Chapter 1: In This Crazy Town

Aang Hudson had just come from Tulsa, Oklahoma to pursue his dream of singing and writing country music. He sat on the worn faux leather upholstery of the seats and looked out the window. He sighed to himself, he couldn't believe how far and how quickly everything had come about. Last month he was in graduating high school and was performing in local taverns and bars in Tulsa. A scout from Aqua Records in Nashville, Tennessee had approached him about an audition with the head of the company. Aang had taken the card and was told that his audition would be on May 28th. He was now riding in a worn out bus with his acoustic guitar in his lap and his iPod was on 'shuffle'. He was listening to a sweet blend of Alan Jackson, George Strait, Josh Turner, and Brooks and Dunn as well as other artists.

The bus made its final stop and the bus driver yelled out to the remaining passengers, "Alright! Stop 27! All of those that need to GET OFF MY BUS!"

Aang picked up his guitar case and held it close to him as the people in the bus started to file out, he figured that he should let them go first so he wouldn't hold them up. After the line was finished he walked up to the front of the bus. He looked over at the bus driver who had a disgruntled expression on his face.

Aang looked at the man and said, "Thank you for the ride sir."

He turned his head and looked at the young man, "Good luck kid… you're gonna need it."

The driver huffed and Aang made sure to get out of there as quickly as he could. When his eyes adjusted to the light in the sidewalk he gasped at the sight. The street that he was on was built like an old style western town. There were bars, barbershops, and a few large corporate offices behind them.

The young musician was about 6'0", about 180 pounds when in shape, had silver eyes, and had a cowboy hat on his head which covered his short, brown hair. He was wearing a pair of dress shoes, a pair of jeans with a fake silver buckle, and wearing a polo shirt underneath a light denim jacket.

Aang looked down at the business card and read the bold letters, "2858 Ba Sing Se Avenue" and commenced walking down the street with his guitar.

He finally approached the building and looked at the big letters on the front of the building telling him indeed that he had reached his location.

"Aqua Records," he sighed, "where the fate of my life will be" as he muttered the last part out.

He opened up the large doors and was presented with a large desk with a woman about his age behind the desk. She was talking into a Bluetooth earpiece; she had brown hair and violet colored eyes. He looked at the plaque which read 'Suki Kyoshi'. At that moment he heard someone clear their voice.

"Are you going to just stare at that nametag all day or what?" she jokingly asked.

"Oh, sorry. Ummm I am here for an appointment with somebody by the name of K. Aqua?" he responded.

For a minute she turned to her computer and started typing something in, apparently a schedule of some sort. She finished typing and she turned back to him, "Alright, go up to 7th floor, go down the hall to your right, and then open the door at the end of the hall. That is where the office is where your interview is set up."

"Okay, thank you" replied Aang. He stuck out his hand to shake hers wishing himself good luck and having someone confident behind you helps a bit.

He strode into the elevator and hit the button to the top floor. He listened as Tracy Lawrence's "Paint Me A Birmingham" played over the tiny speaker in the ceiling of the elevator. He started singing the chorus with Tracy as he rose higher and higher to his destination. It was finally when the song ended and that the bell rang that he was broken from his trance. He mumbled to himself "Aw, I wanted to listen to that new George Strait hit. No focus, you have a job at hand."

He strode down the dark hallway that was lit by a few lights above him. He saw in front of him a pair of deep blue wooden doors which had on the front of it, 'CEO's of Aqua Records', and below was engraved 'K. Aqua and S. Aqua'.

All of a sudden he heard footsteps approaching the door, and he quickly jumped back to avoid getting smacked in the face. Coming out of the door was a man about 6 foot even, tanned skin, looked to be about 22 years old, and had his hair pulled into a ponytail. He was mumbling something unintelligible, and Aang wanted to find out what was wrong.

"No good… 'can't sing a note'… load of rubbish. " muttered the man before he was stopped by Aang.

"Excuse me sir, are you alright?" replied the worried musician.

"Oh, I am just irritated with her!"

"Who?", Aang asked.

"My sister! I was telling her that we should hire Justin Bieber and Jet West to Aqua Records. But noooo! She has the nerve to tell me that it would be bad for business, and that we need to 'think of the children'."

"Well in my opinion, Justin Bieber couldn't sing country if it bit him in the rear. I mean for him to win a CMT award and not even sing country and instead singing that pop garbage doesn't make sense" Aang replied.

Both men chuckled at this statement, the other gentlemen replied, "True, true, But what about Jet West?"

Aang stopped to think about it for a minute. He had heard about Jet West in the news. Jet had a rapport of sleeping with many women, drinking heavily, doing drugs, missed rehearsals, many concerts, and he was not using his own vocals. If Aang was in control of this company, he wouldn't want someone like that tarnishing the brand and the music they were trying to make.

Aang took in a deep breath, "I don't mean to be rude sir, but with all that Jet West has done in the negative light for country music, not just on a professional level but also in a personal level, I believe it would be a mistake to hire him."

The man looked at Aang as he stroked his chin in thought. Then he whipped out his phone and called someone, "Yeah Ted? Call off the Justin Bieber and Jet West deal… No I just had a change of heart is all… Okay man, get that to the press soon okay… alright man see ya later."

He closed his phone and stuck it back in his pocket. He looked at Aang, "Thank you for telling me that. I guess the potential of making a crapload of money got to my head. Thanks for talking some sense into me mister…"

"Aang. Aang Hudson."

"Aang Hudson, Nice to meet you. My name is Sokka Aqua." Replied the gentleman

Aang's mouth was agape. "Wait?! Your one of the owners of the company?!"

Sokka chuckled at his new friend's response. "Yes, and proud of it. However I am not as influential as my sister is. She's the brains of the operation, despite her stubbornness." He chuckled lightly.

Aang was still astounded and he felt his throat go dry and his forehead started sweating. 'Oh god! That means I am going to have to perform in front of a girl. She is going to be tough on me and probably send me back home.' as his mind churned.

"Umm, you alright there buddy?" asked Sokka

Aang quickly wiped the sweat off his forehead and cleared his throat, "Oh, yeah. I just spaced out there for a minute."

"Well best of luck to you man, and hopefully you will do well on your audition." Sokka said as he jogged over to the elevators.

Aang turned around to face the once again blue closed doors. He let out a breath that he didn't even know he was holding and said to himself, "Okay, let's do this."

He knocked on the door and heard a feminine voice reply, "Come in."

CHAPTER 1 IS OVER. CHAPTER 2 IS UP NEXT. SO GOOD? BAD? INDIFFERENT? LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK. REMEMEBER I WON'T MAKE YOU GUYS BEG FOR A NEW STORY BY POSTING REVIEWS, I POST THEM BECAUSE A) I WANT TO, AND B) I DON'T WANT TO BE A JERK.