Friday, July 31, 1970
Michael
I was sitting at my desk in my bedroom when an unmistakable voice sounded from the backyard, which I heard because of an open window.
That voice broke into a swarm of spirited giggles. "Hold on, J!" that voice—who belonged to none other than my best friend—then said. "Hold on!"
I was quick to look up and stand up from sitting. "Sunny!" I said.
I had been consumed in sketching a picture and I obviously hadn't noticed that she had arrived at my house. Without wasting another moment, I set the pen that I'd been using onto the desk, and I hurried out of the room. As a smile stretched across my face, I began racing along the hall to get to the staircase, which would lead me to her.
Sunny and I had been spending almost every day together since we'd met three weeks ago. After the night that she had shown me her magical tree, which was now our most favorite spot, we had become inseparable. We did every single thing together—from pranking my siblings to stargazing at night—and there was no one else I would've rather had by my side. I'd never been happier, and that was because of her.
I wanted to spend every moment with her. I hadn't had such fun before. I loved reuniting with her each morning beneath the rising sun, and I loved adventuring with her until the twinkling stars appeared. Each time we were apart, I counted down the time until I'd see her again. I'd been allured to her since the moment I met her, but I was now more attached to her than ever—but I didn't mind.
I wasn't permitted to do fun things most of the time because I had to work. Being in the Jackson 5 meant that I had to be recording in the studio, rehearsing performances, making guest appearances, or touring. Joseph never let me participate in the essentials of childhood that I yearned for—activities that other kids were able to do with ease. After I had met Sunny, however, she pulled me into the wondrous world of those very activities. Luckily, I was able to partake in them because the group was on a quick break from performing this summer.
Though we weren't performing, however, we did have to go to the studio because we were recording songs for our upcoming albums: Third Album and Christmas Album. Sessions were grueling at times, but I'd been quick to discover strength and inspiration in thinking about Sunny. I thought about the continuous fun, adventures, and wonders—worlds that I hadn't been part of before—that she introduced me to, and I was thus motivated to keep going so I could reunite with her sooner.
She still didn't know that I was in a famous music group. I was keeping a huge part of me from her, which often smothered me with guilt. I felt terrible when going to the studio because I had to lie to her about where I was headed. I wondered how she didn't know who my family was, but I was scared that if she actually learned, she wouldn't treat me the same. I was scared that I would no longer be Mike—her simple best friend—to her.
I wanted to keep things just the same. I wanted to keep feeling the happiness that I felt when I was with her. We'd only known one another for three weeks, but I couldn't imagine no longer seeing her. I didn't want our friendship to be ruined, so I'd decided to keep hiding the Jackson 5 from her for as long as possible—even if I endured guilt. I didn't want to cut our escapism short.
Just as I was approaching the top stair of the staircase, La Toya was stepping onto the second level after having traveled upstairs herself. When she noticed that I was bolting her way, she widened her gaze. While pressing herself against the wall to avoid a collision, she then shouted, "Watch out, Michael!"
I took hold of the corner of the wooden railing to help me turn towards the stairs. "Sunny's here, Toya," I told her.
"Yeah, she's out back," she replied. Just as I began stepping down the staircase, however, she shouted, "Wait!"
I stopped just a couple of stairs from the top, and I turned around to look up at her with an impatient gaze. "Huh?" I asked her.
"I've been wondering about this," she started, crossing her arms over her white dress. "You've been friends with her—"
"Best friends," I corrected.
A small smile filled her lips. "You've been best friends with her for weeks now," she resumed. "You've been with each other every minute of every day. Does she know, yet?"
I shook my head, understanding that she was referring to the Jackson 5 secret. "Uh, no," I said, guilt pinging within me. "She just thinks I travel with Joseph to help him out with, um...his business."
"How long will that go on for?" she asked, and I shook my head while shrugging. She tilted her head to the side. "You can't lie to her forever," she resumed. "Friends don't lie to each other. Best friends surely don't lie to each other."
I looked at my shoes as a powerful wave of guilt washed over me. "I know..." I said. I began rethinking the situation as I realized how unfair I was being to Sunny. "I think, uh... I think I'll tell her later."
"Today?" she asked. I released a sigh of impatience as I nodded. "I bet it'll feel nice when you don't have to keep her from the den anymore," she added. "You won't need to hide her from all the plaques on the wall."
Though I felt torn, I looked back up to her. "Yeah, yeah," I said. "Can I go now?" I didn't want to keep thinking about this. All I wanted was to reenter the world of imagination and mischief with Sunny.
"I guess," she said as she rolled her eyes.
With that, I turned around and I resumed running downward on the stairs. When my shoes landed onto the marble floor of the foyer, I then began rushing to the back of the house. Soon I was pushing through the white transparent backdoors, emerging into the luscious backyard. I was quick to see Sunny, who was giving little Janet a piggyback ride around the grass. As the toddler clung to her back, Sunny ran around as if she was stimulating a rollercoaster or rocket ship ride for her. "Hold on, J!" she shouted as she darted around. Janet burst into loud giggles as she wore an elated grin. It made me smile.
I stepped across the brick patio to meet them at the grass. When Sunny—who continued to run around in random patterns for Janet—spotted me, her smile grew. I was consumed with the most pleasing feelings after having not seen her for a long fourteen hours. As she gave my sister a fun ride, however, I seemed to have become frozen while watching her. She was giggling with Janet as she ran in circles, and the pleasant feelings within me seemed to strengthen. However, when she started to slow her running to approach me, I returned to reality.
She stopped before me, breathing heavier than usual from all that running, as Janet continued to cling to her back. "Hey, Mike," she then said. She wore a plain red shirt with yellow trims, along with black shorts and black low-top Converse.
"Hi," I said, looking into her sparkling hazel gaze.
"M was giving me a ride to the moon!" Janet then chimed in.
Sunny turned her head to look Janet's way. "M?" she repeated amusedly.
"M's easier to say than Madeline," Janet returned, proud of the nickname she'd created.
Sunny smiled. "I like M. Good one, J," she said, using her own little nickname for Janet. That'd most likely been what inspired Janet's nickname for her.
"I'll tell everybody to call you that, M!" Janet said, elated to use the nickname.
Giggling, Sunny then let Janet slide down her back so she could get down. When the toddler was standing beside her, she looked down at her. "Okay, J," she returned. "Thanks!"
A smiling Janet nodded before running off to return to the house. When she was gone, I returned to Sunny's eyes. "Why'd no one tell me you were here?" I wondered.
"Oh, Marlon was supposed to," Sunny said as she narrowed her brows. "He let me in." She then looked past me to the backdoors, which Marlon was now standing by. I looked with her.
"Hey, man, I forgot!" Marlon defended. "But just know that before you start your stuff today, I'm on your sides," he resumed, pointing between us. He was referring to the jokes that Sunny and I had been pulling on my brothers and sisters for weeks. He then began to disappear into the house, but not before reminding us again. "Remember!" he shouted.
While Sunny smiled amusedly, I laughed. "Okay, man, we might spare you," I said.
He let out a sigh. "Appreciate that," he said, now gone from our sights.
I turned to look back at Sunny, and she looked at me. Her beaming golden gaze brought me much happiness, as usual, and I smiled. However, that smile dwindled when I remembered the conversation that I'd just had with my older sister. Immediately, I was consumed with guilt.
"Friends don't lie to each other," La Toya had said. "Best friends surely don't lie to each other."
If Sunny was to learn who I was, I was scared to lose the best—and only—friend I'd ever had. I was scared that things wouldn't be the same. I was scared that our times of utmost happiness, adventure, and wonder would come to an end. However, I didn't think that I'd be able to keep looking into her sunny eyes and continue to lie to her. That just wasn't fair to her.
At that moment, I decided that I had to tell Sunny the truth about the Jackson 5—even if I was scared to. I couldn't keep that massive part of me from her forever, and she deserved to not be lied to.
It was quite relieving to decide to tell her the truth—but that sensation didn't last long. Quickly, a whole batch of nervous butterflies swarmed my body. I had no idea how she'd react to the truth, and I became a little uneasy.
Immediately, Sunny noticed the change in my emotions. Furrowing her brows, she tilted her head a bit. "Mike?" she asked, her gaze full of concern. "You okay?"
I was quick to give her a small smile, and I nodded to reassure her. "Yeah!" I said, attempting to mask my nerves. I needed some more time to think about how I'd tell her the truth. "What, uh... What'd you wanna do?" I asked her.
Her brows remained narrowed, however. She was seeing through me. "You sure something isn't wrong?" she asked, leaning closer to me.
Her face wore a silly sense of curiosity, and I couldn't help but giggle. She smiled, and I nodded. "Yes," I said. Though I remained nervous, she put me more at ease. I then paused. "Well, actually, no, 'cause this girl won't tell me what she wants to do, and I'm waitin'," I added.
Looking away from me, she rolled her eyes as she blushed. Another surge of pleasant emotions arose within me. "Okay, well..." she began, smiling as she met my eyes again. "I say we start with water balloons today."
I stood up straighter. "Oh, I like the sound of that," I said. "Jermaine, Jackie, and Tito have plans to play some ball soon, you know."
A mischievous grin blossomed on her face. "Perfect," she returned. "Where are the balloons? Your room?" I nodded, but before I could speak, she'd already started running back to the house. "Great!" she cheered. "Let's go!"
I wore a small smile as I watched her skip across the brick patio. Though I was nervous, I couldn't wait to begin yet another adventure with her. When she turned around while nearing the house to shout, "C'mon, Mike!" I happily ran after her.
* * *
Telling the truth to her—unluckily for me—did not become easier as time passed. It was now some hours later, and I was continuing to struggle to muster enough courage to start that conversation. Guilt remained smothering me, but I was still torn. However, I had to tell her about the Jackson 5, even if I was scared. I could no longer lie to my best friend.
Sunny and I had spent the past hours luring the most gullible of my brothers into prank traps. Though we'd been laughing until our stomachs ached—especially when a bucket of ice water had come raining onto Jermaine—guilt was still a massive weight on my shoulders. I was getting sick of the feeling.
Well, you either tell her and risk her thinking of you differently, or you keep telling her lies and suffer from bad guilt, I thought. I sighed as I battled the urge to groan, as both options weren't very ideal to me.
At the moment, Sunny and I were in her bedroom. We had come to her house to grab more gadgets and pranks to scheme with. As I leaned against the white footboard of her bed, she knelt on the hardwood floor in front of me with her back to me. Before her was a wooden chest that held her most cherished goodies.
It was silent between us, but the sound of Sunny's hands rummaging through the chest had permeated the bedroom. When I realized that this was the calmest our day had been since we had reunited hours earlier, however, my heart soared. I had a chance to start the conversation that I'd been dreading without the threat of interruption. I knew that now was the best time to tell her the truth, but I just didn't know if my fear would let me.
Faint upbeat music traveled across the air, which came from the downstairs radio that her grandma was always listening to. "Now, if there's a smi-ile on my face, it's only there tryin' to fool the public!" I heard Smokey Robinson's voice sing from the living room. "But when it comes down to foolin' you, now, honey, that's quite a different subject! But don't let my glad expression give you-ou the wrong impression..."
I shut my eyes as the sounds of rummaging drowned out "The Tears of a Clown." I narrowed my brows as I chewed on my bottom lip. Despite that my heart was beginning to race, I attempted to gather as much strength as possible. I squeezed the top of the bed's footboard with the both of my hands, and I released a silent breath from my nose.
Just speak, I commanded from within. Just speak!
Suddenly, I opened my eyes because of the persistence of my thoughts, and I was quick to see that Sunny was continuing to look through her chest. I took another breath as I decided to actually start this conversation now. Within some moments, I released my bottom lip from my teeth, and I began to speak.
"I, uh..." I began as my heartbeats roared in my ears. I concentrated on Sunny's back. "I-I have somethin' important to tell you, Sunny."
She never stopped her search through the chest. "Yeah?" she asked me.
I nodded, though she couldn't see me. "Yeah," I said.
She moved a silver robot from one side of the chest to the other. "Tell me," she said.
I looked up at the white ceiling for a moment as I took a breath. Afterward, I returned my eyes to her. "You, uh... You know the songs... 'I Want You Back' or 'ABC'?" I asked as my heart pounded.
"Of course," she replied.
I shut my eyes to gather more courage. "You know..." I began, and I reopened my eyes within some seconds. "I sing those songs," I continued as my heart slammed against my chest. "I'm in a group called the Jackson 5, a-and those are our songs."
"Aha!" Sunny then shouted suddenly. As my heart absolutely soared to outer space, I widened my eyes out of nervousness. I was scared to see the rest of her reaction. I froze in place, and I watched her stand up and turn around to face me. However, I discovered that she was grinning—which worried me. "Found them!" she then said, lifting a bag of whoopee cushions into the air with her hand.
I was utterly taken aback: While I narrowed my brows, my mouth was agape. I watched her happily look at the small bag that she was holding, which puzzled me further. "Sunny, you hear what I just said?" I then asked her. It seemed that my words had gone straight over her head.
She raised her hazel eyes from the bag of whoopee cushions to look up at me. I remained staring down at her with narrowed brows. "Oh," she said, blushing a bit. "Yeah." She then smiled her beaming smile. "Yeah! You're in the Jackson 5. I know."
I thought my eyes would tumble out of my skull by how large I had widened them. Though she was acting as if she hadn't just revealed a huge piece of information to me, my world seemed to have stopped. I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. I was absolutely shocked. All I could think was, Wait... Huh?
I let out a laugh of bewilderment as I kept staring down at her. "You know?" I asked.
Hearing the serious tone of my voice, Sunny at last realized the importance of this conversation. She dropped the bag of whoopee cushions to the floor, and she settled her gaze on me. She smiled as I continued to stare at her with quite a shocked appearance, which caused her to giggle.
"Yes, I know," she beamed, matching the tone of my voice, and her golden gaze sparkled.
I let out another laugh of bewilderment, and I smiled. I crossed my arms. "You better explain yourself, girl," I told her.
Giggling, she tucked a bit of her brown hair behind her ear. "Well, when I first met you and your family, I thought you all looked familiar but I couldn't figure out where I'd seen you from. But right after, when I went to Woolworth's with my Grammie, I saw you and your brothers on the cover of an album. That's when I put the whole thing together."
I still couldn't believe what I was hearing. I then grinned out of pure happiness and eagerness. "Sunny, that was weeks ago!" I said. "You knew all this time, but you didn't say nothin'!"
"Well, when we first met, you stared at me like you were waiting for me to scream, remember?" she asked. She was correct: When I'd met her, I thought that I had to handle another chaotic fan. "But when I didn't, you were all happy. I didn't understand what that was all about at the time. But!" she declared, raising her pointer finger into the air. I giggled. "When I saw who you were in Woolworth's, I realized that you wanted to be treated like everybody else. Why wouldn't I treat you like that? You're just like me." Her smile grew. "All that matters to me is that I have the best friend in the whole world."
After she had concluded speaking, I was bombarded with the most wonderful of emotions from head to toe. It was as if I was on top of the world. She chose to make me comfortable by pretending that she didn't know who I was. Fame isn't important to her. I could not stop smiling, and I just wanted to jump around out of pure happiness. All of this was just surreal to me. I couldn't believe how caring she was. I couldn't believe how kindhearted she was. I couldn't believe that I was able to call her my best friend—and I no longer had to worry about that ever changing.
I let out a breath as I remained gazing at her. "Gee, I'm sure there's no one better than you in the whole world, Sunny," I said.
Her cheeks began heating up as she blushed, and while she looked at her shoes out of embarrassment, a mild yet quite pleasant fluttering sensation emerged within my heart—which I had never felt before. I began wondering about this unfamiliar feeling, but before my thoughts got thorough, she raised her shimmery hazel eyes to reconnect our gaze. I was quick to forget about what I'd been thinking about.
"You, um," she began, a bit more timid than usual, "wanna go test those out?"
I looked at the bag of whoopee cushions that sat on the floor, and for the first time since I'd reunited with her earlier, I was entirely consumed with eagerness to engage in more fun. Every one of my worries had been unshackled from my shoulders, and I was now able to spend time with my best friend without the fear of ever losing her. As I lit up with glee, I nodded at her. "C'mon," I said, smirking. "Let's hit Erms again. I heard him say that Hazel's comin' over, too."
As mischief swarmed her gaze, she picked the bag up off of the floor. Then, she bolted to the open doorway. "Let's go!" she shouted.
I smiled. After letting out a big sigh of both relief and gratitude, I began to run after her. "Coming!" I shouted, cheerfulness propelling every step of mine.
* * *
:D !!