The next week, it was weird that Sean and Natalie started hanging out again by the library, talking about random things, trying not to bring out the past.
Natalie couldn't help but almost felt like she was in love with him all over again. To be honest, she hasn't been able to move on from him.
Sean was just that perfect guy you could ever ask for. He was kind, smart, talented, caring. But the way he cares too much and how he looks and smiles at you felt like he loves you.
Natalie was trying her best not to fall for him all over again, thinking what happened in the past between him and her.
The past where she felt so heartbroken and used. He was her first love and heartbreak and firsts are always hard to forget.
So remembering that, she always puts boundaries, trying to protect herself from being hurt again.
............
" Hey." Cassie greeted her friends." Hey Cassie." They all greeted." No classes today, everyone's practicing for tonight." Oliver said.
" What song are you performing?" Liv asked. " Oh, I'm not singing tonight." Cassie said.
" Why not?" Oliver asked. " I just don't feel like it. And I'm just gonna go and assist everyone backstage. " Cassie said.
" Oh, ok. Let's go to the music room to practice. We already told Principal Albi that we're using it. Cause the Auditorium was already taken by Natalie." Max said.
" Where's Liam? " Cassie asked." He's with Natalie, cause He's going to play the guitar for her. " Liv said.
Cassie just nodded. Meanwhile with Natalie, she was practicing the song with Liam.
" I think that will do." Natalie told Liam." You're a very fast learner. " Natalie said.
" I mean the chords you gave me was pretty easy." Liam said.
" I just want to say something." Liam said." Go on." Natalie said. " Why does the lyrics sounds oddly familiar? "Liam asked.
" Because I wrote it based on experience." Natalie said." Are you going to post it on youtube, Natalie? "Liam asked.
" Yes and don't worry, you'll be on the credits." Natalie said." Thank you. I'll go check on Liv and the others. I'll be back in a few minutes. " Liam said.
" Take your time. " Natalie said before Liam left. She sighed and sat down by the piano and just started playing and humming.
She heard the door in the auditorium opened so she looked at that direction.
" Auditorium today is closed for me only so what are you doing here?" Natalie asked.
" Just came by to see how are you doing." He said. " Uhm... Fine?? I guess." Natalie said.
" What song are you playing by the piano?" He asked going up to the stage joining Natalie.
" None of your Business, Sean. " Natalie said." Can I sit?" Sean asked referring to the sit next to Natalie in front of the piano.
" Do I have a choice?" Natalie asked. Sean smiled and sat down next to her and started playing this chords that was very familiar to her.
She looked over to Sean who was smiling and she couldn't help but smile.
Sean then turned to her.
" Remember this chords? The song we made for your YouTube channel. The 10 minutes song writing challenge." Sean said.
" Y-yeah. Yeah. I remember. How could I forget?" Natalie said rolling her eyes sarcastically bursting out laughing with Sean.
" Do you wanna sing it? And I can play the piano. " Sean said." Sure. " Natalie said then Sean started playing. Natalie just stared at him for a good while.
(A/N: I need more Tate and Sean collab)
As the song finished Natalie and Sean looked into each other. Natalie felt butterflies in her stomach like she's in love with him all over again.
Then the door opened and Avery and the rest of the dance team, glee club, and theater club came in and stopped.
Sean and Natalie looked behind them.
" Well that's awkward." Jaycee whispered to the Elites. Chloe and Bostyn looked at her and rolled her eyes.
" Hey Avery.... Hey guys." Sean waved awkwardly. Natalie looked at Sean and saw how different he looks at Avery.
She felt a bit sad but she shrugged it off and looked away. " The Art club will be here any minute to help decorate. So let's get moving." Liv said to everyone.
Hours had passed and the decoration on the stage was all set." Is everyone ready?" Liv asked the singers in the backstage checking on them one by one then Liv saw Cassie talking to Natalie and Avery then giving them a hug.
" Hey girls." Liv said that startled the three girls. " Liv, you scared us." Cassie said.
" Sorry? Anyways, Natalie-Tate- I don't know what to call you when you perform. You have so many names. " Liv said. The three girls chuckled.
" Just remember whenever I'm performing. It's always Tate McRae." Natalie reminded.
" OK, got it. You're last to perform so you have more time. Everyone's waiting for you. It's your first time in 2 years to perform again in front of the crowd in West Brook. " Liv said.
" Nervous? " Liv asked." Kinda. It's a big crowd out there, but I performed in much bigger crowd so I'm used to it. " Natalie said.
" Way to flex your success. That kinda rhymes. " Liv said with a laugh." I'll see you guys later. Good luck." Liv said before leaving.
Cassie looked over at Avery and Natalie.
" Cassie and I'll go ahead. " Avery said and Natalie nodded.
" Come on Cassie. " Avery said leaving the back stage and going on the front row.
The crowd started entering and filling the seats in the auditorium, the room was filled with chatters getting louder and louder as the crowd gets bigger and bigger.
Liv then came to the stage to start the open mic. " Good evening everyone. Please let me introduce myself. I'm Olivia Patterson, the Theater club president and school photographer of Quinton Academy. I would likely to welcome all of you tonight as we do this fun interacting open mic night." Liv said and the crowd cheered.
" Without furthermore explanations, Let's all give a round of applause for our first performer. " Liv said then everyone applauded.
Almost each glee club members performed and some performance from the crowd. Other wise the night was doing great.
Then Max came next to the stage. As he stood in ront of that crowd. The anxiety rushed in and made him nervous.
He looked around then saw his family who had big proud smiles on their faces.
But other than that, he still felt something was missing. The same feeling he feels everyday.
" Good evening... Everyone.. I'm sorry... I'm really nervous." He apologized with a nervous laugh. The crowd cheered for him to let him know they support him.
It brought a smile on his face. " So.. Uhm.. Tonight, I'm gonna perform an original song." He said and everyone cheered once again.
" It's called Lonely. " He said before sitting down in front of the piano. He looks at his hands, shaking.
The tension rises but as soon his hands touched the piano keys, slowly, he calmed down.
(A/N: I just like this cover because Carson's voice kinda sounds deep and husky, I don't know how to explain.)
After the song the crowd applauded. He looked up and faced the crowd and smiled. As he left the stage, Liam and Oliver hugged him tight.
" That was freaking amazing." Oliver said. " Didn't imagine your voice got way deeper than I thought. You sounded great Max." Natalie said
" Thank you." Max said smiling." Your hands are still shaking." Liam said. " It's like you're not used to perform in that much crowd before. " Liv said.
" I don't know, maybe because I usually don't sing original songs and mostly give it to Oliver." Max said.
" Hey, At least now, I'm writing my original songs. " Oliver said. " You guys might get a shot with your singing careers. My manager is actually watching in the crowd. " Natalie said.
The group smiled." I'm next. Wish me luck. " Oliver said. " Goodluck." The group said. But before heading on the stage, Liv and Oliver did there handshake before Oliver goes to the stage.
Cassie smiled widely and cheered the loudest from the crowd. Oliver's smile grew wider as he saw his girlfriend and parents.
Avery looked at Cassie and smiled before looking up to the stage.
" Tonight, I'm performing an original song. It's about our flaws, so that's why it's called flaws." He laughed with the crowd.
" That was a cheesy joke. But seriously, the song means to me because, everyone probably knows me as this singer who always had a smile on his face and probably people will think I'm different from the rest, which is not true.
I'm just a human like you... Who gets hurt.. And overwhelmed at times. " Oliver said.
He then grabbed his guitar and started strumming.
(A/N: No one talks about flaws as much as before it was even released. Everyone was claiming flaws but I claimed Adelaide which was a total Bop that I'll never regret because no one was claiming Adelaide so I claimed it myself. No self regret. Flaws is underrated same with Bad news.)
After he sang, he took a step back and looked at the crowd applauding. He then looked at Cassie who had just wiped her tear, clapping her hands, proud of him.
" Thank you. " He said before leaving the stage. The group pulled him in a hug. Then Cassie came in and hugged him tight.
" That was beautiful." Cassie said with a smile. " You like it?" He asked. " Of course I love it. Any song you make or song, I love it. "Cassie said.
" Stop, you're making me blush. "Oliver joked that made them laugh." Anyways, Imma go back to my seat. See you guys later. " Cassie said leaving the back stage.
Liv looked at her clipboard who's next to perform." Natalie, I think you're next-" Liv was cut off when Sean came in and behind him was Ken and Josh holding a launchpad, going straight to the stage.
Everyone was in shock. " Woah, is Sean gonna sing?!" Bailey asked confused then Ken waved at the group excitedly then Josh nudged him to calm down.
" Good evening everyone. I know you don't expect me to be here but here I am. I've been meaning to do this for years. I wrote a song... 2 years ago... It's about.. A girl." Sean said and everyone started murmuring to each other as Sean glanced over at Avery.
Everyone backstage were by the curtains ready to watch. Of course, Natalie was one of them.
Her eyes were directly on him but the sight of him looking at someone else hurt her.
" It's a girl... That Ioved...but I as too late to tell her how I feel. It's called. Be Alright." Sean added.
Everyone cheered as Sean started to sing.
(A/N: Sean Charles Lew can sing. This was on 2018 BTW. That high note or whatever at the end was so cool I'm obsessed with it. I need Singing Sean more.)
As he sung, he was looking at Avery all the time, making an eye contact with her.
Gabe was also looking at Avery as she looks back to Sean.
Her eyes were burning trying to stop her tears from falling. Backstage with Natalie, her heart hurts knowing to herself she still loves him but he's still in love with Avery.
As the song ended, Sean stepped back then looked at his side and saw Natalie watching from the corner.
She looked away and went to her vanity and fix herself. Sean left the stage and went over to Natalie.
" Natalie." He called. Natalie turned around plastering a fake smile. " Yeah?" She asked.
" Uhm... I hope... The song.." Sean couldn't think of any word to say. " The song was great. I like it." Natalie said.
" I totally get the point of the song. It's about Avery. Isn't it? It's because you two really had feeling for each other but you were too late to tell her how you really felt so Gabe asked her out. Of course, knowing Avery, she couldn't say no. Cause she's very indecisive between you and Gabe... I know my sister too well. " Natalie said.
" That was a lot but you definitely got the whole point of the song. You truly are a genius. " Josh said.
Natalie just smiled." I hope this doesn't change the friendship we started all over again. " Sean said." Why would it change? It's not like I'm still in love with you all over again." Natalie lied.
" Great. Good luck. " Sean said before leaving. Natalie took a deep breath before walking to the stage.
A fake smile on her face. Everyone cheered for her. " It's been awhile... Good evening everyone. Im gonna be performing an original song I wrote... 2 years ago... This song is like a story telling about an experience I felt... Probably very specific. You'll understand as you listen to it. It's called Heather. " Natalie said and everyone cheered.
Intrigued by the title. Then Liam came and started strumming.
(A/N: This freaking cover of Heather, I freaked out when Tate finally put it on YouTube because it was only in Spotify. I was waiting for this to be on YouTube because this song was really supposed to be in this chapter and God has answered my prayer. Amazing)
As Natalie sings the whole song, she looked at Avery. Then to the crowd, the sadness in her eyes and voice had impacted the crowd.
Avery looked away, feeling guilty as he listens to the song for the first time. Sean on the other hand felt the same as Avery.
He knows he hurt her a lot. Everyone could tell the emotion in her voice as he sings. As with Natalie when she sings the song, memories flashes back.
At the last part, she turned to Sean in the crowd. Everyone looked at him. " Thank you." Natalie said leaving the stage.
" Nat-" Jake was about to congratulate her but Natalie walked passed through him and went inside the dressing room.
She swept all the tears streaming down her cheeks. Then she heard a knock on the door and slowly opened.
" Don't be sad Nat." She heard someone said. Then she looked at the mirror and quickly turned around in shock.
" Hey Clara the Nutcracker." A girl said.
" Emma! Sophia, Bella, Avery"! Natalie exclaimed running to them giving them the biggest hug. Never wanting to let go.
Tears flowed down as she hugged them tight. Then Jake came in and join the group hug.
" You guys.... You're back." Natalie said pulling away, wiping her tears away.
The girls smiled.
" Well, we heard Tate McRae was back in West Brook and wrote a song about us." Bella said.
" We wouldn't wanna miss her first show back in West brook for 2 years." Avery G. Said.
" I missed you guys so much." Natalie said hugging them again. " We miss you too Nutella. " Bella teased.
" You guys left without saying a goodbye! I'm so mad." Jake scoffed sarcastically. The girls laughed.
" We heard about Heather... Sheesh. Nat. We've been gone for years and so did you, and we could tell you're still in love with him. "Emma said.
" Everyone in the audience were gossiping about the song and theories were about Avery. Avery looks like she wants the earth to swallow her alive and just disappear. " Sophia said.
" And did you forgot that you're also a Heather? The Harpers are The Heathers." Avery G. Said.
" Hundred percent. Remember? Back in high school? You guys are literally entitled as Heathers. Literally. Heather 1, Heather 2, and Heather 3." Bella agreed.
" I haven't seen you guys in so long. Where were you? " Natalie asked." Out of town. But you don't need to know that... Let's talk at S&N. " Sophia said.
Natalie and Jake nodded.
Hey guysssssssss....
Heather cover by Tate. I had to tell you about this. Every since Tate did a small cover of Heather in tiktok, I as obsessed like, I've been thinking about it for months saying Tate needs to do a full cover of it and she did, without me even commenting. It's a gift from heaven. When Tate announced she did a cover of it, I straight away went to YouTube to find it but it wasn't there So I went to Spotify and waited for minutes of songs to finally hear it. I fell in live with it quickly. And to be honest, Heather cover by Tate was really supposed to be in this book even before I started writing and publishing FC:1. It's so beautiful and I could just listen to it whole day non-stop.
Last chapter for the year 2020. Don't worry, we'll see each other next year 2021. Anywayssss. Enjoy the chapter. Advanced Happy New year.
Love you all and let's all pray 2021 will be better. Peace!