The Greatest Secret

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 147 (Auditions: Preparation)

Freddie met with Jonah, Sam and Carly in the auditorium, he had good news and some bad news for the group. As for how his hope to recruit Gibby went, he prayed Jonah fared better with T-Bo. "Well Jonah, how'd it go?" He saw Jonah smile and it lifted his spirits up tremendously, he just knew it went well. Sam and Carly smiled as well, they had been hoping for the best. "I assume you got us booked at the Groovy Smoothie?"

"You got it! For the weekend of Christmas, from the 23rd to the 26th, and then on the 31st, going into midnight. During the Christmas weekend, we'll be performing later in the day so everyone has had a chance to be with family." It all sounded good to him and warmed his heart to see things going so well. He turned his gaze to the large stage, drifted his eyes to the booth where he would be sitting with Sam, Jonah and Carly. Carly wouldn't be a part of the decision-making process because she wasn't all that interested in voting. That, and, she didn't want to be the one casting an even vote without a tie breaker.

He moved his eyes from the booth with the black tablecloth and microphones, to the several chairs of the school auditorium, it had potential to be packed if they ever performed at the school. They weren't too sure they wanted to become big or anything, rather just keep it small. He folded his arms over and sighed. "Okay, so we have a full sign-up sheet, so we'll have a full house tonight. Bad news, however. Gibby has apparently, not in so many words, declined auditioning." Jonah frowned and the girls exchanged sorrowful looks. Freddie shrugged and rubbed the back of his head. They had just a little more time to get ready and only a couple hours of auditions. "Well, either way it's a loss to chalk up. Let's perk ourselves up and get things set up. We've got this auditorium for the whole week, may as well make it look pretty."

"Yeah." The group hurried onto the stage. The girls ran to either side of the curtains and began pulling the ropes, bringing the curtains back to the wall. When they were close, the girls tied the curtains with a large ribbon. Freddie had an old friend, Jeremy, working on the lighting. Freddie stood in the center to help guide the lights where he wanted them.

"Just a little left there, Jeremy!" The lights moved over him and stung his eyes to the point he had to cover them. After the blindness went away, he cleared his throat and stuck his thumb up in the air. "Great job, Jeremy…You just blinded our drummer."

"Wait, you're drumming?" Jeremy called out questionably. Freddie chuckled and shook his head.

"No, I'm just saying, those lights are pretty damn bright. What intensity do you have them set on?"

Jeremy moved away to check them, while he did this, Freddie had to squint and continue to cover his eyes up. "The highest. I'll bring them down a bit!"

"Good idea!" He waited as the lights lessened their intensity. The spotlight never needed to be that intense, but the stage lights did. "Now the stage lights." Jeremy nodded and flipped them on, filling the stage with red and yellow. He looked to his right, then to his left, and practically bounced with satisfaction. "Perfect! Great job man." He stepped out of the spotlight and folded his arms as he eyed the location of the spotlights. Directly center stage, that was where he wanted the drum set. "Okay guys, bring out the drums!"

"Drum's coming bro!" Carly called out. He looked to his left and saw the girls carrying out the large drum set and stool. He smiled as they set them down in the spotlight. The cymbals were attached and Jonah was bringing out two standing cymbals to put on the edge of the drums. "Okay, we need the fog machines."

He raised an eyebrow as the girls ran behind the stage once more. "Fog machines?" Jonah looked up from the drums and blinked as the girls returned with two fog machines, much to their surprise. They slid the machines next to the drums and grinned. "Okay, fill me in. Why the fog machines?" Sam flipped on the machines and smirked as the fog started to fill out the stage.

"To give the people auditioning the feel that they're actually performing, it might make them feel a little more comfortable and at ease. This way, they can perform to their fullest. We probably would do strobe lights if we could." Freddie rubbed his chin and looked to Jonah with inquisition. Jonah simply shrugged his shoulders and rolled his head to the side, possibly trying to envision the stage lit up like a real performance. Freddie attempted to comprehend it himself and could see the strobe lights, the foggers, the amplifiers, the whole enchilada. It seemed nice, but at the same time, it did seem a bit too much. "I'm not saying we dothat though."

"Actually you can do it, but I think that would be a bit much. If we overdo it, the people auditioning may still feel too nervous and uncertain, as if there's a lot expected of them. There's really not much expected of them."

"I guess. Though you have them trying to drum some major piece that would be hard for just about anyone to perform…"

"A true test on that one, they have to get at least three quarters of that song right or else they're cut. They're expected to at least get the whole thing right on HighwaytoHell, I mean come on...easy."

"Yeah." No way anyone would miss that, but as sure as they were of that, they were certain there'd be people screwing up that song to bloody hell. "So let's hear the music. How do you have it set up?" Freddie looked up to the tech booth and snapped his fingers, Jeremy was asleep. Sam cupped her mouth and called up at him. "Hey Germy! Wake up!"

Jeremy's eyes shot open and he practically fell out of the tech booth. "Huh? What! Where am I?" Sam groaned as Freddie slowly shook his head. Jeremy chuckled nervously and smiled at them.

"Hey sorry about that, what is it?"

"We need you to play the songs!"

"Got it!" One by one Jeremy clicked the songs. The group listened and made their way to the chairs at their table, it appeared the drum was blotched out and the ones auditioning would have to fill in the blanks. Granted, the drums in the music were actually dulled, but they remained there. "How's that?"

"Great Jeremy, just perfect!" Freddie tapped his foot to the music and watched as Jonah walked over to the stage and sat at the drums. He chuckled and folded his arms over. "Hey Jonah, you filling up with nostalgia over there?"

"Not really, I just want to see if I still got it." Jonah grabbed the drumsticks from the holder and began to beat the drums lightly. He matched the beats of HighwaytoHell and thrust his drumstick in the air when the song was done. "Awesome!"

"Aw come on Jonah, that was the easy song."

"I know, that's why I went with it." He laughed slightly and shook his head as Jonah began to freestyle on the drums. Once he finished, he stood and bowed, taking in the applause from his friends. "So, what's Carly here for?"

"She's here to take our place if one of us can't make it. Namely you, considering you have your son to look after." Jonah nodded and started moving off the stage.

"Yeah, I won't be able to be here every day. Besides that fact, I still would have homework and stuff like that. Anyway, it'll be fun to be in the band for the last half of my senior year. What do you think Valerie will think?"

"I think she'd be impessed and maybe a bit too joyful. After all, I can see her hyped up and wanting to see our performance."

"Maybe we should record our first performance for her and send it to her." Sam and Carly exchanged glances and grinned widely as Freddie's lips turned downward. He could read their eyes rather easily, they still wanted iCarly to continue on. Though he thought Sam wouldn't want it as much as Carly, but he had to admit, even he missed it just a little. "Okay girls, I know what you're thinking. I said video and you mind went there. I have no intention of starting up iCarly, do you?"

"Not really." They looked to the auditorium doors and sighed, everything was set up for the most part. Perhaps they needed to make a few touchups, but for the most part, everything was right where they wanted it.

"Okay, everyone get to your seats." The group did as such and Freddie grinned while walking to the door, he was definitely anticipating this. "So, everyone ready to let them all in?" Jonah lifted his thumb up and called out.

"Bring on the stampede!" Carly took the clipboard from in front of her and looked at it quietly, they each had a copy of these pages. At least they could easily mark off the people that didn't make it versus the ones that did. There might be extra people, and that's what they had the notebooks on the table for. Freddie placed his hand on the door handle and took a deep breath as he listened to the cries of the people outside waiting in to audition. This was it, now or never. "Everyone get ready."

Sweat rolled down the back of his neck and he quietly turned his gaze to his friends, usually they would help in the case of a stampede, but damn the way they were sitting and watching him with those sly grins, he wasn't getting any help here. He stepped to the side and pulled the doors open. At that, a rush of adrenaline filled teens charged right into the area, practically knocking Freddie over. He cleared his throat and quickly caught his balance while closing the door, it was now or never. They would have the new drummer soon.

Here we go, you're going to find quite a bit of twists in this arc, by the way. Some real plot stuff takes place and watch as this band becomes the next big thing. GS is really taking off again.