TV while I take another nap," I replied. Howie said okay and left the room, slightly shutting the door behind him.
* * *
I woke up the next morning and yawned. It felt a lot better to have had some sleep. Not long after, Howie walked into my room, taking me by surprise.
"Hello D!" I cried, shocked that he was there that early. He was carrying a tray with a bowl of fruit and orange juice on it. I thanked him graciously and ate up.
"The appointment is at 10:30, so in about a half hour, I'll take you over to the doctor's office, okay?" he told me. I still couldn't believe he was doing this for me...Kevin was usually the one who took care of me like a dad. It was basically his job to watch over all of us and make sure that we were okay. He WAS the Big Brother. It still meant a lot to me, though, that D was doing this. He sat on the end of my bed, playing with Chachi, while I ate breakfast. When I was finished, he took the tray and left me to get dressed.
It had been two days since things had begun to supposedly heat up between me and Howie and I still hadn't had a chance to gather my thoughts together and sort them out.
Everything inside my head was a mess.
Hopping on my right foot, I walked over to my dresser and pulled a pair of khaki shorts and an olive green shirt out of the drawers. I got dressed and made my bed. My hair was a mess, so I pulled it back in a ponytail and hopped out to the living room, where I plopped down in my favorite fat chair. I looked at Howie, exhausted from hopping so much.
"Ready to go?" he asked me. I nodded my head yes, and got up to hop out to his Corvette, grabbing my sunglasses on the way out.
Neither of us talked on the way to the doctor's office. We got in there and were quickly wisked away to the x-ray room. (It's tough to go places when you're famous, or, somewhat famous.) The doctor was a very kind old man who's wrinkled face lit up the room just as much as Howie's...oh god! What was I thinking? I shook that thought out of my head and concentrated on putting the lead over my leg for the x-ray. Howie and the doctor stepped out of the room while a nurse took the x-ray. While the picture was being developed, we sat in a small patient's room. Then a nurse poked her head in and handed the doctor the manila envelope. He opened it and took the x-rays out. He stuck them on the lit screen and pointed out to me where the bone was slightly fractured. I was very lucky it was a hairline fracture and would heal quickly, but I needed to put it in a cast, so it'd heal faster.
So, Howie and I had to wait in the room a while longer as the nurse prepared the cementy stuff and the doctor went to check on other patients. Sitting in the room by ourselves, everything was silent. Howie massaged my shoulders. I nearly fell asleep. Then the nurse came back in and asked me what color I wanted. It took a few minutes, but I finally decided black would be the easiest to deal with. Then, she called the doctor back in and they began to set my foot in a cast. I wasn't going to get a walking cast just then, so I would have to hobble around in crutches for a few weeks.
When the cast was set and dry, the doctor gave me strict instructions on taking showers, walking, and putting weight on it. Then, he handed me crutches and Howie and I were allowed to leave. I was even less thrilled to have those stupid wooden things digging into my armpits, but I would have to live.
We drove home silently, and, when we got back to my place, I noticed Nicky's Durango on my driveway. I smiled to myself, thinking how sweet it was that Nintendo Nicky would take time out of his schedule to see me. When the car was parked, I hobbled up to the front door, which D opened for me, then walked in.
The four boys, Fatima, and Emily were all sitting in the living room, waiting for me. I smiled and waved as they saw me walk in. Kevin came over, gathered me in his arms, and carried me to the couch. He gently lay me down, as Howie moved the crutches over and set them leaning next to the wall closest by.
"Is it fractured?" Kev asked. I nodded my head.
"I have at least a few months. Sorry guys. You'll have to get one of the backup dancers to take my place for the beginning of the tour--" I began to say.
"Absolutely not!" Howie suddenly cried.
"We'll wait for you to get better. Besides, we have two months before the tour starts again. You'll be almost completely healed by then!" I smiled. Everyone was a little taken aback by Howie's reaction.
"Can I decorate that thing? It's rather dull," Nick pointed out. I told him sure, if he could find my silver-tipped pen. He produced his own from his jean pocket, knelt beside the couch, and began drawing cartoons on my black cast.
"We've all been really worried about you since yesterday," Kevin spoke up. "Em nearly freaked out when she found out. She felt really bad when she couldn't be here because of work--"
"So I came over today instead. You do know that if you ever need me you can call me and I'll be over," Emily reminded me. I gave her a smile and thanked her. Then I thanked everyone for being there.
"There! Done!" Nicky sat back to admire his work. He had drawn cartoons all over my cast. There was gold, red, green, and purple on it, as well as silver.
"Well, at least we know that if you don't make it as a singer, you'll be very successful as a cartoonist," AJ joked, patting Nick on the back.
"You and I can still co-choreograph the rest of the dance, so let me know when you get that walking cast, okay?" Fatima told me. She was sitting on the top of the couch, beside me. I thanked her for not taking the rest of the dance choreographing out of my hands.
Then I cried, "Who wants to play Monopoly?" I was bored out of my mind and wanted to take my mind off the stupid foot I had fractured. They all agreed to play and Brian went and got the game out of my game closet. They spread it out on the coffee table in front of me and we began to play. "I have the dog!" I suddenly yelled. AJ found it and threw it at me.
"If you must," he teased.
"Hey! It's my game! We play by my rules!" I cried. "And rules are you give the injured the dog!" I dug the dog out from a crevice between the couch cushions and set it on the board. We got all our pieces and set them on the Go! spot and began to play.
"Hey Brock! Where's your siamese twin and her friends?" I wondered, halfway through the game.
"She had the removal surgery. We're split for good," Brian joked. We all laughed.
Stupid Nick, who was clueless as always, yelled, "You broke up???"
"No you idiot!" Brian snapped. Then he got serious. "They wanted us to say hi and that they're sorry they couldn't come over. Tae, Nef, Niki, and Kristin also wanted to come over, but they were busy. The other guys don't even know I don't think." I smiled.
We played Monopoly for six hours.