"Yes! It's the last day of school!" I said, punching my fist in the air. I had met Ellie at our lockers that morning. Together we'd suffered through the morning, and finally it was time for summer vacation. "You wanna catch a movie this afternoon?"

"Sure," Ellie answered, closing her locker for the last time. "Let's go!"

We linked arms and went outside to wait for Mia. "Hey, Mom," Ellie said, getting in the car with me.

"Hi, girls. What are you doing today?"

"Can we go to the movie theater?" Ellie asked.

"Sure."

The theater was only a couple of minutes away, and we hopped out of the car. Mia had an appointment. We got in line for tickets.

"Oh, look, it's the ex," a voice said from behind. We whirled around to see Jeremy and Randi. I narrowed my eyes.

"I'm not interested in hearing what you have to say," I said.

Jeremy laughed. "Hear that, honey? She says she doesn't care, but she does. I didn't spend a year and a half with her for nothing."

"Come on, Gabby…" Ellie said, trying to pull me out of line.

"No!" I said. "Look, Jeremy, I don't know what your problem with me is, but I don't care. You're a liar and a jerk, no matter what anyone says. You have an inflated opinion of yourself. To quote Celine Dion: 'You're going to get what's coming to you for all the bad, bad things you do to your lady.' Hope you're happy, Randi, because you have a jerk of a boyfriend."

Ellie turned to me with my ticket. I took it and turned away while Jeremy shouted, "You're weak, Gabrielle! You suck!"

Once inside the theater, Ellie high-fived me. "Even though you think he didn't hear you, he and Randi both did. I'm happy for you!"

"Thanks," I said shortly. I felt no better, though, now that I'd told Jeremy off.

_______________________________

"Why are you being so secretive?" I asked Ellie. We were standing in her room, and Ellie was acting very strangely.

"Trust me, Gabby, you'll want to look good tonight," Ellie told me, putting on some lip-gloss. Ellie had made me wear one of my favorite outfits, a green shorts outfit, and had made Mia anti-frizz my hair by putting mousse in it. I was also wearing some makeup. I didn't feel like celebrating. I still felt terrible.

The doorbell rang, and Ellie jumped. "Geez…already?" She looked critically in the mirror at the outfit Celine had helped her pick out. It was a black velour tanktop covered by a black, see-through lace top. She wore dark blue bell-bottom jeans with white flowers around the bottom. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" I asked, beginning to feel annoyed on top of everything else.

"You'll see." Ellie opened the door and Celine stood on the doorstep.

"What is going on?" I asked Celine. She just ushered me out the door as Ellie shouted goodbye to Mia.

"Sit back and relax," Celine said as we got into her limo. "We'll be there in a couple of hours."

"Hours?" I choked.

"Here," Ellie said, handing me some headphones. I slipped them on and Ellie started the Discman. She played "A Minute Without You" and I began to calm down. I wondered what we could possibly be doing.

_______________________________

"You guys have fun," Celine said as Ellie dragged me out of the limo.

"You're not coming?" Ellie asked.

"No, I'm going shopping."

"You just went shopping!"

"Not for shoes!" Ellie laughed and waved.

I turned around. "Molson Center? Ellie, what…" Just then I saw "Hanson-Sold Out" scroll across the screen. "Oh, my God…"

"Surprise!" Ellie said.

"Oh, my God…" I repeated. I was gonna see Hanson live? Maybe I would finally hear More Than Anything.

"There's more to come later," Ellie told me, taking my arm and pulling me towards the entrance.

Gabby and I found our fourth row seats and stood eagerly awaiting the performance.

"Here," I said to her, handing her the other end of a huge banner I'd made.

"What does it say?" Gabby asked, craning her head around to see.

"It says 'Ever Lonely? Go see a Hanson concert because they rock!'"

"Wow, that's good," Gabby laughed. I was so glad to see her happy again.

I glanced up to the stage. A huge curtain was drawn, and I couldn't see anything. Slowly, more people arrived until the place was jammed.

My heart pounded loudly in my chest as I heard Ike's familiar opening chords to "Gimme Some Lovin".

"Here they come!" I shouted as the lights went completely dark. The curtain flew open and I saw Hanson themselves singing "Gimme Some Lovin".

Gabby and I held up our banner as high as we could and moved along in time to the music. I was sure Taylor had seen our sign.

The concert flew by. Hanson sung all their most popular songs like "MMMBop" and "Ever Lonely". Halfway through the concert, I pulled the little teddy bear attached to a balloon out of my pocket. Gabby's eyes were fixed on Ike as they performed "Weird". At the end of the song, I chucked the bear as far as I could onstage. It landed right in front of Zac's drums. As Ike announced "Look at You", Taylor went over, picked it up and noticed it was addressed to Zac. Zac accepted it and put it on the floor by his drumset.

"Did you throw that?" Gabby asked me as we held our banner up again.

"Yup!" I smiled happily.

As Hanson began their last song, "Man From Milwaukee", I began to try to figure out how to get Gabrielle to stay in the Molson Center until the crowd thinned out and we could go backstage.

"Thank you, guys!" Isaac was shouting into his microphone. "We'll see you all later." The Hansons filed offstage, and Gabrielle turned to me.

"Aw, man, this is the best thing anyone has ever done for me. Thank you," Gabby said.

"Wait, I have one more surprise." Gabby's face lit up. "We have to wait until the crowd thins out."

Gabrielle sat down in her seat, gingerly holding the banner. I tried to control my nervousness. Thanks to Celine, we were about to meet Hanson!

"That crowd was wild!" I said, tossing my brother, Zac, a Dr. Pepper. We had just finished a concert in Canada.

Every time I got onstage, I thanked God for giving my brothers and me the chance to do what we loved: music. I didn't care about how we were international popstars, or how much money we made. All that was important to me was performing, improving our music and making people happy.

"Hey, did you guys see that banner that said 'Ever Lonely? Then go see a Hanson concert because they rock'?" Taylor, my younger brother, asked.

"Yup. And that cute teddy bear with the candy? Dude, Ike, you're lucky it didn't hit you in the…"

"Thanks for reminding me, Zac," I said dryly as Taylor laughed. "Do we have visitors tonight?"

"Yeah, two friends of Celine Dion are coming," Taylor said.

"Near, far, wherever you are," Zac sang in a fake, high voice.

"Shut it, Zac," I said. I was tired from non-stop touring. Even though I loved performing, I was exhausted.

"Ooh, Ikey-Pooh's cranky," Zac teased. I went over and tackled him. There was a knock on the door.

"We'll finish this later," I said, shoving Zac playfully away. I went to open the door, where two girls were standing. One had her hands over the other's eyes and my suspicions that this was a surprise were proved correct when the girl put a finger to her lips. I remained quiet and moved away from the door to let her through.

"Okay, Gabby, almost there." The girl led her into the center of our backstage room. "Okay, look!"

The other girl opened her eyes. An embarrassed flush fleeted across her face. "Oh, my gosh…"

"Hey, guys," the other girl greeted us. "Your concert rocked!"

"Thanks," Taylor said.

"I'm Ellie and this is my best friend, Gabrielle," Ellie introduced.

"Hey," we all echoed, shaking their hands. Gabrielle barely met our eyes, I noticed. Maybe she was just shy.

"Are you from Canada?" I asked.

"Yup. We live about two hours away," Ellie answered.

"That banner is great," Taylor said, motioning to the banner draped over Gabrielle's lap.

"Thanks," Ellie said.

"Was this a surprise for you, Gabrielle?" I asked.

Gabrielle glanced up at me, and I saw tears forming in her eyes. I know a lot of girls cry at our concerts (I don't know why, we're nothing to cry over), but Gabrielle seemed to be just starting. Ellie looked at her sympathetically.

"Yeah," Gabrielle finally answered me quietly. "It's nice. Thanks, Ellie. Will you guys excuse me for a minute?"

"Gabby…" Ellie was too late. Gabrielle had already stepped out into the hall.

"Are we that bad?" Taylor asked.

"Oh, guys, it's not you," Ellie groaned. "Gabby's just really upset."

"Do you mind if we ask why?" Zac asked.

"She just came off a really bad breakup," Ellie sighed. "I thought coming here and meeting you guys would help."

"She's lucky to have a friend like you," Taylor said.

"Thanks. Hey, I've always wanted to ask what the inspiration for Ever Lonely was."

I glanced toward the door as Taylor and Zac answered her question. My heart went out to Gabrielle. I knew how hard breakups were. Maybe Tay, Zac and I could find a way to help her.

Chapter 6

Back to If We Could Start Over