I don't own Team Starkid or any of their work. <3
Too too soon graduation came. Everybody cried even the guys because it was sad. Our friends were beginning a new chapter of their lives and we didn't know if we would ever see them again. I mean, we have phones but when you try to keep in touch, how often does it work?
We had recorded an album for the show previously and Matt handed them out to all of us which just encouraged more tears. I'm not sure if it was purely from the prospect of separation or some of it was having to hear our own voices.
Lauren and Julia were moving to New York, my former place of residency. Meredith was moving to Chicago with Denise. For a while, the girls of our small theatre group just held on to each other crying. I, as a nomad when school's not in session, promised to visit each of them in turn.
Most of the guys were either going to New York, or going home or L.A. bound. Darren and Dylan were heading for L.A. to meet up with the other guys. I gave them a huge hug each, nearly attaching myself to Darren.
"Don't worry Bird Girl." He hugged me back. "We're big boys now."
"Yes, but I call you Crisis for a reason." He gave a weak laugh. "You bet I'll be there to visit." He gave me a brotherly peck on the cheek.
A lot of my friends gave me offers/demands for me to stay with them for at least part of the summer. Meredith wanted me to come to Chicago; her parents wanted me in Michigan. My, what I'll call my L.A. brothers wanted me out there for a bit. Julia and Lo wanted me in NYC and Jaime wanted me to go with her to her mom's there too. Devin's pushing me to go to Atlanta. Joey said he'll force me to stay with him and his parents for at least a week.
First I started out at Meredith's parents. She was there at that time so they let me stay. One day, my phone buzzes and I didn't think anything out of the ordinary because I talked to Joey a lot but it was Brian Holden.
"Hello?"
"Hey Charlotte. Where are you now?"
"I'm sitting in a bedroom with Meredith staring at me." She blushes.
"Okay so we were going to make DVDs but their too expensive."
"What are we gonna do now?" I ask as Meredith leans in listening.
"Put it on YouTube. It's easier and a lot cheaper."
"Okay so thanks for calling me about this. Have fun, I'll see y'all soon."
"Bye." We hang up.
That was the start. That day Meredith and I pull it up on YouTube to watch it. She was so happy about it but I cringed every time my face appeared on screen. Besides that, Harry Potter the Musical was great. The next day I'm supposed to fly out to L.A. to hang with the guys then move down to Joey's afterwards so I fall asleep quickly.
I'm awoken by a very excited Meredith who already has the laptop on. "Look at this!"
I cover my mouth. "Oh My God. How?"
She shrugs but I snatch up my phone and call Joey. "We just blew up YouTube!"
"Grab a fire extinguisher," came the tired reply.
"No! Our musical!"
He perked up fast. "I'll call Darren and the guys. You call some of the other girls."
"On it." I phone Dev as Meredith calls Lauren and Julia. Then I phone Jaime and Mer calls Jim. Telling them to all spread it around, we were sure everyone would find out. A few hours later, the Stepiens drop me off at the airport and as I'm sitting at my gate, my phone buzzes/ rings.
"Hey Crisis."
"Bird Girl, when are you flying to L.A.?"
I check a clock. "Legitimately in five minutes. Why?"
"We have a meeting tomorrow morning."
"Why?"
"Harry Potter the Musical. You were right about the name. My agent showed it to another one who's a big Harry Potter fan and she loved it and wants to talk about stuff with us like the name and the future."
"Why me? Who else is going?"
"Me, Nick, Matt, Brian, and Eric Kahn Gale . Joey doesn't think his parents would let him right now. They have some important family plans he said. Bird Girl, you are the one who pointed out the legality of it all. And you might be the only shot we have on getting a girl to come with."
I laugh. "Alright fine." We hang up. All of a sudden I hear a conversation like a row to my left.
"Is it her? From that musical?"
"Hermione right? Let's go up to her!"
Two girls who looked to me almost my age maybe only 17 approached me. "Did you play Hermione in that parody musical?" They were shy in approaching me.
"Yeah!" I was surprised to be recognized. I had my contacts in and my hair was down (not as frizzy though) but otherwise I'm wearing jean shorts and a black Basement Arts tee shirt.
"Oh my gosh!" They got so excited. "Can we take a picture?" I nod so I take a selfie with them. "Thank you so much!"
"No problem!" I say. Oddly enough we sit next to each other on the flight.
"I'm Victoria."
"I'm Mae."
"It's so great to talk with you guys! I'm Charlotte."
We get into conversations about the new Harry Potter movie is coming out and they're heading to L.A. to stay with family to be there. They ask me how I got involved and before we know it we landed in L.A. and I call Darren as Victoria and Mae disappear.
"Crisis, I've landed and the craziest thing just happened."
"I see you. I'm legitimately right in front of your eyes. What happened?"
"Okay, I see you." I hang up and throw my luggage into the back seat and hop in the front.
"What happened?"
"Some girls recognized me from the show!"
"Wow!" We chat about little things until we get to the apartment. In the door, I get a kiss on a cheek from Nick, Matt, Brian and I'm introduced to Eric.
"Eric." He sticks his hand out.
"Charlotte," I say, shaking his hand. The guys are all lounging comfortably around and Matt suggests we watch Aladdin. Everyone was all for it so we did that. Then it was Hercules. Mulan. Little Mermaid. Beauty and the Beast. Hunchback of Notre Dame. Cinderella. Pocahontas. The best part is that we all sang along, no worries no cares just fun. I swear even Matt, Nick and Eric sang too.
By that point it was the wee hours of the morning and I excused myself, changing into sweatpants and a tank top. The guys were still singing along and everyone save for Matt and I had a beer in hand. So by the time we/ they got to re-singing the Hunchback soundtrack, I had curled up on an arm chair with a pillow and was sound asleep.
"Coffee!" Brian Holden shouted into my ear in the morning. Then he got hit in the face by my pillow. Sitting up, I saw everyone else was milling around. Apparently Darren hadn't felt the need to put a shirt on yet.
I quickly snatch a mug of coffee as one by one he guys disappear and comeback dressed in somewhat nice wear. I told Darren to go back and change because he walked out with jeans on. Soon I changed, putting on a black skirt and blood red blouse with capped sleeves. I gave the outfit a bit of Charlotte's-not-quite-goth-but-pretty-edgy quirk by pairing it with black combat boots so I looked like a professional college student. I quick did my makeup and simply pulled my hair back into a ponytail.
Walking out, the guys nodded in almost appreciation and Eric was surprised. "Watch it bro." Darren put his hand on Eric's shoulder. "She's got an over protective boyfriend who wants my kisses." Eric, Brian and Nick look completely lost but Matt, Darren and I burst out laughing because we remember that day where Darren kept trying to kiss Joey on the cheek.
"Joey." I say to clarify for poor Eric. I absentmindedly finger the necklace that Joey gave me that still fell around my neck. "Shouldn't we get going?"
"Crap. Yes!" Darren looks momentarily panicked. We flock out the door and I hop into Darren's backseat while Brian takes the front, the others taking Nick's car. Soon we arrive at the talent agency where a receptionist eyes us skeptically.
"Are you some punk-sibling band wanting an agent? Then leave." I stifle a giggle as Darren puffs out his chest and rattles off the names of the people we're here to see. We were let up and find ourselves outside a conference room where a lady rose and bustled to greet us.
"Hi y'all! I'm Pat Brady!" She shook the guys' hands and kissed me on the cheek.
"Darren Criss."
"Eric Kahn Gale."
"Matt Lang."
"Nick Lang."
"Brian Holden."
"Charlotte Watson."
"All right gang, sit down." We oblige, sitting quite stiffly for we were obviously nervous. "Let me say, that musical was quite brilliant. You are all talented," she eyed all six of us. "I just am here to keep you kids out of legal trouble with Warner Brothers. I need you to make an apology video." We all nod sadly as if we were naughty school kids. "You have to rename the show if you want to keep it up. Any ideas?'
We all think. "Honestly, we had such a hard time with names. None of the writers had anything in the beginning," Matt said gesturing to the four main writers at their end. "Even one of our writers who later stopped because she preferred acting, Lauren, had no clue."
"Sorry about not being professional, but Lauren tried writing this? Oh my gosh?" Everyone laughed including Pat.
"Charlotte here was the one to initially try to tell us about the copy right thing." Darren pointed out. I blushed.
Pat raised her eyebrow. "Charlotte. Did you ever think about law?"
I shake my head. "All I think about is where I'm staying each week." I'm laughing a bit.
Nick cleared his throat. "How about 'A Very Potter Musical'? Because it's about Harry Potter."
The other five of us nod in agreement. Pat says, "That's great so let's do it." Right then we pull out a computer and rename everything, promising as soon as we leave to make an apology video. "One more thing, I know some of you may have individual agents, but I would love to be your Starkid Potter agent."
"Please!" We were all for it. Then she also said there were two conventions that she was going to bring us to, both in July. I made a mental note to work out my schedule. Then she told the guys to wait outside because she wanted to talk to me.
"How are you Charlotte?"
"I am well and you?" I asked out of pure respect.
She waved away the question. "Honey, I'm worried for you."
"Why?"
"What you said about your living situation. What's going on?"
I sigh. "I'm not welcome at my house so I'm basically a nomad. My friends are the best people in the world so they graciously let me visit them. I think I'm spending most of it in California. In August, I'll be in Atlanta for a bit, then New York and before school starts I'll head to Chicago."
"You're only what, a sophomore?" I nod. "What about afterwards?"
"I'll find a place in L.A., or maybe Chicago, or worst case New York."
Pat nodded, apparently happy that I have at least one idea and scribbled something down on a piece of paper. She handed it to me. "If you ever need something just call me. I may be your agent but I know how to care for my own family."
"Thank you," taking it from her I rise and we hug goodbye.
Later that day, sitting in the apartment with the people that seemed like my older brothers (Dylan wasn't there because he was northern California) Darren had been strumming on his guitar and finally had an idea. "Guys, a song apology."
"Yeah!"
He played a quick thing for us and soon we had this little blurb filmed. Darren did most of it but Brian and Nick did some back up stuff while Eric pretended to be a lawyer. Matt and I basically filmed it and threw out some ideas. During this filming I just realized there were Littlest Pet Shop stickers and High School Musical posters on the wall. Within the week, Brian taught me to edit it and I edited the video and posted it on YouTube.
The next day I was introduced to Little White Lie. The guys decided to upload it to the channel and tried to explain to me what it was. I promised to watch it when I could and then proceeded to fall asleep on my chair.
The following week, the guys had managed to procure seven midnight premiere tickets. A.J. was to join us. We had decided that we should show up and play some of our songs, figuring that some devoted fans would have seen our musical online already. So that night, Brian followed the group of us around with his camera. The boys were running around half-dressed, trying to find their sweaters/ ties/ pants/ shirts.
A.J. knocked on the door and I opened it greeting him with a giant hug. He returned it as we moved through the chaos. Brian filmed A.J. as I threw him a sweater.
"I get a sweater?!"
"Yes now put it on!" Soon all the guys were satisfied with their Gryffindor uniforms and I was content to be back in my own. So as Brian holds the camera way to close to Darren's forehead, I take out an old eyeliner pencil and make a crude lightning bolt on his forehead while he complains.
Soon our giant train wreck is on the move to the cinema. Darren brought his guitar and A.J. brought his piano that Brian was forced to hold. On the way there we were even singing our stupid little songs and Darren constantly reminded me (jokingly) that he was counting on me to sing the Draco part for Granger Danger but ended up singing it himself.
The line was already long when we got there but we hopped on line and did our thing. Several people recognized us straight away and all I kept asking my friends was "Is this real?" Some waitees sang along and some asked me and Darren, especially, for selfies. Eventually we got our seats and had some great conversations with some girls next to us who Darren even sang to. We even texted Lo for them, knowing she'd be cranky if she was woken up.
I'm that person who's really emotionally attached to the Harry Potter franchise and started crying/ freaking out as the logo popped up. Darren rubbed my back while holding back laughter and A.J. patted my shoulder soothingly.
At the end of the movie, the girls asked Darren and me a strange question. "Are you two together?"
"No!" Darren and I say together, laughing and shaking our heads.
"I've got my own guy. This knucklehead is more of my older brother than anything." I ruffle his hair and he pretends to get all pissed.
We manage to leave, the bunch of us yawning and back at the apartment, I barely have enough energy to change before I fall asleep on what has become known as 'Charlotte's chair.' In the morning I awake to see Brian and Darren shooting something and end it quietly with "We're talking quietly so Charlotte doesn't wake up," so I make weird face in the background.
"Good morning guys!" I say cheerily fishing out my phone. "I'm going to call Joey."
"Well ask if he can meet us here." Eric said, entering.
"Why?"
"We're driving to San Fran at like 1 am so no traffic to be there in the morning for Azkatraz." Nick reminded me.
"Oh sh*t." I quickly call up Joey. "Good morning!"
"How was the movie last night, Charlie?"
"Crazy good and people were all over us. It's amazing."
"That's great!"
"Hey the guys want to know what time you think you'll get here."
"For what?"
"Azkatraz."
"By the afternoon I think. I'll see you soon Charlie." He hangs up.
' "I think he's leaving now."
"Good," they say.
I go to the bathroom and change into comfortable clothes and do a little basic make up. I come out and Darren asks me a question. "Bird Girl can you do a little something for me?"
"What?"
"Can you do a little reading for me?" I nod and he trains his camera on me. "Introduce yourself from the show and something like a backstage video. Remember be funny."
Sitting cross legged in my chair, I try my best. "Hi guys I'm Charlotte Agnes 'Charlie' 'Char' 'Bird Girl' Watson and I played Draco-"
"No you didn't!" Called Matt.
"Fine I played Voldemort-"
"No you don't have those abs," Brian said.
"Oh yeah?" I lift my shirt a little and do a little awkward dancing. "Alright no I played Ron-"
"Try again." Thanks Nick.
"Fine I played Hermione in A Very Potter Musical. We had so much fun doing this and it's only fair that you get to see why we enjoyed it so much. This is a little compilation of videos of most of the cast doing very stupid things probably mostly featuring me, Joey Richter, Darren Criss (more like crisis), and Lauren Lopez. We probably do the weirdest things. It probably also features a 3 am rehearsal /Disney sing-along, Darren trying to kiss Joey, Lauren being very energetic when everybody wants to go to bed and me making stupid faces. It may not have all that but you'll get to see what backstage was like without having to be there. Hope you enjoy it!"
The guys near me were rolling around with laughter. "Now closing thingy," Brian said between gulps of air.
"Alright hope to that was fun for you. I like making people laugh so until next time, stay tuned for bigger and better behind the scenes sh*t from these male knuckleheads I'm sitting in an apartment with at this moment." I got up and went to the fridge, pulled out a Gatorade and sat back in my chair, realizing Crisis filmed that and was only now turning the camera off.
"Well someone's pretty good at that stuff." Matt remarked.
"Yeah, that's why I go to college for that." The guys snicker which just turns into laughter.
About an hour and a half later there's a knock on the door. A.J. gets up to answer it. When the door opens, a very familiar voice says "Here's Johnny!"
I hop up and ambush Joey as he walks in, forcing him to drop his bag. He kisses me on the lips as I hear groans, ews and aws from the other guys with a few clicks of pictures being snapped. When we finish he gives some bro hugs to the rest of them. "How about we head out to lunch?"
There's a resounding yes and everybody heads out. We find this little restaurant that looks nice so eight of us find a seat. I mean we may look odd, seven guys and one girl but we're all basically in our early twenties so nearly anything is acceptable. Joey sits beside me and holds my hand as everyone else talks full speed ahead.
"Joey, do you have any idea how funny your girlfriend is?" Eric asked.
"I like to think I do."
"She showed us up. We told her to do a funny intro thing for our behind the scenes thing and it was perfect," Darren said.
"Charlotte's been a good sport, putting up with us." Nick added.
"It wasn't hard," I said. "It was basically like living with five older brothers plus a friend when A.J. showed up. Well maybe more like Snow White with the dwarves." Cue fighting about who's who.
I sat there laughing and eating my Panini contently. When they finished arguing and eating we headed back to the apartment. By eleven that night, Eric suggested that we get moving so we average in traffic with the six hour drive. We move all our stuff from the apartment to the cars. A.J., Darren, Joey and I in one car and Nick, Matt, Eric and Brian in the other. We started driving, trying our best to stay close together. Darren was driving with A.J. up front so Joey and I sat in the back and handed Crisis an energy drink every hour until I fell asleep with my head on Joey's lap.
"Wake up Char," Joey's shaking me awake gently. "We're almost to the restaurant to meet Dylan before the convention." I sit up as we pull into a restaurant.
"Aw c'mon!" I complain. "Can't a girl get changed?"
The guys in the car laugh. "We all look like crap, Charlotte."
"Charlie, I bet Dylan doesn't look much better."
"Besides, Bird Girl, after breakfast we're meeting Pat to check into the hotel/ convention center." That made me feel better. So in sweat pants and a tank top I walk into the restaurant with them. Inside, Dylan rose from his seat greeting my companions with handshakes and gave me a hug and a brotherly kiss on the cheek.
"Hey how are all you guys doing?" We sit down, giving Dylan our assorted answers. We order food quickly from some tired looking waiters and devoured our breakfast quickly. Soon three cars headed off to a hotel where once in the lobby, Darren called Pat up and soon we see her hurrying around a bend. She greets us all with kisses on our cheeks.
"Alright you children, we're going to have to split up in rooms. I'm sorry, Charlotte." She quickly counted us. "We've got three rooms for y'all. So go ahead."
"How about Matt, Nick, and Eric?" They nodded as Darren turned to us. "I'll crash with Brian and Dylan."
"So us little kids get our own room. That work you two?" A.J. asks Joey and I. We blush and nod.
Pat smiles and dishes out the room keys, ushering us up to the third floor to ditch our things and then back down to the main floor. "I had given all of them your names so you'll get your invitee passes." The nine of us are completely starry eyed, feeling so overwhelmed.
I'm the first of the bunch of us in line so I tell the girl my name and she shyly hands me a lanyard with my name written on it. So when we all get our things we head back to our rooms to change into clean clothes. We meet up in Darren, Brian and Dylan's room.
"So what do we now?" Matt asked, flipping through a D.C. comic book.
"I have no idea." Eric said, shaking his head.
"What if we just walk around? We could see what's going on and who's out here." Dylan suggests, ever eager to be nice to people.
"Why not?" A.J. asked.
"Hell yeah! Let's do it!" Darren got all excited. So we did. We were a motley assortment of writers, actors and musicians. Trying to look as together as possible, we all wore our Basement Arts shirts, except for Matt and Eric who just wore Gryffindor shirts.
Leaving the room, we found a vending machine and bought a variety of drinks. Some of the guys got Red Bull and the other ones got some Gatorade while I sipped a vending machine bottle of Starbucks mocha.
"Oh young Charlotte, still drinking her coffee." Brian laughed as I started to growl.
"Hold my mocha bro," I say, handing my drink to Matt. I launched myself playfully at Brian, my pony tail whipping as I jumped on his back. I push his sunglasses down on his face as he hoists me up after passing his Red Bull off to Eric. Everybody's laughing at us until Brian finally drops me, right onto the floor.
"Ouch," I mutter, fixing my jean shorts. Matt offers me back my coffee and Joey takes my hand. Soon we're downstairs and the nine of us are staring in awe.
"Wow," Nick said. "This is big." The ceiling soared above us and a few people milled about. I guess we hadn't noticed it at the time of our entrance. A handful of the people seemed to recognize us.
"Didn't you guys do that musical?" A group of three girls and a guy walked up to us. "The Harry Potter one?"
"I suppose we did." Nick offered shyly.
"That's so cool! You guys that was the best thing ever!" They got very excited.
"Thank you guys so much!" Brian said.
"Hey didn't you play the piano?" One of the girls asked A.J. who was standing to my right. "Yeah! I recognize your head from the background!"
We burst out in laughter as A.J. nodded and another girl singled out Darren as Harry and a composer. "Yeah I was Harry." I slapped him playfully on the back.
"Dumbledore!" The guy exclaimed happily. Dylan gave his signature smile.
The other girl pointed out Joey and I as Ron and Hermione finally. "You two had to be Ron and Hermione. I like your hair depuffed, you look even prettier!"
"Yes we are. And oh my gosh thank you! I hope we'll see y'all around later!!"
We split off. "I can't believe no one picked up on the love birds!" Brian muttered. We all laughed and Joey kissed the top of my head.
"We're not that bad Brian!" Joey pouts jokingly.
"Anyway, it's basically lunchtime," Eric points out.
"What should we do?" Matt asks.
"Do you guys wanna meet up with Pat?" Darren asks. Everybody nods so he whips out his cell phone and soon we're sitting in one of the hotel's restaurants.
"Pat this is crazy!" Dylan shares. "People have already recognized us."
Pat smiles and laughs heartily. "It'll be even crazier tomorrow, sweetie. All the attendees will be here and most people in the Harry Potter community have seen your work."
Joey's face was shinning. "It's all so surreal. We're just kids who have to worry about life and school. But I love this. People appreciate us and what we do." I sat there and watched Joey. He seemed so happy and his face was all lit up.
"Joey's right," I say. "People I don't even know walk up to me and compliment me. That's something I never could've imagined before this year. What I'm doing makes people happy and they appreciate it. What we're doing."
Eric chimes in with a bit of a chuckle. "I mean, even if people aren't recognizing Matt, Nick Brian and I they still are praising us indirectly and unintentionally directly."
Pat smiles. "I think people will see your names in the credits and put it together. You boys are just as important as any of these actors."
"So what's the schedule tomorrow?" Brian asked.
"There's always going to be something going on here. In the morning at eleven, you guys need to be down here because at 11:30, we're going to have a little sing-along."
"That's going to be cool! Good thing I brought my guitar!" Darren was beaming.
"That afternoon, at about two there's going to be an open ask session where the audience can ask you guys fun questions. Afterwards, I have a request from an online Harry Potter page to have an interview."
"People actually want to hear about us?" Matt asked, amazed.
After that exchange, we all ate our lunch and headed back up to Darren's room (Pat not included) and rehearsed some of our songs. We just brushed some stuff up, substituted and added comedy. The nine of us grabbed a quick dinner and decided to head back to our respective rooms. All three of us wanted to grab some sleep. A.J. hit the shower first so Joey and I had some alone time.
"How are you feeling, Charlie?"
"Really nervous, honestly. I hope it all goes well and I know nothing this group does goes right so I said well, meaning people like it." Joey rubs my back as I lean against him on the bed that I've claimed.
"I understand. I don't want any of this stress to affect our relationship, our friendship or anything else."
"Who would've thought that this would have happened?"
"I don't know. I still don't entirely believe this is real."
I laugh. "Do you remember what you said to me when I called you regarding the immediate popularity of it?"
"Not exactly. Didn't it have to do with fire?"
"I told you we blew up YouTube and you told me to grab a fire extinguisher. It was so cute."
Joey laughed that laugh where he crinkles up his nose in that cute adorkable way. "Ah that was so asinine."
"It's funny."
"So after this convention's over are you coming back to my parents' house? They're so excited."
"It works for my schedule so if it works for yours, I'm game. We should drive back to L.A. first."
"Well, yeah. We have to drop everyone off and regroup."
"True." A.J. comes out of the bathroom in pajamas and Joey heads in, giving me a quick kiss. A.J. and I just chat about some random stuff but it feels just like talking to a sibling and before long we're in a heated debate about Alan Menken's composing in Hercules: which song was best.
Before it got too involved, Joey came out and it was my turn to shower. Quickly doing what I needed, I came out clad in sweatpants and my Poison Ivy tee shirt. On the other bed, A.J. was already fast asleep, but Joey was up, staring at his phone. I quietly snagged a water bottle and took my medicine. Clambering into my bed, I saw Joey nimbly shut his phone and maneuver himself off the bed without disturbing A.J..
"Come," I whisper patting the mattress beside me. Joey hopped next to me and wrapped his arms around me. "Good night Joey." I lean back against him and close my eyes.
"Good night Charlie."
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Hi!!! Thank you all so much for reading this, and sticking with it while I scramble to try to update it. Hehe. I'm going to try my best to post there's just a lot going on between class, the school musical and working backstage on a college production. Love you all!
-A.V.