22

Brooke

"Hey Tay…what's wrong?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen with Katie and saw Taylor crying.

"Ask your brother," my mother said gruffly. She didn't get grumpy easily, so I knew right away that Chase had done something really stupid to get her into this state.

"Chase…what did you do?" I asked suspiciously. I looked from Chase to Taylor and back to my brother.

"I'll put it nicely, I parked my car in Taylor's garage and now we're getting a mini Cooper." What this had to do with cars was a mystery to me. What did it have to do with Taylor being sad?

"What? I don't speak car!" Chase rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"Taylor and I slept together when we were drunk and she said we didn't need a condom because she was on the pill."

"So why is she crying?" Chase rolled his eyes.

"She's pregnant! You dumb cow!" Chase said angrily. Chase's words finally registered. My eyes slid to Taylor, who began to sob even harder.

"Oh," Brooke said. Now I understood why our mother was grumpy.

"Are you staying with her?" Katie asked. Taylor was visibly shocked by the question and looked at him with a tearful, scared face. Luckily, Chase didn't hesitate for a moment about his answer.

"Of course! I love her!"

"Taylor? Do you want to keep the baby?" our mother asked. Taylor tried to control her sobs but said nothing.

"Taylor?" Chase asked anxiously.

Auriana

Nikki played music from "stronger" on the keyboard. We went through all the songs again to make sure all four of them knew all the songs.

"Sounds good," another thing I could check off my checklist, "the catering, the tables the catering will be on, the outfits, blah, blah, blah…okay, Renee, Jake, Jeremy, and Jimmy, you're going to get four tables and put them on the side, okay? Skylar, Nikki, and Emma, ​​you're going to get the black glitter fabric and put it on the tables. I'm going to check on the catering." With that, I walked to the kitchen where a lot of commotion was coming from before I walked in.

"What's going on here?" Just to be sure, I had stopped in the doorway when I saw Brooke and Chase arguing. Not that that was anything unusual.

"Chase called me a dumb cow," Brooke said. Katie and Auriana burst out laughing.

"Then why did he call you a dumb cow?" I asked, laughing. I couldn't help it, the way she said it was funny.

"Because I didn't know why Taylor was crying."

"Then why was she crying?" Brooke looked at Taylor who nodded in agreement. "Because…because she's pregnant." Brooke still couldn't believe that she would be an aunt in a few months.

"How long?" Mrs. Taylor asked. With all the commotion going on, they hadn't asked yet.

"Eight weeks." She looked at Chase through the sobs.

"Congratulations?" I said hesitantly, not sure if they were happy or not. They seemed to have finally noticed me standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Chase asked. He put his arm around his girlfriend in an attempt to calm her down.

"Checking how the catering is going," I replied.

"Okay, we have brownies, cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, salmon wraps, cocktail sausages, star and heart shaped fruit, rainbow cake, Coke, orange soda, grape juice and iced tea," Brooke's mother replied with a laugh. She may have been furious with her son, but that didn't mean she had to take it out on others. A timer went off and she quickly walked over to the oven to take out the next plate.

"How much longer until the party?" Katie asked. I fished my phone out of my pocket and glanced at the time.

"Three hours and fifteen minutes to go." Katie quickly untied her apron as she walked toward the doorway.

"Later!" She threw her apron on the floor and ran away.

"How far are we?" Brooke asked. She had been gone from the gym for a while.

"Almost done, the balloons are filled with helium, they're setting up the tables for catering now. We're going to order food and get changed at 6:30, practice again, and wait for everyone to get in." I went over the plan in my head one more time to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything.

"And then we're going to open the party with our performance for Scarlet?" Brooke asked. Jimmy came running over.

"Brooke, there's a man asking for you." Brooke followed Jimmy.

"Could you bring the food and drinks to the gym in about half an hour and set them up then? Then I'll go back soon." When I got back to the gym I saw Brooke signing for the confetti cannons. Jimmy read through the instructions and soon the confetti cannons were connected and ready to go, the tables were full of snacks and drinks, plastic cups and plates. Outside the door were tables with chairs where the CDs were on and the teachers could sit. The sound system was set up, the windows were tinted, the headsets and microphones had been tested and the instruments were connected to amplifiers they had dinner. Principal Nickolas, Chase, Taylor, Brooke's parents and we looked satisfied at the results.

"We're going to get changed," Emma said as she looked at her watch.

Jake

Renee walked to the locker room and came back with four covered hangers. She handed one to Nikki, Jimmy, Jeremy and me.

"What's this?" Jeremy asked. He took the hanger from her and looked at her questioningly.

"Take the cover off and you'll know," Renee said. Nikki was holding a black and orange dress. There was an orange bow on one of the spaghetti straps. Jimmy had gotten a black blazer with black skinny jeans, black Converse shoes and a white T-shirt from Renee. Jeremy had a dark green blazer with dark green skinny jeans in his hands, the dark green Converse shoes were dangling from the laces on the hanger and the white T-shirt was in a separate garment bag. I pulled a dark blue blazer with dark blue skinny jeans out of the garment bag, the dark blue Converse shoes and white T-shirt were still dangling from the hanger.

"Put that on and fix your hair," Renee said. A moment later Nikki came out of the dressing room again. She had let her hair down and was wearing orange eye shadow, eyeliner and mascara. The dress she had gotten from Renee fell right in just the right places and the heels made her look taller.

"Wow," the girls said in unison. They wore black skorts themselves, made of glitter material. A top that was one sleeved off the shoulder and underneath they wore black ankle boots. They had their hair half down. The headsets were

Placed and connected, but not yet turned on. They practiced one last time. Jeremy looked at his watch.

"Five more minutes." Auriana, Brooke, Emma, ​​and Skylar walked to the corners of the gym and Renee hid behind the door that was open. Jimmy, Jeremy, Nikki, and I climbed up on stage. Nikki went behind the keyboard, Jeremy sat behind the drums, and Jimmy and I hung our guitars around our necks. Principal Nickolas turned off the lights, making it pitch black because the windows were blacked out. It didn't take long for everyone to enter the gym. There was a lot of chatter and everyone wondered why the lights were off, the door had been closed behind them. Renee threw open the door and stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips and her feet apart. With the light shining behind her, she looked like a ghost. Nikki, Jimmy, Jeremy, and I started playing. The spotlight shone on the foursome on stage. Scarlet looked at Nikki, Jimmy, Jeremy and me in amazement as we all stood on stage with big smiles. Boom, clap, boom, boom, clap, everyone clapped along except for Scarlet. They stomped their feet and clapped their hands to the beat of the music. Renee, Auriana, Skylar, Brooke and Emma ran to the stage clapping as they sang.

"Don't let it fool you,"

"We're no ordinary teens,"

"Different worlds colliding into one,"

"Each trying to find their own place,"

"We're stubborn as hell,"

"Chasing our own dreams,"

"All for one, you know?"

"We're better together,"

"We stand united,"

"Fighting for what's right every time,"

"We're stronger together,"

"We'll make a difference,"

"All for one and one for all,"

"Nothing can stop us,"

"Not even when they try,"

"Power of ten, unbeatable,"

"And one thing is for sure,"

"When you call for us,'

"We'll be there for you,"

"All for one, you know?"

"We're better together,"

"We stand united,"

"Fighting for what's right every time,"

"We're stronger together,"

"We'll make a difference,"

"All for one and one for all,"

"Don't let it fool you,"

"We're no ordinary teens,"

"We're much stronger than we look,"

"We're here to save the day,"

"Come on, give it your best,"

"We don't give up that easy,"

"Don't mess with the friends,"

"All for one, you know?"

"We're better together,"

"We stand united,"

"Fighting for what's right every time,"

"We're stronger together,"

"We'll make a difference,"

"All for one and one for all,"

"All for one, you know?"

"We're better together,"

"We stand united,"

"Fighting for what's right every time,"

"We're stronger together,"

"We'll make a difference,"

"All for one and one for all,"

"All for one and one for all,"

"All for one and one for all,"

"All for one and one for all,"

"All for one and one for all," we all sang. Renee put both arms in the air, Skylar and Emma crossed their arms and bent halfway through one knee and Brooke and Auriana put one arm in the air and the other arm on their side.

"I love you!" Scarlet said. She ran onto the stage and threw her arms around their necks.

"We love you too!" the girls laughed in unison. Suddenly Brooke's eyes fell on Scarlet's dress. It was a short dress with black straps and a glittery top was made of the same fabric as their skirts. On the back of the red tulle skirt was a red bow. Renee saw it and told Brooke, Emma, ​​Auriana and Skylar to come with her to the dressing room.

"Why do we have to come with you to the dressing room?" Auriana asked. She saw Hannah and before Renee could answer she was already running towards the dressing room. The other four followed her. I put the guitar on the stand, jumped off the stage and walked over to Hannah.

"Hey." Hannah kissed me on the cheek. And I had to force myself not to wipe it off.

"Hey, you were amazing!"