You Can't Fight Fate

“For our next performer…we have an incredible B-boy…you all know him…Storm!”

I carefully peaked at the audience on the side of the stage and saw the hundreds of people seated comfortably, waiting for the next act to go on. I was act fifteen and ten had already gone, I was seriously reconsidering my act ever since dinner and after seeing the audience
I definitely didn’t want to perform. By performing, I was supposed to make Nick upset, but that smile he gave me at dinner kept replaying in my head. He obviously wasn’t as upset with me as he was a month ago and I didn’t want to ruin it. I needed to talk to Storm about it immediately.

I smiled at Storm who was currently performing his heart out. He was an incredible dancer and a performer. I could tell from the audiences’ reactions and by the way they bobbed there heads to the heavy hip-hop music that they were enjoying his act. I only hoped they like mine.

“Are you ready to lose Piano girl?” Rachael’s nasally voice asked from behind me. I whipped my head around to see her and her clones. They had heavily applied makeup, short skirts and low cut tops. The complete opposite of what Nick Jonas would like in his girlfriend.

“Please, I don’t care about winning…” I replied to her with an attitude, “as long as I beat you and your little clones…like always if I don’t recall.”

“Well see this time princess,” she scoffed as she walked on stage to prepare for her performance.

“Dude, did you see me? that was so awesome!” Storm exclaimed. He was now dripping in sweat, but very happy with his performance, judging by his smile.

“Yeah, the crowd seemed to like you a lot,” I replied, truly happy for my best friend.

I sat at one of the vanity mirrors and began to apply my makeup, Storm continued to go on about how amazing it was to perform and I half-listened, until he mentioned a certain name.

“Nick is here?” I exclaimed, “Where is he sitting?”

“Yeah, with Maya I think…speaking of her, you mind mentioning her to me….maybe a number?”

“Storm! Focus! She’s too young for you,” I exclaimed, “where is he?”

“In the left corner…I think! All I saw were those stupid glasses he always wears,” he replied.
“Storm, we have to change the song…I just can’t embarrass him like that,” I stated seriously.
I was planning on covering "You were never worth it,", the infamous song that bashed him so badly by Stacey, an ex of Nick's who basically used him for fame. She revealed everything about their relationship and talked about him in every interview. He had to send out a bulletin to all of his fans because the rumors about him got that bad. She accused him of straying and being controlling and claimed how unhappy she was because he wouldn't let her do anything when actually, she just was mad that Nick wouldn't sleep with her. I even turned on Nick for a quickie minute because it was heartbreaking to hear him being talked about so badly and I just didn't know who to believe. Eventually, Stacey came clean about the whole situation and of course she just got more publicity for it. All of his fans forgave him and Stacey left him alone...actually she ended up in a mental institution for depression because of all the hate and media attention. I guess that's what happens when you mess with Jonas Brothers fans.

“What!” he exclaimed, “You can’t just change your performance, what are you going to perform then?”

I racked my brain for ideas, I didn’t want to perform the original song I was going to perform either.

“Last day of school, senior year!” I exclaimed.

“Vesper’s Goodbye!” he exclaimed.

“Do you still have it on your computer?” I asked, hopeful. Storm and I made music at his at-home studio and our favorite song was a classical rendition of Nick’s song “Vesper’s Goodbye.”

“Duh!” he shouted, “do you remember the words?”

“Of course!” I replied happily, “Let’s do it!”

“For our next act…you guys know her, extremely talented. Please welcome, Stevvie Jameson!”

<->

Stevvie quickly made her way to the white and black grand piano that was set up on stage. For her performance, she had candles set up on it to make it a more sentimental appeal, in a last minute change. As she prepared to perform, she looked out the audience to find Nick. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see anything but the blinding stage lights.

“This is a song…that you guys may or may not know…if you’re an Administration fan you will…here is Vesper’s Goodbye,” she stated shakily. The crowd cheered at the mention of NickJ&TA, everyone loved his band, young or old.

Stevvie started the first few chords of the song on the piano, and the crowd went silent. Her smooth voice rang out, strong and confident, quite the opposite of what she was feeling. Once the chorus hit, Storm kicked off the background music, everyone began to sing along and clap there hands. Once Stevvie let herself get immersed in the music, all the nerves she had melted away and once again, it was just her and the piano. Once the song ended, she thanked the audience and walked off, surprisingly pleased with herself. Any song from
Nick’s first album made her happy.

“Stevvie! That was amazing!” Storm and Eric exclaimed once she got backstage, “the crowd loved it! They were all standing up!”

Stevvie blushed and instantly began to freak out about her performance. It always happened every time she performed.

“Oh my god, what if I sounded flat? Or sharp?” she asked them.

“Babe, calm down,” Eric cooed as he rocked her back and forth, “you did amazing, and I think Nick saw it.”

“Oh my God! I completely forgot about Nick during the song! What if I murdered one of his favorite songs?”

“Shut up! You did amazing girl! You have a boyfriend remember. Nick is over and done with,” Jackie stated.

Stevvie nodded her head reluctantly, “right…”

All of her friends looked at each other and sighed.

“Only when Stevvie falls in love, it can’t be just a librarian or aspiring doctor,” Eric stated,
“she has to go for the most wanted male in Hollywood of course!”

Stevvie punched Eric in the chest, unsatisfied. “I’m not in love with Nick; I have an amazing boyfriend remember.”

“You said you were breaking up with him tonight…” Jackie informed her.

She put her hands to her pink lips to shush them, “he doesn’t know that yet!”

“Only Stevvie dates a guy and break up with them in a heart beat without feeling guilty,” Eric stated.

“Would you stop with the ‘only Stevvie’ crap,” she asked.

“Stevvie!” Her heard Pixie’s normally high voice squeal, instead in was barely a whisper.

She began to speak French frantically in whispery, cracked voice.

“Pixie! You can’t tell me you lost your voice!” Stevvie questioned in a panicked tone.

“Well, I kind of did obviously!” she tried to yell, “I can’t perform! What are we going to do?”
Stevvie crossed her arms like she always did when she was stressed, and tried to think of something to do.

“Where’s my dad?” she asked.

“Stephanie!” he exclaimed as he ran into the dressing room, “Pixie lost her voice!”

<->

I rolled my eyes at my dad. “NO way…maybe there’s a reason why you’re always late…” I muttered.

“Do you really think its time to pick a fight with me?” he asked, “we don’t have time for this.”
I scoffed, “that’s no surprise…you never have time for anything.”

“Stephanie Paige, I don’t want to hear this right now,” my dad said sternly, “ever since going to college and this whole thing with Nick, you’ve been snapping at me every time I speak to you.”

My friends and Pixie stayed quiet, as the tension in the room grew thicker. I was finally fed up with my dad and I didn’t care what they thought.

“How often is that? When you need something?” I barked back, “That’s one of the reason’s I didn’t tell Nick about you, you probably would have used me to get closer to him because he’s living your dream.”

My dad’s face hardened as he listened to the words I spat at him.

“Don’t you ever say anything about the decisions that I made Stephanie,” he said in low monotone voice, “and you have just crossed the line right there.”

I crossed my arms and glared at him. “Please, dad I’m grown woman, you can’t tell me if
I’ve crossed a line or not. Oh wait, you weren’t there for my eighteenth birthday were you? So, maybe you’ve forgotten that I’m no longer a kid anymore…I haven’t been for a long time and you know it.”

My dad raised his eyebrows in a sarcastically surprised look. The same look I would give people.

“Oh really Steph…there’s a thing about being an ‘adult’ that you really haven’t got down. Maybe I’ve babied you a little too much because my daughter would never talk to his old man like this,” he stated, “you aren’t an adult…at all, baby. You don’t pay your bills, you don’t make any money, and sure as hell don’t have a job. Adults are fully independent and you aren’t. Your apartment is mine, that dress you’re wearing is mine, and that precious Mercedes-Benz of yours…all mine…because I pay for them. And if you don’t want those things to ‘magically’ disappear and your trust fund to go to charity, you will do as your father has told you and perform the song Pixie was supposed to.”

I stood in shock at what my father had just stated, and was slightly ashamed that it was all true.

“Daddy…I can’t…” I pleaded.

“Stephanie, I’m not doing this with you, do as I say,” he stated sternly, “not everything in life is going to be easy, just like its not gong to be easy for Nick to forgive you for what you did. You obviously don’t love this boy as much as I thought you did or else you would have done something about this situation already, now I’m tired of hearing you moan and complain about him during the holidays and I don’t want a repeat of Thanksgiving break, so you better get over him or beg for forgiveness.”

I bit my lip to hold back tears and walked off from him. Anger filled my chest as I waited backstage to perform. I wanted to punch myself in the face for trying to pick a fight with my dad even though every time I did, I ended up losing. I really had no right to argue in the first place, which made it worse. To add to that fact, my friends had to be there to watch. The song I had written for Pixie wasn’t actually written for Pixie, I had written it before this whole Nick thing about him, but I was too scared to perform it so I thought Pixie would.

The words of my father quickly sunk in and I realized that I was being a little baby about this whole situation. Nick was worth fighting for and I was going to starting that night.
“Please put your hands together for a special performance from our sponsor tonight, Todd Jameson of Jatsa records!” the Dean announced, signaling my dad to go on stage.
My dad jogged on stage and waved to the crowd of cheering people.

“Thank you! Thank you guys so much,” he shouted, “I have a special performance for you guys, at first I was going to let you have a taste of my latest addition to the Jatsa records family, but she unfortunately lost her voice. So, I have another amazing singer filling in for her, she performed earlier but agreed to help her friend out. Please welcome my daughter, Stephanie Jameson!”

I walked on stage with just my acoustic guitar, waving to the audience shyly as I sat at the stool. My dad followed with his guitar. The audience calmed down once I got situated with the microphone. I looked around the audience and gave the people I cared about a shy smile.

“Hi,” I started, “Um, this song is a song I wrote recently actually…and I think many of you guys can relate to it…It’s called ‘It doesn't matter’ so, I hope you guys like it.”

The theater went dim, but a light shined through from the outside lobby, signaling someone was entering. I looked up to see Nick take a seat in the very back next to Maya. Gaining courage, I made eye contact with him, began to strum the first chord of the song, and eventually sang the lyrics to him.

“Why couldn't I just get over myself
I know the truth hurts but this feels worse
I hurt you more than me, I can tell
I understand if you never wanna see me again
But, i just need to tell you somethin'”

Instead of avoiding my stare, he stared back with an indifferent look on his face.

It doesn't matter where I've come from,
It doesn't matter where I've been
what only matters is the present
you always said it was a gift
and that's you

“I never really meant for us to be this way
I guess life took its place and stayed
I caught up and trapped with no where to go
i learned a lesson I should already know

It doesn't matter where I've come from,
It doesn't matter where I've been
what only matters is the present
you always said it was a gift
and that's you

So, I hope you can forgive my mistakes
cause I'm tired of being afraid.
I need you, so i hope I'm not too late
and there's so much more I have to say

It doesn't matter where I've come from,
It doesn't matter where I've been
what only matters is the present
you always said it was a gift
and that's you

I poured my heart out to him, telling him everything that I had wanted to say all those months ago. The crowd cheered when I hit a high note and clapped to the music. Eventually, Nick began to bob his head along when it got to my dad’s guitar solo.
Once I got to the bridge of the song, it slowed down and I finished out the song. The crowd stood up and applauded me. I got off my stool and bowed, smiling the whole time. However, not because of the great response to my song, but because Nick was there smiling, clapping and even blowing me a kiss. I felt a rush of adrenaline as I walked of stage, happy I faced my fears and got Nick back, (I think?...)

I didn’t end up winning because of the fact that my dad was the sponsor and it looked bad on his part, but I did get a special mention award. It was a tiny trophy, but I didn’t care and gave it to my brothers at the end of the night. Storm got first place and now had choreographers hounding him for an audition and Eric even got some good press because he designed Storm’s outfit and many of the girls’ dresses. Jackie was the host of the Talent show, along with a friend of mine so all of us were involved in some way. A high point of the night was when Rachael was disqualified for plagiarizing her choreography. Apparently, she hired some fancy Hollywood choreographer that taught her moves from an old 90s r &b video. Storm recognized it and ratted her out. I love my best friends.

Unfortunately, right as I was going to go up to Nick, a mob a people surrounded him for pictures and autographs, and he had to escape quickly.