So here we are again. Thank you so much for the reviews, you guys are awesome. I'm happy that there still is some interest after the long delay between first and second chapter. So thank you :). I now welcome you to chapter 3, but first, let me answer some questions :).
Why won't there be any Emison? Because all the liars come from somewhat broken homes, and something in Emily's past prevents it. I know that's a vague answer, but I don't want to reveal too much too soon.
When will Ezria begin? In a chapter titled 'My IQ Is In The Lower Part of Average', many chapters from now. They'll be brought together by someone unexpected. That's all I can say.
Can you please hint whom Emily may have lost? Yes, I can. But will I? Just kidding. I guess I could give a hint of some sort; it's someone very close to her, but it's not what you think.
Will the liars end up fine? Yes and no. Life is a roller coaster after all, isn't it?
I think that covers the questions for this round. Now I'd like to give a shout out to LucieAnne97, and a double shout out to Pipe It Down Arielle for guessing whom it'll be said to. We're good to go now :).
Disclaimer; I still don't own Pretty Little Liars. What I do own is the song 'No Shame In Goodbye' because I wrote it :). Also wrote 'Purple Face' about a friendship I once had, but the lyrics won't be featured. Still own Afraid.
Shooting Stars
Chapter 3: I Like You, But You Have a Stupid Face.
"You're forgetting things you should know about me
And everything you do seems to annoy me
We get mad when we really shouldn't
We wanted to make it work, but we just couldn't
It's not a shame that we grew apart
If we call it quits it won't break my heart."
"Great job, Aria. That's the take." Toby told Aria inside the recording booth with the push of a button. "I think that's a wrap on No Shame In Goodbye."
Aria nodded, and gently hung the headphones on the note stand, and stepped out of the recording booth, and joined her bandmates in the other part of the studio.
Hanna was lying on the sofa as per usual. Emily sat on the chair next to Toby, and had been watching Aria sing her verse in the booth. She pulled out the chair a little, and Aria sat down on her lap, and Emily wrapped her arms around the shorter girl's waist, protectively holding on to her.
"Next up will be Purple Face." Toby continued, and Hanna slowly began to sit, anticipating the work she'd soon have to do. Toby Cavanaugh, the perfectionist, everyone. "Hanna will record her parts first, but right now we're gonna take a break. Grant is expecting the three of you in the conference room."
"You actually wrote a song called Purple Face?" Hanna questioned Aria as she stood up from the sofa, getting ready to go upstairs.
"It's not like Toby stuttered." Aria replied sarcastically. Emily pinched her softly in the side as a reminder to behave, and Aria plastered a forced smile on her face. "It's about someone who isn't confined by the standards of the world today, and doesn't give into the peer pressure of it all, and instead is just being himself; well over 18, and just being a big kid. I think it's important to be yourself, no matter what the world wants you to be."
"Great advice," Emily whispered, "Why don't you take it?"
Aria grimaced sarcastically, though Emily couldn't see it. "Oh, I don't know. I could pull a muscle."
"I'm starting to agree with Hanna, sarcasm doesn't suit you." Emily said as she released Aria from her grip, and the shorter girl stood up, allowing Emily to do the same. "We should get upstairs to Grant now."
The three of them stepped out of the studio, into the usually empty hallway. Normally the studios at Paragon were filled, and the halls were vacant, but that day was another matter. In one end, by the water cooler, stood Ezra Fitz, and in the other end, hanging outside of their usual studio, stood three of the Bittersweet Destiny girls; Spencer Hastings, Blair Overstreet, and (unfortunately) Alison DiLaurentis.
"What are the chances of leaving now, and pretending we were there?" Aria whispered, knowing they'd have to go past the other girl group to get upstairs to their manager. "What are the odds of Grant buying that?"
"Well, he's not stupid." Emily muttered back, although she wasn't that eager to go past them either.
"You know what the problem is?" Hanna questioned, in an ordinary conversational tone, being a horrible whisperer and all. "A certain Queen of All Evil needs a good, solid slap across the face. I'm sure that would make her more tolerable."
"Hanna!" Emily hissed in a reprimanding manner.
Aria glanced nervously at their archenemy at the end of the hall, and then tried to speak as casually as she could muster; "I need something to drink."
"Aria!" Emily called after her, switching to sympathy mode, knowing what Alison did to the youngest Liar's psyche.
Aria ignored her friend's concern, and continued to walk to the opposite end of the hallway to where Ezra stood, refilling the cup in his hand. He smiled when he saw her.
She grabbed a cup, and filled it with water when he had finished. They stood side by side, and drank from their plastic cups in silence. Ezra emptied his first, and tossed it in the nearby trash can, and then tried to strike up a conversation with her.
"Admit it, you keep coming back for my sake." He attempted to break the ice with a joke, but she merely raised a brow, unimpressed. Then he muttered under his breath; "Tough crowd."
"Well, I'm sorry, but I try not to laugh at jokes that aren't funny." She replied sarcastically as she'd heard his last comment. She took another sip of her water, avoiding his gaze by looking straight ahead, but she knew that he was watching her. "You know, staring isn't nice."
"I-I... I wasn't staring." He stuttered, and she suppressed a smirk at her ability to make him fluster. "I was simply gazing upon you."
"You say potato," She started, finally meeting his eyes, "I say gaze upon something else."
Her attitude didn't seem to affect him, he simply smiled at her. "You know, you've heard me sing one on one, and I've heard you sing one on one. We've practically seen each other naked."
Her breath hitched in her throat. She had that beginning feeling of being... completely terrified, to be perfectly honest. She shouldn't have gone to talk to him, because that had secretly been what she'd done. It was these kind of situations, she liked to believe, that would pull her down, and increase her bandmate's overprotectiveness... But Aria always tried to play it cool to not be a burden, and normally she'd fail miserably. This time she refused to do that, she didn't want Ezra's sympathy.
Mission 'Play It Cool', here we go, she thought. Then she tried while plastering that trademark sarcastic grimace on her face;
"I'm sure that would be charming if I wasn't, you know, 17 years old."
Ezra's face fell. And that is why sarcasm doesn't suit you, she thought. Who knew her mind agreed with Hanna?
"I'm kidding!" Aria exclaimed quickly to recover, and Ezra forced a smile. "Guess I'm not so funny either, huh?"
A silence fell upon them, and Aria took to watching her bandmates who had been approached by their rivals. It might be awkward with Ezra, but at least she wasn't with them, dealing with Alison.
"New subject?" Ezra proposed, breaking Aria out of her thoughts. She nodded. "So, how is the recording going?"
"Really well." Aria smiled. This was a subject she was somewhat comfortable discussing. "We're recording our last song after we've had a meeting with our manager."
Ezra's face fell again. How come she always did that to him? "Your last song? As in last song ever?" He asked, and she responded with a nod. "So that means we'll never see each other again?"
So that's what was up? "Don't be so gloomy. We'll be back in a few days to pick which songs should be on the album." She said in an attempt to cheer him up. Apparently she was great at causing him sadness, maybe she'd be able to remedy it as well. "And who knows how long that'll take? We aren't exactly getting along."
"That's true." Ezra nodded in agreement, and his face lit up again. "So this won't be the last time I see you?"
"I don't see how it'd matter either way, we barely know each other." Aria said, but somehow his words made her smile. "But you might see me again, yeah."
Meanwhile, outside the Liars' studio, Hanna and Emily had been approached by Alison, Blair, and a seemingly reluctant Spencer. Hanna rolled her eyes in irritation, and prepared for whatever crap Alison had decided to try to throw their way. She really was a relentless bitch.
"Well, well, well... If it isn't the pathetic black sheeps of the music industry?" Alison 'greeted' them, a malicious smirk tucking at her features. "Still making music, I see. How sad!"
Hanna snorted defiantly. "Really? That's the best you've got? That's your great scare tactic?" She met Emily's eyes, a fake smile plastered on her face. "Hey, Em? What's our latest single called? I forget."
But before Emily could reply, Blair had blurted out; "Taller!"
That surprised Hanna. That girl could talk? "I was talking to Emily, but thank you, dark amber haired Bittersweet Destiny member who've never spoken to us before, and I therefore don't actually know the name of."
"Blair. Her name is Blair." Spencer interjected uncomfortably as she still preferred not to be playing Alison's childish games. "She's my best friend."
"And now that that's been sorted..." Hanna smiled, and turned to face Emily again. "What's the name of Bittersweet Destiny's single."
Emily looked down at her feet, silently for awhile, and then she mumbled something barely audible as if she was ashamed; "I don't remember."
"And there you have it!" Hanna announced triumphantly.
Emily looked up instantly, realisation dawning on her. She understood the point Hanna had been trying to make now. That was genious. Emily was proud, especially since she usually had to remind her bandmates not to throw stones.
"And why should we care what some mediocre, talentless bitches have to say about our music?" Alison challenged, and stepped closer to Hanna to be more threatening. "You're mere one hit wonders, and soon the people of the world will open their eyes, and realise that you aren't as great as they thought you were. You'll lose everything, and we'll still be here. We're better than you, we've always been better than you!"
"That's enough, Alison!" Spencer hollered as she seized her bandmate's arm, yanking her away from Hanna's face. "They've done nothing to you, and quite frankly, your childish vendettas are getting tiring. Just stop!"
Alison forced herself out Spencer's grip, clearly not understanding the point. She had more to say.
"No, I'm sick and tired of those bitches trying to steal our spotlight. They don't deserve a single thing that they've gotten. They are a bunch of rotten apples, and people will see that soon. I will destroy their career, their reputation, and their lives."
Hanna met Emily's eyes. "Over dramatic, much?"
"Look Alison," Emily sighed. "What Hanna meant was that we are busy with ourselves, focusing solely on our own music, not worrying what is on everyone else's plates. That's the reason for our success. And maybe if you stopped attacking us all the time, and trying to figure out what we're up to, maybe you'd see a few changes in your own career. We speak through our music, perhaps you should try to do the same."
"Emily is right!" Spencer agreed, trying once again to get through to Alison. "It should be about the music, and so far, all you've done is make all of us look bad. Just, back off."
Alison smirked, glaring menacingly at someone behind Hanna and Emily. They spun around, and saw Aria still talking to Ezra, blissfully unaware of what was going on. This couldn't be good.
"I think I'll start with the itty bitty Liar." Alison informed them, her voice so thick with malice that you could've cut through it with a knife. "I figure since she writes your songs, a great deal of your undeserving success is down to her. I think I'll enjoy destroying her, and when I'm done with her, she'll be in so many fractured pieces that you won't be able to recognise her. I'm betting it'll be easy, rumor has it that she's pretty fragile."
"Stay away from her!" Emily ordered, never removing her gaze from the youngest Liar.
Alison laughed it off. "Enjoy what time you have left with her. Soon she'll be annihilated!"
"That's enough, Ali!" Spencer barked, and grabbed Alison by the arm again, this time successfully dragging her away from there. She called back to the Liars. "I'm so sorry about this."
Hanna and Emily stood silently, watching their bandmate intently. She was innocent, kind-hearted (if you managed to climb her walls), and Alison was right; she was very fragile, which Emily was the only one aware of.
Their differences aside, Hanna didn't want Aria to suffer the wrath of Alison. Who knew what that girl was capable of? She didn't want to find out, and she didn't want Aria to find out either. How could they even prevent this?
"What are we gonna do?" Hanna questioned, still watching their other bandmate with Emily.
"We don't tell Aria about this." Emily said, and then went on to explain; "I know the two of you don't get along, and I know it's because of the secret that she won't tell you about. I can't tell you what it's about, I swore not to, but I can tell you that it's serious, and it'll get a lot worse if she knows what Alison is up to, even more so if the Queen B gets her hands on Aria."
Hanna grinned. "The B totally stood for bitch, right?"
Emily nodded, and by that time Aria had noticed that they were watching her. She shot them a quizzical look, and they both plastered smiles on their faces so she wouldn't suspect that something was wrong.
"Maybe, if we're lucky, Alison won't try anything until the new year, and by then it won't matter anymore." Emily said hopefully, and Hanna grunted in agreement.
With the subject put to rest, Emily waved Aria over so they could go to their meeting with Grant.
The girls had arrived in the conference room, and Grant had immediately started briefing them on their video shoot the following day.
"As you know, since the song is called Afraid, the concept of the video will be facing fears." Grant informed them. "The director, Xavier Osment, is known for his fiery personality, and is very quick-tempered. There won't be time for sympathy, as difficult as facing your fears will be."
Hanna raised her hand. "I'm afraid of water. What am I supposed to do? Drink a glass a water?"
"Not entirely. The label is throwing a lot of money at this song, so you'll be surprised by what is being pulled out for this video." Grant explained while he smiled knowingly. "Now, I suggest you go to bed as soon as you get home. Tomorrow will be a long day. You're expected to be up and ready to leave at 4 A.M."
Though early hours like that was no surprise to the girls, and they were very used to it by now, Aria still felt the need to object;
"Grant, I like you, but you have a stupid face!"
Their manager smirked at the insult. "Would you like to make it 3?"
"Sadist!" Aria muttered under her breath, but Grant heard her.
"You say the kindest things, Aria." He retorted while still wearing the smirk from before.
"So, 4 A.M?" Emily interrupted their banter, steering the meeting back to serious. "Then what?"
"A car will be waiting for you to take you to the location of the shoot." Grant explained with a smile. "I might stop by some time in the afternoon to see how the shoot is going."
"We look forward to that." Emily said, looking to the girls. "Don't we?"
Hanna and Aria mumbled some incoherent words of agreement.
"Not that your enthusiasm doesn't warm my heart, but you should probably get going." Grant responded while giving two of the Liars a saying look. "That's it for today. I'll see you tomorrow."
The girls said their goodbyes to their manager, and then they left the conference room to go record the rest of their songs, and then straight home afterwards.
Getting ready to leave at four in the morning had been no easy task. Emily had practically had to drag Aria out of bed, and the shorter girl had snoozed up against her all the way to their location. Hanna, on the other hand, had been very easy to get out of the door.
They had finally arrived at the location for the shoot, some remote warehouse an hour drive from their apartment. The girls were either in hair and make-up or wardrobe. More specifically; Hanna was in wardrobe, and the other two were in hair and make-up, with Aria being half asleep in her chair.
Emily saw an eccentrically dressed man with tossled hair (that could do Einstein proud) approaching them. She guessed him to be their director, Xavier Osment.
"The sets are being put up as we speak." He told them, straight to the point with a strict sounding voice. He then turned to Aria who was struggling to stay awake. "Your set is already done so you'll be up first, Aria."
Aria looked at Emily, a tired look in her eyes. "Can you please tell him to stop saying stuff like that to me?"
Emily smiled apologetically at their director. "She's just a little tired."
"Get to wardrobe now!" He bellowed, aimed at the younger Liar. He was clearly unimpressed by her sense of humor.
Aria rose from her chair, and began to make her towards the dressing room, just as Hanna approached hair and make-up.
"Break your neck." Hanna muttered as she walked past Aria.
"Drown!" Aria retorted.
"Was that really necessary?" Emily questioned as the blonde sat down in the chair next to her. "I thought we made progress?"
"How do you know we weren't saying good luck?" Hanna asked in return, raising a challenging eyebrow.
Emily decided to let that one slide. She loved video shoots, and nothing, not even her bandmates bickering, were going to ruin that day for her, even though she would be facing some eight legged freaks later on.
Xavier had gone on to yell at some of the employees at the shoot, for no particular reason. Grant obviously hadn't exaggerated when he'd told them about their director.
"Who hired him?" Emily wondered aloud.
Hanna shrugged. "Probably some doofus at the label. I tell ya, if it's Grant, I'll kill him!"
Emily chuckled. The hairdresser straightened another strand of her hair, and finally her hair, along with make-up, was done. Then Aria came back to the area, dressed in a grey, sad-looking dress. It came as no surprise, really, as both Hanna and Emily were in similar looking grey dresses.
"Apparently, grey is the color of fear." Aria said while grimacing. Then she solely addressed Emily, hoping that Hanna couldn't hear. "I don't know if I can do this, Em. This is exactly the kind of situation I shouldn't put myself in."
"I know." Emily whispered, offering her bandmate a smile. "But I'll help you through it, I promise."
And then, unwanted as he was, Xavier stormed back to the make-up table, a crazed look in his eyes. "I needed you on set yesterday, Aria." Then he was gone, likely to Aria's set.
"I hate the way he says my name." She said, and began dragging her feet in the same direction as Xavier had left. Emily got out of her chair and followed.
"I know, sweetie. It sounded like a profanity." Emily agreed sympathetically. "I'm not looking forward to it being my turn."
They arrived at the set, and Xavier stood there waiting for them, impatiently tapping his foot. "Took you long enough, now get up there!" He ordered, pointing to where he meant.
Aria's set was made up of an ancient-looking, wooden staircase with spaces in between the steps, a platform that was supposed to pass for a top floor, and a railing going up the side of the stairs along with the front of the platform. Behind the staircase and floor was a green screen.
"The green screen is supposed to make it look like you're inside an old house." Xavier explained. "You're gonna start up there, and slowly make your way down the stairs. Now, I know stairs are your greatest fear, which is stupid if you ask me, but I don't have any tolerance for tears."
"I hate him, I really do." Aria whispered so only Emily could hear.
Emily chuckled lightly, and then she stepped forward to address Xavier. "Excuse me, Mr. Osment, but would it be okay if I practised going up and down the stairs with Aria so she's more prepared?"
"Then how am I suppose to capture real fear?" He challenged, rude as ever.
"Oh, trust me, she'll still be afraid." Emily assured him. "But at least she'll be used to them."
Xavier sighed exasperatedly. "Fine, I'll give you five minutes for silly girl stuff, but first I wanna tell your friend what I expect from her." And then he focused on Aria. "I want you to stand at the opposite end of the stairs up there, slowly make your away across the platform, and then down the stairs. Once you reach the bottom, I want you to extend your left hand to the side. When you've faced your fears you'll be transported to a place with no fear. No lip-syncing is required in your place of fear or your place of no fear, the only time I want you lip-syncing is when we do your close-ups. The same goes for you, Emily."
They quickly showered him with compliments of his genious and amazing vision, and then he retreated to give them privacy for those five minutes he'd given them to do 'silly girly stuff'.
"You'd think you'd killed his cat, the way he said your name." Aria acknowledged, and Emily nodded in agreement.
"Let's just do our silly girly stuff before he comes back and says our names again." She said, and then grabbed her younger bandmate's hand, squeezing it reassuringly as they began to walk up and down the stairs.
They only managed to go up and down the stairs a few times before Xavier returned. Aria was still completely terrified, but Emily had promised to stay there for support, much to their director's dismay. He really was a character.
Aria mumbled every curse word she could think of as she stumbled up the stairs to get in position, but Xavier was too busy making a fuss of how slow she was to hear anything she said. It amused Emily, though she still worried about Aria.
Playback started, and Aria followed her directions, however not to Xavier's satisfaction. So they reset. And reset. And reset. Two and half hours later, their director finally seemed satisfied by the footage he'd gotten, and Aria was off the hook.
"You're next, Emily." Xavier informed, and then he was off quickly. It was almost as if he was scared it would kill him to be around them for too long.
"Why did there have to spaces between the steps? It made it so much worse." Aria cried as she stepped into her protective bandmate's embrace. "Are you ready to face Itsy Bitsy and friends?"
Emily shook her head. "Nope. And they've probably brought some big-ass tarantulas here."
"Well, at least they aren't poisonous." Aria tried to console Emily, but she could tell by her best friend's still fastened heartbeat that she'd been unsuccessful.
"No, but their defense mechanism is to shoot their hair at something threatening, leaving that something paralyzed!" Emily whined as she released the shorter girl from her grip.
"Yeah, but it wouldn't kill you." Aria tried, but that only seemed to cause further panic.
Emily's eyes widened, and her breathing became irregular. "No, but I'd be immobile. They could crawl all over me."
This was uncharted territory. Aria rarely got to be the one to calm Emily. "Okay, panic attacks are so been there, done that." She joked to lighten the mood, and then she offered what Emily always did. "You know, I could be there for support. Eight legged freaks don't really scare me."
"I couldn't imagine how they could. You think sharks are cute." Emily responded, still terrified, but her breathing was getting in check.
"That is true." Aria chuckled, and then she grabbed her friend's hand, dragging Emily with her to the next set.
When they arrived, Xavier had another one of his tandrums. He shouted incoherent things at them for being late. Hanna stepped up to the scene to find out what was going on, but she didn't say anything. She merely observed.
It turned out that Emily would be going into a room with a large window so she could be filmed in there. They could see a green screen inside the room, supposedly to make it look like the tarantulas' (however many there were) natural habitat.
"I don't like this, I don't like this at all." Emily mumbled repeatedly as she saw a few workers carry terrariums into the room.
Aria gave Emily's hand a gentle squeeze. "Do you want me to go in there with you? They could just remove me digitally afterwards. And Mr. Osment already hates us so there's really no harm in asking."
The tallest Liar gave slight nod to accept her bandmate's offer, and then Aria scurried off to ask Xavier for permission. Emily and Hanna watched from afar as their director appeared to yell at the shorter girl, but then seemed to give his consent.
Aria walked back to the girls, followed closely by Xavier. He hadn't mellowed the past few hours, and when he stepped over to Emily to explain her scene, she involuntarily flinched.
"Alright, Emily, what I want you to do is enter the room and pace it slowly, then pick up one of the spiders and gaze into its eyes like there wasn't anything to be afraid of after all, then I want you to put down the spider, and extend both of your hands to opposite sides. You'll then be transported to your place of no fear." He explained quickly, and appeared as though he wanted to get the day over with as fast as possible. "Now, there'll only be three tarantulas in there, but we'll alter the footage to make it look like more. And I know that you might be tempted to hold Aria's hand, but I don't have time for more of your girly shit!"
Then he sauntered off to prepare for Emily's scene. Hanna turned to look at the girls, her brows raised and a look in her eyes that clearly said 'what the hell just happened'.
"He wants you to gaze into the spider's eyes?" She repeated in disbelief. "And why did he say your names like you both have something much worse than Ebola?"
Aria shrugged. "He tends to do that, you'll see."
Hanna opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted when Xavier shouted for Emily and Aria to get their asses into the spider room. Hanna watched as Aria knelt down to be on eye level with the spiders, a childish smile on her face as she spoke to the arachnids. Emily stood next to her, looking utterly frightened. Then Aria rose to her feet, and appeared to be giving Emily words of encouragement.
Hanna hated to admit it, but she was jealous of her bandmates' relationship. Hanna knew Emily hadn't picked a side in the feud Hanna had with Aria, but she was still jealous at how close the other two were. They were truly best friends, and Emily could be as neutral as ever, but it didn't change the fact that Hanna felt like the odd one out.
She sighed. Hopefully they'd work things out before the year was over. She didn't want them to split!
Hanna heard Emily's verse of Afraid begin to play, and she knew they had begun shooting. She watched as a panic-stricken Emily did as she'd been instructed, and eventually picked up a spider, reluctantly looking into its eyes. Then she put the spider back down, and held out her hands as told.
Hanna thought her bandmate did splendidly. Apparently the director didn't share the same opinion, and he made her redo it over and over again. An hour later the director from hell was finally satisfied, and Emily and Aria could step out of the room.
Emily's whole body was quivering, and her hands were covered in cobweb. Aria pulled the terrified girl into her open arms, giving her a comforting hug so Emily could get it out of her system. When they released each other, Hanna approached them.
"Did I actually see you having a conversation with the spiders?" She asked Aria, bemused.
The short girl seemed like she thought that was the silliest question she'd ever heard. "Of course, I did. Emily was scared... So I told the spiders that I love her, and that they should be nice to her."
Hanna chuckled. "And did it help?"
"Well, they didn't paralyse and crawl all over me." Emily responded with a shrug.
Xavier approached them again, still in one of his moods. "Your costumes won't get changed if you just stand here." He informed Emily and Aria, and then turned to Hanna. "And Hanna, your set isn't going to come to you so get a move on."
"I see what you mean now." Hanna muttered as they watched Grumpy walk off. "The way he said my name sounded like he plans to kill me later."
Emily nodded. "Yeah, and it gets worse if we don't get a move on. Do you need one of us to go with you?"
"No, I'll be fine." Hanna said, waving a hand dismissively. "You guys should go to wardrobe. I'll see you later."
"Sure?"
"Totally." Hanna assured Emily, and then she spun around, and went one way while her bandmates went the other.
Hanna reached the set meant for her, and saw that they had brought some sort of wave pool into the warehouse. It was almost like at the beach where the water went from the depth of one inch, and then it increased and got deeper. Soft waves shot across the water, starting out bigger in the deepest end, and then fading out in the other end. Green screens were also involved, probably meant to make it seem like she was at the real ocean.
"It's very simple, Hanna." Xavier told her the second she'd arrived. "The green screen is supposed to make it look like you're at the beach or somewhere similar, which would make the beginning of this pool the coast. So you'll start there, and then slowly walk towards the end of the pool. Once you reach the deepest part of the water, I want you to extend your right hand to the side, and then you'll be transported to the place of no fear."
"Sounds swell." Hanna said, plastering a sarcastic smile on her face.
Xavier yelled for playback, and Hanna heard her part, the bridge, of the song play loudly. She cautiously dipped her feet into the water, and then she walked...
Never mind the fact that the water was freezing, never mind the fact that she had to face her fears for this video shoot, but why did there have to be waves in the stupid water? Wasn't it bad enough?
She reached her destination, proud that she'd stared her fear in the eyes, though she was still terrified. However, Xavier wasn't satisfied, and he made her go back and start over several times. She could honestly kick him.
Somewhere between an hour and two, Xavier was satisfied by Hanna's performance at last, and she got to leave the water. As she made her way back she saw Emily and Aria standing by the set for support, both wearing long, white, goddess like dresses.
"You were so brave." Emily said when the blonde was finally on dry land, and then she pulled her in for a hug.
The nice moment was interrupted by Xavier. "What are you standing around for? Get your ass to wardrobe, Hanna!"
He sped off to the next set, and Hanna looked at the girls with confusion. "Why does he have to sound like I kick puppies in my spare time?"
Aria shrugged. "You ask questions I don't know the answer to."
"Me neither. But you should probably get going." Emily smiled warmly. "Our group scene is up next."
Hanna ran off to do her costume change, and Aria watched the pool with envy.
"We should get one of these, and put it in the room of random crap."
Emily grinned. "It wouldn't fit."
"Fine, we'll tear down a wall." Aria suggested. "Hanna can sleep in the living room."
The taller girl shook her head. "Still wouldn't fit."
"Fine!" Aria whined, stomping her foot like a child. "We'll put it in the living room instead."
"Still. Wouldn't. Fit."
"Are you doing it on purpose?" The petite Liar asked in an accusatory tone.
"Honestly, Aria. Why would we need a pool when the beach is practically right outside of our window?" Emily questioned in return, chuckling.
Aria huffed. "Again with the questions I don't know the answer to."
Before Emily could responded, Hanna re-entered the set. She had on a white dress similar to those the other two were wearing. In silence they made their way to the new set where Xavier stood, impatiently waiting for them.
This set was simply green screens and flowers.
"Took you long enough!" He acknowledged without hiding his annoyance, and then he began explaining the scene. "This scene is when you've conquered your fears. The green screens are supposed to make it look like you're at a flower field. You'll be walking around, looking peaceful and holding each other's hands. Emily, you'll be holding Aria's left hand and Hanna's right."
The girls nodded to show their understanding, and they were pushed onto the actual set. Soon the chorus of Afraid started blasting.
"I'm afraid and I always will be
My fears often seem to overcome me
I'm afraid and I always will be
Except somehow when you're here with me
So hold my hand
Together I know we can."
The no fear part of the video didn't take as long as the fear part, and after only half an hour Xavier seemed satisfied by their performances, but he still couldn't help being a grumpy bastard since they still had their close-ups yet to do.
"Get changed now!" He barked as some of the workers behind him began to remove the flowers. Apparently this was where they were doing their last shots.
They ran off and got changed quickly, and when they came back they were in seemingly regular clothes, although fancied up a bit. It was a music video after all...
First up doing her close-ups was the shortest member, and it followed in order, ending with the tallest member. It took hours before they had pleased their director who had been shouting their names all day like they were profanities.
It was late at night when they were finally done shooting the music video. They were exhausted, but relieved to get away from Xavier Osment at long last. He had been a complete nightmare, but hopefully the music video would turn out alright...
So that's the end of chapter 3. I hope you enjoyed it :). Now that the chapter is over, it's obvious that the quote was by Aria. Kudos to those who guessed it. Also, I know there was a delay, and although not as long as the last, I'd still like to explain it;
You see, a few years ago I developed this nerve condition in my hand. It was completely awful. This year I've been dealing with it on and off. It would be a few weeks, and then it'd disappear. Then it'd return, and disappear again, and repeat. It returned a couple of months ago, but it hasn't disappeared. So it's been a struggle to write. I'll update as soon as I can again, and I'll write as much as physically possible.
Now, onto happier things. The next chapter will be called 'Is Slapping Still A No No?'. I think this one is fairly obvious, but who will say it? So I've been thinking that a shout-out is a pretty lame reward for guessing the quotes, and therefore I have a proposition for you. If you guess who will say the quote, I'll PM you, suggesting a few prizes that you can choose between – story related of course. Like perhaps naming a character, getting a spoiler of your choice, or even choosing a song, all depending on the upcoming chapters. What do you guys say? Guess away.
Thank you so much for reading this story, and thank you for the support you show through your reviews. I appreciate it so, so much :). And again, I hope you liked this chapter. Please review :).
Laters,
AK-tutti :)