Beyond the Cameras

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I widened my eyes at the enormity of the place. When I pictured a small town halloween carnival, I didn't expect the carnival to be bigger than the town.

"This is..."

Lou smiled at me when I didn't finish the sentence.

"Cool huh?"

I laughed and did a one-eighty, taking in my surroundings. They wouldn't open the gates to the public for a few more hours, but Jo's mom needed help setting up her game booth so she said if we helped her, we could get early admission. The girls thought this would be a great opportunity to give me a tour of the place.

"This is actually pretty impressive," I admitted.

The girls exchanged looks with beaming smiles on their faces, then took me on a tour of the carnival.

"This," Grace pointed to a big area filled with booths, "is where you can play all the games. There's ring toss, a dunking booth, face painting, et cetera. If you want to play any of the games, you can to go buy some tickets from over there." She pointed to the entrance of the carnival, then started leading the group to a different area.

"Way back there," she pointed to a cluster of trees lining the corner of the carnival. "is the haunted trail. It's not that scary, but it's loads of fun. And lastly, over here," Grace pointed to a huge stage with a instruments strewed on it and gigantic speakers attached to the sides of the covering, "is where they have live bands play. Most of the time they are just local bands and artists, but they're still enjoyable."

"You forgot to tell her the best part," Jo exclaimed.

"And what would that be," I questioned, glancing between Grace and Jo.

Grinning devilishly, Jo said, "when the band or artist takes a break, they have people from the audience come sing karaoke onstage."

They all grinned at me and I already knew what they were getting at.

"Just because I have acting experience does not mean I sing. This isn't Disney Channel; not all actresses are singers."

"So you don't sing," Kallie tried to clarify.

"No. Mostly."

At there questioning eyes, I added, "I've sang before, but it's definitely not something I would make a career of."

"You know what I just thought of," Lou said out of nowhere, looking at me. "Are you going to be bombarded tonight? I mean, by fans wanting pictures and autographs with you."

I hadn't really thought about that since the school has been so accepting of my privacy.

"Maybe I can put my make up on a bit heavier than normal since it's halloween."

"What about the papparazzi? The carnival is open to anyone so they will be able to get in with no problem."

The girls all seemed worried about my fame and for the first time since I've been here, I felt bad for potentially ruining their night because of my fame. Back home, being famous wasn't an issue because everyone I hung out with was either famous themselves or accustomed to the lifestyle.

"Johnny will be with me the entire night incase things get out of hand, but if you guys would feel more comfortable, I can paint my face or something."

"No. No. We don't want to make you feel uncomfortable. I just want to make sure you're not going to have to fight off the papps the entire night," Lou hurriedly said.

"There's no guarantee of that, but I appreciate your concern. Don't worry. if things really do get terribly out of hand, Johnny has already mapped out every exit for me," I pointed. Jokingly, I added, "I'll survive the night."