"We're going live in five!" Someone shouted from somewhere off stage. Mark wasn't sure what he had been expecting when they said that they were going to watch from the side of the stage during the TV interview but this certainly wasn't it. People were running around the place like it was on fire and there was no water to put it out with. And while that chaos was happening, there was also the problem of Jasmine, who decided that she wanted to refuse to let go of his hand. Kyle was trying to convince her to let go and come with him and another small group of people, probably the stars of the show, but Jasmine was refusing to even think about it.
"Come on, Jasmine! We're supposed to go on with them," Kyle said with a sigh, holding his hand out to Jasmine. He figured that if she had someone else's hand to hold onto, she would let go of Mark's but the opposite happened. Jasmine took a step back behind Mark and squeezed his hand tightly, shaking her hand like she was scared Kyle was going to hurt her. Monet opened her mouth to say something, stepping forward and opening her mouth, but last second she changed her mind and stepped back, clinging onto Rebecca's arm almost as tightly as Jasmine's grip on Mark's hand.
"No, I think Imma stay with Mark," Jasmine replied, shaking her head fiercely. Melissa sighed and set a hand on Jasmine's shoulder but that only caused the blonde girl to jump and step away from her aunt, snuggling closer to Mark and holding onto his arm tightly.
"Jasmine, honey, Mark can't go up there with you. He wasn't apart of the movie like you were," Melissa said gently, kneeling down to Jasmine's height. "He's going to be right here while you're up there with Kyle and then once you're done, you can have him right back. And then, we're going to celebrate your birthday, remember? And go out to eat and open presents, right? We just have to do this first and then we'll go do that." Jasmine shook her head again, just as stubborn as ever.
"No. I want to stay with Mark," Jasmine repeated, gripping his hand tighter than before and holding onto his arm just as tightly. She wasn't going anywhere, not like this. Mark just sighed and turned to face her, turning gently so that he didn't hurt himself or her.
"You know that I can't go on stage, Missy," Mark said softly, resting his hand on her shoulder carefully, giving her a slightly stern, slightly concerned look. Jasmine bit her lip and blinked back a few tears, looking like she might start to cry if this conversation continued any farther. "Hey, hey! No! Don't cry! I'm right here, right now. I've got you. I'm gonna be here the whole time, you've got nothing to be scared off. I'll stand right here for you and you'll be able to see me. I just can't sit with you. But both Monet and I are here for you. We'll be right here for you, waiting until you're done, okay?" As hard as he tried, Jasmine didn't look convinced. She shook her head again, laying her head on his shoulder.
"Mom always came on with me and she's not here to do it anymore. So, I want you to come with me, Mark. I'm scared," Jasmine whined softly, hugging his arm tightly in her arms and hiding her face in his shoulder. Mark sighed and pulled her into a tight hug, trying to show her that she was okay. Monet sighed gently and rested her hand on Jasmine's shoulder, trying to comfort her. Jasmine never got camera shy. She loved the camera. She loved talking to people. She loved talking so much that sometimes, it seemed like she would never actually stop. Mark never expected her to get so shy over something like this.
"Hey, Jasmine, it's going to be okay. You've done this before," Melissa said gently, kneeling down to Jasmine's height again. Jasmine peeked out at her from the hug, still clinging to Mark tightly.
"Three minutes!" The same person from before shouted and Jasmine jumped, alarmed, and shook her head quickly.
"It's okay, Jasmine. Really," Kyle said, tapping his foot on the ground. He was starting to get worried that they wouldn't be able to get onto the stage now. They couldn't go on without Jasmine since she was a main character in the movie, and they couldn't just not go on at all. It wasn't fair to everyone else who was still there. "What can I do to make you feel better. I'll do anything." Jasmine shook her head again and hugged Mark tightly, hiding her face again.
"I don't wanna do this anymore," Jasmine mumbled, burying her face into Mark's shirt. Melissa sighed and Kyle looked impatient. "I want to stay here with Mark. I don't wanna do it anymore." Mark sighed again but he didn't move. He knew that if he did move, Jasmine would really start to cry.
"Is everything okay over here?" Looking over, Amanda Flynn was making her way over. Amanda was the host of the talk show that Jasmine was about to go on and she looked a little concerned for what was happening over here. Melissa stood up straight and gave Amanda a smile, resting a hand on Jasmine's shoulder carefully. Jasmine looked up carefully before hiding her face again, hugging Mark tightly.
"I guess Jasmine's getting a little stage fright. She's refusing to go on stage unless Mark goes on with her but he's not apart of the movie and I know they said that only the actors were going to go on or I would go on with her myself," Melissa explained with a sigh. Amanda nodded her head like she understood what was happening and this wasn't her first time dealing with this sort of thing. Then, she knelt down to Jasmine's height and gently tapped her shoulder, forcing Jasmine to look over at her.
"You normally go on interviews with your mom, don't you?" Amanda asked gently. Jasmine nodded her head and relaxed a little bit though she still hung onto Mark's arm tightly. Amanda smiled sweetly at her and held out her hand to her. "How about you come on with me, okay? And then we'll get you something to hold onto if you get nervous, okay? And then, as soon as it's over, I promise that you can come right back over to Mark." Slowly, Jasmine let go of Mark's arm, reaching out for Amanda's hand. Once her hand was in Amanda's, Melissa let out a sigh of relief and Kyle smiled at Jasmine excitedly.
"We're going to have so much fun, I promise!" Kyle cheered and Jasmine nodded her head in agreement weakly, holding onto Amanda's hand tightly with both of hand hands now. Mark sighed with relief and watched Jasmine walk over to the rest of the group with Amanda. When she was over there, Mark turned and walked back to his mother and Monet, reaching out to take Monet's hand.
"I didn't think she'd actually go," Monet said with a soft sigh, relaxing her grip of Rebecca's arm and grabbing onto Mark's hand, gently tugging him to sit down on the floor with her. Mark smiled and sat down next to her, never letting go of her hand once.
"She just got shy. She gets like that sometimes. You should know that," Mark replied as Monet moved closer to him, using her free hand to brush her bangs out of her face.
"Jassy's not shy though. That's the weird thing. She's never once acted like that before," Monet said, more confused than she had been before. Mark laughed a bit and shook his head, but they were cut short by the interview starting. Melissa and Rebecca had told them that once the interview started, they needed to stay quiet so that they didn't interrupt the live interview. This was the first, and probably the only, time they'd ever seen an interview like this and so they didn't want to get kicked out so fast.
Jasmine looked much more comfortable as the interview went on but it was very clear that she had been very nervous as it started. She was uncharacteristically quiet and her face was blank other than the occasional glancing towards Mark and Monet, who smiled at her and held thumbs up to try to encourage her. In the beginning, She kept close to Amanda and everything was getting set up and once it started and when they all sat down, she hugged the pillow that they had put on the couch just for her to hug and Jasmine even sat down by Kyle to make herself feel safer. However, by the time they were halfway through the interview, Jasmine was back to her normal self, laughing and talking without a problem. That was when Mark knew that she was going to be just fine.
The interview didn't last much longer after that and as soon as they announced that the cameras had stopped rolling, Jasmine bolted over to Mark and Monet, kneeling down by them and taking their hands as quickly as she could. Monet giggled and gave Jasmine's hand a squeeze, making Jasmine laugh at her before she turned and smiled at Mark, who smiled back at her.
"Okay, that's wasn't so bad," Jasmine sighed, acting defeated. Mark and Monet knew how much she hated to be wrong so it must have been really hard for her to admit. Mark laughed at her and leaned over, letting go of her hand for a second so that he could give her a one-armed hug since Monet still held his other hand.
"See? You didn't need me there after all," Mark replied, sitting back down and taking Jasmine's hand again. Jasmine rolled her eyes and shifted so that she was sitting cross-legged before dropping Mark and Monet's hands. Kyle came over to join them on the floor and they moved so that their triangle could become a small circle on the floor. Kyle smiled at them as he sat down, looking content as he sat down with them but that was probably because they were the only kids around.
"Yeah but having you there with me would have been ten times better!" Jasmine protested, crossing her arms over her chest and sticking her tongue out at Mark, desperate not to lose this battle. Mark made a face right back at her, sticking out his own tongue and the two of them laughed.
"What are you guys going to do for the rest of the day?" Kyle asked, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees and rest his head in his hands. Monet shifted as well, pulling her knees up to her chest and tapping her feet against the floor. Today already felt like it was a long day when it really was only about ten in the morning. Maybe that was just because things seemed to be longer when they were in New York because they were starting to get bored of it already.
"It's my birthday today!" Jasmine cheered excitedly, clapping her hands together a few times before realizing that she forgot an important detail. "Oh yeah! And it's Monet's birthday too. We can't forget about her." Monet smiled and shrugged her shoulders like it didn't really bother her that much.
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Happy birthday!" Kyle said, holding out a hand to give the twins a high five.
"Since it's their birthday, we're going to go out to eat. Then, we're going to go to the mall and then to the park," Mark replied with a nod of his head, almost like he was proving to Kyle that he was their best friend and he always would be. Not like Mark was jealous of him or anything since he knew that he would always know Jasmine better than anyone else would, but maybe as a challenge, telling Kyle that he needed to step up his game if he wanted to be friends with Jasmine like Mark was.
"The park and the mall? That sounds boring," Kyle sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "There are so many other fun things to do when you're in New York. Like, you could go to the pier or the Empire State Building or anywhere. Why are you going to the park and the mall?" Jasmine giggled and shook her head like she was scolding him.
"You're silly. Obviously, we want to go shopping and then we want to go to Blaten so we have to go to the park for that. Duh," Jasmine said, rolling her eyes and stretching her legs out, leaning over and grabbing her feet like she used to do for the dance class she took years ago with Monet before Monet quit and Jasmine didn't enjoy it anymore.
"Aunt Melissa said that we're going to get me some hair clips that I can put in my hair," Monet said, shrugging her shoulders like she was trying to find something to contribute to the conversation. "So that everyone stops calling me a boy. Because I don't like it."
"There's nothing wrong with being a boy!" Mark whined, turning to face Monet like she had just offended his entire existence. Monet just scrunched her nose up at him, shaking her head to disagree with him.
"Yeah but I'm a girl! And I'm one of the only five girls in my martial arts class, I'll have you know!" Monet protested, her voice showing her pride in her fact, like it was one of the most important things to her. Jasmine giggled at her and leaned back on her hands.
"Martial arts sounds like a lot of hard work. And there are way too many boys!" Jasmine replied. Monet laughed slightly and looked up from the floor. Mark and Kyle just had an insulted look on their face, though they were clearly faking it for the most part.
"Boys are gross. Except for Mark. Mark's the only good one. But boys are definitely gross," Monet replied with a small giggle. Mark's insulted face disappeared and he reached over to hug Monet. Kyle pouted more and cross his arms over his chest. Jasmine rolled her eyes and laid her head on Kyle's shoulder like it was some kind of half hug.
"It's okay, Kyle. I don't think you're gross... Well, okay. Not as gross as the other boys at the very least," Jasmine consoled, patting him on the arms like it would help show that she really did care about him. Kyle sighed, not completely content with that, but he did quit his pouting and laid his head on top of Jasmine's.
"See? Now we're both cool!" Mark said with a smile. "We're the coolest boys out there because we're not gross." It was almost like whatever jealousy fit Mark had before was gone. Still, it was obvious from the little glances that he was still very protective over Jasmine. If Kyle were to breathe so much in the wrong way, Mark looked like he would be ready to pounce.
"Yeah, you guys are cool. Oh!" Monet's face brightened, suddenly perking up at whatever idea she had come up with. "We should have a sleepover when we get home! At Jasmine's house. That way, we can stay up late to watch a movie."
"You guys should watch all of the Miss B movies," Kyle suggested with a shrug. Leave it to him to promote his own movie series. Mark and Monet exchanged a look though. Since Jasmine had always referred to the movie that she had worked on as Miss Blumer and Mr. Jack or simply 'my movie' they hadn't heard it been called Miss B before.
"He means my movie, guys," Jasmine said, rolling her eyes slightly. "But yeah! We should do that! I'll have to ask Aunt Melissa to make sure that it's okay but it would be fun to watch all the Miss B movies and have a sleepover so that the fun doesn't have to stop. Good idea, Kyle!" Jasmine turned and held her hand out for a high five, one that Kyle returned with a small laugh.
"It'll be fun to watch all those movies!" Mark cheered, leaning back on his hands and kicking his legs out in front of him. "We totally need to do this."
They continued talking about their ideas for the sleepover for the next few minutes. Even Kyle was talking about it with them, even though he wouldn't be able to be a part of it. Instead, he helped Jasmine come up with a million different ideas for the sleepover and while most of them they wouldn't be able to do, it was still really fun to think about. And so, they barely noticed that their parents were done talking and it was time for them to go.
"Jasmine, Mark, Monet! It's time to go now!" Melissa called over to them, gesturing for them to come over from where she stood next to Rebecca and Kyle's mother. "You too, Kyle. Your mother wants to leave now as well." The kids looked at each other before standing up and walking over to their mothers with a smile.
"It's time for our birthday now!" Jasmine giggled, grabbing onto Monet's hand excitedly once they reached Melissa and Rebecca. Monet smiled and blushed, dropping her gaze down to the ground.
"One more time! Happy birthday from me, you two!" Kyle said with a smile and a laugh, waving to the trio as he left. Mark smiled and turned to face Jasmine and Monet.
"Come on. Let's go! I know that Blaten's gonna wanna wish you two happy birthday too!"