“So, how do I look?” she asked turning away from the mirror to face you, uncertainty covering her pale face.

Today was the big day. Plainview's Most Talented – the talent show Löded Diper practiced for for two months now, nearly every day after school in the Heffley’s basement – finally took place.

Usually such a contest wouldn’t be a big deal neither to you nor anyone else you knew from your past.

However, this wasn’t Miami. This was Plainview – a small city in the middle of nowhere, where practically everyone knew each other and the winner would be recognized by everyone until the day

they died. Isn’t that charming?

Rodrick liked to call it their ‘huge break’, because even if they wouldn’t win (‘which would be absolutely unacceptable’) this would bring them publicity which would then obviously lead to a famous international record label to discover them, making them worldwide stars.

Makes sense and is a 100% realistic, right? Pretty much Punk One Direction.

“Like a goddess, thanks for blessing me with your presence queen” you answered smiling, looking up at your best friend fumbling nervously with her long, curly hair.

You were currently at Maddies, laying on her bed, reading one of her gossip magazines while she tried to go from garden fairy to the family disappointment style wise.

The talent show started at 6.30pm., which meant that you had still over an hour to go but Mads didn’t seem content with any of the twenty outfits she already tried on, the pile of clothes right next to you getting bigger and messier with each minute. The most frustrating part about it being the fact that she literally looked gorgeous in every single one of them but didn’t see it herself.

“This is it, I’m not going” she said sighing exasperated, throwing another outfit on the heap, before falling down dramatically on the bed herself.

“This doesn’t look ‘I might be the lead singers supportive girlfriend, but I’m still so much cooler than him’ enough” she complained.

You couldn’t help but laugh about this ridiculously funny situation, Maddie immediately snatching the magazine out of your hand and hitting you with it.

“Dude I’m not joking” she said trying to come off as serious as possible, yet unable to suppress her own smile. “How does it feel to be God’s favorite, being able to pull off every outfit?” she asked you, standing back up, heading to her wardrobe again, referring to your quite basic outfit.

You were wearing a black ripped mom jeans, black converse and the Löded Diper sweatshirt you’ve got from Rodrick the day you were at the beach.

“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?” you answered now standing up, taking a sip of your coffee, walking up to her, taking a look into her closet as well.

“Do you own any fishnet stockings?” you

asked after a while, turning back to Maddie nodding her head. “I think so, give me a second” she answered before diving into her wardrobe again, pulling out heart patterned tights out of them a minute later, handing them to you.

“Adorable” you commented, before putting them down on her bed.

“Okay so here’s what I would do. These stockings. Your white leg warmers plus the Doc Martens. That blue jean mini skirt, the one that's giving 2005 vibes. The Löded Diper shirt. But I don’t know whether you should tuck it in or not. And that black oversized leather jacket you have” you listed while she took out everything you named, preparing her outfit like she’d prepare the ingredients

for a cake.

“I can’t believe that this actually looks so good” Maddie mumbled admiring herself in the mirror after putting on her clothes, her curly red hair completing the look while you watched her carefully, analyzing every single detail of the outfit.

“You’re a genius y/n” she said turning around giving you a bright smile. “Not quite actually” you answered slowly “something about it doesn’t sit right with

me” you added.

“The shirt is ruining it, don’t you think?” you asked, Mads turning around now,

looking in the mirror again, before nodding her head slowly.

“I see. But the shirt is supposed to be like the main character, you know?” she stated, “We can’t just replace it.”

“I know” you answered calmly. “How about we shorten it though, I feel like it would look bomb” you suggested, her taking off the shirt immediately handing it and a big pair of scissors to you.

“I trust you. However, if you ruin it, I’ll kill you babe” she said giving you a devilish grin.

"Damn. Talk about no pressure, huh" you answered rolling your eyes before

slowly starting to cut off the bottom part of the long shirt.

“You know what, I’m gonna cut off the sleeves as well, I’m just in a silly goofy mood right now, so why not?” you said quietly, giving her a sly smirk, just to receive an anxious look from her, cutting off the next part of the shirt, knowing exactly what you were doing.

“All right, here you go” you said handing her the shirt confidently. And after she put it on all the uncertainty about the outfit you had just about 10 minutes ago disappeared completely. The look was

fire, the shirt now giving it a punk touch, a spicy note.

“Please remind me to never doubt your skills ever again.” she said smiling at you.

“Yeah, you look like you could ruin anyone’s life without even trying” you answered grinning proudly. “And now let’s go or we’ll actually be late for the show and you won’t be able to show off your cooler girlfriend look” you added before grabbing your camera and phone, both of you leaving her house just a moment later.

--------------------

“I’m sorry ladies, only the candidates are allowed to enter the backstage area” the young, approximately 2 years older, tall bodyguard stated, a genuinely sorry look covering his face.

It was 6pm. when you finally arrived in the huge Plainview stage hall. There was still half an hour left before the show began, so you decided to go backstage to wish the boys good luck, unfortunately

being stopped by this guy blocking the entrance.

“Oh come on,” Maddie pleaded frustrated, “we only need two minutes” she continued, the boy scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably, shaking his head lightly.

“I know and I totally get it, you wanna wish your friends good luck. But these are strict instructions and I really don’t wanna lose my job. I’m broke as fuck right now, you feel me?” he explained calmly looking down at the both of

you, his cheeks turning bright pink in embarrassment, while you gave him a soft understanding smile in response.

“I understand” you answered tenderly, before Mads had the chance to say anything else, immediately feeling her eyes on you, giving up this fast not being something you did usually.

“See, the truth is, we didn’t really want to visit our friends” you admitted looking down embarrassed, “we wanted to protect this place and the people visiting this show today, you know?” you explained receiving a confused look from the guard.

“This day is an extremely special day, we’ve all been warned about in the past

months. Today the sun is in the second house, there’s a trine between the sun and midheaven, the moon in the first house with a sextile between it and venus, a trine between moon and uranus and mars and most importantly a conjunction between mars and pluto. And I know you may ask yourself what that means and why I’m being so weird about all this. But today’s exact planet constellation was the exact same precisely 23 and 56 years ago and you know what happened then, right?" you continued with a panicked voice, your hands moving in small and fast gestures, the boy shaking his head uncertainly.

“Since you work here you probably know that this place burned down twice these exact days with today’s exact planet constellation. If we won’t cleanse this place in the next thirty minutes and protect it from all the possible negativity, I have absolutely no doubt in the history

repeating itself another time. Hundreds of innocent souls suffering a tragic death that could have been avoided by us and more importantly by you letting us in. All it takes for us, is to place these crystals in different areas of this stage room and we’ll be save” you added taking out an amethyst, obsidian, carnelian and rose quartz out of your back pack showing them to the by now speechless safety guard –basic crystals you always carried with you for no actual reason.

“But I mean I still get that you can’t let us in, rules are there to be followed. We’ll both just head home, as far as possible from this pl-“ you kept going before finally getting interrupted by the guy.

“Okay, okay, I’ll let you in of course, I had no idea about the seriousness of this whole situation. Just take these, write your name on them and act like you’re part of our team as well and for God’s sake do what you have to do to save us all” he whispered nervously, handing you two name tags and a pen.

You both gave him a grateful smile before he finally let you into the backstage room.

“Yo, what the fuck were you talking about?” Maddie asked you whispering, leaning in closer to you, while you searched for the boys, wondering whether you should just call them.

“I have no idea” you admitted smiling amazed by your own lie, before your eyes finally landed on four guys dressed all in black standing in the left corner of the huge room. More precisely Ben sitting legs crossed on the floor, nervously going through the song text again. Chris anxiously biting his nails. Bill laying on the floor, eyes closed. And Rodrick tensely walking up and down the room, tapping a drum stick against his palm over and over again.

“Excited?” Maddie asked eventually, none of the boys noticing your presence until now, Chris letting out a quiet, surprised scream. “Damn it women, stop scaring me like this” he said point a finger at her accusatively, holding his other hand on his chest, breathing out dramatically.

She shrugged it off and walked over to Ben, mumbling a silent ‘hey’ before giving him a soft kiss on his cheek, flopping down on the floor right beside her boyfriend as he slung his arm over her shoulder pulling her even closer.

Turning your attention from both of them, you suddenly noticed Rodrick staring at the couple, his gaze intense yet unfocused and absent, looking like he was in some sort of trance.

“What’s up?” you asked walking over to him, placing your hand softly on his shoulder before he shook his head, slowly coming back to earth turning around, now staring at you surprised.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, the information about your presence just now settling in his brain, a bright smile forming on his face as he took you into a tight bear hug. “I thought this was only for the candidates” he mumbled, his voice muffled against your hair.

“And staff” you added, pulling away from him, showing him your name tag proudly, his smile widening once again.

“Do I wanna know?” he asked rhetorically. You shook your head in

response, indicating him a clear ‘no’, his smile now slowly fading away, quickly getting replaced by that worried look from just a few seconds ago.

“I don’t think we can actually do this y/n, you know” Rodrick said unexpectedly, tiredly rubbing his eyes, your brows furrowing at his sudden insecure attitude.

Normally he had a whole God complex

when it came to his band, Maddie needing to humble him from time to time.

“Like, what if we mess up something, or the crowd won’t like our performance or..” he continued his act while you watched him casually, not buying a single word coming out of his mouth. Because what this man wanted, wasn’t for you to reassure him that everything would be okay, because he knew damn well they were good.

What he wanted was for you to praise him, tell him how talented he was, boost is ego. “..see, the others are just so much better compared to us, don’t you think?” he added now intently, looking up at you leaning against the wall with your arms crossed over your chest.

“Yeah, you’re right” you answered lazily, picking up your bag, turning around, proceeding to walk away. But before you had the chance to do so, his hand grabbed your arm gently, quickly pulling you back.

“Wait, what do you mean?” he asked, now genuine concern displaying in his eyes. Good.

“Oh, you know. I just don’t think you have a chance compared to the others. I mean have you seen them? You just said it yourself. You guys can pack it up and leave actually. Won’t make any difference if you play or not” you answered provocative, not breaking eye contact for a second, giving him the same ‘honest’ look he gave you just a moment ago.

“Wait, are you shitting me?” he spoke up outraged. “Of course we’re going to win against that bunch of losers. We’re Löded Diper – the best band on earth, and you know that y/n”, he said seriously pointing his finger on your chest as you gave him an innocent smile.

“Oh yeah?” you asked with a sly smirk on your face, stepping even closer to him, your arms crossed over your chest, closing the small gap between the two of you nearly completely.

“Is that so?” you continued, Rodrick nodding slowly in response, intensely looking down at you.

“Prove it then” you whispered now leaning in a little, your breath tingling his neck as he eventually broke eye contact, looking away nervously.

You stepped back satisfied, watching him trying to regain his composure.

“I will” he answered after a while, his voice determined, his face expression serious, as if he tried to prove something to you.

Boys’ egos are huge and fragile. By hurting, threatening or challenging it, you can manipulate them and make them do whatever you want them to. Being too busy proving their masculinity, strength and boldness, they won’t even notice. Men will always think they are the ones in control, the ones that hold the power, while in reality there’s always somebody else pulling their strings. A women.

“Good, then get your ass out there and stop being such a bitch” you commanded, the beautiful voice of one of the girls singing reminding you of the band’s performance starting in about ten minutes, your eyes quickly shifting to Maddie getting ready to leave as well.

“I would say don’t talk to me like that but that was weirdly attractive” Rodrick answered confidently, his cocky way reentering his body like a ghost as you gave him your famous ’boy, are you fucking serious right now’ look, letting out a disappointed sigh.

“Alright, okay, I’ll stop” he answered, putting his hands up in defense, giving you the most frat boyish smile possible.

And just as you were about to wish him luck and leave, he put his arms on both of your shoulders pulling you closer again.

“How about a good luck kiss?” he asked, looking down at you with an expectant look and a sly smile, your heart rate speeding up in a matter of seconds. You quickly looked down hiding your face, feeling your cheeks flushing in a bright pink color, confused, not having figured out your feelings for him yet, mainly trying to suppress them after your kiss at the party.

“Come on, one kiss on the cheek and I’m

gone” he added after you didn’t respond, his face displaying the kind of innocence that probably made everyone weak.

“Fine, one kiss” you answered giving in, not waiting for his response, gently cupping his face in your hands. You brushed his dark hair out of his eyes before placing a soft, small kiss on his right cheek. The natural feeling of it scaring you once again, making you pull away almost immediately facing his

satisfied and proud face.

“Wasn’t that bad after all, huh?” he asked cockily as you rolled your eyes annoyed, trying your best to cover the confusing emotional state you were in right now, picking up your bag, whispering a quiet “good luck” before turning away, joining Maddie and the rest of the band again, quickly saying goodbye to them as well. You placed your crystals in some random spots, rushing out of the backstage room to take your first row seats next to the Heffley family.

But sitting down you realized that the seat right next to you -Susan’s seat- was still empty.

You didn’t need to know Mrs.Heffley in order to see that she was the most supportive and sweet women on earth.

Missing her oldest son’s first public performance was therefore more than unusual.

Maybe she is ill you thought to yourself. And just as you were about to ask Greg about her, who was sitting one seat

away from you, you were interrupted by the host suddenly announcing the guys.

“Löded Diper, Ladies and Gentleman! Let’s make some noise for these talented, young performers!” the moderator

spoke thrilled, the audience cheering loudly as the red curtains raised, revealing the rock band.

You watched Rodrick tapping his drumsticks twice theatrically, before finally smashing his drums, throwing his head back. Chris beginning his bass part almost simultaneously syncing up with Bill.

Playing their intro, you realized for the first time that they actually sounded good, all jokes aside and that you’d probably visit their concerts if they were a ‘real thing’, their music perfectly fitting into your usual register.

Rodrick’s rhythmic sense, Ben’s voice and Bill & Chris’s base melody creating a

perfect and wild harmony.

You couldn’t take your eyes off them for a second. Feeling like you were in some sort of trance, not sure what you should focus on - Rodrick putting his whole heart into the show, energetically nodding his head to the beat of the music. His hair messily flying all over his face. His eyes closed while a sly smile played across his face.

Or Chris and Bills skilled, slender

fingers working the guitars.

Or Ben acting like a fucking rock star, while his raspy voice hit all the right notes.

Maybe you should focus on their outfits.

Rodrick wearing a black, ripped, baggy jeans with an oversized band shirt, his eyes covered in smudged eyeliner.

Ben going with an oversized leather jacket while the guitarists went with heavy boots, meshed shirts and black nails.

Maybe you should focus on the all red scenery.

Or maybe on the actual music.

Or on the fact that Rodrick just

winked at you. Oh. My. God. Rodrick just winked at me.

You didn’t know. Everything about their

performance combined was the literal definition of hot and screamed sex.

Being hooked on them you totally forgot about your surroundings, not noticing Mrs. Heffley’s presence nor the whole stage hall including you unconsciously standing by now, cheering loudly,

singing along the last refrain.

It was the type of moment that made time look like an irrational concept and your current reality like a simple simulation. The type of moment that made you feel something, that you won’t ever be able to describe in words. The moment where your brain finally took a break and let your heart take the lead.

That one moment that is going to make you smile like a fucking idiot every time you think of it till the rest of your life.

That one incredible and unique moment.

That moment that lasted for about four minutes.

And now was over.

“Thank you so much Plainview!” Ben screamed enthusiastically, the crowd bursting out into a long loud applaud, Maddie and you cheering loudly, excitedly jumping up and down, creating a perfect image of two crazy teenage fangirls.