sweet as M and Ms 1

Mariko arranged her desk as she got ready for a new day, contracts on the left, CDs in drawer one, lyrics in drawer two, desk calendar at the top right corner, she ripped off a date to show December 15. “Nine more days till Christmas” she thought.

While she was putting the pens and pencils into her case someone burst into the room. “Roy! You should at least knock before you come in!” she picked up the scattered writing utensils and put them in the case.

Roy was her manager he had uneven scarlet hair and used a head band to keep it out of his eyes, and the son of the boss of the whole corporation of singer/models, called Day Star. Mariko was their most popular girl. Roy sheepishly said sorry and launched into his new idea, “I was thinking, well dad was too, but still, we were thinking that you should have a partner you know?”

Mariko spit out the soda she was drinking. “A PARTNER!?”

“Sure, I mean it would do good for you, and it would be a good change, besides it would be a great start with your new series, the one we discussed with about three days ago. Dad was thinking about naming it Flower Power.

“WHAT???”

“Well, he said that if you agree to the partner thing he’d change the name.”

Mariko thought about it, having a partner would be nice, but then again it may mean her secret being discovered. But she was never never never going to use a dumb name like Flower Power.

“Okay… but I do not like it.”

“Great, meet me in room 162 at 2:00 PM so we can talk okay?”

“Sure…”

Later

Mariko walked into the conference room and sat in a chair. Roy and his dad were already there, along with a couple of other agents.

“Okay, so you agree that you will get a partner and we’d change the name, correct?” asked Roy.

“Ya.”

“Okay, so dad, what’s your idea for a name?

“Hmmmm… how about Sweet as M&Ms?”

Mariko dead panned, “that was the best name you could think of?!”

“It was either that or Pretty Girl.”

The boss was good at a whole lot of things, but making-up names weren’t one of them.

“I’ll take choice A.”

“Good, now about your partner, I think you should have a competition, its good publicity. You, and two other people will judge, but your thought will count the most, agreed?”

Mariko thought about it, why not? Then she’d get a choice on a partner.

~X~

Ike looked at his watch, if he didn’t get moving he would be late for school. He was a sophomore in Smash High, and had managed a reputation as a smart, athletic, kind person who was always on time; he wasn’t going to drop it. He got into the family car and drove to school, making plans for what he should do afterschool.

When he got there his friend, Link, was already waiting for him, and with a rolled up sheet of paper in hand. As Ike got out of his car Link sprinted to him, unrolled the poster, and shoved it into Ike’s face.

“Check this out!” shouted Link so loud that everyone in the parking lot could hear him, not that anyone cared. Link was known for being excited about the most trivial things, like that time when they got a new cafeteria lady. He did have a point though, the old food tasted like moldy socks, mostly because they were, but most kids brought their lunches anyways.

Ike quickly read it:

Would you like to sing with pop star Mariko? Then this is your chance! There will be a sing-off held at the Jasper Stadium on the day after Christmas starting at 3:00 to become her partner! Fill out a form and turn it in at the sing-off! See you there!

“Do you have a form?”

“Of course I do! What did you expect? Here!”

Link thrust a 3 page packet into Ike’s hands.

Ike looked at link and asked, “Why are you giving it to me?”

“Well, I thought you’d enter, cuz y’know, I can’t sing to save my life and your part of the top choir, besides you can get instantly famous and get to meet her! If I could sing I would enter but…”

Link definitely had a point there, back in 6th grade when all students were forced to join a music group link tried out for choir, the ditch option for people who wanted to quit the next year, and when he sang the first few notes of Sweet Papaya the Choir director ran out of the room screaming an E flat three octaves above the staff trying to drown out the ‘devil’s voice’. Ike on the other hand was immediately put in with the 8th grade choir kids where he was picked on for having a ‘mellifluous voice’ as the teacher described it. All in all, Ike had a great voice, and link couldn’t sing at all with out breaking any glass objects near him.

“Why should I enter?”

“As a friend, please?” link was a humongous fan of her.

“No”

“Please”

“No”

“Please”

This went on for the rest of the day until Ike finally gave in, “alright, if you shut up!”

“YES!” shouted Link.

~X~

The day of the contest

Mariko was on her computer at home. It wasn’t a big super costly flat-screen that the author of this story could never hope to buy, nor does the author care because her computer is working fine and doesn’t lag as much as her Runescape obsessed friend’s that randomly shuts down for no reason. She was on Kongregate.com, playing Bubble Tanks 2. Yellows, blues, and reds zipped across the screen as she beat the boss bubble for the tenth time, counting. It was a quite interesting game, better than the first one since there were more types of bubble crafts than the first one, not to mention more types of enemies and an okay soundtrack. As she started a new game she happened to glance at her watch. Thirty minutes, just enough time for her to bike to the stadium, she didn’t know how to drive, which was fine by her since it never got very cold, in fact it was the middle of winter and the temperature was still in the low sixties. She shut her computer down and ran out of the door, hopped on her blue racing bike which if you paid attention, was meant for boys, and rode down the street.

The streets were mostly empty since it was the middle of winter break and most of the families here either were work-o-holics, believed that family time was super important so they drowned their family in an endless barrage of Monopoly and children’s card games, went to a different state to visit their Uncle Bob who was a alcoholic and smoked twenty packs a day, or stayed at home having a microwave cup ramen and Brood War tournament.

She locked her bike into the bike stand even though it was most likely unnecessary. Se ran into the side building of the stadium and punched in her code and ran in. there she met Roy. “Here, change with these.” He thrust into her hands a bundle of clothes and sent her off to the bathroom, “when your done go to the judges area.”

~X~

Ike slowly drove to the stadium in his car with link riding shot gun giving him enormous amounts of annoying pep talk. Ike may have looked calm on the outside but inside he was just as nervous and excited as link. As he pulled up into the parking lot of the stadium, already filled with cars that looked like they’d could’ve cost as much as his house. He could only find a small space in between a jeep and a convertible. He was better at driving than most other people so he managed to find a good space in between them. He walked in the direction of the stadium and noticed a blue bike chained to the bike racks. Who would’ve ridden here on a bike?

Inside music was blasting out from the speakers of the stadium, not that anybody could hear it; everyone was too excited about the competition. There was a blond haired lady in front of a huge desk littered with pens, paper, and an assortment of other stuff. There was a sign on the desk that sad: SIGN UP

Link smiled at Ike and said, “break a leg! I’ll be in the audience watching you!” and left.

Ike walked to the line of people waiting to sign up. The line stretched on and on. When Ike got to the back he thought ”They could’ve made more than one sign up area.” But waited patiently. After what seemed like a millennium he finally got to the lady. She squawked, “Sorry! Only 200 contestants allowed. Now get outa ma face moron!”