DiapOut: Chapter 28
“...Misa…Misa…Misa!”
GASP!
Awakening from a hypnosis-induced coma, Misa panicked a bit as her body was still in fight-or-flight mode. Thankfully, the worried, yet caring eyes of her friends brought her back to Earth. Even Mia, who she had been furious with only minutes prior, was a welcoming face after what she’d been through. She moved to sit up but found that her sluggish, energy-zapped body didn’t want to leave the comfy hypnosis chair.
“Don’t try to sit up too fast. Your body is still recovering from the sensory overload you just experienced,” said Keelee, standing over the four Wetters looking like she’d just survived about fifteen heart attacks in a three-minute timespan. Looking down at her clipboard, she did her best to power through her potent anxiety as she plopped her production manager hat back on, “That being said, we have a schedule to keep to. Jackson and I are going to discuss options so try to rest up for now.”
Standing up from her squatted position in front of Misa, Mia stared at Keelee with a look of pure disgust. “Y-You’re still going to make us play today? After what just happened?!” she said, gesturing toward the giant screen that was still sparking.
“Listen, Baby New Year. I don’t know what game you and your friends think you’re playing but we’re bleeding thousands of dollars for every minute that those cameras aren’t rolling,” said Keelee, folding her arms defensively. In her mind, she wasn’t about to let some fame-hungry twat make her feel bad, “One of your opponents literally had an emergency enema to keep playing, so dust yourselves off and get ready to get back into it.”
Watching Keelee storm off, Ayaya’s eyes darted to the floor as she whistled a low tone. “Dang, what a frigid bitch,” she said, reaching up to pat Mia on the back. If anyone in their group knew how cutthroat this industry could be, it was her, “Try not to let her get to you. Everyone with power in Hollywood is like that. You’ll get used to it, I promise.”
Exhaling sharply through her nose, Mia may have heard Ayaya’s words but she was far too aggravated to heed her advice right now. “She’s so fricking mean. Everyone here is,” she said before turning her attention back to Misa, “And they made us mean too. I’m sorry I went too far, Misa. If I could go back in time I could tackle myself to the ground in that moment, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
Pursing her lips together into a slight smile, Misa could feel the warmth and honesty radiating from Mia’s sentiment. As much as she hated owning up to her own wrongdoing, she didn’t have much room to judge based on the stunt she pulled with Mia, even if she tried as hard as she could to convince herself she did. Taking Mia’s hand in hers, she stared deeply into her best friend's eyes, ready to forgive and forget, “Ish okie, Mia, I sowwy toos,” she said, all of the blood draining from her face as her sentence came to an end. She raised a hand to her mouth, brushing her fingertips against her lips in fear, “Wuhs…Wuhs…UGH! Wuhs wong wif my voish?!”
Looking at each other slowly with their mouths agape, Mia and Ayaya came to the same conclusion simultaneously. Misa, who was just put through intense hypnosis, was now slurring her words much in the same way any good adult baby would do.
Lelaya, meanwhile, did not share her teammates' anxiety over Misa’s new affectation. “Oh. My. Gosh! You sound so cute! Say something! Ooh! Say, ‘Lelaya is my bestest friend in the whole wide world,’” she exclaimed, her hands going on the offensive as she quickly cupped Misa’s cheeks before anyone could stop her.
Meekly pushing Lelaya’s hands away with her weakened arms, Misa's cheeks burned like smoldering embers. “Shtawp id! Dis isn funny!” she shouted, attempting to stand up again so she could go give that CassiRole a piece of her mind, only to collapse into her friends’ arms still unable to walk on her own.
“Better get the stroller. I don’t think Baby Misa is gonna be walking around on her own for a bit,” said Lelaya teasingly as she poked Misa’s cheek. As she did, her eyes glanced from teammate to teammate, finding disapproving expressions worn by each of them, “Too soon?”
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“This is a disaster. I should’ve listened to my gut when you warned me about this,” said Jackson, practically pulling the hair out of his head as he bemoaned his actively dying career, “If this gets out, no one is going to want to participate in a show that could glitch your mind permanently!”
Rushing up to Jackson and holding a finger to his lips, Keelee was quick to shush her manic director. “Don’t let anyone hear you. A, we still don't know if Misa's regression will be permanent or even how extensive it is since it was technically cut off early, so let’s worry about crossing one bridge at a time. And B, we can always buy her out with an NDA. So, for the love of Goddess, stop freaking out because it’s freaking ME out.”
“Jackson! There you are!” yelled CassiRole as she pushed through the backstage curtain and Beelined up to the disgruntled duo, “I have a few new ideas that we could put in place for Round Three. You have a sec, right?”
Letting out a hollow, agonizing chuckle, Jackson was almost impressed by Cassi’s inability to read the room. He wanted to say something to her. To finally dig his heels in and let her have it. However, he didn’t have to as Keelee stepped in between him in the bratty diva.
“No, he does not “have a sec” you entitled, self-centered cunt-bag,” said Keelee, burning holes into Cassi’s skull with her pupils as she forced her to back up one step at a time, “What? Did you miss the show? That hypno-screen bullshit that you forced on us last second just derailed the whole show, so why don’t you have a fucking seat and let the grown-ups handle this.”
Cassi was left speechless as Keelee turned her back on the superstar host to return to a mortified-looking Jackson. Up to this point, no one, not even Jackson, had yelled at her like that. As angry as it made her, having someone bite back at her for the first time threw her entirely off-kilter, creating a sizable lump in her throat. With tears welling up in her eyes, she had no choice but to make a hasty retreat, swearing in her mind that Keelee would pay mightily for this.
“Are you on a suicide mission? You know she’s going to try to get you fired now, right?” said Jackson, still frozen in disbelief over the massive set of balls that Keelee put on display.
Rolling her eyes, Keelee was far too stressed to care about the repercussions of her actions. “Fucking let her try. She may be able to get a PA or two fired but I’m union, bitch. Best of fucking luck” she said, flaunting her privileged status as an industry employee, “Let’s get back on track. What are we going to do about Mia and Kyoko? We’re not getting that hypno board back online anytime soon and we can’t exactly expect Misa to act normal after that, so walking back the hypnosis bit is a no-go.”
Rubbing his chin, Jackson peaked through the backstage curtain, spotting both the Messers and Wetters congregating amongst their respective groups. “You’d better hope those girls can act,” he said, sighing dejectedly.
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“You want us to what?!” shouted Kyoko and Mia in unison.
Shushing them with his hands, Jackson looked up at the audience bleachers they were standing next to, making sure no one heard any commotion. “C’mon, it won’t be so bad. You don’t have to be A-listers to pull off a lisp and a frail expression. Please, I’m begging you, for the sake of the show,” he said, dropping to his knees and pressing his hands together.
“Get up, you’re causing a scene,” said Keelee, yanking Jackson back to his feet before turning her attention to the girls, “There will be a stipend paid to each of you for a non-SAG actor performance. Plus, this is television, not theatre. If you slip up, we can just cut it out in post. We’ve got a pair of new contracts for you two to sign. Feel free to look them over.” She unclamped two contracts from her clipboard and passed them off to Kyoko and Mia without checking if they actually agreed to participate in this ruse.
Looking at each other nervously, Mia and Kyoko were less than excited about the prospect of acting on top of competing. At the same time, neither wanted to flash any weakness as their teams' respective captains. With pens in hand, they both signed their documents simultaneously before passing them back to Keelee.
Snickering, Kyoko nudged Mia with her elbow, “Hey, I guess this makes us both Hollywood actors now.
“Pffft, I guess you’re right,” said Mia, finding the thought of claiming to have worked in Hollywood as a paid actor both enticing and amusing, “And here my speech class teacher thought I’d never amount to anything. Well, look at me now.”
TO BE CONTINUED…