Holograms

LA here we come!

(Merced POV)

I woke up to Aja shaking me awake. "We only have half an hour until Erica arrives!" She says and I stand up. I get dressed and I fix my hair. "Shana and Aja popped out. "Ready?" They ask and I nod. I sling my duffel bag over my shoulder along with my guitar case and I pull my suitcase with me. "Girls! Downstairs!" I hear Aunt Bailey yell. "Okay, I'll be there. One second." Jerrica yells as Kimber trips over her own feet and I laugh. "Jerrica, let's go! How much stuff do you have? Hurry up!" Aunt Bailey yells. "Sorry Aunt Bailey Kimber fell." I say and Kimber flipped me off and I gasp. We start to walk downstairs. "You must be..." Erica trails off. "Aja." Aja introduces. "Shana." Shana says. "I'm Kimber." Kimber says. "Uh, Jerrica." Jerrica says. "Jerrica Benton. Come over here." Erica says and Aunt Bailey decides to speak up. "Where's your sister?" She asks. "Behind the trees Aunt Bailey." I say and I move from behind them. "Merced." I say and Erica nods. I zone out of their conversation until Kimber tugs my arm. "Come on let's go." She says and we laugh and walk to the limo. "Bye Aunt Bailey!" We yell. "We love you!" I yell. "Bye!" Aunt Bailey yells back.

We started our drive and we had many laughs on our way up there. I kept looking at my guitar case and I grabbed my song book. "Brave enough to broken (oh-oh) Can't see, but keep going, oh Brave enough to be broken There's no more fear inside. I threw my heart in the fire I've never fallen from higher But (I'm still here) (I'm still here) I threw my heart in the fire I've never fallen from higher But (I'm still here) (I'm still here)" I sing softly to myself and I see Jerrica smirk at me from the passenger's seat. 'Almost.' I mouth to her and she smiles. We make it to a huge building. "Whoa." I say. "You ready for the big adventure?" Erica asks. "Yes." We say. "Oh, good. Well, I took the liberty of arranging for some new instruments." Erica says. "It's love at first sight." Aja says and I laugh. "Vipers?" Shana asks. "Dude, that's sick." I say and Aja nods in agreement. "How cool is that?" Kimber says and we smile. "And ladies, this is Rio, our college intern. He'll take care of you every need while you're here, so just go to him." Erica says and we turn to see some dude. "Hi, girls. Nice to meet you. First, a couple of ground rules... no drinking, no smoking and no going out past midnight curfew." Rio says and I click my tongue while nodding. 

"I thought rock stars were allowed to do all that stuff." Jerrica asks. " Well, I'll bear that in mind when I meet some. Until then, follow the rules and stay out of trouble." Rio says and I nod while clutching my notebook. I then place it in my inside pocket of my jacket. "Okay. Let's go." Erica says. "Weird meeting you." Jerrica says and I snicker. "Likewise. Oh, and, uh, good luck with your styling session." Rio says and my eyes widen, I stay behind for a moment. "Is it that bad?" I ask and he nods, I groan. "Merced." I say holding my hand. "Rio." He says shaking mine. "Mer come on!" I hear Aja yell and I run to her. "This is gonna be bad." I say and she nods. "This is Starlight  Enterprises, the house that Erica built. That means changing the way you act, the way you sound and the way you look. Ladies, I give you Erica Raymond." Some man says. "Thank you, Esteban. Okay." She says and starts walking down the line. "Kimber. Hmm. Not trying enough." Erica says as she passes Kimber then she gets to Aja. "Aja. Haven't figured you out yet. Oh, no, I got it. You don't try at all. That's awful." Erica says as she get's to Shana. "Shana. Esteban, are you looking at this? It reminds me of people who dress up their animals. Trying too hard." Erica says as she stands in front of me.

"Merced, hobo sheik. If we're lucky we can take away the hobo part." She says then she stands in front of Jerrica. "Jem. My Jem. That's what we call you now." Erica says as she looks her up and down. "Interesting..." Erica says. "Thank you." Jerrica says as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "if you live in the Valley. Oh, my God,  those boots. I had in high school, and I got made fun of so much. But I digress. You're have to lose the earrings. They're so last season. Like 30 years ago." Erica says. "Oh." Jerrica says. "Don't worry, we'll hold them for safekeeping." Erica says as they place her earrings in a silver box. "Okay. Thank you." Jerrica says. "We'll get there. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, 'cause it's not. It's going to be fun and exciting." Erica says. "You're giving us new looks?" Aja asks. "We already have." Erica says and she uncovers a poster. "Jem. Uncover the mystery." Erica says and we look at it. "What?" Shana asks as we stare at the poster. "Uncover the mystery. I'm so glad I thought of that." Erica says and we look at it. "This is us?" I ask. "No, it's Photoshop. But it will become a reality before the first show. Rehearsal starts in 20 on Sunset. The sooner we have a single to leak, the sooner you become the girls in the poster." Erica says and we grin. 

We start our styling session and Rio was right this was bad. "Red has always been my favorite color." I say and the stylist nods and she starts to give me outfits and we walked in front of Erica doing poses and we all laughed except for Erica. After a while it was finally over and we walked outside to where a guy was waling towards Erica. "Mrs... Mrs. Raymond, it's a pleasure, always, to see you. I, uh... I was wondering if you listened to my demo yet. I was just thinking about it. Do you have any response to it yet?" The man asks. "Uh..." Erica says and he nods. "So, yeah, I'll bring it around. Bring the car." The guy says and the car comes around. "That happens all the time. So, we'll pick things up tomorrow. In the meantime, I've arranged for your transportation to take you where you're staying." Erica says. "We get to borrow your car? Really?" Kimber asks. "Never! No, your ride is over there." Erica says and we see a blue jeep and Rio there. "What are you for, Little Miss Pink Hair and the Sing-Alongs? Hop on in." Rio says and we walk towards the jeep. "Everything was going so well." Jerrica mutters and I laugh.  "Hello, Rio." I say as I sit next to Aja. "Does this even have seat belts?" Aja asks. "We just got our hair done too." Kimber says and I laugh as we drive off.