Holy shit, there were a lot of people. Like, holy shit.

The chairs that Niall had been talking about sitting on were now none-existing, since all chairs had been pushed all the way to the back, there were absolutely no room for them. As all of them had been taken rather quickly people had just been standing up instead which made it impossible for the people sitting down to see anything and now people in the back of the small and overstuffed room were standing on them to get a glance at the stage where I was now about to sit down at the piano before having done a few small bows with the rest of the girls as we tried to cope with the insane fact that they were actually shouting our names and applauding us over and over again. I smiled a proud but mostly nervous smile to Em as she looked like she was about to burry herself deep down in the darkest hole. She did manage to pull herself together and smile at the audience and do a little wave.


My eyes searched for the boys, Perrie and Eleanor and found them standing at the left side of the stage waving and smiling like crazy and I was relieved to see that Liam’s eyes were as always not leaving Em’s, I knew that he calmed her down more than anyone or anything else could do.


It took several minutes before the audience became quiet so that I would have a chance to say anything despite of Andy having turned up the volume on all of our microphones and instruments a lot more than last time.


“Uhm… Good evening,” I said spending a couple of seconds to compose my trembling voice. “Wow, there are a whole lot of people in here.”

My nervousness may come off as a joke that made them laugh but it was just so intimidatingly real to feel my heart alternately shift between skipping several beats and then beating faster than ever.

“So uhm… we’re The Rookies. And we’re going to play some music for you for the next hour. Our music is a mixture of cover songs and our own writing as well, we really hope you will enjoy it. Uhm… so the first song that we’re going to do is a cover version of one of Katy Perry’s many hit songs, this one is called Roar.”


Another applaud came from the audience as I turned towards my piano to get ready since I was the one to begin the song by playing a few light chords, before Aida would join in with some floating notes just to make kind of a psychedelic atmosphere that we found really suited the melody well. For this song Em didn’t sing with the voice that came from her naturally but instead she was almost breathing and sighing the notes in it which gave the song an entire different sound, and I remember at first when we were rehearsing this one she’d felt so incredibly embarrassed and didn’t want to sing it that way, it was almost like a whisper at times, but the more she did it the more confident and beautiful it became.


On the chorus Aida and I would join on a lighter and lower second voice singing in a bit of the same way as Em was which made it very magical and light to listen to.


By starting off with Roar we’d set the page for how this concert was going to be like and how our style was; pop songs that often had a country and psychedelic sound to them, and at first people always had to get used to it, but it was my experience that after a couple of tunes they always ended liking it quite a lot.


This time it went a lot quicker though. Already after I’d had played the last light chords that had been throughout the entire song, I felt my ears being raped by the loud applauding and shouting that came from the people right in front of us and I couldn’t help but open my eyes widely at the girls as it didn’t seem to stop at all before I decided to cut in, when I saw Andy mouth to me that we didn’t have any time left for that and that I would have to stop them.


“Okay!” I almost shouted and laughed at the same time in to the microphone. “You guys are so loud, you have no idea how great it feels to playing here tonight. Okay, so the next song is also a cover version of a hit that you might know as well. This is Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball. This has always meant a lot to us and so it felt quite natural to try doing a cover of it the way we thought it would sound nice. So here it is.”


Once again I was the one to begin the cover by playing the chords that I’d made a bit more jazz-like and after one round Em began the first verse. Aida waited until the chorus to do some light chords on the electric guitar that she’d bought recently to create more nuances and possibilities of making the songs more different.


This was one of the few of our tunes that didn’t have any other voices than the melody, since we’d all thought it was definitely most beautiful without it, especially when Em was nailing every note with so much conviction and nerve that send shivers through everybody listening to her.
Even though I didn’t think it was possible, people anyway managed to shout louder than after the first song and this time I literally couldn’t hold back the laugh that had been pressing on my lips every time I would hear “The Rookies” being screamed from somewhere in the room. I glanced over at the girls who were both smiling the same foolish way as me and once again Aida had to calm the audience down in order for us to continue the concert.


“Man, I could really get used to this,” she gushed making everybody laugh as well. “Okay, so now we’re going to do another cover of a hit. I know, I know, but we’re trying to save our own songs until the end to keep you guys captive as long as possible. Wouldn’t be cool if everybody left after ten minutes…”

Her dorky and honest attitude surprised both Em and I as we laughed along with the people at the foot of the small stage. I glanced over at Harry to see him look at his girlfriend with his remarkable dimply smile on the lips. He was looking at her like every girl wants a guy to look at them; in love. I had to stop myself from running out and get my phone to take a picture of that gorgeous and a bit funny expression on Harry’s face.

“This is Justin Bieber’s As Long As You Love Me,” Aida ended her speech.


We did this song in a way that had our brand written all over it; a bit of rhythmic guitar from Aida, my light notes on the piano and Em killing the melody. Three voices on the chorus and Aida rapping the B-part made it different from all the other versions that were out there.


After that one it was time for my Blue Eyes, so I got ready to present it suddenly feeling the extreme nervousness returning within a second as I thought about Niall standing only a few feet away from me, despite the fact that he already knew the story behind the song.


“The next song will be the first of our own writings and I’m the one to begin by presenting a song called Blue Eyes. This was written with a special person to me in mind. Uhm… he’s actually here tonight. Niall, I know that you’ve heard this song before, but I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do playing it for you,” I said finding his gaze among the hundreds of others in the closely spaced crowd.

His face lit up the second he looked at me and the smile on his lips hadn’t faded the slightest bit as I managed to pull myself away from his eyes to begin the song.


As we played it time and place seemed to disappear and it was only me and my piano left with a bunch of notes and words that just came out of my mouth and fingers in an endless stream. The only other thing I noticed was the blue eyes stuck on to me, they felt comforting as always.


I didn’t hear a thing after the song was finished, I just looked at Niall to see him stand without the smile on his lips anymore. Now he just looked at me. And I looked at him. None of us let go of each other’s eyes until Em’s voice started to penetrate through my ears and mind. I pulled myself together with a slight smirk and listened to her presenting her song Royals.


“The next is written by me and is called Royals. I wrote this last year when I and these girls here by my side had just started discussing about moving here to London, since we’re originally from Denmark, and I felt so inspired by having all these dreams, but always knowing in the back of your mind that 90 percent of it would never happen. But then to sit here and look at all you guys who’ve come to hear us play just seems so unbelievable, I feel so humble and I’m sure Maja and Aida do as well. I’m now going to attempt to play this lovely cajon drum,” she said as she pointed at the brown box she’d been sitting on the entire concert and now she was just correcting her microphone to fit the height of her mouth when she was bowed down to play it.

“Wish me luck,” was the last words she said before giving me a nod and so I quickly played the key on the piano that the song was supposed to be sung in, since we would be doing this one a capella.


I was really looking forward to perform this song, this was probably the one we’d spent the most time rehearsing, it hadn’t always been easy to make a voice arrangement on it, we’d turned in to a completely different version than we were used to just to make the concert a bit more exciting and versatile.

She then started off the song by drumming some simple rhythms before Aida and I would begin our snapping with our fingers.


I've never seen a diamond in the flesh
I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies
And I'm not proud of my address
In the torn up town, no post code envy
But every song's like:
Gold teeth, Grey Goose, tripping in the bathroom
Bloodstains, ball gowns, trashing the hotel room
We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams

But everybody's like:
Crystal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash
We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair
And we'll never be royals
It don't run in our blood
That kind of lux just ain't for us, we crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler
You can call me queen bee
And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule
Let me live that fantasy


At first people looked a bit confused not knowing how this would turn out and it wasn’t until we’d sung a verse and a chorus with all the voices and rhythms that they started to understand what was going on, since it actually was rather complicated, which made it stand out from the rest of our simple and pure songs, this one really showed what we were capable of as singers only.
The audience slowly started nodding their heads to the sound of the cajon drum, the finger snapping and the groovy voices. This wasn’t a sing with the deepest lyrics or heart pouring melody and that was the reason why we’d decided to make it more fun and groovy listening to and apparently everybody seemed to absolutely love since the applaud was – if I even know how to judge that – the loudest we’d gotten so far.


All the three of us on the stage smiled so widely that it made our cheeks hurt at the sound of the response Em’s song had gotten. I mean, if they liked the other songs, then they really liked this one. It was at this point, when I looked out in the back of the room for the first time I saw Eric waving at me. I waved back at, not only him, but also Sophie and Adam who had stood right next to him smiling at me as well.


My comforting happiness was short lived since the next song would be my solo cover of I Can’t Make You Love Me. Until now my role in the songs hadn’t been too big, cause when we rehearsed them it just sounded better to let the guitar be the leading instrument, all except for Wrecking Ball. This would be my time to shine alone doing what I did best; some lovely soft and jazz-like chords on the piano and a relatively high pitched ballad.


“I’m going to do a cover of a song that you might know as well. It’s originally written by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin, but there’s been made endless versions of it since then. I’m one of those who love this song so much, no matter version it may come in and so I couldn’t help but make one myself about a year ago. So even if you guys may have a favorite, I’m hoping that you will receive this with positivity.”


It was a very classic cover with the piano and the singing, not necessarily very original, but I’d just found that that sounded the best when I sang it and the girls agreed and since they were there one’s to suggest that I did it at this concert, I suppose it wasn’t that bad.


I gave it all I had. I really did my very best. But as the audience remained silent for several agonizing seconds after I’d finished I started to get extremely nervous that maybe it was the biggest mistake to think that I could pull off a song like that. Crap.


I had to pull myself together to look up at them feeling the intimidation of all those eyes staring at me and I just wanted to run away and creep back down under the covers in my bed. Or at least that was until a pair of hands started clapping and I looked up to see that it was Harry who kept smashing his hands together looking back at me with a proud and also a bit touched smile. It didn’t take much longer for the rest of the boys to join in and then quickly the entire audience.

Even Em and Aida smiled at me nodding appreciatively. I took a huge sigh of relief suddenly noticing how tense my body had been for the past couple of minutes, like every muscle had done its very best to make that performance as good as possible.



When they’d finally quiet down a bit Em presented the next song, which was going to be a surprise.

“The next song is a bit of a surprise to some people here at the concert tonight. We’re going to do a cover of One Direction’s Story of My Life.”


There was no need to say no more, we were all cracking up at the sight of the expressions on the boys’ faces as they stared at Aida starting to play the guitar and singing the first verse. Em sang the chorus while playing on the cajon drum again, and Aida and I did the choir. I sang the second verse and then Em on the chorus again.

We were all smiling the entire time not being able to take the lads seriously as they were standing with their mouths hanging open.

It was just such a positive song and melody and along with the laughing and smiling on stage it made that song stand out from the others that mostly had a bit of a melancholic and more emotional touch to them.



After another loud applause, coming especially from our friends at the left side of the stage, it was time for Aida’s Empire State of Mind, on which the piano had become extremely important through our rehearsing of it through the past couple of years.

“This is a tribute to the city of New York. Here’s Empire State of Mind,” was all Aida said before I began playing.

Em sang the song as Aida played a couple of loose notes on the electric guitar.



After that I was getting really excited cause now it was time for my new song that I’d recently played for the girls and then Aida’s Give Me Love, which were, along with Em’s Royals, the ones that I was proudest of presenting.


“Thank you so much,” I said. “So… this song is very special to me, I wrote this very recently and it’s mostly about the friends that we’ve so lucky to get through the past couple of months.” All the three of us turned our faces towards the boys, Eleanor and Perrie once again and their eyes were all opening up curious of what this was going to sound like. “You guys are all so amazing and so you’ve inspired me to do this song, it’s called Lego House.”


I was the one singing the melody on this song with Em on a second voice and the cajon drum as well and Aida on the country guitar that I just thought fitted so well with it and so I only played a few simple deep chords on the chorus.


I'm gonna pick up the pieces,
And build a Lego house
If things go wrong we can knock it down
My three words have two meanings,
There's one thing on my mind
It's all for you
And it's dark in a cold December, but I've got you to keep me warm
If you're broken I will mend you and I'll keep you sheltered from the storm that's raging on now
I'm out of touch, I'm out of luck
I'll pick you up when you're getting down
And out of all these things I've done I think I love you better now
I'm out of sight, I'm out of mind
I'll do it all for you in time
And out of all these things I've done I think I love you better now



They all knew that this song was written right after Niall and I had made up and so my feelings for him had naturally enhanced the feelings for the rest of the group, which was the reason for this song and they looked very touched by its beautiful and simple melody and chords.


“We’ve now come to the last song of the evening,” Em said. “And uhm… I’m going to pass this on to Aida.”


“All right… Okay, so we’re going to finish the concert with a song written by me with a little help from my very dear and talented friend, Maja Lings, over here at the piano!” she smiled pointing at me and the audience and the two of them applauded me as I did a little bow again. “Right here in the middle I have a singer with one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard, I’m so honored to present to you, Em Olsen!”

Another loud applause until Em politely took over for a brief moment saying:

“And of course the writer of the last song, it’s actually one of my personal favorites, I give you, on the guitar, Aida Berisha!”


Yet another loud applause before Aida continued with her last words before the finishing song.

“I wrote this song quite recently as well actually at a time when I was feeling a bit down and having some trouble figuring things out with this whole new life that we’ve been trying to create here in this lovely city. It’s very personal but I hope that you anyway can find a way to embrace it and maybe even identify yourself within it. This is Give Me Love and may you all have an incredible evening, you’ve been the best audience ever.”


She began playing the intro on her guitar but it wasn’t until she started singing the first verse that people were quiet.


We did the song as we’d rehearsed it; with me on a lighter second voice in the chorus and some chords on the piano, while Em sang a deeper third voice and the cajon drum.
What was so special about performing this song to everybody was to watch Aida sing it and how people were reacting to her. She really poured her heart and soul in to that song. Now, when she didn’t have the same problems with Harry at all, I could tell that she was dedicating this song to her mum, her family back home in Denmark. This way it came off even stronger than the times we’d rehearsed it.


I gazed through the audience to see all the emotion that had been written in everybody’s eyes as well. But there was especially one person I wanted to see the reaction of and that was Harry. Once I found him we’d already reached to the B-part of the song that was the one written by me, and his eyes were now red from the tears that he was struggling with. I tried to send him a comforting glance but his eyes didn’t seem to want to leave Aida’s beautiful silhouette even though she didn’t open her eyes one single time through the entire song.


I was the one to sing the B-part that began with singing the same words over and over again building up the voices from a deeper to the higher ones. As this part enhanced its volume and intensity by Em and I singing louder and louder Aida almost screamed the words “Love me!” and “Give me love” a couple of times to emphasize the desperate feeling a couple of times to emphasize the desperate feeling that lay behind the song.


But then right after that we’d decided on doing a break, where it was only Aida’s guitar playing and our voices on the chorus singing left, where Em and I made the audience clap along as we kept singing the last sentence of the chorus over and over again and slowly everybody was singing along. When we’d included the entire audience in our performance Aida stopped playing her guitar so that it was now only our voices left. We all took our microphones – that we’d made sure were wireless – and stood up and started walking down the stage towards the room in the back, singing the entire way as everybody was still clapping along and it wasn’t until we’d reached the room, where nobody could see us anymore, and sung that last sentence a couple of more times that Aida sang it one last time alone.




It felt like several minutes of silence. Absolutely and complete silence. I have no idea when it was, but at some point the shouting and screaming started coming through the door to us and it wasn’t until then we looked up at each other, we’d all been standing with our eyes closed trying to embrace that moment. I saw a tear escaping Aida’s eyes and I dried it off her cheek sending her a knowing smile, she’d completely taken this moment as her chance to really involve people in her struggles, something that she’d never done before and now it was touching her to see how the reaction from people was.

We grabbed each other’s hands and walked out to give a few bows on the stage.


I think we were standing up there for almost five minutes and this time Andy didn’t make us hurry up, even though we’d been playing for more than an hour by then, he just stood at the bar with happy face and round red cheeks.



He met us back out in the room those five minutes later to deal with the payment and – believe it or not – hire us in another month! I couldn’t believe my own ears when he said:

“Yeah, I better hire you guys as much as I can, before you will be too famous for me to pay.”



Aida, Em and I then went out to pack together our instruments and say hello to all the guys and people probably waiting out there. We were laughing and Aida had one arm wrapped around each of Em’s and my shoulders as we walked out to get some beers that Louis motioned for us to come and drink with them at the bar when we spotted his naughty and cheeky face among the others.


“God, you guys are so good!” he almost screamed giving all of us a tight hug as the first out of the many that then followed; Eleanor, Perrie, Zayn, Liam and Harry all smiled widely greeting us with the nicest words. Well, except for Harry, who apparently still had trouble controlling his tears and breathing.

Aida pecked his lips before saying: “You big cry baby.”

“I know, I just…” he began but ended up taking another break to breathe even deeper.

“God, you’re so sweet, Harry!” I exclaimed hugging him as well. “Where’s Niall?” I then asked after having searched through the crowd for his blond hair but without any luck.


But suddenly I spotted him standing a bit away from the rest of all the people in the bar. He was talking to someone who had their back turned towards me, I couldn’t tell who it was, other than a girl.

Though the flaming red hair on her head gave me an uncomfortable and very distinct feeling that I had definitely seen her before.

Notes

So this is the longest chapter I've ever written, I wanted to describe the music and the atmosphere around it as detailed as possible, I really hope it turned out well - but you tell me! Please let me know what you think!!
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