ChapterTwenty:Two Bands

FLASHBACK-Friday, July 5, 2002

The members of juniorConnect were given a short break from their dance rehearsals. They were set to film the third single from their upcoming third album. It was their most daring song to date, Other Ways. It was a huge departure from their two previously cheesy singles. It was a song that would differentiate them from their predecessor, Connect.

Alex grabbed his water bottle as he glanced at his bandmate, Faye. She was talking with the other girls about something. He heard rumors that he and Faye were a couple. They weren't true, but that didn't stop the fans from writing their stories of their favorite ship.

He always saw her as a friend. He wasn't really interested in dating her, though he had to admit that she was pretty. Besides, they were just kids; a little too young to begin dating. Then again, they were both now teenagers. The teen years were supposed to be full of raging hormones; or so Alex's teachers would say.

Maybe he could do what the fandom wanted and ask her out, but he didn't want to jeopardize his friendship with Faye. The only thing he could do see was to see what she'll say during the band's lunch break.

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JuniorConnect got their food at a restaurant. It was paid for by the band's choreographer. They had to be on some form of dieting. No greasy takeout food. Have a mixture of meats and salads. No snacking. It didn't matter they were growing teens; they needed to eat healthy. That was on top of weekly workouts to keep them in shape and energetic.

Alex sat next to Faye, sharing a smile with her. He wanted to tell her she was pretty but felt awkward to say so. He stared at his food, only opening his mouth take bites. He heard Faye talking about her next set of shopping plans on Seth's credit card. Everyone was given a card, but everything was regulated by their chaperones.

Without thinking, Alex blurted out, "I can join!"

The girls and Jerrod stared at him while Caleb snickered. Alex felt his face warming up, embarrassed that he did that. Faye said, "My parents will be joining me. You're sure you wanna come?"

Alex nodded awkwardly and said hastily, "Yeah, sure. You're my best friend. Why not?"

Faye smiled. Alex looked away. He was sure about to face scorn from Caleb once rehearsals were over for the day.

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Alex dropped his gym bag on the floor, looking up to see Caleb on Alex's neatly made bed. Caleb had a smirk on his face, as if he was amused by the scene Alex had made during lunch.

"Yes?" Alex asked.

Caleb replied, "So you wanna go shopping with Faye?"

Alex looked away and said, "Yeah, why not?"

Caleb got off the bed and walked up to him. He taunted, "You really wanna do girly shopping with the girls?"

"Faye's my best friend," Alex muttered.

Caleb must've heard that as he said, "You're weird, Alex."

He pushed away Caleb to walk to the drawer to grab his sleepwear for the night. Caleb continued, "Are you always like this?"

Alex didn't answer as he was about to walk out of the room. He didn't want to hear any of Caleb's taunts. They seemed to allude to something, which Alex somewhat figured what that was. He didn't like it, and he hoped that no one would make such assumptions.

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PRESENT DAY-Monday, March 27, 2006

"Alex!" Amanda called out as she ran up to him in the airport. He was holding a board that said "UTurn"; and was wearing a Von Dutch baseball cap. It was a flimsy way to disguise himself, but he wanted to make sure his girlfriend recognized him.

Amanda ran up to him and tackled him with a hug, which landed them onto the floor. She grinned at him, "Hey, Alex."

He grinned back, "Hey, Mandy."

Amanda suddenly went straight towards his lips. She didn't have any lip gloss, which was something Alex didn't like on girls. No, her lips tasted like Chapstick, something he didn't mind. He could feel she was deepening the kiss in front of everyone, so he pulled away.

He said to her breathlessly, "Everyone is watching us."

Amanda looked around. There was a crowd of people staring at them. She asked as the couple stood up, "Are the others here?"

"Who? Connect8?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, everyone's here, well, except for Diana. But you already know how she feels about UTurn."

Amanda nodded her head. She then looked behind her. They both saw the other UTurn members walking up to them. Alex glanced at Andrew, who was wearing a baseball cap and a leather jacket. He seemed tired, but the jacket made the American boy look hot.

Amanda looked back at Alex and asked, "Alex, did you get that text that Alyson sent you?"

Alex was confused, but soon remembered what she was talking about. "I did. About some girl named Libby?"

"Yeah, her. Did you read whatever she said on the chatbox of your website?"

"No, but my friend who was running the site did. I did tell her to keep an eye out for this Libby. She was pulling an all-nighter for her uni studies, so she caught on the Libby messages."

"So is Libby blocked?"

"Yeah, her IP address is blocked."

Amanda sighed, clearly relieved of this situation. Alex asked, "Who is this Libby? Is she some PR nightmare ready to happen?"

Amanda looked away, and said, "That, and she goes to my school."

"How much power does she have over UTurn?"

She looked back at him, and said, "You know what? Good question! Almost no one in Boston knows who she is."

Alex looked at her with his eyebrows scrunched together, wondering who this Libby was. The girl must be a student at Amanda's school. What was she to UTurn? A former friend of some of the members? An ex-lover to one of the boys? Maybe just a mean girl in general?

Alex felt his phone buzzing inside his jeans. He saw it was Seth calling him. He looked at Amanda, who seemed to have gotten the same call.

"What does Seth want from us?" she asked. "I just got here."

"I guess we'll find out," he said.

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"I get you both must be exhausted by now," Marcel began. "But this is important that Seth and I meet with the two of you."

Amanda and Alex were in Seth's office. Alex wasn't sure why he was meeting with Marcel. It wasn't like UTurn's manager was also Connect8's. Maybe it was because Marcel and Seth were working on UTurn's international expansion?

Amanda asked, "So why are we here?"

Seth replied, "It's about your relationship. This 'Amandex' thing you two got going on."

The couple looked at each other. Amanda faced the two men, and asked, "So we have to hide our relationship like you're making Andrew and Alyson do?"

Marcel gave a smiled that seemed amused. He said, "Actually, no. You see, this Amandex gave UTurn the much-needed attention across the UK. Your new fans have already preordered the Ready or Not singles on both iTunes and HMV. You're even getting a lot of fans in the EU. UTurn is poised to make a successful launch."

Seth added, "So we need you two to pack on the PDA. Give the public something to talk about."

She asked them, seemingly upset by this plan, "So you want me to use Alex and Connect8 to become a success?"

Marcel said, "Well, not like that."

"That's exactly what it sounds like. No! Me and my bandmates are not gonna use Connect8 to climb to the top. Besides, it's not fair that Alex and I can be together out in the open, but you refuse to let Andrew and Alyson go out on dates in public."

"But that's different."

"How? You know our fans know that Andyson is real. They also know 'Amandex' is real too. If Alex and I are allowed to 'pack on the PDA' for the public, then do the same for Andrew and Alyson."

Marcel chuckled, "You two can leave now."

Amanda scoffed, "So that's it? You're not gonna let Andyson be real for the public?"

This girl doesn't know who she's dealing with. Alex felt like he needed to stop her. As much as he admired her need to speak up, he knew the kind of person Seth was. He said, "Let's just go."

Alex ignored the feeling of Amanda's eyes burning at him. He walked her out of the office.

Amanda asked, "Why would you go through with this? I don't want to use you and your band like that!"

Alex replied, "You're not, okay? Yeah, you're all kind of using us, but it's not that bad."

"What about our relationship? You're willing to let us be used for PR?"

"What's wrong with that?"

Her eyes widened at his question. She asked, "Are you seriously asking me that question?"

He sighed, and said, "Look, I don't think you get how things run with Connect8."

She crossed her arms, and asked, "What do you mean?"

Alex didn't want to give her the full explanation. He wasn't sure what she would do if she found out how and why Seth brought back Connect8. Well, he still wasn't sure why. He could only guess the reasons. He also didn't want to tell how and why he became the new male leader of his band; how he was threatened to be kicked out of the band if he didn't stay in line. Yet it wouldn't hurt to give her a small hint of what was going on.

He said, "I mean that we do everything we're told to do. Whatever Seth and his team say, we do. Whatever our chaperones tell us, we do what they say. That's just how things work."

Amanda looked away. Alex felt bad, but at the same time kind of envied UTurn. Amanda's band got to have more control over their content and their opinions. Sure, it seemed the band was under some amount of control, but still. He wished he and his own bandmates had some say into their projects. What could they do? They were just kids in front of Seth's eyes.

Amanda sighed, and said, "I just wish you stood up for yourself. I don't like this PR shit."

Alex rubbed her arms, and said, "But it's what needs to be done. I'm sure UTurn had to do stuff you didn't want to do but had to anyway."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"You all may let Derrick speak his opinions on your President, but with Connect8, we can't even talk about the War on Iraq."

She looked up and asked, "What do you think of the War on Iraq?"

Alex sighed. He had been somewhat open about his political opinions with his bandmates in the past, but nothing like Derrick.

He said, "I think it's time to bring the troops home, once and for all. But I doubt our Prime Minister will do that."

She gave him a hug. He gave the same gesture back. He wondered if Amanda thought of him as some mindless robot. He wasn't. He was just quiet, attempting to avoid controversy as much as possible. Maybe he should be a bit more honest with his girlfriend.

He pulled away, and said, "We don't have any plans for today. There's something I wanna do with you."