Categories > Movies > High School Musical > So-Jessica-Alba-Fantastic
Chapter Four: Nerves
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
Anxious. Scared. Afraid. Terrified. Worried. These were all the words plus some others that would describe her state of being and mind at the moment. But the thing was, she never got nervous. Having been in and out of the theater her whole life, you'd think that Vanessa would be used to this - the audition process - by now. You memorized your lines, recited a monologue, maybe even sang a note or two and that was your audition - at least according to her world. That was all she ever had to do. But this time, this was much different. This was an audition to be a part of the world's most beloved band. This was a chance for her name to be household, up in lights, on the marquees and all that jazz. This was a chance to work with some of her idols and for the first time since she was three years old and Corbin dared her to jump off the swingset in his backyard, Vanessa was scared out of her mind which was more than she could say for Corbin at the moment. He sat in the chair, bobbing his head up and down to the song playing on his iPod and she literally wanted to know how he went from being in her state of being last night to Mr. Crazy Sexy Cool.
Moving his backpack off of her claimed seat, Vanessa sat down beside him and heard the paper number on her back crunch against the hard surface. Watching what seemed like thousands of other hopeful Rockers sing and warm up for their chance to wow the remaining four members and their managers, the number changed again; one number closer to her and Corbin, who were but one away from each other. Feeling a finger tap on the back of her hand, she turned to smile over at Corbin who was offering her the other earpiece to his headphones. Taking it from his hand, Vanessa stuck the tiny piece into her own lobe and listened to the composition that they were going to audition with strum through her head. Her eyes wandered about again, catching notice of what others were wearing and how they presented themselves. A small snort escaped her tiny nose as she saw the skinny, tall guy with piercings in and out of his body and she thanked the high heavens that Corbin wasn't like that. Not that the tall, skinny guy wasn't as talented or anything, but she was so glad she was doing this with Corbin.
A red number flashed in the corner of her eye and she saw it move up to 363. Pushing Corbin up to glance at the number on his own back - 512 - she leaned back further into her seat and pulled out her sidekick, not wanting to end the song they were listening to.
"Cant Blieve we doing this," Vanessa keyed into the phone and sent over to Corbin's own Treo. The vibration shook his pants pocket and he pulled it out, looking at her the whole time. Holding her hands up in surrender, Corbin looked down at the text message and laughed himself.
"Still nervous?" He keyed back and sent to her phone, surprised as Justin Timberlake's Sexyback was played.
"What? I like the song?"
"I get that. But a ringtone for me?"
"No, Cordelia," Vanessa playfully pushed his arm a bit, glancing at his message back, "it's just for the text messages. I've got Sk8er Boy for you."
"I love Avril, but Sk8tr Boy? Come on, V," Corbin reasoned with her and she noticed him mimicking her stance by leaning back in the seat with her. "How long we been here?"
"Five hours and yes," she quickly answered.
"Yes?"
"You asked me if I was still nervous. I'm saying yes," she stated, texting him back random letters just to see if it would calm her any. Pulling her legs up on the chair and positioning herself to sit Indian-style, she was taken aback when Corbin pulled on her hands, not caring if her sidekick tumbled to the ground and twirled her around in the seat. "Cor!"
"It's one o'clock in the afternoon and the day isn't even half over, but Five Words or Less?" He proposed, referring to their personal game that they always played every day. Regardless of if they were fighting about nothing in particular, going out of their minds from a hectic day or just sitting around watching their siblings because they had defaulted into the babysitting gig once again - all three, including Alexa would drop everything and describe their day in five words or less. Vanessa's eyes widened, excited a bit that they were going to play it without Alexa because it was more fun that way and because it was only one o'clock. They usually played when it was way past 2 in the morning. "Okay," he started out, his hands still attached to hers as the number changed on the wall again, "Me first?"
"Go for it."
"Okay - tired."
"Bored."
"Bored, are you kidding me?"
"Cor, word. I'll tell you after we play."
"Fine. Um, anxious."
"Tell me again why we can't use the same word?"
"Because I made it up. Word."
"Afraid."
"Scared."
"Astounded."
"I like that one," Corbin's mouth curved into a wide smile and she returned it, brushing back her loose tendrils back from her face. "Nervous."
"Hey - that was mine!" She exclaimed, playfully slapping his arm.
"I know, keep going," he encouraged her.
"On the border of worried and terrified."
"Same thing here. Okay, last one," Corbin took a deep breath as they both caught sight of the number inched closer to theirs, "Ready."
"Yeah, I'm ready," she answered, assuming that he was referring to going forward in their game.
"No, that was my word. Ready."
"You're ready? Like ready ready?" She questioned, her eyes widening to see his expression.
"Really ready," he smiled back and twisted them both around again as the doors to the rehearsal rooms opened and a Kelly Clarkson look a like came out, "let's go."
Vanessa followed his gaze towards the farthest room and nodded as they got up and headed towards the tiny room filled with nothing but a piano and radio for people to play their recordings on. "Are you that ready?" Vanessa asked as she caught up with him.
"I think so," Corbin let out a bit of his nervousness to her as she shut the door behind them and he sat down behind the keys. "I can't believe we're really here," he breathed out as she let their stuff down on the floor.
"Me either. I am so nervous, Cor, really nervous," Vanessa said, circling around the piano more times than once and felt Corbin's eyes watching her as his hands sweep across the not so pearl-white keys. "In less than two hundred numbers, you and me are going to be standing in front of the So-Jessica-Alba-Fantastic Rockers," she emphasized, her arms crossing and landing on top of the piano's top. "I can just see my losing my voice as soon as we step in there."
"You're not going to lose your voice. Why would you lose your voice?" Corbin asked, still looking at her with his forehead crinkled in wonder before it coming to him. "You've gotta be kidding me. Are you serious? This is all about your massive crush on McHottie himself?"
"No," Vanessa insisted but even she could tell the fib before she admitted it, "okay, yes. But just a little bit."
"Little bit? Yeah right," Corbin scoffed, almost fully one with the song.
"I'm telling the truth. He's only a tiny part," Vanessa twirled around, scrunching her fingers together to emphasize her point. She scooted next to him and watched his fingers barely touch the keys to produce a beautiful piece that she would be singing in hopefully, less than two hours, would be singing. "I mean, he's just so cute and singing in front of him....have you seen those eyes?" Vanessa said dreamily.
"I haven't really noticed them, V, no," he sarcastically said back as he came upon the chorus, smiling only when she stuck her tongue out at him and came up with a retort just as good.
"Oh that's right - you're the one who's more into hiding your feelings in your songs and playing them to a certain someone who really has no idea what they mean."
"Oooo, what a burn that was," he commented, still into the song and her soft curls brushed across his lower arm. "You'll do fine, no, wait. You will be So-Jessica-Alba-Fantastic," he said, trying to make her not so nervous about their audition.
"You're very confident about this whole thing."
"Because I had a good self esteem coach last night," Corbin paused in his song to look over at her. "We'll be fine."
"We'll be fantastic," she agreed, nudging him in the arm to go on with the song. "Can I sing now?"
Nodding his head, Vanessa closed her eyes for a moment and listened to the harmony and melody merge together and saw the words in her mind come. "You seem so free...Like nothing's ever gonna keep you down..."
"Say goodbye, say goodbye to the you I knew before," Corbin joined in just as the door flew open and startled them both.
"Hi, just reminding you that you only have five more minutes," the kind older lady told them, referring to their practice time.
They both nodded towards her and looked at each other. "I'm still nervous," she admitted to him as she pulled him back down on the bench next to her.
"Me too," he said, pinching his fingers in return to mimic her. "But just a little bit. Let's get out of here, go people watch," Corbin stood up and grabbed her hand in the process, dragging her out of the room. Giggling as she grabbed her own bag on the floor like he did his, Vanessa thought about the pierced guy and wondered if he made it through.
*
"Thank you," Drew called out to the person - number 481 - auditioning for a spot in the band. Zac sighed as he crossed number 481 right off his list. Looking down at the clipboard on the table, his eyes went to the last number on it - 1252. There were 771 people still left to see and he knew they would be here until midnight, tops and he was getting low on liquids. Looking over to Monique to his right, he reached out to grab her water bottle only to be slapped away.
"Don't even think about it," she told him, pointing a finger and giving him the once over to prove her point.
"Come on, just a sip," Zac pleaded as the gang took a breather for a few seconds before the next contestant on Who wants to be a Rocker? came into the room.
"Last time you wanted a 'sip', I had one droplet, wait," Monique turned in her seat and teased him about the water situation of Miami, "no, I didn't have any water left after that, did I?"
"I promise, one sip," he held up his right index finger, pleading for that one sip when Lucas tossed a new, full water his way. Letting it fall to the ground, he still stared at Monique. "Please," he smiled at her with an open grin.
"No!" she told him, laughing at his attempt to charm her into giving him the last of her water. "You can have yours."
"Okay, guys," Manda walked up behind them with her own clipboard and they turned to her for more things on the auditions. "Anyone else see the piercings on that one guy? Damn."
Ashley was the first one to laugh as the doors opened again and they all scrambled to their respective spots, all whipping out another scoring sheet and waiting the next hopeful to perform.
"Thanks Kate," Manda nodded towards one of the convention center's facilitators that was more than eager to help the band out. "Rockers meet Andrew," Manda announced his name to them and they wrote it down, greeting Andrew in the process.
"Welcome Andrew, I'm Ashley," she waved.
"Lucas here," Lucas pointed to himself and nodded towards the kid.
"Monique and the doofus to my left is Zac," Monique took the liberty of introducing them both, sticking out her tongue to Zac.
Shaking his head, Drew laughed at them and continued with the introductions, "Great name," he said, "What will you be performing for us today?"
"I like it myself," Andrew laughed back and announced his song to the band, "I'll be performing Loneliness, from, uh, The Rockers," Andrew looked down to his feet for a minute as the Rockers themselves exchanged looks.
Happy that people liked the song, Zac exhaled a deep breath, hoping Andrew's version was better than the four hundred before him that performed the same song. His eyes tore away from the performer to grab the piece of paper Monique was pushing his way. Feeling like they were back in junior high school and passing secret love notes to each other, Zac looked between the appointed teacher, Drew and opened it up, almost snorting at the doodles around the piece of notebook paper.
"I never though I'd say this since we wrote the song - but I hate Loneliness"
Zac read the words of her note and he couldn't agree more.
*
Corbin shut his phone off, ending a rather lengthy conversation with his dad on his mom's birthday plans that was less then 2 weeks away and slumped back down in the seat next to Vanessa, who he could tell was holding a gigantic laugh inside her petite frame. "Go ahead, snort," he told her but all she let out was a small giggle. "That was it?"
"You and Uncle David are so much alike it's funny and scary all at the same time."
"I don't know if that's a compliment or not," Corbin raised an eyebrow at her as both of them caught sight of the number on the wall changing again, this time to 508.
When they had first arrived and obtained their numbers, they were instructed to return to the main table when their number was getting close so that they wouldn't miss out on their audition. Before Corbin could even mention anything, Vanessa was up and ready to walk the quarter mile back to the front.
"Whoa, what happened to Miss Nervous of San Diego?"
"She said goodbye. Ready?" She told him, referencing their chosen audition song and handed him his bag and sheet music that she had been reviewing for the past half hour.
He took the music from her outstretched arm and flung the bag over his shoulder, more ready to get this audition started.
*
Manda waited patiently outside the heavy double doors to the audition room and tried to concentrate on something else other than the screeching going on inside the girl who had went in was cute, but she obviously wasn't going to be a Rocker. Looking down at her own clipboard with numbers and names to go with them, she put a red line through number 509 - Misty Hunter. "Okay, 510. Almost half over," she muttered to herself and walked the few steps only to see an afro the size of Monique's in the morning and a raven haired beauty leaning on the wall together, laughing.
A smile crept on her lips, remembering that that was how the Rockers were when she had first met them. Walking up slowly, she heard the soft hum they were both humming - a perfect match together. Hating to interrupt the duo, Manda just listened for a bit. It was most definitely a big improvement from the one inside the doors. "Hi," she said, getting their attention, "510?"
"Oh, no. 512 and 513," the afro, as Manda would now remember to always call him, said to her, pointing in between him and his friend.
She looked down to her clipboard and read off their names and looked at the note in between the typed words. "Corbin Bleu & Vanessa Hudgens?"
"Yep, that's us," the afro spoke again, making Manda smile wider at him.
"You're the ones with the duet, right?" She asked, wanting to make sure before skipping over 510 and 511, who were absent from the scene.
"Yes," Corbin spoke for the third time as Vanessa stayed silent. "Is that a problem?"
"Shouldn't be. If it is, just tell them tough," Manda joked and smiled back up at them, quickly jotting down notes for herself. "This will be a breath of fresh air for them. Plus, I like duets," she looked up and away from them as number 509 came out of the room almost in tears. "This way," Manda started but was stopped by Vanessa speaking up.
"But, um, sorry Miss Turner," she started, "What about the two before us?"
"They can wait. We usually give them about five minutes to get here anyway but you're already here and I don't want to make you wait longer than you have to. Everyone's been here way to long as it is. And Vanessa," Manda touched her arm to get Vanessa to look back at her, "It's Manda. Now come on."
Manda stepped ahead, waving them to follow and they did. Her gait sped up a bit as they lingered back, looking around the room and finally to the Rockers who were in heavy conversation about the previous 'contestant', as they were now referring to all the auditions as.
"She couldn't sing, end of point," Monique flew her hands up in the air, wanting to get her point across.
"But she was cute and we need cute," Ashley pointed out, "and her shoes! I want those shoes," emphasizing her own point as Lucas butted into it all, despite Zac's stare and warning not to get into it.
"Ash, you're cute, Mo's cute, Zac's cute, I'm cute. We've got the cute-quota filled."
Glancing towards Drew, Manda knew that there was no other way to get their attention. Placing her fingers in her mouth, Manda blew out the highest whistle to date and caught their attention. "Very true! Everyone's cute, but are they good?" Manda spoke up and gestured towards Vanessa and Corbin who were around the piano, still waiting for an okay to go ahead. "Rockers, meet Corbin Bleu and Vanessa Hudgens. They'll be performing a duet."
"Duet? Really?" Lucas was definitely intrigued now. Of the past six cities that they had been on in the search, none had performed a duet before and he was impressed. "Cool."
"Last time I checked, the sign outside the door said solo auditions," Zac commented, his voice a little bit louder than he expected it to be. Manda glanced towards Corbin and Vanessa for a moment and was about to say something to the blue-eyed boy when Vanessa stepped up before her.
"We've prepared a duet, Mr. Efron," she smiled shyly, looking straight into his eyes and continued, "and correct me if I'm wrong but, you're in a band."
Everyone turned to Zac, who was just as speechless as the rest of them. He sat there speechless, his crystal blue eyes watching her cocoa colored ones and their gazes weren't budging. At least they didn't until Drew slapped his arm. Manda quickly announced their numbers to the five in the room and made her way back to the contestants, wishing them the best of luck on her way out.
Zac was still in a bit of shock. No one had ever called him on anything like that - except the four people around him. A giggle, snort and chuckle from the three he performed with broke his stare again. Slumping into his seat, he gave up.
"Corbin, Vanessa, welcome to the auditions and Vanessa, thank you," Monique told them, grinning big at Vanessa and turned to see Ashley smiling just as widely.
"Thank you? For what?" Vanessa was a bit confused, all she did was stating the obvious.
"For putting Zac in his place," Ashley butted in, still laughing at the comment.
"Come on! I thought you were my friends," Zac started to whine.
"She got ya Zac," Drew even butted in. "Corbin, Vanessa, what will you be performing for us?"
Corbin looked at Vanessa oddly for a moment as she shrugged her shoulders towards him and gave him a confident smile. Still looking at her, chuckling at the whole thing, Corbin announced the composition that they had chosen, "We'll be performing Say Goodbye by me."
"Wait, hold up, did you just say you?" Lucas stopped them before they even started. "This is an original?"
"Yes."
"I'm not usually one to say this aloud, the girls usually do it but damn - So-Jessica-Alba-Fantastic, dude."
A ripple of laughter filled the room and Corbin's eyes laughed with them. Looking towards Vanessa, she nodded her head and he started the piece on the piano as Vanessa closed her eyes and got into her mood to sing. Humming into the open air, she started to sing;
I saw you today
My familiar stranger
Everything's changed
You have come so far
You're different now
Would you go back
Corbin watched Vanessa get into the song and he joined her on the song, starting from that one line;
Would you want to anyhow?
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
Say hello, say hello to a new beginning
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
This is your genesis
Vanessa strung out the last note of the chorus and turned to face Corbin fully, watching him play the piano like he did every day. But this time it was different. This time it was for his rightful spot in the band. Taking over the next part, Vanessa smiled as she knew this was his calling;
Face to face
The present and past collide
And it's no mistake
I see the future is in your eyes
You seem so free
And like Corbin did before, Vanessa joined him on the last line and the chorus, rounding out most of the song he had written back in junior high school;
Like nothing's ever gonna keep you down
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
Say hello, say hello to a new beginning
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
This is your genesis
You're different now
You're different somehow
You're different now
They traded off the lines of the bridge as Corbin glanced at Vanessa who gained most of her voice back within the last few hours and belted the chorus once more;
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
Say hello, say hello to a new beginning
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
This is your genesis
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
Say hello, say hello to a new beginning
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
This is your genesis
Vanessa opened her eyes back up from the song and heard Corbin slow down the notes and finish off the song;
Say goodbye, say goodbye
His voice trailed off as did his music and they stared at each other. They had just done it. They had taken a week's worth of work, two weeks worth of nerves and more than twenty years of talent and put it into his song in front of the Rockers. Corbin looked up and stared at Vanessa who stared right back, holding back the urge to jump and squeal like a fanatic. They both realized that they were actually good, and not just any good - really good, like Alexa had told them many times over to begin with. Grabbing her hand as he stood up from the piano's bench, they turned towards the Rockers sitting in front of them and stared.
Every one of them were sitting there with open mouths and they were speechless. Tapping Corbin on the back of his hand, Vanessa leaned towards him and whispered, "That's a good thing, right?"
"I think so," Corbin whispered back, squeezing her hand and watching Ashley clear her throat first.
"Wow," Lucas and Drew said at the same time and glanced at each other with wide eyes. "And you wrote that?" Drew asked again.
"Yes, I did," Corbin confirmed.
"So-Jessica-Alba-Fantastic," Monique and Ashley both said in a hushed tone at the same time as well. "Why are you two here?" Ashley asked aloud.
"Ash, they're auditioning," Zac stated the obvious still writing notes on his clipboard about the performance. He was the only one seeming unimpressed by the performance.
"We got that dumbass," Monique commented, slapping him on the back of the head.
"What is it? Beat-up-Zac-Day?"
"We should declare it that, just because you're in a bad mood. I think, no, I know she's asking why are they here? They should already be up against us at the Grammys. Is there anything you want to say to them, other than 'Great job' like everyone else?" Monique, the big sexy sister of them all asked him.
Rolling his eyes at her, he looked back up at Corbin and Vanessa both, noting the hand holding between them. "How many songs have you written between you two?" Zac asked, looking more at Vanessa than Corbin.
"There's about, what is it now, V? Um..." Corbin was trying to count in his head before Vanessa just snapped the answer out.
"42 and counting. Most of them were while we were in high school."
"Play any other instruments?"
"I play guitar," Vanessa told him as he looked straight back into her eyes again. They were hypnotizing. "Corbin's the piano man," she smiled again, tugging onto his arm.
The other four watched and listened as Zac played twenty questions with the two. Ashley tried to hide the smile back but it just wouldn't listen to her. Glancing between Monique, who could easily read everyone of them there, there was an obvious attraction that Zac had.
"You two did a terrific job," Zac honestly said, rating them on his personal scale.
"How terrific Zac?" Ashley rubbed her nose in.
"How's So-Jessica-Alba-Fantastic for you, Ashley?"
"Good," she leaned back in her own seat, circling both their numbers on her sheet.
"Corbin, Vanessa, thank you for auditioning. You definitely need to stick around until later. Is that okay?" Drew asked as Manda came back into the room with her massive clipboard and snacks for the Rockers.
"Yeah," Corbin spoke up for the both of them, "we can do that."
*
Manda, after four more hours of hand-holding, encouraging, standing in heels, ushering in and out of the room, finally sat down at the round table next to Lucas and spread herself over the table, letting them all know how tired she was. "San Diego is like the best city to visit, but so tiring," she said, muffled from the fact that her blonde hair was in the way of her mouth. Lucas pulled the hair away from her face for her. "Thank you. I am so tired."
"I call seconds," Monique said.
"Thirds," Ashley was next, shifting in her seat in between Drew and Zac.
"Then the guys call fourths, fifths and sixths, of course," Drew said, shrugging his shoulders and flipping out his pen from his shirt pocket. "Okay, so to get more sleep, let's get this on with. Lucas, your numbers," Drew called on Lucas first and he told them his numbers.
"346, 512, 513 and 789."
"522, 513, 512, 635," Monique said hers as Manda switching highlighters and indicated which ones they had chosen.
"512, 513, 596, 1278," Ashley was next, receiving a pink color for her choices.
"678, 546, 512, 513," Zac was last with his numbers.
"Well, 512 and 513 are definitely in. Everyone was impressed with the both of them," Drew said and Manda briefly looked at their names.
"Oh, Afro!" Manda exclaimed. Having been in and out of 1300 contestants, she had to go by nicknames unless she would never remember anyone. "Not only are they talented, they're so nice. They brought me coffee," Manda smiled.
"Trying to butter up the managers," Zac said, smirking, "we throw them out for that right?"
"Quit it, Zac," Manda got to him before Monique and Ashley. He never double crossed or second guessed her and for definitely good reason. "512 and 513 are in. Drew, your choices?"
"Like everyone else, 512 and 513 are shoe-ins. I also had 678 - Christina Brooks."
"What did she do again?" Lucas asked, skimming through his score sheets that were still in his hands.
"She performed Christina Aguilera's Hurt. She was good, the voice was phenomenal," Ashley told him, handing her score sheet over to him.
"Oh yea, she was good. Why do I have 789 - Torrance Powers on my good list?"
"She was hot too," Zac commented, earning a giggle from Manda this time instead of a slap.
"Good question, since she totally blew up our song," Monique said, not looking up from her own sheets. "I have a good memory, people, stop looking me like that."
"Christina Brooks, in or not?" Manda asked at the round table as they all said yes. "Okay, Christina Brooks in. Remember, four from every city, we need one more. What was your other choice Drew?"
"1278 - Bryan Sterling. As much as I liked Andrew's," Drew sarcastically added in, "Bryan's rendition of Loneliness was better."
"He did do it pretty well," Zac said and then brought up the fact that most of the contestants sang one of their songs. He was actually kind of grateful for the ones that didn't. It definitely swayed his picks.
"Okay, so 512 - Vanessa Hudgens, 513 - Corbin Bleu, 678 - Christina Brooks and 1278 - Bryan Sterling are our four. We gonna be doing this like the previous cities?" Manda asked, looking at Drew, who nodded. Manda mimicked his nod and stood up, not even attempting to put on her shoes this time around. Tennis shoes and jeans were meant for Seattle and Los Angeles, their two last cities. "Guys ready?"
"Yep," they all said, taking their old sweet time following her.
In all the previous cities - Miami, New York City, Chicago, Houston and Albuquerque - they had the same routine in announcing who was going to be joining them in Los Angeles for the final sessions. The Rockers would each have a number in their hands and would seek out that person amidst the thousands of hopefuls and with San Diego being one of the cities with the lowest outcome; it would be a bit easier finding the number. Zac held open the door for his band mates and scooted out just as Drew took the microphone from Manda.
"Okay, San Diego," Drew ran up the tiny stage and got the attention of the whole lobby. "We are finally done."
Cheers erupted from most of the ones who choose to stay for the reveal of who would go through.
"Who wants to know who made it through?" Monique asked, regaining her energy when she saw some of the girl hopefuls cheer. "Me too. So, Rockers," she looked towards the other three, "let's Rock."
Monique handed microphone back to Drew and made her way through the crowd, looking for number 513, Corbin Bleu. Ashley, Lucas and Zac were on their way as well. Eyes were widened, hoping and praying that they would choose one of them, they all saw it in them. Ashley smiled as best she could, weaving her way through the crowd, and was even disappointed herself when their faces fell as she passed them.
Zac met up with Lucas several times, trying to find out where Monique went to. He had 512 - Vanessa Hudgens in his hand. Corbin and Vanessa would most likely be together, he had thought in his head and pinpointed the straight black hair that was looking all around her and stopping. Tapping her on the shoulder, he grabbed her hand and pointed to the left. "Let's go."
"Thank you for saving me," Monique whispered as they edged up on where Vanessa and Corbin were standing still. "I don't think we could ever do this."
"What? Audition for American Idol?" Zac looked at her, smiling as his arm wrapped around her. "You could. I couldn't. There they are," he pointed up towards them, seeing them fidget around some others.
Exchanging a quick smile, Zac let Monique go first and watched her stride up to Corbin with his number in her hand, showing him he had made it through. And even though she didn't know that she made it yet, Vanessa was even smiling for him. "You made it!" Zac heard her scream and jump into his arms, congratulating him. This was definitely a city to remember, he thought, as she walked up beside Monique and Vanessa opened her eyes to see him with her number.
Letting herself release Corbin from her death grip of a hug, she stared back at him with her mouth wide open. "Are you serious?" she said, barely above a whisper.
"Yes, Miss Hudgens, you and Corbin," Zac emphasized the 'and' just to see her reaction spread into a smile, "are going to Los Angeles. Congratulations."
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Songs used in Chapter 4: Nerves
Say Goodbye - Joy Williams
A/N: So, after two-some weeks, you finally have interaction between all of them! How'd I do? Should I stop and never do this again or keep going?
No new preview since I haven't written anything down yet all I can give you is this: Vanessa & Corbin head to Los Angeles and meet back up with Alexa
Vanessa slapped the side of Corbin's arm. "You have your own apartment in LA and haven't been using it?! Why?"
Corbin held his arm, looking for some help from Alexa across the booth. "Help, please?"
"You are so on your own there Bleu Man."
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
Anxious. Scared. Afraid. Terrified. Worried. These were all the words plus some others that would describe her state of being and mind at the moment. But the thing was, she never got nervous. Having been in and out of the theater her whole life, you'd think that Vanessa would be used to this - the audition process - by now. You memorized your lines, recited a monologue, maybe even sang a note or two and that was your audition - at least according to her world. That was all she ever had to do. But this time, this was much different. This was an audition to be a part of the world's most beloved band. This was a chance for her name to be household, up in lights, on the marquees and all that jazz. This was a chance to work with some of her idols and for the first time since she was three years old and Corbin dared her to jump off the swingset in his backyard, Vanessa was scared out of her mind which was more than she could say for Corbin at the moment. He sat in the chair, bobbing his head up and down to the song playing on his iPod and she literally wanted to know how he went from being in her state of being last night to Mr. Crazy Sexy Cool.
Moving his backpack off of her claimed seat, Vanessa sat down beside him and heard the paper number on her back crunch against the hard surface. Watching what seemed like thousands of other hopeful Rockers sing and warm up for their chance to wow the remaining four members and their managers, the number changed again; one number closer to her and Corbin, who were but one away from each other. Feeling a finger tap on the back of her hand, she turned to smile over at Corbin who was offering her the other earpiece to his headphones. Taking it from his hand, Vanessa stuck the tiny piece into her own lobe and listened to the composition that they were going to audition with strum through her head. Her eyes wandered about again, catching notice of what others were wearing and how they presented themselves. A small snort escaped her tiny nose as she saw the skinny, tall guy with piercings in and out of his body and she thanked the high heavens that Corbin wasn't like that. Not that the tall, skinny guy wasn't as talented or anything, but she was so glad she was doing this with Corbin.
A red number flashed in the corner of her eye and she saw it move up to 363. Pushing Corbin up to glance at the number on his own back - 512 - she leaned back further into her seat and pulled out her sidekick, not wanting to end the song they were listening to.
"Cant Blieve we doing this," Vanessa keyed into the phone and sent over to Corbin's own Treo. The vibration shook his pants pocket and he pulled it out, looking at her the whole time. Holding her hands up in surrender, Corbin looked down at the text message and laughed himself.
"Still nervous?" He keyed back and sent to her phone, surprised as Justin Timberlake's Sexyback was played.
"What? I like the song?"
"I get that. But a ringtone for me?"
"No, Cordelia," Vanessa playfully pushed his arm a bit, glancing at his message back, "it's just for the text messages. I've got Sk8er Boy for you."
"I love Avril, but Sk8tr Boy? Come on, V," Corbin reasoned with her and she noticed him mimicking her stance by leaning back in the seat with her. "How long we been here?"
"Five hours and yes," she quickly answered.
"Yes?"
"You asked me if I was still nervous. I'm saying yes," she stated, texting him back random letters just to see if it would calm her any. Pulling her legs up on the chair and positioning herself to sit Indian-style, she was taken aback when Corbin pulled on her hands, not caring if her sidekick tumbled to the ground and twirled her around in the seat. "Cor!"
"It's one o'clock in the afternoon and the day isn't even half over, but Five Words or Less?" He proposed, referring to their personal game that they always played every day. Regardless of if they were fighting about nothing in particular, going out of their minds from a hectic day or just sitting around watching their siblings because they had defaulted into the babysitting gig once again - all three, including Alexa would drop everything and describe their day in five words or less. Vanessa's eyes widened, excited a bit that they were going to play it without Alexa because it was more fun that way and because it was only one o'clock. They usually played when it was way past 2 in the morning. "Okay," he started out, his hands still attached to hers as the number changed on the wall again, "Me first?"
"Go for it."
"Okay - tired."
"Bored."
"Bored, are you kidding me?"
"Cor, word. I'll tell you after we play."
"Fine. Um, anxious."
"Tell me again why we can't use the same word?"
"Because I made it up. Word."
"Afraid."
"Scared."
"Astounded."
"I like that one," Corbin's mouth curved into a wide smile and she returned it, brushing back her loose tendrils back from her face. "Nervous."
"Hey - that was mine!" She exclaimed, playfully slapping his arm.
"I know, keep going," he encouraged her.
"On the border of worried and terrified."
"Same thing here. Okay, last one," Corbin took a deep breath as they both caught sight of the number inched closer to theirs, "Ready."
"Yeah, I'm ready," she answered, assuming that he was referring to going forward in their game.
"No, that was my word. Ready."
"You're ready? Like ready ready?" She questioned, her eyes widening to see his expression.
"Really ready," he smiled back and twisted them both around again as the doors to the rehearsal rooms opened and a Kelly Clarkson look a like came out, "let's go."
Vanessa followed his gaze towards the farthest room and nodded as they got up and headed towards the tiny room filled with nothing but a piano and radio for people to play their recordings on. "Are you that ready?" Vanessa asked as she caught up with him.
"I think so," Corbin let out a bit of his nervousness to her as she shut the door behind them and he sat down behind the keys. "I can't believe we're really here," he breathed out as she let their stuff down on the floor.
"Me either. I am so nervous, Cor, really nervous," Vanessa said, circling around the piano more times than once and felt Corbin's eyes watching her as his hands sweep across the not so pearl-white keys. "In less than two hundred numbers, you and me are going to be standing in front of the So-Jessica-Alba-Fantastic Rockers," she emphasized, her arms crossing and landing on top of the piano's top. "I can just see my losing my voice as soon as we step in there."
"You're not going to lose your voice. Why would you lose your voice?" Corbin asked, still looking at her with his forehead crinkled in wonder before it coming to him. "You've gotta be kidding me. Are you serious? This is all about your massive crush on McHottie himself?"
"No," Vanessa insisted but even she could tell the fib before she admitted it, "okay, yes. But just a little bit."
"Little bit? Yeah right," Corbin scoffed, almost fully one with the song.
"I'm telling the truth. He's only a tiny part," Vanessa twirled around, scrunching her fingers together to emphasize her point. She scooted next to him and watched his fingers barely touch the keys to produce a beautiful piece that she would be singing in hopefully, less than two hours, would be singing. "I mean, he's just so cute and singing in front of him....have you seen those eyes?" Vanessa said dreamily.
"I haven't really noticed them, V, no," he sarcastically said back as he came upon the chorus, smiling only when she stuck her tongue out at him and came up with a retort just as good.
"Oh that's right - you're the one who's more into hiding your feelings in your songs and playing them to a certain someone who really has no idea what they mean."
"Oooo, what a burn that was," he commented, still into the song and her soft curls brushed across his lower arm. "You'll do fine, no, wait. You will be So-Jessica-Alba-Fantastic," he said, trying to make her not so nervous about their audition.
"You're very confident about this whole thing."
"Because I had a good self esteem coach last night," Corbin paused in his song to look over at her. "We'll be fine."
"We'll be fantastic," she agreed, nudging him in the arm to go on with the song. "Can I sing now?"
Nodding his head, Vanessa closed her eyes for a moment and listened to the harmony and melody merge together and saw the words in her mind come. "You seem so free...Like nothing's ever gonna keep you down..."
"Say goodbye, say goodbye to the you I knew before," Corbin joined in just as the door flew open and startled them both.
"Hi, just reminding you that you only have five more minutes," the kind older lady told them, referring to their practice time.
They both nodded towards her and looked at each other. "I'm still nervous," she admitted to him as she pulled him back down on the bench next to her.
"Me too," he said, pinching his fingers in return to mimic her. "But just a little bit. Let's get out of here, go people watch," Corbin stood up and grabbed her hand in the process, dragging her out of the room. Giggling as she grabbed her own bag on the floor like he did his, Vanessa thought about the pierced guy and wondered if he made it through.
*
"Thank you," Drew called out to the person - number 481 - auditioning for a spot in the band. Zac sighed as he crossed number 481 right off his list. Looking down at the clipboard on the table, his eyes went to the last number on it - 1252. There were 771 people still left to see and he knew they would be here until midnight, tops and he was getting low on liquids. Looking over to Monique to his right, he reached out to grab her water bottle only to be slapped away.
"Don't even think about it," she told him, pointing a finger and giving him the once over to prove her point.
"Come on, just a sip," Zac pleaded as the gang took a breather for a few seconds before the next contestant on Who wants to be a Rocker? came into the room.
"Last time you wanted a 'sip', I had one droplet, wait," Monique turned in her seat and teased him about the water situation of Miami, "no, I didn't have any water left after that, did I?"
"I promise, one sip," he held up his right index finger, pleading for that one sip when Lucas tossed a new, full water his way. Letting it fall to the ground, he still stared at Monique. "Please," he smiled at her with an open grin.
"No!" she told him, laughing at his attempt to charm her into giving him the last of her water. "You can have yours."
"Okay, guys," Manda walked up behind them with her own clipboard and they turned to her for more things on the auditions. "Anyone else see the piercings on that one guy? Damn."
Ashley was the first one to laugh as the doors opened again and they all scrambled to their respective spots, all whipping out another scoring sheet and waiting the next hopeful to perform.
"Thanks Kate," Manda nodded towards one of the convention center's facilitators that was more than eager to help the band out. "Rockers meet Andrew," Manda announced his name to them and they wrote it down, greeting Andrew in the process.
"Welcome Andrew, I'm Ashley," she waved.
"Lucas here," Lucas pointed to himself and nodded towards the kid.
"Monique and the doofus to my left is Zac," Monique took the liberty of introducing them both, sticking out her tongue to Zac.
Shaking his head, Drew laughed at them and continued with the introductions, "Great name," he said, "What will you be performing for us today?"
"I like it myself," Andrew laughed back and announced his song to the band, "I'll be performing Loneliness, from, uh, The Rockers," Andrew looked down to his feet for a minute as the Rockers themselves exchanged looks.
Happy that people liked the song, Zac exhaled a deep breath, hoping Andrew's version was better than the four hundred before him that performed the same song. His eyes tore away from the performer to grab the piece of paper Monique was pushing his way. Feeling like they were back in junior high school and passing secret love notes to each other, Zac looked between the appointed teacher, Drew and opened it up, almost snorting at the doodles around the piece of notebook paper.
"I never though I'd say this since we wrote the song - but I hate Loneliness"
Zac read the words of her note and he couldn't agree more.
*
Corbin shut his phone off, ending a rather lengthy conversation with his dad on his mom's birthday plans that was less then 2 weeks away and slumped back down in the seat next to Vanessa, who he could tell was holding a gigantic laugh inside her petite frame. "Go ahead, snort," he told her but all she let out was a small giggle. "That was it?"
"You and Uncle David are so much alike it's funny and scary all at the same time."
"I don't know if that's a compliment or not," Corbin raised an eyebrow at her as both of them caught sight of the number on the wall changing again, this time to 508.
When they had first arrived and obtained their numbers, they were instructed to return to the main table when their number was getting close so that they wouldn't miss out on their audition. Before Corbin could even mention anything, Vanessa was up and ready to walk the quarter mile back to the front.
"Whoa, what happened to Miss Nervous of San Diego?"
"She said goodbye. Ready?" She told him, referencing their chosen audition song and handed him his bag and sheet music that she had been reviewing for the past half hour.
He took the music from her outstretched arm and flung the bag over his shoulder, more ready to get this audition started.
*
Manda waited patiently outside the heavy double doors to the audition room and tried to concentrate on something else other than the screeching going on inside the girl who had went in was cute, but she obviously wasn't going to be a Rocker. Looking down at her own clipboard with numbers and names to go with them, she put a red line through number 509 - Misty Hunter. "Okay, 510. Almost half over," she muttered to herself and walked the few steps only to see an afro the size of Monique's in the morning and a raven haired beauty leaning on the wall together, laughing.
A smile crept on her lips, remembering that that was how the Rockers were when she had first met them. Walking up slowly, she heard the soft hum they were both humming - a perfect match together. Hating to interrupt the duo, Manda just listened for a bit. It was most definitely a big improvement from the one inside the doors. "Hi," she said, getting their attention, "510?"
"Oh, no. 512 and 513," the afro, as Manda would now remember to always call him, said to her, pointing in between him and his friend.
She looked down to her clipboard and read off their names and looked at the note in between the typed words. "Corbin Bleu & Vanessa Hudgens?"
"Yep, that's us," the afro spoke again, making Manda smile wider at him.
"You're the ones with the duet, right?" She asked, wanting to make sure before skipping over 510 and 511, who were absent from the scene.
"Yes," Corbin spoke for the third time as Vanessa stayed silent. "Is that a problem?"
"Shouldn't be. If it is, just tell them tough," Manda joked and smiled back up at them, quickly jotting down notes for herself. "This will be a breath of fresh air for them. Plus, I like duets," she looked up and away from them as number 509 came out of the room almost in tears. "This way," Manda started but was stopped by Vanessa speaking up.
"But, um, sorry Miss Turner," she started, "What about the two before us?"
"They can wait. We usually give them about five minutes to get here anyway but you're already here and I don't want to make you wait longer than you have to. Everyone's been here way to long as it is. And Vanessa," Manda touched her arm to get Vanessa to look back at her, "It's Manda. Now come on."
Manda stepped ahead, waving them to follow and they did. Her gait sped up a bit as they lingered back, looking around the room and finally to the Rockers who were in heavy conversation about the previous 'contestant', as they were now referring to all the auditions as.
"She couldn't sing, end of point," Monique flew her hands up in the air, wanting to get her point across.
"But she was cute and we need cute," Ashley pointed out, "and her shoes! I want those shoes," emphasizing her own point as Lucas butted into it all, despite Zac's stare and warning not to get into it.
"Ash, you're cute, Mo's cute, Zac's cute, I'm cute. We've got the cute-quota filled."
Glancing towards Drew, Manda knew that there was no other way to get their attention. Placing her fingers in her mouth, Manda blew out the highest whistle to date and caught their attention. "Very true! Everyone's cute, but are they good?" Manda spoke up and gestured towards Vanessa and Corbin who were around the piano, still waiting for an okay to go ahead. "Rockers, meet Corbin Bleu and Vanessa Hudgens. They'll be performing a duet."
"Duet? Really?" Lucas was definitely intrigued now. Of the past six cities that they had been on in the search, none had performed a duet before and he was impressed. "Cool."
"Last time I checked, the sign outside the door said solo auditions," Zac commented, his voice a little bit louder than he expected it to be. Manda glanced towards Corbin and Vanessa for a moment and was about to say something to the blue-eyed boy when Vanessa stepped up before her.
"We've prepared a duet, Mr. Efron," she smiled shyly, looking straight into his eyes and continued, "and correct me if I'm wrong but, you're in a band."
Everyone turned to Zac, who was just as speechless as the rest of them. He sat there speechless, his crystal blue eyes watching her cocoa colored ones and their gazes weren't budging. At least they didn't until Drew slapped his arm. Manda quickly announced their numbers to the five in the room and made her way back to the contestants, wishing them the best of luck on her way out.
Zac was still in a bit of shock. No one had ever called him on anything like that - except the four people around him. A giggle, snort and chuckle from the three he performed with broke his stare again. Slumping into his seat, he gave up.
"Corbin, Vanessa, welcome to the auditions and Vanessa, thank you," Monique told them, grinning big at Vanessa and turned to see Ashley smiling just as widely.
"Thank you? For what?" Vanessa was a bit confused, all she did was stating the obvious.
"For putting Zac in his place," Ashley butted in, still laughing at the comment.
"Come on! I thought you were my friends," Zac started to whine.
"She got ya Zac," Drew even butted in. "Corbin, Vanessa, what will you be performing for us?"
Corbin looked at Vanessa oddly for a moment as she shrugged her shoulders towards him and gave him a confident smile. Still looking at her, chuckling at the whole thing, Corbin announced the composition that they had chosen, "We'll be performing Say Goodbye by me."
"Wait, hold up, did you just say you?" Lucas stopped them before they even started. "This is an original?"
"Yes."
"I'm not usually one to say this aloud, the girls usually do it but damn - So-Jessica-Alba-Fantastic, dude."
A ripple of laughter filled the room and Corbin's eyes laughed with them. Looking towards Vanessa, she nodded her head and he started the piece on the piano as Vanessa closed her eyes and got into her mood to sing. Humming into the open air, she started to sing;
I saw you today
My familiar stranger
Everything's changed
You have come so far
You're different now
Would you go back
Corbin watched Vanessa get into the song and he joined her on the song, starting from that one line;
Would you want to anyhow?
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
Say hello, say hello to a new beginning
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
This is your genesis
Vanessa strung out the last note of the chorus and turned to face Corbin fully, watching him play the piano like he did every day. But this time it was different. This time it was for his rightful spot in the band. Taking over the next part, Vanessa smiled as she knew this was his calling;
Face to face
The present and past collide
And it's no mistake
I see the future is in your eyes
You seem so free
And like Corbin did before, Vanessa joined him on the last line and the chorus, rounding out most of the song he had written back in junior high school;
Like nothing's ever gonna keep you down
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
Say hello, say hello to a new beginning
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
This is your genesis
You're different now
You're different somehow
You're different now
They traded off the lines of the bridge as Corbin glanced at Vanessa who gained most of her voice back within the last few hours and belted the chorus once more;
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
Say hello, say hello to a new beginning
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
This is your genesis
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
Say hello, say hello to a new beginning
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
This is your genesis
Vanessa opened her eyes back up from the song and heard Corbin slow down the notes and finish off the song;
Say goodbye, say goodbye
His voice trailed off as did his music and they stared at each other. They had just done it. They had taken a week's worth of work, two weeks worth of nerves and more than twenty years of talent and put it into his song in front of the Rockers. Corbin looked up and stared at Vanessa who stared right back, holding back the urge to jump and squeal like a fanatic. They both realized that they were actually good, and not just any good - really good, like Alexa had told them many times over to begin with. Grabbing her hand as he stood up from the piano's bench, they turned towards the Rockers sitting in front of them and stared.
Every one of them were sitting there with open mouths and they were speechless. Tapping Corbin on the back of his hand, Vanessa leaned towards him and whispered, "That's a good thing, right?"
"I think so," Corbin whispered back, squeezing her hand and watching Ashley clear her throat first.
"Wow," Lucas and Drew said at the same time and glanced at each other with wide eyes. "And you wrote that?" Drew asked again.
"Yes, I did," Corbin confirmed.
"So-Jessica-Alba-Fantastic," Monique and Ashley both said in a hushed tone at the same time as well. "Why are you two here?" Ashley asked aloud.
"Ash, they're auditioning," Zac stated the obvious still writing notes on his clipboard about the performance. He was the only one seeming unimpressed by the performance.
"We got that dumbass," Monique commented, slapping him on the back of the head.
"What is it? Beat-up-Zac-Day?"
"We should declare it that, just because you're in a bad mood. I think, no, I know she's asking why are they here? They should already be up against us at the Grammys. Is there anything you want to say to them, other than 'Great job' like everyone else?" Monique, the big sexy sister of them all asked him.
Rolling his eyes at her, he looked back up at Corbin and Vanessa both, noting the hand holding between them. "How many songs have you written between you two?" Zac asked, looking more at Vanessa than Corbin.
"There's about, what is it now, V? Um..." Corbin was trying to count in his head before Vanessa just snapped the answer out.
"42 and counting. Most of them were while we were in high school."
"Play any other instruments?"
"I play guitar," Vanessa told him as he looked straight back into her eyes again. They were hypnotizing. "Corbin's the piano man," she smiled again, tugging onto his arm.
The other four watched and listened as Zac played twenty questions with the two. Ashley tried to hide the smile back but it just wouldn't listen to her. Glancing between Monique, who could easily read everyone of them there, there was an obvious attraction that Zac had.
"You two did a terrific job," Zac honestly said, rating them on his personal scale.
"How terrific Zac?" Ashley rubbed her nose in.
"How's So-Jessica-Alba-Fantastic for you, Ashley?"
"Good," she leaned back in her own seat, circling both their numbers on her sheet.
"Corbin, Vanessa, thank you for auditioning. You definitely need to stick around until later. Is that okay?" Drew asked as Manda came back into the room with her massive clipboard and snacks for the Rockers.
"Yeah," Corbin spoke up for the both of them, "we can do that."
*
Manda, after four more hours of hand-holding, encouraging, standing in heels, ushering in and out of the room, finally sat down at the round table next to Lucas and spread herself over the table, letting them all know how tired she was. "San Diego is like the best city to visit, but so tiring," she said, muffled from the fact that her blonde hair was in the way of her mouth. Lucas pulled the hair away from her face for her. "Thank you. I am so tired."
"I call seconds," Monique said.
"Thirds," Ashley was next, shifting in her seat in between Drew and Zac.
"Then the guys call fourths, fifths and sixths, of course," Drew said, shrugging his shoulders and flipping out his pen from his shirt pocket. "Okay, so to get more sleep, let's get this on with. Lucas, your numbers," Drew called on Lucas first and he told them his numbers.
"346, 512, 513 and 789."
"522, 513, 512, 635," Monique said hers as Manda switching highlighters and indicated which ones they had chosen.
"512, 513, 596, 1278," Ashley was next, receiving a pink color for her choices.
"678, 546, 512, 513," Zac was last with his numbers.
"Well, 512 and 513 are definitely in. Everyone was impressed with the both of them," Drew said and Manda briefly looked at their names.
"Oh, Afro!" Manda exclaimed. Having been in and out of 1300 contestants, she had to go by nicknames unless she would never remember anyone. "Not only are they talented, they're so nice. They brought me coffee," Manda smiled.
"Trying to butter up the managers," Zac said, smirking, "we throw them out for that right?"
"Quit it, Zac," Manda got to him before Monique and Ashley. He never double crossed or second guessed her and for definitely good reason. "512 and 513 are in. Drew, your choices?"
"Like everyone else, 512 and 513 are shoe-ins. I also had 678 - Christina Brooks."
"What did she do again?" Lucas asked, skimming through his score sheets that were still in his hands.
"She performed Christina Aguilera's Hurt. She was good, the voice was phenomenal," Ashley told him, handing her score sheet over to him.
"Oh yea, she was good. Why do I have 789 - Torrance Powers on my good list?"
"She was hot too," Zac commented, earning a giggle from Manda this time instead of a slap.
"Good question, since she totally blew up our song," Monique said, not looking up from her own sheets. "I have a good memory, people, stop looking me like that."
"Christina Brooks, in or not?" Manda asked at the round table as they all said yes. "Okay, Christina Brooks in. Remember, four from every city, we need one more. What was your other choice Drew?"
"1278 - Bryan Sterling. As much as I liked Andrew's," Drew sarcastically added in, "Bryan's rendition of Loneliness was better."
"He did do it pretty well," Zac said and then brought up the fact that most of the contestants sang one of their songs. He was actually kind of grateful for the ones that didn't. It definitely swayed his picks.
"Okay, so 512 - Vanessa Hudgens, 513 - Corbin Bleu, 678 - Christina Brooks and 1278 - Bryan Sterling are our four. We gonna be doing this like the previous cities?" Manda asked, looking at Drew, who nodded. Manda mimicked his nod and stood up, not even attempting to put on her shoes this time around. Tennis shoes and jeans were meant for Seattle and Los Angeles, their two last cities. "Guys ready?"
"Yep," they all said, taking their old sweet time following her.
In all the previous cities - Miami, New York City, Chicago, Houston and Albuquerque - they had the same routine in announcing who was going to be joining them in Los Angeles for the final sessions. The Rockers would each have a number in their hands and would seek out that person amidst the thousands of hopefuls and with San Diego being one of the cities with the lowest outcome; it would be a bit easier finding the number. Zac held open the door for his band mates and scooted out just as Drew took the microphone from Manda.
"Okay, San Diego," Drew ran up the tiny stage and got the attention of the whole lobby. "We are finally done."
Cheers erupted from most of the ones who choose to stay for the reveal of who would go through.
"Who wants to know who made it through?" Monique asked, regaining her energy when she saw some of the girl hopefuls cheer. "Me too. So, Rockers," she looked towards the other three, "let's Rock."
Monique handed microphone back to Drew and made her way through the crowd, looking for number 513, Corbin Bleu. Ashley, Lucas and Zac were on their way as well. Eyes were widened, hoping and praying that they would choose one of them, they all saw it in them. Ashley smiled as best she could, weaving her way through the crowd, and was even disappointed herself when their faces fell as she passed them.
Zac met up with Lucas several times, trying to find out where Monique went to. He had 512 - Vanessa Hudgens in his hand. Corbin and Vanessa would most likely be together, he had thought in his head and pinpointed the straight black hair that was looking all around her and stopping. Tapping her on the shoulder, he grabbed her hand and pointed to the left. "Let's go."
"Thank you for saving me," Monique whispered as they edged up on where Vanessa and Corbin were standing still. "I don't think we could ever do this."
"What? Audition for American Idol?" Zac looked at her, smiling as his arm wrapped around her. "You could. I couldn't. There they are," he pointed up towards them, seeing them fidget around some others.
Exchanging a quick smile, Zac let Monique go first and watched her stride up to Corbin with his number in her hand, showing him he had made it through. And even though she didn't know that she made it yet, Vanessa was even smiling for him. "You made it!" Zac heard her scream and jump into his arms, congratulating him. This was definitely a city to remember, he thought, as she walked up beside Monique and Vanessa opened her eyes to see him with her number.
Letting herself release Corbin from her death grip of a hug, she stared back at him with her mouth wide open. "Are you serious?" she said, barely above a whisper.
"Yes, Miss Hudgens, you and Corbin," Zac emphasized the 'and' just to see her reaction spread into a smile, "are going to Los Angeles. Congratulations."
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Songs used in Chapter 4: Nerves
Say Goodbye - Joy Williams
A/N: So, after two-some weeks, you finally have interaction between all of them! How'd I do? Should I stop and never do this again or keep going?
No new preview since I haven't written anything down yet all I can give you is this: Vanessa & Corbin head to Los Angeles and meet back up with Alexa
Vanessa slapped the side of Corbin's arm. "You have your own apartment in LA and haven't been using it?! Why?"
Corbin held his arm, looking for some help from Alexa across the booth. "Help, please?"
"You are so on your own there Bleu Man."
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