Rewound {PTX}

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I'VE STARTED A NEW PTX STORY! GO ADD IT TO YOUR LIBRARY ASAP! :D I'm very excited about it.

Also, don't forget to read The Last Hunger Games {PTX}. Whereas this story is confusing and dramatic and confusing, that one is dramatic and intense and intensely dramatic. Be prepared for feels.

10,000 reads! 1,000 votes! (Almost) 400 followers! Thank you so much! And thanks most of all your comments. Reading your thoughts and reactions is always my favorite part.

We're on the road again. Scott's pretty much recovered, thank goodness, and now his only complaint is a minor headache, which probably has more to do with my looping Paramore and Big Scary nonstop than any illness. We don't see Kelly Clarkson much, since all of us are always busy, but she's always really friendly and I feel like she genuinely likes us. We wanted to release our original album months ago, but there's still a lot more work to do, and now that tour has begun again, we're realizing this just isn't going to be done soon at all. "Soon" is subjective, sure, but the fans are dying. They are dying loudly all over Twitter.

Funny story: it took me a few months to realize the people posting "KILL ME NOW" and "I HATE YOU" and "PLEASE STOP IMMEDIATELY" were fangirls. I thought they were trolls, and I ignored them. It never really occurred to me that "I'M CRYING" was actually a form of high praise, not until I let it get to me one day. It bothered me that someone would go to all the trouble of sending me hateful tweets, so I looked closer even though I knew I shouldn't. It turned out they were only "dying of perfection." My ego definitely inflated a few sizes when I figured that out at long last.

It's sad browsing through Twitter now and seeing all the Pentaholics we're going to let down. This is our last tour. We can't go to Brazil like we wanted to. We won't get to see our fans in the Philippines again. When we go our separate ways, we'll lose most of our following. The fandom may keep tabs on us, but most of our sales are to people who kind of know we exist but don't really know our individual names and won't be interested in our work after Pentatonix. We'll have to build a mostly new audience.

Kevin has made his own website and released KO Corner. He's planning songs with Triptyq. Kirstie is working on her own website and blogs. It's clear they're getting ready to branch off. What have I done to prepare? I haven't even started planning for more Superfruit. I should be going to VidCon to promote it, but instead I'm going to be singing in some boring town in Michigan where I probably won't even leave the bus except to perform and meet fans.

I'm so busy performing and recording that it's difficult for me to find my way back to 2011. A week goes by and I haven't switched, so I try to force it, but I just fall asleep while I'm meditating. I skip a recording session in the morning to try again. I have to go back regularly or I'll lose the ability entirely, and I'm not sure how long I can go without switching before that becomes a problem. I don't want to find out.

~When I get back to 2011, I call Kirstie over to my apartment. I sing her (and Scott) all the new songs I know and tell her to wait for their release in the next few days. "Kelly Clarkson thinks I'm a die-hard Big Scary fan now, you know."

"Isn't her album coming out soon? And why would she think that?"

"Because I was looping it nonstop to learn it for you. Oh, did I not mention I'm on tour with Kelly Clarkson? Pentatonix is on tour with Kelly Clarkson. It's pretty cool."

"No way! Sing me her songs!"

"What's the album going to be called?"

"You're the one who's supposed to be from the future. Shouldn't you know?"

"She's released several albums since. I'm just trying to remember which... is it Stronger? Yeah, I can sing from that. In fact, I could ask Kelly if we could cover a song from it. I don't think she'd mind if we released it at the same time."

"Sing. Now."

I sing her "Stronger," and "Mr. Know It All." I'm about to start "Piece By Piece" from her latest album, but I think better of it. That song is too personal to share before she chooses to release it. I sing "Invincible" instead.

"I'm not sure I'm convinced," Kirstie says. "Maybe you should sing some more."

"I agree," Scott says. "You should definitely sing some more."

"You two hear me sing daily. I'd think you'd be sick of it."

"Nope," they say in unison.

"If you can get Avi over here, I'll sing it all again."

Avi, however, will not come. We call Kevin, who informs us that our fifth member is out for dinner. He seems to be in a good mood at the studio the next day, though. "Fifty thousand views!" he exclaims.

"Is that a lot?" I ask.

"Are you kidding? Love Again is doing amazingly!"

"Meh. Lemme know when it hits a million, I guess. It had twenty-nine million views last I checked, and it didn't even make our top ten."

"Are you still going on about that? If I pretend to believe you, will you shut up?"

"Pull out your phone. I want you to record this. I'm going to sing for you. That okay?"

"That's always okay," he smiles.

A few days later, I'm watching him eat his words as he compares his recording to the newly released Big Scary album, and, shortly thereafter, Paramore's latest single. He's astonished. Interestingly, Kirstie is even more amazed. "YOU ARE ACTUALLY FROM THE FUTURE. I CAN'T EVEN."

"Well, yeah..."

"THE ACTUAL FUTURE! YOU REALIZE THAT MEANS I'M ACTUALLY GOING TO HAVE A BIG FLUFFY WHITE HUSKY DOG NAMED OLAF???"

"Um, yes. Olaf is real."

"AND WE'RE GOING TO TOUR WITH KELLY CLARKSON!?!?"

"Maybe. Probably not, though, honestly. That was in another timeline. Things are different here. We can still ask her about it, though."

"AND A GRAMMMMMMyyYYYYYY!!!!!" She is literally hopping up and down.

"If you want the Grammy, you're going to have to work for it."

"CAN YOU GAME THE STOCK MARKET AND PREDICT THE FUTURE AND GET SUPER RICH AND FAMOUS NOW???"

"Inside voice, please, Kirstie. No, I can't. Not precisely, anyway. In my other timeline, Kelly Clarkson doesn't release this album for a few more days. Somehow, even just the little changes I've made have affected things that have affected other things that have affected that. Nothing is quite the same."

"You're no fun. What color is my hair in 2015? Did I dye it?"

"Blonde. Oh, and you dyed yours for a while too, Scott. And yours is long, Avi, and yours is basically the same as always, Kevin. Mine has a snazzy undercut. I think maybe I still have too much of a baby face to pull it off, though. I dunno. I'll try it, I guess, once my hair grows out. I think maybe I'll get different tattoos here, though."

"WAIT! YOU'RE LIKE A MILLION YEARS OLD AREN'T YOU?"

"No, Kirstie. My other body is 22. Nearly 23. It's summer back there, you know."

"Mitch," Avi asks, "am I happy in your future? Am I content?"

"Yep," I lie. "It's great." It really is. I wish it were enough for him.