xxxxxxxxxxxx
"You kind of forgot to find out that this was the worst country on earth," Jade grumbled, after Tori gave them the eleventh and twelfth pieces of bad news so far – that the swimming pool was full of ammunition and the white-sand beach had been taken over by rebels.
"Yeah, yeah, I did," Tori said.
Jade stopped her eyes mid-roll when she noticed a pair of local women playing with Beck's hair as he sat on one of the lobby couches. She stomped her way over, glaring at Beck and the two women.
Beck shrugged, unsure how to get them to stop.
"They must like his fluffy American hair," Cat commented.
Jade planted her hands on her hips. "Hey! Get your hands off my boyfriend's head!" she shouted.
The two women stopped playing with Beck's hair and started to hiss at Jade.
Jade's brow creased in consternation before she crossed her arms and hissed right back – louder and more aggressively than the two women.
They backed off and fled.
Beck bit back a laugh and got up. "My hero, whatever would I do without you?" he teased.
Jade glared at him, keeping her arms crossed tight over her chest in annoyance.
"C'mon," he coaxed, gently prying her arms apart and holding one of her hands in his.
Jade huffed before softening into him.
They were eventually shown to their rooms – complete with not-even-medieval-locks they had to jimmy open with rusting screwdrivers.
Robbie started recording a walk-through of their room for the video log he wanted to do of their trip.
As if things could not get worse, there was a dud grenade in the toilet of the boys' room.
Robbie had gone to the front desk screaming about it before security went to get rid of it.
Meanwhile, Trina did some screaming of her own, when she found a refugee hiding in her closet.
Within minutes, the security forces assigned to the hotel had taken the refugee away, but the gang was back in the lobby.
Sgrodis was behind the counter, facing them.
"That's it, we're getting out of here!" Trina shouted.
"Yeah, I want to go home!" Robbie complained.
"I'm very sorry about the troubles," Sgrodis said. "Can I offer you some Yerbanian gravy?" he asked, lifting a case of canned gravy onto the countertop.
"We don't want your gravy!" Tori interjected.
"We just want our tickets out of here, so we can go home," Jade said.
"This isn't at all what we agreed to," André added.
"You kids promised a week of shows," Sgrodis said sternly. "I won't be paying for your flight back if you don't keep your end of the deal."
The gang seethed but seeing as they weren't exactly equipped to get themselves to the airport and tickets home, they had to retreat for the moment.
They returned to their rooms again before moving to the restaurant bar to rehearse for their show.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
"Okay, let's get this done from top to bottom?" Beck said. Since he was only doing a duet with André and dancing with Jade, they decided he would run the show, with Cat and Robbie taking over when he was on stage.
They rehearsed their solos and duets without incident.
It was when they reached their closing number that there was anything that needed tweaking.
The song André, Talia and Robbie had written was called "All I Want Is Everything". It was upbeat, and it used the full range of Tori, Jade, Cat and Trina's voices together – coupled with an equally upbeat dance routine with high-kicks.
In the middle of the second chorus, Tori, blocking in middle, kicked up, but her heeled shoe went flying off her foot and into the empty seats in the Yerbanian hotel's excuse of a bar.
"Tori! Why'd you throw your shoe?" Cat asked.
"Sorry!" Tori said.
"Please tell me you have more sensible footwear in your suitcase," André said.
Tori looked at the shoes Jade, Cat and Trina were wearing, which were all securely wrapped around their feet. "Uh…"
"I have a spare pair of heels!" Cat chirped. "Let me go get them."
Without another word, she was skipping towards their room.
"Alright, take five, everyone," Beck said.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
They managed to get their final number sorted out before heading to bed.
"Have you told your dad what's going on here?" Jade asked Tori and Trina.
The Vega sisters looked at each other.
"He's going to call us home as soon as we do," Tori reasoned.
"Do you want to get stuck in this place?" Jade asked.
"Well, no…" Tori said.
"I think we should at least tell Dad that this place is at war," Trina said.
"Are you kidding? He'll flip! He'll say we were irresponsible to come here," Tori answered.
Jade's mouth twisted in a frown. "Well, we kind of were!"
"Hey!" Tori interjected.
"She's got a point, Tori," Cat said, coming out of the bathroom in her pajamas with a fluffy pink towel wrapped around her hair.
Jade sighed. "If you're not going to tell your father, I'm telling mine." She grabbed her PearPhone and started composing a message.
Tori and Trina didn't move to stop her.
An hour or so later, Marcus West called his daughter. His firm had someone in a nearby territory who would cross the border into Yerba and escort them back to the United States by the next night.
"Sorry we're causing this much trouble, Dad," Jade mumbled into the phone, not quite happy about letting her friends hear her apologizing to her father.
"Don't worry about it, Jade," Marcus said, "but next time, let's be a little more cautious about where you and your friends are going. I know you're well on your way to being independent, but I need to know you'll be able to take care of yourself and not land in the middle of a warzone."
"Consider it done, Dad," she replied. "Thanks. I'll see you soon."
It was a rough night, with the odd sounds of scuffles in the street and distant shelling.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Since Mr. West's contact was on his way, the gang only had to survive one more day in Yerba.
They tried to make themselves scarce during the day, holing up in their rooms jamming or playing card games to pass the time.
By evening, they got dressed and made up for the show.
Sgrodis introduced them to the crowd. "I am excited to introduce you all to our American entertainment, the HA6++!"
There was applause.
"Furthermore, I would like to recognize the presence of the Supreme Chancellor at tonight's opening show!" Sgrodis added.
The applause was much louder for the Supreme Chancellor.
The man, in full military regalia, waved to his adoring public.
Sgrodis handed off the microphone to Beck.
"Uh," he said, clearing his throat. "It's great to be here in Yerba. It's such a beautiful place," he said, trying his hardest not to sound hollow. "It's a great honor to be performing for your Supreme Chancellor tonight, too."
Another round of applause sounded for the ruler.
"Without further ado, let's give it up for Tori Vega!" Beck said, once the other patrons had calmed down.
Making my way downtown
Walking fast, faces pass and I'm homebound
Staring blankly ahead
Just making my way
Making a way through the crowd
And I need you
And I miss you
And now I wonder
André accompanied her on the piano, because despite the intervening months, Tori never learned how to do the instrumental part on her own.
After Tori's solo, Trina came up next with a country song.
You can see for miles, you can reach the dials
Sit back and smile from the front seat
You can chase the sun, you can feel the hum of the axles underneath your feet
When you're sitting shotgun, you seem pretty and free
But you learn to love from the backseat
Robbie and Jade brought her backup vocals, adding a very mellow, nostalgic feel to Trina, who usually performed bombastic numbers intended to grab attention and hold it – whether by their loudness or by her obnoxious antics.
"Wow, she's really good," Beck commented to Cat.
"Don't sound so surprised," Cat whispered with a smirk.
André came over and gave Beck a pat on the back, reminding him they were up next.
Once Trina got off the stage, André and Beck performed "Ready or Not" for the Yerbanian crowd. The retro sound resonated surprisingly well with the audience, with them bopping along as the boys sang.
Watching Beck and André sing, Jade had to hand it to them. They were so much better this time around than at Karaokie Dokie.
The final beat of "Ready or Not" led straight into the opening bars of Jade and Cat's "Give It Up". This particular change was trickier, since the stage was on the small side and there wasn't a lot of lighting to play around with. It wasn't particularly pretty, but Beck and André retreated to opposite sides of the stage as Jade and Cat came on.
Give it up, you can't win
'Cause I know where you've been
Such a shame you don't put up a fight
That's a game that we play at the end of the night
It's the same old story, but you never get it right
Give it up
Jade and Cat exited the stage – Jade to a quick costume change and Cat to the sound system. Beck, who had changed into a tux, came out to do a spiel and entertain the crowd for the two-minute planned interval.
At the start of the penultimate number, Beck tossed Tori the mic as Jade came on stage in a sparkly red dress with a slit caught between conservative and revealing.
Tori caught it easily from where she and André were on stage for the live vocals. She was already dressed in her outfit for the final number – a sparkling red sequined top that matched the dress Jade was wearing.
André struck up the opening chords to "El Beso Del Final", while Beck and Jade came together on stage. This had been easy enough to choreograph, once they had pared the song down to one stanza, the bridge and the fade out.
Anoche yo sentí
Que me besaste diferente y me quedé
Sin saber qué hacer
Yo te conozco y sé
Que algo no anda bien, ven, dime la verdad
No quiero imaginar
Que fue el beso del final
Robbie introduced the final number through a lapel mic from the sound booth, while Jade had one final costume change – a turquoise top she already had under her red dress and a black sequined vest to match Tori, Trina and Cat's outfits.
I feel delirious, come let's get out of here
We're so anonymous but it's all coming clear
We're heading for the sky
And we'll get lost in it 'cause
All I want, all I want, all I want
Is everything
And I will pose if I wanna
And I will vogue like Madonna
I might not dance like M.J, R.I.P.
But I will give the best of me
All I want is everything
Yes everything too much is not enough
I'm sick of settling for in between
And I'm not givin' up
As long as it feels right
At least we know that we're alive
All I want is everything, yes everything, yeah
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
We don't ever stop
Let's watch the sun come up
We'll sleep when we're dead 'cause
Halfway kinda sucks
We're heading for the sky
And we'll get lost in it 'cause
All I want, all I want, all I want is everything
And I will pose if I wanna
And I will vogue like Madonna
I might not dance like M.J, R.I.P.
But I will give the best of me
All I want is everything
Yes everything too much is not enough
I'm sick of settling for in between
And I'm not givin' up
As long as it feels right
At least we know that we're alive
All I want is everything, yes everything, yeah
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
Hold on to me
And I'll hold on to you (oh, oh)
Don't over think
What have we got to lose
It's me and you,
Me and you no matter what
Whoa oh ah oh whoa oh oh whoa
We're heading for the sky
And we'll get lost in it 'cause
All I want, all I want, all I want is everything
And I will pose if I wanna
And I will vogue like Madonna
I might not dance like M.J, R.I.P.
But I will give the best of me
All I want is everything
Yes everything too much is not enough
I'm sick of settling for in between
And I'm not givin' up
As long as it feels right
At least we know that we're alive
All I want is everything, yes everything, yeah
Whoa-oh, whoa-oh
xxxxxxxxxxxx