29th of January, 8:34 am
ALANNAH'S POV
I dropped my bag to the floor and squatted as we waited outside the school for Grayson to show up. My legs were aching because I had been waiting for an hour at school, being the first one there.
E: 'There he is' I look up to see Grayson jogging from the direction of the train station
G: 'Sorry, the train was late'
We nod and exchange awkward looks between the whole group. Were we really going to wait outside to see if y/n would show up for the first day of year 12?
M: 'Do we wait?'
E: 'She was always the last one to show up for school' he chuckled
The bell rang for homeroom, there was our answer. I sigh and stand up, picking up my bag and trailing behind our group, the last people to go through the school's double doors. We all go into the first science lab, our homeroom, and take our usual seats, an empty seat next to me sat cold, where y/n would always sit after rushing in because we had given up waiting for her at the start of every school day.
A: 'But if the elevator should go up anyways' I say, continuing the conversation we were having as we walked into the classroom
E: 'The elevator is not worthy!'
A: 'Yeah but-' I was cut off by someone sitting down in the seat next to me, someone I didn't recognise, a new girl.
T: 'Keep your cool'
A: 'I'm trying'
I took a deep breath and look at Mrs Evans, refraining myself from screaming at the girl to get out of y/n's seat. I didn't want to start accepting that she might not come back...I still wanted to believe that she was going to sit in that chair tomorrow, or better yet, show up to class now, telling that girl to get out of her seat and all would be right with the world again.
ME: 'Alright guys, I took the attendance. Look, I know it might be a weird right now considering the circumstances but its everyone's first day of senior year, let's make the most of it, yeah? Keep your heads up'
The bell rings for the first lesson and the sound of everyone chairs squeaking and picking up their laptops and books filled the room. I stood and grabbed my laptop before Mrs Evans approaches us.
ME: 'Can we talk really quick guys?'
M: 'Yeah, sure'
ME: 'I know you guys were really close with y/n and still are but everyone's behind you during this time. Just know that if the stress gets to you, I'm always here and if you need an extension for work because of the events, I'm happy to write an email to your teachers'
We smile and nod at her as we start to walk to our next class. Mia, Grayson and I all started heading the new science building or chemistry when we walk past the soccer boys.
B: 'Found the hoe yet?'
I see Grayson drop his books, slamming Bryce into a locker
G: 'What did you just say about y/n?'
B: 'We all know she couldn't keep her hands off other people apart from Ruel'
My mouth drops open and I jump as Grayson punches Bryce in the face and then is pulled apart from him by a passing teacher.
T: 'Grayson, Bryce, office. Now!'
I look over at Mia who her mouth was just gapped open, speechless.
A: 'There's no way she would've cheated, what is he talked about?'
M: 'Probably just wanted to start shit and get attention. He wishes y/n cheated on Ruel with him' she says as she picks up Grayson's books and walks through the glass doors that connect to the science building.
RUEL'S POV
I stood outside my old school, leaning on my car, as I scrolled through Instagram and waited for everyone's school day to be done. I smile at all the appreciation post about y/n from my fans and all the pictures of her with fans, she was always so happy to meet fans. I read some of the fans experiences meeting her and how they talked about how she was the sweetest person alive, I knew they weren't lying about that. I look up as I hear many voices coming closer to the school door and as they swing open I see a sea of people in matching school uniform. I see everyone but Grayson walk out behind a group of year 9's who I felt were staring at me.
R: 'Where's Grayson?' I kind of yell as they approach me.
T: 'He got detention for slamming Bryce into a wall and punching him'
R: 'Let me guess, Bryce made another dumbass comment about y/n?' I slip my phone into my back pocket
I see Alannah nod before I move aside for her to get into the passenger seat of my car.
R: 'Do you know how to get to the venue?'
T: 'Yeah, we should be good'
I nod and smile before they left to go to Mia's car which was parked in the student car park. Elliot slips into the back seat as I walked around to get into the driver's seat.
A: 'How long is the drive?'
R: 'I don't know, 10 minutes?' I say as I start the car and Lannah unzips her bag, pulling out her phone
R: Actually kinda shocked the venue sold out in 6 hours..'
A: 'I'm not. I guess everyone is really eager to see you, your content has been dead' I roll my eyes as she finishes her sentence
E: 'And also the fact that the venue is super small' I roll my eyes again, were they trying to kill my confidence?
R: 'I just hope no fans are taking advantage of this concert to try and meet me, you know?'
A: 'There's always going to be those people Ruel you know that' she finally looks up from her phone.
I nod as I pull up to the small theatre where fans were already lining up.
E: 'Should we wait for Nate?' he unbuckles his seatbelt
R: 'Nate's already inside, I had soundcheck and everything this morning so I've been here all day'
I turn the car off as I hear fans scream and I climb out of the car, security already next to my door in case some crazed fans run up to me suddenly.
F: 'Alannah, I love you!' we hear as we close the door behind us and Alannah laughs.
Alannah and Elliot follow me down the long hallway that was directly behind the stage into a big room where Kye, Rahel and Jaydean were sitting on green stools. I sat next to them and looked over my setlist as Alannah and Elliot collapse onto the lounge together. I hear two girls laugh coming down the hallway, I turned around to see Mia and Tilly still in their school uniform.
M: 'It's official, Tilly and I have fans' Mia throws her school bag next to a table and sits next to me
A: 'Damn, I don't feel special anymore' she pouts
T: 'Did they scream that they loved you?'
Alannah nods and all the girl's chuckle
E: 'Why do they like the girls better than us?'
R: 'At this rate, they want the girls to perform more than me'
The girls nod confidently and then grab their extra bags, going into the bathroom to change into their outfits for the night. They come back as I started to talk with Elliot about the setlist I had planned for tonight
R: 'Well yeah, I obviously did some of her favourite songs, like no shit I wasn't, but this concert isn't about being hype and stuff you know?'
E: 'Yeah, I totally agree'
A: 'Yeah, I kinda like how you're only doing acoustic versions of your songs' she says as she grabs the setlist off the table next to me
M: 'Watch every single OG fan cry when you play Say though'
E: 'Watch that be Mia'
She rolls her eyes as I laugh and throw a grape into my mouth which was from the fruit platter on top of the dresser.
It was soon time to go on stage, in front of 1,000 fans. Grayson had arrived an hour before I was set to go onstage and I stood side stage, putting in my earplugs, expecting it to be louder than usual. I give my legs a shake and move my neck around before feeling pats on my back by the boys and the girls give me a group hug before giving me a thumbs up and going into the venue. I take a deep breath in before stepping out onto the stage, hearing the first chords of Falling. I couldn't help but be shocked about how every single one of their phone lights was on, creating its own beautiful effect as I looked onto the crowd.
I'm in my bed
And you're not here
And there's no one to blame but the drink and my wandering hands
Forget what I said
It's not what I meant
And I can't take it back
I can't unpack the baggage you left
I looked through the crowd, seeing 5 more lights pop up in the back, I could see their smiling faces in the back of the venue, making my mouth curl into a smirk.
What am I now?
What am I now?
What if I'm someone I don't want around?
I'm fallin' again
I'm fallin' again
I'm fallin'
I hear a scream from the back but feel everyone's dart towards them, I can imagine all my incredible fans giving them a death stare. I chuckle to myself and listen to the crowd as they joined in on the next lyrics, their flashlights swinging side to side in unison.
What if I'm down?
What if I'm out?
What if I'm someone you won't talk about?
I'm fallin' again
I'm fallin' again
I'm fallin'
I hear nothing but applause after I finish the final lyrics and I step into the main spotlight, holding the microphone in my hand.
R: 'I just want to thank you guys for coming out tonight, especially on such short notice' I chuckle and go to pick up my water bottle. 'The point of this event, if you weren't aware, was to raise awareness for missing persons, and someone very dear my heart, my girlfriend y/n. Missing persons is such a terrible thing but 100 to 300 people still get reported missing each day in Australia and unfortunately on the 26th of January, y/n Lewis was one of them. This concert is not just about and for y/n, its raising awareness for missing persons all around Australia. Thank you to each and every one of you, 100% of the ticket money will be donated to the Australian Missing Persons Coordination Centre' I take a sip of my water as applause and cheers break out from the crowd. 'I'll be doing more of this talking tonight so thank you for listening, this one is called Not Thinking 'Bout You'
I was doing all my songs acoustic tonight which meant, no loud music and screams to cover up my voice cracks, lovely. I sang, Hard Sometimes, Unsaid, Everything I wanted, Free Time and then Say. I let out a big breath as I looked out to the crowd, clapping and cheering as I finished Say. It was now my last song of the night and my last opportunity to talk about y/n.
R: 'This is my last song, actually y/n's favourite song and I just wanted to take this last time to talk about y/n. Um, y/n and I had been dating for almost 5 years, and I am very proud to say that I know a lot of you enjoyed meeting her and she loved meeting you. She always talked about how sweet you guys were and always gushed over when you gave me gifts to give to her...Let's just say...she loved the attention' I laughed with everyone in the crowd. 'She was an amazing dancer, as most of you know, she was extremely talented. She loved the arts. You know, she would always force me to paint with her, I don't know why, but yeah, that was her thing.' I roll my eyes and smile at the memory. 'She would always beg to do soundcheck with me, she actually had an amazing voice and like I said, she was an incredible dancer and if any of you saw her dance, you were definitely very lucky.' I take another deep breath in, trying not to cry, I hadn't cried about her yet and I wasn't going to on stage. 'This was her favourite song, we would always dance to it or just simply sway to it while we were hugging. This one is for you y/n. This is Be My Mistake'
Be my mistake
Then turn out the light
She bought me those jeans
The ones you like
I see everyone's phone lights go up again as I still on the stool. I shake my head in amazement, I was so glad that these were the people supporting me.
I don't want a hug
I just wanna sleep
The smell of your hair
Reminds me of her feet
Everyone's lights softly swing in motion as I continue the song and I hear everyone's voices echo the words from in front of me.
I finish the song, my mouth hangs open, listening to the crowd chanting 'We love you y/n'. My eyes fill up with tears as I take a bow and kiss the crowd goodnight.