The Audition ((Casey/Eden))

[Carson McGreggor H6]

Carson smiled as his fingers strummed the guitar in the student lounge. Carson’s friend Ethan was standing just next to him, playing along with him. Ethan played guitar as well, but to be honest, he wasn’t that good. He was a fair player to be sure, but he couldn’t do nearly as much as Carson could. Carson had been playing the guitar ever since he was a kid and he loved it more than anything…except maybe painting. Guitar and painting were Carson’s life, and living without such things would be impossible for Carson. Everyone else was at Hogsmeade having a good time and leaving Ethan and Carson alone in the lounge. Both of them had mounds of potions homework to do and they had to force themselves to stay indoors and study. Unfortunately, the boys had gotten a bit distracted from their studies and had taken up the opportunity to practice their guitar. Carson wasn’t the best student in the world, and Carson always thought it was a genetic thing, as his sister and mother had dropped out of Hogwarts in their 6th year. Although both dropped out for two completely different reasons, none of them were very smart. The McGreggors were more of a creative family, or at least the latest of the McGreggors were. Back in McGreggor history, his ancestors were one of the best scholars in all of Scotland. Now, all the McGreggors could do was drink extreme doses of alcohol and draw (and in Carson’s case, play guitar) beautiful pictures like his mother and sister did. Things like drawing were often frowned upon with young women, as in the McGreggor family point of view their sole responsibility was to marry rich Scottish men. Carson’s sister Julia often said that Mrs. McGreggor knew how to draw, but she was the only one who had ever really seen her at it. Feeling guilty that he wasn’t studying, Carson placed his guitar on the desk.

“Ethan, we really need to get back to work. If I can’t get a job off my academics, I definitely won’t get any elsewhere.” He joked. Ethan looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “C’mon Carson be serious. You’re amazing at guitar. You should get a job playing for a band or something. At this, Carson laughed. “And who would hire me, Eden Sweden?” Carson joked, naming the first pop star that jumped into his head. “Actually…she is looking for a guitarist.” Carson laughed and shoved Ethan just a bit. “C’mon, even if she was hiring, she would never pick me.” Ethan smiled. “Now Car, you forget who you’re talking to here.” Ethan said confidently. “The Ethan Jacobs happens to know that Miss Eden is holding auditions for her guitarist next Saturday in Hogsmeade. And I dare you to go try out. I hear she pays good money. Not to mention she’s single.” Ethan and Carson laughed, and a week later on the Saturday of the audition, Carson was standing in front of the Three Broomsticks (which had been closed off for Eden’s auditions) with his guitar slung over his shoulder. He entered the room and almost gasped. There was a huge line of boys his age. There were some he knew, and others he didn’t. The huge line led all the way down to a small back room where Eden Sweden was sure to be waiting. A small dark boy with a squeaky voice turned to him.

“So, are you here for auditions as well?” he said, his voice cracking a bit. Carson repressed a chuckle at the boy’s voice. Hopefully the boy played just as horribly as he talked, or else Carson might not have a shot at making the cut. Carson glanced at the long line of boys (and a surprising amount of girls) once more. But then again, Eden could have already found her guitarist and Carson would have had to put up with the squeaky voiced boy for no reason at all.

“Yea, I am. Why, are all these other guys here for something else besides auditions?” Carson said with his eyebrow raised. The little boy laughed at Carson’s question. He didn’t like being laughed at very much. Carson clenched his fists to repress his annoyance toward the boy. “Oh, no. Most of us are just here to get Eden’s autograph.” The boy said with a toothy grin. Maybe Carson did have a chance after all. Most of these people looked like they’ve never laid hands on a guitar before this day. Just the mere thought gave Carson the strength and patience to put up with the kid for an hour and a half until he finally reached the back room where Eden and her manager sat. (The little boy had come out seconds after entering without an autograph.) Carson came over to the table and smiled awkwardly.

“Hi, I’m Carson McGreggor. It’s nice to meet you.” He said holding out his hand for Eden to shake.

[Casey Allen G5]

“Daddy!” Casey squeezed her dad’s neck as she hugged him. Bradley laughed. “Hey, don’t strangle me budd.” Casey laughed in response. Workers were moving equipment around them, but Casey didn’t pay them any attention. “How have you been, darling?” Casey smiled. “Pretty good.” “And the grades?” He asked. Casey nearly blushed. Casey hadn’t been too focused on her school work since she had returned. Her time had been spent on..other things. Mainly, Ezzie and Ethan drama, but Casey wanted to help her friends. “Umm, awesome, great, decent.” She said finally. Bradley eyed her sternly. “Case...” “I’m working on it..” She told him. Bradley sighed. “Where’s your brother?” Casey laughed. “Please, he wouldn’t be caught dead at one of these things during the school year.” Bradley nodded. “I guess you’re right.” Bradley eyed him daughter. “Well, get changed. Your clothes are in the back room. The auditions begin in an hour, but since the dancers and other band members are here, I figured we could rehearse some songs for December Concerts now.” Casey nodded. She smiled. All the people in the room now knew her secret. Some of her staff knew, but not all of them. Casey smiled and skipped to the back room.

After a quick rehearsal, Eden changed out of her dance clothes that she had put on minutes before and changed into a cute outfit. It was auditions day. Eden’s old guitarist, Dominic was getting married shortly so he had to quit. Eden walked back into the auditions room with her blonde hair perfect and straight. She wore tight, dark jeans, a shiny pink long-sleeved shirt, and a tight, white punk-rock type vest. She wore glamorous jewelry of course. Casey would never dress like this for herself, but she loves dressing Eden in crazy, awesome clothes. Eden took a seat at the swivel chair and her dad took the one beside her. One guitarist. That was all the needed. The question was, could it be done? Jerome had been an awesome guitarist, but he had just gotten engaged and needed to focus on that. Eden sighed as she waited for the first person to talk in. It would be a long day.

Hours passed. The guys were horrible. Many of them only wanted autographs. Most of them just wanted to look at Eden. Casey was nice about it for a while, but she started to get tired of it all. “No! I will not give you my autograph.” Eden called to the boy with the squeaky voice. This had gone on for hours. Eden sighed and looked over to her father. “Hopeless.” She told him. Bradley sighed. “Don’t give up bud. There might be someone in this crowd.” Casey shook her head and then waited for the next guy to walk in. However, Casey never would have guessed who it was. Her eyed bugged out when she saw him. She had to keep her mouth from gaping open. Carson McGreggor.

Carson? No. She had to be imagining things. She wasn’t. It was him. Casey felt like fainting. But, she wasn’t Casey Allen for the moment. She was Eden Sweden. She had to be Eden. She told herself this over and over. Eden eyed Bradley for a moment before looking to Carson. “Umm, hi.” She said meekly at first. “Ca…Eden Sweden.” She said shaking her hand. So close..Could Casey even do this? “Nice to meet you to.” She said nearly robotically as it was a blatant lie. “Umm, you are going to play that?” She asked pointing to his guitar. She laughed a bit. “Because I get no musical enjoyment out of guys asking me for an autograph.” She said raising an eyebrow. Casey knew that Carson would play his guitar, but Eden didn’t of course. Eden waited semi-patiently for him to play.

[Carson McGreggor H6]

Carson’s eyes unknowingly lingered on Eden’s and he picked up on something familiar. He couldn’t quite pick up on what it was, but he had definitely seen her before. He had looked into those sparkling brown eyes somewhere, but he couldn’t remember exactly where. How could he not remember something as big as this? He knew those eyes meant something, and he intended on finding out what. Eden Sweden did look familiar, and it wasn’t just because she was on every teen magazine cover that was ever printed. Besides, no magazine could capture the look in her eyes right now. She looked extremely tired, but who wouldn’t be? After all, the poor girl had just gone through about an hour and a half of signing autographs instead of finding herself a new guitarist like she had intended. Carson would have been equally as aggravated as she was if he had to go through what she did. He almost laughed when Eden asked him if he would actually be playing his guitar. Even her voice sounded familiar to Carson. It drove him crazy how he seemed to know Eden, and yet he had never met her. He was sure he had never met her, or else he would have remembered for sure. Ethan did know Eden, but he was positive Ethan had never introduced her to him. Carson suddenly realized he was being abnormally quiet (even though Carson was normally a very quiet person) and decided he’d better speak up before Eden and her manager assumed he was some kind of mute fan who was only asking for an autograph as well.

“No, I actually know how to play my guitar.” He said with a small smile.

He sighed as he shook Eden’s manager’s hand as well and took a seat on the stool across from Eden’s comfortable swivel chair and desk. He set up his guitar and cleared his throat nervously.

“Well um, this song doesn’t really have a title as it doesn’t have any words, but it’s one of my favorites so um, I hope you like it.” Carson shifted in his seat a bit to get comfortable and removed his lucky silver guitar pick from his pocket (although he could have successfully hidden it in his hair) and strummed it against the wooden acoustic guitar. His hands slided across the strings expertly and with ease, as Carson had been doing this for years. Carson remembered the first time he had picked up a guitar. He was walking around the neighborhood with his friend Angel when he had found an old beaten up guitar in the trash of some grumpy old man. Carson, who was eight at the time picked up the instrument and examined it. It seemed to be fixable, but it would have needed a considerable amount of repairing magic done to it. His aunt and uncle had refused to repair it however, and forced him to throw it away. He didn’t do this of course. Instead, he spent months in his room trying to fix it. Eventually, the intrument was fixed and perfectly normal again and Carson spent even longer in his room learning how to play it. The action had angered his aunt and uncle quite a bit, but when they finally figured out that Carson loved playing it, they backed down and took time to listen to him play.

Carson closed his eyes and let the music and the memories flow through him. The song had a sort of melancholy sound to it. It sounded almost eerie. It was almost like Swan Lake, except remastered to fit Carson’s taste in music. It was one of his more depressing songs, but it tended to fill him with emotion and awe, just by playing it. He was sure Eden and her manager would feel the same way listening to it. He almost smiled as he thought back to the time when he had played the song for his older sister, Julia. Julia was one of the toughest girls he knew (which was no surprise to everyone who had lived where she grew up) and even she had started crying in the middle of it. Feeling he had done the song justice, he brought it to a close and opened his eyes. He placed his guitar on the ground lightly and looked back at Eden, who still looked eerily familiar.

[Casey Allen G5]

This was weird. Really, weird. Could Casey even hold up? She wasn’t completely sure. After all, this wasn’t an every-day occurrence. It wasn’t every day that a girl who doubles as a pop-star, holds auditions and her crush tries out. Wait, could that happen to anyone else? Probably not. It was pretty much crazy, but Casey’s life tended to be that way. Casey eyed Carson. For one thing, she didn’t like lying to him. She felt like his friend more now that they had started to hang out. How could she lie to him? Well, she had lied to Ezzie and she was lying to Ethan. She could do it that was for sure. But for once, Casey didn’t want to. But, what was she supposed to do? Say, ‘Hey Carson. It’s me Casey.’? She couldn’t do that. He would never want to be near her then. Eden smiled a tad. She had to go through with it. She was Eden Sweden. She had to make it work, feelings had to be put aside.

“That’s good.” Eden smiled as Carson said he could play the guitar. “Because, my hand is rather tired.” She looked to her dad who just eyed Casey strangely. He barely knew what was going on. Bradley knew Ezzie more than anyone. He knew of Ethan, but Casey was sure that she had only mentioned Carson every now and then. Casey sighed and looked to Carson. “Well, go for it.” She smiled. Wow. He was good. No, he was awesome. Casey had no idea that he could play that well. Wow. Eden grinned through the whole thing simply because he was so good. The song was rather sad sounding really. It wasn’t like the up-beat songs Eden sang, but Carson could work. If he could play this song and make it sound like a work of art, he could play anything. Casey looked to Bradley as the song ended. He had the same awestruck look on his face. Carson was perfect for the job. But, how? How could Eden keep this from Carson the whole time? How?

“Wow. Umm..wow.” Casey said finally. She looked to her dad again. “That was incredible.” Bradley agreed with Casey. “I say yes, but I have to talk to Eden-diva here.” Casey eyed her father. “Just kidding.” He said lightly. She sighed. Bradley leaned over. “What do you think?” He whispered. “Perfect.” She replied. Casey said this so quiet that Carson couldn’t hear one word. “Dad, I’m friends with him, how can I keep this from him if he works for Eden.” Bradley shook his head. “Tell him bud.” He encouraged. Eden shook her head. She couldn’t do that. Would he ever think of her the same if she did? “We, have to hire him bud. He’s the best.” Eden nodded. “Can you figure this out bud.” Casey paused and then nodded. “Okay.”

Bradley looked to Carson. “Carson McGreggor. You have yourself a job.” Bradley stood up and shook Carson’s hand. “I’m Eden’s manager, Brian and now your part of the team.” “Yea.” Eden said standing up and walking over to Carson. “If you want that is..” Eden added, but if he didn’t want it, why would he be there? “We practice a lot.” Brian chimed in. “Eden starts concerts in December because..” “Just because.” Casey covered for her dad. “Mainly because I need a break.” She smiled a tad. Actually, that part was true. No one knew where Eden Sweden, the singer that was familiar with both wizards and muggles, went to school, but of course the Hogwarts students didn’t think that she did. “Hey Brian.” An employee called as he walked in from another room. “Yea?” Bradley called. “I’ve got someone on the phone that wants Eden to perform in Japan.” Eden looked to Bradley. “Eden..” He said trying to coax her. Casey really didn’t like Japan. “I’ll get the details and let you know.” Bradley said knowing that Casey would have to think about it. She nodded as Bradley jetted off to the other room. Eden paused and then turned to Carson. “I know it’s weird that I can’t decide if I want to go to Japan, but I’m really trying to keep a life, you know? Plus, I can’t stand Japanese food.” She laughed a bit. “So, how does it feel being a part of ‘the team’? Well, if you wanna be of course.” Eden smiled. “It’s fun. We work hard. You get to watch me mess up dance moves a million times before I get the, sort of perfect, but we have fun.” She smiled. Eden then waited for Carson to respond.

[Carson McGreggor H6]

Carson sat awkwardly in his chair as Eden and her manager whispered to each other. Her manager had already said he wanted Carson in the band, but Eden seemed less than impressed. It was her band, so it was really all up to her in the end. What if she didn’t like Carson? He strained his ears to try and listen, but he only picked up bits and pieces of the conversation. He heard the words ‘perfect’, and for some reason, he heard words like ‘friends’ and ‘tell him’. Carson didn’t know what those meant, but it was none of his business anyway. He also heard the word ‘bud’ used a lot, but he was sure that was just because it was the way Eden’s manager spoke to her. It didn’t matter though, for Carson had no right to listen in anyway. Eden and her manager Brian turned around from their small whispered conversation and Brian spoke. He held out his hand and Carson shook it, still staying extremely silent. He announced that Carson had made the cut. He widened his eyes as if to make sure he wasn’t dreaming this. Julia was still working on quite a few paintings, and she couldn’t get paid until they were finished. She did teach art lessons on the side, but Carson and Julia did need to make rent in order to stay in the large beautiful apartment. Carson’s new job as a guitarist would definitely help out in the long run. Carson couldn’t wait to tell his sister Julia. She would be so proud of him. Eden questioned whether or not he still wanted to be a part of Eden’s team. Sure, Eden’s upbeat girly songs weren’t exactly his style, but he could manage. Just the thought of being up onstage in front of so many people made him thoroughly excited. He merely smiled brightly at Eden. “Of course I still want the job! I can’t believe I made the cut! …But then again,” Carson added, “you must not have seen many decent guys through this audition.” He thought back to the long line of inexperienced guitarists. He couldn’t believe how many fans Eden had. There were so many in Hogsmeade alone. He couldn’t imagine how many there were in the world. All of them would be hearing Eden’s new guitarist, Carson McGreggor perform right up on that stage with her. He couldn’t believe this was all happening. Brian mentioned that the band practiced a lot.

“I’m fine with it. I’m not committed to anything other than school at Hogwarts, so there shouldn’t be any problem with me coming to practice as long as it’s here and the school has a Hogsmeade visit scheduled.”He said with a shrug. Carson wondered how he would tell Ethan and Angel about this. Ethan and Angel were two of Carson’s best friends, and they would surely be the first to know about all this. Suddenly, someone walked in and started to talk to Brian. He mentioned something about someone wanting Eden to perform in Japan. Carson's eyes almost dropped out of their sockets as his jaw dropped. If Eden was going to Japan, that must mean Carson would have to go as well. Carson was going to be able to travel across the globe! He would get to go to America, Japan, and everywhere else he'd always dreamed of going. Brian walked out with the man and Eden turned to Carson. She said something about deciding if she wanted to go to Japan or not, but Carson wasn't exactly listening. He couldn't concentrate with what Eden was saying. She looked, acted, and sounded exactly like someone he'd met before. He could even detect a familiar scent as well. He couldn't help but interrupt Eden's comment about Japenese food.

"I'm so sorry, but have we met before? You seem so familiar. My friend Ethan Jacobs knows you, and I'm trying to think if he introduced us or something. That crazy kid does love playing matchmaker for me. Nine out of ten times it doesn't work out though." Carson thought about what he just said. Nine out of ten times Ethan's plans did not work out his way. But what person consisted of the last one? The answer came to Carson's mind almost at once. Casey was that one. Carson now realized he could not ignore his feelings any longer. He liked Casey Allen, and nothing he said to himself could change that. He had finally fallen victim to yet another one of Ethan's crazy schemes.

[Casey Allen G5]

Eden smiled as Carson was excited. She pushed away that voice inside of her. The voice kept saying over and over that this wouldn’t work out. Could she really keep this from him? Was it even possible? She let those thoughts go. Couldn’t she just focus on the positives? Positive Number One: Casey did get to spend time with Carson even if he didn’t know that she was Casey. Positive Number Two: He was an incredible guitarist. Couldn’t that just be enough? Casey hoped so. She grinned a bit. He would be fun to have on the team that was for sure. Casey could make this work. She had to of course. Eden needed a great guitarist and Carson was it. Casey smiled thinking about how much more fun concerts would be with Carson. This could work. She had to make this a good thing and not a bad thing. She just had to.

Eden laughed. “Awesome.” She smiled as he said that he wanted the job. “Well, there were a few that were good, but you were the best, promise.” She wanted Carson to know that he was the best because he was and not because the others were so horrible. “Believe it.” She smiled. “It will be sort of like a new life for you. My band gets a lot of publicity. They’re like my family pretty much. So, welcome to the fam.” She joked. Of course, Casey could never see Carson in her family. Well, that was because of one reason, mainly. But, Carson had to be in Eden’s ‘band family’. It couldn’t be any other way. “Cool. Yea, all rehearsals are in Hogsmeade. Because..just because.” Smooth. “We can work around your schedule basically. We all have busy schedules so it is hard to find practice time, but we get enough.” She nodded. Casey nearly laughed at the look on Carson’s face when Bradley mentioned Japan. Casey didn’t know if Carson had traveled much before or not. Eden went all over the globe so that was something that Carson would experience soon.

Casey wanted to faint at the next thing that Carson said. Huh? What? How was she supposed to respond to that? “Nope I don’t think so.” She said abruptly. “I know Ethan and Ezzie, is it?” It was rather funny that Casey was trying to pretend like she didn’t know her own best-friend. “I’ve preformed with Ezzie actually in Capri. We met there.” She nodded slightly. Well, some of that was true. “But, I don’t think we’ve met or anything. And if Ethan tried to pair me with someone, I’d figure it out and then I’d hurt him.” She joked. Well, kinda. Just then, Eden’s drummer walked in. Saved by the bell. “Kaden!” Kaden smiled and then walked over. “Hey, meet out new guitarist, Carson McGreggor.” Kaden grinned. “Dude, awesome! Hey, guys Ede found a guitarist!” Kaden yelled out the door. It seemed like a heard of cows were entering the room. Eden smiled and looked to Carson and then the guys. “Hey guys, this is Carson McGreggor, our new guitarist.” All of them grinned. They finally had a new guitarist. “Carson, this is Mo on base.” She pointed to the boy with the brown mohawk. “Hunter on key-board.” She smiled to the blonde headed, blue-eyed, handsome boy, that Casey looked to look at. “And Davy and Ty play guitar as well.” Eden was known for her three awesome guitarists and her awesome base player and drummer. As well as piano. Plus, Davy and Ty got a lot of publicity as they were twins. They both had light brown hair. The only real difference between them was that Davy had blue eyes and Ty had green eyes. Eden smiled a tad and then looked to Carson. “Welcome to the fam, bro.” Hunter exclaimed. “Yea.” They all agreed. “Well, get along great if you don’t hit on Eden.” “Guys!” Eden exclaimed. “What?” They all joked and rubbed her head as they all left the room. “See ya soon dude!” Kaden called as he closed the door. Eden laughed a bit even though she was slightly embarrassed. “I love ‘em to death, but they treat me like a little kid. Oh well.” She smiled and then looked to Carson.

[Carson McGreggor H6]

Carson smiled at Eden’s compliment. He liked that they all thought he was the best. “Thanks.” He said with a smile. “I never thought I was really all that good, but I guess I am now. I never really got any real instruction on how to play. I mainly taught myself.” He said with a shrug. Eden said something about Carson’s life changing completely and such, but he wasn’t really paying attention. He had just remembered that he had promised to meet with Angel to skate today. He had completely blown her off! Angel would be so upset. Carson had been late to their weekly skating sessions every Saturday for the past three weeks. He tried to bring himself back into the conversation by smiling and nodding. He laughed when Eden welcomed him to the family. He supposed being in a band was kind of like being in a family, wasn’t it? He was glad that rehersals would be in Hogsmeade, it did save a lot of trouble for him. Although, Carson did wonder why Eden was being so very vague about everything. She kept saying ‘because’ as if she was going to explain something, and then ended the sentence there. Carson wasn’t very nosy, so he didn’t keep wondering. Instead, he thought about how mad Angel would be that he was late yet again. Carson had made a promise to help Angel train for her competition in the winter, and he was breaking it already. This alternative thought wasn’t much better. Eden said she had never met Ethan and Ezzie. If she had never even met Ethan, then why did she look so familiar? But, she had admitted to performing with Ezzie. Maybe Ezzie had introduced them before? Carson seriously doubted that, as he and Ezzie had spent no more than ten minutes together ever since she and Ethan broke up. Carson only knew Ezzie through Ethan. Carson sighed and scratched his head as a large group of guys entered the room. Carson was thoroughly confused.

Carson smiled again as all the band members walked in and introduced themselves. Somehow, Carson just couldn’t stop smiling. This was the happiest he’d been in ages. He waved to Kaden, greeted Mo, and said hello to Hunter, Dave, and Ty. He also complimented on Mo’s Mohawk. Carson had always wanted to sytle his hair like that, but somehow he thought it just wouldn’t work with his poufy hair. Hunter, the guy on keyboards also welcomed him to the ‘fam’. He knew he was going to like working here. He laughed at Hunter’s comment and then suddenly remembered his meeting with Angel.

“No worries about that guys. Thanks for the job. I can tell I’m really going to like it.” Carson checked his watch and picked up the paperwork that explained everything about being Eden’s guitarist, and of course there was the contracts and such. Carson picked up the thick package of paper and smiled. “But umm, I’ve really got to go meet my friend Angel. I’m really late and I need to get out of here. Thanks for everything, I’ll see you soon!” He said, as he dashed out the door, yelling out goodbyes to all the new people he’d just met. Carson had a bright future ahead of him; that was, if Angel didn’t kill him first. Angel wasn’t quite so angelic when she was upset.