I know I have a million other things I should be doing – homework, assignments, reports, other FF stories, having a life – but I can't get this idea out of my head.
I held my employee card to the door and heard the click of the lock, signalling I could enter.
As always, I was greeted by the darkness of backstage. Everything was black, even the rooms that could not be seen by the stage. I often wondered why, but I didn't want to risk my internship with the theatre, even if I was the better at my job than most of the paid employees were.
Tonight was just another routine night at work. Some famous singer would arrive at about four in the afternoon – get the hair and makeup done, have a quick briefing, prepare, perform a two hour show, then wrap up, and then most likely go to some Hollywood party to get wasted – depending on the celebrity though, but most of them did.
The theatre I worked at hosted many shows for the younger celebrities. The ones with the teenage and college-age fans. The ones that where the clean up at the end of the night consisted of bottles of alcohol, used condoms, and vomit. To a person like me, that was disgusting. I wouldn't get paid a thousand dollars to stand in that mash-pit, let alone pay for it, no matter how famous the celebrity was. This job just happened to get good credit hours.
To be honest – I was exaggerating – just a little bit. There were seats in this theatre, behind the throbbing fans throwing their belongings onto the stage. If it was Miley Cyrus performing, then at least there wouldn't be much alcohol. The first time she performed here, I was surprised at how many ten-year-olds would actually bring that in, unless it was the parents "supervising" them, probably drinking away at the drowning-cat-like voice of the person on stage. I only found 2 condoms that night – an improvement from others.
The stage manager bumped into me, apologising quickly with the old excuse of "sorry, I didn't see you there," and then said into his headset, "no, not you honey, just the slave". I rolled my eyes. At least some people saw the value of having me here. Alec, the stage manager, hadn't liked me from the get-go.
I went into the locker room and stashed my bag in there, along with the pile of assignments I'd received today. During the day I studied music at UCLA, I went to work in the afternoons, off at about midnight, catch every possible second of sleep I could, and repeat the routine again the next day. The weekends consisted of catching up on the work I should have done after my classes, and practicing piano. My social life was none-existent, except for the very few times Emmett and Jasper dragged me off somewhere.
The roster said tonight was a special premiere two-and-a-half hour show by Bella Swan. I rolled my eyes and sighed, knowing tonight would be one of the wild ones. Bella Swan was known for her provocative and sexy dance moves, the egoistical lyrics, and the hot scantily-clad body. Those were the magazines words for her – not mine. I was just disgusted by the fact that she was only seventeen years old, and that the world allowed her to behave like she did.
It would be the first time I saw her for real, not on the TV or on some gossipy magazine cover. The roster said I was apparently responsible for setting up the dressing rooms tonight, but I knew that I would also be waiting on hand-and-foot and obeying any orders given to me by any other employees. I was the intern – the scum, the slave, the young kid – whatever. I just did what I was asked to do, and it probably didn't do much for my status in the theatre.
I looked at my watch and saw that it was 2:10, and Bella Swan was due to arrive at the default time of 4pm. I went on the computer and printed off a sign to put on the dressing room door, and gathered the cleaning supplies in order to make the room spic-and-span. I chose the biggest dressing room, and I luckily didn't have to clean much, since the last person in here had done a pretty good job of it. I called Jane from the costume department, to come over and decorate the closet with clothes which wouldn't end up being worn, and continued on with getting the dressing room ready. Since Bella Swan was seventeen, there was no need for the copious amounts of liqueur I usually had to prepare. Instead, I set out the board and card games on the table usually reserved for the drinks, and I put on the computer and entered the password. I turned the TV on and activated the three gaming systems standing next to it, and organized the stack of DVD's and CD's to the side. I cleaned the mirror up once more, and helped Jane when she came in with her arms full of clothes.
"Its 10 to 4," she reminded me, patted me on the shoulder and left. Jane was one of the nice ones here, and looked after me like I was her long lost son. I looked around the room once more and quickly remembered to get some bottles of chilled spring water in the fridge.
"No," a soft voice sighed, coming down the otherwise quiet corridor, "Jake, just let me be. Seriously, can't I look after myself for just a moment?"
I very quickly realised that this was Bella Swan, and I should get my ass out of here.
They were very close to the door when I walked out, and both looked at me.
"Your dressing room is ready, Ms. Swan." I stammered. I had never seen her like this before; hair messed up, no makeup, with track pants and a hoodie. She didn't look like the celebrity she inhibited in public. Sure, I had seen many, many celebrities pass though these doors not looking one bit like they did on TV or on stage, but Bella Swan shocked me.
"Uh... thanks," she said staring at me and biting her lip. I felt a strange sudden urge at that moment, staring at her plump bottom lip captured by those white teeth, and that surprised me.
A huge Native American guy – Bella Swan's body guard, I realised – cleared his throat and started walking towards me. My eyes widened and I left before I messed anything up. I really hoped he didn't notice me staring at her, although I'm sure if he got that all the time. She was beautiful.
God, Edward, where did that come from?
I shook my head as if to shake the thoughts away. One of the perks of my job was that once I finished back stage I could watch most of the show from the side. This meant I didn't exactly have a front row seat, as the singers back was mostly to me, but it was good all the same.
Studying piano meant that most of the music on my iPod was compositions by the likes of Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, Vivaldi, Bach, or Tchaikovsky. Any popular music would have probably been added by Emmett, but there was the occasional song that I would like on the radio when I was driving.
I got out my iPod touch, and searched for Bella Swan. A host of songs came up, I counted seven in total, plus a folder entitled Swan. My curiosity got the better of me and I pressed on it, and was bombarded with images of said singer that could have nearly belonged in a copy of playboy. Disgusted by the modern world and Emmett, I pressed the off button swiftly and pocketed the device again.
Twenty minutes later I was walking back to the locker room to resort to my homework when someone finally gave me another job to do. I nervously donned a headset for only the second time in my time here, and waited for the voice to come drifting through. When after a minute that didn't come, I examined the piece of plastic and noticed the on-off switch. I sighed and flicked it on, and immediately heard a voice commanding me to hurry to stage left, because the Velcro on one of the side panels had fallen off. I sighed again, and prayed to God that I could be trusted with a slightly more exiting job sometime in the near future.
Five minutes later, mishap averted, I spoke into the headset that I had done the job. A voice immediately drifted back that I was to drag the instruments on the stage, and I immediately thanked God that I had in fact got a slightly better job.
I heard Alec rousing the people up with his pep-talking on the thrust stage, the safety curtain still separating him from the main stage. While we were setting up equipment as quickly and quietly as possible, I heard some shouting and laughs from the other side of the curtain.
I wasn't paying much attention to everyone else as I was making sure the drums were perfectly set, so it was nearly too late when I saw the safety curtain retracting in my peripheral sight. My eyes widened and I quickly laid down the drumsticks on the kit.
"Get offstage you dick!" the voice in the headset hissed at me.
I hurried backstage and just got behind the safety of the black wall before the audience started cheering. Various band members rushed past me and ran onto the stage, a bare-chested guy with an enormous tattoo back flipping a few times to get some roars from the crowd before he picked up his electric guitar.
I was still recovering from my mistake and hoping like hell that it didn't get reported to the stage manager when I heard the crowd roar and scream like crazy. One look onto the stage confirmed my thoughts that Bella Swan has entered the building.
Dressed in tight black pants and a shiny black plastic jacket, she marched on stage just as the music from her first song started. This song was a tame one compared to some of her other ones – I had heard her voice continuously on the radio – but I found myself entranced by her sweet voice.
Someone spoke the word "left" and I looked around me for the culprit, but nobody was looking my way. I then became aware of something on my head and realised the voice came through my headset. Apparently I wasn't having a good day today.
I chucked the headset on a chair near me – I figured I could tidy up later – and I sneaked around as much as I could backstage so I could see Bella Swan performing, but the audience would not be able to see me.
The sweet side of Bella Swan didn't last long. When the chorus of the song started up, she popped open her jacket in a near stripper move to reveal a plain black bra. I saw a small black mark on her left of the small of her back, and squinted to realise it was a tattoo. I couldn't tell what it was of though – I decided to Google that later. I wondered how a seventeen year old could have possible got a tattoo, especially a huge star like her.
The second song involved some dancing club-style dancing with one of the guitarists, where they were practically grinding up each other. The third song was nearly the same, and at the end she sauntered off stage for a costume change while the band took a quick break and Alec entertained the audience once more with a video clip.
She was back quickly, and did a series of handstand onto the stage which managed to give everybody in the building a view of what she was wearing under her mini-skirt. She now had some see-though lace on top of the black bra.
I was half fascinated, and half disgusted by her performances. She had talent, that was obvious, but the way she displayed it was sickening. And they wondered why teenagers behaved the way they did. Look at what they grew up aspiring to be.
The rest of the two and a half our show consisted of nearly every song on her recently released album, and various costume changes, from a pink top and ripped shorts, to a one piece that looked like a bathing suit with the biggest fake eyelashes I had ever seen, and then an azure-coloured bustier top and leather pants.
The show ended with a scene that looked and sounded like porn with clothes on, and while the artiste was catching her breath the lights dimmed and the show was over. Everyone scrambled off stage and I was left to get all the instruments off by myself and put them back in the green room. I saw the headset still on the chair and I grabbed that and went up to the media room to hand it in. I looked on my watch and saw it had been 20 minutes since the show had finished, and decided Bella Swan had received ample time to get out of her dressing room.
I grabbed a rubbish bag and snapped on the white gloves, and quickly texted Jane that she could pick up the clothes she had put in there earlier in the day. I opened the dressing room door and immediately the sound of crying hit me. I looked up hastily to see Bella Swan sitting in the high chair, head in her hands, her hair a mess. I moved to close the door but peeped through the gap, wondering why she was behaving like this.
She sniffed a couple of times and looked in the mirror. I was shocked to see her eyes were bloodshot and her face red and streaked with the trails of tears. My gasp must have alerted her to my presence.
"Oh, it's you," she said in the kindest voice I had met all night, even though the sentence itself was uncaring.
"Um..." I stumbled, my face getting hotter, "I... I–"
"I know," she interrupted. "I need to go." She muttered, wiping the back of her hand across her face. She started gathering her personal items and I decided to help, not just stare at her.
I retrieved her shoes and handbag for her, and stood and turned around just in time to bump sharply into her. I caught her at the waist and felt goose-bumps start on my arms, the skin that was touching her feeling a shock.
She recovered quickly and apologised, stating that she tripped all the time, and continued to stare at me for a couple of seconds, looking both confused and curious.
She broke the stare and looked down at the objects in my hands.
"Thanks," she whispered, and took her shoes and bag. She looked back up at me and opened her mouth, but someone interrupted us before she could say whatever she was about to say.
"Bella," a dark voice called from the door. Bella jumped and looked behind her at her bodyguard, looked around the room once more, and with one last sad smile at me, left.
The room was immediately empty of everything, and I mechanically cleaned up the space while thinking about what had just happened, and got stuck on one question.
Who was Bella Swan?
Outfits on my profile :)
What do we think people? Please, please review – and tell me what you think. Tell me the story is great and all (lol), but a little constructive criticism please? Go on. I can take it.
Don't expect an update soon, but all the same, add me to your alerts list.
Thanks girls (and guys – but I think not :D))