Holiday Sparks 2

8| Orange cake

I went back to my room and lay on the bed, I was feeling tired and worn. Grace walked in as I came out of the bathroom, I sat on the bed and took out my phone, and called Lori, she picked up almost immediately.

"Hey, Tessa. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine."

"Tess, I'm so proud of you. I watch each of your auditions and you've been winning. You passed Luke Alan." She laughs. "I can't believe you were standing next to him, tell how does it feel?"

"Lori, not everyone is good the way you think. Luke Alan is a jerk, he only wants attention because he thinks he's better than everyone."

"How can you say this, Tess? Luke Alan had always motivated me with his speech, appearance, and self-confidence. Why do you think everyone loves him? I can't believe only you can't see that."

I know what she's going to say next. A lot more about how nice and cool Luke Alan is, which makes me sick hearing it. I take a deep breath and try to focus on my friend's voice. "Lori, I need your help."

She's silent for a moment then asks. "What's it?"

"I need to talk to someone about this."

I'm nervous when I say it, she doesn't know exactly who this someone is and why I need her advice.

"Lori I think Luke is planning something bad...." I trail off, not wanting to say his name in front of Grace.

"I overheard him and a lady discussing it, they were so serious I felt they would do that soon. I'm scared Lori!" I say.

"How can you say this, I don't think Luke Alan will want to do something bad to you, he's the nicest person ever. He always builds self-confidence in young rising stars and I..."

"Lori, please stop," I cut her off. "Do you think I just sit and compose all that? I heard it, Lori, I saw them with my eyes. If he's planning to hurt me in any way. I'm done. I came here for this competition, I need the money to complete my college education and chase after my dreams. I can't afford to lose" The last part comes out in a whisper, my heart beating faster than ever.

Lori stays quiet for a moment thinking hard about what to say.

"I've never heard you so serious before. Tess. Okay, you might be right. We can't let this happen. Where did you hear that anyway?"

I told her the whole story starting from the beginning. From the way, Luke talked about me with the woman and how he vowed to pull me down.

"This sounds like something big, do you have proof that he's planning something? Maybe you misunderstood or there were some mistakes."

"No. It sounds so real, it feels too real. I don't think this concert is about winning I think it's based on re..."

"Tess stops feeling scared, this isn't the first show being held by CMC it's the seventeenth one." Lori finished for me.

There was a short pause.

I told her about Luke Alan's sister and how she begged me to help her talk to her brother so they would finally meet.

She laughs. "Tess, Luke Alan's sister is dead, she died October 6, 1996, in a road accident. If you are a Luke Alan fan you would have known that."

"Lori I swear. I saw her she was like sixteen of age," I respond hesitantly. I get off the bed and walk to the window, staring out at the darkness that covers everything and sigh. "She has light reddish-brown hair and sugar gray eyes, and she looks like she's from Korea similar to Luke Alan."

"You got her description correctly, but she's dead. Maybe you're just thinking too much again. I'm pretty sure Luke Alan's sister died at age five," She pauses.