School the following day was uneventful. Brian glared at Marilyn whenever he couldn't avoid looking at her, and she glared back not knowing what else to do. But for the most part he and his friends pretended she wasn't there altogether. At first it came to her as a relief, because she had worried a good deal about what the next day after their clash in Ms. Richards' History class would be like, but as the day wore on the situation became increasingly oppressive. Ms. Richards acted as if nothing had happened, and Marilyn wondered if maybe she had forgotten about the ruined book and Marilyn's cheeky behaviour and would just let it go.

After 6th period, the hallways were busy with students going from the rooms of the art classes to the yard and back, setting up tables outside and carrying colourful cardboards. The period of voting for prom king and prom queen would start the following day, and all teams were busy finishing up their posters and decorations. On this particular day of the year, though, the true kings and queens of the school were the students of the art club and the art classes. It was their prerogative to help out where help was needed, offer advice even where it was not needed (or wanted), and to keep a jealous watch over the materials and utensils of the art department - more jealous than would have been strictly necessary. For students of art classes this eventually came with extra credit, too.

Marilyn was in fact a member of the art department. She had an advanced drawing class in third period, but she didn't participate in the event that day. As she walked towards the gates, she spotted Josie at a table organising scissors into one corner and paint pots into another, then calling something after Thomas who gave her a thumps-up to signal he had heard her. She was wearing an old men's shirt - presumably one of Thomas' - over her Indian blouse and cut-off jeans, and she looked crafty and casual and gorgeous in it all at the same time.

When Marilyn had been younger, in Middle School and especially as a High School Freshman, she had enjoyed this day being particularly bossy to people who would be rude to her on the remaining 364 days of the year, because for one day they actually had to listen to her. However, in the end it had never proved as satisfying as she had expected. She could give orders and raise her eyebrows like a teacher would whenever someone wasn't as polite as she would have liked. But she also had to watch the groups of friends working together towards a goal, ignoring her as long as they didn't need her approval for anything, and it had always left a bitter taste in her mouth in the end. And this year there was Michael. She needed to get home, do her homework and get some rest because she wanted to spend the night with Michael - she didn't say it out loud, but the thought still gave her special feeling: She would spend the night with Michael.

When she heard the door to her parents' house open and heard the voices of both her mother and her father as they walked in together, she knew something was up. It wasn't even 6 p.m. yet. Her mother was rarely home before 6:30 when she worked the afternoon shift at the hospital, and her father often hardly made it for dinner at 7.

Marilyn had only just sat down at her desk after taking an exhausted nap when her father's voice echoed up the stairs, calling her to come down. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and put her forehead down on her book. Damn it! Then she pushed herself off her chair and followed the call.

"Sit down," her father said, indicating the kitchen table with his glasses he had just been cleaning. "I want to talk to you."
Marilyn sat down in silence.
"Do you have an idea what I want to talk to you about?" he asked as he sat down opposite her.
Marilyn chewed the inside of her cheek. "If it's about Ms. Richards..."
Her father drew an audible breath.
"Ms. Richards," he said slowly, "called both your mother and me today and asked us to come see her after classes had ended. She told us, you ruined school property, and you disturbed the class. She said there was a considerable amount of talking back and yelling on your part."
"I didn't yell."
"You raised your voice, if that's more agreeable with you."
"I didn't particularly raise my voice, either!"
"Like you're not particularly raising your voice now?"
Marilyn bit her lip.
"Have you thought about what it's like for your mother and me to be summoned to school over our almost 17-year-old daughter as if she were an elementary school child, because she can't settle something like a spoilt book by herself?"
"I didn't do anything wrong! I didn't ruin my history book. It was Thomas. And Peter cheered him on."
"Yes, Ms. Richards told us this, too. She also said that Thomas denies having done it on purpose and that you didn't pack your book away properly to protect it. But, indeed, Thomas' father was there, too, this afternoon, and I'm sure he's just as displeased with his son as I am with you."
"He did do it on purpose! He did! I swear he did, dad!" Marilyn insisted with the same angry confidence with which she had told Ms. Richards.
Her father sighed. "The book belonged to the school and it was damaged. Someone had to compensate for it. You do understand that, don't you?"
"Yes, but-"
"No 'but', Marilyn. The damage had to be paid for. Period. You can't just walk away from a problem like this and expect it to solve itself."
"But" Marilyn said pointedly, "what was I to do about it in the situation?"
"Well, as Thomas was involved in it the teacher suggested that you both pay half of the book. That sounds like a fair deal to me."
"That's not fair at all! I didn't do it! Thomas did!"
"It's called a compromise, Marilyn!"
"A compromise, you always told me, is when both parties give in to some degree!"
"Exactly. Neither of you wanted to pay for the book. If you'd both paid half, then that would have been a compromise."
"But Thomas ruined my book! Thomas got me in trouble with the teacher. And it's because of Thomas that we're having this conversation right now! I'm supposed to pay him for that on top of it!?" Her angry confidence was starting to dissolve in considerably less confidence and more anger.
"It wasn't paying Thomas, it was paying the school." Her father voice bristled with suppressed annoyance, which made Marilyn even angrier.
"I would have been paying for something that Thomas should have had to pay for! He would have been the one getting an advantage out of causing all this trouble!"

Marilyn's father took his glasses off again and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Maybe, but sometimes in life it's a matter of being reasonable. The book cost $12.99. Half of it would have been $6 and a bit. That's just not worth all the trouble, Marilyn! Your mother and I had to see the teacher over it, for goodness' sake! It's not that important. You should just have paid half and be done with it. That's what I would have done."
"It was important to me!"
"Then, Marilyn, you need to seriously work on your priorities!"
"It was a matter of principle! I don't pay for something that Thomas ruined! I don't!" Ms. Richards would probably have said she was yelling. And talking back.
"So, you insist on being childish. That's sad, Marilyn. I expected a more adult behaviour from you." Her father's voice was laced with annoyed disappointment, now. "Anyway, I paid for the book, so none of you will have to and the problem is solv-"
"You did not! Tell me you did not!!!" Marilyn said loudly.
"Yes, I did."
"NO!!!"
"What is this silly behaviour all about, now?"

From her father's face Marilyn could tell that his surprise was real. Suddenly she realised that he truly didn't understand, and that realisation opened the floodgates for a helpless rage and an overwhelming disappointment on her part. It was as if someone had pushed the wrong button on her.
"Why can't you be on my side???" she shouted, tears rushing into her eyes. She wasn't sure if she wanted to demand understanding from him or beg for it. "Why can't somebody be on my side, just once??? Why, dad??? Why can't you be on my side???"
"Marilyn!" her mother scolded from the next room. "Behave yourself!"
Her father's voice was getting louder, too. "I am on your side, Marilyn! I paid for your book so you won't have to! If that's not being on your side, I don't know what is!"
"But Thomas did it!! He did it!!!" She was crying, now. "His father should have paid for it! Thomas should have paid for it! HE SHOULD HAVE PAID FOR IT!!! Why did you have to pay for the book? WHY?"
"Because I was the first to offer, I suppose! Stop this silly act, Marilyn! I don't like it! The book cost $12.99. What was I to do? Ask Thomas' father for $6... - What? - 48ct? Do you have change, sir? That's childish, Marilyn. And stop shouting round the house!"
"You paid ALL of it?!?" Marilyn screamed in tears.
"Yes, and I absolutely can't see where your outrages behaviour is coming from right now! It was your book and we aren't so poor that we can't afford $13. Now you can keep it and that means you can mark important passages while studying. That's an advantage. So stop throwing a tantrum like toddler!"
"Why, why, why, dad? Oh, why???"
"Nobody can understand you, Marilyn! And I've had enough of it, too! I never thought I'd have to say this again, but go to your room right now. You can come back when you've calmed down!"
"Dad!!!"
"RIGHT NOW!"

Dinner was eaten in a silence so heavy it was almost palpable. Marilyn's father pretended his daughter wasn't present and her mother gave her disapproving looks. Marilyn left the table again as soon as she was dismissed. It was as if the air was almost too thick to breathe. She couldn't wait to see Michael and to get out of the house, away from all of it.

When the pickup truck appeared at the corner of the street, she felt an overwhelming sense of relief. What if he had chosen tonight of all nights to decide that their habitual night time activities had to end? She wondered how long they would be able to go on in this fashion. But the thought had no priority. At the moment she just wanted to get away - something was diving her away with the force of the outgoing tide. So she was already half way to his truck before it had even stopped.

Her agitation didn't settle until the headlight went out and the dark, the stars and the hum of L.A. blissfully far away wrapped themselves around her. She had asked him straight away if he could take them back to that place among the stars in the California hills, and he had shrugged, "Sure," and told her to get in. The climb downhill was already much easier than it had been the previous night and it wasn't solely due to her sneakers. It was more that she knew what the ground would feel like - some sort of welcoming familiarity - and although she wouldn't have been able to find the clearing on her own in the darkness, she thought she would be able to learn it.

They both sank down into the shrubbery with a sigh. It was beautiful and peaceful to be there with him in the velvet blackness. And then Marilyn suddenly knew she wanted to be sure if this was the end or the beginning of them being there together.
"I was wondering," she said wrapping her arms around her knees, "if you won't have to start working again, soon."

Like last time, Michael was sitting a few feet away from her, a black shape in the black surroundings. "Actually, I did start again yesterday afternoon. I've spend all day in the dance studio, today, practising. I have to make up for the two weeks I lost. I'm learning to dance, like, really to dance, you know? Tap-dancing and stuff. Now, my feet hurt!" He laughed, undid the laces of his sneakers and kicked them off. "That's one of the good things about our new contract. Not that my feet hurt! I mean, that I can really learn something, there. That was very different at Motown. They always seem to fear that we might know too much, that their artists might become too independent. You aren't supposed to know more than you must know. You know what I mean? They use what you have to offer but there's no development. That's really better at CBS. They teach us. It's one of many things that are better." He had been agitated, now his voice drifted off, and Marilyn saw his silhouette stretch out on the ground.
"But aren't you tired? How can you work during the day and be out during the night? When do you sleep?" If she, Marilyn had this problem, how could he not have it?
"I am tired," he said and suddenly his voice sounded tired, too. "But I don't sleep very well, you know? I never have. I can't relax. So..." And as if to emphasise his point he yawned. In the silence that followed Marilyn thought that she could relate.

"You wanted to show me where you were coming from the night you fell of your bike," she said suddenly.
"Oh! Here. I'd been here. Didn't I say that last time?" his bodiless voice rose from the shrubbery.
"No, but never mind. You'd been here looking at the stars? That's nice." For a reason that was hard to grasp, knowing he had been sitting right where they were sitting now made Marilyn happy. It was as if it extended their time together even beyond the moment they had actually met.
"Yes," Michael said. "Looking at the stars and thinking about something that happened that day..."

"Jermaine!"
The young man stopped half way through the entrance hall and turned back.
"Jermain, please. Don't do this."
"Michael, I already have."
"How... Why?"
"Oh, come on. You know why."
"Tell me again!"
"Mike, we've been through this, and I've made my decision."
"You can't leave! How can you leave?"
"I didn't leave. You left! You all decided to leave Motown knowing that I'm married to Berry's daughter. What position does that put me in? What do you think?"
"What has one thing to do with the other?"
"Oh, come on! You can't be that naïve!"
"We are struggling, Jermaine! Can't you see that? Our sales are going down and nothing Motown has done has changed that. We have to leave as long as we are still worth enough to have any bargaining power with CBS. Don't you understand? We can't stay until Motown refuses to renew our contract and we are left with nothing. You can't want that!"
"And so we go our separate ways."
"You're turning on your family."
"Berry Gordy is my father-in-law. To me he's family, too."
"Your father-in-law is suing us!"
"You all are breaching your contract – our contract – by leaving before fulfilling it."
"I didn't want any of this to happen. You know that! You know I love Berry Gordy, too. But the conditions at CBS are good. So much better! We get 20% of your sales, not just 2%. And we can write our own songs, too. We'll no longer depend on the songs they are willing to toss at us."
"At you. The songs they toss at you."
"We all have to pay for them."
"But you are the one who's singing them."
"At CBS you'd be able to play your instruments on recording, too. You, Marlon, all of us. We won't have to pay for musicians doing a job we can do ourselves!"
Jermaine said nothing.
"I don't know how to do this without you, Jermaine."
"You've been doing it without me for quite some time, now. You've been doing it without any of us, actually!"

For a moment Michael didn't know what to say.
"It's just been the odd solo performance here and there, and you know that," he said finally. "That's not the same."
"But you can obviously do it without me."
"Joe never wanted you to marry Hazel, and now you know why."
"Are you driving Joe's cause home, now? If you wait for Joe's permission for anything, you'll wait for a long time, I can tell you that!"
"I'm not taking on his cause. I'm just saying he was right that you shouldn't have mixed work and privacy."
"And why shouldn't I have, Mike?"
"Because it results in you leaving us."
"Maybe that's not such a bad thing. You can do it without me, you all can. Randy can't wait to take my place. And I - well, I'll have a solo career at Motown."
"What?"
"Yes, Mike! Maybe marrying Hazel wasn't as bad a move as Joe makes it out to be. And now that you go to CBS to be the lead singer for them, I'm getting your solo career at Motown. Now that you're gone, there are people having eyes and ears for me."
"If you wanted a solo career, maybe you should just have practised more! Instead of blaming me and going after Berry's daughter and every other girl that comes your way, for that matter, you should just have worked harder!"

For a moment Michael thought his brother would hit him in the face. Now that they were leaving Motown and he was leaving the group, he no longer had to care what Michael looked like - no longer had to care not to leave the lead singer bruised. And maybe, if Michael had been all honest with himself, he had even wanted to be hit. Maybe because that would have made it easier to see Jermaine go.

But Jermaine just turned away and without another word closed the door behind him, leaving Michael alone in the empty hall of their parents' house.

~~~~~
Hey, guys! :D

How are you all doing? It's been a very long time! <3

I didn't plan on writing this update at this moment, but a few days ago I wondered how much of the next chapter I had already written, and when I checked it didn't look too bad. I think I had about one third of it in terms of word count, but luckily I had most of both conversations already lined out. As I said in the previous part, people have voted for this story even though it has been on hold for almost a year, so, yeah, I thought maybe I should update it! XD

I know that updates aren't really something special - people update all the time; no updates, no stories - but there are very few ways of thanking people here on Wattpad, so please consider this a way for me to say again:

THANK YOU for voting for my story!

As I said, there are not so many ways to thank others, but here's another: I'd like to give a ShoutOut to the people who voted for 'Crooked Smile' in the MJFA'S:

Pisces4life, KatieWhoWrites, SuperflySiss, and SgtMorgan. Also to mamasemamasamamakusa, the judge who told me (afterwards!) that she suported my story in the contest and skyIord, the other finalist, because we all know how it sucks to come so close, and then end up not winning. <3

I also want to give a ShoutOut to the people who have voted for this story in the (still ongoing) Moonwalker Awards. Let's see how that goes! <3

TheMJGigi, mjcommunity and SuperflySiss, who voted in both awards.

I hope I didn't miss anybody! If I did miss YOU, please let me know and I'll add your name to the list. <3

Last but not least I want to give a ShoutOut to MarilynEdmond, because the idea for this story was indeed hers, and so without her it would have never come to be!

I hope you have enjoyed the update!

Please vote and comment, if you have a moment! <33

I'd be very happy to hear from all of you! Tell me what you liked or what you didn't like. :) All comments are valuable to be, so if you think this is crap and you want to tell me that, have a go! XD

I wish you a wonderful evening wherever you are, and I hope to see you again, soon, maybe on 'Merry-Go-Round' if you're reading that, or maybe on this story or on my message board or any other place. :D

I LOVE YOU ALL!

:) Kisses and Cookies and all that,
Birdie <33