As
Bianca Parker walked down the long hallway, she began to notice that her
calmness was very rapidly turning into nervousness. The butterflies in her
stomach were terrible, and she felt as though she was going to thrwo up any
second. "I can't do this," Bianca thought aloud.
"Oh yes you can and you're
damn well going to," replied Brianna Chambers, Bianca's best friend.
Never before had Bianca felt so
nervous. She had been through plenty of auditions, however, she had never
auditioned for a major record label. she began thinking how she wanted to back
out instead of risking it and being not only rejected, but also laughed at.
That thought terrified Bianca the most.
"Look, you'll do a great
job. In fact, I know you're gonna blow them away," Brianna said bringing
Bianca back from her thoughts.
"You're pure talent. anyone
can look at you and tell that," she said trying to reassure her best
friend for the trillionth time.
"That's your opinion, not
the opinion of those big-wigs sitting in that room waiting for me to show up.
They probably said they wanted me to audition because they felt sorry for
me," Bianca said half seriously and half for reassurance from Brianna.
"Fine! Bianca, you're right.
They're just waiting so they can watch and then just reject you because they
need to reject someone right now," Brianna replied loudly. "They
needed to kill time so they decided to let you come and audition with now
intentions of calling you back! It's just one big conspiracy centered around
you."
"Brianna why did you say
that? YOu know how I am about being rejected! I cannot believe you just said
those things to me!" Bianca fought back her emotions.
"You know I wasn't serious.
Just calm down and give them all you've got," Brianna said giving Bianca a
hug.
*ONE HOUR LATER*
"I told you that you would
do a great job and, dammit, you refused to listen to me!" Brianna greeted
her best friend oh-so-affectinately after her big audition.
"I know, I know,"
Bianca started to reply. "I was just so nervous. They want me to come back
next week for the final round. They'll pick one opening act from the five acts
they heard from today."
It had been Bianca's dream to
tour with the Backstreet Boys and sing for Jive Records since the first time
she heard a BSB song on the radio. Everytime someone mentioned them or one of
their songs the first comment out of her mouth would be "they have to be
the five hottest guys in the world." Although Bianca didn't know much more
about them, she knew they had the looks and the talent.
Brianna, on the other hand, was
different. She wanted to be behind the scenes rather than in the spotlight. She
just never wanted to have all the attention. She thought it was fine for
Bianca, but not for her.
Bianca just wouldn't accept the
fact that Brianna didn't want to help her start a duo. They would always end up
arguing when one of them brought up the subject. "But Brianna, you know I
can't do this alone. Besides, you can sing better than me. You need to ferget
about your fears and sing," Bianca would always say, trying to convince
her best freind that she needed her help.
Brianna's only reply would be,
"I'm not scared, I'm just not an attention hog." Brianna however, was
scared and was just too proud to admit that to anyone.
The two girls did finally meet an
agreement. Brianna decided she would do Bianca's make-up and hair for her
shows. "I still think you should sing with me," Bianca would say to
bug Brianna every now and then.
That day, when Bianca said that,
Brianna got irritated. "bianca, we are not going into this again. I don't
want you to be ill at me because I won't sing, but you know I can't get ou
there in front of people and perform. There has to be a little conceit in a
performace, and I can't stand on a stage and say 'these hundreds and thousands
of people are here for me to entertain them.' If you can do that, it's
wonderful and I'm really happy for you. And no matter what you do, I will be
100 percent behind you all the way. But you have to understand that there are
certain things that you have to do alone."
Bianca said nothing, but realized
for the first time that Brianna was right.
*TWO WEEKS LATER*
"Why do we have to be
here?" Nick asked as he and the other five guys walked to the van that was
taking them to the Jive Records studio.
"For the millionth time, we
have to be here to greet the newest member or members of Jive Records because
they'll be touring with us this year," Brian answered his best friend.
"Well, who are we going to
be greeting and congratulating? It would be nice to know if we are going to be
touring with a guy or a girl. Maybe even more than one girl," A.J. said
with a mischevious smile. "What are the chances of this group being
female?"
"Well, considering the fact
that they only had one guy audition last week, I'd say that the chances are
pretty good. Unless they decide to put us through hell and make us tour with a
guy," Howie replied not looking at A.J.'s reaction.
"All I can say is that I
sure hope they find a fine girl. Who cares about touring with some guy? A chick
would be more fun to hang out with, anyway." A.J. said looking at the
other four with the same grin he had given them before.
*AT THE SAME TIME*
"Wish me luck."
"Girl, you know you don't
need it," Brianna reassured Bianca as she waited to go into the office.
"Besides, it's bad luck for me to say
that."
"I hope you're right. I
wonder where everybody else it? They're probably calling every-body to come in
at different times, and the
winner will probably be told to
come last," Bianca answered her own question. "You know, I'm kinda
nervous but not as bad as last week when i was at the final audition. I keep
thinking I should be more nervous now because this is it. If I don't make it now,
I don't make it at all. But I'm really not that nervous."
Just then Bianca heard her name
over the loudspeaker in the lobby. "Okay, here goes nothing," she
said standing up.
"No, you mean here goes
everything," Brianna corrected her. That was just like Brianna to try her
best to scare Bianca when she was under a great deal of pressure.
*20 MINUTES LATER*
As Brianna sat wondering what the
hwl was taking so long, she heard the entrance doors open. when she looked up,
she saw five guys walking through the door. "Hmmm, they're pretty cute. I
wonder how old they are?" she thought as she gave them a pleasant smile.
"Hi," the tall,
dark-haired one said walking by. Brianna noticed how gorgeous he was.
The guys sat down waiting. They
were all cute. The two shorter ones were sweeter looking. One had his long
curly hair slicked back into a pony-tail and the other was slightly taller with
short dirty blond curls. The skinny guy was kinda tall and he had blue hair.
Brianna also noticed the numerous tattoos on his arms. The youngest one,
holding a comic book, had straight, blonde locks that hung to his ears. He was
cute in a boyish way but the last guy, the one who had greeted her, was the one
she noticed the most. He had dark brown hair that was short and unkempt. Th
thing she noticed about him though were his eyes. He had the most beautiful
green eyes and Brianna had never seen any eyes so intense.
"So are you here
auditioning?" he asked breaking her thoughts. She began to blush when she
realized the had been staring.
"Um, no. My best friend came
last week for the finals and had to come back today," she answered him.
"So, your best friend is it
a girl or a guy?" the blue-haired one asked her.
"A.J. don't start with
that," green-eyes said turning to give him a serious look.
Just then, the door to the office
opened and Bianca slowly emerged. She wasn't smiling, but she wasn't crying
either. She was obviously shocked, but whether it was good or bad was yet to be
determined.
"Bianca, what happened? Did
you get it? What's wrong? Please tell me!" Brianna said as Bianca sat down
in a chair.
"Well, I don't really know.
they gave me a bunch of papers to go over and sign. They said it was legal
stuf. And then they told me to wait out her to meet the guys I'll be touring
with. It all happened so fast..." she said not yet realizing the full
meaning of those words.
"Well, guys, we can finally
meet our opening act," Kevin said. "I'm Kevin. I realize you're
Bianca, but you still haven't told me your name," he said turning to
Brianna with a sexy smile.
"Brianna Chambers," she
replied blushing once more.
As the guys walked over to greet
Bianca, Kevin noticed Nick wasn't in attendance. He looked back at the couch
and found him in the same spot still reading his comic book.
"Nick, come over and be
social, or the ladies are gonna hate you," Brian said jokingly in an
attempt to get his best friends attention.
When Nick didn't look up from his
comic book, Kevin decided to take matters into his own hands. "Nick!"
he yelled.
"What?" Nick yelled
looking up from his comic book for the first time since they had been there.
"Come over here and be nice
to the new talent," Kevin said managing to keep his temper under control.
"Fine," Nick said
reluctantly as he stood up.
"Bianca, don't worry about
him, he'll be fine, he's just a little sick," A.J. told her as Nick
started over toward the group.
"Really? What's the matter
with him?" she asked, looking at Nick then back to A.J.
"He has mad cow
disease," A.J. said giving Bianca a smile that sent tingles down her
spine. She stood admiring him as he talked to everyone else. He was someone
that she never would have gone after before, but for some reason she was very
attracted to him now. She had never met someone as mysterious and unpredictable
as him and that's mainly why she liked him. Her thoughts were broken when Nick
walked up.
"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm
Nick," he said looking down at the ground.
"I'm Bianca," she said
smiling sweetly and trying unsuccessfully to see his face.
"Nick, I told her that she
doesn't have to worry about your condition," A.J. told him lightly. He
punched him in the arm out of playfulness.
"What condition?" Nick
asked with a puzzled expression.
"The rather bad case of mad
cow disease that you were diagnosed with last week," he replied with a
smirk.
"That's really not funny,
A.J. You really need a new past time. I do not have mad cow disease..." he
said looking at Bianca for the first time. 'Wow,' he thought. 'She's
beautiful.'
Nick studied her face carefully,
taking in her every delicate feature. Her eyes were a warm ocean-blue that Nick
could lose himself in and they were surrounded by long, midnight lashes. Her
lips, slightly pursed, were cherry-red as if she had been biting them out of
nervousness.
Her fair skin was glowing under
the light and her hair gleamed in mahogany layers that fell just below her
shoulders. Nick had to fight the urge to reach out and run his hands through
Bianca's hair. He wanted to feel the soft strands glide through his fingers.
She was average height and
slender; petite and healthy. With one look Nick could tell she was all girl. He
couldn't find a trace of tomboy nature anywhere. Normally, he liked a girl to
be sweet, but to be able to tumble with the guys, too. someone he could
rough-house with as well as be romantic to. Bianca looked like anything but the
rough-and-tumble type and these totally feminine girls didn't usually interest
Nick, but there was something about her that held his attention; almost like a
magic bond.
"umm, well, hmmm..." he
stuttered losing all feeling in his body.
"Looks like Nick has a
crush," A.J. said poking him in the side.
"No I don't!" he said
blushing profusely.
"Well, we have to go, but
you need to meet us here tomorrow at 12:30 Bianca," Kevin told her with a
smile as their manager came out of his office. "Brianna, you need to come
to," he said, looking at her with the same sexy smile as before.
"We're gonna take you two to lunch and show you around the town."
"We'll be here at 12:30 on
the dot," Brianna said with the sweetest smile she could produce.
"Bye, ladies," the guys
said as they left the building.
When they were out of earshot
Bianca let out the loudest scream she could. "I'm gonna be touring with
the Backstreet Boys!!!" All Brianna could do was look on with amusement.
Walking out to her car she
thought to herself, 'This is gonna be an experience I'll never forget!'