* Chapter 5 *

We all hopped out of the limo after it pulled up in front of the famous record company. AJ led us to the doors and opened the door for us like he did last night. He pointed over to a small conference room on one side of the lobby and told us to go in there and have a seat. We went into the room and took some seats at the big oak conference table. After a few minutes of waiting, Nick walked in. He told us he was going to take a picture of us sitting there so we posed while he snapped a picture with the same disposable camera as the night before. He put the camera back in the pocket of his baggy jeans and sat down in the chair at the opposite end of the table.

"So, ladies, how is everything going today?" Nick asked.

"Everything so far is great. I can’t wait for whatever is going to be happening today," I said.

"The ride over here was kind of interesting," Court said as she laughed.

"And why is that?" Nick asked.

"I can’t explain. Just had to be there I guess," she replied.

"Whatever," I said to her as she made a funny face at me. I made one back at her, which just made her laugh even more.

"What’s going on in here?" Bri said as he walked in. "It sounds like you are torturing them with your lame jokes Nick."

Nick gave Bri one of those ‘you-just-hurt-my-feelings’ looks with his baby blue eyes as Bri sat down at the other end of the table. Nick looked kinda sad so I reached over and poked him in the side. He wasn’t expecting that, so he gave a cute little yelp in surprise. I gave Court an ‘oh-my-gosh’ look and we both started laughing hysterically. We looked at Nick and made funny faces at him, which made him laugh too.

"You guys are weird this morning!" Bri said to us. "What did AJ give you?"

"I heard that!" AJ said as he walked into the room, gave Bri a look over his sunglasses, and sat in the chair across the table from me and next to Nick. "I only gave them water," he said innocently.

"Probably sugar water!" we heard Kev say under his breath as he walked in and sat down next to AJ.

I was laughing so hard that my stomach hurt. I put my head down on the table and just sat that way for a few minutes while I recuperated. Everyone must have thought that something was wrong because after a few minutes, the room was quiet.

"Is she ok?" I heard Howie ask as he walked in, shut the door, and leaned up against the wall between the door and Bri. "She looks dead."

I slowly lifted my head and stuck my tongue out at D and said, "Raspberry!" in a cute little girl way.

Howie giggled and shrugged as I put my head back down on the table. I could hear Court hum something, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. After a few notes, I could hear AJ start humming with her. Pretty soon, I heard Howie and Nick bust out in the words. ‘Didn’t make sense not to live for fun. Your brain gets smart, but your head gets dumb. So much to do, so much to see, so what’s wrong with taking the back streets?’

I lifted my head up and said, "Absolutely nothing!"

Everyone laughed at my comment as I smiled and then set my head back down on the table, but this time I lay my cheek down on my arm like I was going to sleep. I closed my eyes and listened to what was going to happen.

"Where’s the bathroom," I heard Court whisper to Bri.

"Uh. You go down the hall and then turn the corner. Go to the end of the hall and take a left. It’s like the third door on the right," he explained in a whisper.

Court gave Bri a confused look.

"Forget it. I’ll show you. Follow me," he said. "We’ll be right back."

I looked up before they left the room and sarcastically said, "Don’t have too much fun without us!"

"Funny Elsa," Court said in an annoyed voice before the door shut behind her.

I put my head back down on my arm and closed my eyes. I could hear someone moving around, but I just figured they were going to go out of the room or something. Just when I wasn’t expecting it, someone tickled me in my side. I looked up and saw that it was Howie, who had moved over and sat down in Court’s seat.

"What was that for?" I asked him matter-of-factly.

"You just looked too comfortable," he replied with a smile. "I couldn’t resist!"

Just as D said that, Nick reached over and tickled me on my other side.

"Stop!" I said as I laughed. This only made them want to tickle me more. I laughed while I wriggled out of my chair and rolled on the floor with both Nick and D still tickling me.

"It’s a conspiracy!" I said between big breaths.

"You two should let the poor girl get some air," AJ said.

"Thanks," I hollered.

Just then, the door flung open and Britney Spears walked in and took the seat where Bri had been sitting before.

"Hi peeps. I heard someone laughing so I figured there was a party going on in here," she said. "We can’t be having a party without me."

"Whatever Britney," Kev said under his breath in an annoyed voice. "Actually we are kind of busy right now. Sorry. No party," he said rather annoyed.

"Oh. Well in that case, I have more important things to do," she said as she got up from the table and opened the door. "Don’t have too much fun without me," we heard her say in a really cheesy voice as she walked out of the room.

"Don’t worry!" AJ said as he made a face at the door after it was shut again. "We will!"

Nick and D had stopped tickling me so I got back up, readjusted my now lopsided shirt and sat in the chair that I was in before.

"What a snot!" I said. "Is she always like that?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Nick said.

"So, what is this whole Elsa thing?" Kev asked with curiosity.

"It’s just one of my nicknames. When I was in High School, before I moved, one of my friends was walking a ways behind me in the main hall at school, which is always busy. She was trying to get my attention, but she kinda forgot my name so she yelled ‘Elsabeth’ instead of Elizabeth. After that, my friends just started calling me Elsa," I explained.

"It’s kind of a cool name," Nick said. "Elsa," he said like he was thinking to himself.

Just as Nick said that, the door opened again and Court and Bri walked back in laughing. Court sat down in Bri’s chair, so Bri stood where D was standing before.

"Hey Elsa, guess who we just saw in the hallway?" Court asked.

"Umm...let me guess...Britney Spears?" I asked.

"Yeah. How did you know?" she asked.

"Cause she came in here and thought we were having a party, but Kev burst her little ego bubble and told her that we weren’t. Then she left," AJ said in an evil voice.

"Good for you," Bri said as he walked over and gave AJ a high five. "You should’ve told her that we were having a huge party, but that she wasn’t invited. That would’ve been funny."

"Anyway, does anyone know what’s going on? Are we actually going to do anything today?" I asked rather curiously.

"That’s a secret," I heard Nick say quietly as he gave me an ‘I-know-something-that-you-don’t’ look that made me laugh. "We could tell ya, but then we’d have to kill ya."

"Fine then," I said between giggles. "Bang!" I shouted as I held up my hands like I had a gun. "You’re dead!"

He played along, making gagging sounds as he slouched down in his chair.

"Hey Liz, don’t ya think you should’ve had him tell you what we’re doing before you shot him?" Kev asked.

"Yeah, but that’s what you’re here for, remember?" I said smiling innocently at him.

"Oh. Is that all I’m good for?" he asked in a fake whiny voice and then busted into fake crying which then turned into laughing.

"Whatever, Kev. Anyway, we are waiting for some people to finish up in the practice room so we can all go in and warm up," AJ said.

"Warm up?" Court asked.

"Yeah, as in warm up our voices," Howie replied with a smile. "You can’t sing until you warm up."

"Cool!" I said excitedly. "How long do you think it will be?"

"I’m not sure. They just got in there so it might be a while. Just depends on what they are doing," AJ said.

"Well, since we’ve got time, I’ve got a joke to tell you guys," Court said.

"Is it the purple joke?" I asked.

"Yeah! I love it," she replied.

"I’m feeling a little nauseous. I’m going to go get some fresh air," I said instantly as I stood up and headed for the door. "I’ll just be outside," I informed them before walking through the door.

"Ok. There is a purple man that lives in a purple house with a purple cat and a purple dog in a purple town," I heard Court say as I walked into the hall.

"I’m going to go see if she’s ok," AJ said right before the door shut.

I walked a few steps and heard him call my name. I turned slightly, waited for him to catch up and then we walked to the front doors. When we got outside, we walked over and sat down on a bench that was underneath a huge shade tree.

"So, are you feeling ok?" he asked.

"Yeah. I’m fine. I just hate that joke. It’s like five minutes long and it’s like the only good joke that she knows so I hear it all the time," I explained. "Besides, it’s really nice out here."

I looked over and saw him pull a pack of cigarettes out of the pocket of his baggy jeans. Before he could take one out, I grabbed the box, jumped up, and practically ran over to a garbage can, broke each one in half, and threw the pieces away one by one. I slowly walked back over to the bench and sat down as calm as could be.

"What was that for?" he asked in a whiny voice.

"Has anyone ever told you that smoking is a major turn off?" I asked in a kind of snotty way. "Besides, it’s probably the single worst thing you can do to your voice and your career can’t afford that kind of damage right now."

"Well, I guess I should be glad that you care so much," he said.

"I hope that you stop, but I can’t make you do anything. You have to decide to do it yourself," I said in a very supportive voice as I patted his knee a few times. "Just please don’t do it around me."

"I’ll remember that," he said apologetically.

"Sorry that I’m being kind of mean, but I just want you to know that your fans, myself included, care about you, and that we will also support you no matter what you do," I said.

"Thanks," he said softly. We both sat in silence for a few minutes.

"So, do you think we should go back in now?" I asked to break the silence, but also change the subject. "We’ve been out here for at least ten minutes."

"Yeah. The others might already be in the practice room," he said as we got up from the bench and walked towards the door.

We went inside and walked over to the hallway where the conference room was. AJ opened the door and looked in, but no one was there. I saw D walking down the hall, so I grabbed AJ’s arm and hollered for D. He turned around and saw us walking towards him, so he stopped and waited for us to catch up. We walked around a corner and I saw the rest of the gang going in a door. I assumed that it was the practice room. We quickly headed to the door and went in to see Kev sitting at a piano that was up against one of the walls.

"Perfect timing," Nick said as I walked over and stood by him. AJ followed and stood by me, as did Howie. Court was on the other side of Nick with Bri standing on her other side.

Kev played a few scales for us on the piano, then picked up a pile of music that was on the corner of the piano. He handed them to Howie who took one then handed the pile to AJ and so on ‘til everyone had one of the papers. I looked at it and saw the music for ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ on one side and ‘My Country, ‘Tis of Thee’ on the other. I smiled to myself remembering my High School choir days. We sang these songs almost everyday as warm ups. I loved choir class. It was always one of my favorites.

"Okay. Parts are as follows," Kev said as he turned half way around on the piano bench. "Courtney and Nick on the soprano line, AJ and Liz on the alto line in octaves if you want, Bri and Howie are on the Tenor line and I’ll sing the bass," he said as he pointed to each of us when he spoke our names.

After he turned back around on the piano bench, Kev started to play an intro to ‘The Star Spangled Banner’. We started singing when Kev was done with the intro and sang the first and last verses only.

"This is sounding great. We’ve got good balance between the parts," Kev said when we were finished. He stopped singing a few lines before the end of the song to listen to us sing.

After singing the other song a few times through, I asked Kev to play a few more scales on the piano for us because I didn’t feel that my voice was warmed up enough. He played them and the others sang along with me so I wouldn’t feel too uncomfortable. I did a few stretching exercises to help me relax. When we were all ready, D led us out to the hall and into a room a couple of doors down from the practice room. We all sat down on some stools that were surrounding a circle of microphones in the middle of the room. I noticed that one wall was made out of glass so we could see the recording crew and the mixing equipment. Bri told us that we should sit by the person or whomever in Kev’s case, that is singing our part so that it would be a little easier to hear each other. We all sat down and got situated.

"Ok. You guys might think that it’s a little early, but we are going to be recording a few Christmas songs," Kev explained to Court and I. "A couple traditional songs and maybe a few originals if it’s ok with you two," he said pointing to us.

"That’s totally cool with me," I said excitedly as I saw AJ take his sunglasses off and stick them in the pocket of his jeans.

"This is way, way too professional for me. I’m not a big singer, but heck, I’ll do it anyway," Court said shrugging her shoulders.

"Let’s get started then," D said with a smile as he motioned to a guy sitting on the other side of the glass. The guy motioned to another guy that opened the door and said something to someone in the hallway. A few seconds later, the band walked in and got into place. As they were sitting down, we grabbed our headphones and put them on. This way, we could hear each other’s voices and what it would sound like when they were recording us. The drummer counted off and before I knew it, we were all singing ‘Joy to the World’ to a very cool jazzy beat. ‘This is so much fun!’ I thought to myself. When we were done, the guys in the tech room played it back for us to hear. It sounded so cool! Nick looked at me and gave me a ‘that’s-not-half-bad’ look. I smiled back and waited to hear what we would be doing next. After singing ‘Silent Night’, we waited again to be told what we would be doing.

"This time we will be singing ‘Away In a Manger’," the drummer said. "They want it kind of slow and quiet though, so it sounds like a lullaby."

He counted off again and we sang a few verses before we were told to stop by a guy in the tech room.

"Ok. Let’s do that again, only this time, we want the girls to do a duet on the second verse with the guys coming back in on the final verse," he explained from the tech room.

We starting singing again only we changed the verses like the guy had said to. After the first verse was over, I got really nervous before the second verse started. Now was my turn to shine. I smiled at Court, shut my eyes while listening to the small intro, and then we started singing. This was perfect! It sounded absolutely perfect. I pictured a mother rocking her baby to sleep in my mind, which only made me sing it better. When the verse was over, I felt very happy. The time came and the guys joined us for the third verse. After the song was over, I looked towards the floor, took off my headphones, and closed my eyes.

"That was perfect," we heard the voice of the same guy as before say.

I looked up to see Bri smiling at me. I smiled back and then looked at Kev, who was also smiling at me. I couldn’t help but beam with gladness. I had been waiting for that moment for so long.

"That is definitely going on the album," D said as I shot him a huge grin. I noticed that the rest of the group was finally taking off their headphones.

"This is more than I could have ever imagined would happen," I whispered softly to myself.

"You better believe it," AJ whispered back as he patted my shoulder a few times.

"Hold it right there," Nick said. "We need a picture!"

We all squished in so he could get a picture or two while we were waiting.

"Say pickles!" Nick said before he snapped a picture.

"Let’s go ahead and take a quick break," said the tech guy. We all agreed and headed for the door.