shattered•3•hearts

THE LEAK

~

"Welcome to Crash Course Rebellion."

~

The words echo in my head like a mantra as I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. It still feels surreal that the London Morse said that to me. I sigh as my mind runs back to what happened just two days ago.

~

2 days ago.....during the audition.....

"Relax," Jackie mumbles as she pulls me next to her at the very back of the line. My heart is hitting my ribcage with so much force I can barely even hear her.

How in the baloney does she want me to relax? I glance over at the judge's table, the fan girl in me clawing its way out as my eyes land on Crash Course Rebellion's star drummer, Brendan O'Connor.

His natural blonde hair is kept short, unlike his best friend's, and his sky-blue eyes can have every girl swooning with just one glance. Even from behind his prescription glasses, he can make all the girls in his vicinity fall at his feet.

His arms are eye candy for those in love with muscles and men will kill to have a body as good as his. I would know; I've got tons of magazine posters of him. Shirtless, might I add.

An almost worried look is plastered on his face. His pink lips are pursed and the lines on his forehead give him away.

Everyone else seems too preoccupied to even notice. I've heard some of the girls talking and I'm saddened that none of them are even the slightest bit concerned about London's well-being. As fans they are disgusting and it's very disappointing.

The sound of the door slamming, settles everyone down and my muscles stiffen. My eyes widen on no other than the music protege himself, London Morse.

His steps are confident as his chained boots rattle against the tiled floor. I quickly look away from him as his eyes start scanning the crowd.

"Oh my poodles!" Jackie hisses excitedly, "He's looking over here! He's looking at you!"

My heart stops in my chest and I hesitantly glance over to where he's standing. Sure enough, my eyes meet his dark blue ones for a total of about 5 seconds before he quickly looks away and scurries over to the judges' table.

"Whoa," Jackie whisper-yells, "That was so awesome!"

"I think I'm gonna pass out," I mumble back.

Brendan's strong command for the audition to officially start stops her from responding and we watch on in silence as student after student took center stage.

Most if not all could barely contain their excitement. To say the least, their vocals were not great because of that. Taking short glances at the members of CCR I can tell they were getting annoyed; London more than his co-judge Brendan.

Henrietta was sent off the stage almost immediately when her turn came around and it took about two more girls with bad vocals for London to snap.

His chair scraped back with a screech and he glowered at all of us, "If you know you can't hit the fucking high note in the goddamn song, get the bloody hell out of here!"

His accented voice makes everyone swoon for a moment before the majority of auditioners file out of the room quietly. I try to follow them, thinking I can get out of auditioning but Jaqueline Mayers had other plans.

She yanked me back to her side and gave me a stern glare. My plans have been foiled. After another half an hour, Jackie drags me, literally to the sage as I barely move my feet behind her.

Why does this girl hate me? Does she want me to embarrass myself in front of the legendary London Morse and Now Magazine's Mr. Delicious himself? I'll be humiliated and Henrietta will have a field day with this and let's not forget the backlash the school will get if this doesn't go well.

"I'm Jackie and this is Melany," Jackie introduces in a bored tone. She shoves a mic in my hand, giving me a warning look.

My eyes widen as London's dark blue ones meet mine and I quickly look down. Was he just staring at me again? Oh my gosh, I think I'm about to pass out.

After taking a few deep breaths, I start the song quietly, with no music in the background. I kept my eyes on the ground but slowly I gained my confidence, Jackie joining in with the harmonies. I imagined myself floating on a cloud as the lyrics begin to sew themselves into my skin.

London made the right choice in using Somber Evenings as the audition song. It's one of my favorites and it's so fun to sing.

My cloud was broken when a strong, smooth voice commanded, "Stop!"

My eyes flit open and my heart stutters. My God, did I mess up? London stares at the both of us, an unreadable expression on his face. I messed up, didn't I?

"What's the matter?" Jackie sasses, a brow raised in his direction.

"I don't need to hear anymore," he replied with a shrug, "You both made the cut."

"That means?" I ask unsurely, narrowing my eyes.

It means you're both in," he answered with a small smile, "Welcome to Crash Course Rebellion."

~

Present....

I sigh lightly and roll over on my stomach. Everything seems so surreal. I really made the cut. I turn on the television and immediately my face flashes across the screen.

I scream in horror and scramble to a sitting position while turning up the volume. A few minutes later, I hear heavy footsteps and my bedroom door is swung open.

"What is wrong with you, young lady?" My sister, Danielle questions in a no-nonsense tone. She was about to say something else but she froze, her eyes snapping to the television screen.

"Tonight, Crash Course Rebellion is welcoming it's new lead singer and vocalist. Entertainment Now tried to get an interview with either Band Captain London or Vice Captain Brendan but efforts have proven futile."

"Holy baloney," I gasp. When did they find out? How did they find out? Jackie and I promised the band we'd keep tight-lipped until the press conference next week.

"Melany," Danielle starts in a motherly tone and I turned to her with a sheepish smile, "When were you going to tell me you were at that audition?"

"Well," I trail off and she raises a brow at me, folding her arms, "you know how Jackie is. She made me go, I didn't think I would actually get in!"

"Melany, we tell each other everything," she groans, "Why did you keep this from me?"

I remain silent, guilt slowly engulfing me. I should've told her. I was about to apologize when my cell phone began to ring.

Danny rolls her eyes and gives me a look that I knew all too well. I wasn't getting away that easy.

I answer the call and instantly 5 mini windows appear on my screen. I almost screamed when I realized all four members of Crash Course Rebellion had called me; along with Jackie, of course.

"I'm guessing you guys, um saw the news?" I mumble, my heart running a thousand miles a minute.

"Hi, Melany," Luke O'Connor greets and Ken Longstruum nods his head at me. I feel my heart stop and my breath knocks out of me.

Luke, brown-haired and green-eyed, is Brendan, Mr. Delicious himself's cousin. He plays the keyboard and is said to be the goofball amongst the four boys and God, is he hot; in a boyish kind of way.

Now as for Ken, he is dark chocolate incorporated. He's the strongest of the four and usually broods, avoiding as much conversation as he can. His muscles are bulky, making his dark skin shine and glisten whenever he's in the sun.

His grey eyes are intimidating and his curly dark brown hair is always in a low ponytail. He doesn't look like the type to play the electric guitar but that is exactly what he does and he's damn good at it.

"Nice to finally meet you guys," I gasp out. I take a deep breath to calm my racing heart and when I reopened my eyes, the entire band had smirks on their faces. Well, all except London.

"Can you all fucking focus?" he sighs exasperated, "Do any of you have any idea how this got out?"

"Not a clue," I mumble.

Jackie simply shrugs and the rest of the band scratches the back of their head.

"Alright then," London chides, "Did you girls discuss the acceptance with anyone? A family member, perhaps?"

"Nope," Jackie replies, popping the p.

"My sister just found out because of the news, "I add.

"Hmm," he hums, "Then it must have been someone from school."

"But you told everyone to keep shut about this," I chime in.

"Yes, I'm aware," he breathes out, "but it doesn't mean that the rejected prospects aren't capable of leaking this information as some sort of revenge."

"I'm sure it's that wench, Henrietta!" Jackie snarls and I sigh, a small part of me wanting to disagree but knowing Henrietta Jones, she is capable of anything.

"Alright, Jaqueline. I will look into it," London affirms.

"It's Jackie!" my best friend snaps. Rolling his eyes, he then suggests that we all meet up tomorrow at the local diner.

As soon as my phone screen went blank, I grabbed one of my pillows and screamed into it, letting out all my built-up excitement.

Oh my gosh! Did I really just have a personal conversation with Crash Course Rebellion? It felt so natural, almost like I've known them all my life. I hope they didn't notice the obvious calm facade.

I fan my face in an attempt to calm myself down and headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed. All the while, I was trying to convince myself that I'll be fine when I physically meet the rest of the band tomorrow.