"Can we take five?" I asked. The boys put down their instruments as I walked off the stage and grabbed my water bottle. This was the last practice before I made my first performance as the official lead singer of the band.

The guitarist, Reggie came up to me. "So how are you holding up?"

"I'm doing okay. I'm just a bit nervous."

"About what? You sounded great."

"Thanks Reg, but I just don't want anything bad to happen."

"What bad thing could possibly happen?"

I raised my eyebrows at him. "I could get strep throat."

"That was definitely just karma. Patrick was a crappy singer and the only reason we were gonna preform with him on opening night was because we were getting paid. He was a douchebag who thought we was the star of the show. You don't do that. And you're gonna do great C."

"Thanks Reg. How about we round up the rest of the guys, go through the songs one more time, and then call it a night."

"Sounds like a plan." He jumped back onto the stage and called over the rest of the guys. Our drummer Carlos, the bassist Charlie, and Ben on keyboard. We all got back on stage and ran through all the songs again.

Once we all finished playing the songs for tomorrow, we high-fived each other and called it a night. I grabbed my bag from one of the tables and walked outside to find Shawn leaning up against the wall.

"Hey Hunter whatcha doing here?"

"Well I thought you'd probably be out this late and I figured it was best if you didn't walk home alone."

"Aw, look at you being all brotherly." I messed up his hair and he swatted my hands away while looking down.

"Hey why do you always have to go for the hair?"

"Okay fine I won't go for the hair."

"Thank you." Just as he said that I jumped onto his back and pushed him towards the ground.

Once he was on his knees I put him in a choke hold. "SAY UNCLE!"

"FINE UNCLE UNCLE!" He shouted and I let him out of the hold. "Okay next time you can go for the hair."

"Pleasure doing business with you." I shook his hand and we both laughed. Once we started walking to my house I realized something. "Hey, how long were you waiting for me?"

"Not long, maybe like 10 minutes."

"Did you hear any of the stuff we were playing?"

"No, I wanted to hear all the songs tomorrow when I bring everyone to watch you guys play again."

"What do you mean everyone?"

"Corey, Topanga, your dad, your stepmom, and Derek."

My heart got warm when he said he was bringing Derek. "Speaking of Derek, now that you guys have actually made an effort to get to know him....opinions?"

"My gut still says to kill him." I rolled my eyes and he put his arm around me. "But I do think he's cool. And as long as he doesn't upset you, the man will continue to walk with the living."

"Thanks Shawn." I stopped and took his arm off of my shoulders. "Hey, you know what we haven't done in a while?"

"What?"

I jumped on his back and he struggled to quickly grab onto my legs to make sure I don't fall. "ONWARD MY NOBLE STEED!"

"Not again."

"Yes again. ONWARD!" I pointed in front of me and he started walking the rest of the way to my house.

Once we got to my house he put me down. "Okay, this is your stop."

"Damn, I liked feeling that tall."

He chuckled. "Hey it's late go get some sleep so you can do your best on stage tomorrow. I can't wait to see you preform again."

"Thanks, goodnight Hunter."

"Goodnight Cris."

After school I headed to Cory's locker to meet with him and Topanga. "Hey guys."

"Hey Shawn." Topanga looked over at me.

"Is everybody ready for tonight?" I am super excited and Topanga could clearly tell.

"Yup, all set. And by the looks of it you can't wait."

Cory squints at me. "Why are you hopping?"

"I'm hopping? I didn't even notice, but who cares?"

"Shawn I haven't seen you this excited about something since the cheerleaders did that car washing fundraiser." Cory said.

"This is bigger than that." Both of their eyes widened. "Guys i'm serious. I mean, I still really like her and it is still kinda hard to be around her, but I love watching her be on stage like that." I smiled and sat on the bench in the hallway.

"What do you mean?" Cory asked me.

"Listen, we all know that she's one of the best singers we've ever heard." They nodded. "But didn't you guys see what I saw that night?"

"What did you see?"

"I saw a girl who was a natural performer. She looked like that's what she was born to do. Couldn't you guys see how amazing she was? How happy she was? Because that was the happiest i've ever seen her. She practically lit up when she was on stage. And I don't know, there's something about watching her do something that makes her really happy, that makes me really happy."

They sit down next to me and Cory speaks up. "Shawn, I get it. I feel the same way when I see Topanga doing something she loves."

I lie down on the bench and look up to the ceiling.

"Hey guys." I hear Cris say as she walks up to us.

I turn my head and sit up so i'm facing her. "So are you excited about tonight?" I nudged her arm and she smiled.

"Yeah, but i'm a little nervous."

"How come?" I asked. "You seemed like you really liked preforming last time."

"Yeah, and that's why i'm excited, but there's always that little part of me that thinks i'm gonna mess up."

"Cris, you're gonna do great." I got up and put my arm around her. "I promise." I lead her to her locker where I knew she was gonna drop off a few of her books.

"Thanks Hunter, but if I face plant you owe me 20 bucks and chocolate ice cream." She pointed her finger at me.

"Deal." I held out my hand for her to shake. She grabbed it and shook it while smiling. She put her stuff away and turned back to all of us.

"If you guys thought I was good last time just wait until you hear what we got for you tonight."

I can't fucking wait.