CHAPTER SEVEN

Weekends, boy I love weekends. I go to parties when I can, but mostly I prefer sleeping and lazing about in my room. I hear a knock on the door and unfortunately, my door is locked.

I really wish I have telekenisis, I'm so lazy right now. Wait... I'm always lazy.

"Come on bitch! Open the door!" I hear Stacy yell from the other side.

Typical.

Wait... What is she doing here in the morning? I'm not so surprised though.

"Sheesh woman, I'll open it in a minute," I climb out of my bed. Once I open the door, Jenny and Sophie are also here. I was not expecting that.

"Morning guys," I greet as they walk in.

"It's already noon chica," Sophie deadpans walking straight towards my window. She rolls up the blinds and I squint my eyes, still trying to adjust to the rays of sunlight entering into the room.

Jenny plops on my bed and as usual, Stacy heads straight towards my closet. She says it's her most favorite part of my room.

"What're you guys up to?" I ask.

"Well," Sophie starts, "your chicas came to visit earlier this morning and as usual you were sleeping. I had a little chat with them and figured we should hang out, have a girls' night."

"We'll go to the mall, do some shopping, have spa day," Jenny says squeezing my gigantic stuffed Pikachu.

"Have lunch at the mall, make tiktok videos," Sophie chimes in.

"Set sleeping bags on your floor, talk about boys and last but definitely not the least, have a Madison trash talking session," Stacy adds, walking out of the closet with some of my clothes.

It's almost as if they rehearsed this before coming into my room.

"So what do you say?" Jenny asks.

"It's not like she has an option, I've already picked out her outfit," Stacy turns to face me, "Now hurry, have a shower and brush your teeth, I can't keep pretending like your morning breath isn't slowly killing me".

"Whatever," I roll my eyes, heading towards my bathroom.

#~#~#~#~

"How did I let you guys talk me into this?" I say, trying to keep myself from falling.

So, we're currently at the mall and we've already finished shopping and spa day. We're having lunch and for some reason I'm on the table about to sing 'There's nothing holding me back' by Shawn Mendes.

We are playing truth or dare while eating and Jenny had dared Stacy to start a conversation with the guy over the counter and give him sexual innuendo. Poor guy got confused and choked on his own spit. Sophie got dared to call Dylan and tell him she's about to cum. That crazy idea was Jenny's.

Right now, Stacy dared me to sing any song while demonstrating, ON THE TABLE.

Joy.

Hopefully my face mask and shades would keep me from being recognized. If it doesn't, Chuck and his team are close by.

I breathe out a huge sigh and slowly start singing. About a minute into the song, the band playing for money at a corner of the mall back me up. A crowd starts to form and I subconsciously take off my mask.

I've never been the one to stay still while singing, so I start dancing earning a lot of cheers from the crowd.

I'll probably regret it later, but right now nothing else matters. Hearing a lot of clicks and flashes, I know that the paparazzi is here.

"Oh I've been shaking

I love it when you go crazy

You take all my innovation

Baby there's nothing holding me back

You take me places that tear up my reputation

Manipulate my decisions

Baby there's nothing holding me back"

Soon, I finish singing and cheers erupt from the crowd. The bands' little money bowl is now overflowing. Jenny and Stacy are screaming and shouting, "That's our bestie!"

The crowd is still cheering. This is the part of the story where I start to regret taking off my mask.

"We love you Ashley!"

"Is Jacob with you?"

"You didn't say you were having a meet n' greet"

"Where's Dylan?" I hear some of them say. Sophie scoffs at the last question, probably wishing she could tell them "Back off, that's my man".

The crowd starts getting wilder and I signal Chuck to come to my aid. Minutes later, with the help of mall cops, Chuck and his team are able to sneak us out of the mall.

While Sophie's driving us back home for the sleepover she turns up the radio. It's 'Wiggle' by Jason Derulo.

"We've got to do this more often," I hear Jenny say from the back seat. We all agree.

"Ash, if you were famous before, you are gonna get famouser... or whatever you call it," Stacy chirps excitedly.

My eye rolling suddenly gets interrupted by Sophie's horribly off-key singing, "CAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THAT BIG FAT BUTT!!!"

"WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE!!!" We all scream in unison. I look at the rear view mirror and see Stacy and Jenny trying to twerk on their seats. Girls.

We get home and eat dinner. Soon, it's time for our sleepover tradition. Drum roll please...

THE MADISON TRASH TALKING SESSION.

After Stacy and I spend a whole 30 minutes roasting Madison and her ragdoll-like minions, Jenny and Sophie are staring at us with wide eyes.

"This Madison, ella suena como una bruja," Sophie says. I know right?

"Oh she sure looks like a bruja," Jenny assures Sophie while cuddling my stuffed Pikachu like her life depends on it. I'm gonna have to hide that anytime she comes over.

"Hey Ash, what's this about a surprise meet n' gre-" Mom barges in, "Oh... did I miss something. You are having a girls' night without me?!"

"Girls' night mom," I say stressing the girls'. I think mom notices, because she instantly glares at me.

"Well, I just wanted to say, you can't keep having surprise meet n' greets. You might get hurt by fans,"

"It wasn't a meet n' greet mom. Besides, that was once,"

"It happened once, it can happen again," She snaps. I understand why she snapped. I once got stampeded at the same mall, but that time I didn't have Chuck with me.

"I'm sorry mom, I shouldn't have done that," I apologize, sending Stacy an accusing glare.

Mom smiles at me, "Good night baby... good night girls".

We all murmur a goodnight. There is a comfortable silence as each of us face our devices.

"Estoy cansada... Buenas noches chicas," Sophie says sleepily after a while, snuggling into her sleeping bag.

"Goodnight," we say, but I doubt she hears it because she starts snoring.

"Ash, anything going on between you and Chase?" Stacy asks wiggling her eyebrows. Here we go.

"No Stacy, it's Skylar," Jenny argues. I roll my eyes. I really don't have time for this, so I turn away from them.

"Oh come on Ash, don't kill the mood," Stacy whines. I let out a loud fake snore so that they can leave me alone and from the silence that follows afterwards, it looks like they've given up. I wait for some time until I hear soft snores before. I quietly wriggle out of my sleeping bag and walk towards my cabinet. After taking my pills, I crawl back into my sleeping bag and slowly drift into sleep.

#~#~#~#~

"Look Shawn, I'm about to become Mrs Mendes, so I get to make decisions too. I want two kids, just two Shawn," I argue in a slightly irritated tone.

"Okay Babe, we'll have two kids, but I get to name them. The boy's name will be-"

"Ash, Ash, get up,"

"Nooo! Now I'll never know my child's name!" I slowly open my eyes and see Sophie towering over me with an amused expression on her face. Then, I notice I'm still in my sleeping bag on the floor.

"Who were you dreaming about this time?" she asks while helping me up.

"Shawn Mendes,"

Sophie raises an eyebrow, "Shawn Mendes?"

"Yeah," I shrug as I plop on my bed.

"He's at least five years older you are. Sigue soñando chica amante," she smiles.

"It's not that much of a gap," I reason, "Besides, le edad es solo un número".

Thank God I listened in 10th Grade Spanish class. That's the only class I took interest in anyways.

Sophie rolls her eyes. She picks up my sleeping bag and walks into my closet to keep it. A few seconds later, she walks out and is about to leave my room when she suddenly turns to face me, "Oh I just remembered, Jenny and Stacy already left, but they told me to remind you about a contest sometime around 12:30pm".

Realization suddenly hits me. I take a glance at my wall clock and see that it's 10:30am. 

What the Fuck?!

"Sophie, how could you let me oversleep when you knew? How the fuck am I going to be ready before 12:00am? I need at least an hour to shower. Hey, that rhymed. OMG what am I gonna do with just an hour. I still have bed hair and I don't even know what to wear, I-" Sophie covers my mouth. Wow, I'm actually freaking out over having less than two hours to prepare. Stacy has really changed me.

"Relax Ash, breathe, no te procupes," Sophie tries to calm me down. My breathing steadies and I calm down. "I've picked your outfit and I'll handle your hair and makeup, so all you need to do is shower".

Okay, I'm loving this whole sister-in-law thing. Once I'm done having a shower, I put on my dress and Sophie does my makeup. After we take a mirror selfie, we go down for breakfast.

Or is it lunch?

#~#~#~#~

The drive to the city theatre is a 10 minute drive and after listening to a few songs, I get there just in time.

Woah, is this what Mason and Connor called a little contest? This place is packed.

Wait... why won't it be, every girl here wants to be the one to open for FOREVER ALIVE'S winter tour. Who am I kidding, every girl here wants to be near Skylar Anderson.

"Ashley!" I hear a familiar call out once I'm in the building. I whip my head around to see Mason jogging towards me with Connor following him at a slower pace. He envelopes me in a tight but warm hug.

Mason Manchester hugged me.

You only hug your friends, right? He sees me as his friend.

I hug him back.

"I missed you so much," he says when we finally pulled away from each other.

I chuckle, "Mason, you saw me yesterday."

"Yeah I know but I didn't get to have a normal fun-filled conversation with you," he says with a wide smile. Connor finally approaches us.

"Hey Ash," he greets giving me a warm side hug. Okay, what's with all the hugging?

"Are you ready to blow this place up?" Mason asks.

"Totally," I grin widely.

LIAR.

I'm nervous as hell, I didn't even have time to practice a song and I didn't even bring my guitar. I made a mental note to practice last night. FACT, mental notes are bullshit, they never work for me.

There is a lot of noise in the theatre. Girls chatting in clusters, singing and taking selfies.

"Where's the pop prince?" I ask, trying so hard not to sound like I care. But seriously, I don't. It'll just be nice to know where he is.

"He'll be here any minute," Connor says taking a glance at his watch.

Speak of the devil. Skylar walks into the theatre in all his glory. A lot of eyes dart towards him as he walks towards us. Every girl starts screaming and calling his name. If not for the five body guards following him closely, he would have suffocated and died. Yeah... it's that crowded.

His eyes widen when they meet mine and I give him a small smile.

"Hey Ashley, what are you doing here?" He asks when he finally approaches.

I turn to look at Mason and Connor, "I thought he knew?"

"Since Ashley's an upcoming artiste, I convinced her to enter the contest. She might get a chance to win," Mason explains to Skylar.

"Why?!" Skylar growls, a scowl etched perfectly on his beautiful face. Then, a feeling of déjà vu hits me. It's that same nasty scowl from the restaurant. After he had apologized for that, it's been nothing but teasing and playful banter between us. I thought I'd never see that scowl again.

You thought wrong.

"Why not?" I let out a nervous chuckle. I don't get what his problem is.

Silence.

More silence.

Even more awkward silence. Of course the silence is just among the four of us, otherwise, the whole theatre is noisy. A horrible combination of girls singing and chattering loudly. I can even hear a girls' voice standing out, I choose to believe she's just training her voice because, she sounds like a dying donkey in labor.

"Everyone settle down, the audition starts in five!" Someone says over the mega phone. Skylar walks off without another word. Rude.

"What's his problem?" I ask.

"Don't worry about him," Mason assures.

"Yeah... probably one of his mood swings," Connor says, "So, we'll see you later. Go take a seat before people start to think you're bribing us to win."

I throw my head back in laughter as they walk off. Truthfully, I know that Mason and Connor wouldn't just pick me to win. Besides, they aren't the only judges. So like every other girl in this theatre, I'm super nervous and somewhat hopeful I'd win.

#~#~#~#~

"Thank you Ms Sanders," A middle aged man in a grey suit says, "We'll get back to you".

FALSE HOPE.

He is giving her false hope, because from the horrified expressions on the Judges faces- also mine- she wouldn't be coming back to that stage for any reason, whatsoever. The said girl walks off the stage beaming. Poor girl.

"Ashley Reynolds! Come up you're next," the middle aged man calls out, followed by clapping and cheering. Judging from the sudden cheering and clapping, a lot of people might not have known I was here mostly because I've been walking around with my face down. If anyone did, they probably ignored me.

Once I'm on the stage, I see Mason and Connor giving me reassuring smiles. I smile back at them, but my smile slowly dies down once my eyes meet with his green ones. Surprisingly, he doesn't have a scowl on his face.

I let out a huge sigh, "I'll be singing 'Heart attack' by Demi Lovato. I would have sung it while playing it on my guitar, but I left my guitar at home". I turn towards the stage hand and give him a thumbs up.

The intro begins and I start singing.

I'm not shy... I've never been shy, so singing in front of all these faces isn't a big deal. Once again friends, I can't keep myself from dancing. It just happens spontaneously.

I finish the song with a smile and start making my way off the stage.

"Thank you Ms Reynolds, we'll see you in a few," the middle aged man says, "Courtney Chandler, you're up next". It's almost as if those are the only things he's programmed to say.

One surprisingly interesting hour later...

I'm on the stage with two other girls and we are backing the evicted contestants who are also judging. The judges are finding it hard to decide the winner among three of us, so they're seeking help from the evicted contestants. The middle aged man is standing behind us and instructing the crowd on what to do for the forty millionth time.

"Okay people," he says, "I'm going to randomly point at each girl and the person with the most cheers wins, is that clear?" Everyone cheers in agreement.

There is a short period of silence before I hear a lot of cheers.

More silence which is followed by lesser cheers... I hate to be that girl.

After the last cheer, there is a very short period of silence which is immediately followed by a round of loud cheers. I can't see them, but I know that they turned the theatre into a madhouse.

"And the winner of this contest is... Ms... Ashley Reynolds!"

I don't know how I jump four feet into the air with my short legs. I swerve my whole body around just in time to see hundreds of girls rushing my way. Screaming at the top of my lungs, I couldn't even hear my own voice. I'm so fucking happy!!!

I... I actually won.

"I knew you'd win,"

"You were awesome,"

"Ashleeeey!!!"

"I love your outfit,"

It doesn't take time till the attention moves away from me.

"Where's Damon?"

"Is Jacob with you?"

"I saw that cute selfie you took with Cole and your white rat,"

"It's a fucking ferret!" I want to yell, but decide against it once I think of how the outburst would be mutated in the tabloids by tomorrow morning.

I hear a loud squeal and everyone turns their attention towards a redhead, "Skylar Anderson just ran a hand through his hair," she chirps excitedly.

Wow... I totally forgot he exists.

Within seconds, all the girls previously flocking around me rush towards Skylar. Sighing in relief, I steal a glance at him and catch him staring. He smiles wryly at me and I immediately look away, not wanting his- weirdly- harsh scrutinizing gaze to sour my mood.

"Who's got dimples and knew Ashley would win?" I turn my head to see Mason coming towards me and Connor following behind, "This guy!" he says pointing to himself with his thumbs.

Without thinking, I rush towards him and hug the life out of him, "I did it Mason... I did it".

"Congrats... I didn't get a hug, I was also a Judge," Connor pouts. I chuckle, also giving him an equally tight hug. I'm aware of the curious glances we get from some girls. We talk for a while before some girls whisk them away.

Once I'm out of the theatre, I send a signal to Chuck and he comes out of his former position at the door.

I won... I actually won.

#~#~#~#~

A/N

Hey y'all,

How's life? Did y'all enjoy the chapter?

I speak very little Spanish and I'm no better at writing it, so correct me if I'm wrong...

Next update: soon

Share your thoughts, it means so much to me

Love y'all to bits...

STAY WILD♡♡♡