Chapter Text
“Look, we know she’s awful, but she’s a friend, and we said we’d let her record…”
Nick’s POV
“Look, we know she’s awful, but she’s a friend, and we said we’d let her record…”
I could feel Joe's stare drilling into me, like, intense.
“We’re not going to use it in the CD anyway,” Joe rushed to explain.
Kevin jumped in, saying, “We know Macy isn’t the greatest singer… as soon as we were finished recording, we were going to erase her voice, and no one will ever have to hear her sing again.”
“We were just trying to get through it without hurting her feelings.” He finished, all serious.
“Well, that’s all very considerate, but she’s standing RIGHT there.”
My brothers and I followed Dad’s finger, and there she was—Macy. And honestly, I’ve never seen someone look so heartbroken.
Usually, Macy’s all about that big, contagious smile, right? Like, the kind that lights up a room. But not this time. Her lips were shaking, her eyes all shiny like she was holding back tears, but barely.
“Macy, I—” Kevin started to say, but he looked super awkward, as usual.
Before he could get anything else out, Macy turned and bolted. And I mean bolted. She was down the stairs before any of us could even react.
It all happened so fast. Her face, the shock, the tears—it was like I barely had a second to take it in before she was gone. But the image of her crying, the way those tears just spilled out under the dim light as she ran past us... Yeah, that stuck.
We didn’t move. None of us. We just stood there, frozen like total idiots.
“Aw, man…”
That whole scene? It was brutal. The silence that followed was even worse. You could feel the tension just sitting there, thick, like we couldn’t escape it. I kept seeing Macy’s face in my head—how hurt she looked—and I felt this huge weight settle on me.
Seeing her like that messed me up. Like, seriously. I felt like the biggest jerk on the planet.
My stomach was in knots. I wasn’t just worried about losing a fan anymore. It was bigger than that. It hit me: I was losing someone who actually mattered. Someone who’d become, like, a real friend.
Macy wasn’t just some girl who cheered for us at every concert or hung out with Stella. She’d become part of the chaos we call life. And knowing we were the ones who hurt her? That was like a punch to the gut.
So yeah, there we were: Joe, Kevin, and me—Nick Lucas—the guys who crushed dreams. Awesome.
Letting Macy down? Yeah, it was hard, but I figured I could handle it. That’s why I went ahead and asked if she was up for singing backup, even though Kevin looked like he was going to pass out, and Joe was totally against it. Kevin just couldn’t face telling her the truth—he was struggling, big time. So, naturally, I pulled together a plan.
After trying to give Kevin a pep talk—really hyping him up so he’d have the guts to tell Macy the truth—the three of us walked up to her at her locker. She was standing there, holding her books and, for some reason, a bat.
"Hello, Mace-"
Kevin jumped right in, nervous as ever. “The thing is... I need to talk to you about your singing…”
"My singing?"
While Kevin was attempting to come clean, Macy was being, well... Macy. She dropped her books and nearly whacked us—mainly me—right in the face with her sports gear.
Kevin tried again, stumbling through it. “The thing is... your singing... it really…”
As Kevin struggled to find the right words, Joe was over there trying his best to get him to just spit it out. But nope—Kevin just stood there, totally dazed, like he’d forgotten how to speak.
"What Kevin's trying to say is... are you still singing back up for us tonight?"
"Yeah, totally!" Macy replied, all eager.
"Cool, see you there," I said with a smile, hoping to keep things chill before it got any more awkward.
"What happened to setting us free?"
"Yeah, dude, I was just about to tell her the truth," Kevin defended.
"All you were about to do was pass out," I pointed out, casually stuffing my hands in my pockets as I started to walk away. "And it doesn't matter anyway, because I have a new idea, and it's foolproof."
"That means I can't even mess it up!"
"We let Macy record on the song, but we don't use her voice. She won't know the difference, so she won't get her feelings hurt." I said, feeling pretty clever about the whole thing.
"Well, what about Malcolm Meckle?"
"Malcolm Meckle mustn't meet Macy Misa. See what I did there with all the M's?"
“Yeah, dude, we saw,” Kevin said, clearly unimpressed.
“Impressive,” Joe added with a smirk.
"Anyway, we bring Macy in a little early, she's gone before Malcolm even gets there."
"Dude, you're a genius."
"Actually, three points shy, of a genius, but who's counting?" I said with a grin.
"Is he really a genius?" Joe asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That's what Mom says every time she gets mad at me," Kevin chimed in, shrugging.
I thought my plan was foolproof. Turns out, I was the fool.
I shook my head as Kevin flipped through those cheesy greeting cards, each one worse than the last.
“How about this one?” Kevin said, holding out a card for Joe and me to see.
Joe grabbed it before I could, reading it aloud with the most sarcastic tone possible: “Sorry we crushed your dream of singing?”
He shot Kevin a look, raising an eyebrow like, you’ve got to be kidding me.
I snatched it right out of Joe’s hands.
"Although this is freakishly accurate, I don't think a greeting card is going to make everything okay."
Kevin let out a long, defeated sigh.
“Great job, guys! Macy’s devastated,” Stella chimed in, patting Kevin on the shoulder like she was congratulating him for breaking her heart.
“Don’t worry; we already feel just as terrible as you’d hope,” Joe admitted, his voice full of sarcasm.
“Actually, we feel worse,” I added, deadpan.
I mean, yeah, I really do feel terrible. I’ve never felt like such a jerk before. To me, Macy was just Stella’s friend and that overly excited fan who either faints or accidentally hits us with random sports gear whenever we’re around.
I’m used to crazy fan stuff—fans grabbing at my clothes, squeezing my hand way too tight, even chasing me. But Macy? She’s taken it to a whole new level. I don’t think any other fan has accidentally smacked me as much as she has.
But here’s the thing: I know she doesn’t mean it, so I try not to let it get to me. Still, dodging flying sports equipment or dealing with a sore hand from one of her “accidental” golf club swings? Yeah, that gets old fast. Hard to play guitar when your hand’s aching, you know?
Joe? He calls her crazy, but deep down, I know he’s got a soft spot for her. He can’t help it—he’s a sucker for any girl who’s into him. And since Macy’s Stella’s best friend, he kinda has to like her.
Then there’s Kevin. He thinks she’s sweet in that totally “uncoordinated” way, which is hilarious because I don’t think Kevin ever used that word until Macy came into the picture. He’s cool with her hanging out, but he keeps just enough distance to avoid getting too caught up in the chaos.
Honestly, we all like Macy. We appreciate her, and she’s been there supporting us from the very start. But yeah... from a little distance. And that’s why it feels awful that we let her down. She didn’t deserve that.
"I ate three gallons of chocolate coma ice cream last night," Kevin admitted with a frown.
"Aww, I have to admit that I feel better that you feel terrible," Stella teased, smirking at Kevin.
"But now that I feel better, I feel guilty for feeling good that you feel bad," Stella rambled, suddenly frowning herself.
"What?" I asked, stepping up to her with a confused look on my face.
Kevin stood there, looking just as lost.
"I got it," Joe said, smiling at Stella like he was the only one who understood.
Stella and Joe shared one of those looks before she continued.
"What I'm trying to say is, I'll talk to Macy for you and try to make everything better... okay," Stella explained.
But just as she was about to leave, Kevin quickly stopped her.
“Wait, wait, wait—I’ll talk to Macy. It's what I should have done in the first place," Kevin admitted, looking determined.
Stella gave him a proud smile. “Okay.”
“Good luck,” I chimed in with a quick nod.
"Thanks, I can do this," Kev replied matter-of-factly.
"No, no, I meant good luck because she's carrying a javelin," I pointed out.
All heads turned toward Macy, who was standing in the hallway, staring sadly at the ground... holding a javelin.
The truth? I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. She was so pumped about singing backup for us, and I couldn’t stand the thought of being the one to take that away. What if she never wanted to sing again because of this? What if we totally crushed her confidence—like, for good?
I always thought I was the reasonable Lucas brother. You know, the one who keeps it together. The one who tells the truth, no matter how tough it is—even if it might hurt someone’s feelings.
But here I was, ready to spin a little lie just to keep Macy smiling.
And that bugged me. Why did I care so much? She was just a fan... right? Except, deep down, I knew that wasn’t true. Macy wasn’t just another face in the crowd. She was different. She was our friend. And now, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we’d seriously messed this up.