FALLING FOR SHAWN

Chapter 1 - Stupid To Say No

Shawn stretched, feeling his muscles snap and crack from being hunched over the piano for so long. It had been worth it though, the song was coming together and he was happy with the arrangement. He couldn't believe he had talented musicians like Ryan Tedder working on the album with him. When he first left Disney everyone avoided him like the plague, just another pretty Disney face, but his EP and the hard work he had put in doing live performances way down the list at Festivals in North America and Europe, had earned him some real respect and now he had an impressive body of work ready to release. Andrew had popped in today to check on how things were going too.

He remembered the first time he had met Andrew, he had flown to Pickering to see him after he had discovered Shawn's Vine account, but he was too late. Shawn had already auditioned for Disney and when Andrew said he wanted to take him to New York to discuss a record deal, Disney had already made an offer. Shawn's Dad had thought Andrew's deal held the most merit, but Shawn had always imagined himself as a male version of Hannah Montana, becoming successful like Miley Cyrus, and he couldn't be swayed.

He and his Dad had flown to Los Angeles and next thing you know, he was starring in a TV show. Well, co-starring. The real star was a young girl about his age, and he was the love interest. But it was his name in the title, it was called "Falling For Shawn", and it was all about the girl falling for him, and he was a teen popstar who went to her school. They were grooming the girl, Georgia Dell, to be the next big Disney star, like Miley and Demi and Selena. But it didn't happen that way. Shawn became the big star, and Georgia and her parents were not impressed. They wanted the show to be renamed "Falling For Georgia" and have the popstar fall for her, and they wanted her to sing on the show, and less of Shawn singing. It was his cute good looks and incredible voice that made the show a winner, Disney weren't stupid. They could easily replace Georgia without it being too much of a drama.

"Shawn, you ready to head out? We're locking up."

"Sure, Scott, I'm having dinner with Andrew," his manager smiled and they all left, locking the studio as they went. They went to a pizza place Shawn liked, and the people there greeted him by name and gave them a table at the back where it was quiet and private.

"The album's sounding great," Andrew said, once the pizza arrived.

Shawn ate his piece watching his manager. Something was up and he was waiting for Andrew to get to it. He had learned to read the guy in the past couple of years, he knew the signs.

"Yeah, we're in the closing stages now," Shawn said.

"And that's what I want to talk to you about," Andrew said, a little nervously.

Aaah, now we're getting to the heart of the matter.

"Just tell me dude," he said tiredly. He had gone through so much shit when he was with Disney, and his manager then had been a prick, more concerned with what he could get out of it than what was good for Shawn. Andrew wasn't like him at all, but he was also very conscious of Shawn's determination that he not be "managed" like he had been before.

"The label and I have an idea, we have this song, or the idea for one really, because it needs a lot of work to finish, but anyway it's a duet. We think a collab with a big name would be just what your album needs to really get noticed."

"No fucking way Andrew," Shawn said angrily. "I didn't go through all that shit to then be told what to do again. I have worked hard on this album, it's all me, all my work, and I'm not adding some big name feature, it will look like an afterthought..."

"That was my first thought too, but look why don't you meet with Andrew..."

"Andrew?"

"Watt."