Janie Tanner ~A Watty's 2019 Submission

Chapter 8

The two little girls weren't going down without a fight, and frankly neither was Jesse when it came to his band getting in practice.

Around eleven o' clock, when he was sure all the girls were asleep, he called up his band, and they all brought their equipment to the house and began setting up, unaware that their cars were like an alarm to the two little girls upstairs who were looking for an excuse to come back downstairs and stay awake longer.

Not that Jesse didn't try to keep it down so he could have it both ways.

"I've got four little girls upstairs sound asleep." He told them, taking the drummer's drumsticks away and handing him some licorice sticks. "Sticks. Licorice." Then he went to address the rest of the band. "All right. here we go. Jumpin Jack Flash in B. Ready. One, two, three, four." He began singing, but was cut short when the music stopped. "What's the matter? Someone out of tune?" He turned around, and he heard a little voice ask a simple question.

"Do you guys do any Bangles stuff?" Stephanie and DJ were up and out of bed again.

"Whoa whoa, girls. You're supposed to be in bed. What would your dad say about this?" DJ shrugged. She knew how to make her Uncle Jesse think differently.

"He wouldn't mind. He'd say we're really lucky we have a chance to listen to the greatest rock band in the world." Jesse smiled. He and his band weren't the most well known, so he didn't get a lot compliments.

"Oh well, yeah. If you put it that way, yeah, okay." DJ looked around at the band, and went up to a woman with purple hair.

"Great hair. Could you show me how to do that?" The woman nodded, smiling as she showed off her hair a bit more.

"Sure. It's really easy. It just sprays right on." Just as she reached into her bag for her spray, the doorbell rang, making Jesse jump.

"Oh, thats for me." DJ told him, heading for the door and opening it to reveal a young man holding a pizza box.

"Wow." Jesse muttered, running his fingers through his hair, but DJ had a lie ready for him.

"Oh, I bet my dad forgot to tell you about our eleven o' clock pizza." She assured him as Stephanie took the pizza, and DJ turned to the pizza guy. "Hi, how much?"

"Eleven fifty." He told her, though he was very distracted by the band behind her.

"Did the cheese slid off or stick to the box?" She asked, and Stephanie looked into the box, shaking her head.

"No." She told her, and DJ handed him fifteen dollars, making his eyes go wide.

"Keep it." Then she went to shut the door, but the guy stopped her.

"Hey, do you mid if I check out the band?" She nodded grinning.

"Come on in. Open party!"  Jesse shook his head, glad to allow another person enjoy his band, but he still wanted to be the best babysitter he could be.

"All right, girls listen here now. It's almost midnight. You guys listen to two, three songs max, eat your pie, then straight to bed. No nonsense." Both girls nodded.

"Boy are you strict." Stephanie commented.

And only within a few minutes with a lot of pizza some loud music, DJ's hair was purple, there were people dancing on the couch, and the living room was a mess. It was far past the little girls' bedtimes, and Danny was on his way home, not to any of their knowledge.

Janie had been woken up a second time. She could hear the loud music, and hurried downstairs tying her robe, in shock when she saw the scene.

"Oh, no." She murmured, just as Joey came in. "Joey!" She expected him to get as upset about this as she was, but, of course, Joey had a different agenda.

"Conga!" He called, and everyone joined in on a Conga line.

"Uncle Jesse!" Janie exclaimed, but he couldn't hear her. She groaned, before hurrying upstairs to make sure Michelle was still asleep, just as Danny walked in, and everything went quiet.

"Boy are you gonna get it." Joey told Jesse, who had completely shut down.

"Attention solid gold farm team." Danny called, his arms crossed as he walked over to his two daughters. "It's twelve fiftteen and your hair is purple." Then he looked to the woman standing on the couch, qnd held out a hand to her. "Get down." He told her as he helped her back to the floor. "And I don't mean funky." Then he looked to Jesse and Joey. "Boys," he said, going over and putting an arm around both of them, a fake smile across his face. "boys, boys. Walk with me,talk with me." He walked them over to the foot of the stairs. "How could you possibly let this happen?!!" He suddenly shouted, and Joey held up his hands in self defence.

"Hold it." He told Danny. "On behalf of Joey.I would just like to say that Joey is innocent." Both Jesse and Danny gave him a look, and Joey nodded. "Oh, it's true i was doing a Conga when you walked in but I Conga alot. Hi my name is Joey and I'm a Conga-holic."

"Well, it's way past our bedtime." DJ announced, grabbing Stephanie's arm and heading for the kitchen to make a quick get away. "Come on Steph. Good night everybody." But Danny wasn't dumb.

"Girls get back over here.You're in just as much trouble as they are." DJ sighed and headed back towards him.

"Dad, I know we were supposed to..."

"DJ hang on a second." Jesse interrupted, stepping up to plate. "It's not the girls' fault. It's mine. I invited the band over, I woke the girls up, I ordered pizza, I was throwing a party and I needed chicks." That was when Janie came down carrying a crying Michelle, on her way to the kitchen.

"Sorry, Michelle woke up." She told them, stopping at the bottom where the boys were blocking her path. "I was trying to keep her down." Danny looked to her, crossing his arms.

"Janie, did you know about this?" She sighed.

"Yes, I knew." Danny tried to keep his cool. Janie was supposed to be his responsible daughter. Surely he wouldn't have to yell at her.

"And did you partake in these events?" She shook her head honestly.

"No, Dad. I told DJ and Stephy to go to bed ages ago!" She glared at her youngest sisters, who stood there awkwardly. "And when I saw this, I went to make sure Michelle didn't wake up." Danny shook his head.

"Janie, take Michelle back to her room and try to find her teething ring." Then he turned to his two younger daughters. "You girls get right into bed." Then he turned to the men. "You two are coming with Janie and I."