The concert went on without a hitch and she was super excited watching them sing and dance from the sidelines. All the guys were very nice and welcoming, thanking her for getting Bullet out of their hair, they were grateful and looking forward to a good nights sleep. She got to meet James' dog Pepper who was well behaved except for being vocal quite often. The guys asked her questions about dog training and herself, very interested in her line of work since she wasn't just a dog trainer but a canine science teacher for all dog arts from basic care to grooming, to breed identification and psychology she knew it all and still learning.
To her surprise she was one of the 4 girls chosen to be the world wide girl, Carlos pulled her off the side stage and introduced her real quick and she received a round of applause. She took a seat between Carlos and Logan as they all began serenading their girls. They switched up to give all the girls a chance to be with each of them throughout the song. Katie couldn't stop smiling and blushing; this day was fantastic so far She rocked in her seat and lip-synced the words to her self as she enjoyed being with fellow rushers as well as her new found pop star friends.
Logan saw her singing along and enticed her to sing louder, sharing his mic with her. James heard her singing through his in ear monitor and looked over and smiled. When the song was over he gave her a pat on the back and told her great job. A round of applause was heard throughout, for all of them and after a few more minutes on stage getting hugs and even a few kisses from the guys, the girls were escorted to the stairs by the guys and then taken and helped down by security. Katie returned to the side stage, receiving high fives from the stage hands.
After a great concert, she was invited back to the dressing room to chill out with the guys for a little while as the crew cleaned up and the guys unwind. She was alone for the first 10 minutes as different crew members came in and out as well as the musicians for the band. When the guys finally came back, they were in their regular street clothes, looking completely refreshed and offered her food and beverages, treating her like a queen. She accepted some water but met Logan half way, showing that there was no need to wait on her.
"How did you like the concert?" Carlos asked
"I loved it! Thank you so much for inviting me, I cant believe you would do that for me." she smiled
"Hey you saved us from Bullet." Kendall said
"Don't get us wrong, we like him and everything but he is such a pain in the ass." James added
"Totally. We need a little break from him but no doubt when he does return, he'll be a brand new dog, something we can all stand and enjoy." Kendall continued.
"Logan, you've been quiet." James nudged him.
"Oh…yeah, sorry. I was thinking about something."
"Ohhh? About what?" Kendall teased
"Nothing like that, its just, Katie, you seem very familiar." Logan replied
"I do?" she questioned
"Yeah, you know, now that he mentions it, something about you does seem familiar. Are you sure you've never been to our shows before?" he asked
"Positive. Never met you guys before today." she replied.
"I guess I'm just tired. Cant wait to get a full nights sleep." he said stretching out.
They hung out for a little while and soon it was time to go. Katie got to ride their tour bus back to ACS to go home from their but not before she took more pictures of the guys as well as getting a full tour of their bus. She smiled and thanked them for their time and generosity, welcoming them back to her school at any time. James escorted her to the front door to make sure she got in ok before jumping back on the bus and waving from the window. She waved back to him and then to the others who were at the other windows and watched the bus pull out of sight down the long driveway.
Back on the bus, which was just reaching the boarder of CT, all the bus was quiet as the guys slept. Except for Carlos who was typing away at his computer. Logan's statement earlier about Katie looking familiar, had him thinking as well so he tried to find out why. He didn't come up with much and putting in her name only got results about ACS and how she was the youngest prodigy dog trainer and other stuff like that. He thought that maybe that was why she looked familiar, because she was part of the biggest and most well known school of animal science and he left it at that. He powered down his computer and tucked it into the slot just below his bunk and got himself some sleep.
It was late by the time Katie had gotten home and her parents were waiting up for her. She had the pictures to prove she was late but she still got an ear full even though she had told her parents she would be late. She was 21 and a successful career woman, who was also in college studying 3 additional majors and yet none of that seemed to matter. She often suffered depression and anxiety at home due to the love-hate relationship she had but managed to overcome it sometimes or at least just stick with life for whatever reason. She felt as bad as her life might have gotten at times, there was always someone out there worse off than her. Plus she had nothing else t do or anywhere to go really and didn't want to just give up, her parents were all she had and she wasn't about to turn her back on them.
The next morning she was about to go to work but was stopped by her mother who told her that her father didn't want her leaving. That's right she was grounded.
"What the hell? He wanted me to have a job and here I am making money and he still controls me? No way, I'm out. I've broken groundings before and I'll do it again. I'm 21 years old, legally an adult and you have no say. I'm tired of pleasing everyone. I don't do drugs nor am I a criminal and you people act like its not enough." she said before leaving.
She got in trouble later and tried to fight back but lost. She had no say but she also had no where to go so she just took the abuse. She was trapped with no way out, but even if there was one, she was too afraid to leave.
She got to work and stayed busy as she filled out a lot of paperwork, created new schedules, looked at books and did other basic duties before teaching a few classes later in the evening. She hadn't started Bullet's training yet, she would wait about a week so he could adjust to his new home and get a feel for his personality and temperament. He really was a sweet heart, just pushy and dominant so he'd be an easy case for her, she just worried about Carlos, could he really handle this dog's continued training that he would need? She knew he was a kind and intelligent guy so he'd do the best he could and if he really couldn't handle it, he'd know when to call it quits.
Carlos had some downtime and looked over the pile of papers he had gotten from Katie yesterday. His boarding/vet agreement, her info, books to read and so much more. He wondered about Bullet but figured he was doing alright, he was a very easy going guy and loved new people and places. Plus he was in good hands, all the dogs at the school were in great shape, glossy eyes, shining coats and full of life. He imagined what Bullet would be like after a couple months with Katie and at the same time he was saddened that he'd be without Bullet for so long. He was tempted to call Katie to check in on Bullet but also to talk with his new friend. The guys seemed to like Katie as well and he could tell they would become good friends if given the chance. For right now, they were just so busy on tour, that they could only talk via internet.
Carlos was deep in thought about Bullet, Katie and so may other things as he read through some of the 10s of pages he had on his lap before he was called for sound check. He plopped the papers on the table noting where he left off and caught up with the others. sound check was only 45 minutes but they still had to give their all, just as if they were performing for real and it was always a workout, but that was why it was done so early in the day, so they can rest all afternoon. Carlos returned to his pile of papers and looked online to find a few books he might be able to find.
Soon he got sidetracked though and browsed through some of his favorite sites, checking twitter and all that. He stumbled upon you tube, where he watched some funny cat videos as well as people doing stupid things before coming across a familiar video in his recommendations. It was one of his favorites, a short skit by an mildly popular amateur production group. He'd watched it probably close to 100 times and it never failed to make him laugh. He had a lot of videos saved in his favorites by this channel and was even subscribed but the channel had been inactive for quite some time now although the user still logged in often to favorite and watch other videos.
He watched the skit, a school survival guide type skit that always had all kinds of jokes ranging from something simple as slapstick to higher grade comedy. The videos were well put together and edited despite not having a high grade camera. The characters were always funny and delivered their lines well, most of the time it all seemed so real like it was happening right in front of him rather than being scripted. Other videos sometimes got serious and ended with a moral or some other kind of enlightenment and those were really cool to. There were a few videos on the channel out of the 100's posted that were actually covers of other songs both in song and dance or a mixture of both. They were well choreographed and thought out and he thought the songs were alright even though it wasn't his type of music, the singer was pretty good at it.
James came in after a while and once he got settled, took a seat next to carlos and peeked at what he was watching. It had been a while since Carlos watched the channel and only him and Logan saw the channel.
"Ever heard of Deleted By Society Productions, on you tube?"
"No. I'm not into the you tube thing. I've seen a few funny videos of people doing stupid shit but that's about it." James replied
"Oh. I've been into this channel for a while but its been months since anything was uploaded. They never fail to put a smile on my face with their skits. The songs arent that bad and neither is the dancing." Carlos responded
"Let me see?" James asked leaning forward. Carlos turned his laptop towards James and leaned in closer so he could finish watching the video. "What kind of music is this..? Sounds like something Logan would listen to a couple years ago."
"It's called, um, Liars and Monsters by Escape the Fate. There are some slower songs but nothing in rap or R&B. Its mostly punk, alternative and rock music, but it isn't bad as far as the singing goes." Carlos replied
"You're right about that. Those girls can dance too…I like it!" He smiled. "Let me get my computer I want to know more about this group. Do they have a website?"
"They used to, I don't see the link on their channel but maybe there is something on tumblr or twitter." Carlos suggested
"Ok, I'll check around." he said pulling his computer off his bunk. He sat back down next to Carlos and began his own search.
Kendall came in shortly and saw the two hard at work.
"What are you guys doing? You look so serious…" He questioned.
"Dude, check this out!" James called out to both.
He flipped his screen around to reveal the remnants of what used to be the channel's website that linked back to a blog that kept everything. The site was gone, most likely expired but the blog was still around although it hadn't been updated in quite some time. It was clear this group was indeed pretty popular but so were many other you tubers and despite their internet fame, real life celebrities and you tube celebrities almost never met; even rarer for them to cross paths. Celebrities may have their own channels or watch video of themselves if they are that vain but even if thy had the time, they didn't spend it searching for good videos to watch on you tube. Kendall leaned on the table and looked at the screen and Carlos looked over as well.
"Cast and crew of Deleted By Society Productions: Director/Creator/Founder/Choreographer: Katie Pryszweic. Katie was born in 1990 in Connecticut. She enjoys living life to the fullest and hanging out with friends. Many of her skits come from activities or events in her day to day life. Although well rehearsed and talented in theater and the arts such as singing, dancing, and acting, animals are her biggest passion, as she is a big animal lover." Kendall read. "Is that her?" he asked pointing to a picture just beside the bio. It was an action shot and hard to tell but there was another gallery full of pics most of them action shots in the beginning. Other pictures included behind the scenes stuff like her designing wardrobes, putting on make-up for the others and herself as well as being hard at work with her friends discussing the next project. Her other pictures were of her in costume but it finally clicked with the others who they were looking at, even though they had already read the name.
"Holy shit!" Kendall exclaimed.
"She's famous! Even more famous than just her talents as a dog teacher." Carlos added.
"Why didn't she tell us?" Kendall added
"Maybe she gave it up and doesn't want to think about it anymore." James reasoned
"But she's amazingly talented!" Carlos replied
"She's probably not interested in it anymore, in her bio it said animals were her passion and she's good at it." Kendall continued
"Dude, she probably didn't have the same luck or resources as us to get famous. She obviously does have a large following and fan base online but sometimes it isn't enough." James added
"Besides, all of her songs are fast and even the slow songs are full of guitar. You know as well as the rest of us that today's music has no use for that kind of music, as sad as that is. Pop and dance music wouldn't exist without rock but what can you do?" Kendall stated
"We can let our fans and the rest of the world decide. We have a huge following, surely if we create a poll and express our interest, she'll gain traction in the world of music and be discovered." Carlos said
"You cant just create a poll and make her famous if she doesn't want to be. She's a brand new friend, why would you try to betray her trust already? She's doing you a huge favor by training your dog for you, don't mess it up." James said sternly.
Carlos didn't want to let this go but he obviously wasn't going to win this argument and just let it go. He wanted to know the reason and as soon as he was able to sit down alone, he would call Katie and find out from her, what was going on and why she gave it up.
