Doorbell rings rapidly.
“I’m coming! I’m coming!” Tiffani huffed as she stomped down the stairs of her house, “can I even get a decent day on the weekend?” She flew open the door to reveal JC’s smiling face.
“Tiffani! I’ve been trying to reach you all day yesterday, where have you been?” He blurted.
“I was out on a date with Lance, remember I told you about the pier?”
JC had a blank look on his face then slowly started to realize. “Ohhh that’s right, yeah sorry about that, how did it go?”
“It was nice, we talked, and put our feet in the water, and then we started to-
“Ok, you don’t have to go that far.” JC said with a chuckle.
Tiffani just smiled at him and didn’t notice that she was still in the doorway.
“So are you gonna let me in or what?”
“Oh, sorry.” She led him in the house and saw that he was carrying a folder with stacks of paper in it.
“What’s all that you have in your folder?”
“Oh this? This is what you and I are gonna sing in a few days.” JC said simply.
“Wait, who’s gonna sing in a few days?”
“Us” He repeated. Yesterday my people listened to your “I’m Not a Girl” song and I received some positive feedback, so they booked us at the “House of Blues”
Tiffani’s eyes went wide “What?!, the “House of Blues?!, but-but, I-haven’t.
“You don’t have to do anything honey, all you have to do is dress casual and sing the song that I wrote for you, while I play electric guitar with some other groupies that I hired.”
“But I never performed in front of people.” She whispered.
“Yes you have, you performed at “ABDC” remember last year?”
“Oh right, but I was with my crew not by myself.”
“But you’re not gonna be yourself, you’re gonna be with me.” JC added placing the folder on the sofa and walking to her to give her a hug.
Tiffani let out a sigh
“Don’t worry, you’ll do great, besides the reason why I’m doing this now cause I won’t be able to spend that much time with you or anyone else cause I’ll be doing the new season of “America’s Best Dance Crew.” It starts next month, and since you told me that you wanna get married in April, or whenever, I wanna just do this with you, it’ll be fun, before you run off and be with Lance and forget all about me.” JC replied with pouty lips.
Tiffani laughed at him and placed her hands on her hips. “Ok, fine..I’ll do it.”
JC gave her a grin and went to go get the folder to show her the song that he wrote; he also took his laptop from his backpack and clicked a few buttons to reveal a couple of pop/rock beats.
“I like it so far, sounds so like me, so when do we sing this, I’m intrigued.” She replied looking over the notes one more time.
“In a few days.” JC replied, which would be Friday.
“Ok, I don’t have nothing to do that day anyway.”
“Good, so it’s settled then?
“Settled.”
Friday night at the “House of Blues.”
“Lance, I can’t do this, I just can’t.” Tiffani whispered looking at the crowd of people in the audience, peeking through the curtain.
Lance was backstage with her, Agatha, Anna, JC, Janet, Emily, Brian, and Edward.
“That’s right girl, you are gonna do great, I never knew you could sing when I heard that CD.” Brian replied smugly.
“Thanks Brian.” She replied sarcastically.
“Yeah Tiff, what Brian said, don’t worry, just relax and we would all be in the audience rooting for you.” Edward explained.
They all nodded in agreement and gave her hugs.
“Break a leg girl.” Janet said with a chuckle giving her thumbs up.
Tiffani just let out a small smile and watched her friends and Lance head into the VIP side of the audience.
She saw JC coming in through the stage, and saw the nervous look on his sister’s face.
“Tiff,” He took a seat next to her, “you did this before, you don’t have to be afraid, I know that deep inside of you, you like to sing and dance.”
“I know, it’s just that the people out there.” Tiffani said looking through the dark blue curtain and listening to the excited chatter of the audience.
“Just imagine that everyone is in their underwear, it works for me.” JC said with a laugh.
Tiffani smiled at that, and thought about how did she perform with her crewmates for “ABDC”, she was just like this, nervous and lost, but when she got on that stage the energy and the music made her forget all her jitters and everything went off without a hitch.
“Is that a smile I see?” JC asked and put his arm around her.
Just then a stagecrew named Markus came in. “You guys ready?” He said fixing his earpiece.
“Yeah I’m ready.” JC added and looked at Tiffani, “are you ready?”
Tiffani thought for a moment and said “Yes I’m ready.”
“Ok cool.” Marcus asked giving them thumbs up and scooted back to the stage.
Tiffani and JC slowly got up from the sofa that was in the backstage room and stood behind the curtain with the rest of the band.
“Heyyy how’s everyone doing tonight! My name is Marcus, and I’ll be your host for tonight, we have a special guest here with us, he’s a member of the pop group *NSYNC, anyone heard of them?”
The crowd let out a roar, Marcus chuckled “I thought so, anyway, he’s also a judge on “America’s Best Dance Crew” and tonight he’s here with us, and brought his sister with him. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you JC Chasez and Tiffani Anderson!
The crowd went wild for the second time.
“And this song that they are gonna sing, is called “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger”, apparently JC wrote it.
Tiffani looked at the crowd and everyone was cheering and waiting for her to sing, she followed along to the background music, and looked at JC, who was playing the guitar, while the band were playing the instruments, and she closed her eyes, and started to sing..
You know the bed feels warmer
Sleeping here alone
You know I dream in color
And do the things I want
You think you got the best of me
Think you've had the last laugh
Bet you think that everything good is gone
Think you left me broken down
Think that I'd come running back
Baby you don't know me, cause you're dead wrong
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger
Just me, myself and I
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
You heard that I was starting over with someone new
They told you I was moving on over you
You didn't think that I'd come back
I'd come back swinging
You try to break me
But you see...
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger
Just me, myself and I
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
Thanks to you I got a new thing started
Thanks to you I'm not the broken-hearted
Thanks to you I'm finally thinking 'bout me
You know in the end the day you left was just my beginning
In the end...
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter
Doesn't mean I'm over cause you're gone
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger
Just me, myself and I
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger
Just me, myself and I
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
The last few notes of the song ended and Tiffani placed the mic back on the stand and looked at the audience, who was following her every dance/singing move, they gave her a round of applause and whistles, and she let out a gasp of surprise, cause it felt amazing. She saw her friends in the audience cheering and giving thumbs up, Lance blowing kisses, and saw her mom Agatha crying tears of joy, she then looked over at JC who was finishing the notes on his guitar, and caught her glancing at him, he winked and smirked.
She then beamed at him and gave a wave to the audience.
“Thank you everyone for coming, you have been such a wonderful audience, but none of this wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for my big brother Josh, also known as JC Chasez.” Tiffani shouted.
JC laughed and spoke up “This has been such a wonderful crowd, thanks for coming everyone.” He blew kisses to the audience and Tiffani could hear girls screaming “JC I love you!”
They both bowed and waved to the audience, and the curtain soon closed.
