The One: Strained Ties (The One Series-Book7) (ORIGINAL DRAFT)

Chapter14: Their Lives Now Suck Without Each Other

Chapter14-Their Lives Now Suck Without Each Other

December 23, 2010

 It's now December. 7th Anthem was in Boston for their final stop of their High Voltage tour. Their single, All for Nothing, was a huge hit. As for their North American single, Never Got Away, had moderate sells. In Canada, it was a top 20 hit, while in America it stalled on 30. On Radio Disney, they charted at 10. Their TV series, The Delinquents, had huge ratings in Canada, but it did somewhat well in America. Despite this, they were still making headway in their comeback.

 After Andrew leaked out all things Zero, 7A's new manager, Louis Walsh, and their record labels put together the two versions of the canceled album. Zero-American Version and Zero-Russian Edition were released internationally on iTunes. Both versions had huge digital sales. Even the three ill-fated singles, Rebellion, Starting Over, and Zero Degrees charted high, despite no promotion. The three music videos were hits on YouTube, Vevo, and iTunes. They were all released under both UTurn and 7A.

 The members had new looks for their upcoming promos for the next single, Lights On. This song was to be on their upcoming second album. Alyson went back to her brunette roots. Amanda had fiery red hair. Justin's blonde hair is now really platinum-colored. Andrew was given some curls in his typically straight hair, and went back to having jet-black hair. The only ones who still looked the same were Libby, Trevor, and Bailey. Their outfits are still pop-punk royalty, but it's now mixed with military.

 7A were at the TD Garden arena, doing sound checks for their highly anticipated comeback concert. The tickets had sold out, but luckily the show was going to be aired live on The CW.

 After Andrew and Alyson had their blow-up, they put their relationship on hold. When they were out in public, they were hardly interacting with each other. This lead to crazy break-up rumours. Neither of them confirmed or denied anything.

 When the cameras weren't following them around, the two would get into arguments over the littlest things. During the sound checks, they argued over their placing on stage, and the choreography. The fighting got so heated up that they were sent to the band's dressing room.

 Amanda, feeling concern for Andrew and Alyson, followed them to the dressing room. When she went in, she saw them yelling at each other. Then Amanda yelled at them, "You need to shut the f*ck up!!!"

 With that, Andrew and Alyson stopped what they were doing, and glared at Amanda. She continued, though calmly, "Look, you've known each other since forever. You two went through so much. Now you want to through it all away just because Alyson is having Melissa drama, and Andrew's over-inflated ego? You two are the most powerful people I've ever known in my life. It's any wonder why you were popular in both school and in the media. You both plotted, pushed, and bullied your way into everything in life. But because you're strong individuals, you could potentially destroy each other. So much so that neither of you will come out alive."

 After she was done speaking her mind, Amanda left. Andrew and Alyson then looked at each other. The anger that was on their faces soften. The anger turned into sadness. They both sat down, facing each other.

 The two were silent for several minutes. Then Andrew croaked, "We need to stop."

 Alyson nodded her head. Andrew noticed there were tears on her face. He slowly approached her, and wiped her face with his shaky hand. He then started to cry as he said, "I'm sorry."

 Alyson said as she tried to keep her composure, "Don't, Hawthorne. I'd say we do a ceasefire, for the sake of 7th Anthem. We're only colleagues, nothing more."

 Then Alyson left the dressing room. Andrew broke down and cried...and so did Alyson. The two broke up in the worst way possible. To make matters more troubling, their hatred towards each other was back. They were thrown back to their grade-school years. The pride returned in full-swing. And yet, they were still in love, and the breakup ate them up.

 It was now evening. The arena was packed. It was as if the entire city of Boston came to watch 7A perform. Backstage was an entirely different story. Everyone was rushing to get everything, and everyone, ready. The mood for the 7A members was tense. Andrew and Alyson weren't speaking to each other.

 When it was time to go on stage, Alyson took Andrew aside, and said, "Whatever we do, we must act like nothing's wrong. No one should know what happened to us."

 Andrew nodded his head. Then the two were on stage with the other members. Immediately the two forgot about their drama as they were faced a huge audience. It was the biggest they'd ever seen in Boston, even bigger than during the UTurn years.

 The band greeted the concert-goers, and performed My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson. It was 7A's way of showing how they missed their American fans. The audience screamed and chanted "UTurn." 7th Anthem might have a difficult road ahead of them, but they're determined to win America's heart again...or will they?

 At the same time, in a hotel room in Boston, were Ethan and Melissa. They were watching 7A's performance on TV. Melissa said coldly, "Andrew and Alyson seem distant from each other. They obviously broke up."

 Ethan said, "They won't be officially done until they're forced to publicize their breakup."

 "We have to keep the rumours going."

 Then Melissa turned off the TV, and turned to face the Andyson chart. The couple was still the target. She and Ethan are determined to destroy Andrew and Alyson to the point of their reputations being shattered. This could lead to the ruin of 7th Anthem. Will 7A survive this attack? You'll see...

______________________________________________________________________________

IN THE VIDEO IS THE SONG "MY LIFE WOULD SUCK WITHOUT YOU." IN THE EXTERNAL LINK IS THE CANCELED-NOW-RELEASES UTURN ALBUM, "ZERO.">>>