ChapterNineteen-Abrupt End

January 14th, 2008

    It's now January of 2008. UTurn had been busy with projects. They had their final secret nightclub performance in Hollywood. They were known as "Last 1s." They performed on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve 2008. They performed three songs: Our Love, Letting You Go, and premiered Starting Over. They secretly filmed a low-budget music video for their third up-coming single, Rebellion. They decided to release this one internationally ahead of their North American single, Starting Over, and their Eastern European single, Zero Degrees.

    Now they're filming their new TV series, United States of UTurn. They had just finished filming the pilot episode. The band actually liked their series better their web series, Breaking Out of High School. The writing was much better; their choreographer gave them dance routines; and their "exaggerated" characters were a lot closer to their real selves.

    As the band were taking a break from filming the second episode, they all got a text from Maurice for an emergency meeting. They soon left the set, and went to Hollywood Records.

  Once they arrived, they saw cold-faced Maurice. He held a folder and a laptop. He opened the laptop. On the screen was a YouTube page with a listing of UTurn's nightclub performances. Then he opened a folder. In it were photos, written reports, and the band's mixtape CD, Rebellion.

    He asked them in a stiff voice, "Care to explain?"

   The members looked at photos. The photos were from their nightclub concerts in Beverly Hills and Hollywood. Then they scanned the written reports. These reports were describing how UTurn had different aliases and performed songs the secretly wrote and recorded.

    "Well?" he pressed.

    Andrew then spoke up, "Look, we had to do this. You're not letting us have any creative freedom. You're forcing us to have two f*cked up images that are either kiddy or porno."

   Maurice was silent for a moment, but he said to the band sternly, "Clean out both of your LA house and Boston house. I hereby dissolve UTurn."

    With that, the members were shocked. Then Alyson retorted, "You can't do this to us!"

  "I already have. I'm canceling the release of Zero, and all scheduled promotions. I'll be terminating the filming of United States of UTurn. Starting Wednesday, you will record two songs for your greatest hits album."

    Then Alyson gave Maurice a piece of her mind: "Do you know why UTurn was created by us? We were just ordinary high schoolers, but we wanted something different in our lives. I wanted to break out of my usual mean yet popular Jewish Christian girl act. Andrew wanted to end his double life by becoming a popstar instead of acting like a brainy jock who bullied his way into everything. Bailey and Justin wanted out of their boring lives. That's why the four of us formed UTurn. Even the name reflects that desire for something different.

   "As we added more members, we realized they had the same reasons as we did...except for Ethan, Libby, and Amanda, but even they changed. Riley want be a pop singer. Stacie wanted stay with her friends. Trevor wanted to live for something. Amanda, at first, joined so she could get back with Andrew. Now? She changed her attitude. Libby wormed her way into the band, thanks to you and Ethan. But she saw the band as an escape from her promiscuity. As for Ethan, he never changed.

    "When were signed, we had a lot more say in the band. Hell, we even became the new American S Club 8, and we actually gain some success with that concept. But soon you started controlling us. We couldn't speak out against you because you threaten to split us up."

   Then Alyson's voice started breaking as she was about to cry, "You didn't create UTurn; we did! You can try to split us up, but you won't! We're going to stay until we get signed and have some creative freedom!"

   With that, Alyson stormed out of the boardroom. Andrew followed her to the lobby. He saw her crying, so he held her. At that moment, he forgot about his secret relationship with Amanda.

    Then she cried to him, "It's all over, Andrew! We fought so hard, and now we've lost everything!"

   Andrew, who was tearing up, croaked, "It's not over, Alyson. We're going to keep fighting for UTurn. This band changed our lives, and we won't give up on it. I love you, Aly."

    "I love you too, Andrew."

    Then the two kissed, and they hugged each other tightly. The future of UTurn is dark. Is this really the end of UTurn...or is it just the beginning?