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

Chapter10: Being Andrew

A/N: Double-chappy post! I was going to post this chapter today, but I had to re-post chapter 9. Anyway, here's chapter 10. =)

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Chapter10-Being Andrew

February 13th, 2012

 It’s now February. 7th Anthem are now in Manchester. Their tour has been selling well. They plan to start promotions for their new single as soon as they finished their tour.

 During all of this, the fans were shocked to see Justin’s new look. They were used to his very blonde, slightly long hair in front of his face. It was a look he had been doing since he was 17. Instead, the hair was short and black. It actually was similar to Andrew’s hair, which the fans found odd.

 But no one was more weirded out than Andrew. As soon Justin cut and colored his hair, he went to a hair stylist. He came back with Andrew’s coiffed hairstyle. Andrew wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but he tried to push it out of his head. Now he’s getting suspicious.

 To make things ever weirder, every night after every concert, Justin would abruptly leave the arena. He would come back to the hotel hungover at six in the morning. And yet, he would show up at rehearsals, completely awake and ready to give a stellar performance. The 7A members couldn’t figure him out. That is, until one certain day.

 It was during lunch, and the members were at a restaurant. Justin wasn’t with them. Instead, because he looked similar to Andrew, he sent him to another restaurant to be with his fake girlfriend, Natalie. Andrew just wanted time to be with Alyson.

 Alyson laughed as she told him, “I can’t believe Natalie is going to believe that Justin is you.”

 Andrew replied, “He’d better do a decent job doing an American accent. I’m not British.”

 Then she joked, “What if all those nights that Justin went out on pretended to be you.”

 Andrew laughed, and said, “I would kill him. Not literally, of course, but I would be pissed off.”

 Suddenly, Natalie entered the restaurant, marched up to Andrew, and slapped him hard on the face! Andrew asked, “What the hell was that for?”

 She asked him angrily, “You sent Justin over to pretend to be you so you wouldn’t be with me?”

 Andrew laughed, “Yeah, I did. Look, I want to be with the others today. I’ve been out on a date with you every single day, now. Can’t I just get a day-off from you and your blackmailing?”

 Natalie glared at him, and said, “You won’t think this is funny that Justin has been posing as you numerous times!”

 With that, Andrew stopped laughing as he asked, “What?”

 She took out her iPhone and showed Andrew numerous gossip articles. Andrew, and everyone else in 7A, hadn’t been catching up on the latest celebrity news lately due to their tour.

 Andrew took the phone, and glanced over the articles. He couldn’t believe what he read. Justin was actually trying pose as Andrew. With that, he put the pieces together. Justin cut his hair short, dyed it black, and had it coiffed just so he can be Andrew Hawthorne.

 Justin was back at the hotel. He was on his phone when Andrew came barging in. He was livid as he approached Justin. Justin, on the other hand, was startled. He got up from the couch, and started backing away.

 Justin asked as he stammered, “A-Andrew, what is it?”

 Andrew asked angrily, “What the fuck where you thinking?! You think with a haircut and dye job, you can pose as me? Well, guess what? You’re not fucking me!”

 With that, Andrew pushed Justin against the wall. Then he punched Justin on the face, not caring what he’ll look like in the public. He kept beating Justin up several times. The members ran up to the two guys to break them apart. Trevor got in the middle, and asked, “What the hell is going on between you two?”

 Andrew yelled, “It’s fucking Justin! He’s posing as me, and he thinks he can get away with it!”

 Trevor was stunned by this news, as was the girls. Bailey asked, “Justin, is this true?”

 Justin got up from the floor. His mouth was bloody, but he was able to give a smug grin. This angered Andrew even more. He was ready to punch him, but Trevor held him back. Justin approached Andrew, and spat in his face, knowing how angrily he would get. Andrew did his best to control himself, but he wanted to beat him up.

 Justin said smugly, “Hawthorne, you want to know the truth? I’ll give it to you. I’ve never liked you. It started when we were in fifth grade. I was warned about you, but all you did was make fun of me because I was new and I came from another country. I would watch you supposedly ‘terrorize’ the other students, but I wasn’t scared of you. In fact, I thought you were a wimp. You were too nice.

 “Once we entered middle school, I felt the need to compete against you. I wanted to be the ‘anti-Andrew’. I wanted to be better than you. So I joined the school’s football team. I dated the girls you dumped. Instead of bullying, I pulled pranks on other schools, on our own school, and our Beacon Hill neighborhood. I got numerous detentions. I cheated on tests, and I especially cheated on yours. I was sick of you not getting trouble with the faculty. But instead, you got me in trouble numerous times.

 “After we joined 7th Anthem, I wanted to be the male lead singer and the main heartthrob. You were more of a dancer, even though you had a very strong voice. Instead, you were installed as the male lead singer, and you emerged as THE ‘hot guy’,

 “That’s why I wanted to compete against you. I even tried to out-gay you when you were only gay for a few months. I wanted to be better than you, and I’ll fight you until I’m the one on top.”

 Andrew glared at Justin for a few seconds. Then he punched Justin in the mouth again. Trevor, and some of the girls, pulled them apart.

 Andrew yelled at Justin, “You’re no better than fucking Ethan! You were never my friend! You just fucking used me for your own fucking selfish reasons! I don’t want to have anything to do with you!”

 With that, Andrew stormed out of the hotel suite. Alyson followed him. The members stared at Justin. All he did was give a smirk, and went to the bathroom to wash his face.

 At the same time, Alyson was calling after Andrew. Andrew kept walking away. He was mad as hell. He couldn’t believe Justin, who has been his friend since they joined the band, turned out to be fraud like Ethan. Andrew trusted this guy, even though he would get suspicious of him. Instead, the trust was broken. Then he felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time, tears.

 Alyson ran after him. He turned around, and snapped, “What do you want?”

 She didn’t back away, as she wasn’t afraid of him. She told him, “Andrew, I’m sorry Justin put you through all of that. Are you crying?”

 With that, Andrew started crying. He slid down the wall of the hallway, and sat on the floor. Alyson sat next to him, and held his hand.

 He said, “What’s going on in my life? I can’t be with you openly because of Natalie’s blackmailing. Now Justin is out posing as me just because he’s hell-bent on being better than me. Can this get worse?”

 Alyson sat there, listening to his frustration. She tells him, “Andrew, you can get through this this crap. Justin has not been himself for months now. As for Natalie, it’s up to you if you want to tell the world about your true past yourself. But no matter what happens, I’ll always be here for you. I love you, and I always will.”

 “I love you, Alyson.”

 Then the two hugged. Andrew held her tightly, as he felt safe with her. Alyson held him as tight as she could. She wanted to help him, but she wasn’t sure on how get to him out of the mess he’s in. The only thing they both knew was that they must get through the drama. Together.

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IN THE PIC IS ANDREW (Aaron Renfree) FROM A NOH8 PHOTOSHOOT, AND JUSTIN (Jesse McCartney) TRYING TO COPY ANDREW'S HAIR COLOR AND STYLE.>>>