Janice's Journey To The Mayhem

[Bridget]

So, by simply re-watching classic Muppet movies, I finally realized and decided my deep love for Janice's character. I wanted to make a fan-fiction about how she came to be the lead guitarist we all know and love, and of course how her relationship with Floyd kicked off. I really hope that you like it.

Janice’s Journey To The Mayhem
(A Janice FanFiction)
By KissesToKermie


Chapter I: “It’s My Life”


“It’s my life,” Janice calmly yet boldly stated to her mother from her bed. She was lying down on her comfortable peace-sign covered comforter, with her headphones on top of her head. Not too long ago she had returned from a long day in high school, and now she was at the part of her home routine where she was “chilling out”. The music that she was listening to was just at the right volume to where she could hear her mother’s annoying rambling, but yet still hear the relaxing sound of the guitars. Carly was giving another one of her long lectures to her daughter about staying focused, and only bringing home to best of grades. She was holding Janice’s report card from that semester in her hand, and she was leaning her side on her white, bedroom door with a frown. Day after day the woman felt as if she had to continuously repeat herself about how Janice was not taking her life seriously, and how that would only lead to failure if she didn’t straighten up. At this point, she was at her last straw. Janice, however, was just taking it lightly as usual, and enjoying the warmth of her bed with one leg crossed over the other. It wasn’t in her nature to stress over education.
“Janice. Do you want to fail? Do you even give a care about the life that you claim is yours? Obviously, your grades and attitude are not reflecting it.” She put her skinny arms on her hips; the ones that were a bit lighter than her daughter’s skin tone. Janice was nodding to her music, but still paying attention more or less. Carly cleared her throat to grab her attention in which she thought she had lost. “Hello?”
“Oh, right,” began Janice with a yawn following her words. She honestly knew exactly what she wanted to say, and exactly how she wanted to say it. However, she also knew exactly how her worrisome mother would respond- and she was not in the mood for bickering this evening. “Yeah, I care.”
Carly did not seem even the least bit convinced, but in fact even more angered by the fact that Janice was not taking anything seriously as usual. She walked over to her bed and yanked the covers off of her body. Janice didn’t seem surprised by her action, but perhaps a little annoyed. She sighed and continued to nod her head.
“First of all, you’re going to take off those headphones. You are going to pay attention to what I’m trying to get through to you!” she said pulling the headphones from off of Janice’s ruffled, blonde hair. Janice breathed hard and slowly sat up feeling drowsy and unenthusiastic. Once again, she was going to have to listen about how irresponsible and careless she was towards her life.
“I’m listening,” she replied with a straight face.
“I am sick and tired of you thinking that every little thing about life is some kind of a joke. One of these days you are going to be a grown woman, Janice. And if you think that somehow, someway, someone is going to just hand you success on a golden platter- you have it twisted. There is no elevator to success; you have to take the stairs.”
“Oh my god,” began Janice sounding annoyed. “Like, you say that every single day of the week Ma, I think I get the whole ‘words to live by’ thing. You don’t have to keep repeating yourself.”
“Obviously I do!” Carly said, her voice slowly rising. “If you really understood what I was trying to tell you, then why haven’t you changed? Why haven’t you taken the slightest interest in doing something with your life? Why haven’t you even tried searching for a job to live by? You are in your senior year of high school now Janice. You are not going to be a child forever, and you need to start taking that into consideration.” Carly honestly did care for her daughter, and meant every single word coming from her mouth. But each time she explained it, Janice only acted as if it did not matter the least bit. And, she could not understand that to save her life.
“I don’t want to change. I think I’m fine the way I am. And I don’t want a job unless it has something to do with music. It just doesn’t feel like the right kind of life fer me Ma. I just wanna do something that’ll make me happy. Not something that’ll stress me out.”

“Well, get with the program, because there is not a single job on the face of this earth that does not require some kind of stress. Everyone has to work hard to get what it is that they want whether they like it, or not.”

“Well, like I said Ma, that kind of life just isn’t fer me. I’d rather just wing it. Thanks anyways though,” Janice said; a stretch following her statement. Maybe her mother assumed that she was simply being lazy towards everything, but honestly Janice has other motives and goals in her life that she knew Carly would not support. What she truly wanted more than anything in the world was to dedicate her life to the magical world of music, and nothing more. It didn’t matter if fame was involved or even money (though she would have to live off of something). All she knew was that as long as she could be appreciated for the love of her guitar, she would forever be satisfied. The problem was that her mother had some kind of idea in her head that her daughter would follow in her footsteps to study something in the medical field, when she wanted nothing to do with it at all.

“Janice, I just do not understand you. Not one little bit. Here I am, your mother, trying to help you make it in the tough life, and you don’t even want my help?” said Carly, sounding forceful and hurt at the same time. “All I want is for you to be successful. That’s all I want. Will you please just listen to me?”
Janice finally decided that she didn’t want to hear anymore of her mother’s nagging, even though she meant well by it. There were already a million other things that she had to worry about in her life including tests, projects, relationships, and most of all- graduation. Despite the fact that she could easily blow something off of her that she did not feel like stressing over, over time the different problems in her life did build up inside of her, taking away from her easy-going spirit after a while. Maybe later they could talk about the whole going to college thing, but for right now, all she wanted was some time to her to think.
“Look, could we talk about this later? I was sorta hoping to take a nap after school. It’s been a long day,” asked Janice, with all due respect. Her mother immediately turned up her face, as if she had just been deeply insulted. Janice wondered if she should have sweetened her request up a little more.
“Janice, this time, there is no later. I wasn’t lying when I said that I was sick of this mess. I’m not putting up with your attitude any longer. It’s time for you to make a final decision, and now. What do you really want to do?”
It was quite easy to tell that her mother was literally posing a do or die question to her, or in the case, a music or education one. Her mind was somehow telling her to make “Ma” happy and just agree to take her education more seriously, but at the same time, her heart was standing up for what she truly wanted. One thing about the peaceful teenager is that she preferred to keep everyone happy by just agreeing to what they wanted- even if she wasn’t really up to it. But she also spoke the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So if her mother really wanted to hear it, she was going to tell it.
“I choose music,” she stated bluntly without reluctance. “I want to be free to play as loud as I want, whenever I want, and just rock out you know? I’m tired of all of this extra math and stuff. I just wanna live my life, fer sure.”
“And live your life you shall,” her mother said, surprisingly sounding inviting. At first Janice thought that she was actually about to support her in her feelings, but soon after her statement, she went into Janice’s closet and wheeled out a jumbo sized suitcase.
“Like, how in the world did you get your hands on my stuff?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Carly responded. “You said you wanted music, so I’m giving it to you. But you’re not going to waste precious years of your life away in my house. You’re going to have to do that in your own place. So I’m letting you move out.”
Janice couldn’t believe her ears. Her mother was actually getting ready to send her away without warning to goodness knows where. She wasn’t fearful necessarily, but it just wasn’t in her mother’s nature to make such a risky decision without talking it over first. Obviously this meant that she had no set place to reside or anything. All she could really do was to go along with whatever Carly had to say, even if she didn’t know what to say herself.
“Oh, um, okay,” replied Janice biting her lip. Carly threw an envelope on her daughter’s lap that seemed to have a tiny bit of weight to it. “What’s this?”
“That there, is the most money I’m giving you to live off of until you find a job. So it would only be wise to get one now, wouldn’t it?”
Janice didn’t understand if that was an open or rhetorical question, so she decided to just stay silent for it. Carly continued on.
“As of today, it would be illegal for me to just let you wander on your own. So I’m letting you stay until Friday, your eighteenth birthday, which is four days away from now. During that period of time, you can surf the web for available employment and apartments. I wish you the best of luck,” and with this, she left leaving Janice to swallow her words.
Staring at the big, black suitcase in front of her, Janice thought about what it would really feel like living in the world all alone. In a way she knew that it would feel better being independent and having control over her own choices, but she also knew deep down that loneliness was not happiness. If she was going to survive on her own, she would sooner or later have to make a friend or two in the world that she could rely on for support, and of course friendship. It was definitely going to be to a difficult struggle at first, (an interesting one at that), but if she was going to live her own life, she was going to have to pay the cost…

 

[Janice+Floyd<3]

Love this so far Bridg!

 

[Stephanie Evjen]

So, by simply re-watching classic Muppet movies, I finally realized and decided my deep love for Janice's character. I wanted to make a fan-fiction about how she came to be the lead guitarist we all know and love, and of course how her relationship with Floyd kicked off. I really hope that you like it.

Janice’s Journey To The Mayhem
(A Janice FanFiction)
By KissesToKermie


Chapter I: “It’s My Life”


“It’s my life,” Janice calmly yet boldly stated to her mother from her bed. She was lying down on her comfortable peace-sign covered comforter, with her headphones on top of her head. Not too long ago she had returned from a long day in high school, and now she was at the part of her home routine where she was “chilling out”. The music that she was listening to was just at the right volume to where she could hear her mother’s annoying rambling, but yet still hear the relaxing sound of the guitars. Carly was giving another one of her long lectures to her daughter about staying focused, and only bringing home to best of grades. She was holding Janice’s report card from that semester in her hand, and she was leaning her side on her white, bedroom door with a frown. Day after day the woman felt as if she had to continuously repeat herself about how Janice was not taking her life seriously, and how that would only lead to failure if she didn’t straighten up. At this point, she was at her last straw. Janice, however, was just taking it lightly as usual, and enjoying the warmth of her bed with one leg crossed over the other. It wasn’t in her nature to stress over education.
“Janice. Do you want to fail? Do you even give a care about the life that you claim is yours? Obviously, your grades and attitude are not reflecting it.” She put her skinny arms on her hips; the ones that were a bit lighter than her daughter’s skin tone. Janice was nodding to her music, but still paying attention more or less. Carly cleared her throat to grab her attention in which she thought she had lost. “Hello?”
“Oh, right,” began Janice with a yawn following her words. She honestly knew exactly what she wanted to say, and exactly how she wanted to say it. However, she also knew exactly how her worrisome mother would respond- and she was not in the mood for bickering this evening. “Yeah, I care.”
Carly did not seem even the least bit convinced, but in fact even more angered by the fact that Janice was not taking anything seriously as usual. She walked over to her bed and yanked the covers off of her body. Janice didn’t seem surprised by her action, but perhaps a little annoyed. She sighed and continued to nod her head.
“First of all, you’re going to take off those headphones. You are going to pay attention to what I’m trying to get through to you!” she said pulling the headphones from off of Janice’s ruffled, blonde hair. Janice breathed hard and slowly sat up feeling drowsy and unenthusiastic. Once again, she was going to have to listen about how irresponsible and careless she was towards her life.
“I’m listening,” she replied with a straight face.
“I am sick and tired of you thinking that every little thing about life is some kind of a joke. One of these days you are going to be a grown woman, Janice. And if you think that somehow, someway, someone is going to just hand you success on a golden platter- you have it twisted. There is no elevator to success; you have to take the stairs.”
“Oh my god,” began Janice sounding annoyed. “Like, you say that every single day of the week Ma, I think I get the whole ‘words to live by’ thing. You don’t have to keep repeating yourself.”
“Obviously I do!” Carly said, her voice slowly rising. “If you really understood what I was trying to tell you, then why haven’t you changed? Why haven’t you taken the slightest interest in doing something with your life? Why haven’t you even tried searching for a job to live by? You are in your senior year of high school now Janice. You are not going to be a child forever, and you need to start taking that into consideration.” Carly honestly did care for her daughter, and meant every single word coming from her mouth. But each time she explained it, Janice only acted as if it did not matter the least bit. And, she could not understand that to save her life.
“I don’t want to change. I think I’m fine the way I am. And I don’t want a job unless it has something to do with music. It just doesn’t feel like the right kind of life fer me Ma. I just wanna do something that’ll make me happy. Not something that’ll stress me out.”

“Well, get with the program, because there is not a single job on the face of this earth that does not require some kind of stress. Everyone has to work hard to get what it is that they want whether they like it, or not.”

“Well, like I said Ma, that kind of life just isn’t fer me. I’d rather just wing it. Thanks anyways though,” Janice said; a stretch following her statement. Maybe her mother assumed that she was simply being lazy towards everything, but honestly Janice has other motives and goals in her life that she knew Carly would not support. What she truly wanted more than anything in the world was to dedicate her life to the magical world of music, and nothing more. It didn’t matter if fame was involved or even money (though she would have to live off of something). All she knew was that as long as she could be appreciated for the love of her guitar, she would forever be satisfied. The problem was that her mother had some kind of idea in her head that her daughter would follow in her footsteps to study something in the medical field, when she wanted nothing to do with it at all.

“Janice, I just do not understand you. Not one little bit. Here I am, your mother, trying to help you make it in the tough life, and you don’t even want my help?” said Carly, sounding forceful and hurt at the same time. “All I want is for you to be successful. That’s all I want. Will you please just listen to me?”
Janice finally decided that she didn’t want to hear anymore of her mother’s nagging, even though she meant well by it. There were already a million other things that she had to worry about in her life including tests, projects, relationships, and most of all- graduation. Despite the fact that she could easily blow something off of her that she did not feel like stressing over, over time the different problems in her life did build up inside of her, taking away from her easy-going spirit after a while. Maybe later they could talk about the whole going to college thing, but for right now, all she wanted was some time to her to think.
“Look, could we talk about this later? I was sorta hoping to take a nap after school. It’s been a long day,” asked Janice, with all due respect. Her mother immediately turned up her face, as if she had just been deeply insulted. Janice wondered if she should have sweetened her request up a little more.
“Janice, this time, there is no later. I wasn’t lying when I said that I was sick of this mess. I’m not putting up with your attitude any longer. It’s time for you to make a final decision, and now. What do you really want to do?”
It was quite easy to tell that her mother was literally posing a do or die question to her, or in the case, a music or education one. Her mind was somehow telling her to make “Ma” happy and just agree to take her education more seriously, but at the same time, her heart was standing up for what she truly wanted. One thing about the peaceful teenager is that she preferred to keep everyone happy by just agreeing to what they wanted- even if she wasn’t really up to it. But she also spoke the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So if her mother really wanted to hear it, she was going to tell it.
“I choose music,” she stated bluntly without reluctance. “I want to be free to play as loud as I want, whenever I want, and just rock out you know? I’m tired of all of this extra math and stuff. I just wanna live my life, fer sure.”
“And live your life you shall,” her mother said, surprisingly sounding inviting. At first Janice thought that she was actually about to support her in her feelings, but soon after her statement, she went into Janice’s closet and wheeled out a jumbo sized suitcase.
“Like, how in the world did you get your hands on my stuff?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Carly responded. “You said you wanted music, so I’m giving it to you. But you’re not going to waste precious years of your life away in my house. You’re going to have to do that in your own place. So I’m letting you move out.”
Janice couldn’t believe her ears. Her mother was actually getting ready to send her away without warning to goodness knows where. She wasn’t fearful necessarily, but it just wasn’t in her mother’s nature to make such a risky decision without talking it over first. Obviously this meant that she had no set place to reside or anything. All she could really do was to go along with whatever Carly had to say, even if she didn’t know what to say herself.
“Oh, um, okay,” replied Janice biting her lip. Carly threw an envelope on her daughter’s lap that seemed to have a tiny bit of weight to it. “What’s this?”
“That there, is the most money I’m giving you to live off of until you find a job. So it would only be wise to get one now, wouldn’t it?”
Janice didn’t understand if that was an open or rhetorical question, so she decided to just stay silent for it. Carly continued on.
“As of today, it would be illegal for me to just let you wander on your own. So I’m letting you stay until Friday, your eighteenth birthday, which is four days away from now. During that period of time, you can surf the web for available employment and apartments. I wish you the best of luck,” and with this, she left leaving Janice to swallow her words.
Staring at the big, black suitcase in front of her, Janice thought about what it would really feel like living in the world all alone. In a way she knew that it would feel better being independent and having control over her own choices, but she also knew deep down that loneliness was not happiness. If she was going to survive on her own, she would sooner or later have to make a friend or two in the world that she could rely on for support, and of course friendship. It was definitely going to be to a difficult struggle at first, (an interesting one at that), but if she was going to live her own life, she was going to have to pay the cost…

Wow. That's a really interesting read. Never knew Janice would have a difficult relationship with her mother. But I'm sure deep down they still love each other.

 

[Bridget]

Thank you guys so, so much. I'll be updating tonight!

 

[Bridget]

Chapter Two: Searchin’
It was already Wednesday, and Janice was not finding much luck with apartment or jobs finds. All of the jobs that she had found online either required far more education or effort than she was willing to put in, or a far more compatible mode of transportation. For the entire day, she had been inside of her summer stuffy bedroom, glued to her laptop screen like a technology nerd. Finally after hours of nothing, she threw her hands up in tiredness and flopped back on her bed with a hopeless sigh, and pulled out her cell phone. If there was one thing that calmed a stressful mind in her world, it was talking to a friend. She scrolled through her many contacts, and finally found the name of her closest high school companion, Courtney. She pressed the green “call” icon, and held the phone to her ear. After a few seconds of ringing, a rather high-pitched, energetic voice answered.
“Janice?” answered Courtney. Janice could hear the sound of nosey children in the background. Her little siblings must have been having their play time. She smiled at the thought, and replied back calmly.
“Yeah. What’s up?”
“Well at the moment I’m just studying for finals on Friday. It’s really important that I pass this test, or I won’t get into a good college. Mom’s been on me about it all week long. What I really need is a break,” she answered. Unlike Janice, Courtney was very much on top of her grades and responsibilities, and strived not to miss a beat. Since they had met, all Courtney ever talked about was graduating high school to attend a good law school, and hopefully progress to become a lawyer. Of course being a good friend Janice supported and wished the best for her, but they had two different speeds when it came to school. However, that was completely okay with Janice, as there were other things the two could easily relate to.
“Oh,” said Janice trying to sound enthusiastic. She didn’t really feel like hearing about anything having to do with severe importance. “I hope you do well on it. I heard it’s like rully hard.”
“It is,” Courtney chimed in, in little to no time. “This test is no joke. And the hardest part about it is, this year it’s not multiple choice! We actually have to explain our answers in complete sentences. Oh Janice, I’m so worried! What if I fail?”
Janice knew that Courtney was really passionate about passing each and every test she was given, and she knew that her worrying would only make her more stressed and anxious.
“Like, don’t sweat it. If you pass you pass, if you fail you fail. But for the past four years I’ve known you, you’ve never failed a test a day in your life. I think you’re gonna get through this one, fer sure. Just have confidence.”
“You, you really think so?” said Courtney; her mood improving. “You’re the best friend ever, you know that? I don’t know what I’d do without you. I’d probably never live again!”
Janice gulped. She hadn’t taken into consideration that when she left to go, (wherever she was going), she would have to leave behind all of the friends she made in high school. She couldn’t even begin to think of how she would break the news to Courtney. Maybe what she needed was a face-to-face conversation to really talk things out. Sometimes phone talk could get easily misunderstood.
“Aw,” replied Janice in response to her loving compliment. “Well like, remember how you said you needed a break? Do you wanna come to the park with me and get some ice cream or something?”
“Ooh! That sounds delicious! I could go for some ice cream! Sure!” she answered with energy. Janice smiled and searched for her wallet on her night stand while still holding the phone in her other hand.
“Great. I’ll see you there in about five minutes. Mom gave me back my bike yesterday, so it won’t take me as long.”
Courtney agreed to the time, and Janice clicked off her cell phone to get going.

Meanwhile at the theater, The Electric Mayhem was having an afternoon band meeting about a possible addition to their group. For a while now it had been just the four of them rocking out on stage, but they were beginning to realize that something was missing. They were all sitting in the house chairs, while Dr. Teeth was dangling his legs from the stage. Floyd was the main one proposing an addition.
“I can’t be the only one on vocals anymore Teeth. I love doin’ it and all, but we need another singer,” he said from his chair, holding his bass in his lap. Though Floyd did enjoy taking verses for their songs, bass was more his game than anything. Dr. Teeth ran his fingers around his beard with an agreeable head nod.
“That is a good point there,” he agreed. Zoot, looking bummed as usual, let out a careless breath. He didn’t see the point of calling a meeting for a topic like this. The band seemed fine as it was to him, anyways.
“Who cares?” he chimed in lowly. “Why can’t we just go on like we are? Always trying to change something…”
Truthfully, the meeting was really going slow. Surprisingly, Animal who was chained to the chair arm was fast asleep. Floyd looked at the sax player with annoyance.
“If you don’t care, then why’d you bother to comment? Why don’t you just go on back to sleep and let us be,” he looked back at Dr. Teeth. “As I was sayin’, I think it would also be good to have another member ‘round here. You get tired lookin’ at the same people every single day…”
“That’s a good point too,” said Dr. Teeth. It would be nice to have someone around here to give it that extra spark of groove. Maybe I could ask Kermit if we could host auditions this Saturday!”
Zoot quickly snapped up out of his sleep.
“What? You’re actually ‘bout to listen to him?” he asked.
“Well Floyd’s right. We do need an extra player. Besides, don’t you think that five sounds better than four?”
“No!”
“Well I think so!” Floyd blurted carefully shaking Animal awake. He stood up and began to untie the chain with his hand. Animal made little grunting noises as he stretched his arms up. He could care less about anyone else’s opinion at the moment. All he wanted was to change the band for the better. “And if you don’t like it, don’t come. C’mon Animal, we’re goin’ home,” said Floyd heading towards the exit. “See you all tomorrow.”

Zoot slumped back in his chair with a frown, and mumbled under his breath. “I won’t.”

 

[drteethcool]

Love your story it is great more please.