The Crazy Things That Matter
Hi guys! Finally done with the second book of 'The Jr. Pop Diaries: Year 3'; this took me a lot of time to write. I hope you enjoy it though; we have some shaky twists coming up!
1. A Shaky Me
I couldn’t believe anything that happened in our third year, looking back at it now. But I knew whatever happened was real. It made me shake with terror and worry every time I thought about the bad and the ugly. The good sometimes made me shake too, but it wasn’t as hard and scary as everything else.
And in our first few months into the year, we were only getting started.
2. Blurred Lines of Time
“I can’t believe it,” Tana whispered, crying softly. “I just can’t.”
Sitting on the same beanbag as her like usual, I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her tightly. “It’s okay.”
She wiped her eyes, but burst into fresh tears. “I… I thought they were… they were dead… I remember seeing the casket and the tombstone at their funeral…”
Just then, Wylie and Elijah entered. Tana looked up.
“Hey, girl.” Wylie plopped down on the floor and rubbed my hand. “I know you know it can’t be possible. But don’t get too sad.” She smiled. “You’re the lucky one, out of both of us. Maybe out of all of us.”
I understood the lucky part. Wylie always wished that her mom was still alive. Her death really tore her apart.
“Yes, Tana. You are blessed. But whilst rejoicing over your unprecedented discovery, you must not forget—“ Elijah gestured to all of us. “—us. And Mr. and Mrs. B, too. Why, they took you in, made you one of them, did everything for you to keep you safe.”
Tana sniffled and nodded. “They did.”
I rubbed her shoulder. “All right, come on, cheer up. You finally found what you’re looking for.” I tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Okay,” she said. But Tana looked at me, pleading. “Please don’t leave my side. This is new, and… I really need support—“
“Hey.” I grabbed her shoulders gently and firmly. “You know I won’t.” I leaned in close, my forehead touching hers. “I’m never gonna leave you standing. I promise.”
She smiled gratefully. “Thank you,” she whispered, kissing me.
I hugged her tightly, thinking of the promise I made. I promised myself mentally, too, to never break it. I wished with all my heart I wouldn’t, but I couldn’t help it. Even God had turned a blind eye to it, and thinking about it now, it hurt so much more.
3. The Second Call
The phone rang. I was nearby, so I picked it up.
“Jr. Pop’s Trevor speaking!” I said, trying to sound as ‘brimming with mirth’ as possible, according to Elijah.
“Hello, kid,” a cool voice spoke.
“How may I help you?” I further questioned.
The voice, which definitely belonged to a woman, sighed. “I’m looking for Tana Wells?”
Yellow alert. Anybody who could be asking for Tana could also be asking for trouble.
“Nobody’s named Tana Wells.” My lie sounded convincing.
“We see.” A man spoke into the phone. “I believe it’s Tana Bowers, then?”
Red alert. I didn’t need one in crimson to know that someone wanted to hurt Tana. But I bet I could stall.
“Um… I’ll relay your message to her.” I tried to keep my voice still.
“You can’t get her here?” There was an edge in the man’s voice.
I gulped. “No.”
He sighed. The sigh sounded creepy. “Fine. Here’s what you need to tell her.”
Here it goes.
“We’re coming for her. We know where she is. And she’ll be better off with us.”
“Okay.” I acknowledged the message. “But who are you?”
There was a snort from the other line. “I thought she told you. We’re really her real parents. And we won’t leave her behind.”
The call ended. I put the phone down and breathed shakily. Something was definitely up with this.
I knocked on Mr. B’s office door.
“Come in!” He said.
I opened it and found Tana inside as well. Mr. B had the serious look on his face and was tapping his ‘Best Director and Dad’ cup absently.
“Is something wrong, sir?” I asked.
He sighed. “No, it’s just… I’m worried about what to expect from Tana’s parents. I mean, are their intentions… meaningful?”
“Dad, you’re starting to sound like Elijah.” Tana giggled.
Mr. B smiled and patted Tana’s hand. “I’m afraid I am.” His expression turned serious. “However—“
“Mr. B, they called again.” I couldn’t hold it any longer.
“They who?” Tana asked.
“Your real parents.” I breathed shakily.
Her eyes widened, but then something unexpected happened: she smiled. Like, a big smile.
“What did they say?” She asked.
Startled by her unnatural reaction, I looked away from her and directly at Mr. B. “They are going to come for her.”
He looked as nervous as I was. This was a sign that he agreed. “That’s new.”
“When’s it happening?” Tana tapped the table to get our attention.
“I don’t know. Anytime, maybe. I’m just scared about their deal.” I averted my eyes from her again.
“Why would they have wrong intentions to find me?” Tana countered. Her voice rose. “I’m their daughter. They’d do everything in their power to find me!”
“I don’t know, they just sounded creepy!” I shouted.
She flinched. I’d yelled at her. I quickly apologised.
“Sorry, I just…” I sighed, then turned to Mr. B. “Anything we can do?”
Mr. B tapped his fingers on the table. “Just… maybe increase the security stuff more—“
“Dad. Why security? We’re fine.” Tana was getting impatient.
Mr. B looked at her sternly. “Tana, you may be their daughter, but you’re mine, too. I have to protect you at all costs. Whatever may be the reason.”
Tana huffed, but didn’t say anything after that. She was clearly not okay with it.
“We’ll, I can just tell you to be prepared,” he said to me. “Perhaps even get Wylie to teach you some martial arts, and I mean it. That girl’s got training, and moreover, she’s the ultimate Avatarverse fan.”
Tana and I exchanged grins with him. That made us feel better. Then, Tana left, and after waving goodbye to Mr. B, I caught up with her in the hallway.
“I thought you’d take my side,” she said accusingly.
I touched her arm. “Look, I care about you, but I have to look at both sides of the story. You know I’d agree with you otherwise.”
“Maybe.” Tana still wasn’t happy.
“Hey.” I stood in front of her and took her hands. “It’s me you’re talking to. We don’t keep secrets from each other.”
Tana sighed. “I guess.”
I wanted to give her a hug and tell her it’d be okay, but I didn’t. Guess I was either chicken, or maybe something else was brewing. I didn’t like the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. I shook it away and told myself it was nausea.
Funny, though, that nausea would actually escalate into something worse, and I would become a part of it.
4. Secret Crush
Narrative Continued by Wylie
It wasn’t even February yet. It was actually close to February, but it wasn’t even near Valentine’s Day. And yet, even after a week, I was still finding something new on my porch every morning, when I went to the lawn to work out.
The gifts could be meant for me. I mean, Dad jokes I’m the biggest Avatarverse fan on this side of the Mississippi, so there was a reason for the stuff to be Avatar-themed.
The first gift was a handmade white lotus Pai Sho tile. I liked it. It became kind of like my lucky stone, along with stuff of Mom’s. I still take it out, give it a polish, and stare at the white lotus to clear my head.
The second gift was ‘The Promise: Part 2’. I had read ‘Part 1’, thanks to the comic Elijah loaned me, but I was yet to read ‘Part 2’. It was a thoughtful gift.
And so on did the stuff keep coming. More comics, some action figures, LEGO, even a role-playing tabletop game. I guess whoever sent it knew I was picky, maybe. But it was getting hard to wrap my head around the mystery, so I called up my friends, who definitely had more experience with this stuff than I had.
Turns out, Tam wanted to come over anyways to my home because she wanted to have a girls’ day out, and for that, she also had…
“LEGO!” she said, grinning and pulling out LEGO Dots sets. “I have so many of these. I was waiting to build something with you guys!”
Tana had also joined us. She seemed okay with it, especially after Tam told her that they’d be able to decorate the sets with any design we liked. Tana’s ready to do anything that involves art.
Tam, Tana and I sat on my bed and dumped the sets out. Tam had six sets so that there were two for each of us to build.
“Actually, the Corduroy Sisters had some kind of raffle for Dots, and I signed up for it and got three sets. The other three were gifts from some friends at birthdays and whatnot,” Tana quickly clarified.
“That explains.” Tana raised a suspicious eyebrow, and we laughed.
I bagged the pineapple pencil holder set and started dumping everything out for building. Tana chose the animal picture holders, and Tam picked the rainbow jewellery stand.
As I was building, I started with casual talk. “Someone leaves me a gift every morning at my doorstep.”
“Oooh,” Tam teased, and Tana smiled.
“Yeah, I don’t know who does it, but whoever does seem to know me well.” I shrugged, snapping the base together.
Tana placed a wayward block in the wrong place, and used a LEGO tool to pry it out. “Have any idea who it is?”
“Naw.” I pressed the last piece of the base. “Done!”
Tam looked at my structure. “Wow, that’s fast.”
I looked at the instruction pamphlet and browsed into the selections, but none of them seemed fit, so I tossed it aside and created my own panels, Avatar-themed, of course. All the bending symbols, and in the front, I added Aang’s tattoo and glow eyes. Being done sooner than the rest of the girls, I chit-chatted with them.
“You know what? I think the secret sender is Elijah.” Tana smiled secretly.
I blew a raspberry. “That’s impossible. Elijah is a best friend. My best friend. I’ve known him for, like, a hundred years.”
“It’s just a hunch.” Tana shrugged.
I sighed. “Honestly, this boy stuff is haywire. It isn’t for me, I guess. Maybe I’m just better off with Avatar and fighting.”
Tana was focused on decorating her kitty picture holder, but stopped, as if considering something. She started talking to me, her eyes still on the holder.
“When I noticed Trevor for the first time last year, like, more than a friend, and when he noticed me, I—I just can’t explain it, but that one look told me that this was a meant to be thing, y’know? He cared, and I cared back. I was okay with it. Even I didn’t wanna get caught up in it, but you don’t meet a guy like him every day. That’s why I feel okay with it now.” She smiled, but it quickly faded. “Or maybe I was.”
“Hold it, what do you mean, was?” Tam left her jewellery stand forgotten and turned to Tana.
She looked up at us for the first time. “He and I have been drifting apart. Ever since I found out about my real parents.”
Tam and I looked at each other. Drifting apart? That did not happen with those two, as far as I had thought.
“Maybe it’s just these kinds of jitters, Tana. Trevor still likes you,” Tam said, though she sounded uncertain.
Tana stared at her, then puffed her cheeks and sighed. “Maybe.”
Jitters. That got me thinking about me and Elijah. After Mom died, we drifted apart. We never had any more friends—we were too unusual for people to like us—but we never talked more. We never hung out and geeked out about Avatar anymore. I mean, we weren’t exactly like Trevor and Tana back then, but Mom never invited any other kids’ parents over for dinner except Elijah’s. But after Mom’s death, Eli was never the same again. I was never the same again. And I don’t really know, but if it weren’t for Jr. Pop, EliTreLie, and Trevor, I don’t think Elijah and I would’ve become closer friends again. I just hoped we didn’t drift apart again.
“Just like Aang and Katara,” I murmured, remembering that day when he handed me ‘The Promise’.
Tam’s ears perked up. “You’re trying to compare one of the most canonical and predictable anime ships to Trevor and Tana’s situation?”
“No, I’m trying to compare my situation to the canonical and predictable anime ship.” I flopped back into the pillows.
Tana furrowed her eyebrow. “Wylie, is there something you’re not telling us?”
“No.” I hated lying to my friends, but I didn’t want to tell them about my past. I sat back up. “Let’s finish this stuff.” I pulled another set and started building.
But my secrets were spilled anyways. And it was sooner than later.
5. The Meeting
Narrative Continued by Elijah
Our meeting with the director of Future Music, John Callahan, was scheduled a couple of days after I sent ‘The Search: Part 2’ to Wylie. She didn’t know it was me who sent the gifts, but I decided to keep my identity anonymous. It was a good step towards love, anyway.
We had ‘Heartbreak Anthem’ ready. It wasn’t the only song, though. We had a few others. But we wanted our big startup to be the aforementioned song, after all. It was a good step towards pop glory as well.
“Howdy, Alumni!” Mr. Callahan greeted us with a booming voice and an overpowering smile. “Thomas told me a lot about you. Is it true it’s your last year at Jr. Pop?”
“Yes, sir.” Tana spoke for all of us.
“Well, ever since ‘Ocean Eyes’ became such a big hit, Jr. Pop’s having a good year for reals! Sad to see you guys retire next year, though.” He sighed, then clapped his hands. “Now, to business. ‘Heartbreak Anthem’, is it?”
Trevor nodded.
“I got your video. I know it’s not totally fleshed out, but your voices and dance moves are remarkable! However, that ragtag nature of that video will be pushed down once we sign you on. We’ll get you videos and recording as good as your current pop stars. You know—“ Here, he leaned in, as if he wanted to share a confidential matter. “Theo Mesmer? The former JPK? He got his musical start here. So, we’re no strangers to J-Pop. I assure you, nothing except your cooperation’s needed. And I can rest assured that your father, Tana, knows the details?”
Tana nodded.
“Very well! Then, I require your agreement. Are you in, or not?”
We looked at each other. Everybody seemed sure, including me. I do not know why, but I knew I could put my full trust in Mr. Callahan. He could give us a future after Jr. Pop. Who knew, his label was the startup we required as a band. We all nodded.
Mr. Callahan grinned widely. “Wonderful!” He produced a contract out of his folder and pointed to the dashes below the print. “Sign here.”
Tana picked up the pen. This was a big moment. She looked at each of us. Before the pen touched the paper, though, Trevor covered her hand with his.
“We’ll write it together. All of us,” he said, glancing at Wylie and me.
I nodded, then put a hand on his wrist. Wylie touched my hand, and my heartbeat raced faster with her hand on mine. And soon, the four of us signed as the Alumni. We were officially a band then. We finally had a future to look forward to.
We took a tour of the studio, too. Tana suggested a look around might give us an idea about what we were in for. Just then, I saw a boy no older than Thomas walk out of the props room.
“Who’s that?” Wylie wondered.
Mr. Callahan was accompanying us and proceeded to explain. “That’s my son, Sean. He has his band, too, and he’s been doing his gig since he was maybe seven. He’s known performing longer, though.” He paused, smiling proudly. “Actually, I created the studio because of him. He loves music and dance, and he really wanted to soar. So, Future Music was initially for his future, but now it’s for everyone’s future, too.” He looked at us. “And yours, too.”
Around that moment, we must’ve caught Sean’s eye, for he headed toward us and grinned, his positive personality just as overpowering as his father’s.
“Hey there! Alumni, right?” He shook hands with each of us, then did a double take. “Whoa! Dad was not kidding. You guys really are the Jr. Pop Kids!”
“It’s our last year,” I explained, “and since we love performing and making music, we decided to start as Alumni and continue our journey.”
“Well, great choice to be in Future music. I’m sure Dad told you about Theo Mesmer.”
“Which song are you doing, son?” Mr. Callahan asked him.
“‘Hall of Fame.’”
“Oh, that’s a great song,” Wylie remarked.
Sean’s smile thinned. “You think?”
“Well, yeah. I can’t think of anything better. Are you doubting yourself?” She asked.
Sean frowned and stared at his sneakers. “Yeah.”
“Don’t, really. It’s not gonna get you anywhere. I didn’t feel confident of myself, once. But it didn’t help me. What was gonna help me was confidence. And it’ll help you, too.”
All of us were taken aback. Wylie had just parted Iroh-esque wisdom, which was not her real nature. It made me wonder whether there was more to her than it seemed.
When we neared the recording area, my eyes burst. Figuratively, that is. As you probably know already, reader, I had just gotten into the Justin Bieber swing of things. And one of my favourite songs, ‘Monster’, was stuck in my head the whole day. It also, I found out, featured Shawn Mendes as well. And Shawn Mendes, after careful observation and conclusions on my close friend and the effect Mendes had on him, was Trevor’s favourite singer. An idea formed in my head, and I tugged Trevor’s sleeve.
“What?” He asked, letting the group slip by.
“Want a Milne and Sanders collaboration?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” He was confused.
“I mean that we should duet on a song.”
“Which song?” He was interested.
“‘Monster’, by Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes.”
His eyes widened, and he grinned like the dickens. “Man, that sounds so good! I love that song.”
“Me too!” I was also barely able to contain my excitement.
“When should we start?” he asked.
“Maybe later in the evening. I’ll text you then.”
“Great.”
We bumped fists on the agreement, then hurried to catch up with our friends. But fireworks buzzed off in my mind, for I could clearly see my first song with Trevor. We would, shall we say, rock it, and it would signal the start of working with Future Music, for the future.
6. ‘Monster’
Narrative Resumed by Trevor
Elijah had the best plan up his sleeve when he told me about duetting on ‘Monster’. I had loved the idea, for I had gotten into listening to Shawn Mendes a lot lately. And maybe before we started as the Alumni, we could start as Trevor Sanders and Elijah Milne.
Elijah and I met at my garage after JPK practice. He said that the first thing to get started with was the lyrics.
“How, exactly?” I asked.
“We’ll, we’d rather alter the lyrics to suit middle school students and younger. We’re still on ‘sung by kids for kids’, friend, right?” Elijah meant it when he asked it.
“Right. Are you gonna do it?” I asked. “You have a way with words, y’know.”
Elijah tapped his chin. “Maybe.”
“If so, then I’ll handle music and choreography.” I grinned. “We’re gonna have so much fun together, buddy.”
After Elijah’s alteration on the lyrics, which was nothing more than switching the ‘fifteen’ to ‘thirteen’ in Justin Bieber’s verse (“We actually started at eleven, but I couldn’t ease that into the beat, so I shifted to thirteen,” was his explanation) we went to practising the karaoke, which was easy. Since Shawn Mendes went first in the song, I did the same:
“You put me on a pedestal and tell me I'm the best—“
Elijah nodded. I was going good.
“Raise me up into the sky until I'm short of breath, yeah—“
Tap-tap, tap.
“Fill me up with confidence, I say what's in my chest
Spill my words and tear me down until there's nothin' left
Rearrange the pieces just to fit me with the rest, yeah…”
Then, Elijah joined in for the chorus.
“But what if I, what if I trip?
What if I, what if I fall?
Then am I the monster?
Just let me know
And what if I, what if I sin?
And what if I, what if I break? Yeah
Then am I the monster? Yeah
Just let me know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah—“
Elijah took Justin Bieber’s part, and I backed him up with the lyrics in brackets:
“I was thirteen when the world put me on a pedestal
I had big dreams of doin' shows and makin' memories
Made some bad moves tryna act cool, upset by the jealousy
Liftin' me up (liftin' me up), liftin' me up (yeah)
And tearin' me down (down), tearin' me down, yeah (down, down)
I'll take responsibility for everything I've done (yeah)
Holdin' it against me like you're the holy one (yeah)…”
Then came a modern yet cinematic choir and synth section, which Elijah took a hold of:
“I had a chip on my shoulder, had to let it go
’Cause unforgiveness keeps them in control
I came in with good intentions, then I let it go
And now I really wanna know—“
While he held the last word, I jumped with the chorus, and we alternately switched while we sang the words in brackets:
“What if I, what if I trip? (Oh)
What if I, what if I fall? (I fall)
Then am I the monster? (Am I the monster?)
Just let me know (let me know)
And what if I, what if I sin? (Oh)
And what if I, what if I break? (Yeah)
Then am I the monster? (Am I the monster?)
Just let me know (oh, please just let me know, yeah)…”
And the instrumental:
“La-da-da, da-da (baby, what if I fall down?)
La-da-da, da-da-da, da
La-da-da-da, da-da
La-da-da, da-da-da, da
La-da-da-da, da-da (please don't let me fall)
La-da-da-da, da-da-da, da
La-da-da-da, da-da (oh, please don't let me fall)
La-da-da-da, da-da-da, da…”
When we ended, we looked at each other and laughed in relief.
“Friend, that was the best run-through I had,” Elijah said.
“I know, right?” I collapsed on my bed, a little exhausted. “Okay, enough rehearsal. Let’s talk casual stuff now.”
Elijah flopped down next to me. “Well, how are you doing?”
“Great, I guess.”
“I guess?”
“Yeah, but things are on a bit of a slope.”
“Ah.” Elijah nodded. “The slope.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“And what’s on the teetering edge of this slope?”
“Let’s see: Tana, Angie, music, dance, life, you name it.”
Elijah turned his head to me. “Trevor, that’s a lot on your plate. And not of your nature.”
I shrugged. “I guess being teen is hard.”
“I’d also like to backtrack. Why are Tana and Angela on your edge?”
“I dunno. Probably has something to do with being a boyfriend and a brother, y’know. Tana and I are having silent disagreements, and I worry about Angie’s safety. She’s entered the exposing part of fame. I want to avoid getting her caught up in the dark side of that.”
Elijah was quiet for a while, then he spoke up. “Do you know what ‘Monster’ is all about?”
“No, what?”
“It’s about the perils of life and uncertainty. The dark side of fame, like you mentioned seconds ago. I did background research to find the meaning of this song. People say that it’s mainly focused on the music industry’s scenes, but after careful consideration, I concluded that it applies to life as well.”
“Wow,” I said, awed. “That’s deep.”
“Indeed. Shall I share with you something else? I even read Shawn Mendes’ comment on the song.”
“And let me guess—you memorised it?”
Elijah grinned. “It’s in my nature to do so, friend. Here, let me quote it to you: At first, I was writing it out of angst of being a celebrity. You know, feeling like my life was being watched all the time. As I grew, it became more about like this idea of perfection is not real. It’s like you just have to surrender and kind of let go and be and love yourself. That pedestal is not only what society puts us on, it’s what I put myself on. And I had to just be like ‘you’re cool even if you like miss some note’. To put it basically, in the bigger picture, it’s not just about singing, it’s about everything in life. It’s okay to mess up. That’s where I was coming from with it.”
I was bug-eyed. “It’s a lot to take in.”
“It is, isn’t it? And I’m sure you’ve listened to his album ‘Wonder’, isn’t it?”
“Ten times.”
“And on his album, he is, and I quote, spiritual, connected and blissed out, deep in love and lost in thought. More mature than the one we know. And even my dominant artist, Justin Bieber, experienced quite the same feelings on his album, ‘Justice’.”
“So, am I gonna mature at some point?” I asked, vaguely considering what would happen if Elijah was my spiritual mentor to my life.
“Yes, that’s for sure. But don’t worry about that. You still have plenty of time.”
I grinned. “You make a fine Linus for a Charlie Brown like me, Eli.”
“Perhaps I am also Guru Pathik, the spiritual advisor to Avatar Aang in ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’,” Elijah said, and we were quiet for a while.
In the quiet, I turned and said, “I might need your help this year. It’s gonna be a roller coaster for sure.”
“Likewise, friend. Likewise.”
7. Fro-Yo Fun!
Narrative Continued by Angela
I got along really well with the new JPKs, and we became best friends instantly. We always had a knack for making rehearsals fun (and sometimes annoying our teachers in the process) and we also really liked what we did. I mean, singing, dancing, no school (only studio tutoring)—this was the perfect life! What’s there not to like?
On one fine day, which was really sunny it made us sweat, we finished rehearsal early and headed outside, desperate for something to do. Julianna suggested walking around the city—being an intrepid explorer back home, she desperately wanted to tour NYC—and we agreed. But after a while of walking around, everyone was hungry, and our lunch was empty.
“I wanna eat something,” Ahnya whined.
“Fro-yo, maybe,” Julianna mused.
“Yep, I think we should stop for fro-yo,” Isaiah said, mussing up his sweaty hair.
“I know a fro-yo place down the road! My mother used to take me there sometimes.” I offered helpfully.
“Let’s go there, then!” Ahnya grinned.
We set off down the street, chatting occasionally, with Julianna trying to see into the turns and find something new to wonder upon, and then we reached the fro-yo place. After taking to-go boxes, we ate on the way and brainstormed a new exploration plan for the whole city. We could only walk and take the bus or the subway, so our options were limited. It was fun to dream, though.
“I bet we should stop at my house,” Isaiah said.
“How far is it?” Ahnya asked, a little worried that it was too far.
“Well…” He checked his phone absently. “Only one subway away. And since we’re nearby the subway station, we could go.”
We hopped on a subway, like Isaiah said, and soon we landed on a busy suburb street with nice little houses. He led us to one of them and took us inside.
“We still have a little unpacking to do, so the place might be a little messy.” He smiled sheepishly, then called, “Dad, I brought some friends!”
A man who looked exactly like Isaiah, only much older, as old as Mom, poked his head out in the hallway. “Well, hello! Isaiah told me a lot about you. Come in, come in!”
We came in a small yet sufficient and neatly arranged living room, with a sofa and two armchairs. We all sat on the sofa; it was big enough to fit the four of us. Soon later, Mr. O’Conner set five glasses of lemonade down in front of us. We all took a glass, for it was getting hot out, and we were sweating a lot.
“Isaiah tells me a lot about you. Says you guys are great friends and supremely talented performers.” He smiled, then set his glass down on the centre table. “So, tell me a little more about yourselves, though—Ah, Angela, is it?”
“That’s me.” I nodded.
“You look just like Millie!” He remarked.
“You know my mom?” I asked, incredulous.
“Well, we were close friends in school, and I often met her at work.” He sipped his lemonade. “But I haven’t heard from her in years. I didn’t know she had kids.”
“Me and my brother Trevor are her children. I’m sure you know who he is.” With Trevor being so famous as a JPK, people know him from a hundred miles away. I thought Mr. O’Conner did, too.
“I happen to.” Mr. O’Conner nodded. But before we could speak any further, Isaiah piped up.
“Dad, can I take my friends to the garage?”
“Sure can, son.”
We got up and followed Isaiah outside and then inside the garage. It wasn’t like the garage Trevor and I had. This one was filled with machinery and gadgets lying about, and the smell of oil hung in the air. Isaiah ran a hand through his hair and moved about, checking weird contraptions and whatnot. Julianna and Ahnya became interested in a kind of self-shovelling machine, while I followed Isaiah to a worktable nearby some tools.
“Look at these,” he said, picking up two haphazard metal gloves from the table. “These are the ones I was talking about. What do you think of them?”
“They look…bulky.” I tried to be nice.
He got what I was hinting at, then admitted, “Yeah, it needs work. But I think it will be finished faster if two people work.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re not suggesting…” I started.
He grinned. “I’ll teach you how to wield a wrench. And a hammer. And a screwdriver. And anything else I can think of.”
“Okay, I guess,” I agreed, a little uneasily.
“Okay. So first, we are going to dismantle this.” He held up one of the gloves. “The wiring’s faulty, not to mention dangerous. I tested it out on some rats. They died on one shock. Had to bury them and utter a few prayers for their safe journey into heaven. I’m afraid it can hurt someone.” He grimaced at the memory of the unfortunate rats. I understood, though. Isaiah was like Trevor; he’d think twice before hurting even a fly.
He asked me to grab the toolbox beside the table, which I did, and with a grunt (the thing was heavy), I heaved it onto the table. He easily propped it open (he must be a hundred times stronger than I am) and selected some unrecognisable tools and placed them out. He paused in his work to pull out his phone, and played some music.
“Helps me focus.” He smiled, then set to prying out pieces of the gloves. I watched him carefully as he removed nuts, unscrewed bolts and, occasionally, break wayward pieces of metal. I took it all in, marvelling at Isaiah’s strength and energy. This was his solace, I realised, his place for escape, and he was at his best here. After dismantling around two layers of the gloves, he pointed to a hidden cluster of wires inside. “You gotta pull these out,” he instructed, yanking the wires out. But before he started doing more, I looked around for some rubber gloves, ones I had seen mechanics wear before, and I spotted a pile and pulled them out. I handed them to him.
“To keep you from dying,” I said with a half grin.
He beamed, then grabbed them and tugged them out, and resumed yanking wires, without any more shocks.
Once he got the wires out, he didn’t resume dismantling, but instead, he replaced everything else back on. The gloves looked a little lighter, but equally strong. He turned to me. “Now let’s see you work it.”
I nodded tentatively, but before I started, Isaiah removed his gloves and handed them to me. I put them on and began by grabbing the wrench and removing the nuts. It was hard enough, and Isaiah had to help me a couple of times. Then I removed the bolts a little more easily, and before I knew it, I was removing metal. With Isaiah’s coaching, I had reached to the same spot where I recognised the wires, and before he spoke, I grabbed the wires and tried to yank them out, but then I got shocked. I dropped the wires and gasped, pulling out the right glove.
“Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I should’ve handled that, it’s my fault!” Isaiah was immediately worried, and he ran to a nearby table where there was a first aid kit. He brought it to the table, propped it open, and gently picked my shocked hand. I winced as he ran a finger down my palm, then stopped at a faint burn mark, barely noticeable.
“It’s small.” He exhaled. “Thank god.”
He gingerly dressed the small wound, then once it was covered, he tugged out the left glove and put both of them on. “I’ll handle this. And don’t try to hide that from your mom and brother. You can say I did it. I don’t mind.”
I watched him intently, looking at his distressed face as he took over my assignment and removed the wires and put the rest of the metal back on. Then, he shut off the music and cleared the worktable. Once it was uncluttered, he sighed and leaned heavily against it.
At that point, Julianna and Ahnya were done gawking at the machines, so they found us. Ahnya gasped at the bandage wrapping my hand.
“Are you okay? What happened?” Julianna asked.
I told them the whole story, and they were relieved that I wasn’t badly hurt. After a short silence, Isaiah spoke.
“I’m sorry.”
“Hey.” I walked to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “I became careless, okay? It’s not your fault. You and I both know I was rushing to get the wires out. I’m fine.”
I knew from the expression on his face that he was gonna protest, saying he knew it was gonna hurt someone and that he should be blamed for it because he made the gloves in the first place, that he should realise his mistake after the rats—but he didn’t say anything. His lip quivered, however, and that was enough evidence to tell me he regretted it.
I then threw my arms around him and hugged him tight because I knew it wasn’t easy for him. To me, it looked like he wanted to make new friends when he moved here and be successful in it, but he thought he already lost his one chance with me after I got shocked. But it was the same for me—I had a second chance at making friends too, and even I didn’t wanna mess it up. I knew what it was like.
“Tell you what, we’ll make a pact. The four of us.” I put my uninjured hand on top of his. “We’ll promise to have each other’s backs, even when we retire from Jr. Pop. We’ll always stick together. Always.”
Julianna and Ahnya put their hands on top of ours.
“Deal?” I looked them each in the eye.
They nodded. “Deal.”
8. The Unexpected Visitors
Narrative Resumed by Trevor
A knock sounded on our studio door pretty early. We hadn’t even gone to vocal rehearsal yet. Mr. B went to open it. And when he opened it, we were shocked worse than we could ever imagine.
A man and woman were standing at the door. They were dressed in black, and I could see something poke out their hips, barely. Elijah would’ve known what it really was, but my deductions were that it wasn’t good. But their looks were the most startling, and at once I knew that we weren’t prepared for this.
They were Tana’s biological parents.
I looked at Tana, but she didn’t look at me. She was staring, gaping, unable to understand what happened.
“Is it really you?” she asked.
The woman laughed. “Oh, believe it, it’s us.”
“I get—“ Tana’s voice cracked, but she cleared her throat. “I get to know who I was?”
I eyed her. Why did she ask that? Doesn’t she know who she already was? We’d told her who she was, and that no explanations were needed.
And yet, she still didn’t.
Narrative Continued by Tana
“I get to know who I was?” I asked. I had waited endless years to ask this. And I finally had.
“Yes,” the man said. “You get to know everything.”
“You’re forgetting something, Tony,” the woman said, rolling her eyes. “They need to comply.”
“Oh, yes, Nora.” The man—Tony—turned to Mom, Dad, and my friends. “What do you say?”
Everyone was silent. No one spoke. But the looks toward them said everything.
Mom and Dad were frightened.
Wylie was rubbing her knuckles against her hand, a vengeful look in her eyes.
Elijah was chewing his lip, worried.
The new JPKs were scared.
And Trevor was staring hard at them, calculative. I recognised this as a move he used when he wanted to find out a person’s true intentions. And—wait. Why did he have to search them for their real intentions? I could see them clearly—they wanted to find me, that’s all. But then, he finally spoke.
“No.”
I looked at him, shocked.
“I won’t allow it.”
What was going on?
Narrative Resumed by Trevor
“No. I won’t allow it.”
I could feel Tana’s shock in the air. The others were ambiguous. I didn’t know what they thought. I could only take the sight of Tana hard-hit from what I said.
“Oh.” The woman named Nora laughed. “You make all her decisions, don’tchu?”
I ignored that. “I can’t trust you.”
Nora shrugged. “All right. But the next ‘no’…we won’t take it, and I can tell your girlfriend won’t, either.”
The man, Tony, made the classic ‘I’m watching you’ gesture and, then, the couple sauntered out.
I could barely heave a big sigh before Tana, seething, said, “We need to go somewhere private. Now!”
9. The Worst Mistake Ever Made
Tana stormed into the dance room, me following her. She slammed the door once I was in, and locked it. That proved that she meant private, and no one could argue. Once we were inside, she whirled around to face me.
“How could you do that?” She yelled.
“Do what?” I was annoyed. Why was she getting all mad at me for no reason?
“You took my one chance away, Trevor! One chance!” she emphasised.
“What was that, anyways?” I crossed my arms.
Tana was quiet, and turned to look at the huge mirror, finding her words. Then, she turned back to me.
“I was this close to finding out who I was. I could know my whole past, my whole life, before I joined Jr. Pop. I could finally know what I was destined for!”
“Haven’t we answered that?” I fired back. “You had a clean slate when you entered, Tana. And now you’re trying to fill it up!”
“Yeah, I wanted to! You don’t know what it’s like! You don’t have to grapple with the fact that you had no family until you were finally adopted. You think you’re a great judge of emotion and whatnot, but are you, really? Because I’ve seen now, you can’t judge mine!”
That drew the line. That drew the ending line of us.
Narrative Continued by Tana
I didn’t want it to end like this. Yet it was.
“All right! Judge me now! Tell me what you know!” I shouted.
Trevor looked at me intensely. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes.
“All I know is that I never wanted anything to do with you,” he said, angry.
That did it. I was more furious than I’d ever been, but this stung like a slap to the face. It was bad enough coming from any guy, but Trevor had said it.
It was impossible.
It was impossible.
He couldn’t have said that.
But he had.
I was on the verge of crying, and I ran out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.
He needed to hear it loud and clear that I was done with him.
Narrative Continued by Elijah
I passed by the dance room, when I heard the shouts. I thought Trevor and Tana had gone for a quick talking-to, but when I put my ear to the wall, all I could think of was disaster.
They were arguing.
Trevor Sanders and Tana Bowers were arguing.
Everything was spinning and out-of-control.
And it was.
The gang was breaking up.
And this time, it would take many more miracles to set it right.
Narrative Continued by Wylie
I wanted to get a glass of water—despite my intentions I was a little nervous about being confronted by the Wells—when I saw Elijah standing dumbstruck in front of the dance door.
“What happened?” I asked him, but then, I heard it. And all I could feel were tiny alarms buzzing underneath my skin, the way they did when I found out Mom had died. Tears started to my eyes as I heard Trevor and Tana shout and yell, believing it was not true.
“It’s impossible.” I turned to Elijah. “It’s impossible.”
“Yet you see it’s possibility,” he murmured.
The door opened and an angry Tana ran down the hall, crying and wiping her face. Inside the dance room, I saw Trevor equally mad, but there was a sadness I had seen before. I had seen it when Tana had moved away. I had even seen it on everyone’s faces at Mom’s funeral, too.
Elijah looked at me. He knew this all too well.
This was a mistake, I wanted to say.
But I couldn’t say anything.
I couldn’t.
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