A/N: Sorry if this update took too long. But wait no more here's Chapter 9!
Review Replies:
Kibi dango cake: Belated happy birthday! Hope you had a good one. *Smiles*
Kadienewberg: You'll see *wink*
Chapter 9
"Hey, hey, hey! Look, who's here! Our rising stars: R5!" Byron Cavanaugh, the president of Nineteen Record Label exclaimed as the band came in the studio.
"Hey Byron." Stacey greeted glumly. She was in no mood today. Consider two facts: one, she was utterly annoyed and embarrassed by one Rydel Lynch; two, her career with R5 will already be over in less than minutes.
"Stacey Fields. I believe you've been managing this band for three years already." Byron said.
"Yeah, the worst three years of my entire career." Rydel muttered under her breath, earning her a nudge from Riker.
"Oh and what a surprise! Laura Marano!" Byron said as soon as he laid his eyes on the brunette standing behind Rydel and Ross.
Ally laughed nervously as she gazed at Ross and Rydel for help. "Uh…hi." She muttered.
"Well Laura, glad you're here as well because I have good news for you too." Byron announced.
"Huh?" Ally asked in confusion.
"Before I truly introduce your new band manager, I would like to announce that, my sweetie, Laura Marano will be joining R5 for their upcoming tour!" he exclaimed.
"WHAT!" Ally shouted, panic evident on her face. As she realized that everyone's eyes are on her, she cleared her throat and managed a smile. "I mean, uh…uh…that's great. I guess." She whispered the last part.
"Great! Marvelous!" Byron joyfully jumped like a teenager finally getting asked to prom for the first time or a woman finally being asked by her partner to marry him.
Ally laughed nervously once again. "My life is totally over." She whispered.
Austin and Laura were walking towards Sonic Boom. No one is saying a single word for they don't know what to say to one another.
"What are you going to do now?" Laura suddenly asked.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Austin asked back.
"I mean, since I'll be busy with learning how to manage Sonic Boom and be Ally, what are you going to do?" Laura said.
"Oh, well, Dez and I usually hang around Sonic Boom every day so, I'm going to be in the store too." Austin replied.
Laura just flashed a smile. "I wonder how Trish's doing." She said.
"Yeah, I haven't heard anything from her ever since her confession." Austin said.
Suddenly, Dez came walking by.
"Hey Dez, do you want to hang out?" Austin asked.
"Why? Aren't you already hanging out with Laura?"
Austin chuckled. "No, Mr. Dawson's going to be teaching her how to manage Sonic Boom. So, I'm going to be free for hours." He answered.
Dez's face turned into one of those faces he does when he's being a director and when he's turning down a prop. Just like when he made Ally create a miniature lighthouse and in the last minute, he said he doesn't want it anymore.
"I'm sorry. I already promised—" Dez said but stopped himself.
"Who?" Austin asked.
Dez suddenly became nervous. "I got to go, bye Austin. Laura!" he said as he dashed off somewhere.
Austin and Laura watched as their redhead friend rushed to go to some place. As to where, nobody knows.
"Well, that's weird." Austin commented.
"I got a feeling…" Laura said.
"Woohoo, that tonight's gonna be a good night; that tonight's gonna be a good night; that tonight's gonna be a good, good night…" Austin sang, dancing along.
"What are you doing?" Laura asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm singing because you—"
"I'm not singing the song, silly!" Laura said.
"Oh. Right. I thought you were singing the Black Eyed Peas song." Austin said. "'Cause you said, 'I got a feeling'."
"I have a strong feeling that Dez and Trish might be secretly seeing each other." Laura said.
"What? Are you nuts? Come on, Trish and—" Austin said but stopped himself when few flashbacks suddenly came. He remembered the time when he finally noticed that two of his best friends are hanging out a lot lately. "You know what? You may be right about that. I've been noticing they'd been spending a lot of time with each other even before the switch happened." He added.
"See," Laura said. "Now come on, I don't want to be late for my first day being Ally in Sonic Boom."
"Are you ready to meet your new manager?" Byron intrigued.
"Duh, we've been ready for the last couple of years. I've been dying to replace Stacey." Rydel said as she gave Stacey her deadliest glare.
"Well then, to give her a small introduction; she'd handled Rihanna and gave her previous clients the opportunity to perform at the Times Square. With just a quick finger snap and voila! Instant star." Byron informed.
Ally's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She knew those facts were somehow familiar like she'd heard her somewhere but she can't seem to pinpoint it.
"R5's new manager, Demonica Dixon!"
"Demonica!" Ally exclaimed, her eyes going larger than ever if that's even possible.
As soon as the finger-snapping mean manager came into view, Ally's blood started boiling. She was the reason why Team Austin almost fell apart. Well, it really did because of Demonica replacing Trish as Austin's manager, replacing Dez as their director and even Ally was replaced. Though the strong bond between the four members of Team Austin kept them together in the end.
"Ally?" Demonica asked.
"You know each other?" Ross whispered.
"Ally?" Byron asked.
"Well, well, well; look who's here, Austin Moon's tiny songwriter. Let me guess: Team Austin's done for good?" Demonica questioned.
"Team Austin? What the heck are you guys talking about?" Byron asked.
"No, Team Austin's not done. And it will never be. It's just…something happened and—oh, never mind. You won't understand anyway." Ally said. "What are you doing here?"
"Well sweetie, I'm here to manage R5. And as far as I can see, you'd be joining their tour as well." Demonica said as she crosses her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow for added effects.
"What the heck is going on here?" Byron exclaimed.
"How about we talk about this in private?" Ross suggested. "You and me, Ally. We need to talk. Now."
Ally sent one last glare at Demonica before following Ross outside the studio.
"Ally? Who's Ally? And who's this Austin guy you are talking about?" Before she was clearly out of the studio, Ross heard Byron throwing out questions about whom Ally is and such. Thankfully, R5 are doing their job to protect Ally's real identity.
Remember, Ally's only pretending to be Laura when out in public. And clearly, Ally still has no idea how Laura is like personally.
"What're we going to talk about?" Ally asked.
"How in the world did you now Demonica Dixon? And what is Team Austin?" Ross asked.
"I'd like to tell you the whole story but it's going to take up a lot of time. To make it short, Demonica's much worse than Stacey! Believe me, it says so in her name: Demon…ica." Ally said.
"What? Why would I believe you?" Ross questioned.
"Because she almost became Austin's manager!" Ally answered.
"What about the Team Austin she keeps on spitting out?"
"Team Austin consists of me, Austin, Trish and Dez. Austin is our star, I am his songwriter; Trish manages us and Dez is our filmmaker slash director for Austin's music videos." Ally explained.
"Ohhhh…"
"Do you understand now?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest.
"A little."
Ally groaned in annoyance. Ross can be a little Austin sometimes. "Come on, we'll be talking about this later. You still owe me an explanation as to why I'm coming to the tour."
"Why do I need to explain?" Ross questioned.
"Because I…let's head inside. You have a meeting to attend and I just want to go home…to Miami." Ally said.
She went back inside leaving a shock-stricken Ross behind.
Mr. Dawson just finished teaching Laura how to manage Sonic Boom the way Ally does. He started with the basics and it was a good thing Laura is a fast learner. She can handle frustrated customers, a long line of buyers ready to cash out their purchases, kids almost breaking the instruments on display. She was almost good at everything! Though her weakness was keeping herself focused on what she's doing. Laura gets distracted so easily.
"Okay Austin, your friend's a ninety-nine out of a hundred. I'm starting to warm up on her, though being with her makes me want to be with Ally more." Mr. Dawson said.
"It's okay Mr. Dawson, I promise I'll get Ally back as soon as possible." Austin replied.
"I know you will." With a quick small smile, Lester went to the storage room, ready to take his shift.
Austin smiled as he walked towards Laura, who was still busy cashing out her last two customers before her half an hour break starts.
"Hey," he greeted.
Laura turned to face him and soon, a big grin was plastered on her face. "Where are you going to take me now, Mr. Austin Moon?" she asked.
"I don't know. Do you want to go to my house and get a taste of my mom's cooking?" he asked.
Laura thought about it for a moment then shook her head. "How about we'll save your mom's cooking for another time." She said.
"Why?"
"Because I have an excellent idea in my head and I can't wait to tell you all about it." She answered.
"Tell me now." Austin insisted.
"What do you think of us being partners in crime?" she asked with an evil-ish smirk on her face.
Laura insisted they change into full black attire so that it'll make her plan look more 'substantial.'
"Do we really have to do this?" Austin asked as soon as Laura and him met by Ally's house.
"Yes. It'll make us look more like spies than creepy stalkers." She answered.
"But doesn't this attire make us look more like thieves than spies!" Austin exclaimed.
"Come on Austin. Besides, I'm doing this to help you out."
"How exactly are you helping me? You do know we could get into jail with this. Just in case you're not aware, I almost got into jail once for being accused as the mall thief. And the second time, I actually got into jail together with Ally and the rest because the mall officer thought we were stealing ice-cream!" Austin exclaimed. "At four in the morning!"
"Hey, chill. Relax. This plan is going to play out smooth. I promise we won't end up in jail. We'd be considered as the 'smooth criminals.'" Laura said.
"What!"
"Do you want to find out if Dez and Trish are really seeing each other or what?" Laura burst out.
"I want to." Austin said in a small voice with a small pout to go with it.
"Then…all you have to do is follow my lead and…Austin?" she called. The blonde guy's head snapped towards her. "Just go with the flow."
"I will 'go with the flow.'" Austin mimicked as he air-quoted Laura.
As soon as R5 finally signed their contract with Demonica Dixon, Ally has nothing to do to change their minds anymore. Every time she tries to inform the band about how cruel Demonica really is, the finger-snapping annoying manager would always butt in to their conversations, cutting Ally off in mid-sentence.
"I can't believe you talk bad things about Demonica!" Ross exclaimed as he and Ally reached the living room.
The whole band was quite astonished at the sudden heating argument the two are having. It just came out of nowhere. The band was certain they were fine during the car ride and then as soon as they got home, they just started screaming at each other.
"Something bad really happened during their private talk a while ago." Ratliff whispered to the rest of R5.
Everyone nodded in agreement. They just watched the argument, having no idea how to stop it…for good.
"Isn't it obvious yet? Demonica is evil! Pure evil! Don't you realize that with just a quick snap of her finger, she gets everything she wants?" Ally asked. "Soon enough, she'll have all of you wrapped around that bony fingers of hers!"
"That's ridiculous, Ally!"
"I am not joking about this Ross. If you want proof, fine! Call up Austin and ask him about Demonica." She said.
"Can we forget about Demonica for a moment?" Ross asked.
"Fine." Ally agreed. She turned to her heels and made her way towards the guestroom but Ross grabbed her by her arm and spun her around.
The whole R5 sighed in relief for they thought that the argument's finally stopping but then…
"We're not done yet." Ross said harshly.
"What now?" Ally asked irritatingly.
"What's wrong with you? Aren't you happy you'll be joining us on tour?" Ross asked, a bit calmly this time.
"Honestly I am overwhelmed but…there's just…you probably won't understand and I'm probably not going to tell you." Ally said.
"Ally, what is it?" Ross asked.
"It's nothing. Don't mind me."
"Ally, you need to tell me because if it's some medication or health problems, I'll talk to Demonica or Byron about it." Ross said, sounding a bit concerned this time.
Ally shook her head. "No, no. Please just…no." she said. "Especially when Demonica's involved. And no, that's not my problem."
"Then what?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because I can't and I don't want to!"
"But if I want to know?" Ross asked.
"Fine. You want to know why I have problems with the tour? It's because I don't like spotlight. I don't want to be anyone's center of attention, because I have a serious case of horrible stage fright!" Ally yelled. "There, you have it. Are you happy now?"
"So? We'll get rid of it?" Ross said.
"It's not that easy, Ross. Gosh, how I wish I were in Miami instead of here. How I wish I were with Austin rather than with you. I want to go home!" Ally said as tears started rolling down her cheeks.
"Ally—"
Ross's sentence was cut when Ally suddenly ran towards the guestroom, pushing in between the whole R5 in the process.
A/N: REVIEWS ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED.