Ch. 19 The Concert
"See you later Ken!" I waved as he went into the sub.
Ken waved back, everyone waved. The sub left, we did to.
"I have an idea," Matt told us.
"I never like your ideas," Tai laughed.
"How about you guys come to my concert. You'll get to see who Sidney is," Matt smiled.
"Sounds great, why would she be at your concert?" Sora asked puzzled.
"She's our opening act. Sidney really gets the crowd going," he explained.
"Ok, let's just go there, not back to my house," I decided.
"When will the concert be over?" Cody questioned.
"Around 8:30PM," Matt replied calmly.
"I might not be able to go; can I use your phone Izzy?" Cody stopped walking.
"Sure," Izzy took his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to Cody.
Cody dialed the number for his house. I zoned out a little, but I did hear him say please a lot, and at the end, he was really happy and said thank you.
"Can you go?" Yolei asked Cody.
"She said I had to be home for nine," he told us.
"Good, let's get going then, I'm going to be late if we don't hurry," Matt started to walk fast.
We walked to where the concert took place.
A girl Sora's age and height walked up to Matt with worried eyes. She wore a pair of black jeans and a pink, button up, tank top. Her hair was in a high ponytail, it was a dark blue color.
"Matt, my second singer is sick, she can't come, my whole show is ruined!" she told him.
"Sidney, don't worry, we'll fix it," Matt told her.
"Unless you have two girls that know Avril Lavigne songs and can play the guitar, my show can't go on! I knew I should have had a back up plan," Sidney looked around the room.
"I do have to friends that can play the guitar, but I'm not that sure about the singing," Matt looked at Sora and me with this, how about it? look.
"We know them all by heart," Sora told him.
"Perfect! My name is Sidney. I know Sora, but what is your name?" she introduced herself.
"Kari is my name," I told her.
"Follow me! Matt I'll need around 30 minutes to get set up. Do you have anyway to distract the crowd for that long?" Sidney looked at the group of people.
"I can figure something out," he looked at the others and had a smile on.
"Ok, thanks Matt, you are such a life saver!" we walked away.
"Ok, those are the guitars, they're all in tune," Sidney pointed at two guitars.
"What songs will you be singing?" I asked looking at a guitar and picking it up.
"We'll be singing 'Who Knows'," she told me.
"Do you need both of us to sing?" Sora asked her.
"Kari, I want you to sing with me, you should be able to hit high notes," Sidney informed me.
I nodded my head as Matt walked into the room.
"Can I borrow Kari, or do you need her?" Matt asked.
"No, just bring her back in, let's say 10 minutes before I'm on," Sidney said as we left.
"What do you need Matt?" I questioned.
"You and Yolei are doing the opening act for the opening act," he gave me this you have to look.
"What song?" I had to sing a lot today, didn't I?
"You'll be singing 'Together', I think it will be a good song for you two," Matt led me onto the stage. Yolei was waiting for me.
"Come on Kari, T.K. will play the drums, Davis is going to play the guitar with Tai, and Izzy is going to do the sound stuff on the keyboard," Yolei handed me a microphone.
"Let's get this over with," I stood by Davis. The curtains opened, and they started to play.
I started to pace back and forth on the stage.
"Something just isn't right, I can feel it inside, the truth isn't far behind me, you can't deny. When I turn the lights out, when I close my eyes, reality over comes me, I'm living a lie," I began, I was pacing still. I began to sing again. "When I'm alone I feel so much better, and when I'm around you I don't feel." Yolei and I walked to the center of the room and we were back to back.
"Together!" Yolei sang.
"It doesn't feel right at all," I finished.
"Together!" Yolei sang again.
"Together we built a wall," I sang after her.
"Together!" her voice filled the room.
"Holding hands we'll fall," my voice started to fill the room.
"Hands we'll fall!" now both of our voices filled the room.
"This has gone on so long, I realize that I need something good to rely on, something for me," I sang my part, pacing again.
We then sang the chorus part, back to back. This started with me singing 'When I'm alone…' and us ending with 'Hands we'll fall'.
"My heart is broken, I'm lying here, my thoughts are choking on you, my dear, on you, my dear, on you, my dear," I stood in front, center stage. I sang in a calm, soft voice.
We then had to sing the chorus part twice. Again, we were back to back.
"When I'm around you, when I'm around you, I don't feel together, I don't feel together," I started to sing. I was standing next to Yolei. I sang again. "When I'm around you," I sang.
"Together!" Yolei sang as I was singing the rest of my part.
"When I'm around you, I don't feel together, no, I don't feel together!" I finished my part. At the end, both Yolei and I were singing 'together'. Our voices were at different points, but at the end, the word crashed together perfectly.
The crowd applauded, they stood up and clapped. They went wild!
Yolei and I smiled and turned bright red. The curtains closed and I walked over to Davis.
"I never knew you played the guitar," I was smiling.
"You never asked," Davis responded.
"Did you teach yourself?" I asked.
"Let's just say, I'm better than my teacher was," he laughed.
"What about you guys?" I looked at the other puzzled.
"We all have our talents!" T.K. laughed at me.
"Well, today you'll get to see my guitar skills!" I laughed right back at him.
"Kari! Hurry up! You need to get to the changing room!" Matt yelled at me from the doorway.
"Changing room? Oh, right!" I was confused. I walked away, waving bye to the others.
Matt took me to a small room.
"Hey Kari, we need to get you changed! Sora is already changing, and you're so skinny, I'm not that sure if my clothes will fit you," Sidney stared at me.
Matt left the room. Sidney started pulling clothes from a rack.
"Is he gone?" Sidney asked, she was looking through the clothes she pulled out.
"Yes, why?" I was scared to ask.
"How long have you known Matt?" she countered my question.
"Around four years," I answered calmly.
"I've only known him for three months, but for some reason, I feel really attracted to him. Kari, do you know how he feels for me? What he thinks about me?" She was shaking.
"Yes, but I'm not that sure if I should say, Matt never told me if I could, I would talk to Sora," I told Sidney as Sora walked out from behind a door.
"I will, Kari you should change," Sidney handed me a pile of clothes.
I gave her a puzzled look.
"Wear the first things that fit," she instructed me and pointed to a door.
I walked over to the door, opened it, dropped the clothes on the floor, then closed the door.
I picked out the clothes that I liked. I found a cute pair of pants; they were baggy, blue jeans. I tried them on, they fit perfectly! I found a pair of short cut, black gloves, just like the ones I had at my house. I put them to the side. I then looked for a shirt. After a minute or two, I found this black shirt, it was a spagetti strapped. I put it on, it was too big. I rummaged through the pile of clothes again. This time, I found a dark pink shirt. It was also a tank top, but it had one-inch straps. I slipped into it. It was short, it showed my belly button, but for some reason I didn't care. I put on the gloves, and opened the door to the room I was in.
"Should I bring these clothes out?" I yelled to Sidney.
"Just leave them in there, I'll have someone else clean it for me," she told me.
I left the clothes and closed the door.
I walked over to where Sora and Sidney were.
"I see you found something to wear, and you found my gloves," Sidney stared at my hands.
"I can change into mine," I told her, I placed my clothes on a chair.
"Nah, I'll just wear my wrist bands," she turned towards a shelf.
Someone knocked on the door.
"What!" Sidney yelled.
"Can I come in?" Matt asked in an irritated voice.
"Oh! Come on in," she looked around the room.
"We need you on stage…Are you trying to make my poor, sweet friends bad girls?" Matt looked at us. He started to laugh.
"Kari, change into these shoes," Sidney handed me a pair of black shoes. They zipped up; they had a thick heel, around three inches. I pulled off my shoes and shove the other shoes on. I got up, and tripped.
"Come on girls," Matt shook his head and opened the door. We followed him.
"Hope you don't have stage fright," Sidney looked at me and Sora.
"I've already been on the stage today," I told her.
"I haven't been yet," Sora smiled.
We picked up our guitars. A guy came out and sat by the drums.
"You girls ready?" he laughed.
"We're ready; I just hope you are Chad! Where is Nick?" she looked around the room. A guy my age walked in the room. He smiled and stood by the keyboard.
"Sorry I'm late," Nick said calmly.
"No problem!" Sidney smiled.
"Ok, hope you're ready," Matt whispered to us as the curtain went up.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Sidney started us off.
"Why do you look so familiar? I could swear that I've seen your face before. I think I like that you seem sincere, I think I'd like to get to know you a little bit more," I sang the first verse.
"I think there's something more life's worth living for," Sora sang the beginning part of the chorus.
"Who knows what could happen, do what you do, just keep on laughing. One things true, there's always a brand new day," everyone sang the middle part of the chorus.
"I'm gonna live like today like it's my last day," Sora sang the ending chorus part.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," Sidney sang again.
"How do you always have an opinion? And how do you always find the best way to compromise? We don't need to have a reason, we don't need anything, we're just wasting time," I sang the second verse.
We then sang the chorus parts twice.
"Find yourself, 'cause I can't find you. Be yourself," Sidney sang.
"Who are you?" I sang in a higher pitch then normal.
"Find yourself 'cause I can't find you. Be yourself," she sang again.
"Who are you?" I questioned again.
This time when the chorus was sung, Sidney sang it, Sora quietly sang with her.
"So you go and make it happen! Do your best, just keep on laughing. I'm telling you, there's always a brand new day!" everyone sang.
We finished by singing the chorus one last time.
People stood, people clapped.
"Thanks guys and girls! You were a great crowd! I would first like to introduce my subs for the night! This is Kari; she masters in vocal ranges, playing the guitar, and has great style! And the other one over there, is Sora, she was my main guitarest, she also has great taste in clothing!" Sidney told everyone.
The curtains closed. We placed our guitars on the ground. We left the stage.
Matt walked up to us.
"Great job girls," he was smiling at us.
"Thanks Matt!" Sidney had a huge smile.
"Kari, you made my guitar playing seem like a kid playing around with a toy!" Matt laughed.
"I'm sorry, next time I'll try not to do as good," I joked around with him.
"Who said there's a next time?" Matt asked me.
"I do," Sidney looked at him with soft eyes.
"When your other guitarest is sick?" he questioned.
"Whenever I want her too, if that's ok," she looked at me.
"Really? That would be awesome! I would love to!" I was very happy.
"Of course! Sora should come back soon too," Sidney turned around and saw Sora.
"Sure," she said calmy.
"You're just going to-" Sidney started, but Matt cut her off.
"Not this again," Matt told her.
Sidney rolled her eyes.
"Go on Sidney," I said to her.
"As I was saying, you're going to love the limelight," she said to us.
"Sometimes to much gets you sick," Matt joked around.
Sidney gave him a dirty look, and hit him.
Sora and I laughed.
"That hurt!" Matt yelled at her, we were walking out the door.
"You're welcome!" she laughed back in a flirty way.
Sidney, Sora, and I walked into the dressing room again.
"Do you flirt with him a lot?" Sora asked Sidney.
"I was flirting!" Sidney put her hand over her mouth, she was shocked.
"The worse thing about flirting, you can't tell when you're doing it," I looked at Sora.
Sora nodded her head.
"Do you think he noticed?" Sidney looked at us with fear in her eyes.
"If he's as brain dead as Davis, no, if he's like Izzy, yes," Sora said.
"Davis isn't brain dead!" I yelled at her.
"Who's Davis and Izzy?" Sidney was questioning.
"Izzy is this really smart, computer wiz in our group," I told her.
"And Davis is Kari's boyfriend," Sora explained.
"He's not my boyfriend, well, I don't think he is…We've never had a date, I guess we're just friends who like each other," I said mainly to Sora.
"So, you want Davis to be your boyfriend," Sora guessed.
"Honestly, yes," I admitted.
I heard something brush up against the door. Someone knocked.
"Come on in!" Sidney shouted.
Slowly the door open. I then saw Davis's head look in and gave a big smile. After a second, he pulled his whole body in the room…Still smiling.
"Who's this guy?" Sidney asked.
"That's Davis," Sora told her.
"Oh, Kari's boyfriend," she unexpectedly said.
I fidgeted, Davis's eyes lit up, he was either surprise or liked the thought, which one, I didn't know. I was puzzled at why Sidney said this.
"I'm not that sure, hey Davis, are you and Kari boyfriend and girlfriend?" Sora played along.
"Um, uh, I, you could say that," Davis stuttered.
Sidney showed a bright smiled, I think she was amused.
"Where was your first date?" she quickly asked him.
Davis hesitated.
Sidney was studying him with her glowing eyes.
"I, we…Haven't…Yet," he found it hard to answer.
"You should take her to somewhere nice. It is really pretty to lay in the grass, right under a tree, and just stare up at the stars, it is a perfect way to end a date, to me anyways," she told him.
"I'll make sure I tell Matt," Davis said, I shock my head at him.
Sidney's eyes grew wider. She turned bright red.
"Really, you mean he's liked me this whole time, but hid it from me, why?" she looked at us.
"Our group is just that way, I didn't tell Davis until last night. I've liked him for, I think three years, same with him, but I never told," I explained.
Sidney had a small grin.
"Davis, why did you come here in the first place?" Sora asked.
"I wanted to ask Kari if she wanted to leave and get some ice cream," Davis said, he stared at the door, looking like he wanted to leave.
"I would love to Davis, come on," I told him.
"You guys have fun, just don't do anything stupid," Sora said concerned.
"First dates are always the best," Sidney smiled as Davis opened the door for me.
"Sidney, why don't you go ask Matt out?" I asked leaving the room.
I looked back; she was nodding, telling me that she would.
Davis and I walked down the hall; he was staring at the ground. Davis looked deep in thought.
"Davis, what are you thinking about?" I was staring at him, watching his every move.
"What I should do," Davis was still looking at the ground. His hands in his pockets.
"I think you should tell me why you're so tense," I told him with a small smile.
"Well, I'm a little scared," he opened the door that leaded outside.
"About what?" I asked as we got outside.
Davis just stared out in the distance and then at me. He started to walk ahead of me.
"You have to give me a better clue then that," I said as I grabbed his hand, he stopped.
He turned and looked at me. Davis's eyes glimmered in the starlight.
I looked at the stars, and then back at Davis. "Your eyes are so beautiful in the starlight."
Davis blinked. I didn't know I had said it out loud.
"Let's keep on going," Davis held my hand, and we started to walk away from the building.
Davis bought us both one scoop of ice cream, strawberry, my favorite.
"Thanks Davis!" I said and took the cone from his hand.
"No problem, I enjoy spending time with you," he was smiling.
I took a lick of ice cream, I started to blush.
"Kari…You're blushing!" Davis pointed out.
I just stared at my ice cream cone, trying not to look at him. I smiled.
"What is it?" he asked me.
"I…You…I like being around you too," I stuttered.
"Why are you so red?" Davis questioned.
"I'm not that sure," I turned, our eyes met, how gorgeous they were! I was just staring at him.
"Come on Kari, I have somewhere I want to take you," Davis said, he took my hand.
"Oh, ok," I said in return.
We walked to a tree, it was a medium height.
"Come on, do you need my help?" Davis climbed up the first branch.
"No, I can handle it," I told him.
We climbed up to the tallest branch. I looked up; you could see all the stars.
"It's wonderful!" I was excited.
"I thought you would like it," Davis was also looking at the stars.
"This is great Davis, I'm glad I came," I looked at him.
"Does that mean you're having a good time?" Davis looked at me.
"Of course!" I smiled with joy.
"Kari, you never gave Sidney back her clothes," he reminded me.
"Oh, I'll just give them to her next time I see her," I decided.
"Sounds like a plan!" Davis closed his eyes, his smile was sweet.
"The perfect moment," I whispered.
Davis's eyes were still closed. I leaned over and kissed him, right on the lips. He held me close now, his lips were warm. I stopped, I heard someone coming. I held Davis's hand though. I looked around, trying to find who or what I heard. I scanned the area, then I saw Tai, he spotted us.
"Kari! What are you doing up there with Davis? You better not be kissing!" Tai yelled at me.
"I'm not, I'm coming down!" I shouted back.
"Good! Come on!" he yelled.
I looked at Davis, Davis climbed down first. I followed him.
"Kari, we have to get home. I called Mom; she said we have to be there in 45 minutes. Sidney said that you can keep the clothes, they don't fit her," Tai explained.
"Cool," I replied.
Tai started to walk away, he wanted us to follow.
"Are you still behind me?" Tai asked.
"Yes Tai, why do you ask?" I question.
"You might wonder off, I don't want you doing that," he turned around and looked at Davis and I.
"I would keep her safe," Davis smiled.
"That is what I'm worried about," he mumble to us.
"Hey!" Davis yelled.
Tai jumped back and gave Davis an evil look, that, stay away from my sister look.
"Tai, Davis come on. Please, don't fight, it's not worth it," I told them.
They stared at me, Davis with his glimmering eyes, and Tai with his strong, furious eyes.
"Be glad Kari's here," Tai informed Davis. He turned around and started to walk again.
"I've never seen him be so difficult before," I told Davis.
"He never minded us hanging out before," Davis gave me this Why now? look.
"I guess, when I want to see you, I could lie, tell him I'm with T.K. or Yolei, he doesn't mind me hanging with them," I said slyly.
"I wouldn't let you do that," he replied to my statement.
"Why not? I rather get in trouble with Tai, then not see you," I smiled.
"Tai will get over it. I hope he does anyways," Davis smiled back.
"Davis, do you have anything still in our room?" Tai quickly asked.
"Yeah…Kari, where is Willis going to stay?" Davis switched subjects.
I stopped.
"Matt's going to let him stay with him and his dad tonight, he'll just get passed around, he'll spend a night at everyones house, except for the girls," Tai replied.
"Will Willis stay with us?" I questioned.
"Yes, he'll stay for the weekend," he told me.
"Ok, sounds good, I hope everyone agrees to the plan," Davis's smile was charming.
"They did, we decided without you guys," Tai gazed back at us.
I shook my head.
"What else did you decide without us?" I requested.
"Nothing," I could tell from his voice that Tai was lying.
"Davis, thanks for tonight it was, well, wonderful," I told Davis.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it!" his eyes grew full of life.
"What did you guys do anyways?" Tai asked.
"Went for ice cream," Davis replied.
"And the tree?" he questioned.
"Just showing Kari how beautiful the stars are from up there," Davis quickly answered.
"And the kiss?" Tai continued.
"Kiss?" Davis now questioned him.
"Yeah, I saw you. I don't like you going off and kissing my sister," he informed us.
"I kissed him," I told Tai.
He gave me a shocked look; his eyes grew larger, mouth opened wide.
"It's the truth, he smiled, eyes closed, perfect moment, right under the stars," I explained.
"You've got to stop telling me this stuff," Tai started to walk again.
"It's not my fault, you asked!" I yelled to him, he walked fast.
Davis and I ran up to him.