Crash ~Justin Bieber~

Chapter 31 ~ Friends, Remember Them?

(Randy's POV)

This was by far the most difficult grouping that I had been forced to work with. Tanner and Oliver wouldn't help Ryan or I, which was fine, but they were furious and fighting to stop us from progressing every step of the way.

"You're wasting your time - we -won't -sing!"

"Good then," I shot back "You can look looks fools in front of the judges tomorrow night. Because when they ask why there are only two of us on stage, i will tell them the truth!"

Tanner didn't appreciate the threat and I could see a familiar vein grow thick on his forehead.

"Tanner maybe we should help..." Oliver suggested, "Just sing back up or something?"

"No! We are not helping a traitor!"

"Get over it Tanner," I laughed at his dramatics, "Are you still upset over your pathetic burnt blackmail?"

"You can bet your life I am!"

"Really?" I snarled, "So it bothers you that you handed me thousands of dollars worth of photographs and I just threw them in the fire. Does that eat at you? You put them right into my hands, trusted me..."

This comment nearly flipped a table so Ryan and I decided that it would be wise to leave and work on our song in the theatre alone.

"Do you think that will help? Shaming them into singing?"

"No" I shook my head "They don't care. They would enjoy the bad press if anything,"

I explained to Ryan how Tanner and Oliver thought. I knew how they thought. I had thought the exact same way not so long ago. Reputation meant nothing to them, revenge was everything.

"So we need to threaten them with something they recognise?"

"All those two recognise is physical pain" I said, "That's it"

"So that's we threaten them with"

I told him that this wouldn't work either.

"I fought them both with Ben Stiles on my side and I still nearly lost. I'm not going to go after them with just you man. No offence"

"None taken. So we should go and get Ben?"

"No - Ben doesn't care"

"He's in your new crew isn't he?"

"My crew? No - it's Justin's crew"

"So your not friends with him?"

"Yeah I am - but I don't call the shots. I have no right threatening Ben on anybody. That's Justin's deal"

Did I think that Ben would fight for me? Yes. But it wasn't how things worked. I was no sergeant leading my troops into battle. I had no authority to do such a thing.

"I think you're underestimating how tight you are with Justin. He thinks of you as a brother. You don't follow the same rules as the rest of us. You can call some shots. Justin would think nothing of it, he would only be mad if your directions weren't followed. You can do no wrong in his eyes..."

I could tell from Ryan's fallen face that he wished he had the same 'Get out of jail free card' that I supposedly had. Justin was making him pay for his mistake so vigorously that I worried if he pushed Ryan any further the kid would snap and never come back.

"Even if that's true, I don't send people to fight my fights. We have to come up with something else"

I left Ryan and went to lunch in a bad mood. It was only worsened when I found out that my friends had made much progress in their own teams. Normally by Thursday the tricky hurdles of the week were over, and all of the teams forgot about the personality clashes and disagreements, choosing instead to focus purely on the approaching show.