Chapter8-Blackmailed

January 13th, 2012

  It’s now January of 2012. In late November, Bailey was released from rehab. She still needed to go to meetings and talk with a counselor, but she was able to back on tour. She was able to perform in the Asian/Australian/Latin American leg of the tour. She, along with Justin, were able to dance since they’ve almost fully recovered from their injuries.

 While Bailey was in rehab, she was contacted by Alyson that Justin was now dating Brandon. Bailey wasn’t too happy with this, but she was able to not let this affect her. Once she was reunited with the band, she told Justin that she was okay with whoever they’re dating.

 Now that it was 2012, 7th Anthem were getting ready to release a brand new single from the up-coming re-release of their international album, The Anthem. The single is called Do You Feel Me? The promotions were slated to begin in March, as the single will be released around April.

 At the same time, they’re also getting ready to release the final single from their North American album, 7th Anthem. That single was a song they released in 2010, titled High Voltage.

 Ever since Andrew and Natalie reunited after he moved to Boston almost twenty years ago, Natalie had been following Andrew to almost every city during the tour. Now, 7A would have a few groupies following them, but they would always ignore them. But they were just die-hard fans, not people that they had connections with years earlier.

 Currently, 7A were at their last stop on the Asian/Australian/Latin American leg of their tour. The city was Mexico City, and the two-day concert was sold out. And of course, Natalie showed up to the final concert.

 By now, both Andrew and Alyson were more than annoyed of her constant presence. After seeing Natalie backstage, Alyson took Andrew into his dressing room to talk to him. She asked him in an irritated tone, “Andrew, why does she keep following us? Doesn’t she have a poetry book to publish?”

 He told her, “Your guess is good as mine. It’s like she’s trying to hold onto me.”

 “I think she’s in love with you.”

 Andrew sighed as he said, “I’m not surprised, but I think it’s more than that. She’s obsessed with me. I mean, I get we shared a kindergarten class together, and that we were friends. But we don’t know each other. She should know that I’m not the same person anymore, and I haven’t been for years.”

 “You need to talk to her.”

 Andrew agreed, and then he left the dressing room. He saw Natalie standing around, obviously waiting for Andrew. She grinned as he approached her.

 She was about to give him a hug, but he pushed her away. She asked, “What’s wrong, Andrew? You used to give free hugs.”

 Andrew replied sternly, “Yeah, I used to. I haven’t been doing that since I moved to Boston.”

 Natalie pouted, “C’mon, Andy! You used to be the sweetest, most sensitive guy I’ve ever met.”

 “I still am, I just don’t show it in public. I’m a Hawthorne. I’m really a badass. Besides, I’m not 5. I’m 22. You still treat me like I’m a little kid. I’m not.”

 Natalie then asked shyly, “Can we meet for a coffee date? Please?”

 Andrew was growing more irritable with Natalie. He told her grudgingly, “Let me talk to Alyson first.”

 Then Natalie asked in a disgusted tone, “Why would want to ask her?”

 Andrew could hear in her voice that she didn’t like Alyson. He told her off, saying, “Alyson is my girlfriend. She’s the love of my life. I’ve known her all my life. I don’t know you. So you got no right to disrespect her. You know what? The supposed ‘coffee date’ is canceled.”

 With that, Andrew stormed off. Natalie stood there, fuming that he told her off.

 It’s the next day. Andrew, who was asleep with Alyson, woke up to his iPhone buzzing. He picked it up to see who it was. He received numerous texts and voicemails from Natalie.

 With that, he abruptly sat up, which in effect woke Alyson up. She groggily asked him, “Andrew, what is it?”

 He told her, “It’s Natalie. She was texting me and calling me all night.”

 She asked with suspicion, “How the hell did she get your number?”

 “I don’t know. I never gave it to her.”

 “What does she want from you now?”

 “She keeps demanding I meet with her at a bistro. I told her last night to forget about it.”

 “So now what?”

 “I don’t know. I want to keep ignoring, but she’ll keep blowing up my phone. I could get a new number, but I don’t know.”

 “Get a new number. She’s more than a groupie. She’s a stalker.”

 Andrew thought for a moment, and soon said, “I’ll get a new number today. I’m sure Mexico City has a provider for international phone numbers.”

 “I’ll go with you.”

 Andrew agreed. They soon got dressed and ate breakfast. Once they were ready, they left to go to a phone company.

 When they arrived, they saw Natalie inside. As they tried to scramble out of the building, it was too late. Natalie saw them, and happily walked over to them. She greeted in a hyper vibe, “Hi Andy and Alyson!”

 Andrew and Alyson turned and gave fake smiles. Then Alyson told Natalie in a snobby tone, “Just to give you a heads-up: Andrew hates being called ‘Andy.’”

 Andrew chimed in, saying, “Yeah, it’s a long story. Too many bad memories associated with Andy. Plus, it makes me feel like I’m a kid…which I really need to clarify that I’m not a kid.”

 Natalie laughed, “I know you’re not a kid, Andy. And besides, I remember you didn’t mind being called ‘Andy’ when we were in kindergarten.”

 Andrew then told her almost angrily, “Natalie, stop bringing up my kindergarten past! How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not that guy anymore? Everything has changed since I moved out of Hartford. And you know what? I like how I’ve become!”

 Natalie was taken back by his reaction. Then she glared at him, and turned to Alyson, “I need to talk to Andrew. Without you around.”

 As Alyson was about to speak, Andrew told her, “Go wait for me in the car.”

 Alyson reluctantly agreed, and left the building. Once she got into his car, Natalie asked him sternly, “So you’re proud of how you turned out?”

 Andrew replied, “Yeah, I am.”

 “Really? Since you kept telling me how much you’ve changed, what you were like as soon as you moved to Boston? Were you nice to everyone? Or did you ‘change’ overnight?”

 Andrew knew what she was asking. So he told her sternly, “You’re asking me about a supposed bullying past. I have nothing to say about it, regardless if the reports are true or not.”

 “I just want know how much you’ve actually changed. I’ve read those reports, and I want to know how you can turn from an innocent little boy to a terrifying monster as soon as you moved to Boston.”

 “Like I said, I have nothing to say about this.”

 “Are you proud of what you’ve done before you joined UTurn?”

 “No comment.”

 “Did you live a double-life, as a bully in school, and a Broadway prodigy in New York?”

 “Once again, no comment.”

 Then the two went into a staring match. Andrew asked, “How much do you want to know?”

 “I want to know everything.”

 “And if I told you, will you stop following me and 7th Anthem around the world?”

 “Yes.”

 Andrew braced himself to tell her the truth. This is what he said: “Yes, I was a bully. The most terrifying one you’d ever meet. I wasn’t happy with my parents moving to Boston, as I was making friends in Hartford. So I lashed out on everyone at my new elementary school, which was an elite public school.

 “Soon my anger subsided, but I loved the fear and power I had over everyone. So I kept it up. I scared the shit out of the students that were either older than me or younger than me. Did I have friends? Yeah, but most of them were my sidekicks, while a few were actual friends. But one of them turned out to be fraud. I never got in trouble with the faculty. I respected authority, as that was how I was raised in a wealthy lawyer family. So the teachers couldn’t do anything to me. That’s how much power I had over everyone.

 “Once I entered middle school, I used the power I had to become very popular. I had girls throwing themselves at me, and guys wanting to be like me, even though at the same time they hated me. I toned down my terrifying presence, but not by much. I would threaten lawsuits on anyone who would mess with me. I had to do this as I was still very small at the time. I even changed the social order, and it affected high school before I was a freshman.

 “I was still small when I entered high school, so I had to be more aggressive than ever. I made sure everyone was scared of me. I made sure everyone knew my parents were lawyers. I made sure the Hawthorne name was the most feared name ever to be uttered.

 “That’s how much I’ve changed in Boston. That was one of the reasons why I never contacted you. I wanted to make sure everyone in Hartford never knew how horrible I had become. Was I proud of myself? Not always. Am I proud of what I had done? Not really. During the UTurn years, my bullying past was constantly following me. I couldn’t say anything about it. Once we became 7th Anthem, the reports died down. Apparently me being in London for a few years and recently coming out as bisexual was scandalous enough.”

 Andrew then calmed down. He saw a shocked expression on her face, but it soon turned into an evil smile. That made Andrew confused, so he asked, “Why are you smiling? I just told you about my life as a bully. That should fuck up your childhood.”

 She told him as she took out her iPhone, “I recorded the entire confession on my phone. Wanna listen?”

 Natalie played a small portion of the recording, and then she stopped it. Andrew was, once again, angry with her. He asked her sternly, “What are you going to do with that recording?”

 “I’m going to send it to numerous gossip sites, such as TMZ and Perez Hilton.”

 With that, Andrew tried to grab the phone out of her hands, but she put it in her shirt, and stuffed it in her bra. She told him, “I’ll make you an ultimatum. I won’t ‘leak’ out the confession…if you make me your girlfriend.”

 Andrew glared at her as he told her, “You blackmailed me! I’m not going to leave Alyson for you. I put her through shit last year, and I’m not about to do that to her again.”

 “Okay. I’ll just let the world hear you admit that you were the most terrifying bully in your Beacon Hill neighborhood.”

 With that, Andrew became very frustrated. He wasn’t ready to let the world know about his bullying past, and he was not about to put Alyson through another heartbreak. He had to think fast, so he asked her grudgingly, “If I choose to make you my girlfriend, what is it do I have to do with you?”

 She scoffed, “Is it really that hard to be in a relationship? You’ve dated Alyson your whole life, and you slept with two guys. You let me go all over the world with you, and you date me in the most public areas. You make out with me as hard as you can. You tell me that you love me.”

 “But I don’t love you.”

 “You will, and I will make sure of it. I belong to you, Andrew. We’re from Hartford. We’re from Connecticut. You are not from Boston. Boston is not in you.”

 Just as she was about to kiss him, he pushed her away. He told her sternly, “I’ll be your boyfriend if it’ll shut you up. I’ll play nice with you for the cameras. I’m an actor, I can make things look convincing. But I’ll never love you in private. You can’t make me fall for you. My heart belongs to Alyson, and no one else.”

 With that, Andrew stormed out of the building, and into his car. He drove back to the hotel suite, and got Alyson alone. She noticed how angry he looked, so she asked, “What happened between you and that bitch?”

 He tried to calm himself down as he told her, “Natalie tricked me into confessing my bullying past. She recorded everything on her phone. Then she gave me an ultimatum, saying she won’t leak out the recording if I make her my girlfriend.”

 Alyson flew into a rage, saying, “What the fuck does that bitch think she is? I’m going to give her a piece of my mind!”

 He stopped her from leaving, and said, “I agreed to be her boyfriend if she’ll keep quiet.”

 “What?!”

 “Listen to what I have to say. You will remain my girlfriend, but not in public. I have to act like I’m in love with her, even though I’m not. And we can’t let her know that we’re still together. If she does, she’ll send the recording to numerous gossip sites.”

 Alyson then sat down. She had to process what Andrew was saying. Her boyfriend was being blackmailed, and now he has to be Natalie’s boyfriend in order to keep his bullying confession from getting out.

 She said to Andrew in a frustrated manner, “Andrew, I know you don’t love Natalie. But how do I know you won’t fall for her? You get easily seduced, and before you know it, you’re sleeping with that person.”

 Andrew sat next to her, and said, “This isn’t the same as the Brandon thing. He had nothing on me. Natalie does. She’s the one trying to ruin me. There’s no way I’ll fall for her. As long as she keeps me hostage, I’ll never love her. She has my confession, and my reputation could get ruined if she leaks it out.”

 Alyson thought for a moment, and then said, “You’re going to have to come clean with your past eventually.”

 Andrew said, “I know. I just didn’t think I would do this now, but I may not have much of a choice. This isn’t like when we were teenagers. We had a bunch PR people working around the clock to make sure we were ‘squeaking clean.’ Whenever there were reports of my past, or anyone else’s for that matter, they would try to erase everything. But we’re in our 20s now. We don’t have anything like that anymore. It’s up to us if we want to admit our pasts or not.”

 “Andrew, whatever you choose, I’ll support you any way I can. I’m willing to stay with you in secrecy. But you can’t let Natalie get too far with her so-called ‘relationship’ with you. If she tries anything on you, you must fight her off. And if she tries to hurt you, I’ll kick her ass. She’s obsessed with you, but I’m the one who truly loves you.”

 Andrew smiled. They knew they were in for a really difficult fight with Natalie. Can they win?