✨the other side of hollywood✨
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Annie was getting so worried. It was a little past nine and the guys still haven't shown up yet. She was praying they weren't still getting revenge on Bobby because she would be so disappointed in them. Reggie promised her he wouldn't let her down, but promises aren't always kept. She knows from experience, she's used to it.

"You ready for AJ and The Phantoms!"

Annie felt her stomach turn at the mention of the band and held her stomach, trying to calm herself down. She did not want to face the humiliation of having to tell the whole school that the band won't be playing tonight, especially when they were supposed to sing her song. A song about facing her fears and growing up, not being humiliated, and being a coward.

All Annie wanted to do was go home and cry herself to sleep. She doesn't want to see any of the boys' faces again, they disappointed her and let her down. Reggie broke his promise and broke Annie's heart, just like her father and Ricky.

The crowd cheered at Flynn, who was announcing the band. Annie held her stomach and felt her worry grew even more.

"Great! Keep that fire 'cause that's later. We're a bit behind schedule but don't worry just enjoy these mind-blowing beats." The crowd cheered again as Flynn increased the volume before she spotted Annie and Julie and went over to them backstage.

"AJ and the Phantoms?" Julie asked Flynn.

"I had some free time in French Class. And you both better like it because I registered it on Insta, Snapchat, Twitter..."

"No, we love it," Annie interrupted Flynn.

"But we'd love it even more if the actual Phantoms were here," Julie continued and Annie nodded before Flynn pointed behind them. Julie turned and saw Nick walk in, which cued Annie and Flynn to leave them alone.

Annie didn't want to show her face on stage, so she walked to the dance floor in hopes of finding her other friends. To her dismay, she bumped into Ricky and he didn't let her by.

"Annie," he smiled and Annie mentally groaned and gave him a friendly smile.

"Ricky," she chuckled at him and moved back a little. "You're here."

"Wouldn't miss it," he grinned.

"Thought you had other plans?" Annie asked him, folding her arms.

"Canceled them," he remarked. "would rather listen to you sing than some football game I could have gone to see."

"Really? cuz I remember you saying on Snapchat, you wouldn't miss the game for the world?" Annie smugly told him and Ricky chuckled. "Lying again, huh?"

"Not entirely," he chuckled and Annie rolled her eyes. "It got canceled, so I'm here."

"And the truth is finally out," Annie scoffed, "took way too long."

"Still on about the lying thing," Ricky chuckled.

"Keep it funky, y'all!" Flynn announced and Annie sighed with relief, making her escape when Ricky got distracted by Flynn's voice when he cheered with the crowd.

Annie made her way backstage again and the boys still hadn't shown up.

"Julie," Annie whined to her and Julie shrugged, twiddling her fingers. "Where are they?"

"I don't know," she remarked with nervousness in her voice.

"It's my dad and Ricky all over again," Annie softly said and Julie put her arm around her, comforting it.

"I'm sorry, Annie," Julie sighed.

——

The dance had continued for two hours and the boys still hadn't shown up. Annie was done, she wanted to go home. Reggie lied to her and left her alone, she had given up.

Annie wasn't crying, but she was about to. The only thing holding back her tears was her makeup. She spent two hours on it and no boy was gonna make her cry it off.

Flynn walked over to both girls, who were sitting down with all hope lost.

"I can only stall for so long. It's eleven o'clock," Flynn told them. "I think you two should just play by yourselves. I mean, holograms or no holograms, you'll be amazing."

"You saw us the other day! We can't play without them," Julie exclaimed, keeping her comforting arm around Annie. "They'll be here. They have to."

"If they don't show up soon, I'm gonna go home," Annie mumbled. "I'm so done."

"Annie, don't give up," Julie told her and Flynn gave Annie a sad look.

"Already did," Annie sighed. "Reggie promised me."

"And he's gonna keep that promise," Julie told her as Flynn walked back to her DJ position.

"Looking good, Bobcats!" Flynn yelled into the microphone.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," Annie told Julie as she stood up and wiped her eye to see a tear had slipped out.

"Don't do anything stupid," Julie told her before Annie walked off. "I'm serious!"

Annie didn't respond and walked away to the bathrooms.

Annie left the bathroom a few minutes later and saw Nick on stage, holding the microphone. She rushed backstage to meet Julie, who was watching in horror.

"Uh..." Annie said with concern as Nick spoke.

"We fixed the hologram thing! Who wants to see a show?!" Nick announced and Annie's mouth fell open with her heart dropping to her stomach as the crowd cheered loudly.

"What?!" Annie exclaimed and Julie gave her a speechless look, "I left for five minutes!"

"Now... give it up... AJ and the Phantoms!"

Flynn looked backstage at the girls, who were in shock and not prepared at all. Nick gestured the girls to join him on stage and they reluctantly trudged out. Nick handed a mic to Julie and one to Annie, before rushing off to let them take the stage.

"Hi!" Both girls greeted and scattered laughing was heard.

"So, here's the thing," Julie chuckled. "Even though we got the machine fixed, thanks to Nick..."

The crowd cheered for Nick, who was standing at the front of the crowd.

"We can't seem to link up with the guys," Annie continued.

"Wi-fi, am I right?" Julie grinned, trying to make it amusing, but it didn't work and the crowd wasn't amused.

Annie felt so humiliated and hurt right now. She was biting her tongue, trying not to cry. This was her worst fear right here, getting left alone and humiliated.

"We're sorry," Annie managed to get out, holding back her tears.

"We're gonna have to cancel," Julie finished and the crowd gasped in shock with overlapping questions.

And to make things worse, Carrie walked onto the stage and Annie moved back a few feet.

"Um... anybody know the Heimlich?" Carrie walked and Annie gave her a hard glare, "Annie and Julie are choking."

The crowd laughed at her joke and Annie watched the crowd laugh at her. She couldn't hold it back anymore, tears slipped out and she couldn't feel more humiliated.

"Only one way to save this dance," Carrie smirked at the girls as she approached them and stole the microphone. "Who wants to see Dirty Candy?"

The crowd cheered at her and Carrie went to play the music, but Flynn stopped her and took off the switch.

"Oops! Knobs broken!" Flynn shrugged and the crowd gasped at her, which made Annie grin.

"Okay, two can play at this game," Carrie remarked, bitterly. "Party at my house!"

The crowd erupted into cheers and laughter as Carrie dropped the microphone and walked off. Carrie stopped when she saw Nick, who looked at Julie for a second before taking Carrie's hand and following her. Carrie gestured to the crowd, who cheered and followed her out of the gymnasium.

Annie's eyes scanned the room and spotted Ricky, who was looking up at her. Their eyes met and he gave her a sympathetic look, before following the crowd.

Annie shook her head in dismay and looked down with sorrow. Flynn put her arms around both girls and walked them to the front of the stage.

"Well, that kind of backfired," Flynn mentioned and Annie chuckled through her tears.

"No kidding."

The girls spotted a boy and a girl stand up and start slow dancing together.

Flynn saw this and gestured to them, "I mean, the whole night wasn't a bust. The new guy found someone."

The girl was fairly taller than the boy and it was a sweet interaction to watch.

"Man, little man has game!" Flynn smiled and Julie and Annie rested their heads on her shoulders. "Annie, stop crying. Your makeup is running."

"Dang it!" Annie sniffled.

"No boy should make you cry," Flynn told her.

"It's not that," Annie told her, wiping her tears. "It's just the humiliation and how horrible it felt. I hate that."

"I know, sweetie," Flynn told her and sighed. "Don't worry, ice cream and Disney movies will make it all go away."

"Good," Julie and Annie said and the three girls laughed.

——

The night went on and the girls were still at the dance, or what was the dance, popping the balloons. It was past midnight and Annie was taking out every emotion she had on the balloons. If she has to face Reggie or any of the guys, she'll cry or yell or something. She doesn't know what to do. She can't hit them.

"We can never show our faces at this school again," Julie sighed.

"I'm gonna ask my mom to homeschool me," Annie mentioned and Flynn nudged her arm.

"That's what we get for depending on boys," Flynn remarked.

"Thank goodness I'm bisexual," Annie chuckled.

"I don't know if I should be mad or worried," Julie sighed. "They're ghosts. I don't know what kind of trouble they can get into."

"Whatever it is, it better be a freaking good excuse for ditching us," Annie bitterly said as she popped a balloon.

"Imma get us some ice cream from the cafeteria," Flynn suggested, showing the keys. "Fools gave me the keys."

"Get me cookies and cream," Annie told Flynn, who nodded at her.

"We can crash at my place and forget about this whole nightmare," Flynn offered before popping a balloon and walking off.

"Get me two! Of everything!" Julie called.

"Cookies and cream is mine!" Annie yelled and Julie nudged her arm.

And just when things couldn't get any worse, in ran in Luke, Reggie, and Alex. Annie's heart fell at the sound of Reggie's voice.

"Annie and Julie! We are ready to rock this dance..." Reggie's voice trailed when he saw the empty gymnasium, "which is clearly over."

Alex noticed the girls and gestured to them, which made Luke and Reggie turn to them. Julie and Annie stood up and Annie couldn't even bear to make eye contact with Reggie. Reggie's heart shatter when he saw Annie's face and tears.

"Look, we are...so so sorry that we bailed on you two,"  Luke apologized and Annie rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I mean, the night really got away from us," Alex added.

"And the twins," Reggie muttered and Annie looked at him with confusion and hurt. Now Annie was fully heartbroken and felt even more stupid. She knew Reggie didn't like her, only played her. She knew it.

Luke hit his arm and Reggie spotted a hurt Annie, who was holding her arms to her chest. He cursed to himself for saying that and hit his head.

"Just please tell me it had nothing to do with you getting back at Carrie's dad?" Julie asked them.

Luke scoffed, "Pfft!"

"No! We wouldn't do that!" Reggie chuckled and Annie glared at him, knowing they were lying.

"Of course not!" Alex smiled, lying as well.

"Us? No!" Luke shook his head.

"Seriously?" Annie choked out and Reggie's face fell when he heard her voice, "you're lying to us?"

The boys were silent for a moment before Alex said something.

"Look, it was something we needed to do," Alex reasoned and Annie shook her head.

"B-but we'll do whatever it takes, we'll play the next school-"

"What?" Julie cut Luke off, "another dance where you can bail on us and make us look like a fool? You made Annie cry," Julie pointed at Reggie, who looked down with regret and Annie looked away, shaking her head. "Save it."

"You know what really sucks?" Annie sniffled, "our songs were good. and all three of you know what we've been through and how tough it's been for us to play and then you do this?! Bands don't do that to each other."

"Friends don't do that to each other," Julie continued, taking Annie's hand. "This was a mistake."

"You mean the school dance, right?" Luke asked and Annie scoffed.

"No," Julie objected. "I mean joining a band with you guys."

Julie let go of Annie's hand and ran out of the gymnasium, ignoring the boys' calls.

"Hope you had fun with the twins," Annie bitterly told Reggie, before she followed Julie.

"Annie!" Reggie called and Annie shook her head, blinking her tears away.

Annie knew this was too good to be true. Nothing lasts forever and nothing good that Annie has had lasted forever. It always ends badly and this proves it.

——
Up Next: finally free

wooo! it's been a few months haha! sorry, i didn't update for so long! i had ideas and other books ideas and then i got bust with college and dance. a lot happened in the last few months. i started a new book called eyes wide open and it's a big time rush book, which you can go read if you're interested. im already at season 2, so please go read it if you haven't already! i would really appreciate it!

i plan on finishing this book soon because there is only one season atm, so it would be nice to finish season 1 and wait for season 2. would be less stressful for me and i can focus on my other books as well. so many ideas for this book and with annie and her backstory and with annie and reggie too. so annie is upset with reggie right now and reggie is gonna try to regain her trust again. we'll see how that goes. i have ideas for that in the next chapter, so stay tuned!

so happy i'm writing this book again! i love this show so much and can't wait to finish it off. also, cant wait to see annie and whatever her relationship with caleb is because they have one hehe :)

see ya in the next chapter!