PartTwo:The Comeback

ChapterSeven:Mind the Boy with The Black Hair

FLASHBACK-Monday, September 8, 2003

Alex sat in Seth's office. He glanced at Caleb who was sitting next to him in another chair. He knew Caleb called for this meeting. Why? Alex wasn't sure. He could only hope it wasn't because of the rumors that he found on a fan forum. He knew Caleb looked over his shoulder a few days earlier. He closed the laptop, not quickly enough before Caleb questioned him.

Seth asked, "Caleb, what's going on?"

"It's Alex," he replied.

Seth glanced at Alex, which made him feel somewhat uneasy. Please don't tell him about that forum.

Caleb explained, "He has too many parts on our Nightfall album. He's getting loads of fans. It's getting to his head."

"Oh?" Seth asked.

Alex looked at Caleb, shocked to hear this. Sure, he gained more parts on juniorConnect's upcoming album. He worked with the band's vocal coach to help him with his vocals. The extra training was in his favor as he had whole stanzas dedicated to him; even held lead harmonies in the choruses. He even recorded his own solo track! If things were to continue, he might be next to Sarah as the second male vocalist. It also helped that he had a growing legend of fans.

He didn't mind. He was okay with that possibility. Anything to be known more than just the dancer of the band. He didn't mind that role either, but still.

Caleb said, "Yeah, he thinks he's all that just because he's getting more parts and more fans."

Alex wanted to protest this, defend himself, but felt his mouth was taped shut. He was scared of both Seth and Caleb. Caleb was clearly the front-man of the group with obvious connections to the band's teams. It was enough to make his bandmate quite powerful.

Alex was taken out of his thoughts when Seth asked, "Alex, is this true?"

He stammered, "No, it's not."

Seth said, "Look, you're both very popular. You two are the heartthrobs of Connect8. It was bound to happen. You both just have to share the spotlight. Faye and Sarah are; and so are Holly and Diana. If they can all get along, so can you two. Okay?"

"Yes, sir," Caleb replied.

"Anything else? You have your interview this afternoon for Radio1."

"Yeah, actually," Caleb began, making Alex feel his face warming up. "Alex has rumors about him, saying that he might be gay."

Seth chuckled, seemingly uncomfortable with this. "I'm sure it comes with the territory of his rising popularity."

"Are you sure? I mean, he just barely got a girlfriend."

"Caleb," he said somewhat sternly, "if Alex does something unusual in public, I'll talk to him. In the meantime, you two go get ready for your interview."

Caleb got up from his chair, seemingly smug by all this. Alex, on the other hand, felt anger creeping inside of him. How dare Caleb assume Alex was gay? He wasn't at all! He knew that! So why would Caleb do this?

"Alex?" Seth asked. "Is everything okay?"

He replied shortly, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Alex got up from his chair, walking out of the office. He stormed up to Caleb, grabbing his shoulder to face him.

He demanded, "What the hell was that, Caleb?"

Seemingly confused, Caleb asked, "What do you mean?"

"Why did you tell him that I was full of myself? That I was gay? You know none of that is true!"

Caleb crossed his arms, and said, "Look, you're getting too popular. Give yourself another year, and you'll surpass both me and my fans."

"But you're already front and center of the group! You're the better singer than me! You have all the girls screaming for you!"

"So do you," he scoffed.

"I'm not going to 'surpass' you!"

Caleb got into his face, and said in a threatening tone, "Alex, you need to take a step back or two. You're the dancer, not the singer. You weren't even chosen to be in the band in the first place. Besides, the way you act is weird. Even your music tastes are weird. It's only a matter of time before people start saying you're gay. Hell, they're already saying that."

Alex glared at him as he pushed Caleb away. He scolded, "You know I'm not, Caleb! Stop saying crap like that!"

"Tell that to your new guy fans drooling over you," Caleb shot at him.

Alex stood there, shocked as he watched Caleb walking away towards the exit. He wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't going to back down. He wasn't going to let Caleb, or Seth for that matter, push him to the back.

If he was going to keep working to become the second male vocalist, he will do that.

                                                                                   >>>>>>>>>

PRESENT DAY-Monday, September 26, 2005

Music played in the recording booth, bars lighting up on one of the screens. It was an urban-dance track, filled with a combination of hip-hop beats and synthesizers. In the other side of the booth was Alex, singing the chorus of the song like there was no tomorrow.

The official third album of Connect8 was nearing the final stages. The pre-order of their comeback single, Involved, was available with sales shooting through the roof. It was a highly anticipated single, despite the absence of Caleb, Faye, Holly, and Rachel. Having Alex front and center of the single cover may have been what saved the band from a possible flop.

The producer stopped the song, and said in the intercom, "Great job, Alex. You're done for now. We'll continue after your meeting with Seth."

Alex nodded his head as he took off the headphones. Today was a band meeting with Seth at the Telegram Records office nearby. It was a walk, not too far away. He wasn't sure why they couldn't meet at his Number9 Entertainment place, but he didn't care.

He walked into the lobby where his bandmates were waiting for him. He put on his black jacket that he used to rock when he was fifteen. It still fit him, but it was slowly becoming tight around his forearms. He hadn't been working out that crazy. Maybe it was due to age.

As he walked towards the entrance, Jerrod said to him, "I'm surprised your jacket still fits you."

"You and me both," he said. "It's one of my favorites."

"Also your fans' favorite."

"It's any wonder our teams finally starting marketing me as the 'bad boy' of Connect8. I swear it's this jacket, my hair color and style, and my eye color."

"You should see that guy from UTurn then."

Alex made a distorted face. He knew some of his bandmates didn't particularly like Andrew and Alyson. Even Diana was adamant about not meeting UTurn. He knew why. Those videos of the couple, or at least he assumed they were, bullying their classmates. He didn't like their behavior either, but he couldn't stop watching Andrew's coming out video.

He tried to shake off his actions of looking up Andrew's photos, his interviews, and his songs. The guy with the raven black hair, the bright blue eyes, and his double lip piercings was truly the bad boy of UTurn.

Alex mentally shook his head. He wasn't into this troubled guy. Hell, he wasn't into guys! He knew he wasn't! So why did this Andrew guy occupy his mind?

No, he doesn't like Andrew in anyway. At all. Nope! If none of his bandmates liked that guy, he didn't either.

As Connect8 walked towards the Worldwide Music Group building with their bodyguards, Alex saw UTurn walking out from the same building. Wait, UTurn?

Alex blinked, making sure what he was seeing was real. No, they were there with some middle-aged man. They had no bodyguards. They all dressed relatively casual in their tees and jeans, with the exception of Alyson. She was the only one in a miniskirt and tall boots, as if she was emulating Connect8. The influence was clearly strong on that girl.

He saw the American band stare at his direction. Alyson moved a bit, but was pulled back by Andrew. He could somewhat hear what they were saying:

"Not now," Andrew told her.

Alyson said, "I'm this close to meeting my favorite band in the world."

"I know. But we need to act professional. We're supposed to be popstars like them. We can't just walk up to them. They even got bodyguards. We don't even have that yet."

It seemed that Andrew had some sense in him. The guy's hair was styled in messy spikes; his outfit included a black denim jacket. Everything on him looked perfect.

No! He didn't feel anything for that guy who only cause trouble in his school.

He stopped walking he caught the rocker blonde girl staring at him. Her mouth was opened, as if she was stunned by his existence. She wore black jeans that seemed glued to her thighs; and a tee with the words "My Chemical Romance" splattered all over it. He assumed it must be some band he would never listen to. Her blonde hair seemed it was dyed a lighter color than usual, paired with black streaks and mini-braids scattered about.

He figured that was Amanda, the girl who was in a rock band prior to UTurn. He checked out their music. Their songs had a mixture of love, rebellion, dark themes, and politics. The political stuff was sung by the red-head guy, Derrick. He even looked into Derrick's MySpace account, which was filled with harsh criticisms towards the American president, from his handling with the Iraq War to Hurricane Katrina. They were all warrant, some of them he even agreed with, but it was too much for Alex.

She was unusual, someone he'd never really see in the pop music scene in Britain. The closest ones he had seen were Girls Aloud, but they didn't stay in their rebellious concept for very long. He was sure Amanda will probably out-grow that phase.

Then again, the flashy rocker concept was something UTurn was doing. From their outfits to their music having a combination of rock and dance was enough to differentiate them from Connect8. Alex kind of admired UTurn for doing that.

He felt his back being pushed by one of his bandmates. He turned to see it was Diana pushing him. It reminded him that there was a meeting. Maybe one of these days he'll meet UTurn, but as of now, it wasn't the time. Even Andrew said so, and he was speaking to Alyson.

One day.

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Coming to SoundCloud this September