Pen to the Paper 26

“Hey, Nick,” I said, leaning back, sipping a mock-mosa out of a glass in the kiddie pool I was in. My pink unicorn tube bobbed up and down slowly as the reclined in the sun.

“What’s up?” he asked, looking over at me from his beach chair.

“I have an idea for the season premier. Tell me what you think: We hire a live band to play Crazy Train, and I ride into the arena on a train, rocking out.”

“We hired a live band to perform your garbage song last season, Caleb,” Willow said, tanning on the beach chair next to Nick. “People will think you’re beginning to lose your magic touch.”

I tilted my sunglasses down. “Hermana, Caleb is not losing his magical touch.”

“Mmmmhmmm, that’s what they all say.” Willow rolled over onto her back. “So, how long will the arena be a beach again?” she said.

I looked around at my creation: I had dumped several hundred pounds of sand onto the stage and set up yellow UV lights to simulate the sun. In the center of the stage was the kiddie pool that I was floating in, set up three beach chairs, and put up a fake palm tree. Very real looking.

“Ferb, I know what we are going to do today,” I said.

*****

The audience filed into the dark room, murmuring amongst themselves. “It’s darker than normal,” an audience member said. “What do you think he has planned?”

“Another musical number? Remember how dark it was when he sang that song for the finale? I wonder if he has recovered any from that prankster, come to think of it…”

"Planned? Dude, it's Caleb. He has nothing planned. He just pull things out of his a--"

"Hey! Caleb is the most creative, most awesome, most coolest, most handsome, most talented person I know. Don't talk about him like that!"

"Ma'am, you do know the whole point of the show and the challenge is spontaneity, right?"

"You shut your mouth!"

The audience member rolled his eyes and looked ahead of him at the dark stage.

The murmuring continued for several minutes. Eventually, it quieted down, until the arena was completely silent. A dim glow began at the stage, not bright enough to illuminate anything. Slowly it brightened to reveal me, Willow, and Nick on the stage in hero poses. We all were wearing our beach-wear and sunglasses with smug looks on our faces. Immediately, we broke out into a fully choreographed dance number, shaking our arms to the sides then switching to the other side. We put one hand on our hip and began leaning it to one side while pointing at the audience in a

circular motion, similar to the Sprinkler. We waved our arms in a circular motion around our bodies, as if we were the face of a clock, then we spun backwards, gave our butt a little wiggle, and spun back around. Nick dove into the kiddie pool, Willow jumped and landed on her side in a beach chair, resting her head on a hand and bending one of her knees in that oh-so-familiar pose. I slid on my knees and grabbed the microphone from the stand. “It’s Pen to the Paper 26, baby, and that means it’s season three!!!”

The murmuring continued for several minutes. Eventually, it quieted down, until the arena was completely silent. A dull glow began at the stage, not bright enough to illuminate anything. Slowly it brightened to reveal me, Willow, and Nick on the stage in hero poses. We all were wearing our beach-wear and sunglasses with smug looks on our faces. Immediately, we broke out into a fully choreographed dance number, shaking our arms to the sides then switching to the other side. We put one hand on our hip and began leaning it to one side while pointing at the audience in a

The crowd went wild.

“Also, Nick and Willow are dating.”

My two friends went red in the face and started denying it. I smirked at them, bowed, and sprinted away as they got up to chase me. Little did they know, I was wearing Gingerbread Man underwear.