Chasing West 44th St [Chasing Series Book 2]

Invisible

Nicola's P.O.V

The tour continued on, every show we played better than the last. Also, after my intervention with Michael, he began being a lot nicer. Well, nicer in regards to Michael's ways. So, he still acted like himself, but also wasn't trying to purposely make me angry anymore.

This morning we all were hanging out in the amphitheater, Luke and Ashton found a huge rolling cart, immediately all of us got excited. Michael, Maisie, and I clamored onto it, as Ashton pulled it all around the back halls. Cami and Sam teamed up against Chris and Calum, racing golf carts all over the halls. None of us listened to any of the security that were trying to get us to calm down. But what did they expect from a bunch of rowdy teenagers?

"Girls, you have to go practice now!" John yells, trailing behind us, "Incase you forgot you're changing one of your covers for the rest tour," he runs a bit faster. Now standing in the middle, everyone stops, not wanting to hit him. "Play time is over, you've all got jobs to do so get up and out," He says, everyone groans in disagreement. "Now," He urged, as I try to get off the cart, with little grace or luck. All resulting in me tripping onto the floor, Michael starts to crack up, making everyone else start laughing at me too. He holds out his hand, helping me up.

Almost two hours later, the boys have been off doing their own things, and us girls were rehearsing Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles. This was the last change for our covers, as we had already played the other two for many many shows. Because the song had no original drum part, I would not be playing my drums on stage for the song. It was a bit of a relief to be honest, drumming was pretty grueling, and I didn't always like coming off stage so sweaty. In replace of drumming, I would be playing the violin part. My beautiful instrument hadn't been touched in forever, and I was so excited to be able to go on stage with it.

"Okay, I think we should run it again," Maisie says. I flip the music on the stand in front of me to the front page. I nod, Sam and Chris now also ready to play.

We hadn't noticed the guys walk in, and Cami at Luke's side. They settled where the "VIP section" is, sitting down to watch us rehearse.

Sam counts us off, and we begin the song. It's a sweet tune, and not really something you would think of our band to perform. I really like how the leading melody was from the violin, and really showed off the girls too.

After playing through the song, Maisie gives Sam a couple of pointers, while Chris gets some water. As they are doing so, I played around on my violin, and start playing the solo section at the end of the boys' song Invisible. I thought it was so pretty, and unique for the guys to include in their music.

"You're getting really good at that solo Nic," Chris states walking back to her spot. When I finished playing, I heard clapping, causing all of us on stage to look out and see the guys and Cami sitting. The begin making their way over to us, and climb onto the stage.

"That was beautiful you guys," Ashton says, making all of us blush.

"Thanks Ash. How long have you been watching?" Maisie asks.

"We've been here for a while actually. Watched you rehearse Eleanor Rigby," Michael states, I set my instrument on the stand.

"You guys liked it?" I ask, everyone now standing together.

"Oh yeah! It was so good. And Nic, your playing was awesome. Hearing you play Invisible live is so cool," Calum states, everyone nodding their heads in agreement.

"We've actually begun to practice the song," Sam explains, an excited expression goes over Luke's face.

"Really? So all of you could play it?" He wonders, we nod in return.

"Yeah!" Chris replies.

"People, I have a great idea," he begins again, grabbing everyone's attention.

"We've been thinking about trying out that song live for a while, and now that you girls can play it, and Nicola can play the violin part, how about we have you girls come on stage with us to play?"

I see the excitement spread throughout all of us, "Really!? You want us to go on stage with you!?" Chris asks enthusiastically.

"Luke that's a brilliant idea, we should do it!" Calum states, Ashton and Michael agreeing with their friends.

"We could keep it a secret. Have the lights go out and like single spot lights on just us, then Nic starts, and the rest of you girls," Ashton starts planning.

"This sounds so f*cking awesome, we have to do it!" Michael states.

Everyone became more and more excited as we talked about it, and without any hesitation we found Zoe, explaining the idea to her. She thought it was a great idea, and with her approval, the boys came back on stage with us. They started arranging how they wanted us to stand, figuring out the lighting and when the song should fall into their set. The girls and I put our input in it, giving off ideas too, and eventually all of us came to a conclusion on all what we thought would be cool.

Chris suggested that us girls played the boys parts, except for Ashton, who would still play his cajón part. The guys liked the idea, having an all dark stage, and the lights only focused on the guys singing in spotlights until the song itself picks up and shows off all of us girls. Once we agreed with everything, we ran through the song several times, to make sure we were playing everything right and to the tempo the boys wanted. The end result made all of us very happy, and super excited for the concert.

****

It was now nearly the end of the show, which we had decided to be the best idea to have the collab the second to last song on the their set list. We stood on the sidelines, waiting for the lights to go out.

"IRVINE! You guys having a good time!?" Ashton yells into the crowd, with the loud and usual response of yells and screams. "Awesome. We always love coming to California. You guys are always so nice, and very welcoming. So, the lads and I thought we'd give you a bit of gift," he continues on, the crowd becoming anxious.

"How many of you know our song Invisible?" Luke asks, the crowd erupting again. "Great, well we thought it would cool if we played it for you tonight, how does that sound?" He asks.

The crew takes out some stools, and Ashton's cajón, placing them where we discussed. They sit in their spots, and the lights go out. We can hear the crowd grow quiet with anticipation, excited whispers traveling throughout them. As quickly and quietly as we can, we set up on stage, and bring a music stand out for me just in case I forgot anything. Maisie and Samantha begin strumming in secret, as the stage was pitch black.

The spotlight focuses only on Calum, and would light each boy individually until the song picked up gradually.

Luke begins to harmonize with Calum, the light now on both of them. Not long afterward, the stage shines in bright white light, illuminating the rest of us on stage. The crowd roars, seeing the other boys, and then seeing that us girls have joined them on stage. Realizing that we were the ones playing made the crowd erupt, and I could see several tears on their faces of those in front. It looked as though a million stars fell from the sky, and filled up the audience, as they waved their phone lights in a synchronized rhythm. This quickly became one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen in my life.

By the end of the song I felt so full of emotion I couldn't speak. I could feel myself wanting to cry, but I just smiled as big as I could instead.

"Let's give a huge thank you to the Three-Fourths girls for joining us on stage tonight!"

Everyone stands, coming together in the middle of the stage. The crowd goes wild, really liking the performance. Easily, I could feel all of us feeling the same emotions as each other, and our bond growing closer as stared into the sea of light.