Only one chapter left after this one :( Thanks so much for all your support throughout this story, it means a lot to me! Since the story about their senior year began with Nationals their junior year, this one is shorter. After I finish this story, I will be focusing on Their Gold Star for a while, but then I plan on starting a fanfic that's a crossover between Emma's world and Allie's that I'm so excited to write! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and review if you want me to continue!
Chapter 11: Regionals
The alarm went off. It was the day of Regionals. Today, the Gold Stars would find out if they were headed to Nationals in Chicago.
"I'm nervous," Rachel whispered to Finn.
"Don't be," Finn said.
"It's my first competition back," Rachel sighed. "First time I've led them in over a year."
"Rach, every year since you took over, they've been in the top ten at Nationals," Finn said. "Before that, this school couldn't get past Sectionals."
"Exactly," Rachel said. "What if they don't make it to Nationals?"
"They sound great," Finn said, kissing his wife.
"You did a really great job with them," Rachel said. "They told me that if I have to leave again, they want you to be the sub."
"They said that?" Finn asked.
"They did!" Rachel said. "Now that she'd done some thinking, she thought that it might be nice for Finn to be a permanent addition to the coaching team. He had great ideas and a lot of experience.
"I didn't think I could be trusted with picking out the costumes though," Finn laughed. "I had the girls handle that."
"I hope you at least approved them!" Rachel said.
"Of course I did!" Finn said. Hand in hand, they walked into Zoe's room to wake up their youngest daughter.
Zoe sat up and looked at them. "Mama! Dada!"
"Hey Zoe," Finn said, picking her up. "Are you excited to go to Regionals today?"
"Yeah!" Zoe said.
"Good," Rachel said, tickling her daughter.
"I wonder if she'll be in show choir, too," Finn said.
"I don't know," Rachel said. "We've already had three into show choir."
"Yeah, but Ryan and Emma just do it as a hobby, Grant and Zoe might do it as a hobby, too," Finn said. "Only Sarah wants to be on Broadway."
"You mean Sarah's going to be on Broadway," Rachel said.
"Yeah, that," Finn said. "We should probably wake up the competitors."
"You don't need to," a voice in the doorway said. Finn and Rachel turned and saw Grant.
"Grant, did you wake up your brother and your sister and your sister's friend?" Rachel asked. Grant was going through a phase where not only did he wake up at the crack of dawn on weekends, he would wake up all his siblings. Ryan, Emma and Sarah weren't too fond of it.
Grant looked guilty. "Yeah."
"Well, today that's fine," Finn said. "But high school is a lot harder than kindergarten, and so is middle school. Your brother and sisters need their sleep."
"Okay," Grant said.
"Thank you," Rachel said.
Then Sarah came into the room. "Two more years and I'll be at these competitions."
"That's right," Rachel said. "Are you excited?"
"I can't wait!" Sarah said. "I like how today, you're using a song from one of the Broadway shows I'll be in."
"We are!" Finn said. "Let's go downstairs and check on the competitors."
The family headed downstairs and saw Ryan, Emma and Ava sitting at the breakfast table, dressed in their costumes for the competition. For Regionals this year, the boys were wearing black pants and suit jackets with white shirts and blue ties, and the girls were wearing dark blue dresses.
"You guys look really nice," Rachel said.
"Thanks, Rachel," Ava said. "And thanks for letting me stay here."
"It's no problem," Rachel said, still wondering what exactly was going on. "Ava, do you have any idea when your parents will be back from the trip?"
Ava looked at Ryan, then at Emma. She took each of their hands before looking at Rachel again. "My parents aren't on a business trip."
"Is everything okay at home?" Rachel asked, trying her hardest to sound surprised the whole business trip thing was a lie.
"My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer recently, and he just had surgery," Ava said.
Rachel felt horrible for her son's girlfriend hearing that. Her family had been through cancer, and it had been a very difficult time for them. Her surgery had been a hard time too, but it was nothing compared to cancer. "Sweetheart, why didn't you tell us sooner?"
"Because you guys were having stuff going on earlier," Ava said. "You guys are my second family, and I didn't want to create any more stress after everything that's been going on."
"You're more than welcome to stay here," Finn said. "Where was your dad being treated? And how's he doing?"
"He's downtown, the doctors said he can go home in a few days," Ava said. "They think the surgery went well. They caught the cancer early, and it hadn't spread, but I'm still worried."
"Of course you are," Ryan said, hugging his girlfriend.
"So is your mom staying at the hospital with him?" Rachel asked.
"Yeah," Ava said. "I just didn't want to be home alone, you know? Ryan and Emma said that I could stay here."
"It's like I said, this is another home for you," Finn said.
"Thanks," Ava said. "My parents didn't want to tell people because it was caught so early, so they didn't want to worry people."
"If you want, we won't tell them you told us," Rachel said.
"They know that Ryan and Emma know," Ava admitted.
"Ava, are you sure you want to go to Regionals today?" Finn asked. "I'm sure it was pretty hard for you to let this out, and the past few weeks have been hard."
"Of course I want to go," Ava said. "I just want to do my best to keep on living my life the way I always do. But one thing - since my parents can't see the competition, would you mind videotaping our performance, Finn?"
Finn nodded. "Of course I will."
x
"Do you feel okay?" Emma asked Ava as they stood backstage.
"I do feel better now that I told your parents," Ava said. "And I'm glad we're here. Even though I had fun in Florida for Nationals last year, it wasn't the same with you on a different team."
"We're going to Nationals again, I know it!" Emma said, giving her best friend a hug. Clearly Ava wanted to focus on the competition, so Emma didn't try to shift her focus.
The MC announced the Gold Stars, and Ryan and Ava headed for the edge of the wings to begin their duet as Nick approached Emma. "So she told your parents?" Nick asked.
"Yeah," Emma said.
"That was probably a good idea," Nick said, putting his arm around Emma. "You look really pretty in the dress, by the way."
Emma smiled up at her boyfriend. "Why thank you. I'm glad we get to lead the one group number."
"Yeah, so am I," Nick said. The music began, and they watched their best friends perform the duet.
Ryan: I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played it 'til my fingers bled
Was the summer of '69
Me and some guys from school
Had a band and we tried real hard.
Jimmy quit, Jody got married
I should've known we'd never get far
Ryan and Ava: Oh, when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yeah, I'd always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life
Ava: Ain't no use in complainin'
When you've got a job to do
Spent my evenings down at the drive-in
And that's when I met you, yeah
Standin' on your mama's porch
You told me that you'd wait forever
Oh, and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life
Oh, yeah.
Back in the summer of '69, oh.
Ryan and Ava: Man we were killin' time
We were young and restless
We needed to unwind
I guess nothin' can last forever, forever, no! yeah!
Ryan: And now the times are changin'
Look at everything that's come and gone
Sometimes when I play that old six-string
I think about you, wonder what went wrong
Ryan and Ava: Standin' on your mama's porch
You told me that it'd last forever
Oh, and when you held my hand
I knew that it was now or never
Those were the best days of my life
Oh, yeah.
Back in the summer of '69, oh.
It was the summer of '69, oh, yeah.
Me and my baby in '69, oh.
It was the summer, the summer, the summer of '69, yeah.
Emma smiled and clapped for Ava and Ryan as the rest of the group joined them on stage for the first group number. She and Nick would get to lead this one, and she was determined to make it sound as good as she could.
Gold Stars: You can't always get what you want.
You can't always get what you want.
You can't always get what you want,
But if you try sometimes, you just might find
You get what you need.
You get what you need.
Nick: I saw her today at the reception,
A glass of wine in her hand.
Oh, I knew she was gonna meet her connection.
At her feet was a footloose man.
Gold Stars: No, you can't always get what you want.
(Nick: Oh, no, you can't.)
You can't always get what you want.
(Nick: What you want)
You can't always get what you want.
(Nick: You can't always get what you want.)
Gold Stars: But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find
You get what you need.
You get what you need.
Emma: Hey!
Nick: Oh, baby
Emma: And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse,
Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustration
Nick and Emma: If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse.
Sing it to me, now.
Gold Stars: You can't always get what you want.
(Nick and Emma: No, no, you can't.)
You can't always get what you want.
(Emma: No, oh!)
You can't always get what you want.
(Emma: Can't always get what you want)
But if you try sometimes, (Nick: Try sometimes) well, you just might find
Gold Stars: You get what you need.
You get what you need.
Ohhh, yeah
You get what you need!
Oh yeah
You can't always get what you want.
(Nick and Emma: You can't always get what you want.)
You can't always get what you want. (Nick: Oohh)
You can't always get what you want.
(Nick: Can't always get what you want)
But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find
You get what you need.
You can't always get what you want.
(Emma: Yeah!)
(Nick: No, no, no, no)
You can't always get what you want.
(Emma: No, no, no, no)
You can't always get what you want.
But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find
You get what you need.
You can't always get what you want
Get what you need
Get what you need
Oh yeah what you need!
What you need
Yeah!
Get what you need!
At the end of the group number, it was time for the other one. This one would be led by all four leads, though other members of the group had lines in it.
Nick: When I was six years old I broke my leg
I was running from my brother and his friends
And tasted the sweet perfume of the mountain grass I rolled down
I was younger then, take me back to when I
Ryan: Found my heart and broke it here
Made friends and lost them through the years
And I've not seen the roaring fields in so long, I know I've grown
But I can't wait to go home
Gold Stars: I'm on my way
Driving at ninety down those country lanes
Singing to "Tiny Dancer"
And I miss the way you make me feel, and it's real
We watched the sunset over the castle on the hill
Emma: Fifteen years old and smoking hand-rolled cigarettes
Running from the law through the backfields and getting drunk with my friends
Had my first kiss on a Friday night, I don't reckon that I did it right
But I was younger then, take me back to when
Ava: We found weekend jobs, when we got paid
We'd buy cheap spirits and drink them straight
Me and my friends have not thrown up in so long, oh how we've grown
But I can't wait to go home
Gold Stars: I'm on my way
Driving at ninety down those country lanes
Singing to "Tiny Dancer"
And I miss the way you make me feel, and it's real
We watched the sunset over the castle on the hill
Over the castle on the hill
Over the castle on the hill
Lizzie: One friend left to sell clothes
Lexie: One works down by the coast
Laura: One had two kids but lives alone
Meg: One's brother overdosed
Izzy: One's already on his second wife
Emma: One's just barely getting by
Ava: But these people raised me and I can't wait to go home
Ryan: And I'm on my way, I still remember
Nick: These old country lanes
When we did not know the answers
Gold Stars: And I miss the way you make me feel, it's real
We watched the sunset over the castle on the hill
Over the castle on the hill
Over the castle on the hill
A few minutes after the second group number ended, the group gathered on stage to hear the results. The Gold Stars were announced as the winner. Emma thought this win may be the most meaningful so far, as this year had a lot of changes. But they were going to Nationals in Chicago - and she hoped they would win this time.
SONGS: "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams (performed by Ryan Hudson and Ava Crispin), "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones (performed by Nick Dougherty, Emma Hudson and the Gold Stars) and "Castle On The Hill" by Bryan Adams (performed the Gold Stars)
Chapter 12 preview: We find out more about Ava's family situation, and the Gold Stars start getting ready for Nationals. Nicma and Ryva also have their junior prom!