Boy Oh Boys! (Season 1)

Chapter 10-3

"Charlie!" Rib came running to meet her when she had stepped into the east wing of the convention center. "Look! This magician guy gave me this!" he excitedly held out a straight jacket. "He was wearing this when he was was plunged into a tank of water and had to escape! It was AWESOME!"

"I think he was probably trying to tell you something," Pace walked up looking amused.

"Here. Help me try it on," Rib ignored his remark.

Charlie watched as Rib ecstatically wore the straight jacket and began to run around in circles.

"Sweet! This will make a great costume for my next film, too!" Rib grinned. "Okay, help me take it back off."

Pace, however, walked away, leaving Rib stuck in the straight jacket.

"Charlie! Help me out of this thing!" Rib turned to her.

"Only if you stop playing that spooky CD at bedtime," said Charlie with a laugh.

"Fine! Just get it off!" shouted Rib. "I can't feel my arms!"

When Charlie had rescued Rib from his straight jacket, she found herself once again by herself.

"I gotta go show this to Max! See ya!" Rib had sped off incredibly fast.

"Now what?" Charlie looked around the hall.

There were people in top hats and capes everywhere you looked. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a young magician appeared beside her.

"Hello, there!" he grinned. "I need a lovely assistant for my next trick and I think you'd be perfect!"

"Me?" Charlie gasped.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to saw you in half or anything," the magician winked.

"Umm, I'm not so sure," Charlie hesitated nervously.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" the guy grabbed her wrist and began to pull. "All you have to do is step inside this magic box!" He pushed her towards what looked like a giant coffin.

"No! I don't want to!" Charlie squeaked fearfully.

"It'll be fun!" the magician repeated, pushing her nearer the box.

"Stop!" Charlie cried, and suddenly, as though she had said the magic word, he stopped. "Huh?" Charlie turned around to see Pace holding the magician by his cape.

"Maybe you should pick a different trick," he crossed his arms when he finally let go of the man.

"Fine," the magician turned back to Charlie and began to wave his wand.

"Hey. Over here," Pace tapped him on the shoulder.

"Fine," the man repeated again with a sigh. "But this trick isn't really for guys."

Pace stared at him impatiently.

"Okay, okay," the magician began to wave his wand again and it suddenly turned into a bouquet of flowers. "Voila. Happy now?" he handed the flowers to Pace and slumped off disappointedly.

"Thanks, Pace!" Charlie breathed.

"Here," he shoved the flowers into her hand and began to walk away.

"Wait!" she called in confusion.

"You'd better be more careful," he said, looking back. "If you get caught flirting with any more of these weird dudes, your boyfriend might not take you on any more dates," he finished before disappearing out of the hall.

"My boyfriend?" Charlie repeated blankly. "He knows about Printz?"

~~~

"That was so fun!" Apollo sighed dreamily in the common room that evening. He had a hot red lipstick print on both cheeks.

"Tell me about it," Demeter grinned down at the pin-up photo he had purchased of one of the models. "Ricci dots the 'i's' in her signature with hearts!" 

"Yeah, but check out how cool this is!" Rib held up the poster he had gotten at the magic convention. "The Heights are an amazing magical duo!" he held up the poster featuring a male and female magician team. "Now, where to hang it? My bedroom is getting pretty full thanks to the poster Max got me for my birthday. Can I put it out here?"

"Fine with me!" Apollo smiled. "That girl is cute!"

"Yeah, why didn't we go to the magic convention?!" Demeter drooled.

"But there is not really much room to hang it out here either, Rib," Max glanced around the walls.

"Why don't you move something?" suggested Charlie. "How about this?" she began to pull down a poster of an athlete that was tacked between two of the bedroom doors.

"WHOA!" everyone shouted at once.

"What?" Charlie froze.

"You can't move that," warned Rib. "Casey hung that there," he whispered.

"Oops!" Charlie replaced the poster as quick as she could, glad that Pace was not in the room. "Okay, then... How about move that?" she pointed at a poster of two purple-haired pop star girls above the sink.

"SUGAR AND STAR?!" Apollo threw a hand to his chest.

"NEVER!" Demeter gasped.

"Who?" Charlie frowned.

"You've never heard of Sugar and Star???" breathed Demeter.

"The Princesses of Pop?" Apollo's eyes were wide.

"No. Who are they?" Charlie asked.

"Only the most gorgeous women on the planet!" cried Apollo.

"The most beautiful singers in the world!" added Demeter.

"Our future wives!" Apollo went on.

"Our soul mates!" nodded Demeter.

"You know them?" Charlie stared in surprise.

"They wish," laughed Rib.

"Don't worry! We will know them!" promised Apollo.

"Yeah! They're only just across the stadium!" grinned Demeter.

"They attend Juno Academy," explained Max.

"But you can't get in," Rib mocked the twins. "Even though you do look girly."

"Hey! I just thought of something!" Demeter's eyes widened. "We may not be able to get in... But Charlie can!"