Chapter Nine:
"Got ten minutes, Raven," said a stage hand with a headset on and clipboard in hand. I nodded my head and then turned to look at myself in the mirror.
I now had blue contacts in my eyes and they had put blue extensions in my hair. I was wearing a blue and black corset with skin tight black leggings and combat boots. The corset wasn't so tight that I couldn't sing but it sure did push my boobs up to give me a huge amount of cleavage. I walked out of the dressing room and looked for the band. I liked to talk to them before every show in case some of us were a little nervous.
"Hey guys," I said as they were walking up to me.
"Looking for us?" they asked. I nodded.
"Okay, so are you as nervous as I am," I asked.
"Well, if you sing it wrong then they, our devoted fans will know, but we can miss a note and we get lost in the other two," Eric said.
"Thanks, Eric, you are always so helpful," I said with a frown.
"You will do fine. The fans love you and are very supportive no matter what. You are good at what you do and we all know it," Gage said with his hands on my shoulder.
"Now, that's a pep talk," I breathed out, trying to shake this anxious feeling.
~~
We saw the opening band walk off the stage and then we were introduced. We took our places and I pulled the microphone up to my lips and said my greeting to the city we were in before I introduced our first song.
"Okay guys, this is a new song and it is kind of sad. It's called Let Down," I said and then the guys started to play the melody.
"I sit at the window and watch the rain fall.
And just think about things, things big or small.
But mostly I wonder how it came to be.
That I'm living this life without him beside me.
I just sit and reminisce of all the times that we kissed.
All the smiled that we shared and the secrets I bared.
I'm missing you smiled and missing your touch.
Haven't seen you in a while. I'm still feeling so much.
You were my everything but I was treated like nothing.
You were my king. I, your siren, born to sing.
You hear my voice and I rejoice.
Thinking you'll come back to me and we can be happy.
I want this to be, but it's not true.
I am just me and you are still you.
If only you'll say, those three words, I pray.
But you're not with me and for that I'm sorry."
We went on to sing some of our chart toppers, like our cover of 'Sweet Angel', 'Low Down & Dirty', 'It's What She's Wants' and 'Ache'. After the concert was over, we did our usual meet and greet and signed autographs. I smiled and posed for pictures with Sebastian keeping a watchful eye out for any suspicious characters and Bernard.
This was the non-stop routine for the entire month of the tour. The boys would share a room and I would get one with Sebastain at the hotels. I wasn't too happy to never have any privacy but this was for my safety and I would have to suck it up. I had my source of entertainment and music, my iPod and my phone, and he would either talk on the phone to whoever made him laugh so much or would pull out 'Twilight' and read that. He was slow going on that book. It took him two weeks into the tour to finish it.
"Ugh, finally done with that crap," he said, as he shut the book. I looked up from my phone.
"Took you long enough," I said.
"It just drags on and on. I swear every chapter I was just hoping that the lion would eat the damn lamb. Then, I was hoping the psycho would eat her, when Ed didn't," he said, pointing to the book as he spoke.
"It's Edward and they were in love. You wouldn't eat someone you loved, right?" I asked.
"Whatever. I'm just glad to finally be done with that," he said, crossing his arms. I smiled. So he didn't know?
"Um, Sebastian," I said, trying to hold back my laughter.
"Yeah," he said, looking up from glaring at the book.
"It's a whole series."
"Rockstar, say what?" he asked me.
"There are three more books after that," I said and his jaw dropped.
"Are you serious?" he shouted and I burst into a giggle fit. I laughed so hard that I rolled off the bed and still didn't stop laughing.
The next week, I noticed that Sebastian had picked up a new book. I looked at the cover and stifled a laugh. He was reading the second book, New Moon. I couldn't help but want to laugh because here was a guy around 6'2" easy and he looked like he worked out daily, even though I have never seen him do it, and he was just propped against the headboard reading a teen-fiction. It was just a comical sight.
I snapped a picture when he wasn't paying attention. He finished that book within five days and was on the next one soon after. It wasn't until the last two days of the tour that he was nearly finished with the last book and I couldn't take it anymore.
"Hey Sebastian," I said.
"Yeah," he asked not looking up from the book. He seemed to like it but he would complain non-stop about it when he wasn't reading it. He kept saying how it was just dragging on and how everyone should just kill Bella because she was a helpless human and a walking blood bag. His impatience was making him mean. I almost felt guilty for what I was about to do.
"Stupid Jacob could never be good enough for Bella," he mumbled. I lifted an eyebrow. Team Jacob here! Time to rip off the band-aid.
"I was about to tell you something, what was it," I said as I dug through my bag for my pajamas. "Oh right. You know that they made those books into movies, right?" I asked him.
"Son of a ---" he said and I laughed so hard I almost peed myself.
~~~~~~~
We were on our last city in California. It was weird because they had set up the tour with us starting in Texas and ending in California instead of the other way around. I guess they thought since I lived here that I wanted to end it here. We performed our last show in our 'home town' and then we did the meet and greet. I sighed and walked out in the VIP area with my big grin on.
"Oh my gosh, Venus! Remember me?" Julia screamed and I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes.
"Honey, calm down and let her greet everyone she hasn't met yet," Jay told his fiance but she wasn't listening. She kept screaming to get my attention and I was trying not to blow up in her face as much as I wanted to. I wasn't sure why but she was just really annoying to me. Sebastian went to calm the woman down. She swooned over him after she realized who was talking to her. I greeted and took pictures with all my other awaiting fans and signed whatever they wanted me to.
Once I was done with everyone else, I walked over to where Sebastian stood.
"Finally," Julia said, exasperated, "You know I'm pretty important too you know. More so, than most these little people here." She had a bad attitude and I was on the verge of punching it right out of her.
"Really," I asked. "You think you deserve my attention more than the kid with stage three lymphoma who's wish was to meet me and get a picture with me? Or the orphaned girl who just wanted our CD and our autographs?" I asked her, trying to keep calm. I had several make-a-wish kids ask for our band. We even sang at one girl's birthday because her parents were sure it was to be her last. Luckily it wasn't. She had two more after that. She was a sweet girl.
"I, um, I--," she stuttered.
"Yeah, Julia, don't think that because you are marrying a hot shot producer that you are more entitled than anyone else because I will be the first to tell you that you aren't. I didn't give you those tickets, Izzy, my VIP manager did. She is a fan of Jay's work, so don't think for a second that it was because of anything you did," I informed her. She was taken aback by my straightforwardness.
Sebastian pulled me back and I stopped him. I pulled out a pen and signed her CD and walked away from her. I felt eyes on my back and I wasn't sure who was watching me him or her. I didn't even stop to consider whether or not Jay was going to tell Mr. Abbrams not to hire me on the movie after what I just said to his fiance but I didn't care to even bother with those thoughts. I didn't like prissy, self-entitled girls who thought they deserved the world just for being born. She was wrong and deserved a good slap for her attitude alone.
Maybe I needed anger management? Nope, I had managed my anger just fine but she definitely needed a reality check and fast.
Once we got home, I pulled out my dirty clothes and began packing my things again. I had a weekly maid that would wash my laundry and do things around the house. She only came on Mondays and was always eager to do something. I left my dirty clothes in the basket where Martha could find them and pack two suitcases of clothes for the trip back to Texas. I knew it would be warm and I made sure to pack decent pajamas and plenty of underwear. I wasn't planning on spending any money at all this trip. I made sure to pack several outfits and dresses and shoes, couldn't forget to pack shoes.
It was 2 a.m. by the time I went to bed and I slept for ten hours. I woke up at noon and got ready to see Mia. I knew I would be going straight to her place for dinner because she was having a mini reunion party. I walked out into the living room with a short black wig and sunglasses on and frowned at Sebastian.
"Are you not going?" I asked him.
"I'll be there once I finish with things here. No one knows your going and so I can take care of things here. Is Izzy going?" he asked me, while staring at the TV.
"She said she has a photo shoot today but will be on a flight first thing. I don't know when but I hope it's soon. I don't know what to expect and I don't want to do it alone," I told him. I said goodbye and headed to the airport. The check in at the airport was busy but easy and an hour later I was on a plane headed to Texas, alone and in disguise.