Sorry for the late update!
Disclaimer: Don't own SWAC.

xXx

"Five minutes till show time!" A voice rang out, and I recognized it as one of the backstage helpers that had been here since early morning, just like us. My body responded to the words ferociously, and my head spun with nerves. My skin tingled with anticipation and the green paint on it. I looked in the mirror, my hair cascading down my back. I grabbed my ponytail and put it in my mouth, grabbing Tawni's cell phone off the dressing room counter and turning it off like she was supposed to do this morning.
"Hey!" She exclaimed, but didn't make a move to turn it back on. I didn't respond to her in any way, and I realized she was just as nervous as I was. "Fine."
I continued to smooth my dress. I ran over to my rack of clothing right next to Chastity's and made sure all my outfits and whatnot were in order from beginning of show time to end. I nodded, having already checked this twenty times. Or thirty. I read the last good luck and I love you text from my mother before turning my own phone off. Portlyn bustled into the room to check all of her outfits also.
"You guys set?" She asked.
I looked to Tawni, who nodded. "As set as we'll ever be."
"Relax." She said with a smile. "We're going to do great." But I saw her shaking fingers and the licking of her lips, and I knew she couldn't be so sure.
I wanted to go speak to Chad, maybe wish him luck, but everyone was so busy that I couldn't even leave the dressing room wing. I sighed.
"Thanks, Port. Now you relax, too."
"Shut up." She laughed nervously and punched my shoulder. She left the room quickly to find something else to do.
My mind raced. My heart pounded. I realized that I needed something to occupy my thoughts so I wouldn't get too nervous. I looked frantically for something , anything, but everything seemed perfect, in place, ready to go. I decided to go find Chad. Just as I was walking through the door frame I ran into a hard chest.
"Whoa, Sonny." Chad's voice was in front of me. "I was just looking for you."
"Found me." I mumbled, a little disoriented from the bump and my own dizziness from his proximity.
"Hey!" Tawni said once again. "This is the girl's dressing room!"
"Yeah, yeah whatever. Help me, would you, Sonny?" He said, and his voice took on a twang of desperation.
"Sure." I nodded, and let him lead me to the back of the theater. I could hear people calling order after order as loudly as possible over the hustle and bustle of last minute tidies. I could hear the soft murmur of the thousand people in the crowd behind the red, thick, somewhat soundproof curtain
But all of that disappeared when I looked into Chad's eyes.
Something about the way he looked at me had me feeling a whole new kind of dizzy. A different kind of nervous. I remembered the day I sat on his lap as I sobbed into this shoulder, letting the story of my father escape from my lips for the first time in my life. I remembered the first day we had here in New York, Chad and I both feeling so incredibly awkward from our unexpected kiss in my dressing room. I remembered looking into his eyes with that look of desperation in them as I cried, the fact of Chad and Portlyn together irking me in a way Id never been irked before. I remembered the way he stared at me when I showed him that tape, where he had mumbled my name in his sleep and rejected Portlyn in his own slumber, and how he wished things could be different. And the last thing I recalled was the look in my eyes when Chad told me he loved me, and I, knowing he was one hundred percent mine and completely lovable, loved him back and kissed him under the lights of fireworks in the night sky.
But now, a whole new face was staring at me, and I couldn't really place hte emotion that seemed to be raging inside him: Fear. Anxiety. Desperation. Fear. Nerves.
"Chad." I said simply. "What is it?"
"I-I, um..." He stammered, looking away, but if it was looking to see if someone would catch us or so he wouldn't meet my eyes, I wasn't sure.
"Chad?"
"Sonny," He sighed, and I watched his defenses thaw as he whispered my name. "I'm...nervous."
"What did you say?" I leaned in closer.
"I said I'm nervous!" He snapped in a way, but then shrank back as if I were going to laugh at him.
So I did. "You have absolutely nothing to be afraid of, Chad."
"I haven't put on a live performance since The Goody Gang. I don't know what the difference between a set and a stage is!
"Oh, Chad. You'll be fine! Just remember that we're all going to be out there with you. Okay?" I smiled, touching his cheek.
"Three minutes! Three minutes till show time!"
Chad looked like he was about to faint. "I need some more reassurance. A distraction."
"What kind of distrac-," But I couldn't finish, because his lips were already hungrily drinking mine.
The kiss seemed so very scared, and I responded to him with a gentle touch that caused him to kiss me softer, lighter. For a couple of seconds we lingered there, and when I pulled away from him, he licked his lips and smiled at me.
"Jesus. How often do you need distractions?" I gasped.
He laughed, "Who knows? I just felt like kissing you."
"Aaaaww. Of course you did." And I walked away after I laughed.
"Hey," He whined.
I turned around as another voice reverberated backstage, "Places, everyone! Two minutes! Places!
"Sonny," He grabbed my hand and pulled me to him. "We've gone through a lot here in New York," He brushed my hair from my face with a hand as light as a moth's wing. "And through it all, there's only one thing I'm sure of."
"And what's that?" I breathed. a little caught up.
He smiled. "I love you."
My heart burst with anticipation and I kissed him once again happily. "I love you, too."
We both looked at each other for one last second before we said simultaneously, "Good luck."
xXx
I kept my cool.
For Good between me and Portlyn had been sung, which meant that this was it.
The last scene. The last scene. The last scene.
It was finally here. Three and a half hours later. I looked down in my peripheral at the trap door. The last scene. There was a white sheet up so that the whole scene would be in shadow to the crowd. I could tell that to the people watching you would see a young girl in high heels and braids walking toward me with something that looked like a bucket.
"Be gone, witch!" Tawni squealed, for she was the double of Nessarose and Dorothy.
I let out a cry of rage as best I could, and to my ears it sounded perfect. The door opened and a part of the stage I was standing on began to descend into the under-stage, and I put my hands up so it would look like I was melting. The people in the crowd began to gasp. The black overdress I had worn caught to the edge of the stage and I was left in the black dress I'd worn previously as we sung Dancing Through Life in the shadows. People cheered above me. I knew it was the extras we'd hired as hunters.
I heard Portlyn sing a few words, and on my cue, I joined in, harmonizing our last words of the song. My voice echoed through the mic, making me sound eerie and distant, but the voice and sound sounded beautiful.
As the people left the stage, I was already in position and ready. Eivon ushered me onto the stage with a shove. I began to look around frantically.
"Fiyero, Fiyero!" I called for Chad. I heard three sharp raps on the second trap door. I ran over to it as my dress billowed behind me as I opened it. Chad climbed out and immediately he was in my arms.
The crowd applauded in surprise, previously thinking the Chad was dead due to my singing No Good Deed. But here he was.
We waited for the sound to die down before Chad pulled away. "We have to go, now." He said. "They may come back."
"Wait," I said, and made my way to my old clothes that were still onstage. I grabbed the book Galinda had given to me, and looked into the crowd. I saw my mother, and I sang the last words on the script...
"I have been changed...for good..."

I turned when Chad's hand touched mine. He laced his fingers through mine and we ran from the stage.

"As long as your...mine..." We sang together. And then the curtain closed.

The story was, in many ways almost over. Finally.

Chad beamed as we heard the crowd uproar with applause and cheers. Whistles were heard, but I had somewhere to be. As if on cue, Eivon tugged my arm forcefully.

"Lt's go! Quickly, now." We ran back to the dressing room and I hopped into the shower.

Eivon counted to thirty for me and then I turned it off immediately. I had five minutes to get changed and showered and pretty again. She threw my black and gold dress over the wall and I caught it. I dried my pale, cream skin with my towel and quickly put on everything. I zoomed out when I was finished, and there were already people waiting. One with a hairdryer, who immediately pulled me into a chair and turned it on. Eivon turned on the curler.

Three and a half minutes later, I was ready. Hair somewhat curled to perfection, dress in tact, skin not green. Just how I like it.

"Go!" Eivon yelled to me. I sprinted in my flats to the backstage. Chad and Portlyn were awaiting their cue.

"You did-," But she was shoved into the stage and was smiling and waving. Chad was shoved next as he did the same.

"You're up!" The guy said. And I ran on stage, refusing to be pushed. As practiced, I ran up to center stage, the hugest smile on my face. I gave a wave, and right before I bowed, everyone decided to stand. Wolf-whistles and screams from fans were making my dizzy, and I loved it.

It was finally over. Finally.

I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I would miss being in that amazing hotel with all my newfound friends and, well, the best boyfriend in the world. I would miss New York and all its hectic ways. I would miss sharing a room with Tawni and waking up to my friends right there with me.

But I would have to think about that later, because now I looked behind me, my hands outstretched. One hand was grabbed by Tawni, one of my best friends, and the other by Chad, my boyfriend, and I knew we were now all linked. There was a bond between the two shows like never before, not a rivalry. And I couldn't help the overwhelming joy as we all smiled and bowed once again to be greeted with more cheers, each and every one of us knowing that it was the depressing end of one thing, but the hopeful beginning of another.

xXx

So...whatdya think? THIS MIGHT BE THE FINAL CHAPTER. Should I write another one? Because if I do, I have a good idea for it. SEQUEL, ANYBODY?

PLEASE REVIEW! :P