A/n: What's up, my dudes! I hope you are all having an amazing day. I am very happy to be back writing so soon.

This chapter is going to be a lot of random things happening. I just felt like all this needed to be included to transition into the chapter where the reader has their performance.

Also, there may be a chunk of time between that chapter (the performance) and the start of the third part of the book (the second movie). I want to buy the movie so I can base it off of that just as I did for the first. So I apologize in advance.

But I know you've all waited long periods of time for me to update before. I'm a sucky author (: ...

Anyways let's get to it!

Word count- 2115 words

Enjoy~

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Your POV

Johnny and I had been practicing for weeks. It was nice to have lots of time to practice—I wrote my song as fast as I possibly could so we would have more time. It took many tears, cups of coffee, and sleepless nights, and even though I didn't think it was good enough, Johnny and Buster thought it was a perfect fit.

Even though I had wrote the song, there were still things we were both changing as the time went on. Learning a song while under pressure was much more challenging than I had originally anticipated.

Currently, Johnny and I were laying on the floor, taking a break from practicing. I was taking small bites from a sandwich I had made this morning. The bread was soggy from the sauce I had put on it, but it still tasted delicious.

"Why is this so difficult?" I asked.

"You wrote a song," Johnny said after he finished taking a drink from his water bottle. "That's challenging, most people can't do it."

"But I'm struggling playing the guitar, especially when I am singing too." I let my arms flop to my sides dramatically. Doing so, my sandwich accidentally fell apart and the contents spilled on the ground. I sighed. "Great."

I could tell Johnny was trying not to smile. "You're under a lot of pressure. You gotta try and calm down, relax."

"What even is relaxed? I never am relaxed."

"That's no good."

"No need to tell me, I already know."

Just as I stopped complaining, the voice of Buster could be heard from behind us at the door: "working hard, I see."

I sat up and looked at him, my face blushing slightly. "Sorry, Buster."

"No need to apologize. You're working hard, you deserve a break. How is it going?"

I curled my knees to my chest. "It's even harder than I thought."

"It's hard work when you're running on little sleep," He said. I wondered how he knew, but then he said: "You have bags under your eyes, and every time you stare into space it looks like you're dreaming already."

At that moment I yawned, exaggerating his point further yet. "You guys go take a break. Lunch on me." He pulled $40 out of his wallet and held it out to Johnny.

It wasn't wasn't easy for me to accept gifts, so I started to protest—

"No," he said. "I insist."

So half an hour later the two of us were seated in a small restaurant just down the street from the Theater. It was a nice place, and even though I could tell the waitress was unsure of me, she treated me kindly. The food was wonderful too.

"So," Johnny said. "I don't want to freak you out, but Mr. Moon told me that the tickets are already sold out."

I nearly started choking on my food. What do you mean the tickets are—

"I thought that you couldn't even purchase them yet."

Johnny shook his head. "They started selling yesterday. They're all sold out. Mr. Moon is going to have to put in the extra seating up top sooner rather than later."

My head began to spin at the prospect of preforming in front of a full house. I tapped my fingers nervously on the table, hoping that it would relieve some of the stress I was feeling.

It didn't.

"It'll be okay." He smiled. "That's insane. So many people want to come see you sing!"

I took a deep breath, trying to settle down a bit. Finally, I was able to find my voice. "I know, it's just that..."

He waited patiently for me to continue.

"I was planning on revealing who I was and—and the thought of doing it in front of that many people..."

He nodded, taking a moment to think about what he was going to say. "If it's pressure making you want to, just wait."

I shook my head. "I want to, it's just scary." Thinking about it made me want to climb into my bed and never get out, but it felt like something I had to—actually, wanted to do.

"It'll be okay, I promise. We will all be there for you, and I'll be up on stage with you."

I nodded. "Thanks, Johnny."

"No problem, (y/n)."

A few minutes later we were heading down the street away from the restaurant and back towards the Theater. Up ahead we could see a female gorilla walking towards us. She was beautiful—good figure, nice hair, dressed well. I adverted my gaze from her as I do with everyone that isn't my friends or family, but I could feel her staring at me in disgust.

"Whatcha' doin' with a girl like that, hun?" She said to Johnny.

Johnny seemed to pay no attention to her, which she took offensively. She scoffed. "I said, what are you doing with a girl like that?"

I was used to interactions like this, but I always still turned red from embarrassment and shame, and I could tell the girl felt good about it.

Johnny looked at her. "Why does it matter to you?"

I wasn't used to people defending me. I stared hard at the concrete next to my feet. I normally would have tried to pay no attention to whatever harsh things people would say to me, but I couldn't help but wonder how this interaction was going to play out.

"It's just that you shouldn't be wasting your time. I know who you are, Johnny. You should spend your time with someone better, like me, and not some disgusting, little—"

"That's enough," Johnny said. I was too busy staring at the cracks in the concrete to see him reaching out for me, but then I felt his hand wrap around mine. Out of shock I lifted my head and could see her angry face. "I'll choose who I spend my time with, thank you very much."

He pulled me away, which was nice, because I don't think my legs would have worked anyway.

A few minutes later we were at the Theater.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

It was still strange to hear someone ask me that. I've never been okay, and yet I was rarely asked how I was. I couldn't find words, so I just nodded.

"Don't pay any mind to what she said, it isn't true."

"It's not like she said anything that I haven't heard before, Johnny."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be... if anything I should be saying I'm sorry."

"For what?" He asked.

"I'm sorry that you had to defend me. I should know how to handle it by now."

"(Y/n)... It's not an inconvenience for me. I want to defend you."

"Thank you." I managed to stop tears from brimming my eyes, but what he said made something stir in my chest, so it was difficult to keep it to myself.

"You're welcome."

That's when I realized we were still holding hands. I quickly pulled away, being nervous and all.

"Uh... let's get back to practicing now," I said.

"Of course."

* * *

It was an evening later that week when I found myself pacing in my room. I pulled at the strands of (h/c) hair on my head. A racing heart was something that I was used to, but this time I was shaky, having a difficult time breathing, and was sticky with sweat. I was definitely having an anxiety attack.

I tried both laying and sitting on my bed, but nothing was making me comfortable. Tears streamed down my face in a nearly-constant manner, dripping onto my sheets below.

God, I was a mess.

The thought of the show is what started it all. I was picturing in my mind what the performance would look like, all the way to the part where I revealed my face. It was becoming so real now that it was happening soon.

My breathing wasn't settling like I wanted it to, in fact, it was only getting worse. My head was spinning with images and voices, like a fever dream.

I needed someone to help. So I picked up my phone and called Johnny.

He answered after a few rings and asked me if I was okay once he heard my crying.

"I'm—I'm so sorry. It's so late and—and I—"

"Don't apologize, just breathe then tell me what happened."

After a few minutes I had managed to settle down enough to start to tell him about the problem.

"And then," I said, telling him about the images I was seeing in my head earlier. "All the fans were booing me, then they were throwing stuff at me, and—and then they made their way on stage and—"

"This is all just in your head, this isn't what—"

"But—but then," Tears started pouring down my face once more, "then Buster told me that he should have never let me sing with you guys because I ruined the Theater and it's reputation, and all of you guys agreed with him..."

"(Y/n), listen to me, that's not what's gonna happen."

"But how do you know that?"

"Because I do."

"Johnny—"

"You need to trust me on this. The fans won't hate you like that, and Buster definitely would never ever say something like that to you."

I laughed a bit, overwhelmed with everything. "I'm such a mess."

"You're just under a lot of pressure, that's all. If it's causing this much worry maybe you should talk to Buster and—"

"I'll be okay."

"Don't say that when I know you never mean it."

I didn't say anything. I had a hard time being vulnerable, so what was I supposed to say?

"(Y/n)?"

"I'm here."

"Talk to me."

"It's getting late."

"Please, don't go, talk to me."

I felt so many different things at once that I had no idea where to begin to sort it all out.

"I'll be okay," I said after another moment of silence. "Things are always tough for me but I always pull through, right?"

"You're really strong, (y/n). You may not see it, but you are."

"I think if I show my face I'll be able to see it."

"I hope you do."

"Me too."

We were silent again, but with Johnny the silences were never uncomfortable. This time though, I could feel a strange tension in the air.

"(Y/n)?..."

"Yeah, Johnny?"

He didn't say anything for a moment. "You have a good night, all right?"

"You too."

"See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow."

We said bye, and then we hung up the phone. I set it on my nightstand before crawling under the covers. I took a breath to calm myself down the rest of the way so I could get to bed.

I tried to fall asleep for a few minutes. I wondered why I wasn't able to fall asleep, as usually I could fall in a deep sleep in a matter of seconds. It wasn't my anxiety attack though, as it went away pretty quickly once Johnny called and was able to help me talk through it.

I then realized it was because I wondered what he really was going to say before he said good night to me. The vibe in the air was strange, before he said it. He was definitely thinking of saying something else, but what could it have been?

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A/n: I hope you enjoyed it. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out (or what it'll be about haha). If anyone has any ideas for the next chapter or future chapters please feel free to comment or dm me. I would appreciate it so much. I'll definitely tag you as well :)

As always, see you next time, my dudes!

~ Becca