Hey Guys!!! This is Chapter 20! It is reaaaaaaaallllllyyy long and ends kind of cliffhangerish…but I hope it makes up for the waiting. I have to go out of town till Sunday at noon, so I’ll hopefully be able to write 21 then, thanks so much for your support and comments! I hope you enjoy this, I thought it was pretty epic… ;) See Ya! U ROCK!
<3 Madeline
Chapter 20
“Did you girls enjoy the concert,” Mrs. Jonas asked Gabby and I as we sat on the smooth cushion seats surrounded by the dim, warm glow coming from the wall lights of the restaurant. Biting my lip I flicked the fabric on my seat as I thought back to the concert, Nick’s smile, and Hello Beautiful ringing in my ears. Quickly I shook my head from the thoughts ignoring the shaking of my hands and the fluttering of my heart and snapped out of my trance to answer Mrs. Jonas.
“Awesome, it was amazing,” I said smiling at Mrs. Jonas’s beaming expression encased in the warm light of the restaurant.
“I agree times a million” Gabby giggled slightly relaxing in her chair.
“I always love the boy’s concerts; they are beyond talented aren’t they?” Faye smiled as I adjusted nervously in my seat watching Mrs. Jonas and Gabby nod like crazy answering Faye question. I would have totally nodded like crazy, probably more then Gabby would after she had a cup of coffee, but something in me was bothering me. I couldn’t get Nick out of my head and I didn’t know anything that was wrong with that, but it was scaring me. Rubbing my sweaty palms on my jeans, I frantically looked to the clear doors that read “Romano’s Macaroni Grill” at the entrance of the restaurant. Faye, Mrs. Jonas, Gabby, and I had left from the center before the boys got out of their meet and greet so we could get a large enough table. Patrick, who had ended up watching the concert from backstage, wasn’t coming to dinner because he was meeting with the band. Patrick honestly was getting very wrapped up in the whole backup guitarist thing – but I figured that anybody offered this big of an opportunity would. I just prayed he wouldn’t change, for Gabby’s sake. Frankie and Mr. Jonas would also be coming late with the boys, so there I sat fidgeting with my fingers and waiting for the sound of the opening of the entrance. Silence filled the table as Gabby kicked me slightly in the shin forcing me to snap my head up and glare at her only to notice everyone staring at me.
“Would you chill out, you are freaking out the Mrs. Jonas,” Gabby whispered from across the table only making me bite my lip and awkwardly smile at Faye and Mrs. Jonas who seemed slightly worried about my condition.
“So, what do you girls do in your free time?” Mrs. Jonas asked in a sunny tone as Gabby unfolded her menu and focused on the entrees leaving me to answer the same question for the second time today.
“Well...” I immediately stopped hearing the slight swing of the entrance door opening making my head whip around to watch Nick walk in running his fingers through his curls then putting his hands in his pockets. The entire table switched their gaze toward the entrance smiling while my breath caught in my throat creating a blank, half dead look on my face.
Good Kati, good, make yourself look like a zombie creep and see how fast Nick will run back out that door
Slapping a smile on my face, I ran air through my nose preparing me for the annoying stomach flipping and heart tugging that would happen frequently in the next 2 hours or so.
“There are the boys,” Mrs. Jonas commentated as Gabby stood up catching my glance to see her motioning me to collect my thoughts and yank myself off the comfy cushion no matter how little strength ran through my legs. Snapping up maybe a bit too quickly I started to fall back over the table only to feel Gabby’s hand push my shoulder back over my hips. Sometimes I hated how she always had it all together perfectly, but I realized she had been through this before with Patrick and knew exactly what to do – which was probably what I needed the most in situations like this one where I obviously had difficulty with simply standing up. Watching Nick narrow his eyes and look around frantically, I bit my lip and glanced at Gabby looking for some sort of pep talk. Gabby had a cheesy smile on her face, the kind she put on before a show, as she flipped her hair and pressed her lips together as if she was bracing herself for what was to come. Joe spotted me and smiled widely as I sweetly smiled back trying not to go crazy because they hadn’t even taken a step toward the table. Mr. Jonas led the way weaving the boys through the tables of widening eyes and dropping jaws as the boys smiled and waved sweetly to the several fans spread throughout the restaurant. As the boys got closer and closer, Gabby’s hand suddenly reached out across the table and pushed my right shoulder making me stumble over to stand in front of the chair diagonal to her. She obviously knew what she was doing because as if by plan, the boys sit down exactly how she wanted them to. Nick sat next to her but across from me while Joe sat to the left of me against the wall and across from Gabby. Kevin sat to the right of me across from Faye leaving Mrs. Jonas next to Faye like she had been originally with Mr. Jonas across from her and Frankie at the very end. Sighing deeply, I sat down in synch with the brothers and quickly unfolded my napkin onto my lap trying my hardest to make eye contact. Sweeping my menu out from in front of me I covered my face with it pretending to study the entrees. Somehow I could feel Gabby’s sharp glare burning a hole through the menu and staring at me showering me with guilt. Biting my lip and staring at the steak section, I listened to footsteps quickly approaching the table.
“Hey guys, what can I get you for drink tonight?” a friendly voice asked from the front of the table. Slowly lowering my menu to look at the tall, young girl, I fixed my eyes on her face hiding from all other stares at the table. After Faye, Kevin, and Mr. and Mrs. Jonas had ordered for themselves, the girl focused her eyes on Nick and my section of the table. Still staring at her I was shaken out of my trance by her voice.
“How about you,” she said urging me to go ahead.
“I would like-” Nick and I said at the same time sending fire to rise to my cheeks and my gaze snap down to focus on the paper table cloth.
Wonderful Kati, way to go unnoticed
I could feel Nick’s gentle gaze warm my cheeks as he watched me snap my head down in embarrassment. After a slight paused my stomach flipped when Nick’s soft voice swept through my ears.
“I’ll have water…” Nick said softly clearing his throat as I felt his brown eyes gaze at the red in my cheeks.
“I’ll have the same” I choked out quickly snapping my head up to quickly smile at the waitress then sweep my menu in front of my face again.
“Um, well I’ll have water also, thanks,” Joe said as I felt him suspiciously move his glance from me to Nick.
“And I’ll have a diet coke,” Gabby said in a chipper voice. After we thanked the waitress, she wrote her name in crayon on the paper table cloth and walked away then everyone was silent. Clearing his throat, Joe spoke making me slightly lower my menu and glance at him.
“So, did you ladies like the concert?” Joe asked biting his lip and shifting his eyes around the table. Catching Gabby’s harsh glare landing on my face, I quickly put my menu down, folding it and placing my head on my hand leaning on the table with my elbow. I fixed my eyes on the paper table cloth biting the inside of my mouth nervously.
“Yeah! It was amazing, wasn’t it Kati?” Gabby answered as I felt her gaze on me once more. She was determined to make me talk. I slowly looked up at Joe and smiled.
“Yeah, it was awesome, I couldn’t even believe I was actually there,” I said softly glancing slightly to the side to see Nick leaning against his hand while his elbow supported him on the table. His deep brown eyes were fixed on his menu.
“Did you guys like Hello Beautiful?” Kevin asked shifting his eyes from me to Gabby as I turned to fix my eyes on his curious face. Nick’s head snapped up quickly as his eyes landed on my face making me force myself not to blush. After a moment, I figured that Gabby expected me to answer this one first…
“I loved it,” I said shyly quickly looking down at Joe’s hand that was drawing a piece of pizza on the paper table cloth with crayons that were placed the middle of the table as if I hadn’t say anything instead I was fascinated with Joe’s technique on drawing the pepperoni. Wishing for someone to answer me instead of plant their eyes on my red cheeks, I suddenly heard Gabby come to the rescue.
“Me too! It was awesome, Kevin you need to sing more often, you are amazing!” Gabby giggled switching the topic off my answer. Breathing deeply, I fixed my eyes on Joe’s drawing intently listening to the voices around me.
“You sang to her? No way!” Faye giggled, “You never sing to me,”
“Howa bout I sing you to sleep tonight then,” Kevin smiled brightly while winking at Faye making her blush, “Will that make up for it?”
“Most definitely,” Faye smiled then looked back around the table where we all fixed our eyes on her. Smiling uncontrollable at the cuteness of the situation, I only wished a Jonas could sing me to sleep.
“Ewwwww,” Joe whined in a fake little kid voice making me chuckle.
“Shut up, Joe, you know when you have a girlfri..” Kevin was cut off by Joe’s immediate response.
“Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, haven’t we gone through this, say it with me now, single and proud, would you like me to spell it out for you,” Joe chuckled, “Nick however..”
As I snapped my head away from the table cloth to Joe’s face where his mouth froze as I stared at him. I could feel Nick’s brown eyes snap up and glare at Joe too.
Joe knows…how in the world…
Joe lifted an eye brown and slyly smirked leaving me to pull my head away to take focus on the table covering again. I didn’t know why I was so nervous and secretive about this whole boyfriend, girlfriend thing…but I decided that I should stay that way until further notice. Silence fell on the table again as I hid my face with my hair that hung over my cheeks as I stared at Joe’s drawing on the table.
“Well, um, Nick, you were on fire tonight,” Gabby laughed as Nick whipped his head up as if he had never heard somebody talk in his life.
“I know man, you were going crazy! I couldn’t believe it, what got into you?” Kevin asked focusing on Nick’s eyes that frantically switched from Joe to Kevin to Gabby.
“Well, I, um…” I heard Nick’s voice choke as Joe interrupted yet again.
“Yea, you almost tripped me like 7 times when you were dancing, that would have been nasty,” Joe laughed staring Nick down as I lifted my gaze to focus on his face making my stomach twist.
“That wouldn’t have been as bad as your spill in Nashville in January where you tried to do a cartwheel, that was bad, Joe” Kevin smiled from across the table.
“No, but I think Nick’s crash in California probably owns it all,” Joe laughed as I kept my eyes fixed on Nick who slightly hid his face. Joe switched his gaze to look at me and continued, “Nick tried to look cool while he switched guitars but ended up walking backwards into the drum set,” Joe cracked up with Kevin and Gabby as I laughed quietly and smiled at Nick who lifted his eyes slightly then stared back down at the table cloth.
“Don’t worry, Nick, I think Kati has you beat. In gym class she finally tried to climb the rope but got too scared and couldn’t get down. She put the entire school day on hold so the faculty could find a long enough ladder,” Gabby cracked up between words as I shot her a death glare.
She did not just do that
Nick’s eyes met mine as he sweetly smiled trying to keep from cracking up in front of me like the rest of the table. My heart fluttering from Nick’s smile, I quickly answered trying to make it look like I didn’t care if the world famous Jonas Brothers knew about my incident in front of almost the entire grade.
“Thanks for sharing the most terrifying day of my life, Gabby,” I smirked at Gabby then looked back at Nick who still bit his holding in his laughter.
“Your welcome, anything for my best friend,” Gabby smiled at me sarcastically.
“Its okay, you can laugh you won’t be the first,” I giggled to Nick switching my stare to look down at the table once again as Joe and Kevin gasped for air out of their laughs.
“How old were you, like 3rd grade?” Nick asked suddenly smiling widely making my head grow dizzy.
“No, 7th,” I managed to squeeze out in the glow of Nick’s warm smile. Joe started to laugh harder holding his stomach and leaning against the back of my chair as Gabby, Kevin and Nick chuckled lightly.
“Well, I think I can beat you,” Nick slyly smiled.
“Yeah, what is your story?” I asked biting my lip to hold in the red rushing to my cheeks for the 400th time in the past 15 minutes.
“When I was about 12, I tried to rescue what I thought was a cat from a tree in our neighborhood…” Nick paused as Joe continued.
“Yeah, but it was actually a balloon, a red balloon, not a gray balloon, not a furry balloon, not a meowing balloon, but a balloon that was red as a fire truck,” Joe said sending a smile to slip on my face.
“And that’s not the whole of it, after Nick finally climbed the tree to get the ‘cat’ he got stuck and spent an hour up there hugging the branch for his life. It took me forever to get Joe to stand on my shoulders so we could get him down,” Kevin laughed lightly.
“Then he didn’t want to tell mom and dad because he thought they would tell his friends that he was trying to rescue a cat,” Joe laughed sending Gabby into a roar of giggles. I tried my hardest not to crack up but the pressure against my mouth broke through making me laugh harder than ever.
“Exactly, yet here we are telling the world,” Nick smiled slightly in a shy tone.
“Aw, Nick, don’t worry, we… all…have… those moments,” Faye spat out laughing hysterically between words placing her delicate hand on Nick’s shoulder trying to make a shy Nick feel better. Tilting his head and smiling slyly, Nick’s eyes snapped around to fix on me as I was still leaning back on my chair laughing hysterically.
“So, I guess I win then?” Nick asked slightly laughing at me as I grabbed my stomach and gasped for air between laughs. I nodded rapidly as I took a deep breath and sat back up in my chair. Nick’s deep brown eyes brightly glistened as he smiled widely at me making my heart flutter and a rush of adrenaline run through my body. For the next 30 minutes, Nick and I fluently talked about movies, music, school, and forks. Honestly, I didn’t even feel like it was me talking to him. I felt like it was some other person who knew how to talk to guys without constantly looking like the complete nerd you really were with 1st place foreign language trophies and personal problems about who you really were; some person who really belonged talking to Nick Jonas instead of a wannabe actress from Colorado Springs was doing the talking. Throughout dinner, it was just me and Nick stuck in our own little world constantly cracking up at each others jokes. It was crazy – I must admit. I don’t even think I touched a piece of food on my plate, heck, I don’t even remember ordering anything. Suddenly things snapped back to reality.
“Mr. Jonas, when are you guys leaving?’ Gabby asked from the end of the table. Leaving...that’s not exactly what I wanted to hear. Shaking my head slightly I erased the thought from my mind trying to ignore it until it had to happen.
They aren’t leaving…they aren’t leaving…they aren’t leaving
“Tomorrow morning, we head off to Wyoming then to the Dakotas then a few other shows ending in New Jersey after that.” The table fell silent as I dropped my fork onto my plate making everyone’s stares fix on me.
Well, that wasn’t obvious
“Sorry, it slipped…” I said softly biting my lip then looking back at Mr. Jonas letting him continue as I felt Nick’s smile gleam onto my face making my head dizzy and stomach flip.
I kind of wish he would stop doing that…this whole stomach flip thing is getting annoying…
“Anyways, we’ll probably arrange a way to say goodbye to you girls tomorrow, you’ve been a great help to us, we can’t even begin to thank you,” Mr. Jonas modestly said smiling at Gabby and I.
Goodbye…
“Sir, I think that is already done. If front row to a Jonas Brothers concert wasn’t enough, I think dinner topped it off, it has been crazy, and you guys are so nice and amazing, we should be thanking you,” Gabby said side glancing at me. My smile must have dropped because Gabby seemed to have a slight look of worry on her face. My eyes slid down to look at the table as I swallowed to quench my dry throat. I didn’t want to say goodbye…who wouldn’t, puh-lese, if I could I would hang onto Nick’s legs and cry like a baby if that would make him stay…but I couldn’t stop a tour…that would just be stupid. Filling my lungs with air attempting to relax my self, I fiddled my thumbs fixing my gaze on the collage of drawings Joe had drawn on the table cover trying to take my mind off the subject. Suddenly I felt a sharp tap against my shin. Snapping my head up to see Nick side smirked at me while he listened to one of Joe’s stories that he was explaining to Gabby. Swinging my shoe back to aim at Nick’s shin under the table, I kicked him back looking away when he snapped his head off as if he was offended to see that I returned his fire. Again another blow struck my shin…this time hard.
“Ouch…” I whispered across the table leaning down to rub my shin gently. Nick half-laughed glancing at me while he still faced Joe.
Payback time
Swinging my foot back, I attempted to strike Nick’s shin as hard as I could only to be stopped by his shoe which was flexed and apparently taller then I could aim.
“Missed me,” Nick coughed from across the table nodding his head to Joe’s words as he continued. Knowing I was an open target and it was Nick’s turn to kick, I pulled my feet up to sit on the edge of my chair as I looked away to see Faye smiling curiously at me. She knew something was going on…but that was the least of my worries…I was about to get pulverize by Nick’s foot…and-my thoughts were cut off by the jolt of Nick’s foot against the top of the table jerking my water glass over to run off toward me and onto my clothes. Frozen, I looked down at my clothes that were now soaked with ice cold water.
“Nicholas,” Mr. and Mrs. Jonas said together as Joe’s story immediately stopped as Nick’s face dropped in surprise and fear.
“Was that you, Nick?” Joe asked looking down at my soaked clothes as I pulled my chair back to air out my pink shirt. Gabby immediately started laughing as I bit my lip trying not to crack up watching Nick’s astonished face and widened brown eyes.
“Ohmygosh,Iamsosorry,” Nick rushed out making me smiling slightly. Oddly, I couldn’t care less about my soaked clothes.
“Its okay, I’ll just go find some paper towels and clean up in the bathroom,” I said lifting my dripping napkin that was stuck to my leg and dropping it on the seat. Walking around the tables of staring and giggling people, I couldn’t help but smile. Truly, I would be crazy upset about my drenched shirt and jeans…but I right now I couldn’t force myself to care.
“Nick, what did you do?” Kevin asked picking up Kati’s soaked napkin and holding up examining it.
Smooth, Nick, smooth, just when you actually talked to her without sounding like an idiot…
“I think he just decided he liked his women wet,” Joe laughed sending Gabby into giggles and Kevin to smirk.
“What?” I asked Joe putting on my best disgusted face, yet pleading with my eyes for Joe to not go there.
“You better apologize, Nick, or she’ll leave you for sure,” Kevin smirked at me as I squinted my eyes and gave him a deathly glare. Kevin not only made it obvious that Kati and I were together, but he brought up the subject of saying goodbye again. Everyone seemed to know about me and Kati, even Gabby seemed to know…and with all these stupid jokes…Faye, Mom, Dad, and even Frankie will know…and that was all I needed.
“Maybe I can go help her,” I said pushing out my chair as my mom and dad continued their previous conversation. For the whole dinner they had been practically clueless to what was going on, which I was incredibly thankful for.
“In the girls’ bathroom, Nick? I don’t think so,” Faye giggled placing her hand on my head to lower me back into my seat as she stood up and placed her napkin on the table, “I’ll go see if she’s okay,”
“Okay,” I sighed, “but can you tell her that I’m a million times sorry and if I can do anything to make it up that I…” Faye cut me off before I could continue rambling.
“I got it, Nick,” Faye smiled at me patting me on the shoulder and heading off to the bathroom as I collapsed onto the back of my chair and took in a deep breath.
Please, please let her still want to talk to me after this
Swinging open the dark brown, wooden door, I inched into the quite bathroom peeking in to see Kati sitting on the green, satin bench across from the sinks smiling to herself while she rubbed her shirt with a paper towel. If either Nick or Kati were trying to hide that they liked each other, I have one thing to say to both of them – they stink at it. Throughout dinner, I watched Nick and Kati laugh hysterically at each others’ jokes, and listen intently to each others’ stories. I could tell Nick liked Kati because every time she smiled, his eyes glowed and he couldn’t stop smiling himself. Plus, he was extremely worried about a little water that he accidentally spilled on her, which didn’t do well for hiding the fact that he liked her either. Kati would always get lost in Nick’s eyes and smile just like I would Kevin’s and you could tell that she loved him when he talked to her by the slight redness in her cheeks every time a word came out of Nick’s mouth. I was just worried about Nick, much like Kevin was. If this girl left for good, he would be devastated; just like when Miley used him, but for some reason I had a feeling this girl wouldn’t be leaving.
“Last time I checked, no one really enjoys having water spilt on them,” I said walking into the bathroom and leaning against the wall watching Kati slightly jump from the sound of my voice making her smile disappear.
“Oh, hey,” Kati smiled sweetly then went back to rubbing her shirt with the white paper towel.
“But, what I want to know is that is it the water that is making you smile like that, or the boy that spilled it on you,” I said slyly smirking. Kati’s head snapped up and her eyes widened.
“You know that he asked me out?” Kati asked me still wide eyed as my lower jaw dropped slightly smiling.
“HE WHAT? No way! No way! Awwwwwwww, when, where, spill, NOW,” I jumped over to sit next to Kati on the bench. Kati bit her lip obviously regretting that she said that.
“Oh…sorry, I get kind of excited, but I’ll keep quiet I promise, promise, promise,” I giggled with excitement rushing through my body while I held out my pinky for Kati to shake. Kati started to laugh as she locked pinkies with me and smiled to herself again.
“Sooooo, tell me everything,” I urged her to go on.
“We were playing hide and seek before the concert, and he pulled me into the closet where he was hiding because I couldn’t find anywhere to hide….then he asked me out,” Kati said blushing a little bit and biting her lip.
Awwww…Nicky…she is crazy about you…
“oooooo, did you kiss?” I asked pulling my feet up to sit on the bench with me rocking back and forth like a two year old.
“Well…he tried to kiss me…but Kevin opened the door of the closet to get us to go get food…and it kind of didn’t happen,” Kati said her smile drop, but then she whipped her head around to look at me, her blonde hair brushing against her cheeks.
“Ah! Kevin, what will we do with that boy?” I smiled standing up from the bench and observing Kati’s soaked clothes. The water had kind of evaporated leaving only a faint spot of water that would be gone in no time. Kati stood up with me and looked at herself in the mirror.
“Now, Kati, now that you are dating a Jonas, there is one this you have to know,” I said plastering an instructing look on my face and looking Kati straight in the eye.
“What is that?’ Kati slightly smiled getting a bit more comfortable with me talking to her like a sister.
“They are truly amazing people, and if one of them asked you out, that Jonas truly and completely cares about you, and you must always remember that you are one of the luckiest girls on the planet, and should hold onto them as long as possible, and from what I’ve seen I don’t think Nick will ever stop caring for you,” I explained dusting off Kati’s shoulders like a big sister as she sweetly smiled, “Now, shall we go back out?”
“Most definitely,” Kati giggled following me out the door and back into the warm light of the restaurant.
The smell of fresh baked bred flew through my nose as Faye and I walked through the door out from the restroom. Biting my lip slightly I thought of what Faye had said.
“…and from what I’ve seen I don’t think Nick will ever stop caring for you,”
That thought would probably single handedly cure anything the world would throw at me. It was true – I was one of the luckiest girls on the planet. Smiling brightly at Nick, I sat back into my seat then look toward Faye who had just sat down. She winked at me then smiled brightly at a curious Kevin.
“How was the restroom, ladies?” Kevin giggled staring at Faye’s bright eyes.
“It was good,” I shrugged as Nick shot a worried look at me as if he wanted to make sure I was okay.
“Kati, I’m so sorry, I mean so, so, so, so, so, so sorry, and if I can do anything ple…” I cut off Nick with a slight smile.
“Its just water, Nick, I’m not in a coma, but thanks,” I giggled and winked at him as if some new person had come out of me similar to the one who had talked to Nick earlier. Nick’s brown eyes lit up with delight at my response sending my heart to race like crazy.
“So, before the concert, you guys were saying that you liked to act,” Joe smiled as Gabby picked up her diet coke and sipped it while I fixed my eyes one Joe.
“Oh yeah, do you want to go anywhere that or do you…,” Faye asked but was cut of by Gabby choking on her diet coke and her eyes widening sending me a ray of panic.
“Joe….Time,” Gabby coughed as I sat up confused.
“Uh…it is 8:43” Joe said hesitantly and Gabby jumped out of her chair and bit her lip.
“Gabby…” I started watching her eyes fill with panic as my heart raced, “What is going on?”
“The audition,” Gabby said sending my stomach to plummet.
“What? What do you mean? Gabby talk,” I rushed all my thoughts out of my mouth panic filling my voice as I pushed out of my seat.
“The audition, the casting directors, 8:30, we need to get there NOW,” Gabby spat out all at once.
What? How come I didn’t know about this? What is going on?
Nick jumped out of his chair switching his stares between both of us as I felt my head becoming dizzy with fear.
“Kevin, can you drive us to the Colorado Spring School of Dramatic Arts, I know how to get there, we just need to drive,” I gasped for air as Kevin jumped out of his chair along with Joe.
“Dad, can I use the rental car we drove in?” Kevin asked Mr. Jonas who stared at Gabby and me in confusion.
“Yes, but if you pop another tire, I swear Kevin…” Mr. Jonas was cut off by Kevin rushing toward the door with the keys and Gabby right behind him.
“Thank you so much, we will explain later,” I rushed after Gabby followed by Nick and Joe leaving Mr. and Mrs. Jonas, Faye, and Frankie behind in confusion.
This can’t be happening this can’t be happening, why didn’t I remember
Thoughts race through my head as I jumped out of the rental car followed by Kati as we rushed toward the clear glass doors of the courtyard. Yanking the door open, I heard Kevin drive off to park with the boys.
“Gabby, what is going on? What is happening? What audition?” Kati’s thin voice hollered down the hall.
“And remember, class, that the casting directors will be here on Sunday at promptly 8:30 pm after the last class ends, this is a big opportunity for you, so I wouldn’t be late, otherwise you will not be let into the audition”
My stomach dropped as Kati and I sprinted down to the door of Ms. Catherine’s classroom.
Please, Please, Please let us in.
I could feel water forming in my eyes as I heard the clear doors open behind us as the boys sprinted after us but stopping in their tracks when I knocked on the door and Ms. Catherine solemnly walked out into the hall quietly shutting the door behind her.
“Ms. Catherine…we…” I started gasping for air.
“Girls, I told you on Saturday that you couldn’t be late for this. You are 2 of my best students, but I’m sorry but I can’t let you in.” A tear trickled down my cheek as Ms. Catherine continued knowing exactly what we were going to ask her, “I really wanted you two to have this opportunity, and I think that the casting directors in there would immediately pick you two, but I can’t change the rules and I’m very sorry, but I will see you in class tomorrow afternoon.” Ms. Catherine’s voice was low and very sad as she avoided eye contact with us and quietly opened the door and walked back in – then she shut the door making my stomach plummet.
“Gabby…what just happened,” Kati asked clueless. A tsunami of guilt overwhelmed me and my only refuge was anger.
“WHY DIDN’T YOU REMEMBER?!” I shouted whipping my head around to look Kati straight in her panicking eyes.
“What? Me? I didn’t even know about this. WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?” Kati yelled taking a big breath and freezing her eyes on mine.
“TELL YOU? I THOUGHT YOU WERE LISTENING, YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER THESE THINGS, NOT ME, WHY DIDN’T YOU LISTEN? RIGHT THERE WAS OUR CHANCE TO BECOME BIG, TO BECOME EVERYTHING WE WANTED TO BE AND YOU BLEW IT!” I screamed…regretting it immediately.
“ME?? ONCE AGAIN, I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW ABOUT IT!” Kati screamed shaking slightly while her ocean blue eyes were filling up with water rapidly as tear by tear streaked my cheek. Wiping under my eyes I took a deep breath and bit my lip trying to cool down – but that wasn’t working.
“WHY DIDN’T YOU LISTEN? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ABOUT THAT WAS SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN THIS?” I screamed backing away from Kati and snapping my head to stare at Nick whose eyes were wide. Twirling around to walk further down the hall, I stomped off away from Kati. I knew this wasn’t Kati’s fault…it was Nick’s…or maybe it was mine…but one thing I had to do was get away from Kati’s tear streaked face. The doors had been closed, our one opportunity was crushed and there was no way I was going to cool down. That interview was the only one in a couple years and it was hosted by some of the greatest LA casting directors and anyone who was chosen to be filed with the agency, was going to be a sure fire hit. That was going to be me and Kati, together, but once Ms. Catherine closed that door our world, everything Kati and I worked for was gone, and gone forever and there was no way I could help that.
Flinging tears off my face with my hand I watched Gabby stomp down the hallway in anger.
How could she be so stupid? I didn’t hear anything about an audition, this isn’t my fault
There I stood frozen in my tracks unable to say anything. Anger fused within me making me shake rapidly. Whipping my head around to see the brothers standing close behind me with widened and worried eyes, I started to sprint out the clear doors tears rushing down my face Everything we knew, w