Facing the Obstacles
Chapter 18
Today was the day that I will remember for the rest of my life. Our career was changed forever that day.
“A different side ooooof,” Zach sang, holding the note out as fifty girls screamed. “Me.”
Everyone stood up clapping and cheering, Heidi among the girls in the front. Zach touched his bracelet and winked at her. We had just played a little concert for our first fans, who had been asking and keeping up with us online.
We hung around afterward and talked to everyone.
“Tom, can I have one of your baseball caps?” one of them asked me.
“Yeah,” I said, taking the one off my head and signing it. “Here you go.”
“Oh my goodness Tom, thanks! You’re amazing!” she hugged me. “Okay, I should probably get back home; hopefully I’ll see you guys again soon! Bye,” she shouted as she got in her car with a couple other girls and drove away.
After a while they all drifted away and left, until there was one girl left. Her name was Jill and she would not leave Cameron alone. Poor Cam had been trying so nicely to get her to leave, but she just kept talking to him as she twirled her auburn hair and giggled. Zach, Michael, Nathan and I just stood there watching him and sniggering. He saw us and glared, as she yapped away.
Heidi came out of the house, looked at the scene and figured out what was going on. Rolling her eyes, she walked over to them, shoving me out of the way as I laughed harder.
“Cameron, we have to go; guys get in the car,” she said, looking back at us.
We followed her orders, unaware of what was happening. Zach got in the driver’s side and threw the car keys at Michael’s head when he tried to get in the passenger seat.
“Holy! What was that about?!” Michael exclaimed, as they whipped past his head.
“That’s my lady’s seat!” Zach said, narrowing his eyes at Michael. He snatched the keys back out of Michael’s hand. “No touchy!”
“Oh my gosh, you’re such a Zach Porter.”
Nathan and I got in the back seat as Cameron and Heidi entered, rid of Jill.
“So where exactly are we going?” Zach asked, starting the car.
“I don’t know, I just wanted to get rid of Jill… Why don’t we go to that new waterpark!” she said, brightening up. “I heard it’s really fun!”
We all concluded it sounded like a plan, so we got our bathing suits and left. When we arrived, Nathan leapt out of the car.
“The heat is ruining my dreds!” he said, as he pulled them up in the back of his head into somewhat of a ponytail. “Michael, got any extra shades?” Michael threw him some as we all clambered out, walking towards the entrance. The screams of girls going down the tubes and such reached us from here and the humidity hung around us like a blanket.
As we paid for tickets and were admitted into the park, Michael complained, “They better not make me take off my shades to go on rides, my eyes are not accustomed to the sun’s glaring beams! If I take them off, I will be blind forever!”
“It’s not our fault you wear them 24/7,” I chuckled. “Guys, let’s go to the toilet bowl first; that’s my favorite!”
We got in line, standing on the steps of the usual 100 foot towers. Yep, definitely a waterpark, I thought as we stood behind a British family; the father wearing a speedo. We placed our tubes down while we waited for the line to move. Zach and Heidi were going double, Cam and I, and Nathan and Michael. While Heidi complained to Zach that he needed to cut his “foot-long hair,” I pushed Cameron under the stream of water from a leaking pipe above us.
“Oh god, that’s cold!” he yelped, ninja-smacking me under it. “See how you like it!” he said in his quirky evil voice.
“Not my baseball cap, you loser!” I said, as it got drenched. We moved forward in line and I leapt up the stairs, as he followed, smacking me with the tube. He set it down and we started having a cat fight.
“Tom, Cameron, act your age!” Nathan exclaimed, rolling his eyes at us, while he gazed around the park. “Oh my god, they’re giving out lollipops over there!”
We finally got to the top and we set our tubes up to go. The lifeguard motioned for Cameron and me to go next. Then he did a double-take as he saw Cameron, Zach, Nathan, Michael and I.
“Hey, aren’t you guys Allstar?”
“Yeah, we are…” I looked over at Cameron quizzically, and he shrugged his shoulders.
“His daughter’s probably one of our new fans.”
After we had gone down and the other four had too, we went to get lollipops, since Nathan and Michael were bothering us to get some. The man handing them out gave all of us one and we thanked him.
“Well of course, anything for the Allstar boys,” he smiled jovially and winked at us.
“Well that was weird…” Heidi commented as we walked away. “Hey, let’s go on those toboggan racers!”
The line was short since ten people could go at a time. We grabbed the soaked sleds and made our way up, third in line already. A ten-year-old girl came up behind us with her parents and little brother. She saw us and her eyes became saucers.
“Mom, mom, that’s them! That’s Allstar, the boys that I told you about!” she exclaimed.
The mom smiled at us and mouthed ‘sorry.’ We smiled back to let her know it was okay.
After we had gone down and Nathan had won, two other groups of people recognized us. We decided that something was definitely going on.
“Come get a newspaper! Free newspapers!” a lady yelled, walking around with a stack. Cameron grabbed one and flipped through to the entertainment section. Scanning the page, his eyes grew wide and he laughed.
“Guys, our band promotions at the concert are in here! Listen! ‘Local boys of the band Allstar were seen at the Jonas Brothers concert last weekend. They were handing out band flyers and the picture above shows them performing one of their songs while girls wait in line.’ Guys, we’re in the paper!”
We spent the rest of the time at the park going on rides and talking to anyone who recognized us. When we drove home, we all sang Different Side of Me at the top of our lungs. I’ve never felt as exhilarated as I did that day. Zach was driving and tapping out beats on the steering wheel, Nathan was sticking his head out the window, with his dreds flapping in the wind, Michael and Cameron were playing patty-cake and Heidi was beaming and laughing, as she wore Zach’s sunglasses and sang along.
We returned to my house and walked in; everyone lying about the room in exhaustion. My mom walked into the room smiling and all of a sudden my dad walked in too. I’m pretty sure the last time I saw him was a year ago.
“Dad?!” Heidi and I exclaimed. We got up and gave him a hug.
“Hey, I decided to come see you guys, because I haven’t in so long, and,” he smiled at me. “I saw you in the paper.”
I should’ve known…
“I’m so proud of you… Who knew all of your music junk in the past would actually pay off!”
Music junk?! I gave him a forced smile, regretting the hug I had given him. I was liking his company less and less every second. Heidi noticed my sour expression and as our parents left to go on some errands, she turned to me.
“Tom… He just doesn’t understand music and musicians, he--,” she began, but I cut in.
“Whatever, it doesn’t even matter,” I said hotly. “I’m never going to live up to his perfect expectations. I’m going to get some air.” I walked outside and sat down on the porch swing, just as a car pulled into our driveway. Who is that?
A man stepped out; he looked vaguely familiar, like I’d seen him on TV for something… His eyes squinted from the sunlight and he strolled up our walkway in a business-like manner.
“Hello, you must be Tom, from Allstar,” he said in a warm voice.
“Yes sir, who are you?” I questioned, getting up and shaking his hand.
“I work for Radio Disney’s Next Big Thing. I saw you guys in the paper and I was wondering if you wanted to be on the show… Are the other boys around?”
“Yeah, they’re right inside, come on in!” I said excitedly, leading him into the house. Heidi and the guys were sitting in the living room, watching TV. When I came in followed by the Radio Disney worker, they stopped what they were doing.
He explained why he was there again and then explained what would happen if we were a part of the show. While he was talking, my parents came back and he went to go talk to them. We sat there in shock.
“No… That didn’t…” Zach said, giving me a desperate look. “Did it?”
“I think so…”
We waited. The man left and we waited. My parents came back in and told us that we were in the competition and we froze, gaping. Then all at once, a tumultuous yell went up in my household as everyone started cheering.
“We’re going to be on TV!!!” Nathan yelled.
“We’re going to be famous!” Zach exclaimed.
“We’re going to have our own tour!!!” Michael cheered.
“This is amazing!” said Cameron.
I smiled. “…A dream come true…”
Heidi gave me a bear hug. “I knew you guys could do it! I never gave up faith in my allstars.” Then she ran over and kissed Zach.
The guys ended up staying the rest of the night, because we were so hyped up and I’m sure their parents didn’t want to deal with that. We were hanging out playing board games and making ice cream sundaes and my parents were away at a restaurant. Heidi stood up after we finished playing The Game of Life.
“Hey, I’ll go to the store and get more ice cream supplies; any other requests?”
“Pop!” Nathan said. “Root beer and orange crush.”
“Okay, anything else?”
“Nope, thank you so much, Heidi,” Zach said. “You’re amazing.”
“You guys have to promise to never let fame ruin who you really are.”
We promised and Zach said, “And I promise I won’t go after any of those other girls.” He got up and kissed Heidi. “Why would I when I have someone who has changed my life?”
She left the house and we ran to the door to wave goodbye. She pulled out and waved, laughing at our eccentric expressions. We watched the car fade down the road, the day’s events settling on us.
We went back to the living room and cranked the music on. We were still filled with tons of energy. We did our best dance moves and laughed at Zach’s awkward hip thrusts. Then when we were done we got another game out, since Heidi was still gone.
“Charades!” Michael said. He picked up a card and started flailing around on the floor as we died with laughter. The phone rang and I went to the kitchen to pick it up. Stifling my laughter, I answered it.
“Hello?”
Muffled sounds came through. I frowned.
“Hello?”
“It’s Mom.”
But something was wrong with her voice. Her tone was disconnected and deep breaths filled her end.
“Mom?”
T--,” she started, but it was interrupted by deep breathing and loud gasps. I began to panic.
“Mom, what’s wrong? Why… Why are you crying?”
“Y-your… a drunk driver… head…”
“What?” My chest constricted me and the air left my lungs. “Mom, what?”
The sobbing continued and the other guys had walked in the room, confused. Seeing my expression, they stopped.
“They tried… But… Tom…” she sobbed. “Heidi’s gone.”
The phone burned me and I chucked it across the room, breaking a window. I collapsed onto the floor and the other fours’ voices, muffled and scared, were nothing compared to the tears that began to flood the floor.
“A different side ooooof,” Zach sang, holding the note out as fifty girls screamed. “Me.”
Everyone stood up clapping and cheering, Heidi among the girls in the front. Zach touched his bracelet and winked at her. We had just played a little concert for our first fans, who had been asking and keeping up with us online.
We hung around afterward and talked to everyone.
“Tom, can I have one of your baseball caps?” one of them asked me.
“Yeah,” I said, taking the one off my head and signing it. “Here you go.”
“Oh my goodness Tom, thanks! You’re amazing!” she hugged me. “Okay, I should probably get back home; hopefully I’ll see you guys again soon! Bye,” she shouted as she got in her car with a couple other girls and drove away.
After a while they all drifted away and left, until there was one girl left. Her name was Jill and she would not leave Cameron alone. Poor Cam had been trying so nicely to get her to leave, but she just kept talking to him as she twirled her auburn hair and giggled. Zach, Michael, Nathan and I just stood there watching him and sniggering. He saw us and glared, as she yapped away.
Heidi came out of the house, looked at the scene and figured out what was going on. Rolling her eyes, she walked over to them, shoving me out of the way as I laughed harder.
“Cameron, we have to go; guys get in the car,” she said, looking back at us.
We followed her orders, unaware of what was happening. Zach got in the driver’s side and threw the car keys at Michael’s head when he tried to get in the passenger seat.
“Holy! What was that about?!” Michael exclaimed, as they whipped past his head.
“That’s my lady’s seat!” Zach said, narrowing his eyes at Michael. He snatched the keys back out of Michael’s hand. “No touchy!”
“Oh my gosh, you’re such a Zach Porter.”
Nathan and I got in the back seat as Cameron and Heidi entered, rid of Jill.
“So where exactly are we going?” Zach asked, starting the car.
“I don’t know, I just wanted to get rid of Jill… Why don’t we go to that new waterpark!” she said, brightening up. “I heard it’s really fun!”
We all concluded it sounded like a plan, so we got our bathing suits and left. When we arrived, Nathan leapt out of the car.
“The heat is ruining my dreds!” he said, as he pulled them up in the back of his head into somewhat of a ponytail. “Michael, got any extra shades?” Michael threw him some as we all clambered out, walking towards the entrance. The screams of girls going down the tubes and such reached us from here and the humidity hung around us like a blanket.
As we paid for tickets and were admitted into the park, Michael complained, “They better not make me take off my shades to go on rides, my eyes are not accustomed to the sun’s glaring beams! If I take them off, I will be blind forever!”
“It’s not our fault you wear them 24/7,” I chuckled. “Guys, let’s go to the toilet bowl first; that’s my favorite!”
We got in line, standing on the steps of the usual 100 foot towers. Yep, definitely a waterpark, I thought as we stood behind a British family; the father wearing a speedo. We placed our tubes down while we waited for the line to move. Zach and Heidi were going double, Cam and I, and Nathan and Michael. While Heidi complained to Zach that he needed to cut his “foot-long hair,” I pushed Cameron under the stream of water from a leaking pipe above us.
“Oh god, that’s cold!” he yelped, ninja-smacking me under it. “See how you like it!” he said in his quirky evil voice.
“Not my baseball cap, you loser!” I said, as it got drenched. We moved forward in line and I leapt up the stairs, as he followed, smacking me with the tube. He set it down and we started having a cat fight.
“Tom, Cameron, act your age!” Nathan exclaimed, rolling his eyes at us, while he gazed around the park. “Oh my god, they’re giving out lollipops over there!”
We finally got to the top and we set our tubes up to go. The lifeguard motioned for Cameron and me to go next. Then he did a double-take as he saw Cameron, Zach, Nathan, Michael and I.
“Hey, aren’t you guys Allstar?”
“Yeah, we are…” I looked over at Cameron quizzically, and he shrugged his shoulders.
“His daughter’s probably one of our new fans.”
After we had gone down and the other four had too, we went to get lollipops, since Nathan and Michael were bothering us to get some. The man handing them out gave all of us one and we thanked him.
“Well of course, anything for the Allstar boys,” he smiled jovially and winked at us.
“Well that was weird…” Heidi commented as we walked away. “Hey, let’s go on those toboggan racers!”
The line was short since ten people could go at a time. We grabbed the soaked sleds and made our way up, third in line already. A ten-year-old girl came up behind us with her parents and little brother. She saw us and her eyes became saucers.
“Mom, mom, that’s them! That’s Allstar, the boys that I told you about!” she exclaimed.
The mom smiled at us and mouthed ‘sorry.’ We smiled back to let her know it was okay.
After we had gone down and Nathan had won, two other groups of people recognized us. We decided that something was definitely going on.
“Come get a newspaper! Free newspapers!” a lady yelled, walking around with a stack. Cameron grabbed one and flipped through to the entertainment section. Scanning the page, his eyes grew wide and he laughed.
“Guys, our band promotions at the concert are in here! Listen! ‘Local boys of the band Allstar were seen at the Jonas Brothers concert last weekend. They were handing out band flyers and the picture above shows them performing one of their songs while girls wait in line.’ Guys, we’re in the paper!”
We spent the rest of the time at the park going on rides and talking to anyone who recognized us. When we drove home, we all sang Different Side of Me at the top of our lungs. I’ve never felt as exhilarated as I did that day. Zach was driving and tapping out beats on the steering wheel, Nathan was sticking his head out the window, with his dreds flapping in the wind, Michael and Cameron were playing patty-cake and Heidi was beaming and laughing, as she wore Zach’s sunglasses and sang along.
We returned to my house and walked in; everyone lying about the room in exhaustion. My mom walked into the room smiling and all of a sudden my dad walked in too. I’m pretty sure the last time I saw him was a year ago.
“Dad?!” Heidi and I exclaimed. We got up and gave him a hug.
“Hey, I decided to come see you guys, because I haven’t in so long, and,” he smiled at me. “I saw you in the paper.”
I should’ve known…
“I’m so proud of you… Who knew all of your music junk in the past would actually pay off!”
Music junk?! I gave him a forced smile, regretting the hug I had given him. I was liking his company less and less every second. Heidi noticed my sour expression and as our parents left to go on some errands, she turned to me.
“Tom… He just doesn’t understand music and musicians, he--,” she began, but I cut in.
“Whatever, it doesn’t even matter,” I said hotly. “I’m never going to live up to his perfect expectations. I’m going to get some air.” I walked outside and sat down on the porch swing, just as a car pulled into our driveway. Who is that?
A man stepped out; he looked vaguely familiar, like I’d seen him on TV for something… His eyes squinted from the sunlight and he strolled up our walkway in a business-like manner.
“Hello, you must be Tom, from Allstar,” he said in a warm voice.
“Yes sir, who are you?” I questioned, getting up and shaking his hand.
“I work for Radio Disney’s Next Big Thing. I saw you guys in the paper and I was wondering if you wanted to be on the show… Are the other boys around?”
“Yeah, they’re right inside, come on in!” I said excitedly, leading him into the house. Heidi and the guys were sitting in the living room, watching TV. When I came in followed by the Radio Disney worker, they stopped what they were doing.
He explained why he was there again and then explained what would happen if we were a part of the show. While he was talking, my parents came back and he went to go talk to them. We sat there in shock.
“No… That didn’t…” Zach said, giving me a desperate look. “Did it?”
“I think so…”
We waited. The man left and we waited. My parents came back in and told us that we were in the competition and we froze, gaping. Then all at once, a tumultuous yell went up in my household as everyone started cheering.
“We’re going to be on TV!!!” Nathan yelled.
“We’re going to be famous!” Zach exclaimed.
“We’re going to have our own tour!!!” Michael cheered.
“This is amazing!” said Cameron.
I smiled. “…A dream come true…”
Heidi gave me a bear hug. “I knew you guys could do it! I never gave up faith in my allstars.” Then she ran over and kissed Zach.
The guys ended up staying the rest of the night, because we were so hyped up and I’m sure their parents didn’t want to deal with that. We were hanging out playing board games and making ice cream sundaes and my parents were away at a restaurant. Heidi stood up after we finished playing The Game of Life.
“Hey, I’ll go to the store and get more ice cream supplies; any other requests?”
“Pop!” Nathan said. “Root beer and orange crush.”
“Okay, anything else?”
“Nope, thank you so much, Heidi,” Zach said. “You’re amazing.”
“You guys have to promise to never let fame ruin who you really are.”
We promised and Zach said, “And I promise I won’t go after any of those other girls.” He got up and kissed Heidi. “Why would I when I have someone who has changed my life?”
She left the house and we ran to the door to wave goodbye. She pulled out and waved, laughing at our eccentric expressions. We watched the car fade down the road, the day’s events settling on us.
We went back to the living room and cranked the music on. We were still filled with tons of energy. We did our best dance moves and laughed at Zach’s awkward hip thrusts. Then when we were done we got another game out, since Heidi was still gone.
“Charades!” Michael said. He picked up a card and started flailing around on the floor as we died with laughter. The phone rang and I went to the kitchen to pick it up. Stifling my laughter, I answered it.
“Hello?”
Muffled sounds came through. I frowned.
“Hello?”
“It’s Mom.”
But something was wrong with her voice. Her tone was disconnected and deep breaths filled her end.
“Mom?”
T--,” she started, but it was interrupted by deep breathing and loud gasps. I began to panic.
“Mom, what’s wrong? Why… Why are you crying?”
“Y-your… a drunk driver… head…”
“What?” My chest constricted me and the air left my lungs. “Mom, what?”
The sobbing continued and the other guys had walked in the room, confused. Seeing my expression, they stopped.
“They tried… But… Tom…” she sobbed. “Heidi’s gone.”
The phone burned me and I chucked it across the room, breaking a window. I collapsed onto the floor and the other fours’ voices, muffled and scared, were nothing compared to the tears that began to flood the floor.