It was during the summer of eighth grade that Priya and I entered the “Jonas Brothers Poster Contest” sponsored by Chevy. The rules of the contest were to make a poster about the Jonas Brothers and bring it to Madison Square Garden before the concert, where Chevy sponsors would meet us outside and choose one winner. The winner would receive two tickets and back stage passes to the concert that night. Being wrapped up in all of the Jonas Brothers hype at the time, Priya and I were set on winning, and wouldn’t have it any other way. We went to Michael’s a week before the contest to stock up on supplies that would guarantee our posters to be above all the rest. Priya’s poster included a three- dimensional car popping off of it, and mine said “Burnin’ Up for the Jonas Brothers,” playing off of their song titled Burnin’ Up. On the poster was a Chevy car with flames coming off of it, cut to make it appear as though the car were on fire. The time and care we put into these posters was ridiculous, yet necessary. I must say, in the end, I was quite proud of my creation. It was brilliant and artistic, and so was I.



The day of the contest, Mr. Marathe took Priya and me into the city early. Upon arrival, we camped out in front of Madison Square Garden all day long. We, of course, wanted to be the first ones in line so that our poster would be seen. We sat there for hours, and met different equally obsessed Jonas Brothers fans. I secretly hated them all. Please, as if they could love Nick more than I did. Anyways, my poster was going to win, and Nick was going to meet and fall in love with me. I had the whole thing planned out, so who even cared what those girls thought.



After hours of sitting outside like a lesbian homeless couple, the Chevy contest judges arrived, and immediately, people started swarming around them. Priya and I quickly stood up and ran over to them, pushing everyone in front of us out of our way, like, b****, please, we were here before you. We managed to shove our way through the crowd of people to the front, near overwhelmed judges. We danced around and waved our perfect posters in their faces until they noticed us, growing more and more spastic with each and every second that passed. It took long enough, but finally we were noticed. (I don’t know why it took so long. My beauty usually mesmerizes people pretty quickly.) Priya and I were both pulled to the side and told to follow one Chevy representative along with some other contestants behind us.



We were brought to the box office area of the arena, and the judge we all followed started taking a closer look at our posters. She then picked four people out of the smaller group of contestants. I was growing nervous that she didn’t like my poster when she didn’t pick me at first, but sure enough, I was the fourth person chosen. I nearly had a heart attack. She then told everyone who wasn’t chosen to please leave, but I asked if Priya could stay, and she consented after a moment of hesitation.



The other judge then entered the room and things started to get serious. The two judges exchanged a few whispers among each other, and following, told two of the four girls remaining that they did not win. It was just one other crazed Jonas Brothers fan left, and me. (This is starting to sound like an epic battle. It was.) Priya looked like she was about to explode from excitement as I gave my competition dirty looks. Her poster sucked anyways. It lacked my out of this world creative element. No way was this girl going to beat me. I stood there and held my breath as the two judges whispered to one other a little more. And after a minute, which seemed more like an hour, they announced that I had won. I can’t exactly reiterate how I felt in words. I began jumping up and down, shouting with excitement, and even shed a few tears of joy. The other contestant stormed off and the judges stared at me as if I had two heads. They didn’t know how to react to my reaction.



After I had calmed down, the two judges told me that I would receive two backstage passes for the Jonas Brothers concert that night, so obviously, Priya was going to be my plus one. They wrote down our names and told us to return to the box office one hour before the show to retrieve our tickets and go backstage. I could not believe this was happening. I’m surprised I didn’t faint. I was going to meet the Jonas Brothers. I thanked the judges; told them they were awesome, and then Priya and I left to meet up with her dad. He seemed pretty happy for us when we told him that we had won, but of course, nowhere near as excited as we were. He took us to eat at a pizza place, but I barely touched my food; I was too excited to eat. We sat there and talked for and hour or so, and then slowly made our way back to Madison Square Garden, arriving exactly one hour before show time.



We approached the box office and I gave them my name, as well as Priya’s. We were then presented with the two golden tickets, and a security guard came around front to escort us to the backstage area. Making our way backstage, I heard a voice singing scales that I thought could have only derived from angels. It was Nick. Nick Jonas. My husband. It’s funny because he was about to meet his future wife. I was so ready for this. I had on what I thought was the perfect outfit at the time, though, now, looking back, it totally wasn’t. I was wearing red skinny jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black fedora hat, along with pink flip-flops. No way he’d be able to resist this.



The first moment I saw Nick, I forgot about everything, and by everything, I mean my thoughts about what I was going to have for dinner. Not to mention, I also forgot Priya was there. I ran up to Nick and gave him a huge bear hug. He hugged back, but then pulled away.



“You must be the contest winner,” he said.



“Yes,” I replied, almost unable to catch my breath.



“Nice to meet you, I’m Nick,” he stated, as if I didn’t know who he was.



“I’m Sarah,” I replied. I then realized I was acting lame and tried to regain my cool that never actually existed.



“Um, forget about me? Hi, I’m Priya,” Priya said as she approached Nick. Nick held out his arms and gave her a hug as if he’d known her his entire life. Afterwards, Nick called to Joe and Kevin to come and meet us. When they showed up I was glad to meet them, but wanted to talk to Nick for the rest of the time. Priya seemed to be more interested in the other two brothers than I was, and what the hell did I care? She could have them both. Joe asked Priya if she wanted to come check out their dressing room, and she agreed, Kevin followed.



Alas, Nick and I were alone. The moment of truth. We started talking about regular things, and I think I came across as a fairly normal human being. He laughed at some of the things I said (because I’m hilarious), and I began to relax as our conversation went more in depth. He was so nice and seemed genuinely happy to be chatting with me. We bonded over the fact that my grandparents live in Wyckoff, NJ, and that he was from there. The entire time I tried to avoid giving off the annoying teenybopper star struck vibe. As the minutes ticked by, I grew sad that I’d have to leave Nick. After talking, I felt as though we’d been friends forever, but soon enough, it was time to go. The security guard told us to hurry up, and Priya and I had to say goodbye to all three brothers. As we were hugging them goodbye, I felt depressed that this dream was now over. I gave Nick a big hug like I did when I had met him, and just then (ALERT: Mature material to follow. Under 18, be advised.), he reached his hand into the back pocket of my red pants, and put something there. As I left, he winked at me, and I knew I’d want to check what he put there as quickly as possible.



We left back stage and I slipped my left hand into my back pocket, pulling out a slip of torn lined paper. On it was a phone number, and a note that read Text Me. (201)-421-6100. –Nick. I squealed and started blushing.



“PRIYA! LOOK!” I exclaimed. I shoved the little slip of paper at her as though it were on fire. She read it, and then started jumping up and down, excited for me.



“Oh my God! Nice game!” She said. We freaked out for another minute, as one would expect, and then proceeded to our floor seats. I wanted to text Nick right away, but didn’t want to seem overbearing or crazy, so I didn’t.



Soon enough, the lights went down in the arena, and up on the stage, and there they were, the three Jonas Brothers. The intoxicating sound of screaming fans echoed through the arena. Priya and I were definitely the main contributors to this. I screamed at the top of my lungs to every song, ensuring that I would have no voice tomorrow. Then, something amazing happened as Nick was setting up to sing A Little Bit Longer. He sat down at the piano bench, ready to begin, and that is when my heart stopped.



“I’d like to invite my new friend Sarah up here for this song. Sarah, where are you? Come on up.” I flipped out, and made my way onto the stage. He instructed me to sit on the piano, and as the music started, it appeared that he would be serenading me. I was in awe. Halfway through the song, tears started leaking out of my eyes. Was this really happening? It was an absolute dream. This was not reality, yet it was. I was his princess.



When the song was over, Nick put out his hand, helped me down off of the piano, like any gentleman should, and winked at me as I walked back down the stage steps into the crowd. People were cheering as though I was one of the Jonas Brothers. It was unreal. The rest of the concert was great, but that was by far the best part of the whole performance, wait, no, the best part of my whole life.



The concert ended after a solid three hours, and I didn’t want to go home, but it was time. Priya and I made our way to Penn Station without talking. There were no words. Once we hopped onto the Dover train, I decided that maybe I’d text Nick. I sent him a message. Hey, it’s Sarah J, toolish smiley included. When he didn’t respond back, I was disappointed, but figured that he probably had better things to do than respond to my lame texts.



The next morning I woke up with a new text, and nearly fell out of my bed when I noticed it was from Nick. He responded with, Hey Sarah- so nice meeting you last night. Would love to see you again. What the hell was happening? These things do not happen to Sarah Meyers. He must’ve loved the fedora.



I sat up after a minute and responded that I’d love to see him again. I actually had another pair of tickets to the concert again that night. My dad got two box seat tickets from work, so I told him I’d be there. He seemed happy to hear that, or as happy as one could seem via text, and invited me to come backstage again. I was thrilled. Obviously, I agreed, and then called Priya to tell her. We couldn’t wait. This was going to be another amazing night.



Nighttime finally rolled around, and Priya and I took the train back to New York City. Tonight I was wearing a new floral dress, and pretty nude colored heels, for Nick of course. Priya had on black converse, blue jeans, and a plaid shirt. Total opposites. We thought we looked cool.



When we arrived at Penn Station, I called Nick, and he told us to meet his security guard at the entrance and that he’d lead us backstage again. We did as we were told and soon enough were hanging with the Jonas Brothers again. Priya went off with Kevin and Joe, who proceeded by teaching her how to play guitar (it’s because of them that she is basically one of the Beatles incarnate at this point). While she went with them, I followed Nick to their backstage “hang out” area with plush couches and pillows. I sat down in the corner of the couch, and he sat right next to me. We chatted for a while, and then there was a break in the conversation. As we sat there, we looked into each other’s eyes, and before I knew it, our lips gently met. It was a quick peck, but it was a kiss from Nick Jonas, nonetheless. I died a little inside. Afterwards, he put his arm around me and we hung out for another ten minutes. It was then time for us to go to our box seats because the show was going to start soon. We said our goodbyes, and Nick told me we should come backstage again after the show.



That night’s concert was just as amazing as the night before, maybe a little better, however, Nick did not serenade me on this night, so I guess it’s kind of give and take.



I could go into intricate detail about the night with Nick after the concert, but I don’t want you to miss your bedtime. I’ll just cut to the chase. In the end, he asked me out, and we ended up dating for three months, until I realized that he wasn’t as cool as I thought he was. Don’t get me wrong, Nick was super nice and fun to be around, but I think the fantasy of dating him was better than the reality of it.



It was after hanging out with Priya one night that I decided to rip off the Band-Aid and break up with Nick. He was on tour, and in Toronto for a show that night. Being the considerate person that I am, I waited until the show was over to do my dirty work so that he could give a great performance. Right after, I called him up, and well, ended things. I tried to be as gentle about it as I could. Here’s how the conversation went:



“Hey, Sarah! What’s up, babe?” Nick answered.



“Hey, Nick, ugh…yeah…we need to talk.” I replied.



“Talk? About what?”



“Well, it’s just that, well, how do I put this? Basically, it’s over.”

“Over? Why? What do you mean?”

And this is the point that I started to feel like the biggest asshole on the face of the planet.



“It’s not you, it’s me.”



Lie.



“Well, then, how can I change? What’d I do? I thought we were doing great.”

“Listen, Nick, it’s just hard for me to date you when you’re always on tour. I can’t do it anymore.”

“What? Sarah, no! The tour is almost over, and then I’ll be able to spend more time with you! Please, please, please I don’t know what I’ll do without you!”

“Well, you’ll survive.”

“No, really! I love you so much. You’re the most amazing girl I’ve met in my entire life!”

“Well, that’s a given but—“

“Sarah, don’t do this to me.”

“Nick, I’m sorry, it’s over.”

I then hung up the phone. Afterwards, I received ten missed calls from him, and countless texts, begging to talk, but I couldn’t do it. I worried that I’d be tempted to get back together with him the moment I heard his angelic voice on the other line. And so I cut him out of my life. It’s funny to think about. At the beginning, I was the one who wanted him more than anything in the world, but in the end, the tables turned. Well, can you blame him?

About a year after our breakup, Nick launched his solo career, and his first album came out. The album was titled Love and the cover picture was of him flashing his middle finger. The finger dons a ring in the shape of a broken heart. I assume these are all references to me. Oh well. All of the tracks on the album were either about love, or flat out crude; unlike anything one would expect of a Jonas Brother. Some titles include: Lonely Without You, I’m Better Off, F*** You B****, You’re Really Just A Hoe, and I Don’t Date Skanks. Did I take this personally? Nah, it’s all- good. I get it. He was heartbroken. The album was actually quite successful. Apparently the Jonas Brothers fans were more into vulgar, inappropriate music than anyone had thought. And that’s how I became known as the girl who made Nick Jonas a platinum selling solo artist. You’re welcome, Nick.