"I don't want to be mean, Jason, but do you really think you're actually going to make it somewhere in life?"
"Yes, I do!" the little boy insisted, "I'm going to be famous and play the guitar in some sort of band and win a big music award!"
His kindergarten teacher sighed. "The chances of that happening are one in a million, and a million is a really big number. I'm sorry, Jason, but you're never going to win a Grammy, not ever."
It was twelve-thirty in the afternoon on a clear, sunny, but cold Tuesday morning in Wyckoff, New Jersey. The date was February 10th, 2009. And today Jason Grey had a mission he had been determined to complete since the first grade.
Guitar slung over his back, he walked up the steps to his elementary school, peeking inside the bag to make sure it was still in there. Shane and Nate would absolutely kill him if he lost it.
Her words had followed him for his whole life, shadowed him, scared him into believing that he would never do anything in life that would actually matter. But anyone can change the world, even a little first-grade boy who had his sights set on being a rockstar. It took hundreds of thousands, even millions of people for him to get this far, to this point of redemption and proving not only to her, but to himself that he could do it. And he did do it, he had done the impossible and hadn't stopped trying.
"She says I can't do it!" the little boy wailed, waking up his little brother, only one year old, sleeping in a nearby crib.
"Can't do what?" his mom said, trying to soothe the baby.
"I'm not going to make it anywhere in life! She says I'm not going to be famous and I'm not going to win a Grammy like the people on TV!"
She blinked. "Jason, honey, you can do whatever you want to do, as long as you believe in yourself."
"Name, please," the office lady said as he stepped in the doorway. It was the same lady that had been there fifteen years ago, although she was much younger then.
"Jason Grey," he said, "I'm here to see Mrs. Mackerel."
She nodded and wrote something on a slip of paper. "Congratulations, by the way," she added, and he nodded ever-so-slightly, without even asking him what he was doing here, why a world-famous popstar would ever want to come back to his elementary school.
"Thank you," he replied, distracted, looking inside the bag again. Then he started to walk down the hallways to her classroom.
He jumped up and down, nervous for the audition. It was make or break, his brothers were counting on him, but was he able to do it?
"Are you ready?" his younger brother asked, but he didn't respond. A flashback held his attention now, a voice echoing in his ears, one he never wanted to hear again.
"I'm sorry, Jason, but you're never going to win a Grammy, not ever."
"No," he whimpered, "I'm not ready."
And he set down the guitar and ran from the room.
Room 34. This was it. He could see her through the window, she was talking to a little boy. Was this time to set things right?
He opened the door. All of the heads in the room turned to him except for the teacher's and the boy. And he could hear her say:
"Daniel, you're not going to change the world. If you convince yourself you will, you'll be even more disappointed when you don't. You're not the only person I've told this to, either, and they've gotten nowhere in life."
I cleared my throat. "Mrs. Mackerel?"
She turned to look at me. "Yes? Who might this fine young man be?"
She was just as I remembered, she hadn't changed much over the years. A short bob of gray hair lined her face, gray-blue eyes looking cloudy. I was taller than her now. And she wore the same green dress she wore on my last day of kindergarten.
"I'm Jason Grey. And fifteen years ago, you told me I wouldn't change the world. Well, you were wrong."
He'd been waiting all his life for this moment, and it had come, defying everyone's expectations. Who would have thought that the geeky little kindergartener with the crushed hopes would have actually come through and beat the odds?
"And the winner is…" She slit open the envelope. His heart beat faster with every second as he squeezed Shane's hand excitedly. "Connect 3!"
He let out a sigh of relief, but more than that was going through his mind as he ran up to the stage with his brothers.
Nate took the Grammy and held it in his hands as he took the microphone. "Thank you, everyone, for voting us as the best new artist," he began, "Shane, Nate, and I are so appreciative."
"Ever since I was a little boy, this has been my dream, to be nominated for something as prestigious as this. And even though I was told I couldn't, I did, I actually managed to go somewhere in my life, and you can too, no matter what others tell you."
"What do you mean?" she asked him.
"Almost fifteen years ago, I walked into this very classroom saying that I was going to be a rockstar and win a Grammy. But you told me that I wouldn't. the same thing you were telling Daniel there." He reached into the bag and pulled out the gramophone statue. "I believe I earned this fair and square." He traced the writing on it: "Best New Artist – Connect 3."
Mrs. Mackerel gasped, eyeing the golden trophy in his hands. "You actually did it, Jason," she whispered, "I was wrong."
Jason's eyes gleamed with success. "And that means that anyone in this classroom can do it too. Never say never, Mrs. Mackerel. Anyone's dreams can come true – mine most certainly did."
"I'd also like to say something to my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Mackerel," he finished, "If you're watching, please promise never to tell another child not to believe that he can follow his dreams, because I did."
And the audience burst into applause and the three brothers embraced each other in a group hug – they had done it.
A/N: So this was written the day before the Grammys, the day before the Jonases lost. :( Hey, there's always next year.