FINALLY! SO sorry for the long wait. Onto the dedications:
demigirl606, AmandaSimmons95, HideBehindTheMask, moveouttathewayitzh, DannySamLover20, CuttieGirll57, INanyCASE, kikkina123, CandyLovin'Girl111, FoxBlood, TimeMissy, IloveIronMan, secretprincess, and readinghottie16. Sorry if I missed anyone. Enjoy!
I do not own Radio Rebel
8:00 A.M.
"Hey there, Mr. Director." Audrey greeted Rob when she showed up to work on the music video. Despite expecting to go through hair and makeup before shooting began, she looked her best, even in her everyday clothes.
He chuckled. "There's our star. How you doin'?" He probably would've shaken her hand or hugged her, if his hands weren't full. With a clipboard and megaphone, he really looked the part.
"Unfathomably nervous." She admitted, taking a deep breath to try and calm herself.
"Really?" Gabe asked, coming up behind her. His tone of voice matched the look on Rob s face. That wasn't something they'd expected to hear coming from Audrey. Rob put the clipboard down on the grass momentarily, to give Audrey an encouraging clap on the shoulder. Something he figured she needed. Then, hearing the film crew call his name, he picked up the clipboard again and jogged off in their direction. The two kids walked through the set-a summer house a friend of Rob's was allowing him to use for the shoot-which seemed void of life at the moment. Everyone had something to do. Which is what surprised Audrey about seeing Gabe, considering he was so dedicated to the band. She thought he wouldn't bring up what she said again, since the inside of the house was so beautiful it silenced them both. Apparently, the silence was' t something Gabe was comfortable with. When they reached the dining room, stepping lightly since the chandelier hanging above the table looked fragile-and expensive-he asked: "Why?"
Audrey had no trouble answering. Tara had told her how honest Gabe was, and she figured she owed him the same courtesy. "Because of how much you guys are depending on me. This is the start of your musical career." The pressure she was feeling masked the pride in her voice as she went on. "I don't wanna be the one to put that in danger."
"You really think that?" He asked as he walked on, into the hallway. He didn't want her to see the look on his face, in case she was able to tell what was on his mind. That's weird. For him, it was. He could' t see why she figured the band's success rested on her shoulders.
"That's why I said it." She said as she took a seat on the bottom of the steps. He remained standing. Audrey's response was more of a joke, even though she wanted him to take her seriously. Everyone had asked her for help, and she wasn't going to let them down. That showed in her eyes, and suddenly her argument didn't seem so strange.
Gabe looked at her. His cryptic expression was enough to make her hands shake more than they already were. Then he spoke.
"Good."
"Good?" She echoed questioningly, trying not to sound as disgusted as she felt.
"I find that I work better under pressure."
"Are you saying that you get nervous, too?"
It took Audrey some time to notice he could be hinting at that. Thinking it over, she realized Gabe had sounded relieved when he said that. Like he was glad someone could relate. Admitting to that wasn't easy for him.
"All the time. Especially when I don't." She laughed in spite of herself, until he laughed back. "Look, I know they don't call you a drama queen for nothing. You're gonna do great. You and Tara."
"Tara?" Audrey repeated, her shock over the-somewhat random-revelation obvious. She thought Gabe must be tired of hearing her say things back to him. Though he was used to that sort of thing. "You got her to act?"
Her bright eyes dimmed when he replied. The usually proud tone behind Gabe s scoff was lost to disappointment. "Please. Unfortunately, not even I am that talented. Cami convinced her to collaborate with the crew on story ideas."
"So, she's our writer?" Audrey asked, getting excited all over again. She was already back on her feet, eager to start working.
"Pretty much." Gabe said, as he and Audrey walked out of the house the was they came in. He meant for this to sound casual, but it didn't come out that way. Audrey couldn't describe his tone, but she didn't let it get her worried. Since she could tell one thing for sure. He understood what she was going through.
"I'm mad at you."
"Are you trying to set a record for the most amount of times you can say that in a day? 'Cause I think you've got it." Barry told Stacy, looking through her kitchen cabinets the entire time he spoke.
"I'm waiting for it to sink in." Stacy explained condescendingly, as she stood there watching him with her arms crossed.
"I get it." He insisted, pulling cans of various vegetables and soups out and placing them on the counter. After thinking for a moment, he retracted his statement. "Well I don't get it. But I know."
"And why do you think that is?" The way she asked this, it sounded like she expected Barry to find fault in his plan when he answered. Though he felt he'd done nothing wrong. Which is why he replied with: "Because I'm taking you out of your comfort zone?"
She laughed that off harshly. "How could any of your little ideas possibly be in anyone's comfort zone? It's like you thought up everything I'd hate to do and decided to use the campaign as a way to humiliate me." Barry took the opportunity to look at Stacy when he peered over his shoulder in search of something to put the cans in.
"Did you just call me an evil genius?" The grin he gave suggested he liked that label. The stern like she sent him in reply warned he better make that smile disappear before she took care of that for him. "Sorry, sorry." He said, realizing he was being full of himself. "I think you know by now that I'm not like that. And this is no big deal." Barry went on, taking a plastic crate from Stacy that she practically shoved in his hands, since she was still miffed. "It's just charity work, which your fanpage promised you'd do, and I am not gonna make a liar out of you." The level of relish in his voice made her raise her eyebrows, but he failed to notice. "Don't stress. We're starting small." He filled up the crate and looked to Stacy for a reaction. She seemed even angrier than before. "What?" He asked innocently.
She clenched her fists, and he hoped that wasn't because she felt the urge to use them. "Nothing is ever a big deal with you. Pretty ironic for a guy who claims to always go the extra mile." It was her turn to look for a reaction, but found that difficult since he avoided making eye contact.
Barry closed the cabinet. "That's not true." He said finally, in a low voice. He turned to her, with the crate in hand, enthusiasm returning to his tone. "All I'm saying is, this is gonna be a cinch. For now, we'll gather everything we can for the... drives, and then we'll move on from there." He let her know that even though he didn't see this as a challenge, that didn't mean he wasn't going to try everything he could to ensure that Stacy got her crown. "Besides, I know this means a lot to you." He looked her in the eye. "And I know what it's like to worry you might not get something you've wanted for so long."
A part of Stacy wanted to ask what he meant by that, but she ignored the thought. "Fine," She submitted. "but did you really have to collect every non-perishable food item I own?"
Barry's response was delayed once again, because Stacy's teasing sounded friendly. It was unreal.
"Would you rather go on another shopping trip with me?"
"Never again." She answered sharply, with a shudder.
He interpreted that as another one of her reminders that she didn't like him. His response was uncontrollably sarcastic. "Keep it up." He set the crate by the front door while Stacy glared at his back. Then he looked toward the stairs apprehensively, before turning back to her. "Before we do anything else, you should know that there are four rules of prom queen campaigning."
"That you made up just now?" She asked him doubtfully, rolling her eyes. Her tone implied that he was already dead tired of playing by Barry's rules.
"That doesn't make them useless." He said.
"Whatever. Tell me now, so we can move on faster."
Before Barry got to know Stacy, the word 'whatever' was carefree. Coming from Stacy s mouth, it was careless. The terse tone she spoke in threatened to make his pout a permanent fixture in her presence. The serious look he sent her gave no implication that he was about to talk in a playful voice.
"Like I said before, this is a team effort." The repetition was meant to make her realize she should step up to the plate. Barry wasn't sure if it was working. "So, from this point on, we make all decisions together, and we don't leave each other hanging." He held up his thumb-to keep track of the rules he went over-and waited for a nod of agreement.
Unless he blinked, he missed it. "Next."
"To be prom queen, you have to look good. To look good, you have to do good. Hence the charity work. But it doesn't stop there. What we do today is gonna get you noticed by the people who visit your fanpage. What we do at school is gonna get you noticed by your classmates. If you think about it, you could have the whole town talking." Two rules down, two to go.
Barry could see that Stacy didn t share his opinion, before she even answered. The sarcasm confirmed that. "What about the whole state of Seattle?" Barry knew she wasn't done. He didn't try to interrupt, knowing that would be a mistake. Like what she viewed his plan as. "Why do you wanna make me into some kind of... model citizen?"
He matched her level of frustration when he answered, but only for a second. He quickly realized raising his voice wouldn't make her listen any better. "Why is that so horrible? If you do nice things for other people, they'll return the favor. You'll have your crown. Everyone wins." Barry could tell by the look on her face that Stacy didn't feel like a winner, being forced into this. It was her only option if she wanted to be prom queen. She knew she couldn't do this on her own. He considered that old news. "Honestly, Stacy. Are you not satisfied unless you're the only one who gets to be happy?"
"No." She said, with such sorrow in her voice and eyes that it had him momentarily stunned. Until he remembered she took drama. The response could solely be a way to get him to shut up, but Barry didn't dare dwell on that. He didn't let it keep him from talking, either.
"Okay." He said, easing into a smile. "Then here are the other rules." He had three fingers up, but hesitated with revealing the third rule. He worried about how she would respond to it. "Don't be afraid to act silly sometimes. It's part of presentation, which I know you care about. And even though it s not what you're used it will get you noticed. People will laugh with you."
"No they won't." Her tone was so venomous it had him scared. "They'll laugh at me."
Contrary to what they both expected, Barry didn't flinch, stumble or stutter when he answered. In fact, he sound more confident. "A few people might," He said with a sure nod. "but it won t matter. You don't want their votes anyway."
Stacy bit back a smile and asked: "What's the fourth rule?" She sounded bored.
"The most important rule." He told her with a smile, holding up a fourth finger. "Have fun." He looked rather uncomfortable with just his pinky down. He raised it and offered Stacy a high five. She denied him that, giving him a look of pity instead. Barry replaced his signature pout with a whine so soft Stacy didn't hear it, and headed upstairs.
"Again, where do you think you re going?" She called after him. Even though she had a feeling he was headed the same place she didn t want him before. "What would you need to do in my room, finish your fort?" She mocked. "I thought you said we were leaving." She climbed the stairs to find him waiting at the top.
"We will. Once we collect old clothes and books."
"Oh, no." She objected. "That's not happening." At this point, Stacy figured Barry's goal was to donate her whole house to charity.
He didn't see a problem with his plan. "How could you possibly miss old clothes? Do you even ever wear the same thing twice?"
She didn't answer, or wait for him to come up with an argument for why she didn't need so many books. She didn't even bother to bring up the fact that he said they would make all decisions together. She just pushed past him and opened the door.
"Let's get this over with."
9:00 A.M.
"Don't you find it ironic that we get along the best out of everyone, but we can hardly ever find anything to do together?"
Kim's curious look told Larry that she didn't agree with that, but she didn't hesitate to say so anyway. Even though she had her mouth half full of some of the breakfast she cooked up. "I think Gavin and Audrey get along better than us."
After a few grossed out stammers, Larry managed to ask: "You couldn t wait until after you swallowed to express that?"
"Sorry." Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. In that moment, she felt like she could melt into the floorboards of the decking.
He shrugged it off, knowing she hadn't even been aware of what she was doing. "Well, Gavin and Audrey knew each other before. So technically, they cheated." He said the last word of his sentence as if he had just discovered the toast in his hand was moldy.
Kim laughed. Although she wouldn't call it cheating, she saw his point. "Yeah, they are friends."
With that, Larry nearly lost his appetite. "And we aren't?"
She stayed calm when she answered, but she wasn't sure if that was the best move. Especially since she thought it might make him even more upset. "No."
"NO?"
Kim matched Larry's distraught tone when she answered, as quickly as she could. "I-I didn t mean 'no' as in 'no' , I meant 'no' as in... 'yes'.
"What?"
"Of course we're friends," She clarified. "but Gavin and Audrey were friends first." Kim knew those two had always had common interests, but she didn't think that necessarily meant they had bonded in any way. "Even so, I doubt they have breakfast together." She wondered which 'dare pairs' had the best connection. (She automatically ruled out Stacy and Barry.)
"Yeah, I doubt that, too."
Kim picked up a hint of sadness in Larry's tone, but she didn't understand why it was there.
He was lost in thought, stuck on the day when Audrey skipped out on eating lunch. Her new habits were as much of a mystery to him as Radio Rebel's true identity. Despite his concern, he stopped himself from pondering that and tried to get the conversation back on track. "I think our problem is... we're used to having other people decide everything for us."
Silence fell after that. Kim looked at Larry uneasily. "But... we can change that, right?" Her hushed tone didn't seem the least bit hopeful.
"We have to." He corrected. He didn't want to know what kind of life they would have if they couldn't make their own choices.
With a nod, she looked at him again. She knew he was right. "So... how do we start?"
"I don't know." He said, making her groan slightly. Larry groaned internally, seeing how much of a challenge this was going to be. "I can't think of anything I wanna do." He explained as he cleared his plate. (He looked over at Kim's to find it drenched in egg yolk. By comparison, his looked like it had been licked clean.) "What do you wanna do?"
"Stacy usually spent weekends shopping and doing stuff to make herself look prettier."
That only seemed natural to Larry, but he didn't see why Kim would bring it up. "What does that have to do with us?"
"Well, I know you might not be up for this, but I'm usually so busy helping her, I don't get to see what it's like."
Larry's stomach twisted into a knot so big that it had him worried he might see his breakfast again. Every thought in his head and emotion in his heart told him to act on that feeling. Which is why he only had his mouth to blame for his response.
"Okay then, let's do it."
"Hey, it's been over an hour since filming started." Cami told Tara, who was watching the action from as far away as she could get while still having a clear view.
"I know. Is it going good?"
Cami's eyes were filled with the disappointment Tara expected to hear in her voice. "Why don't you come see for yourself? You came up with the concept. If you wanna see your vision carried out properly, you're gonna have to talk with the crew."
Tara shook her head. "They're professionals, they know what they're doing. I don't wanna get in anyone's way."
"You are just as important as anyone else in this project." Cami said, in the same comforting tone she'd used when they first officially met and when discussing the dare for the first time. She knew she had to say something to give Tara the extra push she needed. "That confidence you have in the booth? Use it." Before finishing, Cami took Tara gingerly by the shoulders, in hopes that her message would really reach her. "I dare you."
Tara giggled. There was no way she could argue. "Okay." The friends shared a quick hug and headed to where the others were taking a break from filming.
"You're not the only one who's nervous about this." Cami assured her fellow DJ. (She had told Tara that everybody gets nervous, and now she had some perfect examples.) "Rob says Gavin sneaks off every chance he gets."
Tara noticed Cami's tendency to mention Gavin, and had a feeling she would try to push them toward each other. She didn't know if that would actually work, and quickly decided it was best not to think about. Instead, she just kept up the conversation. "How come?"
It was tough for Cami to explain, and she had to search for the words. "I don't think Gavin likes that the camera is constantly on him. It's overwhelming. He's just a regular guy, and this isn't exactly an everyday thing."
Tara's voice sounded distant when she replied, which told Cami she was completely unaware that she spoke aloud. "Gavin's not a regular guy..."
Cami sent Tara a smile like the one she wore and continued talking. "I hope he's ready for tomorrow, when they ll shoot all the performance scenes. That'll really be his time to shine."
"He will." Tara said confidently, slipping her hands into the front pockets of her jeans.
"Audrey's nervousness seems to be working for her. So far she's tripped over a chair, dropped an earring down the drain and sneezed in her cereal."
Tara's face scrunched up a bit, hearing that last one. "Ew, and they got all that on tape?"
"Yeah." Cami responded, sounding impressed with Audrey's ability to improvise bad luck, and the film crew's ability to capture her work. "It's really coming together."
It didn't take people long to notice Cami had returned, with Tara by her side. "Is that my daughter?" Delilah called out. "It's been so long I barely recognize you!"
Tara shook off her guilty feeling with an embarrassed laugh, as Gavin and Gabe welcomed her back with simple smiles. Small in comparison to the one Audrey had on. The three would've surrounded Tara if the crew hadn't done so first. All they could do was watch worriedly-knowing she wasn't used to the attention-and listen to the crew's excited and somewhat stressed chatter. This told the group that it was time to get back to work.
"Are you having fun?"
The chipper tone in Barry's voice only made Stacy glare at him more. "That has to be a joke." She said coldly. Her face hurt from faking a smile so long. Barry knew she would answer that way, but didn't let on to that. She'd been quiet and scarily smiley since they arrived at the nursing home. It cames as a relief to him to hear her talking again. Even if she did complain. "This isn't gonna make me look good." It was obvious to Barry that she didn't want to be there, but he was getting tired of having his ideas criticized. He didn't think that was a good thing to do considering Stacy didn't seem to have any of her own, but that isn't how he responded.
"Of course it will. The second rule of prom queen campaigning." He reasoned.
"It seems fake." For the second time that day, her tone carried a hint of sorrow. As if she wished that weren't the case. Barry gave a reassuring smile, though it formed partially as a way to prevent him from admitting that he thought whatever led Stacy to be so popular was fake.
"Maybe that's because you haven't really interacted with anyone. To post pictures of you just sitting here would be pointless. You have to show your voters that you learned something today." Barry held out his hand to help Stacy to her feet, which only made her stand up faster. To show that she didn t want his help.
As he walked, she followed, getting the strange sense that he knew the place. That was confirmed when at least eight different people-staff and residents alike-greeted Barry, and he talked to them as if he'd known them for years. Once the people passed by, Stacy caught up with him and whispered: "So far, the only thing I've learned today is you're somehow wildly popular with old people. How big is your family?"
He reflected the look she threw him. "Nobody here's related to me."
Stacy would've asked for further explanation if the room Barry took her into didn't cause her to lose her train of thought. It was full of tables and chairs, but otherwise empty, as far as she could tell. "What are we doing here?"
"Nothing yet." Barry replied, taking out his phone. Stacy couldn't help but be nosy, looking over his shoulder as he scrolled through his contacts. (The first she caught was 'Red', and the one after it was 'Theater', which she could only guess represented Tara and Audrey. Though in Stacy's mind she ruled the theater and in Barry's mind nothing made sense.) Since she was distracted, she barely reacted when he said: "We re gonna be in charge of Bingo in a few minutes. In the meantime, I ll text Tara and see what she s up to."
Stacy almost laughed seeing 'Red' highlight blue, but couldn't bring herself to do so much as chuckle-good naturedly, anyway-at anything concerning Her Royal Shyness. Instead, she scoffed.
"Nothing I d be interested in..."
Thanks for reading, PLEASE REVIEW! Let me know if you have any ideas, I'll update ASAP! =]