Okay so, waking up on concert day was totally not fun. As I got out of bed I almost cracked my head open by not realizing that my upper body was hanging half way off the bed. For a moment, I just stood there admiring how comfortable my bed looked and fighting back the urge not to climb back in it. I then shrugged the feeling of sleepiness from my body and walked to my dresser. As I stared into the mirror I kept thinking about my sudden and unexpected rise to fame. I shook my head at the girl looking back at me and then proceed to pull out my favorite Forever 21 jeans and flowy purple tee.
"Melanie Marie Rodriguez! If I don't see you down here in three seconds... So help me God I will drag you down!" My mom so helpfully yelled in her Cuban accent as I tried to put on my black Chucks without untying them. I scurried down the stairs two at a time while my little Siamese cat yowled at my ankles for food. "Not now, Luna. Go see Brady, he'll feed you. I gotta go!" I was hopping the front steps in less than an instant, my shinny red 2020 Mustang ready to drive me to my 'destiny'.
I my car as fast as the Miami speed limit would let me- well actually, I was about 20mph over it. I pulled into Galleria Mall entrance and parked my car at the docking station connected to Sears. I had to jog to employee entrance where my blonde haired manager, Lauren, met me. "Melanie, we have to get you fixed up for this concer- Er.. You look terrible! I mean, did you even bother to brush your hair this morning? Jeez, look at you! Someone get this girl some coffee or something!" She said as hauled me off by my elbow to the makeshift dressing room.
"Lauren, how late am I exactly?" She looked at me with a raised brow and a twisted lip. "B-but I woke up early and everything... Why does it feel like I'm so late? Oh, and am I still preforming for all those creeps? Pleaseeee tell me they cancelled." I said in a rush. I sudden had Starbucks coffee thrust into my shaking hands. I took a sip and willed myself to be calm. But again my nerves were frazzled by Lauren's response. "Psh, you wish they cancelled."
I loved how she totally avoided my question about the time. She was always trying to lessen the stress of being a superstar, which I appreciated though it barely ever worked. And it was obvious by the way she fussed about me that she wanted me to be on my best behavior for this stupid anniversary concert. Lauren, in her motherly way, had already given me the speech about "the wonderful Sonic Team and their fifth anniversary of being in the real world." To be quite honest, I'd preferred it if they had just stayed in their stupid Sonic '06 game.
As soon as they had all stepped out of their world, they'd all become international heroes. But don't get me wrong, they were doing an awesome job of keeping everyone safe. It's just that for some reason, they annoyed me. Actually, when I think about it, I only disliked one member of the team. It was of course that cocky Sonic. The way he carried himself, ugh it drove me crazy. Normally, I wouldn't judge someone so quickly, but this guy was just all 'Fastest Thing Alive.' It seriously bugged the hell out of me. But anyway, Lauren shoved me inside the room and out of the rant in my mind. She then eased me into the styling chair, forcing me to take a look in the mirror.
"Wow, you're right- I look horrible!" I pulled my hair out of a sorry looking pony tail.
"Yeah, well that's what hairstylists and makeup artists are for, honey. Don't worry, Mel. The concert is only an hour and, you're only singing like 4 songs. You don't even reception." She assured me and placed a warm hand on my shoulder. I gave her a sly smile smile and said, "Thanks Lauren; I'm so much more excited now!" She gave me a dramatic eye roll as she looked at her watch. Her eyes suddenly flew wide open and she started to clap her hands, commanding the attention of the staff.
"Okay, people; let's move! We've got 20 til curtain!" Lauren barked orders at all the stylists about how my hair should be done or how NOT to make me look like a barbie doll. I finally was able to shoo her away to go see how things were going else where. I then proceeded to tell my pampering crew what I wanted them to do. I did my own hair since I'm the only one that knew how to make my bangs sweep left just so and the rest of my hair wavy without it being overcome by frizz. To the makeup artist, Corina, I told to just line my eyes and hooked me up with daring red lips. By this time I only had ten minutes til curtain.
Grabbing a blue fit-and-flare dress with black lace overlay, I quickly went behind the changing curtain and shrugged out of my clothes. As I put on the dress, it dawned on me that I was going to preform in less than 10 minutes. I started to panic. But of course, this wasn't my first concert I reminded myself. I had preform in front of crowds the size of China, plus, most of them were televised too. I had no clue as to why I was so nervous. What was so different this time around? Under the curtain someone thrust a pair of sky high black pumps. Ugh, I hated heels with a passion. It's not that I can't walk in them, it's the fear of falling face-first on stage when I'm jamming on a song. Sighing, I slipped them on and walked out. Everyone ohhhed and awed and wished me good luck as Lauren handed me my bedazzled purple mic.
"Well, well. You clean up very nicely now don't you?" Lauren mused. I squinted my eyes and mocked her. "Ha ha, very funny. Hey, L, are they out there?" I asked, nervously eying the red curtain separating me from a huge crowd of already screaming fans. She nodded and then added, "They're in the first row, the whole lot of them. It's okay, sweetie; no need to be nervous, you'll do great just like always." I smiled at her and felt my self-confidence level rising significantly.
Lauren qued for thelights to dim on stage as well as Emmett to start strumming the chords to the first song.
"Okay, let's do this," I said as I strutted through the part in the curtains.