(no subject)
We've all heard the rumor of the Jonas Brothers taking a five year break. What happens when it actually occurs. Nick heads off to Northwestern University in Chicago. Can he handle the stress of school and stay humble? Or whill he fall with the pressure and run back home to Joe and California? But what happens when he meets someone who has no idea who he is? Is this his time to finally reinvent himself?
Note: I'm doing this for Nanowrimo so expect lots of updates!
Every teenager dreams of the day that they are able to leave the house and go to college. The day they would finally be on their own; to be the sole person responsible for themselves; to finally not have to answer to their parents. They could do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. College was the ultimate time of freedom. It was the four years between living at home and living in the real world. They finally had a choice, they could choose to study their asses off for four years, or they could party the four years away. It was completely up to them on which path they would take.
College was hard enough for a normal person, but for a person of his status, it would be even harder. His brothers and family had warned him against going to college, but he hadn’t listened, this is what he wanted, so this is what he was going to do. His family was concerned with what would happen to the band while he was away at school. He had told them that the true fans would still be there after four years. And if not, they would get new fans. Nick knew that this was the right time to do this; Joe wanted to pursue acting; and Kevin and Danielle had just gotten married and wanted to start trying for a family. So as far as Nick was concerned this was the perfect time for him to go to school. It was something he had wanted to do, so nothing was going to stop him.
When Nick was looking at schools the year before, he had fallen in love with Northwestern University. He loved the atmosphere in Chicago; it was a busy city without being overly busy like New York was. He would have loved to go to NYU, but he knew that it was a risky move because he would get recognized more often, and it would be harder for him to concentrate on his studies. The campus at Northwestern was so nice and just exactly what he was looking for. Nick knew everyone expected him to study Music theory or something music related, but his heart was set on majoring in English. He loved writing and he would take any chance he could to better improve on his writing skills.
It was finally move in day, and he couldn’t believe the day was finally here. He actually had butterflies in his stomach. He could go on stage every night and perform in front of thousands of fans every night, but moving in to college was sending him into a state of perpetual fear. The back of the Tahoe was packed with everything he would need for his first semester at Northwestern including his entire family.
They pulled into the parking lot and got out of the Tahoe. Nick’s mom had tears in her eyes and was holding on to Nick’s arm with a death grip, not wanting to let her baby boy go. She knew that for the next semester the only one of her sons that would be home every day would be Frankie, so it was hard for her to let go of Nick. Joe was standing off to the side away from the family, not wanting to say goodbye to Nick. Nick was Joe’s partner in crime, his best friend, and he didn’t know what he’d do without Nick there to banter and fight with every day. Joe was truly the most hurt one out of the whole family about Nick’s decision to go to college, because he felt that Nick was leaving him forever. He feared that Nick would find a girl, fall in love and completely forget about his older brother leaving him alone with Kevin; and Joe wasn’t very fond of Kevin. But not many people were since he met Danielle. Kevin spent all his time with her, and almost never did anything with the family unless it was work related or required. He was planning a wedding and getting ready to start a family, so no one could really blame him, but it still really hurt that he was leaving them out of everything. Joe just felt left out of the whole situation; he was the only one that didn’t have any big plans for the next year or so. They had all three agreed that they would record an album during this year, because everyone knew they couldn’t take an actual break. But Joe had his reservations; he was terrified that it wouldn’t actually happen, and he wouldn’t have anything to fall back on. And that scared him so so much because music was all he really had besides family; and now he didn’t even have his family. Sure, he could peruse acting like he wanted to, but he knew he wasn’t a good enough actor to do anything that wasn’t Disney related and he wanted to get out from underneath the reins of the Mouse. He didn’t want to have to be the perfect star, he wanted to rebel, he wanted change.
The family had finally loaded everything into his single dorm room. It was smaller than what Nick was used to. The walls were bare, tan colored concrete slabs. The bed was an extra long twin sized loft styled frame, the mattress looked worn after many years of use. The desk was set up under the bed, with a plastic computer chair that didn’t look like it would be comfortable for the all nighters he was sure he would pull this semester. There was a small window that had an old set of blinds that didn’t close all the way. This room was definitely the complete opposite of what he was used to.
Joe walked in to the room, and took a look at his surroundings and let out a gasp. “Wow dude, you are really living like you are at the bottom even when you are at the top.” Nick rolled his eyes at his older brother’s use of the cheesy line that they would say all the time when they were an up and coming band.
“Yeah, I know, but I think it will be good for me, I need to be humbled every once in a while. Can’t always get what I am used to. This is what I wanted, I don’t want to be treated like Nick Jonas the rock star while I’m here, and I want to be treated like Nick Jonas the normal college student.”
“Whatever dude, do whatever you want. But I know you’ll be crying and crawling back to your comfortable life in California before the semester is over, and we will see who was right about the entire situation. And I’ll be there to tell you ‘I told you so.’”
Nick just rolled his eyes, he knew his brother was just upset about him being here in Chicago and being at school. But Nick knew that eventually Joe would get over him being away from home. Joe would find someone or something that would distract him from the fact that Nick wasn’t at home. So he wasn’t too worried about Joe, he was a grown boy he could take care of himself.
It was time to say his final goodbyes to his family. He had been looking forward to this moment, but now that it was actually here, he was actually kind of terrified. As he hugged his mother, he could feel himself tearing up, but refused to cry in front of her, knowing that it would only make her feel worse, and he didn’t need her breaking down in the middle of his dorm room. They said their goodbyes and as he watched his family walk out of his room and down the hall, he had a feeling of freedom, he knew from this point on, he was on his own, he couldn’t blame his mistakes on anyone but himself, and while it was an exciting idea, it really terrified him. Regardless of this feeling, he refused to let it slow him down, he knew that he would keep going, and power on because that’s what he did; he didn’t let the little things in life slow him down. He shut his door, looked around his room and sighed, “Well, here we go.”
Later that night
Nick had gotten restless in his room, there was only so much “Man vs. Food” one person could watch before they went absolutely insane. He decided he would go out and explore the campus, try to find his classes so when classes started in a few days he wouldn’t be totally lost. He grabbed his Yankees hat and his schedule and headed out the door.
The hallway of the dorm building was eerily quiet, the other students not yet comfortable with their surroundings to go out and mingle with the other people on the floor. Nick was okay with this, he didn’t feel like getting recognized quite yet. It was a weird feeling for him to be walking around without any security but that had been his wish, he didn’t want to be seen on campus and the douche that can’t slum it like a normal college kid.
The bad thing about living on the tenth floor of the dorm building was waiting for the elevator to climb all the way to the top. He spent the time thinking about all the exciting things he could do and accomplish this semester if he really put his heart into it and tried his best at everything. He knew it was going to be hard, and it’d be even harder without his family there with him, but he knew he could do it, and could power thru and deal.
He suddenly felt someone standing next to him. It kind of scared him because he had not heard the person come up to him. He looked to his right, and saw the person standing next to him. She was short, probably about only five foot tall; she had dirty blonde hair and green eyes. She was wearing a pink and red plaid shirt unbuttoned letting the white shirt she was wearing underneath show. He suddenly wanted to know her, he needed to know everything about her, because she seemed like the person he had been looking for. Just by what she was wearing he could tell they would get along. Nick did love his plaid so anyone wearing plaid could easily be a friend of his. He felt like he should say something as the elevator doors opened and they stepped in, but he didn’t know what to say. And he didn’t want to risk her recognizing him and freaking out. Sometimes you could tell those kinds of fans, but sometimes those fans were the ones he thought were the sane ones, and then you start talking to them and you quickly realize how insane they actually are. But he didn’t want to pass up the chance to talk to her, he was just extremely nervous to do so.
He looked over to her, and smiled. She was looking straight ahead, but when she sensed him looking at her, she turned her head and returned his smile.
“Hi, my name is Nick, nice to meet you.”
“Hey Nick, I’m Connie, nice to meet you.”
“So, is this your first semester here? Or are you a season veteran already?”
She let out a small laugh, “Ha, no it is my first semester here. What about you?”
“Same; just moved in today. I’m excited to start. What’s your major?”
“Um right now it’s Early Education, but I’m so over the place it could change at any time. It’s just that I love working with little kids, and at that age they are so impressionable that you really help shape them for the future. And the looks on their faces when they finally get the lesson, that’s what I do it for. I know it’s not a high paying job, but why am I going to spend my life doing something I dislike for a big sum of money when I can do something I love. What about you? What’s your major?”
“I’m an English major. I write a lot of music, so I figured that an English major would force me to write more and become a better writer so I can write better songs. The only thing I’m not looking forward to is all the reading. I really dislike reading. And for school it’s never a good book, they are always boring books that you wouldn’t read unless you had to.”
“Ha ha I know exactly what you mean. I love reading, but I love reading what I want to read, if I’m assigned something to read, it never gets done. I have to drag myself to read, and I really hate that.””
The elevator finally stopped at the bottom floor and they both walked out and stopped in the lobby. Nick wanted to ask her if she wanted to come with him, and hang out so he could get to know her better, but he didn’t want to be too forward. And he still didn’t know if she realized who he was. Luckily for him, she spoke first.
“So Nick, where are you heading?”
“I was going to walk around campus and try to find my classes. Then maybe hit up the dinning all and get something to eat. What about you?”
“Ironically I was going to do the same thing. Would you mind if I tagged along?”
“No, of course I wouldn’t mind. I could use the company anyways. It’s hard not knowing anyone on campus.”
“I know what you mean; all my friends went to school at our hometown college, so I’m here all alone.”
“My brothers are all off doing their own thing now, so I figured this was the best time to go out and get my degree. My family tried to talk me out of coming to school; they said it wasn’t the right time. But I was determined to come because it was something I’ve been waiting to do for a while now.”
“Oh wow, why would your parents try and talk you out of coming to school? My parents pretty much pushed me out of the door and told me to have fun and be safe.”
Nick was surprised; he had come to the realization that she didn’t know who he was. He debated with himself if he wanted to tell her who he was, or if he wanted to wait until a later date to tell her. Nick didn’t know if Connie would be mad if he hid this from her. It was a big deal so he felt like he needed to tell her, but he didn’t want to scare her away.
“Well, have you ever heard of the Jonas Brothers?”
“Yeah, kind of, my little sister listens to them all the time. Not my kind of music though. Why do you ask?”
“Well, I’m Nick Jonas.”
Her face went from disbelief to shock as she started to recognize him. Those curls were hard to miss, the bone structure, Connie was actually standing in front of a Jonas Brother and she couldn’t decide if she wanted to laugh or just let it slide. When she had told him that their music wasn’t her kind of music, what she actually meant was that she laughed at anyone that admitted to listening to them if they were over the age of twelve. But Nick was the kind of guy that you could forgive for being a Jonas Brother because he was really acting like any other college student. She had always thought that the Jonas Brothers were kind of prestigious, and wouldn’t dare slum it with the general population. But he was such an awesome guy, that she was leaning towards just letting that little fact go, and getting to know the guy underneath the rock star exterior.
“Ha ha really? I guess that explains your parent’s inhibition on sending you off to school. I think it’s really cool that you are doing this though. Most celebrities just do online classes and refuse to slum it with us. So I really admire you for what you are doing.”
Nick was so relieved to hear her say that. She was so afraid that she would run away from him, afraid of him acting the part of the rock star. Nick really wanted to show Connie the true Nick Jonas, the guy that loves sports, and just wanted to curl up on the couch or bed and watch a good movie instead of going out. He had a feeling that Connie was exactly what he had been looking for.