"Hey y'all!" Jasmine shouted at the audience around her who all began to start cheering.
"You guys ready for a show?" Kenzie asked. The audience began to cheer even louder.
"I think they are, Kenz," Trinity laughed.
"Hey na na na na. Na na na na, na na na na. Hey na na na na. Na na na na, na na na na," Trinity sang.
"What you do with trash? You take it out, so why are you letting him hang around? Girl, you gotta know when to clean house and throw his shit out in the yard," Kenzie added.
"If it was the first time, I would understand, but it's the third time, you got a second chance. There's a fine line between an accident and an L-O-S-E-R."
"It's bullshit, you know it, yeah, I see it in your eyes, every time that you tell me deep down he's a really good guy. That's like saying drunk girls don't cry, girl, you must be outta your damn mind," they sang together.
At the end of the song the three girls felt pumped and like they could finish out the concert by themselves. So they did. They played songs that they had written with Lily and some that she had written and wanted to perform.
"Thank you, Florida!" They shouted at the same time. They all walked off stage together, hand in hand before they got backstage and began celebrating.
"We did it!" Jasmine shouted happily.
"Oh my God, we actually did it alone!" Trinity laughed.
"You guys did amazing," Sirius said as he pulled Trinity into his side.
"And without Lily," Kenzie said happily.
"Yeah, you guys did great without Lily," Remus agreed.
"It was pretty obvious she was missing it felt like to me," Peter said.
"Whatever," Jasmine said before she kissed Remus.
They six friends discussed the concert, highs and lows, their favorite songs, and the difference Lily's absence made. After a while they got a taxi back to Tiffany's house and all laid out in the living room.
"It was weird for Lily not to be there," Jasmine admitted.
"She thought you guys did awesome," James said.
"How do you know?" Kenzie demanded.
"I stood with her in the back of the house before I took her to her flight. I'm leaving soon to be with her," he replied.
There was dead silence at this.
"She was there?" Trinity asked softly, her voice breaking slightly.
"She was there and she cheered the loudest of anyone," Sirius verified.
"And nobody bothered to say anything?" Kenzie asked, her voice just short of shouting.
"She has a solo concert tomorrow night and I have six seat reserved for you if you wanna come," James said.
"I'm in," Peter said with a shrug.
"Sure," Remus agreed. "You gonna come too?" He asked Jasmine.
"Fine," she said stiffly. "But only to say goodbye," she added quickly.
"If she goes I guess I have to too," Trinity said.
"And if she's going I think it's my job as boyfriend to go," Sirius said.
"Kenz?" Jasmine asked softly.
"Fuck," Kenzie said. "I don't even remember why I'm mad," she said with a small smile after a second. Soon the whole room was laughing.
"So if you all are coming you better pack because we leave in an hour," James said.
There was a scramble to pack, but the seven friends were piled into two taxis and went to the airport where they rushed through security and quickly ran to get to their plane.
Lily sat in front of a mirror in her "dressing room" backstage of the small venue she was playing.
"You go this girl. You just gotta go out there and sing," she said as a single tear slipped out of her eye and she wiped it away.
"Miss Evans, it's show time," a freckle faced teenager with a headset on said.
"Ok, thank you," she replied with a forced smile before she grabbed her guitar and made her way onto the stage just in time to catch the very end of her intro.
"Hey y'all," she said happily to the small gathering of people who began to cheer. "I've got a few songs for you, and here goes my first one," she said awkwardly.
"I forgive you, I forgive me, now when do I start to feel again?" She sang. "I forgive you, I forgive me now when do I start to feel again?
"'Cause the lights are on but I'm never home. But I'll be back with a brand new attitude 'cause I forgive you. I forgive you
"We were just a couple of kids trying to figure out how to live. Doing it our way, no shame, no blame 'cause the damage is done. And I forgive you I forgive you. We were busy living the dream, never noticed the glass ceiling falling on us, no shame, no
blame 'cause the damage is done. And I forgive you."
There was a strong round of applause that met the end of this song.
"Thanks," she laughed slightly. "Sorry, I'm a little jittery because I haven't done this in a long time, but my next song is a tribute to the people who made it so I'm here," she said before she began to pick out the beginning chords.
"Young, all we ever think about is fun, all we ever wanna be is 21. Hey, doesn't everyone wanna sit on top of the world? Revolves around athletic boys and girls dressed up in their older sister's clothes, R. Kelly on the radio, screaming out, 'This'll
never get old'," Lily sang to the back of the house where she saw James and Sirius standing behind her friends.
"Racing cars and breaking hearts, first taste of love and twist-off wine. Kissing strangers, daring danger, burning bridges, crossing lines. You don't think to take it slow, and you don't know what you don't know. The nights are young and our IDs
are fake, underage, underage."
At the end of the song there was strong applause, but Lily smiled when she heard Trinity shout her name.
"Thanks, I've got a few others, but this next one is one that is particularly close to my heart," she said. She plucked out a few chords before she stopped. "I'm sorry, I can't do this alone, I tried, but I can't, could James Potter come
up here?" There as a round of applause as James came up next to her and grabbed a chair from backstage. "Thank you," Lily whispered as she gave him a hug. James smiled at Lily before she began to strum on her guitar.
"I know he hurt you, made you scared of love, too scared to love," James sang. "He didn't deserve you 'cause your precious heart is a precious heart. He didn't know what he had and I thank God, oh, oh, oh.
"And it's gonna take just a little time, but you're gonna see that I was born to love you."
"What if I fall?"
"I won't let you fall."
"What if I cry?"
"I'll never make you cry."
"And if I get scared?"
"I'll hold you tighter."
"When they're tryna get to you baby I'll be the fighter."
"What if I fall?"
"I won't let you fall."
"What if I cry?"
"I'll never make you cry."
"And if I get scared?"
"I'll hold you tighter," they finished together.
There was thunderous applause at the end of their song. After the show ended Lily and James went down to to the green room.
"You did amazing," James said as soon as the door closed.
"Yeah," a voice said softly behind them.
"I loved that song about being underage and all that," Jasmine said.
"You came," Lily said.
"Surprise," Trinity said.
"Oh my God! You came!" Lily said again, her hand flying to her mouth as tears sprang out.
"Yeah," Kenzie said as she pushed forward to hug her friend. Soon the whole band was hugging and crying.
"I missed you guys," Lily sobbed.
"I missed you too," Trinity and Jasmine said at the same time. The four girls laughed and broke apart at this.
"No more," Kenzie said, looking every girl in the eye.
"Never again," Jasmine agreed.
"Never," Trinity said.
"Like we said in high school," Lily said with a hiccup. "Best friends forever and ever without fail."
"You're such a cliché," Jasmine laughed.
"Yeah, we are a cliché," Kenzie teased.
"I love you guys," Lily said.
"We love you too," the rest of the band choruses.
"So you guys are friends again?" Sirius asked softly.
"Sisters again," Jasmine corrected with a smile.
"That's great, guys," Remus said as he hugged Jasmine to him and kissed her temple.
"So, now that you guys aren't fighting anymore, can we get to the hotel, it's like midnight to my body," Sirius said.
"Yeah, we've got to get over to the Ministry tomorrow," James said to Lily.
"So now as soon as we fix everything, we all have to leave," Kenzie said.
"Yeah, I mean, we all knew the summer was basically over," Trinity said. "And now we split up."
"I'm going to miss you guys so much," Lily said.
"We've got to go," Jasmine said softly. "I've got to get home, I've got registration for Berkeley in three days."
"I'm starting school in a week too," Trinity admitted.
"We're really all leaving each other," Kenzie repeated.
"Hey, we're just going to different places," Lily said. "We've still got next summer, and spring break, and-"
"Yeah, but we're all leaving, that stuff doesn't last, I mean soon you'll get married, don't try to fight it I can tell how you two are, then you'll have a kid and you won't have any time for us, plus you'll be fighting a war," Kenzie said.
"She's right," Jasmine said. "We are leaving."
The four women looked at each other and hugged. There were whispered "I love you"s before they all broke apart and went on their own ways.