ChapterFifteen-Christmas Upswings

October 9th, 2007

 It's now October, and UTurn are exhausted. They're beginning to wrap up their official recording sessions for their third album. At the same time, they've begun recording their secretly written songs. All the while, they're nearing the end of filming their web series, Breaking Out of High School.

 The band's web series premiered a week earlier on the band's American website. The webisode was met with mixed reviews. The acting was good, as this was the band's acting debut. As for everything else, the writing was rushed, the choreography was rushed (it was described as "UTurn taught themselves the dance moves"), and Justin's having an accent identity crisis. There were scenes where he was speaking with an American accent, but then right afterwards, he spoke with a British accent. As for the fans, they liked the webisode, but felt it could be better.

 UTurn were at a community center, sitting in a classroom-like room. They were there because they couldn't use Beacon Hill High School during the week.

 Justin and Stacie were out getting very tall flavored ice coffees. All the other members were in the 'classroom.' Andrew was sitting with his head on a table. Alyson was sitting in front of him, stroking his hair.

 Andrew said with his head still on the table, "You like my hair, don't you?"

 Alyson replied with a smile, "Your hair is just so black. And you're smiling on that table, aren't you?"

 He laughed, "Yeah, I am. You know my hair is full of product, right?"

 "Yes, I know. My hand is all sticky."

 "Well, I only allow you to touch my sticky, sexy hair. No one else is allowed to touch my hair."

 Then Andrew lifted his head, and gave a smug grin. He wore sunglasses to cover his bloodshot eyes. He was exhausted enough to where he was sensitive to light. Everyone else was wearing sunglasses, too.

 Alyson laughed, "Someone's turning into a metro-sexual."

 Andrew gave a confused mouth as he asked, "What is that?"

 "A guy who's all into fashion and looking good, but he's straight."

 "So it's a guy who seems gay but is straight."

 "Pretty much."

 "Do I seem gay to you?"

 "Only to the haters."

 Then Alyson kissed Andrew's lips as Andrew continued being confused. Soon, Justin and Stacie entered the room. Justin called out, "Okay, your coffees are here."

 Bailey, who was sitting on a chair, asked, "Justin, where are your sunglasses? And are you hyper?"

 Justin replied, "Yup, I'm hyper. As for my sunglasses, I don't have prescription sunglasses. So now my eyes have to suffer under the light."

 Then the members started drinking their large iced coffees. After a couple of minutes, a man dressed in a suit entered the room. Amanda noticed, so she asked, "Who are you?"

 The man replied, "I'm an executive producer of the PBS station, WGBH. The name's Matthew Tindale, and as one of the executive producers, we're offering you to film a Christmas special for PBS. And we'll give you creative freedom. You can decide how you want this special to be."

 Andrew said coldly, "Sounds too good to be true."

 Alyson chimed in, "I agree. Maybe we should all visit the WGBH place."

 Matthew then gave the UTurn members his business card, and then he left. Stacie asked, "So when do we go to WGBH?"

 As Alyson was about to answer, one of the film crew college students entered the room. He said rudely, "Hey, we gotta start filming. Why are you all wearing sunglasses?"

 Andrew replied with sarcasm, "It's to protect you guys from our new laser eyes."

 The guy looked at them weirdly. Andrew said with a snarky attitude, "Ever heard of 'sarcasm,' or were you living under a rock?"

 Then Justin said to the guy, "Don't bring up another stupid British stereotype, and yes, he's more sarcastic than I am."

 Andrew told Justin, "Well, I'm mostly English. That's something."

 "True." Then Justin turned to Andrew with irritation, and said, "You're not even British!"

 Andrew said, also with irritation, "Okay, fine, I'm American English. Happy?"

 Justin thought for a moment, then he said, "Good enough."

 Alyson then changed the subject, "Well, we actually have to visit a TV station here. So we'll be back."

 Then the UTurn members started walking out of the room. As they were walking, Andrew took off his sunglasses, and got into the guy's face. The guy backed off when he saw Andrew's red eyes. Then Andrew walked off as he put on his sunglasses.

 After several minutes, UTurn arrived at the WGBH TV studios, they were reunited with Matthew. (This time, they took off their sunglasses.) He led the band to a group of producers. It soon become real to the members that a local PBS station wanted to produce a Christmas special; despite the fact that the band has become somewhat controversial.

 The UTurn members went into an empty conference room to talk. Alyson spoke first, "Okay, is this legit? Can we do this special?"

 Justin replied quickly, "Yea-and-we'll-be-huge-and-more-famous!!!"

 Andrew asked, "How many ventis did you drink?"

 Justin said nervously, "Erm, two?"

 Bailey then said, "Well, I think doing this special would help us."

 Andrew said, "Yeah, and with the right screenwriters, the special could be our real acting break."

 "Yeah, and we could use the songs from that Christmas EP we're releasing on iTunes next week."

 Alyson commented, "We just need to run this by Maurice, and see if he'll agree to this."

 Andrew cautioned, "We'll see if he'll agree to this. Knowing him, he won't. Then what do we do?"

 Alyson, without much thought, said, "Then we take offer without his approval. We're already booking nightclubs for next month as some 'new, unknown' band. If we can get away with recording our songs and going on a secret tour, then we can get away with this."

 With that, the members gave determined smiles.

 "No, you're not doing the special."

 Maurice said this to the UTurn members. Andrew argued, "Why not? Filming this special would really show off our acting better than that f*cked up web series we're currently filming."

 Alyson chimed in, "Yeah, and we get to have creative freedom. Look at Andrew! Back in third grade, he co-wrote, produced, and acted in a school Christmas play. He was that good, and with all of our creative minds, we can produced something decent."

 As Andrew was about to speak, Maurice stopped him, "I said 'no,' and that's final. And Andrew, I'm aware of your bullying past. You're not gonna bully into this."

 Andrew asked with suspicion, "How'd you know about that?"

 "Do you remember that MySpace page detailing your bullying past that I ordered it to shut down?"

 "Yeah..."

 "That page was so detailed that there was no way to deny anything. Besides, I read you would bully people much older than yourself. So don't think you can tell a me or anyone else what to do."

 With that, Andrew glared at Maurice in silence. Within seconds, he spoke coldly, "I may have bullied everyone, including those who were older than me, but I'm 'bullying' for the right reasons now. It's not because I'm mad at my parents, it's not because I want power, and it's not because I'm insecure about myself. I'm doing this for UTurn, the band that's worth fighting for."

 Then the members walked out of the office, but Andrew stayed in the doorway. He turned to face Maurice, and said with a smirk, "Oh, and in case you're wondering, I was already experienced in theatre by the time I was in third grade. That's why I was good for an 8-year-old."

 With that, Andrew left.

 After the meeting, UTurn returned to the WGBH TV station. They, once again, met with Matthew. He asked them, "So, anything good?"

 Alyson smiled as she replied hastily, "Yup. We're doing the special, and we have a great idea for our real acting debut."

 Matthew grinned as he said, "Great! I'll just contact your manager-"

 "That won't be necessary. We already talked with him, and he's cool with it."

 Matthew looked at her suspiciously, but then he said, "Okay, I'll take your word for it. We'll talk about the concept tomorrow if that's okay with you."

 Andrew smiled, "That's fine with us."

 When the UTurn members started to leave the station, Amanda got a call from her new boyfriend, Stan. He had been calling her all day, but she was ignoring him. She finally answered him, but rudely, "What is it, Stan?"    

 Stan demanded, "What's going on with you and your little group? You all were supposed to be filming your web series!"

 "Look, we've been busy running around, trying to get stuff settled. We are getting back to the set as we speak, so just wait."

 With that, Amanda hung up. The members saw this, so Andrew asked, "Who was that?"

 "Stan," Amanda replied, "he was calling me all day. I had to tell him that we'll be back on set to film the series right now."

 Then Andrew asked bitterly, "Why are you with that dick?"

 "Andrew..."

 "No! He made you an emo in this web series! You deserve better than that."

 With that, Amanda's eyes widened. Then she shook it off, and said, "Look, I know Stan can be a jerk, and I know you bullied him back in grade school, but he can be nice...when he wants to be."

 Then Amanda walked away as everyone else stared at Andrew. Libby asked him suspiciously, "Are you jealous, Andrew?"

 Andrew's face grew red as he replied hastily, "Look, I just care about her. As a friend and band-mate. That's all."

 Then he walked away. Libby turned to Alyson, and asked, "Doesn't it seem weird to you that Andrew is getting all worked up over Amanda dating Stan?"

 Alyson scoffed at Libby, and walked away. Soon, all the other members followed her.