He's Giving Me a Reason, an Emblem3 Fan Fic (Sequel to Riptide)

Chapter 16

The excitement came in stages.

After Principal Melrose made the annoncement this morning the entire school seemed to go from quiet whispering, to excited, and finally to a stage of excitement that I am going to name the fangirl stage.

It all started in homeroom.

Wes POV

Shit where did I put my keys? My hands instantly fell to my legs and I started digging through my jeans. My expression calmed as I felt the familiar ridged metal in my pocketss; just where I had left them five minutes ago.

I was seriously on edge today; I might have had one too many cups of coffee, and was crazy jittery. But what was I supposed to do? I didn't get any sleep last night. I don't think Drew or Keaton did either. We were all too anxious about what was going to happen today, or rather, what was going to happen in five minutes.

In five minutes that speaker above the door would crackle to life and Principal Melrose would announce that we've made it through to the bootcamp round of X Factor. He even canceled the period right before lunch so we could do a mini concert for the school down on the football field.

Usually I would be stoked, but right now I was nervous as hell. Today my life was going to change; for better or worse.

Damn it, where is she? I started shaking my leg up and down in anticipation. Only three minutes until class started and the desk two rows over from mine was still empty. 

Finally with a minute to spare Avery breezed into the classroom. My heartbeat eased a little. It was good to know that there was someone here that knew this whole television thing wouldn't go to my head.

She ever so gracefully fell onto her chair and tossed her bag to the floor. I smirked to myself; she was always one to make an entrance. She had her hair tucked into a messy bun and she wore just a black v-neck t shirt and some denim shorts, but she looked gorgeous. Her blonde head whipped around to face me and she smiled excitedly. But I could also tell she was just as nervous as I was. I grinned back, this girl totally gets me.

And then it happened.

"Gooooooood morning Huntington Beach!" None of the students seemed intrigued and started to chat amongst themselves. "Instead of the usual news this morning I am pleased to share with you a very special announcement." That caught everyone's attention. I turned to wiggle my eyebrows at Avery so she wouldn't notice how freaked out I was. "It is my honor to tell you that local band Emblem3 has made it through the X Factor auditions and will be going through bootcamp next week.

I heard clapping throughout the different classrooms, but no immediate attention on me. Which was a good thing. I didn't really like drawing attention to myself that way.

"For those of you who have not heard of Emblem3," the announcement continued, "It consists of three students; Drew Chadwick, and Keaton and Wesley Stromberg." At that moment twenty-two heads whipped around and stared at me. Every single pair of eyes bored into me, but they didn't say anything, it was kind of weird.

Okay then... I guess not everyone knew I was in a band. They just stared as Principal Melrose continued speaking.

"In recognition of this historical event I've decided to replace third period with a sort-of pep rally held down on the football field to wish the boys good luck. And for those of you who haven't heard, they will be performing. Way to make HBHS proud boys." And with that the loudspeaker clicked off.

Not everyone was staring anymore, now they were whispering. Which kind of made me even more uncomfortable. I cleared my throat and wandered my eyes over to Avery. She smiled at me and I felt my phone vibrate in my hand. It was a text from her.