"God, why did stupid, stupid, stupid Jeff have to tell Shane that?! He's going to be unbearable now. We might not even get him to go onstage anymore!" Nate ranted to poor, unknowing Jason in their changing room while Shane was in the huge bathroom with Jeff, who was trying to calm him down enough to put make-up on him and get something done with his frazzled hair. It obviously wasn't working as Jeff couldn't get near Shane with how his fists were flailing in the air with every time he said how, "STUPID!!" he was. Jason was playing with a cootie catcher and writing out fortunes to use on Shane and cheer him up. Nate was strumming his guitar helplessly and thought of what a great song this whole situation would make.
"Shane, love, we've got to get you out onstage in less than two minutes!" Jason and Nate heard Shane's Aunt Jean and Uncle Brown walk in. "C'mon mate, let's move," both his aunt and uncle were from England and the accent always made them smile. Fortunately, Shane's relatives were fairly good at persuasion; in less than five minutes, Shane was dressed, flattened (well, his hair was), and all made-up.
When Jean walked out of the bathroom, Jason looked over, smiled, and said, "Ello love!" in his extraordinarily fake accent. Jean cracked a smile and walked over to hug her nephew's band mates.
"Go on then dears! You won't want to keep anyone waiting! You're already fifteen minutes late anyhow," Jean scooted them out the door and walked over to where her husband and Jeff stood.
"Why on Earth would you tell him that?! He's not going to be very pleasant for the next part of eternity now!" Brown's face was very expressive as he yelled at the idiot manager.
"Brown, dear, now why are you yelling at the good man?" Jean placed a calming hand on his shoulder and the other turned his face to look at her, "Now, let's just sit down and discuss this after we've watched our nephew perform onstage." She turned her body so she was now facing both men, "I only get to come here twice every year and I did not fly ten hours on a stuffy plane riding coach. Let's get out there and support our boys!" she turned away from both men and walked out the door towards the stage.
"Is she always like that?" Jeff asked. He'd slowly backed into a corner when Jean had been talking.
"Yeah, mate. But you don't have to live with her." Brown spoke softly.
"I HEARD THAT!!" Jean yelled from down the hall. Jeff looked at Brown as if to say, "How'd she hear that?" Brown just shook his head and walked after his wife.
--
"MAY I PLEASE PRESENT TO YOU…….CONNECT THREE!!" a voice boomed above the roar of the crowd sitting in the stands. The roaring immediately got louder by at least ten decibels or more. Mitchie covered her ears, but there was no use so she just laughed as Jessie screamed her head off in the front and center seat she'd gotten. Mitchie couldn't resist after awhile and started screaming along with everyone. When the band walked out, the girls surrounding the two sisters, mostly ten-year-olds, were screaming and several began crying profusely.
"THANK YOU!! THANKS SO MUCH, YOU GUYS!!" Nate's voice boom thundered through the waves of squealing and shouting. "SO, EVERYONE HERE IS AMAZING AND WE FEEL THAT WE NEED TO START THIS NIGHT OUT!! THAT MEANS WE'RE GONNA…" the opening chords of Play My Music began, "PLAY OUR MUSIC!" Mitchie and Jessie stood and screamed like the crazy teenagers they were and enjoyed every second of the concert.
"THANK YOU, THANK YOU. OKAY, WE'RE COMING TO THE END OF THE NIGHT NOW, AND WE'D LIKE TO INVITE SOMEONE ONSTAGE. WILL…" Jason searched for his paper with the name of the lucky girl on it. Finally, he found it. On the stage in front of him. Blushing, he picked it up and read off the name, "JESSIE TORRES, PLEASE COME UP HERE!!" Jason smiled as Jessie freaked out in her seat. She looked over to Ben and he nodded his head. She squealed, threw her arms around his neck, and then ran over to the security guard waiting by the stage for her.
"OKAY, OKAY…I THINK THAT YOU ALL KNOW WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NOW!! JESSIE, WE'VE GOT THIS STOOL HERE JUST FOR YOU, AND YOU CAN HAVE A SEAT RIGHT HERE." Shane patted the stool, and Jessie sat down on it, bouncing excitedly. "SO TODAY, WE'RE GOING TO PLAY A NEW SONG THAT I WROTE JUST A WEEK AGO ACTUALLY. IT WAS INSPIRED BY A GIRL I'VE ONLY MET ONCE. AND I'M AFRAID THE IMPRESSION I MADE WASN'T THE BEST, SO…NOW THIS SONG IS FOR YOU," Shane smiled as Jason and Nate frowned at what he said. Jessie looked torn between her excitement and her sorrow for Mitchie.
Mitchie, however just looked on amazed. He'd written a song for her? Never mind that it isn't for her anymore, but he actually wrote a song…that she inspired?! Wow. She just watched her sister squirm and bounce in her seat for the next five minutes, but didn't notice her expression. The only thing that caught her attention was the song. The lyrics. So many things passed through her mind as she heard him. He's gotta find me? I'm the song inside his head? I'm the remedy…the piece he's looking for?
Finally, when the song was done and Jessie was at Mitchie's side, she blinked and realized that he'd just said he didn't think she like him anymore. She had to find him! She bolted upright in her seat and pushed past a few people before Jessie could think to catch her. "Where are you going? They've still got a few songs left," she stared at her and grabbed her arm, trying to pull Mitchie back to her seat.
"No, I'm going to find the backstage so I can talk to him. I have to. He thinks he made a bad impression, which he did, but that's beside the point. The point is that he just said the sweetest most amazing thing about me ever. And he said more to me than anyone aside from someone I'm related to has ever said to me! I need to find him, if only to tell him that I don't hate him. I'm wondering why he thinks he made a poor impression though, I didn't even see him yet, after all. He can't make judgments!" she looked upset so Jessie grabbed Ben's hand and they walked out of the hall.
"So…where to now?" Ben asked when it had quieted down a bit.
Jessie turned to him and said, "Can you take us backstage? Mitchie needs to see Shane. Now." Ben's lips curled up to smile, but when he saw how serious Jessie was being, he quickly sobered up.
"Yeah, I can do that. But it will be about twenty minutes until they're done." Jessie turned to Mitchie.
"That's ok, right?" Jessie asked.
"Yeah, it'll give me some time to think about what I need to say anyways."
"Alright, well…here we are. Backstage." Ben flourished his arm and waved towards the door. Mitchie took a deep breath when she saw the name on the door. Connect 3. She breathed out and then walked in.
--
"Dude, you were right. That concert made me feel way better!" a much happier Shane walked off the stage. Sweat dripped from his brow and he shook his hair out of his face. Nate followed him and Jason came last, carrying his favorite Washburn guitar.
"What did we tell you?" Jason quipped, "I know EVERYTHING!" he looked over and Shane smiled at him. Then shook his head at how serious Jason suddenly was. Shane looked over at Nate and the solemn look on his face too. Both of them had fixated their gaze on something directly ahead. Shane looked forward and saw what had made them so stern.
"Hi Mitchie." Shane said softly, "What are you doing here?"
--
AAAAAAAHHH!! I just realized that I didn't even put an Author's Note in here, so I'm sorry that I'm replacing the chapter and some of you might think that I'm posting two chapters. I'm not. Just so we're clear. I would like to say right now that I'm not going to be updating nearly as much as I ever was able to do during the summer. I have loads of homework. WAY more than I thought (for example, today I've spent two and a half hours on one subject and I'm not even done yet. AND it's not even a project or anything. This is the average amount of homework we're gonna get. Ugh.). So…I'm still going to keep my promise to have the fifteen stories out by the 1st, but I've got a new promise. I'm going to update once a weekend. It may be one story. It may be all four stories that I'll update. I don't really know, and I'm sorry if this makes you upset but some things are more important than fanfiction. Like my life. Duh!
Also, on a happier note. I've tried out for the school musical and everyone should send good vibes for me Monday morning. They're posting the cast list then!! EEEEEEEKKKK! Gotta go now. More homework. Woohoo. Love to those who inspire, encourage, and all around make me happy, you know who you are!!