Chapter 1

Frozen

I lugged my bag into room 104 and heaved it onto one of the two twin beds. I was staying at the Clayton Hostel in Brooklyn. It was all I could afford. I would've loved to stay in Manhattan so that I could be closer to the arena, but staying in the city would've run me a pretty penny.

"I can't wait! This is gonna be so awesome!"

I turned to see two people come into the room and deposit their things on the second bed. I raised my hand in a shy awkward wave. "Hi."

"Hey." answered the girl. She was pretty with bowl cut brown hair, fitted jeans and a band tee. "I'm Reese. This is Kent, my boyfriend." The man beside her was tall and thin with a boyish face. Dark blonde hair with golden highlights brushed against his cheeks and neck.

"I'm Ryder." I said.

"God, I'm so glad we didn't get paired with some old pervert or psychopath. Um, wait. You're not a psycho or closet perve are you?"

I snorted. "Hardly."

She laughed. "Cool. Forgive me and my extreme personality. We might seem a bit crazy but we're not?"

"We?" Kent raised an eyebrow.

Reese shot him a playful glare. "We're here for a concert."

I perked up. "Tokio Hotel?"

Her eyes bulged. "No way! You, too?"

"Yeah! Today and Tomorrow."

"Us, too! Where are you sitting?"

I pulled my ticket out of my back pocket. "Section B, row 4, seat 6."

"Get out! We're like right behind you. Section B, row 5, seats 6 and 7."

"Wow! We'll pretty much all be together!"

"Hell, yeah! Man, I can't wait! I wanna go now!"

My cell phone vibrated in my back pocket. "One sec, you guys," i said and answered, "Ryder."

"Get your ass down to the Garden right now." said a raspy voice.

"Jeez, Aline. Creepy much?" Aline was a mega-fan I met online and became close with.

"Tokio Hotel are on their way here! I just checked their fan webpage. They are doing an autograph session."

I dropped my phone. Kent and Rees gave me curious looks as I bent to pick it up.

"Wait. You're there now?"

"Yes! Just get there. I'm not the only member of the site. People are gonna show within the next 20 minutes."

"I'll be down in 30." I flipped my phone closed and made for the door. "Follow me. Autograph session. Last minute announcement."

Twenty-eight minutes later we were staring up at a Tokio Hotel billboard across the street from Madison Square Garden.

"Does anybody else feel like this is totally unreal?" asked Reese.

I knew what she meant. I love Tokio Hotel. Their music was powerful and encouraged and saved lives. Just knowing I was attending a concert left me feeling numb to the world.

"Hey," said Kent. "Is that your friend?"

Aline stood in front of the arena in red dyed drill curled pigtails, waving maniacally.

"Yeah. Let's get over there before her arm flies off."

As we neared Aline, her eyes darted this way and that, as if to make sure no one else was coming.

"Finally," she said. "Didn't think you'd make it. Who are they?"

"My roommates at Clayton. Kent and Reese."

"Cool. I'm Aline."

"Aline?" I looked around her. "Where are they gonna start the line?"

"Shit!" She ran up the stairs and through the double doors.

"Uh..." said Kent. "Guess we're supposed to follow her."

"Guess so." I shook my head. Sometimes, Aline could be so animated. "Come on."

Inside, Aline stood in a line of about 11 people.

"We've got a while," she said. "About an hour or so."

As the minutes ticked away, the line began to fill. After about two hours, it reached nearly two hundred people.

"Wow," muttered Reese. "Thank God we had forewarning."

"There's so many people here." I said. " I hope they all get their auto-"

"OMYGOD!" screamed Aline.

I turned and my eyes met four boys coming down a short set of stairs from the coliseum. They waved and blew kisses at us. The tallest of them wearing low-rise black jeans, an orange Adidas jacket and black converses. His hair, long, black and voluminous framed his angelic face. His eyes were smoky and tinged in a dark liner.

"Wow," I whispered. He's even more beautiful in person.

He clasped hands and hugged people in line. Making his way down to us, I trembled slightly. He tousled Reese's hair, high-fived Kent, tickled Aline and...stared at me. The smile on his face faltered and fell away. With narrowed eyes, he gazed at me curiously.

"Wow. Mensch." he whispered.

"Move, Bill," said Tom, smiling at me as he pushed his brother away.

"That," said Reese, "was so cute. He was tongue tied."
"Who are you?" said a girl in front of me. "Do you know him? Are you friends?"

"Shut up, groupie," said Aline. "What the hell was that, Ryder?"

"Chicks are so dense sometimes." said Kent. "Obviously, Sir Bill has a thing for our little Ryder."

I shook my head. "No way, you guys. It's Bill. He's Bill. And I'm...nobody."

Kent laughed. "Not with the way he's looking at you right now."

"What?" I chanced a glance and sure enough, Bill was looking right at me.

"Oh...my god." said Aline. "This sucks so hard. He looks so smitten! I have never seen him look at a girl like that!"

"Shut the hell up, Aline!" I growled. Girls kept throwing me dirty looks.

A staff member opened the barricade separating us from the boys. Single file, we stumbled over to their table.

Don't be nervous, I thought to myself. He's just a guy. Just like any guy.

In seconds, it seemed, we were in front of their table. Aline was in tears. The guys were signing their Scream/Humanoid special edition dual album. As I stepped in front of Tom, he smirked at me and took my CD from Gustav to sign. He was smolderingly sexy. You look at him and see: Trouble. Definitely gorgeous. But totally not my type.

On the other hand, the man to his left. He was beautiful. If he had bad boy tendencies like his brother, you wouldn't know it by looking at him.

"Hi," Bill smiled as I stood in front of him. He took my CD from Tom. Tom winked at me and went on to signing Reese's CD. "What's your name?"

"Ryder." I choked out, "With a Y."

He flipped the CD over and scribbled something on the back. "Will you be attending our concert as well?"

"Yeah. Me and my friends."

He glanced up and smiled at everyone. "Here you go Ryder." He handed me the CD. But when I grasped it, he wouldn't let go. I tugged a bit like an idiot. Than, I looked into those beautiful dark eyes. Eyes the darkest of brown that, oddly enough, held all the colors of the world. I froze. One of his fingers touched mine. He had that look on his face again. A current of some sort ran through me. That's when I felt it. The spark.

Bill stared back at me. All intensity. "I'll look for you." He let go of the CD.

Aline took my CD, handed it to Geoge to sign, retrieved it, and dragged me off to the side to wait for Kent and Reese. Then, the three of them marched me out of the door.

"Holy shit!" said Reese.

"What just happened?" I asked.

"Oh," said Aline in mocking calm. " Nothing, dear. You just bagged the most desired guy in the world. That's all."

"So," said Kent. "What did he write?"

I flipped my CD over and read:

Ryder,

My gut is telling me that you are something special. That I need to get to

know you. See you tonight.

Bill Kaulitz