CHAPTER FOUR, silver shoes
The group has been trying their best to get the shoes off Austin's feet, but they haven't had any luck. Delaney was just glad the room they were in cleared out before this happened because otherwise they would've gotten into serious trouble.
"We have to get these shoes off before we get busted." Austin said.
"Yeah, people will think you're a thief." Ally spoke.
"Yeah, you can't have that kind of bad publicity." Trish chimed in.
Dez grabs some pliers. "How about we cut the shoes off?"
Finn's eyes widen. "Where did you get those?"
"Dez, no." Ally looks at Dez with diseblief. "We can't damage the shoes. They're the only pair in the world. They must be worth, like, a million dollars."
Delaney sends her a small glare. "We also can't hurt Austin!" Austin nodded in agreement with a panicked look on his face.
"Right, that too." Ally nodded.
"Is it me, or do they just keep getting prettier and prettier?" Trish asked, referring to the silver heels and smiled at them.
"Guys, what are we gonna do?" Austin inquired.
"Well, if we can't cut the shoes off, there's only one option left." Dez replies. "Austin, we're cutting off your feet."
Austin's eyes widen with fear and he quickly got up and ran away from Dez. "Stay away from me."
"Dez," Delaney huffs in annoyance, taking the pliers away from Dez. "We're not cutting off his feet." Dez pouts and his shoulders dropped in defeat.
"She's right. If we do that, we'll get blood all over the shoes and they'll be worthless." Trish pointed out. Austin looked at her with offense.
Delaney facepalms. "And Austin won't have any feet." Austin pointed at her in a sign of agreement, glaring at his other friends.
"Well, yeah, that too." Trish nodded and Delaney rolled her eyes. Sure she thought the shoes were cool and all, but in the end they were just a pair of shoes. Delaney thought they weren't worth cutting off Austin's feet and she couldn't believe the girls cared more about the shoes than Austin.
"What if we all try to pull them off together?" Ally suggested.
Everyone agreed and Austin held onto the wall, putting out his foot and after Ally grabbed onto the foot, the others grabbed onto her and they all pulled on the count of three. But on the count of three, Dez, who was at the end, lost grip and fell backwards into a nearby display. They all gasped, watching the scene with wide eyes.
"This isn't good." Delaney muttered and Finn nodded in agreement. They quickly ran over to the display as Dez stood and while they all panicked, they did their best to pick up the display. Ally picked up the head that fell off the manequin, handing it to Austin for him to put on.
Austin and Dez scream, staring at it with wide eyes and the blonde-haired boy threw the head back to Ally before he jumps into Dez's arms. Delaney rolled her eyes. "Oh my gosh. It's just a fake head." Then when Trish picked up the horse head and threw it at the two boys they screamed again. Delaney rolled her eyes and helped stable the mannequin when Trish accidentally bumped into it while Finn helped Ally set up the fence that was knocked over.
Dez sets Austin down and the two boys put the horse's head back on, but in a state of panic they put it on the human mannequin instead of the horse. When the tour guide walked back to the room with an upset look on his face, everyone quickly got into natural positions. Ally and Finn leaned against the fence while Trish had her hand on her hip and one behind her head. Dez laid on the floor in front of Austin to cover his feet, Delaney rested her elbow on Austin's shoulder, smiling nervously at the tour guide, and Austin stood still, holding onto his jacket.
"What's going on here?" The tour guide inquired.
"I didn't hear anybody crash into the exhibit." Ally nervously replies, earning a glare from Finn. She throws her arms up in the air and chuckles nervously. "What exhibit?"
The tour guide stares at the exhibit with shock. "What happened to the pony express?"
"It was always like that," Delaney scoffs, her friends nodding in agreement. "What are you talking about?"
"Uh, the curator just replaced it with this new exhibit," Ally walks over to the tour guide, turning him away from facing the exhibit and Finn signals everyone else to get the other exhibit items Austin had grabbed and for Trish to remove the sign. "About the legend of the horse-headed cowboy."
"Who?" The tour guide looked around and Delaney elbowed Austin, causing him to quickly hide the jacket and gloves behind his back.
"Um," Ally quickly turns the tour guide to face her. She glances at her friends, nodding at them to put the things back where they were. "Are you telling me you've never heard of Henry horse-head?" The five of them quietly and quickly snuck away to the movie memorial exhibit as Ally kept the tour guide distracted.
****
The six teens were now in a staff only room, trying to figure out a way to get the shoes off Austin. "Well, we've gotta do something before somebody notices the shoes are missing." Ally spoke.
"Let's not panic." Trish smiles. Delaney sits down on a crate beside Austin as Trish speaks. "If someone noticed the shoes were missing, we'd be hearing an alarm right now." Delaney shares a panicked look with Austin when an alarm starts blaring. A nervous look forms on Trish's face. "Like that one."
"Maybe it's not about the shoes." Austin said, trying to reassure himself and his friends.
"The silver shoes from 'The Wizard of Oz' have been stolen!" Someone announces over the PA system, causing the friend group to to look at each other with wide eyes. "I repeat: the silver shoes have been stolen!"
"Okay," Finn bites his lower lip nervously, glancing at Trish. "Can we panic now?"
"Okay," Dez puts his foot on a small crate. "Time for plan z."
Delaney raises her eyebrows at him. "What happened to plan a through y?"
"I just decided to go straight to the end." Dez shrugs. He points at a butter churner on top of the small crate he put his foot on. "We'll slather Austin's feet with butter from this colonial butter churner."
"That thing is two thousand years old." Ally sighs. "There's no way there's gonna be butter in there."
Dez takes his foot off the small crate and stands by the butter churner. Finn's eyes widen when Dez pulled out some butter from the butter churner. "Well, what'd you know, there's butter in the two thousand year old butter churner."
"Hey," Ally presses her lips together in a tihgt line. "Look at that."
Dez rubs his hands together to get the butter all over them, walking over to Austin, who looked at Delaney nervously before looking back at Dez. "Trust me. This is gonna work." Dez reassured him.
"See? My fingers are in. Uh oh! My fingers are stuck!" Dez shouted after he had trouble getting his hands out of the silver shoes.
Austin stands up, glaring at Dez. "Seriously? Get them out!" He started walking in place, trying to get Dez's hands out of the shoes.
"Somebody do something!" Dez shouted worriedly.
Trish picks up the pliers they all brought with them. "Don't worry." She smiles. "You'll still have about six or seven fingers left." Dez's eyes widened with fear and he screamed.
Finn chuckles, shaking his head. "Trish, you can't do that." He said, taking the pliers from her and setting it on a nearby crate.
"Sure I can. It's pretty easy." Trish smiled.
As Dez screamed, he stands quickly, his fingers getting unstuck in the process. He calms down after seeing his hands were free. He smiles, licking his fingers. "Mmm." He glances at his friends curiously. "Anyone know where I can find a two hundred year old bagel?"
Everyone rolls their eyes in response. Austin holds onto the wall for support, grunting as he tries to get the shoes off. "The shoes are still stuck." He frowns. "I give up. I'm gonna go back out there and confess."
"Just tell the museum officials it was just an innocent mistake." Trish suggests. "I'm sure they'll understand."
When the friend group walked back to the exhibit room, they were shocked to see reports and police. The tour guide was currently talking with the reporters. "We totally don't understand why anyone would steal the shoes. But whoever did it, we will hunt them down and show them no mercy," He points at the mannequin with the horse head. "Just like Henry horse-head."
"Well, we can't confess now..." Austin points out. "There's police and reporters."
"Yeah, they'd think we stole it." Delaney frowned.
"Well, at least no one thinks it's us." Ally smiled reassuringly at her friends.
The tour guide notices the group and walks over to them. "Hey!" The group yelped, all getting in different positions in an attempt to hide the shoes. Austin jumped on Dez, wrapping one arm around him and pulling his legs up. Dez wrapped his arm around Austin's waist to keep him up and Austin put his other arm on Delaney's shoulder to help him stay up. Delaney put her hands on her hips, smiling nervously at the tour guide. Ally bent down, leaning over to cover the shoes with her head and Finn and Trish stood still by each of her sides.
The tour guide points at them, staring at them suspiciously as the reporters followed him over to the group. "I saw you guys near the movie exhibits. Maybe you stole the shoes."
Dez lets go of Austin when he jumps down and as Trish walked forward, glaring at the tour guide, Ally stood which caused Austin to quickly drop his jacket he held, holding it in front of the shoes.
"How dare you?" Trish demands. She points at Austin. "This is Austin Moon, teen role model of the year."
"Yeah," Austin smiles nervously. "They don't give medals like those to people who steal stuff." He glances down, his eyes widening when he didn't have his medal. He leans over to Dez, whispering, "Dez, I need my medal."
"What medal?" Dez whispered back, earning a glare from Austin. Dez sighed, ripping the medal and handed it to Austin.
"I wasn't accusing you." The tour guide smiles nervously. "I was just wondering if you saw...Anyone suspicious."
"Uh," Ally steps forward. "The only person we saw," She puts her hand on his shoulder. "...Was you."
"Ooh." The reporters said, looking at the tour guide suspiciously.
The tour guide glances at them and nervously laughs while Ally went to stand by her friends. "Of course. I mean, I'm not a suspect." The friend group then backed out of the room quickly seeing as everyone was distracted.
****
The friend group was now back in the staff only room, trying to figure out what to do. Austin was pacing worriedly, the girls were on their phones trying to figure out a plan, Dez sat on a statue while Finn leaned against the wall with crossed arms.
Dez snaps his fingers, standing up with a grin. "What if we glue the shoes to the ground and tie Austin to the back of the tour bus and..."
Delaney looks at him with a harsh glare that made Dez step back with a slightly nervous look. "Dez, not gonna happen."
Austin nods in agreement, looking nervous about Dez's idea. "Next idea." Dez pouted and sat back on the statue.
"Well, think fast, 'cause it's all over the internet that someone stole the shoes." Ally worriedly said.
"Yeah," Trish gets up off the crate she was sitting on. "Look at the comments." She stands by Austin, showing him the comments some people have said. "'Whoever stole the shoes doesn't deserve a medal and should give it to his best friend instead'. Sys Dez in Miami." Everyone looked at Dez with annoyance.
"What? Must be another Dez in Miami." Dez smiles nervously. He chuckles, glancing at the medal Austin wore. "But he does make a good point."
"Maybe we should leave right now and head home." Ally suggests, standing up from sitting on a crate. "We'll find someone there to remove the shoes then mail them back."
"But how are we gonna hide the shoes on our way home?" Delaney inquired, getting off the crate she sat on beside Ally.
"He could just wear a bigger size of a normal shoe over them." Finn replied and Ally nodded and smiled.
"Great idea." She told him, earning a smile from him.
"Let's get out of here." Austin nodded and everyone went to walk out the door, being stopped by Trish when her phone rang.
"Ooh!" Trish excitedly said and everyone stares at her with confusion when she shushed them and made them back away. "Shh! Shh!" Ally stumbled slightly, sitting the crate when they all backed away and Finn grabbed onto her arm, helping her stay stable. When she was standing on her own, he let go of her arm, sharing a smile with her.
"This is important." Trish states before she answers the call. "Hello, this is Trish de la Rosa, superstar manager to the stars." She gasps excitedly. "Really? Oh! Really? Oh, fantabulous!" She clears her throat. "See you soon." She hung up the call and she started dancing excitedly while squealing out of excitement. Her friends looked at her with amusement and excitement.
"Trish," Finn laughs. "What's going on?"
"What's with the 'really? really?'" Ally inquired.
"And the 'fantabulous'?" Austin added.
"And the..." Dez then copied the squealing and dancing Trish did.
Trish stops dancing, grinning at her friends. "Remember that huge surprise I've been working on? Well, Austin and Delaney are going to be playing a very special VIP show tonight."
Delaney grins excitedly. "Really?"
Austin's eyes widen, looking at Trish worriedly. "But I can't. We have to leave town before anyone sees me in these shoes."
Trish points at him. "You don't have a choice. This concert is for the president of the United States!" Everyone stared at her with shock and excitement.
"Oh my gosh, I can't believe it!" Delaney squealed excitedly.
"The president?" Ally smiled.
"Are you serious? The leader of the free world wants to see us perform?" Austin asked in disbelief with a wide smile on his lips.
"Yes!" Trish replies in a cheerful tone. "He's a big fan of yours and Delaney's because you guys are such a positive role model for young people."
"Wait. What are we gonna do about the shoes?!" Austin asked in a panicked tone.
Dez puts a hand on Austin's shoulders. "Calm down! Don't freak out!" He glances at Trish. "Just to be clear, we are talking about the president of these here United States?"
Finn raises his eyebrows at him. "You know of any other United States?"
"No." Dez responds. "I just wanna make sure."
Trish looks at Dez with annoyance. "Yes." She replied to the red-haired boy.
"Okay." Dez nods, looking at Austin worriedly. "Now we can freak out. I'll go first." Then he screamed in a high-pitched tone.
"The concert for the president is an hour." Trish explains. She frowns. "We'll never get those shoes off in time."
Austin shares a worried glance with Delaney. "We can't cancel on the president." Austin glances at Dez with furrowed eyebrows. "Is that even legal?" Dez shrugged in response.
"You definitely can't perform wearing those shoes." Delaney told him.
Ally nods in agreement. "The entire planet is looking for the silver shoe stealer." She shakes her head with furrowed eyebrows. "Man, that is hard to say." Then she and Trish repeated 'silver shoe stealer' and Dez eventually joined them. Delaney and Finn rolled their eyes at their friends.
"Guys, focus!" Austin shouts, gaining everyone's attention. "Someone tell me they've got a great idea."
Dez raises his hand. "I've got a great idea!"
Austin's shoulders drop in defeat. "Okay, let me rephrase that. Someone actually have a great idea and then tell me they've got a great idea."
With a sheepish expression on his face, Dez lowers his hand. "Oh."
"Wait," Ally smiles, glancing at Finn. "We can just do what Finn suggested earlier. Have Austin wear a bigger sized shoes over the silver shoes. That way no one will know Austin was the silver shoe stealer." She groans when she said it wrong. "I thought I had it." The friend group then started to say the tricky words, trying to say it correctly.
****
(delaney's outfit for the concert)
It was now time for the concert. Austin and Delaney were getting ready to perform while Ally and Trish back stage, the three of them standing near the curtain and peeking out to look at the president. The two girls smiled at the president.
"Look at him. He looks so...Presidential." Ally commented.
President Obama was smiling and waving to everyone in the crowd and everyone happily and excitedly waved back at him. "Fingers crossed this works." Trish said with a hopeful expression on his face.
"Fingers, toes, arms, legs, and eyes." Dez chimed in, gaining the girl's attention. They turned around to face Dez, surprised to see he was sitting down, legs, arms, fingers, and eyes crossed.
Finn stands by him, nodding and raising his eyebrows. "That's impressive."
The crowd cheers when music starts playing, the lights turn on revealing Austin and Delaney standing side by side with their dancers by them on stage. The four teens get to the front of the crowd where they would watch the performance. "Some of the greatest singers in the world have performed for the president." Austin stated.
"And we're honored to be sing for him." Delaney added.
"Those are some really big shoes to fill," Austin smirks. "So I thought I'd wear some really big shoes."
Austin and Delaney then started singing 'don't look down', dancing along with their dancers. But whenever Austin kicked during one of the dance moves, his shoe flew off, causing him to panic. Delaney's eyes widened when she saw it happened and she panicked. It was going to hit the president. It was as if the shoe was flying in slow motion, heading towards the president.
"Shoe!" Dez shouts worriedly, jumping in front of President Obama to get hit with the shoe instead of him. He stands up, holding up the shoe. He smiles. "I'm alright!"
By this point the concert stopped and everyone was paying attention to what was happening. A security person holds Dez's arms behind his back, but President Obama reassures her it's okay. "No, it's okay. It's okay. He's okay." The security person let go of Dez, who walks over to his friends. His friends had walked over to where the president was standing, looking at Dez with concern.
President Obama furrows his eyebrows when he saw the silver shoe on Austin's right foot. "Is that one of the missing shoes from the museum?"
"Yes, Mr. President, it is." Austin walks over to him, looking guilty. "And here's the other one." He took off the other shoe and the crowd gasped upon seeing the other silver shoe. When Dez pretended to look shocked, his friends looked at him with annoyance.
"I was goofing around and tried them on, and when the got stuck on my feet, I didn't know what to do." Austin confesses. "I'm really sorry."
"Now this is very serious matter." President Obama said.
"I know." Austin agrees. "And I deserve to be punished." He frowns. "I guess I should give back my medal 'cause I'm a terrible role model." His friends looked at him with sympathetic smiles.
"Everyone makes mistakes but it takes a real role model to admit and accept responsibility." President Obama smiles. "Austin, you're a good kid. So as president of these here United States..." Dez looks at his friends excitedly and gasps. Delaney chuckles, smiling at Dez with amusement. "I hereby pardon you from any punishment."
Austin's eyes widen and he smiles widely while everyone cheers. "Wow! Thank you, Mr. President." Delaney smiled widely, relieved that the president didn't punish Austin.
"Thank me with a great show once we get those shoes off." President Obama told him and Austin looked shocked but happy as he fist bumped the president.
Austin turns to Delaney, who now stood by him, and they both grin at each other and fist bump each other. They walk over to the edge of the stage and sit down, hanging their legs off the edge as their friends walked over to them to talk with them. Trish walks over to the president, asking if he could pardon her from any punishment since she accidentally scratched his limo while taking a picture in the back seat. Trish didn't get any luck with getting a pardon and ended up having to pay for it.
****
Once the silver shoes were off, the concert was back on. Austin and Delaney wore matching outfits, their dancers wearing matching outfits as well. The two teens wore a wired headset microphone so they were able to sing while they danced. They stood between the dancers that surrounded them, all of them pointing in different directions. Austin is the one to start the song.
(I added both since I combined both versions!)
https://youtu.be/vdS7lQc28QM
https://youtu.be/cLrgt3OvOC0
"I'm walking on a thin line." All of them did the same dance move, acting as if their hands are tied. "And my hands are tied. Got nowhere to hide. I'm standing at a crossroads. Got nowhere to go. Feeling so exposed."
"Yeah, I'm caught," Delaney sings, walking down the ramp the same time Austin does. The dancers spread out on the walk way as two other dancers fell from the ceiling using rope they would dance with. "In between where I'm going and where I've been." As she smiled at the crowd while she sang, she missed the fact Austin was glancing at her with a soft smile. "But know there's no turning back. Yeah."
The dancers who were on the rope get on stage as the other dancers on the walkway run down the ramp, leaving just Austin and Delaney on the walkway since they had moved back there. They stood side by side, sharing a smile before they both slid down the ramp, now standing by their dancers.
"It's like I'm balanced on the edge. It's like I'm hanging by a thread, but I'm so gonna push ahead. So I tell myself. Yeah, I tell myself." Since the dancers had lined up on each side of Austin and Delaney, they now had backed up, scattered across the stage. Austin and Delaney continue to do the same dance as them as they sing the chorus. "Don't look down, down, down, down. Don't look down, down, down, down. Don't look down, down, down, down. Don't look down, down, down down. "
Austin and Delaney split up, Austin going to the right side of the stage with some dancers following him and Delaney heading to the right side of the stage with some dancers, all of them continuing to do the same dance. "It'd be so easy just to run. It'd be so easy to just give up."
Austin points over at Delaney, grinning at her. Delaney grins back at him and sings her part. "But I'm not that girl who goin' turn my back. There's no turning back."
The two teens met each other in the middle of the stage as the other dancers ran to their next positions. "No turning back."
They both face each other with soft smiles on their faces. "It's like I'm balanced on the edge." Delaney sang.
Austin grins at her. "It's like I'm hanging by a thread."
They turn away from each other, facing the crowd. "But I'm so gonna push ahead so I tell myself, yeah, I tell myself. " Austin and Delaney back up to the two hanging aerial squares that came down from the ceiling while Delaney was singing. They both held onto the bars to hang on as an aerial dancer spun them both around. "Don't look down," Delaney belts out the first down as Austin sings the rest. "Down, down, down. Don't look down, down, down, down."
The aerial dancers back away, heading over to use the red colored ropes as Austin and Delaney continue to spin, this time singing the chorus together. Meanwhile, the dancers were scattered across the stage again doing the choreography that was made for them. "Don't look down, down, down, down. Don't look down, down, down down. Don't look down, down, down, down. Don't look, down, down, down, down."
The dancers surrounded Austin and Delaney at the end, stopping the aerial squares from spinning as the two teens faced the crowd. The crowd erupted into cheers and applauds for the two teens, who both glanced over at each other with grins.
****
"Austin, Delaney, I just wanna thank you again for a wonderful show." President Obama said to the two teens after the show. He smiles. "I even saw the speaker of the house doing the funky chicken."
"Yeah, we saw that too, sir." Austin grimaces. "Wish I hadn't."
"Yeah." Delaney agreed with a grimaced expression on her face. As President Obama walks over to Dez, Austin rests his elbow on Delaney's shoulder, sharing a smile with her.
"Now, Dez, I wanna talk to you for a moment."
Dez salutes nervously. "Me, sir? What did I do?"
"Oh, don't play dumb." Trish interjects, stopping the president from speaking. "The president probably figured out you're the one who scratched his limo."
"Trish, I know it was you." President Obama told her.
Trish's eyes widen and then she glares at him. "You'll never catch me." She took off running, bumping into a security person. She chuckled nervously and fixed his jacket.
"Dez," President Obama turns to Dez with a smile. "I wanna thank you for saving me from that giant flying sneaker. And for that act of bravery, I present you with this medal." He turns to a security person who held a box of medals. He goes through all the medals, muttering, "Too nice. Too expensive. Ah, that'll do." He put a medal on Dez, one that had a red, blue, and white chain and the medal was really big.
Dez smiles widely and sniffles. He clears his throat, trying to not cry. "It was an honor, sir." He turns to the side, fist bumping the air. "Yes! I finally got a medal!" President Obama smiles, reaching his hand out to shake Dez's hand. Instead, Dez grins at him and pulls him in for a hug.
"Oh!" President Obama chuckled and hugged him back. When he turned around, the others hugged him excitedly.
"Please let me go." President Obama spoke.
"Oh, okay." Trish said and they all quickly let go, stepping away from him.
"Now I'm off to see the new exhibit about Henry, the horse-headed cowboy." President Obama said.
Ally chuckles. "Oh, you know that's just a myth, Mr. President."
"Uh, Ally," President Obama shakes his head. "Nobody likes a know-it-all."
A/N decided to change the end up a bit to make austin & delaney sing together :) i just thought that would be really cute & i thought it turned out really well! & dont look down sounds so different & a bit weird without ally's part so i wanted to add it some way
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