A/N: And so began the first chapter
A/N: And so began the first chapter. And seriously, what author on fanfiction starts a story at flipping 8:30 in the morning?! Possibly 11:00 at night but that's it! That's as early as I usually go. But whatever, that's the humor side of me. Since this is angst and not comedy maybe I should write in the morning. I don't really know…it probably won't last long. So I hope everyone found this story okay, being that it's completely separate from the audition page but whatevs.
I don't own the Connect Three!
Now without further ado, the first chapter of Dance Until There's Nothing Left! Dramatic much?
The Connect Three tour bus sped down the long highway. Nate Gray stared blankly out the back window, watching trees pass, still tired form their concert last night. After getting in at nearly 11:30 they'd proceeded to drive overnight from Texas to northern California. Everyone on the bus was completely out of it right now and it didn't help anyone's mood that the toilet wasn't working…again.
With no hotel, no working toilet on the bus, and Shane's inability to hold it they were making a stop at a gas station, about an hour outside of their destination; Anaheim.
Just as they were pulling off the highway a pretty blonde haired, blue-green eyed, fifteen year old girl came and plopped down on the couch next to Nate. She was tall and athletic looking, and absolutely nothing like her older sisters. The motions she made of sitting down next to Nate startled him out of his trance.
"Oh hey Phoebe. What's up?" He asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes and stretching.
"Nothing much. Just bored is all. You didn't tell me that it'd be boring when you asked us to come with you on tour." She was referring to the fact that it was only a week into the boys' first Summer Tour and her and her sisters had already run out of things to do. They'd played hotel hide and seek, hotel putt putt, Who Can Make The Guys Laugh On Stage First, Guitar Hero…the list went on.
But she would never ask to go home. No matter how much she wished she could be at the beach right now, she would never do that to her oldest and best friend. He was practically her brother. She'd known Nate and his brothers ever since they'd first moved to New Jersey. Phoebe and her sisters had lived down the street form them and attended the same school and church for years. Before the boys had become famous, she'd just been happy to sit in his basement for hours, listening to him belt a tune form his latest Broadway discovery.
Things hadn't changed much in the last few years. She was still his best friend, and they'd kept in touch. She and her sisters had come with them on almost every tour they'd been on, excluding the ones during the school year.
"Well what's everyone else up to?" Nate asked, still half asleep.
"They're in the kitchen with your mom eating. And apparently we're stopping soon for a bathroom break because Shane can't hold it anymore." She ended with a snort. "I don't know the details because I just woke up and haven't actually talked to anyone yet but that's what I heard."
"Thank the Lord for that," He replied, finally standing up. "I've gotta go too!"
"Wow Nate, a little too much information there," Phoebe said sarcastically, reaching to the ground and picking up her new Nikon digital camera. She quickly snapped it up and took a picture of Nate before he had a chance to protest, and giggled as she danced out the door ahead of him. Nate smiled to himself and followed her.
Once they got to the kitchen they did indeed see Jason, Shane, Frankie, Mrs. Gray, Christine and Karla sitting at the table, each with a plate of bacon and eggs. Mr. Gray was most likely up with the driver at the moment. Christine and Karla were Phoebe's older sisters. Just like she was Nate's age, Christine was Jason's and Karla, Shane's.
Karla was eighteen and had just graduated High School, but you'd never know this by the way she acted when on sugar. She was hilarious most of the time and an unbelievable prankster. She was Shane's personality match for the most part, and the two sometimes joked that maybe they were long lost twins or something. She also looked nothing like Phoebe and their parents often wondered about that. She had long, golden brown hair and green-brown eyes. The only way to tell the two of them were sisters was by body type.
Christine on the other hand looked exactly like Karla, leaving Phoebe to wonder if maybe she was adopted. She had the same brown hair and hazel eyes and was naturally tan. None of that fair skin crap only Phoebe suffered from. Christine was the oldest of the three sisters at nineteen, going on twenty, and also the prep of the family. She was constantly texting and whenever she wasn't, she was watching Gossip Girl or One Tree Hill. She was also Jason's best friend.
"Good morning you two," Mrs. Gray greeted as they entered the room. "Breakfast?" She offered them plates.
"Thanks mom," Nate replied.
"Thanks Mrs. Gray," Phoebe and Nate sat down on the couch next to the table to eat since there wasn't enough room at the table.
"So what's up kids?" Karla asked as they sat down, her mouth full of scrambled eggs.
"Nothing much," Nate answered. "Just tired. That was an insane concert last night."
"Heck yes it was," Shane yelled punching the air. "Did you see that girl in the second row on Nate's side? She was gorgeous!" He earned an eye roll from Karla who, despite being his best friend, got a little annoyed by his constant flirting.
"Yeah, and I'm sure you'll see her again," She replied sarcastically.
"Can we please get through five minutes without you two bickering like three year olds?" Christine asked.
"Yeah, it's getting ridiculous." Jason agreed. The six of them laughed.
Just then the bus pulled into a near vacant gas station, causing Shane to get up and race to the bus's door up front.
"Out of my way unless you want to die!" He yelled, streaking by them and tripping once on his way.
"Shane!" His mother shouted at his comment, but he was already off the bus, bolting to the bathroom. She sighed, a smile playing on her lips as they watched him zoom by the window.
The rest of the gang got up slowly and made for the door at a normal human rate. Once outside the all stretched, shivers rolling up and down their spines from the cooler air. Then they split up, the girls heading to the right side of the station, boys to the left. Who ever heard of bathrooms being on opposite ends of a building?
Just as Jason and Nate reached the door to the bathroom Shane came bursting out. "Mission accomplished!" He announced proudly. His brothers smiled and rolled their eyes as he skipped, yes skipped, by them.
"You can go first Jas, I'll wait," Nate said and he leaned against the wall to wait. As Jason entered the bathroom he heard a sound coming from around the back of the am/pm mini mart. It sounded sort of like a girl crying…
Switching POV's
A young girl, about fifteen years of age crawled up to the back of the gas station, no energy left in her body. She was wearing a plain white t-shirt, loose jeans, ratty converse, and her long dark hair was in a braid down her back. She had light stains of eyeliner and mascara running from her hazel eyes. The stains were hardly noticeable considering it had been a while since she'd re-applied any.
She shook with silent, dry, sobs as she sat down and leaned up against the wall in the back of the convenience store. How ironic, she thought, that it was called a convenience store and was very convenient for it to be here at the moment for her. She'd been walking all night and felt half dead this morning. She just wanted to sleep but was afraid if she did, He might come and find her again. Her only hope was to keep running, as far away as possible.
She finally couldn't hold back the tears anymore and just let them fall. A loud groan ripped from deep within her chest and tears streamed down her already puffy and red face. She just wished that her family was still looking for her. It had been almost a year since she'd been taken, snatched from outside her very home and driven cross country in the back of some cheap Volvo. Now, hundreds of miles from her home, she didn't even have money to go to a pay phone. Maybe if she could call her parents or one of her sisters they'd come and get her.
But they'd given up a long time ago. Whenever she'd caught glimpses of the news, her school picture had been plastered all over it for the first month. Then for the next three she might hear her name a few times. After six months, nothing. Not even a mention. That was when she'd given up the last of her hope.
But then, by the mercy of God, He'd left the door unlocked. Unlocked. Once he went out she'd listened for the car to pull away and then she'd run. She thought about going to the police but was too scared. What happened if he found her there and made up some lie about being her father? They'd never listen to a kid.
So she'd gone all night and was finally ready to collapse. She just wanted to die.
Just then she heard someone coming around the back of the store. She quickly looked around for anything to cover her. She couldn't let anyone find her until she was far away. But there was nothing back there and she questioned her ability to actually get up and hide if she had found anything.
A moment later, a curly haired, brown eyed boy slowly turned the corner. He was wearing jeans, a black and red checked shirt, and green converse. She looked up at him through her red rimmed eyes, her mouth slightly open. She took in his surprised appearance, and then quickly looked away. He was the most beautiful boy she'd ever seen and she was embarrassed to be seen like this.
He stared at her for what felt like forever and she just drew her knees in and hugged herself. That was when she noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that his expression had changed to one of confusion.
"You're not going to scream?" He asked. Now it was her turn to look confused. Why would she scream? She didn't know what to say, so she stayed silent and just shook her head.
"Do you even know who I am?" He asked, still puzzled. Okay now that did it! How could she possibly know who he was? She'd never met him before!
She shook her head again and hugged herself tighter. What if he told somebody about her? A few more tears leaked from her eyes, which stared straight ahead.
"Well…umm…I'm Nate. Nate Gray. You know from Connect Three?" He kept fishing but nothing clicked for her. "You've never heard if us?"
Was that a band of some sort? Well they had to be fairly new. She was a little lacking in her pop culture knowledge having been without access to a computer or cd for the past ten and a half months.
"Well…what's your name?" he asked. He just wouldn't give up!
She made her decision. She would make a run for it. She slowly stood up, using the wall for support, but as soon as she was up to her full height of 5'5" the world spun in front of her and she collapsed into his arms.
So what didja think? I'm getting really excited about this one! Sorry it started kind of slow, I had to introduce some of the characters. The next one will pick up a little. Hope I did the people in this justice with your character traits!
Now go and review please! Please and thank you!