The Tour Turns
Chapter One - The Life Worth Living
"My friend was not a heroin addict before we became involved with you! You murdering son of
a bitch!" Alison screamed, pushing Jack Chamberlin to the floor. The body guards were all over
her in a second, but she had suddenly become too numb to fight back.
Jack carefully picked himself up off floor and rather arrogantly brushed off his suit.
"I made you. You little bitch!" He informed her, "And you're never going anywhere without
me!"
Tears were streaming down Alison's pretty face. She had wanted this so much. Life had never
been good to her, this amazing opportunity to do what she'd always dreamed of had been a break
for her. And apparently it had been, just as she'd suspected, to good to be true.
Too angry to speak, Alison spit at the man. Jack frowned and reached out to hit her, but a hand
caught his.
"You won't be doing any of that!" A voice informed him. Jack was roughly pushed against the
wall by Johnny Wright, manager of the Backstreet Boys. "In all my years of working in this
business I have never seen such sick, arrogant, abusive and entirely unprofessional behavior by a
management service!" Johnny roughly informed Jack, "You're fired! Now get out! I said GET
OUT!"
Jack sneered at him. "You can't do that . . ."
Johnny released the man and gave him a push towards the door. "I just did!" He replied, "Now
get out before I have you removed!"
With that, uncalled for body guards stepped forward and hauled his ass out.
Johnny turned back to the girls to see his wife comforting Alison. An Emergency Medical Care
Assistant, who's name tag identifies her as Grace Celaka, was attending to the sick girl.
He approached Alison. "Can you guys still go on?" He asked gently.
Alison quickly nodded yes. "Alright then," He smiled, "You got true performer's grit! I know
you can pull it off. Just try your best, but you can still back out now if you feel your not ready."
Alison forced a smile. "I need to warm up . . ."
***
Brian sighed and turned to Howie. They had seemed like such nice girls. He really hadn't
expected them to be involved in drugs, but with that asshole of a manager he could almost
understand.
"Pretty scary, huh?" Howie asked him.
"Yeah . . ."Brian replied, "Just the kind of vibes we need before a big show!"
He looked back to the girls and shook his head, "I can see how easily we could have fallen into
that mess . . ."
"Rest easy buddy," Howie said reassuringly, "I think somebody's lookin' out for us up there."
Brian smiled at this. "Let's go do the prayer," He suggested.
***
Grace had put the girl in the semi prone position. She knew she was required to call an
ambulance and report this to the police, but they had stopped her. This was going to be kept
‘hush, hush' and she had agreed to this when she'd signed on.
And this is only the first concert of the tour, she added to herself. This job had actually been
given to her as a favor. Normally EMCAs didn't travel on tour with groups, but Lou was a friend
of her's. She'd saved his son's life a few years back. He said he felt safer when she was around
and suggested that it would a be a great opportunity for her to travel.
So here she was in Vancouver BC, taking care of an up coming amateur singer's Heroin shock
problem, celebrities kneeling in prayer near by, Lou wasn't here and she barely knew any of
these other people.
Great way to start things off, she thought to herself. She checked the girl's vitals one more time,
covered her with a light blanket and left to treat the other girl for shock.
Grace approached Alison. "Hey, how ya feeling?" Grace asked kindly.
Alison smiled at her. "I'm feeling much more cucumberish. I think I've gotten myself under
control. I'm all ready; just need to warm up. Is Cora gonna be alright?"
"Yes, your friend, Cora, is going to recover. But she'll need help and support from friends like
you if she's going to over come her problem," Grace told her.
"We'll be there for her," Alison said confidently.
Satisfied that all was well with this girl. Grace left to check up on Cora one more time.
***
Donna gave Johnny a look. "That could have been bad . . ."
He nodded in agreement. "We do still have a major problem though . . ."
"Oh? What's that?" She asked him.
"Do we let them stay? Sign on as their new management?" He replied turning to his wife.
"Yes, we do." Donna said pursing her lips, "And they tour as the boy's opening act. At least for
this tour . . ."
Johnny nodded once again. "I entirely agree . . ."
***
Alison took a deep breath and glanced at her friends. They were both shaking with nervousness.
She looked them over, checking to make sure everything was in order.
Victoria's face was distorted with fear and her hands refused to quit fidgeting. She still managed
to look great though, in loose, flowing, black dance pants and a flashy blue crop top. Her wavy
blond hair was pulled up into a high pony tail and her face was covered with make up and
sparkles. Her baby blue eyes kept looking to the floor and then up again. Then she closed them
and starting taking deep breathes.
Lara looked almost numb. Her long brown hair was also pulled back into a pony tail, which
swung when she moved. She had intense, piercing green eyes that were accented by the neon
green crop top she wore. Also dolled to the extreme in make up and sparkles, she kept on wiping
her face and smearing the supposedly budge proof make up away.
Alison bit her lip and recognized the butterflies in her own stomach. They didn't usually appear,
but because she didn't have Cora out here, they decided to come instead. Her short, red hair was
combed perfectly around her face, although when she started to dance, it wouldn't stay that way
long. Her bright red crop top picked up the colour in her hair even more so, and her eyes
remained their strange shade of grey. Mendi (type of impermanent tattooing) ran up her arms,
perfectly made, like beautiful gloves. She sighed and looked back to her friends.
"Stay cool - Stay calm - Like a cucumber!" She told them.
Although they didn't find what she had just said to be particularly funny, they both burst into
laughter. The comic relief and release had been needed.
"Okay, you guys ready?" someone asked. They nodded.
"I said, are you ready?" the voice asked again.
"Yes! Yes, we're ready!" Lara snapped.
"Good! ‘Cause here we go!" The person ordered. The music started.
***
Cora opened her eyes slowly. She felt awful, like she might toss her cookies any minute now.
She tried to get up and look around. A very strong hand helped her from behind.
"Thanks," Cora managed to get out.
"No problem," the guy replied. "How are ya' feeling?"
Cora glanced up at him and was little surprised to see Nick Carter staring back at her.
"Um, I'm feeling a bit better. I - I'm having a hard time concentrating . . ."She murmured.
"Understandable," Nick nodded. "I hope you start feeling better soon."
Cora smiled, "I feel better already." She looked into his eyes and continued, "I wanted to, uh,
tell you, ‘cause I know you probably think I'm a druggie and everything, that well, I'm not."
He looked at her uncertainly and waited for her to continue.
"Jack gave me the injection," Cora admitted, "It's the first time he's ever done that - and - I was
scared I didn't know what to do."
A wave of relief swept over Nick's face. "Don't worry. You won't have to worry about that jerk
anymore! Ever again . . ."
Cora gave him a confused look. " I gotta go on now," He told her, "But we can talk later, kay?"
Cora nodded as Nick left. She turned to see an attractive young womyn in an EMCA uniform
approach her. The womyn had shiny, short, brown hair, slate blue eyes and had a bright and
reassuring smile on her face. She sat down beside Cora.
"Hi, I'm Grace," She introduced herself, "How are you feeling?"
"Better," Cora replied, "I'm Cora."
Grace smiled at her. "Cora, I need you to tell me what happened," she said seriously.
Cora closed her eyes for a minute. "I - I was in our dressing room, getting ready for tonight's
show. Jack came in while I was getting dressed. He - uh - he pushed me and threatened me. I
was afraid he was going to hurt me, but he just held me down for a moment and jabbed a needle
in my arm. He threatened me, but as soon as I could, I got out of the dressing room. And that's
the last thing I remember."
"Is this the first time you've done drugs?" Grace asked quietly.
"Um - yeah. But it wasn't like I wanted them! It just kinda happened . . ." Cora swallowed hard.
Grace gave a sigh of relief. "Great! I'm glad you're not a substance abuser. You might already
have a slight addiction, but we'll get through it together. You're manager has been fired. You
won't have to worry about him any more."
"What?" Cora demanded with a look of panic on her face. "But-"
"Don't worry!" Grace told her, "I've got a feeling you're sticking around with this group for a
while . . . You're friends put on a great show tonight."
Cora nodded. "I'm pretty tired," She admitted softly.
"That's understandable," Grace told her, "Why don't you go lie down the couch in your dressing
room."
Cora nodded and Grace helped her into the room.
***
Lara had never been on such an amazing natural high. She couldn't stop laughing and hugging
her friends.
"Wow!" Oh my God, that was so amazing!" Alison gushed, brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"Hey! Great job girls!" Lara heard a voice call out. She turned to see who it was and there stood
Kevin Richardson giving them a wave before running on stage.
"Oh my God! Kevin Richardson just told us that we did a good job!" Lara squealed to Victoria.
Victoria smiled and wrapped an arm around her friends. "We are so lucky," She commented.
Alison pushed the door of their dressing room open, to see Cora lying on the couch with the
EMCA, Grace, beside her.
She paused before entering. "Is she okay?" Alison asked, still standing in the door way.
"Yes, she'll be fine," Grace informed her, "Can I speak to you in the hall?"
"Of course," Lara said from behind Alison.
Once they were out of hearing range of Cora, Grace explained the situation to Cora's three
friends.
"She may be irritable and sick for the next week or so. It'll take a while for her body to cleanse
itself, but she can probably still perform. And she is going to be just fine," Grace informed the
relieved group.
Glancing at her friends, Lara said, "We are so glad to hear that!"
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