The Next Day
Janelle woke up to hearing music playing next door. She wondered why she heard music playing and looked at her clock to see that it was 8am.
'Who wakes up this early? Then again...I do have to get ready for today anyway.' She thought.
She got out of bed and turned to Coraline, who was still asleep and curled up in a ball. She giggled a little and shook her lightly.
"Coraline, sweetie, time to wake up." She said.
Coraline moaned and opened her eyes. "What time is it, mommy?" She asked sweetly and tired.
Janelle giggled a little and looked at the clock then back at Coraline. "It's 8:05 right now. We gotta get ready so I can drop you off at Sally's house and then I can head on to the set for rehearsals."
"Can I meet my friend there?"
"At the set?"
"Yeah!"
"I'm not so sure about that, sweetie. I wasn't even told who your friend was. Nobody told me."
"That's because he's secretive and shy until you meet him."
"Is he imaginary?"
She shook her head. "Nope."
"Okay...hm...so he's real. How tall is he?"
"Um...I think he's a bit taller than you, mommy."
"Do you know his name?"
Coraline nodded. "Yeah, I know his name. Only I can't tell you."
"Well, what does his name begin with?"
"It begins with an M." She giggled.
"An M? Hm...well, I'll think about it during rehearsals. Let's get ready to go, Coraline."
Coraline jumped out of bed and ran to her suitcase and picked out her clothes for the day. She wanted to see her friend again so badly, even if she had to wear her mask to hide from the world. Janelle went over and helped her change into her clothes, thinking on who her friend was. Once she finished dressing Coraline, she got herself ready for day 1's rehearsal. Well, more like getting to know the cast and crew of "Bad" than rehearsing right off the bat. She knew it would lead to trouble if they rehearsed on day 1. They have to get acquainted with each other first before rehearsing closely.
Once dressed, she headed out with Coraline in her mask. They headed down the hallway of the hotel and waited for the elevator to come up. While waiting, though, Coraline looked around the corner and saw Michael about to come out of his suite, which was surprisingly right next door to her and Janelle. He looked down the hall, saw Coraline and smiled and waved to her. She smiled and waved back, her mom not noticing who she was waving to. When the elevator came, they got in and rode it down. (Michael had went back into his suite to get something before heading out.)
With Michael In His Suite
Michael went inside his suite and started wondering why Coraline was wearing a mask.
"Hm...seems strange...why is she wearing a mask?" He asked no one in particular.
He grabbed his gloves and started heading out again, making sure he had everything with him.
"Okay. Gloves: check; Accordion briefcase: check. I hope I have everything."
Suddenly, he heard his name being called. "Michael!! Watch out!" They shouted at him.
"Huh?" He turned and stopped just in time before he hit the wall. "Whoa...that was a little off the wall, wasn't it? It would've been bad if I had to have surgery again. Note to self: no more surgeries for a while."
He soon got in the elevator with his bodyguards and started heading out of the hotel and to the car. Once he got in, Bill started driving him through the busy streets of New York City. He looked out the window and saw two girls walking down the sidewalk. He looked at one of them and saw that it was Coraline, holding what seems to be an older girl's hand. He wondered who it was while on the way to the set.
'Who is that girl with Coraline?' He thought. 'Whoever she is...she's pretty cute. No! Bad, Michael!' He tried to hit the thought out of his head. 'You can't fall for a girl now. You have things to do. You have to focus on the short film.'
He just continued thinking all the way to the set, wondering who that girl was with Coraline.
At Sally's House
Janelle and Coraline walked up the steps to the door and knocked.
"Oh I hope she's home. You better behave yourself, Coraline. Okay?" She said.
Coraline looked at Janelle and nodded. "I know, mommy. I promise I'll behave." She said cutely.
Janelle giggled and kneeled down and kissed her head. "Good. Now, if there's a problem, call me, okay?"
"Okay, mommy."
Soon, the door opened and Sally stood right there with her little girl Pumpkin.
"Oh hey, Janelle! I didn't expect to see you here today." She said sarcastically.
"Oh haha, very funny, Sal. Listen, can you watch Coraline while I head on to rehearsals?"
"Not a problem. Anything for you, Jan. Come on in, Coraline." She moved out of the way for Coraline to come into the house.
Janelle hugged her and kissed her head again and let her go inside. "Have fun, Coraline!"
"I will, mommy!" She shouted and ran off with Pumpkin.
Janelle turned to Sally. "Thank you so much, Sally, for being able to watch Coraline for me. I should be back to pick her up later. I'll alert you when I get off the set."
"Alright. No problem, Janelle. Have fun at the rehearsals."
"I will. Later!"
Janelle waved at Sally and headed off to the set. She couldn't wait to meet the entire cast and crew of "Bad". She started humming a little bit of some songs she knew that were hit singles, one of them being "Bad" itself. She never knew how she already knew that song, but she just did. She thought back to when she woke up that morning.
'I heard "Bad" coming from next door...who was playing that??' She thought.
She continued walking down the street and soon got to the set. Martin was the first to see her. He ran up to her and put his arm around her.
"Hey, Janelle! You made it! Ready to meet the cast and crew?" He asked.
She nodded nervously and he first introduced her to the cameramen, the assistant director and the producers that were there. Next up was the cast. He thought it would be funny if he saved Michael and Wesley Snipes for last since they are the two main men in the short film.
"Is that all of them?" She asked.
"Nope. We have two more for you to meet." He turned to the two guys behind the few bodyguards that were there. "Mike! Wes! Come here! Come meet the girl we hired!"
They turned and came toward them and Janelle was in shock.
"Janelle, this is Wesley Snipes."
Janelle shook his hand with a hint of nervousness. "Pleased to meet you, Wesley."
"Pleasure's all mine." He said kindly.
"And this..." He pointed to Michael. "Is Michael Jackson, the one who is playing Daryl."
When she let go of Wesley's hand, she held her hand out to him and saw him smile and held his arms open. She didn't know what to do. He walked over to her and hugged her. She blushed a little and hugged him back. When they released the hug, he saw her blush and giggled.
"Do you blush a lot?" He asked.
"K-Kinda...it's a pleasure to meet you, Michael."
"Pleasure is all mine."
Martin came in and parted them a bit. "I'll let you two get acquainted since you two are the leads. Wes, come with me so we can discuss your role."
Wesley went with him and Janelle got a little silent. Michael bit his lip and let out a sigh.
"Well, Janelle...wait...you're the Janelle Elizabeth kept talking about?"
She nodded nervously. "Y-Yeah, that's me."
"Did you like the present I got you?"
"Yes I did. I loved it. I'm even wearing them now."
"Really?"
She nodded again and took the necklace out of her shirt and showed him the bracelet. His jaw dropped a little and he smiled.
"I never thought you'd wear them. Some girls would put them in a glass case with the card and never wear them."
She giggled a little. "Well, I'm not like them. It's only depending on the type of jewelry I get that I'll wear. Yours happened to be one type that I do wear. So thank you so much for them."
He giggled. "I'm glad you like them."
It got silent between them. Janelle didn't like silence, so she decided to break the ice.
"Well, Michael, can you tell me about you? Aunt Liz only told me a little bit and Ryan told me a little, too."
"You're also Ryan's step-sister?"
"Yeah."
"Oh wow. I never knew that about you. Well...um...what do you know about me already?"
"That you started two lies. You live with your parents still. You have 8 siblings, well 9 because of your half-sister. You started singing at the age of 4-5. You acted in Captain EO, The Wiz, The Jacksons Variety Show and Thriller. You wanna help kids and you absolutely love children. I think that's about it."
Michael was shocked to hear her say all those things. "How did you know about the first two lies?"
"I hear things. Not from the press or from the tabloids. They are too dumb to come up with lies like that. They have to have a mastermind behind them."
He giggled a little. "So you figured out that I started the lies about the Hyper-baric Chamber and the Elephant Man bones. Smart."
"What do you know about me, though?"
"I know that you love children as well. You like to sing, dance and act, just like me. You don't like being in the public eye and you wanted your future child/children to have a normal life. That's actually what I want my future children to have."
"How many children do you want?"
"Hm...I don't know. It's a difficult decision between 5 or 13."
Her eyes went wide. "13?!"
He giggled. "Yeah. Since I came from such a big family myself, I figured maybe I want a large family myself. What about you?"
"Me? Well, uh...I think I'll just stick with the one I have until I'm ready for more."
"You have a child?"
"Well, yeah. You aren't afraid, are you?"
"Why would I be afraid? I think it's great that you have a child. What's your child's name?"
"Coraline."
"Coraline..." He muttered. "Where have I..." He gasped. "You're Coraline's mother?!"
"Yeah, I am, Michael."
"I never knew that! She looked like she could pass off for your little sister or your little cousin!"
She giggled a little. "She told me that she had made a friend a while back. His name started with an M...I still wonder..." She thought back to the hints Coraline dropped: sweet, kind, shy, secretive. She gasped a little. "You're the friend Coraline was talking about!!"
They looked at each other and giggled. They could tell that they were already gonna be the best of friends, knowing that they have things in common and the fact that they acted like each other in different ways. Soon, they headed off onto the set to start rehearsing the lines and everything.