Chapter
19:
Drums
“This must be… pop!” Ali, Nikki, Taylor, and Safyre sang in
unison.
“Ew, Nikki, you’re, like, spitting all over her!” Taylor cried as
Nikki began to beatbox in an attempt to sound like Justin “J-Dawg” Timberlake,
flecks of saliva flying from her mouth onto Praline’s unconscious form.
“Like, whoops,” said Nikki.
“Like, sorry, Praline.” She
waited to see if her friend would respond with a “Like, no problem!” but of
course she didn’t because she was still in a coma.
“Like, darn,” sighed Ali.
“She’s, like, still in, like, a coma, and we’ve, like, sung every, like,
‘N Sync song we, like, know! You’d,
like, think that, like, she would have, like, been brought back from, like, the
brink of, like, death by now!”
“Like, I know!” cried Taylor indignantly. “This, like, totally worked for, like, Bsb
when, like, Nick was in, like, his coma!”
“Well, like, what are we going to, like, do now?” asked
Nikki. “Like Ali said, we’re, like, out
of, like, songs to sing!”
“We can, like, still sing, like, Justin Timberlake’s, like, solo
songs though!” piped up Ali. “Those,
like, count, like, don’t they? I mean,
he’s, like, still, like, part of ‘N Sync.”
“Like, yeah!” squealed Nikki.
“I’ll, like, sing them, cause I’m, like, the blonde one!”
“Like, okay!” Taylor, Ali, and Safyre agreed. They all sat down in the chairs pushed back
against the wall of Praline’s hospital room to watch Nikki. Safyre was especially glad to be able to sit
down; all that ‘N Sync choreography was pretty tiring to someone who was dying
of leukemia and recovering from a bone marrow transplant all at the same
time. I mean, seriously, you try
doing the gay-cowboy-eating-pudding dance for “Bye, Bye, Bye” when you’re
hooked up to an IV and sporting an oxygen mask.
Trust me, it ain’t easy.
Out of nowhere in particular, the music for “Like I Love You”
(Justin’s first single – you know, the one where he’s trying to be Michael
Jackson in front of a 7-11 with a bunch of hoochies?) began to play, and
putting on her sultry, whiny-ass J. Timberlake voice, Nikki began to mumble
something about getting scared now and then whispered, “… it’s just Nikki.”
She began to dance then, twirling and moon-walking her way across
the shiny, tiled hospital floor, grinding against Praline’s hospital bed, and
singing in a nasally whine that sounded uncannily like Justin’s.
“Like, ya know,” she muttered, “I used to, like, dream about this
when, like, I was, like, a little boy… oops, I mean, like, girl… I, like, never
thought it would, like, end up this way…”
She quickly cleared her throat and then added the line that made
the whole song.
“Drums.”
Following her bold command, the drums began to play out of
nowhere, and she began to dance once more.
And as she did, the eyes of the three other girls turned to Praline’s
heart monitor, which had started beeping out the same repetitive notes of the
song… you know, the, “Dum… dum… dum dum….
Dum… dum… dum dum… (drums).”
(Don’t worry if you have no clue what I’m talking about.)
“Ohmygod, like, look,” whispered Ali, pointing at the heart
monitor.
“Is, she, like, waking up?” Taylor gasped, eyes fixed on Praline’s
peaceful face.
The strains of “Like I Love You” began to fade, and Nikki quit her
dancing and sank to the floor, breathless.
“Did it, like, work?” she panted, noticing the other PANTS girls staring
at Praline.
“I, like, don’t know… like, may-“
Safyre was about to say “maybe” when, all of a sudden, Praline’s eyes
fluttered open. “Like, ohmygod! Praline?!”
“Here baby,” Praline mumbled deliriously. “Hold my jacket.”
The four other girls exchanged worried glances. “Ohmygod,” whispered Taylor. “She’s, like,
brain damaged!”
“NOOOOOO!” they all cried in horror.
“Quick, Nikki, like, sing another, like, song! Maybe it will, like, make her, like, normal
again!” urged Ali.
“Like, okay,” said Nikki and broke into “Cry Me a River.” “Cry me, cry me,” she wailed. “Cry me, cry me…”
A random kid with Down’s Syndrome that was walking down the hall
at that very moment stuck his head in and contributed the retarded noises at
the end of the song, and then Nikki glanced at the other girls. “Do you think it, like, worked?” she wondered
aloud.
“Like, I, like, dunno… Praline?” Ali asked her best friend
hopefully.
“Like, yeah?” Praline replied.
The girls exchanged glances.
“Praline… do you, like, know where you, like, are?” Ali went on
carefully.
“Well… for a minute, I, like, thought I was, like, at the 7-11,
but, like, now, it looks like I’m in, like… a hospital?”
“Ohmygod, she’s, like, back!” they all squealed happily, jumping
up and down and screaming shrilly until Nikki accidentally ripped out Safyre’s
IV, and she collapsed in a pile of her own blood. Stepping over her, Nikki, Taylor, and Ali ran
up and threw their arms around Praline, shrieking, “Like, group hug!” as they
squeezed her tightly.
“Ohmygod, Praline, I’m, like, so glad you’re, like, not dead!”
exclaimed Ali. “Now we can, like, hit
the road again as soon as, like, you and Safyre, like, get better!”
Praline smiled tearfully, touched by her best friend’s words. Swallowing the lump that had formed in her
throat, she opened her mouth and uttered the only response that was fitting.
“Drums.”
If only they knew what was to come…
***
