CHAPTER SEVEN
━━━━ season one, episode seven

managers and meatballs!
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Adelaide sat on the piano behind Dez, but next to Austin, with their eyes on Ally who stood in front of them with her own stand to lay her book open on before tapping her miniature gavel on it twice and beamed. "All right, it's time for our weekly team Austin meeting. Trish is late as usual, so I'll just call the meeting to order." She looked down at the stand and resumed tapping her gavel on it multiple times to express her enjoyment, until she finally stopped. "Man, I love gaveling."

"We know." Adelaide chuckled, happy enough to see a smile on her sister's face before she glanced over towards the entrance doors to see Trish walk in with a tennis racket and a tennis ball machine before announcing. "Guess who got a job at It's a Racket?"

Dez stood up from the piano bench, and held his arms out to the sides as he looked at the girl with furrowed eyebrows. "The tennis store?" He asked before shrugging. "Why would they hire you? You stink at tennis."

"You're right. But I don't stink at this." Trish said before starting the tennis ball machine that was aimed at Dez, and one by one, the balls began to shoot out towards Dez and hit him.

Seeing this, Austin was quick to jump down from the piano before moving in front of Dez to protect his friend. "Hey! Don't do that to my friend!" And when Trish looked at him, he added. "Without doing it to me too!" The blonde held his arms out so that Trish could start hitting him with tennis balls, making the boys, Adelaide and Trish join together in laughter.

Being the only one objecting to this activity, Ally walked behind the counter, interrupting. "Guys, come on! Turn that off!" She started gaveling on the counter, not being able to stop even when the tennis ball machine had been turned off.

"Ally." Adelaide had jumped down from the giant piano and walked towards the counter when Ally finally stopped and looked up apologetically once she realised she got distracted again. "Oh, sorry. All right, first order of business. Progress report. I just finished a great new song. Austin?"

"Addy and I came up with some sweet new dance moves." Austin grinned before he stepped to the side and used the free space to show off the new dance moves that they had come up with during choreography. He stopped and looked over at his dancing partner with a grin. "Did I do good?"

Adelaide didn't know why he was asking her, yet she gave him a response anyway by sending him two thumbs up and a smile that reassured him he did well.

"Love it!" Ally interjected, viewing her opinion on the dance moves before turning to the redhead in hope that the positive feedback that she received could continue. "Dez, what's up with our next video?"

"I don't want to give too much away," Dez started off before listing off what he needed. "but, I'm gonna need a helicopter, a giraffe and a red pen."

"No, no and uh, here." Ally handed him a red pen and he took it, letting her carry on as she turned around to face her best friend, the manager of the team. "Trish, manager report. Whatcha got?"

"Well..." Trish trailed off before quickly resuming to what she was going to say, but that didn't stop Adelaide from narrowing her eyes in suspicion as she could tell from the first word she spoke, she was lying. "you know, I've got some music stuff in the works and some video stuff and a bunch of other stuff too."

"Wow. That's a lot of stuff." Dez pointed out.

Trish smiled and turned around to look at Austin as he asked. "What about the Miami Jam-A-Thon next weekend? Have you booked me yet?"

"I'm working on it, I swear." Trish said in attempt to reassure the blonde for now.

Ally nodded with a smile. "Okay, great! Now time to read Austin's fan emails." She looked at the laptop screen, furrowing her brows in confusion as she read the first email. "Turn the tennis ball launcher back on?" She looked up at Dez with a knowing expression. "Dez, did you write this?"

With a phone in his hand, he turned back around to face her and chuckled nervously. "No."

"Austin Moon, just the man I'm looking for." The team turned around at the new voice, seeing a woman walk in before she took off her jacket and threw it behind her for one of her assistants, they assumed, to pick it up for her. "I saw your last webcast online and I think you're going to be a star."

"Awesome!" Austin smiled before tilting his head in confusion. "Who are you?"

"Demonica Dixon. I manage seven of the top ten acts on the pop charts." She introduced herself to the blonde before her bluetooth earphone rang and she tapped it to answer. "Hello. Rihanna? Great." She hung up before turning to Austin and corrected. "Make that eight. How'd you like to be nine?"

"I kinda like being fifteen 'cause when I was nine I had chicken pox." Austin explained, receiving a strange look from Adelaide. Just as she went to clarify what Demonica meant, the woman spoke first. "I mean I want to represent you."

"Whoa, whoa," Trish instantly stepped in front of Austin to object. "I'm Austin's manager. Slow your roll, lady."

"Yeah, please obey the speed limit on your roll, lady." Ally echoed, stepping closer to the woman who gave her a look when she stopped. "Miss Dixon. We're happy with our friend, Trish."

"Oh, how sweet. You're represented by your friend." Demonica pouted, speaking in baby talk before changing her tone. "But it's called show business, not show friendness. Oh. Write that down." She snapped her fingers, indicating for one of her assistants to do it.

But, Dez didn't get that message when he stepped out from behind Ally, writing down on his hand with a red pen as he looked at Demonica. "Is 'friendness' two words or...?"

"Not you, Dez." Adelaide said, making him wipe the ink off his hand before putting the pen away.

"The point is if I'm Austin's manager, he'll be one of the biggest stars on Earth." Demonica promised before snapping her fingers. "Visual aid." Her other assistant pulled out a globe next to her and span it around.

"Wow, that would make me so happy." The Moon boy said before clicking his fingers, imitating the woman. "Visual aid." He pointed to his face as he smiled.

"Austin, ignore her. She's clearly all talk. If she was any kind of real manager, she'd be wooing you over a fancy gourmet lunch."

"Oh, you mean like this?" Demonica snapped her fingers and called out. "Lunch!" More assistants pulled a table into Sonic Boom, filled with fancy food.

However, Trish still wasn't impressed. "What, no music?" She scoffed at the woman who once again, clicked her fingers. "Music!" She called out, leading for an orchestra to appear by the table, playing music on their instruments.

This caused Trish to worry, knowing her manager role is now put on edge since Demonica and her minions were proving to be a better management team for Austin.

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While the orchestra continued to play music, the team were now sat at the table eating, apart from Trish who stood next to Demonica with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Hate to break it to you, Demonica, but you can't be having lunch here. The twins have a strict no eating in the store rule. Right, twins?" The De La Rosa girl looked over to her friends, expecting for them to agree with her, but instead, received a confused reaction from both of them as they were too focused on the food in their hands. "Hmm?"

Austin wiped his mouth with a napkin before he smiled at the woman. "Thanks, Demonica. This is the best meal I've ever had." He mentioned, and received an offended look from the girl next to him. "And the time we both made chocolate chip pancakes wasn't, no?" She scoffed.

"Shhh. Eat your strawberries." Austin said while shoving one into her mouth. She glared at him in return upon seeing the innocent smile on his face before looking over at Dez when he picked at his lobster, speaking up. "Mine's a little tough."

"You're supposed to take the meat out of the shell." Demonica informed.

"Oh..." Dez did as she said, but instead of the boy eating the meat as they expected, he bit into the shell. "Much better."

"So, Austin," Demonica turned to the blonde and asked. "what do you say? Are you ready to sign with Team Demonica?"

"I have Team Austin." He stated and looked at all of his friends while explaining. "Ally writes the songs, Addy choreographs the videos while Dez directs them, and Trish manages us."

"Yeah, nice try." Trish looked at Demonica with a smug smile. "But it takes a lot more than a fancy lunch and some background music to impress Austin."

"Check it out!" Austin gapped at the origami-like piece in front of him. "They turned my leftovers into a swan!"

"Austin, let me make this easier for you. What's your wildest dream?" Demonica inquired.

"That's easy." Austin grinned before he started to ramble about his dream, but not one that anyone expected. "I'm being chased through a candy cane forest by a viking, my grandma, and a peanut vendor. They're throwing cantaloupes at me. Then, it gets weird. They—"

"Career." Ally interrupted before he went further in the dream. "I think she meant your wildest career dream." She said before carrying on eating her lobster tail.

"Oh." The blonde slowly smiled while he thought about it. "Well ever since I was a kid, I've always wanted to perform in Times Square on New Year's Eve. If you perform there, it means you've totally made it."

"And if you let me manage you, I can make that happen." Demonica promised.

"You really think you can buy Austin with a crazy promise and some lobster?" Trish scoffed before walking over to stand by the Dawson twins. "Can you believe this lady, girls?"

"Hmm?" They hummed, after the girl had caught them at the wrong time once again while they were too busy eating.

Demonica ignored the girls, putting her attention back on the blonde. "Think about it, Austin. I can change your life." She quoted, trying to convince him to change managers before she snapped her fingers, calling out. "Dramatic exit!" Both of her assistants rushed over before picking her up and carrying her out of Sonic Boom, leaving Trish to sit in her seat.

"There's something wrong with this cupcake."

"You have to take the paper off." Trish told Dez who let out an 'Oh' before he took the paper off and ate that instead of the cupcake. "Mmm, no, that's not it."

Adelaide sighed and reached out for what was left of the cupcake wrapper before Dez put it in his mouth and switched it out with the cupcake. She held it up to his face and told him. "She meant eat this, not the paper."

"Oh, thanks."

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Austin was over the moon once he found out that Trish had finally booked him for the Miami Jam-A-Thon gig, even though, he started to doubt her beforehand. He and the rest of the team followed Trish into the backstage area as she headed over to the backstage employee to check him in. "Hi, we're here to check in for the Jam-A-Thon. My client, Austin Moon is performing."

"He was supposed to perform at 1:00." The man stated after checking over the sheet. He glanced at his watch to check the time. "It's 4:00 now."

"What? There must be a mistake." Trish assumed and looked hopeful as she asked. "Can he still sing anyway?"

"Oh, of course! Just not here." He told Trish, and the smile fell from her face. "Try the bathroom, it's got lovely acoustics." He suggested in a rude manner before walking away with his clipboard in his hand.

"I can't believe this!" Austin huffed, walking over to stand in front of the girl. "Trish, you said I was supposed to perform at 4:00."

"Because you were. And I can prove it because I wrote it on a napkin." Trish argued before pulling out the napkin, groaning when it was the wrong thing. "No. That's my homework assignment. I must have written it somewhere else."

"What's that on your hand?" Ally asked.

"Oh, that's just my work schedule." Trish told the girl. "I don't need that." She wiped her hand on her pant leg to rub off the ink, and stopped when Dez caught her attention. "You wrote something on my back today." He mentioned, letting Trish lift up the back of his shirt to reveal the word 'bozo'.

"Oh, that just says you're a bozo." Trish told him before pulling his shirt back down as Dez nodded and let out an 'Oh'.

"Well, if it isn't Team Austin." Demonica strutted into the room with her two assistants behind her, and threw her jacket off her shoulders for one of her minions to hold it. "I thought you were supposed to go on three hours ago."

"Trish mixed up the time so we were late. Now, I can't perform." Austin explained, making Trish walk over and stand by Austin as she defended herself. "I didn't mix anything up."

Demonica hummed in reply before smacking her lips. "These things wouldn't happen if I were your manager. Maybe you take being his manager a little too lightly, Trish."

Adelaide rolled her eyes at Demonica's attempt to convince Austin to let her represent him. "He already said no! Go away, demon." She snapped without thinking, causing Ally to smack her hand over her sister's mouth, smiling nervously when the woman looked their way.

"And that's ridiculous!" Trish scoffed, pulling the woman's attention back towards her before she turned to the blonde, expecting for him to back her up. "Right, Austin?"

"Well, sometimes you are a little late to our Team Austin meetings." A nervous Austin admitted out loud, feeling bad for going against the girl who opened her mouth in shock. "That's not true. I showed up thirty minutes early for our meeting on Wednesday." She reminded him, only to try prove him wrong.

"The meeting was Tuesday." Austin corrected.

Trish turned around, looking over at the twins in hope that they could at least come to her defence in this situation. "Girls, back me up here."

"Trish just has her own style." Ally first spoke as she approached the three with Adelaide by her side. "She is not that disorganised."

"What is that on her elbow?" Demonica gestured towards Adelaide when she noticed something on the girl's elbow when she lifted her arm up to put a candy in her mouth. Ally followed her eyes and lifted her sister's elbow up to read the following things written on it. "Oh, that's just Trish's grocery list. Apparently she needs milk, eggs and uh, paper."

With her hands on her lips, the woman turned to Austin and sighed. "Austin, don't you think it's time to sign with someone who will take your career more seriously?"

He thought about it for a moment and frowned as his hesitant words came out. "I guess."

"Great! Let's shake on it." Demonica held out her hand, indicating for Austin to stand up and shake it, but stopped when the woman pulled her hand away, calling out. "Shake!" Her assistant rushed over to shake Austin's hand for her before they walked out the room.

Trish looked at the blonde and scoffed before she stormed away to lock herself inside the closet in the corner. A nervous Austin looked towards the twins and asked. "Do you think she's mad?"

But before one of them could answer, Trish did it for them when they heard her yell from inside the closet, expressing her frustration.

Adelaide pursed her lips in reaction to that before turning to Austin. "What do you think?" 

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As a result to Trish being fired, the girl had got a new job at Meatballas Restaurant, and along with that, she is apparently managing a new client — Statue Guy. Apart from that, the team had their first meeting with Demonica as the manager and let's say, it wasn't great.

Well, it depends how you want to define Adelaide and Dez losing their jobs as the choreographer and director by Demonica calling up people more famous to take their places. However, Ally was still in the job... for now.

Adelaide was in the food court with Trish, as they followed Dez who was holding a tray in his hands and cried hysterically as they walked past Austin and Ally's table. "I'll never get over this."

Seeing this and her sister's facial expression, Ally chuckled awkwardly. "See, they're fine." She tried to say, following her previous comment.

The trio stopped and turned around to look at the two as Austin looked up at them with a hopeful expression. "Do you guys want to eat with us?"

"Can't." Trish was quick to answer. "We're having lunch with my new client." She gestured behind them to see Statue Guy sitting at a table.

Adelaide sighed, turning back to their table for a moment when she noticed the bowl of chocolate chips in front of Austin's pancakes. "I'll be happy to take these though, if you're finished with decorating your sad pancakes." She told the boy who nodded as she took the bowl.

"I suppose you want to pick the strawberries off as well." Austin assumed, looking up at her with a small smile, but must admit, he was surprised by her reaction when she glanced at the fruit for a second before she let out a 'nah' and ruffled his hair before leaving the table to join Trish and Dez at theirs at the same time, Demonica and her assistants approached Austin and Ally.

And like Adelaide expected for something else to go wrong, it wasn't long after their chat when Ally approached their table. "Looks like I'm one of you now." She sat down on the chair next to her sister before looking between Statue Guy and the sandwich in his hand. "Are you gonna eat that?"

But she took it anyway.

"What happened?"

Hearing her sister's voice, Ally looked over at her and sighed before sitting up in the chair. "She did the same thing she did with you and Dez by hiring a professional songwriter for Austin, and she didn't even like the song."

"I told you she's a demon. It's literally in her name."

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Team Austin was back. It only took until Ally had found out that Demonica had not even listened to the song after seeing the mp3 player she gave her in the trash, Trish finding out that she was also behind the Jam-A-Thon mix up due to getting one of her assistants to pose as her, and Austin, after having a nightmare, he realised that his dream to play in Times Square on New Years Eve wouldn't be one without his friends.

They were now at the press conference where the woman was supposed to introduce Austin as her newest client. Little did she know, what they had planned to get revenge for splitting them apart.

"Thank you for coming." Demonica threw off her jacket behind her for her assistant to catch before she continued. "From the moment I laid eyes on Austin Moon, I knew that, with my guidance, he would become a superstar. Together, we are going to kick butt." She snapped her fingers and called out. "Visual aid!" One of her assistants ran up to the stage and stopped next to her before she kicked him in the butt. "And now to say a few words, my newest client, Austin Moon."

Everyone clapped for the blonde as he walked up to the stage before speaking into microphone on the stand. "It's always been my dream to perform in Times Square, but I've realised that if you're living your dream without your friends, it's more like a nightmare."

Demonica looked confused as she asked. "What are you talking about?"

Austin smiled as he looked back out to the crowd before explaining. "I have Team Austin and this is what we can do without you." He pointed at the woman before clicking his fingers. "Video."

On the projector in front of them all, played their newest video, Better Together. Finally, as soon as it had finished, the audience erupted in applause and cheers, including his friends.

"That song was written by my partner Ally, the video was choreographed and shot by my best friends, Addy and Dez, and the whole thing was put together by my manager, Trish. Come on up here, guys."

"I'm good right here." Ally answered with a smile before she was pulled on stage and they all stood next to Austin.

"Your manager, Trish? I'm your manager."

"Not anymore. You're fired."

Trish smirked. "In your face, finger snapper." She interjected.

"You're going to regret letting me go." Demonica told the blonde as Adelaide pursed her lips at the woman. Yeah... no, he's not.

Dez smirked. "And you're going to regret wearing a nice outfit." He echoed, confusing the woman as she asked. "Why?"

"Sweet, sweet revenge." Adelaide taunted before Trish clicked her fingers and called out for the meatballs. The team quickly backed away so they were away from target as the tennis ball launcher set off and Demonica's two assistants were firing the meatballs at her.

As the woman was getting splattered by the food, one by one, the group laughed, more as the scene continued to unfold in front of them which also included with, Dez taking his video camera out to record and the press taking photographs.

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megan speaks!

i hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! i can't wait to finish this season so i can get onto season two! what are you most excited for?

and don't forget to comment if you would like as i absolutely adore reading them! thank you for reading and i love you all!! <33