CHAPTER THIRTEEN: DREAMING OF COMEBACKS AND SWITCHOVERS

February 2, 2004

 It’s now the beginning of February, and No Rules are about to start taping the long-awaited season two of their hit teen comedy-drama series, Dare 2 Dream. Even though they have no songs, everyone wanted to continue the series.

 At the same time, the members are getting ready to record their third CD. All the songs they’ve written now have the music, and they’re ready to be sung. It’s a total of 48 songs: 24 songs that the members have shown the producers, 10 new songs they’ve written, 10 songs written by the producers, and the four songs written for another band that NR covered.

 All the while, Alex has enrolled at a school that’s near NR’s house. He has his exams, but he’s busy with NR projects. So the best way for him instead of going back and forth from Swansea to London was to stay in London. Plus, Alex gets to be away from his bullies. At the London school, he is under an alias, ‘Ashton Wilson’, and is in disguise by wearing fake glasses. He did this to ward off fans that are at the school. He tries to talk as little as possible so no one would recognize his voice, and not make friends.

 Today is the day for the NR members to start filming. When they arrived at the set, they didn’t recognize half of the people that are there. Peter, who was directing the series, approached them.

 Edward asked, “What happened? Where’s the old cast?”

 Peter explained, “Okay, we had a problem. After you signed onto EMI Records, I announced to cast that we were going to start filming series 2 of Dare 2 Dream, but half of the cast who play the students dropped out. So I had Logan look for new ‘students’. He went to all the high schools and colleges around London for new actors who can sing and dance. He found what he needed, and there you have it. We created new characters for the new cast.”

 Mariana asked, “Is Jeremy Wilds still part of the cast?”

 Peter replied, “Yes, he still is.”

 Edward then asked nervously, “So we have regular people as students? Are they No Rules fans?”

 “Yes they are.”

 Now it was Alex’s turn to be nervous as he asked, “Erm, are any of the ‘students’ students at the school I’m currently going to?”

 “Yes, one of them. Here she is, coming toward us.”

 Alex was wearing the school’s uniform and his fake glasses when the girl came up to the NR members. He’s about to leave for school.

 The girl happily introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Tiffany Sanders. I love No Rules, especially Eddie and Alex. Hey, where’s Alex? You look familiar. Have I seen you at school a few days ago?”

 Alex said, “Erm, I’m Alex, but I’d prefer if you don’t say anything to anyone at school. Okay?”

 Tiffany then screamed in excitement. She added, “OMG!! Alex goes to my school! Wait a minute, aren‘t you known as Ashton at school?”

 “It’s a complicated story. But please don’t say anything.”

 Then Sophie said, “And you won’t try to steal him from me, yeah? He’s my boyfriend.”

 Tiffany playfully pouted, “Okay, I won’t.”

 Just then, Jeremy approached Mariana. They hugged and kissed each other. She said to him, “Jeremy, I missed you.”

 He replied, “I know. We should go on a date this weekend.”

 She agreed. Things are definitely going well…or are they?

 It’s around late afternoon, and Britain’s newly successful pop band, B.A.S.E., were at an auditorium for tech rehearsals. They were getting ready for their tour across the UK. Their self-titled debut album was very successful, compared to BG6’s second album, S Club 8’s second album, No Rules’ Tonight, and skate5’s fifth album.

 As B.A.S.E. went on break, they went to their dressing room. One of the members, Marissa, got on a laptop. She read that NR are back to filming their TV series, Dare 2 Dream. Then she slammed the laptop screen down. One of three guys of the group, Blake, noticed. So he asked, “Marissa, what’s wrong?”

 Marissa said in a frustrated tone, “You know, I used to be supportive of No Rules. But they seem like they’re trying to avoid us. It’s like they don’t wanna have anything to with us. And on top of that, Peter, who’s also their manager, is largely ignoring us.”

 Another member, Andrew, chimed in: “Yeah, I noticed that too. And you know how Peter gives No Rules everything, whilst we just stuck in England.”

 “I know, yeah? Like, why can’t we go outside the UK? Why can’t we go to Europe, or the United States?”

 The members all agreed. Then Denise, another member, spoke up, “We should confront Peter.”

 The members agreed, so they decided to leave the arena to meet up with Peter. Once they arrived, they barged into his office. He was startled by this unexpected meeting. “BASE, what are you doing here? Aren’t you at tech rehearsals?”

 Marissa demanded, “We deserve more publicity. You give No Rules more attention than you do for us.”

 Peter then gave a frustrated sigh. After thinking for a moment, he responded, “Okay, I’m busy trying to restart No Rules’ career after a disastrous year. Me and their second manager, Logan, are not giving up on this potentially phenomenal band. So it might be best to hire a new manager for you.”

 Andrew asked “Who?”

 “Simon Cowell of 19 Management. I heard he’s busy trying to work on a new TV series, but I’m sure he’ll be willing to take you in.”

 With that, the B.A.S.E. members reluctantly agreed.

 It’s a few days later, and BG6 were backstage of a TV station, getting ready to perform their latest single. Hannah looked nervous, more so than the other members. Sean noticed this, so he asked her, “Hannah, what’s wrong? You look disturbed.”

 Hannah took a big gulp, and she responded, “Last night, I read that our rival, BASE, just switched managers. They’re now with Simon Cowell, the judge from Pop Idol.”

 With that, the BG6 members were upset.

 Two hours later, BG6 finished performing. Then they were all over the surrounding area to find the B.A.S.E. members. They found them at a Starbucks. The B.A.S.E. members saw them.

 Marissa asked, “What are you lot doing here? Shouldn’t you be on the telly or something?”

 Kelsey angrily asked, “How could you sign Simon Cowell?”

 Blake said sourly, “Like we had a choice, which is not a bad choice.”

 Kristy said in a snobby tone, “Well, you can stay with whoever you’re with. With Simon Cowell as our manager, we’ll crush you, skate5, and even S Club 8. No Rules are already crushed, but Peter Dillon is trying to save them or something.”

 With that, the BG6 members stormed out of the coffee-shop.