This is going to be a long chapter and I am going to switch perspectives. You need to review! I need them to update!

Chapter 9

My alarm clock went off at about 8:30 AM. It was June 31st and our opening day for our tour. I got up and took a quick shower; blow dried my hair and pulled it up into a messy bun. I put on a plaid shirt with a white cami under it and I wore jean shorts and a pair of boots. I grabbed my phone and iPod and headed downstairs with Caitlyn to our SUV. We walked out of the hotel to find some fans waiting there. We stopped and signed a few autographs and then continued into the SUV. The ride to the venue was about 15 minutes long with traffic. When we actually arrived at the venue there were already fans waiting outside the gates. Those were some dedicated fans. I asked Gerald to roll down the window while we were driving so as we past all of them I said,

"Enjoy the show!" and Cat and I waved. They screamed and tried to follow the car but we went into the blocked area. We got out of the car and walked through all the buses and trucks. Overall I think there were 9 tour buses and 17 or 18 trucks with equipment.

We walked though all the buses and through the huge garage door, through all the backstage hallways, through the huge room with all the crates and up the staircase to the stage. We walked onto the stage and Cat and I sat on one of the platforms and waited for everyone else. Stage call was at 9 which meant all the dancers, singers, and performers had to be on the stage to make sure they were there and so we could make sure the stage was fine. Surprisingly everyone showed up by 9 and Ronnie sat next to me, Carly next to Cat and Hanna was talking to one of the chorographers about some of the dance steps. Sam jumped onto the stage and started talking,

"Hey guys. You pumped for opening night?" He yelled and we all cheered. "Good. Stay pumped. Now your real sound checks don't start until about 2 so until then get your voice warmed up, review your moves, make sure your up here and ready for your sound check, and finally lunch is being served at 11 so until then there is a snack bar in catering. Okay? Cya soon." He said getting off the stage and about 3 people ran up to him asking him questions. Everyone stood up and Cat went over to KD and J-man because they were the two dancers who did the dance with her to her song "Make History." I got up and walked to my dressing room. I turned on the TV and started to watch Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I heard a knock on my door and Shane was there.

"Hey Shane. What's up?" I asked him.

"We're getting a little electric scooter race thing going, me, Jason, Nate, Cat, Ronnie, Derek, J-Man, and Hanna. Wanna join?" He asked me.

"Sure. Sounds like fun!" It was about 10 or 10:30 and I followed Shane through the backstage out to the huge parking lot next to the venue that was still closed off before the concert. There were more fans standing at and around the gate because I guessed that Shane tweeted that he was going out to play. The fans screamed when Shane came out and they all had cameras out.

Nate, Cat, Ronnie, Derek, Jason, and J-Man were already there. They each had an electric scooter. I ran over to Cat who had two because one of them was mine. We all got to pick one out before the concert and my happened to be purple. Cat's was yellow, Nate's was green, Shane's was black, Ronnie's was pink, J-Man's was red, Derek's was blue and Jason's was orange. They had set up a line of cones to map out the course. It was around majority of the parking lot and curved to make it harder.

"Mitchie you're going down." Cat said.

"Yeah Mitch, get ready to eat my dust." Jason said.

"Watch out Mitchie, Ronnie's coming through." Ronnie said.

"Do you really think you can beat me?" J-Man said. I smiled and look at him.

"It's on." They all laughed because it was the title of one of our songs. Henry was out there and so were a lot of security guards.

"The rules state, you must complete 3 laps around the track in order to win! Ready, Set, Go!" Henry yelled. With that we all started going and Nate got started last. The bikes when about 15 miles per hour. Cat and J-Man were tied for 1st the first lap, then J-Man fell behind and Ronnie caught up in the second lap, then in the last lap Ronnie fell behind and Jason and I caught up to her and we crossed the finish line, only to have Caitlyn cross it first.

"I won!" Caitlyn yelled. Ronnie laughed and jumped on her back. We all laughed and Nate was last.

"Nate, what happened? I like lapped you." Jason said. Nate made a death glare at Jason and he shut up. We decided to go and sign stuff for the fans. We walked over and they were all screaming. Some of them were too far back so we just waved to them. Most of them were cheering for Connect Three but some called Cat and I over. We signed booklets, Tee-shirts, took pictures and just listened to them be like "Oh my god, I love you! Nate will you marry me?" and crazy stuff like that. We rode our scooters for about 30 minutes and then we signed for about 15 minutes. Henry called us all back and we said goodbye to the fans and walked back inside.

It was about 11:20 when we went into the cafeteria.

We went through the line and got food. They have so much food it's not even funny. They have mac 'n' cheese, pasta, ribs, chicken, salad, fruit, pizza, basically, you name it, and it's there. I sat with Shane, Jason, Nate, Cat, and Henry. The dancers had to practice their dances. We ate and talked for about an hour before we went back to our dressing rooms to stretch, do vocal exercises and stuff. Victor came into my room and brought his portable keyboard. He started doing vocal exercises with me and we continued with them for about 45 minutes so I would be good and ready. Cat had her sound check first, and then I had mine, then Connect Three.

Caitlyn POV

My sound check started at 1:30 and only lasted about a half an hour. All I had to do is sing one of my songs and talk to the sound guys to make sure it was okay. After my sound Mitchie had hers and hers took about an hour. While she was doing her sound check I was either in my dressing room or with Nate and Jason in their dressing room playing video games. When Mitchie was done, it was Connect Three's sound check. CT (Connect Three)'s sound check last about an hour. By the time they were done it was only about 15 minutes until the Sound Check Party which is when about 100 or 200 lucky fans get to come in before the show get to hear us perform a song or two, ask us questions and then get a meet and greet. The party starts at 4:15 and lasts until about 5. It was about 4:15 and we were still down in our dressing rooms. A person came around and knocked on our doors telling us it was time to go up. Mitchie came out of her dressing room the same time as me. She was wearing her same outfit only her hair was done, not completely done but it was down and looked natural. We walked up the steps and behind the stage to where the fans could not see us. Sam was on stage and we could hear him.

"I just wanted to let you know we are going to have some fun today!" The crowd cheered. Mitchie looked at me like she was nervous but I smiled to calm her down. "So to start off our party, give it up for Caitlyn Lake and Mitchie Torres!" He said and the crowd screamed. I grabbed my microphone which was silver and was covered with rhinestones. Mitchie's microphone was black and covered in black rhinestones. We walked out and the crowd screamed. There weren't that many fans, probably only the first 4 rows were filled across the entire stage. We waved as we walked out and they were still screaming.

"Welcome to the 2010 Connect Three Feeling Alive Sound Check Party!" I said into the microphone. They kept cheering. Mitchie and I were both smiling.

"I'm Caitlyn Lake and this is my best friend Ms. Mitchie Torres!" The crowd screamed and clapped again. "Mitchie, why you tell these people what's going to happen."

"Well, Caitlyn and I are both going to sing a song for you then we have a small Q and A session then we bring out Connect Three!" The crowd screamed louder than before.

"May I say before we get started that this is everyone's first concert of the tour and Mitchie's and I's first concert ever!" The crowd screamed again. They were all clapping, hollering, smiling and taking pictures.

"Now, without further a-do give it up for Caitlyn Lake!" Mitchie said walking off the stage to backstage. The crowd was screaming again and J-Man and Derek came out and the music started to "Make History."

where ya wanna go?
where ya wanna go?
who ya gonna?
who you wanna be?
Whatcha gonna do?
where ya wanna go?
Who you gonna be?
Who you wanna be?
Who ya gonna be?
when ya?when ya?
when ya gonna say?
whatca gotta say?
where ya wanna go?
where ya goin'?
hey..
In the beginning I started doing the dance with them but eventually I stopped and walked down the runway and bent down and touched the fan's hands. I was having such a fun time and loving it. After my song finished they yelled and clapped. I smiled and waved to some of them. Mitchie walked out and was clapping too.

"Wow, it's going to be hard to top that." She said.

"I bet you could do it. So why don't we see? Give it up for Mitchie Torres!" I said walking off the stage. I heard song "Trainwreck" start and I waited back stage. A woman came up to me and handed me a bottle of water and I took a couple drinks of it. She handed me two water bottles to take on stage; one for me and one for Mitchie. Some sound people came up and changed wires around from my ear to the box, changed volume and such. After Mitchie's song was over. I walked out with the water bottle and set them on the back ground singer's platform.
"Wow Mitch, I think you topped it." I said smiling. She smiled too and J-Man and Ronnie walked out onto the stage too.

"So, uh, do you guys have any questions?" Mitchie said. Just about everyone's hand went up. Mitchie picked the first one.

"Umm Mitchie what's it like backstage? Is it glamorous?" The fan asked. Mitchie looked at all of us and we shook our heads no. Mitchie started to talk,

"Actually no, it's not glamorous at all, it's a lot of really long hallways and they're really confusing. Nothing glamorous." She said. I picked the next fan.

"I was wondering if you guys are close with your dancers or if you like barely know them." She asked. J-Man grabbed the mic from me and said,

"Aw no man. I don't have anything to do with these girls; I'm just here for the food." He said. The crowd laughed and Mitchie said,

"Caitlyn, would you mind taking the mic from J-Man?" I smiled and took it back.

"Yeah, we are all super close, I mean we spend every waking moment together. Oh by the way, this is J-Man and that is Ronnie." The Q and A session went on for about 6 or 7 minutes and then it was over. We went back stage to find the boys getting ready to go on stage. The boys walked onto stage and the crowd went wild. I went back to my dressing room to do my hair and makeup for the actual show. My hair stylist Richelle came in and since it was an outdoor venue and like 95 degrees she pulled my hair into a pony tail and curled the pony tail. It took about 20 minutes to finish my entire hair and makeup.

By then it was about 5:00 Mitchie and I went to Catering and had dinner. It took us about 40 minutes to eat because we were talking about how much fun the Sound Check was. The boys came in right as we were getting up. Since this was our first concert I was included in the Meet 'n' Greet but I wouldn't be included at every concert. The meet 'n' greet started at 6:10 but since the doors open at 5:30 the meet 'n' greet is in the smaller venue. The only way we could get there is by walking across an open path but people would see us so we actually had these crates that have a chair in them and a couple fans and we were pushed to the other arena. We took pictures with each fan and then we were pushed back to the main arena. It was 7:28 and I started at 7:30. I was super nervous. I heard Nate come up behind me.

"I'm so nervous." I said.

"Cat, you're going to do great. You're making every single person out there laugh, smile, and have a good time. Even if you mess up, laugh about it. Just have fun." He said giving me a hug. Mitchie, CT, and all the dancers and singer came up and we formed a huge circle. Sam talked first,

"I hope everyone has a great show tonight, but most importantly, have fun." He said. We all put our hand in and Sam said,

"Get Back on three. 1, 2, 3…" And we all yelled "GET BACK!" It was 7:30 time for the concert to start but before I went Mitchie grabbed my arm.

"Good luck." She said and I smiled. I took a deep breath and walked out onto the stage.