This story starts with Abby moon, 16-year old daughter of the famous Austin and Ally. Today is her Middle School Graduation Ceremony and unfortunately her parents are nowhere in sight.
"Where are they?" Abby grunted unconsciously tugging her brown locks out of frustration. The ceremony is about to start any minute now but not one of her parents are present at the moment.
"Don't worry niece," Her Uncle, Dez Wade, her father's best friend, wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "They're probably on their way!"
He assured her but then pausing halfway, "or what if something terrible happened? What if their plane crashed? Or they got eaten by zombies? Or was kidnapped by a bunch of lepricons? Austin! Don't drown yourself with gold! I don't know where to find the end of the rainbow! Austin!"
Abby awkwardly released herself from her Uncle's tight grip on her shoulder, "That isn't possible Uncle Dez, lepricons aren't real,"
"Or are they?" A creepy grin crept upon her Uncles lips.
"Okay, that's enough dad. I need you to sit by mom's side. Now," Her Uncle's grin immediately turned upside down once his son ushered him away.
"Still no sign of your parents?" Abby turned to her new company and heaved a sigh.
"Yeah, apparently they'll miss my Graduation Ceremony. Yay for me!"
Caiden Wade crossed his arms, "That's too bad, I always wanted to see your parents' face when they see how sad you are while I give my valedictorian speech,"
Abby made a face. There has always been a competition between her and Caiden, especially in academics, "Scram off smartass! I can't believe you're even related to Uncle Dez. To make it even weird, you're his son!" She muttered looking at the direction of her Uncle who was sitting by his beautiful wife, Carrie, who also has the same IQ as her husband. Who would've thought they would have a smart kid as their son?
"I can't believe it either. One time I searched for my birth certificate, unfortunately I'm not adopted,"
The buzzing noises of the students were silenced by the feedback of the microphone and cued the start of the ceremony.
Abby walked back to her seat and took a moment to look back at the two chairs still unoccupied before deciding to finally sit down.
"Oh Abby! We're so proud of you!" Mike and Mimi Moon enveloped their granddaughter into a bone crushing hug. It took a minute or two before they pulled back from the hug, "Thanks Grandma, thanks Grandpa,"
They smiled dearly at her before walking off towards Dez's family to greet Caiden a congratulations. Abby looked around to scan the area to locate a certain blonde and brunette but failed to do so.
"Hey there little pumpkin pie," she averted her gaze from the crowd to Lester Dawson, "Hey Grandpa,"
"I got something for you!" He said, excitement glimmering in his eyes. She smiled although it didn't quite reach her eyes.
Lester handed her an envelope. She took it from him and without further delay tore the envelope to reveal what's inside it.
"Wow . . . grandpa, uhm . . . free piano lessons at the A&A Music Factory which my parents practically own! Gee thanks!" she exclaimed while waving the coupon.
"I knew you'd love it! I got that for free too!" Abby shook her head at her Grandpa's cheapness. Maybe some things never change.
"Are we late? I hope we're not! We're supposed to be here on time but we missed our flight and the next flight was hours later so we had to make a few time changes . . . but I swear we tried to make it!" then came the two people she was waiting for throughout the whole ceremony.
There stood in front of her, THE Austin and Ally catching their breathes, "You missed the whole ceremony," Abby whispered but audible enough.
Ally Dawson-Moon met her daughter's sad eyes, she instantly felt guilty, "I'm so sorry baby girl. I swear we tried everything just to make it on time! Right, Austin?" Her mom turned to look at her husband.
But before Austin could mutter a word, Dez went right in between Abby and Ally, "So, how was the lepricons? Did they have those big bushy beards? Are they really small? Do they have pointy ears? Oh wait those are elves. Did you bring some gold? D-"
"DEZ!" Austin and Ally shouted stopping the redhead from talking any further.
"You know what, it's fine. I don't need an explanation from you guys. You're Austin and Ally, you're big names in the industry of music and your careers are so important. I can totally understand why you couldn't make it to my graduation because of your work,"
"See? I told you she'll understand," Austin whispered to his wife earning a nudge on his stomach.
Abby sighed, "All I want is a normal family whose parents are always there for their children, is that really too much to ask?" she stormed off the hall leaving an eerie silence.
Dez returned to the scene and popped a small confetti, "Congratulations!"
"I can't believe she walked out on us like that," Ally said while taking a sit on the couch.
"Well I can't believe you called me for work on a weekend!" Ally raised a brow at her best friend who was still in her pajamas.
They were at the Music Factory and it was only an hour after the ceremony, "Don't look at me like that! I just got home from Paris and I need rest! I worked the whole week!"
"Trish, you just slept, ate, and shop throughout Paris!" Trish opened her mouth to say a word but chose to shut it and sat next to Ally.
"Then, what is with the sudden Austin and Ally meeting?"
"Something bad happened a while ago," Austin started.
"What? I just slept for an hour and Dez already did something stupid?"
On cue, Dez walked inside the Music Factory with Carrie following behind him, "Excuse me Trish, but I didn't have anything to do with this,"
"So tell me! Stop with the cliffhangers and tell me what on earth is going on!"
"Abby's mad at us," Ally finally said.
"Why would your sixteen year old daughter get mad at you two?"
"Because we missed her graduation ceremony," Austin explained.
The two fixed their stare at Trish who was starting to feel uneasy, "Then why am I here? It's clear that this has nothing to do with me,"
Austin sighed, "Trish you scheduled us at a wrong time! The flight that we were supposed to take was already gone when we got to the airport!"
"So you guys are saying this is my entire fault?" Trish asked.
"Yes," They all chorused except for Trish.
"Okay I'm sorry! I'll talk to Abby and explain if that's what you want me to do," Trish raised both of her hands in defeat.
"Actually, that's not the only thing we wanted to tell you," Ally looked at Austin before hesitantly looking back at her Latina best friend who was waiting for her to speak.
"Austin and I had a discussion on our way here and came to a conclusion our daughter was right. I know we love music; it's been a part of us! And it was the reason how Austin and I met. I still love writing music and producing music but if it's starting to be in the way in our family . . . I don't know anymore. How can we even be parents if half the time our kids are growing up we're not there for them?"
"So . . . are you saying?" Trish trailed off.
"Ally and I decided to take a break from our career for a while," Austin finished for his wife.
Trish stood up and looked a little confused, "Wait . . . so you two called me here, woke me up from my nap just to fire me?"
"What- no, Trish you don't understand!"
"No Ally, this is what you don't understand! This is only job I managed to keep and you two are firing me?" Trish placed her palm above her chest clutching it as if in pain.
"Wow, this is the best soap opera ever! Popcorn?" Dez said offering popcorn from somewhere to his wife.
"Trish, before you overreact-"
"I'M ALREADY OVERREACTING!"
"It's just a year break Trish! Or two to three years. Maybe four?" Austin rubbed his chin in deep thought.
"How about estimate it to forever! That means I'll be jobless forever!" Trish slumped back down on the couch and rubbed her temples to calm herself.
"Come on Trish, this is the our only way to spend more time with our kids," Ally scooted closer to her best friend and patted her back.
"I want to be there when Abby needs me and when Atom needs me too," Trish looked at Ally and saw the desperate look of a mother in her eyes.
"And I want to be there to change Abby's diapers when she needs me to!"
Ally turned to her husband, "No Austin, you already passed that,"
"Oh," Her husband frowned before shrugging the though away.
"Wait . . . I have an idea! I think I can still have a way for you two to stay in the industry and spend time with your kids without vanishing on every television, paper, internet, and phone in the world!" Trish bolted from her seat, "I can still get half of your paycheck! And I won't be jobless! I'll still be your manager!" She speed walked out of the factory.
Ally ran after her, "Where are you going?!"
"T.V. Station!" Trish shouted back from a distance.
"In your pajamas?!" Austin followed standing beside his wife.
A few seconds later Trish was back standing in front of them, "I need a ride,"
After she walked out that day she went straight home and watched a bunch of shows on Netflix inside her room before knocking herself out. She didn't even bother to eat dinner. She felt a little guilty as well. It was still disrespectful of her to burst out at her parents like that. But she just couldn't help it! Sure it was cool that her parents were famous. They started out as young popstars and were successful in the field of music. Even in such an age, they're still in demand over thousands of places. And they were still behind every successful song of current artists in the industry. But sometimes, it wasn't something she's happy about because most of the time, her parents are taken away by the industry. And yesterday was something she just couldn't pass. It was her graduation for goodness sake!
She was awoken from her sleep by loud shuffling inside her room. She shifted on her bed and mumbled, "Mom keep it down, I'll be up in a minute,"
But then the shuffling noise didn't stop. Sleep finally drained out of her body, she sat up on her bed and saw three guys inside her room going through her stuffs. Panic surged through her, "MOOOOOOM!"
In an instant, Ally bolted in her room tripping over the carpet. She stood up and dusted some dirt from her skirt before rushing towards her daughter, "Honey, what is it? Why are you shouting? Did something bad happen? Did you broke your nose while sleeping?"
Abby stared oddly at her mom before shaking her head, "No, why would I break my nose because of sleeping?"
"Nothing just . . . some safety precautions. Anyway, what happened?"
"Why are there people inside my room?"
Ally looked around. Her lips formed an "o" finally understanding the situation, "Those are just people from the T.V. station. They're just attaching some hidden cameras in your room,"
"Hidden what in my what?!"
"Honey, calm down!" Ally placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders and held Abby down to her bed.
"Calm down? Mom what is this? What are the cameras for?!"
"Well you see . . . you're dad and I thought about what you said and we thought you were right-"
"No, mom I'm sorry. Don't fuss about what I said, I just overreacted a bit,"
"No! What you said was right. We we're too occupied with our career that we forget our family. But don't worry Abby, we'll be with you all the time now! And we get to be on T.V. while we're at it!"
Mixed emotions were all what Abby was feeling right now. A combination of happy and confused, "Mom, I still don't follow. What's with the cameras?"
"We're gonna be in a family reality show! Living with the Moons! It's a show wherein we show how we spend our lives together as a family!" Ally explained, clasping her hands in excitement.
"More like reality stalk show!" Abby jumped off her bed and went through her wardrobe.
"Honey, what are you doing?"
She took some clothes and stalked off inside her bathroom, "PLEASE TELL ME THERE AREN'T ANY CAMERAS IN HERE!"
Abby walked down the stairs and walked her way towards the living room only to see her 11-year old brother doing goofy moves in front of their center vase, "What are you doing?"
"Giving the ladies a show," Atom Moon continued to pose in front of the vase. Abby made a face and approached the mirror across the room and noticed a pimple on her face.
She leaned in to check on it, "If I were you sis, I wouldn't do that," Atom said who was now standing beside her, both of them fitting the mirror.
"Why wouldn't I?" She asked and continued to scan her new pimple.
"Has the though ever crossed your mind? How a mirror suddenly got there?" and that's when she finally realized. She jumped backwards and pointed accusingly at the mirror, "Don't tell me it's a . . ."
"Oh yes it is!" Atom stood in front of the mirror and did one of the worst kissy faces Abby has ever seen.
"I just finished connecting the cameras to the main system and we're ready to roll!" Dez came into view.
"That's so cool buddy!" Austin exclaimed walking down the stairs with Ally.
"Dad? You're okay with this?" Abby asked.
"Why wouldn't I? This is what you wanted right? All your mom and I want is your happiness," He smiled widely encircling his arms around his wife's waist.
"What I said was normal family. Would a normal family have their lives broadcasted throughout the whole globe just to entertain a bunch of creeps? This is why I hate the industry, first they take my parents, and now they take away my privacy?"
Austin and Ally's smile faltered at what their daughter said, "Do you really hate it that much?"
"Abby, if giving up our career is what will make you happy then I'd do it," Austin said slowly approaching his daughter.
"You'd do that for me?" Abby asked.
"Abby, we declined a bunch of deals just to attend your first recital, we cancelled our tour for your third grade family day, we brought you to the white house to meet the president because we don't want you to be left alone in Miami while we perform for him, and we fought the airlines back in Paris just to make it on time for your graduation. Do you think we can't give up our career just for you?"
Abby was left speechless, "If you want us to get rid of this T.V. show then be it! We just want our princess to be happy," Austin embraced her in a hug.
Abby broke out into a fit of sobs. She pulled back from her dad's embrace and wiped her tears, "You know what, I don't care anymore. As long as you guys are with me, as long as we are a family, I'm happy,"
"I'm gonna cry!" Ally sobbed.
Atom shook his head, "Ladies,"
"GROUP HUG!" Dez shouted from the background and huddled everyone into a hug.
Well, I guess it's going to be one heck of a life to witness, living with the Moons.