Love's Reunion 28 - The Triple Entente

SAKURA:          (Bossily) Orlando! Chuck! Girls! Round people up and get them over here! I want every seat filled!

The Goldenbabes suddenly disperse and run off in pairs around the school, followed by the gleeful Orlando and his friends. Chuck glares at his chav minions, raises his hand and clicks his fingers. The chavs all immediately run off as well. We wait a few seconds and suddenly hordes of students run in from all directions, talking among themselves, and fill the seats in front of the stage. Those without a seat stand in a big crowd behind the seats. Everyone is chatting excitedly.

We then cut to Satoru, Ali and Jimmy. They are still standing in stunned silence as fellow students run past them in all directions. We then cut to a view of the three of them from the side, each slightly closer to the camera than the other. The camera pans to the side a bit and we see Natusmi standing by herself not too far from the boys, also staring at the goings-on with students rushing to and fro around her. Satoru suddenly notices her presence nearby with a jolt; he looks just about to walk over to her, when she starts walking forwards towards the stage, oblivious to Satoru’s attention. A big sweat-drop appears on his head and he grits his teeth as he freezes while watching Natsumi walk off.

We then cut back to Sakura, who has made her way up onto the stage and behind a big red stage curtain so she cannot be seen by the audience. Orlando then zips in from the side of the screen, while Chuck slowly lumbers towards them from the other side.

ORLANDO:        (Happy as ever) Yo, babe! Everyone’s, like, totally here! Let’s get this show on the road! Haw-haw!

CHUCK:           (Grumpy; to Orlando) Youse just wait a second! No one’s told me wut da heck’s goin’ on here! Wut is all dis crazy stuff wit’ dis stage and all dat? Tell me now befo’ I introduce my fist to yo’ face!

The music fades away and is replaced by ‘Resolution’ from Hotel Dusk: Room 215. Sakura closes her eyes and sighs deeply with a look of disappointment on her face.

SAKURA:          Hmph. Why do I have to explain everything to you? It’s very simple. Normally, we’d have let you simply beat the nerd up as usual and that would have been the end of it. This time, however, because of the presence of those two other guys, Shigeru and Abd—

ORLANDO:        (Interrupting) Satoru and Ali, babe. Haw-haw!

SAKURA:          (Quietly, to Orlando; annoyed) Hmph. I knew that. (Now louder and less emotional, to Chuck) Anyway, because of... um... Satoru and Ali’s presence, we couldn’t do that.

CHUCK:            (Ticked off and confused) Huh? Why not! I coulda just beaten up dem two twoips too!

SAKURA:          (Frustrated with Chuck’s slowness) Idiot! Don’t you remember what we said just now? Because Mr Wakai likes them and so he’ll almost certainly get onto our backs if anything bad happens! And we can’t let that happen... for obvious reasons.

ORLANDO:        (His usual jovial self) Old Wakai’s, like, totally different to the other teachers. He gives detentions first, asks questions later! Haw-haw!

CHUCK:            (Finally catching up) Oh yeah... hur-hur. But why all dis stage an’ audience an’ stuff?

SAKURA:          Hmph. In the next few weeks, the school will vote for who they want to be Head Boy and Girl this academic year. Orlando and I, being the incumbents, are, of course, favourites to win again. However, we cannot rest on our laurels. It is absolutely vital that we are duly re-elected to our posts.

ORLANDO:        Yah! Haw-haw! We need to get the message out to the people to vote for us, even though Sakura and I have, like, totally got this Head Boy and Girl thing sewn up. Who wouldn’t want to vote for Azalea Park’s Hottest Couple™, as chosen by readers of the Azalea Advertiser, the editor of which is, like, totes best buddies with my daddy! Haw-haw!

CHUCK:            (Mockingly) Heh! All dis Head Boy an’ Girl garbage again? Heh! Who needs some puny badge an’ a pointless title when you got a reputation like mine an’ da toughness to match it? Hehehe!

SAKURA:          (Irritated) Hmph. You are one of the densest individuals I have ever met. May I remind you that the only reason you were not in detention every lunchtime last year – or, indeed, expelled from the school – was because of the agreement you made with us last September when we started our successful campaign to become Head Boy and Girl at the start of Year 10?

We cut to the front of the stage. Natsumi is walking along the front row of the seating, about to take her seat next to the Goldenbabes, who are all chatting frenziedly among themselves. She then notices the curtain rustling behind her, and we can hear the end of Sakura’s utterance being whispered from behind Natsumi, who pauses for a second and looks round at the curtain as her curiosity is piqued. As Chuck begins to speak, she creeps past the Goldenbabes and sneaks up a small set of steps onto the stage and behind the edge of the curtain, where she sees Sakura, Orlando and Chuck in deep discussion, none of them noticing her eavesdropping.

CHUCK:            (Confused and impatient) Agreement? Wut agreement? I’ve heard so much jibba-jabba today, I could write an entire rap about it! Hehe! ... Ahem! (The music briefly fades away and is replaced by appropriate background music as Chuck actually starts to rap...) ♫ Iiiin west G’burg City, born an’ raised / In detention was where I spent mosta my days / Beatin’ up, punchin’, vandalisin’ all cool / Stealin’ kids’ footballs outside of the school— ♫

SAKURA:          (Interrupting furiously) SILENCE! (Chuck stops rapping and the ‘VRRP!’ sound effect of a vinyl record being ripped off the record player mid-song ends the music. ‘Resolution’ starts playing again.) Fool! Your sheer stupidity makes me regret this more and more every day! (Calming down) Hmph... at the beginning of last year, the three of us made an agreement. We agreed that if Orlando and I were elected Head Boy and Girl, we would use our influence to protect you and your horrible little cronies from punishment by teachers for your sustained bullying and pathetic playground violence towards other pupils.

We then cut to Natsumi, as her face turns from suspicious interest to gasping in shock. She puts her hand over her open mouth, partly in surprise, partly to prevent her sharp intake of breath from being heard. We then cut back to the trio.

SAKURA:          In return for this, you agreed that you or your minions would never lay a finger on me, Orlando or any of our friends, as well as promising that if some student decided to oppose or challenge our authority, you would... (her eyes narrow as she pauses)... deal with them in an appropriate manner.

We then cut to Natsumi again. She is sweating buckets and shaking with fear, her hand clasped to her mouth. We hear her gasp again. The trio are still oblivious to her presence.

CHUCK:            (Suddenly happy) Oh yeah! I remember now! Hehehe! Dat agreement... I liked dat agreement!

SAKURA:          Hmph. Exactly. Do you see where I am going with this now? If we are re-elected as Head Boy and Girl, which we will be, there is a good chance that we shall renew this arrangement. As much as it humiliates me to associate with an imbecile like you, the arrangement is... mutually beneficial.

ORLANDO:        (Popping out of the side of the screen again) So! Donovan-san! Like, what do you say? Haw-haw! It’s, like, totally in your interest to go along with this. You help us stay in power as Head Boy and Girl, we help you stay in power as the Chuckinator! What’s not to, like, like? Haw-haw!

CHUCK:            (Excited) Hehehe! Yeah! Dat does sound like a good deal! Hehehe! So wut’s all dat gotta do wit’ dis stage-show stuff right here?

SAKURA:          Hmph. If you hadn’t guessed already, Orlando and I have been planning to launch our campaign to be re-elected Head Boy and Girl for a long time now. The elections are only a few weeks away, so now is the time for action. As for the rest, it will all become very clear soon enough. All you have to do is make sure you win today’s show.

CHUCK:            (Obediently) Hehe! I can sure do dat, Miss Sakura! Da Chuckinator is ready... (He grins evilly)... to Chuckinate!

SAKURA:          (Smirking) Hmph. Good boy, Chucky. (The camera zooms into her face.) And even if this simple task is beyond you... you will still win… and we will be re-elected. I will make sure of it.