"It's almost showtime! Places!" someone yelled at them. They were all dressed and they smelled strongly of something that they were spraying on their hair. Richie came up to me with his guitar around his neck, "You can stay here until the end of our show and then we can all go to the bar and get something to eat or something while The Scorpions put on their show. Sounds like a deal?" he smiled at me.
I smiled back and nodded. He pulled me into a hug and I..didn't know what to do. He loosened the hug before I could return it. He smelt like excessive cologne and hairspray.
I saw him as he leapt onto the stage. I glimpsed at Jon and I knew he was staring at us the entire time since he turned his head when I saw. The rest of the guys were adjusting themselves with their instruments. Jon was in the middle, Alec was to his left, Richie to his right, David and Tico were in the back.
I can't thank them enough. They let me stay with them and they treated me like a normal human being. But now that they know about my powers, I felt like I stripped a layer of skin off my body. They now think of me as a..weirdo.
After twenty minutes, the room was filled with crowded screams. So many people were yelling and talking at the same time. It kind of made me feel uncomfortable. Frankie and the lady were right by me, they were talking to each other ignoring me. So I just stood there like a loner.
It suddenly softened down a little and the lights became dim. And the curtain in front of the guys opened. Suddenly it because loud again.
Right at that moment, a door opened noisily. It was a lady, she barged in and she almost sprinted on stage. She had a ton of things in her arms and she looked..rushed. "Frankie, I'm sorry that I'm late, I was behind schedule. Are they starting?" Frankie just nodded and ignored her.
She noticed me and she gave me a smile. "Hi, who are you? I'm Diana Lane." I think she's famous, I don't know. What should I say? "I am..Charlotte, Charlotte..." I scanned around and as if a small lightbulb turned on inside my head. "Jean! Charlotte Jean." Diana nodded with a weird expression on her face.
"Okay, Charlotte Jean. This spot is reserved only for people like Frankie and Cleo and me. Do you have a ticket? I can take you to your seat," I don't know what she meant. "Uh..I-" she grabbed my arm and pulled me slightly.
"She's with us, don't worry about her," Frankie stated. "With you guys or with the boys?" Diana responded a bit harshly now. "With us, just leave her alone okay," he said with a tinge of annoyance. She mouthed an 'okay' and lifted her hands in surrender.
Diana just stood by me the whole time and she cheered and yelled when the boys finished a song. I softly clapped instead. I don't know what the big excitement was.
The boys were finished because the curtains closed and they were heading back to us. I saw Diana run up to Jon and she delivered him a kiss. I didn't know they were together.
"You guys did great." I complimented Richie and he lets out a chuckle, "Thank you!" he replied. He looked like someone sprayed water all over his face and forehead. The boys, Diana and I went back to the bus because they needed to drop off their instruments and change. It took quite a bit of time. I sat in my usual spot, waiting for them. Diana was across from me adjusting her hair by a mirror.
I felt very insecure next to her. Her lips were red and her face was absolutely flawless. My lips were chapped.
"Okay, let's get going!" someone called out. Everyone then walked into a bundle and I was the last one to get up. I stood there and Richie saw that I wasn't walking with them. "You ready?" he asked me.
"Uh..." I sputtered. I don't know what to foresee. It all seems so..strange. I've only been in the lab. Nowhere else. It makes me almost scared. What if someone from the lab just jumped onto me and took me back? But that shouldn't happen. "I'm...afraid," I admitted.
"Don't be scared. It's perfectly safe, you don't have to pay a cent and there will be food and good music," he assured me. No one will try to kidnap you. No one from the lab is there. I am safe. I am in a safe place right now. As long as I'm with them. I am safe. I believed him, so I chose to remove Rainbow out of my wrist. I let him out. "Please don't invade other people's own space," I commanded Rainbow. He hissed at me. Meaning he understood.
I wanted to be normal and not have to carry Rainbow around all the time.
"Ready." I jogged towards him. He gave me a smile.
We all stepped in and the music was loud. There were loads of people and they were almost all dancing. A lot of them held cups in their hands and a short stick hanging from their mouth. The air was very hazy and there were many colourful lights. Electro blue to hot pink. I was too caught up in the lights that I glanced around and Jon, Richie and the others vanished. I was left alone. This can't be.
"Richie? Jon? Tico?" I said to myself. I walked straight into the crowd. I need to find at least one of them. After searching for a bit, I found Jon and Diana dancing in the middle of the dance floor. I don't know where the rest went off to. So I kept my eye on them because I didn't want to be left alone. I saw that they were offering drinks so I sat on one of the stools and they asked me what I wanted to drink.
"What is this?" I asked the waiter. I pointed to a cup that looks like it has urine in it. "That's a beer. Or you can get the rum. They're both good." he said, pointing at the drink next to it.
"Okay. Then I want to try both." the waiter nodded and turned his back on me to prepare my drink. I turned my head and there were people laughing and touching lips with other people. There were also people sitting a few seats away from me, all alone.
He came back with a two glass cups and he pointed to which is which. I took a sip of the beer first. It wasn't bad. Then I took another sip on the rum. It was very strong to me. I liked the beer more than that. "Do you have food?" I asked the waiter once again.
"Yeah, turn the menu around the meals are there." I did that and everything looked so good. "I'll get the double cheeseburger and the large sandwich with..fries?" He nodded, I handed him the menu and he walked off.
-
"Guys, we did great!" Alec cheered at them with small slurs within his speech. They all agreed. They were all exhausted from the performance and they needed rest. They all sat down and they spent around ten minutes adjusting themselves for bed. They weren't entirely drunk but almost to being drunk. Their manager only lets them drink a certain amount of alcohol each night.
"Guys, I think I left something back at the arena. I'm not sure what it is. Can you help check if it's around here?" David asked them.
Jon sat there, disregarding them. He overheard the snake slither down the aisle. He wasn't really scared of him anymore. He looked around to see any signs of Charlotte. He didn't. He stood up and strode to the bathroom or any place where a tiny body can fit. She wasn't anywhere around. "Where are you, Charlotte?" he whispered to himself. He realised that she wasn't on the bus. And that they left her behind.
"Where the fuck are you?" He whispered.
He mutely gasped. His eyes enlarged with shock. He ran out to the boys, "LEAH, TURN THIS BUS AROUND RIGHT NOW!" he shouted. They left her behind.
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