Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to liliancarmine and her "Lost Boys" books:"The Lost Boys" and "The Lost Boys on tour" are just awesome! if you like to read about musicians, ghosts and/or wiches then check them out because they are outstanding.
Anyway, here it is: chapter 8 of Strange meets Weird. Enjoy, vote and comment! :)
Strange meets Weird - Chapter 8
Linny and Linus arrived thirty minutes before the concert started. They took their seats and looked around. Everything seemed normal. The VIPs hadn't arrived yet. Linny didn't seen anyone who could recognize her so she took the opportunity to check backstage for her friend.
At the gate there were security people. They glared at her but when she showed her the backstage pass she had, they let her in. She was so excited and nervous her entire body was shaking but she tried to keep her face as relaxed and neutral as possible.
- Who are you?
Linny turned a little frightened by the man's voice but quickly calmed herself.
- I'm Mélanie Black. Mandy told me to come before her concert...
- Oh, Mélanie! Nice to meet you. Of course she told us about you. My name is Zach.
- Nice to meet you Zach. Do you know where Mandy is?
- Sure, let me show you. She's getting her make-up ready.
Zach seemed nice. He was handsome and you could tell he was a rock star himself. She wondered what instrument she played, but didn't ask because she didn't want to sound suspicious.
When they got to a door with a star and the name "Mandy", they stopped and Zach knocked at the door.
- Hey Mandy! You've got a visitor!
Zach left and Linny got inside the room. It was a small changing room with little space for anything, but the light was bright and there were lots of mirrors which made the room seem bigger than it really was.
- Mélanie!!!
Amy screamed with excitement and ran to Linny to hold her in a bear hug. Linny's eyes were filling with tears. Finally she had found her best friend. She hugged her tight. When they let go, they just stared at each other with huge smiles on their faces. Amy was the first to
come back to reality. She hugged her one more time and whispered "just follow my lead".
- Mélanie, I'm so glad you came! You must be wondering why I asked you to come so early. You see, there's an after party after the concert and Zach needed a date, so I suggested he went with you. After his break-up with Tisha he hasn't really been open to dates, so could you
escort him to the party? He can't go alone... I'll go with Linus. He's here, right?
- Sure, he's here.
- Awesome. It'll be an awesome party!
At that moment the make-up artist finally lost her patience and yelled at Amy to get seated again. Amy barely had enough time to get another backstage pass for Linus and two invites for the party. Linny went back to her seat quickly, her mind all confused on Amy's words. She
was obviously very closely watched and couldn't talk to her freely yet.
- So, did you talk to her?
- Yeah, she gave me these. So I guess I'd better text my mom to tell her not to pick us up. Man, I sound like a teenager. I hadn't needed my mom to drive me around in ages!
- Well, you just left the hospital, you're in no condition to drive, so don't beat yourself up. Besides if my car wasn't at the shop I could have driven both of us here.
- Oh, well, it all worked out fine.
As Linny wrote the text to her mother she felt someone staring at her. She immediately tensed up feeling suddenly frightened. When she looked up, she saw that the man sitting next to her was staring at her with a smile on his face. "Creepy" she thought. When he started speaking to her, her impression of him didn't change.
- You're new, aren't you?
- Excuse me?
- You are just now entering showbiz. I know I've seen you somewhere, but I can't remember your name.
- Oh, no. I'm not a celeb or anything like that. I'm just a friend of Mandy.
- A friend of Mandy Ferris?! Well that's a celeb right there! That girl is more reserved than an FBI confidential file.
Linny smiled uncomfortably because she didn't know what to say.
- In that case, my dear, here's my card. Give me a call and in a couple of months you'll be as famous as your friend.
- Mmm. Thanks. I'll think about it.
He seemed pleased with that answered so Linny forgot all about him and instead looked around. In the VIP section, seats were filling up slowly, but everywhere else, the stadium was full. Teenagers were already screaming for the band to start, young rock fans were preparing their cameras or tweeting. She was happy to see that her clothes were fitting for the event and she was even eager to enjoy the show. She'll worry about alternate realities later, right now she wanted to listen to her friend singing.
The first band was ok. Not awesome but entertaining enough. The second band was pretty cool, the stadium was filled with energy and enthusiasm. Finally, Mandy Ferris took the stage. Her voice was strong, her songs were profound and her on stage performance was
confident and engaging.
Linny's mind was blown away. This was her best friend showing the world what was really inside her. She was very talented but most of all, you could see she was born to do this. You could tell she was enjoying the energy from the crowd and her lyrics sounded honest and true. She was a natural performer and their real universe had no idea.
By the time the concert finished, Linny had completely forgotten about their problems with alternate universes. She just stood there, clapping her hands until they hurt and screaming words of admiration for her friend.
Finally, Linus took her out of her state of awe and told her they had to go backstage to meet with Amy and go to the party. That's when Linny's feet touched the ground again. Would Amy still want to go back to an universe with a boring job instead of staying here and being a
rock star?
They went through the tunnel to Amy's changing room and waited for her to arrive. Everybody was cheering and congratulating Amy for an amazing performance. When she arrived, Amy had a huge smile on her face and sweat all over her body.
- Amy! You were amazing!
- Thank you Linny. I was so nervous! But the crowd had so much energy, I enjoyed it so much!
- I'm so proud of you Amy.
The two friends hugged. After a while, with tears in their eyes, they just smiled at each other knowingly. They both knew how big that show was for Amy considering she had never done it before. Linus took that moment to say his congratulations.
- Thanks Linus! Btw, we should get going. We are going to go to my hotel room quickly so I can take a shower, and then we can go to the party. You can also change there... I took the liberty of choosing a couple of outfits that would look cool on you.
Linus seemed a little uncomfortable. He obviously didn't like receiving expensive gifts.
- Oh please Linus! You are doing me a huge favor being my date for this event, it's the least I can do. Besides, if it makes you feel more comfortable, my manager is the one who insisted. The man is so obsessed by my image, you wouldn't believe it! Which reminds me, he asked me to tell you guys not to answer questions from reporters or paparazzi.
- Of course we won't say anything Amy. And we're happy to be attending the party. Right Linus?
He smiled and finally said "yes".
- Great. At the hotel I'll tell you something more. For now, let's go to the limo or Jack (that's my manager), is going to have a heart attack.
When they arrived to the limo, they were told the rest of the band had already left with the tour bus. Only Jack, Amy, Linny and Linus would be in the expensive black limousine.
As soon as they were close, Linny felt the gaze of Amy's manager checking her out. Then he focused on Linus. Apparently ok with theirappearances, he offered them a smile. Jack gave Linny a bad vibe. You could see the man was a weasel a mile away, and he didn't seem to want to hide it. He wanted to be intimidating and he succeeded. During the entire ride to the hotel, Jack kept briefing Amy on the celebrities and music critics she was supposed to charm into loving her. She just smiled and nodded.
As soon as the car stopped, Amy grabbed her friends hands and got inside the hotel. The room she had was actually a suite. It had 2 bedrooms even though it was only for Amy. So while Amy and Linny took one room, Linus took the other and they all took showers and changed for the party. While they were finishing with their make-up, Amy called Linus and filled her two friends on her plan.