The Tuners

Chapter 4: The Big Day (Part 2)

It was almost time for the Homecoming game and Carter was praying by himself, "Please bless that the team does a great job in this game and that me and the band has a great performance tonight at the dance. In your glorious name I pray, amen." he prayed. "Are you finally done with your prayer man?" Xavier asked Carter, "Oh come on Xavier. You know I always pray that our game goes great." he said as he turned to face Xavier. "Yeah I know. But do you have to do it EVERY time we have a football game?" Xavier once again asked. "No use talking to him about it Xavier." Cameron said. "Well then let's get out there and win this thing!" Zeke exclaimed as he and the rest of the team pumped themselves up and ran out to the field. As the game went on, Carter and the others made some serious progress and scored ahead of the opposing team, winning them the game 64-56. A few minutes later in the dry, the football team is changing out of their respective uniforms. After their coach gave congratulated them on their victory, Carter walked out of the dry as he spotted his mother, "Well there's my Homecoming champion." she said as she rubbed her son's head. "Haha, mom you'll mess my hair up." Carter said. "Now let's get back home so you can get to the dance." Carter's mom said as she entered her car with Carter following suit. Shortly afterwards, the car drives off. About 30 minutes later, Carter is looking at his reflection in his room's mirror as he looks over his outfit, which consisted of a black dress jacket over a white dress shirt along with black dress pants and shoes. He also had his hair gelled so that it was slicked back save for a few bangs that got loose, "Oh boy. Can't believe I'm gonna be performing tonight at the dance tonight." he said to himself. His mother then came to his room before looking at him. "How do I look?" Carter asked her, "Stunning." she replied before saying "Oh by the way, you have 2 people at the foyer right now waiting for you.". "Thanks mom. Tell them I'll be down in a minute." Carter said before his mom nodded and left the room. Before Carter left the room, he looked at a photo of a younger version of himself and a man with blonde hair, brown eyes, and wore a black leather jacket, "Wish me luck tonight Dad." he said as he closed his door. As he got down the stairs, he saw Seth, who wore a gray dress jacket with a black dress shirt, a purple tie, gray pants and black shoes, and Sicily, who wore a lavender strapless dress and had her hair down and parted to her left side along with white heels. "Hey guys. You look amazing." Carter said to the two before turning to Sicily, "But you look absolutely gorgeous Sicily." Carter complimented her as Sicily's face flushed red, "Thank you Carter. You look amazing yourself." she said back. "Thank you." Carter said. "So you all set?" Seth asked Carter, "You bet I am." he said. "Hey don't think you can go without me getting some photos." Carter's mom said as she held out a camera. "Well a few photos wouldn't hurt, I guess." Seth said as he, Sicily, and Carter stood next to each other. A few seconds later, Carter's mom takes a few photos of the three. After the photos were taken, the three teenagers made their way to a grey Toyota Tacoma, "Have a great time you three!" Carter's mom said as the three were halfway to the truck. "We will, Mom!" Carter said as they got to the truck. Carter then opened the door for Sicily, "Thanks." she said as she got into the Tacoma and Seth got in the driver side seat. As Carter got in the truck, he saw Sara, who wore a black dress with silver stripes along with black heels and also had her hair down but was styled to look wavy, "Heya Sara." he said with his usual smile. "Hey." she said back with her own smile. After a few moments, they drove off to the school. "So are you guys excited for our first performance?" Seth asked. "That's a silly question, of course I am!" Sicily said. "Yes, it certainly be amazing." Sara said. "What about you Carter?" Seth asked as he looked in the rear view mirror, only to see that Carter was looking out the window as his leg was shaking. "Carter? Are you okay?" Sicily asked him with slight concern, "Oh, yeah. I'm good. Yeah I'm totally excited for our first performance." Carter said after he broke from his trance. A few minutes later, they arrived at their school. After the boys got out of the truck, they went around to open the girls' doors as they stepped out of the vehicle. After walking into the school and made their way to the cafeteria, they were greeted by Ryan, Henry, and Maya. "Hey guys." Ryan, who was wearing a navy blue jacket over a white dress shirt with black pants and brown shoes, said. "Looking sharp there guys." Henry, who was wearing a white jacket with black outlines over a black dress shirt with white pants and brown shoes, said. "Thanks. So are you guys excited for performing?" Seth asked the three, "I'm totally stoked!" Maya, who was wearing a pink leather jacket over a gray dress with white sneakers, said. "Hey, where's Michael?" Sicily asked as she saw that Michael wasn't with them. "Oh he went to go talk to the DJ about what time we'll be performing." Henry said. "Ah, I see." Sara said. Just then, Michael, who was wearing a black jacket over a dark gray dress shirt with black pants and white shoes, came up to the group, "Oh good, you're all here. I was told that we will be going on after the Homecoming king and queen are crowned." he said. "Sweet. That'll give us some time to dance and rehearse." Sara said. Sara, Seth, Michael, Maya, Henry, and Ryan then entered the cafeteria and joined in the large crowd, leaving Carter and Sicily, "Let me guess. Not a fan of this kind of music either?" Carter asked his date, "Not really." she said. "Well come on, let's just go find a table to sit at until a slow song comes on." Carter said as he held his hand out, "Okay." Sicily said taking his hand. The two then entered the cafeteria before walking through it to sit at a table. A few minutes of listening to the dance music later, Carter spoke up as he got up from his chair, "Hey I'm going to go get some punch. You want some?" he asked turning to Sicily, "Yes please." she said. "Alright, I'll be back." Carter said as he left for the punch bowl. Carter then got to the punch bowl and poured 2 cups for him and Sicily. As he was about to leave, Xavier, Zeke, and Cameron came up to him. "Hey guys." Carter said. "Hey man, where's your date?" Zeke asked Carter. "Oh she's sitting at a table. I was just grabbing some punch for her." he replied. "Nice. Any chance you could introduce us to your date?" Xavier asked. "I don't see why not." Carter said. Xavier, Zeke, and Cameron then followed Carter. As he was, Sicily was just twirling a lock of her hair around. Just then three girls, one wearing a blue dress, another wearing a red dress with a single strap, and the last one wearing a white dress, walked up to Sicily. "Oh look who it is girls." the girl in the red dress said. "I'm surprised that you actually came." the one in blue said. "Love the dress. Why don't we make a few changes to it." the girl in white said as she held up a cup of punch. Just as she was about to dump the drink on Sicily, she felt something grab her wrist. As she turned around, she saw Seth, "What do you think you're doing with my sister?" he asked. "Oh, uh, nothing." the girl in white replied. "Don't give me that, I know you were going to dump that punch on her dress." Seth said. Just then, Carter, Xavier, Zeke, and Cameron came up to the group, "What's going on Seth?" Carter asked before looking at the 3 girls, "Hey, you're those girls that were bullying Sicily this morning." he said. "What? You can't be serious. My girlfriend would never do anything like that." Xavier said before turning to face Seth, "Now may you please let go of her wrist Seth?" he asked. Seth then let go of the girl's wrist before the three girls, Xavier, Zeke, and Cameron left. "You okay Sis?" Seth asked. "I'm fine. Thanks for saving me back there guys." Sicily said. Carter then handed her a cup of punch, "Here you go." he said as she took the cup, "Thanks." she said. About a few more songs later, Sara comes up to the Carter, Sicily, and Seth, "Come on guys, the others are ready." she said. "Right." Carter said as he, Sicily, and Seth got up from their seats and walked to the back of the stage. As they got backstage, they met up with the others and started doing some warmups. Just before the principal got up on the stage, Carter then started to hyperventilate, "Carter! Are you okay?" Seth said as he held him up. "I *gasp* I don't think I *gasp* can go out there." Carter said in between gasps. "How come?" Henry asked. "The truth is...I actually have stage fright." Carter said as he calmed down. "Are you serious?" Michael asked in exasperation. "Yeah. Sorry for not telling you earlier." Carter said hanging his head in shame. "Carter, it will be okay. We'll be here for you." Sicily said putting a hand on Carter's shoulder "Thanks Sicily." he said. "And now ladies and gentlemen, we have a special treat for you tonight. Please give a warm round of applause for our Music Club!" the principal said as Carter and the others went onto the stage and their positions. "Hey Xavier, isn't that Carter?" Zeke asked as the 3 boys turned towards the stage, "What the heck is he doing up there?" he asked in response. "Hello everyone. We're the Music Club and tonight for our debut, we will be performing a duet of 'Stay' by Kid Laroi. Hope you enjoy it." Carter said before Michael started playing his keyboard. After a few seconds, Carter started singing. "I do the same thing, I told you that I never would. I told you I changed, even when I knew I never could. I know that I can't find nobody else as good as you. I need you to stay, need you to stay, hey!" he sang before Sicily sang "I get drunk, wake up, I'm wasted still. I realize the time that I wasted here. I feel like you can't feel the way I feel. I'll be messed up if you can't be right here." she sang. "Oh-whoa (oh-whoa, whoa), Oh-whoa (oh-whoa, whoa) Oh-whoa (oh-whoa, whoa), I'll be messed up if you can't be right here. I do the same thing, I told you that I never would. I told you I changed, even when I knew I never could. I know that I can't find nobody else as good as you. I need you to stay, need you to stay, hey! I do the same thing, I told you that I never would. I told you I changed, even when I knew I never could. I know that I can't find nobody else as good as you. I need you to stay, need you to stay, yeah!" Carter and Sicily sang together. "When I'm away from you, I miss your touch. You're the reason I believe in love. It's been difficult for me to trust. And I'm afraid that I'ma mess it up!" Carter sang, "Ain't no way that I can leave you stranded 'Cause you ain't never left me empty-handed. And you know that I know that I can't live without you. So, baby, stay!" Sicily sang shortly after. "Oh-whoa (oh-whoa, whoa) Oh-whoa (oh-whoa, whoa) Oh-whoa (oh-whoa, whoa) I'll be messed up if you can't be right here! I do the same thing, I told you that I never would. I told you I changed, even when I knew I never could. I know that I can't find nobody else as good as you. I need you to stay, need you to stay, yeah! I do the same thing, I told you that I never would. I told you I changed, even when I knew I never could
I know that I can't find nobody else as good as you. I need you to stay, need you to stay, hey!" Carter and Sicily sang together as they alternated verses. "I need you to stay, need you to stay, hey!" the two singers closed out. The large crowd then erupted into loud cheers as Carter and the others took a bow before leaving the stage. "Man, that...was AMAZING!" Carter said in excitement. "HECK YEAH HERMANO!" Maya exclaimed. "I'd say that our first performance was absolutely incredible." Sara said. "Couldn't agree with you more Sara." Sicily said. "Well, we should probably get back to the dance." Henry said. "Good thinking." Henry said. Henry, Ryan, Sara, Seth, Michael, and Sicily then left to head back to the dance. As Carter was walking back, he saw Xavier, Zeke, and Cameron walking up to him, "What the heck was that?" Xavier asked him. "Yeah pretty good, huh?" Carter said. "No it wasn't. You're a football player, not a singer." Xavier said. "Who said I can't be both?" Carter asked. "*sigh* Look, we have a big game coming up soon and, as you're the star player, we can't have you get distracted by hanging out with those guys." Xavier said before he went back to the cafeteria. "You were amazing though man." Zeke said as he and Cameron left. Meanwhile Carter went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. After a few minutes, he re-entered the cafeteria and saw that a slow song was on. As he was walking through the cafeteria, he spotted Sicily sitting down at their table while the others were dancing, "Hey Sicily." he said as he got to her. "Hey." she said back. "Care to dance?" Carter asked as he held his hand out, "Why yes." Sicily said as she took his hand. The two walked out to the dance floor before Sicily placed her hands on Carter's shoulders and Carter put his hands on Sicily's waist. The two then swayed to the music, enjoying the moment.