Tough Choices

Chapter 19

Ross' POV

"What up LA?" Riker yells into the mic. The R5 Family starts yelling loudly, as we get ourselves settled on stage. After a minute, I turn and Rydel and Ratliff are ready.

I turn to Rocky, and he gives the OK sign, indicating that he's ready. Clearly, Riker's ready, and I'm as ready as I'll ever be. When we were on the bus, I made it very clear to everyone that I don't want to announce that I have cancer. If people ask, we are just going to say that I have a cold.

Anyways, the first song we're performing is 'Cali Girls'. We start, and Rydel and Riker harmonize to Rocky's part. After, Riker does his part. Now it's my turn. As nervous as I am, I still sing anyways. My voice is actually working! Anyways, the rest of my parts on that song sound great! I hope that the rest of the show goes this well...

Kylie's POV

Ross' vocals are sounding better than I expected. R5 is on their tenth song now. I can tell he's had some trouble, though. Every time his voice is about to mess up, he looks over to Riker, signaling that he needs help. He's only had to do that a few times per song, which is good.

It's weird, usually Ross, Rocky, and Riker will talk among each other at random parts in the show. But, tonight, only Riker and Rydel are talking to each other, and the fans. I've heard a couple people scream things like, 'Why is Ross not singing?' or 'What's wrong with Ross?'. Riker's not answered anything, but I think Ross just wants them to shut up.

While they're playing the instrumental solo in 'Ain't No Way We're Goin' Home', Riker looks over to me. I mouth, 'Tell the fans' while pointing to Ross. He looks over to Ross, then back to me. He mouths 'OK'. I give him a thumb up, as they break into the outro chorus. Once it's over, Riker signals for them to be quiet. Instantly, the whole venue falls silent. Then, he speaks.

"We've heard a lot of you guys screaming at us, asking what's wrong with Ross, and why he isn't singing and talking as much as usual. The reason is that he has a cold, and his singing voice is sort of messed up, because of it. Also, he doesn't want to waste his voice by talking." Riker says.  He looks over at me, and I give him the OK symbol.

"OK guys, this is going to be the final song, so here we go!" Rydel exclaims. Technically, it's their second to last song, because they do an encore, Anyways, they burst into 'Here Comes Forever'. I walk over to Ryland.

"The vocal lubricant worked!" I happily exclaim.

"I hoped so! They still have the rest of this song, and their encore to get through." Ryland says, glancing at his clipboard.

"Oh yeah..." I say, trailing off. After that, Ryland goes over to his 'official chair', and puts his head in his hands. I walk over to him. "What's wrong, Ry?" I ask, as I put my arm around him.

"It's still sort of weird to know that the sibling closest to me in age has cancer." he admits.

"It's OK, Ry. I'm still adjusting to it too. He's going to beat this cancer. I know it." I say, attempting to cheer him up.

"I hope. Anyways, you know Ross' part in 'Loud', right?"

"Yeah..." I say, getting suspicious.

"OK." he says back. I give him a confused look, and he just writes something on his clipboard. I begin to ponder why he asked me that. Eventually, I leave my thoughts, and realize that they just finished 'Here Comes Forever'.

"Thank you so much!" Riker shouts, as he and everyone else runs off stage. Once they're backstage, I begin to high-five everyone. I start with Riker, then Rydel, next Ratliff. As I'm about to high-five Rocky, he turns pale, and runs off. He's probably going to the restroom. I turn to Ross.