Hey everyone! So sorry about the wait, I had a bitt of writers block I'm afraid. Still not totally over it, but I managed to write this chapter and start on the next one. As usual, I know my english is a mess, so pleas forgive me, and correct me if you want to, I appreciate it! Edward will be in the next chapter=)

Chapter 13: We Made It

We were walking the red carpet at a world premier of a movie, in Hollywood. I couldn't believe it, it was just so far beyond anything anyone could ever had imagined. Six moths ago, we had just been a little band in Seattle, trying to make out way into the world of music. I had just been a broken little girl. Now, we were going to be in a movie, a real, high budget, Warren Brothers produced movie. Not that anyone knew that we were the band behind most of the song in the movie or that we were in it, the whole thing had been kind of a secret because the director of the movie, Daniel Howie, wanted us to be a surprise, a band few people had heard of.

And he had picked us.

He had been at the Music Box the night we had played, and Just the Beginning had "spoken" to him (or something), so he had called mr. North first thing in the morning, and asked if we would like to be a part of his movie project. We'd all gone to a meeting with Daniel later that day and he had told us about the movie.

"You see, it's about this girl, Sally, who has always been "the perfect little angel". She has great marks, goes to church with her parents every Sunday, does as she is told and all that. Her parents are christians and really strict, and she has this older sister that has totally rebelled agains their parents regime and finally runs away. Anyway, Sally falls in love with this guy that's a real troublemaker, but he is so kind to her, and there are reasons why he behaves like he does. So in the end, she has to choose, family or the person she loves."

I could feel my holes starting to rip themselves open again, but I refused to let that stop me. This was such a great opportunity, I would NOT let my brokenness ruin the bands chance of something this big.

"So, where do we come in?" Amanda asked, sitting at the edge of her chair in excitement. Daniel smiled at her. He was a tall, dark haired man in his early 40s. He had a big stomach that made him look a bit like santa, and his eyes were kind, like a labrador.

"Well, this older sister, her name is Melanie, is secretly in a band, and she runs away with them to become a singer. The band will be you guys, and Isabella..."

"Bella," Amanda, Jack, Johnny, Allen and I all said together.

"Or Blondie," Christopher laughed.

"Ok, Bella then, you will play the big sister, don't worry,"he said when he saw that I was about to protest. "You will only do one or two scenes where you actually have to do some acting. The rest are just clips of the band preforming at different places, and some voice acting for phone calls."

I shook my head.

"But mr. Howie..."

"Daniel please."

"Daniel, I am absolutely sure that I will be really bad at acting. I mean, voice-over, sure, I can do that. And preforming with the band, no ..." I looked at him, desperation clear on my face. He had to be joking, I couldn't act, I had always been a bad actor.

"I mean, do I look like an actor?" I finished, looking at the others for support, but they were all just smiling like idiots again.

"Bella," Daniel said, a fire in his eyes. "Acting isn't that hard, you just have to let go. It's one scene, I promise you, we can shoot it as many times as you like. It's just the scene when you leave your home. You'll have like three or four lines, top."

In the end, I had, against my better judgment, said yes.

I had really sucked, just like I'd told them I would. The scene was kind of chaotic, because I would be running around the house, stuffing things in my bag and then have a little conversation with Sally, (played by a really sweet actor named Jenny Lee, who was actually older than me. Scary hu?) and then the band would drive up outside "my house", and "my mother" would tell me that if I left now, I wasn't a part of the family anymore. Then, I would kiss Sally on the head and tell her that I was only a phone call away if she ever needed me, and then I would turn and leave, my guitar in one hand and a bag of stuff in the other, never to look back.

They were all really patient with me, and on the 5th take, I felt a bit safer, so I tried not to play the part, but to be the part. Of course, I ruined everything by starting to cry when I told Sally that I would always bee there for her and I was just a phone call away. But Daniel loved it, so it was wrap. The rest of the tings we had to do for the movie, the four songs we were going to preform and record was just a stroll in the park, and the voice-recordings, that was supposed to be Sally and Melanie talking together, wasn't that bad.

We had to make three new songs for the movie, and Just the Beginning was going to be used as the ending-credits music. So you can say that the las, six moths had been a bit intense, but most of all really fun. We had actually written about 15 songs all together now, amazing or what? We had recorded them all and, hopefully, we were going to give out our first album when the movie came out in two months. Album title? Yeah, we really had to figure that out...

"This is just so unreal," Amanda muttered as she grabbed Jacks hand and started walking down the red carpet, a sour glance at Rebeccas death-grip on Allens arm. I just nodded as Christopher hooked his left arm with my right, and Johnny his right arm with my left. The press were everywhere, filming, taking photos and doing interviews. I thanked the heavens that Mr. Norths daughter, Caroline, had found nice clothes for everyone and done my hair and make-up. Caroline wanted to be a designer, and she was really good at making normal, boring people (me) look like superstars, it was just amazing.

I was currently wearing a knee-length, strop-less silk and cotton dress with a black leather belt under my chest and black stilettos. My hair was professionally curled and Caroline had pined it up in a messy, stylish way, a few blond curls hanging down here and there. My lips were as red as my dress, and I wore black eye make-up. The result of all this, was that I looked even paler than I already was, and I felt like that hippo in the pink ballet thingy, but everyone else thought I looked good, so hey, who was I to say what I should wear?

Christopher held me tight as we met the press and the crowed, and I sighed a sigh of desperation as I tried to smile as genuinely as I could and pose for the cameras, just like mr. North and Daniel had told us al to do. The only reason I was able to stay upright in the 5 inch heals that Caroline had put me in, was that Christopher and Johnny were holding me up.

"Bella, Bella, over here!" someone screamed, and I looked over to see a woman in a fashionable blue dress, perfect heir and a microphone beckoning me to come closer. Oh no, not TV! Christopher could feel me tens up as he and Johnny dragged me over to the lady, and he laughed quietly.

"Come on Blondie, suck it up!" he whispered, and I scowled at him. Damn, he was really going to make me go through with it, wasn't he. I had begged him and mr. North to let Amanda be the spokesperson, because she was so much better than all of us when it came to things like, talking in general really. But since I was one of the "starts in the movie" as mr. North had put it, he had told me that I was going to talk to the press on the red carpet, wether I liked it or not. And that was the second reason that Christopher was escorting me...

"Bella, you look great tonight!" exclaimed the way to happy lady with the microphone, her brown eyes shining as a man in a tux with a camera on his shoulder zoomed in on us. On the camera there was an E!. Crap...

"Thank you so much," I said, trying to force a smile on my face. Christopher nudged me in the ribs. "I am so excited to be here!" I added and nudged Christopher back. I hated him right now.

"So Bella, this was your first time in a move. First time acting in general really. How was it, to be so green whit so many experienced actors?"

Wow, direct much? How to answer, how to answer...

I settled for the truth.

"Ehm, it was really terrifying to be honest. I am a terrible actor, but Jenny Lee how plays my sister was so nice and helpful, and Cathy Bree and James Dimiter who play my parents were so understanding too. Daniel Howie some how never lost fate in me, so yeah, it worked out eventually," I said, desperately trying not to ramble. This was so much worse than I had anticipated!

"But acting isn't the main thing you do in this movie, is it?" she asked, and I knew I was on safer ground.

"No, the reason I was casted, was because of the amazing bad I'm in, Seattle Sunrise," I said, my smile growing genuine for the first time since I entered the red carpet. In the six months I had worked with them, the people in North Star Records had become almost like my family to me. Renee and Charlie had visited me many times in Seattle, and they also really liked the band, mr. North and Christopher. I was so glad that my mother hadn't freaked to bad when I told her I had skipped out of high school that I cried. I had talked with Jake once more too, but that hadn't gone well at all...

"How many songs have you and your band written for the move?" asked the lady, and I had to think hard on that one. We had really not written any songs for the movie, we had just written songs in general, and then given them to Daniel to see if he wanted to use them or not. All the songs were for us really, not for anyone else. I looked at Johnny for help, and he smiled at me and thankfully, he answered for me.

"In the las couple of months, we have written about 15 songs. Daniel has decided to use four of them for the movie," he said. The woman looked a bit confused, so I hastily introduced both Christopher and Johnny.

"The songs that are being used in the move are Just the Beginning, Blame It On Me, Wish You Were Here and Shine," I said. The lady nodded happily, and she seemed satisfied. Finally, she was finished. Or so I thought.

"So, which of this hot guys are your guy then?" she asked and winked at me, and I chocked on my breath as I felt my knees give in under me and the ghost of the two holes in my chest started to throb. Oh no, please, don't, not on TV! Johnny hastily shifted his arm from holding my arm to put it around my waist, and in the same flowing movement brushed Christopher's arm of me.

"Blondie here is mine, of course," he said smoothly, and I looked at him shocked.

"Well, thats news to me," I muttered, and the lady laughed delighted. Thanks Johnny, you saved me there!

"Oh well, good luck with the performance you are going to do before the screening of Sally's Choice."

And then we were off again. Christopher looked amused over at Johnny for a second, then shook his head and hung back to talk with some people as Johnny and I continued down the carpet. I rested my head gently against his shoulder for a bit.

"Than you for that one Johnny. I had no idea what to answer at all," I mumbled, and he just nodded, still smiling.

"I look out for you blonde, and I know that's a touchy subject for you," he said, pressing me genlty against him with his arm as we walked into to the theater. A man in a black suit and a ear-peace-thing stuck in his right ear waved us into a side door.

Amanda, Allen and Jack were already in the really nice wardrobe we had been given to warm up before we went on stage to kick of the world premier of Sally's Choice. Amanda was so excited, she could barely stand still.

"Oh Bella, they are going to broadcast it live on MTV, can you believe it?" Amanda ranted, walking back and forth with her bass in her hands, absentmindedly warming up her fingers. I could feel the bile rising in my troth at the thought. We had done a lot for recording in the last few months, and a couple of pretend-concerts while filming the movie, but to say that we had a lot of on-stage experience, would be down right lying.

"Amanda.." I warned, but she was to busy rambling to hear me.

"There are going to be thousand of people watching us, oh Bella this is it, this is going to be our one shot at getting our name out. Seattle Sunrise are... Bella?"

I was in the bathroom saying hi to my lunch again before Amanda had the chance to finish her sentence, and I could hear Jack saying: "That's less then 15 minutes before we go on stage, pay up!" So they had been making bets on weather I would throw up before I went on stage or not. Nice. I counted to five, and as I expected, I could hear the familiar "swhap, swhap, swhap" and "owh, shit, christ!" as Amanda slapped the three juvenile guys at the back of their heads.

I heard the door open, and the unmistakable steps of Christopher entering.

"Ok, so you are all warmed up, Blonde has puked and Amanda has slapped the rest of you. Good, we are officially ready," he said, a smile in his voice. I flushed the toilet and Christopher gave me bottle of water, which I used to rinse my mouth out thoroughly.

"Christopher..." I started when I had checked my make-up and hair in the mirror, but he cut me of before I got the chance to put forth my case.

"No Blonde, you can NOT make Amanda talk for you. Yes, we are doing Shine on stage now, no other song, and no, you can not dich the shoes," he said, somehow guessing all the things that was going through my head. Well, there was a reason he was out producer and co-manager.

Johnny who was sitting between Allen and Jack in the big couch, reached out and pulled me down on his lapp, and warped an protective arm around me. Hes touch was calming to me, because I knew he thought of me like a little sister, nothing more. The lines between us were clear as crystal, and the feeling of his warm chest against my back and his face next to mine made my breathing a bit easier.

"You are going to be great out there Blonde, don't worry," he said, patting my knee.

"Yeah, if you totally screw up, we can just get Amanda to start stripping. Then no-one will notice," Jack said, and I couldn't help but smile as the rest started laughing, Amanda included. We were sadly enough talking from experience...

"Seattle Sunrise to the stage," a female voice said over the intercom.

Allan and Jack, who sat on ether side of me, took my arms and dragged me to my feet as Johnny stood up behind me, and Amanda put a hand in front of her, palm down. Christopher instantly put his hand on top of hers, then Allen's, Jack's, mine, Johnny's and Amanda's again. She looked up at us, smiling that big smile of hers that made you smile too, if you wanted to or not.

"Ok, guys, we are the cooles most awesome band ever, and we are so going to do our best performance ever tonight, right?" God, I was so scared. What if I made a total fool out of myself. I could feel my hands starting to tingle a bit, they were going to cold like they always did when I was nervous, but the heat of the band's hands on my left hand, and Johnny's hand holding my right kept them warm, and the huge grins on everyones faces sucked me into a safe place.

A place where I had never been broken, where I didn't have two giant holes in my chest. Where I hadn't left everything I had ever known in order to get away from the biggest mistake of my life, where I hadn't disappointed my parents by not finishing High School, where I hadn't bleached my hair blond because I couldn't stand to look at myself in the mirror.

"Hell yeah," I muttered as everyone said something too, and then we all said: "One, two, three, GO!" and as we said "go" we hoisted our hands up in the air. And just like that, I felt like we could all face a flock of angry dragons. I could do this.