The One: Collateral Damage (The One Series-Book9) (ORIGINAL DRAFT)

Chapter7: Secret Bully

Chapter7-Secret Bully
October 12th, 2011

 It’s the next day, and it was noon. Andrew and Alyson arrived at a bistro. This was the place to meet with Natalie. Andrew was nervous about going into the restaurant. Alyson noticed, so she told him, “Andrew, just tell her that the only thing you did in Boston was performing arts. You don’t have to tell her about your bullying past.”

 He told her, “Unless she believe the reports about my past during the UTurn years.”

 “Let’s hope she ignored them. Besides, I’ll be in the car in case she tries to pull some shit on you, okay?”

 Andrew gave a small smile, and kissed Alyson’s lips. Then he walked out of the car. He went inside the bistro, and saw Natalie sitting at a table. She was studying the menu. He took a deep breath, and approached the table.

 When he sat down, Natalie looked up, and smiled. She said, “You look nice, Andrew, in your studded blazer. And I’m guessing you’re wearing Guess?”

 Andrew replied, “Thanks, and yes I’m wearing Guess. Their clothes match 7th Anthem’s style, and mine, of course.”

 “You look like a rockstar, even though you didn’t seem to act like one in kindergarten.”

 Andrew gave a nervous laugh, and said, “Well, when there were those sing-a-longs, I would be only one busting a move.”

 “Oh yeah, I remember that. Who knew that the lawyers’ son would be a dancer?”

 “Um, yeah. Anyway, since we’re here, tell me about your life growing up in Hartford.”

 Natalie told Andrew that she missed him and waited for him to contact her. But she eventually moved on, and became a very popular student. She was one of the smartest ones. She told him that for about a year she dated The Extras member Mark. But he soon broke up with her once he started dating another bandmate Melissa.

 Once she graduated from the upper school, she attended Brown as an English major. She had just graduated with a bachelor’s degree, and is currently working on her first poetry book while working at a clothing store as a side job.

 Andrew was impressed by her accomplishments. He tells her, “Maybe once your work is released, maybe I could check it out.”

 Natalie told him, “You should. Now it’s your turn, although you’ve been in the limelight since you were 16.”

 “Yeah, I was. I love being in the music industry. I really like being the male lead singer of the world’s famous pop band. But before I did the band thing, my real dream was to become a contemporary dancer and choreographer, and maybe become a Broadway star.”

 Then Andrew explained that sometime after he moved to Boston, his mom became pregnant with his little sister Hannah. At the same time, he was taking speech therapy. His therapist suggested he take singing lessons and acting classes. He admits that those classes helped him to finally talk, but it also sparked his interest in performing arts.

 As far as physical activities, he was involved with basketball and soccer. But his parents put him in ballet, which made him fall in love with dance. Once he was eight, he scored a cameo role on Friends. Since then, he was offered to do appearances on TV shows and movies. He was even offered a few major roles for movies. But his parents had to turn them down, as the filming was done in New York City, and they weren’t about to move there. They weren’t even willing to travel back and forth the two cities.

 Andrew also admitted he was very popular in middle school and high school. He was one of the top basketball players, and was one of the smartest students.