Riptide (An Emblem3 Fanfic)

Chapter 34

Hey guys IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. So even though I mentioned this in the book description, I'm still getting comments about it. So let me say this again. THIS STORY TAKES PLACE A YEAR BEFORE THE X FACTOR. Before the X Factor, E3 was going to audition for America's Got Talent, but they decided to back out at last minute. So that is why AGT is mentioned in this story. I wanted Riptide to be as similar to their real lives as possible. Sorry if this comes off kind of rude, I don't mean it that way, I'm just tired of answering this question in the comments 50000009892384 times. In case you guys were curious, I'm attaching a youtube video which shows the boys standing backstage :) Thanks for listening to this annoying rant of mine haha :)

Wesley's POV

I had to look over my shoulder at her one last time. I turned my head and there she was, grinning at us wearing her Emblem3 shirt. I couldn't help it, I smiled at her. Avery shouted good luck to us and I gave her a thumbs up.

I had to admit I was pretty freaking nervous. The stakes were insanely high for this one performance. It kind of freaked me out, usually the crowd just amped me up, but this crowd was at least 20 times bigger than the group that watches us play at the pier. I must have been pretty wrapped up in my thoughts because I started going down the wrong hallway.

"Dude, the line's this way." Drew said jerking his thumb the other way.

"Oh yeah, my bad." This audition was seriously messing with me. The part that pissed me off the most was that Avery couldn't be here. What the hell was that? The security guard just wouldn't let her through. She was supposed to be my rock and now she's being kept from me.

The line that we were sent to was more like another waiting area. Keats found a group of plastic chairs on the far wall of the ballroom, so we just sat down there and chilled until our number was called.

"This isn't exactly where I saw us going." Drew said looking down at the piece of paper stuck on his shirt with our audition number. I looked around and took it all in. He had a point. Where were we supposed to fit into this competition? All the people here were all lighting themselves on fire or turning their body parts inside out. We want to put ourselves out there and make something of ourselves, but was this the best way to do it?

"We came here to create a following for ourselves and make something of our band." Keaton said. "Who cares that we aren't going up against other bands, the show's called America's Got Talent. We live in America, and we have talent." He said. I kind of admired how he said it. Keaton wasn't afraid of us being treated like a joke. He didn't care that most of our friends would think we're lame for trying out. He just wanted for us to succeed.

"He's got a point man, we're here to get exposure." I said kicking back in my chair so my head rested against the wall.

"Dude, we're going up against a bunch of ventriloquists and six year old opera singers. Do you even care what all the guys at school are going to say?! They're literally gonna beat the shit out of us." I bit my bottom lip because he was right. I was honestly wondering what our friends would say if they knew we were trying out for this show. At school Drew and I were kind of known for being, well, badass. Auditioning would completely destroy our "don't give a fuck" reputation.

"Yeah, I've thought about it." I said quietly. I glanced down at my phone. I clicked the lock button to see what time it was and ended up staring at my wallpaper. It was a picture of Avery and I that Keaton took while we were in LA. It was from when we went to Venice Beach and I was carrying her piggyback style.

I remembered that day so clearly. She had her long blonde hair down and was wearing that cute little black snapback she always had on. It was really windy, so both of us were laughing hysterically as Keaton tried to snap a picture of us. She had a nice laugh too. It was loud and bubbly just like she was. I remember that the wind made her hair blow in my face every five seconds and I would laugh because it tickled a lot.

She was different from all the other girls around here, I had fallen for her the day I met her at the beach when I hit her in the face. I laughed to myself. Oh my god she thought I was a total jackass for doing that. At first I was just hanging around her to get under her skin but there was just something about her...

"I still think we should go for it." Keaton said interrupting my thoughts. Just then one of the stage managers came by and wrangled us up. Before I knew it I could see the bright lights from the stage. It was almost our turn.

"Okay. Final decision time, I don't think we should do it." Drew said. "I just think that they're looking for a specific pop sound, and I don't think we should abandon our style just to fit the market. It feels like we're selling out." I glanced at Drew, and then at my brother. They were looking at me to decide.

In the end I chose the way that I usually choose. I walked over and stood next to my best friend. "Sorry bro, but I think I'm gonna go with Drew on this one." I said looking at my brother. I watched as his face fell. I felt kind if bad; I usually sided with Drew on stuff like this. We were just so alike that we have really similar opinions. But it was always Keaton losing on the other side.

"Yeah, there's a shocker." Keaton said quietly as he turned away from us and started walking out the way we had come.

"Damn it Keaton." I said under my breath as I watched him walk out.

"Dude he'll cool down eventually." Drew said, but I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't sure about that. Drew looked pretty down too. He doesn't mean to hurt Keaton; he's really just trying to do what's best for all of us. But I guess Keaton feels pretty mad that I side with Drew all the time.

"Yeah, I guess. Come on man lets get out of here." We tried our best not to seem too disappointed by the last few minutes of events. When we got there, Keaton still wasn't really talking to us. Avery and Adrianna were smiling at us trying to read our faces to see what was going on. I couldn't look at her, I just couldn't. But I guess that just made things more suspicious because Avery caught on right away.

She put her hands on my face so I was forced to look up at her. She silently asked me what was going on, but I pleaded her with my eyes for her not to say anything. I pulled her into a quick hug and then suggested we all just hit the road back home. I took the keys from Drew and unlocked the Range Rover. Drew hopped in shotgun and we were waiting for Keaton to climb in but instead he went over and tapped Avery on the shoulder.

"Hey Aves can I ride with you guys?" I heard Keaton ask. Avery was opening the passenger side door, which was right next to me. She shot me a look like "what the hell did you do now?" I slunk down into the drivers seat and rested my head on the steering wheel. I took out my phone and shot her a quick text:

Just say yes. I'll explain everything when we get there.

She must have gotten it because she smiled and let Keaton in the back seat. I let Adrianna pull out first before backing out of our spot.

"Shit, he's really mad about this, isn't he?" Drew asked tapping his fingers on the dashboard. I sighed.

"Hopefully we'll just beg and grovel when we get back to the house and he'll forgive us." I said hopefully. About half way back to the house I got a text.

"Yo man can you read it to me, I'm driving." I asked Drew. He read the message and his lips were pursed.

"Uh it says: we need to talk. Wanna grab coffee?" I groaned and slammed my head down on the steering wheel as we reached a red light. Shit, my brother won't talk to me and now I'm about to get a lecture from my girlfriend.

Hi guys! Thanks for reading!! :) This chapter I decided to do something a little different and write it from Wesley's POV to fill in some of the missing information from the previous chapter. Comment if you thought it was a good idea, maybe in the future ill include more Wes chapters. Anyway, congratulations to Emblem3Aus for being this chapters dedication!!! You've been supporting my story from the beginning, and I just wanted to thank you :)