A/N: This is the longest chapter I have ever written in my life. Excuse me if there are some errors but I just really need to post this because the anticipation is pretty much killing me, haha.
I hope you guys enjoy this really long chapter for my new chapter fic Clarindella.
Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.
"I have nothing, and I have, I have everything," sang a girl inside a garage with her band mates behind her.
The mood wasn't as energetic as it could be as the lead singer stood still like a cardboard cutout and the rest danced and sang with soul. Her voice was very raspy and low and the rest looked at her with a look of disbelief and astonishment, all thinking, what's wrong with her? They kept singing, though, until she stopped and rolled her eyes and the drummer through his drum stick to the ground.
"Hey! Hey, hey, hey," Said the drummer, standing up from his sitting position. "Girl, we can't keep going like this. You need to put in more soul!" He yelled at the lead singer, who turned on her heel and gave him a menacing look.
"I'm not going to use my real voice and energy until we actually have a show," she told him in a stern voice.
"Oh, well, excuse us!" Said the guitarist, flailing his arms about. "This isn't an exclusive –"
"Hear me out her, okay?" Interjected the girl, putting her hand out in front of her to stop him from speaking. "Professional singers use their energy and project their voice and have soul when they are up in stage with an audi-"
"Hey!" Said the bassist. "Could you just shut up, already? You're getting me irritated over here." He gave her a look that told her to shut-up-and-sing-or-else and clapped his hands together. "Well, let's keep practicing okay?" He kneeled down and grabbed his bass again when a curly haired girl on her bike crashed against a trash bin for waving at her band members.
Everyone turned to look outside and saw the girl getting out of the trash bin with pieces of left over foods hanging out of her pockets and long curly hair.
"…hey! Guys…" The girl muttered, getting rid of the trash on her. "Everything…everything okay?" She asked, looking up at the band members.
"Yeah, yeah. Everything's okay. You? Did you hurt yourself?" Asked the drummer, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Yeah. No, I'm fine. Thanks for asking," she said with a small smile and kissed one of the backup singers on the cheek and went to give the drummer a hug.
The lead singer closed her eyes and bit her inner cheek and opened her mouth to speak. "Not only do you interrupt our practice but you get here late," she grounded the curly haired girl.
"Why don't you just shut up?" retorted the late girl, saying hi to the other three band members. "I had to stop where Joey was and he asked me if I could make a delivery for him. Did I get here that late?"
"No, no," chirped one of the backup singers. "You got here just in time. You have the clothes for our star over here?" She said, glaring at the lead singer.
"Yeah, of course!" She exclaimed, grabbing the plastic bag that hung from her left shoulder and shoving it in front of the lead singer's face. "Here you have it: colors, stars, and lettuce." She spat. "Look at that detail!" The lead singer shoved the plastic bag away from her face and the curly haired girl said, "Why don't you eat it?"
"Of course, of course. I hope you did a good job on it?"
"Of course! I took such a long time…"
The lead singer's eyes went wide when she saw what was inside of the bag and the curly haired girl let out a sneaky laugh under her breath, everyone gasping and laughing around them. The lead singer took out a piece of lettuce and popped her gum.
"And this? What is this?" She inquired, showing the vegetable at the taunting girl in front of her.
"It's a bit of color. I just thought you were going to love it!"
"Stop, stop, stop!" Yelled a teenager approximately thirteen at his brother on a scooter. "Go slower! You're gonna break it!"
The younger sibling gave no heed to his older brother and stopped on the other side of the large mansion, grinning like an idiot. "Oh, come on! It's mine; I can do whatever I want!" He said, and got on it again and began to go on in circles around the older boy who groaned.
The older boy jumped in front of his brother, who stepped his foot with the first wheel of the scooter and he began to hop after his younger brother, cursing like an idiot. "Come back here! I'm going to kill you!"
"I don't get it!" Yelled a girl with light brown hair to her older brother, walking down the stairs, ignoring the ruckus both boys fighting over the scooter were making. "Why do we have to go to a god forsaken farm while Sean is doing who knows what with that stupid little tennis team of his?" She whined, reaching the bottom of the stairs.
"Well, don't say that," said her sibling, looking at her and down at his feet. "You know his 'top priority' is his tennis practice."
The girl looked at him and flailed her arms around like a crazy person. "Oh, please. I would also love to be in the Challenger but to the moon – Ow!" She yelled, the scooter hitting her knee when her younger siblings hit her.
She fell to the ground, all three boys huddling over her and checking if she was okay. She got up and began to hit her thirteen year old brother, who got on the scooter and began to ride around the house escaping her furious sister. The other two boys looked at each other and at their fighting brothers and went to stop their sister when she took of her shoe to hit their brother.
"I'm going to take you to hell!" Yelled the girl with her shoe in hand.
A whistle was blown and all four siblings stopped and looked at a tall, old, and blonde lady wearing a navy blue dress with an enraged face. "Silence!" The woman walked, back straight, fists on either side of her body, and looked at all of the children. "What is this? The Tour of France? Come on, everyone get ready to go to school!" A handsome man appeared next to the blonde lady and she looked at him with a disapproving look. "And you, sir, get rid of that indecent shirt and put on your work uniform. Okay?"
The young man rolled his eyes and turned on his heel to go back to the kitchen. "Yes m'am," he said leisurely.
The only girl in the group of sibling opened her arms to hug the blonde lady and started, "Spike. Chrisy," She said in a nice, low voice at the older lady who glared at her. "Can't we just stay? Please. Come on, let us." Said the girl, caressing the older woman's cheek affectionately.
"Non! Non! Because the workers are going to come later today and the house has got to be child free!"
"Oh, but we can help with the removal of our furniture," She said, hugging the lady warmly.
"Non. Non. C'est porqoui we hired workers to remove the furniture – they are really late ones, too!"
"Christine!" Called a woman - with crazy hair all over the place - that came from the kitchen. "Uh, Christine I was wondering if…if I could be retired for the day? I already did all my shores here and…yeah."
"Yes. Of course. But be here first thing in the morning, okay?"
"Wait. What?"
"First thing in the morning!" Yelled Christine at the younger maid.
"Oh! Oh, of course. I'll be here tomorrow really early," with that she went back into the kitchen.
"And the cook?" Asked Christine to the children, who shrugged in response. "Cook!"
"I'm here!" Yelled a very tall, bald man in his chef attire.
"What have you been doing?" Asked the blonde woman.
"I've been packing up all the personal kitchen utensils because if not they'll get clogged with dust."
"Ah. Ah! I see. And what are you waiting for? The next lunar eclipse?" She asked tauntingly.
The man looked at her and made his hands go into balled fist and he let out a breath as his face went red and he sauntered back into the kitchen.
The five people in the living room of the house kept quiet and the youngest of the siblings grabbed the scooter from his eldest brother and yelled, "Grab me if you can!" The thirteen year old gasped and went running after the youngest of them all, Christine's jaw falling open in rage.
"Stop! Stop! Stop it this instant!" She yelled, stomping her feet in rage.
The eldest of them all got in front of the scooter and his siblings and exclaimed, "Guys, stop it, will you?"
"Aw, JT," Christine said, clasping her hands together. "I knew you were the only…sensitive and smart person in this house hold." She then clapped several times as if to get the attention of all four siblings and looked at each one dead in the eye. "And now, quiet! I need to go talk to Eli who's in France at the moment, understood?"
All four children rolled their eyes at the haunting name and Christine walked off to the narrow hall leading to the back door of the house and grabbed the land phone.
"Please, JT," began the only girl of the four siblings - when Christine left- , looking at JT with puppy dog eyes. "Convince her so I can stay, please."
"Eh, Katie, you're gonna have to suck it up and enjoy your last hours of freedom because tomorrow the big dog of the house is going to get here and everything's going down the drain," JT told Katie, who pursed her lips and sighed. "Let's go get some things upstairs," he told her, walking up the wooden stairs while Katie rolled her eyes.
"Merci, Seigneur Buchass… J'attends votre réponse a mon contact direct ou par fax Canada," Said Eli, shaking an old college's hand. "Bonne journee," continued Eli, giving the man a slight nod and closing the door behind him. Eli sighed and held his head in his hands in exasperation.
"Love," called a young woman in her early twenties with brown, long locks tied up in a high pony tail, carrying two dresses with their hangers. "They are calling from Canada."
Eli took the phone from her hand and put it against his chest. "What happened?"
The woman shrugged and said, "I don't know but get ready. It's Christine calling. Must be something with your brothers," She told him, folding the dresses carefully.
"Spike. What happened?" Asked Eli, walking to the large living room in the house and flopping himself on the sofa.
"Good morning, Elijoh!" Exlaimed Christine on the other land and Eli groaned.
"Elijah. Not Elijoh. Jah," he corrected the older woman through the phone, the young woman in the house with him sitting next to him on the sofa with her dresses on her lap.
"Um. Excuse me Elijah/oh. Ehm. The kids are getting ready upstairs and now the workers are coming over and wrap everything up and your brothers are being shipped to the farm with everyone else with me."
"I'm glad. Thank you. First thing in the morning tomorrow I'm heading to Canada," responded Eli, letting out a breath he didn't know he had kept in.
"I'm so glad, sir. Because, to tell the truth, the kids are acting irritating and I'm not enough," complained Christine on the other line.
"Don't worry. Don't worry, once I get back will fix everything over there. I want to ask you a favor. Don't forget to leave them in our farm for a couple of days, I beg you."
"Of course! Only an earth quake or the end of the world would make the children leave the green suburbs!"
Eli bit his lip and rested his hand over the arm of the sofa. "Thank you. I'm going to need some days of peace and quiet before I can take care of all of them…" he trailed off, looking at the young woman in front of him before muttering a thank you and hanging up.
I have nothing, and I have, I have everything!
The whole band sang, jumping left to right, their arms going up and down, their whole bodies moving. It seemed to be that the curly haired girl was the one with the most energy as they danced and singed and the lead singer, once more, wasn't giving it her all.
They finished the song, lowered the music, and the curly haired girl jumped in excitement and clapped her hands several times. "That was amazing guys!" She said excitedly, walking to a seat inside the large garage and sitting down.
The guitarist took seat next to her on a cardboard box filled with God knows what and gave her an exaggerated look. "Yeah, it came out perfect but we don't even have one show!"
"Well," began the curly haired girl, placing her hands on her lap and folding them. "Our representative is going to find us a show soon. You'll see."
The bassist put up his arm and pointed outside. "But what is he going to find if he's and idiot?"
"But just wait –"
"Good day, good day!" Chirped the representative, everyone looking at him as he made way inside. "My kids, my kids," he began, taking off the ridiculously large sun glasses he wore. "Prepare yourself because I have found your luck."
"What happened?" Asked a backup singer, twirling her hair with her fingers.
"Today a famous record dealer is coming by to listen to you guys."
"Famous like always, of course," muttered under his breath the drummer.
"Oh, please," dragged out their representative. "When have I ever lied –"
"First when –"began a backup singer, counting with her fingers before the guitarist cut her short.
"When one of our shows was cancelled – in that wedding!" He said, putting his thumb up into the air.
"But what fault do I have? You can't blame me for that," he retorted. "It's not my fault the guy left here there in the altar."
"There was another time when-" started the curly haired girl, but the lead singer put her hand up in front of her face and stopped her from talking.
"Excuse me. But that's a deal of my band. I'm the lead singer. A seamstress like you has no part in these types of conversations."
"Hey! She's part of the band as much as anyone else here," said the guitarist. He got up from his sitting position and pointed at himself. "I. Me, that I'm in the band, I'm going to tell you what I think about you," he told her, nearing her and giving her the stink eye.
"Oh yeah, and what do you think about me?" She asked harshly.
The curly haired girl began to yell at the lead singer and the lead singer yelled back and then everyone in the garage began to yell at the lead singer until their representative held his hands up in the air and yelled, "Okay, guys, that's enough!" Everyone shut their mouths and looked at the man. "Start practicing!"
"But who exactly is coming?" Asked one of the backup singers.
"I told you. A famous record dealer."
"Watch out! That's from the eighteenth century! You guys treat it like a bar table!" Yelled Christine as the workers packed and carried things out of the house. She held an orange note pad to keep track on everything and the youngest sibling rested his arm on the hand bar of the stairs and whined.
"Spike," he dragged out.
He waved her hand at him, telling him to shoo off. "Go to your station. I can't take care of you now – NO. Watch out with that painting!" She yelled out at the works who looked at her and gave her an annoyed look and an eye roll. "That painting is of Mrs. Goldsworthy, mother of the children. Mon Dieu," she sighed, pulling her hair.
"Spike," he dragged out again, his two older brothers joining him on the stair case.
"No. I already told you that I'm occupied with this now. " She let out a breath of air and grabbed her whistle and blew it. "Come on! Children come downstairs!" She ordered, looking around her to see all three boys looking at her, bags ready to go. "Okay, I'm gonna take roll." She pointed at the youngest, "Tyson," then at the thirteen years old, "Toby," then at the oldest of the siblings present, "JT… Sean is playing Tennis," She did a hundred eighty degrees twirl and asked, "And Katie?"
"Katie is locked up in her room and doesn't want to come down," said Tyson.
"Whaaaaatttt?" Dragged out Christine. "But why didn't you tell me earlier!"
"I was trying to but you never let me!" Complained Tyson.
With that said Christine marched up the stairs.
"The lead singer always goes in front!"
Once again, they were at it. Complaining. Whining. Fighting. The backup singers screamed back at the same time. "But we've always shared the stage equally."
"Not now. I'm a professional singer!"
The drummer sighed and went to sit on the metal stairs inside the garage next to the curly haired girl and sighed out, "I can't support her."
"Me neither," said the curly haired girl, holding her head with her hands. "If she keeps like that not even her mom is going to want to hear her sing."
"I know…Look who's here! Lisa!" He exclaimed, an older woman walking inside the garage.
"Hello my dears!" She yelled happily. "Hello! How are you guys?" She asked the curly haired girl. "Everything okay?"
"Hey Lisa. Yeah. Yeah we're okay," she responded, the drummer and her exchanging a look.
"Look what I brought!" She pulled up a red striped bag. "Food for your tummies." She walked over to a chair and placed the bag on top of it, looking at the girls fighting. "Eye, eh? This is for the guys, only," she told them.
The drummer got up, embarrassed, and sauntered towards Lisa. "Hey, can you keep it low. Everyone's here, you know."
"But what's the matter?" She said. "You need food to grow!" She told him, patting his back. "You're here the whole day and you don't eat a thing…And him?" He asked, pointing at the representative. "Who is he?"
"Our representative."
"Ah!" She said excitedly. "The representative?" He nodded. "Clare, my love!" She stated, walking towards the curly haired girl who was sitting on the stairs. "Go talk to the representative!" She told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her up to stand.
"No, Lisa. No…" She muttered, biting her lower lip.
"Aw, come on! You sing divine! You have soul! He'll love you!"
"No…no. I'm too shy."
"But," she pushed on, "You're better than any of those cockatoos that go flapping their wings through the streets!"
"But you don't understand!" Clare, whined, looking at Lisa with pleading eyes. "Lisa, thank you very much but it'll be too much of a hassled to go ask him."
"A hassle?" She asked incredulously while Clare turned to the drummer and talked to him.
"No, KC," said Clare to the drummer when Lisa yelled out.
"Dear, look at me in the face!" Clare pouted and looked at her. "No hassle! No embarrassment. You know what's embarrassing? Embara –"
"-ssing is too steal. I know, I know," Finished Clare, looking back at KC.
"You have to go talk to that man."
"With that pretext I'm going to have to go –"
"Please, dear. For me?" Asked Lisa with pleading eyes and a pout. "Your mom, up there in heaven, and your aunt Lisa are rooting for you!" She put her fists up into the air and rooted. "Go on Clare!"
Clare put her fists up as well and KC groaned, "Mom" and Clare ran towards the representative, who hung up the phone and was sitting down.
Clare poked the representative who jumped in his seat and she asked, "Can I ask you something?"
"Look, if it's money for the costumes then no."
"No. No. Not money. For me – I'm not saying I'm a good singer, but I'm happy and jumpy and energetic and I think that maybe you can put me up there on stage and I can lift up the mood a bit?" She asked, and when he didn't say anything, she continued. "Maybe you can test me. And if you like me then that's great! I would really need the money and I don't know maybe we can become friends during the process, yeah?" Clare asked hurriedly, blinking several times at him.
"But, look how misplaced you are!" He said, pointing at her with his phone. "Look, I'm doing some very important things right now so why don't you head along and find something else to do, okay?" He got up and went to the front of the garage. "Okay, guys, twenty minute break! Only twenty minutes! Then back to practice. I want this record dealer to leave with his jaw hanging!" With that he walked out of the garage.
"Why did I tell him?" Groaned Clare, leaning against the stair's railing.
"But, what's wrong with that unpleasant attitude of his?" Lisa asked at the wind. "Well, even if he's a grumpy ogre, don't give up, okay, Clare?" She nodded as a response and Lisa patted her hair cut in layers. "What do you think about my look?"
"I like it," Clare told her.
"Really? I actually thinking of changing my style a bit. I'm going to the hair salon now that it seems empty. I'll see you later, Clare," she said and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. Lisa walked to the entrance of the garage and stopped and turned on her heel and sent air kisses to everyone – even if they weren't paying attention – and mused, "Good bye my lovelies!" And she walked out of the garage.
"My costume?" The lead singer asked Clare. "Come on, I don't have the whole day, needlewoman," she spat out at Clare, who reached down and grabbed it from the plastic bag.
"There you go," she retorted.
"Thanks needlewoman," she told her and walked off to the back to change.
"What – what needlewoman?" Clare yelled after the lead singer and brought her hands up to her face and cupped her cheeks. "I'm going to kill her! I can't support her!" She yelled, looking at KC who tried to calm her. "Needlewoman," Clare said flabbergasted.
"You feel bad? I feel bad, mom," whined the brown headed woman with Eli back in France. She shrugged at what her mother told her and walked across the living room and sat on a chair. "You have to understand daddy isn't here anymore," She tried to explain, but grimaced at what she got as a response. She began to play with her fingernails as her mom yelled on the other line and finally she responded. "Why, yes, it must be hard. Yeah – No! I mean, it must be hard. Mommy, why can't you just find a pretty house and leave from there with Fiona?" She heard Eli approaching and smiled at herself. "Eh? Why don't you just move? Look, we'll talk about this in calm once I get back to Canada. Say hi to everyone. Yeah. Your grandson also says hi. Okay. Kisses," and she hung up, Eli taking seat across from her on the large white sofa.
"And? How is she?" Asked Eli, resting his elbows on either of his knees.
"She's bad. She can't assume the death of my dad," she told him, biting her lip.
Eli blinked up at her through his short bangs and nodded in understanding. " I can imagine. He died recently, right?"
"Yeah. He did. And, besides staying in that house must be horrid for her because everything reminds her of him.
"Hm…" Eli hummed out.
"The furniture, the pictures…"she trailed off. "But let's not talk about that! Let's talk about something happier." She reached behind her and grabbed the two dresses from earlier by their hangers and stood up, asking, "Which one do you think would look best for the opera?"
Eli stood up slowly and looked at her, and then at both dresses. "Either one; you'd look lovely either way."
"And what is that supposed to mean? That you still like me – even if just a bit, Mr. Goldsworthy?" She said teasingly, tugging at her lower lip and getting closer to him, resting both hands on his shoulders and he wrapped his arms around her waist, making a circular motion with his thumbs on either side of her hips.
"Yes… a lot," he breathed out.
"Yeah? Do you still love me?"
Eli raised his eye brows and smirked down at her. "Why wouldn't I, Imogen?" She craned her neck to the side. "We've been together for two years, of course I love you."
With that their lips met and she brought him closer to her.
"What is this, Clare?" Yelled the lead singer wearing an ugly yellow veil with a checkered pattern over her shirt. "This is trash!"
"But it's not tras –"
"Oh, it's not trash?" She inquired.
"It's beautiful. It's just that it doesn't look good on you because you don't have the face to sport it," Clare said, unaware of the leaf she just flipped over.
"Are you calling me ugly?" The lead singer asked furiously. "You are calling me ugly and I am the singer!" She yelled out, pointing at herself.
"Yeah…yeah, that's right I'm calling you ugly," Clare told her, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
The lead singer gasped and licked her lips, bawling her fists together, "I'm not going to let a fourth class needlewoman talk to me like that, eh?" She said to all the band members.
"B – but what do you have against the needlewoman?" Clare stuttered out astounded.
"You know what I'm going to do with your piece of crap? You know what I'm going to do?" She spat out.
"Oh, what are you going to do?" Repeated Clare venomously.
"This!" And she ripped the sleeve off of the veil and Clare gasped out.
"Ah! No. No! Hold me because I'm going to kill her!" Clare said with her hands in fists and her eyes wide open.
"I'm going to kill you."
Clare looked at the others in the band and bit her lip in rage. "Grab me. Grab me because I'm going to kill her now!" She said, throwing herself at the lead singer and pulling her hair and scratched her senseless while everyone tried to separate both girls.
Once they separated both girls after a five minute cat fight, they kept on yelling. As per usual.
"I'm going to kill you!" They yelled continuously.
"I hate you, you piece of trash!" Yelled the lead singer and Clare bit her lip and raised her fist at her – threatening her. "Look what you did with my clothes – LOOK!" She yelled at Clare, who stepped forward hesitantly.
"Look what you did to my clothes! My hair!" She shrieked.
"That's right!"
"That's gonna cost you a lot for breaking it, eh!" Clare yelled back louder.
"It's not gonna cost me a dime because I'm leaving this band and never coming back, go it?" She yelled back, throwing her fist in front of her to try and get a hold of the curly haired girl but the men stopped her.
"No! –" All of the band members yelled at the same time.
"I'm leaving this forsaken band if it's the last thing I do!" She yelled, wriggling around to get free from the hold of her band mates. "Let me go, now!" She barked, and they let go, and she stomped her way out of the garage.
"How crazy!" They all said once she left for sure.
"But, guys, what are we going to do with that record deal guy?" Asked one of the backup singers.
"That's it. Nothing. Everything's down the drain now." KC said.
Clare put her hand in front of her face and noticed she had pulled out a strand of hair from their "lead singer" and closed her eyes and let it fall on the ground and while everyone discussed about what they were going to do with the record deal, she went outside in search of their lead singer.
"Katie! Please, for God's sake, open this door immediately!" Yelled Christine outside her door.
The cook, Tyson, Toby, and JT were all behind Christine who knocked furiously. Inside her room, Katie lay on her bed reading a magazine while biting her nails and when she heard the older woman yell out those words, it was her turn to act.
"Spike! No one's going to move me from my room, got it? If you want move me you're going to have to get the police to come!" She yelled on the other side of the door.
On the other side Christine whispered something in audible for everyone and put her hand up to her forehead and brought it down, looking at the cook. "I can't support this house with crazy people, Archie," she put her hand on his arm and he grabbed her back comfortingly.
"Poor Katie, she must feel bad," said Toby to JT while Christine sighed repeatedly on the other side of the hall.
"Why don't I lock myself up as well and we kill two birds with one stone?" Suggested Tyson.
Toby raised his pointer finger – as if to ground his little brother. "Don't you dare do that, too, Ty."
"Okay, hold up, hold up," JT interjected, walking over to Christine and Archie. "Could you give me a moment?" Both adults nodded and stepped aside and JT rested his left hand on Katie's door. "Katie, come on. Why don't you just get out? You're not going to win anything by locking yourself up."
"Who said that I was acting like a little girl, JT?" Yelled Katie on the other side. "The only thing I don't want is to go to the ranch, that's it!"
Christine pulled JT's hand away from the door and yelled loudly, "You are going to come with us to the ranch even if I have to call the fire men!"
Clare was rapidly pedaling after their lead singer. But, even though Clare was yelling after her, to no avail did the woman stop to give her attention.
"Ashley!" Called Clare on her back. "Ashley, come on! Seriously, I've never met anyone that could sing as well as you!" She swore, hitting the horn of her bike.
Ashley threw the material of the veil Clare had done for her and started running. "Stop! Leave me alone!"
"Please, I beg you, come back! If you do, I promise you will never see me again!"
"No! SHUT UP!"
"I'll leave the band forever, Ashley!" Clare cried out, turning left to see that Ashley had out run her and put her thumb for a taxi to pick her up. As Clare saw the taxi stopping in front of Ashley, she called after her again, "Ashley!" And when the taxi rode off, Clare stomped her feet on the ground.
"You men can't make a mess with fumes while we are still in the house so this is going to have to wait until we are in the ranch, okay?" Told Christine to the workers, walking the men outside the house through the backyard. "Have a nice day." She turned on her heel to where the handsome man from earlier was under Katie's window outside. "Fitz? Fitz, have they gotten here yet?" Christine asked Fitz, now in his work attire.
"No. They haven't yet." He was holding a tall escalator for Christine to climb up and open Katie's window and force her to come down.
"Well, let me star going up…" trailed off Christine, getting a hold of the metal escalator.
"Hold up. Let Fitz do it. It's pretty high up – we don't need you injured," Reasoned JT.
"Excuse me? Who is the one in charged here? Fitz? No. I am. I'm the one in charge. I'm going up." With that, she got a hold of the stairs again and began to climb up, Fitz holding the escalator in place. Christine looked down before she began to climb up and then looked at Fitz, a look of disgust on her face. "My God, next time you have to make sure to watch these."
The whole time climbing up Christine was muttering nonsense in French and English and when she reached Katie's window, she saw the teen girl on her bed with pajamas on and listening to music, singing into a comb. The elder woman began to knock on the window and Katie kept singing like crazy in her room.
"Katie! Katie, open up!"
"What's wrong, Spike?" Yelled JT up at her.
"The girl is listening to music!"
"Spike, why don't you get down from there!" Yelled Toby.
"No! I'm fine! I'm not scared of…. Of heights!" She looked down and saw that Archie had joined the group of men and she grasped the window frame in an iron grip. "I'm getting dizzy now!"
"Spike. Spike, get down from the, please!" Said JT.
"No…I can't. I'm stuck!"
"But look at her; she changed her mind set completely!" Acknowledged Tyson.
JT told Fitz to climb up there and help her and when he got on the escalator, Christine yelped, "No! Don't move this thing!"
"Well… Do you want me to help you down?" Questioned Fitz.
"Well, what do we do?" Asked Archie, looking up at the poor woman.
"Go call the firemen," deadpanned JT.
Archie nodded and walked around the house and passed the main door and grabbed the house phone and told himself, "This is a disaster. I've got to call Eli."
Eli was sitting on the couch, Imogen wrapped in his arms when the phone rang and the couple jumped in surprise. Eli leaned forward and grabbed the phone, Imogen whining, "No, no. Don't answer the phone, stay with me here."
"I have to; it could be the company, Imogen." Eli answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Hello? Eli?" Asked Archie on the other line.
"Archie? What's wrong?"
"Katie locked herself in her room because she doesn't want to go to the ranch!"
"What? What do you mean she doesn't want to go to the ranch?" Inquired Eli, sitting up straight on the sofa, his irritation level rising as the seconds flew by. "Pass the phone to Christine. I want to talk to her this instant."
"I can't! She's hanging from Katie's window frame outside and she can't get down!"
"What? What do you mean she's hanging from the window?"
"That's correct. This woman at any moment is going to get a big hit!" Eli heard Archie gasp and then heard Fitz's voice and Archie kept talking. "Sir, I'm going to call the firemen!"
Eli's jaw clenched and he hung up and sighed into his hands once he put the phone down on the table in front of him. He sat back and looked at Imogen flabbergasted. "The firemen. In my house."
"Not even one can go right for us!" Complained a backup singer back at the garage.
"I don't know where Clare went," sighed KC.
"She left! She left because she realized it was all her fault – that's why!" Yelled the bassist, whose aggravated mood was almost tangible.
"No! No! It wasn't her fault – it was Ashley's fault like it always is –"
"Of course not! Clare knows it was her fault that –"
"Well!" Screamed one of the backup singers to stop the boys from arguing further. "Did it have to be today that this girl decided to quit?"
As they all groaned, Clare walked inside the garage, wiping away the buggers that dripped down her nose. "I'm sorry guys…" Everyone looked at her in silence. "I told Ashley, that if she wanted to be in the band then I would just leave for ever so that's what I'm going to do – I'm going to leave and you guys are never going to see me again," sobbed Clare.
"No, no, no, no. Don't get so glum, chum," said that guitarist, patting her back affectionately.
"No, guys, seriously, I'm going to leave."
KC walked over to her as well and held his drum sticks with his left arm and patted her back with his right hand.
"Hey, guys, everything okay?" The representative asked, interrupting the moment.
"I just cannot believe it," sighed Eli on the couch.
"I bet she's just doing that to get on everyone's nerves. To be rebellious, you know? She's young – children are really reckless," concluded Imogen, resting her hands on her knees.
"No, no. It's not that. It's a matter of respect and that she doesn't want to go to that ranch. The problem is also me. I don't know how to treat her or my brothers. It's my fault." Deadpanned Eli.
"Love, don't act like this is injustice. And, besides, we have to get ready for the show. We have to get our stuff in order, too. Please, okay? Let's just not think of anything else right now. I don't want to get there late."
Eli blinked a couple of times and looked Imogen straight in the eye. "My house is in chaos and all you can think of right now is a stupid ball? I'm sorry, Imo, but I'm not going."
"What?" Spat Imogen.
"What you just heard: I'm not going. I have to fix things back at home. Spike is hanging from the window and my brothers are going crazy and the firemen are there…I'm going to call the pilot."
Imogen looked at him with raised eyebrows. "And what are you going to tell him?"
"I'm going to tell him to get ready the plane because I'm leaving to Canada tonight. And if you don't want to come with me, that's fine as well," he said, dialing the number.
Imogen took the phone away from him. "Eli, please. She's a girl. She locked herself in a room. Everything's okay. Don't overreact from this," she said, smiling devilishly. "That's it. It happened. Stop. Stop."
Eli glared at his girlfriend and leaned in dangerously close to here, making Imogen lean back on the sofa.
"Eli, it's not fair! Because I have everything planned out for this ball. And everyone is going to be there in that party. It's the first European Gala and I'm not going to miss it."
Eli took the phone away from her then and she blinked at him. "But do you understand that my family needs me and that my house is in chaos?"
"And what? And me? I need you too, Eli!" She retorted, shrugging her shoulders. "I have everything: The dresses, the tickets, and your suit."
"Does two tickets to go to a theatre sound more important than what I'm telling you?" Imogen pulled her lower lip in between her teeth and looked away from Eli. "Do you understand that my mom died – my dad died," he whispered. "I'm the one responsible of everything. If I don't, then who? Who's going to be responsible of my siblings?" He let out a breath and leaned back.
"You're right. You're completely right," Imogen whispered back. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay…"
"Really, I'm sorry," she said, putting her hand on his back and caressing it. "I'm going to go to Canada with you."
Eli narrowed his eyes at the girl and she leaned in slowly and he kissed her forehead reassuring her that he was okay, and he hugged her.
"No, KC, I'm going to tell him!" Pushed on Clare and she looked at the representative. "What happened was that I was tired of Ashley's annoying attitude so I pulled out a chunk of her hair, you get me?"
"No. I'm not understanding anything!"
"The thing with Ashley is that…she left the band." Said KC in a hushed voice, playing around with his drumsticks.
"What? What do you mean she left the band?" The representative looked at all the band member and back at KC. "No. No. No. Now I'm going to have to call that record dealer and tell him the deal's off." He whined, walking away from the group and taking out his cell phone.
KC stopped him before he could make any calls and he told the man, "No. Don't worry, everything's under control."
"Are you pulling my leg?"
"No. We already found a replacement! Our new star is going to be Clare!"
Clare's jaw fell agape and she raised her eyebrows at KC. "Me?"
"No, that's impossible. You can't replace Ashley from one page to the other!"
"Let's stop with all these shenanigans, okay? The only one that knows all the songs and choreographies is Clare!" Admonished KC.
"Not only that, but Clare is happy and more appealing than Ashley!" Said the guitarist, the band members pulling Clare closer to the representative.
"But who cares! Sings like an angel or not! The thing is to act professional – refined. I'm a serious representative. I just can't go witching Ashley with Clare and tell the record dealer that Clare is our new lead singer we –"
"Well, let's change things here!" Said, Clare, the representative sighing.
"Save your bad jokes for another time," he told Clare. "All of you are little kids who improvise. Improvising all the time," he pointed at every single band member and flipped his phone open. "I don't have time to play your childish games." He pointed at his phone. "I'm going to call the record dealer and suspend everything – everything!"
He walked off to the back of the garage and Clare hopped in place, turning to the guitarist. "Um… your guitar, go get it. KC, use your drum sticks!" She turned to the backup singer and gave them a knowing look. "One, two, one, two, three, four..."
With that, they began to sing the song from earlier, Clare leading the band as the girls danced and sang and the boys played their instruments. As they danced, the representative pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows, and once the group was done, Clare smiled brightly.
"Okay, I accept the replacement."
"Seriously?" They all asked and he nodded and Clare and all the girls screamed in excitement and everyone hugged Clare.
After a few minutes and after the excitement died down, Clare got on her bike and went outside the garage to the hair salon across the street and dismounted her bike and walked to the entrance, calling Lisa to come out.
"But what happened? Why did you have to drag me all the way out here?" A man stared at Lisa, who wore a bonnet over her hair. "What's the matter? You like my bonnet?" The man just ignored her and kept on walking. "It's the newest fashion in Paris!"
Clare was playing with the hem of her skirt when Lisa turned around and Clare bit her lip with a goofy grin on her lips.
"But, look at that smile. Look how you're staring at me!" Said Lisa.
Clare clapped her hands excitedly. "I need your help. I need you to make a dress for the lead singer of the band." She said, holding her hands together.
"Wait…wait, let me just – You are the one that makes the costumes of the band. Why do I have to sew now?"
Clare nodded her head negatively and blinked. "I used to make the costumes for the band. Now, I'm the singer."
Lisa stared at her with a blank expression before she gasped out, "The sing?"
"The singer!"
"The sing! The sing! I can't believe it!"
"Yes! The singer!" Clare gushed out with a large smile on her face.
"Clare! My lovely bear! My Clare is going to be famous!" Shouted Lisa to the wind. "The most beautiful, the best of them all! I can't believe it!"
"Good!" Clare clapped her hands and jumped in place. Clare grabbed Lisa's hands and began to jump up and down in circles with her. "I can't believe it!"
After ten minutes, the firemen arrived at the house and after a crucial five minutes, they got Christine off from where she was hanging. Once down on the surface, they laid her down and gave her a cup of water. And once she got her breath back, she got up, and looked at the firemen and then up at Katie's window.
"Excuse me. This isn't going to end like this, eh!" She yelled. She tapped one of the firemen on the shoulder and the man turned to look down at her. "Excuse use, sir, but could you do me a big favor and get that girl down from there?
Lisa was fixing her hair in the mirror as Clare played around with this soft ball she found in one of the drawer's of her house. Lisa walked away from the small mirror in her room and sat in front of Clare.
"I'm so glad that that representative trout gave you a chance."
"I'm happy. Either way, KC helped me out, you know?" She leaned down and grabbed a rag doll she saw on the floor and threw it up into the air and she grabbed it with both hands.
"Well, KC adores you." Said Lisa in a dulcet voice. "Actually, who doesn't adore you? We all care for you!" Clare hit her playfully with the ragged doll and bit her lip in embarrassment. "Your mom…would be so proud of you."
"You think so?" Clare asked her after a few seconds of silence and Lisa nodded in agreement. Clare looked behind her and reached out to get a portrait of her father. She placed the item on her lap and looked at it with a little glint of love in her eye. "And my dad too. I know he's an important sailor but every now and then he should come visit," She sighed and reached behind her and grabbed a nut covered in a silver wrapping and showed it to Lisa with a large smile.
Lisa nodded. "I remember. I remember when you mom gave you that walnut." Clare looked up at her. "When you're sad. And when –"
"-fear appears," continued to recite Clare. "This amulet against evil, will always triumph."
"Hm."
"I miss her so much," cried Clare, looking down at the amulet.
"I know, dear, I know."
"Sometimes," continued Clare. "Sometimes I wish she could come down and tell me some of her stories. "I just want her to appear for a second. Kiss her cheek and then…" Clare trailed off, blinking back a few tears. "I just don't understand why some people have to die. I don't get why my mom had to die."
"That question that you're asking me…I can't answer it," Lisa told her, staying silent for a moment to recollect her thoughts. "But your mom, she's here – with you. You know what I mean, right?"
Clare nodded her head. "Yeah. I do. Can I ask you a favor?"
"Of course."
Clare looked up at her with teary eyes. "Could you tell me a story like the ones my mom used to tell me?"
"Of course." Clare bit her lower lip and got up from her chair and walked to the bed and laid on it and closed her eyes. "There once was a girl…so beautiful, but so beautiful…"
Clare let her imagination flow and she thought about her; wearing a dress as she walked up a long stair case. And at the top, a man with brown locks and green eyes stood with yellow flowers for her. She went to grab the flowers and when she did, she slipped backwards and down the stairs. The man at the top of the stairs case grimaced as she rolled down and once she stopped, her left shoe that had flown off fell next to Clare's unconscious body.
Clare, it's late, The man would whisper. Wake up, it's late.
"Clare, wake up, it's late!" KC yelled next to her and Clare woke up with a start and threw the ragged doll into the air.
"KC. What's wrong with you? You gave me a heart attack!" Clare said, hitting him with the ragged doll.
"What's wrong in here?" Asked Lisa, walking inside Clare's room and sitting on a chair next to Clare's bed. "Here, have a cup of tea."
Clare drank the tea and KC asked then, "Why so jumpy?"
"I don't know. I had this horrible dream. I have this really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach."
"Oh, please, Clare, who would believe you if every time you say that nothing ever happens," KC teased, and Clare hit his arm.
"But what's wrong with you? The few –"
"-Many-"
"-times I've ever had a premonition it happens!"
"The same would happen to your mom!" Lisa said out of the blue.
"Is there something wrong with a premonition?"
KC looked down at his lap and kept quiet.
"Does it?"
"Well…no. Just hurry up that we have to go."
"Wait; let me check something before I go…" Clare checked inside her bag all of her amulets and licked her lips. "Okay, I'm good." When she was going to get off the bed right after she gave the cup back to Lisa, she stopped and reached behind her. "Wait, my nut!" With her nut in her bag she got up. "Okay we can go now."
"Good luck, good luck!" Said Lisa, standing up with both Clare and KC.
"Bye Lisa," Clare kissed the woman on the cheek and Lisa turned on her heel and grabbed Clare her costumes for the band and stopped her.
"Wait…look at the remains of the coffee." Clare looked into the cup. "Never mind… No, wait! It says that today is going to be the best day ever for you!"
Clare let out an ear piercing shriek. "That's good news! Thank you Lisa," Clare finally said, grabbed the dresses and headed out of the room and outside the house with KC following suit.
It was for sure going to be a spectacular day for her.
After twenty minutes of hard work, the firemen got open Katie's door and they found her listening to music. The men grabbed her by the arms and dragged her outside while she complained and thrashed around.
"Let me go!" Katie yelled as they got downstairs to the kitchen.
"Put her here," Said Christine at the firemen, who put her down in front of Christine in the kitchen.
"Katie, Katie, calm down. Don't you see?" Said JT. "That's it. Stop it."
"What's it?" Said Christine to JT.
"No, no. It's way a speech."
While Christine was distracted talking to JT Katie tried to run away but Christine grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to sit on one of the bar chairs. "You stay here, Katie! Please, Archie, Fitz, firemen, outside. Archie escort the firemen outside."
Fitz and Archie walked outside with the few firemen, leaving JT, Katie, and Christine alone in the kitchen. Katie shrugged JT's hands off her shoulders and he stepped back while Christine got her breath back.
"What you did was horrible and a disgrace and crazy. I – I don't – I can't handle this house anymore. When Elijoh gets back…I'm leaving back to France. I don't – I don't – I don't want any- any –" she got stuck in mid sentence and began to pat her chest as an asthma attack came over her. "I'm missing – I'm missing air," She stuttered out and began to fall back.
Luckily, JT got a hold of her before she fainted and landed on the floor. "Christine!" Both siblings yelled.
"Christine what's wrong?" Yelled JT and looked at Katie behind him who was gasping.
First band meeting with Clare as the singer? Not good. Not good at all.
Clare tripped over the chord that connects the microphone to the wall twice, began to twirl and hit everyone once, and walked around dragging the microphone holder with her.
So, yeah, she needed to practice her moves.
The turned off the music and Clare pouted. "You can't rehearse like this!" Complained Clare, dragging the microphone holder back to its original place.
"Clare, Clare, you're gonna break everything in this garage!" Said the bassist.
Clare pointed at the microphone holder and stuttered, "Well – well I pushed it to the floor by accident!"
KC walked over to Clare and touched her shoulder. "Why don't you go walk. Get a bit of fresh air! It'll be good for you." Clare breathed in and looked up at KC's dark eyes and walked out. "It's nothing, eh!" Everyone groaned at the same time. "But what's up with this bad mood? I don't get it."
"You know what the problem is?" Said one of the backup singers. "She laughs, she trips over things, she pushes us, and she hits us."
"Guys, guys," said the other backup singer. "Clare is a klutz. Imagine on stage if she acts like that? What do we tell the record dealer?"
Clare was outside the garage the whole time looking at them and over hearing their discuss about her and she felt it coming – a wave of tears. With that, she ran as far as she could.
"Spike, Spike," said JT.
Him and Katie were trying to get her up from the ground to a sitting position on one of the bar chairs but she seemed to sleep out of their hands like silly putty. After five minutes of trying, they got her on one of the chairs and JT went running to the back door, Katie calling after him.
"Wait up! Where do you think you are going?" Said Katie.
"I'm gonna call the paramedics. What if she's dead?"
"Don't call the paramedics, you idiot! If she is dead, then what would they say?" JT rushed back to Katie's side. "If they find out she had an attack because of me they'll hang me to death!" Said Katie in a shaking voice as she combed Christine's hair from her forehead.
"So what do we do? We burry her alive in the basement?"
"No, not that! Try and help me think of something more civilized. Look at her!"
Toby walked inside the kitchen and was welcomed by Katie screaming and an unconscious Christine.
"What happened to Spike?" Toby gasped out.
Tyson came rushing inside the kitchen with a cup and asked, "Did you kill her?"
"Can you two stop saying stupid things?" Said JT.
"Wait, wait. Um. What's his face – Fitz wants to know if we're going to the ranch or not." Said Toby, looking at Christine and Katie holding her up.
"And what did you tell him?" Inquired JT.
"…that I was gonna ask Spike."
JT looked at Toby and at Christine and smirked and walked out of the kitchen to the living room to find Fitz next to the main entrance. "Fitz, we suspended our trip to the ranch and Spike gave you the day off."
Fitz looked at him with an are-you-kidding-me-face and JT raised his eyebrows.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I don't know. It sounds weird that Spike would say something like that. I'm gonna go talk to her."
"Okay. No problem. You want to talk? Let's go talk with her. But if she yells at you, don't complain." Jt walked off to the kitchen and Fitz looked after him and walked off behind him to the kitchen, where JT called out, "Spike, right that you gave Fitz the day off?"
Katie moved her arm up, imitating an approving gesture and JT looked at Fitz.
"See?"
"You're right. I'm going to leave before she changes her mind." With that he left through the back door.
"And now? What do we do with the old lady?" Asked Toby referring to Christine.
"Don't you see that she's dead?" Said Tyson, waving a spoon in front of Christine's face.
"What are you doing with that?" Asked JT, curious as to why Tyson was waving that spoon in front of the woman's face.
"Spike, I want to know if –" Archie's jaw fell open and his bag fell to the ground when he noticed that she was unconscious. "What happened here?"
After taking Christine to the hospital and checking her in a room, Archie grabbed JT to the side next to the receptionist table.
"It wasn't anything serious. Just high blood pressure that caused stress…I need you to stay here with Spike," said Archie. "I need to go with your brothers to the ranch."
"What? No, I can't."
"What? Why not?"
"Because…I heard that blood can come out from your nose and I'm really afraid of blood," Lied JT.
"Lies. Blood doesn't come out. She just fainted!"
"No, it's the truth! If I do see blood, then you'll have two people stuck in a hospital bed. Please, you stay."
"No, no, no. Ask me anything but to stay with the witch," begged Archie. "You stay with the witch."
"Aw, come on, don't be mean. Remember that time I was look out when you were drinking that bottle of scotch and Spike never found out you were drinking liquor?"
"Do you want to rat me out? Are you black mailing me?" Gasped Archie.
"No. Not at all. Consider this as a favor your doing me. And I'm pretty sure Eli willreward you, if you know what I mean."
"…a raise?"
"Yes. With a raise. You go and don't leave from Spike's side and I'll say good things of you."
"JT Goldsworthy is truly the best of them all in his family!" With that he ran back to Christine's room.
Clare was crying when KC found her and sat next to her. He passed her a tissue and she took it and blew her nose.
"Come on, tell me what happened."
"No..no, I'm okay."
"You're crying, you're not okay."
Clare looked at KC and wiped away tears that fell from her sockets. "It's just that I overheard what you were talking about – of me." KC's heart broke and he bit the inside of his cheek. "And, I don't feel good when I break things! Maybe…you should find another singer." She told him, wiping her hand on her skirt.
"No, Clare," protested KC. "You are vivacious and crazy and full of life. We won't kick you out. Look…" He began to tap his hands against a pole next to them on the street and he began to sing. "You can sing, you can do it. But I can't. I don't sing," He laughed and she chuckled.
He began again and she started to sing along with him and she got up and began to clap her hands and her mood suddenly changed. As if she switched a light and all the bad in the world disappeared and KC looked at her with admiration as she danced and sang.
The guitarist approached KC and tapped him on the shoulder and KC turned to look at him. "Look how she dances and sings! She has a dragon inside of her!" He chuckled.
"Hey…uh…that record dealer isn't coming."
"What?" Gasped KC. "What do you mean?"
"He cancelled!"
"I knew that was gonna happen. Our representative is always promising and promising but he never does anything." KC sighed and he heard someone in the distance clapped and Clare turned on her heel to look at the teenager with light brown hair and eyes.
"Ah! Did you like it?" Clare asked the stranger.
"Of course! You sing amazing. JT Goldsworthy at your service."
"Clare Edwards," she said, smiling and shaking his hand. "Would you want to hear me sing live tonight?"
Both KC and the guitarist approached Clare and she looked at them, ignoring JT completely. "Um, Clare, we have bad news. The record dealer cancelled out meeting."
"Hah-hah," said Clare sarcastically, "I bet you two are only saying that because you don't want me to sing."
"No, it's the truth," Said KC this time.
"What? He cancelled? I can't believe it!" Clare cried out, JT out of the picture at the moment.
"Ugh, I don't understand why everything goes into the trash when we rely on the forth class representative of ours," whined the guitarist.
"Especially when I was going to make my live debut," complained Clare.
"Wait. I can make your luck come back," said JT, and all three band members looked at him.
"Really?"
Back at home, JT began to make phone calls as Tyson and Toby played cards on Sean's bed.
"Are we having a party tonight," asked Toby in Tyson's ear. "Who came up with the idea?"
Tyson pointed at JT. "At the prodigy kid, who else?"
"But look, there's going to be a live band, it'll be good," promised JT over the phone. "Well…okay, if you have to get ready then…okay, bye." JT sighed and hung up.
Tyson grabbed Toby and pulled him close to him and wrapped his left arm around his neck. "You know what's the problem? No girl pays attention to him," joked Tyson.
"Can you shut up?" Said JT furiously.
Katie opened the door and began to twirl inside the room and clap loudly, chanting, "I'm so happy!" Tyson and Toby got up from sitting on Sean's bed and Tyson looked up at Katie and she grabbed his hands.
"What's up?" Asked Tyson.
"I found a snow machine! And you two aren't coming to the party!" She said with a very amusing tone to her voice.
Tyson pulled his hands away from hers and Toby put his right hand on Tyson's shoulder and raised his left fist up into the air as a threat. "And we have to stay back?" Yelled Tyson.
Katie kneeled down and cupped Tyson's cheeks – who was pouting profusely. "Listen to me, this is our last night of freedom before Eli gets back and we have to celebrate his arrival! Now out! Out! Out!" Katie said, pushing her younger siblings out of the room while they complained.
"I want to die," said JT, Katie walking over to him. "We have the snow, the food, the people, the live band but we're just missing the women."
"But I thought you had a whole list!" Explained Katie.
"Yeah, well, turns out they all turned me down." Said JT, turning the page of his phone book. "Sean isn't here, and when Sean isn't here then no girl wants to come."
"Ah! No, no, no! I already arranged everything! You're not going to ruin this party, JT - Ah! I know! I'm going to call my friends!" Said Katie with a clap of her hands and a jump backwards.
"Wait up, wait up. Come back here. All your friends are stupid and annoying and don't even pay attention to me," explained JT, looking down at the phone book.
Katie looked at him with her mouth open and gasped. "But what are you talking about? Not even if –"
The phone rang on JT's lap and Katie shut her mouth and he answered.
"Hello? Sean!"
"Hey JT! I called over to our ranch and nobody answered. Did the workers cancel?" Asked Sean, walking with his tennis racket in its case down the street.
"Ehm. It's a long story. How did it go?"
"Yeah, okay," said Sean, licking his lips.
"You lost against the Brazilian?"
"JT, you know me. Who do you think you're talking with? I beat him," Sean bragged, a smirk pulling on his lips.
"I knew it! I knew it!" Sean smiled at the voice of Katie over the phone and JT's excitement. "It's sad that you're not here, because we have a party and we could've celebrated it."
Sean stopped under the shade of a large tree and sighed, "But you should be happy. Why are you using that tone of voice?"
"Well, you're not here," explained JT. "No girl wants to come. I don't know."
"Oh? It was that? You'll see how I'll fill the house with people."
"From Brazil?"
"Yes, from Brazil. Your brother is going to save your ass from Brazil. You be calm. Hugs. Bye," He hung up and looked down at his phone and took of his shades. He began to walk and dial numbers.
When night came, the party was already heading off in a good start. Besides a delay on the band's part, everything was coming off smoothly. It's true what Sean had told JT and a lot of women arrived at parties, some that he didn't even know Sean hung out with. Band was settling their equipment and Clare was walking back and tripped over a body.
When she looked down she saw a boy and begging at her feet. "Please, don't rat me out." Said Tyson to the stranger.
"Why would I do that?"
"Because my brothers think I'm too small to be here."
"Aren't you, though?" Asked Clare, kneeling down in front of him.
"Just – just please don't rat me out," begged Tyson.
"Me? I didn't see anything," with a pat on the head and a smile, Clare got up and walked back to her band mates.
"Thank you!" Yelled Tyson, and crouched down and hid under one of the part tables.
"Okay, guys, we're gonna start this party!" Yelled KC through the microphone.
Clare stood straight and licked her lips. The lights shown on her and there were about a million pair of eyes looking at her and suddenly, all of her courage went out the window and were replaced with insecurities. When they began to sing, her voice came out hoarse and they had to stop playing because of all the booing amongst the crowd.
Clare huddled close to her band mates and said, "I don't think I can do this, guys."
"Clare," said KC. "Just think you're alone. Try again."
Everyone gave her a look and she bit her lower lip and nodded, going back front stage and she began to talk in front of the microphone.
"Hello everyone!" Everyone stood still and quiet. "Um, I'm Clare, our drummer over here is KC, our bassist is Peter. Our guitarist is Sav. Our backup singers are Paige and Crystal!" Clare started to breathe in and looked at KC, who began the count.
Once they began to play again, though everything came out fluently for Clare. The routine, the song. Everything. As the foam machine began to function – the snow machine had a break down and they had to replace with one that makes foam instead – the house began to fill up with foam up to the brim and people had to evacuate the house immediately.
When the band members were outside, Clare stopped in her tracks. "Did you guys see a little boy?"
They all shook their heads and she went back inside, screaming, "Little boy! Little boy, where are you?" She slipped and fell and once she found him she carried him outside the house – both covered in foam. "My nut!" Gasped Clare, and all her band mates called after her.
While Clare was searching frantically for her nut, outside, Katie, JT, and Tyson were all looking inside and Katie began to yell at Tyson for going to the part until she saw a black car pull over the curb and she gasped.
"Is that Eli?" She yelled and all three looked over to see him get out of the car with Imogen behind him.
Eli began to walk inside his foam filled house and Imogen almost tripped and stayed behind in the entrance. Eli walked inside carefully and Clare suddenly appeared in front of him and slipped. Eli raised his eyebrows and kneeled down to help her up, and suddenly, Clare noticed a resemblance. The one from her dreams.
Eli wiped the foam away from her face and Clare noticed the yellow flowers he carried in his hand.
"You? Who are you?"