Chapter 17

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Indeed the two weeks came by quick. "You're going to do great, Ari." Alissa's voice could be heard as she talked to me through FaceTime. I was on my way to rehearsals for the Teen Choice Awards and I couldn't calm down. "Now calm down, you're making me nervous."

"Yeah, you're so nervous. Especially when you're stuffing your face with ice cream again." I said with a roll of my eyes. "It's called stress eating, get it right."

"No, it's called your everyday meal."

"Shut up," Alissa said triggered. "Where are you at anyways?"

"Heading to rehearsals." I said as I looked out the window. "Can you tell me again why you're not here again?"

"I'm too lazy," she said with an overdramatic sigh. ",and you know the other reason."

"It's sad that I'm used to hearing you say that." I said with a small laugh, ignoring the last part. I won't judge her on that part because I would do the same. The driver interrupted Alissa and I from continuing the call. "Gotta go Alissa, bye. Love you!" I ended the call before I thanked the polite man and exiting the veichle.

I walked into the arena like building wandering around, before bumping into Scott. "Forget about something? More specifically someone?" I asked as I tapped on his shoulder. "You never told me where to go." I whined.

"Ari! I forgot, but we shouldn't be in this part. Especially you. Let's go." Scott said with wide eyes and a panicked tone in his voice.

"Well, if I'm correct, you told me that I had rehearsal today, the last rehearsal actually." I said. "Why shouldn't I be here?"

"You don't want to know. Now let's go." He said trying to make me move, but I had my feet firmly on the ground. "Tell me."

He didn't have to tell me because somebody else said it for him. "Wassup Jake Paulers!" I turned my head to see the blonde idiot across the arena with his vlog camera in hand. His posse was a few feet away talking amongst themselves. Even his mom and dad were there.

"Let's go. Now." Scott hissed in my ear. He was always a nice and funny guy, but his tone made me want to crawl under a rock and stay there. I obeyed and followed him to the back of the stage.

"What do we do now? I did not wait in two hour traffic just to cower from a blonde brute. I was really bored." I said agitated.

"He has his vlog camera and his friends, they could just use you for clickbait and edit something in to make you look bad. You of all people should know this."

"Wow. I never took you as someone to be afraid of a camera." I retorted. "I don't care anymore. This is the last rehearsal and I need to practice. I'm going on stage." I brushed past him and looked around for an employee to play my song.

It just so happened a tiny girl wearing uniform walked past me. "Excuse me, do you work here?" I asked after tapping her on the shoulder.

The poor girl almost jumped 5 feet into the air. "I'm sorry about that. I'm new here and I'm still not used to all the hustle and bustle here," she rambled on as she started to play with her mousy brown hair. ", I just want to try my bes-" She facepalmed after noticing her rambling. "Sorry about that, again, what can I help you with Ms. Rodriguez?"

Before I was about to speak, a lady decked out in jewelry walked in the middle of us. "Alice! You stupid girl. I told you to attend to the group in the front! Do you want us to get bad reviews? Hurry up before I fire your sorry a-"

"She was helping me." I cut her off.

"And who might you be?" The lady's black hair looked like a wig and bounced when she crossed her arms at me.

"Ariana Rodriguez." The lady rolled her eyes before opening her mouth again (sadly). "Oh, it's you." She sneered. "Talentless." She whispered loud enough for me to hear as she walked past me, nearly bumping into my shoulder. "Dumb bi-" I started.

"Thank you for helping me out with Miss. Davis. I know she is a pain and I'm sorry that she insulted you. " Being the inattentive person I am, I barely realised Alice had a British accent. "No problem, anytime."

"What can I help you with, by the way." Alice said with a shy smile.

"I need to rehearse. Can you play my music?" I asked, at last.

"Of course!" She hurried me over to a table and gave me a microphone along with an earpiece. "Go on stage and you should be set."

The lights were pointing to me as I walked on stage. "Check one, check one." I said into the mic, my voice bouncing off the walls.

Ma'am, your mic is ready to go. You may start.

My music came on soon after Alice informed me through my earpiece. I took a deep breath as the blonde's team turned to look at me.

*song ends*

I walked off the stage with my shirt stuck to my back, glued with sweat. I was trying something different. I was going to be dancing with my back up dancers around me, but not like the way most pop singers dance. I am going to be full out dancing.

"Remind me again who's great idea this was?" I asked Scott as I practically fell on the ground, being too tired to stand anymore.

"If I'm correct, it was yours, stating that you should, and I quote, 'try something different'," He said not looking up from his phone. "Plus there is a chair right here." Scott pointed to the chair right next to him, still tapping away on his phone.

"The floor seemed like a good option plus it's cold." I chuckled as I closed my eyes. Scott was silent. I opened one eye, peaking up at my manager. His face was full of concentration as he looked down at his phone.

"Stop playing Candy Crush, it's not like you can beat level 57." I said sarcastically. The tapping stopped. "Excuse me, young lady, but just to let you know I, your superior, am on level 58, as a matter of fact." Scott boasted.

"Barely?! What a noob." I said hiding my grin. Before Scott could argue back, we were cut off by the sound of two new voices. Voices that I knew very well.

"You did good, kid." The one and only Erika Costell said as she smiled softly at me. I did a 180, still laying on the floor. Nick Crompton was behind her. "You're a good dancer, Nana." He said using my old nickname he invented. "You're very talented but you surprise me everyday."

They walked away with that. Nothing more, just that. They did it in a way as if they didn't want to be caught.

"Thank you." I said loud enough for them to hear. Erika turned around and gave me a thumbs up, walking away with Nick to the front of the stage at a fast pace.

I turned back to Scott with disbelief scrawled across my face. He looked back at me before going back to his beloved phone.

"Ooh honey, Imma tweet this. What hashtag do you want?"

"...How are you my manager?"

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Hey peoplz!!!! *cowers in corner* Sorry for the long arse wait for this update. 😔 But on the other hand, I just uploaded a new book. If you're an ARMY, you should check it out. Hehe, I have no shame. (Sadly)

The next update should be pretty soon if I don't have too much homework and practice. Sorry again.

Don't forget to vote, comment, and follow me, if you want, I appreciate it.

Byee❤

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