Soundtrack Of My Summer

1.

JERKY POP STAR PERSONA

There was no freaking way they were making him spend his entire summer there.

He was Shane Gray, for crying out loud! Rock star famous, worldwide sensation and hot singer all along. He even had a Grammy! More than one actually. That must count to something, right? Right? So what the hell was he doing at that stupid minivan been driven to Carefree, Georgia, on the day he was supposed to be at L.A., in a sound check for the first concert of his band's new summer tour?

He was so not spending the summer among his uncle Brown, his annoying little cousin Daniel, some weird country people and peach trees. He didn't even like peaches to begin with.

"Guys, this is ridiculous. Let's just take a 180 turn and pretend this never happened". He pleaded to Nate Connor and Jason Leigh, his band members who were sitting right in front of him. But he got solemnly ignored in favor of whatever was being displayed on the screen of Nate's laptop.

"You know, it's a pity you can't stay until fall, dude. They have this pretty awesome barbecue contest in a nearby town". Said Nate, pretending he didn't even heard what Shane had said in the first place.

"Man, a barbecue contest! Can you imagine that?" Jason, in his turn, seemed pretty excited over the idea. "I mean, barbecue's already good enough as it is, but in a contest?" He smiled. "I'm telling you, it's all kinds of awesome. Can we come back in November? Please?" He added with his trademark puppy dog eyes expression.

"No one's coming back here in November! I'm not even staying here until freaking September!" Shane yelled feeling fed up with his band members' acting. And to think those two traitors were supposed to be his best mates. Yeah, tricks on him.

Jason raised his eyebrows, like he always did when he got confused. "Man, what was that about? I thought you were going to spend vacations here with your uncle Brown and everything."

Nate rolled his eyes and closed the laptop.

"He is, Jason. He just has to come to terms with it." Said the teen in a fierce tone before turning his attention to Shane. "And you, stop whining already! You got this amazing vacation because the record label recognized you were feeling 'a little bit stressed' lately and needed some time off." He was being sarcastic now, which made Shane rolls his eyes. "As if you yelling at staff members all the time, missing band practice and storming out of the set in the middle of filming our lasted music video weren't clue enough." Nate added as an after thought.

Ah, there it goes, the 'let's bash about Shane Gray as if he isn't here' time – the vocalist thought bitterly.

"You should be grateful, Shane. With the way you've been acting it could've been a lot worst." Finished Nate.

But Shane just crossed his arms and scoffed.

"Right. As if I'd be so naïve as to not see right through all of this crappy label's golden boy speech of yours. You're just trying to get rid of me!" He answered, almost drowning the van in sarcasm.

"Well, duh. Can you blame us for trying?" It was Jason's attempt to crake a joke. It worked on Nate, who laughed a little bit but Shane didn't give in – he just kept that same annoyed expression on his pretty boyish Rock Star face.

Nate sighed after a whole minute of uncomfortable silence. He wasn't particularly willing to get on Shane's bad side; it was always a rather frustrating and nerve-wrecking experience to say the least.

"Look dude, I know you're upset with the label and our manager for cancelling the summer tour. We all are, believe me, but-"

"Really?" Shane rudely interrupted him. "Well it sure doesn't seem like it. Who were just spazzing about barbecue contests a little while ago?" He finished sending death glares to his band members.

Nate sighed again, trying to gather his patience.

"Whatever. Just let me finish, ok?" And he went on without waiting for Shane's agreement. "Jason and I were looking forward to the tour as well. Do you think we feel good about disappointing all of our fans out there? Those who wait for months just to get the opportunity to see us? Hell no!" The teen shook his head as if to enforce his point. "But I do understand why the label did this. Shane, dude, you're a mess right now, you know that, right?"

Shane smirked. "Gee Nathaniel, you sure know how to make me feel better."

The younger one rolled his eyes at being called by his full name and raised his hands in a helpless manner.

Jason sensed that maybe it was time for him to interfere – at least before his band members choked each other with their bare hands. After all, he was the oldest one so he should as well be the wisest, right? Maybe not the brightest – that title still belonged to Nate – but the wisest was good enough.

He knew that Shane had a really bad temper and Nate had a tendency to get worked up pretty easily over Shane's jerky attitude. In situations like these both always ended up saying stuff neither of them meant to. So Jason rested his elbows on his knees and stared at Shane with a non-bubbly expression that was really rare of him.

"Listen man, I think what Nate's trying to say is that we barely recognize you nowadays. I mean…" He sighed and fixed his hair with a hand, thinking about how to get his point through to his friend. He wasn't exactly the most articulated person – no wonder why Nate was always the front man speech-delivery of the group – but he needed to try anyway. "You're always angry and yelling and treating people like scum and overall being an affected pop star diva. And you're not like that, Shane. This guy the tabloids talk bad about… He's not you." Then he gave Shane his most serious gaze and felt accomplished when he saw his band members were actually paying attention to him. "What happened to that guy who just loved his music?"

Silence engulfed the three of them after Jason's unexpected speech. That was really deep coming from the guy who was obsessed with bird houses and thought Europe was a country.

Shane stared thoughtful at the van's window glass, purposely avoiding their gazes. He silently watched the scenery passing by them. They were in this almost desert country road, just on the outskirts of the little town they were heading to.

Carefree, Georgia. A place he's never been before but he felt like he already knew. It all started for him in a small town such like that in Tennessee, when he was just this outcast and naïve boy with a guitar. Of course, that was before he moved to Nashville with his parents, started playing at some Cafe's here and there and finally got himself a deal with a small label. From that moment on it all went by pretty quickly.

Shortly after recording his first demo he was discovered by Burning Up Records, a bigger label, and moved to New York to be part of this new heavily produced band called Connect Three. He remembered thinking that the name was the silliest thing he'd ever heard, but being excited nonetheless. He, the anonymous guy who only had his voice, his dreams and an old guitar was going to New York! After New York, came L.A. The rest was history.

And now he wasn't that small-town boy anymore. Now he was Shane Gray from Connect Three. He lived where things, important things, actually happened – and he was the center of it. He couldn't – he wouldn't – blend in this stupid southern life style.

Shane wasn't getting what was the point in bringing him back to the south to spend some 'quality time' with his uncle. He didn't belong in the suburbs with the heart warming people and their apple pies and honestly, he didn't want to. He had outgrown all of that.

"He's a grown up now, Jason. That's what happened to that guy." He answered, still staring out the window.

Shane heard both boys sigh, but gladly none of them said anything more. They knew Shane well enough to know that it was useless – the Connect Three vocalist never took any of what they said to heart.

They've tried talking to him, their manager tried, the label executives tried. Still, nothing changed and Shane seemed determined of showing his frustration with whatever thing that was bothering him in the most vengeful ways. If Nate and Jason were sicking tired of his band member rebellious manners, then the label was absolutely fed up and just about to call it quits and throw the three of them out.

Shane's temper tantrums were repeatedly reported at Hot Tunes TV and in every single tabloid in America. Perez Hilton was having the time of his life by retelling the story of how Shane Gray threw coffee at a sound engineer who dared talking back to the super star. The vocalist's reputation was completely wrecked and he was starting to cost to Burning Up Records more than they could afford.

If things continued to follow down that path, the three boys' once-upon-a-time-fairy-tale-story about becoming successful musicians would not have a happily ever after ending.

Shane needed a reality check and a change of heart – these were facts. They just hoped that Brown, who once was Shane's mentor, would be more successful in getting it through to his stubborn nephew than the expensive psychologist the label paid for Shane to talk to – or, more likely, yell at and make fun of.

The minivan slowed down when they entered Carefree and Shane groaned to himself at the sight of the historical buildings in the town center.

"Come on Shane, this could be fun. You can play baseball with your little cousin or something. You used to like baseball, remember?" Nate tried to cheer him up one last time.

Shane just glared at him.

"And you could do cool things like… breathing fresh air and getting a tan. Oh! You could build me a new birdhouse!" Jason clasped his hands like a little excited kid at it was his time to earn a glare from Shane.

"And if it all fails to amuse you that's fine. You being here will still be good PR." Nate shrugged and for the first time he actually treated that whole 'let's throw Shane in the suburb thing' for what it was – a marketing strategy for damage control and a desperate attempt to straight him out. Shane rolled his eyes thinking about how pathetic it was.

They stopped in front of a pretty little white house with a white fence, a mail box and a green lawn. It was so cozy, friendly and movie-like that Shane had an urge to throw up. Nate and Jason were already getting off the van and going to greet his uncle with enthusiastic high fives. The vocalist just rolled his eyes and grabbed his guitar case and his much too small luggage for his taste to follow them.

"Hey, Shane!" Brown greeted him with a big smile and open arms. "It's good to see you! How's my only and favorite nephew?"

But Shane passed straight through him with an unenthusiastic 'hey Uncle Brown' and promptly ignoring the hug offer. He also passed right through his chubby little cousin who ran to him screaming his name in an excited manner and entered the little suburb house, slamming the front door shut after him.

Nate and Jason just sighed and the later padded an astounded looking Brown in the shoulder.

"Just give him time. And patience. Lots of patience." Were Jason's optimistic words.

Nate just looked up to the sky and wondered if it was time for him to start praying for Shane's soul and their record deal. After all, they would need every help they could get.