Shameless

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As I sat in the very modern looking office in the pent house of the Pyramid hotel, I messed with the zippers on my ripped up old backpack that I brought along with me. Inside if it was some sheet music, a couple of CD's I recorded back home and a cold sandwich Scott picked up for me while I was moving boxed into the car.

As Scott and I were driving back to the motel, I got a call on my cell phone from an unknown number. Evidently, it was Pete Wentz. He was calling to ask for a short meeting and told me to drive directly to the Pyramid hotel. When I told Scott who had just called he turned the whole van around and sped towards the hotel, saying this was the big time and this was my first and last chance not to end up like him.

I giggled a little bit and stepped out of the car, telling him to tell the guys I won't be home to late.

When I walked into the hotel, I stepped up to the front desk. A young blond woman was flipping through Cosmo girl and chewing her gum loudly. I cleared my voice to get her attention. When I told her that I was here to see Pete she asked me for identification and then complained a little bit about the copious amounts of fan girls that have come to the hotel recently, looking for Fall Out Boy.

When she led me up to the pent house on the top floor, she sat me down in a place that looked kind of like a waiting room. Two groups of people were sitting on opposite each other, neither of them making eye contact. This is where things got a little awkward for me.

I had a choice to make. Sit with the group of people with one girl or sit with all guys. Since I recently hadn't had much female contact, I choice the girl side.

When I sat down next to her she turned and smiled at me, extending her hand.

"Hello there! My name's Victoria, and you are?" Her face was perfectly framed between her long black hair.

"April North." I smiled back as I shook her hand firmly.

The man sitting next to her looked as if he was sleeping or at least very hung over. His clothes were baggy and his hat was hanging over his eyes. He looked like he was trying very hard to be ghetto but he was as pale as snow. He raised his hat a little and looked me up and down. A small but friendly smirk crossed his face as he reached out his hand.

"Gabe Saporta, at your service." He smirked as I grabbed his hand gently and shook it.

I leaned over the two to get a better look at the rest of the group. Only one of the three other guys was attentive and he was dressed a little bit classier then the other two. He leaned over and smiled at me.

"Hi! I'm Alex Suarez! I'm the bassist!"
"Oh yeah! And I play the Keytar!" Victoria interrupted.
"Singer!" Gabe shouted enthusiastically.

"You guys in a band?" I asked, letting out a small laugh at Gabe's excitement.

"Hells yeah!" Gabe shouted as he began to wake up. "Cobra Starship! We've been signed to this record for a good half a year now! You getting signed today?"

I sat back in my chair when he asked me that question. I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing here. Pete just told me to come and to bring some of my CD's and sheet music which was luckily still in the back of the merch bus. I was also thinking about the name Cobra Starship. Was it a cobra flying a starship or was the ship shaped like a cobra?

"I really have no idea." I said, giggling a little bit.

"Well, the two sleeping over in the corner are Ryland, he plays guitar too, and Nate, he's on drums. They didn't really sleep last night so..." Alex trailed off, shrugging his shoulders as he laughed.

When the door finally opened Pete walked out with a huge smile on his face. He asked for me to come in first.

When I walked in, he immediately asked for one of my CD's. He popped it into a boom box and sat back in his chair, nodding his head a long with the beat.

"And you wrote all this yourself?" He asked, sounding very intrigued.

"Yep, I also played all the instruments myself. Drums kinda suck but aside from that I thought it turned out okay." I said, letting out a small laugh as I continued twirling the zipper of my backpack.

"April, this is more then okay. This is fucking gold. Solid gold." His smile grew ever larger as he pulled a large stack of papers out from under his desk. "April, I love your music. The day after I met you, I tracked down your EP and fell in love with it which is why I want you to be signed to my record company and not anyone else's!"

My jaw dropped.

What?

Me? Signed? To Fueled By Ramen? Under the management of Pete Wentz!?

I couldn't formulate words, the most that I could do was a strange stuttering noise that I hopped didn't make me look like a total dumb ass, but it probably did.

Pete opened a folder and began explaining what it meant to be signed by this company. He said that since I was brand new to all this, he would make a short term contract, flexible contract and then later on would write a new, permeant one, a deal that only friends of the manager could ever get.

This is one of those times where it really pays off to have famous friends.

Before he could even ask me if I wanted to sign up, the pen was already in my hand. I flipped through the contract a few times just to make sure everything was okay and then scribbled my name down so quickly I could barely read my own hand writing.

Pete sat up in his chair, shook my hand and then asked me to stay where I was. He left the room, leaving me, shaking in my chair from the excitement.

Finally, I, April North, was signed to an official record company. Finally, I was getting somewhere in the world. Finally, I would reach my dreams to play in front of hundreds of fans. Finally, I would be appreciated.

The two groups from earlier followed Pete into the room, including Cobra Starship.

He sat us down and got talking.

I felt like I was seriously in a dream.

Two minutes being signed to Fueled By Ramen and he is telling us about how we're going to be going on tour! The head lining band being Fall Out Boy! Of course, I would be the first act that no one would really know much about, the second being Cobra Starship and the third being the other group of guys that's band was named The Academy Is. I actually recall hearing about them before so it wasn't a surprise that they would be the act that would open for FOB.

As the group of us walked out of the office, smiles crossing our faces, I felt dizzy by this wave of awesome-ness.

"Somebody pinch me, I think I'm in heaven." I mumbled to myself, running my hands through my hair as I took a deep breath.

The younger looking boy from The Academy Is snuck up from behind me and pinched my arm hard. I let out a small yell in pain but then started to laugh.

"Oh! Sorry! I didn't mean to make it hurt!" He said defensively as we all stepped onto the elevator. "Aw, shit. First day with my new tour mates and I already physically scared them."

I giggled again, "It's really no problem, man. I'm April, by the way."

The boy smiled widely at me, "I know, I've heard your CD before. You're amazing! Oh, I'm William by the way, but just call me Will." His smile was wide and childish. He was adorable to say the least but had a very awkward vibe to him.

That night, we all went out for dinner and had a blast.

When I got into the cab, I pulled out my cell phone which I had left on silent earlier that day.

When I flipped it open; 5 Missed Calls from Alex Godly Gaskarth.