60"Tyler honey! You're gonna miss your flight! Get your behind over here!" Andrea, his Mother called from the car.
"Gimme two seconds Mom!" 7-year- old Tyler called back from where he was sitting on the grass. "Michele…" He said to the girl next to him, "I gotta go."
"I'll miss you Ty." 6-year-old Michele whined giving him a hug.
"I'll miss you too Cheli. Don't forget me."
"I won't."
"Promise?"
She nodded. "Don't forget me."
"I won't. Bye Cheli."
"Bye Ty Ty."
Tyler slowly made his way to his mother's car, hoping no one saw the tears slide down his cheeks. Boys weren't supposed to cry. He slid into the backseat and the car backed out the driveway and drove far, far away.
**11 Years Later**
"Yo Mich!" The dirty blonde said from behind her keyboard.
"Yea." The girl responded her brown eyes not leaving the strings of her acoustic guitar.
"Move your mic closer to you!"
"Right…sorry…"
"What's up with you today?" Another blonde asked from her large drum set.
"Nothing Cheyenne." She sighed.
"Seriously." The blue-eyed, mousy brown hair girl said warningly.
"I'm nervous! Jesus." Michele yelled.
"See that wasn't so bad."
"Shut up Ashtin!"
"You love me."
Michele rolled her eyes, "So much."
"Melissa…can you toss me that turkey?" Ashtin asked.
"Turkey?" Melissa responded looking around her keyboard. "Where?"
"Right next to you."
"O…haha…that turkey…don't see it…"
"Blondes!" Michele and Ashtin shouted simultaneously.
Cheyenne fell about laughing at Melissa face.
"Why I outta-" Melissa said furiously trying to hide her laughter.
"Get back to practice?" Michele suggested, "Good idea."
"What song?" Cheyenne asked." With or without backup?"
"Wound Up, and with backup." She strummed her guitar a few times before continuing with words:
"Little Carrie Ann what a beautiful girl,
From the moment she was born she was always perfect.
Whole town said, "Why can't you be more like her?"
Lights go on and she's ready to spin
Onstage doing all the things she's told to
Puts on a show in front of the whole damn world.
I pray to the heavens to try and save her soul.
Cause that sweet little angel is not the girl I know."
Everyone joined for the chorus:
"She gets wound up.
She gets higher by the minute,
Turns the sound up to drown out all the pain
They all think they know her but no one really knows
That she goes a little crazy sometimes."
Now Ashtin picked up:
"She parks her car at the top of the hill
Only inches from the edge where she's almost falling
Stares at the sky till she's drowning in the rain
Nice dress, nice smile
What a wonderful child
If they only knew all the lies she's told them
It's too complicated for her to explain.
She prays to the heavens to try to save her soul
Cause that sweet little angel is close to letting go."
The sang the chorus again then Michele ended the song with,
"I pray to the heavens to save my sister's soul.
Cause that sweet little angel is close to letting go."
(Wound Up*: LeAnn Rimes)
"Poor Carrie. How's she doin anyway Mich?" Cheyenne commented.
"Better than she was. She's got anti-depressant pills and goes to a support group every Wednesday." Michele answered.
"That's good."
"I got an idea!" She shouted.
"Dangerous past time." Ashtin whispered.
"I know...But how about a sex song!"
"Hey!" Melissa shouted, "My department!"
"Good point so I'll leave that up to you since you have experience!"
"Gee-thanks..."
"How about a meanish kinda song...with the word damn?"
"Ooh…walkin on the wild side?" Ashtin commented.
"O yea baby."
"What would it be called?"
Michele pondered for a few seconds before smiling, "Damn."
"Good idea."
"I know…I'm genius!"
"Don't let your ego get to big."
"Are you kidding?" Melissa grinned, "It's already as big as Texas."
"Montana." Michele said.
"Excuse me. Montana."
Cheyenne fell about laughing again, "You guys…we should put you on a sit-com."
"I like that idea!" Michele yelled. "Tic Toc hands on the clock…time to make my body rock…move with me you get me…so hot that I can't stop. There ya go Mel. Start off with that."
"Will do!" Melissa answered jotting down some notes on in her notebook.
"Ooh I gotta go make dinner for my mum! It's already 5 o'clock. See ya!" Ashtin yelled running out the door.
"Well…practice is over if you guys wanna up and leave."
"Nah." Melissa said, "I'll keep you company.
"Sorry Mich. I gotta baby-sit cause Josh's got a hot date." Cheyenne quoted the words "Hot date". She gave each girl a hug, "See ya!" She walked silently out the garage and shut the door behind her.
After Melissa and Michele put the instruments away and closed the garage up, they walked into Michele's2 story house. Melissa grabbed a Pepsi from the fridge and sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen.
"Fun practice." She stated.
"Yea. Fun fun." Michele responded looking threw the fridge for some Sierra Mist. She needed to get hyper.
"Did Tyler's mom call yet?"
"Andrea?" She sat next to her on a stool.
"Yea."
"No...why?"
"Well, you said she called once and a-while. I was just wondering."
"O...well…no she didn't."
The front door slammed and they heard, "I'm home!"
"Hey Mom!" Michele smiled as she walked into the room.
"Hey Mrs. Adams!" Melissa greeted her.
"Hello girls. Stayin for dinner Mel?" Michele's mother, Barbara, said warmly.
"Sure! If that's ok."
"It's fine."
"MAILL!" Allieson, Michele's youngest sister, screamed half running half sliding into the kitchen, because of her sock-clad feet, carrying a pile of mail.
"Thank you!" Michele smiled taking it out of her hands and going threw it. "Let's see…Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Mom, Daddy, and never mind, that's Daddy too. I never get mail!"
"You got mail!" Allieson smiled devily.
"What'd you do with it?" Michele yelled "Give it back!"
"I don't have it!" The 6-year –old smiled, "Jayme does!"
"Typical." Michele muttered. "Mom!"
"Jayme!" Barbara yelled. "Get over here!"
"I didn't do it!" Jayme said from the door way throwing her hands up revealing the letter.
"Give me my mail!" Michele pleaded.
"Pay me for it."
"Jayme Marie!" Barbara laughed, plucking the envelope out of her grasp and handing it to Michele. "Where did you learn that from?"
"School." She smiled proudly.
"What kind of school do you go to?"
"A Catholic one." Michele laughed. "Public school was the best thing that happened to me."
Melissa laughed as Michele made one of those ha-ha-I –got –the-letter- and-you-don't typefaces then sat back down on a stool. When Michele looked at the letter she almost fell off the stool. The return address was from JRecords. Jive and Virgin had turned them down and she hoped that Clive Davis had accepted them.
"What the mater?" Melissa asked when she noticed Michele sway. She sipped her soda.
"This is from JRecords!" Michele exclaimed.
Melissa almost spit out her soda. "What?" She asked regaining her composure.
"This is from JRecords! "Holy-Mother of God. Open it!"
Michele tore the back flap slowly and peered inside the envelope. She took out the letter and read it out loud, " It says:
Dear XCluded,
I'm sorry to say this but I will be out of town until Friday so you will need to come down on Saturday to sign the contract. Please, come down to my office in New York at three o'clock on Saturday January 4th. Thank you.
-Clive Davis
Clive DavisOwner and CEO of JRecords "
"Holy f-mother of God!" Melissa said again. "Do you know what this means?"
"We're gonna be famous!" Michele shouted giving her friend a hug.
Barbara did the same to both girls. "Congratulations girls. Call you Aunt Mich."
"I will!"
She ran out to the main hall and shouted "I'm gonna be famous!"
After dialing the wrong number 3 times, Barbara called her Aunt and spread the good news. Her Aunt Beverly had agreed to be her agent before she even started a band. Now all they needed was to sign the contract and they would be officially XCluded, but really included.
Note From Me: Song credits to LeAnn Rimes for Wound Up off her Twisted Angel Cd…I love that song! REVIEWs would be great! -Chelsea