Chapter 8

"Guys, can we see you?" Britney hollered into the house when they returned. "Cad, have Connor help you with the groceries, we'll go into the garage."

Cady nodded as the men exited the house. "Connor, be a dear and help me with the groceries?"

"Of course," he replied, going to the car and grabbing the bags that sat in the back seat. "You all right?" he questioned, looking at the man who was gawking at him.

"I'm fine," Joey managed to get out, amazed that Connor King was standing in front of him.

"So what's up?" Justin questioned as Connor and Cady made their way into the house with the groceries.

"Look for yourself," Britney replied, opening the car door.

"Joey!!" JC exclaimed, grinning at him. "See! I told you we woke up here!"

"He was telling the truth and Brit and Cady (?) weren't just saying this because I'm dreaming?" Joey questioned looking at Lance.

"'Fraid so," Lance nodded.

"This is all your fault," Joey glared at JC.

"Technically it'd be Lance's fault," JC corrected, "he woke up here first."

"Lance never said anything about it!! You never shut up about it," Joey hollered.

"I'm sorry," he apologized admittedly. "This is just a lot to grasp."

"It's all right," JC replied, accepting his apology. "You won't believe how cool this is though!! We're gonna meet The Beatles in a couple of weeks!"

"That's cool," Joey smiled, glad to see JC so excited. "So y'all have no idea why we're here?"

Lance shook his head. "We've been trying to figure it out, but none of us know for sure."

"Maybe Cady knows," Joey suggested.

Lance shook his head again. "She's just as clueless as the rest of us."

"It's just weird that this all started happening after we met her at Challenge For the Children," Joey said.

"True, but if that were the case, Britney wouldn't be here because they didn't meet," Justin replied. "Chris is gonna be so pissed that he's missing all of this."

"For serious!" Britney exclaimed. "How come he's managed to miss all this? He's the only one who was even alive when the band was still around."

Before anyone had a chance to reply they heard screams from the kitchen, getting higher each time. Lance and Justin ran into the house to see what was wrong. When they got into the kitchen they found Cady standing on one side of the kitchen and Connor on the other, with his back to him, each screaming.

"What's going on?" Lance questioned, placing a hand over Cady's mouth. "Why are you two screaming?"

"Lance?! Justin?!" Chris Kirkpatrick yelled turning to look at him. "What's going on?! Where am I?"

"Chris?!" Justin and Lance exclaimed together.

"All right, first of all stop screaming," Lance said, removing his hand from Cady's mouth. "Why were you screaming?"

"Connor and I were putting away the groceries and I went to put something in the pantry, when I returned he started screaming and I dunno it startled me so I started too," Cady explained. "Then he kept screaming so I kept screaming."

"Is everything all right?" JC questioned, poking his head into the kitchen.

"They're fine, they were just both startled," Lance replied. "Why don't we go into the garage so that Cady has a chance to calm down?" he suggested.

"I'm fine," Cady insisted. "Y'all can go into living room and I'll fine putting away the groceries."

"If you're sure," Lance said.

"I am."

Lance nodded and JC went to tell the others it was all right to come into the house. When he stepped back into the kitchen he realized Chris was standing there and broke out into a grin.

"Hey, Chris! You joined us, yay," he grinned, bouncing over to his group mate.

"'Us?'" Chris questioned.

"Everyone's here, Lance, Justin, Britney, Tony, and Joey got here earlier!"

"Where is here, exactly?" Chris asked.

"1964 Independence, I believe is what we're calling it," JC answered. "I'm Jordan Chase!!"

"Excuse me?"

"We'll explain in the living room," Lance said pushing him in that direction while the others entered the house. Cady finished putting away the groceries then went into the living room where they were explaining to Chris and Joey what was going on.

"So you don't know why we're here?"

"No, but it'll be easier now that it's all of us instead of members of Cady Lynn and The Shortcuts," Justin said.

"As long as everyone remembers who they are," Cady replied. "Right now is a very important time for the band, there can't be any mess ups, especially when we go to NYC."

"She's right," Lance said. "Since there are no longer any members of the actual band here, I think you need to practice more to make sure that you can pull off being them."

"You expect us to pull of being Cady Lynn and The Shortcuts during their big break?" Chris exclaimed. "That's insane!"

"No it's not," Cady insisted. "The set list is easy enough that if we practice a couple of hours each day for the next month we'll be prepared to perform."

"Easy for you to say, all you have to do is sing," Chris replied.

"Everyone else is able to play their songs just fine," Lance said, covering Cady's mouth to keep her from snapping at Chris. "You and Joey know these songs, I've heard you play them enough to know you can pull it off."

"And if we aren't prepared?" Joey questioned.

"We'll figure something out," Lance replied. "Now since there's nothing else planned, I think y'all should go ahead a start practice early."

"Sounds good to me," Britney said. "Cad and I need to work on getting our vocals to match up better, I was listening to one of the band's records-- an honest to God record-- and Cady Lynn and Beatrice bend amazingly."

"Okay you two can work on that while we work on getting Joey and Chris up to speed on the songs," Justin said. "Tony, you wanna play for them?"

"That'll be fine," Tony nodded. "How's about we practice in here so that they don't throw you off?"

Cady and Britney agreed and waited while Tony went to his room to get a guitar and the others went out to the garage to practice.

"Do you really think we'll be able to pull this off?" Britney questioned when they were alone.

"I hope so. This is their big chance. I do not want to ruin it for them," Cady answered.

"I don't wanna ruin it for them either," Britney said. "They all had some real talent and it's a shame their time got cut short. I really think they'd still be out there making music."

"Me too," Cady agreed. "They could've been one of the best bands in music history."

"Maybe that's why we're here. Maybe somehow we can change what happens."

"I wish there was a way, but I don't think there is."

They elapsed into silence, waiting for Tony to return. When he did they launched into the set list.

-

"This is our final practice before we go to NYC," Cady stated when they were all gathered in the garage. "We've come a long way in the last couple of weeks and I really feel we can pull this off."

"I think she might actually be right," Chris said. "I didn't think it was possible but we've actually done it."

"When we get to New York in the morning we'll go straight to our hotel. Cady and Britney will leave to go pick out outfits for you to wear for the performance. When they get back we'll go to the venue and do a couple of run-throughs. The show is in two days and we're the second group to perform," Lance informed everyone. "According to what Cady's read in Cady Lynn's diary and Britney from Beatrice's there's a scout there from RCA who we will meet with the day after next."

"When do we meet The Beatles?" Chris asked.

"After the showcase is all the diary says," Cady answered.

"Lets practice, huh?" Justin suggested. "We leave early in the morning so this all needs to be packed up and ready to go."

"We also need to fix the front of Joey-- Jeremy's drum," Cady said.

"Why, what's wrong with it?" Joey asked.

"Well I had lunch with Jerrid a couple days ago he said something about how they should've gone with Cady Lynn's suggestion to call the band The Shortcuts instead of Cady Lynn and The Shortcuts because then there wouldn't have been so much pressure on Cady Lynn," she explained.

"When she told me about it," Britney said, bringing something into the garage. "we decided to have this made."

"You changed the name of the band?" Lance exclaimed, looking at the new cover they were holding. "What happened to not changing anything?"

"We've already changed so much about them," Cady replied. "Britney and I both think this is a good thing."

"And you make the decisions because?"

"Because I'm the one who's read all the diaries. I'm the one who talks to Jerrid everyday," Cady said. "Just trust me, I have a very strong feeling about this."

"I agree with Cady, I feel like this is a good thing," Tony put in.

"Me too," agreed JC. "She knows this stuff."

"I hope you're right," Lance said.

"Have you made any of changes?" Justin asked.

"A few, but if they don't work out we'll go back to the regular," Cady replied, handing them each stacks of sheet paper.

"What're these?" Chris asked.

"All the members of the band are really talented and I thought maybe they should get their chances to show it," Cady answered. "This might take a while, so we better get started."

"That was good," Cady said when they finished what would be the final song in their performance.

"Do you think we'll really be able to pull this off?" Britney questioned. "I mean we've been practicing the other way for weeks, what if we mess up during the show?"

"We'll just have to practice harder during our rehearsals," Cady answered. "We can do this."

"I hope you're right," Lance said. "If this really is affecting the future, you're risking everything changing this all up."

"I know we-I am risking a lot, but I really think we can do this," Cady replied.

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